God's Forgiveness
God's Forgiveness
Forgiveness is pardon for any trespass committed. Forgiveness is the most wonderful thing. The most wonderful feeling in the world is to have the feeling and the assurance that your sins are forgiven. David says in the Book of Psalms: “Blessed (or Happy) is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute (charge with) iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit” (Psalm 32:1-2). The most horrible feeling in the world is to have a guilty conscience. Guilt robs us of joy and peace and even can lead to depression and despair of life. Many people through out history have taken their lives because of the heavy weight of their guilt which they could not bear. When David had unconfessed sin, he was in great misery and said: “When I kept silent, my bones grew old through my groaning all the day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my vitality was turned into the drought of summer” (Psalm 32:3-4). And in Psalm 51, the famous Psalm that was written after David committed murder and adultery; David cries to the Lord saying: “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; according to the multitude of Your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin…. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me hear joy and gladness, that the bones You have broken may rejoice. Hide Your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me by Your generous Spirit” (Psalm 51:1-12).
How is forgiveness made possible? Forgiveness is made possible only because of Jesus Christ. Apart from Jesus Christ there is no forgiveness. In Christ “we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Eph. 1:7) and He is the One who “made us accepted in the Beloved” (Eph. 1:6). We read in 1 John 1:9 that “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us ours sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Why is God faithful and just to forgive us? It is only because of Jesus Christ. God is a just judge when He overlooks our transgressions because He found someone worthy to be our substitute and that substitute is the Lord Jesus Christ. The only way to have peace with God is through our Lord Jesus Christ. Like the bumper sticker says: No Jesus – No Peace, Know Jesus – Know Peace.
God is faithful to forgive us when we confess our sins (1 John 1:9). And He is faithful in restoring us and cleansing us from all sin (1 John 1:7). God’s forgiveness is not like man’s forgiveness. When God forgives, He really forgives and forgets; unlike man who might still have resentment and bitterness remaining. God says in Hebrews 1:12 – “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” In Isaiah 44:22 we read that God has “blotted out” our transgressions which are like a thick cloud. In Micah 7:19 we read how God has cast all our sins in the depths of the sea.
Friend, do you know God’s forgiveness? Do you want to be free from your guilty conscience? Than go to God today through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Go to Him today. Do not delay! Confess your sins and put your faith and trust in Christ to be your substitute. God will surely forgive you for He is faithful and just to do so because of His Son.
