There is not a practising Christian who at some time has not experienced doubts. To be more specific doubts in relation to our faith. Just how sure do we feel of God’s love and grace towards us individually? How certain are we of His forgiveness of our sins? How much joy do we find in our lives in His service? To answer some of these questions will bring a variety of answers.
Some of us may seem rather grim, sad, or burdened with a sense of duty. This point of view looks at faith in the word of God as not physically expressing “Joy in the Lord”.
Others may regard the Good News as wholly a matter for rejoicing, expressing this in attitudes and worship. Those who take the first view are termed “the solemn” and regard the others as swayed by emotion and laying too much emphasis on “Joy and Experience”, while the second group regard the first as too academic, too formal, too inflexible, too much concerned with the right “works” even when they are done in faith.
These too generalized attitudes can be found in most ecclesias. The contrasting extremes unfortunately can breed friction, intolerance, strife, and damage the spiritual life and growth of all the members. Well, you may say, why not cultivate an alligator type hide that will protect our point of view no matter what anyone says to the contrary? But is this the answer? Surely it’s back to basic principles!
The big key to unlock this problem is a correct understanding of the mercy of God. To whom is God merciful and upon what conditions? How FAR does His mercy extend in forgiving our failings during our life in His service?
God is merciful . …. that is a definite fact. Yet some of us have a pessimistic view of that mercy, as it affects ourselves. Though few would say it openly, their actions suggest they are thinking, “I don’t believe God will save me
I am not really worthy; and judging by my track record I’m not likely to be saved either.” We all share this attitude, when we have a real sense of the righteousness and holiness of God and yet at the same time feel insignificant and unworthy in His sight.
We think like this “Before God will accept me I must live a worthy life, but I can’t do that, so my salvation is in doubt, I have to keep striving but I cannot be sure of my position”. Negative thinking? For sure, but if God is going to wait until His servants (that’s us) live perfect lives before granting them pardon, He will wait for ever, and no one will be saved. This is NOT the principle upon which His mercy operates; it must be somethihng else.
God’s answer is in Exodus 34 v6-7 where He proclaims His name to Moses. “The LORD proclaimed. The LORD. The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty.” Emphatically God is merciful, long-suffering, ever constant, ever true, forgiving and compassionate. Flashing loud and clear comes His word; it was meant to have been just as significant to us as to Israel. In this we must be prepared to take God at His word.
Let us note the case of David after his sin with Bathsheba and the consequent death of her husband Uriah. When the sin is brought into the spotlight by Nathan, David’s immediate response is “. . . I have sinned against the Lord” — notice “against the Lord,” not just against Bathsheba and Uriah.
This surely indicates the genuineness of David’s repentance. And Nathan’s response is “The Lord also hath put away thy sin, thou shalt not die” (2 Samuel 12 v 13). So it is not God who continues to reproach David with his sin; once more the mercy of God came into immediate operation. The sin was forgiven and the repentant servant restored to the right relationship with his God.
Upon what principle does God act in this way toward His servants? The answer is simply provided in David’s words “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile” (no deceit or hypocrisy).
So it is possible for mortal man and woman to be in a blessed state with God where his or her sins are forgiven. David explains then how it CAN and CANNOT be done.
“When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me”.
In other words, David is saying when I tried to hide and kept quiet about my sin, when I refused to confess it, I suffered; but then,
“I acknowledge 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” (Psalm 32 v1-5).
So there it is. God will forgive our sins when they are freely and without reserve confessed to Him in a genuine spirit of humility and repentance and with a real desire to forsake them. He does not insist on waiting some time to prove the genuineness of our desire; He knows our hearts and restores us to fellowship with Himself. So David can write in another Psalm;
“Bless the Lord, my soul, my innermost heart bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, my soul, and forget none of his benefits. He pardon all my guilt and heals all my suffering. He has not treated us as our sins deserve or requited us for our misdeeds.” (Psalm 103 v 1-3; 10. N.E.B.).
And is the New Testament revelation of God through Christ any different from this? Of course not, how could it be! The God of the prophets and of His son and His apostles is one and the same. Therefore, we should expect to find, and we do, the same expression of his mercy and forgiveness.
Christ told the parable of the unmerciful servant. We well know the story … A lord forgave his servant an enormous debt, some 2 million Australian dollars, because he was moved with compassion when the servant “fell down and worshipped him”; in the Lord’s own words “because thou besoughtest me”. This pardoned servant is then condemned because he would not extend mercy to his fellow servant over a comparatively tiny debt; and the parable is applied to all believers. “So shall also my Heavenly Father do unto you if you forgive not everyone his brother from your hearts.” As God acts towards repentant sinners, so must we act toward one another. (Matt. 18 v 21-35).
One of the charges levelled against Jesus by the Scribes and Pharisees was “This man receiveth sinners and eateth with them”. Sinners meant, of course, not those necessarily guilty of gross and obvious sins but “this people that keepeth not the law” who in their judgement were “accursed”.
The charge amounted to this. Jesus was claiming to come from God; and yet in his preaching was entering into relations of social fellowship with erring members of the people of God, WITHOUT FIRST DEMANDING THAT THEY REFORM THEIR LIVES. But it was their repentance he was seeking, the change of life would come afterwards.
As a reply to the charge, Jesus told the parables of the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin and the Prodigal Son, all concerned with saving that which was lost. The change in the relationship of the erring prodigal son with his father, began AS SOON AS he “came to himself” and resolved to return, confessing that he had “sinned against heaven” ( a sign of the genuineness of his repentance).
The father, seeing his son approaching, did not welcome him with “So you are back. Before I’ll forgive and forget and restore you to son-ship, you’ll have to prove your change of heart.” Still less did he say, as the older brother would have done standing on the doorstep, “So you finally have woken up to yourself and come crawling back, have you!”—expressing his condemnation of his brother’s past misdeeds. (This is a very human reaction and one that any of us could easily echo, if not careful in our motives). No, but rather the father first rejoiced at the sign of his lost son’s return,was moved with compassion and ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him” and at once restored him to his sonship.
So the parable is a model of the fact that our Father in heaven extends mercy and forgiveness without limit.
The mercy and forgiveness of God are not then dealt out with strings attached, but are abundantly given to those who come to him in acknowledgement of their transgressions and in humble submission to His will. The Epistles are full of passages expressing the joy of the believer in this deliverance, and urging him to draw near to God with confidence.
Seeing then that we have a high priest who can sympathize with our feelings of infirmity, “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need”. (Heb. 4 v 16).
Reflections on the Potter and the Clay