24/11/2013 - THE BENEFIT OF BEING FORGIVEN

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No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

Jeremiah 31:34

Those who are born again do not need to be taught how to know the Lord, because the Holy Spirit will teach them everything. The new birth begins with the acceptance of Jesus as Savior, goes on with the baptism in waters and repentance from dead deeds. That’s why whoever defrauds someone, or causes any kind of material, moral or spiritual prejudice, should go after that person and make things right with them, or the process of recreation shall not be completed.

No one will ever be redone in Christ if they’re hiding something. Zacchaeus told the Lord that he’d give back four times more to the people he had robbed. He took hold of the law’s commandment that ordained this procedure. Because of Zacchaeus decision, Jesus said that on that day salvation entered his home (Luke 19:2-10). Taking this man as an example, examine yourself if you need to ask your spouse, your boss or a friend for forgiveness.

When we are born again, we receive forgiveness for all the sins we have committed. We receive such complete forgiveness that the Lord guarantees us that He will never remember our sins again (Hb. 10:17). Therefore, we should never allow the enemy to convince us that something was left behind, because if we do that, we will never reach what the Lord most high assured to us through Jeremiah; and if we don’t open our hearts, we will never be born again.

The verse above declares that whoever does not receive complete forgiveness will never know their God. This is a great loss! Even though people are in the house of God, listening to the Word and seeing the divine operation, they don’t know their Father or the rights they have in Him, and they can’t use the name of the Lord with success. For these reasons, healing doesn’t come, freedom does not occur, and the worst thing is that the door is always open to the enemy.

Many people are fooling themselves inside the church: those who committed sins against other people and don’t ask for forgiveness, and those who dishonor others will never obtain the complete divine favor. Why hold on to errors? Why not make things right while there’s still time? On the judgment day there will be no love, compassion, mercy or forgiveness. On that day we shall hear the sentence that will be fulfilled forever.

God has already granted forgiveness, and it is at our disposal; however, if we don’t take hold of it, we will continue sinning and we will have problems in eternity. Jesus taught us to agree with our adversary quickly, while we are on our way to him, for if we don’t, he will deliver us to the judge and we’ll end up in prison (Mt. 5:25). Be wise and don’t take long to ask for forgiveness; if you leave it for later it might be too late.

In Christ, with love,

R. R. Soares