To be completely forgiven bestows total
freedom!
Some
people never fully grasp God’s forgiveness in their lives. Sins from their past continue to beat them up
because they fail to accept or understand God’s complete forgiveness. Defined, forgiveness is “the act of setting
someone free from an obligation resulting from a wrong done against you.”
Forgiveness
has three parts:
1.
an injury.
2.
a debt resulting from the injury.
3.
a cancellation of the debt.
Our
sin has injured and offends God. He
requires us ultimately to pay the debt with death. This death includes not only
physical death but also spiritual death which is an eternal separation from Him. But through Christ our debt can be cancelled
because He was able to provide one sacrifice so great to cover all sin.
We read in Genesis 2:16-17 (NKJV) And the Lord God commanded the man, saying,
"Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it
you shall surely die."
The
result of their disobedience to this command was physical death along with a
separation from God (see Gen 3:22-24).
But God still had compassion and He made them garments from animal skins
to hide their shame. This was the
beginning of the sacrificial system to bring mankind back into relationship
with God.
Ephesians 1:7-8 (NKJV) In Him we have redemption through His
blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He
made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence,
We are redeemed; that is we are bought back through
the price of the shed blood of Jesus Christ.
Our forgiveness is a gift “according
to the riches of His grace”. Forgiveness is available for whoever will ask
for it. 1 John 1:9 (NKJV) If we
confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and
to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
All
our sin has been nailed to the cross.
When Jesus was crucified it was not some sin or just big sin but all sin
was nailed to the cross! The sacrifice
so great to cover all sin could only be made by God Himself. We appropriate that sacrifice into our lives
when we confess our sin and acknowledge Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf.
God
does want you to be free from the burden and bondage of sin. When we can see and accept the total
forgiveness offered to us in Jesus Christ; we then are restored in our
fellowship with God and become His child.
In order to be totally free from sin we need to believe that the price
paid by Jesus was big enough to cover it!
The Bible is clear that it was and therefore we can be free!
Romans 8:1a (NKJV) “There is therefore now no condemnation to those
who are in Christ Jesus…”
