Will the judge really let this criminal off? If the judge continually keeps letting them off, he is not only a bad judge, but a stupid one.
God surely does forgive freely any sin that we are repentant of, but He isn't a bad judge, nor is He stupid because that's where the crux is: repentance. Repentance is when a person decides to change the course of their attitude and actions 180 degrees in the opposite direction. It requires real intention to stop the current habit or decision, then make steps to go in a completely different direction that avoids the former altogether. If a person is truly repentant and confesses His sin to God, then He who searches and sees inside every crevice of our hearts will forgive us unconditionally. But there is nothing in the Bible that promises forgiveness without repentance.
I am afraid that the message of grace can become so airy and lovely that it has lost its grounding in God's rock-hard standards of justice and righteousness. Let me be clear here: I agree with the message of grace. Without it, I am worse than lost. But I maintain that the message of grace is not complete without a clear understanding of God's righteousness and mercy.
This is what I am against: "You've done wrong? Oh, don't worry. God forgives you." Where is the call to repentance? Where is the conscience of sin, the conviction that leads to godly sorrow, which leads to repentance, which leads to transformation of character? This half-message of grace makes people feel better about themselves, but it will not empower them to change, and it certainly does not prepare them for the time when the Judge turns up.
Such an attitude will excuse people from confronting their sin. It gives them permission to continue, and the work of the Holy Spirit is quenched. Yet it was Jesus who always said, "Go and sin no more." We've been so careful to undo the 'principal's office' image of God that we have done just as bad by going to the opposite end of the spectrum.
Jesus' sacrifice for our forgiveness was not cheap. Yet, we've simmered it down to a phrase so well-used that it has almost lost its meaning: "He died on the cross". What does it mean, exactly? It means that He was beaten, thrashed and torn until He had not one part of skin whole; He was hammered into place on a wooden cross, stretched out so that He could hardly breathe, so dehydrated that to blink or speak was agony. His blood splattered in people's faces and dripped down the cross, and He endured utter despair when God Himself turned away and rejected Him -- all because you were condemned to that kind of death, but He took it on himself instead.
Consider this hidden little scripture in Hebrews 10:26-29 directed at Christians:
"For if we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins...anyone who has rejected Moses' law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the spirit of grace."God wants people to feel better, but not at just any expense. His standards have never changed - only Jesus' blood can truly pay for all sin. Therefore, sin that continues to lurk beneath the hidden intention to continue sinning in private, or in a different way will still be sin that requires the blood of Jesus Christ. His blood is applied by confession of sin and repentance, not confession of sorriness.
Esau was sorry that he had lost the birthright - but only because he had lost all the blessings it brought. He was willing enough to give it away when he was hungry. In a similar vein, we can be sorry that we've sinned chiefly because it has brought some negative impact. If there had been none, we would happily continue. However, godly sorrow is that which brings an intense grief and pain at the very thought that we could do such things - that we should sin against God. Godly sorrow also leads to an intense hatred against the sin. Repentance is never ambivalent against sin.
For those who struggle in a death-hold with something far beyond your strength - I have been there. God knows your despair. He is infinitely merciful. He is the God of second chances, third, fourth and a thousand chances as we struggle against this oppressive thing in our lives. We find ourselves the victim of our own weaknesses, and we are powerless against it without some help. For some, there may be some demonic influence at work so that you either 1) yearn to be repentant but somehow can't find yourself able to, or, 2) are repentant, and would gladly give it up but find yourself succumbing to it again and again to the point of numbing despair and hopelessness. If this is you, I pray in the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth that the stronghold of Satan on you would be completely broken, and that every demonic influence be gone. I declare freedom to you in Jesus' Name and speak light into the dark places of your heart so that you can see the way out; I pray the grace, strength of the Lord into you so that you are able to take the way out, and be completely free from its grasp, never to succumb again. He whom the Son sets free is free indeed! Let there be a new thing in this life: the ability to live without any vestige of this sin, free to live in righteousness and truth.
Let us not deny the Holy Spirit from His essential work of conviction. Without it, we are at serious risk of a terrifying judgement. Let us cultivate a tenderness of heart towards the tug of the Holy Spirit. And, in the case of those seeking Christ, we risk deceiving them into thinking that they have reached the gates of Heaven when we have not told them the whole truth. Can you afford to have this accusation levelled against you? I certainly cannot.
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