Tag: forgiveness

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The Ninth Mark of a True Disciple of Jesus

True disciples forgive those who wrong them

forgive

Jesus tells the price of bitterness.

Matthew 18:21–35 (ESV) says,

21 Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?”

22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.

23 “Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. 24 When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. 25 And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made.

26 So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’

27 And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt.

28 But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’

29 So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’

30 He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt.

31 When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place.

32 Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. 33 And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ 34 And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. 35 So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.’”

Big money

In Bible times a talent was a unit of money equal to 20 years of wages for a laborer. I calculated what the wages of a carpenter would be over a period of 20 years, and the amount was roughly $1,200,000. In Bible times a talent was worth $1,200,000! Multiply that times 10,000 and you have 12 billion dollars in today’s money.

On the other hand, a denarius was worth one day’s wages. So if a laborer earns $20 an hour working say 10 hours, that is $200. Or on the low side, compute at a minimum wage of $16 an hour working for just 8 hours a day, which comes to $128 total. So, in today’s value, this fellow bond servant owed his colleague somewhere between $130–200. Compared to $12 billion.

This is God’s perspective on a person who claims to be a Christian and claims to be forgiven of their sins and yet holds a grudge against someone else.

You may have good reason to be angry

Now, this is not saying you have not suffered a great wrong from someone. Someone may have sexually molested you. Someone may have stolen from you a lot of money or possessions. Your parents might have mistreated or neglected you or been partial to one of your siblings. You might have lost your job because someone lied about you.

Knowing what Jesus said, some still refuse to forgive the person who wronged them. They know what they are doing. They choose to hold on to their bitterness and hatred. In this parable, Jesus calls that wickedness. “You wicked servant” (Matt. 18:32). If you have been forgiven by God, it is a wicked thing to withhold forgiveness from others.

James 2:13 says, “Judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.”

Forgive without delay

A bitter person on the road to being condemned is not a true disciple of Jesus, but rather a false disciple.

So, what do you choose?

If you are married or divorced, you have hundreds and thousands of things large and small to forgive.

For those of you who have held on to a grudge against someone for a long time—maybe your entire adult life—I call on you now to forgive. I call on you to release that grudge and desire for vengeance. Pray for his or her good.

If you are holding grudges against family members, parents, siblings, children, I call on you to forgive them. You may have a sibling rivalry like Jacob and Esau—somehow your sibling always got the good end of things. I call on you to forgive that sibling.

If you who have been sexually molested, I call on you to forgive.

If someone stole your money or property, I call on you to forgive.

If you are divorced or separated, if a spouse has taken everything from you—your past, present, future, children, house, car, money—I call on you to forgive. Forgive them for your own sake so that you may be forgiven and enter heaven.

If a supervisor, company, colleague, or subordinate cost you your job, career, and security, I call on you to forgive so you can be a true disciple of Jesus.

The person you hate cost you dearly. Do not let them also rob you of Jesus. Do not let them take from you the kingdom of God and eternal paradise.

Pray

One of the best ways to forgive an enemy is to pray for her. Jesus said, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you” (Luke 6:27–28, ESV).

Moreover, you should pray for yourself: “Lord, I confess I have sinned against you by holding a grudge. I confess that my bitterness has been wicked. Lord Jesus, as you have forgiven me, I choose to forgive all who have sinned against me in the past, who sin against me in the present, and who sin against me in the future. Amen”

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God Forgives Idolatry

Although God is rightly jealous of false gods, he is also merciful

forgives idolatry

We have seen in previous posts in this series that God is rightly jealous when people worship idols and make created things their ultimate priority, rather than making God their chief concern in life. Nevertheless, we see in the life of Abraham that God will forgive those who have lived in such idolatry.

Abraham grew up in idolatry

Scripture says that before God intervened in Abraham’s life, he, his father Terah, and his brother Nahor served other gods (see Joshua 24:2).

Fathers teach their children to worship their idols. Scripture says Terah raised his family in Ur, a large, prosperous city on the banks of the Euphrates that archeologists have found had a temple to the moon god. So Abraham grew up in an idolatrous environment, with statues of idols enshrined in his home, with regular visits with his father to the temples of false gods, eating meals and performing sacrifices in home and temple dedicated to these gods. This was his life from the cradle and through his formative years as a toddler, boy, and teen. Abraham grew up worshiping idols.

But God had designs on him. Sometime after Abraham reached manhood, God first revealed himself to him when he lived in Ur, before he and his family moved to Haran and Abraham later moved to Canaan. In Acts 7:2–4 the martyr Stephen says of this event:

“The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran. ‘Leave your country and your people,’ God said, ‘and go to the land I will show you.’ So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran.”

This meeting in Ur must have turned Abraham from idols to the one true God.

Repentance is not automatic

But as Israel showed above, even after extraordinary encounters with God, turning from idols to God is not automatic, as we might suppose. Millions of Israelites saw how God judged the Egyptians and their idols with ten plagues, saw the Red Sea part and walked through it on dry ground, saw the pillar of cloud and fire leading in their journey, saw how God provided water and manna in the wilderness, saw God’s stormy glory on Mount Sinai, and heard God’s voice announcing the Ten Commandments. Yet after a lull in the action they quickly made a golden calf and held an idolatrous party.

Just because people receive objective evidence of the one true God does not mean they follow him.

But Abraham did. He repented of idolatry, and God forgave him.

If we repent of loving anything more than God, he will also forgive us.

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Truth #14 – God Does Not Answer the Prayers of an Unforgiving Person

If we want to move mountains by faith, then we need both to believe God and forgive others.

Believing God and Forgiving Others

There is a connection between faith and forgiveness. Jesus said:

“Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.” (Mark 11:22–25, ESV)

This monumental teaching by Jesus on great faith concludes by talking about greatly forgiving others.

And he does not set the bar low. He says to “forgive, if you have anything against anyone.”

“Anything” includes an unforgivable offense, a deeply evil deed that hurt you dearly and can never be repaid.

“Anyone” includes that person you despise.

Believing God and forgiving others

Can we move mountains in the world without removing mountainous grudges in our hearts?

Jesus answers that question with a parable. When Peter posed a question about forgiving others, Jesus said:

“Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt.

Gross hypocrisy

“But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’ So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt.

Justice is done

“When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.” (Matthew 18:23–35, ESV)

It’s not worth it

According to this parable, we cannot even be saved without forgiving others. So, can an unsaved person move mountains by faith?

Suppose a truly regenerate person struggles with forgiving someone. That is, they alternate between seasons of forgiveness and bitterness. Will they be able to maintain strong faith that their prayers will be answered?

Only God knows, but if none of your faith and prayers seem to be answered over a long period of time, and you are in and out of a grudge regularly, that might explain ineffective faith.

If you get offended regularly, if you feel resentment often, if you are angry with others on a daily basis, if you hate the person who hurt you, that may explain why your faith is feeble and your prayers go nowhere.

Takeaway

Jesus’s expansive promise about faith and prayer is followed by an emphatic call for forgiveness. They are connected. No grudge is worth weakening your faith, or worse, voiding your salvation. Do not give bitterness one square inch of your heart or one slim second of your time. When bitterness knocks, and you open the door, slam that door shut in his face. Do not let anything keep you from being established in faith.

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Reconciling the Seeming Contradiction of 2 Corinthians 5:10

How can we reconcile being perfectly forgiven with giving an account for evil deeds on Judgment Day, as 2 Corinthians 5:10 teaches?

2 Corinthians 5:10

Imagine a family with ten spoiled children. Each day the ten children mistreat their mother, each other, and their house and possessions. Every night the Father returns home from work, hugs each one, and ignores all the wrongs they have done. He tells them how much he loves them and acts as though nothing bad happened. Day after day, year after year, no child ever receives correction or discipline.

Wouldn’t you say something is wrong with that home? Wouldn’t you say something is faulty about that Father’s love? Everything in our sense of right and wrong tells us the head of the home should hold the children accountable and make things right. He should not, with a patient smile, just sweep wrongs under the rug.

2 Corinthians 5:10

On the cosmic scale, that is part of the reason why even forgiven, justified souls will give account to Jesus Christ for every sin of their lives. Scripture does not tell us exactly what that accounting will entail, but Scripture says it will happen. Ashamed of sins, we wish it were not so, but deep down we know it must be true.

Last week we established that it is so by carefully studying 2 Corinthians 5:10 and 1 Corinthians 3:10–15. In today’s post we will seek to reconcile this reality with the inarguable, seemingly contradictory fact that believers in Jesus are perfectly forgiven, justified, blameless, accepted, and saved by grace from all condemnation. How can it be that justified souls give an account for sin—not in the sense of being punished for sin but in the sense of talking with Jesus about them in some way—on Judgment Day?

Not an anomaly

First, we need to see this paradox appears elsewhere in the New Testament.

Exhorting Christians who were suffering persecution, the apostle Peter writes, “It is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?” (1 Peter 4:17). Peter regarded the suffering of these Christians as ultimately an expression of God’s judgment. But why would forgiven, justified believers in Jesus for whom there is no condemnation experience judgment?

Similarly, Peter writes, “If you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile” (1 Peter 1:17). But why would a forgiven, blameless, justified soul need to fear God’s judgment? How can our Father be our Judge? How can he judge us according to our deeds if he treats us as though we have never sinned (which is a definition often used for the word justified)?

Similarly, Jesus himself says to his church, “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent” (Revelation 3:19). But why would Jesus reprove and discipline people who claim to be Christians saved by grace and are therefore blameless, forgiven, accepted?

See also Romans 14:10–12; 1 Corinthians 4:5; James 3:1; 1 Thessalonians 4:6 (3–7); 1 Corinthians 11:27–32.

Your status in Christ versus your conduct

Again and again throughout the New Testament it is undeniable that God deals with his people on two levels. On one level, he treats us according to our status in Christ: forgiven, justified, sanctified. On another level, he deals with us according to our conduct, as we actually are living, in need of admonishment, discipline, training and so on. Both levels are necessary. Though they seem contradictory, neither cancels out the other.

I think this same duality explains what will happen on Judgment Day for a Christian. There are good reasons why Jesus will talk with us in detail through the good and bad of our lives, yet at the same time we will stand before him as his beloved, forgiven, fully accepted saints, free from all condemnation.

So, what are some of the good reasons why forgiven souls will give an accounting to Jesus for both the good and evil in their lives?

Why forgiven souls give account

I believe the purposes for the Lord’s careful examination of a Christian’s life on Judgment Day include the following.

1. Our works will prove our faith (or, in the case of hypocrites, tragically prove the opposite).

James 2:17–18, 22, 24 says: “17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. 18 But someone will say, ‘You have faith and I have works.’ Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works…. 22 You see that faith was active along with [Abraham’s] works, and faith was completed by his works;… 24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.”

2. Having our sins brought into the light as forgiven will magnify the Lord’s grace and mercy.

Psalm 25:11 (NLT) “For the honor of your name, O LORD, forgive my many, many sins.”

3. Having both our good and evil deeds brought into the light will be good for us. The light will bring healing and wisdom. God calls us to account because of his love.

Romans 8:28 says, “We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

In Revelation 3:19 Jesus says, “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline.”

4. God will be glorified as the perfect Judge, just and fair. Judgment Day will be in all history one of the two greatest manifestations of his holiness, righteousness, wisdom, mercy, salvation, and judgments, the other being Christ’s death on the cross. We will know God’s name far better because of Judgment Day. It will be the greatest display of justice in human history, as well as the greatest display of forgiveness. It will leave us astounded, marveling, worshiping, rejoicing, in awe of God our Savior.

Psalm 9:16 says, “The LORD has made himself known; he has executed judgment.”

The stark difference between God’s children and God’s enemies on Judgment Day

Although we will talk with the Lord about our sins on Judgment Day, we will not stand before God as lost souls stand before him giving account. We will stand before him with all the benefits of our status in Christ. We will stand before him on Judgment Day as the beloved. We will give an account like a son or daughter gives account for wrongdoing to a beloved father, not like God’s enemies who hate God and proudly reject Christ.

The contrast between God’s children and God’s enemies on Judgment Day will be stark:

  • God’s enemies stand before him alone with no one to help them. But God’s children stand before him with the Judge himself as their advocate, mediator, high priest, atoning sacrifice, and Savior.
  • God’s enemies will experience his demeanor toward them as he recounts their sins as one of wrath and fury. But God’s children will experience his demeanor toward them as he recounts their sins as a merciful demeanor, like a father correcting his child. First Thessalonians 5:9 says: “God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
  • God’s enemies will be condemned at the end of their judgment to suffer the full punishment of their evil forever. But God’s children at the end of their talk with Jesus will not be condemned (Romans 8:1), but rather, fully forgiven. For them, judgment will end in grace.
  • God’s enemies will receive no rewards, but only differing levels of punishment based on the degree of their evil. While God’s children will receive extravagant rewards for even the least of their good deeds and will depart from Judgment Day solely with rewards, not penalties.
  • God’s enemies will be cast into the Lake of Fire. But God’s children will enter the beautiful new heaven and earth and will enjoy their rewards forever.
  • God’s enemies will pay for their sins forever. But God’s children will never again have their sins remembered. They will be separated from them as far as east from west—for good, forever.

Our way and God’s way

Our way: Fallen souls try to hide sins and avoid God’s light. They deceive themselves to think they can keep their evils secret.

God’s way: God not only forgives us perfectly, he also judges us perfectly. God is light and therefore he brings all things, all sins, all secrets into the light. God’s light is always good.

Life principle: Judgment Day will be a day of divine light shining on all things, a divine light that will heal us and magnify God’s mercy.

Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)

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14 Characteristics of God’s Perfect Forgiveness

Imperfect people desperately need God’s perfect forgiveness.

Perfect forgiveness

The gospel is God’s message of forgiveness. Since our need of his forgiveness is great—indeed it is unlimited and occurs daily—let’s explore its characteristics. God is perfect (Matthew 5:48), so he forgives perfectly.

Here are 14 characteristics of his perfect forgiveness.

Perfect Forgiveness

1. Perfect forgiveness means God forgives you willingly, gladly, wholeheartedly, freely, rather than being pushed into it.

Isaiah 43:25 says, “I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.”

Romans 5:20 says, “Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.”

2. Perfect forgiveness means God forgives every single sin, including your worst sin.

Psalm 103:2–3 says, “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity.”

Isaiah 1:18 says, “Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.”

3. Perfect forgiveness means God never again holds your sin against you, but rather, forgets it.

King David wrote: “Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin the LORD does not count against them and in whose spirit is no deceit.” (Psalm 32:1–2 NIV)

Hebrews 8:12 says, “For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.”

Psalm 103:12 says, “As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.”

4. Perfect forgiveness means God does not punish you for sin.

Romans 8:1 says, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

God does not punish a follower of Jesus as a legal consequence of breaking his laws. The punishment fell on Jesus at the Cross.

Nevertheless, when a child of God sins, the Lord may in fatherly love discipline them for their ultimate good (Hebrews 12:5–11). He allows them to reap the natural consequences of the seeds they sow (Galatians 6:7–8). And sinful actions reduce a Christian’s rewards (1 Corinthians 3:12–15). These actions, too, are marks of perfection.

5. Perfect forgiveness means God has full, unqualified favor toward you.

In Jesus’ Parable of the Prodigal Son, “The son said to his father, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.” (Luke 15:21–24)

6. Perfect forgiveness means God forgives your most serious sins as completely as the least serious.

The apostle Paul wrote: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life.” (1 Timothy 1:15–16, NIV)

7. Perfect forgiveness means God forgives justly.

He forgives because of the atonement he makes available through the substitutionary death of Jesus. He does not forgive anyone and everyone. He does not clear the guilty, that is, those who have not repentantly received the salvation that is in Jesus Christ. He satisfies and upholds perfect justice.

Acts 2:38 says, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.”

Exodus 34:6–7 says, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty.”

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8. Perfect forgiveness means God removes all your moral guilt.

God, the Lawgiver and Final Judge, justifies you. When he looks at the Law and looks at you, he regards you as utterly blameless because of Jesus.

Colossians 1:22 says, “He has now reconciled [you] in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him.”

Romans 3:23–26 says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”

9. Perfect forgiveness means God removes all your shame.

First Peter 2:6 says, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

10. Perfect forgiveness means God forgives in a way that discourages repetition of the offense.

When we sin, he does not say, “No problem.” Rather, he says, “That is a problem, but I will forgive you completely because of Jesus, and I will cleanse you of wrong living.” He fixes us, making us a new person who desires to be godly.

Romans 8:1–2 says, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.”

Psalm 130:4 says, “With you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.”

11. Perfect forgiveness means God forgives in a way that requires sincere confession and repentance.

First John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

12. Perfect forgiveness means God forgives many varieties of sin.

God describes himself as “forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.” (Exodus 34:7) The NIV translates this phrase as “forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.” The idea conveyed by piling up these three words is that God forgives all varieties of sin, including

(a) Inadvertent, unintentional, thoughtless, careless sins.

(b) Willful, eyes-wide-open sins. (However, see Hebrews 10:26–31 about a type of deliberate, habitual, unrepentant sinning by hypocritical “Christians” that will not be forgiven.)

(c) Sins of weakness, capitulating to evil desires and passions that feel irresistible.

(d) Sins of omission, failing to do what we should have done.

(e) Sins of commission, doing what is forbidden.

(f) Sins of ignorance, which we do not know we have committed, which are innumerable.

All are forgiven if a believer in Jesus sincerely confesses and repents.

13. Perfect forgiveness means God forgives in a way that vindicates his holiness and his name.

To forgive your sins he does not compromise his holiness or character one iota. On the contrary, he forgives in a way that magnifies his holiness.

That is the message you should see in the Cross of Jesus. It was horrific because forgiveness cost you nothing, but cost God much. At the Cross, God upheld his holiness.

Ephesians 1:7 says, “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.”

14. Perfect forgiveness comes only by a perfect savior.

Your forgiveness is perfect because it was obtained by God himself, not by an imperfect man. God perfectly redeemed sinful humanity through the atoning death of Jesus on the Cross.

The blood of animals under the Old Testament only brought forgiveness because it was a proxy for the blood of Jesus.

The Old Covenant required that the sacrificial animals be perfect, with no blemishes or faults. This symbolically revealed the need for a perfect Savior, who in the fullness of time turned out to be God’s own perfect, divine Son.

Lev 22:19–20 says, “If [the sacrifice] is to be accepted for you it shall be a male without blemish, of the bulls or the sheep or the goats. You shall not offer anything that has a blemish, for it will not be acceptable for you.”

1 Peter 1:19 says we were redeemed “with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.” (NIV)

Our way and God’s way

Our way: On the human level, fallen people hold grudges or forgive reluctantly. Many sinners assume God will never forgive them.

God’s way: The Lord forgives sinners completely, willingly, perfectly because—and only because—of what Jesus accomplished by suffering and dying on the Cross.

Life principle: God would rather forgive you than judge you. When he forgives, he perfectly forgives.