Devotionals - Discover the Book - Mar. 11, 2012

All Sins are Forgivable

The New Testament records 37 miracles that Jesus performed during His earthly ministry. These include sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, life to the dead, health to the sick – and many other tremendous miracles supernaturally performed by Christ.

Which one was the greatest? If you analyze them they were wonderful but ALL were only temporary.

• The paralyzed, lame, mute, and blind that Jesus gave back eyes, fingers, toes, and skin eventually lost them all again when they got sick and died some years later.
• Peter’s mother-in-law was miraculously set free from a fever but years later died of other causes which may also involve a fever.
• The food miraculously created by Jesus was consumed by the five and four thousands, and used up – and hunger returned the next day.
• The eyes restored to blind Bartimaeus were used, worn out, and dimmed by the time he died.
• The hearing that the deaf received were subject to the natural downward slide of the human body and faded most likely by their death.
• Those dancing feet after Christ's touch that the lame possessed, soon turned to a shuffle and then stopped working altogether as they lay in bed awaiting death many years later.
• Lepers who found fresh new skin and limbs saw them again return to wrinkles, weakness, and finally immobility as circulation, respiration, and digestion all slowly were assaulted by the weight of many years.
• So yes, Jesus performed many miracles – but all of them but one was TEMPORARY.

So, which was the greatest of all Christ's miracles?

The answer is the one that never faded, never aged, never ended. It was the miracle unfaded by time, untouched by health, unaffected by circumstances. That miracle, the greatest miracle is the one that Jesus Christ is still doing in our midst today. It is the miracle that I have personally experienced. It is the miracle that most of us in this room have also experienced. It is the greatest of all Christ's miracles – the miracle of complete forgiveness.

As we open to Mark 3.20-30 we come to the place where Jesus pronounced the greatest doom of all. In verse 29 Jesus said: “never has forgiveness”. But side by side with the most gloomy, hopeless verse in the Bible – is the most hope filled, comforting verse in the Bible. Five words should ring in your heart if you have ever feared the grave, if you have ever feared the judgment, if you ever fear not making it to Heaven. In verse 28 Jesus said: “all sins will be forgiven.” Those are the brightest words of the Bible --

Side by side in two verses in the Gospel by Mark are the three darkest words of the Bible, and the five brightest words. And there is a message for each of us from those two verses. The messages are:

·         JESUS DECLARES ALL SINS ARE FORGIVEABLE. 3:28      

·         JESUS DECLARED THAT DAMNATION IS ETERNAL. 3.29

No matter how severe the sin, God can forgive it. The worst conceivable sin would be to kill God’s own Son-and that while He was on earth for the very purpose of providing salvation from sin and the way to everlasting life. Nothing could possibly be more heinous, vicious, and wicked than that. And, of course, killing Him is exactly what men did to the Son of God. Yet, while hanging on the cross and about to die, Jesus prayed and affirmed the forgiving mercy available to His executioners, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34).

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