p. 26 | Power to Forgive Sins

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 16, 1859

Power to Forgive Sins.

“WITH an absolute God,” says Luther, “I can have nothing to do.” But God is in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing unto them their trespasses. If sinners are pardoned, it is in a way to impress upon them a sense of the greatness of the favor, that they may ever afterwards avoid sin, and have a lasting sense of obligation. In saving men, God glorifies the riches of his grace, and thus attaches them to his service by strong and tender ties. If they are forgiven, it is by him who died in their stead—pardon is extended to them by the hand that was once nailed to the accursed tree; they are justified by a righteousness wrought out by the perfect obedience and infinite suffering of the Son of God. The forgiven sinner may never be again brought into condemnation, for there goes along with this sense of security, an awe, created by the manner in which pardon is procured, which will lead to reverence and duty. There is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared. We are ransomed at a great price; our obligations are great to love and serve our divine Redeemer. Had we a thousand lives they ought all to be devoted to him.

Who are the subjects of forgiveness? Those who truly repent and believe. Faith is indispensable to forgiveness. According to our views of the Son of God will be the treatment we receive from the hand of the Lawgiver and Judge of the world. Repentance is inseparable from faith.

In the commission given to the first preachers, repentance precedes remission of sins. It would be inconsistent with our ideas of justice and of good government to pardon the impenitent, to show marks of favor to enemies of order—to clear the guilty. Where there is true faith in Christ there will be godly sorrow for sin. Repentance has been beautifully called the tear in the eye of faith. They shall look upon Him whom they have pierced, and mourn. None, therefore, can hope to be forgiven who do not turn from their sins unto God.

How important that we entertain right views of Christ’s character! “The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment to the Son.” The relations of the Lord Jesus Christ both to God and man are peculiar. Being the Son of God, he is especially interested in all that concerns the divine glory; he is both inclined and bound to sustain the divine government. Being the Son of man, he came to seek and to save that which was lost. He took upon him our nature, and, therefore, is anxious to raise it up from the ruin of apostasy. He is at once, the friend of God, and the friend of man. He has deep sympathy for sinners. He can be touched with a feeling of our infirmities. While he was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners, he never turned away from human suffering; he allowed all to approach him—the outcast and the vile. He listened to the cry of the poor blind mendicant. In the very act of exercising mercy, he vindicates the claims of justice; he is at once “the sinner’s friend and sin’s eternal foe.”

What greater encouragement can any have to repent and turn to God than to know that Jesus Christ has the power to forgive sins? He has lived in this world of sin and sorrow; he is full of tenderness; he invites the weary and heavy laden to come to him and rest. Let every reader of these lines who has tasted of his love urge the impenitent to flee to him by faith.—Evangelist.