Chapter 11
How God’s Forgiveness Operates under
Grace
This book would not be complete without this
chapter. Although the Church of Jesus
Christ is 2,000 years old and counting, she is yet a babe in regards to her
understanding of how God’s forgiveness operates under this New Covenant of
grace. Protestants, those in protest of
the Roman Catholic Church’s doctrine, think it laughable that this Europeanized
form of Christianity mandates its followers confess their sins to a man and
call him father, when according to Bible-based Christianity there is only “one
mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus,” and the Jesus Christ
decreed to “call no man father” for you have one Father who is in heaven.
(Matt. 23:9, 1 Tim. 2:5) Yet, these same
Protestants who ridicule the forgiveness practices of their Catholic cousins
are themselves in err as it pertains to Bible-based teachings on New Testament
forgiveness. There is not a well known
seminary in
Traditional protestant thought on forgiveness is like
that of a ping pong ball wherein you confess, then God forgives, you confess,
God forgives, you confess some more and God forgives some more. However, a thinking Christian must ask, “What
if I sin and die before I confess it to get God’s forgiveness, when the Bible
states that if I am guilty of one sin, then I am guilty of all?” (James
2:10) This question exposes the supreme
hypocrisy of this flawed doctrine in understanding forgiveness as it pertains
to the New Testament believers. Yet,
pastors and seminaries great and small continue to promote this false and
flawed teaching to New Testament believers without shame, rebuke, or correction
from ministers and ministries in the know.
For again Bible-based Christianity teaches that if you die with one sin
unforgiven, then you are as guilty as the sinner who has never been forgiven
any sins and will equally share his fate.
Only the New Testament doctrine on forgiveness supplies the direly
needed information on how God’s forgiveness operates in regard to the born
again believer’s eternal salvation, eternal redemption, and eternal life,
whereas legalists are clueless about it as we shall see.
When legalists’ ministers teach how God’s forgiveness
operates, they reach back into the legalities of the Law of Moses from the Old
Testament and attempt to mingle it with what they perceive as New Testament
teaching on forgiveness. The mistake
legalists make is assuming that Jesus Christ taught New Testament doctrine just
because the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were written about the life
of Christ and inducted into the “New Testament.” The Bible itself teaches us that Jesus could
only teach Old Testament doctrine of the law, where its states Christ was born
under the Law. (Gal. 4:4, Heb. 9:16)
The Law was the doctrine that was in effect until Christ “took it out of
our way nailing it to his cross because it was against us and contrary to us.”
(Col. 2:15-16, Eph. 2:14-16) Jesus
Christ could not begin teaching the New Covenant’s doctrine while he lived
because the Old Covenant was still in effect as it is written:
“For where a testament is, there must also of
necessity be the
death of the testator. For a testament
is of force [effective]
after men are dead: otherwise, its is of no strength at all
while the testator liveth.” (Heb. 9:16-17)
According
to Hebrews 9:16-17, before Christ’s death the only testament that was in force,
which means in effect, was the Old Testament.
Therefore, prior to his crucifixion Jesus had to teach the doctrine of
how forgiveness operated under the Old
Testament’s Covenant of the Law, so let’s examine his Old Testament
doctrine.
Even the world picks up the theme from the Old
Testament’s eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth tit-for-tat doctrine. In what is popularly referred to as the
Lord’s prayer, Jesus outlined the Old Testament’s stance on forgiveness
when he gave the model prayer regarding the operation of forgiveness under the
Old Testament’s terms of the law:
“Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we
forgive
our debtors...for if ye forgive
not men their trespasses,
neither will your Father forgive your
trespasses.” (Matt. 6:12,15)
Under
Old Testament’s terms of forgiveness, you were forgiven in exact portion to how
you forgave others. Therefore, if you
had to forgive someone who had committed a horrible crime against your
cherished love one, and you forgave that person 99%. The
lack of that 1% would keep you out of the kingdom of heaven. Because
under the law, if you are guilty of that one percentage point then according to
James 2:10 you are guilty of all 100%.
Hence, the Old Testament teaching on forgiveness cannot justify anyone
in the sight of God, as it is written “by the deeds of the law shall no flesh
living be justified.” Would you want
your forgiveness predicated on the condition of how thoroughly you forgive
other people on a daily basis as outlined in what is called the Lord’s prayer
that was made in accordance to the Old Covenant of the law? No, or you would not even see the
The Old Testament method of
forgiveness teaches that you confess and God forgives and if you fail to
confess and die with that unconfessed sin on your soul, then your salvation is
in jeopardy, or if you haven’t worked through some bitterness to fully forgive
someone and died before you forgave them 100%, then neither will your Heavenly
Father forgive you. The mental stress this Old Covenant method of forgiveness
has caused is not the good news that engenders life and, above all, peace. As you see, if this was the way it worked
then salvation could be gained and lost on a daily basis, as legalist think and
teach. I know this because I was an
excellent one. A little girl came to our
Sunday School as was asked if she was saved and she replied, “Why, yes! I’ve been saved 16 times!” This little girl had been indoctrinated by
the saved, lost, resaved, relost cycle of salvation that legalists teach.
Now let’s examine the New Testament’s good news regarding forgiveness that went into effect
when its testator Jesus Christ died:
“For
where a testament is, there must also of necessity be
the death
of the testator. For a testament is of force [effective]
after men are dead: otherwise its is of no strength at all while
the testator
liveth.” (Heb. 9:16-17)
Now
let’s hear terms the New Testament that came into force after its testator died
and rose again. The terms it institutes
regarding forgiveness is such good news, and Christians can hardly believe its
documented in the Bible. Have You Heard
the Good News? The difference between Old Testament forgiveness and New
Testament forgiveness is this:
In the Old Testament you forgave others in order
for God to forgive you, whereas in the New Testament you forgive others
because God has forgiven you.
After
Christ’s death ratified the New Testament, you will find that all Scriptures
pertaining to forgiveness after his resurrection tell believers that it is
already done. In the New Testament,
God’s forgiveness toward you is independent of your forgiveness of others. The born again are not getting more
forgiveness from God day by day by day.
Hear the word of the Lord! The
only forgiveness that is taking place in the body of Christ is from Christ to
the sinner, from believers to believers, and from believers to sinners, because
God only forgives the redeemed one time and that was at salvation, and the
bible labels its as “eternal redemption” from sin. (Heb. 9:12, Eph. 1:7) Sounds like heresy doesn’t it? Yes, it does sound like heresy to those of us
who have been indoctrinated by the traditions of men instead of the by the
terms God’s Word contains in the New Covenant that went in force after Christ’s
resurrection.
Terms of New Testament Forgiveness
Let’s examine this “strong meat” of
New Testament doctrine regarding how New Testament forgiveness operates under
grace. This New Testament Scripture says
it all.
“And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, (present tense) even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.” (Eph. 4:32)
Notice
that it did not state that God is not forgiving you but “has (past tense)
forgiven you.” Next.
“And you, being dead in
your sins and the uncircumcision
of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him,
having forgiven you all trespasses.” (Col. 2:13)
Again
notice that God has already forgiven the born again believer his or her
sins. Paul did not write that God is
forgiving you but rather has forgiven you, past tense, all your sins i.e.
trespasses. Let’s hear
“I write unto you, little children, because your sins are
forgiven
you for his name's sake.” (1 John 2:12)
Did
John state that our sins are being forgiven or that our sins “are
forgiven”? John pointed out that the
children of God are not being forgiven but are forgiven by the
Heaven Father himself. According to
John, the born again are only forgiven by God one time and that was at
salvation when:
“When we confessed ours sins [confession is made unto
salvation], [God]
was faithful and just to forgive us our sins,
and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)
Legalists
teach and believe that confession is made unto forgiveness, when Bible-based
Christianity teaches that “confession is made unto salvation.” (Rom. 10:10) “Confession is made unto salvation,” and when
we made the confession of sinfulness as
in “Lord be merciful unto me a sinner,” the Word tells us that God cleansed us
from “all unrighteousness.” What does all unrighteousness
include? All unrighteousness includes “all unrighteousness,” which incorporates
every unrighteous thing about your past, about you presently, and all
unrighteousness in your future. This is how Paul could write that “things to
come” cannot separate the redeemed from the love of God inside Christ, where
they are now located. (Rom. 8:38) You
have been eternally forgiven, which is definition of eternal redemption, being
etenally cleansed from all unrighteousness, once for all. (Heb. 9:12, 10:10)
“Jesus Christ the
faithful witness, and the first begotten of the
dead, and the prince of
the kings of the earth. Unto him that
washed us from our sins in his own blood.” (Rev. 1:5)
Notice
that John did not indicate that Jesus is washing us from our sins but has “washed,” past tense, us from our
sins. John continued in this vain when
he wrote:
“And he know that he was manifested [past tense] to
take away
our sins; and in him is no sin.” (1
John 3:5)
Is
he still being manifested to take away more of our sins on a daily basis, as
legalists mandate? No, because he did this “through the offering of the body of
Jesus Christ once for all.”
(Heb. 10:10)
Now listen to what David wrote about our invincible
New Testament forgiveness, which many pastors refuse to enlighten their
congregations. King David, “prophesied
about the grace to come” upon those who
would be made righteous without works, wrote:
“Blessed are they whose iniquities are
forgiven, and whose sins are
covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute [charge] sin.” (
Here
is where the good news comes into play. Although born again believers sin,
their sins have been forgiven by God,
and He is not imputing (charging or counting) new sins against the redeemed
because born again believers are not under law but under grace, as it is written:
·
“Where there is
no law there is no transgression [sin].” (Rom. 4:15)
·
“Ye are not under
law, but under grace.” (Rom. 6:14)
·
“When there is no
law, sin is not imputed [charged against you].” (Rom. 5:13)
Thus the born again qualify as “Blessed …to whom the
Lord will not impute [charge] sin.” (Rom. 4:8)
Therefore, no new sins are being ascribed to the charge of the eternally
redeemed. Furthermore, “it is also
written” that we are in Christ, and “in him is no sin,” and this could
not be true if sin was being imputed to the born again who have be placed in
Christ, “in whom is no sin.” (1 John 3:5) Only the true ministry of
reconciliation shares this good news has been committed unto us, but many of
our pastors and teachers are failing miserably at enlightening the flock of God
about this good news. For the Psalmist
wrote, “If God should mark iniquity, who could stand?” Here is the Bible’s presentation of this good
news called the gospel that too many ordained ministers are afraid to share. It
is that:
“God
was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself,
not
imputing [counting] their trespasses [sins] unto them.” (2 Cor. 5:19)
This
“good news” is the only way God could save the soul of a sinner by one death of
his only begotten Son who died for their sins once for all. (Heb. 10:10) The only way for a born again believer to
lose his or her salvation would be if God was imputing (counting) sin against them.
The eternal redemption and eternal salvation of the
believer does not mean that the redeemed do not sin. Neither does it mean that the redeemed are
immune to the consequences of their transgressions. It simply means that God is not imputing
their sins against them as sin that would result in the second death. If God was imputing the fresh sins of the redeemed to their account,
then according to the writer of Hebrews it would require Christ to die “often”
or frequently for our newly acquired sins.
Hence, God took care of that provision by sending his Son to deal with
sin “once and for all” by the sacrifice of himself. (Heb. 10:10,14)
In taking the logic of legalists it to its logical
conclusion, after a soul is saved and it sins and Christ did not come back and
die again for that new sin, and then come back again for the next sin to
provide fresh shed blood for the forgiveness of sin, and they died without
those much needed new batches of Christ’s repetitive sacrifices to provide
fresh shed blood to cover those fresh sins after there salvation, then they
would be lost again. Therefore, they
would have died with unforgiven sin, by a lack of confession which would make
him or her guilty of all sin and ineligible for the kingdom of heaven. This is why God in his infinite wisdom made
our “eternal salvation,” “eternal
redemption,” and “eternal life” foolproof.
Although “confession is made unto salvation,” legalist
misuse this Scripture in 1st John 1:9 that states:
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Legalists
have made this Scripture into a merry-go-round forgiveness festival, wherein
your forgiveness is predicated on you continual
coming having to ask for it, as those under the law had to do. However, the New Testament provision of
forgiveness of sins since Christ’s resurrection is that after Christ’s, with
his blood, purges a sinner’s soul from sin, the person becomes “a worshipper
once purged who has no more consciousness of sin,” whereas a daily coming for a
daily purging for new sins as was required by the Old Testament mandate
law. This is especially true regarding
after being saved by grace the once purged worshipper are to “have no more
consciousness of sin,” because:
“By the law is the
knowledge [consciousness] of sin.”
(Rom. 3:20)
“And, ye are not under
law but under grace.” (Rom. 6:14)
This is why worshippers once purged have no more consciousness [knowledge] of
sin. The logical question to ask, is
shall we continue in sin because we are not under law but under grace? God forbid. (See number # proof on this
subject)
Many believers are not familiar with the New
Testament’s definition of redemption
being the forgiveness of sins.
“In whom we have redemption
through his blood, the
forgiveness
of sins, according to the riches of his grace.”
(Col. 2:13)
Therefore, it is not incomprehensible that when
according to Hebrews 9:12 Christ “obtained eternal redemption
for us,” this means we have “the [eternal] forgiveness
of sins through his blood, according to the riches of his grace.” Humm, that’s funny. It didn’t say that you have forgiveness of
sins according to the number of your confessions,
but according to the riches of his grace.
Since laying this foundation let’s dive into the following proof that
reinforces how God’s forgiveness operates in this dispensation of grace. Order
the tape series of God’s How God’s Forgiveness Operates under the New Covenant
since Christ’s resurrection.
98a CONTRARY TO POPULAR
BELIEF GOD ONLY FORGIVES THE BORN AGAIN
ONE TIME! Rom. 5:13
“For without the Law sin is not imputed.”
Because a lot of Christians
have been told, “When you are truly saved, you will stop sinning,” many people
are of the notion that real Christians don’t sin. Yet, those selfsame Christians who bear this
false witness have yet to stop sinning themselves. (Gal. 6:13) Furthermore, if you call their bluff and
remind them that John wrote “whosoever commits sin is of the Devil,” and follow
up with the question, “Do you sin?”
(John 8:34, 1 John 3:8) They
become baffled and run for cover as the demons did of old did, as they cry out
that every time they commit a sin they ask forgiveness, according to 1 John
1:9. They act as though if they forget
to ask forgiveness, then they would have died in their sins and go straight to
hell. Such Christians “do greatly err
not knowing the Scriptures.” They do not
understand that God by his own word has said that he cannot charge (impute) sin
to the redeemed. This is THE GOOD NEWS
that we as “ambassadors for Christ” are commanded to let sinners know according
to Paul’s letter to the church at
“God
hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and
hath
given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit [which is], 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.” (2 Cor. 5:18-19)
Sin can only be charged
against you (imputed) if you are under the law, the “administration of death,”
so God took “the law out of the way nailing it to his cross” to save us by his
grace. (2 Cor. 3:7, Col. 2:14)
The average born again believer acts as if salvation is a
“touch and go situation.” They act as
though when they sin as long as they ask for forgiveness, tag-up so-to-speak,
then everything’s all right. These
carnal Christians turn a deaf ear to the Scripture which informs them that “sin
is not imputed [charged against you] when there is no law,” and born again
believers are not under the law and “have been forgiven all trespasses.” (Rom.
5:13, Col. 2:13-14) When our carnal mind
hears this, it immediately becomes suspicious of the grace of God, because our
natural mind receives not the things of the Spirit for they are foolishness
unto it. (1 Cor. 2:14) Believers who
“are yet carnal [immature]” do not know that the redeemed cannot obtain anymore
redemption (forgiveness) than they received at the moment of their salvation.
“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.”
(Rom. 8:1) By the way, the rest of this
verse was added by the translators because their mind could not handle the
ramifications of this Word of God as it stood alone, as quoted above!
Nevertheless, if you were under the law and therefore had
to get more forgiveness by confessing your sins each time you committed just
one, YOU WOULD DO NOTHING ELSE! Because
each time you sin in one point, according to Bible-based Christianity you are
GUILTY OF ALL. (James 2:10) Therefore, you could not just confess just that one
sin, you would have to confess every sin in the catalog, for that is exactly
how many would be imputed (charged) to you, and this is why you would do
nothing else. Plus, if you had to get
fresh forgiveness for your fresh sins that you commit daily, the Bible states
that Jesus Christ would have had “to offer himself often, over and over upon the cross day and night till the last
believer died, because “without the shedding of blood” there’s no
forgiveness of sin. Period!
Being more intelligent than legalists, the Godhead
devised a foolproof plan of salvation that when you confessed your sins,
Almighty God was faithful and just to forgive you of your sins and cleanse you
from ALL unrighteousness, thus saving your soul. (1 John 1:9) Now, if you sin New Testament doctrine does
not instruct you to confess to get more forgiveness, but the traditions of men
do. If you keep reading past the 1 John
1:9 passage, you will find that after you, as a born again believer, sin “you
have an advocate [attorney] with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he
is the propitiation [appeasement offering]
of our sins.” God only forgives
the born again believer at salvation “once and for all,” because Christ only
died “once for all,” not often i.e. over and over. (Heb. 9:26) The doctrine of New Testament forgiveness is
that it is a one time process that is forever active, made eternal by the new
man born in us who always walks in the light and never in darkness. (1 Tim.
6:16)
Born again believers need not confess sin daily, because
not another sin can be imputed against them, because the Scripture says that
the born again are the “blessed to whom the Lord will not impute sin.” (Rom.
4:8) When you sin as a believer, the
onus is not on God to forgive you. The
onus is on you to repent! The book of
Hebrews, chapters seven through ten, goes into great lengths in telling us, in
detail, that if born again believers needed to get forgiveness for their sins
“daily” or “often” as the Hebrews did under the Old Covenant:
“then must Jesus have suffered often [over
and over]since the
foundation of the
world. But now hath he appeared once to
PUT
AWAY SIN by the sacrifice of himself.” (Heb. 9:12)
If one born again believer
needed to get a fresh batch of forgiveness, then Jesus “must” offer himself to
be crucified afresh for that sin, and be wounded for that brand new
transgression, and bruised for that fresh iniquity. This is why Jesus Christ has “by one offering
put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, by which according to the writer of
Hebrews he, “perfected forever” every born again believer. If legalist would
believe God’s Word that all sinners who believe the gospel are “perfected
forever” as unreproveable in the sight of God it would put an end to their
madness.
“For by one offering hath he perfected
forever them that are
sanctified, and we are sanctified by the
offering of the body of
Christ once and for all. (Heb. 10:14,10)
Yet. the average Christian
minister persuades his parishioners to confess their sins as if God piece meals
the salvation of born again believers’ forgiveness day by day. Their false doctrine evolved from the Old Testament
transaction of forgiveness, but now the book of Hebrews annihilates this Old
Covenant doctrine with a “better” promise when it states that:
“Jesus Christ by his own blood entered into the holy
place of heaven
and obtained ETERNAL
REDEMPTION for us.” (Heb. 9:12)
Webster’s Dictionary defines
eternal as: existing through all time and at all times; perpetual, ceaseless,
endless, having neither interruption or cessation. Paul defined redemption theologically in
Ephesians 1:7 as “the forgiveness of sin
through his [Jesus’] blood.” By
adding the word eternal to the word redemption, as in eternal redemption, its
definition means the forgiveness of sin
through his blood that exists through all time and at all times, perpetually,
ceaseless, without interruption or cessation. But legalist stop there ears and reject the
Word of God’s teaching on eternal redemption being more comfortable with the
traditions of men. Nevertheless, born again believers lifetime sins are
forgiven eternally at salvation, and no new ones can be imputed to them, since
they are not under law, and
“Sin is not imputed [charged against you]
when there is no
law.
Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord will not impute [charge]
sin.” (Rom. 5:13, 4:8)
“But to
him that worketh not, but believeth on him that
justifieth the ungodly, his faith is
counted for righteousness.
(Rom. 4:5)
Recall that the Apostle Paul was
always trying to get born again believers to stop committing adultery,
fornicating, stealing, lying, coveting (lusting), but notice not once did he
instruct them to ask for forgiveness for these things, because he knew that
they were already forgiven “once for all.”
God cannot forgive born again Christians anymore than he has at the
point of salvation, because Jesus “obtained eternal redemption” for them, which
is the eternal forgiveness of sins. God
himself is not imputing sin to the born again since they are not under law, so
the Scriptures asks, “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It
is Christ who justifies, and that the ungodly.” (Rom. 8:33, 4:5)
Since Christ’s death ratified the New Testament, God’s
forgiveness toward a believers is a one time process that is forever active,
and it began in 1 John 1:9 where our “confession is made unto salvation,”
eternal salvation.
What shall we say then? What are Christians to do when they
“sin”? When a Christian sins he or she
is to repent. Repent means to change direction. REPENT DOES NOT MEAN TO ASK FOR
FORGIVENESS. If you don’t believe this
then please consult Webster’s Dictionary or your nearest Bible. In the book of The Revelation, when Jesus
Christ had “somewhat ought” against the churches of born again believers did he
say, “Fall on your face and ask the Father to forgive you in my name!”? No! Jesus simply commanded them to,
“Repent!” or suffer the consequences.
When Peter told Simon to ask for forgiveness, he was not
well informed and later had to be rebuked by both God and Paul that that which
God has cleansed is not be called unclean no matter how it appears when
measured by Moses Law. After the
resurrection, neither Christ, Paul, nor any well informed born again believer
in the Bible told any saint who was in error to ask for forgiveness, they
simply told them to repent. The problem
gentilized Christianity has is that it’s ministers teach the Old Testament
method of obtaining forgiveness of sins, which is confess your sins daily and
often. They take 1 John 1:9, and apply
it to believers, as if God is charging sin against the born again once they’ve
been cleansed. These ministers have
never laid to heart that “If thou O Lord should mark iniquities who could
stand? But there is forgiveness with thee.” (Ps. 130:3-4) They certainly could not and neither can you
or I! The Scripture states, “Blessed is
the man whom the Lord will not impute sin?”
Who are those whom God “will not impute [charge] sin”? Its none other than born again believers who
he redeemed from the curse of the law.
For:
“sin is not imputed [charge against you]
where there is no law.” (Rom. 5:13)
And we are not under law but
under grace. (Rom. 6:14)
CONFESSION IS MADE UNTO SALVATION
Since “confession is made unto salvation,” we must obtain the proper definition of
confession. According to Abingdom’s
Strong’s Concordance of the Bible, the word confession means
to agree with as in agreeing with God’s Word.
One of the most famous verses on how to obtain salvation is Romans
10:9-10.
“If
you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in
your
heart that God raised him from the dead, thou
shalt be saved.”
(
“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)
In order to be saved a
mouthed confession by one’s lips, or in one’s heart, if one is unable to speak,
that the person agrees with God’s Word that Jesus is Lord. Secondly, 1 John 1:9 reveals that a
confession (agreement) must by the person that he or she is a sinner in
need of the Savior’s salvation by believing in Christ’s death and resurrection
for their sins will result in their cleansing and eternal salvation. Now let’s
examine how those “unlearned and unstable in the Scriptures” have interpreted 1
John 1:9 in light of the Old Covenant of the Law instead of the New Covenant of
Grace.
DEBUNKING THE 1ST JOHN 1:9 TRADITION OF THE
ELDERS AND PUTTING 1 JOHN 1:9 INTO ITS PROPER PROSPECTIVE
Concerning the confessing of
sins it only pertains to salvation, as it is written “with the mouth confession
is made unto salvation,” eternal salvation for all who obey the gospel to
believe in Christ according to Romans 10:9-10.
1 John 1:9 reads in the following order, but those who “pervert the
gospel of Christ” do “corrupt the word of God” by quoting it in a misleading order. (Gal 1:7) The correct order of 1 John 1:9 is as follows:
“(1) If we confess our sins, he is faithful
and just to forgive
us our sins, and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness. (2)
My little children, these things I WRITE UNTO
YOU, THAT
YE SIN NOT and if any man sin we have an
advocate with
the father, JESUS CHRIST righteous: (3) And
he is the
propitiation for our sins….” (1 John 1:9-2:2)
Notice that when we entered
our confession (agreement) of sin as “be merciful to me a sinner,” God,
faithful to his word, forgave us and cleansed us from all
unrighteousness, and it is written that “all unrighteousness
is sin.” (1 John 5:17)
Hence, we have been forgiven and cleanse from all sin. Now, when you sin you are not instructed to
repeat the procedure of confession.
(Remember that “confession is made unto salvation,” and you are already
saved, and that to the uttermost.”)
After becoming a believer, when you sin
“(2) My little children, these things write I
unto you that
ye sin not.
(3) And, if any man sin we have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
(1) And, if we
confess our sins, he is faithful and just to
forgive us our
sins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness.”
Sounds good, but it not
Scriptural. These well intentioned ministers have unintentionally “corrupted
the word of God” by quoting it out of its proper order as outlined in the word
of God,” and have thereby deceived many.
Legalist who deny that God forgave the sinner his or her lifetime sins
at salvation, frighten weak believers into thinking that they are in jeopardy
every hour of losing their salvation if they don’t confess their sins. Christians who subscribe to such a doctrine
are, as Christ stated, “fools and slow of heart to believe all that the
prophets have spoken.” (Luke 24:25) They
foolishly fail to realize that if they are unforgiven in one point they would
be unforgiven in all points, and it would take another death from the Savior so
they could obtain additional forgiveness each time they sinned.
Talk about the seduction of Christianity, I challenge you
to go into any Christians church or your choosing Sunday and listen to the
public prayers offered, and I can practically guarantee that you will hear born
again believers pleading for God’s forgiveness, when he has not imputed another
sin to the record of the redeemed since the day they were saved. (Rom. 5:13,
8:33) Our uninformed and unbelieving
natural mind screams this is heresy (false doctrine) to hear that the born
again are not to ask forgiveness of sins.
The natural mind loves to have its ears tickled by this tradition of the
elders. Because the carnal mind is at
enmity against God it will not endure the sound doctrine of the better covenant
with better promises choosing rather to subscribe to the law of commandments
called the (ad) ministration of death, for to be carnally minded is
death.
Nevertheless, since our testator, Jesus Christ, activated
the New Testament after his resurrection, no where in Scripture did any born
again believer ask God for forgiveness for a sin, neither did God, Jesus
Christ, nor Paul, who said his writings were
“the Commandments of the Lord” to instruct any born again believer or
the Church of God to ask forgiveness. (1 Cor. 14:37) This is because there is a difference between
forgiveness and repentance.
The blood of Jesus Christ, God’s son, cleanses us as long
as our new man walks in the light, and he walks in the light perfectly,
eternally, “for there is no occasion of stumbling in him.” (1 John 2:10) He is “Christ in you,” your only hope of
Glory. He is the hidden man in you heart:
“Who
only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which
no man can approach unto; whom
no man hath seen, nor
can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.” (1
Timothy 6:16)
Whether He is thriving or not in the born
again, the new man of Christ in the believer is the sole reason why the
redeemed maintain an unbroken relationship and fellowship with the Father
through His Son at all times.
FORGIVENESS OF SIN: GENTILIZED CHRISTIANITY VS
BIBLE-BASED NEW TESTAMENT CHRISTIANITY
Concerning forgiveness,
gentilized Christianity differs from Bible-based Christianity. Because New Testament Christianity teaches
that God only forgives the born again one time, and that occurs at
salvation. This alarms our natural mind,
God’s enemy, because it has greedily lapped up the ancient tradition of
gentilized Christianity from the Roman Catholic Church or from the German monk,
Martin Luther, who split the Church of Rome on this issue yet was in error
himself. For there is a vast difference
between Europeanized Christianity view of forgiveness and Bible-based
Christianity’s view on forgiveness. For
New Testament biblically based Christianity teaches that all born again
believers have been forgiven once for all, when they accepted Christ died for
their sins once for all and rose again.
Furthermore, biblically based Christianity teaches that new sins cannot
be “imputed” (charged) to the account of the born again, not because they do
not sin, but because they are not under the law, since being saved by grace
“for when there is no law sin is not imputed [charged].” (Rom. 5:13) This is utter heresy to our natural mind
because it has blindly believed the lore that Americanized Christianity has set
forth by its most prominent saved albeit misguided saved ministerial teachers
on this subject.
Since the Scriptures interpret themselves, I challenged
you to do as the Bereans, who were more noble than other Christians, because
they searched the Scriptures to see if what was being preached was true to the
Holy Word. (Acts 17:11) In your study on
forgiveness, DO NOT MINGLE LAW SCRIPTURES ON FORGIVENESS WITH NEW TESTAMENT
SCRIPTURES ON THIS SUBJECT. And just in
case you have forgotten, the law Scriptures were anything which was written in
Scripture on the subject from the days of Moses until the death of Jesus
Christ. Therefore, do realize that
Jesus’ teachings on forgiveness were based on the laws of Moses since the New
Testament was “of no strength (force) at all until the testator [Jesus Christ]
died.” New Testament Scriptures
regarding forgives has better promises than that contained in Moses law.
1
“Blessed are they whose iniquities ARE FORGIVEN and whose
sins ARE COVERED, blessed
is the man to whom the Lord will
not impute [charge] sin.” (
[Notice he did not say “Blessed are
they who are getting their iniquities
forgiven and getting their sins covered,”
friend they ARE FORGIVEN.]
2.
“In him [Jesus] WE HAVE
redemption through his blood, which is
THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS, according to the riches of
his grace.”
(Eph. 1:7)
[Notice he did not state that
believers have forgiveness of sin according
to
their continual confessions to plead for more forgiveness.]
3.
“And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted forgiving one
another, EVEN AS GOD FOR
CHRIST’S SAKE HATH
FORGIVEN YOU.” (Eph. 4:32)
[Note that he is not forgiving you , but HAS
FORGIVEN (past tense)
you]
4.
“In whom (Christ) WE HAVE redemption through his blood,
even the forgiveness of
sins.” (Col. 2:14)
[Notice that all these
verses that deal with forgiveness, after
the testator Christ’s death,
are PAST TENSE, without any
further provision for future
forgiveness or more forgiveness for the
redeemed.]
5.
“And you, hath he quickened together with him, HAVING
FORGIVEN you ALL TRESPASSES; (Eph. 2:13)
[What does being forgiven all
trespasses leave out? Nothing. Being
forgiveness all
trespasses includes trespasses past, present, and future.]
6.
“He that lacks these things is blind … and has forgotten that he
was
purge from his OLD SINS.
(2 Peter 1:9)
Why OLD SINS? Because new sins cannot be charged to the
redeemed
as it is written “ye are not
under the law but under grace,” and “sin is not imputed [counted against you]
when there is no law.” Therefore, “blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not
impute [count or charge] sin.” That’s the redeemed of the Lord.
7.
“If any man have a quarrel against you, and even as Christ
FORGAVE YOU, so also do ye. (Col. 3:13)
[Notice the word is not
forgiving but forgave the redeemed.]
8.
“I write unto you little children, because your SINS ARE FORGIVEN
for his name’s sake.” (1
John 2:12)
[Our sins are not being
forgiven, but have been forgiven eternally.]
9.
Children of God “I write unto you, because yours SINS ARE
FORGIVEN for his name’s sake.” (1 John 2:12)
[Notice John did not write
they can be forgiven, but are forgiven.]
Note that all the New
Testament Scripture regarding forgiveness are PAST TENSE! Nowhere does the New Testament Scripture
admonish the believer to ask forgiveness of God, nor does it prescribe a way to
get more forgiveness than that which you obtained at your eternal redemption
when you made your YOUR CONFESSION UNTO SALVATION by coming into agreement with
what the Bible says of you as a sinner and that you must confess Jesus as
savior based on what he did for you in his death, blood, and resurrection.
Again for the dull of hearing, THE NEW
TESTAMENT DOES NOT BEGIN IN THE BIBLE AT THE BOOK OF