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Forgiveness

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Forgiveness » From God

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Question:

How do I get to a point where a sin pattern is broken when I feel like I’m going too long without repenting? How do I get to a point where if certain things take place, I feel myself going an hour, and then I’ll let it go longer and then I’ll half a day, then two days. So, how do I break that pattern?

Answered on 09/20/06:

You fall into a sin, you blow it, you do something that you know is wrong and an hour passes or a day passes and you still haven’t truly repented, haven’t confessed it to the Lord and you keep falling into that pattern and you want to know how to break that pattern. There’s only one way to break sin patterns and we need to remember where sin comes from if we’re Christians. And I assume that you believe in Jesus Christ and that you love God and that you want to follow Him, but you, like me and like all of us, you have a flesh and you have a temptation to sin that is constantly fighting against you and your spirit’s fighting to do what’s right and your flesh is fighting to do what’s wrong. So, I’m assuming that that’s true about you like it is about me, right? Welcome to real life, right?

Here’s the thing. If you’re a Christian and you want to do what’s right, you want to serve God, there’s only one way to do it and there’s got to be a greater power on the inside of you coming forth than the power that is coming against you from the outside. Like John the Apostle said in 1 John 4:4, “greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world.” And this is the Scripture that I want to give you: He said in 1 John 2:12, 13, “I write to you young men.” And that’s you and me. He said, “I write to you young men because the Word of God abides in you and you’ve overcome the evil one and therefore, that’s why I’m writing to you.” The Word of God abides in you and you’ve overcome the evil one. He gives us a pattern there about how to break the pattern of sin in our lives. He says the Word of God has to abide in you. The Word of God has to live in you like it’s the only thing you think about, where you’re studying it, reading it, meditating on it, listening to it, speaking it out of your mouth over and over again to where it’s just second nature to you. To where it’s abiding in you, it’s living in you. It isn’t just visiting you on Sunday when you go to church, but the Word of God is abiding in you and finding it’s home in your soul, in your heart and in your body. And when that is the case, you will overcome the evil one and you will break the cycle and break the pattern of sin in your life. It’s the only way. The Word of God has the power.

Another verse I want to give you is Psalm 119:11. David says, “Your Word, O Lord, have I treasured and hidden in my heart and as a result, I do not sin against you.” So, you’ve got to hide the Word, treasure the Word in your heart, let the Word of God abide in you, fill your heart up with it as if you were filling a pitcher with water, you fill your soul with the Word of God and you’ll overcome the temptation, you’ll overcome the habits, you’ll break the patterns in your life. It takes work, but I believe in you and I believe you can do it.

Question:

If you have done something wrong and you have prayed to God and ask for forgiveness for it, are you forgiven? I’ve heard different views that even if you have prayed to God and you feel that you’re forgiven that you will still one day have to face God.

Answered on 09/20/06:

Well, there’s certainly no way that we can pay for our sins because the only price that can be paid is the blood of Jesus and it was already paid. So whatever confusion has arisen from that subject, you need to know that it is not scriptural to ask God to forgive you and then still have to face God and pay for your sins.

The Bible says in 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, He’s faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Psalm 103 says that “as far as east is from west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us." In Hebrews 8:12, He said, “your sins and iniquities, I will remember no more.” What a promise from God’s Word. He says He will remember it no more. And He will never bring it up again.

Now, not only will He give you the power to not do it anymore, but He will also not bring it up anymore. Now, the question that you’re asking that you’re not asking, “What happens at the judgment seat of Christ?” Well, for believers who are already saved, we’re going to be given our rewards or we’re going to see the rewards that we could have gotten for living for God.

And that’s where we’re going to be judged for our works, but not for our sins. Our sins have been judged through the blood of Jesus; Jesus dying on the cross. Our sins have already been forgiven. But our works, what we do once we’re saved, there is judgment for that. That has nothing to do with our sins. That has to do with our works, our fulfilling the will of God and the call of God for our life and what we did with what God gave us, our stewardship, really, is what that’s about. Five talents, two talents, one talent. What did you do with your talents?

Question:

I feel guilty for having an abortion twenty years ago, does God forgive me?

Answered on 09/20/06:

I want you to know that you are not alone, first of all. There are thousands of women that have probably gone through a similar trauma as you and have had an abortion in the past and feel condemned about it and still feel pain and still feel hatred about it and still feel guilt about it. But I’m here to set you free. Jesus said, “I do not condemn you.” He said to a woman caught in adultery, “I do not condemn you.” She was caught in the very act.

Listen, there is not one reason that you should ever feel guilt and condemnation another day in your life for what you’ve done in the past. Jesus is your healer. His blood forgives you. His blood cleanses you. And the devil is a liar. He’s the one trying to condemn you and remind you of your past. Well, as he reminds you of your past, you need to remind him of his future. He’s going to spend eternity burning in hell forever; that’s where the devil is going. And you’re going to spend eternity with God in heaven, if you believe Jesus died for your sins.

I understand the guilt. I understand the shame you must feel. We start to question, “Does God forgive me?” The answer is that God already did forgive you! He has forgiven you two thousand years ago. He forgave you years ago. He forgave you; forgave you; forgave you; forgave you. He’s not going to forgive you again about something that he already forgave you about.

What I mean by that is, you don’t need to be forgiven again. It’s washed away. He doesn’t even remember it. Sure, you remind yourself of what you did, but He doesn’t remind you. And He doesn’t remember. He’s washed it as far as East is from West. He’s removed your transgressions from you. Please know this. Please hear me and understand when I say this, that it is forgotten as far as God is concerned. He’s buried it in the depths of the sea.

You’ll see that baby again in heaven, but you don’t need to feel one more ounce of guilt for that. And, don’t ever feel guilty another day in your life. We have a tape called “Not Guilty” that you can get through our church. It’s a tape that will change your life. It will deliver you from your past. All you’ve got to do is call the product line and ask for that tape.

There is hope, no matter what you’ve been through. No matter what you’ve gone through, there is hope. No matter what you’ve gone through, you can be forgiven. You can be cleansed. You can be washed. The blood of Jesus knows no bounds. Nobody is too bad. Nobody is so bad that the blood of Jesus can’t forgive them. Nobody has done so wrong that they cannot be forgiven. Yes, there are many of us who have done horrendous things in our past, but the blood of Jesus is more powerful than our past. The blood of Jesus is more powerful than an abortion. The blood of Jesus is more powerful than anything you’ve done wrong. Again, if you’ve had an abortion or if you’ve done something else that has created so much guilt and shame in your life, and you just don’t know what to do, I want you to call my product line, I want to send you a tape called “Not Guilty.” It will change your life forever.

Question:

Do you believe that God is the God of second and third and fourth and fifth chances?

Answered on 09/20/06:

Absolutely. He’s the God of countless chances. The Bible says in Proverbs chapter 24, “A righteous man may fall seven times, but he gets up.” So, clearly that tells us that God gives us second and third chances. The Bible also says, “If your brother sins against you seventy times seven, forgive him.”

So if we’re supposed to forgive our brother seventy times seven – 490 times – how much more will God forgive us? If God will tell us to forgive over and over again and give somebody a second chance, how much more do you think He gives us a second chance because He is love and He is the God of new beginnings. He gave the thief on the cross a second chance. He gave David a second chance. He gave Moses a second chance. He gave Abraham a second chance. He gave Paul a second chance. He gives everybody a second chance. Now, it’s up to us to seize the opportunity and use that second chance to honor Him and to glorify Him. The Bible says, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits who pardons all of my iniquities. He heals all my diseases and He redeems my life from destruction.”

Question:

If you commit a sin that takes you out of the will of God and then you repent or ask for forgiveness, does that put you back in the will of God?

Answered on 09/20/06:

That’s a great question. The will of God is something that’s progressive, though. It’s not that we’re either in the will of God or we’re out of the will of God. Let’s talk about sin and then we can talk about the will of God. 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sin to God, He is faithful to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” So, yes, He puts you back into fellowship with Him. When you confess and repent of that sin, you are back in fellowship with Him. But being in the will of God is something that we grow into by the choices that we make day by day. It’s not one day you’re in the will of God and one day you’re not in the will of God. It’s that as you grow, as you continue to yield to God’s Word and to God’s way of doing things, you become progressively more and more in the perfect will of God.

I think what you’re asking is, “Are you out of fellowship with God when you sin and can you get back into fellowship with God by repenting?” And the answer is yes. If you confess your sin, He will cleanse you from it and He will restore you to that fellowship with Him. Even David said, “Lord, restore me to the joy of my salvation.” So, you can be restored when you confess your sin to God. And don’t go back into the sin once you do confess it and turn from it.

Question:

I fell away from my church several years ago. And I was reading the Bible and in the New Testament there’s a Scripture that says that if you fall away, it is impossible to be brought back to repentance. I want to go back to the church and I was wondering if that was possible.

Answered on 09/20/06:

The scripture that you are referring to is in Hebrews chapter 6. It is talking about those who fall away and He actually says, “It is impossible to renew them again to repentance because Jesus Christ himself cannot be crucified again.” And what I believe He’s saying there is it’s impossible to get saved again. It’s impossible for God to forgive you of your sins again when He’s already died on the cross and forgiven you. Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on the cross was once and for all. And Hebrews chapter 9 says, “He died, once and for all, for all men and never to die again.”

So, the point is, He’s never going to come and die on the cross again for your sins. That’s why it’s impossible for you to ever repent again, or for you to ever need to repent again. When you receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior, you’re saved. Now, you’ve fallen away. The Bible says in Proverbs chapter 24 that if a righteous man falls, he is to get up. If he falls seven times, he is to get up.

So, if you’ve fallen away, if you’ve backslidden, you can get up. The book of Jeremiah says, “I will heal the backslider of heart.” How contradictory it would be for God in the Old Testament, without the blood of Jesus, to say that he would heal the backslider and then in the New Testament, with the blood of Jesus, for Him to say that you can’t recover if you’ve backslidden. He’s not saying that in the New Testament. But people have misinterpreted that verse in the New Testament. It’s impossible for you to need Jesus to come to the cross and die again. That’s what’s impossible. He’s not going to do it. He did it once for you. He doesn’t have to do it again. It’s enough. Go back to Him. Go running back into His arms. He will receive you. He will welcome you and He will in no way cast you out.

It’s not the church that I’m talking to you about. It’s the Lord Jesus Himself that takes you back now. Whether the church you went to responds properly or not, God will never leave you and He will never forsake you. Come back to Him. Come back to Him now. Don’t wait another minute. Don’t wait to go to church. Yes, I want you to go back to church and all of that where you’re going to be fed the Word of God and where you’re going to grow. But go back to God now. He’s waiting for you. He’s never left you. He’s waiting for you right now. He’s got His arms open wide and He’s saying, “I’m here. I’ve never left you and I’m not mad at you. Come back to me.” You’re back. Welcome home. Don’t worry about what people are going to think about you or if you’re doing enough. Just know that you’re in the arms of your Father now. You’re in the arms of your Heavenly Father and He will never let you go.

A lot of people think that the Scripture says if you come to the Lord, and then you backslide, He won’t take you back. But think about the logic of that. When you came to the Lord the first time, you were a child of the devil, a sinner, set on the course of hell for sure; you were wicked, you were evil, you were away from God and your soul was dark and your soul was empty. And Jesus, in His grace and in His love, came into your life when you were an enemy of God.

How is it, that if you were that bad, and you came to the Lord and He received you and He came into your life when you were a wicked sinner, then you get saved and you start to follow Jesus and you backslide and you make some mistakes in your life and then somehow you think, “Well, He would never take me back.” But He took you the first time when you were way worse. Why would He not take you back a second time after you’re already His child? Now you’re His child. Why would He turn His child away? He didn’t turn you away when you were a child of the devil. He didn’t turn you away when you were a wicked sinner. Why would He turn you away now? Well, the good news is, He won’t. John 6:44 tells us that anybody that comes to Him, He will in no way cast you out. He will in no way turn you away.

Question:

I am the biggest sinner in the whole wide world. I’ve done all sorts of bad things in my life. I’ve had abortions not once, not twice, but three times. I’ve had sex outside of marriage. I’ve stolen, I’ve lied, I’ve gossiped, I’ve hated, I’ve lusted, anger, you name it, and I’ve done it. Is God punishing me? Because now my husband’s business is about to close, my job is shaky, my daughter failed in her exams.

Answered on 09/20/06:

What a powerful question. And to you who feel this way, I want to encourage you that God is a good God and God forgives you. I know that sounds so trite. It sounds like, “Gosh, how could God forgive me of these things?” But until you understand how much He loves you and how much He forgives you, you’ll never be able to stop doing the things that you’re doing. It starts in your thinking. It starts in your understanding of God’s love for you. It starts in understanding God’s concern for you and that God cares about you and that God will protect you; that God is for you and not against you. It starts by believing that. Once you believe that, you’ll stop sinning.

People think “well, as soon as I stop sinning, then God will stop punishing me.” First of all, God is not punishing you. Sin has within itself the “DNA” to bring a bad harvest or to bring judgment. God isn’t judging you. God sent Jesus to the cross to pay for our sins: past, present and future. And so, what we need to understand is that He has forgiven you; He has washed you; He has cleansed you if you put your faith in Him.

Now, you’ve got to put your trust in Him. You’ve got to say, “Jesus, I’ve done all these things.” You’re halfway there: you’re admitting the truth that you’ve done all these things. You’re admitting your guilt. Now take those things to the cross of Jesus Christ and ask Him to wash your sins away with His blood. And then God will begin to turn situations around in your life. You’ll be inviting God into your life. The reason why punishment has come into your life is because you haven’t brought God into your life yet. Invite Him into your life and then He’s going to start helping you to turn things around.

Your daughter failing in her exams has nothing to do with your abortions. Your daughter failing in her exams has nothing to do with what you stole or with what you gossiped about. Your daughter failing her exams is two-fold: number one, you don’t love yourself, therefore it’s impossible to show her the love and affection that she needs so that she can have confidence and to be able to truly see herself the way that God sees her and then her grades are going to skyrocket. So that’s why your daughter’s failing. The second reason that she is failing may be because she is not really studying and applying herself to learning the material.

Your job is shaky because you feel condemned. You feel that you are unworthy to keep a job, unworthy to succeed at something because of all the sins of your past. You need to forgive yourself and you need to go to the cross of Jesus Christ and receive His forgiveness and things are going to begin to turn around. I encourage you to be a doer of what you’ve heard. Just know that God loves you; He’s for you. And when you change your thinking, it’s going to change the way you live. Go to the foot of the cross.

Why do we stop going to the foot of the cross? In our modern-day churches in America today, we’ve stopped going to the foot of the cross. We’ve stopped going to the place where His blood flowed down from His body, down from His brow, down His body, down from His feet, down from the spear that was put into His side. And that blood drips down His body, down the cross onto those who are at the foot of that cross. Come to the cross. O, the blood, ‘tis all my plea; Hallelujah, it cleanses me. O, the blood, ‘tis all my plea; Hallelujah, it changes me.

Forgiveness » Of Others

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Question:

First John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” If someone has sinned and has not asked God for forgiveness, would that person still have been forgiven?

Answered on 09/20/06:

That would be the same question you can ask somebody who is not saved yet: are they forgiven even though they have not confessed their sin and received Jesus as their Lord and Savior? Forgiveness is only supplied through the blood of Jesus.

Forgiveness has been offered, but in this case, it has to be received. Just like any gift that someone gives you, you can’t experience the benefit of it until you have received that gift. Are we forgiven without receiving that gift? Are we forgiven without confessing that? God extends that forgiveness to us but we don’t enjoy and experience the benefit of that gift until we receive it by faith and accept it as a free gift from God. That’s what He means when He says that you have to receive the gift of salvation. It’s been paid for.

Jesus died for our sin, but now we have to accept that. Otherwise we are saying that everybody is saved and nobody needs to receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. And we know that is not true; not everybody is saved. The Bible clearly teaches that some will perish and some will go to hell. It’s not God’s will for anybody to perish, but some will if they reject Jesus Christ. Our confession doesn’t earn us the gift; it is a free gift, but our confession and our reception of that gift is what empowers us to experience the benefit of it.

Question:

What’s the first step in forgiving infidelity?

Answered on 09/20/06:

Here’s the first step. Even if he’s going with the other woman, you still need to forgive him. The first step of forgiveness is to remember why you’re forgiven. You’re not forgiven because of what you’ve done for God; you’re forgiven because of what Jesus has done for you. Okay, now that’s the first step: to remember why you’ve been forgiven, because of Jesus, his blood.

So now you take that same reason that you’ve been forgiven and apply that to your husband. Does he deserve to be forgiven? No. Has he earned his forgiveness? No. Has he even repented of the sin that he’s committed? No. But that’s why you need to forgive him; you need to forgive him the same way God forgave you. God forgave you before you repented. God forgave you before you changed. God forgave you turned your life around. You need to know that the first step to forgiveness is to recognize what forgave you—the blood of Jesus. Use that same blood to forgive him, and then make a decision, an act of your will. “I forgive him by faith, regardless of what he’s done, regardless of how he’s acted. I forgive him by faith and I’m never going to hold that against him again.”

Now that doesn’t mean that he’s going to come back to you. But you need to forgive him anyway and to move on with your life. Now if he moves on with this other woman, that’s his problem, that’s his business, that’s his affair. And you need to realize that you can’t control him, but he’s going to reap what he sows. In the meantime, you need to let it go and get it out of your heart by making a quality decision from which there is no retreat and in which there is no debate. “I forgive this man by faith, whether I feel it or not, I forgive him just as God forgave me, even though I didn’t deserve it.”

Question:

How do I move forward and forgive someone who has betrayed me.

Answered on 09/20/06:

Well, the way that you go towards forgiveness with somebody that’s betrayed you is number one, you need to remember that God has forgiven you. There are things that you’ve done that you need forgiveness from. So, that’s the most important thing. You’ve betrayed God many times. So, number one, you need to remember that God has forgiven you.

Number two, you need to recognize that people will disappoint you sometimes. You have to accept that fact that people will disappoint you; that people will let you down. Sometimes we put people on such a high pedestal that what ends up happening is they can’t measure up to our expectations and we then get disappointed. And then when they fail or when they fall or when they stumble, we don’t have any mercy on them because we had such high expectations of them. Accept the fact that somebody close to you can betray you. David said in the book of Psalms, “If it would have been an enemy that betrayed me, then it would have not bothered me or hurt me. But it was you, my friend.”

And so, naturally, you’re going to feel those feelings of betrayal and feel those feelings of hurt, but you have to accept the fact that people aren’t perfect, people are going to let you down and you need to understand that. So, number one, you need to know that God has forgiven you for betraying Him. Number two, you need to accept that people will disappoint you and let you down sometimes, even the people close to you.

And number three, you need to make a decision to forgive. Forgiveness is a decision. It’s not a feeling. It’s not something that you’re going to feel right away. It’s a choice that we make. So, you have to make a quality decision that you forgive and you have to say out of your mouth, “I forgive this person.” And you have to declare it and stick to it even when the feelings are going to try to tell you that haven’t forgiven them and nothing has changed. And fourthly, then you need to communicate with them. You need to go to them and you need to say, “I forgive you. And I want you to know that even though my feelings are hurt, I do forgive you. And I love you. And let’s fix this. Those are the 4 steps that I would take.

Question:

I’ve always struggled with forgiving someone that hasn’t apologized because I’ve never believed that there’s such a thing as free forgiveness. Doesn’t God only forgive us when we repent?

Answered on 09/20/06:

Well, the Bible makes it clear that forgiveness is free. Forgiveness is made up of three segments: “for,” “give,” and “ness.” And the middle one is the most important one. It’s giving. It’s for-give. It’s give. There is a freedom there and it is free. If a person who doesn’t apologize, that’s their problem. I’m not going to carry around unforgiveness towards somebody because they didn’t apologize or they didn’t repent or they didn’t change. Now, that doesn’t mean that I’m going to stay in a relationship with them. That doesn’t mean that I’m going to stay in the same level of communication or the same level of friendship or the same level of business dealings with them. But to forgive them is to let go of it, to release it, and to put them in the hands of God, to leave them in the hands of God. Turn it over to God and let them go. Don’t hold them in bondage to the resentment or the unforgiveness that you feel, but let them go. The Bible is clear on that subject, that you have to forgive them even if they don’t ask you for forgiveness.

Does God only forgive us when we repent? No, God forgave you 2000 years ago when Jesus died on the cross. And you either choose to receive that forgiveness – that doesn’t mean that you’re saved without accepting Jesus Christ, but you either accept and receive that forgiveness or you reject it. But the forgiveness has already been given. The forgiveness has already been paid for. Jesus’ blood was already shed. It’s not going to be shed ever again because it doesn’t need to be. It was already shed for you and now you choose to either receive it or reject it.

Now, here’s what happens. You receive that forgiveness and you say, “Lord, I thank you that you have forgiven me and through the blood of Jesus, my sins are washed, my sins are cleansed. And I’m so thankful that you forgave me before I ever even changed, before I ever even turned around, before I ever even repented, you forgave me. Now, because you loved me when I didn’t deserve it, because you forgave me when I didn’t earn it, now I want to turn, now I want to change, now I want to repent.”

In other words, now repentance is our response to the reality that we are forgiven rather than repentance being the payment that we make in order to receive forgiveness. Repentance is a response, not a payment. Forgiveness is first, and then, because I realize I’m forgiven, now, I’m going to want to repent. I bet if you try that with people and you forgive them first before they ever repent, you’ll find that they’ll change because they’re so thankful that you freely forgave them because of love.

Question:

It’s been a year since I’ve spoken to my youngest sister. She did something that really, really hurt me. And recently, I’ve written a letter trying to forgive her but I just can’t find the strength. I allowed my sister to use my credit and she lied and did not pay off what she agreed to pay. It was a favor that I was against doing, but I went ahead and did it. I guess I’m tired of being the one that’s always forgiving and always being taken advantage of.

Answered on 09/20/06:

Well, here’s the thing. If you don’t want to forgive a debt, don’t create one. That’s the thing that you have to accept. I feel for you and know exactly what you mean. I’ve been in situations like that and in worse situations than that. So, I feel for you. Forgiveness has to continue because Jesus said, “if your brother sins against you seventy times seven, then forgive him.”

The thing that I can help you with is that forgiveness is not based on whether your sister has changed. Forgiveness is not based on whether she has repented. Forgiveness is not based on whether she pays you back. Forgiveness is based on the blood of Jesus. And the same blood of Jesus that has forgiven you for so much is the same blood that has forgiven her. And so you need to look at her in that way. There are many things that you’ve done wrong and God forgives you. Maybe to you they’re not as bad as what your sister’s done to you, but to God, a thought that is evil is just as bad as your sister taking advantage of you.

And so, you have to put it into perspective that if God has forgiven you of what you’ve done wrong towards Him, then you should extend the same mercy towards your sister; not because she deserves it, but for the very reason that she doesn’t deserve it and that’s why it’s mercy. I’m not trying to shut down those feelings. I understand those feelings and those feelings might stay for a while, but forgiveness is a choice even though you might feel that she’s taken advantage of you for a while.

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