The Lie of Forgiveness

By Daniel B Niceley

This book maintains a central focus on the finished work of Christ as it relates to sin before and after salvation. A distinction is made between the Old and New Covenants as well as the identity of the intended recipients of each covenant. The believer's new identity in Christ is a major theme throughout the book. Such issues as continual cleansin

• Language: English
• Publisher: Finish Line Ministries
• Release date: Jul 6, 2015
• ISBN: 9780692475188

Book preview

Chapter 1

FORGIVENESS—WHY?

If you have lived long enough to develop a relationship with another human being—a parent, friend, co-worker, spouse, boyfriend, or girlfriend—then, at some point, you have probably either asked for or offered forgiveness. Unfortunately, at one time or another all of us seem to find ourselves in a tension-filled relationship due to our actions or the other persons’ actions. When these relationship tensions arise, we have a few options. We can ignore the tension, live with it and let it create bitterness within us, or we can deal with it in hopes of restoring the relationship. Dealing with human beings is one challenge but what about God? How do we deal with tension between us and God?

God took the initiative to set up systems with various levels of forgiveness between Himself and mankind. The story of the Garden of Eden provides the first example of God’s forgiveness. Without reciting the entire story of the fall of man from Genesis Chapter 3, the highlights are as follows. The first humans, Adam and Eve, disobeyed God by eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. God had forbidden them to do so. As a result, they lost their spiritual connection with God and forfeited their tension-free relationship with Him. Mankind (Adam and Eve) was now physically alive but spiritually dead. Their spirits were cut off from God as their spiritual life source.

God took the initiative to restore this relationship between Himself and man by promising that at some time in the future, He would send a perfect sacrifice, not to cover sin, but to take it away (Genesis 3:15). As Adam and Eve learned the results of their disobedience, once again, God took the initiative to restore the relationship between Himself and them by killing an animal and making coverings for Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:21). These animal skin coverings would serve as the first in a long line of God-given examples of how man could have the punishment for his disobedience set aside until the time when a perfect sacrifice would come to take His punishment away forever. There is a very important principal taught in this section of the Bible. This Biblical principle is vital to understand. The principle continues throughout human history. When disobedience or sin occurs, something must die and shed its blood in order to pay for the sin committed. God only recognizes blood as the proper payment for sin.

The spiritual death that Adam and Eve caused has affected the entire human race. Every human being that has been born on planet earth since Adam and Eve has inherited spiritual death (Romans 5:12). We can see this idea in the first three verses of Genesis Chapter 5. God made Adam and Eve in His image (Genesis 1:26), meaning they were created with a spirit that was alive and connected with God in full fellowship. But in Genesis 5, we see that Adam and Eve’s offspring were not born in the image of God but in the image of Adam. All of Adam’s descendants, including you and me, have been born in the image of Adam, with a spirit that is dead and completely cut off from God. This separation is why we not only need forgiveness for Adam’s offense, but we are born spiritually dead and in desperate need of spiritual life.

People who understand that they have offended God, either vicariously through the original sin of Adam or through their own personal acts of rebellion against Him, also understand that they need His forgiveness. Forgiveness, especially from God, is very attractive to most people. If you have attended many religious services, you might have heard someone talk about the forgiveness that God offers to those who know they need it. The Bible tells its readers about God’s forgiveness that is offered to mankind through the sacrificial death of His Son Jesus.

However, many preachers explain God’s forgiveness as follows …does this sound familiar to you?

Maybe you have been told that you must be baptized, christened, or sprinkled and become a member of a certain local church or denomination in order to be in a right relationship with God.

Maybe you have been told that if you acknowledge that you have offended God and are a sinner, and pray to God and ask Him to forgive you of your sins, and take you to Heaven when you die, that He will do so.

Maybe you have been told that you are forgiven of all your sins, past, present, and future and that when you die you will go to Heaven.

Maybe you have been told that if you prayed the sinner’s prayer, and really meant it, that you are now born again and are a Christian.

But sometimes in the next breath after these statements, the preacher will begin to describe a series of actions that you must take when you sin because even though you have been pronounced a Christian by the preacher, you still sin. Did you catch that? Did you hear the lie? This is the cleverly concealed lie of forgiveness. The best lie is the one that contains an element of truth. Part of this lie is not a lie at all, but actual truth. Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross did pay for all mankind’s sin for all time. Hebrews 10:12 reads: "But when this priest had offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, he sat down at the right hand of God", Jesus offered one sacrifice, His blood, for all sins for all time. Then He sat down since He had finished His offering. When His sacrifice is applied to a sinner through faith, all sin is removed, taken away, and never to be remembered by God ever again. This removal of sin applies to all past sins, present sins, and future sins. It also applies to sin (singular) meaning how a person is viewed by God. God views everyone as a sinner, meaning they are in Adam or part of Adam’s spiritual family, until they are taken out of Adam and placed in Christ. This is an action that is performed exclusively by the Holy Spirit apart from any human effort. 1 Corinthians 15:22 says, "For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive." In other words, changing spiritual identities is a passive act the Holy Spirit performs in the life of the believer. Sometimes people have a hard time understanding how God could forgive them of future sins that they have not committed yet. When did Jesus sacrifice His life on the cross to pay for all sins? About 2,000 years ago. How many sins had you personally committed at that time? None, you were not even born yet. In your case, every sin that you would ever commit in your life was considered future relative to the death of Christ.

God justifies, or declares righteous, the believer based on the finished work of Christ on the cross.

But they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Romans 3:24).

God removes the believers’ sin based on the blood of Christ.

And he entered once for all into the most holy place not by the blood of goats and calves but by his own blood, and so he himself secured eternal redemption (Hebrews 9:12).

God exchanges His perfection or righteousness for the sinner’s dead works.

God made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we would become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21).

God gives the believer His life in the person of the Holy Spirit to live inside the person and to serve as the source of spiritual life.

I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Galatians 2:20).

Since all of the above points are true, then why would this person think it necessary to take action regarding any act of sin committed after salvation? Either the person has had all sins removed by the blood of Christ and is now considered clean before God or he is not. He is either saved or he is not. He is either righteous (meaning right before God) or he is not. The deception of this cleverly cloaked lie of forgiveness is that a person is really only forgiven of past sins, but not present or future ones. According to this lie, all present and future sins must be dealt with in a way other than the Cross of Christ. This type of teaching says: You are forgiven of all your sins until you sin again. Is this really what the Bible teaches? Just before Jesus died on the Cross, He said, It is finished. The lie of forgiveness says, It is not finished.

Chapter 2

HOW DID WE GET

TO THIS POINT?

Today’s modern world is filled with technology. Many people use computers to carry out the most basic tasks for them on a daily basis. When a computer is purchased, it must initially have an operating system loaded onto its hard drive in order for the computer to know how to process incoming data. Without this operating system, the computer cannot determine how to process the data that it receives.

How do people determine what is right or wrong? The human conscience is an internal warning device that must be programed. Within every human conscience, God has installed the initial operating system called general revelation. Romans 1:19-24 reveals the fact that every human being has been given enough revelation of God to respond by acknowledging