025. SALVATION. God Says Not “By Good Works” But “For Good Works”

Posted on June 26, 2011 by Jim Holbeck

A transformation was taking place before my eyes. Graham was a young engineer who had wanted to see me to find out what Christianity was all about.   I shared some of the Bible passages with him that stressed how salvation was God’s gift to us in Christ and we how we could never deserve or earn our salvation.  The longer we shared, the more wide-eyed he became. It was as though an inner light was being switched on within him. That was literally what was happening as he heard and responded to the word of God I was sharing with him. I wasn’t surprised when he eventually said, ”Can I become a Christian right now?”  That night he prayed a prayer inviting Jesus to come into his life.  In the days that followed he was quickly changed by the power of God and became more and more “switched on” for Jesus.

 SALVATION IS NOT BY GOOD WORKS. Ephesians 2:9

One of the things Graham found amazing was the fact that God was offering him salvation freely in Christ. Graham was a worker. He had worked hard to get through school. He had then worked hard to graduate as an engineer. As an engineer he continued to work hard in serving his employer. So to be faced with the concept that he couldn’t work his way to heaven was at first confronting to him. But as he heard the word of God from such passages as Ephesian 2:8-9, spiritual understanding came.  These verses say, For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. In other words we are saved by putting our faith in who Jesus is, and in what He has done for us on the cross.  We can’t boast that we earned our way. Acceptance by God does not come by the “works” we do, but by receiving the free gift of salvation in Christ.  That night in our home, Graham understood for the first time what grace really is.

 SALVATION IS FOR GOOD WORKS. Ephesians 2:10

In this next verse 2:10, Paul goes on to write about the “works” we are to do as believers. He calls them “good works”.  10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. What is the difference then between the works that we do that don’t get us right with God, and the “good works” He wants us to do? It has to do with the origin of those works. Good works originate in the mind of God. They are manifest through humans who are in a living relationship with Him as He works in them.  They work them out in practical living. 

 In verse 10 Paul describes His people as being His “workmanship” (the Greek word is “poiēma” from the verb “poieō” to make, do or produce. It is the basis of our English word “poem”).  Some have translated the word as “a work of art” or a “masterpiece”. At the very least it means that they are the product of His power. They are as they are, by God’s creative power in creating them. It is a creation in “Christ Jesus” because of their faith-union with Him. It is a similar expression to that in 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. Believers are in the process of being changed more and more by the Holy Spirit into the likeness of Christ, 2 Corinthians 3:18  And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. This transformation is not just into a growing likeness to Christ. It has its outward expression through Christ-like character AND through the “good works” the believer is to exercise.

 THE NATURE OF THE GOOD WORKS THAT BELIEVERS ARE TO DO

Their origin is in God Himself as He motivates and empowers His people by His creative power to do the things He wants them to do. They are not simply those things that may seem to be good things in the minds of the believers to do. One has to ensure that the “good works” we think we are doing for God,  are really from the mind of the infinite God rather than coming from our own finite human thinking. They are planned by Him rather than by us.

 There is another vital truth concerning the nature of these good works. They are good works which God prepared beforehand… . The word here for” prepared beforehand” is  (proetoimazō) and is only used in the New Testament here and in Romans 9:23. The latter reads “in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory”.  Both instances are based on God’s everlasting love for His people. Because God is omniscient, knowing the end from the beginning, it means that those works He has for us to do, have been in His mind from all eternity.  That is why we have to “walk in them”, as they have been laid out, as it were, for us to walk in. It is not a matter of the believers “dreaming” up all the good things they can do to please God.  Rather it is humbly “praying down” His plan and purpose for their lives. It is allowing Him to work in them to motivate and empower them to do those things He has eternally planned for them to do. As St Paul said in the verse we are considering (Ephesians 2:10), we are to “work out” what He is working in us. In believers of all ages I might add!

Praise God for His grace in saving us through Jesus. Praise God for the ongoing grace He gives us to do the things that we know are pleasing to Him, because they came from His mind and are part of His eternal purpose for His world.

Jim Holbeck.  Blog No.25.   Posted on Sunday 26th June 2011

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024. Pentecost. Part 2. God Motivates and Empowers His People. Philippians 2:12-13

Posted on June 20, 2011 by Jim Holbeck

We CAN do what is pleasing to God. In the previous blog we saw how God had promised in the Old Testament that in the new age of the Spirit (under the New Covenant He would initiate with His people) He would motivate and empower His people to live for Him. That age came into being on the day of Pentecost when the Spirit was poured out on the early disciples. From that moment on they were changed.  Later on there were disciples in other places who also experienced the Holy Spirit coming upon them. They too were to experience God’s motivating and empowering power in their lives.

OUTPOURINGS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT AFTER THE DAY OF PENTECOST

An Outpouring Of The Holy Spirit In Samaria. We read in Acts 8 that after the martyrdom of Stephen by stoning, the church in Jerusalem was persecuted and all the disciples except the apostles were scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria. One of those disciples was Philip who was one of the seven men chosen to ensure that there was fair treatment of Hellenistic widows in the daily food distribution. The seven had to be “men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom”.  Philip went to the city of Samaria and proclaimed Christ to them. There was a great response to his preaching and many people were set free of evil spirits and others were healed. Many heard Philip preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ and were baptized.

Word of this believing response to the gospel message through Philip came to the apostles in Jerusalem.  They sent Peter and John, who prayed for these Samaritan disciples to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (Luke records the reason why. Acts 8:16  for he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus). The outcome of their visit?  As the apostles laid their hands on them, they received the Holy Spirit. It was another pouring out of the Spirit on believers though in a different locality.  However it maintained continuity with the church in Jerusalem as it took place through the laying on of the hands of the apostles.

An Outpouring Of The Holy Spirit In Ephesus. The apostle Paul came to Ephesus where he found a number of disciples of Jesus.  We are not told why he asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” However it appeared that they knew nothing about the Holy Spirit. That prompted Paul to ask them, “Into what then were you baptized?” They replied that they had been baptised into John’s baptism. Paul explained that the baptism John offered was an anticipation for the coming Messiah, the Christ, in whom they were to trust. Paul would have been able to tell them that the Messiah had come. They could now be baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus.  We read what happened, Acts 19:6-7 And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying.

Our Own “Pentecost” Experience. We have seen that the initial outpouring of the Holy Spirit was on the Day of Pentecost. This fulfilled Old Testament prophecies. However we have also seen that there were later outpourings of the Spirit such as in Samaria and Ephesus.  Various outpourings of the Spirit have occurred in various places and in various times throughout history.  We can think of many revivals when there appeared to be a greater outpouring or manifestation of the Holy Spirit than at other times.

But let us never denigrate or fail to appreciate our own experience of the same Holy Spirit. It is not as though Peter and James and John and Paul and the disciples in Samaria and Ephesus received a greater Holy Spirit than we received when we repented of sins and received Christ as Saviour. He is eternally the same. The Holy Spirit who came upon them to motivate and to empower them is the same Holy Spirit who has entered our puny little lives as well. It means that we too can (and should) be motivated and empowered by the same Holy Spirit to live for the Lord.  Well in what way does that happen?

WORKING OUT IN PRACTICE WHAT GOD IS WORKING IN OUR LIVES

There was a brilliant little book with the title, “Caution! Saints At Work”.  I suppose we, as modern day believers, could carry signs with the words, “Caution. God At Work On This Site” referring to the fact that He is at work within each one of His people.  It would be true but perhaps not advisable! We shouldn’t have to tell others that God is at work in us. They should be able to see it without us pointing it out to them! What does the Bible have to say about God being at work in us in terms of motivating and empowering us to live for Him? The answer is found in Philippians 2:12-13, … work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.  We will now take a closer look at those verses.

In verse 12 we note that it does not say, “Work for your salvation!”   Salvation can only be a gift to us from God’s grace. We can never earn or deserve the mercy and grace of God. We can’t earn our salvation. That’s what Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:8,9,  For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (We will look more closely at those verses possibly in the next article).

 In Philippians 2: 12-13 we are reminded that the responsibility of believers is to work out in practice what God is inwardly working within them. They are His saved or redeemed people.  They respond to His amazing grace in their lives out of a sense of “fear and trembling”.  This is not a cringing fear of God but rather the deep reverential awe of the majesty and holiness of God who has given them the awesome task and responsibility of doing His will for “His good pleasure”.  What a task! What a responsibility! But He works in them to give them that willingness and the ability to do so. Or in the terms we have seen earlier, He motivates and empowers His people to live and work for Him.

SOME FURTHER COMMENTS ON THESE VERSES

In Philippians 2:12 Paul uses the word “katergazomai” in saying that believers are to “work out” their salvation. It means to accomplish or to complete a task. God’s grace and power are seen in the salvation of every individual.  His grace and power are also there to help them to live out the implications of the salvation they have received by faith.  In the next verse when he tells his readers that God is at work in them he uses the word “energeō” which means to produce an effect or to be operative within. What is produced by this work of God in the believer is a willingness and an ability to do God’s will.  This ability in believers to work for God’s pleasure comes because of God’s work in them. Paul uses the same word on both occasions.

The final comment on these verses highlights another truth. Philippians 2:13 in many versions says that God works in believers “to will and to work for His good pleasure”. This appears to mean that God is pleased when His people allow Him to work in and through them.  However not all translators or commentators seem to go with that meaning of eudokia for pleasure in this verse.  But there is another verse in the New Testament where the word is best read in terms of giving God pleasure. It is Luke 2:14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”  What an incredible motivation it would be for us (who have received Christ as Saviour and submitted to Him as Lord) to live in obedience to God’s will if we knew He was pleased by our genuinely sincere (but imperfect) attempts to do so. Even then we would humbly have to admit that unless God was at work in us, we would not have the desire to please Him and certainly not the ability to do so in our own strength. The whole of our Christian life from its beginning until we live with Him in glory depends on His amazing grace to us. 

Jim Holbeck.  Blog No.24.  Posted on Monday 20th June 2011

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023. Pentecost. Part 1. Motivation and Empowerment for Living. Acts 1:6-8

Posted on June 12, 2011 by Jim Holbeck

There are many people saying today that the world is in a mess. The Australian feminist Germaine Greer recently highlighted a “major” problem (as she saw it) in England where she lives. She said that the future of the protected perennial flower, the English bluebell was threatened. The cause? Domestic dogs! Dog excreta were damaging the bluebells. She told a recent Festival her solution to this gigantic problem, “If you love your bluebells, kill your dog”.  I don’t think many who heard her will be motivated to do that. It expressed her own individual response to the problem.

 We are normally motivated to do good things in life rather than that which is obviously bad. But we have to qualify that by admitting that humans are not always motivated to do some of the good things in life. Obeying the two Great Commandments of Jesus would indeed be a very good thing to do but very few people are willing to love God with all their heart and mind and soul and strength. Neither are they willing to love their neighbours as themselves.  We are increasingly becoming an “I” and “My” and “Mine” generation rather than living in willing subjection to God and in a sacrificial loving service to our fellow humans. If we don’t have the motivation to do what God wants us to do, then we will not receive His empowerment to do so either.

 People With Motivation But No Power

As we read Acts 1 we see that even the early disciples of Jesus who had been motivated to follow Him realised they lacked power in their lives.  It’s probably one of the reasons why they asked the Risen Jesus, Acts 1:6  “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” Nothing much had changed for the disciples in spite of their commitment to Jesus.  The Roman occupation forces were still in control of the country in spite of the current expectation that the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One would raise up an army and drive the Romans from the land. Then Israel would be a mighty nation again. It wasn’t happening as they thought it might. Nor were they radically changed personally. Personal belief had not been accompanied by personal power.

 How wonderful it would have been for them to hear the Risen Jesus promise them,  Acts 1:8  But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

 Jesus’ Disciples Should Have Known Better

Jesus’ early followers didn’t just suddenly appear from nowhere. They had been brought up in the Jewish faith and had probably been exposed to the Jewish sacred writings from their youth.  They would have known of many Bible passages which spoke of the New Covenant God would make with His people. In this New Covenant there would be a greater motivation and empowerment to live for God than ever existed before. 

 Old Testament Passages About Motivation And Empowerment For God’s People

i).    Jeremiah 31:31-33. Jeremiah predicted a New Covenant. Jeremiah 31:31  “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 33  But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

The law of God would be internalised, rather than being “out there”. As Paul later wrote, the law was good but gave no power to obey it. But in this new covenant God would write His law on their hearts. There would be a deeper, more personal intimate relationship between a forgiving God and His people.

 ii).   Ezekiel  11:19-20.  Jeremiah predicted that God would soften people’s hearts  enabling them to obey Him.  Ezekiel 11: 19), And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, 20  that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. (See also Ezekekiel 36:26). God would give His people a heart transplant.  The new heart of flesh He would give them would make them more sensitive to Him and to His will for them. He could motivate and empower His people to obey Him.

 How would He do it? In Ezekiel 36:27 He tells us.  God would place His own Holy Spirit within them,  And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. The word for “cause” is (asah) which can mean to accomplish, achieve, bring about, fulfil, produce, work and many other meanings. It describes God enabling His people to walk in His statutes.  His Spirit would indwell them. The Spirit would motivate and empower them to do what God wanted them to do.

 Instead of there being just a few people who would receive God’s Spirit to perform certain tasks for certain times, all of God’s people would receive His Spirit. That truth was emphasised in a later prophecy in Joel 2:28-29, “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. 29 Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit. It meant that in the new age when the Spirit was to be poured out on all believers they would be inwardly motivated and empowered to walk in the way God wanted them to live.  

  At the end of the Old Testament era there was an expectancy that things would be different when the Promised Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One came. It just needed the Messiah to come and establish the New Covenant so that God’s Spirit might be poured out on all who responded to Him.

 The Disciples In Jesus’ Day. Motivation but no Power. Acts 1:6

Jesus came and established His Kingdom. He preached, taught and He healed.  Many people rejected Jesus and His ministry. They had no motivation to live as God wanted them to live. Others like the disciples did have the motivation having been with Jesus. But they didn’t have the power to live as God wanted them to live.  Even after His resurrection there was little change in them.  They were probably thinking, “Hey, things are supposed to be changing. When is it going to happen Lord?” Jesus answered their question.

 The Promise Of Power For The People Of God. Acts 1:8               

Power was about to be released. Jesus said in Acts 1:8, But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”9 And when he had said this, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. Peter said later on the Day of Pentecost that when Jesus ascended into heaven he “received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit” to pour out on the church on the Day of Pentecost.

Power Was Released On The Day Of Pentecost.  Acts 2:1-4,   1  When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. The gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out. The New Age of the Spirit had begun. Now the disciples of every age and throughout the ages could be Motivated and Empowered to do the will of God.

 In the next blog we will look at how believers today can know God’s motivating and equipping power to live for Him in today’s world. We will look at some “mind-blowing” truths that will challenge and encourage us deeply.

Jim Holbeck. Blog No.23.  Posted on Sunday 12th June 2011

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022. Jesus Stands And Knocks. Are We Listening? Revelation 3:20

Posted on May 22, 2011 by Jim Holbeck

Significant words. You only see how significant words are, in retrospect.  When I first read the words of Revelation 3:20 I found them very challenging. But as the years went on I realised that they had been life-changing. I will share how. But first the words of Revelation 3:20, Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.

 There are times in our lives when we try to grasp the meaning of life. Why does the world exist? Why do I exist? Is there any purpose in life? Is there a purpose for my life as an individual in such an immense world? Those questions were answered when I came across the words of Revelation 3:20 and began to understand their meaning. 

 Holman Hunt the artist once tried to capture the meaning of that verse. In his famous painting “The Light Of The World” he portrayed the Risen Jesus holding a lamp and knocking at a door. It was his way of expressing pictorially what the verse meant.  He painted a door covered with vines. It had not been opened by the occupant. It had no handle on the outside of the door. This indicated that the door had to be opened from within. He portrayed Jesus as wearing two crowns. One indicated He was the eternal King of glory. The other was a crown of thorns to symbolise His suffering for humanity. The lamp symbolised Jesus’ saying that he was “the Light of the world”. There were many other things brilliantly symbolised in his painting.

 However I came to know about Holman Hunt’s painting many years after I first read that verse. So what did that verse say to me when I first read it? It seemed to indicate that Jesus was outside my life and wanted to come in. I understood that, because up to that time I had no real knowledge of God or of Jesus and little experience of church. He certainly wasn’t in my life at that time. It became clear that I had to open the door to Jesus if He were to come in, otherwise He would continue to stand and knock.

 A personal experience

I remember well the night I opened the door to the Risen Jesus even though it was over 50years ago. It was a New Year’s Eve. I had decided to begin the New Year with an open door to Jesus. So just on midnight as I opened the door by asking Jesus to come into my life, there was a great commotion. There were shouts of joy in the streets outside in Tweed Heads-Coolangatta where I was holidaying at the time. Car horns were honking and bells were tolling. Little did the people outside realise the significance of what was happening in my small apartment. But I did. Quite literally from that moment my life was rapidly and progressively changed. Only later did I read that there was joy in heaven that night, as Jesus said, (Luke 15:7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.) Fancy doing something on earth that brought joy in heaven!

 The challenge to every person ever born

If Jesus can bring such changes into people’s lives why don’t more people open the door to Him? I have found there are some reasons. Many people don’t know that Jesus wants to enter the life of every person. Others do know but have never opened the door of their lives to Him. Some of those folk may still be thinking about it as I did for weeks. On the other hand there are some who don’t want to open the door to Him. That’s what is so challenging about the verse. God has given us all free will to make our choices in life. Jesus stands and knocks. He doesn’t break down the door. He stands. He knocks… and knocks.

 Who is this Jesus some people keep outside the door? He is the Creator of all things, as John wrote in John 1: 3, All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. He is the Saviour who died for sinners, as the angel told Joseph of what was to happen to Mary, Matthew 1:21  She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” He is the Lord and Master of the universe, as Peter declared on the day of Pentecost, Acts 2:36  Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”

 Some people may say, “So what? How does that affect me? I have no interest in these things!” Did I also mention that ultimately He is to judge every individual who ever lived? Opening the door to the Jesus who stands and knocks is a courteous thing to do. If He is to be my judge and I am judged on whether I ever allowed Him into my life, then it is a very, very wise thing to do. It is also essential if we are to enjoy life in this world and in His presence in the world to come (with all those who have opened the door to Jesus).

Jim Holbeck.  Blog No. 22.    Posted on Sunday 22nd May 2011  

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021. Easter Day. “Christ Is Risen!”

Posted on April 22, 2011 by Jim Holbeck

Someone once wrote these words, “The resurrection of Jesus is the ‘Amen!’ of the Father to the ‘It is Finished!’ of the Son.”  What a brilliant summary of the meaning of the Easter story!

On that first Good Friday Jesus the Son of God, the Messiah, the Saviour (and incidentally the Creator of this universe), died on a cross. His death had been predicted for hundreds of years in Old Testament history. Those predictions were fulfilled as Jesus died on the cross. That was why He cried out, “It is finished!.” The work He had come to earth to do, to die for the sins of the world, had been done. The prophecies had been fulfilled and now forgiveness, salvation and new life were available to those who would trust in what Jesus had done on the cross.

God heard those words from Jesus’ lips as He hung on the cross. What did He think of them? Did He agree that this was the way in which sin could be removed? The answer came. The “Amen” WAS indeed given by the Father. He raised Jesus from the dead as the conqueror over sin, death and the powers of darkness.

We could think about all the benefits that came from what theologians call “The Finished Work Of Christ On The Cross”. Books have been written on all those blessings. But there is one truth that is always uppermost in my mind as I think of Easter. It is this particular truth. Easter means that JESUS IS ALIVE FOR EVERMORE. Not only that but we can have a living relationship with Him.

St Peter encouraged people to come to the Risen Jesus and to enter into such a living relationship. He wrote in 1 Peter 2:4-5,  Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight. By coming to Him, one becomes spiritually alive together with others who believe in Him. Together in fellowship with a living Jesus we can offer sacrifices to God, and like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. How wonderful to know that as we live in this new relationship with Jesus we are motivated and empowered to do and say things that please our Heavenly Father.

“Christ Is Risen”. It is the message of Easter. But it is a present day reality as well for those who have come to Him. He is alive, in us as His people. The cry of our hearts is the same as St Paul’s when he wrote in Galatians 2:20, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

 There is a hymn that puts it so well. It has the words in the first verse, All of self and none of Thee.  Then the writer (Theodore Monod) described in the following verses the process of progressively yielding his life to the Lord. The second verse has, Less of self and more of Thee. Verse 3 has the words, Some of self and some of Thee.

In the final verse he expressed his desire, the desire of those who love the risen, living Jesus,

Higher than the highest heavens,
Deeper than the deepest sea,
Lord, Thy love at last hath conquered;
Grant me now my heart’s petition,
None of self, and all of Thee,
None of self, and all of Thee.

Jim Holbeck. Blog No.21.  Posted on (Good) Friday 22nd April 2011

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020. FORGIVENESS. Why “Good Friday” Is “Good”. God blots out our sins. Isaiah 44:22

Posted on April 21, 2011 by Jim Holbeck

“Will that heavy cloud ever lift?” That was the question in my mind as I drove our daughter to school on many mornings. We lived at an altitude of over 3000 feet and heavy fogs were frequent. Sometimes it was difficult to see the road ahead. However on many mornings as I drove home from the school, all you could see was Peter, Paul and Mary! No, not the singing group but the spires of three churches in the middle of town poking up through the low cloud. St Peter’s Anglican Cathedral of which I was the Dean, St Paul’s Presbyterian church and St Mary’s Roman Catholic Cathedral.   On some days the heavy cloud had almost miraculously disappeared and the sun was shining brightly on the city. On other days it was just plain misty. But often the mist disappeared within a matter of minutes as I drove home.

For some people however their concern is not with that sort of cloud. Rather it is the heaviness that they feel envelops them. They feel that life’s circumstances are choking them. They have no sense of freedom. They cannot see any light in their situation. Everything around them seems to be dark and threatening. They feel an oppressing sense of guilt and shame. They wonder if that oppression will ever lift from them.

What a wonderful sense of freedom came to many people when they encountered the words of Isaiah 44:22 in the Bible. I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you.  The words for “transgressions” in the Hebrew Old Testament (pesha) and in the Septuagint Greek Old Testament (anomia) have the meaning of rebellion and lawlessness primarily against God. It is no light thing to believe that you have offended the God of this universe by turning away from Him and by doing things that He has declared to be against His will. What a joy to know that God can blot out or wipe away our guilt as we turn to Him and ask for mercy.

Likewise Isaiah talks about our “sins” being taken away, using the imagery of mists dispersing and disappearing. (Chattath is the Hebrew word for “sins” and hamartia is the word in the Greek Old Testament). Both words have the meaning of the evil we commit against God and against our fellow humans.

 Millions of people are familiar with the words of the 2 Great Commandments of Jesus. Matthew 22:37  “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38  This is the great and first commandment.  39  And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” Most would admit that they have been guilty of breaking those two Great Commandments by not perfectly loving God and fellow humans as they should have.

This verse promises that sins against God and against fellow humans can be blotted out by Him. What is needed? It is for people to turn back to Him. Why? Because as verse 22 says, He is the only One who can redeem them or set them free from the power and guilt of their sin. We will see in future articles that the freedom God gives to people is freedom from the guilt of sin and also freedom from its power in our lives.

GOOD FRIDAY made the promises of Isaiah 44:22 possible. On that day Jesus as the Son Of God offered a sacrifice on the cross that would take away all sin. It would provide an eternal redemption for His people. The sacrifice was the sacrifice of Himself. As St Peter wrote in his first epistle, 1Peter 2:24  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.  No wonder “Good Friday” is “Good”. It reminds us of the good news that Jesus Christ as the eternal Son of God became a human, so that he might die as a human, to bring us to God.

Where does Easter fit in with all this? The Jesus who was crucified on that first Good Friday rose from the dead on that first Easter Morning, the victor over sin and death and over all the powers of darkness.

Good news, but so what? What significance does it have for us today, you might ask? It challenges us to respond to Him. Jesus as the Son of God and as the creator of the universe came to His own creation. On Good Friday He died for sinners. St Paul reminds us of the implications of that death for us, 2 Corinthians 5:15   he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER:- [Added 26 October 2017]

1]. Have you ever had disturbing thoughts that the day on which Jesus was crucified was called “Good Friday”? If you did, why do you think you were troubled by its name? Should we continue to feel disturbed by it? If not, why not?

2]. Have the terms “cloud” and “mist” had any application to you? You felt that you had been enveloped in a thick cloud and you could not see the way ahead. Even your brain seemed to be foggy? Or did you feel that mists were swirling around you and you had lost any sense of direction in life? If so, what helped you emerge from the fog or the cloud so that life became more bearable?

3]. Have you had any sense in your life that your sins had been blotted out or erased? What caused that to happen? Do you still feel that those sins have been dealt with or do they still trouble you?

4]. What do you think is needed for people who feel burdened by sin to get rid of that burden? Is feeling sorry or remorseful enough? What would you suggest they do?

5]. The words of Isaiah in this verse look forward to the coming death of the Messiah or the Christ. How do Peter’s words above in 1 Peter 2:24 fulfil what Isaiah prophesied in our verse today from Isaiah 44:22?

Jim Holbeck. Blog No 20. Posted on Thursday 21st April 2011. [Revised on 26 Oct 2017]

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019. John 3:1-17. To Perish Or To Have Eternal Life?

Posted on March 20, 2011 by Jim Holbeck

The speaker at the small mission hall finished his sermon and asked those present (mainly alcoholics) to come to the front if they wanted to let Jesus come into their lives to change and heal them. One man, John, came forward in tears and kneeling gave his life to Jesus. The speaker was really chuffed that God had apparently used him to bring John to Christ. In his excitement he later asked him, “What part of my message was it that got through to you.”  He was duly humbled when John replied, “Wasn’t nuthin’ you said guvn’r. It was the text on the wall behind you”.

The speaker turned to see the text, John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” The word of God is powerful when it is preached (or read on a wall). God had used the text to invisibly touch John’s life and to open his heart to Jesus.

In many churches throughout the world there will be sermons based on readings from the Gospel of John during 2011. Just a quick look at one such passage from John 3:1-17. Some points to consider:-

1).  Every Human Needs To Be “Born Again”.  We see this in John 3:1-8. It is needed in order to understand the gospel and to enter into the Kingdom of God.  That’s what happened to John. He read the text on the wall. The Spirit of God made the words come alive to him. He was “born again” as he put his trust in Jesus.  Even Nicodemus as the teacher of Israel needed to be born again in spite of his great knowledge of the Old Testament scriptures. He wondered how it was possible to be born again. Did it mean another physical birth?

Jesus in reply described the 2 births. John 3:5  Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6  That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. That birth “of water” is common to all humans.  However to get into the kingdom of God one has to be also born of the Spirit. Jesus compared the hidden nature of this new birth “of the Spirit” with the hidden nature of wind. One can’t see wind in operation but one can see and hear the effects it produces, John 3:8  The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” The birth of the Spirit is hidden from human eyes, but one can see the effect in the life of the person who has been born again.

Jesus challenged Nicodemus,  John 3:11  Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. 12  If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13  No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. Nicodemus had been unable to grasp what Jesus was saying about the wind and the new birth. Heavenly realities don’t come naturally to humans. However Jesus as the Son of Man who had descended from heaven in His incarnation could reveal “heavenly things” to those who would receive His teaching.

2).           Jesus Came To Save.  God made provision for people to be saved.  Jesus came to save sinners. Joseph had been told by an angel about the child to be born to Mary, Matthew 1:21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”  How would it happen? Jesus Himself tells us, John 3:14  And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15  that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. The lifting up would be the “lifting up” of Jesus on a cross. As the Israelites turned to look at God’s provision (the bronze serpent) in order to be saved (the story is in Numbers 21:5-9) so humans needed to look in faith to Jesus (God’s provision) as the crucified One to be saved.

3).           God’s Gift. The Human Choice. Perish or life?  John 3:16  “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

The love of God was so great towards humans that He gave them a gift. The gift of His Son! A gift that was meant to be received! However it was possible for humans using their freewill to reject the gift.  But there were consequences if they did!  Here were the two choices God gave.

a).           To believe and to gain eternal life.  There are 43 references to the term “eternal life” in the New Testament. The apostle John records its use 23 times in his gospel and first epistle.  The verses showing that eternal life is gained by believing in Jesus are verses 15, 16 in this passage and also John 3:36, 5:24, 6:40, 6:47 and 1 John 5:13. The same truth is seen in what St Paul wrote in 1Timothy 1:16, But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.

b).          To not believe and to perish.   Perish? Perish the thought! But a little reminder might be helpful. God as the creator of the whole universe sets the rules for life on this world. We don’t. He does! He tells us about reality as it really is in His sight.  From this passage we see that until people trust in Jesus they are “perishing”. Verse 18 states that until people trust in Jesus they are “condemned”, John 3:18  Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already… . Why are they condemned already?  John finishes the verse saying, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

The God who “so loved” is the God who tells us in love that in His sight we are perishing and already condemned.  Would Jesus Himself actually say that people could perish? Yes, He would and He did, in these verses in Luke 13:3-5, No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.  Some had been asking Jesus why some people had suffered in persecution and in a building disaster and others hadn’t. He used the opportunity to warn them that they had to get right with God in case disaster struck at any time. They could be prepared by getting right with God by repenting of their sin and trusting in Jesus as the One Whom He had sent to deal with sin.

 The human choice. They had a choice. To trust in Jesus and gain eternal life or to ignore or reject Him and perish.  What did God want them to do? Peter tells us in 2 Peter 3:9  The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. 

That’s what God wants people to do. To repent of their sin and to trust in Christ for salvation. What if they don’t do that? Perishing? Condemned already?  It doesn’t bear thinking about! Wait a minute! If that is the choice God offers to all of us, it DOES bear a LOT of thinking about. And ACTING on!

A Personal Note

Over 50 years ago I was faced with a choice as I read these words in the Bible. I could ignore them as most of my friends had done. I could rubbish them by saying that I had no intention of trusting in a God who would allow people to “perish”, whatever that meant.  I could hide my head in the sand and say I hadn’t seen them, so therefore I couldn’t be seen to be guilty of not acting on them.  OR I could take them seriously as coming from a God who really did love me (because He sent His Son to die for me). Not only that but who went to the trouble of telling me in His word that He didn’t want me to “perish.”

I chose life by choosing to trust in Jesus as the One Who died on the cross in my place. Only later did I come to appreciate the graciousness of God in opening my eyes to understand these things as I turned to Him. Only then did I come to understand that though the words,  “perish” and “condemned”  may seem to be a bit upsetting to some people, they are nothing compared with the reality behind the words.  I was glad, humbled and relieved I had made the right choice. The new birth gives rise to a whole new life lived in a living relationship with Him, who loves us and wants us to love Him in return.

Jim Holbeck. Blog No.19.   Posted on Sunday 20th March 2011

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018. FORGIVENESS. Isaiah 43:25. Sin is blotted out and not remembered

Posted on March 14, 2011 by Jim Holbeck

 “I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins. 

How would you like to have everything that was wrong or inappropriate in what you ever said or did, erased from the record of your life? A forlorn hope? Yet that is what God promises to do with the sin we confess to Him when asking for His forgiveness. In this passage in Isaiah 43:25, He expresses this truth in two ways.

The first truth is that God blots out or erases transgression. The word for “blot” is “machah” which can also be translated as wipe out, destroy, obliterate. The following verses also link the verb with the blotting out of sin. Isaiah 44:22 contains the same promise from God, I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like mist.  God says through Isaiah that as we confess our sins to Him, He is able to blot out, erase and obliterate them so that they are no longer recorded against us.

King David confessed his sins to God and prayed for His mercy to be seen in blotting out his sins, Psalm 51:1, Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. And Psalm 51:9, Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.

The word is used of God’s servants praying that evil might not be overlooked by Him. So they prayed that God not “blot out” the sins of those who continued to reject God and His people. For example Jeremiah in Jeremiah 18:23 Forgive not their iniquity, nor blot out their sin from your sight”. And Nehemiah in Nehemiah 4:5, Do not cover their guilt, and let not their sin be blotted out from your sight … . God is not able to blot out the deliberate and continued sin of those who sin against Him. Only sin which is confessed to Him in true repentance is able to be blotted out by Him.

The second truth is that God promises to “remember” our sins no more. … and I will not remember your sins. The word for “remember” is “zakar”. It is used of God remembering His people and His covenants with His people, Genesis 9:15 I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.  16 When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.”

 It is also used of His people remembering His deeds towards the nation. He had brought them out of slavery in Egypt and they were to remember this always in their national life. Deuteronomy 5:15 You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Also in Deuteronomy 15:15 and 24:18.  They were to remember too the laws He gave through Moses, Malachi 4:4 “Remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and rules that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel.”

I find it disappointing that some writers say that God “forgets” our sins. How can God “forget” our sins if He is Omniscient (all-knowing)? He knows the end from the beginning and nothing is hidden from him in the past, present or future. There is a big difference between God “forgetting” and “not remembering”.  It is impossible for the Omniscient One to forget anything.

However it is important to note that the verse does not say that God “forgets” our sins. It says that He will “not remember” them. In other words God knows about our sins, but as we confess our sins, He forgives us. He promises not to recall them against us ever again. He could “remember” them if He wished in the sense of recalling them to His mind and thinking on them. However He has told us He will not do that when sins are confessed and forgiven.

What does that mean for us today? The devil or Satan is described in the New Testament as “diabolos”, the accuser.  He will try to accuse us or confront us with former sins that have been forgiven. Some humans may try to do the same to us. However God’s promise is that He chooses not to revisit those sins on us again. He may never be able to forget them as the Omniscient One but He chooses not to hold against us those things which have been forgiven.

When we come to the New Testament in later articles we will see the difference between what God does and what Satan tries to do about human sin. We will see that God by His Spirit convicts us of our sin so that we will repent, ask His forgiveness and thus be able to walk in freedom.  Satan however will try to keep us feeling guilty by feeding accusations into our minds and attempting to get us to recall our former sins.  Satan works through deceit, lies, accusation and condemnation.  God in His promise to us says, “I will remember your sin no more.” Satan says as he brings accusations into our minds, “You really are evil. What about the sins you have committed. You’re guilty. You’re unclean. ”

The victory comes in our lives as we learn to focus on the promises of God in His word. Especially as we focus on this promise in Isaiah 43:25, and as we keep on affirming that in our minds.  Then we are in a position to reject the accusations of the evil one by standing on the truth, God’s truth found in His word.

What a double blessing to know that God blots out our transgressions so the record of them is expunged in His sight, and that He chooses not to recall them or to bring them back against us ever again.

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER:- (Added October 2017)

1]. What do you think it means that God can “blot out”our transgressions or sins?

2]. If we confess our sins to God and He “erases” them [as Isaiah 43:25 puts it], should we continue to feel guilty about them? If not, why not?

3]. If God knows everything [being omniscient] what does it mean that He “remembers our sins no more” if we confess them to Him? Is there is difference between “forget”and “remember not”? What is the difference?

4]. Is it helpful to tell people they must “forgive and forget” the sins of those who have hurt them? If not, why not? Is there a better way of helping them deal with the hurts of the past?

5]. To what extent do you think that Satan [the accuser] accuses people today? How would one personally deal with those accusations?

Jim Holbeck.   Blog No.18.   Posted on Monday 14th March 2011

 

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017. Forgiveness. Removing The Stain Of Sin. Isaiah 1:18

Posted on March 13, 2011 by Jim Holbeck

“Don’t come near me. I’m just a rotten filthy person!”  Donna shouted out the words as she hurried down the street from our church. The person she didn’t want to get near to her was me, the local minister! Perhaps a little background might help! I had been taking a mid-week Women’s Bible Study for some of our parishioners. I was trying to show how great is the love and mercy of God that He can forgive our sins when we confess them to Him. He can cover them over so that He no longer looks upon them. As part of the study I asked the women to write down anything about their lives that caused them some concern. The idea was that we would then look at the promises of God regarding forgiveness and learn how all our sins are forgiven by Him when we confess them to Him and ask His forgiveness. Then we would tear up and dispose of the pieces of paper as a way of reminding ourselves that those sins were now gone. The women had begun to write.

Donna suddenly stood up and raced out of the church saying, “I’m just a rotten person. I’ve got to go!” Then followed the scene with Donna walking quickly down the street shouting out those words, “Don’t come near me. I’m just a rotten filthy person!”  I had begun to follow her shouting, “Donna come back! Donna please come back!” But she kept on walking still repeating the words. I stopped following her.

Donna had been through a lot in life with alcohol and drug problems and a husband who had the same issues. But she had been attracted to our church by the wonderful young women in the group who had reached out to her. Fortunately we were able to minister to her a short time later. She came to understand what we had been trying to do in the Bible Study. She later received deep healing from the Lord in many areas of her life.

It taught me that some people live with terrible thoughts about themselves. For some it was the result of the things that they had done in life. For others, it was the things that others had said or done to them that made them think so badly of themselves. It was common in counselling to hear both men and women say things like, “I’m damaged goods!” Or like Donna, “I feel so filthy!” Or as one person put it, “I feel so stained! I’m sure that everyone who looks at me can see how dirty I am.” 

 How can one help such people? The words from Isaiah 1:18 have been used by God to bring deep healing to many people.

Forgiveness. Removing The Stain Of Sin. Isaiah 1:18

Isaiah 1:18  “Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.

We see the significance of this verse in its context. God was addressing through Isaiah, the people and the rulers of Judah and Jerusalem. This was in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. He saw them as guilty of rebellion (1:2); as laden with iniquity (1:4); as dealing corruptly (1:4) and offering unacceptable sacrifices (1:11). He warned them, Isaiah 1:15  When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.  

He offered them grace and forgiveness if they would turn back to Him from their uncleanness and learn to act justly. Isaiah 1:16  Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, 17  learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.

In verse 18 God invited them to have a discussion with Him. It was not to come up with some sort of compromise. Rather He meant that if they talked with Him they would come to know that He was right and they were wrong in their attitude to their sin. Their sins stood out in His sight like scarlet or crimson stains or like bloodied hands. But there was a promise as well in His invitation to them. If they turned from their sin and came back to Him, He would remove those stains. He would see them as having the whiteness of snow or wool and no longer carrying any stain.

This verse has meant a great deal to those who felt they were dirty, soiled or unclean because of many experiences in their lives. They felt that nothing could remove the stain. Some were sure that as people looked at them they saw the stain. What a blessing for such people to come to understand that as they confess their sins to God and seek His forgiveness, He not only forgives them but He sees them as clean, white and no longer stained. (We will see more of this when we examine forgiveness in the New Testament).

The verse has helped many victims of child abuse. They felt “dirty” throughout their lives. Those who abused them told them they were “dirty” and deserved what happened to them. It was a lie of course. But it is a tactic that perpetrators often use. They try to make the victim feel guilty so that they don’t report the abuse. They try to get the victim to believe that their “filth” brought the abuse upon themselves. The victims are disinclined to report the abuse because they believe that those who would listen to them would not believe them, or they would see the “filth” in them.

We will see in future articles that many people carry a lot of false guilt. They blame themselves for what happened to them. They think, “It must have been my fault that that person did those things to me.” What a joy it is to such people to discover that every perpetrator is guilty before God of giving unwanted attention or abuse to those who did not seek it. To discover they were “Not guilty” of the evil others imposed on them. To discover that the stain in their lives can be removed. To discover that they can be free for the first time in their adult lives to live with a clean conscience before God and other people. Some of them have discovered that it is possible to recognise the evil of the perpetrator and to forgive that person, experiencing even greater freedom as a result. They forgave the perpetrator in most cases before God or sometimes in the presence of a friend they trusted. They did not have to tell the perpetrator that they had forgiven him or her to feel free. [Contacting former perpetrators may be an unwise thing to do if the perpetrators have not changed.]

What a great privilege it is to minister to such people and to see them become free. But what a mixture of joy and sadness to see this release coming in the lives of folk in the latter part of their lives. How sad for people to get into their seventies and eighties before becoming free. But how wonderful it is that they did find that freedom in their lifetime and enjoyed it.

William Cowper, a famous English poet, was very conscious of his sin. He felt contaminated by it. However there came a time when he understood what Jesus had accomplished on the cross for him as a sinner. He expressed the freedom and the sense of cleansing that came into his life in the words of this hymn in 1779,

There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel’s veins;

And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.

 Cowper felt clean at last. Donna eventually came to feel clean when she heard the gospel message of the Christ the sinless One who died for sinners, and received Him as Saviour. So too can you and I as we receive the forgiveness God offers us in His Son, Jesus Christ.

How gracious is our God to say to people today who will receive His Son, Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow 

SOME QUESTIONS FOR CONSIDERATION. [Added October 2017}

1] Do you think there are many people in our world today who feel unclean? What sort of people might these be and what do you think made them feel unclean?

2] Can you  identify with those people who feel they have been “stained” in life? If so, what do you think led you to feeling that way and how did you learn to overcome it?

3] What do you think is the connection between these words from Isaiah 1:18 and the declaration of St John in 1 John 1:6 “If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin?”

4] In the past in many Christian congregations people would ask newcomers such questions as “Have you been washed in the blood of the lamb?” What do you think the term means and how would you answer such a question today?

5]  How does this passage from Isaiah 1:18 help us to understand what St John also wrote about cleansing, in 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 

Jim Holbeck. Blog No.17.  Posted on Sunday 13th March 2011. [Revised Thursday 12th October 2017]

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016. Forgiveness Of All Sin. Psalm 103

Posted on March 11, 2011 by Jim Holbeck

“I can’t forgive him for what he did!” Wendy said these words very emphatically. She was at a live-in conference on counselling. She was a pastor to women at a large city church. During the conference it was expected that all participants would be willing to be counselled as part of their learning experience. It turned out that I had been chosen to be the leader of the three people (one man and two women) to hear her story and to pray with her.

She shared much of her life with us. Perhaps the most traumatic incident in her life occurred when she was eighteen years of age. She had been on a tourist coach tour which stopped overnight at several towns.  One night the Tour Director came uninvited into her room and tried to sexually molest her. Her screams brought other people in the hotel rushing to her door. By that time the man had gone but her clothing was in disarray, she was almost hysterical, and extremely embarrassed.

One result of that incident was that she didn’t trust men and especially men in authority.  Perhaps for that reason she had never been able to enter into a relationship with a man. At the time of the conference she was in her late 30’s. It helped explain why she was not really at ease when the counselling began with me as the lead counsellor. However after she shared what had happened to her as a teenager we began to work through the process of forgiveness. It was obvious that she needed to move on for her own health sake. We knew that if she was willing to forgive the man, she could become more free as a result. (The man had never asked for her forgiveness). Forgiveness is never ever about condoning sin. Rather it was recognising that the man had harmed her and she needed to deal with the resultant effects. This was not a time for us to be extending sympathy to her. She’d had plenty of that in the past. Rather we sought to bring her healing.

When we suggested that it would help her to forgive the man for HER sake, she became quite angry. “I can’t forgive him for what he did!” she cried out. We tried to be gentle in what followed. Eventually it seemed right to ask her, “Why don’t you want to forgive him?” I think we were all a little bit startled when she retorted, “Well I don’t know if he has suffered enough yet for what he did!” It took some time before  I could reply. I knew she had a very wonderful ministry and wanted to be in the centre of God’s will. I asked, “Wendy, when you came to the Lord asking God to forgive you, did He say, ‘No you haven’t suffered enough yet?’”  After a short pause she answered, “No, He forgave me immediately!” We kept praying silently. Then she said, “I know I need to forgive that fellow but I never wanted to.  It has been affecting me and my ministry. But now I’m ready to forgive him.” In our presence she verbalised her forgiveness towards the man. What a difference it made to Wendy. She left the conference a different woman. Within two years she fell in love and was married.

Forgiveness involves forgiving everyone who may have hurt us. It means forgiving everything they ever said or did that brought us harm. Forgiving sets US free as we will see in future articles. Wendy discovered this truth in a wonderful way.

“Who forgives all your iniquity.” Psalm 103:3. What sort of person would be willing to forgive ALL our iniquity?” The Lord Himself. The word for “forgives” is “salach” which we saw in my post No.7, also means to “pardon” or to “spare”.  It is always used of God as the One Who forgives.  The word for “iniquity” is “avon” which denotes deliberate evil or conscious rebellion, a deeper form of sin. It is not normally in the nature of humans to forgive or to pardon those who deliberately rebel against us. We by nature want to hit back or to seek revenge. But it is in the nature of God to offer forgiveness and pardon to those who rebel against Him.  Why does He do it? Because it is His character to love and to forgive!

David wrote of that later in the Psalm in verses 8 to 12. He wrote in verse 8, The LORD is merciful (rachum). This word is only used of God.  It refers to His compassion and to the mercy He extends to those who don’t deserve it. He is gracious. (channun). This is another word used only of God and also used often with the previous word rachum. One example is in 2 Chronicles 30:9 where His graciousness is seen in His promise not to turn His face away from those who turn to Him,  …  For the LORD your God is gracious (channun) and merciful (rachum) and will not turn away his face from you, if you return to him.”

 He is slow to anger, Psalm 103:8.  This phrase contains 2 Hebrew words which are used together at least 13 times in the Bible to describe the Lord’s patience or His longsuffering.  He abounds in steadfast love. Here the word is (chesed) which is used more than 250 times in the Bible to refer to God’s faithfulness, kindness and His covenant love. It occurs 26 times in Psalm 136 and portrays God’s faithfulness, love and protection from creation to eternity, especially in His dealings with His people.

David wanted people to understand how great is that steadfast love (chesed). He describes it in verse 12, as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him. In other words humans do not have the capacity to understand how great is God’s love for His people. It is beyond measure.

What effect does that (chesed) love have in God’s forgiveness of those who love Him? He tells us in verse 12 as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. That is a very long way. When God forgives us He removes those sins totally from us. He no longer sees the sinner as guilty of those sins. They are taken away to infinity and are no longer attributed to the penitent sinner.

These words have brought immense freedom to those who felt that they were full of guilt and who wondered if they could ever be free of it. The good news is that no matter how far they may have strayed away from God and from His laws (like the prodigal son) as they confessed their sin, God removed it even further away from them than any prodigal could ever stray.

Wendy had experienced that love of God for herself when she asked the Lord for forgiveness of all her iniquity.  She also knew that she had to forgive everyone in the same way she had been forgiven by God. In that way she would become free of the effects of the sin committed against her on that coach tour. But the freedom and the healing come as one acts on that knowledge and chooses to forgive. Wendy took a long time to come to the point of deciding to forgive.  But when she did, and forgave the man, God worked a miracle in her life.  She was the recipient of the peace and love that the Lord poured into her heart. I was the recipient of a great hug from her when the counselling time came to an end.  In one prayer ministry session the Lord had changed her incredibly. And especially her attitude towards men.

Doing what God says and forgiving those we need to forgive, opens us up to the grace and power of God to change us. It enables us to receive and experience His love for ourselves. It also enables us to love others with His forgiving love as Wendy found to her great delight.

(This is a true story but the name “Wendy” is not the real name of the person mentioned in the story).

Questions for consideration by groups or individuals. (Added September 2016)

Question 1. In the article Wendy said she found it difficult to forgive the man who tried to molest her. What made it difficut for her to forgive him? What truth eventually made her willing to forgive him?

Question 2. In Psalm 103:8-12 David describes the character of God as being merciful, gracious, slow to anger and having steadfast love. No wonder He can forgive! Do you think we humans could ever have some of those characteristics in our relationships with other people? Give some reasons for your answer.

Question 4. Having answered the previous question, review your answer in the light of the characteristics known as the “Fruit of the Spirit “that all believers are meant to exhibit in their lives. These are found in Galatians 5:22-23 and are described as “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” Does this make you change the answer to the last question in any way? What changes would you now make if any?

Question 5. How would you try to describe the meaning of verse 12 to those who wanted to know if God could forgive them of some pretty nasty stuff in their past lives? What truths from that verse would you try to bring out to them?

Jim Holbeck.  Blog No.16.  Posted on Friday 11th March 2011

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