Lord: I want to talk to my church about forgiveness this morning, for I know that many are as distressed as I am, with the lack of forgiveness, in the very public eye, and in the media.
There is a modern trend to offer no quarter to anyone who, even once in their life, transgresses the law, and people are today bringing up small offences 20 or 30 years after they were committed, in order to gain money from them. In a Christian country, this sort of behaviour should be balanced by My perspective on things. Let me explain what I mean. I will start by my law.
My Law can be summed up in the commandments I gave to Moses. Now six of these ten commandments are the fundamental basis of all laws in both Christian and non Christian societies. For the moment I have passed over the first four, but I will come back to them in a moment.
The last six commandments are agreed upon by most societies around the world as the foundation stones for society. Not all the societies which incorporate them in their legal system derived them from Moses, but from the realisation that stable society requires standards of acceptable behaviour. Respecting and honouring your parents and elders is part of all stable societies where the young are safe and protected and free to learn and grow up into good people. Murder is unacceptable to most, even the most heathen or materialist, societies, and although it is commonplace as societies wander further from me, it is still a basic punishable law offence in all nations. Adultery is considered stealing or cheating, but it is also recognised as a cancer that attacks family life, and the stability of any nation is in its family. Stealing is also socially unacceptable the world over. Even in those nations that embrace communism, and re-distribute wealth, stealing is still a crime against the state. Bearing false witness is effectively lying! Lying leads one away from truth, and although many individuals and societies, wouldn't recognise truth if it reared up and bit them, no one likes to find out that they have been lied to! Coveting is one of the most widespread of all the sins of mankind. Everyone at some time in their life is jealous of someone owning something they don't have. That something may be a material possession like a car, a home or a job, or it may be something less tactile, but nevertheless just as real, like a talent, an education, an opportunity. Coveting anything that belongs to someone else leads to a breaking of all of the commandments or laws that govern society.
The first four commandments are the elements that set My law and commandments above the laws and commandments of the godless. The reason for this is simple; the first four commandments require an acceptance of an authority higher than the authority of man. That authority is Me! Why should I have more authority than the leaders of men? Because I am the Designer and Creator of everything that is. I formed everything in the entire universe and beyond, out of nothing! As the creator, even of the laws of nature, many of which mankind has not even imagined exist, I have absolute power and authority over everything I laid down those laws on tablets of stone for Moses, to create a nation. They were the lowest common denominator of basic rules. Keep the first four, and keeping the next six is much easier. Keep them all and man is living the life I intended him to live.
Now let's look at something which is often overlooked. When I gave the commandments to Moses, I wanted mankind to use a gift I first gave to Adam and Eve. That gift is free-will. I wanted mankind to exercise the gift by accepting the commandments freely, without coercion, to recognise the goodness and rightness of them, and to realise that as they became a single nation, the free adoption of My commandments would enable them to live in peace with one another.
Notice that in the narrative which relates how I gave them to Moses, I do not include a punishment for the breaking of any of the commandments. The nearest I come to a punishment is that I say of those who take my name in vain, that I will not hold them guiltless. I want man to keep these commandments, not out of fear or punishment, but out of love, accepting them as the minimum standard of decent living and of righteousness.
Now, because they are so basic in society, the breaking of any of My commandments, does have consequences, which, if left unchecked lead to human suffering, disease, and the breakdown of family and society. Hence the necessity for some form of reckoning and or punishment. This purges the evil from society, but it must be, and be seen to be, just. Some trespasses are unintentional or accidental, and some seem unavoidable at the time. This is why I have allowed for forgiveness and a means of atonement.
Remorse and sadness, about a breaking of the commandments can and should, lead to repentance. and an acknowledgement of the wrong done; a desire to say sorry and to make restoration. A resolve to never do it again, should lead to forgiveness. on the part of society.
A society which is in any way God-fearing, whether Christian or otherwise, should also accept that what I have forgiven is forgiven for ever! Those who fail to forgive, whether great or small, set themselves up above mankind as some sort of god themselves. In remaining unforgiving of those who have repented, they place themselves in the wrong before me. For if I, as the Creator, and only just judge, have declared someone clean, who can dare to challenge My judgement?
Forgiveness, whether from man or from Me, is a precious gift. When I forgive sins, those sins are forgiven forever, and no amount of fishing can bring them back. When you forgive the sin of anyone who sins against you, they stand forgiven! Yes, I have declared through My beloved son Jesus, that if you forgive the sins of anyone they are forgiven, both on Earth and in Heaven. You may not, after forgiving anyone, bring that sin up again! To do so makes you a liar, and equally as guilty as the one who has sinned against you. Remember that All mankind has sinned, that means even you, and have fallen short of the minimum standard I have set! No one is without sin, and the wages or consequence, of sin is death! Jesus died on the Cross to deal with that death and give all men a way to come back, into the way of righteousness. Once they have been forgiven, they are forgiven, both in the eyes of his fellow sinner and, in My eyes as well. Remember when you accuse others, that there are accusations against you! If you forgive others, then others will forgive you. If I forgive you, then no man may accuse you.
The first four commandments are the elements that set My law and commandments above the laws and commandments of the godless. The reason for this is simple; the first four commandments require an acceptance of an authority higher than the authority of man. That authority is Me! Why should I have more authority than the leaders of men? Because I am the Designer and Creator of everything that is. I formed everything in the entire universe and beyond, out of nothing! As the creator, even of the laws of nature, many of which mankind has not even imagined exist, I have absolute power and authority over everything I laid down those laws on tablets of stone for Moses, to create a nation. They were the lowest common denominator of basic rules. Keep the first four, and keeping the next six is much easier. Keep them all and man is living the life I intended him to live.
Now let's look at something which is often overlooked. When I gave the commandments to Moses, I wanted mankind to use a gift I first gave to Adam and Eve. That gift is free-will. I wanted mankind to exercise the gift by accepting the commandments freely, without coercion, to recognise the goodness and rightness of them, and to realise that as they became a single nation, the free adoption of My commandments would enable them to live in peace with one another.
Notice that in the narrative which relates how I gave them to Moses, I do not include a punishment for the breaking of any of the commandments. The nearest I come to a punishment is that I say of those who take my name in vain, that I will not hold them guiltless. I want man to keep these commandments, not out of fear or punishment, but out of love, accepting them as the minimum standard of decent living and of righteousness.
Now, because they are so basic in society, the breaking of any of My commandments, does have consequences, which, if left unchecked lead to human suffering, disease, and the breakdown of family and society. Hence the necessity for some form of reckoning and or punishment. This purges the evil from society, but it must be, and be seen to be, just. Some trespasses are unintentional or accidental, and some seem unavoidable at the time. This is why I have allowed for forgiveness and a means of atonement.
Remorse and sadness, about a breaking of the commandments can and should, lead to repentance. and an acknowledgement of the wrong done; a desire to say sorry and to make restoration. A resolve to never do it again, should lead to forgiveness. on the part of society.
A society which is in any way God-fearing, whether Christian or otherwise, should also accept that what I have forgiven is forgiven for ever! Those who fail to forgive, whether great or small, set themselves up above mankind as some sort of god themselves. In remaining unforgiving of those who have repented, they place themselves in the wrong before me. For if I, as the Creator, and only just judge, have declared someone clean, who can dare to challenge My judgement?
Forgiveness, whether from man or from Me, is a precious gift. When I forgive sins, those sins are forgiven forever, and no amount of fishing can bring them back. When you forgive the sin of anyone who sins against you, they stand forgiven! Yes, I have declared through My beloved son Jesus, that if you forgive the sins of anyone they are forgiven, both on Earth and in Heaven. You may not, after forgiving anyone, bring that sin up again! To do so makes you a liar, and equally as guilty as the one who has sinned against you. Remember that All mankind has sinned, that means even you, and have fallen short of the minimum standard I have set! No one is without sin, and the wages or consequence, of sin is death! Jesus died on the Cross to deal with that death and give all men a way to come back, into the way of righteousness. Once they have been forgiven, they are forgiven, both in the eyes of his fellow sinner and, in My eyes as well. Remember when you accuse others, that there are accusations against you! If you forgive others, then others will forgive you. If I forgive you, then no man may accuse you.
Love one -another, as I have loved you!
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