"Is It Right To Pray For
Forgiveness?"
Daniel 9:19
Recently, I was asked to answer this
question, "Is it right to pray for forgiveness?" It is a question
that confuses many.
IT IS A FACT THAT GOD HAS ALREADY FORGIVEN
ALL THE SINS OF ALL HIS ELECT, PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE (Psa. 103:12; Isa.
44:22). In the covenant of grace, before ever the world was made, God looked
upon his elect as redeemed, justified, forgiven, accepted, and glorified by
virtue of our eternal union with Christ (Eph. 1:3-6; Rom. 8:29-30). Before we
ever committed any sin, we were blessed with the spiritual blessing of total
forgiveness in Christ our covenant Surety. When Christ Jesus actually bore our
sins in his own body on the tree, when he paid the penal debt of our sins to
the full satisfaction of divine justice by his death as our Substitute, he put
away our sins. In so far as the purpose of God is concerned, we were forgiven
in eternity (II Tim. 1:9). In so far as the justice of God is concerned,we were justified and forgiven when Christ died in our
place. This is not a point of logic, but a matter of divine revelation (Gal.
IT IS ALSO A FACT THAT GOD WILL NEVER
IMPUTE SIN TO HIS ELECT (
YET, THROUGHOUT THE BIBLE SINNERS HAVE
BEEN URGED TO SEEK, AND BELIEVER'S HAVE CONTINUALLY SOUGHT THE FORGIVENESS OF
SIN (Matt. 6:12; Lk. 11:4; Psa. 25:18; 86:5; Isa.43:25-26;55:5-6).
When David had been assured of God's forgiveness (II Sam.12:13),he earnestly sought it in prayer (Psa.51:1-17). Our
prayers, even our faith in Christ,have nothing to do
with the accomplishment of justification and forgiveness before God. Christ
alone is our Savior. But the believing prayer of the penitent heart seeks and
receives the blessedness of forgiveness spoken to the heart. In response to the
penitent prayers of his children the Lord God says, "I am thy
salvation" (Psa. 35:3); and the forgiven soul adoringly praises his
forgiving Father (Mic.
Don Fortner