Thick Clouds

“I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee.”  Isaiah 44:22

God says that He blotted out the sins and transgressions of His people as He dissolves a cloud or the mist—so the sins could not be seen, nor could they hide the glory of the Son. He bid His people to return to Him, because they had been redeemed. Carl H. Stevens

We have all witnessed the cloudy day. We also have witnessed the cloudless day that follows on the morrow. The same with our sin and transgressions, they disappear, never to be found. But, somehow we might seem to find them again. We have not returned to Him in His redemptive action which is expiation. We have lived in a lie of our sin’s continual existence. We have not found the throne of Grace. Hebrews 4:16. Our ability to forget is flawed. So, Chafer explains:

This chapter of Romans (8) which begins with, “no condemnation” ends with “No separation,” but such complete forgiveness is only possible on the grounds of Christ’s work in bearing sin and in releasing His merit in those who are saved through His mediation, and are in Him. Men either stand in their own merit or in the merit of Christ.”” if they stand in their own merit there is only condemnation for each individual before God. But if they stand in the merit of Christ, being in Him — weather all its righteous ground is comprehended or not — there remains naught but continued union with God and therefore no condemnation and no separation.”

Beloved, we must not relate to forgiveness in our own merit, but in unmerited favor that is ours through Christ’ saving work of redemption. So:

Is this true, in relationship to your life and my life? Absolutely! When God forgives us of a sin, He once and for all forgets it in the same instant. Hebrews 8:12 and 10:17 tell us that He will be merciful to our unrighteousness; our sins and our iniquities He will remember no more. Never will He remember them! That is His promise. He will not bring up a sin next month or next year. He forgives and forgets.

Carl H. Stevens

So,

“Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any:
even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye” (Colossians 3:13)

“The (Greek )word in Colossians 3:13 refers to forgetting, without penalizing the guilty party by inflicting their emotions with bad memories. God’s terms always mean that we are to forget instantly what we have forgiven because of the eternal life in us.” Stevens

Jesus tells a story,  “Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants.  When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents.   And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made.   So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’   And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt.  But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’   So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’   He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place.  Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me.   And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ Matthew 18:23-33

Friends, God says I will not remember your sins. If God will not, then how can we remember them? How can we remember other people’s sins? We do if we try to operate in our own merit system which has some moral merit but no supernatural effectiveness. We must step into the glory of the saving work of Christ at Calvary, where He shed His blood for the remission of sins.

We often rehearse the song “he looked beyond my faults and saw my needs.” Beloved, not only does He not see my faults (born out of my weakness), but also my sins, (born of my rebellious nature). See, my limited merit system may often forgive a weakness in myself or in another. But perhaps, when real blatant refusals and denials and acts of stubbornness or rebellion occur, we cannot muster the ability to forgive these. We refrain from self -forgiveness and consequently cannot apply forgiveness to someone else.

In closing,

” …a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. “

Jesus spoke to the Pharisee:

“There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty.  And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most? Luke: 7:42 

 The Pharisee saw the right and responded with the obvious answer. And so Jesus comes back, ” Therefore I tell you, her sins, (the woman) which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.”  and “Your sins are forgiven.” Her pureness of love indicated a cleansed soul in this woman.

Lastly, God’s love has no limits as in Ephesians 3:16-20. Please let’s not limit our forgiveness to a mere moral merit system. Love’s forgiveness means “to forget, “in God’s economy. Love ya