09/24/2024
Does God expect us to score 100% when it comes to following His commandments? Maybe He would accept 95% as passing or even grade on a curve as He compares us to others? This is the thought we will contemplate today. Let's begin in the book of James for help with this.
“For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.”
James 2:10 ESV
What is James saying here? I have heard sermons in which the pastor implied that if we attempted to follow God's law that we had removed ourselves from the acceptance of God's forgiveness under grace, but that isn't what this is saying. What James is telling us in the second chapter is that if we have disobeyed even one of the commandments we have failed. It is an all or nothing proposition! If we accept the breaking of one, we are likely to break others as well.
“For he who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not murder." If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.”
James 2:11 ESV
A couple of days ago, I told you that I attended a military college, and I made the statement that "I feared the consequences of being dishonorable (even once)". At the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) a single violation of the honor code meant expulsion from school. There was no quibbling, the code was firm and unyielding (no lying, cheating, stealing, or tolerating those who did), and no second chance. God's commandments are equally stringent; each one stands on its own and each one carries the same penalty... death that is sin.
At VMI there was no reprieve or second chance; the penalty was without variance and it was irreversible. As Christians we face the same penalty for sin... it is judged without variance and the penalty is always death, but we serve a God who is perfect, and in such, His forgiveness is also perfect.
If we come before God and truly seek His forgiveness, He will see our hearts, and if we are contrite and remorseful, and sincerely asking His forgiveness with every intention of "going and sinning no more", then He will forgive us, and remove our sin. Otherwise, the penalty stands.
“For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.”
Psalms 103:11-12 ESV
This doesn't mean that once forgiven we never sinned, but it means that God does not consider those sins again when He judges us. He doesn't forgive us now, only to bring that sin back up again the next time He has an issue with something we have done. No, once forgiven, that sin is gone forever... as if it never occurred. Given this, how should we forgive those who have harmed us? We should forgive just as God forgives us.
“Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”
Ephesians 4:32 ESV
I once heard a humorous account of a wife who would forgive her husband a wrong doing, but then place that forgiven occurrence in a grocery bag; each time he did something wrong thereafter, she would fetch the bag and bring each item back out and rehash it as they struggled through the problem of the day.
This was meant to be a humorous story, but don't we all feel inclined to do this? Don’t we all have a grocery bag somewhere? What does it say about our forgiveness? Is this the way we want God to forgive us when we sin? What did Jesus teach us in the Lord's Prayer... Listen…
“and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”
Matthew 6:12 ESV
Are our grocery bags convicting us? Are we allowing the transgressions of others to impact our own salvation?
So God requires us to obey all of His commandments, but if we fail, He has also allowed, through the blood of His Son Jesus, for us to ask, and receive, total forgiveness; not a temporary redemption, nor until it isn’t convenient for Him to forgive them any longer, but once and for all. God has no grocery bag filled with our past sins, no, they are gone forever… do we forgive like this?
“He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.”
Psalm 103:9-14 ESV
I pray this morning that we live this day without sin, but that if we do sin, that we seek God's forgiveness with all our hearts. I thank Him for His mercy and forgiveness as we journey through this life. I pray that He strengthens us in our faith and gives us the ability to avoid temptation as He protects us from evil. I praise Him above all else and others, and I ask for His will and kingdom to come swiftly with the return of Jesus. I ask that He provides for us this day, and that He keeps us safe in His bosom, but most of all I ask for His forgiveness, mercy, and the steadfast grace we receive through His Son Jesus Christ.
Prayer:
Father, thank you for your mercy, and grace. Thank you for your forgiveness of our sins through the life, death, and resurrection, of your Son Jesus. Once forgiven Father, we thank you for choosing not to remember our sins any longer, and for separating them from us as far as the east is from the west. We thank you Lord for loving us so much that you would send your only begotten Son to die for us while we were yet sinners. We praise and give you all the glory for your perfect grace Abba, and for returning us to spiritual perfection through the blood of Jesus Christ. Help us to see our temptations before we yield to them by sinning, and to resist them by defending ourselves with the full armor of your Word. Give us the strength to overcome the world as Jesus has done, and to call out in our victory “Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who was, and is, and is to come.” Hear then our prayers, and our praises, as they rise up and echo throughout heaven; shaking the mountains, and the fallen world, to its foundation; forgiving it of its penitent transgressions. Witness the forgiveness we pour out over our enemies, and all those who have hurt or harmed us, and be pleased with us for our obedience to you in so doing so that we might come before you to claim your promised mercy and divine forgiveness. You are our Creator, our God, our Lord and He that loves us like no other. You are the great and merciful “I Am” who forgives when man would be reluctant to do so, and our loving Father full of grace for all of creation. Yours is yesterday, today, and tomorrow, and you invite us to join you there in eternity… Praised be your name always and forevermore.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, and Amen!
Rich Forbes