Yes, God Forgives You!
When I was an atheist I used to think of myself as a fairly good person. I wasn't too bad - I was certainly no Hitler. But even then I knew I had done some bad things, like lying or wishing somebody to die. While I hadn’t read the Bible at that point, obviously, I knew deep inside that those things were wrong. But I thought “if there is a God, surely He will see I’m not really that bad and He’ll let me into Heaven”. This is, typically, the thinking that unbelievers have, isn’t it? “I’ve earned my place in Heaven with this deed, if there is one”. They either deny the existence of God and heaven, or they hedge their bets thinking that in the event there is a God and heaven and hell, they do good deeds to present to God once they die.
But, you see, the fact remains that no matter who you are or how good you think you are you have done something that breaks God’s law. I guarantee you that you have. So why live with that guilt? Even if you don’t feel guilty, you are guilty in the eyes of God.
The good news is you don’t need to bear that guilt anymore because God forgives you – on one condition. That you trust Jesus as your Lord and Savior. That’s all God asks from you. Pretty simple, eh?
Friend, Jesus bought you with His blood. He came to live a perfect life of obedience to God, die on the cross and resurrect so that you could be forgiven. He’s already paid the penalty! He in fact said “it is finished”:
John 19:28-30 New King James Version (NKJV)
It Is Finished
"28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I thirst!” 29 Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth. 30 So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit."
What Jesus meant when He said “it is finished” is He finished His work of redemption. There’s nothing else you need to do, other than trust Jesus that He truly finished His work, to be forgiven. Since it is finished, you are forgiven as a follower of Jesus Christ. Ask God for forgiveness through Jesus Christ and you are forgiven. Even if thoughts take you to a place where you made a mistake years ago for which you have asked for forgiveness, don’t go there. You are forgiven – you were forgiven the second you asked for it.
1 John 1:9 New King James Version (NKJV)
"9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
This is God’s promise: He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. It’s His promise and you have to trust His word!
I know sometimes people tend to mistrust God – that’s because we transfer our own sins on to Him. We assume that, since people lie or hurt us, it’s possible that God may not be as trustworthy. But, you see, that’s not true. As you read the Bible you understand God’s character. He’s Holy. He’s perfect. That means that when He makes a promise, He’s going to honor that promise. We make promises that we don’t honor, but God doesn't do that...ever!
You see, God is almighty, but there are things He cannot do. “What??” you may ask. But it’s true. For example, God is eternal – this means He cannot die. Even if He wanted to, He doesn’t have the ability to die. Another example, God cannot sin – this means He cannot lie, among other sins. He doesn’t have the ability to lie. So when He makes a promise, you have the guarantee that God is going to keep that promise.
There’s a passage in the Bible that explains how serious God is about His promises. I’m talking about Genesis 15, where God promises Abram (this is before God changed his name to Abraham) that he would give him as many descendants as the stars in the sky, and that He would give him and his descendants a land to inhabit. Abram asks God how will he know that indeed he will inherit this land?
Here’s how God answers Abram’s question in Genesis 15:9-21:
9 So He said to him, “Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” 10 Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, down the middle, and placed each piece opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds in two. 11 And when the vultures came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.
12 Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him. 13 Then He said to Abram: “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. 14 And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions. 15 Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age. 16 But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”
17 And it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces. 18 On the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying:
“To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates— 19 the Kenites, the Kenezzites, the Kadmonites, 20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”
There are many things we can say about this passage. But let me point out just a couple of things:
First, the smoking oven and burning torch are what theologians call “Theophany”. This means that God is showing up, as it were, in this case in the form of fire. You may remember that that’s exactly the way He appeared to Moses in the burning bush. Fire, in this time period, was a good thing because it represented light. We now have light bulbs and we tend to think of fire as a bad thing because of its destructive power. But at this time in history, people wanted fires to be able to see at night or to be able to scare ferocious animals away.
The second thing, and the key to understanding how serious God is about His promises is the way he seals this deal – by passing between the pieces that Abram had laid down on the ground. You see, in Ancient Near East the way people would sign deals was by passing between torn animals like God is doing here. They didn’t have paper and pen to sign, so they used this way to signify that, in the event one of the parties were to break their promise sealed in this manner, they would suffer the same fate as these torn animals would suffer. In this passage, God is sealing the deal by invoking a self-maledictory oath, or a curse, upon Himself. And that, my friend, is how serious God takes his promises.
You can bet that, when God says He has forgiven you, He has.
But, you see, the fact remains that no matter who you are or how good you think you are you have done something that breaks God’s law. I guarantee you that you have. So why live with that guilt? Even if you don’t feel guilty, you are guilty in the eyes of God.
The good news is you don’t need to bear that guilt anymore because God forgives you – on one condition. That you trust Jesus as your Lord and Savior. That’s all God asks from you. Pretty simple, eh?
Friend, Jesus bought you with His blood. He came to live a perfect life of obedience to God, die on the cross and resurrect so that you could be forgiven. He’s already paid the penalty! He in fact said “it is finished”:
John 19:28-30 New King James Version (NKJV)
It Is Finished
"28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I thirst!” 29 Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth. 30 So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit."
What Jesus meant when He said “it is finished” is He finished His work of redemption. There’s nothing else you need to do, other than trust Jesus that He truly finished His work, to be forgiven. Since it is finished, you are forgiven as a follower of Jesus Christ. Ask God for forgiveness through Jesus Christ and you are forgiven. Even if thoughts take you to a place where you made a mistake years ago for which you have asked for forgiveness, don’t go there. You are forgiven – you were forgiven the second you asked for it.
1 John 1:9 New King James Version (NKJV)
"9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
This is God’s promise: He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. It’s His promise and you have to trust His word!
I know sometimes people tend to mistrust God – that’s because we transfer our own sins on to Him. We assume that, since people lie or hurt us, it’s possible that God may not be as trustworthy. But, you see, that’s not true. As you read the Bible you understand God’s character. He’s Holy. He’s perfect. That means that when He makes a promise, He’s going to honor that promise. We make promises that we don’t honor, but God doesn't do that...ever!
You see, God is almighty, but there are things He cannot do. “What??” you may ask. But it’s true. For example, God is eternal – this means He cannot die. Even if He wanted to, He doesn’t have the ability to die. Another example, God cannot sin – this means He cannot lie, among other sins. He doesn’t have the ability to lie. So when He makes a promise, you have the guarantee that God is going to keep that promise.
There’s a passage in the Bible that explains how serious God is about His promises. I’m talking about Genesis 15, where God promises Abram (this is before God changed his name to Abraham) that he would give him as many descendants as the stars in the sky, and that He would give him and his descendants a land to inhabit. Abram asks God how will he know that indeed he will inherit this land?
Here’s how God answers Abram’s question in Genesis 15:9-21:
9 So He said to him, “Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” 10 Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, down the middle, and placed each piece opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds in two. 11 And when the vultures came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.
12 Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him. 13 Then He said to Abram: “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. 14 And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions. 15 Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age. 16 But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”
17 And it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces. 18 On the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying:
“To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates— 19 the Kenites, the Kenezzites, the Kadmonites, 20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”
There are many things we can say about this passage. But let me point out just a couple of things:
First, the smoking oven and burning torch are what theologians call “Theophany”. This means that God is showing up, as it were, in this case in the form of fire. You may remember that that’s exactly the way He appeared to Moses in the burning bush. Fire, in this time period, was a good thing because it represented light. We now have light bulbs and we tend to think of fire as a bad thing because of its destructive power. But at this time in history, people wanted fires to be able to see at night or to be able to scare ferocious animals away.
The second thing, and the key to understanding how serious God is about His promises is the way he seals this deal – by passing between the pieces that Abram had laid down on the ground. You see, in Ancient Near East the way people would sign deals was by passing between torn animals like God is doing here. They didn’t have paper and pen to sign, so they used this way to signify that, in the event one of the parties were to break their promise sealed in this manner, they would suffer the same fate as these torn animals would suffer. In this passage, God is sealing the deal by invoking a self-maledictory oath, or a curse, upon Himself. And that, my friend, is how serious God takes his promises.
You can bet that, when God says He has forgiven you, He has.