God Is Forgiveness — David Wilkerson

Transcript Information

The Times Square Church Pulpit Series. It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. Other tapes are available by writing World Challenge, P .O. Box 260, Lindale, Texas 75771 or calling 903 -963 -8626.

None of these messages are copyrighted and you are welcome to make copies for free distribution to friends.

God Is Forgiveness: The Revelation of God's Name

I preached on, I've given I think 12 names of God and 12 various messages and the manuscript is coming to a completion. The new book is called Howl Would Be Thy Names, Howl Would Be Thy Names. And I thought it was finished but then this past week the Lord said I want you to add one more.

This is not a particular Hebrew name but it's a name by which God chooses to be known. God himself, God himself said this is the way I want you to know me. God is forgiveness. God is forgiveness. I want you to turn to Micah, please, Micah the 7th chapter.

7th chapter of Micah. For new believers, go to Matthew and turn left about 3 or 4 books. Malachi, Habakkuk, Nahum and you'll find Micah. Chapter 7, verses 18, 19. Are you there? All of those in the annex, we have a good crowd in the annex also.

Who would have ever believed it? If you'd have told me when the Lord told me to come and start a church in New York City a number of years ago, right in here that, you know, churches don't have church on Sunday night anymore.

I mean, evangelicals, everybody shut it down. Everybody wants to go home and watch television. If you'd have told me then that Sunday nights would be overflow crowds, it would have been hard to believe.

Not in New York City, that's what they said. And we are packed out on Sunday nights. And Sunday night's one of my favorite services. And we just glad and we welcome those two in the annex. God bless you.

Micah, the 7th chapter, verses 18 and 19. Who is like, who's a godlike unto thee that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger forever because, what?

He delighteth in mercy. He will turn again. He will have compassion on us. What's he going to do? He will subdue our iniquities. That means mortify, kill, destroy. He said subdue our iniquities. And thou will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.

Who's a godlike this? Who's a godlike this? Heavenly Father, I'm asking for the Holy Ghost tonight to come forth from my lips and from my heart. And then speak to us, Lord, words of life. Lord, the enemy, the devil is accusing your people.

The conscience is condemning. But we pray, Lord, tonight that you will give us a revelation, simple, clear revelation of who you are. And what you want us to know about you and your nature, who you are.

Help us, Lord, to understand and discover the true meaning of God's forgiveness for his people. And, Lord, when we understand that, then we know how to forgive one another. Father, in Jesus' name, bring forth this truth.

The unction, the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Lord, my words have no power. They have nothing without that unction and the anointing of the Holy Spirit. And I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Now, what is it that distinguishes our true God from all other little gods around the world today?

God's Nature as the Pardoning God

He is distinguished because he's the only God who has the power to pardon. He's the forgiving God. His name is forgiveness. Who is a God like unto you who pardons iniquity? Who pardons iniquity? That is also confirmed in Nehemiah.

Don't turn there. Nehemiah 9 .17. Thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, who forsookest them not. Now, Nehemiah is talking about the Jews who were disobedient children of Israel.

And the proper interpretation is, thou art a God of propitiation or a God of forgiveness who did not forsake a disobedient people. Even though they were disobedient, God says, my name is pardon. My name is forgiveness.

That's who I am. It's not just what I do. It's what I am. It's my nature. I'm merciful, but I am God who pardons. That's my name. The pardoning, the forgiving God. Oh, hallelujah. When Moses asked for revelation of his name and his glory, the Lord said, you can't see my face.

No man can see my face. The Lord descended, however, in a cloud and stood before him there, and he proclaimed the name of the Lord. He proclaimed his name. Now, what is the name that he proclaimed? This is not in what you won't find it in the books on the names of God, the Hebrew names of God.

But this is the name that whereby God wanted the children of Israel to know him. He said, if you want to know who I am, what I'm about, this is it. And this is the revelation he gave in Exodus 34, 6 and 7.

Listen to it. The Lord God, this is God speaking. God describing his nature. Merciful and gracious, long suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, forgiving transgressions, forgiving sin.

He said, Moses, you want to know my name? This is my name. This is how I describe myself. And here's how I want you to know and understand me. I'm merciful, but I am a forgiving God. That is my nature.

Call me the God of pardons, the God of forgiveness of all iniquity, all transgression, all sin. Glory to God. What a revelation God gave to this man. God, who forgives all iniquity, all transgression and all sins.

Psalm 86, 5 also describes his name for the Lord. Thou art good, ready to forgive. Plenty in mercy unto all them that call upon him. The same Hebrew definition again by David. Good, ready to pardon, ready to forgive.

David's Discovery of Forgiveness in the Depths

And when David went through a very difficult time when he had sinned against the Lord, he went in the depths of depression and despair. He called it the depths out of the depths. I cried. And David said he had a sense that God was marking his iniquities.

He was keeping such a close record. He said, Lord, if you regard all iniquities, he said, I have no chance. If God marks iniquities, who can stand if you're going to keep me to the law? And that's all I have is the law that condemns me because I have failed the law in every point.

And Lord, if you are keeping just a record of my failures, I can't make it because there had not been the revelation. The blood of Christ had not yet been shed. And so David said, if you mark iniquities, in other words, if you keep everything in reserve, prepare to make me face them at the judgment.

When I stand before the judgment, who can stand? Who has a chance? But then suddenly the Holy Spirit brought him out of the depth with a revelation of who God is. David said, if thou, Lord, should mark iniquities, who should stand?

But then listen to his proclamation. He gets a revelation. This revelation pulls him out of the depths. Suddenly his despair is gone. Folks, you talk about despair. The despair comes from thinking God is mad at you.

He's got something against you because you failed. You sinned. You did something wrong. The revelation that God gave to David. But there is forgiveness with thee, O Lord, that you might be feared. In other words, he said, I found out that you're pardoning God.

You're forgiving God. That's your nature. And I come to you because all I've seen is you marking my sins. And now I see you forgiving my sins. I see you now blotting them out because that's where the true fear of God comes from.

The fear of God doesn't come from a Damocles sword hanging over your head and walking around in fear and despair. The fear of God is that I can serve him in peace because I know my sins are blotted out.

Hallelujah. Discovering God's forgiveness is the I see the only way out of the pit of despair brought by fear and guilt and condemnation. Now, most Christians are persuaded they know all about God's forgiveness.

You know the doctrine, but very few know the experimentation and experimental truth of it. It's not subjective. You know, you can know the doctrine of forgiveness. You can know all about the blood of Jesus.

You can sing about it. You can teach about it. You can talk about how you know you're forgiven. But do you fully understand enough about forgiveness of God biblically that you can stand against the devil and you can even stand against your conscience?

I'm going to bring that up just a moment. Do you have it so that any time the devil comes in with his lies and fills you with fear and drives you into a pit and into the depths? Do you have a true Holy Ghost understanding of forgiveness?

Temptation, Media, and the Need for Forgiveness

Folks, we have to have that these last days because the temptations are going to get more going to get heavy. They're going to come with more powerful energy than any time in history. There are new exotic kinds of temptation like on the Internet and the what they call the Internet highway.

And, oh, folks, I see kids sitting for 10 hours a day. I hear sitting in front of television set. And don't tell me their minds aren't getting messed up with all kinds of pornography and everything else that's pouring in.

And it's going to get worse. Folks, we've got to know where we stand this matter of forgiveness and repentance. Tell you why Christians, millions of Christians do not enjoy. They have not come into what Paul calls the blessedness of knowing that your sins are not imputed against you.

That there's nothing on the calendar on the judgment day against you. There's nothing in the books against you, no matter how you feel, no matter what the devil says. Now, I want you to hear me loud and clear.

There are multitudes of Christians who never have that blessedness. They go through the day with that heavy feeling because somewhere along the line in a time of temptation, they failed. They give in.

And now they're in depression and despair and fear. It's because of a thundering conscience that thunders the law. Conscience always pronounces wrath and anger of God against the individual who sins. That is the purpose of the conscience.

Now, the conscience, it's seared, will excuse you. But a good conscience of a good Christian who loves the Lord is going to do what it's been entrusted to do by God himself who created it. The conscience has two mandates from God.

Conscience does two things. It condemns sin and the one who does the sinning. The conscience, listen closely, has dominion in these two territories. The conscience has the dominion given to God to show you the deceitfulness of sin, to show you how deceitful it is, how vile it is, how God cannot stand it, that there will be a time to give an account.

Not only does he have dominion in that area to condemn sin and to show the sinning sinfulness of it and to make it as filthy and ugly as it is in the sight of God. His job is to make you see sin like God sees it.

But then the conscience has a dominion over another area that if you have failed and sinned against God and failed the law, failed the commandments, then condemnation is brought upon you by your own conscience.

That's why people are condemned. Now, the devil doesn't condemn you, he accuses you. Now, your condemnation comes from having been accused. But the conscience, the conscience knows one thing, the conscience knows nothing about forgiveness.

Nothing. If you ask your conscience to talk about forgiveness, it says it's not my work. That's not my job. The job God had given the conscience two areas where it's dominion. Listen closely. If you understand this, the devil can't pin you anymore when you're freed by the blood.

The Conscience, the Law, and the Blood of Christ

The conscience will come to you when you sin and he will thunder at you. You have sinned. Grievousness is terror. This will send you to hell. And he's right. Under the law, do this and live, fail and you die.

That was the law. The conscience does exactly. It won't move to the right or to the left. It's like a sentry. It's post. It's told what to do. Then if somebody comes around, somebody, the conscience doesn't know.

This soldier standing there said, hey, the war is all over. Put your put your armor down and have a good time. The conscience stands right there. Not till I hear from the captain. I don't move. This is my job.

Your job, the job of your conscience is to condemn sin and condemn you for doing it. Now, the conscience in the Old Testament could not be satisfied or quieted by the blood of animals. In those sacrifice, there was a remembrance again made of sin every year.

That conscience was still crying out. You are guilty. Still had dominion, both to condemn sin and the sinner. Oh, but something happened, my friends. There was a sacrifice made. Jesus Christ went to the cross and the first drop of blood.

The very first drop of blood and that fountain that was open at the cross of Jesus out of Calvary came the cleansing, sanctifying blood of Jesus Christ. And the conscience lost its dominion in one of those areas.

At Calvary, listen closely at Calvary. The conscience was given a stronger dominion in the one area to condemn sin. Now that I know Jesus, now that I'm under the blood, sin is more vile to me than it's ever been.

I thank God for that conscience. I thank God for that Holy Ghost conscience in me that says this is sin. It's blacker than it's ever been. Because now you know Jesus is pure in his holiness. He is given greater authority than ever to show you the darkness of sin and condemn sin.

But he can no longer condemn you. Conscience doesn't want to let go. Conscience will try to keep condemning you. And that's the power. You sing about the power of the blood. There's power, power, wonder, working power in the blood.

The power of the blood of Jesus Christ is to quiet the conscience and say, conscience, this is what you've been waiting for. You're hearing now from the head. The war is over in this field. Oh, the conscience will keep trying to condemn the blood of Jesus.

If you will stand on that blood, you take your conscience every time there's condemnation and guilt and some past sin is brought before you, something that you did that was grievous before the Lord and that past sin is brought up by the devil or your conscience.

There's still condemnation there. There's still guilt. You take your conscience and you speak to your conscience in the loving power of the Holy Ghost to say, conscience, I went to the blood. I repented of that sin.

It cannot be brought up to me again. Go ahead and talk about how ugly it was. Talk about how evil it is. I believe that. I confess that. I know how black it is. I know how evil it is. And if I ever do it again, keep telling me, condemn me that, condemn me in that area of sin.

In other words, show me how filthy it is. But you cannot condemn me now. There is no guilt. There's no condemnation to them that be in Christ Jesus. To walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. Glory be to God.

My conscience lost its dominion in this area of condemning me. Because I am under the blood. Folks, we don't value the blood like we should. My conscience can no longer make me tremble. Can't accuse me.

Can't put guilt on me. By the blood, I am forgiven. I am free. Hallelujah. Now, before I proceed any further, let me talk to you about the perverted concept of forgiveness that's in the word in the church today.

Folks, about all you hear in many circles now, even in evangelicals, all you hear is grace. All you hear is forgiveness and mercy. You hear nothing of the severity of God. And we have people today appropriating forgiveness of sin who have no desire, have no inner striving of the Holy Spirit about sin.

They do not intend to give up their sins. But they have tried to appropriate the forgiveness of Almighty God without allowing the Holy Ghost to complete his work of conviction. They've never had that soul shaking by the living word of God.

They've not had that convicting word of the law that says, this is sin. And they have seared their conscience and they have appropriated a false peace. I have peace. The Bible said, I have peace, though I walk in the stubbornness of my own heart.

A false peace. And God says, I'll have nothing to do with that. That's not what we're talking about. They've turned the grace of God into lasciviousness. Because I tell you, when you really understand and discover the true forgiveness of God and where there is true forgiveness, you're always going to find a love for Jesus growing.

And you're going to find an obedient people. They're going to obey God. And you'll find a great devotion, a great love for Jesus and ever increasing love for Christ. If you don't have that, you don't understand forgiveness.

You've appropriated something of your own mind. You've made the Lord to look like a man just like yourself. In other words, you said God is a man just like me. He's not that serious about sin. I heard I heard a teacher say that one time.

God's not no big deal with God about sin. Now, let's move on to the unfolding of this name, the God who forgives. Now, his name was revealed in the Old Testament through animal sacrifices. Blood sacrifices had to do everything.

Everything to do with atonement, propitiation, atonement, which means forgiveness. That's that's what God was teaching all through for 4000 years of sacrifices. God was teaching a people who one day would would be under that banner of the Lamb of God who would come to take away.

He would be not an animal sacrifice, but he would be the sacrifice. The living son of God, the Lamb of God would be sacrificed. But there was one sacrifice, the most solemn of all the sacrifices, the sin sacrifice, the sin offering in the Old Testament.

The Scapegoat and the Removal of Sin

Oh, folks, this picture now that I'm going to give you scripturally, get this in your mind. And every time the enemy tries again to bring condemnation or guilt upon you. Go to the solemn assembly. It was a solemn assembly.

God called all of Israel, the whole camp together, all the tribes together before the tabernacle. And in great solemnity and ceremony, two goats were led to the door where the high priest waited. One of those goats was sacrificed on the altar that the other goat was the scapegoat.

Many of you have heard about the scapegoat. And these people would bow very solemn occasion. And this was instituted by God. This is God explaining who he is. This is a God trying to explain what was coming, taking us into his school, teaching us about who he is and forgiveness.

The high priest lays his hand on one of the goats. Usually the strongest of the goats. And it was held by an able-bodied man. A fit man, the scripture calls him, an able-bodied man. Listen closely. He shall bring the live goat and Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel and all their transgressions and all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat and shall send it away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness.

And the goat shall bear upon him all the iniquities unto a land not inhabited. Get the picture, please. All of Israel standing before the door of the tabernacle. One goat is led into the inner court or the outer court to be sacrificed.

This other goat, Aaron is placing his hand on the head of that goat and he's confessing all the sins of Israel, all the people as he lays his hands. And in so many words, he said, I lay all the sins of this people, all the disobedience, all the adultery, all the fornication.

I lay everything on the head of this goat. The scripture says that goat, after that was prayed upon that goat, that goat was led. You can see the people partying right in the middle of the camp. Watch the people partying and looking at this solemn thing as this goat is being led out by an able-bodied man.

And it gets to the outside of the camp and then over the hill and it's just about over the hill and it's about to disappear. The man and the goat is to, the Bible said, it's going to be taken into a land not inhabited.

And that means a deep valley where there's no escape so the goat can never come back and haunt them. Remember the Lord said, you cast them in a sea never to be remembered again. And as that goat goes over the hill, there would be a shout, go up.

There go our sins. There go our sins. Folks, Jesus was both the lamb and he was the scapegoat. Both represent Jesus, his sacrifice and the taking of sins. The Bible says all of our iniquities, the Lord has laid upon him the iniquities of us all.

God laid all of our sins on the head of his own son. Hallelujah. Folks, when the enemy comes at you, I want you to have your own solemn assembly. Because the Lord was saying, if you want to know me, this is the picture, get the picture in your mind.

Remember what God said about Shiloh? He said, if you want to see what happens when I take the glory, my glory from the church, go back to Shiloh and learn your lesson. And if God would send us back to Shiloh to learn about the departure of his glory, how much more would he send us back to this scene right now to give us encouragement and hope?

I do this every time the devil tries to condemn me. Now, I go to that solemn assembly. I picture myself right there standing with Israel and I watch that goat being carried away. The Lamb of God taking all my sins on him, never to be remembered.

Those sins are gone, they're forgotten. Folks, God forgets them when he forgives them. Why are you holding on to them? Why do you remember them? Lay them down. Glory to God. Bless you, Jesus. God instituted this form of worship.

And for 4 ,000 years, the animal sacrifices continued, pointing to the day when he would come. I want you to go to Hebrews 9. Now, please, Hebrews 9. I know you love the word, don't you? 9th chapter of Hebrews.

If you have King James, I want you to read along with me, please. Verses 12, 13 or 14. Read with me, please. Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

For if the blood of bulls and of goats and ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctified to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

Your conscience has to be purged of this dominion. To the blood. Oh, the blood of Jesus. Conscience, you can't pass the blood. You can't condemn me on this matter anymore. Glory be to Jesus. Now, secondly, God's call to repentance.

Repentance Must Be Joined to Faith in Forgiveness

First, it was animal sacrifices showing us that he's the God of forgiveness. Secondly, God's call to repentance itself is proof that forgiveness in his name. In other words, the prescription of repentance is a revelation of forgiveness.

You know what I mean? Why would God ask you to repent? Do you think for a moment he would leave you at an altar wailing? Do you think for a moment he could be a just and holy God? If he calls you, he prescribes to you repentance.

He said, if you repent, I'll forgive. And then you repent. The very act of repentance infers or insists upon forgiveness. That's the proof. This is the end of side one. Why would he say repent unless he intended to forgive?

This is the proof. The scripture says very clearly. Now, listen now. Because you've got to understand this. No repentance is accepted by God if it's not accompanied by faith in his forgiveness. Now, I'm going to say something that might blow your mind a bit.

But I want you to hold on. I can prove it. Many have been convicted of their sins. They've been troubled by their sins. They're sorry for committing them. They weep and they cry and they acknowledge them.

They even ask for deliverance. They make confession and even restitution, but never come into forgiveness. Never. Now, folks, you've got to lay hold of this concept by the Holy Spirit. I ask you right now to make this known to you.

Consider Judas. Now, first of all, there was Cain, there was Saul, there was Pharaoh, Ahab. Let's talk about Judas, for example. Look at it. The Bible says of him, he repented himself. He repented himself.

Next, he cried out, I have sinned. He acknowledged that he'd sinned. He named his sin. He said, I have betrayed one innocent man. I am guilty of innocent blood. I am guilty of sin. I repent. He made restitution.

He brought again the 30 pieces of silver, the scripture says. So why didn't he find repentance? He didn't find repentance because he believed his sin was too grievous to be forgiven. He couldn't believe that God was forgiveness.

He couldn't believe it. He couldn't accept it. And I'm saying to homosexuals, lesbians. I'm saying now to trans, sadomasochist folks. Please, please folks. It's really more serious than that. Transvestites, rapists, molesters.

You see, the Bible says Judas went out and hung himself. Because he's saying, I have betrayed innocent blood. How could God forgive a man who's betrayed him? I've betrayed the son of the living God. It's too ugly.

It's too hopeless. And we have multitudes in the world today who have gone out and hung themselves on a tree of hopelessness. They've hung themselves. They're still living, but they've hung themselves.

As far as forgiveness is concerned, they believe there's no hope for them. I say to every homosexual, even though we condemn the sin that is there as clearly as the Bible does, I don't believe that God will give up on anybody.

I don't believe. He said he's not willing that any should perish, that none should perish. None. I'm saying your condition is not hopeless. Your condition is not hopeless. You may be hopelessly involved in an affair, homosexual, lesbian, or even a heterosexual relationship that is sinful, wicked.

There are some of you sitting here now saying, Pastor David, if you only knew what I've been through. If you only knew the things I do in secret. If you only knew how filthy my heart is. If you only knew what a blasphemous person I've been.

Tell that to Paul the Apostle, who said, I was a blasphemer. I was a persecutor. I was the cheapest of all sinners on the face of the earth. You tell that to Paul, who said, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor of the effeminate, or homosexuals, nor abusers themselves of mankind, or thieves, or covetous, or drunkards, revilers, extortioners, shall ever enter or inherit the kingdom of God.

That such were some of you. And now you are washed. You are sanctified. You're justified in the name of the Lord Jesus by the Spirit of God. Church years ago, I almost gave up on homosexuals, and sadomasochists, and others who are in deep perversion, into various kinds of perversion, because I had a home for homosexuals that I'd started, and I had a pool of homosexuals.

But the thing just, it became a nest of iniquity. And finally, the director of it, who was supposedly delivered, went back to homosexuality, found him in a bus station in Washington, and I had to shut it down.

And I got to thinking, this is hopeless. But folks, I know, I've met many now. And I'm meeting more and more of homosexuals, lesbians, and others who were so bound. And the only thing to do is come out of the closet now.

Give yourself over to it. Folks, that's Judas hanging yourself. You can't do that. It is not hopeless. It is not hopeless. There is forgiveness. And there's power of the Holy Ghost to deliver you just as it's written in this New Testament of ours.

God's given me new hope. And if you're here listening to me, or anyone listening by tape, video, or audio, I'm saying right now, don't go out and give up. That's what the devil wants you to do, saying there's no forgiveness for you.

There is forgiveness, and there's healing, and there's power in the blood of Jesus Christ to deliver you. Let the wicked forsake his ways. Let the unrighteous man forsake his thoughts. Let him return to the Lord.

He will have mercy upon him. And God will abundantly pardon you, he said, abundantly pardon you. Glory to Jesus. The same applies to Christians who've fallen back into a grievous sin. You find yourself thinking now, this was one sin too many.

I knew better. I was convicted, and I still did it. I made God promises. Now I've come to wonder even if... I've heard someone say, I wonder if I've committed the unpardonable sin. How can it be possible God to forgive me because I have done this over and over again?

But hear the word of the Lord. Return to me. Get up. Don't wallow in that sin. Say, yes, I hate it. Conscience, thank you for still condemning the sin. And go to the blood. Run to the blood of Jesus Christ, and believe that you'll find forgiveness.

Unlimited forgiveness in the sight of God. And with that, every time he forgives you... Listen, if you keep running back to that after a while, it means that you have never really come to true forgiveness.

Because when you come for true forgiveness, and believe in the power of the Holy Spirit to deliver you from the dominion of sin, it'll produce a love in your heart for God, and such a hatred for that sin, that you'll never want to go back to it again.

If God offers this great offer to thieves, covetous, drunkards, the effeminate, if God offers this free forgiveness, how much more is he going to offer it to you, his children who fail? It's an amazing thing that we go out in the street.

The choirs can do this. You go out in the street. Is it street meeting next Saturday? Did you have it yesterday? Yesterday. How many of you preached mercy and forgiveness up there, and went home and thought about something in your own life, and allowed the condemnation and the guilt to almost crush you?

You see, we offer the whole world grace and mercy. We fail to appropriate scripturally what we have learned. That's the unbelief. Listen, you have not fully understood, you have not fully come into true repentance until you believe, totally believe that God is forgiveness, that he will give it to you.

The moment you ask for it, the moment you repent and return to him, you are forgiven. Deal with it. Enjoy it. It's the blessedness Paul's talking about. The blessedness. But Brother Dave, I'm afraid I'm going to go right back to it.

And that's where the condemnation comes. That's where the guilty, even though I'm free now. Folks, that's the fear of the enemy. That is nothing but fear. You're only to deal with one day at a time. Sufficient to the day is the evil thereof.

Deal with it right now. I'm forgiven today, and the Lord who kept me this day and dealt with me, he's going to deal with me tomorrow, and he's going to keep me, and God's going to add to me everything I need.

God's going to add to it. Not going to live in fear. Glory to Jesus. Do you know something? He offers you and me something he didn't offer the angels. The angels sinned and were never offered forgiveness.

Those angels who were once righteous, obedient, and holy, God spared them not, but cast them down to hell, delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment. There were no terms of reconciliation for the fallen angels.

There are no terms of reconciliation for those who've died. Think of all the multitudes who've died this past hour. Just since we've been in church, multitudes have died. Oh, do you think they would not jump at another chance for reconciliation because they know of their damnation already?

But there's no terms of reconciliation for those who are already dead. There are no second chances. None. Anybody teaches that? Total error. He doesn't offer terms of reconciliation for those who've committed unpardonable sin.

Returning to God on His Terms

To you and I, Jesus has offered terms of reconciliation for sinners and for Christians who have felt that their communion, the sweet communion of the Lord, has been broken by some kind of sin that won't let go.

There's terms of reconciliation given for us. He said, I want you to return to me. Now, you see, we are in the flesh and we want to make our own terms of reconciliation when we sin or fail God, like Naaman.

Terms of reconciliation, go wash in the Jordan and be clean. He got angry. Those are not the terms he wanted. And one of his associates said, look, if he'd have told you to do some great thing, you'd have done it like that.

If he'd have told you to put a sword to your back and gnash your back and let it bleed for an hour, you'd have done it. If he told you to go out and kill about 10 ,000 of your enemy and bring some skulls to him, you would have done that.

You would have done any great thing. But if he tells you this simple little thing, just go and wash and you'll be clean. You won't do it. He had his own terms for his healing and cleansing. And a lot of us have our own terms.

We won't come on his terms, his simple, uncomplicated terms. Just repent and return and believe. We won't accept those terms. No, no, no. When we sin as Christians, we have our own terms. I can't believe that if I just come to him because what I've done, I've got to do penance somehow.

I've got to feel the pain at least two more months. I need a river of tears. How can I be reconciled, the scripture says, to the Lord? Shall I bow down before him? What about offerings, bird offerings, calves, a thousand lambs, 10 ,000 rivers of oil?

Shall I offer my firstborn child as a human sacrifice? In other words, how am I going to pay the Lord back for what I've done? I read the Bible three times, all the way through two times this year. I'm going to pray every day for two hours.