The Forgiving Power of God

The Forgiving Power of God
By Pastor Michael Cameneti

Faith Family Church
Canton, OH As a Christian, there is not a sin that you can commit that God cannot forgive. God is so full of mercy and compassion toward His children that He will never get to a place where He stops loving you. Lamentations 3:22-23 tells us, “It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.”

And notice Isaiah 43:25, “I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.” When you sin, and you confess your sin to God, that sin is now under the blood of Jesus (I John 1:9), and God forgives you. He doesn’t even remember your sin; you’ve been washed clean and stand blameless in His eyes. Aren’t you thankful for the forgiving power of God? Do you wish people showed that same type of mercy and forgiveness toward one another? Well, as Christians, we are instructed to do just that, and the only way to truly understand how to do so is to first understand how God forgives us.

A Sinner Forgiven
First, let’s look at the sinner or unbeliever (one who has not received Jesus as Lord). The main sin a sinner has committed is separation from God. Therefore, a sinner just needs to change his lordship. Notice Romans 10:9-10, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” When a sinner confesses Jesus as Lord, he turns from serving himself to serving God. The very moment confession is made unto salvation, the sinner is now a believer – a new creation – and his past is forgiven. II Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new.” That is why sinners do not have to confess all that they’ve done prior to calling on the Name of the Lord. That’s great news for a new believer!

A Believer’s Sins Forgiven
When a believer sins, he must go to God and ask forgiveness for the sin that he has committed. I John 1:5-9 reads, “This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” When a believer confesses his sin to God, God is faithful and just to forgive, and the blood of Jesus cleanses the believer from unrighteous deeds. Now, that’s not a license to live any old way we want to live, but when we do slip, God is faithful to forgive. Praise God!

Christians Forgiving One Another
Understanding now how God forgives us, let’s look at how we are to forgive one another. I like this example from the book of Matthew. In Matthew 18:21-22, Peter approaches Jesus to ask him how often he should forgive someone who sins against him: “…Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.” That’s 490 times…in one day! Most of us would agree that we’ve probably never had to forgive someone that many times in one day, but the point made is this: Our forgiveness should never be exhausted. We should be willing to forgive – always.

In Matthew 18:23-27, Jesus explains the powerful significance of forgiveness in a parable: “Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants. And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents. But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, ‘Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.’ Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.”

In this parable, the king represents God, and the servant represents Adam. Here is a man (Adam) who owes an immense debt that he’ll never be able to pay, but the king (God), moved with compassion toward him, forgave him his debt and loosed him – set him free. In the same way, when we call on the Name of the Lord to be saved, we are forgiven our incalculable debt and are set apart as children of the King with heaven as our home. Praise God!

Now, notice the rest of the parable: Matthew 18:28-35, “But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me that thou owest.’ And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt. So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done. Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, ‘O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?’ And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.”

Now we see that the man who had been released of his great debt refused to show mercy toward the fellow servant who owed him pennies by comparison; he took the man by the throat and had him cast into prison! What happened? He completely ignored the fact that he, himself, had been released of his debt. He was consumed with the fact that the fellow servant owed him and demanded payment.

Do you realize that when you refuse to forgive people for sins they commit against you that you are acting just as this servant did in the parable? And just as he was handed over to the tormentors, unforgiveness will breed torment in your life. It is destructive and profits you nothing but sorrow and heartache.

As individuals, and as the Church, we must forgive one another the same way God forgives us. Yes, we are human, and most likely we will remember a number of the sins against us, but we must forgive and not cast judgment on one another. In being obedient to forgive, it takes the sting away of the wrong done to us and enables us to live peaceful lives in position to fulfill the plan of God.

I like the definition Bullinger’s Greek Lexicon Dictionary gives for “forgive”: “to treat the guilty party as though they never sinned.” This is how we are to treat other people who have sinned against us; we are not to hold them in bondage to try and repay a wrong done to us. Love covers a multitude of sins; it takes no account of wrongs done to it.

No matter the severity of the offense, God’s forgiving power is available to all of us. Let’s embrace it and cause our lives and our church to be in unity and peace.

*Scripture references are King James Version unless otherwise noted.