Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

“Come now, let us settle the matter,”
    says the Lord.
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
    they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red as crimson,
    they shall be like wool.

• Isaiah 1:18

“I, even I, am he who blots out
    your transgressions, for my own sake,
    and remembers your sins no more.

• Isaiah 43:25

For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
    so great is his love for those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
    so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

• Psalm 103:11-12

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

• 1 John 1:9

For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

• Matthew 6:14-15

1 John 1:9 ”Continual confession of sin is an indication of genuine salvation. While the false teachers would not admit their sin, the genuine Christian admitted and forsook it (Ps. 32:3–5; Prov. 28:13). The term ‘confess’ means to say the same thing about sin as God does; to acknowledge His perspective about sin. While v. 7 is from God’s perspective, v. 9 is from the Christian’s perspective. Confession of sin characterizes genuine Christians, and God continually cleanses those who are confessing (cf. v. 7). Rather than focusing on confession for every single sin as necessary, John has especially in mind here a settled recognition and acknowledgment that one is a sinner in need of cleansing and forgiveness (Eph. 4:32; Col. 2:13).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.

• Apostle’s Creed

The Message

Forgiveness is not as tricky of a thing as we make it out to be.

God forgives and He forgets those sins.  Sure, God knows everything, but on the ledger that shows all of our faults, the page is blank.  Some people say that He holds none of our sins against us.

But then, God only forgives those who turn to Him and trust Him.  This means that we must turn from our sin.  We can and will stumble, but as long as we keep our hearts for Jesus and confess that we are indeed sinners, then God is faithful to not hold those sins against us.

But what is the major commandment for us in the church age?  We are to love one another.  Holding someone else’s sins against them is not representing God before them, but it also harbors ill feelings within us.  How can we love and hate someone at the same time?  Some people are so determined to push buttons just to see us get angry.  That type of hateful person must be avoided, but we need to find some way in which we hold nothing against them.  Indeed, we need to pray that they see that vile disease of hate in their soul and ask Jesus to heal it.

And when the sin is a corporate sin, a sin against a group of people, secular wisdom is that we cannot forgive someone when we were not one of those being harmed.  But does that not mean we failed in forgiving someone because they hated a group of people that we were associated with?

It is really simple.  To fully understand the gift of forgiveness from God, we must experience it within ourselves.  We must forgive and forget it.  Yes, we may still remember the hurt, but we should not hold it into account against that other person.

In so doing, we realize that is hard work.  We would not have a ghost of a chance of pulling it off without God in our heart.  And with that realization, we see the depth and breadth of God’s love toward us.  And the pain that we go through in forgiving someone who has hurt us deeply, we see the pain that Jesus went through on the cross.

Jesus said to forgive them, for they know not what they are doing.  Everyone seems to think that is the crowd chanting to crucify Jesus.  But as He felt the pain of our sin could He be asking the Father to forgive us?

And now let us sing.

Here is Forgiveness sung by Matthew West.  The prisoner that forgiveness frees is really you.  Show me how to love the unlovable.

 

Closing Prayer

Dear Lord,
We believe in You.  We trust You.  It is so simple.  Someone does something bad to me, and I forgive them.  But, Lord, that is so hard.  It tears me up inside.  But then I see You on the cross, and You suffered that because I rebelled against You.  That changes things.  And maybe me forgiving the other person might change them.  Lord, it is hard.  Give me the strength.  Help me forgive others like You forgave me.
In Thy name we pray,
Amen

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.