The first thing we remember about Jesus’ cross is that through it all our sins were forgiven. I am going to explain this today further in this manner, God is living outside time. With His infinite view of things, He is able to see the past, present and future. It is like looking at a train from above on the curve in the hill, if I am riding on a helicopter I am able to see the beginning and the end of the train. So God’s view of our lives is like that. We cannot see the future, but God can. Therefore, God’s all cannot be as man’s all. He will forgive all because He can see all of your life.
Man’s all is different because he cannot see what is coming, while God knows the beginning of one’s life to the end. For example, I personally forgive my child for all the wrongs she did and not the one’s she will do simply because she hasn’t done them and I don’t even know how fierce they are going to be. Either way, when she does the wrong I am bound to forgive her because I love her and also I am a child of God. We must know this; with God it’s different because nothing surprises God. He knows our past, present and future so that is why He is able to forgive us even for the future sins.
The bible affirms saying, “For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens; who does not need daily, as those first for His own sins and then for the people’s, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself” (Hebrews 7:26-27). This explains that when Jesus was on the cross He was on the altar like the high priests of the Law, however, they went in for themselves first and then for the people because they had sins themselves.
So this High Priest was fitting for us because He had no sin to die for, all sins He died for were of mankind which is us. For the fact that Jesus died for sinners once for all, it means that He died for all sins of my entire life. If He forgave us the way we do as mankind, then each time we sin we would have to ask for forgiveness, then He would have to come back to die again. In fact, He would die every day. Then we would again perform rituals for forgiveness like in the Old Testament, because every sin is forgiven through the blood.
But hey, because we are forgiven of all our sins once for all, He doesn’t have to die again or die in symbolic forms like in the Old Testament. This gives us the rest to know that there is no judgment hanging on God for us, because our sins have been crucified on the body of His Son. God Himself said, “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more” (Hebrews 8:12).
The Lord Jesus demonstrated the concept of the forgiveness of God in a parable of the creditor and two debtors humbling the Pharisee, “There was a creditor who had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more? Simon answered and said, ‘I suppose the one who he forgave more.’ And He said to him, ‘You have rightly judged.’” (Luke 7:41-43).
Our Lord Jesus is showing us the way of forgiveness and also our conscience as human beings. He asked Simon purposely as to show him something. This is after Simon said in his heart that if Jesus was a prophet, He would know what manner of woman she was as there was a woman who was touching Jesus for he reckoned that she was a sinner. Now, what Simon didn’t know is that, perhaps prior to this event, this woman could have encountered with Jesus and had all her sins forgiven.
Now, because she knew how bad she was, she expressed her love to Jesus by the act with which she showed. Jesus said to Simon, “Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little” (Luke 7:47). What Jesus said after this may sound confusing, but I would like us to rivet back to the parable about what He said concerning this woman. She was forgiven prior to the act of showing love to Jesus.
This is to negate the idea in which many Christians believe; that when one’s sins are forgiven past, present and future will act crazy. Meaning, they will be licentious. They will rather love much because they will have realised that all their sins are forgiven. However, if you are legalistic, you will by no means understand how that can be. Jesus gave Himself up that all may receive freely without a price. Hey, Jesus is the One who paid the price that we may not pay.
Jesus on the cross died our death; He was there for the sins which He did not commit. Today we are able to receive salvation for free without paying anything to anyone or having to work hard to impress other people. God is righteous; He would not allow our sins to just escape without them being punished. He had to find a righteous way to have them punished all of them at once. Why? This the Lord did because He knew that we are not able to pay that price. In fact, we would go and pay the price for eternity in hell and see the second death, but when Jesus paid it for us, because He was innocent, He rose from death.
My sins and your sins are put away; the Lord cannot punish you for the sins which He punished on the body of Christ. Today we are able to stand firm before His presence and say, ‘We are the righteousness of God in Christ’, because we are actually righteous. We are not saying this to soothe our conscience. Hey, this is the very reason why you have to give your life to Jesus, to know that you are unconditionally loved and you are infinitely forgiven, but you have to accept first the work which was done on the cross.
David by the Holy Spirit sang, “Blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity...” (Psalm 32:2). Paul led by Holy Spirit quoted this and said, “Blessed is the man whom the LORD shall not impute sin” (Romans 4:8). When David said this it was during the age of the Law where sins were forgiven by means of slaughtering the lamb. Even then, the Lord never looked at the person who was a sinner because already the person is bad, but He looked at the lamb they brought.
So David was however, by the Spirit, given this prophecy which would be in our time. In those days, you were only good until your next sin. Your conscience is the one which would tell you that you have sinned and you would bring your offering. The woman who came to Simon’s house had a different conscience, she was forgiveness conscious that is why knowing that Jesus was the Son of God and she being well-known of her reckless lifestyle, came to Jesus and began touching Him. The Pharisee on the other hand, sin conscious man, saw this and felt it was inappropriate.
This is still prevalent even in our society today. People will tell you that you have to put on a certain dress code for you to preach the gospel. You cannot wear a short-sleeve shirt or you have to put on a tie, shirt and coat on top. I would prefer to wear any make of long pants to respect the people I am preaching to and on top anything other than a vest is preferred for me. This is not a law or a commandment to preachers. We cannot be held ransom by other foul beliefs of people which have nothing to do with Christ our Lord.
I believe that as a preacher you have to look presentable and respectable. However, everyone has to be comfortable with what they have put on and not to be imposed by certain people. Enough with the outward appearances let us look at some other things pertaining to the forgiveness of God. I want you to know this as it is also implicated in the forgiveness seminars. Read what Jesus said, “Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come” (Matthew 12:32:32).
I got puzzled twelve years ago when I read this verse and there were explanations on it that could make one think that a believer can still fallout of their salvation. This is what I was taught, if you commit a sin knowing that what you are doing is sinful, it is sinning against the Holy Spirit and there is no forgiveness for you. This is actually addresses the believers, then it refutes this verse, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgement, but has passed from death into life” (John 5:24).
The answer that I will give you is this; I learnt this from one grace preacher that it is a constant rejection of Jesus Christ that makes one not to receive forgiveness. Look, the Holy Spirit comes to convict the world of sin; the sin of not believing on Jesus Christ (read John 16:8-9). If you reject the invitation to come Jesus, you are blaspheming the Holy Spirit; this is not for a believer but someone who is being preached to about Jesus. So John 5:24 is a confirmation that when one believes on Jesus Christ will not be brought to judgement for he has passed death and they are brought to life.
The idea that you can still lose your salvation is not true looking at what Jesus said. I will say this again, when you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour, you will have all your sins forgiven, both past, present and future. I think the idea that God can only forgive you until the next sin is what makes some people to come to church and when one is tried and frequently falls to sin, there is nothing that strengthens them and they end up taking break from the church.
It is not the demons that make them stay at home, it is the self-condemnation they have because they have sinned and they frequently do so. So what is the solution? The solution is when one knows that they are forgiven, they just thank the Lord and move on and they are strengthened in life. Let us read this, “For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts” (Romans 6:7-12).
Everything is being clarified here that we are dead to sin and we are in Christ, for that reason, we must not allow sin to take over our lives. The idea here is that we should not allow sin to control us. For example, you are in a shop and someone just comes in front of you at the pay-point queue. Obviously you will get angry you are a human being, and sin will say, ‘React, shout at this person.’ But because you are dead, you cannot respond because you are dead. You will kindly ask the person to come behind you.
Then, you will realise that the person did not see that you were at the queue. When you are dead to sin, you will not just snap at people. The Holy Spirit will teach you how to talk to people.
Stay in health through grace and favour...
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