In God’s kindness, I was born into a godly home. I was at church every time the doors opened. My parents regularly taught me God’s Word at home and we prayed together as a family. When I was very young, I remember leaving church one night and feeling a deep conviction and remorse for my sins. My father lovingly shared the gospel with me and that night I professed faith and was later baptized.
But during my early teens I struggled terribly with the assurance of salvation. It bothered me to the point that I would cry myself to sleep some nights. I could not fathom that God would freely pardon my sin. Even at a young age, I felt as though forgiveness was something that I had to earn. My mother set up a meeting with a pastor at our local church and I will never forget what he did. He had a picture of a train and written in bold black letters on the cab of the train was the word FACT. He looked at me and said, “Our forgiveness is not based off of how we feel. We must always remember that FACT pulls the train.”
Since that time, I have learned that many others have struggled with the same thing that I did. Since we don’t feel forgiven, we don’t think that we are. But our forgiveness is not based upon a feeling. It is based upon God’s Word. 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” To doubt God’s Word is a sin of its own. When we doubt God’s promises, we are calling God’s very own faithfulness into question.
Consider the following promises about God’s forgiveness from Scripture:
Psalm 32:5 - I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.
Psalm 103:12 - As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
Proverbs 28:13 - Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.
Isaiah 1:18 - “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.
This is just a small taste of the many verses that assure us of God’s promise to forgive those who call upon his name. Forgiveness is an objective truth even though the feeling of forgiveness is subjective. When God forgives us, that means that he doesn’t hold that sin against us anymore. The debt that we owe to God for sinning against Him has already been paid for by the all-sufficient sacrifice of Jesus Christ. However, this forgiveness is conditional. It is conditioned upon our repentance.
Our understanding of God’s forgiveness will transform our understanding of how we are to forgive others. Ephesians 4:32 says, “ Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” As God has forgiven us, we are also called to forgive others.
How many times has someone told you that he has forgiven a sin that you have committed only to bring it up again in the next argument? When we do that, we have rescinded forgiveness. God does not do that. When we repent of our sin, the matter is settled and is never to be brought up again. Likewise, when someone repents of their sin to us, we never hold that sin against them again. In many ways, forgiveness means not bringing that sin up again. Forgiveness does not mean forgetfulness but it does mean that we keep no records of wrong (1 Cor. 13:5). Forgiveness is mandatory for all who have experienced God’s forgiveness.
The Bible also warns us about what happens when we don’t forgive. In Matt. 18:21-35, Jesus tells a parable where a king forgives a servant who owes a tremendous debt. However, the forgiven servant neglects to forgive another servant who owed him a significantly smaller debt. When the king learns what happened, he orders the one that he had forgiven to be punished until his huge debt was paid in full. The parable ends with these words: “So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”
Those who have experienced God’s forgiveness have been transformed into a forgiving people. When we forgive others, the watching world is able to get a glimpse of the mercy of God. When we forgive the sins of others who offend us, we offer them an expression of Christ’s forgiveness on the cross.
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