Forgiveness requires a response on our part.

Suppose someone is proven guilty of dangerous driving. No matter how much the judge likes the person, he must declare the law-breaker guilty and fine him appropriately. It is quite legal, however, for the judge to offer to pay the fine out of the judge’s own pocket. It is then up to the offender whether he accepts the judge’s gift.

There is one more consideration, however. If the reckless driver intended continuing the same offenses, he would be a danger to the community. It would be wrong to pardon someone who plans to continue flouting the law.

Likewise, the Perfect One is obligated to consider our attitude to sin before releasing us from eternal condemnation. He does not insist that we never fall; simply that we want never to fall. I am referring neither to your actions nor to sinlessness, but to a mental attitude of vital importance to God. The Bible calls it repentance (Scriptures) – a change of heart regarding sin; a willingness for God to deliver us from sin. It involves placing our trust in him, rather than in our own ability to control our lives; giving more credence to his wise and loving demands than to our own whims. We may find it virtually impossible to even desire a sin-free life, but we must at least want God to make us willing.

Suppose you are caught in a burning building. Just in time a fireman hears your terrified screams, bursts through the flames and begins to carry you to safety. But you fight him off. ‘No!’ you say, ‘I don’t want to burn, but I want to stay here.’

‘You idiot!’ shouts the fireman, ‘This whole building is about to go up. Either you leave this place immediately, or you’re dead!’

Likewise, we either let Jesus take us from our sin, or we will die in our sin.

The essence of sin is disobedience. So to be saved from sin is to be delivered from disobedience. No matter what you pray, heaven knows you cannot want the Savior to deliver you from disobedience if you want to remain in disobedience.

It is sheer hypocrisy to ask God to take away the sins we hate, if we plan to keep the sins we love. It is blissfully easy to make a sin seem little. We can never fool God. Tragically, we often fool ourselves. Adam’s sin, with its cataclysmic results, was not mass murder, hideous perversion or demon worship. In God’s sight their sin was so gross that Adam and Eve had to be forever banished from Eden, and yet they had lived better lives than any saint.

The Almighty longs to give us holy desires and victory over sin, but he never abuses his power by forcing this upon us against our will. Many people, though they would never admit it, want to keep their favorite sin more than they want forgiveness. Though it would grieve God greatly, we will rot in any sin we deliberately choose to remain in (Scriptures). This would result in our entire lives being cut off from God.

Just as we cannot let a jet take us into the sky while keeping one toe permanently on the tarmac, neither can we let Christ take us to heaven if we stubbornly insist on keeping a part of us outside of his will. Our own efforts will never get us off the ground, but we must agree to Christ’s desire to lift every part of us away from the world. This has nothing to do with our own moral struggles, but simply permitting Christ to save us from the sins we love – giving him permission to wrench our darling sins from us.

I reel at the thought of the hordes who have tragically missed this point. Another analogy will confirm its centrality.

You are trapped in a sea of sin. Bottomless waters lap towering cliffs. No one can tread water forever. The murky depths terrify you, except for one spot. You’ve found a place where the deadly waters seem beautiful and the sensual waves exquisite. How can anyone take seriously your cries for help if you’re splashing around enjoying yourself? And what’s the point of saving someone who is hell-bent on plunging back after every rescue attempt? No one with a suicidal commitment to a sin can be saved.

How can God take seriously your request to be removed from sin’s penalty if you have no desire to be removed from sin’s ‘pleasure’? The sin you love is as deadly as the sin you hate.

This doesn’t mean you must initiate a sinless life to enjoy forgiveness. We’re in sin’s death grip. Only Jesus can break it. But do you want him to? Do you want to be rid forever of your favorite sin?

The Almighty gives us dignity by respecting our wishes. If we don’t want him to be our God – ie in total control of our lives – it grieves and appalls him, but in his gentleness he will permit us to go our own way. No one has suffered the pain of rejected love like God.

The issue is not ‘works’ – our attempts to do right – but faith – trusting God’s loving wisdom above our own so that we give up running our own lives – trying to be our own god – let God be God of our lives.

You can never be forced to love someone. Nor can you be forced to genuinely want purity of heart. The Giver has done all he can. It’s over to you.

By genuinely wanting to be removed from both the penalty and ‘pleasure’ of all sin and trusting the pardoning power of Jesus’ sacrifice, you give God free rein to do what he longs to do – pay your debt to justice and credit to your account the moral perfection of Christ. That makes you so pure in his eyes that you need no longer be isolated from him. You can then commence an endless communion with the most wonderful Person in the universe.

John the Baptist was sent by God to prepare the way for Jesus. The crux of his message was “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near” (Matthew 3:2). And, according to Matthew 4:17, these very words summarize Jesus’ message (Note).

Jesus’ primary mission was to establish with humanity the prophesied new covenant, sealed by his sacrificial death. ‘Testament’ is another word for covenant. Hence the expression, ‘last will and testament’ – a declaration that comes into effect only upon a person’s death – and “we’re living in the New Testament now.”

When Jesus was about to die, he emphasized the centrality of the new covenant by telling his followers that this is precisely what they are to focus on when remembering him:

1 Corinthians 11:25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me’ (also Luke 22:19-20; Matthew 26:28; Mark 14:24)

The new covenant means that the desire to obey God’s command is divinely seeded into our very heart.

Ezekiel 11:19-21 I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God.

Ezekiel 36:26-27 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.

Jeremiah 31:31-34 ‘The time is coming,’ declares the LORD, ‘when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,’ declares the LORD. ‘This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,’ declares the LORD. ‘I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,’ declares the LORD. ‘For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.’

John 14:15 If you love me, you will obey what I command.

Temptation can be insidiously strong at times, making sin seem highly desirable. Nevertheless, if you are unwilling to obey all of God’s commands no matter what the cost, then it is likely that you have not yet experienced the miracle of the new covenant, and that you are deluded if you think you have been spiritually reborn or suppose that in God’s eyes you are any different from pagans.

Repent Later?

You know how strongly Jesus attacked hypocrisy. He sees right through sham repentance – asking forgiveness when you have every intention of continuing to sin, should the opportunity arise, or being so stupid as to be pleased that you had sinned, or to think that you got away with an evil scheme. A death-bed repentance, for example, though possible, is probably much rarer than is often thought, because a person who realizes he is dying knows his life of sin is over anyhow. He could be quite pleased he sinned and now imagines he can have the best of both worlds – a life of sin on earth and an eternity of pleasure in heaven. God is not mocked.

Anyone planning to sin and ‘repent’ later is deluding himself. Genuine repentance can never be planned because no-one who is genuine would ever attempt such a travesty. Such a person teeters on the edge of eternal destruction. The piercing eyes of the all-knowing Lord exposes every trace of hypocrisy. If one’s regret is fake, one’s salvation is equally fake.

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