December 15, 2015 - Forgiveness, the prophet Daniel says in (Daniel 9:9) "To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him." Daniel tells us that even though we have done wrong and sinned against God, that He still forgives our sins by His great mercy. Praise the Lord that our God is such a loving and forgiving God that even though we do not deserve mercy, He grants it to us.
Saved by the grace of God, forgiven for our sins and transgressions by His glorious mercy, we are the blessed children of the Most High God. How blessed we are to be called His children.
I hear many preachers extolling these virtues of our Lord and it is true that God is most merciful and forgiving and we should rejoice in that fact. Rejoice in the mercy of God that allows us to receive that which we cannot earn nor deserve.
Almighty God is most certainly a loving God, but He is also a just God. Since He is just, He cannot ignore our sins, nor can He allow them to go unpunished. Another part of the payment of sins that we often do not mention is the consequences we must face for our actions.
Forgiveness is always available to those children of the Most High God who ask Him for it. Consequences, however, remain after forgiveness is given and must be paid, in full, by all who have sinned against God.
Let us look at King David as proof of forgiveness and consequences of sins.
In the book of 2nd Samuel we see part of the story of King David and his rule over the kingdom of Israel.
One evening as David sat on the roof of the king's house he saw, below him, a woman bathing. (2 Sam 11:2) "And from the roof he saw a woman washing herself, and the woman was very beautiful to look upon." Her name was Bathsheba, she was the wife of one of his fighting men, a man named, Uriah. Now Uriah was away fighting under David's commander, Joab, so David sent for Bathsheba to join him in the Kings house.
David seduced Bathsheba that night and she conceived and soon afterwards told him that she was pregnant. Now, the good King has a problem, he has committed adultery with another man's wife and now she is pregnant. David sends for Uriah to come to Jerusalem and gives him a chance to spend the night with Bathsheba so his sin will be covered and Uriah will be known as the babies father.
When Uriah refuses, David sends a sealed note, by Uriah, back to Joab instructing him to put Uriah at the front of the battle and then allow him to be killed. This is done and word soon comes to Bathsheba that her husband has been killed.
After a period of mourning David sent for Bathsheba; (2 Sam 11:27) "David sent and fetched her to his house and she became his wife, and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord."
The Lord sent Nathan, the priest, to David to admonish him for his sin and David did confess and ask for forgiveness, which he was given, but, even still, Nathan told him this; (2 Sam 12:14) "Howbeit, because by this deed, thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, that child also that is born unto thee shall surely die."
David then began to pray and weep; for 7 days he wept and would not eat as he tried to prevent the death of the child. Though the Lord forgave David of his sin, he was not relieved of the consequences of his sin and at the end of the 7th day the child died.
You see, David's sins of adultery and murder were forgiven but not excused. He still had to pay the consequences of his sins, something we need to better understand today.
Many times people pray for forgiveness for sins and yet when hard times still befall them they will assume their prayers were not heard by the Lord. Believe me, He heard and If the prayers were in earnest, their sins were forgiven. That is the truth, we are most certainly forgiven by our Loving God, but for justice to prevail, we must pay for that same sin. That is it's consequence.
Today, in this world of; "it's not my fault, I didn't do it" this truth needs to be taught. The brother of Jesus, James, the leader of the church of Jerusalem tells us; (James 5:16) "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." Yes, prayer by the righteous works, but sin still comes at a price and that price must be paid even as forgiveness is given by our loving and just Holy Lord.
You are always welcome to join us for our weekly Bible Study at 6:00 PM on Wednesdays at Spring Hill Baptist Church. For more info call (936-615-1427)
