Are Sinners Forgiven Too?

Author: Paul Ellis
Website: Escape To Reality
Post Title: Are Sinners Forgiven Too?
Written on:  18.08.2011

I get asked more questions about forgiveness than any other subject. “Am I really forgiven? What if I sin and don’t repent? What if I don’t confess? What if I backslide?” I have written numerous posts on all these points, but forgiveness seems to be a blind-spot for many. We just can’t get it into our heads that God might forgive us without any action on our part. That just sounds too good to be true. What are you trying to tell us? That God is good? That the gospel is actually good news?

If you’re uncertain about God’s forgiveness, your faith will be weak and unproductive. So to demolish any uncertainty, I want to ask a bold question: Are sinners forgiven? You would have to agree that if God has forgiven sinners, then surely He has forgiven Christians who don’t repent or who forget to confess some of their sins? If we can see from scripture that sinners are forgiven, then just maybe we’ll be able to rest assured that we are forgiven too.

Four prophets

So are sinners forgiven? I’m going to call on four great prophets to answer this question. Here’s David:

As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. (Psalm 103:12)

When David sinned with Bathsheba, everyone knew about it. It was a public sin that led to death for at least two people and brought David pain and regret. He said, “I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me” (Psalm 51:3). By all rights, David should’ve been executed for his sin. The law covenant under which he lived had a legitimate claim on his life (Leviticus 20:10). But David appealed to the One who is greater than the law. “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to your loving-kindness” (Psalm 51:1, NKJV). David was not trying to excuse his sin – he knew full well that he had done a terrible thing. But he had a revelation of a compassionate Father “who does not treat us as our sins deserve” (Psalm 103:10). He asked God to “blot out my transgressions” (Psalm 51:1), and through the prophet Isaiah, God said He would:

I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more. (Isaiah 43:25)

Isaiah 42-45 is a four chapter advertisement for the new covenant. Isaiah 42 tells us about the coming Savior and Isaiah 43 tells us about the “new thing” that He will do. What is the new thing? “I will blot out your transgressions and remember your sins no more.” What an amazing new thing! Under the old covenant, sins were recorded and remembered (Leviticus 4-6). But under the new covenant they would be blotted out and remembered no more. Isaiah was not the only one to see this coming. Here’s Jeremiah:

This is the covenant I will make… I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more. (Jeremiah 31:33-34)

Imagine hearing this while living under the old law covenant. I would’ve asked, “When, Lord? When will you do this great new thing?” Well by the time we get to Hebrews we learn that God has already done it. Jesus appeared “once for all… to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself” (Hebrews 9:26). “When this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, He sat down” (Hebrews 10:12). When Jesus did away with all sin, the prophecies were fulfilled. Hebrews even quotes them just to make sure we don’t miss the connection: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more” (Hebrews 10:17). Jesus didn’t die just for confessed and repented sins. He died for all sin. Just look at the words of our fourth prophet, John the Baptist:

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29)

Whose sin did Jesus take away? The sin of the world! Does the world include sinners? Yes! Then sinners are forgiven. Their sins are no longer being recorded:

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. (2 Corinthians 5:18-19)

Men have sins but God is neither counting them nor remembering them. How can you say such things! Sinners aren’t saved! I didn’t say they were. But they are forgiven:

When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins… (Colossians 2:13)

When were your sins forgiven? When you were dead in your sins! In other words, you were forgiven before you repented, before you confessed, before you were born again. In fact, you were forgiven long before you were born. How is this possible? I didn’t do anything to merit His forgiveness. Exactly! That’s why it’s called grace.

Don’t believe the bad news

God doesn’t need your permission to forgive you. His forgiveness is entirely based on the finished work of the cross. Those who claim we must do stuff to be forgiven are saying that Jesus needs to come and die again, that once wasn’t enough. This is called bad news and it’s not in the Bible. Don’t believe it. Jesus didn’t die for some sin but all sin. His one-time sacrifice for the sin of the world was perfectly perfect and completely complete in every respect.

He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2:2)

Paul, you sound like you’re preaching universalism. I’m not – I’m telling you the same good news that the prophets foretold and the apostles declared: God the Son has done away with sin! Neither God the Father no God the Holy Spirit remembers our sins anymore! This is the gospel truth. Do you believe it?

Put your faith in the good news

Jesus said that forgiveness of sins is a gift that must be received (Acts 26:19). Two kinds of people will never receive this gift: (1) Those who don’t think they’re sinners in need of a Savior and (2) those who think they must do things like confess and repent to earn God’s forgiveness. (In case you’re wondering, 1 John 1:9 is directed to those in the first group – see 1 John 1:8.) The grace of God can only be received through faith (Ephesians 2:8). Everyone is forgiven but not everyone believes that they are forgiven. Those who don’t believe reject the gift that God offers them.

Jesus said the Holy Spirit would convict the world of sin because men do not believe in Me (John 16:8). Sinners don’t need the Holy Spirit to tell them that they’re sinners. If their own consciences don’t condemn them, the law will (Romans 3:20). The Holy Spirit is here to convince the world that our sins been blotted out and removed as far as the east is from the west. The Holy Spirit is here to reveal Jesus and the finished work of the cross.

I want to add my little voice to the mighty Holy Spirit and shout the good news from the rooftops: You are forgiven! You may be the worst sinner on the planet but by the grace of God you are forgiven! You may be a saint who has drifted into sin but you are forgiven! Whether you have confessed everything or nothing at all; whether you have repented or are still senseless in the pig pen – you are forgiven! Whether you believe or don’t believe the gospel – you are forgiven!

A proper response to this good news is to turn to God and put your trust in His amazing grace. This is called repentance. We don’t repent to get forgiven; we repent because we are forgiven. If you are still unsure about this, review the scriptures above and then tell yourself, “I am totally forgiven because of Jesus.” All the blessings that are ours in Christ – His acceptance, righteousness, holiness – flow from the revelation that we have been completely and eternally forgiven through the precious blood of the Lamb. See Jesus sitting down at the right hand of the Father. He’s not running around cleaning up your sins. His redemption work is done and He now invites you to enter His rest.

Forgiven Righteously Through Jesus Our Mercy Seat

Pastor Joseph Prince

What About 1 John 1:9?

Apostle Paul wrote two third of the New Testament and did not mentioned a single time on confession of our sin... If confession of sin is the core of Christianity, Paul had done us an injustice. Join me with this video to understand the power of complete forgiveness from our Lord by Pastor Joseph Prince.

Pastor Joseph Prince

Christ's Resurrection ~ Your Assurance Of Every Blessing!

Understand the power of Jesus' resurrection like never before! In this powerful and inspiring message by Joseph Prince, discover how, when Jesus rose again, He conquered not just the grave, but also sorrow, fear, doubt and discouragement—the four main means the devil uses to attack the human heart. Learn at the same time how Jesus' resurrection is heaven's receipt that you are completely forgiven, so that you can be bold to believe Him for great things. You'll also discover the secret to walking in the power of His perfect finished work and see His salvation manifest in every area of your life!

Pastor Joseph Prince

Hebrews

10:11  Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 

10:12  But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.

1 Corinthians

15:17  And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 

Colossians

2:13  When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 

2:14  having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. 

2:15  And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. 

We are forgiven of ALL our sins. If we are not forgiven of ALL, we are not forgiven AT ALL!



Sermon note from Tycm's Blog by Terence Yeo: 2011-04-24 Christ’s Resurrection – Your Assurance Of Every Blessing [Resurrection Sunday at NCC (1st and 2nd services - raw notes) ]

His Heart For You Is Revealed In Joseph's Story

Pastor Joseph Prince

We Are All Under Grace!

We are all under grace… all of us... even the unbelievers. Every human being on this planet earth are under God’s grace…

John 1:17 ~  For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 

It has been over two thousand years ever since our Lord Jesus died on the Cross and resurrected on the third day of His death. When He was spending His six hours of long suffering on the Cross, He had made seven remarkable statements... these statements are selectively recorded in the four Books of Gospel!

i) "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."

ii) "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."

iii) He said to his mother, "Dear woman, here is your son," and to the disciple, "Here is your mother."

iv) "I am thirsty."

v) "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

vi) "It is finished."

vii) "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit."

With these seven remarkable statements from the mouth of our Lord during His great suffering, as human being, we ought to believe that Father God is indeed faithful in loving us, for Jesus' death was a confirmation to His declaration that He so loved the world and He would gave up His One and only Begotten Son… and we, who called ourselves BELIEVER..., yes BELIEVER..., oh yes BELIEVER, should better know that our sins are totally forgiven In Christ..., past, present and future! Sin is a looooong settled issue!

Jesus with His death on the Cross had changed the dispensation and ended the era of human performance religion. His death on the Cross had called the human race out from the era of law, into the era of abundant provision of His grace and the gift of His righteousness… This is the era whereby the sins of all mankind had been forgiven… It is finished…! God had done His part… His grace has been lavished to all mankind… it is now up to mankind to respond to His love by receiving His Son through faith. Faith is indeed,  believing in what Jesus had done, not what our faith can do. 

Ephesians 2:8 ~ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.

Therefore, in this dispensation, it is NOT only those who preaches GRACE are under GRACE... But as long as you are a human being, whether believer or not, you are under GRACE. As long as you are born after the death of Christ, you are under this Grace Dispensation! Believers of Christ are no more under law but under grace. Believer did not invite Moses into their heart to be their Saviour... Believers have invited Jesus into their  heart, and Jesus is their Saviour. 

So, if we are not listening to the preaching of pure grace, or even if we are listening to the preaching that mixes grace with law, we have been robbed of all our blessings that Jesus died to give us…! We will slowly be "killed" and eventually, be "destroy"...! Before the devil comes to kill and destroy, he has already done his ground work on his targeted victims, that is to steal the truth from them. It is this lie on unforgiveness, condemning, legalistic preaching that keeps Christians bound. Christians are carrying a lot of guilt over their life which are bound by the teaching and preaching of prideful men. The end result is, instead of looking for victory that they already process, they focus on their own lacks. Instead of being positive in life, they are negative… Instead of being free, they are bound!

John 10:10 ~ The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

The abundant provision of grace and the gift of righteousness is a bombshell to this religious world… Grace is unearned, underserved and unmerited favour from God. Nobody deserved anything from God but He chose to love, He chose to give... for He is Love and we are the object of His love! It is all about what Jesus had done… and our faith is to receive what Grace has given, no question asked…!

For it is by grace we have been saved, through faith and this not from ourselves, it is the gift of God.

Jailbreak

Jailbreaking is a process that allows iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch users to run any code on their devices, as opposed to only that code authorized by Apple. Once jailbroken, iPhone users are able to download many applications previously unavailable through the App Store via unofficial installers such as Cydia, as well as illegally pirated apps. A jailbroken iPhone or iPod Touch is still able to use and update apps downloaded and purchased from Apple's official App Store. So ever since I own an Iphone three months ago, this "term" keeps knocking at my mind… 

So let look at the real jailbreak….

For without the righteousness of God, nobody can live right, not even one, nobody who knows the score, nobody alert for God. We all taken the wrong turn and wandered down blind alleys. No one is living right; you can't find a single one. Our throats are gaping graves, our tongues slick as mudslides. Every word we speak is tinged with poison. We open our mouths and pollute the air. We race for the honour of “sinner-of-the-year”, litter the land with heartbreak and ruin. We don't know the first thing about living with others. We never give God the time of day. This makes it clear, doesn't it, that whatever is written in these Scriptures is not what God says about others but to us to whom these Scriptures were addressed in the first place! And it's clear enough, isn't it, that we're sinners, every one of us, in the same sinking boat with everybody else? Our involvement with God's revelation doesn't put us right with God. What it does is force us to face our complicity in everyone else's sin.

Here it is in a nutshell: Just as one person did it wrong and got us in all this trouble with sin and death, another Person did it right and got us out of it. But more than just getting us out of trouble, He got us into life! One man said no to God and put many people in the wrong; one Man said yes to God and put many in the right.

Yet the rescuing gift is not exactly parallel to the death-dealing sin. If one man's sin put crowds of people at the dead-end abyss of separation from God, just think what God's gift poured through one Man, Jesus Christ, will do! There's no comparison between that death-dealing sin and this generous, life-giving gift. The verdict on that one sin was the death sentence; the verdict on the many sins that followed was this wonderful life sentence. If death got the upper hand through one man's wrongdoing, can you imagine the breathtaking recovery life makes, sovereign life, in those who grasp with both hands this abundant provision of grace and the gift of righteousness, that the one Man Jesus Christ provides?

Our firm decision is to work from this focused centre: One man died for everyone. That puts everyone in the same boat. He included everyone in his death so that everyone could also be included in His life, a resurrection life, a far better life than people ever lived on their own.

Because of this decision we do not evaluate people by what they have or how they look. The Jewish people looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong. We certainly don't look at Him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, a new creation. The old life is gone; a new life began! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and Him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with Himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what He is doing. We are Christ's representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God's work of making things right between them. We're speaking for Christ Himself now: Become friends with God; He's already a friend with you.

So go and tell people about this jailbreak instead…

A compilation from the Message Bible

Zipped

Recently I leant to compress an mp3 file and forward to my friend as she required listening to this particular song for the Sunday Worship. I never knew that to compress a file is so easy and to forward a compressed file is much faster than forwarding a raw file. The quality of the file she received still remain the same after she had unzipped it. 

Well, you can laugh at me if you want… but I am telling you all this because I want to share with you a revelation that I have received while I was being amazed by this simple process in the computer system.

Today is Good Friday, and about two thousand years ago, our Lord Jesus had gone through the eternal suffering at this hour of time. All the sins of this world had been put on Him. All the punishment of this world had been poured on His body. For this six hours from 9 in the morning to 3pm in the afternoon, the eternal sin of this world, the punishment of our sins and the suffering that our Lord sustained, had been compressed and zipped into this six hours. In this six hours at the cross, He had been punished by God and He had suffered a suffering that we can never understand.

Knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, our Lord Jesus said, "I am thirsty." A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to His lips. When He had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished!" With that, He bowed His head and gave up His spirit. 

With the same principle, our sin has been forgiven, past, present and future…  and if we still think that our sin is still not forgiven, we are actually insulting God the Father and our Lord Jesus.

Condemnation Kills

Honey

This morning I went to pay my parking coupon at KMC (Kuching Municipal Council) drive-in counter. I did not have a smaller note in my wallet, so I pulled out a 10 Ringgit note to pay for my RM0.55 parking charges.

Behind the tinted glass of the drive-in counter, an elderly lady said, “Do you have 55 cents?” I reply, “Sorry, no...”. She said, “We do not have small change…”

So I went back to my car decided not to pay here but to pay at other counter by any road side… My friend who was with me in my car gave me a Ringgit suggesting to me that if I do not pay then I might forget later…

Holding that Ringgit in my hand, I approached the counter again and leave the coupon together with the Ringgit at the counter’s opening. They processed the payment and I could hear the printer printing the receipt. Then the elderly lady said to me, “Do you have 55 cents?” Wow…! Inside of me came a boiling sensation… and I was thinking to myself, “Why don’t you ask me when I handed in the coupon with my money just now?” So, I responded like this, “Never mind the change, you can keep the change…” Ha..., though I offered to solve this problem by giving away the change, I sounded a bit sour and bitter, and my style was bad. Indeed, I have fallen short of the glory of God...

When I return to my car, I told my friend and he laughed and said, “It is cheap to spend 45 cents to know a person…!” (He was referring this to that lady but to me, this 45 cents has exposed my weakness... LOL!) Well, moving right along while I was driving back to my office, I remembered what Pastor Prince has preached on the subject of Grain Offering in the Book of Leviticus about the burning of honey and frankincense...

Leviticus 2:11 ~ No grain offering which you bring to the LORD shall be made with leaven, for you shall burn no leaven nor any honey in any offering to the LORD made by fire.

Honey is usually used to describe man’s kindness or goodness. Honey cannot withstand the heat of the fire. When honey is being burnt, it bubbles up and turns sour and bitter. That’s me and my situation at the drive-in counter. With a little bit of fire, I bubbled up and turned sour or bitter.

Leviticus 2:1-2 ~ When anyone offers a grain offering to the LORD, his offering shall be of fine flour. And he shall pour oil on it, and put frankincense on it. He shall bring it to Aaron’s sons, the priests, one of whom shall take from it his handful of fine flour and oil with all the frankincense. And the priest shall burn it as a memorial on the altar, an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the LORD.

The Bible uses frankincense to describe our Lord Jesus. When the frankincense is being burnt, it emits a sweet aroma present to God and frankincense can withstand the heat of the fire and the longer you burn it the more aroma it emits… Frankincense emits best aroma under small and slow fire, just like our Lord's suffering when He was being crucified on the Cross from 9 o' clock in the morning until 3 o'clock in the evening.

Praise be to our Lord for His Finished Work at the Cross and I am now under the grace dispensation. I can look at my weakness and understand from it through the teaching of the anointing in me and I can still have the courage to draw near to Him to receive the super abounding grace and favor from God because the Apostle Paul said, “Where sin (man falling short of the glory of God) abounded, grace abound much more…" Which means whenever I fall short of the glory of God, grace super abound!!! Indeed, His grace is sufficient for me, for His strength is made perfect in my weakness. Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Hallelujah, I receive the super abounding grace and favor into my life, in Jesus' Name, Amen!



Since we are on the subject of "Honey", it reminds me of a joke from the Elder of my Church and I want to share it with you before I end this post. It goes like this…


There are three couples in a Hotel Restaurant sitting together at the same table for their American Breakfast. They are American, British and Malaysian couples…

As they are all believers, the men just love to show each other how much they love their wife. As the coffee is being served over the breakfast table, the American says to his wife, “Honey, Honey, please pass me the honey…” Upon hearing this, the British immediately says to his wife, “Sugar, Sugar, please pass me the sugar…” The Malaysian is marveled over the way the American and the British addresses their wife. So coolly, he turns to his wife and says, “ Lembu, Lembu, please pass me the susu…!”

Lembu means cow and Susu means milk in Malaysian language.

Hey, Cheers…!!! And have a nice day….

Rest

Before we establish ourselves in His righteousness, we sometimes get the idea that God speaks in very exclusive and economic ways; His words are rare and we have to pay a priest or a pastor to hear God on our behalf. But the truth is, we do not even have to wait for next Sunday!

To get in touch with God is just a local call (wireless cell phone!) away. He is not watching us from a distance. Long distance trunk call is religion and is out-dated at the Cross! Acquaint ourselves with God; because Emanuel means God with us and Jesus had placed His presence among men. He dwells within us; we in Him and our identity are found in Christ. He is always in touch with us, within our immediate reach. Our joy and our love, reflect Him; His presence is our portion, we are within the frame of His thought, within the focus of His heart. Our peace is our awareness of His forgiveness. Our joy is our awareness of His righteousness. Our wealth is our awareness of the abundance of His grace. We love because He first loves us...

Acknowledge Him, adore Him… He is forever consistent and He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. Sin issue is a done deal at the Cross. Nothing can separate us from God. It remains our choice to labour into His rest and hear Him. We are His audiences; so tune in and listen up...!

Thorn In The Flesh

What is thorn in the flesh to Apostle Paul? Apostle Paul never said, but he offered one tantalizing clue: “To keep me from getting puffed up, I was given a thorn in my flesh”

2 Corinthians 12:7 ~ And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure.

Whatever it was, this thorn indeed humbled him. Many preachers said it was a physical problem, such as recurring malaria or a kind of sickness, since he traveled through some swampy lands. Or perhaps it was epilepsy. Because of this wrong understanding, many believers still believe that the sickness that they have are from God and the purpose is to humble them... But my friend, Apostle Paul was so anointed with divine life that handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him could heal the sicks and cast out evil spirits.

Acts 19:11-15 ~ God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them. Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, "In the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out." Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. (One day) the evil spirit answered them, "Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?"

Others think that his thorn was the troublesome Corinthian church he started. The word thorn did not show up anywhere else in the New Testament except in his epistle to the Corinthians. Lets bear in mind that Apostle Paul did not had the New Testament like us. Through his revelation from his Jewish Bible, he wrote two third of the New Testament and this Jewish Bible he used was the Old Testament. There in the Book of Numbers, it describes what the Canaanites would become to the Jewish people – “thorns in your sides”

Numbers 33:55 ~ But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land, those you allow to remain will become barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They will give you trouble in the land where you will live.

So to Paul, thorn in the flesh was not a sickness but a character… As such, do you have thorn in your flesh? Well, I have... and concerning this thing, Apostle Paul pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from him. But the Lord said to Paul, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness."

It is in the Grace of God that a thorn is still call a thorn. Legalism would alienate thorn, throw into the fire and burn. Legalism is contradicting to Paul's revelation on one Body, many parts in this same epistle. Therefore, I want to have the revelation that Apostle Paul had for he chose to boast in his infirmities, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me...

How God Managed His Anger?

Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him.

He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.

But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth.

He was taken from prison and from judgment, and who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.

And they made His grave with the wicked— But with the rich at His death, because He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth.

Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand.

He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities.

Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong, because He poured out His soul unto death, and He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

Isaiah 53 (NKJV)

Do not take pride in our law keeping. Our law keeping prove nothing at all. This religious act will not prove that we believe in Jesus. When we keep the law, we are actually believe in ourselves., our evil self! Our evil self think we can keep the law. We believe that by our law keeping and good conduct, we can earn the blessing from God and if we are perseverance, we can make it to heaven. For 1,500 years, none of the Israelites could keep the law including the best of them, King David!

Do not be bound by religious spirit and fear that God will punish you. God's anger is well managed for He had poured out all His wrath on His Begotten Son two thousand years ago. He chose to pour out His anger on His own Son. He is now absolutely at peace with you. Bohold the Cross, come and accept His GRACE. Believe in His Son Jesus and what Jesus had accomplished for you on the Cross. Jesus said, "It's Finished!" Let's believe it is finished and rest...!

Divine Exchange

She came up behind Him in the crowd and touched His cloak… and immediately her hemorrhage ceased. She felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. Aware that power had gone forth from Him, Jesus immediately turned around in the crowd and said, ‘Who touched me?’ What an amazing exchange of power, fluid as life. This woman has been bleeding for twelve years, the life being drained out of her physically, in her hemorrhage; and financially, in the flow of resources to useless healers, all in vain, all for nothing; and socially, spiritually, exiled from community and religious practice that gives access to God.

Her life is bleeding away on every level – nothing can stop the hemorrhage that makes her ritually unclean and defilement to others: “you have caused my companions to shun me; you have made me a thing of horror to them.” She is an embodiment of Psalm 88, utter desolation: “My life is at the brink of the grave; I have become like one who has no strength, lost among the dead.” Perhaps she pours out her heart to God in lament, begging for healing and restoration to life and health and community. Yet she has no ritual access to God, for she is unclean; so perhaps her prayers, like the Psalmist’s, feel far from where God lives, far from the seat of power and glory to which only the clean and the holy have access. Even when Jesus comes through her town she can’t approach Him – not like Jairus does, directly, face to face, begging for help. She is a scourge and a horror; He would recoil if she did approach… and she can’t draw His attention from afar since He’s surrounded by such crowds. She has no recourse but the invisibility of the outcast and her own desperation.

Like a lunatic, suicidal, she pushes through the crowds, hiding herself as best she can lest anyone notice who she is – for if they caught her, God knows how many people she’s touched and defiled in the process, and then they’re touching one another – the whole crowd has been made filthy – they’d lynch her, an abomination! Perhaps stone her on the spot. And it goes without saying she can’t let Jesus of all people see her, let alone feel her touch contaminating Him – she dares to touch only the fringe of His outermost garment, the closest she can reach, the closest she can risk proximity to Him…. But then what an amazing exchange immediately takes place. Immediacy is one of the hallmarks of Mark’s Gospel, of course – things are always happening immediately, all over the place. So here, too: “immediately” she sensed the hemorrhage stopping… and “immediately” Jesus became aware of power flowing from Him. As her hand brushed or touched or perhaps seized His cloak for one desperate second, immediately they both felt the surge of divine power moving between them. And in that holy immediacy, everything changed. Time stopped. The hemorrhage stopped. And Jesus stopped, and turned, and, to her horror, began to look around, asking who had touched Him.

O my Lord, what a nightmare, worse than she’d ever imagined. People laugh at Him, of course, “What do You mean, who touched You? Who hasn’t touched You, in this crowd?” Boy, they’ll laugh when they find out who else has touched them, won’t they? But in the flow of power into her body, stopping the hemorrhage, perhaps Jesus’ healing has poured into her spirit too, for the woman draws up her courage and falls at His feet and tells Him the whole truth. And does He recoil in disgust and revulsion that she has contaminated Him so brazenly? Does He pick up the first stone to begin the ritual purging of this scourge in their midst? No. It’s astonishing! He says, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”

He senses the power flowing out of Him… she feels His power flowing into her, and the draining of her lifeblood cease. His power flows into her that she might no longer be drained. He allows Himself to be drained of power – He feels power flowing from Him – in order to fill and heal one who has no power, no hope, no standing. “For you know the gracious act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, for your sake He became poor, so that by His poverty you might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9). Paul’s words are not just rhetoric: we see them actually happening in today’s Gospel! Jesus becomes poor, He lets His power be drained from Him for the sake of one who is poor; and on the cross He opens His life-blood to all the world, letting His power pour out to fill and heal all those hemorrhaging in body, heart, or spirit – indeed, our whole hemorrhaging world – that by His blood poured out, all the places of blood-letting might at last, at last, be stanched.

This is the Happy Exchange Martin Luther loved: Jesus’ taking on our poverty, receiving our uncleanness as He did this woman’s, bearing in His own body our need and our sin, and in exchange pouring out all His holiest, most precious divine gifts to us: His power flowing forth, His heart poured out, His love and mercy, His body and blood, His breath and Spirit and friendship, His life. It is a happy exchange indeed – in fact outright astonishing. He becomes poor to make us rich; and we the impoverished, the weak, the unclean, the unworthy, the desperate – we receive all that is His and are beloved, washed, fed, cherished, and showered with riches. Even our most wretched sinfulness can’t separate us from Him, for He “carries our sins in [His] own body on the tree,” as we pray on Good Friday with almost unbearable poignancy. He bears our sins in His own body; we are united with Him and held in Him in a love that doesn’t defile Him but transforms us completely, making exiles and outcasts into “Daughter,” “Son.” And even more: He becomes Bridegroom to us, taking us into His very own home – His heart, His Body, where He abides – and clothing us anew and giving us a new name, a new identity, a whole new being.

We too know something of hemorrhage, in the desperate broken places of the world or in people we love or even in our own lives. We know the experience of depletion, of nearly imperceptible draining of life-blood over time: in exhaustion, in petty conflict in our churches or relationships, the slow sapping of resources or energy or hope. Perhaps we can sense how even prayer and our hearts’ deep life in God can hemorrhage over time, leaving us depleted and far from the places of rich and joyful access to God we long for.

Yet for us, as for this nameless woman, the miracle is that access to God is not far off – it’s as near as Jesus’ own presence. We too experience that holy immediacy – touching not the fringe of His garment but His own body coming close to us, receiving His blood: into us, too, into our poverty and longing and need, Jesus’ divine power flows just as powerfully as into this woman’s. Here at the altar the Happy Exchange takes place; yesterday and today at this conference, week after week after week in our parishes, this holy happy union of flesh and blood and heart and soul is consummated: Jesus’ divine presence poured into our human need, His love filling us and healing us and making every hemorrhage to cease – and changing reality completely, even raising the dead.

Come, weak or needy as you are; come, depleted or even dead inside: let Jesus touch you. Come, daughter, son; Come, beloved: receive the love poured out for you!

By Lisa E. Dahill, Ph.D.
Scripture reference: Mark 5: 21-43; 2 Corinthians 8:7-15.

David's Heart

King David was a shepherd boy, a musician, a giant killer, a fugitive, King of Israel, and a flawed family man. He was honored by God as a man after God’s own heart not because of what he had done but the way he touched the Father's heart. This beautiful honor from God prompted many Christians to seek what this kind of heart is like… Have you found the way to have a heart that is after God’s own heart?

David, before he became the King of Israel, had already touched the heart of God as tabulated in his beautiful Psalm, Psalm 23. Out of his overflown revelation of God's love and graciousness, he wrote this beautiful Psalm when he was still a shapherd boy in the field.

A psalm of David
Psalm 23:1 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
Psalm 23:2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters,
Psalm 23:3 he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Psalm 23:4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
Psalm 23:5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Psalm 23:6 Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

To understand his revelation of God’s heart and his spontaneous respond, let’s break this Psalm into two parts. First part is on his revelation of the Father's heart and His deeds while the second part is on David's spontaneous respond.

His revelation of the Father’s heart
The LORD is my shepherd.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He restores my soul.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life

His spontaneous respond
I shall not be in want.
He leads me beside quiet waters.
He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

Despite of the fact that he was living under the dispensation of Law, he had a good expectation of how the Father’s heart is. He understood God’s heart is gracious and full of lovingkindness; and he dreamed of having such a forgiven life as he confessed in Psalm 32: 1~2: Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit.

Friend, his dream is our reality and we have the kind of life he longed for when Jesus died for our sins on the Cross. He saw our generation as a forgiven generation because of Jesus' Finished Work on the Cross while he was shepherding the sheep in the field. God, the Father credited to David the honor of "a man after God’s own heart" because of David's understanding of His grace and lovingkindness.

What kind of opinion do you have of God our Father in heaven? How do you find Him as your heavenly Father?

Friend, Psalm 23 is full of the expression of the Grace of God and portrays non of our human effort. When we see His grace and we respond with spontaneity, we have touched the Father's heart and He in turn, credits to us with a honor of "a man after His own heart"…!

Are you still searching...?

John 6:28 ~ 29: Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?" Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."

Forgiven Much, Love Much!

God demonstrates His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us . So forgive each other, just as God has forgiven us because of what Christ has done on the Cross. With this gracious good news, he who knows he was forgiven much, will love much.

Apostle Paul always thank God as he remembered the Saints of his day in his prayers, because he heard about their faith in the Lord Jesus and their love for all the saints. Paul blatantly said it was faith in Christ FIRST, then love. Our love flows from faith, not works.

Forgiven Much, Love Much

The GRACE of God has provided the New Covenant believers with a platform to exercise their faith. If we are not depending on His GRACE, our faith can never be activated and we will never have the real faith, hope and love that the Bible is talking about.

For the opposite of Law is Faith; if we observe the law, there will be no faith. The opposite of Work is Grace; if we work to deserve His blessing, grace stops flowing. The opposite of Flesh is Spirit; if we dwell in our flesh, we are not in the Spirit.

God Is Holy Not To Punish Us!

Romans 5:1-2 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

An extract from Will the Real Christianity, Please Stand Up!

If Christ is not raised, we are still in our sins! The truth is, Jesus is now seated at the Right Hand of our Heavenly Father. In a Court Room environment, a Prosecutor is at the left hand of a Judge while the Defense is at the right hand side. Today, I want to tell you a good news. There is no one standing at the left hand side of our Heavenly Father...!

So, give thanks for His Finished Work on the Cross and have peace with God. We are forgiven!

Be A "Right Believing" Believer!

The first “you must not” started at the Garden of Eden while God commanded Adam not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Adam failed from that little demand and ever since, mankind is trying to reclaim their righteous status by doing the good and avoiding the bad.

Because of this consciousness, man began to ask God for more laws so that they might have a standard to abide to for their righteousness. Men still failed from the Law and by their own human wisdom, more rules and regulations were ordained to “help” men to achieve the task of Law abiding.

It was through the power of His Finished Work on the Cross that everything that are of the facts and natural in this world stopped at the cross and everything that are of the truth and supernatural started at the Cross.

Friends, it is not what we do that make us righteous. It is what Christ has done at Calvary. Romans 5:19 says, “For as by one man’s [Adam] disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.” It is the obedience of one Man — Christ, and not our obedience, that has made us righteous!

We have to understand that when we have come to Christ, we are a NEW CREATION and a NEW CREATION does not have the consciousness of sin but the consciousness of His everlasting righteousness.

Hebrews 10:22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

We don’t need a revelation of how sinful we are. We know it when we sin. The devil reminds us of our sins. Even our friends and loved ones sometimes point out our sins. What we need, instead, is a revelation of how forever righteous we are in God’s eyes, especially when we sin.


Before we came to Christ, we were slaves to sin and no matter how many good we have done, we were still sinners. And now as a believing believer, we are already a slave to His righteousness. If only we can believe the words of God from the bottom of our heart, as a slave to His Righteousness, even we do wrong, we are still righteous.

God wants us to establish ourselves in what Christ has done. He wants us conscious of our everlasting righteousness in Christ. To do that, we can listen to anointed preachings that remind us of our righteousness in Christ because faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the words of Christ. Don’t just know it in our head; but speak forth the word that was preached to us. Every morning, tell ourselves, “I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus!” When we are so full of the consciousness of this gift of righteousness that is everlasting, we will reign in life! We will reign over sin, bad habits, sicknesses, lack and everything that holds us back from a victorious life!

Don't be an "unbelief" believer! Right believing will lead us to right living; and be a “right believing” believer…

Visit www.joyfultoons.com for more Joyful Cartoons

Are You Still Striking The Rock?

The Promised Land was a land of rest where God Jehovah promised His people in Deuteronomy 6:10~11 “a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant—then when you eat and are satisfied,…”

But for 40 years, the Israelite wandered in the wilderness because they refused to believe that God is that good and had given them a land where everything had been prepared. They refused to believe that His work is finished. They could not believe that God had given them a land full of riches to enjoy, a land which just flowed with milk and honey.

God asked Moses to speak to the rock the second time in the Book of Numbers, but Moses with his famous act, struck the rock twice and he was denied from entering the Promised Land.

Today, there are believers who still cannot believe that the work of Jesus is truly complete and finished. They are still striking the Rock and they are trying to complete a completed work, finish a finished work and defeat a defeated devil.

The first time Moses struck the rock for the water, it was an adjacent rock. That strike signified the crucifixion act of Jesus on the Cross. When he struck, the water came out… In the second time, God asked him to speak to the rock instead of striking it; but he struck the rock again for the water… This time around, this Rock was a high Cliff which signified the ascended Christ on the right hand of the Father. He struck the Rock, water came out too… but he was denied from entering the Promised Land.

Our Lord Jesus Christ has finished everything GOD CAN THINKS OF on the Cross two thousand years ago. He had been struck once two thousand years ago… Our Daddy in Heaven is saying do not strike the Rock again, speak to the Rock.

What is speaking to the Rock?

Speaking to the Rock is confession. Confession is Homo Logo in Greek. Homo Logo is "speak the same", i.e. to speak the same as God speaks. Speaking the same as God speaks is positive confession; this confession is Christ centered and righteousness conscious. Whereas to confess what we have done wrong and ask God for forgiveness is a negative confession and this is self centered and sin conscious because we cannot believe He has forgiven us of all of our sins…!!!

What did God say about us?
We are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus!

What did God say about our sin?
We are forgiven, past, present and future! Hallelujah!

What did God say about our life?
He came to give us life and life more abundantly!

What did God says about our financial standing?
For I know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for my sakes He became poor, that I through His poverty might become rich. Hallelujah!

What did God says about our lacks?
God says he who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?
Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, accordingly to the power that works in us.
And my God shall supply all my need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus!

What did God says about our infirmity?
By His strips we are healed!

Are you still striking the Rock? If you are, you have to know that it is His mercy that the water still comes out; but you are still outside the Promised Land. Do not settle yourselves there because that is a place of searching, seeking and begging.

Confess His words folks! Speak forth the Word; speak like God speaks.; speak to the Rock and do not strike the Rock again or else, you will never enter His rest that leads you to the understanding of His grace… This is where the Promised Land is!