Many claim they are forgiven while secretly holding on to past perceived wrongs trying with their own efforts to forget.
Our Lord knows our hearts and wishes for everything that is buried to be revealed and turned over to Him. Forgiveness according to the scriptures is not about us forgiving someone else while harboring the past in ourselves. If there are events of our past life not forgiven, God will not forgive either since we ask Jesus to hang on the cross again. He wants everyone of us to be of a pure heart, not harboring ghosts of the past which have been buried and thought to have been forgotten. If we truly forgive others, then we must forgive ourselves.
Think about it for a moment. Paul tells us plainly that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus Romans 8:1. He says that if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new II Corinthians 5:17. If you continue to condemn yourself after receiving grace and forgiveness of Christ, isn’t there a sense in which you are denying the faith and crucifying the Son of God afresh Hebrews 6:6?
In other words, we enter the Promised Land by embracing God’s grace. We find rest when we believe that all our sins have been washed away. This, I suggest, is what someone means when they say that you need to “forgive yourself.”
Acts 13:38-39 “Therefore, my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses.”
The instructions given to Moses could not do it. Blood sacrifices and self-sacrifices could not do it. religious zeal couldn’t do it. Religious doctrines and other laws and instructions could not do it. Only Christ Jesus could offer full forgiveness of sins. Only Christ Jesus can make us fully righteous and holy.
Bottom line is a person is self-deceived if they claim to be a follower of Christ Jesus and are still holding onto events of a former life. As mentioned earlier: anyone who is in Christ, they are a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
Matthew 6:15 “But if you do not forgive others their sins, your father will not forgive your sins.”
Forgiveness, sanctification, and righteousness can only come through Christ Jesus.
1 Peter 3:18 specifically says that Jesus suffered once for sins on our behalf: “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God.” Because He is God incarnate, He could pay the eternal penalty of human sin in one ultimate sacrifice.
In 1 Peter 2:24, Peter refers to Jesus as the suffering servant of Isaiah 53, saying, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” The sacrifice and “wounds” of Christ on the cross sufficiently paid for our sins to offer us righteousness.
2 Cor 5:19 God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
It is up to every individual to decide if they are willing to accept the forgiveness Jesus came to give.
Mike
19 December 2021
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