FORGIVEN!

FORGIVEN!

“Friend, your sins are forgiven.” —Luke 5:20

            I read the etymology of the word forgive which is “to give up desire or power to punish.   It is to pardon an offense.”  When Jesus said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven” He was saying that the paralytic would not be punished.  Instead He was pardoned for his offenses, for his sins.

            Brother and sister in our Lord Jesus Christ, what joy should fill our hearts in knowing Jesus has forgiven our sins and has pardoned us.  There would be no hope for us if He did not do so.  This is what Passover/Easter is all about—

 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (I John 1:9).  “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world” (I John 2:1-2).

“To die my Lord,” the disciples said

“can this be really true?”

Jesus answered, “Yes, My flock

this is what I must do.”

 

You see My Friends to be with Me

I first must die for you

I’ll take your sins upon Myself

and give you life anew

 

But do not fear or shed a tear

for I will rise again

Victorious, I will be

over the grave and over sin

 

A cross was given to the Son of Man

to carry on His own

Rejected by His people Israel

his identity is still unknown

 

At Calvary He was crucified

suffered in the midst of thieves

Yet still, in all that torment

He could continue to answer pleas —tw

             Jesus calls us friends— “You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you” (John 15:14-15).  We who know Jesus have such a privileged position.  Let us rejoice in the forgiveness He has extended to us and proclaim this good news to others that they too can experience this forgiveness from sin and salvation in Jesus.  Yes, Dear Father may this be so by the power of Your Holy Spirit and in the authority of Your Son Jesus.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_ZWEO36jok