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Reasoning with the LORD
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
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The Mandate to Forgive
Calvin also comments, “No one may presume to approach God and ask forgiveness, who is not pure and free from all resentment.” If we are withholding forgiveness from those who have truly and humbly sought our pardon, then we are ...Read More
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The Fifth Petition
When we ask the Father to forgive us in Jesus’ name, we are asking Him to do something that He has promised to do. Therefore, we can be confident that He forgives us when we seek His face. This is ...Read More
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The Duty of Forgiveness
The forgiveness we enjoy from God in Christ Jesus has consequences for our lives. First, we are absolved from guilt and never need to fear His wrath again. Furthermore, God’s forgiveness means that we, too, must forgive those who ...Read More
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Embracing the Penitent
Although not everyone who has been subjected to church discipline repents, there are many times when a disciplined sinner is humbled by the church’s treatment and, forsaking sin, returns to the fold. When this happens, church leaders and laypeople ...Read More
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The Church and Forgiveness
John Calvin comments that Christ “does not convey to [the Apostles and their successors] what is peculiar to himself. It belongs to him to forgive sins… . [Instead, He] enjoins them, in his name, to proclaim the forgiveness of sins, that ...Read More
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Once for All
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
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Sending Away our Sins
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
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The Forgiveness of Sins
Those whom God forgives are forgiven indeed. He does not actually forget what we have done, but He no longer holds our wickedness against us when we trust in Christ. Through the blood of Christ, He sees us as righteous ...Read More
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Our Righteous Advocate
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
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The Lord’s Great Mercy
After years of walking as Christians, it can be easy for us to take the mercy and grace of God for granted. Returning again to our sin and repenting for offending the Lord can help us stay aware of His ...Read More
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A Call to Kindness
The steadfast love and kindness for other believers that make us eager to forgive them define the true Christian. “Whoever … hates his brother is still in the darkness,” as John tells us (1 John 2:9). Do you love your ...Read More
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The Costs and Demands of Love
Are you hesitating to do something that godly love compels you to do? If so, then may Philemon encourage you to stop putting it off and move forward today. Insofar as we are able, we must seek to be reconciled ...Read More
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Receiving Onesimus
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
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A Personal Yet Public Faith
John Calvin writes, “Even the most perfect, so long as they live in this world, never have so good ground for congratulation as not to need prayers, that God may grant to them, not only to persevere till the end ...Read More
