FORGIVE THEM

By Rick Mathes

Matthew 6:14-15 (NASB77) ¹⁴  ” For if you forgive men for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. ¹⁵  “But if you do not forgive men, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.

The wage of sin is death: irrevocable. Done deal! Even God will not be able to recover you from hell once you get there. Think about this deeply. How you react means everything. John the Baptist preached, “Repent!” Jesus preached, “Repent!” Peter preached, “Repent!” Paul preached, Repent!” and on and on throughout all 66 books. There is an unmistakable pattern formed from the very breath of God.

As long as your sins are at peace, God and your soul must be at war. You can bleed to death without pain. The time to seek heling is when there is pain. Hurting those who have loved you becomes excruciating once you head is clear of substance abuse and your conscience is awakened. You’ve crossed the line and if you don’t turn back now you may never recover the image and likeness of God. Satan becomes your lord. How terrifying!

Looking back, our Lord forgives you completely for every horrid sin you have ever committed. Guilt is evidence of unconfessed sin. It’s like dragging along with you a putrid corpse of maggots and miasma decay. No need to do this. Repent means you leave the sin at the foot of the cross and never return to it again. Never!

You will never be punished for your sins because Father God will never know about them. When He looks on you He will only see His Son. Our Lord’s atonement and the blood on the cross shields us from the wines of our evil nactions and even thoughts. The full penalty was “Paid in Full!” by our Savior.

It has often been asked, “Could Jesus sin?” The answer is, “Yes.” In the flesh He could sin but in the Spirit he was able not to sin. The same applies to you and me. In Him, full of the Holy Spirit, we can resist the gates of hell and Satan’s most powerful effort to rip us out of the arms of Jesus. What a wonderful assurance of salvation.

Now comes the pay-back. Of those who have been forgiven much, much is required. We owe Him all we have! You are His ambassador and holy warrior until His return. There aren’t any more theophany or startling acts of God from heaven. If you aren’t about the Father’s business it won’t get done. The baton has been passed to you. It begins by forgiving those who He died for and forgave. Return good for bad and you will hae stepped through the front door of Glory: forgive them that killed Him!