Jesus, the Forgiver of Sin's

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The Wednesday Word
Jesus, the Forgiver of Sin's


Luke 5:21 “Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

One of the remarkable things about Jesus is that He was always going around forgiving sins. However, to forgive sins is exclusively the divine prerogative and Jesus, if He is not God, has no business meddling in such affairs. If he’s not God, he’s a fraud! C.S. Lewis says of Christ’s forgiving sins,

“This is so preposterous as to be comic. We can all understand how a man forgives offences against himself. You tread on my toe and I forgive you---but what should we make of a man, himself un-trodden on, who announces that he forgave you for treading on other men’s toes? Asinine fatuity is the kindest description we should give this conduct.”
C.S. Lewis: Mere Christianity

Indeed, Christ was asinine if He were, in fact, not God. What is more, that is what you are calling Him if you do not believe He is God? You say He has forgiven your sins, but that He is not the Mighty God. He is, you say, a god or the Son of God, but not the almighty, eternal Yahweh made flesh. How then have your sins been forgiven? Only God can forgive sins! Men cannot forgive sins against God nor can the angels. Even holy men of God have no power to dispense forgiveness of sin against the offended, thrice Holy God.

If Christ Jesus were merely a good man or a prophet, He could not have forgiven sin. But, He was more than a man; He was the Redeemer, the God/Man. There should be no surprise, therefore, that Christ can and does forgive sins. He would be a very inept redeemer if He could not forgive those whom He has purchased with His blood.

When we discover Jesus in Luke 5, the religious leaders are exceedingly upset at Him. Christ has just declared forgiveness of sins to a paralyzed man. Of course, the Pharisees were furious for they rightly reasoned among themselves that only God could forgive sins. We must thank them for their accurate analysis of the situation. Being trained in the Old Testament scriptures, they would perhaps have thought of Yahweh’s great promise,

“I, even I, am He that blots out thy transgressions for my own sake, and will not remember thy sins” (Isaiah 43:25).

They quite rightly recognized that Jesus, by forgiving sins, was claiming to be Yahweh. For the Pharisees, Jesus was involved in more than a serious error. He was guilty of nothing short of blasphemy. One definition of blasphemy is to assume for oneself the attributes of God, and this is exactly what Jesus did. It’s no wonder then that the Pharisees were enraged. They recognized what so many today fail to admit or grasp, and that is that Jesus claimed to be God.

Jesus, knowing their thoughts, then said, and I paraphrase, “OK fellas, I know that it’s no big deal to say the words ‘your sins are forgiven.’ The question is, have I the power to forgive this man all his sins? Is what I’ve said no more than words? After all, anyone can say ‘your sins are forgiven!’ But, as you know, only God can forgive sins. Now then, just so that you understand that I actually have the power to forgive sins, I’m going to heal this man. After all, if I tell him his sins are forgiven this may just be words. So watch this one: just so that you’ll know that I genuinely am God, I’m going to tell this poor paralyzed man to arise and walk.” And that is exactly what Christ did. And the man, what did he do? Why, He got up and walked thus demonstrating that Jesus Christ was God in human flesh.

And that’s the Gospel Truth

Miles McKee
www.milesmckee.com

For further reading on the Deity of Christ, see my Book/eBook What’s all this Nonsense About Jesus Being God?”
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=what%27s+all+this+nonesense


Please forward, post or blog the Wednesday Word so that, together, we can tell of the splendours of the One who has redeemed us by His blood.

Please pray for us as we spread the gospel here in Ireland, the UK and in various parts of the world.

hinault

Ultimately it is God who forgives, but each sinner must seek God's forgiveness first.

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The Wednesday Word
Jesus, the Forgiver of Sins Part 2

Last week’s Wednesday Word generated more ‘unsubscribes’ than has any other. It seems that the gospel message of the deity of Christ ruffles feathers among certain so called believers. They tell me that Jesus is the Son of God, but not God. Sad to say, but that’s a well worn and threadbare error which is re-gaining much traction nowadays.

A great question is asked in Luke 5:21, “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Indeed, who can do this? Only God can forgive sins, and if Jesus is not God, then we are not forgiven! We may be sincere and well dressed as we sit in our meetings, but if we have trusted Christ, and He is not God, we are lost … for only God can forgive sins (Mark 2:10, 1 John 1:9)!

In Matthew 9, Jesus performed a wonderful miracle demonstrating that He was God. Actually, He forgave a man his sins and to prove that the man’s sins were forgiven, he healed him and made him walk. Nevertheless, the religious leaders, instead of believing in Jesus, chose to reckon Him as a blasphemer because He had usurped God’s position as the forgiver of sins.

These men believed in God, but they did not believe in Jesus as God. Are you of the same persuasion? Are you religious and zealous for your faith like these Pharisees? Do you believe in God, but not in Jesus as God? If so, then you are making Jesus a blasphemer and an evil worker. This is a very serious matter! In fact, it is more than serious; it is positively wicked! Christ asks His opponents why they are thinking evil in their hearts (Matthew 9:4). Did you hear that? “Evil in their hearts!” Yes indeed, their evil consisted in that they did not believe Jesus was God. They correctly reasoned that only God could forgive sins, but then wrongly reasoned that Jesus, by putting Himself in God’s position, was blaspheming. According to Jesus, this was evil!

So, we must face the awful truth; every time Christ claimed to forgive sins, he blasphemed, ….if indeed He was not God. In fact, if Jesus is not God, and we have asked Him to forgive our sins, then we are blasphemers together with him. We are co-conspirators against God and His Glory.
Do you see how important this doctrine of the Deity of Christ really is? Please don’t ever say about Jesus, He was good, but He was not God. If He’s not God, He has brought damnation to our souls! If He’s not God, He is a blasphemer! Shun Him as an evildoer! If He’s not God, He’s a fraud! Only follow and trust Him if He is, in fact, God in flesh appearing!

Someone asks, “But surely Jesus was only acting as an agent of Yahweh when he pronounced forgiveness of sins?” My reply is this, I know that any Christian can pronounce the forgiveness of sins, but before he can do this, the sins have to have already been forgiven. For example, if someone comes to me and says, “I heard a gospel sermon, and as a result, I trusted Jesus as my Saviour and I now look to Him alone for mercy grace and righteousness,” I then can look at that person and confidently say, “Your sins are forgiven.” I can declare what the reality is. However, I cannot take a person who has not come to Christ and say, “Your sins are forgiven.” I neither have that right nor that authority.

Only God can forgive sins, yet we see Christ Jesus forgiving sins. Look at Him going around acting like God and speaking like God. No good man would dare to do that! Only an evil or crazy man would do that! So which is He? Is He nuts? Is He evil? Or is He God?

You cannot be neutral!

And that’s the Gospel Truth

Miles McKee
www.milesmckee.com

For further reading on the Deity of Christ, see my Book/eBook What’s all this Nonsense About Jesus Being God?”
click here

Please forward, post or blog the Wednesday Word so that, together, we can tell of the splendours of the One who has redeemed us by His blood.

Please pray for us as we spread the gospel here in Ireland, the UK and in various parts of the world.

Contact us at
Miles McKee Ministries,
PO Box 353,
Ponte Vedra Beach,
FL, 32004

or
Miles McKee
8 Ard Beg,
Newbawn,
County Wexford,
Ireland.

or www.milesmckee.com