[Faith-talk] Good Night Message for Monday, April 22, 2013

[Paul]

Well folks, for those who celebrate it, Earth Day is slowly winding down to its eventual end here in the eastern part of North America.  Now I know that many of you probably don't do anything for this day, but I did, and it was very good, expounding what the earth means to us, and I had the opportunity to bring the subject into proper perspective as one of the speakers at our local gathering by reminding the participants, believe it or not, that it was God who created the earth (Genesis 1:1).  Anyway it was a happy occasion locally.

Conrad Pomeroy was, at this writing, pastor of Trinity Baptist Church in Dundee, Scotland and he contributed today's article entitled "God Forgives Our Sins," rendered as follows:

What is the best news we can ever hear? For a person with cancer to hear "You're clear" or for a person burdened with debt to hear "Your debts are paid off--that's great news.  The importance of the news depends on the seriousness of the situation we face.

When the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin, shows us what we deserve, lays upon us the burden of guilt and reveals to us what we really are before God, then the best news in all the world is to hear God say to us, "Your sins are forgiven." This was the experience of the woman in Luke 7.

Loved Much Because Forgiven Much

She was a sinner; she knew it, everyone else knew it, too.  However, something drew her into the "lion's den" of that Pharisee's house; something moved her to disregard the sneers, to by-pass social convention and to express her love for Jesus in the way she did.  She loved much, for she had been forgiven much.  At the end of the story, Jesus confirms her, in the presence of these self-righteous men, as a pardoned, justified sinner.  He sends her on her way with God's "shalom", with all that meant for spiritual health and the favour of God.  Wonderful! This is the message of the Gospel--free pardon, and with it life, love, joy, peace, to all who repent and believe in Christ.  It's free to us, but it cost the Lord Jesus His life.

Offended

Not everyone in that room was happy with what Jesus said.  Some grumbled among themselves, "Who is this who even forgives sins?" They were scandalised by Jesus' words, just as they had been when He forgave the paralysed man (Luke 5:21).  If we don't share their sense of shock, it may be that our theology is even worse than theirs! For all their errors, they knew their "Bible" well enough to know that it is God's prerogative _alone to forgive sins:  "If You, Lord, should mark iniquities, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with you" (Psalm 130:3-4); "to the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness" (Daniel 9:9).  Only the One who gave the law can pardon offences against the law.  The grumblers understood that Jesus was acting as God, and since they had closed their minds to the thought that here was "Immanuel"--"God with us"--they were offended.

Not only were they offended at the implications of Jesus' words, but probably also at the ease with which He spoke to them.  They understood that sin is costly; "The soul that sins shall die" (Ezekiel 18:4).  For them God's pardon and peace was something offered only to the deserving, those who worked hard to get it.

Contemporary Objections

The problem we face today is almost the opposite; forgiveness can seem almost routine.  We are used to the offer of forgiveness in the Gospel, and we accept that Jesus, as Immanuel, may offer it to us.  However, confusion about forgiveness still abounds.

Consider two errors we need to avoid:  equating humen and divine forgiveness.  Perhaps someone will object to the statement "It is God's prerogative alone to forgive sins" by saying, "Doesn't the Bible teach that we are to forgive those who sin against us?" Indeed, but what does this mean? What are we forgiving? We cannot pardon the guilt of sin, only the offence.  Where sin has been committed, it is God's law that has been broken, and we will have to give an account to God: "Vengeance is Mine says the Lord" (Deuteronomy 32:35; Romans 12:9).  This is why David, guilty of murder and adultery, says, "Against You, You only have I sinned" (Psalm 51:4).  He had offended others, but his guilt was with God, and only God could pardon that.

Samuel Davies was right when, in the hymn "Great God of Wonders", he wrote:

Such dire offences to forgive,
Such guilty daring worms to spare:
This is Thy grand prerogative,
and in the honour none shall share."

2.  Undermining the cost of forgiveness

Even more serious is the undermining of the "Atonement" among so-called evangelicals today.  Recently Christians flocked to hear a well-known speaker from America, who was touring Scotland.  He is on record as saying, "The traditional understanding of the atonement says that God asks of us something that God is incapable of Himself.  God asks us to forgive people, but God is incapable of forgiving.  God can't forgive unless He punishes somebody in place of the person He's going to forgive.  God doesn't say to you, "Forgive your wife and then go kick the dog to vent your anger." God asks you to actually forgive, and there's a certain sense that a common understanding of the Atonement presents a God who is incapable of forgiving unless He kicks somebody else."

The errors here are too numerous to explore now.  The main heresy is that God should be able to forgive without a penalty being paid.  This man dislikes the idea of Hell (This is the context for the comment.) and the biblical truth that sin must be punished.  We are back with the old liberal heresy that the cross was nothing more than God showing how much He loved us.  Such a view fails to grapple with the seriousness of sin, or the justice of God.  It presents a warped view of God; as if the God of the Bible, the God of superstitionary atonement is a capricious God who vents His pent-up anger on Christ, allowing us to nip into Heaven by the back door.  Perhaps worst of all, it is blind to Christ's willingness to offer Himself as the Lamb of God.  The only reason Christ's death does not add to my guilt is that He was a willing sacrifice (John 10:17-18).

The true Gospel is the offer of free pardon based on Christ and His atoning sacrifice:  "Without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness ... Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many" (Hebrews 9:22, 28).  To a guilty sinner this is the best news in the world.

And that will do it for today.  Hope you found Brother Pomeroy's article comforting.

And now may the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob just keep us safe, individually and collectively, throughout this night or day and especially in these last days in which we live.  Your Christian friend and brother, Paul