The Forgiveness of God

In Him we have . . . the forgiveness of sins . . . —Ephesians 1:7

Beware of the pleasant view of the fatherhood of God: God is so kind and loving that of course He will forgive us. That thought, based solely on emotion, cannot be found anywhere in the New Testament. The only basis on which God can forgive us is the tremendous tragedy of the Cross of Christ. To base our forgiveness on any other ground is unconscious blasphemy. The only ground on which God can forgive our sin and reinstate us to His favor is through the Cross of Christ. There is no other way! Forgiveness, which is so easy for us to accept, cost the agony at Calvary. We should never take the forgiveness of sin, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and our sanctification in simple faith, and then forget the enormous cost to God that made all of this ours.

Forgiveness is the divine miracle of grace. The cost to God was the Cross of Christ. To forgive sin, while remaining a holy God, this price had to be paid. Never accept a view of the fatherhood of God if it blots out the atonement. The revealed truth of God is that without the atonement He cannot forgive— He would contradict His nature if He did. The only way we can be forgiven is by being brought back to God through the atonement of the Cross. God’s forgiveness is possible only in the supernatural realm.

Compared with the miracle of the forgiveness of sin, the experience of sanctification is small. Sanctification is simply the wonderful expression or evidence of the forgiveness of sins in a human life. But the thing that awakens the deepest fountain of gratitude in a human being is that God has forgiven his sin. Paul never got away from this. Once you realize all that it cost God to forgive you, you will be held as in a vise, constrained by the love of God.

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神的赦免

我們藉這愛子的血……過犯得以赦免。 （弗一7）

別以為神既是父親－－他既是這樣慈愛，必會赦免我們。這種情感作用在新約是沒有的。神赦免我們，唯一的根源就是基督十字架上的大悲劇；若把赦免放在任何別的根據上，是無形的褻瀆。神赦免哦我們，唯一原因是叫我們重生與他相和好，是藉基督的十字架，此外別無他法。赦免是多麼容易接受的事，可是卻付上加略山的苦楚。我們接受赦罪，接受所賜的聖靈，憑單純的信心得以成聖，卻忘記了是神付出極大的代價為我們成就的。

赦免是神恩典的神聖奇蹟：他要付出基督的十字架，才能赦罪，而仍不失為聖潔的神。切勿接受一個把救贖刪去，只以神為父的觀點。神的啟示是他不能赦免；若赦免就違反他的本性。我們蒙赦的唯一途徑，是藉救贖歸回神。神的赦免惟有在超然的領域上，才不反其自然。

若拿赦罪的奇蹟來比較，成聖的經歷就顯得微不足道。成聖不過是人生命蒙赦罪之後奇妙的表現，在人心中挑起最深感激的，該是神赦免罪。保羅從未忘懷這一點。你一旦體會神為赦免你的罪所付出的，你就會被抓住，被神的愛深深激勵。

祈禱◆噢，主啊，為著你透過主耶穌的恩典，向我顯明你至高的父性，我讚美你。噢，我因此可以成為天父的孩子了！