The Love That Provides Limitless Forgiveness

Rev Albert Kang  

The love of Jesus is most amazing because it is truly a love without condition. Jesus is able to reach out to the proudest sinner and make him a saint. For example, He loved Saul, the obnoxious Pharisee, so much that He knocked him to his senses (Acts 9). Saul definitely did not earn the love of God because he was persecuting the people of God. By God's grace, Saul became the famous Apostle Paul who was one of the most loyal Disciples of Christ.

Jesus is also able to take the vilest and most rejected sinner and turn her into a beautiful Handmaiden of the Lord. Mary Magdalene, a former prostitute who had seven demonic spirits, was delivered and healed by the love of Jesus. She was to become the first person whom the resurrected Savior revealed His glorious presence. Such love so transformed her that she went on to become a powerful Evangelist and Teacher of the Word (Luke 8:2) among the women in the early church.

Jesus also restores His Disciples who have messed up. For example, Peter who denied the Lord three times was restored completely by the love of Jesus. Jesus not only did not condemn him but took the effort to reassure him three times that he had been forgiven. Jesus then entrusted him with the great responsibility to take care of the early church (John 18; 21). Would you and I do that for anyone who fails us miserably?

John Mark was another Disciple who failed the Lord because of his cowardice. When the soldiers came to arrest Jesus, Mark was so afraid that he dropped his linen garment and ran away naked (Mark 14:51 ). Later, Mark was very discouraged with the toughness of the mission trip that he deserted his cousin, Barnabas and Paul at Pamphylia (Acts 15:36 -38). Paul did not have a good impression of him after that and therefore did not want to take him along for any mission trip. We can understand Paul's reaction. However, later the Lord restored Mark and made him not only a companion to Paul but also to Peter. It was through Peter that Mark learned more intimately about the life of Christ on earth. He was so impressed by the narratives that he sat down with Peter and wrote the Gospel of Mark. In that short book, Mark recorded more miracles of the Lord than any of the other three Gospel writers. His own life was a miracle indeed because the love of Jesus had changed him from a coward to a courageous witness for God.

Our Christian life is filled with triumphs and failures. By recognizing that the love of Jesus will always prevail, we will not need to be under the undue condemnation of the devil. We have to sincerely confess, repent and turn away from our sins. After that, we have to ask Jesus to give us the strength to overcome the temptation. We also need the wisdom of God for us to avoid areas of our weaknesses. Forgiveness does not mean that Jesus has justified our sins. No, far from it! The fact is that He has taken our sins upon Himself at Calvary and by so doing; He has justified us, the sinners.

There is a difference between living in sin and committing single acts of sin. Living in sin means that even though we know it is wrong, we are happy to live with it. Committing single acts of sin means that it is through our carelessness and weaknesses that we fall prey to temptation. Instead of fighting it, we succumb to it. Then after the sin is committed, we regretted it and even grieved at our weakness to resist.

What happen if we commit the same transgression or mistake again? Then we have to come again, in humility, to ask Jesus to forgive us. How often will Jesus forgive us for the same sin? As often as it takes! You might think this is incredible. How can it be? Peter had the same idea when in his mind, he had placed a limit to forgiveness. In Matthew 18:20 – 22, Peter asked Jesus, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “Let me inform you, it will not just be seven times, but seventy times seven times.” Jesus was not saying that we should forgive the offender up to 490 times. What He stated was that mercy and forgiveness should be limitless - as long as the person sincerely confesses and repents. Do you like this kind of forgiveness? Have you forgiven someone who has repeatedly offended you?

However, please do not think that you can get away with your sins if you really did not have the intention to repent. God knows your heart and if you think that you could trick Him by pretending to confess and repent, then at the end, the fool would not be God but you. Let me quote in the New Living Translation, what Paul said in Romans 6:1-11, “Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more kindness and forgiveness? Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? Or have you forgotten that when we became Christians and were baptized to become one with Christ Jesus, we died with him? For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.
Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised as he was. Our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. And since we died with Christ, we know we will also share his new life. We are sure of this because Christ rose from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. He died once to defeat sin, and now he lives for the glory of God. So you should consider yourselves dead to sin and able to live for the glory of God through Christ Jesus.”

We should never allow our sins to drive us from Jesus into the arms of Satan. The devil never champions the cause of Christ. Why do you think he is so kind as to inform you that Jesus will not want you anymore because of your sins? The devil is the father of lies. He wants to destroy you by closing the door of divine forgiveness. When you cannot find a way out, you will be stuck in that proverbial mud of sins.

Let me share this biblical incident about how the love of Jesus does not depend upon your sinful or sinless condition. You can do nothing to earn it. His love is given to everyone who is willing to accept it.

At one time, during the Feast of Tabernacle, Jesus was teaching at the temple courts in Jerusalem (John 8). The Pharisees and the teachers of the law dragged an adulterous woman and embarrassed her in front of Jesus and the crowd. The leader of the accusing party said loudly for all to hear, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?”

Please take note that these religious leaders were supposed to know and teach the Word of God. However, they did not follow what they had taught. Jesus exposed their hypocrisy by saying, “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat.  So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach” (Matthew 23:1-3). Apparently these Pharisees had no capacity to apply the words of God. Instead they had become more evil than the godless people. Their hatred for Jesus had caused them to use this poor woman to trap Him. They could not care less whether this woman lived or died. She was just a disposable pawn in their evil chess match with Jesus.

Their plot had its loopholes. Have you noticed that the adulterer was missing? If they had caught her in the adulterous act, then where was the man who committed the sin with her? The woman could not have committed adultery alone. Could it be a sting job? Could the Pharisees engage a man to seduce this woman and at the right moment, burst into the room and arrested the woman, while letting the man go? The Bible is silent about what actually happened but if the Pharisees were to be true to the Law of Moses, they would need to present the adulterer, adulteress and their witnesses together (Numbers 5:13; Deuteronomy 22:22). All were missing except for this woman.

Jesus could not disagree with the Law of Moses because if He did, His accusers would discredit Him for rejecting God's Word. Jesus had also made it clear that His purpose in coming was not to nullify the law but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17-18; Romans 3:31). The Pharisees also knew that Jesus was preaching about true love and forgiveness. What better way than to make Jesus eat His words by getting Him to condemn this adulterous woman. Then everybody would know that Jesus was not able to carry out what He preached.

If Jesus openly agreed that the woman should be stoned, then the accusers would turn that into a sedition charge. The reason being that the Roman rulers had recently taken away the Israelite rights of capital punishment in AD 30 (John 18:31 ).

Jesus knew that even though the Romans had forbidden the Jews from putting someone to death by stoning, the Jews would still do so secretly. In Acts 7:59; these evil people did exactly that. They dragged Stephen out of the city, away from the eyes of the Roman rulers and stoned him to death.

The accusers were smiling through their beards, happy that they were about to taste the fruits of their hatred. Jesus pretended not to hear them. He stooped down and wrote something with His finger on the ground. We may not know exactly what He wrote but the people understood His symbolic action. Everybody knew what Jeremiah 17:13 stated: “They that depart from me shall be written in the earth.” The word “earth” in the Hebrew language is “erets”, which also means “ground”.

Jesus was revealing the conspirators by writing their names on the temple ground. These evil people may be surprised that He even knew their names. I suspect that when they did not see the name of the guilty woman being written on the ground, in order to hide their own guilt, they challenged Jesus to judge her. Jesus stood up and said, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” After that, he stooped down and wrote on the ground again.

Jesus was not saying that those who were sinless should cast the first stone. If that were to be so, then who could be punished? Every one on earth has sins and so who can be a judge in the high court? Who can mete out punishment to criminals? Jesus never intended to mean it that way. He was actually directing these words at the accusers. He challenged them and said that if they were guiltless in orchestrating this event then they should be the ones to cast the first stone. Those Pharisees and teachers of the law knew the Old Testament well. They realized that those who accused others of crime should not have a hand in it themselves (Psalm 50:16-20).

Not only did these accusers not bring the adulterer, they did not have witnesses either. If there were no witnesses and sinning partner, the proper legal procedure was to bring this woman before the priest. The priest would then make her drink a potion of holy water mixed with the dust from the temple ground and allow her to make a confession of innocence before the Lord. (Numbers 5:14ff). If the accused woman was innocent, her belly would not swell up and her thighs would not rot. If she was guilty, then terrible things would happen.

Realizing that their evil hearts and deeds were exposed, the conspirators became afraid. The oldest ones began to distance themselves and move away quickly. The younger conspirators seeing their leaders gone, scurried off too. After all the conspirators had left, Jesus stood up and addressed the accused woman, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” “No one, sir,” she said. ”Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus told her kindly. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

All the time, Jesus was dealing with the hearts. He had dealt a heavy blow into the evil hearts of the conspirators. He was the light that shone into the dark crevices of their hearts and they ran like away like roaches. Now, he had to deal with the heart of this contrite woman. He did not say that her sin was all right. It was not all right. She did wrong and still had to be responsible for her sin. However, he did not condemn her either. Even though He came not to justify sins but He wanted to justify the sinners. He did not even ask her to apologize for her mistake. He did not say, “If you leave the life of sins, I will not condemn you”. That would be placing the emphasis on the law and also upon one's own work. He accepted the fact that she was guilty of the sin and that He was offering her the gift of divine grace. What she needed was not condemnation but forgiveness (Mark 2:5). Jesus knew that it was divine forgiveness that would have to precede transformation.

What kind of power Jesus had that He could just forgive her like that? His power was immense because He was to become God's ultimate sacrifice. He would exchange His life for her life. He would pay for the penalty of her sins. Moreover God had granted Jesus the authority to forgive all those who believe in Him (John 5:22 -24). Satan can never make any legal claim on a redeemed soul.

Jesus' final words to this woman have brought comfort to millions of sinners who have been saved by His grace. They have brought me great relief too. I am a recipient of God's grace and the great love of Jesus. There was a time when I felt so condemned that I wanted to end my own life. I had a pistol in my desk drawer and during those moments of depression, I would take it out. The devil would come and tempt me to end it all. Just one bullet in the mouth! The damning voice would encourage. However, I would sense another presence in my room. The Lord Jesus was right there. His gentle voice would speak to my troubled heart: “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). Yes, as long as we run to the Lord in the time of our trouble, we will not receive condemnation but forgiveness and restoration. Do not give permission to anyone, whether he is a human being or a demon, to condemn you when God does not do so. For those who are still bowed down by guilt and condemnation, please listen to the voice of Jesus our Lord one more time and be completely set free: “Then neither do I condemn you. Go now and leave your life of sin.”