A Christian Is Not Perfect, But He Can Be Forgiven

Nobody is ever good enough. We are all sinners; we all make wrong decisions and choices in life. It is only by the grace of God that we are saved. The great apostle Paul said that, “by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast” (Eph. 2:8-9 KJV). Indeed, only by God’s mercy and His grace and the sacrifice on the cross at Calvary of His only begotten Son that saves us. Nothing else. Salvation does not depend on how good we have been or even how good we are now. It only depends on the grace of Jesus Christ through faith in Him.

Grace of Jesus Christ who is God in human form and faith in Him (in His deity or divine person and power) are the two important elements of salvation of our soul.

What is grace? Simply defined, it is an undeserved favor. Meaning, on our own, we deserve to be in hell. But thanks be to God because of his love for us, He sent Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, to die on our behalf in the cross of calvary. This is grace because of God’s love which is beyond description in words.

What is faith? It is absolute trust in God (Jesus Christ in human form), as the Bible says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1), “and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth” (vs. 14).

Grace plus faith equals gift of salvation from God, through the sacrifice of His only begotten Son in the cross of calvary, by the law of substitution. This means, in spite of all our sins and shortcomings, failures and mistakes, God still loves and forgives us. “He hath not dealth with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities…As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:10,12 KJV).

When we accept Jesus Christ as our only Lord and Savior, and trust Him absolutely as such, and “we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9 KJV). This is the grace of God.

The fact and naked truth of the whole matter is that when it comes to our righteousness, nobody is all bad, and nobody is perfectly clean except by faith in the only begotten Son of God. “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are as filthy rags;” (Isa. 64:6 KJV). The apostle Paul said, “For he hath made him (Jesus Christ) to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Cor. 5:21). Only Jesus Christ is perfect and able to save us, which is why because of the LOVE of God, He sent Him as our substitute to die in the cross of Calvary (John 3:16) which is our decreed penalty for being sinners (Rom. 6:23). This is the meaning of the theological term redemption.

For example, I pawn my 12k gold Full Gospel ring in the pawnshop for P15,000.00 for 30 days. If I don’t pay (or redeem) my pawn account within the period, the pawnshop will sell my precious gold ring to the public, and I will lose it forever. But if someone who loves me will be kind enough to pay (or redeem my P15,000.00 account) then the pawnshop will give my ring to the redeemer who, because of his love for me, will give back to me my precious ring. I will then be at peace in my heart and be able to sleep soundly because my very precious ring has been returned to me. In the same manner, upon being redeemed by Jesus Christ by the shedding of his own precious blood in the cross of calvary, I now belong to Christ who loves me forever no matter who I am. This is the theological meaning of redemption.

The classic example of a sinner redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ is the story of King David, yielding to temptation in the flesh. He first committed adultery with sexy Bathsheba whom he saw naked taking a bath, while he was at the top of his palace one night enjoying fresh air. Bathsheba was the mother of the wise Solomon who succeeded his father David as King of Israel. To conceal his sin, King David masterminded the murder of Uriah, the husband of Bathsheba, one of the loyal soldiers of his kingdom. Significantly, King David confessed his sin to God in this wise:

“1 Have mercy upon me, O God,
according to thy lovingkindness: according to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.

2 Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

3 For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.

4 Against thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.

5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.

7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

8 Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.

9 Hide thy face from my sins,
and blot out all mine iniquities.

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy Holy Spirit from me.

12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.” (Ps. 51: 1-12 KJV)

King David also said:

“1 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

2 Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.

3 When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.

4 For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.

5 I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.” (Ps. 32:1-5 KJV).

Another classic example is that of the murder of an Egyptian soldier committed by Moses when he saved the life of a Hebrew from being beaten to death by the Egyptian soldier. To avoid arrest by the Egyptian king or Pharaoh, who subsequently came to know of the incident, he escaped and went to the land of Midian (Exodus 2:11-15). This is a good example of defense of a stranger which justifies the killing of an assailant by the defender. This is also allowed in our Philippine criminal law system. Thus, anyone who kills an assailant to save the life of one being assaulted will be acquitted in court though he is actually guilty of murder.

The apostle Paul persecuted and masterminded the murder of numerous Christian believers during his early years as a pharisee and a member of the Jewish Supreme Court, but when Jesus blinded him for three days and spoke to him in his way to Damascus to pursue his sincere “religious” persecution of all believers of Christ, he turned around completely to be a staunch disciple of Jesus Christ, the eloquent proof of which is his having authored thirteen (13) books of the New Testament of our canonized Bible. Miraculously, he is the author of the Love Chapter of our Bible which, among other things, says:

“If I could speak any language in heaven or on earth but didn’t love others. I would only be making meaningless, noise like a loud gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I knew all the mysteries of the future and knew everything about everything, but didn’t love others, what good would I be? And if I had the gift so that I could speak to a mountain and make it move, without love I would be no good to anybody. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it, but if I didn’t love others, I would be of no value whatsoever.

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged (not ‘historical’). It is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Love will last forever, - - (not only for a few years!). There are three things that will endure - - faith, hope and love – and the greatest of these is LOVE. Let love be your highest goal” (1 Cor. 13:4-8; 13 and 14:1 NLT).

Thus, love is the greatest of all human virtues and qualities. This is the trademark of Jesus Christ (God in human form). He said, “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 13:34-35 KJV).

The Apostle Paul, by his own admission said, “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came unto the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief (1 Timothy 1:15 KJV). Meaning, he considered himself the number one sinner, being a murderer and persecutor of Christian believers.

It is certain as night follows day that, David, Moses and Paul will be in heaven, because they are sinners forgiven and saved by the grace of God.

These example-stories are all recorded in our canonized Bible.

Now, don’t misunderstand me. I’m not endorsing that we can do likewise but my only point is to prove and show by scriptural authority that no matter how grievous the sin or sins we have committed, with proper scriptural guidance and repentance of the believer concerned, forgiveness is possible, as Jesus himself said, “With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible (Matt. 19:26; Mark 10:27; Luke 18:27; Luke 1:37). “Kaya may pag-asa pa rin tayong mapasalangit” (So we have hope to be in heaven).

We are imperfect Christians saved by grace through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. 

 

(FGBMFI Davao City Chapter Bulletin, August 4, 2012)