Dear Partner,

Mat 6:12-15  And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

All through the New Testament we are exhorted to forgive without qualification. We are not to wait until they repent, make restitution, or apologize. We are simply to forgive their trespasses against us ... period! The question arises, if that is the nature of our Father, why didn't He simply forgive Adam and Eve without them having to suffer the penalty of death? It seems that our Father could not simply forgive Adam's transgression without justice being exacted for his transgression. Our Father plainly declared to Moses that He will not clear the guilty;

Exo 34:6-7a  And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty ...

Our Father is love, yet His nature also requires justice. Does our Father require us to do something that He Himself will not, or cannot, do? Does our Father require unqualified forgiveness from us when He Himself does not do so? God forbid! One of the attributes of our Father's nature is justice. Where there is transgression, there must be punishment. So what was our Father's plan to exact justice in order that He could forgive Adam's transgression?

Rom 3:23-28  For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.

Rom 5:17-19  For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

Justice required payment for Adam's transgression. Through Adam's transgression the judgment of death for sin came upon all men. In order to satisfy the demands of justice God sent His Son, the Lamb of God Who had never sinned, to suffer the penalty of death for the guilty. God did not clear the guilty. Justice was satisfied. The death penalty was carried out upon the guilty ... through Christ Jesus ... in the place of Adam (the whole species of Adam). The sin of the entire species of Adam was accounted to one man, Jesus Christ, and He satisfied justice by suffering the penalty of death for every man.

Heb 2:9  But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.

There is no sin, past, present or future, for which Jesus has not already suffered the death penalty. When we freely forgive people their transgressions against us, we are not bypassing justice. Jesus has already satisfied justice. Jesus has already suffered and died for their sins. The death penalty has been enforced upon the guilty ... in Jesus. For us to refuse to forgive them is to negate His suffering for them. No wonder our Father refuses to forgive us if we refuse to forgive them. By not forgiving them we are saying that His Son did not suffer enough to satisfy the penalty of justice for them. Again I say ... God forbid!

In the same way, when we ourselves sin and then refuse to receive the forgiveness offered freely through the blood of Jesus Christ ... are we not saying that He did not suffer enough to satisfy justice for us? None of us desire to continue in sin, but there is no denying that at times ... we still do, in spite of our best efforts. What recourse do we have other than the blood shed for us by our Lord? Thank God for the precious blood of Jesus!

1 John 1:9-2:2  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. 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.

The Holy Spirit said to me, "As long as you never give up on the power of the blood, I will never give up on you."

Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.

Sue and I love you and appreciate you. We thank God for your generous and giving heart. God bless you!

Your friend and co-laborer,

Gary Carpenter

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