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A Personal Devotional by Debbie Hall
Sins that Can’t Be Forgiven
“About this time lived Jesus, a wise man, if it be proper to call him a man; for he was a doer of wonderful works, - a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews and many of the Greeks. He was the Christ. And when Pilate, at the instigation of the principle men among us, had condemned him to the cross, those who loved him at first did not forsake him. For he appeared to them alive again on the third day; the divine prophets having foretold these and many other wonderful things concerning him. And the sect of Christians, so named after him, is not extinct to this day.”
The above quote is not found in the Bible, and it was not written by a Christian. It was written by the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, within 50 years of Christ’s death and resurrection.
It is of course of great value to have the Bible’s teachings confirmed by a secular historian, but I want to focus in on Josephus’ observation that Christians are those who receive the truth with pleasure. In John 17:17 Jesus prayed to God the Father that He would “sanctify them by Your truth- Your word is truth.” Christians accept the truth claims of the Bible and make Biblical truth the standard by which they evaluate all matters of living.
I make that statement above because in our day there are many who want to be regarded as believers but also reject the Bible’s clear teachings on such things as sexual perversion. Don’t misunderstand me- a person can become a believer, be forgiven of their sins, and still struggle with temptation in given areas. Large parts of the New Testament letters are written to encourage immature believers to press on to spiritual maturity. Even mature Christians know that if they are not vigilant in their faith they can experience disturbing setbacks.
But what of those who don’t struggle with sin- they celebrate it, and flaunt their lifestyle, and even claim that God created them to do the things they are doing. Here I remind us all that the Bible does teach that there is such a thing as sins that can’t be forgiven.
What sins can’t I be forgiven of, Pastor Danny?
You can’t be forgiven of sins you haven’t repented of! By definition forgiveness of sins can only come after confession of sins to God. Confession means agreeing with God that something is sin based on what He says about it in the Bible, not what opinion polls or editorial columns or Hollywood stars or media elites or this world’s learned say about it. You cannot claim scripture’s promises of salvation without heeding scripture’s warnings about sin and repentance:
“Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.” -Acts 3:19
To repent means to turn. We must all have had that once and for all moment where we turned from sin and self-government to agreeing with God that we are sinners that have lived our lives in rebellion against God and His revealed truth. Then in our moment of anguish over our sin we are presented with the pivotal moment- we learn that Christ bore the punishment of our sin on the Cross, and if we will receive Him, He will forgive us and indwell us and take us from where we are to where He wants us to be:
“As many as received Him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.” -John 1:12
“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.” -Ephesians 1:7
When we repent and believe, we are forever agreeing that what God calls sin we will seek to shun as we strive to let Jesus rule in our hearts. In at least one Eastern European country, the born again are actually called “repenters” for this very reason.
William Newell said it almost perfectly in his hymn, “At Calvary:”
Years I spent in vanity and pride, caring not my Lord was crucified, knowing not it was for me He died, On Calvary
By God’s Word at last my sin I learned, than I trembled at the law I’d spurned, till my guilty soul imploring turned to Calvary
O the love that drew salvation’s plan, O the grace that brought it down to man, O the mighty gulf that God did span, At Calvary
Mercy there was great and grace was free, pardon there was multiplied to me, there my burdened soul found liberty, at Calvary
I’ll close with the apostle John saying it perfectly:
“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” -I John 1:8-9
Rev. Danny Campbell
Pastor, Wayne
Hills Baptist Church