People think that God’s forgiveness will cause man to become audacious and reckless. Little do they know that the grace of God’s forgiveness is to bring man into the fear of God (Psa. 130:4). Our experience tells us that the more we are forgiven by God, the more we fear Him; the more we have received the grace of God’s forgiveness, the more we have the fear toward God. Only those who have never been forgiven by God and who have never tasted the grace of God’s forgiveness can behave in an audacious and reckless manner, doing whatever they please. Once we have tasted the grace of God’s forgiveness, we immediately have a fearful heart and we also hate sin.
The grace of God’s forgiveness causes us not only to fear God but also to love God. On the negative side, because we fear Him, we refrain from doing things that are displeasing to God; on the positive side, because we love Him, we do things that are pleasing to Him. The grace of God’s forgiveness, therefore, causes us not only to fear God and refrain from sinning, but even more to love God and be pleasing to Him. In Luke 7, the sinful woman, having been forgiven by the Lord, not only ceased from her sinful living but also poured out all she had and all she was on the Lord to express her love toward Him. The law, which condemns us, cannot free us from sin, but grace, which forgives us, can. The condemnation at Mount Sinai could cause man only to be afraid of God and go far away from Him, but the forgiveness at the mount of Golgotha causes man to love God and draw near to Him. The more we have been forgiven by God, the more we love God. The reason that sinful woman loved the Lord much was that she was forgiven much by the Lord. Therefore, God’s forgiveness of man results in man’s fearing Him and loving Him.
Forgiveness of sins is a gift given to man after Christ was exalted to the right hand of God. After Christ’s death and resurrection, He was exalted by God to His right hand as a ruling Leader and a Savior, to give the grace of forgiveness of sins to man (Acts 5:31). Based upon His redemption (Eph. 1:7) and through man’s repentance and believing, He can give man the forgiveness of sins as a gift.
After His death and resurrection, the Lord Jesus charged His disciples to proclaim in His name the gospel of repentance for forgiveness of sins to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem (Luke 24:47). After the Lord Jesus’ vicarious death for the sinners’ sins had been accomplished and had been verified by His resurrection, and after the Holy Spirit had been poured out upon the disciples, they began to proclaim the gospel of repentance for forgiveness of sins. On the day of Pentecost Peter said to the crowd, “Repent and be baptized, each one of you, upon the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). Forgiveness of sins is based upon the redemption of Christ accomplished through His death (Acts 10:43; Eph. 1:7; 1 Cor. 15:3); it is the initial and basic blessing of God’s full salvation. Based upon it, the blessing of God’s full salvation goes forth and consummates in the receiving of the gift of the Holy Spirit. Forgiveness of sins, therefore, is a main item of the proclamation of God’s New Testament economy.
Based upon the redemption of Christ, the believers have been forgiven of their sins and also freed, released, from God’s judgment, out of the curse of the law, from God’s wrath, and from the fear and slavery of death.
The believers were sinners in Adam and were subject to God’s judgment and condemnation (Rom. 5:12, 18-19). When God forgave them, He released them from His condemnation and judged them no more (John 3:18; 5:24).
All who were in Adam had sinned and contradicted the righteous law of God; thus they fell under the curse of God’s righteous law (Rom. 3:19-20; Gal. 3:10) and became those who deserved death and perdition. Now, according to God’s righteousness, Christ has suffered the curse of the law for the believers and has redeemed them out of the curse of the law (Gal. 3:13) to release them, to set them free.
Because men have sinned and violated God’s righteousness, they are under God’s wrath and have become children of wrath (Eph. 2:3). Hence, God’s wrath is waiting to explode on them (John 3:36), like thunder about to roar. Now, since the Lord Jesus has suffered the penalty of God’s wrath on the cross on behalf of the believers according to God’s righteousness and has made redemption for their sins, He delivers them from God’s future wrath; that is, He releases them from God’s wrath (Rom. 5:9; 1 Thes. 1:10).
Everyone has sinned, so everyone must die; and after death, there is judgment. This is what God has reserved for men (Heb. 9:27), and no one who has sinned can escape. Hence, man’s entire life is under the shadow of death; he is constantly threatened, controlled, and enslaved by death, having no freedom whatsoever (Heb. 2:15). Through His death on the cross the Lord Jesus has destroyed the Devil, who has the might of death (Heb. 2:14); He also nullified death (2 Tim. 1:10) that He might release us who were threatened, bound, and enslaved by death (Heb. 2:15), setting us free from the dominion of death.
Forgiveness of sins is the first part of God’s redemption, and it is received by us immediately upon our believing. It enables God to grant us the other parts of His redemption. When God forgives us of our sins, He not only cancels the charges of sin against us before God that we may be delivered from His righteous judgment, but also causes our sins to leave us. Furthermore, once He forgives us, He erases our sins from His memory and remembers them no longer. In the whole universe, only God and the Son of Man, Jesus, have the position of authority to forgive sins. God’s forgiveness is based upon the blood of the Lord Jesus. According to God’s righteousness, the Lord died on the cross and shed His blood for us, satisfying God’s righteous requirement, so that God can legally forgive us of our sins according to His righteousness. However, if we, the sinners, desire to receive the grace of God’s forgiveness, we must repent and believe. As long as we are willing to repent and believe, no matter how great or how broad our sins are, God’s forgiveness, which is based upon the precious blood of the Lord Jesus, can encompass them all. The grace of God’s forgiveness causes us to fear Him and refrain from doing things that are displeasing to Him; it also causes us to love Him and please Him. Furthermore, forgiveness is a gift given by the exalted Christ and a main item of the believers’ proclamation of God’s New Testament economy.
Freedom is the second part of redemption. Based upon the redemption of Christ, the believers have been forgiven of their sins, and they are thus freed, released, from God’s judgment, out of the curse of the law, from God’s wrath, and from the fear and slavery of death.