Paul admonishes, “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith test yourselves. Because of Christ’s forgiving power, we are His children, and we can always be made clean-even after a repeated sin-if we humbly seek God’s forgiveness.Īt the same time, we should note that a believer will not pursue a lifestyle of habitual and continual sin (1 John 3:8–9). Such forgiveness is only possible because of the infinite grace of God shown in the shed blood of Christ on the cross. Christ challenged the rules of Peter’s suggested economy of grace by saying that forgiveness is infinite for those who are truly seeking it. But the eighth time, forgiveness and grace would run out. Rather than repay a sin in kind, Peter suggested giving the brother some leeway, say, forgiving him up to seven times. In Matthew 18:21–22, “Peter came to Jesus and asked, ‘Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?’ Jesus answered, ‘I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.’” Peter was probably thinking that he was being generous in asking the question. We will stumble in this world, but in Christ we can always find cleansing.
All we must do is come to Him and confess our sins to Him. The key lies in giving up our doubts and our feelings of guilt and resting in God’s promises of forgiveness.Īnother helpful passage is 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” What an incredible promise! God cleanses His children of their sin. This is a profound thing! Without question, this removal of sin a difficult concept to grasp, which is why it’s so easy for us to worry and wonder about forgiveness instead of just accepting it. God not only forgives our sins but removes them completely from His presence. The first is found in the book of Psalms: “As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:12). To allay fear, we will look at two powerful passages of Scripture.
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