FORGIVENESS
BREAD
6 All of us have become like one who
is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up
like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. Isaiah 64:6 (NIV)
21 But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been
made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness from God comes through
faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the
glory of God, 24 and are justified
freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. Romans
3:21-24 (NIV)
1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in
Christ Jesus, 2 because through
Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and
death.
3 For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, 4 in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. Romans 8:1-4 (NIV)
3 For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, 4 in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. Romans 8:1-4 (NIV)
3 If you, O LORD,
kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? 4
But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared. Psalm
130:3-4 (NIV)
13 “When
I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour
the land or send a plague among my people, 14 if
my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek
my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will
forgive their sin and will heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:13-14 (NIV)
10 All the ways of the LORD
are loving and faithful for those who keep the demands of his covenant. 11 For the sake of your name, O LORD, forgive my iniquity, though it is
great. Psalm 25:10-11 (NIV)
34 “No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his
brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ because
they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the LORD. “For I will forgive their
wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”
Jeremiah
31:34 (NIV)
14 For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your
heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15
But if you do not forgive men their
sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. Matthew 6:14-15 (NIV)
1 Praise the LORD,
O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. 2 Praise the LORD,
O my soul, and forget not all his benefits-- 3 who
forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life from the pit and
crowns you with love and compassion, 5 who
satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the
eagle's. Psalm 103:1-5 (NIV)
BUTTER
“If you
are reading this because you count yourself a good person and good people read
religious books, let me give you a warning; you are dancing on the edge of a
cliff. One day, maybe soon, you’re going to fall off. Not only that, but when
you fall off, it’s going to hurt really bad. I just wanted you know, and I
didn’t want you to say that nobody ever told you. I just told you….Feeling
ashamed and knowing Christ far surpasses being good and never thirsting for
mercy and forgiveness.” Steve Brown
“Christianity
simply does not make sense until you face the sort of facts I have been
describing. Christianity tells people to repent and promises them
forgiveness. It therefore has nothing
(as far as I know) to say to people who do not know that they have anything to
repent of and who do not feel that they need any forgiveness. It is after you
have realized that there is a real moral law and a power behind the law and
that you have broken that law and put yourself wrong with that power - It is
after all this, and not a moment sooner, that Christianity begins to
talk...(Christianity) tells you how the demands of this law, which you and I
cannot meet, have been met on our behalf. How God himself becomes a man to save
man from the disapproval of God. It is an old story...All I am doing is to ask
people to face the facts - to understand the questions which Christianity
claims to answer. And they are very terrifying facts. I wish it was possible to
say something more agreeable. But I must say what I think true. Of course, I
quite agree that the Christian religion is, in the long run a thing of
unspeakable comfort. But it does not begin in comfort; it begins in the dismay
I am describing and it is no use at all to go on to that comfort without first
going through that dismay. In religion, as in war and everything else comfort
is the one thing you cannot get by looking for it. If you look for truth, you
may find comfort in the end: If you look for comfort you will not get either
comfort or truth. - only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin with and, in
the end despair.”
CS Lewis
“God
not only offers forgiveness, reconciliation, and healing, but wants to lift up
these gifts as a source of joy for all who witness them.” Henri
Nouwen
“The
only ground on which God can forgive our sin and reinstate us to His favor is
through the Cross of Christ. There is no
other way! Forgiveness, which is so easy
for us to accept, cost the agony at Calvary.
We should never take the forgiveness of sin, the gift of the Holy
Spirit, and our sanctification in simple faith, and then forget the enormous
cost to God that made all of this ours.
Forgiveness is the divine miracle of grace. The cost to God was the Cross of Christ. To forgive sin, while remaining a holy God,
this price had to be paid. Never accept
a view of the fatherhood of God if it blots out the atonement. The revealed truth of God is that without the
atonement He cannot forgive – He would contradict His nature if He did. The only way we can be forgiven is by being
brought back to God through the atonement of the Cross. God’s forgiveness is possible only in the
supernatural realm……Once you realize all that it cost
God to forgive you, you will be held as in a vise, constrained by the love of
God.” Oswald
Chambers
“God
no longer holds you responsible for the smallest sin. Every single sin is
forgiven. When faith is said to be credited for righteousness, it is because of
what your faith receives: when you believe, Christ’s righteousness is credited
to your account, and your sins are credited to his account. If both of these
things do not happen, you cannot consider yourself forgiven. Sin would be
charged to your account. In the gospel, two things happen: first, God removes
the charge of sin against your account. Second, God gives you the gift of
righteousness from Christ. You receive this double gift when you receive
Christ’s redemption through the shedding of his blood.” Walter
Marshall
“When we as Christians sin, we can react in one of three ways: 1) We can become hardened to our sin. 2) We can sink into utter despair and say, ‘Its all over.’ I’ve known Christians who have spent twenty years despairing over one sin….the only right course of action for us as Christians is to 3) become increasingly sensitive to our sin, but also increasingly to know the forgiveness that is ours on the basis of the blood of Christ—to have the assurance that, if Jesus died for me in the state I was in before my salvation, how much more He must love me now!” Francis Schaeffer
“The more willing
you are to own up to your sin, the more willing God is to forgive you. When you come clean, God will clean your
record. If you are willing to use your
lips for confession, you will find your Father willing to use His lips to kiss
you." Paraphrased,
Charles Spurgeon
“Hast thou, O my soul, felt the weight of thy
own guilt and misery, and been enabled, in reality and truth, to lay hold by
faith of the blood of Christ for thy redemption, and faithfully to devote
thyself to him in heart and life? Then
hast thou a sure foundation to go upon:
let it be thy constant care firmly to depend upon these and such like
blessed declarations; for every blessing thou standest in need of. Has Christ brought life and immortality to
light? Then look unto him and live. Is there redemption through his blood, even
the forgiveness of sins? Then throw all
thy guilt upon his atonement. Has he
blotted out the hand-writing of ordinances that was against thee? Then shake off self-righteous dependences,
and legal fears also. Did he die for thy
sins? Then let his goodness and love
lead thee to unfeigned repentance; let the sense of thy sins break thine heart,
but encourage thy hope in the gospel.” K.H. Von Bogatzky
“God’s
forgiveness forgets.” Oswald Chambers
“The man who is truly forgiven and knows it is a man who forgives.” Martyn Lloyd-Jones
HEART SAVOR
·
In Christ we have the righteousness of God: 21 God made him who had no
sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
2
Corinthians 5:21 (NIV)
·
We all need forgiveness – there is no one righteous not
even one.
·
Those who
are forgiven, forgive.
