Forgiveness

  • Guilt and Guilt Feelings

    Romans 3:9-19

    What do you feel guilty about? Can you trace these feelings to an actual violation of some rule, regulation, law, or divine commandment? If so, seek forgiveness from the proper authority. If not, your guilt feelings may be out of ...Read More

  • Guilt and Guilt Feelings

    Psalm 51

    Whether we feel guilty or not, all of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23). Take time today to repent of your sin and acknowledge this truth. Then pray that your feelings of ...Read More

  • Joseph Reveals Himself

    Genesis 45:1-3

    Forgiveness is not optional for the Christian. In fact, one of the assumptions of the Lord’s Prayer is that we must be forgiving people if we would dare to ask our Father in heaven to forgive us (Luke 11 ...Read More

  • Knowing Your Sin

    Psalm 51

    Read Luke 18:9–14. How is the confession of the tax collector like David’s? Have you ever confessed to God not only your sins but that you are a sinner by nature? Do you confess your sins daily ...Read More

  • Love One Another

    1 Peter 4:8–9

    Are you doing what you can to love earnestly and overlook a number of minor offenses from other people? Or do you tend to hold grudges? Are you expressing your love for others in your church through hospitality, or do ...Read More

  • Objective Forgiveness

    Psalm 103:1-5

    Do you struggle to believe that God has forgiven you of particular sins? If so, you have another sin to confess—unbelief. Go to God in prayer right now, asking Him to forgive you for failing to trust His Word ...Read More

  • Once for All

    Hebrews 9:23–28

    If Christ’s sacrifice of Himself was insufficient to save us and must be offered again and again, then we have no hope of salvation. A sacrifice that has to be repeated is a weak and ineffectual sacrifice that cannot ...Read More

  • Our Pattern for Holiness

    Leviticus 19:1–2

    We are often tempted to trivialize God’s demand for holiness and instead look to somebody or something other than God as the standard by which we measure ourselves. Remember, though, that the Lord has pronounced judgment on His image ...Read More

  • Our Righteous Advocate

    1 John 2:1–2

    Even now, Jesus is pleading with the Father in our behalf, interceding for us that we might be forgiven, purified, and strengthened for holiness. To be sure, we work out our salvation in fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12–13 ...Read More

  • Reasoning with the LORD

    Isaiah 1:18–31

    Isaiah 1:18 is a great promise indeed, assuring us that no matter how much sin has stained our souls, God can cleanse us completely and make us stand before Him as His holy people. But for this to happen ...Read More

  • Receiving Onesimus

    Philemon 17-18

    John Calvin takes Paul’s willingness to help Onesimus be reconciled to Philemon as an example for us. The apostle, he writes, “warns us how affectionately we ought to aid a sinner who has given us proof of his repentance ...Read More

  • Reconciled Brothers

    Genesis 33:4–11

    Jesus said that all people would know His disciples by their love for one another (John 13:35). The most tangible expression of this love is our forgiveness of others. If pagans like Esau can forgive, our readiness to pardon ...Read More

  • Redemptive Discipline

    Matthew 18:15–17

    In excommunication, Dr. John MacArthur writes, “the idea is not merely to punish the offender, or to shun him completely, but to remove him as a detrimental influence from the fellowship of the church, and then to regard him as ...Read More

  • Sending Away our Sins

    Isaiah 1:18

    In Christ, our guilt has been dealt with. When we trust in Jesus alone, we are forgiven of our sins. They are sent out of God’s sight, not in that He pretends they never happened but in that they ...Read More

  • Sin and Judgment

    Psalm 38

    Spend some time today and through the weekend confessing your sins before God. Be specific. Recognize that you deserve God’s disciplines in your life and praise Him for the mercy He has extended to you. Thank Him for Christ ...Read More