July 12, 2014 (Saturday)
Yesterday’s blog about Paul’s request to Philemon to include Onesimus in his circle of love and forgiveness brings to mind a portion of Charles Spurgeon’s message on, “Forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you” (Ephesians 4:32). We can forgive others because Christ has forgiven us. Spurgeon’s words:
“The apostle does not say he hopes so, but he says, “God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” Are you in the number of the forgiven, my dear hearer? Hast thou believed in the Lord Jesus Christ? Then, as sure as you have believed, God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you. Have you put your trust in the atoning sacrifice? Then God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you. You have not begun to be a Christian, I hope, with the idea that one day, at some future period, you may obtain forgiveness. No. “God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” Pardon is not a prize to be run for, but a blessing received at the first step of the race. If you have believed in Jesus your sin has all gone–all gone; all your sin has been erased from the records of the past, never to be mentioned against you for ever. The moment a sinner looks to Christ, the burden of his sin rolls from off his shoulders never to return. If Christ hath washed thee, (and be has if thou hast believed in him,) then thou art clean every whit, and before the Lord thou standest delivered from every trace of guilt. Pardon is not a matter of hope, but a matter of fact. Expectation looks for many a blessing, but pardon is a realized favour which faith holds in her hand even now. If Christ took thy load, thy load cannot remain on thine own back: if Christ paid thy debts, then they do not stand in God’s books against thee. How can they? It stands to reason that if thy Substitute has taken thy sin and put it away, thy sin lies no more on thee. God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven thee. Get hold of that grand truth, and hold it, though all the devils in hell roar at thee. Grasp it as with a hand of steel; grip it as for life: “God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven me,”–may each one of us be able to say that. We shall not feel the divine sweetness and force of the text unless we can make a personal matter of it by the Holy Ghost.”
Surely we understand how amazing and marvelous is God’s grace, forgiving all our sins. How can we not forgive others when we have been forgiven so much?