By: Phil Hopkins
The mercies of God are beyond belief. The Father has promised us that He will bestow upon us His mercy: Micah 7:18 “Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger forever, because he delighteth in mercy.” We have the opportunity to obtain mercy from God’s throne of grace if we but seek and obey Him: Hebrews 4:16 “Let us, therefore, come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” This is particularly amazing when we realize how offensive sin, any sin, is to God. We try to make-believe that some sins are much less offensive than others. We call things “white lies” as if some lies are OKAY. It is not a sin to lie sometimes But God says: Revelation 21:8 “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.” God says “all liars” will reap punishment, that includes “white liars”. It goes on throughout life that mankind tries to justify himself but fails. Sin is terrible to God. It stains us. As we find in God’s word sin separates us from God: Isaiah “59:2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.” God cannot look upon the one who commits sin, even sins of omission: James 4:17 “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” We all have sinned: Psalms 53:3 “Every one of them is gone back: they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.” We all have been separated from God, we have fallen short: Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” We need God’s mercy and His forgiveness in order to be in a covenant relationship with God again. As Paul wrote that through the grace and mercy of God, He has provided a way of redemption; Ephesians 1:7 “In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;” Through the blood of Christ, we can find forgiveness of sins. We can receive forgiveness for our sins. God through his mercy will forgive us, He will pardon us and spare us from the punishment that we are due for our sins. It is this amazing divine forgiveness, that can be ours if we are too but obey Him. As we find in the book of Romans: Romans 4:7 “Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.” God is willing to forgive us, completely for our sins. The blessed God-given forgiveness is complete, total. God is willing to forget our sins, to wipe them out as if they never existed: Hebrews 10:17 “And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. 18 Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.” Unlike mankind, God promises us that He will “remember no more” our sins. Much of mankind does not practice forgiveness like this. It was said in a poem back in the late 1700’s that “To err is human; to forgive, divine.” Have you ever asked someone to forgive you for something that happened in the past, only to have them bring the event up again later? This is not God’s forgiveness. When God forgives us it is done, forgotten. We are not reminded of what we have done ever again. This is divine forgiveness. God’s only requirement for forgiveness is complete obedience. To obtain this forgiveness from God, we must repent of our sins, real repentance, repentance with action. Repentance that produces a change of life, of not continuing in sin. Colossians 2:13 “And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;” Our return from the spiritual death that comes with sin, is brought on by our obedience and our repentance. This includes our abandoning our past sinful ways and changing our life including our repentance as shown by our actions. God truly wants to forgive us, each of us and all of us. As we have already quoted: Micah 7:18 “Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger forever, because he delighteth in mercy.” God is merciful and loves us, He will forgive us. He will not retain His anger toward us if we will serve Him. Few of us ever live up to this standard of forgiveness. Unfortunately, we typically continue to hold grudges and remembrances of the past, even for supposedly forgiven events. Have we ever brought up some event that we were asked to forgive? to anyone? Our spouse? our family? our friends? Or have we had others do it? This is not the behavior of God and it is not the behavior that He expects from us: Mark 11:25 “And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.” God expects us to forgive, completely forgive and forget. Colossians 3:13 “Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.” But it goes even further, as God is not only willing to forgive us once, He is willing to do it without limit, He will forgive and keep on forgiving. This does not give us a license to continue in sin, but we can know the God will always forgive us if we “bring fruits worthy of repentance (Lk. 3:8)”. Christ taught His disciples this: Luke 17:4 “And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him”, they recognized the difficulty of a human achieving this level of forgiveness in the next verse asking: Luke 17:5 “And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.” They knew that this level of faith was much higher than that to which they were accustomed. As hard as it may be, it is the forgiveness target that has been set for each of us. The key point is that if we are not willing to work to have this level of forgiveness for others, God will not forgive us. In other words, we are to be a forgiving people, a people that sees the best in others, unified people. As Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus: Ephesians 4:32 “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” How our lives will improve, how our marriages will improve, how the church will grow when we embrace a kind, tenderhearted, forgiving attitude towards others.