God’s forgiveness is a result of His love for us.  Just as God made a decision to love us, He made a decision to forgive us.  The love of God could not be complete without the forgiveness of God.  He wanted the fellowship with mankind restored that was lost by Adam’s disobedience and that couldn’t be accomplished without the penalty for disobedience (sin) being paid. The problem was that mankind could not pay that price because of sin in their heart.  So, God sent His Son Jesus, holy and without sin, to pay the penalty for our sin.

God made the decisions to love and forgive us, and Jesus made the decision to lay down His life as the sacrifice to pay the penalty for our sin.  Praise the Lord! 

If you question that Jesus had the authority to make that decision, then look at the Garden of Gethsemane.  Luke 22:42 tells us that while praying Jesus said, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from me; nevertheless, not My will, but yours, be done”.  Cleary Jesus made the decision to submit to the Father’s will.  I’m so very glad He did!

We receive His forgiveness the same way as we receive Salvation; by following the instruction of Romans 10:9-10.  It’s called faith.  We believe with our heart God’s Word, and say with our mouth what we believe. 

According to Matthew 28:28 Jesus was given all authority to forgive sin. Psalm 103:3 tells us that He forgives all our iniquities.  We must understand that sin is not always just “what we do and say, but also what we think”; but God covered that problem too.  Acts 8:22 instructs us to repent of our wickedness and pray for God to forgive the thoughts in our heart.

Another segment of forgiveness is that in order for God’s forgiveness to be applied to our lives, we must receive His forgiveness.  It doesn’t happen just because God forgives us, we have a part to play too.  We cannot earn God’s love, neither can we earn His forgiveness; we must receive them both by faith.  Psalm 86:5 states that God is good and ready to forgive, and has abundant mercy for all those who call upon Him. Calling upon Him is our part.

For a person who has already received Salvation in Jesus, and then has sinned and wants forgiveness 1 John 1:9 is the Scripture to use to believe and receive forgiveness from the Lord. (“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”).

For the person who wants to receive Salvation provided by Jesus, follow the instructions of Romans 10:8-10: “if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation”.

Romans 10:13 and Acts 2:21 both tell us that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved; that also means forgiven.  God doesn’t want anyone to perish so that is why He sent Jesus: to save us and provide the avenue for God’s forgiveness to be available to us.  (Matthew 18:14, John 3:15-17)

Have a great week knowing that God loves you and forgives you.