What I am about to say may rub some people the wrong way (doctrinally). That is not my purpose. All I ask is that you read it all and look at the heart of the message.
I recently had a conversation with a friend about forgiveness and grace. My friend, we'll call him "Jacob," had been speaking to someone else, we'll call that one "Zeke." Zeke had been talking about the idea that since Jesus paid the price for sin--past, present, and future--that all sin was already forgiven and therefore did not require one to ask for forgiveness. Jacob was worried about this because that attitude could easily lead someone to a place of pride (or, at least, a place of no humility). Jacob was worried that such attitude would lure someone away from anything like repentance.
We ARE forgiven. The price IS paid. BUT. There is a difference between being forgiven and being repentant. Repentance means to "Change your thinking/reasoning/mind from wrong-doing to righteousness."
There can be two different kinds of attitudes with this idea about forgiveness.
The first says "I'm forgiven so I can mess up and not worry about it. I won't even let it bother me because it doesn't matter. I don't need to talk about this with God or anything else."
The second says "I'm forgiven so I don't have to be a slave to this. I don't have to beg God to forgive me because He already has. I do need to talk with Him about this because I need His wisdom on how to avoid this failure in the future. God is so good."
The biggest difference is the heart of the person who is exploring his or her forgiveness. If he or she is seeking God, then that relationship will bear the fruit of humility and repentance. If that person does NOT seek God's heart, then the "grace" becomes a trap to lead one into license (permission to do whatever).
Being forgiven of sin means that we are free to pursue a relationship with God.
Bless you all.
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