Find Forgiveness at the Cross

2 Peter 3: 9, The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. NKJV

When was the last time you heard a sermon that was centered on the "Cross of Christ?" Anytime I think about the love of God and how He placed all of my sin and the sin of every person born into this world on Jesus, I am humbled. At the cross of Jesus, there is personal forgiveness, as well as forgiveness for all mankind for all generations.

Have you stopped to consider all that God did for us on the cross where Jesus hung? We were guilty, yet the Father forgave us. Jesus was innocent, yet it pleased the Father to lay upon Him the iniquity of all mankind. Long before you and I were born, Jesus had already paid the penalty for our sins against the Father. Does this mean that everyone is going to heaven? No, it doesn't. However, it does mean that the way has been made for every person to enter heaven. Unfortunately, not all will choose to accept the free gift of eternal life.

We are to acknowledge the death of Jesus on the cross as payment for our sin while we confess our sins before Him. Why do you suppose the Father chose to expiate our sin debt in this manner? God knows that Satan operates through the power of condemnation and works to hold people in bondage. God by-passed all of Satan's schemes when He laid all of our sin debt on Jesus and has given to us the free gift of eternal life.

If you struggle with guilt and shame as a child of God, even though you know you have been forgiven, then remember this one truth. You were saved by faith apart from your own works. Guess what? You walk in that same saving grace by faith as well. If we begin struggling with guilt, shame, and condemnation to the point we can't obey God's will, then know these are indicators that tell us we are slipping from walking by faith and have gone back under the law of works.

While on the cross, Jesus asked the Father to forgive mankind because He knew that we had been blinded by our sinful ways. The power of forgiveness breaks the bondage and the blindness of sin off of our hearts and lives. Do you need to be free from condemnation and guilt today? Ask the Father to forgive you and to fill you with His unconditional love and, for Christ's sake, He will.

Forgiven in Christ,

Pastor Asa