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

Posted in Bible verses. Comments | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

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

 

Posted in Forgiveness | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

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]

Posted in BIBLE PASSAGE OUTLINES, Faithfulness, Forgiveness, Healing, Prayer, Sanctification | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

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

Posted in Forgiveness, GROUP DISCUSSION MATERIAL on "Forgiveness" | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

015. Forgiveness. Psalm 51. A King Wanted To Be Forgiven

Posted on March 7, 2011 by Jim Holbeck

“The man who has done this deserves to die!”  Strong words! Especially coming from a ruler who had the power to put the guilty man to death. But there was a huge problem. Nathan was a prophet sent to tell King David about a great travesty of justice. A powerful man had taken advantage of a poor man and robbed him of a very precious possession. David fumed as he heard the story. He immediately decided that the man deserved death.

The huge problem? Nathan had been referring to something King David himself had done in robbing another man of his wife. To the King’s surprise he heard these strong words being addressed to him. “You are the man!” said Nathan to David. What a shock to David to discover that the object of his sudden anger was himself! He was guilty! Guilty of coveting what belonged to another! Guilty of injustice! Guilty of immorality! Guilty of murder! Through Nathan’s rebuke he at last recognised it.

We may wonder why it took so long for David to see the enormity of his sin. There is an answer. The same process takes place today in human lives everywhere. Deliberate sin hardens those who engage in it. That’s what the writer of Hebrews 3:13 warns, But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. A person commits one sin and seems to get away with it. Then comes another temptation and the person yields to that. Still nothing seems to happen. And so it goes on, as deliberate sin seems to bring no immediate consequences. What is happening of course it that the person is becoming less and less sensitive to sin and to guilt. Their consciences become hardened. Paul described those who live a lie as David was doing, like this, … Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. 2 Timothy 4:2, (NIV)  OR Their sense of what is right and wrong has been burned as if with a hot iron. (New International Readers Version).  They become insensitive to the sinfulness of their own sin. King David was a classic case.

David however did change. He did become penitent. We see it in the opening verse of Psalm 51 as he cried out to God for mercy, Psalm 51:1, Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. … . The word for “transgressions” is from “pesha” which was often used to describe rebellion, including rebellion against God. David had indeed rebelled against God in a number of ways. David knew the law of God and said he delighted in the law (meaning the Pentateuch or the first five books of the Old Testament), Psalm 40:8, I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.” However he rebelled against what God had said in the law. We see how David had broken many of the commandments in the Decalogue or the Ten Commands that God had given to His people in the Law.

David had begun to make a whole series of wrong choices. He broke the tenth commandment in terms of coveting another man’s wife when he saw Bathsheba bathing. Instead of turning away his gaze he deliberately chose to keep on looking. His looking soon turned into lust.  Lust led him to another dangerous choice. To enquire more about Bathsheba. In spite of being told that she was married to a man named Uriah he made another wrong choice and had her brought to him. In that sense he deliberately broke the commandment “You shall not steal” by stealing another man’s wife in his absence. When Bathsheba came into his presence, David broke another commandment by making another wrong choice. He chose to commit adultery with her knowing she was another man’s wife.

When Bathsheba became pregnant to him, David continued his series of wrong choices. He chose to have Uriah recalled from the war on the pretext of finding out from him how the war was going. In reality it was to get Uriah to sleep with his wife so that Uriah would be seen as the father of the child to be born to Bathsheba. David’s plan didn’t work the first night. So he chose to have Uriah stay another night. Still his plan didn’t work. So David chose to try to get Uriah drunk so that his plan might work in those circumstances. Uriah was too committed to his task as a soldier to take advantage of marital privileges that his comrades on the battlefield were denied.  (Rather shocking when you think about it that David did not share his commitment when he was the real leader of the army of Israel. But as 2 Samuel 11 begins, In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And …  remained at Jerusalem. David should have been out leading his troops. Instead he had chosen to relax at home. He was out of God’s will. Being out of the will of God opened him to temptations he would not have been exposed to if he had been in the will of God. Instead of being “on guard” as the commander of the army, he was caught “off guard” at home while shirking his responsibilities as the King.)  

 David had behaved abominably as the King of the nation. Worse was to follow. Uriah would eventually come to know that the child to be born to Bathsheba was not his. To cover his affair with Bathsheba, David chose to get rid of Uriah. Here we read of the man “after God’s own heart” planning the deliberate murder of one of his own soldiers. He implicated Joab the commander of the army in the plot by having him post Uriah at the forefront of the battle. Not only that but Joab was instructed in the letter David sent by the hand of Uriah, to draw back from him, that he may be struck down, and die.”  Despicable stuff! David chose to have Uriah carry his own death warrant to Joab. Poor Uriah! He thought he was serving his King and country as he carried this important communiqué from the King. Uriah would never have suspected that his King could be so deceitful.

We gain some insight into how far David had departed from the will of God when he was told that Uriah and others had been killed in battle. His response was shallow, callous and uncaring, Thus shall you say to Joab, ‘Do not let this matter trouble you, for the sword devours now one and now another, 2Samuel 11:25. ( It was almost as thouigh David held his hand to his mouth, yawned and stated in a bored manner,  “Ho, Hum! That’s war for you! People die! Don’t worry about it!”  His hard heartedness meant that he devalued people, even his own troops. No sadness about the loss of life. Just relief that Uriah had been “got rid of”.

The final part of the whole sordid business was the taking of Bathsheba by David to his house, and his marriage to her in perhaps the shortest possible time. This was to lessen the time between the marriage and the birth of the child. Deception continued. We read one of the greatest understatements in the Bible, But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD, 2 Samuel 11:27. A stronger statement is made in the Septuagint Greek version of the Bible where the translation is, the thing David had done was evil in the eyes of the Lord. “Evil” here is from ponēros, meaning wicked or malicious. David was deceived about his own wickedness. God was not.  God in His mercy sent Nathan the prophet to open the eyes of the spiritually and morally blinded King.

 Can God ever forgive such ongoing deliberate sin?                                     

David prayed, Psalm 51:1  …Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. 2)  Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! The words he used in asking God to forgive him show his understanding of God as a God of mercy. He asked God to “have mercy” on him. The word is “chanan” denoting a desire that God treat him graciously. We see that his confidence in asking God for mercy lay in the way he saw God as having “steadfast love” and “abundant mercy”. His sin might have been heinous but God’s mercy was abundant to cover even heinous crimes.

Having become very aware of his sin he wanted it to be taken away from him. He used 3 different expressions to indicate the extent of the forgiveness he needed.

i).   He wanted his transgressions “blotted” out where “blot out” is “machan” meaning to “erase” or “wipe out” completely. It is also used in verse 9, Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. David wanted all trace of his transgressions to go, so that even God would not look upon them any more.

 ii).  He saw his need to be “washed” from his iniquity, verse 2.  “Wash” is from “kabas” meaning to trample underfoot as in the washing of garments. “Iniquity” is from “avon” often used to describe deeper levels of sin such as perversity or depravity. It may also include the guilt arising from such sin. David carried a lot of guilt because of deliberate sin and rebellion against God. He wanted his “filth” completely removed by a vigorous wash. He wanted God to cleanse him inwardly.

iii). He desired that God “cleanse” him from his sin. “Cleanse” is “taher” a word used often in Leviticus where it was used for ritual cleansing and in other places for moral cleansing. “Sin” here is “chattath” used for sin against God (including idolatry) and against fellow humans. It is also used in verse 3, For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. He knew he needed cleansing. He repeated this request to be “clean” in verse 7, Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

 He realised he had sinned against God in sinning against Bathsheba and Uriah. Psalm 51:4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. He had deliberately broken God’s law. He needed forgiveness from God for sinning against Him in the many things he had done which were contrary to the law of God and to the will of God for him as the King of God’s people.

He knew he needed to be different. He needed a clean (tahor) heart Psalm 51:10  Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. “Clean” here is the adjective of the verb found in verse 2.  He needed God to cleanse him and to create in him a clean heart.  He needed a renewed spirit within him to become a more trustworthy, reliable person.

He knew he was guilty of shedding blood. The blood of Uriah and perhaps that of the soldiers who were deliberately sent to the battlefront with him.  Psalm 51:14  Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.

He wanted to know restoration of the joy of his salvation.  Psalm 51:12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation. He knew what he was missing from being out of fellowship with God. He wanted that joy back. He also knew he needed to be strengthened, and uphold me with a willing spirit. (In the Greek Septuagint, the LXX, the reading is establish me with thy directing Spirit.)  It is the Holy Spirit of God who enables our spirit to be willing to do the will of God.

He wanted to be released to be able to praise God once again, 15  O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. He realised that because he had sinned, God could withdraw His Holy Spirit from him as He had done with Saul when he had rebelled against God. 1Samuel 16:14 Now the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD tormented him. David prayed that God might not do that with him, Psalm 51:11 Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me.

 The whole Psalm is the cry of a man who knew he had done terrible things in the sight of God. However he believed in the love and mercy of a righteous but loving and forgiving God. This God could not only forgive him of his sins but could also cleanse him and make him to be different. That was David’s sincere cry in this Psalm.

This Psalm is a great encouragement to those who believe that their sins are too great to ever be forgiven by God. You can’t become much more guilty in life than David became. If God could forgive him for all his sins when David cried out to him for forgiveness, then there is hope for those who have done perhaps more or less than David. It is not so much the depth of human sin that is the deciding factor. Rather it is the depth of God’s grace and forgiving love that makes it possible for humans to be forgiven today.

 BUT! And it’s a very big BUT! But we need to approach this loving, gracious, forgiving God with the same penitence for our sin that David showed, calling our sin by its real name, “sin”. It means asking that He forgive us of all our sins. It means asking Him to cleanse us and to renew us with a new spirit so that we live always for Him.  It means from that point always being “on guard” in the centre of His will and never allowing ourselves to be caught “off guard”, out of His will, when temptations come.

Questions for consideration by individuals or groups. (Added 21 Sept 2016)

Question 1. It took King David some time before he could confess his sin to God. Why does it take us a long time sometimes to admit that we have sinned or done or said the wrong things?

Question 2. Hebrews 3:13 talks about being hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. In what ways is that seen in the story of King David in this article?

Question 3. In what ways do you think people are being hardened by the deceitfulness of sin in today’s world. Give some examples.

Question 4. In Psalm 51:1-2 what expressions indicate the depth of David’s repentance before God?

Question 5. Do you think God should have forgiven David for simply praying those words in Psalm 51, especially verses 1-2? Why or why not?

Question 6. What other verses in Psalm 51 show the sincerity of David’s repentance? Are they words we should pray to God ourselves today? Why or why not?

Jim Holbeck.  Blog No.15.  Posted on Monday 7th March 2011

 

Posted in Forgiveness, GROUP DISCUSSION MATERIAL on "Forgiveness" | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

014. Forgiveness. Psalm 32. A King Found Forgiveness

Posted on March 5, 2011 by Jim Holbeck

David was the sort of young man some parents hope would propose to their daughter. Handsome. Wealthy. Immensely strong physically. Well respected in the community. Musically gifted. Talented instrumentalist. Prodigious composer of many enduring hits. Familiar with the Royals. Deeply religious. Very courageous.

Where would you find such an excellent young man to introduce to your daughter? Well in the Bible actually. She would have to read about him there because he lived a long time ago.  We are thinking here of King David. A man chosen to be King because he was a man after God’s heart as Samuel told King Saul, 1Samuel 13:14  But now your kingdom shall not continue. The LORD has sought out a man after his own heart, and the LORD has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you.”  BUT, he was human. He didn’t always live as he should have lived. He sinned against God and against the people he should have been protecting.

 PSALM 32. The blessing of forgiveness

David composed this Psalm which focussed on the theme of forgiveness. He could write about it because he had experienced the blessing of forgiveness personally.  We are not told exactly whether this Psalm was written as a result of David’s sin with Bathsheba so we will leave that aspect until Psalm 51 which was written with that in mind.

He began the Psalm outlining the blessing that forgiveness brings to those who receive it.  Psalm 32:1  Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.  We now come across some of the words we looked at in previous articles in this series.

“Forgiven” is the word “nasa” discussed previously. The transgression had been “lifted up” or “taken away” from him so that he no longer bore the guilt (and the shame) of it.  Many people over the ages have been familiar with the words of John Bunyan in Pilgrim’s Progress. It portrays the moment when Christian in the story comes to the cross. Bunyan wrote, So I saw in my dream, that just as Christian came up with the cross, his burden loosed from off his shoulders, and fell from off his back; and began to tumble, and so continued to do so until it came to the mouth of the sepulchre, where it fell in, and I saw it no more.” Shortly thereafter, Christian sang his song of deliverance: “Thus far did I come laden with my sin, nor could aught ease the grief that I was in, till I came hither. What a place is this! Must here be the beginning of my bliss? Must here the burden fall from off my back? Must here the strings that bound it to me, crack? Blessed cross! Blessed sepulchre! Blessed rather be the Man that there was put to shame for me.

 Since David wrote his Psalm and Bunyan wrote his famous work, millions of people have known the experience of a burden being taken from them when they turned to Christ as Saviour. In fact it was not unusual to see people come to the Healing Service at St Andrew’s Cathedral, Sydney, obviously very burdened. What a joy to see so many of those folk leave the service after receiving prayer, with a burden obviously having been lifted from them.  Many later testified having received such a blessing during the service.

 “Covered” is from the word “kasha” meaning to “cover up”.  David doesn’t mean that he tried to cover up or cover over his own sin. Rather as he confessed his sin to God it was as though God covered it over so that it was no longer in His sight. In fact the same verb is used in verse 5 where David explicitly said that he stopped trying to cover up his sin before God, Psalm 32:5  I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity. As David uncovered his sin before God, God “covered it over” as He forgave him. As we remarked before, it is probably true to say that the only sin God cannot “cover over” in His forgiving love and grace is the sin we refuse to “uncover” before Him in repentance and confession.

David further explained the blessing of God’s forgiveness using different terms in verse 2,  Psalm 32:2  Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. By repenting of his sin before God and asking for His forgiveness David had known the blessing that God was not holding those sins against him any longer. But it needed on David’s part a transparency before God so that there was no deceit in his spirit. God is never deceived by human deceit and David had to become honest before God to receive His forgiveness.  (We note in passing the statement in Proverbs 28:13, Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy. It is the same word that is translated in Psalm 32:1 as “cover”.) Sin needs to be uncovered before God to receive His mercy.

Did this come easily to David? No! He took his time to be honest with God and he suffered as a result. Psalm 32:3  For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away (became brittle, HCSBible) through my groaning all day long. 4  For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. He knew he had sinned before God but he wasn’t willing to bring his sin before Him. He suffered the debilitating physical and emotional consequences.

The great change came in his life when he told God about his sin. Psalm 32:5  I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. David in this verse used three different words to describe various aspects of evil-doing, namely sin, iniquity and transgressions. It was as though he was saying that no matter what form the sin took, God’s forgiveness was available to deal with it. But he had to acknowledge it, uncover it and confess it to the Lord.

It is true that God as the Omniscient One knows everything about us including the sins we have committed outwardly in our attitudes and actions and inwardly in our thought life. So we don’t tell Him about our sins to let Him know about them. He already knows.  But He has given us free-will and we can choose to confess our sins to Him or not. In confessing our sins to Him (uncovering them before Him) we are allowing Him to forgive us and to help us by His grace. David experienced a great release in doing that as the Psalm shows, “and you forgave the iniquity of my sin”.  It was from that experience of having his own sins forgiven that he could proclaim the blessedness of forgiveness from God in verses 1 and 2.

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER by Groups or by Individuals. (Added on 14th Sept 2016)

Ques 1).In verse 1 David wrote of the blessing of having his sin “forgiven” (“lifted up” or “taken away” ) and “covered over”  when he confessed them to God. Is that how you see your sins or do you think they still weigh heavy upon you and are obvious to all, especially God Himself? In what ways could you come to have the freedom David expresses here?

Ques 2). Do you think John Bunyan’s description of Christian being released from the burden of his sin (in the words above from Pilgrim’s Progress) are a great exaggeration or are they realistic in today’s world?  Why do you think so?

Ques 3). In verses 3 and 4 David wrote about the burden that came from not confessing his sin. What effects did it have on him? Do yo think those same effects apply to people today who refuse to acknowledge their sins? Any personal experiences you would be willing to share?

Ques 4). What do you see in this Psalm as the great blessings that flow from being willing to confess our sins to God?

Ques 5). How would you read aloud verse 5 in your translation to emphasise the great release David experienced as he confessed his sins to God? Which translation below do you think expressed it most forcibly?

(ESV) Psa 32:5 I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.
(The Message)  Psa 32:5 Then I let it all out; I said, “I’ll make a clean breast of my failures to GOD.” Suddenly the pressure was gone– my guilt dissolved, my sin disappeared.
(NIV) Psa 32:5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD.” And you forgave the guilt of my sin.
(HCSB) Psa 32:5 Then I acknowledged my sin to You and did not conceal my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and You took away the guilt of my sin.
(CEV) Psalm 32:5, So I confessed my sins and told them all to you. I said, “I’ll tell the Lord
each one of my sins.” Then you forgave me and took away my guilt.
(TLB)  I finally admitted all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide them. I said to myself, “I will confess them to the Lord.” And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone.
(AMPC)  I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I did not hide. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord [continually unfolding the past till all is told]—then You [instantly] forgave me the guilt and iniquity of my sin.
(ERV) But then I decided to confess my sins to the Lord. I stopped hiding my guilt and told you about my sins. And you forgave them all!

Jim Holbeck. Blog No.014. Posted on Saturday 5th March 2011

Posted in Forgiveness, GROUP DISCUSSION MATERIAL on "Forgiveness" | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

013. Forgiveness. Genesis 45-50. The Story Of Joseph

Posted on March 4, 2011 by Jim Holbeck

Ilsa suffered a lot of harm from many, many people when she lived as a young woman in Eastern Europe during the Second World War. (Ilsa was the woman we read about in our last article.) Then of course she was never in a position to seek vengeance. Her traumatic experiences had been in another country more than fifty years before. At that time she had been a vulnerable young woman in a country occupied by a foreign army. But what if she had had an opportunity for revenge back then? Would she have taken revenge? The reality was that there was no one to whom she could appeal. She just had to live with her memories for all those years. And there were many. It seemed to her that there was no chance of any closure and that her life would continue to consist of times when memories would come flooding back. With the memories often came the emotions associated with them. She wondered if she could ever be free.

Her healing came when she began to decline rapidly in health. She realised she needed to get rid of “all that stuff” that was always in her thoughts and memories. The good news is that she found an answer. She could learn to forgive those who had hurt her and let the hurtful things go. With some help and by God’s grace she was enabled to forgive all those people she remembered who had harmed her. Now there was closure. She was able to move on in life without wanting vengeance and as a result enjoyed dramatically improved physical and emotional health. The memories whenever they did return no longer had an emotionally crippling effect on her. She was free!

How about us in this 21st century? If it was possible for us to seek vengeance on those who had harmed us, knowing that we could get away with it, would we be tempted to do so? Such a temptation faced Joseph as he faced his brothers who had sold him into slavery. To punish or to forgive? That was the question! We see the answer in the first of the Old Testament passages we will be examining in this and in future articles.

1). GENESIS. Chapters 45 to 50. Whom Joseph forgave

Whom did Joseph need to forgive? Was he able to do so? Obviously he needed to forgive his brothers. They had sold him into slavery. He finished up far from home in Egypt. But God’s hand was on him. In the providence of God he rose to be second only to Pharaoh in the land of Egypt. Many years later when his brothers came to buy grain during a drought in Canaan he recognised them. He could easily have wreaked vengeance on them. But he didn’t. Joseph had a choice as he looked at his brothers.

One option was to cause them harm for the pain they had caused him. Because of his status in Egypt and the fact that his brothers were “foreigners” in Egypt he could easily have done so. No one but Joseph (and God) knew that these men were Joseph’s brothers. If he had put them to death no one but Joseph would have known that he was wreaking vengeance on his own brothers for their sin against him. It would have been so easy for Joseph to take revenge.

Joseph’s other option was to forgive them. That is what he chose to do. We see in the story many of the factors involved in true forgiveness.

Joseph did not live in denial. He recognised that his brothers had sinned against him. He knew that their sin had caused him to go through great anguish in Egypt. He didn’t deny what had happened but he chose to forgive them of their sin. (We will see in later articles that the reason some people can’t experience the release that forgiveness brings, comes from the fact that they are in denial of the sin committed against them. If you can’t see people as being guilty you can’t forgive them, even though they caused you much grief. It’s only as you recognise the sin of those who hurt you and make the decision to forgive those people, that the release and peace come.)

He wanted to bless those who had made his life so difficult. His generosity to them astounded them. He was seeking their best interests (which we will see later is a mark of Christian love.) Instead of dwelling on the hurt he had received in the past, he saw that God had over-ruled in what had happened. We can imagine what a shock it was when Joseph announced to them, Genesis 45:4 … “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. 5 And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. His brothers may have sold him into slavery but Joseph saw that God had over-ruled his brothers’ sin to bring him to Egypt for a special purpose.

He saw the bigger picture. He saw that God can use any experience to His glory and to the benefit of His people. The brothers’ sin had been overruled by God for Joseph’s ultimate blessing, for the blessing of his family and for the blessing of the Egyptian people. Genesis 45:7 And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. 8 So it was not you who sent me here, but God.

Joseph could easily have seen himself as a victim, which he indeed was. But “victim mentality” gets one nowhere. Evil is always evil. Sin is always sin. Evil and sin always cause harm to those sinned against. There ARE victims as a result of other people’s sin. However the good news is that people can move from being “victims” to becoming “victors” in life by the grace and power of God.

When Joseph’s father Jacob died, his brothers were afraid that Joseph might at that time pay them back for the evil they had committed against him. His true forgiveness was again seen in the reassurance he gave them. Genesis 50:19 But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? 20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. 21 So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones.” His forgiveness was motivated by his genuine compassion for his brothers, 21…Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.

Sometimes the deepest hurts we experience in life come from members of our own family or extended family. That’s what Joseph experienced. We see in this biblical example of Joseph how true forgiveness operates towards those who could never deserve or earn it.

There may be those who wonder, “How could Joseph have been so forgiving towards his brothers?” The answer is given in the text in Joseph’s complete trust in God. He believed that He over-ruled in all the various circumstances of his life. The Lord’s hand had been on him, protecting him and exalting him so that he could bring blessing in the lives of countless people. Joseph’s forgiveness of his brothers brought great blessing into his life, and in the lives of his wider family.

Ilsa? She didn’t ever become number two in the land of Egypt, or in any other land for that matter. In fact she wouldn’t have been recognised as important by many people throughout her lifetime. But God knew her need. When she asked Him to help her forgive all those people, He gave her the grace to do so in an amazing way. So amazing that I was astonished and delighted with the change in her. Her own Pastor praised God with me for the healing He worked in her.

We will read of others in the days ahead who learned to forgive and knew great blessing and healing as a result.

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER by Groups or by Individuals.  (Added on Thursday 11th  August 2016)

Ques 1). Do you think that people often live in denial about the hurts that people caused them? Why do you think that is so?

Ques 2). In the story of Joseph what sort of thoughts could have been going through his mind when he recognised his brothers when they came to Egypt for food? Have you had similar thoughts when you met someone who harmed you in the past?

Ques 3). In what way did Joseph see “the big picture” when confronted with his brothers?Is it always possible to see “the big picture” when you are going through difficult times caused by other people?

Ques 4). Joseph had been a victim at the hands of his brothers. Why do you think he did not have a “victim mentality” that could have made him want to seek revenge?

Ques 5). Why do you think Joseph was so forgiving towards his brothers? Are there things in his example that could help us to forgive others if we were to imitate them?

Jim Holbeck. Blog No.13. Posted on Friday 4th March 2011

Posted in Bible verses. Comments, Forgiveness, GROUP DISCUSSION MATERIAL on "Forgiveness" | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

012. Forgiveness In The 21st Century. A Practical Example

Posted on February 28, 2011 by Jim Holbeck

Ilsa had a problem. In fact she had many problems. No wonder, I thought, when I heard her story. During the Second World War she was a very young Jewish woman in Eastern Europe. On one occasion she was badly burned. She had been wrapped in bandages so that she resembled in her words a “wrapped up mummy”. The Russian forces were approaching her district and people were deeply afraid. The Russians arrived and began to enter dwelling after dwelling.

Then came a day she would never forget. She was with another young woman in a home. Soldiers entered and barely glanced at a “mummy” lying in a corner of the room.  They directed their attention to her friend. Soon her friend had been stripped in front of her and became the victim of multiple rapes. Ilsa however was left alone. The incident left her with what some call “survivor guilt”. She had “survived” such terrible evil while her friend was so badly physically and emotionally damaged.

As the months went on she became a victim herself of many atrocities. Somehow she survived the war. She  eventually emigrated to Australia. Some years later she heard the Christian gospel about Jesus the Messiah who had died to make forgiveness available to those who wanted to know peace with God. Deeply moved she opened her heart to Jesus in a real surrender. Years later she developed a life-threatening cancer. Her Pentecostal pastor was not all that sure about healing. So he humbly suggested that she come to the Healing Ministry in St Andrew’s Cathedral in Sydney to see if we could help her.

When I met Ilsa she was in a bad way. Feeling sick because of the cancer. Depressed because she had been so badly treated in Eastern Europe and she still had so many memories coming back into her mind. Feeling “guilty” because she had “survived” when so many of her family and friends had not. Feeling disappointed because she had hoped her faith would have made her a much happier person.

It was a privilege to be able to minister to her with the blessing of her pastor. I was able to share some of the truths about forgiveness that we will meet in these series of articles. I shared from Ephesians 4:31-32 about the love of God in forgiving us completely in Christ and how we could be released through that experience to forgive those who had sinned against us,  Eph 4:31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. If God forgave us completely in Christ then we needed to completely forgive those who had hurt us as well. God could give us the grace to do so.

Ilsa realised that there were some people she needed to forgive. I suggested that she get a notebook and let the Lord remind her of people she needed to forgive. She could then write down their names and also the specific things that needed to be forgiven. Then we could work through the notebook together as she forgave the people of all the things they had committed against her. I remember her saying as she left, “I’ll just get a little exercise book. I don’t think there are all that many people that I’ll need to forgive.”

We arranged to meet several weeks later. When we did meet two things struck me. The first pleased me greatly. She seemed to be so much happier and more at peace than when I saw her the previous time.  The second didn’t bring me the same amount of joy. She wasn’t carrying a little exercise book. Rather she was carrying a large bundle of sheets of paper.  She must have noticed me staring apprehensively at the size of the bundle of papers and said with a smile, “There were actually more people I needed to forgive than I thought.”

What I didn’t realise when she returned the second time was that she had begun the process of forgiving people. She had gone through many of the sheets of paper and forgiven the people involved and the sins they had committed against her. We were then able to work through the remaining names. I remember thinking as I heard her forgive certain people of specific sins against her, “I don’t know how humans can treat fellow humans so abominably. How do people ever survive such brutality and abuse?”  I was amazed to find that that God had given her such a forgiving heart in such a short time.

Ilsa worked through the remaining sheets of paper and audibly forgave the people involved and the sins they had committed against her.  Then we went outside and together we tore up all the sheets of paper. We placed them in a metal drum and she reached in and set them alight.  We watched the papers burn. Ilsa stirred the embers with a long stick until there was only ash. She departed that day a different woman. She said as she left that she felt “so clean and so free”.  It was obvious that something deep had happened within her. Several months later her Pentecostal pastor rang to say “I don’t know what you did but Ilsa is so different, at peace and feeling so much better in every way.” However we both knew that it wasn’t anything I had done. God had been at work in Ilsa enabling her to forgive all those people. He had also brought her quite amazing physical and emotional healing in such a short time.  What God did in and through Ilsa He is able to do in today’s world.

In the articles to follow we will look at some significant Old Testament passages which describe how forgiveness operates in practice and the benefits of forgiving others.  In many of these verses we will see what might be described as God’s “Word Pictures” to enable us to understand and appreciate more fully how amazing is His grace and power towards His people as He forgives them and enables them to forgive others.

(The above story is a true story but the names have been changed for reasons of privacy and confidentiality.)

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER by Groups or Individuals. (Added on Monday 8th August 2016) 

Ques 1). We saw that Ilsa suffered from what is called “survivor guilt”. (The guilt one feels when something bad has happened to another person and we feel guilty because we didn’t suffer as they did. We survived but they didn’t.) Can you think of a situation where someone might feel that sort of guilt even when they were not guilty of doing anything wrong? (Especially in work, friendship or family situations)?

Ques 2). The passage from Eph 4:31-32 seems to give a simple message, “Forgive as God forgave you.” Is it as simple as that? If not, why could it be more complicated?

Ques 3). If we forgive those who hurt us in the past, do we need to tell them that we have done so? Why or why not? Do we need to tell some of our friends that we have forgiven those other people? Why or why not?

Ques 4). How would you try to encourage someone to forgive a person who had hurt them? What do you think would be some of the “Do’s and don’ts” as you tried to encourage them?

Jim Holbeck.  Blog No. 012.  Posted on Monday 28 February 2011 

Posted in Bible verses. Comments, Forgiveness, GROUP DISCUSSION MATERIAL on "Forgiveness" | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

011. Forgiveness. God Covers Over Our Sin. (Kaphar and Kasah)

Posted on February 27, 2011 by Jim Holbeck

Forgiveness. What an incredible release it brings to those who experience it!  Ted as a young man felt that his life had begun all over again when he was “born again” as he put it. He began to experience a whole range of feelings as a result. These included:- a load lifting off him; a real sense of freedom; a sense of being at peace with God; an excitement in discovering a purpose for living.  However there was one thing that still disturbed him. He had lived a pretty riotous life, by his own admission. As he reflected on his life he realised that there were many things he would not want other people to know about his life before his conversion.  He couldn’t forget the things he had said and done. Some memories brought him a renewed sense of shame. He wondered, “Will it always be like this? Will I ever forget those things or do I have to go through those feelings of shame for the rest of my life?”   

Ted discovered a Bible truth that made an incredible difference in his life. It meant that he could hold his head high as a new believer. What was the truth that had helped set him free in this way? The truth is contained in the concept described in our final two words. Both of them have the concept of God “covering over” sin in His forgiveness of people.

1)  “KAPHAR”. This is found in 93 verses and can have the meanings to appease, cover, cleanse, expiate, forgive, and make atonement. For convenience I will use a fairly recent translation, the English Standard Version (ESV) to see how it is translated in that version. These are some of the uses.

Annul. It means to make null and void something in existence. In Isaiah 28:18, it is a covenant with death that is annulled or made to be of no account.  The rulers of Jerusalem had turned to other nations and to other gods and had turned away from trusting in YHWH.  Instead of walking in obedience as the people in covenant with their God, they had formed allegiances with other nations. Isaiah 28:14  Therefore hear the word of the LORD, you scoffers, who rule this people in Jerusalem! 15  Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol we have an agreement, when the overwhelming whip passes through it will not come to us, for we have made lies our refuge, and in falsehood we have taken shelter”. However they could not escape the judgment of God. The covenant (those alliances) they relied on would be annulled and God would move against those who had rejected His rule over them.  Isaiah 28:18  Then your covenant with death will be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol will not stand; when the overwhelming scourge passes through, you will be beaten down by it.

 Appease. It is used only on the human level in terms of a person doing something to avert the anger of another person.  It is used in this way in Genesis 32 of Jacob sending presents ahead of him to ensure that Esau would not be angry with him. He commanded his servants, Genesis 32:20  and you shall say, ‘Moreover, your servant Jacob is behind us.'” For he thought, “I may appease him with the present that goes ahead of me, and afterward I shall see his face. Perhaps he will accept me.”

It is also found in Proverbs to give the good advice that it is wise to seek to pacify rulers who might have power to punish with death those who incur their anger, Proverbs 16:14  A king’s wrath is a messenger of death, and a wise man will appease it.  

 Cleanse. God would cleanse His people and their land by punishing His adversaries and by removing idolatry from the nation.  (Deuteronomy 32:43  “Rejoice with him, O heavens; bow down to him, all gods, for he avenges the blood of his children and takes vengeance on his adversaries. He repays those who hate him and cleanses his people’s land.” (This does not conflict with other passages showing that God is a forgiving God. Here God deals with those who remain His adversaries and continue to hate Him. They have no desire or intention to ask Him for forgiveness.) However we see that there was better news for those who turned away from their sin and turned back to God. Deut 32:45 And when Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel, 46 he said to them, “Take to heart all the words by which I am warning you today, that you may command them to your children, that they may be careful to do all the words of this law. 47 For it is no empty word for you, but your very life, and by this word you shall live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.” God would not only cleanse the people’s land but He was also cleanse the people who turned back to Him.

 Expiation. This refers to the removal of sin. Numbers 35:33  ‘So you shall not pollute the land in which you are; for blood pollutes the land and no expiation can be made for the land for the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of him who shed it, (in NASB, RSV and NRSV versions. “Atonement” in ESV).  Murder made the land unclean. Justice and cleansing demanded that the murderer be executed. There was no other expiation or sacrifice that could be made to cleanse the land.

Forgive. (Many instances of “Kaphar” are translated as “forgive” in some translations. However in the ESV it is usually translated as “atone” or “make atonement”.

 Make atonement or to atone

There are 12 occurrence where the words for “make atonement” ( karphar)  and “forgive” (salach which I have described in previous articles) are linked together. This is especially so in the book of Leviticus. It makes sense, because it is the process of offering the required sacrifices which brings about the atonement or “covering over” of sin. This is what makes forgiveness available. Just one example, (Leviticus 4:26)  And all its fat he shall burn on the altar, like the fat of the sacrifice of peace offerings. So the priest shall make atonement for him for his sin, and he shall be forgiven. Other verses with the same recurring theme  “make atonement”  …  “shall be forgiven” are found in Leviticus 4:31, 35, 5:10, 13, 16, 18, 6:7, 19:22.

The other references with the same linked themes are in Numbers 15 where the sacrifices are offered for the covering over (atonement) of unintentional sins,  (Numbers 15:25)  And the priest shall make atonement for all the congregation of the people of Israel, and they shall be forgiven, because it was a mistake, and they have brought their offering, a food offering to the LORD, and their sin offering before the LORD for their mistake.  ….  28)  And the priest shall make atonement before the LORD for the person who makes a mistake, when he sins unintentionally, to make atonement for him, and he shall be forgiven.  The people could express their repentance for their sin and their faith in God by bringing the necessary offering to enable God to cover over their mistakes.

2)  “KASHAH”.   Another word dealing with God “covering” sin

This is found in over 149 verses in the Old Testament and is used to indicate the covering of many things. It mainly refers to the covering or concealing of things or people. But it is also used for the covering of sin or transgressions. Some examples are these:-

Nehemiah asks God not to “cover” the sins of those who had hindered the rebuilding of Jerusalem. As such they were opposing God Himself,  Nehemiah 4:5  Do not cover their guilt, and let not their sin be blotted out from your sight, for they have provoked you to anger in the presence of the builders. Nehemiah is concerned for the glory of God. The sin of those who maintained their opposition to God should not be covered over. Nor should their ongoing sin be blotted out and forgiven while they remained God’s enemies.

 Job desired to be open with God and not like others who concealed their sin,  Job 31:33  if I have concealed my transgressions as others do by hiding my iniquity in my bosom.  In his openness to God he wanted to bring any sin before God rather than hiding it, Job 31:37  I would give him an account of all my steps; like a prince I would approach him.

 David spoke of the blessing of being open with God, Psalm 32:1  Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.  But he was not always like that. He had tried to hide his sin from God and went through great turmoil as a result. As he later uncovered his sin before God, God covered it over and forgave him.  In David’s words, I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Psalm 32:5

 King Solomon said much the same as David, in Proverbs 28:13, Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy. There is no blessing in hiding one’s sin. But to uncover them before God by confessing them to Him and then forsaking them, brings His mercy.  It could be said that the only sin God does not “cover over”, is the sin we humans fail to “uncover” before Him in repentance.

Ted rejoiced in the knowledge that though his sins were “pretty gross” as he put it, when he confessed them to God and asked His forgiveness, God forgave him. Not only that but He had “covered over” all those sins.  If God Himself was not going to keep looking at them, then Ted realised that he had no right to think about them either.

 In summary, as we look at these 2 words for God “covering over” sin in forgiveness, we can say a couple of things. The first is that the whole sacrificial system was instituted by God Himself. It was not set up by humans to try to appease Him.  It came from the grace of God in telling humans that sin mattered to Him; that it had to be dealt with; that a sacrifice had to be offered to cover over the sin (atonement); and that forgiveness became available as a result of offering the sacrifices He required.  In offering the sacrifices God had instituted, the people were acting in faith on what God had said. They were trusting in His provision for their sins to be covered over and forgiven.

Secondly what was needed for forgiveness to be received was a humble approach to God. This meant uncovering all one’s sins before Him and deciding not to try to hide them from Him as David apparently tried unsuccessfully to do. It also meant asking God for His forgiveness and allowing Him to cover over all those sins in His mercy, grace and forgiving love.

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER by Groups or Individuals. (added Sunday 7th August 2016)

Ques 1. In our story Ted felt a lot of guilt even after he became a Christian. Did you have the same sort of experience and if so, how did you learn to overcome that feeling of guilt?

Ques 2. In the paragraph beginning with “Cleanse”it appears that God does not “cover over” the sins of those who refuse to turn to Him. What do these verses from 1 John 1:8 to 9 tell us about God cleansing His people when they turn to him in repentance?  (1 Jn 1:8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.) 

Ques 3. In the paragraph beginning “Make atonement or to atone” how do the people express their repentance and how do they seek to have their sin covered over?

Ques 4. Have you ever had an experience like that of King David in Psalm 32? How did you uncover your sin before God? How did you know that God covered over those sins?

Ques 5. What is the significance in the fact that God  Himself established the sacrificial system? What were the parts that God, the priest and the worshipper played in this sacrificial system?

Jim Holbeck. Blog No. 11.  Posted on Sunday 27February 2011

Posted in Bible verses. Comments, Forgiveness, GROUP DISCUSSION MATERIAL on "Forgiveness" | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

010. Evangelism. Sharing Jesus with other people

Posted on February 23, 2011 by Jim Holbeck

“Timmy’s different, but Jesus loves him!” The words of a little 5 year old girl. But what an impact they had on me so that I still remember them over 50 years later! What was so powerful about those words?

At the time I was in my early twenties with no real contact with the church or with the Bible. The only thing I knew about Jesus was that He had been crucified on a cross.  I had come to know a little about Timmy the little girl’s brother. He was what was described then as “severely multi-handicapped”. So much so that he had to be institutionalised in a special facility for such children. Another description was that he was virtually “a vegetable” with no hope of ever leaving that facility.

The terms used to describe him seem to be very insensitive in today’s understanding of people with needs. But that was Timmy’s situation and his parents and his sister came often from the country to visit him.

Timmy was indeed “different” from other children.  From a previous conversation I had a picture of Timmy as having no real hope of every becoming more “normal” as we would have said in those days.  He would never make any “contribution” to society as we would have put it then. In the eyes of some people he would be “of no value”.  Even his sister said he was “different”.  

I wasn’t prepared for the words or the way in which they were said, when she added, “But Jesus loves him!” They were said by a sister who obviously loved him. They were said with the innocence of a young child. She had probably been taught those words by her parents.  But they impacted me big-time. Who was this Jesus that he could love such a human being? How could this Jesus see value in what some had described as virtually a “vegetable”?  Would this Jesus love me and others who needed to be loved?

“Timmy’s different, but Jesus loves him!” What an evangelistic message! At least it was to me. It made me want to read about this Jesus who had such love for such needy, needy people. I began to open a Bible and as they say, “the rest is history” or as I have discovered in life, “His story.”

As a Christian minister I have been involved in church ministry for over 40 years and in Cathedral ministry for close on 30 years. Because of this I have had the privilege of listening to some of the world’s greatest preachers.  Many of them have made some impact on my life but I have forgotten what most of them said.  What I have not forgotten even 50 years later is the message shared by a little 5 year old girl, “Timmy’s different, but Jesus loves him!”

Isn’t this what evangelism is all about? Sharing what we know about Jesus with other people?  The little girl couldn’t have passed New Testament Year 1 at a theological college at that time.  But she passed the test of sharing what she knew about Jesus with someone who at that time virtually knew nothing about Him. Her words helped motivate him to find out more about the Jesus who loves.

As a little 5 year old girl taught me, “Evangelism is sharing what you know about Jesus with other people.”

Jim Holbeck.  Blog No 10.   Posted on Wednesday 23February 2011.

Posted in Evangelism | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment