Asking For What You Already Possess

"If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God." Hebrews 10:26-27

Denise, a distraught, Christian woman, called into a radio program struggling with forgiveness. She said, "I did some really bad things in my life and I'm trying to get everybody to forgive me." After admitting that she left a church she said, "I'm lost and I don't know where God is. I don't know what church to go to. I don't know anything and I feel like I'm lacking in my belief." She concluded that she feels like all of this is, "one hurdle I can't get over." After one host tried to encourage and reassure her, he referred her to a church he felt could help her. At this point the other host chimed and said. "I think it is real important to remember that ... I am sure by this point you have already asked the Lord to forgive you for the things that you mentioned are happening in your life and that you're dealing with. And when you asked Him the first time, He forgives you the first time." When I heard her say, "He forgives you the first time," red flags went up. The program is live-streamed on social media and gives the audience the opportunity to comment about what is being said. So, I took the opportunity to share my thoughts on asking forgiveness from God and that He forgives us the "first time" we ask. I said, "She was forgiven before she asked. She needs to be asked her understanding of the Gospel and start there." One of the hosts read my comment on air and took the opportunity to respond to me. He said, "The fact of the matter is we are required to ask for forgiveness. We are to confess our sins and God is faithful and just to forgive us (i.e. 1 John 1:9). We can do the timetable thing, if you want, and see which comes first. Really, the ultimate thing was she needs to know that God has a plan for her life and there is hope."  I must admit, I am not sure what he meant by the "timetable thing." I would only be speculating. His comment about Denise knowing God has a plan for her life, while sounding good, comes across like a platitude and not much more. I agree that she needs to know there is hope, but being reminded that she needs to ask God's forgiveness is not how one gets hope. Honestly, she appeared to already have done this and, yet, she is feeling lost and hopeless. But, in response to his affirming we have to ask forgiveness and referencing 1 John 1:9, as evidence, led me to make one last reply. I wrote back saying, "Sorry brother, 1 John 1:9 is for unbelievers; for those the truth is not in. Rather, 2 Corinthians 5:19 says God is not counting men's sins against them. Hebrews 10:17-18 says God is not remembering our sins and there is no sacrifice (i.e. asking forgiveness) for sins. We are free to approach God with confidence because He is not holding our sins against us.Time to rest in His finished work and be reconciled to God." The program ended soon after our brief encounter, so he wasn't able to respond. Although, I was not expecting a response, my main reason for saying anything was to give another perspective on the topic of forgiveness that the hosts and listeners are probably not used to hearing.

As for Denise, she said something early on in her conversation that is the key, in my opinion, to much of her problem. She said, "I'm lacking in my belief." Hearing her say this is why I mentioned in my first comment to the radio program that she needs to be asked about her understanding of the Gospel. The reason she is struggling with forgiveness is because she is believing something wrong about forgiveness. In short, the Gospel is sin, death, forgiveness and the restoration of life. Salvation is God restoring His life, lost when Adam sinned, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, to all who accept Him by faith. And because of the forgiveness we have, through the death of Jesus Christ on the cross, that life will never leave us; that is why it is an eternal life. Our sins have been paid in full for eternity. Therefore, it is not an act of faith to ask for something you already possess. If you believe you aren't forgiven what are the consequences? The consequences are that you will be like those mentioned in Hebrews 10:26-27. Believing that the sacrifice of Jesus Christ was not once and for all, you are left to continually ask God to forgive sins He has already forgiven, no longer remembers and for which there are no more sacrifices required. Each time you ask God to forgive your sins is like performing a sacrifice God does not honor and only keeps putting Jesus Christ back on the cross. You are effectively telling the Lord that His sacrifice was not enough. You are also diminishing the seriousness of sin. Sin is so serious that it requires the death of God as payment! How is simply apologizing, asking God to forgive you, meeting that requirement? Fact is, it's not. And because you believe God still holds your sins against you, the end result is feeling like Denise. Somewhere in her mind she has a fearful expectation of judgment and thinks she is an enemy of God because her sins are being counted against her. If truth sets us free than it must be true that error puts us in bondage. Denise, and I'm afraid many others like her, is bound up by her sins because she is not believing the truth about what God has done with her sins. There will always be a sin needing forgiveness, a sacrifice needing to be performed and someone there to tell you to keep at it. Her entire Christian life becomes one of being trapped in a cycle of sin, ask forgiveness, sin, ask forgiveness, repeat. She will struggle to grow in her faith, lose the joy of her salvation, believe God is disgusted with her, always be focused on herself and not on God, bounce from church to church and live in fear, all because she believes the sin issue is still alive between her and God. And this doesn't even touch on what happens if she forgets to ask forgiveness, but believes she needs to. What then? My prayer is that Denise will one day learn the truth about forgiveness and be set free. Forgiven isn't something we get, it's something we are!