When God Says He Has Forgiven You He Really Means It -By Joe Dauda

Think about this for a moment: the New Jerusalem built by God Himself has 12 gates and on those gates will be the names of the 12 tribes of the children of Israel; Revelation 21:11. Apart from Joseph who has no sin recorded against him in the whole of the Bible, and Benjamin whose life was not explored in the account of Genesis, the other 10 sons of Israel were guilty of the most heinous crimes you can ever imagine. The most serious of these sins of the sons of Israel was the fact that they conspired against their own brother, attempted to murder him in cold blood, and then opted to sell him into a life of slavery. And slavery was a sentence to a lifetime of great distress and agony. To cover their tracks, these malicious sons of Israel lied to their aged father and presented to him concocted evidence to prove that their younger brother had been slain by a wild animal. There were other specific sins that were committed by some sons of Israel. The point is that, in spite of all these (because these men apparently repented) God so completely forgave them to the extent that, to enter into the new Jerusalem, the redeemed saints would have to pass through gates bearing the names of these “gangsters”. As for the wall of the New Jerusalem, the Bible states that it has 12 foundations. Guess the names that will be on these foundations? It will be the names of the disciples of Jesus Christ; Revelation 21:14. I’m talking about characters like Peter, who denied Christ 3 times; I’m talking about the 2 sons of Zebedee who wanted to be the greatest among the disciples; I’m talking about Thomas, who would not believe that Jesus Christ had resurrected without physical evidence presented to him personally by the appearance of Jesus Christ Himself; I’m talking about the 11 disciples who all abandoned their Lord and Master and fled when He was arrested; Matthew 26:56, 57.

Matthew 26:56-57
. . . Then all the disciples forsook him, and fled. And they that had laid hold on Jesus led him away to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were assembled.

And how about David? 

Murderer! 

Adulterer!

Yet, from all indications, David will live forever with Christ in His kingdom. 

Do not exclude yourself from the best deal in the world through ignorance on this subject. You need to know what Jesus Christ purchased for every human being when He died on the cross. Such is the grace of God and it is critically important that you understand that, when God forgives you, He really and truly means it. 

And how do you obtain this total and everlasting forgiveness? 

That too is amazingly easy.

1 John 1:9

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”.

There will be those who will fool themselves while trying to outsmart God out of this arrangement of blanket forgiveness contingent upon confession of sin. But I assure you that you will only be hurting yourself if you try to abuse the grace of God. He knows too much to be deceived. 

Galatians 6:7
Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

But He is gracious enough to forgive every sin confessed in sincerity. It goes without saying that most people shy away from asking for God’s forgiveness because they have no plan to stop committing sin. If this is your true condition, do not be discouraged. Tell God that you would like His forgiveness (which sane person will reject a debt-relief deal like this) but that you do not trust your heart and that you may sin again. There is nothing you cannot tell God. Then ask Him to change your heart. Are you aware that the Bible states that, although our salvation is in our hands, it is God that influences our will to make this so?

Philippians 2:12-13
. . . work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

It may be a gradual process but God can change you. For those who would not accept God’s deal and who would not repent and who would not plead with God to help them in this regard, the future is quite bleak and the result of their poor decision will come at a time they would wish they were God’s friend.

Revelation 6:15-17

And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

Except God’s forgiveness is real, none of us will be saved on the last day. The Bible was written to assure us that God means everything He has promised — including the promise of forgiveness for all those who truly repent and truly confess their sins. So please, do not allow any devil in human form or in actual form make you feel guilty for sins you have confessed and forsaken. 

Proverbs 28:13
He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.

You may still have to suffer the consequences of your actions — for example, complete your jail time for murder or stealing — but the eternal consequences of your sin, which is eternal separation from God, will be removed. And this is the good news called the gospel: that Jesus Christ has paid the price for our sins. It does not mean that Jesus Christ will come and magically resolve the earthly consequences of all your bad decisions — even though His grace can make a difference and His grace is sufficient for you — but that you will be free from that eternal separation from God. This eternal separation is what the Bible refers to as the second death. It is the destruction in the fire of hell from which there can be no subsequent resurrection. The fire is an eternal fire that cannot be quenched until it has consumed everything — like it could not be quenched until it consumed Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them. Not everybody is aware that it was eternal fire that God used to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. This was so that no fire brigade in the world will be able to put it out. Sodom and Gomorrah had to be burnt to the ground. That’s what God’s unquenchable fire does.

Jude 1:7
Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

May God have mercy on all of us. 

Messages like this are available on my Youtube Channel. Just click on the link below:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCo6UXQjlfG4FWFT5mSnjCkQ/videos

For further information on this and other Biblical topics, please write to therepeatedsecondangelmessage@gmail.com