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Part
19 FORGIVE
US OUR SINS
“Our Father which art in heaven...forgive us our debts, as we
forgive our debtors” (Mat. 7:9,12). “Forgive us our sins; for we also
forgive everyone that is indebted to us” (Lk. 11:4). “For if ye
forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive
you” (Mat.
Our theme in this message is, “Forgive us our sins, as we forgive
those who sin (trespass) against us.” I doubt that anyone has ever
plumbed the depths of the wonders of these words. We talk about
forgiveness and many think they have an understanding of it, but our very
lives, and the preaching of the preachers and the teaching of the churches
prove that most of us know little about it. We hear people speaking of
forgiving others, but they never seem to forget what they are supposed to
have forgiven. It is still harbored within their minds and in spite of
everything that remembrance colors all their thoughts and dealings with
that one they supposedly have forgiven. In other words, the sin is still
alive in their minds.
That is not the case with God’s forgiveness of us, which is true
forgiveness. God has declared, “For I will be merciful to their
unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I REMEMBER NO
MORE” (Heb. Various
words are used in different renderings of the Lord’s Prayer, translated
as sins, debts and trespasses. The word in Matthew’s Gospel is
OPHEILEMATA, which means “debts”. Two verses later, these debts are
referred to as “trespasses”. The word is PARAPTOMATA, meaning “a
side-slip” or “mistake”. In Luke the word is “sins” from the
Greek HAMARTIA, which in its root means “missing the mark”. By any
word — sins, debts, side-slips, mistakes, trespasses, missing the mark
— our failure is written large in black letters. Before considering the
prayer of sons, “Our Father...forgive us our sins,” I would draw your
attention to the manner in which God has dealt with the sins of the world. THE SIN OFFERING
The whole book of Leviticus is about atonement. Atonement is the
instrument of forgiveness. Leviticus is a book of blood and sacrifice. It
is important to note, however, that although the book of Leviticus deals
largely with sacrifice, there is only one of those sacrifices that is a
sin sacrifice. It is called the “sin-offering” in Leviticus chapter
four. In most cases, under the law, when you brought a sacrifice it was
not because you had sinned, but on the contrary, because you had the deep
desire to worship, you wanted to give thanksgiving to the Lord, to
celebrate His goodness and greatness, His dealings and faithfulness. Often
there were special holidays or feast days and there were special
sacrifices for those feast days to celebrate one’s relationship with his
God.
But there was also the sin-offering that we find in Leviticus
chapter four. The question follows: Does the sin-offering atone for just
any kind of sin? Actually, it atoned only for one type of sin. What type
of sin is that? Sin that is done unintentionally. Under the law the sin
offering provided only for acts of unconscious transgressions, mistakes,
or unavoidable errors. It applied only to sins done through ignorance,
passion, due to the weakness of the flesh, in opposition to those done
presumptuously, deliberately, or calculatedly. Only if you did a sin
unintentionally, by accident, through ignorance, is it atoned for by the
sin-offering. Most people do not realize this. And most preachers do not
even know this!
But let us read the word of the Lord. “And the Lord spake unto
Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a soul shall
sin through ignorance against any of the commandments of the Lord
concerning things which ought not to be done, and shall do against any of
them: if the priest that is anointed do sin according to the sin of the
people; then let him bring for his sin, which he hath sinned, a young
bullock without blemish unto the Lord for a sin-offering. And he shall
bring the bullock unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation
before the Lord; and shall lay his hand upon the bullock’s head, and
kill the bullock before the Lord. And if the whole congregation of
The reality is, if you commit a sin intentionally, under the law
sacrifice does not work. How do we know this? The scripture says it
openly. When the Lord gave the law of the sin-offering to Moses in
Leviticus chapter four He continues on and identifies four classes of
people who commit sins — the priest, the king, the common person and the
nation. The annual Day of Atonement was the greatest celebration of the
sin-offering in
But if you sin intentionally, there is no sacrifice — it simply
is not enough. The sin-offering never covered any kind of deliberate sin.
For those kinds of sins there were other means of atonement — fines,
restitutions, penances and penalties. Generally it was “an eye for an
eye, and a tooth for a tooth.” After you had paid such a price, no
sacrifice was necessary; the sin was atoned for, forgiven. Crimes against
other people were dealt with by appropriate punishments that did not
involve sacrifice. The sin offering was only one means of atonement under
Old Testament economy. Most Christians have never heard this truth, but it
is extremely important, beloved, for it is the very foundation of the
offering of Jesus as our sin-offering and reveals in a unique and
wonderful way the broad, all-inclusive work of Christ Jesus as the
sin-offering on behalf of the whole world of humanity!
The sin-offering speaks of the death of Christ in terms of
forgiveness. This is made very plain in Leviticus chapter four, that great
chapter setting forth the law of the sin-offering. In each case, whether
the king, the priest, the common person or the nation, it is said
concerning the sin-offering, “And the priest shall make an atonement for
him as concerning his sin, and it shall be forgiven him” (Lev.
This brings us to a most important point. There is a beautiful
statement in II Corinthians 5:21 wherein Paul states, “For He hath made
Him to be SIN for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the
righteousness of God in Him.” The popular, but careless, understanding
of this passage is that the Christ was somehow “made sin” or actually
“became sin” or “sinful,” the sins of the whole world being
imputed or imparted to Him as He hung and died upon the cross. For long
centuries Christians have accepted this crude notion that makes Christ A
SINNER IN OUR PLACE. I must speak a word against that. Nothing could be
father from the truth! If Christ was indeed “made sin” for us, then
pray tell me HOW SIN CAN ATONE FOR SIN? How could He die FOR US if WHAT WE
DO and WHAT WE ARE were imputed or imparted unto Him? The very idea is a
contradiction — an unmitigated absurdity. It simply cannot be done. SIN
ATONES FOR NOTHING. There is no way under heaven that you can do away with
sin by offering up sin! The primary requirement for the sin-offering was
that it be “without spot” and “without blemish” in every respect.
The words “to be” are not in the original. Literally it is,
“He has made Him sin for us...” But what is meant by this? What is the
exact idea that the Holy Spirit intended to convey? It cannot be that He
was literally sin in the abstract, or sin as such. Nor can it mean that He
was a sinner, for it is said in the same statement that “He knew no
sin,” and it is everywhere said that He was holy, harmless, undefiled
and separate from sinners. Nor can it mean in any proper sense of the word
that He was guilty, or even accounted as guilty, for then He deserved to
die, and His death could have no more merit than that of any other guilty
being; and if He were properly guilty, it would make no difference in this
respect whether it was by His own fault or by imputation: a guilty being
deserves to be punished; and where there is desert of punishment there can
be no merit in sufferings. All theories that try to make our pure, holy,
spotless Redeemer to BE SIN, or sinful, or guilty, border on blasphemy and
are abhorrent to all who know and love the truth. It is the cornerstone of
the whole economy of redemption that the sin-offering MUST BE PURE and
therefore acceptable to God and efficacious for man. “Forasmuch as ye
know that ye were not redeemed by such corruptible things as silver and
gold...but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb WITHOUT BLEMISH
AND WITHOUT SPOT” (I Pet.
But if the declaration that He was made “sin” does not mean
that He became the embodiment of imputed sin or the personification of sin
itself, or sinful, or guilty, then what can it mean? The answer is simple
— once the Old Testament terminology relating to the sin-offering is
understood. There are many passages in the Old Testament where the word
“sin” is used in the sense of the “sin-offering”, or a sacrifice
for sin. Hosea 4:8 says, “They eat up the sin of my people,” a
reference to the apostate priests who ate the sin offering of the people,
an act prohibited by law, for the flesh of the sin-offering was to be
wholly burned by fire without the camp. These priests did not eat SIN —
they ate the SIN OFFERING. Often in the Hebrew language a noun may be
omitted and the adjective used as the noun. For example, in the tabernacle
there was the
The same principle is used with the terms “sin” and
“sin-offering”. In numerous places in the Old Testament the single
Hebrew word GHATTAHTH is used for either SIN or SIN-OFFERING. In such
cases the word for “offering” is not in the original at all, although
it appears in the English versions. A careful study will show conclusively
that in the Hebrew language the single word “sin” was frequently used
for “sin-offering” and the context alone determines whether sin as a
trespass is meant, or an offering for sin. With the foregoing facts in
mind it should be obvious to every reverent heart that Paul is not by any
means trying to tell us that the pure, spotless, holy, unblemished and
undefiled Lamb of God was MADE IMPURE, UNHOLY, DEFILED AND BLEMISHED —
SIN for us! The moment He became sin He would have been disqualified for
being our sin-offering! Ah, the wonderful truth is that He who knew no sin
thereby became the perfect, spotless, unblemished SIN-OFFERING for us,
that we might be MADE THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN HIM — the altogether
Holy One! I must insist most emphatically that the Christ was never
“made sin”. He was a sin-offering. What a difference! What a wonder!
How much more logical! And how much more beautiful and blessed!
We will never comprehend the deep mystery of how Jesus became the
sin-offering for the whole world of mankind until we understand the nature
of man’s sin. The preachers proclaim that the whole world is in open
rebellion, deliberate hostility and presumptuous disobedience against God.
That is the biggest lie that ever was told in human language. And if it
were true, then none of man’s sins were atoned for by the sacrifice of
Jesus. We would all have to pay the full penalty of our transgressions,
for there was no sin-offering for intentional transgressions. The
sin-offering brought a free and full forgiveness only for sins of
ignorance done because of the weakness of the flesh.
Sin is from the Greek word HAMARTIA meaning “to miss the mark”,
as though you were running a race and came in second. You missed the mark,
you fell short of your goal so that you do not share in the prize.
That’s the original term. As for missing the mark, a baseball manager
once resigned with the comment, “I have not done what I set out to
do,” thus speaking for every man. We have all missed the mark in life
because of sin. It’s a nature. You can’t get rid of it. The whole
human race is infected. Sin is often symbolized in scripture by leprosy
— because leprosy is an incurable condition. It begins small and
insignificant and it spreads and grows bigger and bigger until it
completely rots the flesh of the whole body. That’s what sin is. Leprosy
is no major problem in our modern society, but the disease of our
generation that serves the same example would be AIDS.
If the doctor were to tell you that you are HIV positive you would
understand. That’s what I’m talking about — sin is a killer, a
killer substance in your life. The wages of sin is death. Just as people
today recklessly yield to the passions of the flesh and for a few minutes
of pleasure expose themselves to the AIDS virus, so Adam willfully yielded
to his flesh and transgressed the law of God, infecting not only himself
but all his progeny with the sin virus. “Wherefore as by one man sin
entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all
men, for that all have sinned...nevertheless death reigned from Adam to
Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s
transgression” (Rom. 5:12,14). You see, my beloved, Adam is the one who
sinned — the rest of humanity is the victim. We have not sinned after
the similitude of Adam, for he sinned deliberately and received the
penalty of death; nevertheless death has passed from Adam to each of us
and all have sinned.
It is like the mother that contracts AIDS and then passes it on to
her baby. The baby can’t help it, the baby did nothing wrong, the baby
is the victim — the mother is responsible. There is a world of
difference between premeditation and spontaneous action — this
difference is acknowledged by our laws and taken into consideration in our
courts. Because of Adam’s reckless exposure to the virus of sin and
death we were born sinners. Do you wonder why people are on drugs, why
women are in prostitution, why men are out here robbing and murdering, why
people are carnal, selfish, and spiritually blind? Do you wonder why even
you sometimes have the thoughts and desires that run through your mind and
stir your emotions, and you act in ways that disturb you? That’s the
nature of old Adam! That’s the sickness of sin! “For that which I do I
allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that I do.
Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I
know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to
will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: but I see another
law in my members, warring against the law of my (spiritual) mind, and
bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members”
(Rom. 5:15-23).
All mankind is victim of the disease passed on to them from Adam.
They have not personally or maliciously “chosen” to rebel against God
or disobey His commandments. That child that is born in the slums; the
child of a harlot and a whoremonger; a child without a name, who grows up
with the brand of shame upon his brow from the beginning; who grows up
amidst vice, and never knows virtue until it is steeped in vice — is
such a child in personal, deliberate and intentional disobedience and
hostility toward God? That child that grows up amidst falsehood, and never
knows what truth is until it is steeped in lies; that never knows what
honesty is until it is steeped in crime — has such a child personally,
deliberately and intentionally chosen to be the enemy of God? That child
born in a communist land and in a godless home; who is told by its
government and taught by its teachers that there is no God in heaven, and
never knows even a verse of scripture until it is steeped in unbelief and
infidelity — is that child purposely, deliberately and maliciously
hostile toward God? That child born in a religious home, never knowing the
transforming grace of God until it is steeped in false religion,
superstitions, folklore, traditions, powerless rituals, empty ceremonies
and static creeds — is that child intentionally denying the truth of
God? Are not one and all victims of ignorance, darkness, blindness,
confusion and helplessness? “This I say therefore, that ye henceforth
walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, having the
understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the
ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart”
(Eph. 4:17-18). “Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind as obedient
children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your
ignorance” (I Pet.
Is the sin of the human family the kind of sin that can be forgiven
and covered through the sacrifice of Jesus, the world’s sin-offering? It
has to be, because Jesus IS OUR SIN-OFFERING! If Jesus is our
sin-offering, our sins are counted in God’s sight as unintentional sins,
sins done through ignorance. They are not meant to defy God, they are the
sickness and weakness of the flesh, unconscious transgressions against God
as a result of spiritual blindness. No man since Adam has chosen by his
own free will to be what he is or to do what he does. He is a slave. “We
know that the Law is spiritual; but I am a creature of flesh (carnal),
having been SOLD INTO SLAVERY UNDER THE CO
How can a man who is a slave and a captive of the devil be
perpetrating deliberate rebellion against God? Impossible! Adam sold us
out. Adam gave us no choice in bringing his progeny under the workings of
iniquity. When Adam entered into sin, he did not consult with any one of
us as to our desire concerning anything he did. None of us had any power
or any choice in the condition in which we entered this world. WE WERE NOT
SINNERS BY CHOICE, as we have erroneously been told. We are “born in
sin, and shapened in iniquity,” with the carnal nature in us from the
moment we leave the womb. Being “dead in trespasses and sins,” dead to
God, dead to truth, dead to purity, dead to reality, the Adamic race was
no longer capable of making a choice or decision for salvation. How truly
the apostle articulated our true state: “And you...were dead in
trespasses and sins: wherein in time past ye walked according to the
course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the
spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience; among whom also
we all had our conversation in time past in the lusts of our flesh,
fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and WERE BY NATURE
THE CHILDREN OF WRATH, even as others” (Eph. 2:2-3). And again, “If
our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: in whom the god of
this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the
light of the glorious gospel of Christ should shine unto them” (II Cor.
4:3-4). The great apostle Paul said this about himself: “Who was before
a blasphemer, and persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, BECAUSE
I DID IT IGNORANTLY IN UNBELIEF” (I Tim.
Even the murderers of the Lord Jesus did not commit their heinous
sin maliciously, deliberately, or knowingly. The scriptures boldly
acknowledge the fact. “The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob,
the God of our fathers, hath glorified His Son Jesus; whom ye delivered
up, and denied Him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to
let Him go. But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a
murderer to be granted unto you; and killed the Prince of life, whom God
hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses. And now, brethren, I
wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers” (Acts
The testimony of God standeth sure — unregenerate men are the
victims of Adam’s transgression. Just as the mother who passes AIDS to
her child, Adam is responsible. The children are victims. They sin through
ignorance, they fall short by nature, they cannot help themselves. And
that is just the glory of the sin-offering. It was ordained specifically
and exclusively for unintentional sins! And Jesus became the sin-offering
for the whole world! Therefore, the whole race of men is forgiven, their
sin covered. Jesus Himself confirmed the unspeakable wonder of this at the
very moment He became the world’s sin-offering. He was surrounded by
sinful and wicked men who were involved in His death, as the scripture
says, “For of a truth against Thy holy child Jesus, whom Thou hast
anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the
people of Israel, were gathered together, for to do whatsoever Thy hand
and Thy counsel determined before to be done” (Acts 4:27-28).
And right in the midst of all these planned events, when Jesus was
on the cross, there arose above all the cries of the multitude those
wonderful words of Jesus, “FATHER, FORGIVE THEM!” Some of the Jews
were ridiculing. The soldiers were gambling over His garments. The priests
and Pharisees were gloating in their triumph over the Nazarene. The
disciples, family and friends of Jesus were all mourning in despair and
fleeing in desperation. There is no doubt that Jesus was suffering
excruciating pain. But up and out of all that turmoil, hatred, and
despair, those wonderful and compelling words ascended, “FATHER, FORGIVE
THEM!” Why? Why forgive them? Because He loved them? That is not what He
said. Because it was the Father’s will? He didn’t say that. Because of
His great compassionate heart and holy nature? Not at all. He called upon
the Father to forgive them “for THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO!”
“Father, forgive them because they don’t know their right hand from
their left; they sin in ignorance; they don’t mean it against you; their
sin is unintentional!”
That’s what Jesus said. That is the Voice from the cross. That is
the assessment by Jesus of Nazareth of the wickedness of men of all
generations, for we all nailed Him to the tree. How many ministers say
that there is no forgiveness until you recite the sinner’s prayer?
Nearly all of them. But God is asked, by His Son, Jesus, to forgive His
persecutors. They were people who had not recited the sinner’s prayer.
There is no repentance at all. Can God forgive without repentance? I’ve
heard people say, “There’s no chance of a beautiful person who’s
born and raised in a country, that’s never heard about God or Jesus or
the Bible, to go to heaven because they’ve never met Jesus as their
Saviour. They’ve never repented of their sins.” Ah, but there’s
another reason for God to forgive people. I find it quite easy to forgive
someone who shows repentance. I find it easy also to forgive them if I
really know that they didn’t know that they were doing something wrong.
“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” It is possible
for God to forgive those who really don’t know what they have done. And
that’s the WHOLE WORLD! That is why Jesus said to the woman taken in
adultery, “Neither do I condemn thee.” It wasn’t that she hadn’t
sinned. And there is no record of her repentance. Jesus knew what was in
man. He understood the condition of man more perfectly than any that ever
lived. He perceived the true nature of all things. And He was the most
merciful and gracious and forgiving of all men. Certainly He was! And He
became the sin-offering for the entire race, blessed be His wonderful
name. Oh, the mystery of it! Oh, the wonder of it!
I recently read a beautiful and redemptive story about Abraham
Lincoln. Abe Lincoln passed a slave market in
It has been said that if the average Christian knew what his Bible
is talking about, he would burn it as a dangerous and heretical writing.
There is much more truth to this statement than most of us like to admit.
Religion is founded on error. While professing to believe and teach the
Word of God, yet it can do nothing but contradict it. Most of its efforts
are therefore an attempt to make the Word conform to its own ignorant
imaginings. While it loudly proclaims the Bible to be true and professes
to believe it, yet it must continually change and explain its truths in
such a way as to make them uphold its own reasonings. The church systems
cannot face the full revelation of fact. They cannot take the Bible as it
actually is. That would destroy their own man-made doctrines. In order to
continue to exist they must teach that “this” means “that.” Hence
their converts are made into unbelievers through their system of
“interpreting” the scriptures according to their own delusions,
instead of believing them as the Holy Spirit of Truth means them. The
whole system is very sly and sinister and deceptive. Under the guise of
holding to and contending for the faith, it destroys faith completely, in
that it completely destroys one’s trust in the infinite love and
omnipotent power of the almighty Father and supplants that trust with a
total dependence upon what some ignorant man says “about” God and His
great plan. It confuses men so completely that the ministers in the
churches are made mere parrots, to repeat over and over again what someone
else taught them to say. That is what their schools are for. God’s
ministers are those who have come to the place where they dare to believe
God, though it makes all men liars. And anyone who will serve the Lord
faithfully by declaring His truth is bound to be unpopular with all the
ministers in apostasy, because he must then continually expose their
shame.
Now here is the wonderful truth about the sin-offering — Christ
on
But He did not die in vain! He was not a failure! Hallelujah!
Jesus gave His life for the life of the world. That ends the matter
for all time and eternity. Thank God, the good old Book is true! Thank
God, John 4:42 is actually true after all! “This is indeed the Christ,
the Saviour OF THE WORLD.” Thank God, Romans 3:23 is really true! “For
A-L-L have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; BEING JUSTIFIED
FREELY BY HIS GRACE.” Thank God, Romans
All men have life because of
I was deeply impressed by a testimony John McAllister shared
recently. He said, “When I was fourteen years old I had already gone
through the deaths of my mother, four grandparents, and an aunt and uncle.
One by one they all went by way of the grave, and my sister and I were
left to face life almost totally alone. I cried out to the Lord in my
distress and He revealed Himself to me as Saviour, Baptizer in the Holy
Spirit, and Present Lord. One evening about a year after my dad’s mother
died, I had a most unusual dream — one that stayed with me all these
years and helped to mold my understanding of God’s great mercy, love,
grace, pardon and forgiveness extended to all mankind.
“In the dream I saw my grandmother. Startled, I spoke to her in
deep distress. ‘O Mom,’ I said, for I always called her Mom although
she was my grandmother. ‘O Mom, if only I had known a year ago what I
know now I could have told you about the Lord, the Lord Jesus, and His
great love and the free salvation He gives to all who believe on Him, but
alas — now you are dead. You were a drunk and an alcoholic and you died
while drunk. Some say you killed yourself — committed suicide — and so
now, Mom, you are in hell burning in the flames and you’ll never get out
or have another chance to know Jesus.’ I was weeping in great sorrow.
“Then my grandmother spoke, interrupting me in my tears. ‘Not
so, my son, not so,’ she said. ‘The Lord has had mercy on me. For He
devises means whereby His banished be not expelled from Him.’ Awakening
from the dream and being puzzled as to what this could mean, I searched
everywhere in the Bible to find such a passage. Nowhere could I find it. I
had never heard those words before. For a year I did not know or see such
a verse until seemingly by accident one day I read II Samuel 14:14. ‘For
we must needs die, and are as water spilt upon the ground, which cannot be
gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person, yet doth He devise
means that His banished be not expelled from Him.’ The entire passage
from II Samuel 14:1-21 shows that no matter how far one may stray from the
Lord and undergo an internal banishment from that sense of acceptance,
nevertheless, our merciful Lord God Himself has devised a means whereby
His banished ones would not be expelled forever from Him. ‘For out of
Him, and through Him, and unto Him are all things, to whom be glory unto
the ages, Amen’ (Rom. NO CONDEMNATION There
is only one accuser, only one — Satan. God is not bringing up your sins,
no matter who you are: you, me, Judas or Hitler. If Jesus paid the penalty
of your sins He doesn’t deal with your sins anymore, they are gone, paid
for, the account is closed, you are forgiven! What does that mean? It
means that because of Jesus all men are free. And I have to accept that. I
must view all men in that light. I must bear the “good news” (gospel)
to them. If I then turn around and bring up somebody else’s sins because
I don’t like them, then I’m the sinner.
After a person is forgiven you cannot lay any charge against him.
Nearly all Christians know John 3:16, but very few know, let alone live as
if they believe, John 3:17: “God sent not His Son into the world to
condemn the world, but that the world, through Him, might be saved.”
It’s shocking! It’s shameful! It’s surprising how many of us think
that God would condemn us. Why? Where do we pick up these messages? God
does not condemn people. If that was so, He could have done that quite
easily through Jesus when He sent Him to earth. But He didn’t. God did
not send His Son into the world to condemn the world. We find it difficult
to understand such a loving reaction from a Holy God. We are often quick
to find fault and shortcomings when we find someone or something falling
short of our expectations. Sometimes we do this because we are thinking
more highly of ourselves than we ought. But many times, more often than
not, we are responding through our own defense mechanism — to our own
insecurities. And because we don’t feel better about ourselves, we begin
to criticize and complain and gossip and condemn other people. It makes us
feel better about ourselves by tearing down someone else, comparing
ourselves with other’s faults, failures and sins. God will never condemn
any soul. I believe that with all of my heart. God will not condemn
anyone. He seeks to save everyone. He plans better and greater things for
every man, woman and child in the world. Does that mean that nobody is
punished? Not at all. Every man still reaps what he sows — in this world
and in the world to come. But God does not condemn. He does not condemn us
who are His children. But beyond that, He doesn’t condemn the world!
“Blessed is the man whose sin is covered (atoned for), to whom
the Lord imputes no sin” (Rom. 4:8). Ah — that’s me, I’m a blessed
man, I still have sin, but the Lord doesn’t impute it to me, He
doesn’t hold it against me, He doesn’t charge it to my account, He
doesn’t throw it up in my face, He doesn’t prosecute me for it, it’s
not even on my record. Blessed, happy is the man that comes to this truth,
to this awareness! Who is the man whose sin is covered — atoned for? The
man for whom the sin-offering has been made. And that is every man who has
ever lived or does now live! Christ died for the ungodly. All of them!
According to God’s arrangement in providing Christ as the
sin-offering on behalf of the whole world of mankind, ALL must be
delivered from the sin and death that passed on them from Adam, else the
sin-offering does not avail for all. Paul makes a wonderful point when he
says, “For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that He
might be LORD (Ruler, Controller) both of the dead and the living” (Rom.
14:9). The point is that the object of Christ’s death and resurrection
was not merely to be Lord of the living, to bless and rule and restore the
living people and nations, but to give Him authority over, or full control
of, the dead as well as the living, insuring that the rights and
privileges secured for them by His sin-offering would avail for them as
much as for living men.
To claim that He was the sin-offering for the whole world and yet
to claim that the whole world is counted as guilty and deserving of
eternal hell, is absurd; for it would imply that either God accepted the
sin-offering and then unjustly refused to forgive and pardon those for
whom the sacrifice was made, or else that the Lord, after redeeming all,
was either unable or unwilling to make effective the results secured by
the sin-offering. The grand design of God’s great love wherewith He
“so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son,” repels and
contradicts such a thought, and gives us assurance that the intent of
God’s loving purpose will bring to all men everywhere the blessing of
release from sin and death and the opportunity to return to the rights and
liberties of sons of God, enjoyed before sin and the curse.
The sin-offering for all simply means that through Jesus Christ ALL
MEN ARE FORGIVEN. Not shall be — are. God provided His own sin-offering
for the whole world to proclaim the glorious message, “I love you! I
forgive you! Your sin is atoned for! I will save and restore you unto
Myself!” It can mean nothing else but that God really and truly “was
in Christ, reconciling THE WORLD unto Himself, not imputing their
trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of
reconciliation” (II Cor. 5:19). Let us read this from the Concordant
Literal Translation. “Yet all is of God, who conciliates us unto Himself
through Christ, and is giving us the dispensation of the conciliation, how
that God was in Christ, conciliating the world unto Himself, not reckoning
their offenses unto them.” You will notice that the Concordant Literal
Translation has changed the wording from reconciliation to conciliation.
This needs some explanation. There are two Greek words, both of which the
King James Version has translated reconciliation: KATALLASO and
APOKATALLASO. They are related but slightly different.
If two people are enemies and are separated by some dispute, they
need to be reconciled one to another. But if just one of those people
takes it upon himself to drop the case and forgive the other, raising the
white flag of truce, a conciliation has just occurred. A conciliation is a
one-sided peace, done outside the will or knowledge of the second party.
It is done by the counsel of his own will in the secret chambers of his
governmental palace. He who has conciliated his brother then sends his
ambassador with the white flag of truce to sue for peace, to beg the other
to conciliate in return. If he does so, then it is two-sided — it is a
re-conciliation. Other scriptures show irrefutably that God will bring the
issue to a successful conclusion — all men will be reconciled to God.
The conciliation will become a reconciliation. Hallelujah!
In II Corinthians chapter five we find that God has conciliated the
world to Himself. He laid aside His righteous and lawful case which He had
against the world and conciliated the world. Now He has sent us into the
world as His ambassadors to them to beg them to be conciliated to God, to
respond to His conciliation. All who take heed and make peace with God are
reconciled to Him. This is confirmed by Romans 5:10, in which the context
is that while we were still sinners and fighting against God, Christ died
for us. In other words, the conciliation took place before the
reconciliation, because God took it upon Himself to act first. “For if,
when we were enemies, we were conciliated by the death of His Son, much
more, being conciliated, we shall be saved by His life.” Paul uses these
terms carefully. This can easily be seen in the passages where he uses the
term APOKATALL
“Not imputing their trespasses unto them” means they are
forgiven! God holds nothing against them! It means not charging to their
account, not writing down in the ledger, making no record. Today, it’s
up to man to be conciliated to God. Today, it’s left for man to change
his attitude toward God. The hell-fire and damnation preachers, the
eternal torment teachers are not helping one bit. God has made the first
move by sacrificing Jesus on the cross. Our message is no longer one of
hell-fire and damnation — that is neither God’s attitude nor His
intention toward mankind. Today, our message is “the word of
reconciliation” (II Cor. Some
people say that when Jesus was on the cross, because God could not look
upon sin, He turned away His face from His Son, and Jesus cried out, “My
God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” That has bothered me for years,
because if God could forsake such a perfect One, who am I? How can I ever
trust the promise He made, “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.”
But I’ve got proof that God never forsook Jesus, and right here it is:
“God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself.” Another
scripture says that we were reconciled by the death of His Son. God was on
that cross, not only with Jesus, but in Jesus. God Himself was there
“laying down” on our behalf in the person of Jesus Christ. God Himself
was seeing to it that no longer upon our account, in our ledger, would our
trespasses be written.
Someone has said that the individual heart is very much like a
police headquarters; there people’s deeds are arranged as in a file
drawer. One has only to ask, “What do you have on that person? What have
you on this one?” The person can open the file and give out information
on anyone. Sometimes with real grace we leave the drawer closed and do not
talk about the cases; yet, when the occasion arises, the key is still
there so that the cases can be brought to light. And that is unfortunate;
it does harm. As long as we have a police register in our hearts, it is
impossible for us to bless humanity or our brother. Even if we appear to
have a great ministry, it still won’t do. The clear outpouring of the
grace, love and power of God becomes possible only after the file drawer
has been destroyed. We must be as firm as a rock in this matter: I will
not be a police headquarters; the cases shall no longer be entered in me!
I am not called to be a police station; I am called to be an ambassador of
the God who has conciliated the world unto Himself, not imputing their
trespasses unto them. The forgiveness of God must flow through me unto all
men. I must never speak a word of condemnation to any or about any. I must
reconcile all men to God and to one another in Him. “Blessed are the
peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.”
On one occasion Jesus was talking alone with His disciples about
prayer. Peter asks a question. It is never difficult to think of Peter
asking a question or making a few remarks. He asks, “Master, how many
times must I forgive a man? Seven times?” Apparently Peter thinks he is
growing in grace. He can actually think now in terms of forgiving a man
seven times in succession! But the Lord in effect says, “Peter, you
haven’t caught the idea. You don’t get it. Forgiveness is not a
question of mathematics; not a matter of keeping tab on somebody; it is
not that you have forgiven someone six times, so you will go for one more.
You must forgive not seven times but seventy times seven — in one
day!” And Peter’s eyes bulge open with an incredulous stare —
“four hundred and ninety times — one man — in one day — Wow!”
Methinks that Jesus is thinking that Peter will lose count, or get tired
of counting, and finally get it, concluding that the spirit of forgiveness
is the only way, the only thing that counts.
God has committed unto us the ministry of reconciliation (II Cor.
“To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of
this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of
glory. Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all
wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus” (Col.
1:27-28). Christ in you is the hope of glory. The hope is that EVERY MAN
will be presented perfect in Christ Jesus. That’s not your hope —
that’s God’s hope. That’s glory’s hope. Your hope isn’t big
enough yet. You just hope you can make it. You just hope your spouse can
make it. You just hope your family can make it. You just hope your group
can make it. God’s hope is bigger than that! “Christ in you” is
plural in the Greek — it’s not Christ in me. Only the you, YOU ALL, or
“Y’all,” as they say down south, is big enough to express HIM.
We’re the fullness of Him that filleth all-in-all. How
large is your vision? How big is the God that lives in His temple? And how
big is the world that He wants to touch through you? How large is your
hope? Many years ago I got past just hope for me, just hope for my wife,
just hope for my family, just hope for my friends, just hope for the
Church, just hope for this life, just hope for this age, just hope for the
millennium. My hope is bigger than just for you dear ones who read these
lines, and your seed, and your seed’s seed. My hope goes beyond men who
are just now breathing upon this planet, my hope reaches into that which
is within the veil — how big is your hope? He is the God of the living,
and He is the God of the dead. And His hope is that He will have a whole
family of sons and daughters just like the first one. You say, “Oh, my
hope embraces all men; I believe in the ultimate salvation of every
man.” My hope goes beyond that. My hope is bigger than that. My hope is
not merely the salvation of every man — my hope, God’s hope, glory’s
hope is that every man shall be presented PERFECT IN CHRIST JESUS. Not
just saved, not merely forgiven, not only conciliated, but made perfect in
Christ Jesus, conformed into the image of the Son. Then, and only then,
will God truly be ALL-IN-ALL, everything to everyone.
“God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not
imputing their trespasses unto them.” Now that’s not a blanket of
grace to excuse sin. It’s the redemptive power of love to forgive and
transform men from sin and death into the righteousness of God. The very
character of God stands pledged to it; every promise that He has made
implies it; and the typical sacrifice of the sin-offering points with
unerring accuracy to the great and sufficient sacrifice — “the Lamb of
God, which TAKETH AWAY THE SIN OF THE WORLD” (Jn. 1:29).
Since all men in Adam were guilty and condemned; and since all men
through Christ are forgiven and redeemed, the hour is coming when every
man will be made alive in Christ. Adam was the son of God, the scripture
says (Lk. [ENTER TEXT OF WRITING / SCRIERE HERE] |
Other Writings in This Series:
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