God's Forgiveness

[Sam]

This is from pages 85 and 86 of “Seven Wonders of the Spiritual World” copyright 1988 by Bill Hybels, He is pastor of the Willow Creek Community Church near Chicago, Illinois. The subject is God’s forgiveness.

Some years ago, a man called me after midnight, desperate for counsel. He had committed a grave sin and pleaded with me to meet him. When I arrived he kept admitting his sinfulness and owning it, and then he made all kinds of pledges so God would forgive him. I said, “Friend, you are wasting your breath. You can’t keep the commitments you are making. And no matter what you promise, that doesn’t change the sin you have committed. You have to entrust that to the person of Jesus Christ, who is the only One who can and will blot it out, forgive it, and cleanse it.”

He finally understood and by faith prayed and accepted God’s forgiveness. The next day he called me at my office. He said, “On the way home I turned on the car radio, found a Christian station and heard ‘Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.’ I pulled over, rested my head on the dashboard and cried. I finally understood. I can’t earn forgiveness. I receive it as a gift. Because God loves me, He forgave me by His grace.”

A Few Classics

Once you trust God to forgive you, then you need to get up and proceed with your life as though God indeed has forgiven you. We are tempted to say, “I don’t feel forgiven,” so God put in His Word some classic forgiveness promises you can memorize:

The amnesia promise: “...I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more” (Jeremiah 31:34). God says, “What was that sin you think I didn’t forgive? I don’t even remember it. It’s done. It’s gone.”

The stain removal promise: “Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool” (Isaiah 1:18)

The East-West promise: “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:12).

The deep sea promise: “Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:19).

When a voice whispers, “God didn’t forgive you; you still have some X’s on the slate,” use one the forgiveness promise verses.

[Sam]

Originally Posted by Sam

...
When a voice whispers, “God didn’t forgive you; you still have some X’s on the slate,” use one the forgiveness promise verses.

When I read that exhortation, I thought of Bishop G.T. Haywood's song about the crimson stream of blood, and most specifically verse 3

I See A Crimson Stream
by Bishop G.T. Haywood, 1920

Verse 1
On Cal’vry’s hill of sorrow
Where sin’s demands were paid,
And rays of hope for tomorrow
Across our path were laid.

Refrain
I see a crimson stream of blood,
It flows from Calvary,
Its waves which reach the throne of God,
Are sweeping over me.

Verse 2
Today no condemnation
Abides to turn away
My soul from His salvation,
He’s in my heart to stay.

Verse 3
When gloom and sadness whisper,
“You’ve sinned—no use to pray,”
I look away to Jesus,
And He tells me to say:

Verse 4
And when we reach the portal
Where life forever reigns,
The ransomed hosts’ grand final
Will be this glad refrain.

[NewWine]

Sam,
Thank you so very much for posting such wonderful words. Also, the lyrics to this song (now I know the verse). The forgiveness of God can sometimes be a battle for people to deal with; accepting the forgiveness of God. It truly is a gift when you stop and think about it. A gift that we can receive daily. Thank God for his forgiveness and the blood that washes white at snow.

[John Atkinson]

nice. Good devotional for the day. Thanks!