August 27 2025

Wednesday August 27

The Evidence of Being Forgiven

Ephesians 1:7

“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.”

For the past several days we have been talking about Ephesians 1:7 and how the greatest need a human being has is to be forgiven for their sins by God. How we can be reconciled to a holy God. We can have peace with God. We can become a son of God. We can be adopted into His family. We are so blessed. And that's what Paul is talking about to the Ephesians here: the fact that we have been blessed with all these riches in Christ Jesus.

Then Paul specifically mentions our forgiveness only happens through redemption in verse 7. We have redemption through Christ’s blood and then we can experience the forgiveness of sins, the greatest need that we have. Now, have you been forgiven? How do you know you've been forgiven? Do you have assurance that you've been forgiven for every sin that you've ever committed?

Well, the evidence and the proof is in the fact that you now have the ability to forgive others. You have the desire to forgive others instead of being a bitter person, speaking evil against others, being full of malice and envy and wanting to get even and all those sorts of things and carrying a grudge on your shoulder. I'm telling you, my friend, the proof, the evidence that you have experienced the forgiveness of God through Christ Jesus is that you are willing and are able and have the power and ability to forgive others who have offended and hurt you, and who have caused you great pain and maybe loss.

That's what Paul goes on to say in Ephesians 4:30-32. I love these verses. If you are a believer, “Don't grieve the Holy Spirit by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption, let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice." In verse 32, "Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you."

Remember Peter ask Jesus in Matthew 18:21-22, "How often should I forgive my brother? Seven times?” Jesus answers and says no, forgive him seventy times seven. That's how often you forgive the brother that sins against you and offends you and hurts you. Seventy time seven—that's limitless. That means you forget to count after a while and you continue to forgive no matter what. Why and how? Because God forgave you in Christ Jesus! And instead of talking evil against the person and being bitter.

Over the years, the hardest and most difficult thing for me to deal with is bitter people. People who are full of bitterness because they feel like they've been offended. They have become a victim. It's everyone else's fault, and always blaming others for their problems and attitudes. But my friend, the greatest blessing is to meet and know someone who has been hurt and been offended, yet like Corrie ten Boom who forgave that guard who abused her and caused death to her family, they have forgiven the person who deeply hurt them.

Oh my friend, through the grace of God we can forgive others, and we need to do that. I love the story of Joseph in the last chapters of Genesis and how his ten brothers threw him in a pit. They thought to kill him, but instead they sold him into slavery and they thought it was over. Then they lied to their father and said a beast must have killed him. You know the story how later after they were reconciled to their brother and after their father died in Genesis 50, they go to Joseph and they say, "Our father told us to come to you again and ask for your forgiveness." And Joseph replied, "Am I in the place of God?" He went on to say, "Listen, you might have meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. And I'm not only going to forgive you. You don't need to be afraid. I'm going to provide for you."

By the way, that's another evidence that you have been forgiven. You are willing to do good and “provide” to others who have deeply hurt and offended you. Why? Because God has been good to you through your forgiveness. My friend, I sure hope and pray that we take this lesson to heart. It's one of the biggest, greatest, most powerful lessons in the Bible. There are over thirteen passages in the New Testament encouraging us to forgive one another. In Matthew 6:14-15 Jesus said, "For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

Has God spoken to your heart today? Is there someone you need to forgive because of the pain, the hurt, the bitterness in your heart that wells up inside of you when you think of them? You can because of the grace of God you have experienced! You need to see them in Christ. Remember God loves them. Christ died for them, and God wants them to have the salvation you have.

Yes, my friend, you have the ability and power to forgive when you have experienced, and you know God's forgiveness for your sins. And if you can't forgive others, maybe you need to check out whether you have truly been forgiven or not yourself. Please think about these things today!

God bless!