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The Fact of Forgiveness
Spiros Zodhiates, in his fine work The Behavior Of Belief, says, “I am not what I ought to be; I am not what I wish to be; I am not what I hope to be; but, by the grace of God, I am not what I was.”
I doubt that any of us realizes the importance of forgiveness. And one reason we don’t is that we have no real concept of the heinousness of sin. Sin is a horrible disrespect for the God who created us. It is a despicable disregard for truth and piety. It is a bar to heaven and is behind every human misery in one way or the other. Forgiveness is doing away with sin–sending it so far away that it actually ceases to exist. Forgiveness is pardon, pardon which precipitates reconciliation. Without the fact of forgiveness we are helpless, hopelessly undone, enmeshed in a pit of degradation from which no escape is possible. We should praise God everyday for the fact of forgiveness.
Forgiveness is an act of God. It takes place when He says it will and only upon the conditions He has stipulated, man’s creeds and promises notwithstanding. While He is ever willing to forgive (II Peter 3:9), it is not so that He does so without regard to the attitude of the petitioner. That person who seeks His forgiveness must have a submissive and penitent heart. It is certainly true that forgiveness cannot be earned, it remains true that it is conditional; and the first condition is a mind filled with faith, which seeks release from the guilt of sin. That person who seeks after God is the fit candidate for forgiveness, for in that seeking there is the desire to please Him, to do His will, to incur His divine favor, and beg His pardon.
Forgiveness of sin is what the gospel is all about. In commissioning His chosen Apostles to go and preach he gospel, Jesus cites forgiveness as the end to be achieved by that preaching: “he that believes and is baptized shall be saved” (Mark 16:15-16). To be saved is to be forgiven–from that which has condemned us, our sins. He also said, “you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). Sin enslaves. Truth frees. Please bear in mind that it is not just any truth that saves, but that truth which relates to salvation. Economic truth, scientific truth, does not forgive sin. Saving truth is gospel truth. “Morever brethren, I declare unto the gospel, which I preached unto you, which you received, wherein you stand, and by which you are saved, if you hold fast that which I have preached to you, unless you have believed in vain” (I Corinthians 15:1-2). Paul than elaborates on that gospel, showing it to be a truth directly concerned with the atonement provided for man in the death of Jesus Christ.
Forgiveness demands trust in God. The fact of forgiveness does not change the way a man looks, his hair color, or his physique. And while it is certainly productive of a good feeling of relief from the conscientious conviction of sin, that emotional release is dependent on trust in God for its reality, and not in some man-made device. God is faithful (Hebrews 10:23; I Corinthians 10:12) and cannot lie (Hebrews 10:17-f), and that means that when we, with trusting confidence, meet the conditions He has stipulated for His forgiveness, the reality of that forgiveness becomes a certain reality. However, it must also be noted that no matter our feeling of release and pardon, the failure to comply with the truth God for forgiveness shows a lack of faith, a presumptions and haughty spirit, and a self-reliant attitude. God has no where promised to save such a one from sin. And so we should exercise great care to make sure we have met all the conditions God assigned for our salvation and not merely plans made and endorsed by some denomination. We do not seek the forgiveness of men. Men cannot forgive sins. God can!
“I am not what I was.” What a glorious thought. How marvelous to understand that God has forgiven us, that we are no longer shackled in the bonds of iniquity and fettered with the chains of sin, but by the grace of God, we have been pardoned, justified, “raised to walk in newness of life.” How thankful we ought to be, how impressed, how humbled, how greatly encouraged. How wonderful to contemplate the goodness of God and His gift of Jesus Christ, “in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Ephesians 1:7).
