A Fresh New Look-- Truths About Forgiveness

A Fresh New Look-- Truths About Forgiveness

Have you ever really studied forgiveness with an open mind to hearing what the Spirit of God will show? I have never been able to forgive anyone their trespass against me unless they have repented. I have tried, my heart was right, I wanted to forgive but I could not get by the fact there was no repentance. I could finally put it aside but never forgive. So, I studied in full and with a request for the Spirit to show me truth. And it did. Here is a short review of that study.

Please Read this Before we Begin. Here we teach scriptural truths that are not taught most places. These are essential truths that you cannot be a real disciple of Christ without properly understanding.

Because of this fact you must follow the scripture “do not be deceived my beloved brethren” and see that YOU are not deceived. In order to not be deceived you must not believe what I or any other man wants to teach you unless and until it has been confirmed in scripture and by the Holy Spirit of God to you Personally as Truth. That is your responsibility no matter who is teaching you.

Matt 6:14-15

¹⁴"For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. ¹⁵But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses

Today while helping someone understand how to handle a situation where there is no repentance and even further offenses ongoing, yet the person feel obligated to forgive, The Lord told me to write this short article. So here is the truth about forgiveness, for repented and unrepented trespasses.

Have you ever wondered why it sometimes seems impossible to forgive someone an offense when they are unrepentant? You have your heart right, you desire to forgive them but you just cannot let go.

There is a reason for this , but all we hear and the first thing we see in scripture is the MT 6 verses.

But that pair of verses like all other scripture CANNOT STAND ALONE. We must look at all scripture that pertains to forgiveness to fully understand this subject as we must in all things.

SO let us now go to scripture and see what is truth.

First we must go to scripture that tells us how to deal with those who have committed offenses against us.

Matt 18:15-17

¹⁵"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. ¹⁶But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that 'by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.'^*17And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.

First – Go and tell him and if he repents forgive him and he is restored. So easy to forgive when this happens, no one has a problem with forgiving one who repents.

Two –If he does not repent, go again and take one or two witnesses. If he still does not repent, notice there can be no forgiveness yet because there is no repentance.

Three – Then you are to tell the church. Since the church in the new Testament is not that apostate church system of man that most people consider “church”, but is simply all who follow Christ, this means you tell every Christian you meet and continue to do so until there is repentance. OOOH that goes against all the seeker friend churches false doctrines and that oohy gooey false charismatic love cult, but it is the word of the LORD Jesus Christ. Notice, there is still no room for forgiveness, only exposure of blatant sin.

Fourth – and last step, But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.There is NO FORGIVENESS HERE either. He is no longer to be considered as a brother and cannot be unless and until there is repentance,

This is all designed for one purpose, to bring (shame) him to repentance that he may be restored to God and to the brethren.

Do you see that the real reason that we have trouble forgiving unrepent sin is simply WE CANNOT, God DOES NOT NOR CAN WE.

Note I say God can not and some of you will ask where does it say this so here is the first step in following Christ, in His words.

Matt 4:17

¹⁷From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

This is why we MUST always look at all the scripture pertaining to a subject in the new testament (the book of rules for this age) when we are looking for truth, because NO scripture stands alone and no scripture contradicts any other scripture.

WE see here that the scripture Mt 6:14-15 is subject to the scripture Mt 18:15-17. So now we can understand that:

Matt 6:14-15

¹⁴"For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. ¹⁵But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses

actually means that we are required to forgive anyone for offenses that they have repented of and that we are to forgive as many times as they commit the offense IF they repent each time according to the following scripture. As I noted earlier, it is easy to forgive repented trespasses because Jesus has erased forgiven sin and it is as if it never happened, but unrepented sin is still there for all to see as it can not be erased. In other words you can not forgive it because it remains an active offense and will remain so unless it is repented of.

Matt 18:21-22

²¹Then Peter came to Him and said, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?"

²²Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.

BUT we do not and cannot forgive unrepented sin, we must follow the instruction that Jesus gives us in all things because He is the Lord of this age, He has all the power and authority of God during this age, since Godnhas delegated it to Him, he is acting as God. He is not God but in this age is acting in God's place as did the priests and prophets in the previous age.

Whenever a follower of Christ has trouble doing what it seems God is saying to do, we must research scripture because it usually means we have a misunderstanding. That is why the Holy Spirit was sent to us, to teach us all truth, it will never mislead us, if only we will listed and do as we are told.

I pray this short study will help those that do not correctly understand that there is NO FORGIVENESS

available for unrepented sin. Those with unrepented sin WILL be cast into the lake of fire for destruction at the judgment.

God bless each of you as you follow CHRIST alone into the eternal kingdom of God, there is no other man that can take you there.

Charles LaFoe

copyright 12/5/2018