Today, in thinking about the Bible, we're going to talk about the word forgiveness. And this, frankly, in addition to the magnificent and wonderful names we have looked at thus far, and the title Christ, forgiveness is really, I think, one of the most important, profound things we can talk about. There's seven words in the Bible that are used to define or to describe forgiveness in the Hebrew, there's three and four in the Greek, and the last two of those in that group are only used once each, I think it is. Not only that, but there's a lot in the Bible that talks about the concept of forgiveness. In Psalm 103, 12, it says that God has removed our sin from us as far as the east is from the west. And although the term forgiveness is not used there, it obviously conveys that idea of forgiveness. The most common words, probably, in the Old Testament that are used to, that are translated as forgiveness are nesah. We see that in Exodus 34, 17, and I'll read this to you. I lavish unfailing love to a thousand generations. I forgive iniquity, rebellion, and sin, but I do not excuse the guilty. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children and grandchildren, entire families, affected even children in the third and fourth generation. We talked a little bit about that passage, but I'm, of course, focusing on the fact that he forgives iniquity, God forgives iniquity, rebellion, and sin. The term there is nesah, it means to lift up, to bear away, to carry away, or support. And another common term in the Old Testament is kaphar, and in Exodus 32, 30, it's used there and rendered as atonement, and it's often in the scripture translated as atonement. But it means to cover or to purge, in fact, it can be used to cover over with pitch. But it means to cover over and to pacify, and to, I guess, in that sense, get rid of, you could say. In the New Testament, I'll read to you from Matthew 26, 27, 28, Jesus, he took the cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. And he gave it to them and said, each of you drink of it, for this is my blood, which confirms a covenant between God and his people to support out as a sacrifice to forgive the sins of many. And that, to me, is one of the most wonderful passages in scripture, the forgiveness of sins. And that comes from the Greek term aphesis, which means to release from bondage, to release from imprisonment, to pardon, and basically just to let go or to bring them in a position as if the sin had never been committed or the offense had never been committed. So it's a remission of a penalty. So forgiveness throughout the Bible, we are told that forgiveness is the elimination or the removal or the covering or the lifting or taking away, there's so many ways we could describe it, but our sin is done away with. And I don't know about you, but that is a wonderful, wonderful thing to be thinking about, that God has forgiven us our sins, that our sins are taken away, that as far as the East is from the West, so our sins have been removed from us. And it is as if we never committed the sin, that we are declared righteous. And again, we can get into a lot more discussion there. But right now, I want you to think about forgiveness. Think about that immense blessing that God has given you in Jesus Christ, that you have been forgiven, that I've been forgiven of all the sins that we confess. The Bible says that even once we are born again, that if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So be blessed. Think about that today. Think about the whole idea of forgiveness and thank the Lord for that throughout the day.
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