“When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.”

(Mark 2:5).

When speaking about Jesus, we must remember that He is able to forgive us our SINS. “And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (1John 2:2).

Some see license to sin in the above verse, but when carefully reading the context they’ll see the exact opposite. “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1John 2:1).

“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23). We all sin, but what is that? Sin Separates us from God and is against Him, (Isa 59:2). It Imprisons us, (Rom 6:16; 23), and we have Nothing to pay the cost (Rom 3:23).

We need the forgiveness of Christ.

Sadly, some say their sin is so bad that Jesus can’t forgive them, or still feel guilt even after having faithfully obeying the gospel. Maybe we need a reminder of the sins Jesus FORGIVES for those that obey Him. We have a couple of lists of sins that Saints can have forgiven through Christ.

Jesus forgives Fornicators and all manner of sexual sins. “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God” (1Cor 6:9-11). Notice that it says, “such WERE some of you.” They had repented and been forgiven, but how? It says, “ye are WASHED.” How were they washed? Look to what the writer said had happened to him when he obeyed the gospel. “And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord” (Acts 22:16). Paul had his sins washed away through his faithful baptism in water.

Jesus forgives Outbursts of wrath, Drunkenness and Revelries which are works of the flesh. “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, outbursts of wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God” (Gal 5:19-21). This passage shows that Jesus also forgives our Greed, Idolatry, theft, strife, and seditions. 

Jesus even forgives Violent & Murderous crimes as seen in the forgiveness of Paul. As Saul of Tarsus, he once persecuted the church of Christ. “I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Which thing I also did in Jerusalem: and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them. And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities” (Acts 26:9-11).

 He too found forgiveness in Christ; “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.” (1Tim 1:15).

As noted above, we know how he obtained mercy; by obeying the Gospel, “And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord” (Acts 22:16). It is what he taught everyone, “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin” (Romans 6:3-6).

Jesus also forgives all manner of Evil, Envy, “and Such like” (Gal 5:21b).

Jesus FORGIVES sin. He has the power and the authority to forgive us of all unrighteousness, but we must obey the gospel and be faithful to Him. “Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him” (Hebrews 5:8-9).

There is only one sin that never has forgiveness. “Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme: But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation” (Mark 3:28-29).

What is this unforgiveable sin? It is any unrepentant sin that a person is unwilling to put away before death or the return of Christ. This is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. Disobedience to the gospel is blaspheme of the Spirit, for it was the Holy Spirit that has revealed to us the commands of God through the inspired word. If we are unwilling to repent, we are committing the “sin leading to death” (1John 5:16).

This is the confidence we have in Christ, the forgiveness of sins. “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments” (1John 2:1-3).

Jesus has power to FORGIVE sins.

Agape,

Spencer

Spencer is an evangelist for the Franklin & Juniper st church of Christ in Borger, Tx.

This is part of a series of articles about reasons to Talk About Jesus.