Yesterday we saw the first of the Seven Precious Blessings for the Believer … you are saved! Today we need to consider why we enjoy “salvation” … (We are “saved”). We enjoy salvation because we are “forgiven”. It is very important to understand that human forgiveness and divine forgiveness are extremely different. When we forgive each other … say as a wife, husband or parent forgiving a husband, wife or child, however sincere and genuine we are, as soon as another crisis occurs, we remember the last time and become even more inflamed with anger than before. Yet, with God it is radically different.
Why is forgiveness so special and why is God’s forgiveness radically different to human forgiveness? Because it is rooted in the precious blood of Jesus.
Mt 26:27 Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. 28 This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”
You will recall how the blood of bulls and goats was shed over many, many years … it was repetitive … yet it could not harvest final and enduring pardon. All it did was make those sacrificing aware of their sinfulness and need of pardon … and each time an animal was sacrificed it pointed to a greater sacrifice that would appear when God’s time was right. This naturally is Messiah! When Jesus said “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins”, He was saying the content in the “cup” pointed to His Blood sacrifice that would cover the sin of “many” … not everyone … to deliver from and forgive sin when repentance and faith are exercised.
The reason forgiveness of sin is so precious is because by nature we are at enmity with God. Because of our inherit sinful disposition, we are God’s enemies from birth. From birth, although born with a natural desire and instinct to worship, we rebel against God … we are His enemy … we fight Him even if we are unaware of it. We resist Him … and like it or not … aware of it or not … we are unhappy and dissatisfied with life. We might not articulate it … rather we give the impression all is well … yet deep down in the heart and soul the unhappiness is evident. Yes there is this instinct to worship and because we resist God we find all sorts of ‘replacement gods” … supposedly to appease our guilty conscience and unhappy heart. These could be many … such as materialism, secularism, sexual immorality, mind altering substances such as drugs or alcohol, education, work, money, possessions, image … and the list is endless. Yet these things, be it one of them or all of them will not and cannot take away the ache in the heart that cries out for something unreachable … because the true God is rejected or ignored.
Into this environment, as the Gospel is heard and the Holy Spirit comes with life transforming power in genuine salvation, the first experience is “forgiveness”. Some people, because of their “checkered past” might take longer to experience this pardon but whether they “feel” it or not … the truth is they are forgiven. The enemy of the soul can play tricks with a new believer, causing them to “feel” as though they are not saved and not forgiven. We call this “the lack of assurance of salvation”. However, once the saved soul understands through proper explanation and teaching that as one who has surrendered the heart to Jesus through confessing sin, repentance and faith, they are fully and totally forgiven of all sin and guilt, past, present and future. This bring such comfort that it results in joy, praise and happiness from a truly grateful heart.
Just think of it: There is being made right with God. God is no longer the enemy and you are no longer God’s enemy. Reconciliation has taken place. You are now at peace with God and He is at peace with you.
Ro 5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
Having had your sin forgiven and your guilt removed, you are incorporated into God’s eternal family. You have been adopted into a permanent, forever family. You are God’s child.
1Pe 2:9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Through the redeeming work of the Lord Jesus at Calvary, the Father sees you as He sees His Son … holy and blameless.
2 Cor 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
Because of this new union, God will never condemn you because your sinful past is Blood covered.
Ro 8:1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.
Thank You, Loving Heavenly Father, that You have rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son You love, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. We are so blessed to know experimentally that our sins are dealt with and we can know personally the glorious assurance of salvation through the Blood Sacrifice of Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Help us to live life proving forgiveness. Amen.