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Thoughts on Forgiveness

The core of the Christian message is forgiveness. Forgiveness is the foundation, it is built into every act and is the final result of the cross. Forgiveness is the gift of grace given to all who believe in Jesus Christ. Of course when we speak of what Christ did on the cross, there are many words we use, like redemption, atonement, propitiation and sacrifice, the the end result for my life is that I am forgiven. And the Bible is clear that the notification for all this is God’s love.

Forgiveness means my sins go away. Psalm 103:12 states: “as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.” Micah 7:19 says: “He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.” Hebrews 8:12 confirms: “For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.” All these passages and more indicate that when God forgives, he no longer holds our sins against us. The charge for us violating God’s perfect law is removed. We are not guilty.


We are not left hanging there, clean and forgiven. However, because if that is all there was, we would go out and sin again, immediately. God takes the righteousness of Christ and places it on us. He imputes it to us so that when God the Father sees us, he sees the perfect obedience of his Son Jesus Christ. It is a great day when people believe in Christ and have their sins washed as white as snow. Their account in heaven is zeroed out, then the righteousness of Christ is added. Praise God.

So what do we do with this? Do we have any responsibility? When God wiped your sin away, on the cross, all your past sins, all your sins of today and all your future sins are all forgotten, removed and cleansed. But we still live in a physical world where there are consequences. If we sin, we must live with the earthly consequences, even though there will be no consequences in heaven. We also need to repent. When we sin, we recognize it, admit it, agree with God (confess) concerning it and pray that God will give us the strength to not do it again. That is repentance. Some sins only need one try at repentance, others requires a process of repentance, or a long time to get a handle on our behavior. We are not doing this in our own strength and out own power, but we do it. Through the power of the Holy Spirit. All the while, we are forgiven, washing clean by the blood of Christ. God does not hold our sin against us, as we are sanctified by his Spirit.

Amazing grace how sweet that sound, that saved a wretch like me!



I am forgiven, I am forgiven, I am forgiven...praise God!

#Thoughts on Forgiveness#

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