The Treasure Hunt

Monday March 24, 2014 8:29 am

I learned a lesson last night after I got home. It was a simple lesson. It is just this: I need to be more careful in the future when I'm cleaning out my SPAM folder. I always do it at the end of every day and normally I just glance at the titles before clearing everything out. Had it been a typical day where there is a page full of them I would have probably deleted without really looking at all. However, I guess because it was a Sunday and there were only six I read more carefully and one of them caught my eye and I opened it... I'm glad I did.

The lady who wrote said that she had read my blogs for a very long time and this was the second time she had written to me because of something I blogged. She described her first letter to me and even though I have a decent memory all I drew was a blank... sorry about that. I will say to her though through this blog that if your first letter was anything like yesterdays then I could tell you put a lot of thought into it, and I appreciate that.

Even though I closed last night and I needed to be up early this morning I stayed awake and read every Scripture verse she included in her nice letter... now, I'm going to answer what she wrote and do it through this blog. This way just in case there are any others out there who feel the same way she did after reading what I last wrote this might help them to understand something as well.

Her letter was full of Bible verses on forgiveness, and in essence she thought I was too hard on myself: point taken. However......................... now comes my answer :)

First, I also believe that God forgives... I do! But, His forgiveness IS ALWAYS CONDITIONAL: and His forgiveness IS NEVER RESTORATIVE! Let me explain.

Once certain conditions are met and God truly forgives sin then it is true (as the letter writer nicely stated) our sins are never to be remembered. And she included one of my favorite verses: Psalm 103:12: “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgression from us.” True, in His mind once our sins are truly forgiven they are not any more remembered by Him. However, that does NOT restore us to a position in this life where there are no consequences still to pay because of our actions!

Let me make up a story to help explain. Let's say there is a man who does not take care of his body, his temple. He treats it as an unclean thing and abuses it with overeating, smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol to drunkenness. One day he goes to a doctor and the doctor says, “Your heart is failing from being fat, your lungs have cancer from smoking, and you have cirrhosis of the liver from being a drunkard... you have maybe 30 days to live?”

Now, let's say this man decides to actually seek forgiveness from God and decides to meet God's conditions for forgiveness. Remember, His forgiveness is always conditional. We can't just ask for forgiveness and expect Him to forgive without doing it the way He tells us in the Bible that we must.

First, He never forgives without repentance! I think any person who reads their Bible at all knows this is true, right? It's true of our initial salvation and it's true of every sin we ask forgiveness for after being saved... repentance is always a must! I would imagine most believers already know this but the problem with many people... including my kind letter writer of last evening (please don't get upset with me for saying this) does not understand what the Bible means when it speaks of “repentance.”

Repentance IS NOT being sorry for sin! Let me repeat that, repentance IS NOT being sorry for sin! If repentance is being sorry for anything... and especially sin then you serve a God who by His own words is a sinner! Do you believe that He is? Of course not! Yet, numerous verses throughout the entire Bible records that God often “repents!”

The reason, repentance for God and us mere mortals always means a “change of direction.” That's all, simply a change of direction. Just one example... but there are dozens like this in the Bible when God “repented.” Hezekiah was going to die and the Lord sent His prophet to inform him to put his house in order and prepare for his death. Hezekiah cried and begged for more life... God heard his cries and REPENTED (changed His direction) and granted Hezekiah more life.

So, if our overeating, cigarette smoking, drunkard wants forgiveness he must repent, right? OK, now read carefully what causes true repentance before God... it's rather simple really. Carefully read II Corinthians verses 10 and 11. Ready, “... godly sorrow worketh repentance...” You can never just be “sorry” for what you have done because it makes you feel bad? Or, “sorry” because you are sick or caught? Or even “sorry” for hurting other people. The only “sorrow” that God recognizes is “godly sorrow.” In other words, are you sorry for having offended God? Is your shame of your sin for having wronged Him?

You see if you have often asked God to forgive you for some sin and then as the dog returns to its own vomit you keep returning to your same sin, it is because you have never experienced godly sorrow. You've only been sorry or ashamed for yourself and that type of shame allows you to keep sinning the very same sin over and over and over!

Now, here is the most terrible part! Because you keep returning to that same sin you have never repented... not scripturally, because that would mean that you have changed direction! And when God sees you on your knees asking His forgiveness: then He looks into your future and still sees the same dog returning to its own vomit, then He knows you are lying, and unrepentant, and no forgiveness is ever granted! Believe me... I SPEAK FROM EXPERIENCE!!!

Think about this: that is the story of the woman taken in the very act of adultery and brought before Jesus (John chapter 8) to see what He would do with her? He forgave her right? I mean, did He not say, “...Neither do I condemn thee...” So, the short answer and what most believers do is they want to stop there and imagine He always forgives without conditions... and that is simply a lie!

The woman caught in the act of adultery, as all people are... is ONLY FORGIVEN when conditions are met! Her forgiveness was given only if she met what He next said: “... go, and sin no more.” Now, let me ask you a question, “As God, don't you believe Christ knew what He asked of her was impossible... sin NO MORE!” Yes, because we are sinners, that is impossible!

So, Jesus was not telling her to never sin again or there was no forgiveness... BUT, He was telling her to NEVER AGAIN COMMIT ADULTERY, as that was the ONLY sin He was presently forgiving! He was simply saying not to return to that sin that she was brought to Him for: then she would have His forgiveness. Remember, without repentance or that change of direction there is no forgiveness!

However, when you experience “godly sorrow” then you will repent and change direction! So, when He sees you confess and are shamed by your sins because of what they Have DONE TO HIM (godly sorrow)... now, He looks into your future and sees you have truly repented (never going back to that oft repeated sin) and He does forgive! BUT... you knew one of those was coming, right? He still DOES NOT RESTORE... there are still consequences to pay in this life. Let me illustrate with our overeater.

This man looks at his fat belly, his abuse of cigarettes and alcohol and suddenly he feels great shame for what he has done to the temple (body) God gave him. For the first time he experiences “godly sorrow” and he is ashamed for how he has sinned against God! Now this real sorrow causes him to experience true repentance and he and God both know that never again will he overeat, smoke, or drink alcohol to excess. So, God forgives... true and lasting: east from west type forgiveness never again to be remembered! Great, right? It is... YET, the man will still die in 30 days from overeating, cigarette smoking, and drunkenness. There are still consequences in this life too pay!!! That's what I mean by even being given true east from west type forgiveness from God because of godly sorrow repenting... many things in this life sadly do not change :(

So, even if I experience godly sorrow for having lain with all those women and repent, and receive His forgiveness... the consequences remain! And the consequence is that I am still causing their husbands to live in a constant state of adultery with their own wives!!! We must never forget the laws of sowing and reaping. You will always reap far more than you sow! (I mean, this early summer when you set out your garden and you cast the first few small seeds into the ground: remember this blog and this lesson... you will get far more out of the ground then you put into the ground. The same is true of sin!)

I have a former pastor who often used a great saying: “Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and make you pay more than you want to pay!”

Think about it... what is the greatest sin in your life? Do you remember when it first started? Of course it started in your heart and mind long before you acted on it, but do you remember that very first sinful act from your worst sin! (You know, the thought that quickly entered your mind when I just asked, “what is the greatest sin in your life?”) Didn't this sin happen because you did not heed Proverbs 1:10: “My son (daughter) if sinners entice thee consent thou not.”

So, yes... to my letter writer: I believe God forgives: BUT, only if it is through godly sorrow for sin that brings about a true change of direction. Otherwise we are just that damnable mutt who forever keeps licking up his own bile. AND, forgiveness yes... but restoration... NEVER! Because the law of sowing and reaping still remains in effect.

Finally, With few exceptions I have some idea of what I'm going to write about before I set down to type. I knew on Saturday what I was wanting to type for Yesterday's blog, and because of my email yesterday I had some idea of what I was going to write this morning. But, I have no idea what my next one might be on? I am writing this part though to say that I hope it isn't more of this??? They say that confession is good for the soul? Maybe, but all it does for me is to remind me of the life I've lived and the many I have hurt along the way. So, maybe the next time I write it will just be about the weather or something like that. I'm tired of remembering and reminding myself of how I've lived.