Biblical Forgiveness – Forgiving And Forgetting – Part 1

I received more great feedback on my second devotion about forgiveness yesterday.  

I was asked the question about God forgiving and forgetting.  This will be in two parts. Today will be with respect to God forgiving and forgetting.  Tommorrow will be about us forgiving and forgetting. 

As a refresher recall that I said there is a forgiveness process.  God offers forgiveness and the forgiveness is only consummated when we confess our sin and repent.   

These are many verses in the Bible that refer to God’s forgiveness and a number of verses that allude to God not remembering our sins. 

For as the heavens are high above the earth, So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us. – Psalm 103:11-12 

I [God], even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins. – Isaiah 43:25  

For I [God] will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more. – Hebrews 8:12  

With respect to forgetting our sins, it is important the we read and understand the Bible in its context – the whole counsel, if you will.  So let’s bring forgiveness and forgetting into context.  

What do we know about God’s nature? One thing, He never changes. Another, He is omniscient. (He knows everything.) 

Consider what it means to forget.  To forget means to “disregard intentionally : overlook” or “to lose the remembrance of : be unable to think of or recall.”  

If God knows everything, verses that say He forgets cannot mean that He loses remembrance or is unable to think or recall.  It must mean that He chooses to overlook the sins that He has forgiven and for which you have consummated the forgiveness process through confession and repentance by faith in Jesus. 

God won’t bring it up again, once it is forgiven. So the next time you do something - sin, God won’t say, “Hey, wait a minute! I remember the last time you did this. That is two strikes against you!” As if to say “You only get one more strike and you are out!”  Nope, He has declared that He will not bring it up again. 

How is it possible that a Holy God can treat us that way?  His name is Jesus.  “Jesus paid it all.  All to Him I owe.  Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.” Jesus Paid It All, Elvina M. Hall (1865), Public Domain 

God does not hold our sins against us because of Jesus and our faith in Him.  

“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” – Romans 8:1 

But – that forgiveness is not consummated until we repent and put our faith is Jesus – until we are born again by the Spirit. Just as Jesus said to Nicodemus in John 3, “You must be born again.” 

Jesus said “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life, no one comes to the Father but by Me.” – John 14:6 

To consummate the forgiveness process with God, you must be born again.  After that, you will continue to sin, and you must repent and seek forgiveness each time.  (1 John 1:9) Otherwise you will disrupt you relationship with the Father – but you will never terminate it. You are covered by the blood of Jesus. (Yes, I am a once saved, always saved guy) “What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.” What Can Wash Away My Sin, Robert Lowry (1876), Public Domain. 

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” – Romans 5:8 

God loved us but there had to be a sacrifice to atone for our sins before there could be any hope of restoration.  That was Jesus. 

“who Himself [Jesus] bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.” – 1 Peter 2:24-25 

Do people who have not been born again have any other way to be restored to the Father and find forgiveness for their sins? That would be a No!  

So to summarize: God loves all of us.  He offers forgiveness to everyone, but restoration to the Father can only happen through repentance and faith in Jesus.  Only because of Jesus, God does not fail to remember but overlooks our sins when we confess and repent. All of those who reject Jesus, in spite of the fact that God has offered forgiveness through Jesus, are bound for hell.  Without Jesus, it doesn’t matter how sorry they might be.  

Tomorrow, we will address our side of forgiveness – man toward God and the forgiveness process of man toward man.