“The word I have for you is very simple today. My message is titled ‘Blessed Are The Forgiven’. Amen? My anchor scripture is Psalm 32 verses 1 and 2… and I read: Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
“My dear young men, I know that in the world today, when you hear the term ‘blessed’, people are more or less referring to… material things they’ve received. A car, a house, a visa, a business, all those things. Listen, inasmuch as the earthly possessions you have can certainly be considered a blessing, as God is the One who richly gives us all things to enjoy, if we have those as your first reference of blessing, it is very problematic. Being blessed by God goes way beyond the fact that He’s given you the opportunity to live in a great house and have a nice car. There is a bigger blessing as far as eternity is concerned, and that is what is contained in this scripture. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, and whose sin is covered.
“The greatest blessing God can ever give you, my dear young men, is the gift of new life in Christ Jesus. A life of knowing you’ve been forgiven, cleansed by the Blood of the Lamb and set in high places with Him.”
I had never really listened to any sermon before, and even before I turned totally rogue, I didn’t really do much reading of the Bible, so this was pretty new to my ears.
As the man of God preached on, I sat there, finding myself enthralled by all my ears were hearing. It wasn’t about the man himself, it was about the message. There was something about it that just… stirred something up in my soul…
“Listen! If we truly understand how big a deal it is to be forgiven by God, we wouldn’t take it for granted. Because the truth is this: once upon a time, we were separated from God. You and I, we lived a life of enmity with God. Following our own way, the way of death. Living lives that were offensive and foul to Him. We were lost in sin. Bound for hell. And He had every right to leave us to our fate. Every right.
“But He didn’t. He didn’t sit around and leave us to our fate. He had a plan to redeem us from the grips of sin, and in the fullness of time, Jesus Christ came to earth to live a perfect life and die a horrid death for our sake. And now, by trusting in His perfect work of redemption, all the wrong committed against the Lord has been forgiven. Every single sin of yours has been forgiven. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done, it doesn’t matter what it is that brought you here. By accepting Jesus as your Lord and Saviour, every single sin has been forgiven!”
With those words, I felt something leap up in me. I don’t know what it was, but there was this inexplicable excitement I felt as I heard that. Suddenly, that assertion I had had that I was way beyond redemption seemed so feeble in the light of this good news.
Is this really true? Even with all my foolishness, God will forgive me?
That inner voice that brought me there whispered an answer in the affirmative.
Now I understood why I was brought here. I needed this good news! The desolate, tormented soul I was really needed this word of liberation!
“There’s no greater blessing, my dear brothers, than living in the knowledge that Calvary’s work has ensured that it is not sin that is imputed to us, but the righteousness of Christ. This is what allows us to come before the Throne, not shivering and shaking in anticipation of lightning-quick judgment, but confident that the King is our Father and He wants to have a loving relationship with us. This is bigger than any amount of money in your bank account, bigger than any mansion you could own, bigger than any material possession you could obtain. Being reconciled to God is greater than all of these. I’m telling you!
“If having unlimited access to intimate communion with the Maker of heaven and earth is not enough to be considered a blessing, then honestly, I don’t know what to tell you. This is a blessing far greater than any material wealth or gain; to know that our sins have been put out of sight, and His blood speaks on our behalf. That when all is said and done, and we stand before Him on the judgment, it can be said of you that your wrongs have been atoned for by the blood of Jesus.”
He continued to deliver these powerful words, and all I knew was that I wanted all he was talking about. I needed that forgiveness, I needed that atonement.
I needed it all.
When he was done, and he asked us to rise to our feet, he started again. “Dear brothers, this is the greatest gift you could receive while you’re here. The Good News of Jesus Christ. Understand this, Jesus came to this earth for a reason: to pay our debt. You and I have lived lives that are offensive to His holy nature, and per His just ways, we deserve to be punished. But because of His love for us, Elohim sent His only begotten Son to take our place, that all who would believe in Him and accept this free gift would be made righteous and be reconnected to God. This is a free gift of God; it costs you not a pesewa to receive this. If you want Jesus to be the Lord and Saviour of your life, just make your way to the front of this place. Just do it right now.”
“Go on! Go to the front! Go on! Don’t wait for anyone! This is between you and God!”
That voice again. Bursting forth in the midst of my shedding of tears as Pastor Tsedeq made that invitation. Of course, the story of Jesus dying on the cross was no foreign tale to me; I had heard about it numerous times. But wow, it had never struck a chord that deeply with me. It now seemed so magnanimous and incredible in my sight.
To think that God, who had every right to banish me from His presence forever, with the filthy vermin I was, chose to send His Son to save me from that punishment and rather make me His own!
How could I not take up this precious gift?
Before I could say ‘Oh my Lord’, I was standing before the stage where Pastor Tsedeq stood. I wasn’t even looking up at him, I simply stood there with my head bowed and tears flowing out of my eyes.
Indeed, this was a gift I needed so badly. After all I had been through, moping about the prison for months on end, a destroyed young man on the inside, this was what I needed. To receive this precious gift of God.
“Lift your hands and repeat after me, dear Lord Jesus…”
My hands lifted to the sky, I repeated. “Dear Lord Jesus…”
“I come to you this day…”
“I come to you this day…”
“Thankful for this precious gift…”
“Thankful for this precious gift…”
Ladies and gentlemen, it was at that moment that everything changed for me.
I became a new creation. Born again.
***
Oh, glory to the One who became accursed when He hung on a tree, and took up the fullness of the wrath of God meant for me! He set me free from the bondage of sin and rescued me from the dungeons of the enemy!
Indeed, the best thing to ever happen to me was to step forward and surrender my all to the Lover of my soul. He filled me with peace that made no earthly sense, and a joy that still resonates deep within the marrow of my bones to this day. Oh, the joy of salvation!
Of course, this joyous rebirth didn’t change the fact that I was still behind bars. I may have become a child of God, but I was still under the same conditions as before. And now that many of them knew I had become one of those ‘church boys’, I became their target of ridicule and scorn. Not a day passed where they didn’t take aim at me, doing their best to provoke me and laugh at me.
You know who the forerunners for this treatment were, right?
Yep, Castro and Emma.
They absolutely hated my guts at this point, and wouldn’t spare any opportunity to mess me up. It was such a headache dealing with them. Even when I wanted my peace, they’d come around to call me all sorts of names and stuff.
But despite all that, I still enjoyed His peace. Even though I was often left enraged by the mean-spirited words rained on me, I was comforted in the reality that I was forgiven. Even if I was in a literal prison, my spirit no longer was. I started reading the Bible I had been given, and found myself wildly intrigued by what it contained. Thanks to the other inmates who had also given their lives to Christ, I was learning a lot, slowing but surely increasing in the knowledge of God.
As I did, Pastor Tsedeq’s church continued to come around, checking up on its converts and all. In the midst of this, the head pastor took quite an interest in me, seeming quite enthused with my budding passion for Christ and all. On one of his visits, he told me, “Young man, God is going to use you mightily in this generation,” and boy, was I excited! To hear that was so, so exciting, and I couldn’t wait for such a prophecy to manifest!
It took six years for it to do so. Halfway into my prison term, and I was granted a presidential pardon. Pastor Tsedeq immediately took me in and trained me for the ministry, helping me to become a man of fervent and consistent prayer, and to develop a passion for the true word of God. In no time, I became one of his pastors, helping to grow the ministry.
And yes, that’s where I am today. Happily serving as a pastor of Greater Light Ministries and doing work in the prisons with my NGO. God truly has been good to me in the last twelve years since I left prison. I got married to a wonderful woman, and now we have two daughters. I eventually got to reconcile with my grand-uncle, and ultimately, my grandparents.
Yep, I found my grandparents, and after a long, heartfelt talk with them, we reconciled and I’m taking care of them now. Indeed, my God truly has been good to me.
As for Castro and Emma… hmmm. I tried reaching out to them on one of the occasions that the church returned to the prison, but they didn’t wanna hear the good news. The last time I heard, they were freed, went back to armed robbery, and got caught in a deadly crossfire with the police. Per my checks, Emma was killed in the shootout, and Castro is back in jail.
Hmmm… sad.
That easily could have been me. I could have still been in that dungeon, condemned to a life of enmity with God. I could have still been living blind to the ways of God, seeking the satisfaction of my own wicked desires and whatnot. I could have remained a slave to sin, running at full speed on the broad path to destruction everlasting.
But, by the grace of God and God alone, John Newton’s words are my testimony…
Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.
Praise the Lord!
THE END
Hallelujah to that! It’s always a lifter to see stories like this. A reminder that God is still in the business of making somebodies out of nobodies.
Thank you for reading, and as always, continue to enjoy yourself around the State!
