This morning I was impressed of the Lord to examine this subject of forgiveness from a Biblical perspective and especially in relation to the passage of scripture that I read this morning for my quiet time with the Lord in prayer and in his word. I realized that, if I was going to learn and or to teach on the subject of us forgiving one another, I needed to first of all understand how God forgives us. I prayed during my quiet time with God this morning, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening, and then I read I Corinthians 5:
Expel the Immoral Brother!
1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that does not occur even among pagans: A man has his father’s wife. 2 And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have been filled with grief and have put out of your fellowship the man who did this? 3 Even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. And I have already passed judgment on the one who did this, just as if I were present. 4 When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, 5 hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord.
6 Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? 7 Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth.
9 I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10 not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. 11 But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.
12 What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? 13 God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked man from among you.”
My Understanding: God forgives us when we come to him in repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. Repentance means to stop the sin, yield the right-of-way to God in our lives (via surrender, submission and obedience), and then to move forward in his grace, trusting in his salvation from the penalty and the control of sin over our lives on a day-to-day basis. When God forgives us he says, “Go and sin no more.” He overlooks no sinful indiscretions, nor does he merely focus on our good qualities, though he will encourage those in us. And, he gives us boundaries and rules to follow so that we don’t fall into the same sin pattern over and over again. The rules are there because he loves us so very much and he doesn’t want us to continue hurting ourselves and others. He died upon a cross, taking upon himself all our sins so that we could go free from the penalty and the control of sin (daily).
So, when God forgives us, he not only cancels the offense, but he establishes boundary lines and rules for daily living so that we don’t take advantage of him or his grace and so that we don’t continue in the same sin patterns of behavior. If, after we are forgiven, we choose to continue in our sin and/or rebellion against God, he will discipline us as a loving parent should discipline a rebellious and defiant child. Revelation 3:19-20 says this:
“Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.”If we come to him to seek fellowship with him all the while we are holding on to our sin and rebellion, he will not hear us. If we want to have fellowship with him, we have to hear his voice, we have to listen to what he says, we have to repent of our sin and rebellion, and we have to open our hearts’ doors to receive his truth into our lives through practical application of those truths, and then he will come in and will fellowship with us.
The Bible tells us that we are to love our brothers and sisters as Christ loves us, and we are to forgive as God forgives us. I read I Corinthians 5 this morning for my quiet time with the Lord in prayer and in his word. In this passage of scripture we learn of a situation where sinful rebellion against God is being tolerated in the church and is being allowed to continue. Paul addresses the church and tells them to take action against this sinful rebellion so that the person sinning might be saved from his sin. That should always be the goal of discipline – change and restoration to a right relationship with God and between us and mankind. This action was not being judgmental or unforgiving. This action was for the very purpose of helping that person to no longer sin. Then, Paul said that if we don’t address these ongoing sins of rebellion that it will work as yeast through a batch of dough and will begin to affect the rest of the congregation and might encourage them to also sin in this manner. In order to impress upon the rebellious individual the seriousness of his or her sin, Paul even said that we should not associate with those who call themselves Christians and yet are living in open rebellion against God. And, again, this is not to condemn the person but to express to the person the importance of repentance and of God’s grace and forgiveness and also so that the yeast of sin does not work its way into our lives via the influence of that person.
So, to follow Christ’s example in how to love and how to forgive our brothers and sisters, we need to follow the teachings of scripture mentioned above and we also need to follow these teachings of scripture:
Gal. 6:1: “Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.”And,
James 5:19-20: “My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins.”
These verses are talking of the true meaning of grace and the true meaning of forgiveness. Forgiveness that forgives others as God forgives us goes beyond merely refusing to hold that person’s sin against them, but it offers hope, healing and restoration (renovation; renewal; rebuilding) – See Romans 12:1-2 on the subject of renovation and renewal. This kind of god-like grace and forgiveness helps the sinner to turn from his sin and to walk in newness of life with Jesus Christ so that he does not continue in his life of sin. Amen!
His Grace Is Greater / Larnelle Harris
His grace is greater than our failures
His peace runs deeper than our fears
If we go to Him in mercy
Our hearts can rest assured
His love will keep us through our tears
Sources: Song Lyrics - http://lyrics.christiansunite.com/lyrics_1814_6.shtml
Scripture verses - http://www.biblegateway.com/
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