The world sure is a strange place. Just when you think you’ve seen everything, something new hits you on the side of the head. When I was growing up, the number one theological question was this one: “Once saved, always saved?” People who asked this question wanted to know whether it is possible for a Christian to lose their salvation. Well if bullfrogs and butterflies can turn back into tad-poles and caterpillars, then I guess it’s possible. 

But now there’s a whole new question being asked, which is this: Is everybody saved? Many are saying yes: “Jesus is the Savior of the world. Therefore everyone is already saved, they just don’t know it.” Now before you write this off as universalist heresy, let me add that those who preach this brand of historical reconciliation do not believe everyone is going to heaven. It’s just that everyone is in until unbelief kicks them out.

Since this is a popular teaching today, I think it would be good for us to take a closer look. Let’s start with an oft-heard statement:

“All are forgiven, reconciled, and saved.”

To these three points I respond: (1) it’s true (we are forgiven), (2) it’s sort of true (God has reconciled the world but you still need to be reconciled), and (3) it’s not true (not all are saved).

You are forgiven

The reason why forgiveness is a done deal and salvation is not, is because forgiveness is a game that requires only one player. God doesn’t need your permission to forgive you. In our puny human minds we find this hard to grasp because we are not natural forgivers. We keep long records of wrong done to us. But God is not like us. He loves us with an unconditional love. He forgives us without any regard for our behavior and in accordance with the riches of His grace (Eph 1:7). Agape-love keeps no record of wrongs which is why God can choose to remember our sins no more. This is wonderful news! When you know His forgiveness, you are empowered to forgive yourself and others.

I have written more about forgiveness than just about any other aspect of God’s grace, so if you need further convincing that you are eternally forgiven, start with this post.

You are reconciled; be reconciled

Reconciliation, unlike forgiveness, is a two-player game. Both sides need to play. Consider the husband who wishes to be reconciled with his estranged wife. He loves her with an unconditional love that keeps no record of wrongs. In his mind there is no hurt or offense that has not been forgiven and forgotten. So in his love he has come to the table of reconciliation declaring that all is well from his side. Would you say they have been reconciled? Well that depends on the wife. Unless she chooses to be reconciled, there is no reconciliation.

Now let’s imagine that the wife is so damaged by an unhappy childhood that she unfairly projects her brokenness onto him. Even though he is a perfect gentleman and beyond reproach, in her mind her husband is an angry and violent man. This is how fallen humanity relates to our loving Father in heaven. Even though God has been unfailingly good to us, in our fallen state we think the worst of Him. We imagine Him to be angry and violent.

For as long as we are separated from the life and love of God by our imagined offenses, are we reconciled? Of course not. If the man in our story went around telling others that he and his wife were reconciled – even as she continued living with another man – they would think he was nuts. Yet this is exactly the message that many are preaching.

Has the world been reconciled to God? Paul’s answer was “Yes and no.” From God’s side, reconciliation is an historical event. “All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ…” (2 Cor 5:18). God has come to us with open arms. He holds nothing against us – not our sins, not our past, not anything. “While we were still sinners Christ died for us (Rom 5:8). Glory to God!

However, there is no reconciliation in fact unless we respond to His overtures. Hence Paul’s exhortation, “We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God” (2 Cor 5:20). God loves the world so much that He came and died for us. His heart yearns for the lost and broken. He does not want an historical reconciliation that is not presently true. He wants His kids!

Those who preach historical reconciliation argue that fallen man’s estrangement is based on a lie. Men fear God needlessly and I agree. God is not angry with us. He really does love us. And it is certainly not wrong to preach that God has reconciled us to Himself through Christ since this is what Paul preached. But with equal passion we must also preach the other side, as Paul also did: We implore you – be reconciled to God.

Are you saved?

I’ve heard some claim that the whole world is saved as if this declaration would somehow cause the unsaved to come to their senses and start acting saved. So far I haven’t seen that happen. The Father loved the prodigal at all points in the story, but he never chased his son into the city telling him “You’re mine! Come home.” If he had, his cries would have fallen on deaf ears. Now the son was the son for the entire story, but separated from his dad he was very much a lost son. He wasn’t “saved” until he turned back and found himself in his father’s embrace.

So is the whole world saved or isn’t it? Well if the answer is yes, then why are there so many scriptures indicating that God wants us to be saved (1 Tim 2:4) and that He now commands people everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30) and believe in the name of His Son (1 Joh 3:23) in order to be saved (Mk 16:16), etc. By my count there more than two dozen scriptures specifically exhorting people to be saved and literally hundreds more exhorting them to repent, believe, receive, have faith, trust in God, etc.

As far as I can tell, there is not one verse in the Bible that categorically says all humanity was saved at the cross. Certainly, Jesus has provided for our salvation – His is a finished work. Certainly it is the Father’s will that all should be saved and that none should perish. But His is not the only will in the equation. It takes two people to make a relationship and this is why the New Testament writers repeatedly say that all are not saved. I don’t have time to delve deeper here, but if you’re interested or are wondering about a particular scripture, I encourage you to check out my easy-to-read study notes.

So what?

Does it really matter if we tell unbelievers that they were reconciled and saved 2000 years ago? It surely does! I have heard those who preach historical reconciliation say, “Jesus has established a relationship with all of us.” This is simply not true. Although He surely desires it, Jesus has no relationship with those who are “darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God” (Eph 4:18). The light of men has come into the world but some men prefer the darkness.

If Jesus had a relationship with everyone, why would Paul exhort us to preach the message of reconciliation? Why would John proclaim “what we have seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us and the Father and the Son”? What kind of husband are we portraying when we tell sinners that Jesus married them without their knowledge or permission?

Tell a sinner that they are saved and already in a relationship with Jesus and they will look at you sideways. As far as they are concerned, Jesus is not a part of their life. So don’t tell them that He is. Instead tell them that the Lover of their Souls is standing outside their door holding a big bunch of flowers, knocking, and waiting to be invited it. They may hesitate in the belief that God is angry with them or wants them to get their lives sorted out before they come home, but it’s not true! Their heavenly Father longs for them with unconditional love and eternal forgiveness in His heart. He has already shown us His love through the cross and countless other ways. Now He waits to see how we will respond. Will we stay in the pig pen? Will we come to Him looking for a job? Or will we lose ourselves only to find our true selves in His wonderful embrace?

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Here’s something else Jesus never said to any individual: “I love you.” Jesus may not have said it but He sure showed it. His selfless sacrifice on the cross was the greatest demonstration of love the world has ever seen. On the cross He wrapped His arms around the world and gave us a big “I love you.” It is exactly like that with grace. He may not have said it, but He showed it big time. Here are just five of the ways that Jesus revealed the unmerited favor of a good and gracious God.

How did Jesus reveal grace?

1. By showing up!

Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord… Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.  (Lk 2:10-11, 14)

I have heard people preach this verse as though God was selective with His favor. “Maybe His favor rests on you, maybe it doesn’t. You’d better behave yourself and hope for the best.” But the angel brought good news of great joy that was for “all the people.” Are you people? Then God’s favor rests on you!

What does the favor of God look like? It looks exactly like Jesus. God’s favor and God’s Savior are synonymous. In every Old Testament mention of promised Savior, we get a hint of grace. Then on the night of His birth we get a mighty shout. “Peace has come to earth!” As Mary discovered and we’re still learning, we are highly favored. How so? Because the Lord is with us. He is not against us. He is for us and He is with us. You cannot have the Lord and be anything other than highly favored. He is a magnet to His own favor.

2. By proclaiming the acceptable year of the Lord

The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. (Lk 4:18-19)

I used to think this verse was good news for handicapped people and those living below the poverty line. Then I realized that Jesus is describing all of us. Relative to God we are all poor and needy. Every one of us is bankrupt of life and righteousness. “The whole world is a prisoner of sin” (Gal 3:22). That’s why Jesus announced the Year of Jubilee. Because of Jesus, we have come home, our debts are cleared, and now we reap what we haven’t sown. In the Year of Jubilee all the slaves were freed. Again, that’s us. We were bound but knowing the Truth we are free indeed. That sounds like the good news of God’s grace to me!

3. By telling stories about grace

The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for pearls of great price; it is like a treasure hidden in a field. (Mt 13:44-45)

Jesus preached law to the self-righteous, but ordinary folks typically got stories of grace. And what stories they were! These weren’t morality tales for there was no catch, no lesson to be learned. The lost coin did nothing to be found. The lost sheep did not rescue itself. The prodigal returned as a worker but was received as a son.

Without saying the word grace, Jesus left lasting impressions of unmerited favor. He came for us because in His eyes we are the treasure; we are the pearl of great price. He Himself said so! Jesus’ stories leave us, like the prodigal, speechless in the loving arms of their Father.

4. By showing (and preaching!) unconditional forgiveness

Some men brought to him a paralytic, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.” (Mat 9:2)

When preaching to those under the law, Jesus made forgiveness conditional. But on the street, Jesus revealed another forgiveness that is unconditional. The paralytic had forgiven no one yet he was forgiven. It was the same with the sinful woman (Luke 7). It was the same for the whole world when Jesus hung on the cross (Lk 23:34).

If this seems confusing to you, look at the cross. The cross is the dividing line of history and the crossroads of two covenants. Before the cross it was, “Forgive and you will be forgiven.” But speaking of what would happen as a result of the cross, Jesus also said, “every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men” (Mat 12:31). When was every sin and blasphemy forgiven? At the cross! Unconditional forgiveness is one of the most liberating manifestations of grace. When you know that you have been completely forgiven, you are free to forgive yourself and others.

5. By preaching faith over flesh

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (Joh 3:16)

Look carefully at the end of that verse. There is a full-stop, a period. Praise God for that period! It is the greatest period in the history of periods! That period declares the scandalous grace of God that will not share the stage with any man. The old covenant required about a hundred chapters to list all the things you need to do if you were to have any hope of impressing God, but here in the new, you just have to believe. Full-stop!

Jesus didn’t come with a list of commandments. We already had those from Moses. It’s true that Jesus preached law before the cross to those under the law but that wasn’t His main reason for coming. He came to open blind eyes, set the captives free, and give us new life. All that He asked was that we receive what He wanted to give us. This is the only thing Grace will ever ask of you. “Receive Me.”

Jesus = grace

Jesus may not have said “I love you” but those who met Him went away knowing they were dearly loved. Just ask John. For the rest of his life he went around telling people, “I’m the disciple Jesus loves.” So are you.

To know His love is to know His grace. They are inseparable. God is gracious because He is love. Why did Jesus come? Jesus came to reveal the grace of a good God who loves us like a Father. He came to bring us good news of great joy that is for all people.
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The cross changed everything. Prior to the cross everything pointed forward to Jesus and His redemptive work. Everything after the cross celebrates His finished work and invites you to rest.

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If you’re uncertain about God’s forgiveness, your faith will be weak and unproductive. So to demolish any uncertainty, I want to ask a bold question: Are sinners forgiven? You would have to agree that if God has forgiven sinners, then surely He has forgiven Christians who don’t repent or who forget to confess some of their sins? If we can see from scripture that sinners are forgiven, then just maybe we’ll be able to rest assured that we are forgiven too.

Four prophets

So are sinners forgiven? I’m going to call on four great prophets to answer this question. Here’s David:

As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. (Ps 103:12)

When David sinned with Bathsheba, everyone knew about it. It was a public sin that led to death for at least two people and brought David pain and regret. He said, “I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me” (51:3). By all rights, David should’ve been executed for his sin. The law covenant under which he lived had a legitimate claim on his life (Lev 20:10). But David appealed to the One who is greater than the law. “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to your loving-kindness” (Ps 51:1, NKJV). David was not trying to excuse his sin – he knew full well that he had done a terrible thing. But he had a revelation of a compassionate Father “who does not treat us as our sins deserve” (Ps 103:10). He asked God to “blot out my transgressions” (Ps 51:1), and through the prophet Isaiah, God said He would:

I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more. (Isa 43:25)

Isaiah 42-45 is a four chapter advertisement for the new covenant. Isaiah 42 tells us about the coming Savior and Isaiah 43 tells us about the “new thing” that He will do. What is the new thing? “I will blot out your transgressions and remember your sins no more.” What an amazing new thing! Under the old covenant, sins were recorded and remembered (Lev 4-6). But under the new covenant they would be blotted out and remembered no more. Isaiah was not the only one to see this coming. Here’s Jeremiah:

This is the covenant I will make… I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more. (Jer 31:33-34)

Imagine hearing this while living under the old law covenant. I would’ve asked, “When, Lord? When will you do this great new thing?” Well by the time we get to Hebrews we learn that God has already done it. Jesus appeared “once for all… to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself” (Heb 9:26). “When this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, He sat down” (Heb 10:12). When Jesus did away with all sin, the prophecies were fulfilled. Hebrews even quotes them just to make sure we don’t miss the connection: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more” (Heb 10:17). Jesus didn’t die just for confessed and repented sins. He died for all sin. Just look at the words of our fourth prophet, John the Baptist:

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (Joh 1:29)

Whose sin did Jesus take away? The sin of the world! Does the world include sinners? Yes! Then sinners are forgiven. Their sins are no longer being recorded:

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. (2 Cor 5:18-19)

Men have sins but God is neither counting them nor remembering them. How can you say such things! Sinners aren’t saved! I didn’t say they were. But they are forgiven:

When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins… (Col 2:13)

When were your sins forgiven? When you were dead in your sins! In other words, you were forgiven before you repented, before you confessed, before you were born again. In fact, you were forgiven long before you were born. How is this possible? I didn’t do anything to merit His forgiveness. Exactly! That’s why it’s called grace.

Don’t believe the bad news

God doesn’t need your permission to forgive you. His forgiveness is entirely based on the finished work of the cross. Those who claim we must do stuff to be forgiven are saying that Jesus needs to come and die again, that once wasn’t enough. This is called bad news and it’s not in the Bible. Don’t believe it. Jesus didn’t die for some sin but all sin. His one-time sacrifice for the sin of the world was perfectly perfect and completely complete in every respect.

He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 Jhn 2:2)

Paul, you sound like you’re preaching universalism. I’m not – I’m telling you the same good news that the prophets foretold and the apostles declared: God the Son has done away with sin! Neither God the Father no God the Holy Spirit remembers our sins anymore! This is the gospel truth. Do you believe it?

Put your faith in the good news

Jesus said that forgiveness of sins is a gift that must be received (Acts 26:19). Two kinds of people will never receive this gift: (1) Those who don’t think they’re sinners in need of a Savior and (2) those who think they must do things like confess and repent to earn God’s forgiveness. (In case you’re wondering, 1 John 1:9 is directed to those in the first group – see 1 John 1:8.) The grace of God can only be received through faith (Eph 2:8). Everyone is forgiven but not everyone believes that they are forgiven. Those who don’t believe reject the gift that God offers them.

Jesus said the Holy Spirit would convict the world of sin because men do not believe in Me (Jn 16:8). Sinners don’t need the Holy Spirit to tell them that they’re sinners. If their own consciences don’t condemn them, the law will (Rm 3:20). The Holy Spirit is here to convince the world that our sins been blotted out and removed as far as the east is from the west. The Holy Spirit is here to reveal Jesus and the finished work of the cross.

I want to add my little voice to the mighty Holy Spirit and shout the good news from the rooftops: You are forgiven! You may be the worst sinner on the planet but by the grace of God you are forgiven! You may be a saint who has drifted into sin but you are forgiven! Whether you have confessed everything or nothing at all; whether you have repented or are still senseless in the pig pen – you are forgiven! Whether you believe or don’t believe the gospel – you are forgiven!

A proper response to this good news is to turn to God and put your trust in His amazing grace. This is called repentance. We don’t repent to get forgiven; we repent because we are forgiven. If you are still unsure about this, review the scriptures above and then tell yourself, “I am totally forgiven because of Jesus.” All the blessings that are ours in Christ – His acceptance, righteousness, holiness – flow from the revelation that we have been completely and eternally forgiven through the precious blood of the Lamb. See Jesus sitting down at the right hand of the Father. He’s not running around cleaning up your sins. His redemption work is done and He now invites you to enter His rest.
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It seems the subject of suicide is one of those sensitive issues that Christians don’t like to talk about. That’s probably because most of us don’t have anything good to say! Ask any believer, “What happens to Christians who kill themselves?” and you’ll likely get one of the following responses:

1.    They go to hell because they never repented for the sin of murder.
2.    It’s not up to us to judge – we don’t know what happens.
3.    It’s a grave sin but God will somehow take care of it in His mysterious ways.

None of these responses brings much comfort to those who are left behind. But happily none of these responses is true! Let’s compare each response with what the Bible says.

What does the Bible say about those who commit suicide?

First, do people who commit suicide go to hell? Not if they’re saved. Revelations 21:8 tells us that the lake of fire will be full of murderers. But you don’t end up in the lake of fire because you are a murderer (see Rev 20:15). If murder sent you to hell, King David would be a goner. But it doesn’t and he isn’t.

But didn’t God say, “Thou shalt not murder”? He did – it’s the sixth commandment and part of the law. Do you know what the penalty for law-breaking is? Jesus said anyone who breaks the law is in danger of hellfire (Mt 5:22). But his words were directed to those who were born under law – not you (Rm 6:14). When Jesus went to the cross He fulfilled the requirements of the law on your behalf so that you might live free from its curse. Don’t look at your own obedience for salvation; look at His. On the cross Jesus carried the sins of the world and now you are completely and eternally forgiven.

But what about repentance? Don’t we have to repent in order to receive forgiveness? Isn’t this the stumbling block for those who kill themselves – that they never repent? No. We are not forgiven on the basis of anything we do or don’t do. We are forgiven because of what Jesus has done:

In Him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace. (Eph 1:7)

In God’s eyes you are forgiven whether you repent or don’t repent. To say, you must repent to be forgiven, is to cheapen the riches of His grace. The blood of Jesus paid for the sins of the whole world – including the unrepentant and suicidal (1 Jn 2:2). This isn’t to say that the whole world is saved, for we all need to respond to the grace of God by faith (Eph 2:8). Everyone is forgiven but not everyone has received the gift of His righteousness (Rms 1:17). But we are talking here about people who are saved when they die. Can a Christian nullify God’s forgiveness by committing suicide? No – it’s impossible. God’s gifts are irrevocable.

Second, to say, “we don’t know what happens to Christians who kill themselves” merely reveals an ignorance of God’s promises. We do know what happens. They go to be with Jesus (Jn 3:16, 14:3). Some say that “suicide is a grave sin.” Is there any sin that’s not? The good news is that God’s grace is greater than our sin; His best is better than our worst (Rms 5:20). Just as we are not qualified by our good behavior, neither are we disqualified by our bad behavior (see Col 1:12). We were condemned by Adam’s disobedience but now we have been justified through Christ’s obedience:

So then, just as sin ruled by means of death, so also God’s grace rules by means of righteousness, leading us to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Rms 5:21, GNB)

Third, to offer vague comfort by saying, “God will take care of it in some mysterious way,” is to insult the finished work of the cross. Take care of it? He already did! He came and died and rose again that we might have resurrection life:

“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies.” (Jhn 11:25)

Look closely at this promise of Jesus and see if you can find any conditions pertaining to the means of death. There are none! The way in which you shrug off your earth-suit has absolutely no bearing on His promise of resurrection life. Whether you die in a house fire, from an over-dose, or go down with the Titanic, Jesus said, He who believes in me will live, even though he dies.

The main thing

For those who are left behind, suicide hits like a Mack truck. But allow me to bring some perspective to this issue. The single most important fact of your life is not where you were born or how you die, but whether you believe in Jesus – whether you have put your trust in Him and confessed Him as Lord. You can be born a prince and die on a field of glory, but unless you know Jesus it’s all for naught. Conversely, you can be born a nobody and die a nobody but if Jesus knows you, all is eternally well! If you have lost someone to suicide and they belonged to Jesus, all is not lost! You will be with them again. Believe what God has promised and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

It is beyond the scope of this post to discuss those things that might drive a believer to suicide. Perhaps you find it inconceivable that someone acquainted with the goodness of God would ever consider ending their lives. But only God knows the depth of pain that some of our brothers and sisters have to endure in this world. The teenager I mentioned at the top of this post took his own life because he was the ongoing victim of a sexual predator and he could see no other way out. Who am I to say that I would’ve chosen differently if I had been in his shoes? I’m not trying to justify suicide. I’m saying I can’t condemn those who, for reasons I cannot fathom, choose death over life.

It’s too late to help that young man but it’s not too late to comfort his parents and those of you who’ve lost loved ones to suicide. Maybe you have heard words of condemnation or hollow comfort. Maybe you’ve been be told that the one you lost is lost for eternity. If so, I encourage you to find rest in the grace of your loving Father and to cultivate the same conviction as Paul:

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rms 8:38-9)

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Although many fear that they have done unforgiveable things, Jesus clearly said that there is only one unforgiveable sin, and that is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. What does it mean to blaspheme someone? You might have heard that it is taking the Lord’s Name in vain, but that doesn’t fully capture the meaning of blasphemy. In the original Greek, the words blasphemy (Mt 12:32) and blaspheme (Mk 3:28) mean to slander or to speak falsely of someone in a manner than injures their good name. When people accused Paul of preaching grace as a license to sin, he said their reports were blasphemous, or slanderous (Rm 3:8). In other words, the reports were false and injurious to his reputation and message.

Jesus’ warning about not slandering the Holy Spirit is reported in three gospels (Mt 12:32, Mk 3:29, Lk 12:10). In two of those accounts the warning comes after Jesus had been driving out demons “by the Spirit of God” (Mt 12:28). But the Pharisees and law teachers thought Jesus’ power came from Satan. “By the prince of demons he is driving out demons” (Mk3:22). In other words, they were giving the devil credit for work done by the Holy Spirit. I would say that is fairly slanderous! In Luke’s account the context is a little different. This time Jesus was preaching to a crowd of “many thousands” when He gave them this famous couplet:

“I tell you, whoever acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God. But he who disowns me before men will be disowned before the angels of God.” (Lk 12:8-9)

Right there you have a baseball bat for whacking every single believer who has been cowardly in their witness. Well, you would, if Jesus didn’t immediately follow up with this:

“And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.” (Lk 12:10)

What are the forgiven sins?

Peters of the world be encouraged! Peter disowned Jesus before men but Jesus declares of him, “he’s forgiven!” When Jesus warned us about the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, He made it clear that the sin of speaking a bad word against the Son of Man, like all sins and blasphemies, will be forgiven. If you grew up cursing God, be assured that this sin – along with all your sins and blasphemies – was indeed forgiven when Jesus went to the cross (Col 2:13). You may have cursed God, but He has blessed you! How? By removing your sins as far as the east is from the west (Ps 103:12).

People sometimes ask me, why do you grace preachers say all our sins are forgiven? The answer is, because Jesus said so! This is the Good News and either you take Him at His word or you don’t. You are not forgiven because of anything you’ve done but in accordance with the riches of His grace (Eph 1:7). But just because you’re forgiven, it doesn’t follow that you’re saved. Grace is ineffective unless it’s matched with faith (Eph 2:8). And this brings us to…

The blasphemy of the Holy Spirit

As we have seen, to blaspheme someone is to slander or speak falsely about them. To understand what it means to speak falsely of the Holy Spirit, we must first discover what is true about Him and His ministry. Jesus tells us:

“When He comes, He will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.” (Jn 16:8-11)

Before He died, Jesus said that His blood would be poured out for the forgiveness of sins (Mt 26:28). If all the sins and blasphemies of men were forgiven at the cross, there’s only one sin the Holy Spirit can convict you of: “in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me.” Do you believe that you have been eternally redeemed through the blood of Jesus (He 9:12)? Do you believe the Spirit-inspired scriptures when they declare that Jesus’ sacrifice has done away with sin once and for all (He 9:26)? If not, you are resisting His conviction and calling Him a liar. I’m sorry to be so blunt, but the stakes are enormous. If you think you must do things like confess and repent from your sins in order to get what Christ has freely given, then you are denying Him and His finished work. You are walking after the flesh and slandering the Spirit. What’s the solution? Jesus tells us: “repent and believe the good news” (Mk 1:15)! Biblical confession means agreeing with the Holy Spirit about your sins (1 Jn 1:9). Although you were completely and eternally forgiven 2000 years ago, you will not experience that forgiveness until you say “yes!” to Jesus.

Jesus also said, “unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and law-teachers, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 5:20). Writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Paul declared that the gospel reveals a righteousness from God, a gift that is received by faith from first to last (Rms 1:17). You are not righteous because of anything you’ve done, but because of everything He’s done. On the cross Jesus took our sin and gave us His righteousness (2 Co 5:21). In Christ you are as righteous as He is (1 Co 1:30). The second aspect of the Holy Spirit’s ministry is to convict you of your righteousness. If you believe Him you will look at yourself in the mirror and confidently declare, “I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus!”

The third aspect of the Holy Spirit’s ministry is that He will seek to utterly convince you that the prince of this world is condemned. You are not condemned, Satan is. If you are responsive to the Holy Spirit’s conviction, you will confidently declare, “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus!” You will ask with wonder, “if God is for us, who can be against us?” With a firm revelation of the Father’s love for you – revealed through the Son and affirmed in your heart by the Spirit – you will have no fear of punishment (1 Jn 4:18). You won’t wonder whether God gives and takes away and you won’t view natural disasters as divine judgments. Instead of confessing your sins you will boldly confess your sonship and lay claim to all the rights of intimacy and inheritance that come with that (Gal 4:7).

The Holy Spirit must be the most misunderstood Person in the Bible. I plan to write more about the Him and His ministry over Easter. But to answer the question at the top of this post – what is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit? – it is refusing to believe the Holy Spirit’s testimony regarding the grace of God revealed through Jesus Christ. In a word, it is unbelief. Unbelief may manifest in a hard heart or in a religious spirit that confuses the devil’s work with the Lord’s. In either case, to resist the Holy Spirit is to trample the Son of God underfoot and treat as unholy the blood of the new covenant that sanctifies us. It is slanderous and insulting to the Spirit of grace who seeks to convince us – through the written word and revelation – that Jesus is true, you are forgiven, and He now offers you the free gift of His righteousness.

As we will see in the coming posts, the Holy Spirit is not some Divine Policeman in the sky with a great big whacking stick. He’s actually the most awesome, powerful, and wonderful Being in the universe. And He is absolutely committed to your success in Christ!
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Related posts:
- Who can take communion?
- What is the unforgiveable sin?
- Confession, conviction, confusion!

One of the greatest sources of anxiety among believers is confusion over issues of sin and forgiveness. Tell a confused Christian that there is an unforgiveable sin and it’s like throwing petrol on a fire. So is there an unforgiveable sin and, if so, what is it?

The bottom 10 list

Below is a list of candidate sins that I have gleaned from various commentaries. You may have committed one or all of them, but rest assured that none of them is unforgiveable:

1.    an attitude that calls evil good and good evil
2.    a lack of reverence
3.    being stubborn and unteachable
4.    not loving the Lord with all your heart, mind and strength
5.    willful or intentional sin
6.    unconfessed sin
7.    unrepented sin
8.    harboring unforgiveness in your heart
9.    taking the Lord’s Name in vain
10.    having disrespectful thoughts about the Holy Spirit

Now there is some bad stuff on this list that can really hurt you. For instance, if you harbor unforgiveness you’ll end up bitter and twisted. But it is not helpful to tell a young mother whose husband has just run off with her best friend that she must forgive him or face eternal damnation. You might as well ask her to walk on water! The power to overcome sin – and forgive the unforgiveable – is not found in religious fear-mongering. So, in the hope of breaking a few man-made yokes, let’s review some of these so-called unforgiveable sins.

Unforgiveable sins?

Some people will try and tell you that the unforgiveable sin is a bad attitude or a lack of reverence or it’s being stubborn and unteachable. This is nonsense! Jesus didn’t suffer and die to enter us into a reverence contest. We neither earn points for being quick learners nor get punished for being dimwitted. Attitude is certainly important as it will affect the way you live and whether you reign in life. But a poor attitude won’t disqualify a saint any more than a good attitude will qualify a sinner.

Others say the unforgiveable sin is not loving the Lord with all your heart, mind and strength – it’s putting Sunday football ahead of Jesus. This mindset naturally leads to a system of religious score-keeping. It’s the debits versus the credits. But God is not counting the number of hours we put into church versus the number of hours we spend kicking a football. You don’t qualify for eternal life because you maintain a positive or pious attitude. In fact, Jesus said this sort of religious thinking makes Him nauseous. We don’t love God to stay on His good side. We love Him because He first loved us and saved us and redeemed us and did everything we needed, while we were yet sinners (Rm 5:8).

What about willful sin? That sounds serious. Well if Jesus can’t forgive the sins we’ve done on purpose then no one can be saved. Don’t worry – His best is greater than your worst and His grace is greater than your sin!

I’ve heard plenty of people say that unpardonable sins are those we neither confess nor repent of. (This would include suicide.) They seem to forget that Jesus went around forgiving people who neither repented nor asked for forgiveness. They also forget that He forgave them long before they were born. If you preach, “you must repent to be forgiven,” then you’re preaching dead works. You’re trying to define righteousness in terms of what you do or don’t do. Wrong tree.

Am I saying you don’t need to repent? You must, but from dead works rather than sin (He 6:1). Jesus said, “repent and believe the good news” (Mk 1:15). When you change the way you think and start believing the good news – that His grace and love led Him to die for you before you had done any confessing or turning of your own – it will empower you to overcome sin. We don’t turn from sin to get forgiven; we turn because we are forgiven and His grace enables us.

What about harboring unforgiveness in our hearts? Didn’t Jesus say forgiving others was a precondition for receiving God’s forgiveness (Mt 6:15)? If it is then there’s no such thing as grace. Read your Bible through the lens of the cross. Jesus preached the law of conditional forgiveness to those who lived under the law to silence their self-righteousness and reveal their need for a Savior (Rm 3:19, Gal 3:24). We are not under law but grace (Rm 6:15). We forgive others because He first forgave us (Col 3:13).

What about taking the Lord’s Name in vain? This is one of the 10 Commandments and was a stoning offense under the old covenant:

“Anyone who blasphemes the name of the Lord must be put to death. The entire assembly must stone him. Whether an alien or native-born, when he blasphemes the Name, he must be put to death.” (Lev 24:16)

If you have taken the Lord’s Name in vain, then thank God that we live under a new and better covenant! Thank God for Jesus who has set us free from the curse of the law and and who said:

“Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven…” Mat 12:32a

You may have cursed God, but He has blessed you! I wish I could go back to 19th century Copenhagen, find the gloomy Dane and tell him the good news. “Søren, all your sins were forgiven!”

But what about the rest of that verse…

“…but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.” Mat 12:32b

Here Jesus identifies the one and only sin that He says will never be forgiven, namely, the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.

The unforgiveable sin

This week I heard about someone who was battling condemnation because they had had disrespectful thoughts about the Holy Spirit. They were worried that they had committed the unforgiveable sin. If this has happened to you, don’t panic! First of all, don’t take ownership for every thought that passes through your mind. As the saying goes, you can’t stop the birds flying overhead, but you can stop them building a nest in your hair. Second, and as we will see in the next post, the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is something very specific. If you’ve had disrespectful thoughts, that probably means you don’t know the Holy Spirit very well. But you haven’t blasphemed Him. Not even close.

So who is a blasphemer? Religion paints a picture of a blasphemer as someone who is belligerent and foul-mouthed. But a blasphemer may look more like the Pharisees and law-teachers of Jesus’ day. A blasphemer is one whose beliefs prevent him from receiving the grace of God. This includes those who refuse to believe that all the sins of men have been forgiven. Rather than allow the Holy Spirit to convict them of their unbelief, they are preoccupied with maintaining their own religious performance. “How’s my walk? Am I confessing my sins? Am I praying enough, maintaining a positive attitude and behaving such that God will bless me?” These are works that lead to death. Those who do them need to repent.

What is the unforgiveable sin? It is the sin of unbelief in Jesus and His finished work. It is the sin of not receiving the free gift of His grace and righteousness. This sin cannot be forgiven because he who commits it chooses to reject the very thing that would otherwise save him. This rejection may take the form of hard heartedness (“I don’t need Him”) or religious idolatry (“He needs my help”). In either case the grace of God is rendered ineffective simply because it is not received.

If you love Jesus, there’s no need to get hung up over the unforgiveable sin. Although hell will be full of murderers, thieves and adulterers, people do not go to hell for committing murder, stealing or adultery. As terrible as they are, all these sins have been paid for by the precious blood of the Lamb (1 Jn 1:7, Eph 1:7). So have the sins listed at the top of this post. Your choice is this: You can be sin-conscious and gloomy, or you can be Christ-conscious and rejoice!

“Happy are those whose wrongs are forgiven, whose sins are pardoned!
Happy is the person whose sins the Lord will not keep account of!” (Rm 4:7-8)

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Related posts:
- Two religions: Works and blood
- Are you religious? (Take the test!)
- Chop off your hand?! Was Jesus serious?
- What is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit?

Over the past few weeks we have looked at 12 reasons why Christians never need to confess their sins to be forgiven. By “confess” I mean listing all your sins. I thought it might be worth pulling all these reasons together in a single list with links back to the original posts…

12 reasons why Christians don’t need to confess-to-be-forgiven

1.    It’s not in the Bible. To confess (homologeo) is to agree with God. Sinners need to agree that they are sinful and in need of a Savior. Saints need to agree that their sins have been dealt with and they are forgiven.

2.    You were forgiven 2000 years ago. All your sins were future sins – you hadn’t been born yet.

3.    You were forgiven through His blood. Your forgiveness was paid for with God’s blood. Your works don’t come into it.

4.    You were forgiven completely for all time. Jesus will never go to the cross again.

5.    You were forgiven in accordance with the riches of God’s grace. Forgiveness is His business and His gift to give. Receive it or reject it but you can’t earn it.

6.    Your sins are long gone. Jesus’ sacrifice was the atom bomb that did away with sin.

7.    God chooses to forget your sin. God is love. Love keeps no record of wrong. Your heavenly Father is not a fault-finder.

8.    The Holy Spirit is not convicting you. The law convicts, but the Holy Spirit liberates. How could He convict you of something He chooses not to remember?

9.    Confessing-to-be-forgiven puts us under law. Mixing God’s grace with man’s works is like mixing milk with poison. The result is not going to be good for you.

10.    Confessing-to-be-forgiven empowers sin. Instead of dealing with sin and releasing life, law-based confession stirs up sin and leads to death.

11.    Confessing-to-be-forgiven keeps us from God. When dealing with people, confessing sins and seeking forgiveness may help heal a guilty conscience. But God doesn’t relate to us with human love.

12.    Confessing-to-be-forgiven makes us sin-conscious, not Christ-conscious. Every minute you spend dwelling on your sin is a minute wasted. You’re not worthy? Get over yourself! Christ is worthy!

Why do Christians confess-to-be-forgiven when it’s not in the Bible?

I am not against confession. True confession is putting faith into words; it is articulating God’s promises, God’s declarations, and God’s will. But confessing-to-be-forgiven is a work of the flesh. Whether you confess to a priest or directly to God makes no difference. If you do it because you believe it makes you righteous or acceptable to God, then what need have you of a Savior? You have set aside grace and put yourself under law.

You won’t find any believer in the New Testament confessing their sins to be forgiven. So why do we do it? Why do we spend so much time and energy on a death-dealing extra-Biblical practice? I can think of at least 4 reasons. We do it simply because we’ve always done it. (So read your Bible, renew your mind and live free.) We do it because we think our sin is greater than God’s grace. (It isn’t.) We do it because we are fearful of “unconfessed sin.” (Sin is sin and on the cross Jesus dealt with it all – big sin, small sin, secret sin and unconfessed sin. There is no sin that escaped His perfect redeeming work.) Or we do it because we are fearful of judgment day and uncertain about our forgiveness. We hope we’ve been forgiven, but we worry that might not be. If this is you, listen to the words of Jesus:

“My friend, don’t worry! Your sins are forgiven.” (Mt 9:2, CEV)

At some point you’re just going to have to step out in faith and trust that when Jesus said “it is finished” that it really was finished. At the cross, your sin was dealt with once and for all time. Look at Jesus and cheer up!

Now substitute the word “marriage” for “forgiveness,” and “$50” for “confess-your-sins,” and you have the standard sermon on confession. “Forgiveness is wonderful. Forgiveness is a gift from God. God is so faithful that whenever we confess our sins, He will forgive us and restore our fellowship with Him.” It sounds good but it’s not. Yes, forgiveness is wonderful and God is faithful. But you cannot put a price tag on the free gift of forgiveness. Don’t let anyone charge you for what God has already given you.

We were forgiven at the cross by the blood of Jesus. Jesus did not die merely to secure our forgiveness – salvation is so much more than that – but forgiveness is the gift that unlocks all the other gifts. The Bible tells us that those who are uncertain about their forgiveness remain weak and unproductive. You might be confused about confession if you think it’s the Holy Spirit who is convicting you of your sins. So far in this study, we have looked at eight reasons why Christians never need to confess-to-be-forgiven. Today we will pull out the big guns and hopefully do away for good the diabolical lie that says Christians must confess-to-be-forgiven. Here are the final four reasons to be thankful for God’s gift of forgiveness.

9.    Confessing-to-be-forgiven puts us under law

“For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” (Rms 6:14)

Would you sing a hymn like this: “Your sacrifice is not good enough to do away with sin, Your blood was not sufficient to redeem me, You will not finish what you started, But with my help we can save me. We are co-Saviors.” Of course no believer would ever sing such nonsense! Yet that is exactly what we’re saying if we think we must confess-to-be-forgiven.

Living under law means more than keeping the 10 commandments. It means living by the power of the flesh in the vain hope of earning what God has freely given us. At the cross God cancelled the law that stood against us (Col 2:14) and without the law there is no transgression (Rms 4:15). All who rely on the law are under a curse (Gal 3:10), but because of Jesus we are now the “blessed man” whose sins God is no longer imputing (Rms 4:8). Jesus went to the cross so that you can live under the grace of God. If you who have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb still think that you must confess-to-be-forgiven, then you are setting aside grace and cursing what God has blessed.

10.    Confessing-to-be-forgiven empowers sin and leads to death

“…the strength of sin is the law.” (1 Co 15:56)

If you live under the self-imposed law that says, “I must confess-to-be-forgiven,” then sin will have dominion over you (Rms 6:14). Rather than dealing with sin, this sort of confession actually makes things worse for it strengthens sin making it harder to resist the next time. Guess what happens when you follow this path to its logical conclusion? Romans 7:5 says that when we combine our fleshly performance with the law, sinful passions are aroused that work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. Confessing-to-be-forgiven, like any law-based ministry, ultimately brings death (2 Co 3:7).

We are called to live by faith in the Son of God who gave Himself for us (Gal 2:20). Our choice is simple: we can trust God that His work on the cross was sufficient, or we can trust the work of our flesh. When you sin it takes faith to look at the cross, listen to the Holy Spirit, and confess “I messed up, but because of Jesus I am still righteous! I am still forgiven!” It takes absolutely no faith to feel unrighteous and unforgiven. It takes faith to trust that God’s grace is greater than your sin; to trust that His grace will empower you to say no to ungodliness so you can go and sin no more (Tit 2:12). It takes no faith to believe you must make things right, perhaps through confession. Whatever is not of faith is sin (Rm 14:23). Call it for what it is: confessing-to-be-forgiven is the sin of unbelief in the goodness and grace of God.

11.    Confessing-to-be-forgiven keeps us from God

“Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus… let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience…” (Heb 10:19,22)

Another argument which is sometimes used to justify confession is that it restores our fellowship with God. Confessing our faults is certainly a good idea when we sin against each other (Jas 5:16). But don’t make the mistake of relating to God on human terms. God does not love us with human love. He doesn’t love us because we are lovable and open about our mistakes. He loves us because it’s in His nature to love us. He is love (1 Jn 4:16). Let’s not fool ourselves – even the best of us is wholly unworthy, wholly undeserving of His love. The good news is that He loves us anyway.

When you sin you may feel like you are distant from God even though He has promised to never leave nor forsake us (Heb 13:5). You messed up so you may feel like you need to do something to restore your relationship. But confessing-sins-to-get-rid-of-a-bad-feeling is to walk in the flesh; it is not the way of faith. It’s never a good idea to interpret your relationship with God through the filter of your feelings. Feelings should always follow facts and faith.

The facts of the matter are this: we had a debt we could not pay and Jesus paid it in full with His blood. All of our sins have been forgiven and we are now debt-free. The proper response in light of these facts is joy (Is 12:3). Faith looks at the cross and the empty tomb and shouts, “thank you Jesus!” If you are feeling bad because of a guilty conscience, you have misplaced your faith. You need to review the facts. According to Hebrews 10:22, the blood of Jesus is the best remedy for dealing with a guilty conscience. So instead of confessing your sins and reminding yourself of how unholy you are, confess the blood of Jesus that sanctifies you (Heb 9:13-14). Then draw near to God with the full assurance that faith brings.

12.    We’re called to be Christ-conscious, not sin-conscious

“Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” (Jn 17:3)

Confessing-to-be-forgiven distracts us from the purpose of life which is to know and enjoy God our Father and Jesus Christ whom He sent. Confession tends to make us introspective and gloomy. When you look at all you’ve done wrong, how could you not get depressed? Our heavenly Father doesn’t want us to live like that. God didn’t send His Son to make us self-aware but Christ-aware. We don’t need healthy self-esteem, but life-giving Christ-esteem. The law makes us conscious of sin, but we are to be conscious of Christ our righteousness (Rm 3:20-22).

Every minute you spend dwelling on your sin is a minute wasted. You could’ve spent that time praising God for His mighty works! Instead of testifying of your badness, praise Him for His goodness. Instead of examining your unworthiness, celebrate His worth! Jesus died to make unworthy men worthy. If you were worthy, He would never have died for you. But you weren’t and He did and now you are! Glory to God!

If this is not practical enough for you, let me finish with Matthew 6:33. When you seek His kingdom and His righteousness first, all your unrighteous hang-ups will get taken care of. Make Jesus your focus. Hebrews 10:2 says that we’re not supposed to be conscious of our sins. How can we confess something we’re not conscious of? As a man thinks, so he is (Pro 23:7). If you think of yourself as a reformed sinner saved by grace, you’ll never be anything more than just a sinner. It’s smart for sinners to confess their sins (1 Jn 1:9), when confession means agreeing with God about our need for a Savior. But when a Christian confesses-to-be-forgiven, he’s acting like a sinner. He has become an unbelieving believer, a living contradiction. He’s like a married person who still acts as if he’s single. See yourself as God sees you. God calls you a son (Gal 4:6). Confess what you are, not what you were. Confess your sonship not your sinnership.

God’s great gift of forgiveness

Knowing that you have been forgiven by the grace of God is just about the best thing in the world! Forgiveness is a great gift and worth protecting; don’t let anyone take it from you. Don’t let anyone charge you for what Jesus has already paid for.

Nowhere in the New Testament do you find believers confessing their sins to be forgiven. Confessing-to-be-forgiven is an extra-Biblical church tradition. It is one of those things that seems right to man, but in the end it leads to death (Pro 14:12). It is a work of the flesh that kills faith, nullifies grace, and treats as unholy the blood of the covenant that sanctifies us.

In this study we have reviewed 12 reasons why those who have been born again never need to confess-to-be-forgiven. You don’t have to do something you’ve already done to gain something you already have.

Be blessed!

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Related posts:
- Two religions: Works and blood
- How do we pervert the gospel of Christ?
- Seven signs that you might be living under law

What’s wrong with this picture? Everything! It suggests that God the Son and God the Father have different natures, that One loves us unconditionally, but the other can’t see past our sin. Even if you don’t know your Bible you can probably see how ridiculous this is.

Hebrews 1:3 tells us that Jesus is the “exact representation” of God’s nature. He is the visible image of invisible God (Col 1:15). Jesus said, “He who has seen me has seen the Father” (Jn 14:9). If you want to know what God the Father is like, look at Jesus. They are different people, but they share the same character, the same heart, and the same spiritual DNA. The gospel tells us that Jesus was sent by God the Father and empowered by God the Holy Spirit to save the world. Contrary to what you may have heard, God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are very much on the same page when it comes to your forgiven-ness.

A Christian is someone who has received the gift of God’s forgiveness. By trusting in God’s grace, they experience today that which God provided 2000 years ago, namely salvation through the finished work of the cross. In Part 1 and Part 2 of this study we looked at six reasons why Christians never need to confess their sins to be forgiven. Perhaps you confess your sins because you are uncertain about your forgiveness. You know that Jesus died for your sins, but you may think that God is keeping records and that the Holy Spirit is convicting you and leading you to do works of confession. Nothing could be further from the truth. Here are two more reasons why those who have been forgiven don’t need to confess-to-be-forgiven:

7.    God chooses to forget your sin

“For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” (Heb 8:12)

Confession usually involves telling God about our sins (as if He didn’t know!). But why would we want to remind Him of things that He has chosen to forget? Somehow we have bought into this idea that God is in heaven recording all of our sins onto DVDs and on Judgment Day He’s going to embarrass us by playing movies of our mistakes. But this is not what the Bible says! God does not impute our trespasses to us (2 Cor 5:19). He is in the reconciliation business, not the shaming business. When you confess-to-be-forgiven you are imputing sins to yourself that God Himself is not counting. In other words, you are acting unlike your heavenly Father.

Under the law covenant it was important to keep track of and account for every sin, but the new covenant is characterized by loving forgetfulness (Jer 31:34). Did God suddenly have a change of heart after the cross? Did His memory suddenly go faulty? No, God never changes. He is the same today, yesterday and forever. The Bible refers to the law covenant as a fading and therefore temporary arrangement (2 Co 3:11). Although God chose to relate to people for a time through this fault-finding covenant in order that we might learn the seriousness of sin and see our need for Jesus, His own nature is otherwise. He has always loved us (Jer 31:3) and love keeps no record of wrongs (1 Co 13:5).

On the cross God the Father made Jesus be sin for us that we might become His righteousness (2 Cor 5:21). Jesus was not acting alone but in perfect submission to His Father’s will (Lk 22:42). Forgiving you was the Father’s idea; making Jesus be sin that you might become righteous was His work. Because God the Father relates to you through His sinless Son, He chooses to remember your sins and lawless deeds no more.

Why did God do all this? Because He is love and He loves us. For God the Father so loved the sinful world that He sent His only Son. When you see the Father’s heart of love behind the Son’s redemptive work, you will no longer fear sin. You won’t be worried about those sin-DVDs because God isn’t making any. When you begin to grasp the Father’s love, you will even look forward to Judgment Day with boldness (1 Jn 4:17). Where does this confidence come from? It comes from knowing that we have “grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Jesus Christ, the Father’s Son” (2 Jn 1:3).

8.    The Holy Spirit is not convicting you

“The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this… ‘Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.’” (Heb 10:15,17)

Some believers feel impressed to confess their sins because they think the Holy Spirit is convicting them. Only He doesn’t. How could the Holy Spirit convict us of something He chooses not to remember? Look at what He says: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.” You can take those words to the bank! They are truth and life. God the Son died to do away with sin. Because of what Jesus has done, neither God the Father (Heb 8:12) nor God the Holy Spirit (Heb 10:17) remembers your sins any more. If the Holy Spirit were convicting you, then the Godhead would be a house divided.

You may say, “I know I’ve sinned because my conscience has been pricked. Isn’t that the Holy Spirit’s conviction?” Nope. Have you ever wondered how you know when you have sinned? Most people have an innate knowledge of good and evil because of what happened in the Garden of Eden. But where that moral compass is rusty, the law kicks in with fault-finding force. “I would not have known sin except through the law” (Rms 7:7). If you are feeling condemned, don’t blame the Holy Spirit! It’s the law that condemns you. Some try and wriggle out of this by distinguishing conviction from condemnation. They say conviction is good and comes from God, but condemnation is bad and comes from the devil. But if we’re talking sin then there’s no scripture that supports this distinction. The word convict, as found in the NIV translation of John 16:8, literally means to refute, find fault and call to account. This is what the law was designed to do (2 Co 3:9), in order that you might be led to Jesus and receive His gift of no condemnation (Rm 8:1).

As an expression of His love and mercy, the Holy Spirit convicts the world of the sin of unbelief. But the only thing He “convicts” or rather, convinces, Christians of is their righteousness (Jn 16:8-10). When you sin, your conscience may convict you, the law may convict you, and the Spanish Inquisition may convict you. But while all of this convicting is going on, the Holy Spirit will be there to remind you of your right standing in Christ. Your righteous acts don’t make you righteous; neither do your unrighteous acts make you unrighteous. Only Christ makes you righteous. If you listen to your sin, you will think you are damaged goods only capable of screwing up. But if you listen to the Holy Spirit, He will tell you that you are as righteous as Jesus and capable of living right. This is not a challenge to live right through will-power – the Holy Spirit will never promote a flesh trip. This is a call to continue living in Christ the same way you started – by faith (Col 2:6). Listen to your sins and you’ll end up a victim, but be led by the Spirit and you will be more than a conqueror!

God is not a fault-finder

Jesus did not sneak out of heaven on a secret mercy mission and God did not have a change of heart after the cross. Your heavenly Father is not a fault-finder. Neither is the Holy Spirit.

When you confess-to-be-forgiven, you are essentially trying to make yourself good enough for God. You’re saying, “I messed up, but I can fix it.” Well, you are half right! But you are fooling yourself if you think you can fix what sin broke. Jesus died to set our minds free from acts that lead to death (Heb 9:14) and confessing-to-be-forgiven is a dead act. It may make you feel momentarily good about yourself, but as we will see in the final part of this study, this sort of confession ultimately leads to death and defeat. True confession is agreeing with God and God says all your sins were forgiven at the cross for all time by the blood of Jesus. Confess that!

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- Top 12 blessings in the new covenant
- What keeps Christians weak and unproductive?
- Incomplete deeds: The zombie church of Sardis (Rev 3:1-6)

Christmas is the time when we celebrate God’s good gifts embodied in His Son. Of the many gifts God has given us, forgiveness is the first. It is the gift that unlocks all the other gifts. Do you need healing? Then take heart – your sins are forgiven! If Jesus has borne your sins, He is has borne your sicknesses as well (Is 53:4). In Christ you have been forgiven of sin and set free from all its effects including sickness. However, if you don’t know for sure that you have been forgiven, then you will have a hard time receiving healing. You may even think that you deserve your sickness or, worse, that God made you sick.

Forgiveness is the gift that everyone needs, but you will never receive it if you think you have to do something to get it. In Part 1 of this study, we looked at three reasons why Christians can never earn God’s forgiveness through confession. In today’s post we will look at three more reasons why Christians never need to confess-to-be-forgiven. Before you write in and tell me that you find confession helpful and liberating, let me reiterate that I am not against confession. It is good to be open and transparent about our weaknesses and failings. What I am opposed to is the lie that says Christians must confess, or do anything, to maintain their forgiveness. If you routinely confess-to-be-forgiven you’re actually disobeying God and cursing what He has blessed. Instead of being a stepping stone to your deliverance and healing, the Bible teaches that this sort of confession will actually empower sin and minister death to you.

The remedy for any lie is the truth. So following on from Part 1, here are three more wonderful promises regarding your forgiveness:

4.   You were forgiven completely for all time

“But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God.” (Heb 10:12)

Jesus’ death on the cross was a once-off sacrifice offered for all time. It was perfectly perfect in every respect and there is nothing you can do to improve upon it. Those who take 1 John 1:9 as their justification for trying to earn what we’ve already been given, need to pay more careful attention to what John is saying: the blood of Jesus purifies us from “all sin” (1:7) and cleanses us from “all unrighteousness” (1:9). All means all. “All sin” includes the sins we haven’t done yet and all the sins we have never confessed.

Jesus went to the cross as humanity’s sinless representative. With His dying breath God the Son asked God the Father to forgive us (Lk 23:34). Then having fully satisfied the requirements of the law that stood against us, and having forged a new covenant in His blood, Jesus declared “it is finished” and gave up His spirit. His redemptive work complete, Jesus now sits at the right hand of God waiting for His saints to rise up boldly in their forgiven-ness and put His enemies – sickness, poverty, oppression – under their feet and His.

Jesus will never go to the cross again. If you sin today, He is not going back to Calvary tomorrow. Asking Him to forgive you again is like saying His first sacrifice was not enough – that you really need Him to get back up on the cross. This is disgraceful (Heb 6:6), but “we are confident of better things in your case” (Heb 6:9). Rejoice that His one-time sacrifice paid for it all and you are eternally forgiven. When you sin, guess what – you are still forgiven! God’s grace is greater than your sin. I’m not encouraging sin and if you are choosing to live in sin then you are unacquainted with the grace of God that teaches us to say no to sin. But if you trust in Jesus and His finished work, then rest assured that nothing in the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither life nor death, can separate you from God’s forgiveness. Hallelujah!

5.   You were forgiven in accordance with the riches of God’s grace

“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.” (Eph 1:7)

What is the limiting measure of God’s forgiveness? Is it our performance? Is the state of our confession? No! We are forgiven according to the riches of God’s grace. God is not stingy with grace. How do we know God is gracious? Because He has forgiven us and His forgiveness is 100% a gift. If you have to do something to get it, then it is no longer a gift but an obligation, and God owes you nothing.

Jesus forgave the paralytic before the man had uttered a single word. He forgave the adulterer who was speechless with sin. One didn’t say anything and the other couldn’t say anything, yet Jesus forgave them both. Jesus forgave to demonstrate that He had authority to forgive. Forgiveness is His business, His decision, His initiative, and His gift to us. The only thing you have to do is receive it, and the only way you won’t receive it is if you try to earn it through confession or other dead works.

6.   Your sins are long gone

“But now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.” (Heb 9:26b)

In the Bible, the word “forgive” literally means to send away. You sin hasn’t merely been overlooked, it has been abolished (AMP), put away (ASV), and removed (GNB). Neither has God put away your sins in the same way that you might put your rubbish in a bin by the back door – close by and smelly. He has removed them from you as far as the east is from the west (Ps 103:12). If you were to go looking for your sins, you wouldn’t find them. They’re gone! They’ve all been blotted out (Is 44:22).

You may ask, but what about the sin I did just this morning? Like all your sin this one was dealt with at the cross. It was not recorded as a black mark next to your name because God is not in the business of imputing sin (Rms 4:8). God’s got better things to do than count men’s sins against them (2 Cor 5:19). It is human nature to keep score but this is not God’s nature. God is love and love keeps no record of wrongs (1 Co 13:5). Your Father is not a fault-finder. If you were to ask Him about this morning’s sin, He would say, “What sin? I have no record of that sin. Stop looking for it and look to Jesus.”

You did have a sin problem, but God dealt with it by nailing it to the cross (Rm 6:6). This circumcision of your old nature was not done by the hand of man, but by Christ Himself (Col 2:11). You have been given a new nature with new desires. As you renew your mind you will come to see that although sin is destructive and best avoided, it cannot touch His love for you. God is quite able to deal with your sin and the axe of His forgiveness has already been laid at the root of that bad tree!

Jesus – not confession – is the cure for condemnation

The amazing thing about Jesus is that He forgives us in advance. We “go and sin no more,” not to get free from condemnation, but because we are free from condemnation. The secret to overcoming sin is not found in making promises we can’t keep, but in knowing that Jesus believes in us! Stop examining yourself and examine Him! He’s altogether wonderful. Stop confessing your sins and confess Jesus your Redeemer. Confess that He is your wisdom from God – your forgiven-ness, your righteousness and your holiness (1 Cor 1:30).

In the next part of this study, we will look at two of the biggest misconceptions people have about God’s forgiveness.

(PS: If you want to be among the first to read new posts from E2R, put your email address in the subscription box found near the top of the sidebar on the right.)

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Related posts:
- Two religions: Works and blood
- By which gospel are you saved?
- God doesn’t do half-jobs: Why partial forgiveness is completely bogus

Show me any Christian who is making a mark for God today, and I’ll show you someone who knows they have been forgiven. Complete and unconditional forgiveness is the foundation of our faith. It is what separates Christianity from all the man-made religions of the world. Yet many sincere believers do not know for sure whether they are forgiven. And if you’re not sure about that, you won’t know for certain whether God wants to heal the sick, raise the dead and drive out demons.

When I started this blog I wrote quite a lot about forgiveness and how it can never be earned. At that time I received many comments from sincere believers who objected to what I had to say about confessing sins. Confession seems to be a touchy subject. By confession, I mean reviewing your sins and shortcomings. I don’t want to belittle confession. If talking and being open about things brings life to you, then do it. But – and this is a big but – if you think confessing sins is a prerequisite to receiving forgiveness, then you are in danger of setting aside the grace of God.

As we will see in this quick study, confessing-to-be-forgiven is one of the most diabolical lies that has ever been taught. It is also one of the most effective – just look at what it has done to us. Instead of discipling nations we’re cloistered in small groups trying to manage each other’s sin. Instead of exercising authority over sin and sickness, we’re enslaving ourselves with the yoke of law. Instead of drawing from the well of salvation with joy and telling others the good news, we’re weeping at the altar like a bad advertisement.

I want to draw some very clear lines in the sand, so in this short series I will outline 12 reasons why believers never, ever, have to confess their sins to be forgiven. If it appears that I’m preaching the negative, it is only to highlight the many positive things that the Bible says about your forgiveness – things that we can be certain about. I’m going to travel fast and light across a lot of ground. I will list scriptures but leave you to study them at your leisure. My hope is that you will come to a firm conviction about your forgiven-ness, that you will thank God for what He has done and live free. Then I hope you will go and tell others the good news of God’s grace. Everyone needs the gift of forgiveness.

Without further ado, here are the first three reasons why we don’t have to confess our sins to be forgiven:

1.    It’s not in the Bible

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 Jn 1:9)

This is the only verse in the Bible where our confession is connected with His forgiveness. The Greek word for confess is homologeo which means to acknowledge, concede or agree with. In this passage John is writing to unbelievers who were deceived because they thought they were without sin (see v.8). How do I know that John is talking to unbelievers and not Christians? Because he is addressing people who are walking in darkness (v.6), who need to be purified from all unrighteousness (v.9) and who, by insisting that they have never sinned, are making God out to be a liar (v.10).

What message does John have for sinners who don’t think they’re sinners? “Acknowledge your sinful state, turn to God and receive His gift of forgiveness.” There’s only one thing that stops a sinner from receiving God’s grace and that’s unbelief. If you don’t see your need for forgiveness, you are well and truly lost. You may claim to know God but He doesn’t know you. There’s only one way to the Father and that’s through Jesus Christ and His finished work on the cross. God made provision for your redemption and forgiveness at the cross, but you will never see it unless you acknowledge (ie: confess) your need for a Savior.

And what message does John have for those of us who have already turned to Jesus? Do we need to confess too? We already have! Remember, confession means agreeing with God. When you first surrendered to the Lord, you might have prayed “thank you for forgiving me.” That’s  confession. You were acknowledging that you had a sin problem and in need of God’s forgiveness. In the New Testament people sometimes confessed their sins when they were baptized (Mt 3:6). How many times do you need to be baptized before you are baptized? Just once. How many times do you need to say yes to God before you are in agreement with God? Just once. And how many times do you need to receive God’s free gift of forgiveness before you have received it? Just once. (And for those of you interested in Greek verb tenses, see my note in the comments below.)

2.    You were forgiven 2000 years ago

“When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; He has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.” (Col 2:13-14)

We all need to forgive and be forgiven, but when it comes to sin, your forgiven-ness is a done deal. Jesus forgave all your sins at the cross long before you were born, long before you did anything. Your performance never came into it. I said above that 1 John 1 was written for unbelievers who don’t see their need for forgiveness. In the second chapter John writes for the saints, and what does he tell them? “Your sins have been forgiven on account of His name” (1 Jn 2:12). If your sins have already been forgiven, what are you confessing for?

3.    You were forgiven through His blood

Under the old covenant law, there could be no forgiveness without the shedding of blood (Heb 9:22). What the law prefigured, Christ fulfilled. At the Last Supper Jesus explained the basis of our forgiveness:

“This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” (Mat 26:28)

Note the absence of any qualifiers. Jesus did not say, “…provided they confess first.” It’s His blood from start to finish. 1 John 1 may have given you the impression that sinners are only forgiven when they confess. But John makes it clear that it is not our confession but “the blood of Jesus Christ (that) cleanses us from all sin” (1 Jn 1:7). So why confess at all? Remember, Biblical confession is not listing everything that’s wrong with you. True confession is a positive response to something that God has already done. It is verbalizing faith. It is saying “thank you Jesus for your blood that was poured out for my forgiveness. Because of You, I am forgiven!”

Never forget that you are forgiven

What is the number one reason why Christians are barren and ineffective in their knowledge of the Lord Jesus? According to 2 Peter 1:9, it is forgetting that we have been cleansed from our old sins. To keep the church weak and impotent, the enemy only needs to get us to forget our forgiven-ness. Indeed, forgiveness is easy to forget when we sin. And that’s why it is important to confess the word of God over ourselves. So the next time you stumble, don’t get introspective but put your faith into action. Look at yourself in the mirror and declare with confidence that you have been forgiven by the blood of the Lamb!

In Part II of this study we will look at three more promises about forgiveness and three more reasons why Christians don’t need to confess their sins to receive them.

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Related posts:
- Are sinners forgiven too?
- Nothing but the blood of Jesus: 5 reasons to thank Him
- Where does forgiveness come from? And why does it matter?

Some have lost sight of an important truth, possibly the most important truth, which is this: no blood means no salvation. And no redemption, no forgiveness, no sanctification, and no future.

Without the blood, the gospel is no gospel and the cross is nothing more than two beams of wood. As the song-writer wrote, our cleansing, our wholeness, our pardon, our hope, our peace, our righteousness, our overcoming, are all based on nothing but the blood of Jesus.

On the night before he died, Jesus said:

“This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.” (Lk 22:20)

It was left to the writers of the New Testament to unpackage the full significance of that statement. I want to highlight five things they said about the blood. This is not a complete list, but it will be more than enough to get you thanking Jesus. Don’t race through this list on your way to another website. This list of blessings cost Jesus his life and purchased yours. Read it slowly and be blessed.

(1) Jesus’ blood did away with sin

“He has appeared once for all… to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself” (Heb 9:26b).

Sin is no longer merely covered up by the sacrifice of animals. It has been “removed” (GNB), “abolished” (AMP) and “done away with” (NIV). Sin, your old Master, has been ended, rubbed out, whacked.

You may think that sin is behind some of the problems in your life. How can that be if Jesus has done away with sin? His blood is what the Message Bible calls, “the final solution of sin”. Go take communion and talk to your problems about the precious blood of Jesus that makes you whole.

(2) Jesus’ blood paid for your eternal redemption

“For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.” (1 Pet 1:18-19)

You were born a slave to sin, a prisoner of your appetites, programmed to screw up. Sure, you had some good days when you could keep things in check. But deep down you knew that your desires unleashed would bring ruin and destruction. This is humanity’s heritage – a selfish, sensual life passed on from our ancestor Adam.

But you were redeemed from this pointless way of life by the blood of Jesus. Jesus did not sneak in and kidnap you from the enemy’s camp. He bought you fair and square with something infinitely more precious than silver and gold. Neither did Jesus suffer on the cross just to buy you a weekend pass out of Egypt. His blood secured your complete and eternal redemption (Heb 9:12).

Jesus’ blood has paid your sin-debt in full. Even when you stumble and make mistakes you still belong to Jesus. The devil has absolutely no claim on you. When he reminds you of your shortcomings, remind him of the perfect blood that redeemed you and purchased your perpetual and everlasting freedom.

(3) Jesus’ blood brought you forgiveness and reconciliation with God

“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.” (Eph 2:13)

Growing up enslaved to sin you were serving in the enemy’s camp earning the wages of death. For as long as you resisted God’s gracious overtures, even your good deeds were storing up wrath for the Day of Judgment. You were born far from God and nothing you did could ever close that gap.

But Jesus became our atonement, bringing us reconciliation with God (1 Jn 2:2). By shedding his own blood, Jesus secured our pardons from death row (Heb 9:22). Forgiveness is not something we have earned. It is a divine gift, paid for with blood. All your sins – past, present and future – were forgiven at the cross (Col 2:13).

Some say there are limits and conditions to God’s forgiveness. They say that we are only forgiven if we straighten up and fly right. That is like saying the blood of Jesus is inadequate, that God himself needs our help. But the Bible says we are redeemed and forgiven “in accordance with the riches of God’s grace” (Eph 1:7). When you do well, you are forgiven. When you don’t do so well, you are still forgiven! There is no flashing sign above your head that switches between “forgiven” and “unforgiven.” Look up and see the blood of Jesus.

What sets you straight with God? The blood plus nothing. What is your proper response to this gift of forgiveness? Rejoice! “Happy are those whose wrongs are forgiven, whose sins are pardoned!” (Rms 4:7, GNB). You are forgiven! Be happy!

(4) Jesus’ blood cleanses, and goes on cleansing you, from all the effects of sin

“…the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin and guilt” (1 Jn 1:7b, AMP)

Sin has a corrupting, defiling influence. Even long-ago sin leaves festering wounds and putrescent lesions on the soul. Before the cross your lab report testified to the symptoms of sin: guilt, regret, disappointment, hurt, stress, fear, anxiety and sickness.

Thank God for the blood of Jesus which washes away all that black history, making you white as snow (Is 1:18). Jesus doesn’t do patch-up jobs. He deals with the root cause by removing our condemnation. Our hearts have been sprinkled and our guilty consciences cleansed (Heb 10:22). When we make mistakes Jesus, the Righteous One, intercedes for us and the Holy Spirit convicts us that we are still the righteousness of God in Christ (1 Jn 2:1). This is not merely a new start, but a whole new life.

(5) Jesus’ blood sanctifies you

“My friends, the blood of Jesus gives us courage to enter the most holy place.” (Heb 10:19 CEV)

Jesus doesn’t just point us in the right direction and leave us to our own devices, he takes care of the finish as well. His blood both cleanses us, redeeming our past, and sanctifies us, guaranteeing our present and future (Heb 9:13-14). In times of need we can approach the throne of grace fearlessly and boldly to receive grace and mercy (Heb 4:16). What qualifies us to enter God’s presence and enjoy his blessings? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

The moment we are saved our official status before God becomes “perfect forever” (Heb 10:14). A day-old Christian who has done nothing for Jesus can have the same confidence before God as a Billy Graham or a Charles Spurgeon. Where does this confidence come from? The perfect sanctifying blood of Jesus.

Nothing but the blood of Jesus

At the last supper Jesus took the cup and announced a new covenant based on his blood. If the disciples had known then what they learned later, they would’ve rejoiced, for God was on the verge of reconciling the world to favor with himself. It was the gospel in a cup!

Communion in many churches is a time of somber reflection. It ought to be a time of celebration and joy! The blood represented by that cup paid for your freedom, secured your pardon, brought you forgiveness with God and made you holy and acceptable. Neither should we limit communion to church. When you’re sick, take communion and remember with faith his body broken for your healing. When you stumble, take communion and remember with faith his blood shed for your forgiveness. Jesus is not condemning you – he died for you! Go and sin no more.

Some people compare following Jesus to an endurance race. This makes it sound like our success depends on our effort. Okay, but before we nullify the grace of God by trusting in our own works, let me ask you this. What qualifies you to run the race? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What is it that keeps you in the race? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. And at the finish line when they ask what enabled you to overcome to the very end, even in the face of death, what will be your testimony then?

Nothing but the blood of Jesus!

1.    If you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. (Mt 6:14)
2.    Forgive as the Lord forgave you. (Col 3:13)

Did you spot the difference? The first statement says forgiveness starts with us. The second statement says forgiveness begins with God.

So which is it?

I have written elsewhere how these statements are reconciled in Jesus Christ, that he himself satisfied the condition for forgiveness when he went to the cross. But a better explanation came from Jesus himself when he told the story of the unmerciful servant (Mt 18:23ff).

Jesus said the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. One servant had a huge debt he could not pay. To satisfy the debt the king planned to sell the servant, his family and all his possessions. The servant begged for mercy, the king took pity and cancelled the debt.

Now pause here for a moment and put yourself in the place of that servant.

You are on the verge of being sold into slavery. Your wife is going to be sold as well. She is about to become the property of another man. Your kids will be pulled from school and also sold into slavery. You will likely never see them again. There is not a thing you can do to avoid this. You have no legal recourse. You have been measured in the scales of justice and found wanting.

And then, at a command from the king, your debt is instantly canceled and everything you hold dear is restored to you.

Wouldn’t you go from that place singing the praises of your king? Wouldn’t you shout from the rooftops that the king is good? Wouldn’t you go home and hug your wife, enjoy your kids, knowing that, because of the mercy of the king, you now have a future together?

Of course you would.

But this is not what man in the story did. No, he walked out of the king’s presence unchanged. In the very next verse he found someone who owed him a small amount of money and he demanded payment. When that man couldn’t pay, the unmerciful servant had him thrown into prison. Later, when the king heard about this, he reversed his merciful judgment and delivered the “wicked servant” to the tormenters.

Most people think that the story of the ungrateful servant is a morality tale. But Jesus said it’s a description of the kingdom of heaven. It’s a picture of how heaven invades earth. Jesus makes it plain that forgiveness begins with the Lord. Each of us had a debt we could not pay and God, in his mercy, paid the debt on our behalf. The debtor’s law that stood opposed to us was fully satisfied.

There are only two possible responses to God’s generosity. One response is to say, thank you Jesus! What amazing grace! I will be forever grateful and I will tell others what you have done so they may ask for mercy too.

The other response is that of the servant in the story. It is to remain unrepentant and unchanged by the goodness of God. It is to shrug one’s shoulders and say, I’ve got to take care of things myself. This is the dangerous course for Jesus makes plain that a day of reckoning will come. To ignore the mercy and goodness of the king now, is to risk the king’s wrath later.

So where does forgiveness come from and why does it matter?

If you think that forgiveness starts with you, that you must show it to get it, you will forgive others out of a sense of insecurity and religious obligation. If you succeed at forgiving, it will feed your pride giving you a false sense of entitlement. If you fail at forgiving, you will feel condemned. In either case, you will improve your standing before God not one bit.

But if you apprehend what Jesus did for you when he paid for your sins, it will radically change you. It will transform you from a selfish sinner into an ambassador of God’s goodness. You will show mercy to others not because you have to, but because you want to, because God has been so good to you. The Holy Spirit within you will lead you to pray for your enemies and bless those who curse you. Again, you will be moved to do this not because there is anything particularly saintly about you, but because of the life-changing example of forgiveness set by Christ.

So the next time someone wrongs you, don’t think, “I’d better forgive them if I want God to forgive me.” There’s no power in that. Instead, remember what Jesus has already done for you. Mull it over. Appreciate his gift of forgiveness.

Because of Christ the debt that was against you has been fully paid. Because of Christ the righteous law that condemned you was satisfied. Because of Christ you now have a hope and a future. Because of Christ you have been freed from the slave market and you need never fear the wrath of the king.

“Happy are those whose wrongs are forgiven, whose sins are pardoned!
“Happy is the person whose sins the Lord will not keep account of!” (Rms 4:7-8, GNB)

Christians Aren’t Perfect, Just Forgiven

In the past 40 years I have thought more about that bumper sticker than any other! And after all this time I still haven’t decided whether I like it or not.

Originally I thought the message was cute, as in, don’t judge us when we fail – it’s not about our imperfections, it’s about His forgiveness.

Other times I thought the message was weak as it ignored the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. Okay, so we’re not perfect, but by the grace of God we’re getting better every day. Plus there are other things which distinguish us from sinners besides being forgiven. We have the Holy Spirit. We have a new heart and a new nature. Our minds are being renewed. We are not merely forgiven. We are forgiven-plus! Perhaps the bumper sticker should have read:

Christians Aren’t Perfect, Just Forgiven, Redeemed, Justified, Righteous, Sanctified…

But then in Hebrews 10:14 it says, “by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.” So although our minds are in the process of being renewed, and although we are still working-out what it means to be saved and filled with the Spirit, the Bible leaves us in no doubt about our status before God.

It says we are perfect.

(Really? It says that? Yes – go look it up.)

The Bible also says that the one who believes in him “is not judged” (Jn 3:18, ASV). This means we can come boldly before his throne now and we need not fear his judgment later (Heb 4:16, 1 Jn 4:18). We do not have an appointment with his wrath but his salvation (1 Th 5:9). Think about it. How can imperfection come into the presence of Perfection personified? How can weak frail humans have no fear of God’s righteous judgment? This is what Paul called the mystery of the gospel, which is “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col 1:27).

I appreciate that this sort of thing isn’t preached from many pulpits. To hear some preachers you would think that our success or failure rests on our ability to manage sin and deal with our imperfections. But the Bible says that our standing before God has very little to do with our performance and everything to do with Jesus.

We were in Adam but now we are in Christ. He has become for us our righteousness, holiness and redemption (1 Cor 1:30). We were numbered among the ungodly, but now we are seated with Christ in heavenly places (Eph 2:6). You may not feel like that is true, but the Bible says it’s true so you’re going to have to decide whether to live by faith or feelings. I encourage you to trust what God says about you.

You may ask, but how can the Bible call me perfect when I am so clearly imperfect? Answer, it’s not about you. The new covenant is an agreement between God the Father and God the Son. Jesus is our atoning sacrifice. Just as in the old covenant when the priest would inspect the lamb and not the one who brought it, so God looks at Jesus and not the one who trusts in him. We have been redeemed “with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect” (1Pe 1:19).

Jesus is perfect and “as He is so are we in this world” (1 Jn 4:17). That’s why Paul describes us as being “hidden” in Christ (Col 3:3) or “wearing Christ” (Gal 3:27). We are imperfect, but our imperfections are covered by the blood of the perfect lamb.

The Bible tells us that one day our imperfections will vanish away (1 Cor 13:10). In an instant we will be clothed with glory. But while our present state is best described as a work-in-progress, our current status before a holy God is one of Christ-wrought perfection.

Perhaps Granddad’s bumper sticker should have read:

Christians Are Perfect and Forgiven!

Three arguments are usually offered in support of this teaching:

(1) Jesus said, “If you forgive others, your heavenly Father will forgive you” (Mt 6:14), thus forgiveness is conditional on what we do
(2) Peter refers to being forgiven from our “past sins” (2 Pet 1:9) implying that our present and future sins are yet to be dealt with
(3) John seems to say that Jesus will only cleanse us from our sins if we confess our sins (1 Jn 1:9) – so if we don’t confess, we don’t get forgiven

Let’s look at each argument in turn.

(1) Jesus said forgiveness was conditional

During the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught the Lord’s Prayer and finished by stressing the need to forgive others if we desire forgiveness ourselves. The Sermon on the Mount is the most eloquent exposition of old covenant law ever preached. Jesus preached it before the cross to people who were living under the law.

Why was Jesus preaching law? Because the Pharisees had watered down the law diluting its power to silence the mouths of self-righteous men. The law was intended to break our pride and reveal our need for a Savior (Gal 3:24). If you think the law easy and do-able, you will not have a true appreciation of your sinful state and you won’t see your need for Jesus.

In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus announced that he had come to fulfill the law. He then proceeded to preach about the pristine, standard of God’s holy law. That standard is neatly summarized in his appeal to “be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt 5:48).

Now how would you feel if the Sunday preacher said, “you must be perfect”? How would you feel if he said, “unless your righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees you will not enter the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 5:20)? If your reaction is, “I’m in trouble, I need help,” then you are closer to freedom than any Pharisee then or any religious person now.

The law is holy, righteous and good but it has no power to make you holy, righteous and good. When Jesus says you will be forgiven in proportion to the forgiveness you show to others, he is preaching pure, unadulterated law. What he says is just. It is good. And it condemns you.

The truth is the measure of forgiveness that we need from God is infinitely greater than any forgiveness we could show to others. Thankfully, Jesus fulfilled the requirements of the law on our behalf when he went to the cross. In the very act of paying for the world’s sin, he forgave us for our sin! That’s breathtaking. The very condition for forgiveness that Jesus preached on the Mount, he himself satisfied on the cross. Only in Christ do we receive the Father’s forgiveness.

(2) Peter implies that only our past sins are forgiven

When Jesus died on the cross he did not cry out, “it is half-finished.” No. God doesn’t do half-jobs. Everything that needed to be done to satisfy the demands of justice was done by Jesus. His sacrifice was the once and final solution for our sin (Heb 9:26).

It’s a simple truth, yet many people just don’t get it.

Peter writes that the main reason why some Christians don’t mature is that they have forgotten they have been cleansed from their past sins (2 Pet 1:9). Their knowledge of Jesus and what he accomplished is so limited that they are “ineffective and unproductive.” They live power-less lives.

We have been reconciled to God not by dead religious works but by the blood of Jesus. A Christian is literally a new creation (2 Cor 5:17). Our sinful life is in our past. Although we may continue to act like sinners in our unrenewed thinking, we are sinners no longer. Hence Peter says, “stop living in the past and grow up.”

What brings forgiveness of sins? Jesus’ blood (Mt 26:28). “Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Heb 9:22). As Jesus bled and died on the cross, God canceled the law that was against us and “forgave us all our sins” (Col 1:13).

You were forgiven 2,000 years ago. It’s nonsense to say that God hasn’t forgiven our future sins because when he forgave us all our sins were in the future.

(3) John says forgiveness depends on our confession

How do we receive the free gift of forgiveness? Repent and put your trust in Jesus. John writes that if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to purify us from all unrighteousness (1 Jn 1:9). Some take this to mean that we are cleansed from sin through our confession. But John makes it clear that it is the “blood of Jesus” – not our confession – that “purifies us from all sin” (1 Jn 1:7).

And did you notice John said “all sin”? Just in case we missed it, John says it again: Jesus cleanses us from “all unrighteousness” (1 Jn 1:9). All means all. All includes past, present and future sin. When you are cleansed by Jesus you are well and truly cleansed!

“The LORD says, ‘Now, let’s settle the matter. You are stained red with sin, but I will wash you as clean as snow. Although your stains are deep red, you will be as white as wool.’” (Is 1:18, GNB)

As I have said elsewhere, John is not preaching a doctrine of human confession but a doctrine of divine forgiveness. Like every other writer in the New Testament John goes to great lengths to show that divine forgiveness is a God-thing from start to finish. If we respond to his overtures and confess our sins and acknowledge him as the risen Lord, we are eternally, completely, perfectly forgiven!

When you sin, guess what – you are still forgiven! God’s grace is greater than your sin. Of course you should not sin and when you do you should repent, but rest assured that nothing can separate you from the love of Christ.

Some people try to put limits on God’s forgiveness. They say that he withholds his forgiveness unless we do this, that and the other thing. They say that God forgives in accordance with our behavior or performance. But that is not what the Bible says.

“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.” (Eph 1:7)

Just as you can’t put a limit on the riches of God’s grace, you can’t put a limit on his forgiveness. Now that’s good news!

Implicit in this logic are two ideas which are opposed to Christ and the finished work of cross. The first idea says, “I can atone for my sin ” and the second says “my secure position in Christ is dependent on what I do rather than what He has done.”

While it is important that we clean up our messes and take responsibility for our actions, there is nothing we can do to earn God’s forgiveness. There is a time and place for the confession, but the Christian never has to confess their sins to stay forgiven. Jesus forgave all our sins at the cross (Col 2:13). Contrary to what many believe, the Holy Spirit never convicts the Christian of their sin. He convicts sinners of their unbelief and He convicts the righteous of their righteousness (Jn 16:9-10).

So what are we supposed to do when we sin?

Repent! To repent means to change your mind, to agree with God, and to see things from His point of view. Repentance is not feeling sorry for yourself. Judas was so sorry for his sin he killed himself, but he never repented. Repentance is not a feeling of remorse; it’s a change of mind. The fruit of repentance will be seen in what you do after you change your mind.

But isn’t confession a part of repentance?

If it is, it’s only a small part. The problem with confession is that it can be introspective and sin-oriented. But we are called to be Christ-conscious, not sin-conscious. Confession of sin makes us aware of our badness but true repentance comes from a revelation of God’s goodness (Rms 2:4, KJV).

Those who insist we need to confess our sins sometimes point to Psalm 51 as a model prayer. This psalm was written after David committed adultery. You could say it’s a psalm of repentance but it bears little resemblance to what some people call repentance. For instance, in this psalm David makes 24 statements either appealing to, or describing, the goodness of God. Here they are:

1. Have mercy on me, O God,
2. according to your unfailing love,
3. according to your great compassion,
4. blot out my transgressions.
5. Wash away all my iniquity,
6. cleanse me from my sin.
7. Surely you desire truth in the inner parts,
8. you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.
9. Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean,
10. wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
11. Hide your face from my sins,
12. blot out all my iniquity.
13. Create in me a pure heart, O God
14. renew a steadfast spirit within me.
15. Do not cast me from your presence,
16. or take your Holy Spirit from me
17. Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
18. and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
19. Save me from bloodguilt, O God,
20. the God who saves me…
21. O Lord, open my lips…
22. A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
23. In your good pleasure make Zion prosper;
24. build up the walls of Jerusalem.

David also makes 4 statements that refer to his sin:

1. For I know my transgressions,
2. and my sin is always before me.
3. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight,
4. Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

What do we learn about the character of God from this psalm?

We learn that He is merciful, His love never fails, and He has great compassion; He washes away and blots out our sin; He cleanses us and makes us whiter than snow; He hides His face from our sins; He desires truth and teaches us wisdom; He creates a pure heart within us and He renews our spirits; He doesn’t cast us from His presence but He restores, sustains and saves us; He desires to show us His good pleasure and favor.

And what do we learn about David’s sin of adultery?

Very little. David doesn’t even identify it (although it comes up in the title). David refers to his sin generally, but more than four-fifths of the character statements in the psalm pertain to the goodness of God. This is not introspection; this is active, living faith in a good God who forgives and makes things new.

And the amazing thing is that David lived under the inferior law covenant which condemns. Jesus had not died for his sins, yet David still had confidence that God’s loving-kindness is greater than the sin which stands against us. This is an amazing revelation! In spite of the law which prescribed death as a just punishment for sin, somehow David was aware of God’s grace that was given “in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time” (2 Tim 1:9).

David should have died for his sin. Instead, God forgave him (2 Sam 12:13). Even before the cross, God’s heart was inclined towards those who trusted in His goodness and mercy and who repented.

How much more then, should we, who live under a better covenant of no condemnation, trust in God’s grace when we sin? David lived under a covenant of death (2 Cor 3:7), but we relate to God through an everlasting covenant of peace (Is 54:10). Not only has God forgiven all our sins but He chooses to remember them no more (Heb 8:12). Why would we want to remind Him of our sins by confessing them?

To confess sins in the hope of getting forgiveness or getting free from condemnation is to act like a sinner. But God says we’re not sinners. He says we’re righteous. Once we were darkness but now we are light in the Lord (Eph 5:8). Once we were not a people but now we are the people of God (1 Pet 2:9).

God has justified us and God is for us. Nothing – not even our mistakes – can separate us from His love. So stop condemning yourself and start thanking Him. Stop dwelling on your badness and start trusting in His goodness.

Let me ask you a simple question to see how well you know this. For the Christian, which of the following statements is true?

(a)    Jesus will forgive all your sins

(b)    Jesus has forgiven your past sins

(c)    Jesus has forgiven all your sins

If you said (a) you’re probably thinking of 1 John 1:9 which says:

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

Some Christians take this to mean that Jesus will forgive our sins as we confess them. In other words we are free and forgiven only from the moment of our last confession until our next sin. The implication is that we need to confess all our mistakes, listing them out one by one. But what happens if we miss one? What about the sins we neglect to confess? When we get to eternity will we hear God say, “Oops, you missed one about 10 years ago. Sorry, I don’t know you”? I’m being facetious to make an important point: either we have to confess all of our sins or we don’t.

If we read all of what John is saying we see that confession for the forgiveness of sins is a one-time event. In this passage of scripture (verses 5 to 10) John is addressing unbelievers not Christians. How do I know this? Because it is the unrighteous who need to be purified from all unrighteousness (v.9). John is identifying with sinners when he says “if we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” What does John say sinners should do? Confess your sins and start living for Jesus. John promises that if sinners confess, Jesus is faithful to forgive. And when Jesus forgives, you are well and truly forgiven!

John is not preaching a doctrine of human confession but a doctrine of divine forgiveness. To make this plain John even brackets the confession verse with the double assurance that the blood of Jesus forgives us from all sin (v.7) and purifies us from all unrighteousness (v.9). All means all. “All sin” includes the sins we haven’t done yet. This is good news!

If you said (b) maybe you were thinking of 2 Peter 1:9. Here Peter mentions in passing that Jesus has cleansed us from our “past sins”. Although Peter doesn’t say it, some take this to mean that Jesus has not cleansed us from our present and future sins. In other words, Jesus got us started at the cross but now it’s up to us to stay on course. We have to take care and work hard to stay in that place of forgiveness.

What is the work that is required? Usually this scripture is connected with 1 John 1:9 and the need to stay ‘fessed up. The Devil must love this. Instead of telling the lost about the forgiveness Jesus offers, the church is cloistered away confessing its sins over and over again. Just when we think we’re all done the Devil hints, “are you sure you didn’t miss some?” And then we start confessing the sins we don’t even know about, just to make sure our insurance policy is topped up.

So are we completely forgiven or aren’t we? Look at what the Bible says happened at the cross:

“He forgave us all our sins.” (Col 2:13)

“When this priest (Jesus) had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God.” (Heb 10:12)

“I write to you dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of His name.” (1 Jn 2:12)

The Bible clearly teaches (c) – Jesus dealt with all our sin at the cross, past, present and future. If you are in Christ, you are completely forgiven. When we sin Jesus the Righteous One doesn’t judge us, He defends us (1 Jn 2:1) and then He teaches us to say “no” to ungodliness and worldly passions (Tit 2:12). When we sin we don’t fall out of grace, we fall into grace. Shall we then take this as a license to sin? Not at all. Why would we want to run back into that prison cell?

Jesus not only forgives all our sin but He surgically removes our sinful nature (Col 2:11) and gives us a new nature (2 Cor 5:17). Sin no longer dominates us. Thanks to His powerful and effective grace we are able to say “no” to sin (Tit 2:12). Thus Peter can reasonably speak of our sins and sin-dominated way of life as being wholly in the past (2 Pet 1:9).

Because of what Jesus has done, God not only forgives all our sins, He chooses to forget them too.

“(Because of the cross) God is no longer counting men’s sins against them” (2 Cor 5:19)

“I will forgive their sins and remember their sins no more.” (Hebs 8:12)

It is human nature to keep score but the love of God revealed in Jesus keeps no record of wrongs. When the heroes of faith are hailed in Hebrews 11 their sinful deeds are strangely absent. Moses the murderer and Rahab the prostitute are praised for their faith, not rebuked for their sins.

Yes there is freedom and reconciliation in confessing our shortcomings to one another (Jas 5:16). But there is no need for the Christian to keep on confessing sins to maintain God’s forgiveness. You don’t need to work for something that you already have!

You might say, “but confession keeps me humble.” But this is a false humility based on what you have done or not done. True humility comes from appreciating the significance of what Christ has done. Confession makes you sin-conscious and paranoid, but we are called to be Christ-conscious and free. Haven’t you heard? He was wounded and crushed for our sin. The punishment that brought us peace was on Him (Is 53:5). So walk in that peace.

You might say, “but confession restores my fellowship with God.” It is true that when we sin we might feel guilty even though God categorically declares us not guilty. It is also true that sin has destructive consequences. Mindful of the mess we made we might have godly sorrow (2 Cor 7:10). When we sin we should repent. But the Bible says we are led to repentance, not by being conscious of our badness, but by a revelation of His goodness (Rms 2:4). By all means be open about your failures and shortcomings, but do so from the solid ground of your secure position in Christ.

What does this mean?

It means that instead of being introspective, be Christ-centered. Instead of focusing on your mistakes, agree with what God says about you. Instead of flagellating yourself for your mistakes, start praising Jesus for the gift of His righteousness (Rms 5:17). Thank Him for making you righteous. Then “awake to righteousness and sin not” (1 Cor 15:34).

You might say “but I don’t feel righteous.” Well stop living according to your feelings and start agreeing with God’s word:

“God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Cor 5:21)

The gospel reveals the gift of righteousness that comes from God (Rms 1:17). There are only two things you can do with a gift. Receive it or reject it. We receive it by renouncing our self-righteousness, by confessing we are sinful and acknowledging our need for a Divine Savior.

When we surrender to Jesus – when we walk out of the enemy’s camp and into His – He marks us as one of His own (2 Cor 1:22). From that moment on we are eternally untouchable. No angel nor demon, nothing in life or death, nothing in the present or the future nor anything in creation can now separate us from His love (Rms 8:38). We may still have rough edges. We may be a work in progress. We may reap the bad fruit of our mistakes. But we need not fear judgment because we are safely hidden in Christ (Col 3:3). When God looks at us, He doesn’t see an imperfect human struggling with this and that. He sees our perfect, infallible High Priest Jesus:

“Because Jesus lives forever, He has a permanent priesthood. Therefore He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to intercede for them. Such a high priest meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.” (Heb 7:24-26)

Freedom is not found in observing empty human rituals. Freedom is found in Jesus.

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Related posts:
- Confession, conviction, confusion!
- Where does forgiveness come from? And why does it matter?
- God doesn’t do half-jobs: Why partial forgiveness is completely bogus
- Are sinners forgiven too?