Faith That Starts at Home

“So Noah, with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, went into the ark because of the waters of the flood.” GENESIS 7:7

 

PONDER THIS

Religion that does not begin at home does not begin. Have you ever thought, “My loved ones are the hardest ones to witness to”? Do you know why they are the hardest ones to witness to? Because they know you. Would you go and say, “Forgive me for the life that I have lived in front of you? I’m a Christian, but I have been a poor example.” They’ll be watching you. Then later on go back and say, “Would you forgive me for something else? …I haven’t shared with you the most important thing on Earth to me. Would you forgive me for not sharing Jesus with you?” This type of humility gives you an open door to share the Lord Jesus Christ with your loved ones. Noah had faith and that faith was for the saving of his household.

In what areas are you convicted of the way you have lived with and before your family members?

Who do you need to ask forgiveness from in this regard?

PRACTICE THIS

Take concrete steps to ask forgiveness from a family member this week as the Lord leads you.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

The Best Valentine’s Gift is Forgiveness

“‘Be angry, and do not sin’: do not let the sun go down on your wrath.”

EPHESIANS 4:26
 
PONDER THIS

Have you ever had a splinter in your finger? Maybe it’s down deep enough and you see it as a little dark spot and say, “Well, I could get that out, but I don’t know.” You could get a needle and pick it out or say, “Well, maybe it’ll work its way out,” and just leave it there. It seems to be all right. And then one morning you wake up and you’ve got this incredible pain and this thing is throbbing, it is festered, and it is infected because you didn’t get it out. The Bible says, “Do not let the sun go down on your wrath.” Don’t ever go to sleep, husband and wife, back-to-back, angry and pouting. Sometimes it’s hard to make up. If we aren’t careful, our anger can be like that splinter. It may start small, but if we let it go, it can grow into a significant problem.

Why is it difficult to forgive quickly?
How have you seen a difference in your life when you were more willing to offer forgiveness to those closest to you?

PRACTICE THIS

Take time today to consider who you need to forgive. What steps will you take toward forgiveness?

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

The Forgiveness Cycle

“And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.” (Luke 11:4)

Who forgives whom first?

On the one hand, Jesus says, “Forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.” (Luke 11:4)

On the other hand, Paul says, “As the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.” (Colossians 3:13)

When Jesus teaches us to pray that God would forgive us, “for we ourselves forgive,” he is not saying that the first move in forgiveness was our move. Rather, it goes like this: God forgave us when we believed in Christ (Acts 10:43). Then, from this broken, joyful, grateful, hopeful experience of being forgiven, we offer forgiveness to others.

This forgiving spirit signifies that we have been savingly forgiven. That is, our forgiving others shows that we have faith; we are united to Christ; we are indwelt by the gracious, humbling Holy Spirit.

But we still sin (1 John 1:8, 10). So we still turn to God for fresh applications of the work of Christ on our behalf — fresh applications of forgiveness. We cannot do this with any confidence if we are harboring an unforgiving spirit. (Remember the parable of the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18:23–35. He refused to forgive his fellow servant who owed him ten dollars, though he claimed to be forgiven ten million. He showed by his unforgiving spirit that the king’s mercy had not changed him.)

Jesus protects us from this folly by teaching us to pray, “Forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us” (Luke 11:4). That’s why Jesus says we ask for forgiveness because we are forgiving. This is like saying, “Father, continue to extend to me the mercies purchased by Christ, because by these mercies I have been forgiven, and I forsake vengeance and extend to others what you have extended to me.”

May you know God’s forgiveness afresh today, and may that grace overflow in your heart in forgiveness toward others. And may that sweet experience of grace in your life give you added assurance that, when you go to God to experience fresh, blood-bought forgiveness, you will know that he sees you as his forgiven and forgiving child.

John Piper 

How to Contemplate Calamity

“The waves of death encompassed me, the torrents of destruction assailed me. . . . This God — his way is perfect.” (2 Samuel 22:5, 31)

After the loss of his ten children owing to a natural disaster (Job 1:19), Job said, “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21). At the end of the book, the inspired writer confirms Job’s understanding of what happened. He says Job’s brothers and sisters “comforted him for all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him” (Job 42:11).

This has several crucial implications for us — lessons for us here at the dawn of a new year — as we think about calamities in the world and in our lives — like the massive disaster that occurred December 26, 2004, in the Indian Ocean — one of the deadliest natural disasters on record with 1.7 million people made homeless, half a million injured, and over 230,000 killed.

Lesson #1. Satan is not ultimate; God is.

Satan had a hand in Job’s misery, but not the decisive hand. God gave Satan permission to afflict Job (Job 1:12; 2:6). But Job and the writer of this book treat God as the decisive cause. When Satan afflicts Job with sores, Job says to his wife, “Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” (Job 2:10), and the writer calls these satanic sores “the evil that the Lord had brought upon him” (Job 42:11). So, Satan is real. Satan brings misery. But Satan is not ultimate or decisive. He is on a leash. He goes no farther than God decisively permits.

Lesson #2. Even if Satan caused that tsunami in the Indian Ocean the day after Christmas, 2004, he is not the decisive cause of over 200,000 deaths; God is.

God claims power over tsunamis in Job 38:8 and 11 when he asks Job rhetorically, “Who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb . . . and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?” Psalm 89:8–9 says, “O Lord . . . you rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, you still them.” And Jesus himself has the same control today as he once did over the deadly threats of waves: “He . . . rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm” (Luke 8:24). In other words, even if Satan caused the earthquake, God could have stopped the waves. But he didn’t.

Lesson #3. Destructive calamities in this world mingle judgment and mercy.

God’s purposes are not simple. Job was a godly man and his miseries were not God’s punishment (Job 1:1, 8). Their design was purifying, not punishment (Job 42:6). James 5:11 says, “You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.”

But we do not know the spiritual condition of Job’s children who died. Job was certainly concerned about them (Job 1:5). God may have taken their life in judgment. We don’t know.

If that is true, then the same calamity proved in the end to be mercy for Job and judgment on his children. This double purpose is true of all calamities. They mingle judgment and mercy. They are both punishment and purification. Suffering, and even death, can be both judgment and mercy at the same time.

The clearest illustration of this is the death of Jesus. It was both judgment and mercy. It was judgment on Jesus because he bore our sins (not his own), and it was mercy toward us who trust him to bear our punishment (Galatians 3:13; 1 Peter 2:24) and be our righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Another example is the curse and miseries that have come on this earth because of the fall of Adam and Eve. Those who never believe in Christ experience it as judgment, but believers experience it as merciful, though painful — a preparation for glory. “The creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope” (Romans 8:20). This is God’s subjection. This is why there are tsunamis. But this subjection to futility is “in hope.”

Lesson #4. The heart that Christ gives to his people feels compassion for those who suffer, no matter what their faith is.

When the Bible says, “Weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15), it does not add, “unless God caused the weeping.” Job’s comforters would have done better to weep with Job than talk so much. That does not change when we discover that Job’s suffering was ultimately from God. No, it is right to weep with those who suffer. Pain is pain, no matter who causes it. We are all sinners. Empathy flows not from the causes of pain, but from the company of pain. And we are all in it together.

Lesson #5. Finally, Christ calls us to show mercy to those who suffer, even if they do not deserve it.

That is the meaning of mercy — undeserved help. “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you” (Luke 6:27). This is how Christ treated us (Romans 5:10), dying for us when we were his enemies. By that power, and with that example, we do the same.

John Piper 

The Grave of God’s Forgetfulness

“But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works: ‘Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man to whom the LORD shall not impute sin.’”

ROMANS 4:5-8

 

PONDER THIS

You cannot work your way to Heaven. There’s nothing you can do, big or small, that’ll save you. You must put your faith in the Son of God, and when you do, God says, “I count you righteous.” That word impute means to put it on your account. God imputes righteousness. He simply puts that righteousness on your account.

But it gets better. “Blessed are those whose iniquities are forgiven.’” But He does more than that: “And whose sins are covered.” Hallelujah! They’re buried in the grave of God’s forgetfulness, never to be brought up again.

You don’t understand sin if you think you can live well enough to get to Heaven. I wouldn’t trust the best fifteen minutes I’ve ever lived to get me to Heaven. But “Blessed is the man to whom the LORD shall not impute sin.” You see, you can’t have sin imputed to you if you’re in Jesus. We have the riches from Jesus when we are in Him, both now and for eternity. So, it is time to stop striving to be better and surrender to Christ; He will transform you.

What are the sins God has forgiven that you have had a hard time forgiving yourself for?

What does it look like to live based on the reality of the righteousness Jesus has given to you?

PRACTICE THIS

Discuss with a friend where you struggle to forgive yourself. Ask your friend to pray for you to receive Christ’s gift.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

When the Blind Leading the Blind is a Good Thing

Pray Over This

“And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.”

Ephesians 4:32

 

Ponder This

A man was blinded in an accident. He was a young man who had spent most of his life with perfect eyesight. Following his accident, he was bitter, confused, hurt, and filled with remorse and confusion. After some time, he went to a school for the blind. He dreaded it but he went for a tour and his guide gave him all the instructions he needed like, “There are ten steps.” He said, “Count them as we go down. There are ten that go out of this building.” And he said, “I'll be right here at your elbow. In case anything goes wrong.” That gave the young man some assurance.   They went down the ten steps. They took their time. And when they made the entire circuit of the campus, the young man was feeling better. After the guided tour, he said, “I know where I am. I feel a little bit at home.”

 

He told the guide, “Thank you so much. I had so much fear when I came here. But you've helped me so much. You've been very understanding. It's hard for someone to understand when you're blind.” The tour guide responded, “I can understand because I'm blind also.” Those who have received mercy know how to show it more than anybody else. If you haven't received mercy, no wonder you don't show mercy. If God, in love has forgiven us, how much more should we forgive one another?

What are some of the ways God has shown you mercy? How has that impacted you?

When has it been hard for you to be merciful toward someone else? What makes that challenging?

 

Practice This

Pray for someone for whom you have had a hard time showing mercy.

 

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

No Peacocks in Heaven

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven . . .”

MATTHEW 5:3

 

PONDER THIS

When you come to Jesus Christ, you do not strut into His presence. The very word for “poor” comes from a root word which means, “to cringe, to cower, and to shrink back.” There are no peacocks in Heaven. Jesus said blessed is the person who is totally, completely, devastatingly bankrupt to the point of being reduced to being a beggar. And when that person comes to God he or she must say, “In my hand, no price I bring. Simply to thy cross I cling.”[1] That's where it begins. Blessed are the poor in spirit.

Some people will agree they aren’t perfect. But they also believe they aren’t as bad as some other people. And I say, dear friend, you are not yet bankrupt. You've never seen yourself and discovered that the Bible says even your righteousness is as filthy rags in the sight of a righteous and holy God (Isaiah 64:6). Take your sin seriously. You cannot minimize sin if you want a relationship with a holy God.

When was the last time you considered the depth of your brokenness and sin? Why do we tend to avoid this?

What is the sin you struggle to accept God’s forgiveness 

PRACTICE THIS

Confess your sin to God honestly, remembering that He is our only hope for peace.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

The Price and the Power of Forgiveness

“Then Peter came to Him and said, ‘Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.’” MATTHEW 18:21-22

 

PONDER THIS

When God forgives, He does something for me. Then He does something through me: He teaches me to forgive others. When God forgave you, do you think it was painless and easy? It cost Jesus greatly, but He paid the price for the joy that was set before Him. He said, “It’s worth it. I will shed my blood for the joy of seeing Adrian Rogers saved.” Forgiveness costs, but it is worth the price.

You may say, “Alright, Pastor, that was Jesus, but I don’t have what it takes. If you knew that man who hurt my daughter, if you knew the way my husband squandered everything we have and is running around with another woman, if you knew what my boss did to me, you wouldn’t stand up there and say to forgive. I can’t do it.” And you’re right; in your own power that is impossible. But we are never asked to practice forgiveness alone. You forgive with the help of God at work in you. He equips you to forgive, even when it is the last thing on your mind.

When has forgiveness felt impossible to you? When has a relationship felt irreconcilable? How might God work where people cannot?

What are some ways God equips you and helps you to forgive?

PRACTICE THIS

Praise God for forgiving you even though it was challenging and costly. Ask Him to help you with the people you are struggling to forgive.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Forgiveness is Not Politeness

“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”  MATTHEW 6:14-15

 

PONDER THIS

Pride often gets in the way of forgiveness. You say, “Don’t worry about it. It’s alright. It doesn’t matter.” That is not forgiveness. You know what causes you to say that? Your pride. It did matter. You were hurt. But you don’t want the other person to know you’ve been hurt.

Forgiveness is not politeness. It is not saying it really didn’t matter. When you come to God for forgiveness, do you think God says, “Oh, don’t worry about it”? No. Forgiveness is not politeness. Forgiveness is not merely accepting an apology, and forgiveness is not forgetting.

Forgetting is never the means of forgiveness. It is the result of forgiveness. God forgets our sins only because they have been forgiven. When you forgive, forgive freely, not after others paid the price. Seek them out to forgive them. Forgive fully as you have been forgiven.

When have you tried to ignore or avoid an issue rather than work through forgiveness?

Why is complete forgiveness so challenging? How do you typically respond outside of forgiveness?

PRACTICE THIS

Consider a conflict you have not dealt with or tried to forget about and move toward the person with forgiveness.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

The Prison of Unforgiveness

“And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.”

EPHESIANS 4:32

 

PONDER THIS

An unforgiving spirit keeps you in prison. When someone hurts you, you say, “I’m not going to let him off the hook.” Our sense of justice cries out and says, “I will not let him get by with this! I’ll keep him on the hook.” The problem with that is the one who hurt you is not the only one kept on the hook. Carrying an unforgiving spirit means you are also on the hook.

Why should you be kind to someone who is unkind by forgiving that person? You should be kind and forgive for Jesus’s sake. That is, after all, the exact reason why God forgives you. God, for Christ’s sake, forgave you. Should you not also forgive others for the sake of Christ?

Forgiveness is not giving people what they deserve. Forgiveness is giving people what they need. However, we don’t only forgive for Christ’s sake and for the other’s sake—forgive others for your sake too. Did you hear that? For your sake! Bitterness will keep you in a prison of your own making. You say, “I’ll continue to hate. I won’t take revenge. I’ll just continue to hate.” When you continue to hate, it’s like taking an acid into your system. And bitterness is an acid that destroys its container. There are few forms of dissipation that will do more to you than resentment and bitterness.

When was a time you chose bitterness instead of forgiveness?

What is the hardest part of forgiveness for you? How can God help you forgive?

PRACTICE THIS

Consider having a conversation with someone you have had a hard time forgiving.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

God Forgives and Is Still Just

 

Nathan the prophet comes to David after his adultery and murder and says, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die. Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord, the child who is born to you shall die.” 

(2 Samuel 12:13–14)

This is outrageous. Uriah is dead. Bathsheba is raped. The baby will die. And Nathan says, “The Lord has put away your sin.”

Just like that? David committed adultery. He ordered murder. He lied. He “despised the word of the Lord” (2 Samuel 12:9). He scorned God. And the Lord simply “put away [his] sin”?!

What kind of a righteous Judge is God? You don’t just pass over rape and murder and lying. Righteous judges don’t do that.

This was one of Paul’s greatest theological problems — very different from the ones people struggle with today: how can God forgive sin and still be righteous? Here is what Paul said in Romans 3:25–26:

God put [Christ] forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

In other words, the outrage that we feel when God seems to simply pass over David’s sin would be good outrage if God were simply sweeping David’s sin under the rug. He is not.

God sees, from the time of David, down the centuries to the death of his Son, Jesus Christ, who would die in David’s place, so that David’s faith in God’s mercy and God’s future redeeming work unites David with Christ. And in God’s all-knowing mind, David’s sins are counted as Christ’s sins and Christ’s righteousness is counted as his righteousness, and God justly passes over David’s sin for Christ’s sake.

The death of the Son of God is outrageous enough, and the glory of God that it upholds is great enough, that God is vindicated in passing over David’s adultery and murder and lying. And ours.

And so God maintains his perfect righteousness and justice while at the same time showing mercy to those who have faith in Jesus, no matter how many or how monstrous their sins. This is unspeakably good news.

John Piper 

Saving Faith Loves Forgiveness

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. (Ephesians 4:32)

Saving faith is not merely believing that you are forgiven. Saving faith looks at the horror of sin, and then looks at the holiness of God, and apprehends spiritually that God’s forgiveness is unspeakably glorious, beautiful. We don’t just receive it; we admire it. We are satisfied with our new friendship with such a great, forgiving God.

Faith in God’s forgiveness does not merely mean a persuasion that I am off the hook. It means savoring the truth that a forgiving God is the most precious reality in the universe. Saving faith cherishes being forgiven by God, and from there rises to cherishing the God who forgives — and all that he is for us in Jesus. This experience has a tremendous effect on our becoming forgiving people.

The great act of purchasing our forgiveness is past — the cross of Christ. By this backward look, we learn of the grace in which we will ever stand (Romans 5:2). We learn that we are now, and always will be, loved and accepted. We learn that the living God is a forgiving God.

But the great act of experiencing our forgiveness goes on forever into the future. Our joyful fellowship with the great God who forgives lasts forever. Therefore, freedom for forgiveness, flowing from this all-satisfying fellowship with the forgiving God, lasts as long as we do.

I have learned that it is possible to go on holding a grudge if your faith simply means you have looked back to the cross and concluded that you are off the hook. That’s why I have been forced to go deeper into what true faith is — not just a relief that I’m off the hook, but also a profound satisfaction with all that God is for me in Jesus. This faith looks back not merely to discover that we are off the hook, but also to see and savor the kind of God who offers us a future of endless reconciled tomorrows in fellowship with him. Satisfied fellowship with such a forgiving God is crucial for our being forgiving people.

John Piper 

Forget the Math

“Then Peter came to Him and said, ‘Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.’” MATTHEW 18:21-22

 

PONDER THIS

When we hear the call to forgiveness, we often ask the same question Peter did. Where are the limits of forgiveness? When can I let go of the responsibility to forgive? Peter was asking when he could finally be done with forgiveness. But Jesus said, “This is not a matter of mathematics. When considering forgiveness, forget the arithmetic.” Jesus said, “Seventy times seven.” And this doesn’t mean precisely 490 times, either; it means forgiveness to the point of losing track of how many times it has been. If the person repents, you forgive him or her again.

If that is how you forgive, you’re not keeping a record, so every time you forgive seems like the first time. It’s not the seventh time or the eighth time because the other times don’t count. They’re gone. You’re not keeping score. Love does not keep a record of wrongs. So, you forgive freely before it becomes an infection. Forgive freely, forgive fully, and forgive finally.

When have you struggled with forgiveness? What makes forgiveness challenging? How does knowing Jesus change the way we view forgiveness?

What does it look like practically to forgive someone fully? Have you ever forgiven someone like that? If you have, what was that like? If not, what steps do you need to take toward full forgiveness?

PRACTICE THIS

Identify anyone you are harboring bitterness for. Ask God to help you forgive completely.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Taking the Step Toward Reconciliation

“Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother.”

MATTHEW 18:15

 

PONDER THIS

What does the Bible say to do when people trespass against you? Go to them. You lovingly visit and confront them. How are you to visit them? Do so privately. When people sin against you, don’t gossip about them. Address your grievances with them, talk to them, and take the step toward forgiveness and reconciliation.

Human nature says, “He sinned against me. If he wants me to forgive him, let him come to me.” But when we look at Scripture, we are called to live differently. Am I supposed to seek reconciliation and forgiveness? Absolutely. Why? Because the Bible says we’re to be kind, tenderhearted, forgiving one another. How? As God forgave us. Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” In response, when someone sins against us, we do not have the luxury of waiting for them to come to us. We go to them as Christ has come to us.

How do you respond when you have an argument with someone? What are some ways you move away from people instead of moving toward them?

What is most challenging for you about moving toward reconciliation? How can God help you with that challenge?

PRACTICE THIS

Have a conversation with someone you have been at odds with. Be intentional about showing the love and forgiveness of Christ.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

How to Ask Forgiveness

He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. (1 John 1:9)

I recall hearing one of my professors in seminary say that one of the best tests of a person’s theology was the effect it has on our prayers.

This struck me as true because of what was happening in my own life. Noël and I had just been married and we were making it our practice to pray together each evening. I noticed that during the biblical courses which were shaping my theology most profoundly, my prayers were changing dramatically.

Probably the most significant change in those days was that I was learning to make my case before God on the ground of his glory. Beginning with “Hallowed be Thy name” and ending with “In Jesus’s name” meant that the glory of God’s name was the goal and the ground of everything I prayed.

And what a strength came into my life when I learned that praying for forgiveness should be based not only on an appeal to God’s mercy, but also on an appeal to his justice in crediting the worth of his Son’s obedience. God is faithful and just and will forgive your sins (1 John 1:9).

In the New Testament, the basis of all forgiveness of sins is revealed more clearly than it was in the Old Testament, but the basis, namely, God’s commitment to his name, does not change.

Paul teaches that the death of Christ demonstrated God’s righteousness in passing over sins, and vindicated God’s justice in justifying the ungodly who bank on Jesus and not themselves (Romans 3:25–26).

In other words, Christ died once for all to clear the name of God in what looks like a gross miscarriage of justice — the acquittal of guilty sinners simply for Jesus’s sake. But Jesus died in such a way that forgiveness “for Jesus’s sake” is the same as forgiveness “for the sake of God’s name.” There is no miscarriage of justice. God’s name, his righteousness, his justice is vindicated in the very act of providing such a God-honoring sacrifice.

As Jesus said as he faced that last hour, “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name” (John 12:27–28). That is exactly what he did — so that he might be both just and the justifier of those who trust in Jesus (Romans 3:26).

John Piper 

The Liberating Power of Forgiveness

“Your sins are forgiven.” (Luke 7:48)

A woman comes to Jesus in a Pharisee’s house weeping and washing his feet. No doubt she felt shame as the eyes of Simon communicated to everyone present that this woman was a sinner and that Jesus had no business letting her touch him.

Indeed, she was a sinner. There was a place for true shame. But not for too long.

Jesus said, “Your sins are forgiven” (Luke 7:48). And when the guests murmured about this, he strengthened her faith by saying, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace” (Luke 7:50).

How did Jesus help her battle the crippling effects of shame? He gave her a promise: “Your sins have been forgiven! Your faith has saved you. Your future will be one of peace.” He declared that past pardon would now yield future peace.

So, the issue for her was faith in God’s future grace, rooted in the authority of Jesus’s forgiving work and freeing word. That is the way every one of us must battle the effects of well-placed shame — not false shame, but shame that we really should feel, but shame that threatens to linger too long and cripple us.

We must battle the unbelief of crippling shame by taking hold of the promises of future grace and peace that come through the forgiveness of our shameful acts.

“With you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.” (Psalm 130:4)

“Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” (Isaiah 55:6–7)

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)

“To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” (Acts 10:43)

All of us need forgiveness. And we will need it tomorrow. Jesus died to provide it today and tomorrow. Today or tomorrow the reality is this: God’s forgiveness liberates us for our future. It frees us from crippling shame. Forgiveness is full of future grace.

When we live by faith in future grace, rooted in God’s forgiveness, we are freed from the lingering, paralyzing effects even of the shame we deserve to feel. That’s what forgiveness means.

John Piper 

Receive What You Did Not Earn

“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit.”

1 PETER 3:18

 

PONDER THIS

Suppose someone came up to you and suddenly punched you in the nose. And suppose in an act of compassion, you responded by saying, “I forgive you.” And suppose they said to you, “Oh, there’s no need for you to forgive me. I’ve already forgiven myself.” And then, suppose another person standing by said, “Oh, well neither one of you need to worry about it. I have forgiven both of you.” That would be silly! Why? Because only the one offended can forgive the offensive party. Sin is a clenched fist in the face of God and only God can forgive sin.

Jesus endured our suffering on the cross. Jesus the just died for the unjust. He became our substitute. We were the ones that offended God, but He took on our sin and gave us the forgiveness we could not deserve or earn.

Where are you in need of God’s forgiveness?

How does the Holy Spirit lead us to a regular practice of confession and repentance?

PRACTICE THIS

Confess to God your sin and ask Him for forgiveness in Jesus.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

The Forgiveness Cycle

“And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.” (Luke 11:4)

Who forgives whom first?

On the one hand, Jesus says, “Forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.” (Luke 11:4)

On the other hand, Paul says, “As the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.” (Colossians 3:13)

When Jesus teaches us to pray that God would forgive us, “for we ourselves forgive,” he is not saying that the first move in forgiveness was our move. Rather, it goes like this: God forgave us when we believed in Christ (Acts 10:43). Then, from this broken, joyful, grateful, hopeful experience of being forgiven, we offer forgiveness to others.

This forgiving spirit signifies that we have been savingly forgiven. That is, our forgiving others shows that we have faith; we are united to Christ; we are indwelt by the gracious, humbling Holy Spirit.

But we still sin (1 John 1:8, 10). So we still turn to God for fresh applications of the work of Christ on our behalf — fresh applications of forgiveness. We cannot do this with any confidence if we are harboring an unforgiving spirit. (Remember the parable of the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18:23–35. He refused to forgive his fellow servant who owed him ten dollars, though he claimed to be forgiven ten million. He showed by his unforgiving spirit that the king’s mercy had not changed him.)

Jesus protects us from this folly by teaching us to pray, “Forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us” (Luke 11:4). That’s why Jesus says we ask for forgiveness because we are forgiving. This is like saying, “Father, continue to extend to me the mercies purchased by Christ, because by these mercies I have been forgiven, and I forsake vengeance and extend to others what you have extended to me.”

May you know God’s forgiveness afresh today, and may that grace overflow in your heart in forgiveness toward others. And may that sweet experience of grace in your life give you added assurance that, when you go to God to experience fresh, blood-bought forgiveness, you will know that he sees you as his forgiven and forgiving child.

John Piper 

Saving Faith Loves Forgiveness

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. (Ephesians 4:32)

Saving faith is not merely believing that you are forgiven. Saving faith looks at the horror of sin, and then looks at the holiness of God, and apprehends spiritually that God’s forgiveness is unspeakably glorious, beautiful. We don’t just receive it; we admire it. We are satisfied with our new friendship with such a great, forgiving God.

Faith in God’s forgiveness does not merely mean a persuasion that I am off the hook. It means savoring the truth that a forgiving God is the most precious reality in the universe. Saving faith cherishes being forgiven by God, and from there rises to cherishing the God who forgives — and all that he is for us in Jesus. This experience has a tremendous effect on our becoming forgiving people.

The great act of purchasing our forgiveness is past — the cross of Christ. By this backward look, we learn of the grace in which we will ever stand (Romans 5:2). We learn that we are now, and always will be, loved and accepted. We learn that the living God is a forgiving God.

But the great act of experiencing our forgiveness goes on forever into the future. Our joyful fellowship with the great God who forgives lasts forever. Therefore, freedom for forgiveness, flowing from this all-satisfying fellowship with the forgiving God, lasts as long as we do.

I have learned that it is possible to go on holding a grudge if your faith simply means you have looked back to the cross and concluded that you are off the hook. That’s why I have been forced to go deeper into what true faith is — not just a relief that I’m off the hook, but also a profound satisfaction with all that God is for me in Jesus. This faith looks back not merely to discover that we are off the hook, but also to see and savor the kind of God who offers us a future of endless reconciled tomorrows in fellowship with him. Satisfied fellowship with such a forgiving God is crucial for our being forgiving people.

John Piper 

How to Ask Forgiveness

He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. (1 John 1:9)

I recall hearing one of my professors in seminary say that one of the best tests of a person’s theology was the effect it has on our prayers.

This struck me as true because of what was happening in my own life. Noël and I had just been married and we were making it our practice to pray together each evening. I noticed that during the biblical courses which were shaping my theology most profoundly, my prayers were changing dramatically.

Probably the most significant change in those days was that I was learning to make my case before God on the ground of his glory. Beginning with “Hallowed be Thy name” and ending with “In Jesus’s name” meant that the glory of God’s name was the goal and the ground of everything I prayed.

And what a strength came into my life when I learned that praying for forgiveness should be based not only on an appeal to God’s mercy, but also on an appeal to his justice in crediting the worth of his Son’s obedience. God is faithful and just and will forgive your sins (1 John 1:9).

In the New Testament, the basis of all forgiveness of sins is revealed more clearly than it was in the Old Testament, but the basis, namely, God’s commitment to his name, does not change.

Paul teaches that the death of Christ demonstrated God’s righteousness in passing over sins, and vindicated God’s justice in justifying the ungodly who bank on Jesus and not themselves (Romans 3:25–26).

In other words, Christ died once for all to clear the name of God in what looks like a gross miscarriage of justice — the acquittal of guilty sinners simply for Jesus’s sake. But Jesus died in such a way that forgiveness “for Jesus’s sake” is the same as forgiveness “for the sake of God’s name.” There is no miscarriage of justice. God’s name, his righteousness, his justice is vindicated in the very act of providing such a God-honoring sacrifice.

As Jesus said as he faced that last hour, “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name” (John 12:27–28). That is exactly what he did — so that he might be both just and the justifier of those who trust in Jesus (Romans 3:26).

John Piper