Love and Forgiveness

We are called to love our neighbors and we are called to love our enemies.  The Jews would forgive in ancient times up to three times but Jesus says up to seventy times seven.  The teaching of Jesus is radical.  Some say that we should wait for their repentance but Jesus forgave the sinners who crucified Him before they repented.  The sinners who crucified Jesus repented after Jesus said "Father forgive them" in the book of Acts.  Let us look at the Scriptures,

Matthew 5:44 KJV
But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
 Matthew 18:21-23 KJV
²¹ Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?

²² Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.
²³ Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants.
 Luke 6:27 KJV
But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you,
 Luke 6:35 KJV
But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.

John 13:34-35 KJV
A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
 John 15:12 KJV
This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
 John 15:17 KJV
These things I command you, that ye love one another.
 Romans 12:10 KJV
Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;
 Romans 13:8 KJV
Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.
 Galatians 5:13 KJV
For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.
 Ephesians 4:2 KJV
With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;
 1 Thessalonians 3:12 KJV
And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you:
 1 Thessalonians 4:9 KJV
But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.

God Gives Us A New Heart

We all need a new heart before God.  He actually provides us with a new heart by His Spirit.  The Spirit and the Word of God comes to us and He gives us a new heart of flesh.  He takes out the heart of stone and gives us a heart of flesh.  This new heart has the ability to believe and repent.  We also need to transform our minds by renewing our minds.  Here are some Scriptures that speak to what Jesus referred to as being "born again" in John 3:

Ezekiel 11:19
And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh:
Ezekiel 36:26
A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
Ezekiel 44:7
In that ye have brought into my sanctuary strangers, uncircumcised in heart, and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to pollute it, even my house, when ye offer my bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant because of all your abominations.
Ezekiel 44:9
Thus saith the Lord GOD; No stranger, uncircumcised in heart, nor uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of any stranger that is among the children of Israel.
John 3 KJV
There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:
2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.
3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?
5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
9 Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?
10 Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?
11 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness.
12 If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?
13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.
14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
2 Corinthians 3:3
Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables ofstone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.
Ephesians 6:5
Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ;

Free Mercy, Free Grace, Free Love, Free Compassion

The nature of the gospel is that it is free.  It is free mercy; that is, God saves us not on the basis of our effort or works or sacraments, but He saves us on the basis of His free mercy.  Many think in our day that we must earn our way to heaven, but such would cancel out free grace.

God offers His pre-converted elect people His love through Jesus Christ.  God offers His people free compassion and loving-kindnesses which is the basis for repentance.  That is, it is the goodness of God that leads us to repentance.  Amen.

Repentance Is Spiritually Acceptable

As Christians, we ought to know that repentance is spiritually acceptable before God; however, many religions do not practice repentance toward the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  For example, Scientology rejects repentance and says there is no need for such a thing.

With no offense intended, many homosexuals will not repent of their sexual sin because they view it as an acceptable life-style.  Also, many heterosexuals will not repent of causal fornication.  

Many Catholics never hear of the word "repentance."  I never heard of "repentance" save five or more times in the Roman Catholic Church.  I gave out a tract to a Catholic and it had the word "repentance" on it.  The priest appeared bewildered and said "is this Catholic?"  I was shocked that he would object to a gospel tract on repentance, but they also view it as additional merit in the confessional before a priest.  

I suggest to you that the priest cannot be "another Christ" or "in the place of Christ" because there is only one Christ who can remit or forgive sin.  I am saddened by Rome's view of merit and pray for them to repent and believe the gospel.  Amen.

A True Call vs. A False Call

We are told in the Bible that men are to call upon the name of the Lord to be saved; however, there is a true call and a false call.  A true call comes from the heart, but a false call does not come from the heart.  

Jesus will say to those who called upon Him in a way devoid of the heart, "I never knew you.  Please leave."  Jesus will say to those who called upon Him in truth and in spirit, "Welcome my beloved. Enter into everlasting joy, the place prepared for you."  

We should seek to grow in wisdom and knowledge by His grace alone through His Spirit by His Word.  This is how we gain a greater love of God, a greater faith of God, a greater focus of God.  Let us look at what the Bible says,

Genesis 4:26 KJV
And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos:then began men to call upon the name of the LORD.

Genesis 12:8 KJV
And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he builded an altar unto the LORD, and called upon the name of the LORD.

Genesis 26:25 KJV
And he builded an altar there, and called upon the name of the LORD, and pitched his tent there: and there Isaac's servants digged a well.

Psalm 116:4 KJV
Then called I upon the name of the LORD; O LORD, I beseech thee, deliver my soul.

Psalm 116:17 KJV
I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name ofthe LORD.

Isaiah 48:2 KJV
For they call themselves of the holy city, and stay themselves upon the God ofIsrael; The LORD of hosts is his name.

Acts 15:17 KJV
That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, uponwhom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things.

Acts 19:13 KJV
Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the LORD Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth.

Romans 10:13 KJV
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

1 Corinthians 1:2 KJV
Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name ofJesus Christ our Lord, both their's and our's:

Obedience and Faithfulness and Love

We ought to be obedient and faithful.  But why?  Very simply, to honor our Lord Jesus Christ.  It is true that God's faithfulness is greater than our faithfulness to Him.  It is true that the active and passive obedience of Christ is greater than our obedience or performance.  We must rest on the active and passive obedience of Christ alone that will take us to heaven.  Our performance will not take us to heaven but only trusting in the sinless performance of Jesus and His perfect death will take us to heaven.

We ought to be faithful in repentance, faith, focus, wisdom and knowledge in our Savior Jesus Christ.  God is the only one who can forgive sins and He is faithful to forgive.  We ought to be obedient because we should follow in the footsteps of Christ because of His obedience.  The world, the flesh and the devil will battle with us.  We may fall into grievous and tormenting sin and scandalize others, but the Lord is faithful to us through His Son.

We will all have to give an account of ourselves before God.  It means judgment is coming; however, for the believer in Christ there is no judgment but fellowship and friendship with God in heaven.  The only hope we have is Jesus Christ.  We should not put our trust in someone else.  We ought to keep our trust on Christ alone because He will see us through.  He is true and faithful.  We may fall into great sin along the way; however, the consequence because of sin does not mean He does not love us.  He always loves us because we are in Christ!  We may struggle with unbelief but the Savior is aware of our struggles.  I am convinced that nothing can take us away from God's love in and through the Savior.  May we ponder deeply what this means.  Amen.

Peter, Apostasy, Forgiveness and Sin

^{Galatians 2:14-21 KJV}

¹⁴ But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?

¹⁵ We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles,

¹⁶ Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

¹⁷ But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid.

¹⁸ For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.

¹⁹ For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.

²⁰ I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

²¹ I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.

Peter committed apostasy on "the truth of the gospel."  He added to the work of Christ alone.  Faith alone means justification through Christ alone.  Faith is the sole instrument for how we are right with God through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  Justification is a once and for all act and legal declaration of God through Christ alone.  Christ is the Father's only beloved Son.  Peter was without doubt forgiven of his sin of apostasy.  We should realize that those who have converted from the Reformed faith could still be forgiven if they come back like Peter did in faith and repentance.  Amen.