Archive for April, 2020

04 25th, 2020

The Forgiveness of Sin

“Come now, and let us reason together, says Yahweh: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” Isaiah 1:18

What a glorious promise Yahweh, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, has made to sinners. Would you like to be the recipient of such a promise? Who wouldn’t?

Some may say, “I am not a sinner and do not need forgiveness of sin.” Such a statement reveals the power of sin to deceive people. The Almighty Creator, Yahweh, says otherwise. Yahweh inspired King David to write:

“The fool hath said in his heart, There is no Elohim (God/Yahweh). They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that does good. Yahweh looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek Elohim. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that does good, no, not one.” Psalm 14:1-3

Yahweh inspired the Apostle Paul to write:

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of Elohim.” Romans 3:23

Yahweh also inspired the Apostle John to write:

“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” 1 John 1:8

Yes friend, we are all sinners, but what is sin? The Bible gives us two definitions by which we can know what sin is.

“Whosoever commits sin transgresses also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.” 1 John 3:4

“All unrighteousness is sin: . . .” 1 John 5:17a

Our Creator has given us good laws by which we can live peaceful lives with Him and with our fellow man. When we break those laws, we sin against our Creator. That sin does not come without a heavy price.

“The soul that sins, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.” Ezekiel 18:20

“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of Elohim is eternal life through Yeshua Messiah (Jesus Christ) our Master.” Romans 6:23

The Bible teaches us that death befalls all the living because all have sinned.

“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:” Romans 5:12

However, as we read in Romans 6:23, there is a remedy for sin, Yeshua Messiah.

“For [Yahweh] so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16

Dear friend, you are part of the world and your Creator (Yahweh) loves you so much that He has given you His only begotten Son (Yeshua) to save you from your sins and give you the gift of eternal life in His kingdom.

The angel of Yahweh, speaking the words of Yahweh, said:

“And she shall bring forth a son, and you shall call his name Yeshua: for he shall save his people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21

Almighty Yahweh brought His Son Yeshua into the world so that all mankind would be saved from their sins. How did Yeshua save his people from their sins? He saved them through his death that was prophesied of by the prophet Isaiah.

“He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? For he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased Yahweh to bruise him; He has put him to grief: when you shall make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of Yahweh shall prosper in his hand.” Isaiah 53:8-10

These words of Isaiah were written hundreds of years before Messiah Yeshua was born. They speak of his death as a sin offering. Throughout the Old Testament we read about animal sacrifices/offerings that the Israelites were to offer when they sinned. Leviticus 17:11 tells us why those sacrifices were necessary.

“For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that makes an atonement for the soul.”

The New Testament explains it similarly.

“And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.” Hebrews 9:22

In other words, if a person wants remission (forgiveness of sins), he must have blood shed on his behalf.

However, Hebrews 10:1-4 states:

“For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? Because that the worshipers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.”

Animal sacrifices were a temporary covering for sin until Yahweh sent His only begotten Son to be the promised sin offering of Isaiah 53:10. He has given us a better, more effective and permanent way to remove sin; that is, through the shed blood of Messiah Yeshua.

“Giving thanks unto the Father, which has made us able to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who has delivered us from the power of darkness, and has translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:” Colossians 1:12-14

“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Yeshua Messiah his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:7-9

This forgiveness of sins is not only for Israel, but for the entire world including Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, etc. It is a one-time, universal sacrifice for all mankind. If one sins again after being cleansed by the blood of Messiah Yeshua, he/she needs only to confess the sin to be cleansed again.

When Messiah Yeshua called and commissioned Saul of Tarsus to be an Apostle, he said to him:

“But rise, and stand upon your feet: for I have appeared unto you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of these things which you have seen, and of those things in which I will appear unto you; delivering you from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send you, to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto Elohim, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.” Acts 26:16-18.

The Apostle Peter taught us that remission (forgiveness) of sins comes through repentance and baptism and that it is for all of the world.

“Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Yeshua Messiah for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as [Yahweh] our Elohim shall call.” Acts 2:38-39

If you desire to have your sins forgiven and washed clean by the blood of Messiah Yeshua; if you desire to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit to guide you through life; if you desire to receive the gift of eternal life in the Kingdom of Yahweh, then I invite you to receive Yeshua the Messiah as your Master and Savior.

There is no other way to live forever with your Creator than through His Son. As His Son has said,

“Yeshua said unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes unto the Father, but by me.” John 14:6

Yeshua’s “Father” is Almighty Yahweh, your Creator. Seek the forgiveness of your sins Yahweh’s way, not man’s way, not your own way.

“There is a way that seems right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” Proverbs 16:25

This world is full of various religions that offer assorted ways to have the crimson stain of sin removed, but only the shed blood of a sinless man would suffice in Yahweh’s eyes. That sinless man was Yeshua the Messiah.

“So Messiah was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” Hebrews 9:28

It is only by the cleansing of sin that one receives through embracing Yeshua as Savior that true peace comes to the soul of man. His blood not only washes the sins away, but it cleanses the conscience, thus allowing the one forgiven to be at total peace within himself and with his Creator.

“For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Messiah, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to Elohim, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living Elohim?” Hebrews 9:13-14

Such a clear conscience resulting in peace with our Creator is priceless.

Consider the writings of the great Hindu leader Mahatma Gandhi, who for all his devotion to his religion, stated in his autobiography, “It is a constant torture to me that I am still so far from Him whom I know to be my very life and being. I know it is my own wretchedness and wickedness that keeps me from Him.”

Sadly, Gandhi never became one with his Creator and therefore had no peace with Him. That does not need to be your fate as well.

“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with Elohim through our Master Yeshua Messiah:” Romans 5:1

“Whosoever transgresses, and abides not in the doctrine of Messiah, hath not Elohim. He that abides in the doctrine of Messiah, he has both the Father and the Son.” 2 John 9

To abide in the doctrine (teaching) of Messiah requires one to become his disciple through receiving him as Master and Savior. Once we are united with Messiah Yeshua, we also become united with his Father Yahweh (God).

It is sin that separates one from Yahweh:

“Behold, Yahweh’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither His ear heavy, that it cannot hear: but your iniquities have separated between you and your Elohim, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness. 

None calls for justice, nor any pleads for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity. They hatch cockatrice’ eggs, and weave the spider’s web: he that eats of their eggs dies, and that which is crushed breaks out into a viper. Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works: their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands. Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths. The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goes therein shall not know peace.

Therefore is judgment far from us, neither doth justice overtake us: we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness. We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men. We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves: we look for judgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us.

For our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us: for our transgressions are with us; and as for our iniquities, we know them; In transgressing and lying against Yahweh, and departing away from our Elohim, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. And judgment is turned away backward, and justice stands afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.

Yes, truth fails; and he that departs from evil makes himself a prey: and Yahweh saw it, and it displeased Him that there was no judgment. And He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore His arm brought salvation unto Him; and His righteousness, it sustained him. For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak.

According to their deeds, accordingly He will repay, fury to His adversaries, recompense to His enemies; to the islands He will repay recompense. So shall they fear the name of Yahweh from the west, and His glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of Yahweh shall lift up a standard against him. And the Redeemer shall come to Zion . . .” Isaiah 59:1-20a

The “Redeemer” is Yeshua the Messiah who Yahweh has sent to save the world from their sins.

Dear friend, think long and hard about the condition of your soul. Have you had a total cleansing of your sin? Is your conscience clear of offense toward Yahweh? Do you have peace with your Creator or is your soul tortured as Gandhi’s was? If not, I invite you to receive these precious promises of forgiveness that can only come through the cleansing blood of Yeshua.

“Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes you were healed.” 1 Peter 2:24

Invite Messiah Yeshua into your heart. Ask him to heal you of your sins through his shed blood. Receive the peace that transcends all understanding and begin to live your life united with the one who gave you life.

Blessed be the name of Yahweh!