Forgiven & Forgotten, Our Sin
Have you trusted Christ and still feel unsafe about eternal life?
Are you causing undue anxiety in your own life?
Are you secretly punishing yourself, living in a defeated circumstance, making people around you confused?
Have you trusted Jesus Christ for your Salvation and yet are not living in the joy it brings?
WHY?
Luke 15:11 And he said, A certain man had two sons: 12 and the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of thy substance that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. 13 And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together and took his journey into a far country; and there he wasted his substance with riotous living. 14 And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that country; and he began to be in want. 15 And he went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. 16 And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. 17 But when he came to himself he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish here with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight: 19 I am no more worthy to be called your son: make me as one of thy hired servants. 20 And he arose, and came to his father. But while he was yet afar off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. 21 And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight: I am no more worthy to be called thy son. 22 But the father said to his servants, Bring forth quickly the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: 23 and bring the fatted calf, and kill it, and let us eat, and make merry: 24 for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry. 25 Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 And he called to him one of the servants, and inquired what these things might be. 27 And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound. 28 But he was angry, and would not go in: and his father came out, and entreated him. 29 But he answered and said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, and I never transgressed a commandment of thine; and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends: 30 but when this thy son came, who hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou killedst for him the fatted calf. 31 And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that is mine is thine. 32 But it was meet to make merry and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.
It ought to be standing out in Bold letters what was done when the prodigal came home,
They had a party, that’s what!
Doesn’t that say something to you about your own trust in the Lord?
It is not the time, and never again should it be, that we are to live as if we need “resaving”, as if we are still guilty.
having been freed from sin it is Christ’s intention that we rejoice, and again I say Rejoice!
Nothing wrong with GUILT, it is where and how it is applied that is the error,
guilt that brings conviction is of great value, it is what brought us to Christ in the first place, so it is good,
However, as a child of God, if it brings an attitude of condemnation then it is bad guilt because we have passed from death to life and SHALL NOT come into condemnation.
Romans 8:1.
The widow’s lost coin, find the coin—party
Sheppard's lost sheep, find the sheep—rejoice.
The very opposite to some who live in
self incrimination about their own
past and forgiven sin.
Martin Luther said:-
“Most Christians have enough religion to feel guilty about their sins, but not enough to enjoy life in the Spirit”.
Pride about ourselves robs us in all sorts of ways:
Committed sin.
Sin of omission.
Sins of the mind, thoughts and desires.
Discontent.
Covetousness.
God teaches Peter an important lesson, He, God is about to redirect His activity to the Gentiles, Peter would not easily do this, so Christ had to bring a principle into action.
Acts 10: 5 The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”
William Cowper, 18th century hymn writer, (1731-1800) wrote many hymns including, There is a fountain filled with blood ...,
This hymn has wonderful words yet Cowper attempted suicide because of his own guilt. John Newton who was a personal friend of Cowper could not convince him of his salvation.
Cowper died believing that he was beyond redemption.
Psychology professor Lewis Smedes tells a true story of guilt impact:-
In the city of Karpov lived a gifted piano player named Lech Koplenski who had no connections with the concert world, he played every night at a cabaret in Karpov. Attractive Chenska Wolenka loved Lech with selfless devotion to his dream of becoming a concert pianist. A producer of concerts regularly came to the cabaret, Chenska struck up a friendship with the producer and would often bring Lech to his attention.
The producer made a proposition with Chenska that if she made love with him, he would see that Lech got his chance on the concert stage. Chenska made good on the deal and had a “one night stand” with the producer. The producer made good on his part of the deal and Lech went off to the concert stage.
Lech became a star on the concert tour, never returned to the Karpov. Chenska only had the guilt and shame of what she had selflessly done, she wrote “I am filth” across her mirror and jumped out the window into a Karpov lane, killing herself.
This is what guilt does, it destroys and cripples life, not what God ever intended, He only gives happiness and joy to those who seek His remedy for sin.
ABOUT GUILT OR PEACE OF MIND
(extract from my Forgiveness, Freedom from guilt)
Our life and our final home, depends on God, and He tells us the truth in the Bible.
If our action of ‘asking Christ into our lives’, ‘is for real’, we can trust Him and not be deceived by our FEELINGS.
These are some texts of what the Bible says —
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Isaiah 1:18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith Jehovah: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
Hebrews 9:28 so Christ also, having been once offered to bear the sins of many, shall appear a second time, apart from sin, to them that wait for him, unto salvation.
Our Salvation is not to do with “how good we are”, but on our faith in God only, not on our performance;
The Bible says —
Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Matthew 7:22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy by thy name, and by thy name cast out demons, and by thy name do many mighty works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
The above text is about personal performance and not trusting in God.
Your personal faith (trusting in Jesus only) in God, (Jesus Christ) is vital to knowing forgiveness, nothing else will do.
His word, the Bible, says that He will forgive those who trust Him, that is all that matters, God is satisfied with the death of His Son on the cross as our substitute, and He will have nothing else as part of His forgiving us our sin.
Christ said just before He died on the cross, “It is Finished”, and it was/is, nothing else counts for our salvation, ever.
We may need to
RE-EDUCATE OUR CONSCIENCE TO THE
GODLY STANDARD.
When we come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ we also get a new concept of sin.
This is the Godly nature, through the presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit, who takes up residence in our body which is His temple
This is usually the reason for a new concept of sin in our lives, BUT YOU CANNOT UNSCRAMBLE EGGS & YOU CANNOT UNDO WHAT HAS BEEN DONE.
So this is where God’s GRACE OPERATES bringing cleansing from “All Unrighteousness”,
We MUST take stock of this act by God and re-align our thinking and conscience to understand that God has acted to take our debt of sin from us and caused Jesus Christ to
PAY FOR OUR SIN,
MAKING US CLEAN, COMPLETELY WHOLE.
This is our new way of thinking, sin is still wrong and we are to avoid it, yet we are whole and free from sin
through our being cleansed by Jesus Christ.
When we sin after our conversion we need to apply 1 John 1:9. and confess that sin.
There are many other aspects to the Christian life, these come to our notice as we live as a Christian, but eternal life is already a fact.
The ONE overriding fact is that our salvation from sin is by FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST. Our knowing this is found in what happened at Christ’s death. When Christ was dying on the cross two ‘malefactors’ (criminals) were crucified alongside Him. These two were so evil that Roman law sentenced them to death by crucifixion, yet in the short time before his death, (the one on the right of Jesus), he acknowledges that he is a sinner, and asks Jesus to, “Remember Me when you come into your kingdom”, and this criminal who has no time in life left to ‘try to be good’, is told by Jesus, “Today thou shalt be with Me in paradise”. He was completely forgiven, he could not be baptised, go to church/confession or do something good, yet he was assured of Heaven that day, the day he died! This is our lot also, at salvation we are no longer guilty before God, we are completely forgiven. What a relief! (see in Luke 23: 39-43)
TRUSTING IN WHAT CHRIST HAS DONE is the only thing that counts, ever, at times we all feel bad or guilty, but what God’s word says is what really matters. God says He has blotted out our sins, He has buried them in the depths of the sea, He will never ever remember them again. Isaiah 43:25 & Isaiah 44:22
If peace is troubling you, quite simply and quietly, ‘ask God to give you the peace you want, read the Bible daily if possible, and believe what the Bible says.
