|
The Finality of Forgiveness |
|
by David A. DePra |
| Do you believe you are forgiven by God for your sin? I mean |
| FOREVER and FINALLY forgiven? Do you believe your |
| redemption is truly finished? |
| Most of us don't believe that. What we do believe is that we are |
| forgiven only IF we believe we are forgiven. Or that God forgives us |
| "until the next time we sin." Or IF we confess our sin. Or only IF we |
| forgive others. Or IF others forgive us. All big "ifs." But few of us |
| believe we are forever forgiven without the "ifs." Few of us dare to |
| believe that God's forgiveness towards us is unalterably finished. |
| The result is that we walk, not in the forgiveness of our sins, but as if |
| we are "on probation" with God. Many of us have yet to grasp the |
| the finality of God's forgiveness in Jesus Christ. |
| God HAS forgiven us. All of us. That's the good news. He has |
| already done all the forgiving He is going to do. He has forgiven |
| all sin -- all of OUR sin: Past, present, and future. That is not only |
| the good news, but it is freedom. |
| Christians ARE Forgiven |
| One of the reasons a Christian IS a Christian is because they are |
| forgiven. We become Christians by embracing the shed Blood of |
| Jesus Christ which paid the price for our sins, and which made it |
| possible for God to justly forgive us. Thus, it really is all or nothing. |
| You cannot enter into new life in Jesus Christ "half-forgiven," or "on |
| probation." Either the Blood is fully sufficient for your sins or it is not. |
| You ARE forgiven. There is no such thing as an "unforgiven |
| Christian." |
| Most of us know that -- or sort of. We believe we are forgiven |
| when we are saved. But it is after we are saved that we begin to |
| accept the idea that God's forgiveness for us fluctuates back and |
| forth -- based on what WE do. Such a pattern is so common and |
| easy to accept that we probably have never thought to question it. |
| But it is based in error. God's forgiveness does not fluctuate based |
| on what WE do, because it was never based on what WE do to |
| begin with. It is, and always will be, based on what Jesus Christ has |
| done. |
| Now, it is vital that we see that. God's forgiveness was never |
| based on anything we do. God sent Jesus to die for our sin, and |
| thus win our forgiveness, completely independent of anything about |
| us. In fact, God says that the Lamb -- Jesus Christ -- was slain |
| before the foundation of the world. (Rev. 13:8) Thus, God's |
| forgiveness was retroactively applied as finished before the |
| foundation of the world -- before any of us were born! |
| You and I have heard that a million times. But we still don't get it. |
| We still don't live it. We still don't really believe it in a way that |
| changes us. God's forgiveness of our sin never was, and never |
| will be, based on anything we do. It is based solely on the finished |
| and eternally unalterable redemptive work of Jesus Christ. |
| How About Unbelievers? |
| So far, so good. Christians are forgiven. That's one reason |
| why they are Christians. But how about unbelievers? Are |
| unbelievers forgiven? Most of us would probably answer, "No. |
| Unbelievers must believe. Then God forgives them." |
| Now, we may have never thought about it this way, but what we |
| are really saying is this: Jesus died for all sin. But God doesn't |
| forgive anyone simply because Jesus died. Jesus death, of itself, |
| was not enough to pay for my sin. Only if I BELIEVE is it enough will |
| God "apply" the death of Christ to my sin and forgive me. |
| In effect, what I am saying is that God forgives me, not solely |
| because of Jesus Christ, but also because of my faith in Christ. This |
| means that He does NOT forgive unbelievers. |
| Certain passages of the Bible, if taken out of context, seem to |
| verify this. For instance, we are told, "For without faith it is |
| impossible to please God. For whosoever would draw near to |
| God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those |
| who diligently seek Him." (Heb. 11:6) |
| This passage tells us that we must believe or we can't draw |
| near to God. Certainly that must mean we can't be forgiven unless |
| we first approach God by faith. |
| All through the Bible we read of the necessity of faith. We |
| are told over and over in the New Testament that we must "believe |
| on the Lord Jesus Christ and we will be saved." (see Acts 16:31) |
| So here we have a possible condition attached to God's |
| forgiveness: Faith. IF we believe, God will forgive. But if we DON'T |
| believe, God WON'T forgive. |
| Is that the Truth? Is faith a condition we must meet in order to |
| receive the forgiveness of God? |
| Well, here's the problem: If we must FIRST have faith BEFORE |
| we can be forgiven, then from where are we going to get this faith? |
| God can't give it to us, because remember -- He hasn't yet forgiven |
| us. By definition, God can't help those whom He refuses to forgive. |
| So clearly, an unforgiven unbeliever must muster the faith from |
| himself. |
| But how? Remember, an unbeliever is dead in sin. He has no |
| live in himself. So how can he possibly, in such an unforgiven and |
| dead condition, generate the faith necessary to reach up to God |
| and partake of the forgiveness Christ has provided? |
| Human faith, if there is such a thing, won't do. There has to be a |
| divine faith in us which is able to penetrate through all sin and all |
| darkness, and reach up to heaven. It has to be a faith which must |
| actually carry in it victory over everything which would otherwise |
| overcome it. And, as said, it must generate fully from the unbeliever |
| as the source. |
| This is impossible. We have no such faith. In fact, if we had any |
| idea of just how helpless we are, we would realize that even the |
| tiniest measure of faith which we have is given to us by God. (see |
| Romans 12:3) We deserve no credit for it whatsoever. |
| Actually, the Bible tells us that we cannot generate faith from |
| ourselves. We cannot believe unless God reveals Truth for us TO |
| believe. (see Rom. 10:14) |
| This only makes sense. After all, how can we believe if there is |
| no revelation of the Truth -- no revelation of Jesus Christ? Do we |
| merely sit here, sort of "believing," umm, well....nothing. That would |
| be nonsense. We must have an object in Whom we can place our |
| faith: A Person who is revealed to us. |
| The Bible tells us this. It says, "Faith comes from hearing, and |
| hearing comes from the Word of God." (Rom. 10:17) Turn this |
| verse around and you can see the Truth in it more clearly: "The |
| Word of God genders hearing, and hearing genders faith." There it |
| is. The Word of God -- spoken by God's initiative -- genders |
| hearing, and then faith. God must take the initiative. I cannot |
| generate faith from myself as the source. |
| So here we see the plight of the unbeliever. If we must believe to |
| be forgiven, yet cannot believe until we are forgiven, we are lost. |
| That puts the initiative upon God. God must both reveal to us the |
| Truth, and with it, gender in us the faith which enables us to embrace |
| that Truth. |
| God does just that. Every revelation of the Truth which God gives |
| carries with it the seed of faith necessary to embrace it. In time, as |
| we move along with God, this faith will grow to embrace and live |
| the revelation which carried it. |
| God does this with the revelation of His forgiveness. He reveals |
| to the unbeliever that He has forgiven him in Jesus Christ. Then, |
| once this becomes clear to the person, the unbeliever believes |
| and embraces the forgiveness of God through Jesus Christ. It |
| could work in no other way. |
| Now ask: How could God take the initiative to reveal the Truth |
| to a sinner unless He had already forgiven the sinner? God is |
| perfect. And if He does not forgive, He is perfect in that justice. |
| So He could not help a sinner whom He refused to forgive. That |
| would be a contradiction. So the fact that God saves us while we |
| are yet sinners is proof positive that God has already forgiven us, |
| even before we exercise an ounce of faith in Christ! |
| So the shocking Truth is, God has already forgiven even |
| unbelievers! That why they are able to eventually believe! And |
| that's why they will eventually be judged if they don't! |
| We cannot have it both ways. Either God forgives us so that we |
| can come to Christ, or He refuses to forgive us until we come to |
| Christ. Either God initiates our salvation by first forgiving us, or He |
| is sitting in heaven refusing to forgiven until WE make the first move. |
| The answer should be obvious. God forgives us while we are YET |
| sinners, enemies, and unbelievers. |
| We create an impossible moral contradiction if we insist that |
| God will not forgive until we initiate things by first believing. For |
| example, if God won't forgive me UNTIL I come to Him, then this |
| makes me more righteous than God. How so? It makes me more |
| righteous because I am the one who takes the first step towards |
| reconciliation. I am the one who makes everything possible by |
| making the first move. |
| The Bible reveals that we cannot make the first move. God does. |
| God DID. But in order for God to have initiated reconciliation, God |
| had to have FIRST forgiven us. He could not help those who He |
| refused to forgive! He can only help those He has already forgiven. |
| Therefore, we see the real Truth: God does not forgive me |
| BECAUSE I believe. He forgives me because of Jesus Christ. |
| I believe only because He has already forgiven me and revealed |
| to me the Truth OF that forgiveness in His Son. |
| How else could we explain the words of Jesus, to the effect that |
| we have not chosen Him, but He has chosen us? (Jn. 15:16) How |
| else could we explain His statement that no one could come to Him |
| unless the Father draw them? (Jn. 6:44) Make no question, God |
| must take the initiative. He must give us even the faith necessary |
| for us to receive His forgiveness. And that means forgiveness |
| must preceed the gift of faith -- not the other way around. |
| Faith, rather than something which qualifies us FOR God's |
| forgiveness, is our surrender and embracement TO God's |
| forgiveness. |
| While We Were Yet Enemies |
| The fact that God has already forgiven ALL humankind, whether |
| we believe it or not, is a Truth firmly grounded in the Word of God. |
| For if, when we were YET enemies, we were reconciled to God by |
| the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be |
| saved by His life. (Rom. 5:10) |
| To wit, that God was, in Christ, reconciling the WORLD unto |
| Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. (II Cor. 5:19) |
| Do you see what God is saying through Paul? He is saying that |
| God reconciled us to Himself "when we were YET ENEMIES." Do |
| "enemies" of God have faith in Christ? Do they believe? No, they |
| are unbelievers. Yet Paul says while we were unbelieving foes |
| of God, we were reconciled to God by Jesus Christ. God did not sit |
| and wait until we made the first move to be His "friend." |
| Likewise, Paul says that God was reconciling "the world" unto |
| Himself in Christ -- not imputing their trespasses unto them. Is "the |
| world" ever a term used to describe believers? No. "The world" is |
| a term used to describe UNbelievers. Yet is says that God was, in |
| Jesus Christ, reconciling the unbelieving world unto Himself. That's |
| all BEFORE faith. "The world" has no faith, It would not be "the |
| "world" if it did. |
| If forgiveness does not precede faith then it could not be said |
| that God reconciled the world to Himself. For that speaks of God |
| taking it upon Himself to remove what separated us from Him. If |
| OUR faith has to come first, then Paul would have to say that WE |
| reconciled ourselves to God. WE made the first move "by faith," |
| and ONLY THEN did God respond to us. |
| But this is not what Paul says. He says that God took it upon |
| Himself, in Christ, to do everything possible to reconcile the world |
| back to Him! In other words, He forgave all sin -- all that separated |
| us from Him. That is WHY we can now draw near to God in faith! |
| The conclusion is inescapable. We do not believe to get God |
| to forgive us. God forgave us so that we can believe. He forgave |
| us in Christ long before we ever exercised an ounce of faith. If we |
| have faith, God put it there, because of His forgiveness in Jesus. |
| Before the Foundation of the World |
| How can it be possible that God forgives before we believe? |
| Isn't that a breach of moral righteousness, and of divine justice? |
| Some would argue that. They would say that if God forgives us |
| even before we believe in Christ, then we don't need Christ to be |
| forgiven. How about this? |
| To the contrary. The reason God can forgive us, even before we |
| believe, is precisely because His forgiveness depends solely on |
| Jesus Christ, and not upon us. |
| Do you see that? Because God's forgiveness is independent |
| of us, and solely dependent upon Christ, God is able to forgive us |
| all -- even before we believe. He is able to say, "It is finished," |
| even before a single person has faith in Christ. |
| There is no breach of moral righteousness in this because Jesus |
| paid the full price for sin. God does not forgive sin by waving His |
| hand and saying sin is ok. He does not say, "You are forgiven. So |
| I don't care whether you believe." No. He says, "You are forgiven. |
| And that is precisely why you are able to believe -- and will be |
| judged if you refuse to believe." |
| God does NOT forgive sin because we believe. He forgives |
| sin because Jesus Christ paid the price for it, thus gave Him a just |
| and moral reason for forgiving it. The fact and reality of it is |
| something we had nothing to do with, and which we cannot alter. |
| Forgiveness, Not Yet Salvation |
| Now, this is bound to raise some questions. Are we saying that |
| faith is not necessary for salvation? Are we saying that God has |
| saved everyone whether they believe it or not, and whether they |
| know it or not? |
| Not at all. What we are saying is this: Faith is not necessary to |
| be forgiven. But faith IS necessary for salvation. There is a big |
| difference between the two. All men are forgiven for sin because |
| Jesus paid the price for all sin. But only those who believe and |
| embrace what Jesus has done are saved. |
| This is where does faith comes in. By faith I EMBRACE what God |
| has done. In other words, forgiveness is a finished reality. God |
| HAS reconciled the world unto Himself. But unless I believe and |
| embrace these things, they will do me no good. |
|
Remember our verse from II Corinthians. It said: |
| To wit, that God was, in Christ, reconciling the WORLD unto |
| Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. (II Cor. 5:19) |
| The key phrase here is "in Christ." In other words, God HAS |
| forgiven (past tense) everyone IN CHRIST. Believer and unbeliever. |
| But if I don't embrace Christ as Savoiur, I'm not in Christ. So I, by |
| MY choice, remain outside of the forgiveness God has given. |
| What this boils down to is this: ALL of us are forgiven IN CHRIST, |
| whether we believe or not. But we must come to Him or it will do |
| us no good. |
| How do we come to Him? By repenting of our refusal to do so. |
| The Bible says, "Repent and believe." Repent of what? Repent of |
| NOT BELIEVING! Then we will do what? We will BELIEVE! |
| We see this in Romans 5:10. First, God reconciles ALL men to |
| Himself. That is done. Finished. But now "being reconciled, we |
| shall be saved by His life." In short, the death of Christ took away |
| all of the sin of mankind. That is forgiveness. But only those who |
| receive Christ enter into the resurrection and salvation. You must |
| believe to be saved. That is the only way to enter into Christ. |
| Through the death of Christ, all that stood between us and God |
| was removed -- i.e., our old sin nature. All of our acts of sin. At that |
| point the record is wiped clean, paid in full. We ARE forever |
| forgiven, before the foundation of the world. But we do not yet have |
| LIFE. Through the resurrection we receive new life. |
| We cannot receive this new life unless we believe. And the fact |
| is, if God has revealed to us the Truth of His forgiveness in Christ, |
| then He has also given us the faith to embrace it. He has shown us |
| that we are sinners, yet forgiven. And He has shown us that we |
| have salvation only in Jesus. Thus, we are utterly without excuse for |
| not believing and receiving. |
| Faith Necessary to Receive Salvation |
| God has reconciled the world unto Himself through Christ -- |
| whether anyone believes or not. God has forgiven all sinners -- |
| whether anyone believes it or not. If not one human being ever |
| believed or embraced what Christ has done, He has still done it. |
| But it is only those who do believe who receive the salvation which |
| results from the Redemption of Jesus Christ. |
| A human example will suffice. Suppose someone sins against |
| you greatly -- but you truly forgive them. Your forgiveness is total |
| and complete. It is impossible for you to do any more forgiving of |
| them than you have done. And you have taken the initiative to |
| reveal this fact to the person who sinned against you. But -- they |
| won't accept it. Does their "unbelief" change you? Does it undo |
| your forgiveness? No. But as complete as your forgiveness is, it |
| has done nothing for THEM. |
| God has done everything He can do to solve the sin problem. |
| He has taken all of my sins and forgiven them in Jesus Christ. |
| Nothing can change this -- not my faith, and not my unbelief. Yet it |
| is by faith that I EMBRACE what Christ has done, and am thereby |
| saved. Or it is by unbelief that I reject it. The reality of what Christ |
| has done nevertheless stands eternally in place -- regardless of |
| what I choose. |
| The Unpardonable Sin |
| In discussing God's forgiveness we must speak about the |
| "unpardonable sin" -- for it is the one sin which God CANNOT |
| forgive. Why? Because it is the refusal of God's forgiveness. God |
| cannot forgive the refusal of His forgiveness elsewise He would be |
| sanctioning sin. |
| Herein we see the judgment of God. It is precisely because |
| God has forgiven all of us in Christ -- even before we believed -- |
| that such a terrible sin is possible. It is precisely because His |
| forgiveness is solely dependent upon Christ that we are without |
| excuse for refusing it. The fact is, the greatest gift in the world is |
| God's gift of grace. But this same gift will judge us if we refuse it. |
| For what can God do for us if we reject Christ? |
| Notice how this works. If I refuse God's forgiveness, God does |
| not "yank" it back. Neither does my refusal do anything to UNDO |
| the finality of what Christ has done for me. That remains in place |
| forever, free of charge. But that is precisely why I am judged. I have |
| not only refused deliverance from all of my sins, but I have actually |
| committed another and much more terrible sin: The sin against the |
| Blood of Christ. The Bible says, "This IS condemnation, that Light |
| has come into the world, and men loved darkness." (Jn. 3:18-19) |
| So what we have is this: The finished work of Christ is fully in |
| place for me, and cannot be altered or changed. But if I refuse to |
| embrace it, God's forgiveness will do me no good. And in time, if I |
| persist in refusing it, I could become guilty of another sin -- the height |
| of sin against the New Covenant. It is the one sin outside of the |
| Redemption, for it is the refusal of that redemption. |
| This "refusal of God's forgiveness" is actually UNBELIEF. Unbelief is |
| THE sin because it is the refusal of the solution for sin. Consequently, |
| once I repent of unbelief, I will see that all my other sin is taken away |
| in Christ, and that God has forgiven me. |
| In the final analysis, there are two reasons people will reject the |
| forgiveness of God. It will either be because they think they are too |
| good for it, or because they think they are too bad for it. Both are |
| unbelief. And neither need happen if we will just open ourselves to |
| God. |
| Past Tense |
| God always talks about the finality of our forgiveness in past |
| tense in the Bible. He always talks about the good works we do |
| being BECAUSE of what Christ has done. |
| And be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one |
| another, even as God for Christ's sake HAS forgiven you. (Eph. |
| 4:32) |
| And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your |
| flesh, HAS he quickened together with Him, HAVING forgiven ALL |
| your trespasses. (Col. 2:13) |
| I write unto you, little children, because your sins ARE forgiven you |
| for His name's sake. (I John 2:12) |
| Note the past/present tense in all of these verses. God has |
| already done all the forgiving He is going to do. And the fact is, |
| there is no sin so deep that the Redemption has not reached -- |
| except rejection of that Redemption. God HAS forgiven us. Now, |
| we need only believe and receive by faith. |
| Paid in Full |
| When Jesus said, "It is finished," He used the a word which |
| literally means, "paid in full." It was actually a word which was, in |
| that day, stamped on bills and debts, denoting that they were paid |
| in full, and therefore, no longer valid. The person who was now |
| debt-free could carry this voided note around with him, and if any |
| one claimed he owed the money, it was proof he had been |
| released from the debt. |
| By this Jesus was showing that the debt we owed to God was |
| "paid in full" by His sacrifice. Indeed, it shows that all our debts are |
| paid -- past, present, and future. If we sin, we have the cancelled |
| debt as proof we are always forgiven -- always in a state of having |
| been forgiven of God. |
| Imagine if you were in great debt, say, to a credit card company. |
| You had no way of being able to pay the debt. The more payments |
| you sent in, the more you owed, for the interest was outracing your |
| payments. |
| Now imagine that someone pays off this debt for you -- free |
| of charge, no questions asked. You are debt free. But let's take |
| things one-step further. You are not only debt-free NOW, for past |
| debts, but you are told that no matter how much you get into debt |
| in the future, that the future debt is also paid off. You will never |
| be in debt again. |
| Now first, ask this question: What if you DON'T believe you are |
| debt free? What if you continue sending in payment after payment? |
| Despite the fact that you are free of debt, your freedom does you |
| no good. In fact, your unbelief is costing you much. You continue to |
| act, think, and feel exactly like a man in debt. And furthermore, you |
| are throwing away money. You are paying off a debt that is already |
| paid off. |
| Some Christians practice this sort of unbelief regarding the |
| forgiveness of God. Jesus Christ has already "paid in full" every |
| debt sin has incurred. In Christ, God has cancelled ALL debts. |
| Not only those of the past -- but of the present and future. But |
| many of us don't believe it. We keep "sending in" our payment. |
| Consequently, for us, things are exactly as they would be if Christ |
| had not paid our debt in full. We live in guilt, condemnation, and |
| fear. We spend our lives trying to do for ourselves what Christ has |
| already done. |
| All Debts Cancelled |
| Once we see the finality of God's forgiveness, and begin to walk |
| in it, we will see that God's love and forgiveness towards us does |
| not fluctuate back and forth, based on OUR performance. I am not |
| continually gravitating back and forth, in and out of the forgiveness |
| of God based on what I do or don't do. Nothing I do can change |
| what Christ has done. If I am in Christ, I am forgiven forever. But not |
| because of anything about me. It is because of HIM. |
| The fact is, most Christians don't believe this. We believe that |
| our access to God, and His attitude towards us, is constantly |
| changing, based on what WE think, do, say, and feel. We live in a |
| continually fluctuating relationship with God. |
| The reality is, it is WE who fluctuate. It is WE who take our sin, |
| turn it into a debt, and put it between us and God. It is WE who |
| will not believe our debts are cancelled even before we incur them! |
| Our unbelief is responsible for every single obstacle which is |
| between us and God. WE have put them there. |
| Note that again: WE put our sin between us and God. God has |
| already taken sin out of the way in Christ. It is WE who waver and |
| go back and forth in faith. God never moves. It is a great victory |
| when we come to see that absolutely nothing we do or believe can |
| change the Truth about what Christ has done, or alter our access to |
| God because of it. Eternally, God says, "It is finished. Only |
| believe." |
| Reconciliation |
| We have already read two scriptures which contain the English |
| word "reconciliation:" |
| For if, when we were yet enemies, we were reconciled to God by |
| the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be |
| saved by His life. (Rom. 5:10) |
| To wit, that God was, in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, |
| not imputing their trespasses unto them. (II Cor. 5:19) |
| But what does this word "reconciliation" mean? |
| The Greek word is "katallassein." It comes from a root word |
| which means "change." So when the Bible speaks of |
| reconciliation, it is talking about a CHANGE which has taken place. |
| More specifically, it is speaking of a change from ENMITY to |
| FRIENDSHIP. |
| Most of us know how the English word is used. If I have been |
| estranged from someone, having broken my relationship with |
| them, and then all of that changes, I have been "reconciled" to |
| them. In effect, my relationship has changed from one of enmity |
| to friendship. |
| In like manner, the Bible speaks of "reconciliation" between God |
| and man through Christ. But it is vital to see HOW this reconciliation |
| happened. Note the two phrases from the above verses regarding |
| the nature of reconciliation in Christ. First, Paul says, "WE were |
| reconciled to God." Then he says, "GOD was reconciling the |
| world TO Himself." |
| What we see are two things. First, WE needed to be |
| reconciled. Not God. And secondly, God did the reconciling, not |
| us. |
| We must see this. And then we must see what it means for our |
| everyday walk. For if WE needed reconciled to God, and not God |
| to us, then why do we now walk as if the opposite is true? Why do |
| we constantly act as if God is the one who withdraws from us when |
| we sin, and God is the one who needs to be coaxed back and |
| reconciled? |
| The fact is, WE need to be reconciled. WE are the ones who |
| step back from God, yes, in disobedience, but moreso in unbelief. |
| God reconciled the world back to Himself by NOT counting our |
| trespasses against us. He certainly does not change this now |
| that we have become His people! |
| Erring in this can greatly hinder our spiritual walk, for it certainly |
| strikes at the heart and core of our faith. Yet wrapped up in this one |
| word -- "reconciliation" -- is the great Truth of the gospel of grace. |
| God has taken the initiative to reach down and reconcile US back |
| to Him. He has done this despite our sin against Him. |
| If read the two verses about reconciliation again, we will find not |
| one word which suggests that GOD was ever the one who withdrew |
| from us. Or that GOD was the one who needed to be brought back |
| to us by the death of Christ. No. WE were the ones who made |
| ourselves enemies of God. WE were the one who needed to be |
| CHANGED and reconciled. GOD was the one who did the |
| forgiving and reconciling through His Son. |
| What we have is a picture of God taking the initiative to effect a |
| change in us which would remove the enmity in US and replace it |
| with friendship. We have a picture of God reaching out and doing |
| in US what was necessary to effect reconciliation. It is ALL God |
| and none of us. |
| Now once we realize this, it should translate into living for |
| today. If "while we were yet enemies" we were reconciled to God |
| by Christ, then how much more now that we belong to Him? If God |
| forgave us while we are enemies, why do we act as if He won't do |
| it now that we are Christians? |
| The Truth is, we are reconciled to God, not through what we do |
| or don't do. We are reconciled to God by what Christ has done. |
| And no sin we commit can undo what Christ has done. |
| Thus, we come back once again to the fact that NOTHING we |
| do, and NOTHING we believe, can change what has been |
| eternally established by God -- independent of us -- through |
| the finished work of Christ. Truth IS Truth, and eternal, if not a single |
| person believes it or obeys it. Yet unless we believe and obey it, it |
| will do us no good. Indeed, we may even become guilty of a NEW |
| sin -- that of refusing the only means of our forgiveness. |
| The Finality of Forgiveness |
| Most of us have believed, or been taught, that even though |
| Christ died for our sins, God does not forgive us until we believe. |
| But now we have seen that what God wants us to REPENT |
| OF NOT BELIEVING. His forgiveness has always been there, in |
| Christ. Our unbelief is all that has kept us from it. |
| We have also seen a distinction between being forgiven, i.e., |
| reconciled to God, and actually being saved. God reconciled the |
| world to Himself, and each of us, while we were yet enemies of |
| God. This He did through the death of Christ. It is a finished fact |
| whether we believe it or not. But unless we believe, it will do us no |
| good. We must believe and embrace what God has done through |
| Jesus Christ in order to be saved. |
| This great Truth should cause us to forever leave behind the |
| lie that any part of God's forgiveness depends upon us. For how |
| can it depend on us if it is already done? How can we earn or |
| maintain God's forgiveness for us -- for sins past, present, or |
| future -- if it is already an accomplished reality, eternally set in place |
| through Jesus Christ? And that, before the foundation of this world? |
| This is not merely a doctrine to believe in. It is not merely a |
| teaching to memorize. It is a reality which we must embrace by |
| faith, and one which should revolutionize our Christian walk. |
| The forgiveness of God is perfect and final. God has done all |
| the forgiving He is going to do. He beckons us to now to believe. |
| He wants us to walk in the forgiveness of our sins, for in His Son, |
| '"It is finished." * |