God's Love & Forgiveness
God's Love & Forgiveness
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The effects of sin and guilt are extremely destructive in the Christian life. They undermine our ability to enjoy God’s love and to trust him and turn us back on our own efforts and resources. Through Jesus, God has made provision to set us free from both sin and guilt and to enjoy his love and forgiveness continually. In this session we’ll look at how to put things right when we mess up.
It’s important to see that there’s a difference between our eternal relationship with God as his sons and daughters and our daily friendship with him. God never abandons his children, but our sin messes up our daily friendship with him. When Jesus died on the cross he provided all the forgiveness we will ever need based not on our efforts but on his sacrifice (1 Peter 3v18). Confession allows us to receive and experience the forgiveness God has already extended to us.
1 John 1v5-9 says: This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. We learn several important things about getting right with God from these verses:
Without showing others, ask God now to make you aware of anything wrong between you and him and write down the specific things he shows you. The Devil tries to make us guilty with general accusations (e.g. you’re selfish) and we need to reject what he says. When the Spirit convicts us of sin he’s always specific (e.g. in this specific situation you had a selfish attitude), so confession needs to be specific. Give him time to show you everything in your life that’s not right with him. When you’ve finished your list, write over it 1 John 1v9. Thank God for his forgiveness and destroy the list. You may need to put things right with another person if you’ve wronged them. After you’ve confessed your sins any guilt which remains comes from the devil and you can reject it (Psalm 103v12, Psalm 32v5). We’re not forgiven because we confessed, but because Jesus died for us, confession is about experiencing the specific forgiveness that is already yours. By confessing our sin as soon as we become aware of it we can experience God’s love and forgiveness continually.
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