The Word of God tells us that we should forgive others when they have wronged or sinned against us, and to seek forgiveness when we have wronged or sinned against others. We do this to follow God's example, His ultimate pardon - forgiveness of our sins. The question I would like to consider is: Does forgiveness of sin stop the consequences? Let us look first at what God has to say about forgiveness. 1 John 1:9 9 But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong. Holy Bible, New Living Translation, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.) 1996. God will forgive any of our sins, no matter how great. Mark 3:28 28 “I assure you that any sin can be forgiven, including blasphemy; Holy Bible, New Living Translation, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.) 1996. Isaiah 1:18 18 “Come now, let us argue this out,” says the Lord. “No matter how deep the stain of your sins, I can remove it. I can make you as clean as freshly fallen snow. Even if you are stained as red as crimson, I can make you as white as wool. Holy Bible, New Living Translation, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.) 1996. Colossians 1:21-23 21 This includes you who were once so far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions, 22 yet now he has brought you back as his friends. He has done this through his death on the cross in his own human body. As a result, he has brought you into the very presence of God, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault. 23 But you must continue to believe this truth and stand in it firmly. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News. The Good News has been preached all over the world, and I, Paul, have been appointed by God to proclaim it. Holy Bible, New Living Translation, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.) 1996. These verses also tells us that God will look at us as though we have never sinned. We are blameless before Him. God also tells us that after He forgives our sins, He never thinks of them ever again. Psalm 103:12 12 He has removed our rebellious acts as far away from us as the east is from the west. Holy Bible, New Living Translation, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.) 1996. Isaiah 43:25 25 “I-yes, I alone-am the one who blots out your sins for my own sake and will never think of them again. Holy Bible, New Living Translation, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.) 1996. I think it is clear that God will forgive any of ours sins, no matter how great or how bad they may be, and that He will remember them no more our use them against us. BUT, does that mean that we suffer no consequences The word consequence means an outcome, aftermath, a result. Obedience or disobedience to God and His Word bring good or bad consequences. Disobedience(sin) brings bad consequences. Let's look at what the Word of God has to say about consequences. When God created us, He gave us free will to choose whether to be obedient to Him or not. Adam and Eve made a choice to disobey God in the Garden of Eden. What was the consequence of that sin? Genesis 3:16-19 16 Then he said to the woman, “You will bear children with intense pain and suffering. And though your desire will be for your husband, he will be your master.” 17 And to Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate the fruit I told you not to eat, I have placed a curse on the ground. All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it. 18 It will grow thorns and thistles for you, though you will eat of its grains. 19 All your life you will sweat to produce food, until your dying day. Then you will return to the ground from which you came. For you were made from dust, and to the dust you will return.” Holy Bible, New Living Translation, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.) 1996. Because of this original sin, the consequence was spiritual separation from God, and physical death for Adam and Eve and every generation after including us. Remember the story of David and Bathsheba? David went up on the roof of his palace and saw Bathseba taking a bath. David slept with her and she became pregnant. When David discovered she was pregnant with his child, he sent for Bathsheba's husband, Uriah. David tried to get Uriah to go home and spend time with Bathsheba. David even got him drunk so Uriah would go home to sleep with his wife, but Uriah would not. When that didn't work, David sent Uriah into battle and he was killed. After a period of mourning, David sent for Bathsheba, and she became one of his wives. She gave birth to a son, but God was very displeased with David for what he had done. Nathan, a prophet of God, confronted David and gave him this message from God: 2 Samuel 12:7-14 7 Then Nathan said to David, “You are that man! The Lord, the God of Israel, says, ‘I anointed you king of Israel and saved you from the power of Saul. 8 I gave you his house and his wives and the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. And if that had not been enough, I would have given you much, much more. 9 Why, then, have you despised the word of the Lord and done this horrible deed? For you have murdered Uriah and stolen his wife. 10 From this time on, the sword will be a constant threat to your family, because you have despised me by taking Uriah’s wife to be your own. 11 “ ‘Because of what you have done, I, the Lord, will cause your own household to rebel against you. I will give your wives to another man, and he will go to bed with them in public view. 12 You did it secretly, but I will do this to you openly in the sight of all Israel.’ ” 13 Then David confessed to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” Nathan replied, “Yes, but the Lord has forgiven you, and you won’t die for this sin. 14 But you have given the enemies of the Lord great opportunity to despise and blaspheme him, so your child will die.” Holy Bible, New Living Translation, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.) 1996. As you can see, David confesses his guilt, his sin, but you can see the consequences of his actions are found in verses 11and 12. Also Nathan tells David in verses 13 and 14 that the Lord has fogiven him and that he wouldn't die for this sin, but that the newborn child of Bathsheba would die. Here a newborn innocent child had to die for the consequences of another person. We can see in the above verses that even though God will forgive us he doesn't eliminate the consequences of our wrongs. Of course these are just a couple of examples in the Bible. There are many more, but let's look in our generation, today. Jimmy Swagert and Jim Baker are two examples that I can think of instantly. Both were men of God that did wrong(sinned) against God and their congregations. I believe they were repentant of their sins and were forgiven by God and their families and entrusted friends, but they still suffered consequences for their wrongs(sins). Jimmy Swagert is again preaching the Gospel; I just recently saw him on T.V., but he was banished from the Assemblies of God ministries, and his following and ministry is not what it once was. Jim Baker, I believe was even convicted of a crime and served time in prison. I understand that he is in a small ministry back east serving God. Ex-President Bill Clinton also comes to mind. His escapades in the White House are well chronicled and I will not discuss them here. The point is that he did wrong to his family and acted in an immoral manner while our president. He did admit wrong and ask forgiveness of God, family and country. I personally believe he was sincere. That is between God and him. Still, there was much pain and shame connected with this incident. His wife and daughter had to deal with these atrocities. Mr. Clinton was even impeached over this sin. Even though he was forgiven, much of his legacy will be connected with and he will be remembered by his sexual escapades in the White House. I am sure you can think of other people you know that have suffered the consequences of their sin. Maybe you can even see it in your life. I can see it in mine. In conclusion, I want you to understand that whatever sin you have in your life, no matter how bad you may perceive it to be, God will forgive you. Hebrews 9: 22 tells us, "Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin. Hebrews also says that Jesus Christ came once and for all time to remove the power of sin forever by His sacrificial death for us. Forgiveness is in the healing power of the Blood of Jesus. When we accept Jesus as our personal saviour, that forgiveness in available to everyone, including you and me. We can never go back and make a wrong right again. Wrong cannot be made right. It can only be forgiven. Ollie |