[Biblemat] A) CAN YOU BE FORGIVEN?

[J5827Sasser at wmconnect.com]

Brethren and Friends, Jim Sasser here.  A very good Wednesday
morning to each and everyone.  May God bless you and yours.
Here is an article from my recent files:

CAN YOU BE FORGIVEN?

     There are many times when people recognize the truth of 
the message of the Gospel, yet believe that they cannot be
forgiven of sin.  Perhaps you feel that you have sinned so terribly that you 
could never be forgiven of it.   Is this so?

     It is understandable why many people feel this way.  Sin is
a terrible matter, and many times you feel great guilt when you have wronged 
someone.  That guilt can be healthy if it is
a "godly grief", one that leads to repentance from sin (2 Cor.
7:10).  If, however, the guilt leads you to sin further or try to
hide, it will lead to death!

     It is good for all of us to remember that we all have sinned
and fallen short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23), and there is
no evidence from the Scriptures that God considers some
sins to be "worse" than any other sins.  We can have confid-
ence from this, then, that all of us are on the same playing
field, and no one is any worse off than anyone else: we have
all sinned, and we all need redemption.

     In 1 Cor. 6:9-11, Paul teaches that even though some had
committed great sin, whether through sexual immorality, lust
for money, etc., they were still saved!  The blood of the Lamb
could cleanse them of their sins!

     Paul himself is a great example from the Scriptures of one
forgiven of great sin.  He tells Timothy of himself in 1 Tim. 1:
12-16, "It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full accepatn-
ce, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am 
foremost of all.  Yet for this reason I found
mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might dem-
onstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who
would believe in Him for eternal life."

     Paul sheds some light on the reason why God would use
such a violent enemy of the church as one of its messengers:
so that you and I would be able to see an example of one who
had sinned greatly and yet found salvation in Christ Jesus.
Paul considered himself the foremost of sinners; certainly 
you cannot consider yourself worse than Paul, who persecut-
ed those who tried to follow God!

     We are blessed to have an awesome God as our God, and
we can have full confidence that He is able to forgive us of any wrongs we 
have committed.  I do not believe that you want to believe that God is not 
capable of forgiving yu of your sins, and I hope that you accept the witness of the 
Scrip-
tures in that God will not forgive you of your sin, but in fact
that you cannot forgive yourself for your sins?  If this is the
case, hear the witness of John in 1 Jno. 3:19,20, "Hereby shall we know that 
we are of the truth, and shall assure our
heart before Him: because if our heart condemn us, God is
greater than our heart, and knoweth all things."

     If God can forgive you of your sins, and He certainly can,
you can also forgive yourself of your sins.  God will not hold
them against you, and if you cantinue to hold them against
yourself, they can lead to your condemnation (1 Jno. 3:21).  In Christ Jesus 
you will be able to end your past and begin
your future.

     Please, dear reader, hearken to the words of the inspired
apostles and obey Christ today!   ----- Ethan R. Longhenry via
Gospel Power, Vol. 13, No. 50, Dec. 10, 2006.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.biblematters.net/pipermail/biblemat/attachments/20070207/554969c7/attachment-0001.html