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Once someone asked me: How can a man repent and be forgiven? And then he added: I would like to repent.
The answer is as follows: The first step is to confess our sins to the Lord, as it is written in 1 John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
I asked the man if he wanted to confess his sins to God. He replied that he could not remember all the sins he had committed. I told him that he could confess those that he remembers, and then add, like the publican: “God be merciful to me a sinner.” Luke 18:13. And then God will mercifully show us our past sins, one by one, according to our ability to endure it, so that we can confess them. Christ declared that the publican went down to his house justified (verse 14).
The person whom I was talking with, told me that he is ready to say this prayer. “If you offer this prayer,” said I, “and you are ready to confess your sins to the Lord, as the Spirit reminds you of them, you will do that confession which is required of you.”
He knelt and when he finished his silent prayer, he stood up and said: “Good but I don’t feel any different now. I suppose that I have not repented yet.” I answered that feelings have nothing to do with faith. He said that he cannot understand that because all the Christians whom he had met, had told him how different they feel.
Do we need to feel that we are forgiven?
Let’s assume, I told him, that we have been close friends for many years, but one day I did something that hurt you so much that our friendship was broken. After some time, I thought the matter over and I decided to come to you, confess my wrong, and try to heal our relationship.
I humbly ask you to forgive me. You answered: “How glad I am that you came! I forgive you from all my heart.” But I replied: “This sounds very good but I don’t feel any different.” You explained: “The essence is not how you feel, right? Don’t you believe me?”
I can come to you every day and ask you to forgive me, and yet say that I don’t feel any different. Then your forgiveness would be of no benefit to me. But in the minute when I come to believe and I say, “Thank you for forgiving me,” in the same minute that which had been separating us, is removed, and we are friends again.
How Jesus forgives
So it is with the Lord. Forgiveness is not a matter of feeling. You ask God to forgive you, and if you have met the requirements, he immediately forgives you, as he has blotted your sins from the record and given you a pure page in the Book of Heaven.
Whether you feel well or you are in an unhappy state because of pain and sorrow, the sins are equally blotted out.
If the forgiveness of sins depended on our feelings, we would feel wretched and doomed to be cast in the outer darkness, outside of the kingdom of heaven. But the Lord says that if we confess our sins and we abandon them, he will forgive us. If you have confessed your sins, he has forgiven you, and you can now walk in the path of righteousness joyful that your sins have been forgiven and that the Lord will remember them no more.
There is one component that we need to keep in mind, and it is outlined in the Lord’s Prayer. In this exemplary prayer, we are given the injunction:
“And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” When he finished the prayer, Christ explained the reason why we are to forgive: “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.” Matt. 6:12, 14-15.
If we desire to receive the Father’s forgiveness, we need to forgive to those who have wronged us. Of this we are also counseled in Luke 17:3–4.
What Jesus desires to give us
There is one more thing that we would like to consider here – the freedom from sin that Jesus gives us. When we have confessed our sins and have been forgiven, what lies ahead of the faithful Christian is a life of obedience, following the example of Christ. And we are given the promise that in doing so we will receive divine aid, as Jesus will co-operate with us to fulfill his gracious will. We read:
“If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” John 8:36.
This verse is often understood incorrectly as people interpret it as saying: Whom the Son shall make free, he shall be free indeed. But by doing that, the person excludes himself. The Lord says “you” and “ye”. This refers to you and me. And it is good that this text refers to us. But why does this not make every heart glad? Is the word “indeed” sound good in the ears of the people of today?
The explanation lies in a previous sentence: “Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.” John 8:34. What modern people consider freedom is the license to live without answering to anyone, having no limits in the personal, social, and state life.
In such a case, no one would conform to any rules and would not be subject to anyone. But is that real freedom? Can this be compared to the freedom of sin and from the bondage of sin which Jesus brings? In no way.
Yet whoever preaches this freedom today, receives the reply: “But we are already free. How can you say that we must be free?” Yet there is no real freedom other than that which Jesus gives us – the liberation from all the bad views, habits, and vice.
For Further Study: