SIN AND TRUTH

 Daniel 9:13 “As it is written in the law of Moses, all this calamity has come on us; yet we have not sought the favor of the LORD our God by turning from our iniquity and giving attention to Your truth."  

This verse shows us that sin or iniquity and falsehood are equal. In order to turn to and know the truth one has to turn away from iniquity or sin. One cannot violate God in sin and still hold to the truth because God is truth. Everything that is truth is in God. God is more than truth itself but truth is not more than God. Because of this, I believe we can declare that the best way to turn from sin is simply to turn toward truth—all truth, not merely a part of it. To accept some truth but reject other truth is to flirt with wickedness. One can not accept a part of God and not all of God and be in line with God. Some people seem to think they can accept what they want of God and of truth but reject what they don't want. They think God and truth are divisible, but nothing could be farther from the truth. To reject truth is to reject God. As we see God we see reality and what reality is. To live in reality is to live and be commanded by God.

God created us in his own image and likeness. Now, this has nothing to do with our physical appearance or being but with our spiritual and moral being. Therefore, when we violate God's laws we are violating the nature He created in us which is in accordance to His own nature. That being said, when we sin we are not living and acting in accordance with truth. The truth, in this case, deals with our creation as being our nature. Therefore, sin is a violation of nature, that is, God's original creation, and so truth. This is why if we live a sinful life we are destroying ourselves. Only that which is in accordance with God's nature into which He created us can proceed in life and be fulfilled. All else is self-destructive.

A good illustration of this is too liken sin to poison. The reason poison is poison is because it is a chemical that works in violation to our chemical makeup and thereby destroys us. The poison works against the natural function of our bodies making the natural function cease to function. Anything that will interrupt the life-giving functions of our bodies will stop our bodies from functioning altogether. That is what physical death is. Sin is poison in the spiritual sense. It interrupts the natural function of our spirit and moral uprightness thereby causing spiritual weakness or death. Spiritually speaking, death is the  inability to think, desire or live out our moral and spiritual responsibilities toward God. Therefore, we are living a lie because we are living in opposition to God's created order in our nature. Anything that is in violation of God's nature and declared will is falsehood. To sin is to act or think or desire opposite of who and what one really is. Self-destruction is the natural result of violating one's own nature. And where self-destruction is there can be no continued pleasure of life, only a simplistic and shallow facsimile.

Daniel 9:18 “O my God, incline Your ear and hear! Open Your eyes and see our desolations and the city which is  called by Your name; for we are not presenting our supplications before You on account of  any merits of our own, but on account of Your great compassion.  19 “O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and take action! For Your own sake, O my God,  do not delay, because Your city and Your people are called by Your name.” 

Only by God's grace toward us can we have our sins forgiven and be made right by Him. And He will forgive for His own name's sake for He has promised forgiveness to all who will turn to Him.

Numbers 23:19 “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?" 

(All scripture is from the NASB95. Used by permission)

            

HOW TO TREAT THOSE WHO HAVE A "PAST"

1 Corinthians 6:9  Or  do you not know that the unrighteous will not  inherit the kingdom of God?  Do not be deceived;  neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, 10 nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 Such were some of you; but you were  washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.

So, should we receive all of them with full acceptance and trust or only some of them, such as have done what we have or might have, and leave the others as untouchable? Are all true believers new creations or only some? Are all really washed and cleansed by the blood of Christ or only some? Are we all equal in Christ or only those whose past sins are not as bad as others? If Christ should accept them on equal grounds with us why shouldn't we? If Christ should use them why shouldn't we? After all, Paul was a murderer and persecutor of the church, Isaiah filthy mouthed, Manasseh the evil king of Judah (2 Kings 21and 2 Chronicles 33), Samson a fornicator, David an adulterer and murderer, Peter a Christ-denier, and the list goes on. Would we trust them with those we most love and are the most vulnerable? Would we let them be the communicators of God's word to us and even administrate the church we belong to? For the most part we would. Certainly with Peter, David and Paul. Consider all those not noted in scripture who had exceedingly bad backgrounds before conversion whom God used greatly. What of Chuck Colson? What of Augustine? 

Are there issues we must consider? Of course. If one's past is close to the present time one must be careful as to what allowance one gives to him. But if his past is well past and out of the practice of his life and there are no questions regarding his current life there is no reason to lack trust in him, no matter what the nature of his past is. To do so is to disregard God's work in his life and prefer one's own suspicions rather than God's words or the individual's consistency of life. That is sin and quite hypocritical. Without exception not one person is of any better natural moral quality than anyone else. We are all sinners made of the same dirt, possessing the same corruption. There is not one thing anyone can do that one's own self cannot do, excepting the heart-felt denial of Christ for the Christian. Whatever anyone else has done or can do so can I. It is the self-righteous person who thinks differently. Remember the saying "Except for the grace of God, there go I?" And please, let me restate what I have said many times—self-righteousness is the worst sin of all. It was only the self-righteous whom Jesus scoured. He scolded and corrected many, including His own disciples, and sometimes strongly. But He scoured only the self-righteous. Their venom is worse than the venom of anyone else of any other sinfulness. That doesn't mean we should treat other sins lightly, but let us not be self-righteous hypocrites. And just because one lived a very sinful or even perverted life in the past (though in reality all sin is perversion), doesn't mean that person will in any way affect others to the same lifestyle. Not everyone has ulterior motives or are more prone to falling back into a past lifestyle than one's self. Each case must be determined separately. 

2 Corinthians 5:16 Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. 

    *Interpretation: We no longer see and judge others or even Christ from a fleshly, unredeemed point of view. We not are to see them with the eyes of God, in truth and verity.

       

Luke 18:9  And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 “The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 ‘I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ 13 “But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ 14 “I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

1 Corinthians 10:12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall. 

2 Peter 3:17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness.

(Scripture citations from the  NASB95)

A DEFENSE OF TRUTH

We don't need all the latest tech-no media to promote truth. I do not say there is sin in doing such, but there is no necessity for it either. Truth makes itself known and will be received by those who want truth. Such persons who do not come to truth are those who do not want it without reservation. They have in themselves an ulterior motive and desire. Truth is not their all-in-all. They are willing to settle for less than pure truth. Most often, if not always, this is because truth will call them to sacrifices they are unwilling to make. It dishevels their heart and determinations of life.

Jesus said, "Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” Those who will not hear Him and come to Him never really wanted the truth.

The Christian's Focus in This Evil World

As I consider today's world and the mess that we are in I can only conclude that for the Christian we must focus on the word of God and its teachings, primarily God's absolute sovereignty. The fact that God can change the heart of the King and make it go the direction He wishes it to go should give us pause for praise and contentment in our present state. Along with that is the knowledge that this world and this life is not the all in all, it is not what we are looking forward to but is merely a passing state. Eternity with the Lord is what we are looking forward to. We shall be the recipients of His grace and of the great blessings that are beyond any possible human description or understanding. If we truly believe this then why should we get all upset about our current world condition: the economic crisis; the totalitarian crisis; in America, the invasion on the southern border of Illegal immigrants, many of whom are intent on destroying people's lives. Should the Bible be true, as it truly is, we have nothing to fear and everything to look forward to. Eternity, not today, is our hope. We shall see God and all the difficulties and discouragements of this life will dissipate into thin air never to be known again the very instant we leave this world. So why should we get all upset about what's going on? It is nothing but the entrance into the better world.

For sure, we should be concerned about this world and our lives in it, especially those who are yet to come. For sure we have a responsibility given by God to be good stewards in this world. For sure God has given us a great nation to live in in America and He would expect us to keep it the way He gave it to us with freedom, especially religious freedom to worship Him as His Word tells us. But still, this life is not the great concern. Eternity is. And no matter how well we keep this world going, even if it were maintained in absolute perfect order, it will still one day burn up and be not and replaced by a new heaven and a new earth where sin does not dwell, where death does not destroy, wherein difficulties and discouragements never enter. 

So as we do the best we can to maintain the good life God has given to us here in this world, let us not be distracted from the real issue which is eternity, even our relationship to the Creator of this universe, Who came to earth and became a man and lived the absolute perfect life we could not, died on the cross for our sins, raised Himself from the dead never to die again, proclaiming absolute victory over death and destruction and hell and anything that can destroy. Let us look to that! Let us keep the equilibrium we need to keep, that we don't go to the left or to the right but that we walk straight ahead down the narrow, difficult pathway filled with bumps and hills and valleys and darkness and dampness and death. But we tread that pathway not without a vision of hope that God has given to us in Christ, in His word and in our hearts! Rejoice, O Christian, for we know that so it will be! As we observe this world racing quickly to destruction, rejoice all the more. Rejoice with and for those who have gone before us and those who will go before us, along with those will follow after us to a world of joy, an eternal world that has no pain and no sorrow and no hurt and no departing, no goodbyes, no death, no diseases because there is no sin.

Therefore let us fulfill the admonition of scripture in Hebrews 12 and lay aside every sin and encumbrance and run with patience the race that is set before us looking unto Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, Who is willing and desirous to welcome us home. Let the one thing we desire most in this life be to hear Him tell us in that life, "Good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord."

AN ABSENCE OF TRUTH

It seems our modern world is enamored with falsehood. People are determined to believe that what is, is not, and what is not, is. It is impossible to describe with words such stupidity. Who ever would have believed that reality would be turned on its head justato do it and win the favor of those who demand it be so. The idea that a man could be a woman or vice versa is obtuse at the very least. Stupidity could not be any grander!

AN UNWANTED TRUTH

Sometimes we have to say something that other people do not want us to say. But their wishes are not the determiner of our responsibilities. And here, in this great country of the United States of America, we are fighting this very battle on several fronts. Many people like to live their lives according to their own making, denying the reality that they must face and which will, whether they like it or not, determine the outcome of their lives. They pretend things are a certain way when in reality it is not that way at all. And God forbid anyone should tell them any different. To make matters worse they want to regulate everybody else’s lives so they can live the lives that they want to live. For example, during this COVID-19 so-called pandemic, they refuse to act wisely and sensibly in accordance to the scientific knowledge of the disease that is now known and would rather live in a state of panic and fear and demand everyone else compensate their fears by changing their lives. In other words, such people want everyone else to share in their make-believe world, a world determined by “what if’s” and shadows. In spite of what thousands of doctors and healthcare professionals have said about COVID-19, these people are driven by a very very irresponsible media presentation and prognosis of the situation. The major news outlets should be held responsible for their falsehood and be served justice. There is much blood on their hands. In fact, things would be much better had nobody listened to the CDC or WHO at the start of this so-called pandemic, and ignored the foolish rantings of the drive-by news casters.

But all is not lost. Every cloud has a silver lining. The sun is peeking through the storm clouds telling us there is a brighter end coming. Though much harm has been done by false information and the refusal of so-called professionals to adhere to the true science regarding this matter we can still come out strongly and beat this thing down. If we had treated this pandemic as we would any other medical health situation we would not have the issues we have today, which are a direct result of wrong decisions and governmental manipulation. In my opinion, the first place we need to start is to tell the authorities, who have misrepresented their true authority with illegal and unconstitutional ordinances, “No!” The forced wearing of masks and separation of peoples must end! The masks cannot stop the virus or even slow it down. The virus is way smaller than the pores in the masks and easily gets through them unhindered. They are harmful to some but very bothersome to almost all. This is completely unnecessary and is of no real value. I am convinced this is a violation of our constitutional individual rights of choice, especially since there really is no help in them. And the limitation of gatherings prevents the only thing that can stop the virus which is herd immunity. As a group, almost only the elderly of 70 and above, especially with other health issues, are very susceptible to death by virtue of the virus. That is what the health professionals and the facts on hand are saying clearly, as is testified by many health professionals. So why are the rest of us confined to the foolish and ridiculous regulations of masks and social distancing when it cannot and will not help the situation. And such things do in fact injure our life as a society, regarding our health, economy and social needs. Without a doubt, the so-called cure for the pandemic has been more harmful than the pandemic itself. And the problem is exacerbated exponentially by the excessive power-grabbing of some government officials attempting to control our lives and exalt themselves in their positions. We the people of the United States of America must stand up and say, “NO!” If we do not stand up and take back our constitutionally recognized God-given rights now we may well lose them forever.

To Know God, To Know Self

"Nearly all the wisdom we possess, that is to say true and sound wisdom, consists of two parts; the knowledge of God and of ourselves." This is the first line in Calvin's Institutes, Battles translation. How true Calvin's words still ring. There is no wisdom of real value that doesn't include these two aspects. To know God is the foremost, and to know God is to know ourselves better, more clearly. For we learn and see by comparison. To set ourselves alongside God is to set up a model of learning. How do we match up to God? How do we see God in comparison to ourselves? Are we thoroughly consistent to the way God made us and intended us to continue? That is what God's perfectness is all about. He never changes, not even slightly. He is perfectly sufficient in Himself and will continue to be. There is no reason for Him to change. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. He never changes. There is no variableness in Him nor shifting shadow. He cannot change. And because He is God, He is holy, that is, He is totally unlike us. We change. We violate our nature regarding the way God made us to be. We were made in His image. We were to reflect perfectly His moral being. Not to do so is what sin is, what it is to be unholy--not to be like God. He is holy, that is, He never violates His being, and so is unlike us. He both does not and cannot be unholy. I wish I could be like God. I wish I could be stable and perfectly trusting in Him, never doubting or second guessing. Never changing from what He made me to be.

Oh, That I Knew Where I Might Find Him

Job was a man who lived in the land of Uz, probably about the same time that Abraham lived, “and that man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil.” (v. 1)  We see in the first two chapters of the book of Job that God pointed Job out to Satan as an example of an upright man who followed God with all his heart. He bragged on Job. Because Satan cannot understand goodness and godliness he accused Job of serving God only because God had blessed him so much. Job was a wealthy man and had ten children. God gave Satan permission to take away from Job all his possessions, even his children. Satan did that through various disasters. Job refused to sin and falsely accuse God of wrong doing. Of course, Job did not know that God had given Satan permission to cause the disasters that took from him all his possessions and the lives of his children. He thought God Himself did it. Since Job would not stop serving and worshipping God Satan requested to take Job’s health away from him. God gave him permission, except he could not take his life. Satan caused him to have very painful boils all over his body. Still Job would not curse God or falsely accuse Him of wrongdoing.

After a time three of Job’s friends came to sit with Job and comfort him. After hearing Job complain of his ill fate they tried to counsel him, and even started to falsely accuse Job of sins that might have caused God to treat him the way He did. They never knew Satan was the real cause of Job’s troubles. And it is in this setting that Job spoke the words of chapter 23.

Job 23: 1 Then Job answered and said: 

2 “Even today my complaint is bitter;

My hand is listless because of my groaning. 

3 Oh, that I knew where I might find Him,

That I might come to His seat! 

4 I would present my case before Him,

And fill my mouth with arguments. 

5 I would know the words which He would answer me,

And understand what He would say to me. 

6 Would He contend with me in His great power?

No! But He would take note of me. 

7 There the upright could reason with Him,

And I would be delivered forever from my Judge.  (i.e., God would take his troubles from

         him)

8 “Look, I go forward, but He is not there,

And backward, but I cannot perceive Him; 

9 When He works on the left hand, I cannot behold Him;

When He turns to the right hand, I cannot see Him.

10 But He knows the way that I take;

When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold. 

11 My foot has held fast to His steps;

I have kept His way and not turned aside. 

12 I have not departed from the commandment of His lips;

I have treasured the words of His mouth

More than my necessary food.

13 “But He is unique, and who can make Him change?

And whatever His soul desires, that He does. 

14 For He performs what is appointed for me,

And many such things are with Him. 

15 Therefore I am terrified at His presence;

When I consider this, I am afraid of Him. 

16 For God made my heart weak,

And the Almighty terrifies me; 

17 Because I was not cut off from the presence of darkness,

And He did not hide deep darkness from my face. 

I want to focus on verse 3, Oh, that I knew where I might find Him, That I might come to His seat! 

Often when men find themselves in hard situations they want to tell God all about it. Usually they want to either curse Him or try to bargain with Him to get them out of their difficult circumstances. Nearly always the hard times are because of their own decisions and actions. Yet they want to blame God, or at least convince Him to make life easy and pleasant for them again. They want to be relieved of their present ill condition. In a sense this is what Job wanted. He desired to come before God that he might present his case before Him, that he might get some relief both from his losses and from his friends’ false accusations against him. It seems he wanted to present before God his innocence and uprightness and to argue that he should not be going through what he was, that God had no real reason to do what He did to him. He thought he could reason with God and God would see his point and agree with him and make things good again. He obviously did not know that God did not set him up for his ruin but to bless him, both as an example to Satan and all mankind, and to give him twice as much as he had before, including seven more children. 

But Job did not know where to find God. He did not know where to go to present his case before Him. And that is the case with most people in the world. They may want to find Him but they have no idea where to look. They may want to find Him just to know Who He is and what He is like. They may want to curse Him and accuse Him of things that are their own fault. They may want to correct God, thinking they are wiser than He. They may even be one of the very few in the world who want to find Him that they might find forgiveness for their sins and be accepted into His family. But like Job, they do not know where to find Him. Maybe they should just give up.

The truth is, though, God is not at all hard to find. A man does not have to travel long distances to come to Him. He does not have to look behind every tree and bush or under every rock to find Him. God has not made Himself hard to find. He is hiding from no one. 

Acts 17:22   Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious;  23 for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription:

TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.

Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you:  24 God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands.  25 Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things.  26 And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings,  27 so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;  28 for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, “For we are also His offspring.’  29 Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising.  30 Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent,  31 because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”

As is said in the text, God is not far from any of us. He has told us in the Bible that he is everywhere at all times. Anywhere anyone is, God is there. King David, in  Psalm 139 said, “7 Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?  8 If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. 9  If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 10  Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me. 11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall on me,” Even the night shall be light about me; 12 Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, But the night shines as the day; The darkness and the light are both alike to You.”

David realized He could go no where that God was not present. God is always near by when we want to find Him. 

So why is it that men cannot seem to find God? God gives the answer to that also. Jeremiah 29:13 “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.” That’s the key! A man must seek God with all his heart. He must be honest and sincere. He cannot come to God pretentiously. God knows every man’s motives and thoughts. And He will not be toyed with. A man must come to God seeking Him as He truly is, as He has told us He is in the Bible, or a man will never find Him. If a man will come to God in repentance from sin and seeking salvation, he will always find God. But if he wishes to come to God for his own selfish purposes God will not make Himself known to him.

Unknown to Job and to nearly everyone in the world, coming to God is easy and quick. Come to Him with a true heart to know Him, and God will let Himself be found. Isaiah 55:6 says, “Seek the LORD while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near.” Seek Him now lest He refuse to let you find Him, for then there will be no hope and you will be eternally damned in the end.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Emphasis added.

OPEN THE EYES OF MY HEART, LORD

One of my favorite YouTube videos is of a ten year old, blind, autistic boy singing the song Open the Eyes of My Heart, Lord. The request of the song writer, and hopefully of the singer, is that he might see God in the glory of His holiness. That is my desire. I cannot say that I am perfect in that desire but it is still my desire. I could want nothing more than that. There could be no greater experience than to see God as He is, to behold His glory. 

The psalmist wrote, "Open my eyes, that I may behold Wonderful things from Your law" (Psalm 119:18). Until such a time when we will literally see God in eternity we may yet behold Him in His law, His word. For in it is the expression of Himself. He even went so far as to say, "I will bow down toward Your holy temple  And  give thanks to Your name for Your lovingkindness and Your  truth; For You have  magnified Your  word  according to all Your name (Psalm 138:2). The King James Version translates it, "thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name." Either way we see His word is His presence verbally and the means by which we are able to "see" Him. The word name refers to the person himself. When we hear a person's name we do not think of the sound or spelling of the word but of the person it represents. We think of his character and respond emotionally and volitionally to that thought. So it is with the word of God. It characterizes Him to us. In His word we see Him more fully than we could otherwise, until that glorious day when we will meet Him face to face.

We are exhorted to "Ascribe to the LORD the glory due to His name; Worship the LORD in  holy array", or, "the beauty of holiness" [KJV] (Psalm 29:2). Also, "Sing praise to the LORD, you His godly ones,  And  give thanks to His holy name (Psalm 30:4), "For our heart rejoices in Him, Because we trust in His holy name (Psalm 33:21).  "O magnify the LORD with me, And let us exalt His name together" (Psalm 34:3), "Sing the glory of His name; Make His praise glorious" (Psalm 66:2). And the only ones who can truly rejoice in Him are His people. So, "I will  tell of Your name to my brethren; In the midst of the assembly I will praise You" (Psalm 22:22). By these Psalms I am reminded of the last stanza of the hymn "I Love to Tell the Story":

I love to tell the story;

For those who know it best

Seem hungering and thirsting

To hear it, like the rest:

And when, in scenes of glory,

I sing the new, new song,

’Twill be the old, old story

That I have loved so long

ending with the chorus,

I love to tell the story,

’Twill be my theme in glory

To tell the old, old story

Of Jesus and his love.

But all of this is because of the first stanza,

I love to tell the story

Of unseen things above,

Of Jesus and his glory,

Of Jesus and his love:

I love to tell the story

Because I know ’tis true;

It satisfies my longing

As nothing else can do.

"It satisfies my longing as nothing else can do." That's the key to it all. The story we long to tell, even to "those who know it best," is the story of the Person of God in Christ Jesus. He is all our joy and satisfaction.

Unless otherwise stated all Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard Bible Update. Copyright ©1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

FORGIVENESS

FORGIVENESS

a confession and instruction for my own soul and others' consideration

What is forgiveness? How does one give it and receive it? How far does it go? What should one's response to it be, both in forgiving and being forgiven? What is the result of it all?

I do not know what you think of forgiveness or how you accept it or delve it out. I do not know what forgiveness is in practical terms, as far as the receiving end is concerned. I can forgive others but have a hard time accepting or believing in forgiveness for myself, whether by God or man. A lot of the reason for that is because I do not feel worthy of forgiveness. (That is, of course, self-defeating since the very purpose of forgiveness is to restore relationships that are not worthy to be restored. All sins are acts of unfaithfulness, a disregarding of another's person and worth, including that of God Himself.) And I do not feel worthy of forgiveness because I am often asking for forgiveness for the same sins over and over again with no apparent end in sight. I assume I will fall again and even realize in myself a continued desire for that same sin. (I suppose at least a part of that problem is because I keep looking back at the sin I am trying to get away from instead of the Savior I am to get to. And so the temptation continues. We will go the direction we are looking and do what consumes our mind, even if we do not want to. We are not so much to try to stop sinning as to try to be righteous.)

I know the Bible says Christ died for our sins, removing them fully from us, this being evidenced by the resurrection, and now sits at the right hand of the Father making intercession for us. But so many passages tell us one who will not turn from his sin cannot be forgiven. I cannot turn from my sin! I cannot even imagine living without it being a continual thorn in my side, a continual temptation that I cannot completely resist. I do not want my sin but I cannot get away from it either. It is a conundrum! I should not be surprised at this as it is the very thing the apostle Paul complains about himself in Romans 7:14-25. I am convinced this is a description of a true and mature Christian because of verse 24, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" This is not the attitude of the ungodly or cheap professor of Christ, but of one who greatly desires sinlessness and an untarnished relationship with his Lord. He then goes on to answer his own question in verse 25, "I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord," with the conclusion of the whole matter for us to ponder and apply to ourselves, "So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin." The answer to the conundrum is that it is sin, not myself, that desires to continue the sin. But it feels so like myself. I want it, but I don't. Apparently Augustine found this in himself also. He is reported to have said that he found two things in himself, a love for the good and a love for the evil. But he found a third thing also, a love for the love of the good but a hatred for the love of the evil. That is the description of a real Christian. There is the desire for the evil alongside the desire for the good, and in truth he wants to be and do the good and despise and refuse the evil for Christ's sake. No unsaved, unconverted, unredeemed person can honestly say that. The experience of Paul and Augustine is my own as well. (This conundrum is the reason for the hope expressed in Romans 8:1, 2.) So, am I on good ground for forgiveness?

What is the ground for forgiveness? What makes it possible? One might say repentance from sin and faith in Christ, but that is the means not the cause. The blood of Christ in His death along with His resurrection is the cause. Isaiah 52:13-53:12 tells the story most fully, while the revelation and explanation of it all is in the New Testament. "Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures." (1Corinthians 15:3-4); "And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin (referring to Jesus); that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." (2 Corinthians 5:18-21); "And he (Jesus) took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." (Matthew 26:27-28); "Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many." (Matthew 20:28); "The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." (1 John 1:7); "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." (John 3:16-17); "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 6:23); "Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people’s: for this he did once, when he offered up himself." (Hebrews 7:25-27); "For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us." (Psalm 103:11-12)

In theological terms the cause of forgiveness is the substitutionary atonement of Christ when He died on the cross. The God-man paid the price of death in our place to reconcile or restore us in good favor with God, against Whom alone, in reality (Psalm 51:4), we truly sin. All sins are against His laws and His person, not our own. And if Christ paid the penalty in full then "Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" (Romans 8:33-35)

Forgiveness is the removing of any animosity or hard feelings of any type against someone who has sinned against us. It is a full restoration of relationship to the person who did us wrong, seeing and treating him as if he had never sinned against us. (Sometimes someone might hurt us not knowing it. That is not a sin. That is just our letting our emotions and sensitivities get in the way.) To forgive does not mean to forget the occasion, but not to bring it up against the person, even in our own mind. If we remember the occasion often, dwell on it or feel ill toward the person for it we have not forgiven. The ball then is in our court. We need to deal with our own attitudes. Not to do so is to sin against that person and sport an attitude of bitterness.

Sometimes we will hear how God forgives and forgets our sins when we confess them with a true heart. One might wonder how he can forget something like God does since the occasion will not necessarily be erased from his mind. But the scriptures do not depict God as forgetting the event, but simply not holding it against the person and restoring the relationship as it had been before. Consider 1 Kings 15:5, "Because David did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite." I am forced by the 1 Kings passage to reject the idea that God forgets the commission of the sin as if it never happened. God obviously remembers the occasion. The remembrance of David's sin against Uriah is many years after David's death, let alone the pronouncement of his forgiveness by God. So also are we to forgive others. Forgiveness is to not hold any grudge against a person who has made right with us. The attitude of forgiveness is to want to restore the relationship fully even before or if they refuse to make right with us. That is God's attitude toward us (consider the father in the parable of the prodigal son). "Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust." (Psalm 103:13, 14)

When someone has come to you to ask forgiveness or, similarly, to tell the story of his failure against you, do you lay the sin aside so that it does not interfere with your relationship to that person? And do you hold him close to your heart with great love and concern for him in his spiritual and emotional need instead of thinking of how he disregarded you, determining never to let him get that close to you again? To love another is to concern oneself about him not ourselves. So to refuse full forgiveness, which includes and is, in reality, all about loving them, is an act of self-centeredness and self-righteousness. To refuse full forgiveness and restoration is to consider oneself to be too good to be treated that way instead of realizing you are just as sinful as he is and have disregarded others' persons and worth as well. What the action of the sin was is irrelevant. One is not any less a sinner or more worthy of respect, etc., because he has not sinned "that" sin. To think so is pure self-righteousness—a sin as bad as any other sin whatsoever! The only people Christ scoured were the self-righteous. He did not come to die for or call the righteous (self-righteous) but sinners. Knowing that, how can anyone refuse full forgiveness and restoration to another, no matter what he did?

What is forgiveness?
Forgiveness is the removing of any animosity, enmity or hard feelings of any type against someone who has sinned against us. It is to consider and treat him as guiltless.
     "The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever. He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust." (Psalm 103:8-14)
     "For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." (Hebrews 8:12)

     "And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more." (Hebrews 10:17)

How does one give it and receive it?

We are to love others without regard to their faults and sins, including their sins against us, and be merciful to them in their weaknesses, knowing we are just as faulty and sinful as they are. In humility we are to desire a right relationship with them and seek to restore any broken one, putting their sin against us away from our minds, desiring the best for them without regard to ourselves. And when we are the sinner we are to humbly own up to our sin, confess it to whom we failed and seek restoration whatever the cost, believing in and accepting their forgiveness, both of man and God. (It is a matter of pride if one will not give or accept forgiveness, whatever his excuse may be.)

     "Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins." (Proverbs 10:12)

     "He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy." (Proverbs 28:13)
     "For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." 
(Romans 5:6-8)

How far does it go?

To forgive is to forget, to refuse to bring up the sin again—forever! To accept forgiveness is to do the same, except on the receiving side. As many times as it is needed keep forgiving and being forgiven. The process never ends in this life.

     "But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children." (Psalm 103:17)
     "Then came Peter to him, and said, 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." (Matthew 18:21, 22)

What should one's response to it be, both in forgiving and being forgiven?

The sin is put away. Now go on as if it had never happened, determining never to bring up the sin against us and determined not to sin again against man or God (but understanding we will both sin and need to forgive other's sins until we are perfected in death). Be submissive and humble in it all, every time, honoring God and man for His sake. Rejoice in both giving and receiving forgiveness. Both are a blessing of God!
     "And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die." (2 Samuel 12:13)

     "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile." (Psalm 32:1, 2)

     "If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared." (Psalm 103:3, 4)
     "The discretion of a man deferreth his anger; and it is his glory to pass over a transgression." (Proverbs 19:11)

What is the result of it all?

Restoration of our joys in our relationships in this life with God and man, bolstered by hope for freedom from sin in ourselves and others and the indescribable, perfect joy and blessing we will share with each other in the very presence of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Whom we love and so desperately desire to please!

     "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!" (Psalm 133:1)

     "Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore." (Psalm 16:11)