Forgiveness

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All Forgiven? All Saved?

Published March 7, 2011 | By Cornel

I recently had a few discussions with people because I said I believe every person, saved or unsaved has already had their sins forgiven. For some reason this seems to be a tender nerve. So I want expound on my views a little more. Imagine a scale going from -100 all the way to +100.

-100 <————————- 0 ————————-> +100

Before you got saved, where on the scale would you find yourself? Your sins would place you in the negative part of the scale. Like with a credit card. If you owe money, you are in the red. Then Jesus came and this was His message:

Jer 33:8 ‘I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against Me, and I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned and by which they have transgressed against Me.

Now if Jesus came to pardon your debt, where on the scale would that put you? At 0 or at +100? If I pay off my debt on my credit card, it means I owe nothing but I also don’t have extra because my balance is 0. Forgiveness also just places you at 0 on the scale. The debt of sin of the entire world was forgiven in Christ. The entire world sits at 0. Does that mean the entire world is saved? NO! Why not? Because 0 is not the requirement to enter a relationship with the Father.

Mat 5:20 “For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.

To enter into relationship with the Father you need to be at +100 on the scale. You only get to +100 by grace through faith. All your debts have been cleared, but without faith you don’t receive the gift of righteousness that puts you at +100. See Rom 1:16-17. Sin was the thing that stopped you from being able to have a relationship with the Father. Jesus came and dealt with sin, removing the obstacle to relationship. But just because there is no hindrance left doesn’t mean you automatically have a relationship now. That requires faith.

So what happens when an unbeliever dies with the forgiveness of their sins totally provided for? Well, they die at 0. They die without relationship with the Father.

Mat 7:23 “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

Eternal life is not found at 0 on the scale. If my bank balance says 0 I cannot rest. I can only rest when my balance shows I have enough. Eternal life is to know God! (John 17:3). That is found way over on the opposite side of the scale in the positive end. Forgiveness, which was mercifully provided for thousands of years before I even sinned once, brought me to 0. Now through faith the gift of righteousness has brought me to +100 and a relationship with the Father. Is that not good news? Being on 0 is good news, but 0 is not the entire gospel. It’s only the invitation to it! +100 however, is really good news!

Realize you are not just at 0 on the scale, you are at +100! You are the righteousness of God in Christ! 0 doesn’t sit at the right-hand of God in Christ (Eph 2:5-6). 0 doesn’t have every spiritual blessings in heavenly places (Eph 1:3). 0 has not been provided with everything pertaining to life and godliness (2 Pet 1:3). 0 is not a heir of God and a joint-heir with Christ (Rom 8:17). +100 on the other hand, HAS!

It’s time you realize where on the scale you really are…

Grace and peace be multiplied to you all!

Cornel

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Confession: Here we go again…

Published February 14, 2011 | By Cornel

If you have to confess every sin in order for it to be forgiven, as some people interpret 1 Jhn 1:9 , how will you know what sin is so you can go confess it?

Rom 3:20 Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. (NKJV)

Since the law provides the knowledge of sin, you have to go to the law to find out what is considered sin by God so you can go confess it to Him. Which parts of the law do you use to define right and wrong for yourself? Do you use only the 10 Commandments, or do you use the entire law? Well, Jesus considered Leviticus 19:18 , love your neighbour as yourself, to be the second greatest commandment and that specific law wasn’t even part of the 10 Commandments. Has God granted you permission to judge which of His laws are applicable to you and which are not? Did Jesus ever mention that He is only going to fulfill certain parts of the law and that those parts are now no longer applicable? No! In fact, quite the opposite actually.

Luke 16:17 “And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fail.” (NKJV)

The law can’t be divided into applicable and not applicable sections for today. The law in its entirety will always remain intact. Heaven is more likely to pass away before even one law will fall away. That is why Paul wrote the following:

Gal 3:10 “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.’” (NKJV)

All things, meaning you can’t pick and choose. So, before you go confess next time, just make sure you go through the entire law to see what God considers sin and confess all those too. Don’t forget to also confess every good thing you didn’t do, because that is sin too (James 4:17). And while you are going through the entire law on this quest for knowledge of right and wrong in order to confess and repent, just think for a moment what got Adam & Eve into trouble in the first place? Eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. What did God say would happen if they ate of that tree? They would die, right? So while you are busy eating from the same tree by trying to get more knowledge about good and evil, don’t be surprised if the very ministry of death you are placing yourself under ends up killing you.

Or, look at the Greek of the only single verse in the entire New Covenant that instructs anybody to confess sins and you will see something very interesting:

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins (G266), He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins (G266) and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (G93).

G266: Hamartia: (Noun) To miss the mark, to transgress the law, collectively the complex or aggregate of sins committed either by a single person or by many.

The sin that needs to be confessed is not every single sin you commit because the word is a noun, not a verb. You are to confess that you have fallen short, that you have transgressed, that collectively you are as sinful as can be. You confess your state of sinfulness, not the action of every sin you commit. What happens then? God is faithful to forgive us our sins, same word same meaning, and cleanse you of all unrighteousness.

G93: Adikia: (Noun) Deeds of transgression, acts of unrighteousness.

Basically, confess your sinful state before God and He will forgive you of all your acts of unrighteousness. Now, the real whopper is that you have already done this. When? The day you got saved. You confessed your sinfulness, and the forgiveness God provided 2000 years before you even committed one act of sin was credited to you by grace. Now you either believe that and enter into rest from works of trying to earn forgiveness, or you keep asking God to forgive you over and over never really believing that He has already forgiven you. If you choose option 2, you better make sure you confess everything God considers sin, not just what you consider sin.

Does this mean we just forget about our sins, don’t deal with what we are struggling with and just live in any way we want? I will discuss this more in the next post. Stay tuned…

Grace to you!

Cornel

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Posted in Forgiveness, Grace, Prayer | Tagged Confession | 2 Comments

The Unforgiving Servant – Matt 18:23-35

Published November 9, 2010 | By Cornel

Matt 18:23-35 is one of those passages that has been used for years to beat believers over the head to get them back under performance based legalism. I have been asked about this passage quite a lot, as many people have used it when they try to argue that you can lose your salvation and be thrown out of the kingdom if you don’t do certain things. Lets look at the passage and then just ask 3 simple questions…

Matthew 18:23-35 “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.” (ESV)

Whenever this story is read, people identify God as the king and themselves as the servant. God forgave you your sins just like the king cleared the servant’s debt. Then they say that if we don’t forgive, God won’t forgive us and deliver us to the ‘jailers’ or tormentors in another translation. Whenever we study a piece of scripture, it should always be looked at through what happened on the cross. The cross changed everything. It especially changed the way God relates to us, which is important in understanding this parable. I said I would ask 3 simple questions, so here goes:

Are you saved by mercy or grace?

There is a difference between mercy and grace. We are saved by grace through faith (Eph 2:8), not mercy. The king in the parable showed mercy by forgiving the servant’s debt out of pity. God didn’t save you out of pity, He saved you out of love. Big difference. If the king had shown the servant grace, he would have not only cleared the debt, he would have given the servant enough money to never be in debt again.

Are you a servant or a king?

Surprisingly enough many believers would rather identify with being a servant instead of being a king. The scripture is clear that Jesus no longer considers us servants; we are friends, brothers, kings and priests. As He is, so are we in this world (1 John 4:17). So in this story it would be more accurate if you identified yourself with the king. You are in a position to be merciful, to see the debts people have and to clear it.

Does God relate to you based on your works or His Son’s works?

Since we are now the righteousness of God in Christ by faith, God relates to us based on Jesus’ righteousness, or the degree to which Jesus can do right. He no longer looks at our unworthiness, because through the atoning blood of Jesus, we have been made forever worthy. Whenever we think God would ignore the blood of His Son and again look at our own righteous efforts, we are saying Jesus’ blood was not enough.

So please don’t buy into this legalistic manipulation trap that God is going to hand you over to tormentors if you don’t forgive others because if He did, He would be guilty of murdering Jesus. “But Cornel, this Jesus talking about the Kingdom?” Yes, I know. And he told this story before He went to the cross. God’s kingdom didn’t start at the cross. His kingdom has always been there. Before the cross the relationship we had to the kingdom was based on the old covenant performance based laws. Do good, get good. Do bad, get bad. After the cross the relationship we have to the kingdom is based on the finished works of Christ. If you relate to God based on the law, then you are on your own, you have no mediator and He would have to keep His word and punish sin. But if you are saved, you relate to God through Christ, your Mediator, and God again would keep His word that He would not treat you according to your sins because He has punished His Son in your stead.

So the choice is yours: Do you want God to relate to you based on your righteous ability (Old Covenant), or Christ’s righteous ability (New Covenant)? You can’t have both because old and new don’t mix.

Grace to you all!

Cornel