Repentance and forgiveness.
Mark_2:10 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins,
There seems to be a lot of ideas about forgiveness and repentance. What we need to understand there can be no forgiveness without repentance. The Lord demands that we turn from our wicked ways and follow his paths of righteousness.
Let’s talk about unconditional love. His love, his concern, his compassion for us, is directed at us just as we are. He loves us inspite of. He will embrace us unconditionally when we come home to the Lord. Once at home the Lord asks us to clean up our act and sort our lives out. That starts with repentance. Without repentance the relationship with the Lord is hampered and stonewalled.
Jeremiah 36:3 It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I purpose to do unto them; that they may return every man from his evil way; that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.
So there must be a turning away from wickedness. That starts with the mind and ones view of what is wicked or not. Where we learn His thoughts on what the various subjects are, is found in the Ten Commandments. We can see by them what He views as sin. Our responsibility is to agree with the Word and then call for the Lord to deliver us. This scripture indicates to us that if we do not turn away from our sin He will not forgive us. When we turn away there is forgiveness freely available for us.
Act 3:19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;
Repentance comes with conversion or being born again. Before we come to Christ the Holy Spirit begins to struggle with us. He convicts us of sin, righteousness and judgment to come. (John 16 v 8) With him we become aware of the truth that we need the Lord in our lives and we can no longer go on the way we have been. We need to change our ways and repent and be converted. The problem is we need to recognize the working of the Holy Spirit in someone’s life and call him to turn away from that lifestyle and repent.
The word repentance means to change the way you think or to reconsider a matter.
The word repentance gives us visions of lots of crying and tearing ones clothes as an act of repentance but biblical repentance means to simply reconsider something and give it a true value. You might love drugs; suddenly you can’t stand the drugs and the lifestyle. You need to realize that is the Holy Spirit changing your heart and thoughts about the matter.
You are sleeping around suddenly you can’t anymore. You just know you have to give up that lifestyle. The Holy Spirit convicts of sin and you can’t do it anymore. It has now become time for you to repent.
1John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Repentance starts when we confess our sins, faults and weaknesses to Jesus. Not to man. We confess to Jesus only.
He expects us to come to him and confess it all. Even the coldness of our hearts towards Him needs to be confessed. There can be no freedom from sin and wickedness if there is no confession of these acts of iniquity. If we are to be fully converted we need to learn to confess all that we have done to Him. Confess the drugs, the drunken nights, the illicit sexual liaisons, the envy, the jealousy, the lying, stealing and hate. Until they are confessed you cannot move on and be free.
The promise is; Jesus is faithful to us. Jesus forgives us and finally only Jesus can cleanse us. Confession of weakness and sin is a lifestyle and will continue till the day you die. But confession is done to obtain forgiveness and cleansing.
Act 3:19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;
When we confess our sin, Jesus forgives us and we pass from judgment to life. The second thing that happens is when we are converted; all our sins and iniquities are blotted out. That means a full pardon. That means although you might remember your iniquities and sins our gracious Father in Heaven does not remember them. He cleans you slate. He has blotted them out and wiped them away.
So let’s use imagery to help us understand what he has done for us.
Revelation_21:6 And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely
1. There is a fountain. Fountains in the small towns of Israel were used for two purposes. The one was to get water to drink. The other was to get water to wash. When we confess our sins to the Lord Jesus, He washes us in His blood that has become an eternal fountain of washing in glory. Because He washes sin away; though your sins at a stage might be scarlet in coulor; when he is finished washing you; your spirit changes and becomes as white as the white wool on a lamb.

Hebrews_8:12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.
2. There is a river. A river is a place that removes or sinks objects. We are to cast our sins on the river of God. This river removes our iniquity. If you stand on the bank of the river and you put a floating object on the water eventually it will go downstream and if it is porous it will sink and not be seen by the naked eye. The Lord forgets your past iniquities even though you might remember them, He has removed them, they have gone downstream and are no longer remembered.
Ephesians_5:26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
3. There is a cleansing. Now when you cleanse you use a scrubbing brush to remove stubborn dirt. Sometimes the Lord is harsh on us and begins to scrub us getting rid of our iniquities that are deeply rooted in us. But most times He uses the Word to correct us. It is amazing how many times we think we have escaped then we get nailed in the Word or encouraged in the Word when we are down hearted.
The Lord does not want to remember our iniquities he chooses to forgive and forget. But he has requirements and we must fulfill them if we are to enjoy a life with a clean conscience where our guilty stains have been removed.
Acts 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Repentance comes before water baptism. Water baptism by full immersion at the point of conversion indicates to the spirit world that repentance and conversion has happened. The act of repentance also confirms the remission or liberty given to us for forgiveness that we have received for sins committed.
So our stand is; Confession to Jesus of past sins. Being forgiven and cleansed by the Lord Jesus. Then faith must be exercised to accept or to receive conversion or new birth. Then we go through water baptism by full immersion to confirm the process of repentance. Then the person is ready to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues.
The other issue is repentance and forgiveness towards the world. We are not Jesus and we do not have the authority or power to forgive the world of their sins. We can tell them about Jesus and his forgiving love, but we need to also warn them of judgment to come if they don’t repent. If they persecute us and shed our blood the whole of Heaven will cry after them for vengeance.
Revelation._6:10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
We have the right to call for vengeance when innocent blood has been shed. We have the right to call for persecution against our enemies like Samson and David did. (Psalm 35 v 6) People who abuse the believers must turn or burn or face the wrath of the Lord. We do not take revenge; we simply place the offending people in the Lords hands and call him to deal with them. Like the widow who calls for vengeance we too have the right to ask the Lord to deliver us from our enemies and call on the Lord to deal with them. (Psalm 83 v 15) (Luke 18 v 3)
If a fellow believer has offended someone or sinned against someone the scripture is clear what to do.
Luke_17:3 Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him.
Luke_17:4 And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him
We are called to confront believers when they offend us. There is a confrontation aspect which is not at all pleasant. But if they apologize we are called to forgive them even up to seven times a day. If they do not apologize then we have to take it further with them. Confront them with an elder, bring them before the church and if they still will not listen, then you have to exclude them from your daily life.
(2 Thessalonians 3 v 6)

If they repent and ask for forgiveness we must give it and treat the situation as if it never happened.
The relationship must be restored under the Lords guidance. Realistically at times , bearing in mind what the offense might be, this is at times quite impossible.
Remember there can be no forgiveness without repentance.
Ensure you have spent time confessing your iniquities and sins to the Lord. If you have something against someone a fellow believer confront them and see if they will humble themselves. As far as the world is concerned call them to book warning them of judgment if they don’t repent before the Lord.

Blessings
Pastor Andre Vaynol