Men felt like debtors confronting liabilities which it was utterly and forever impossible for them to meet (Matt 18:23; Luke 7:41). Into that feeling of hopelessness Christ broke with the glorious news of full and final restoration. Before ever the prodigal could get out of his suggestion about the “hired servant”, his father's arms were round him (Luke 15:20). The creditor wiped the slate clean (Luke 7:42). There was no long period of probation; in a single moment a man might leap clear from the fearful pit to the very breast of eternal love, and the most wasted, shriveled, burnt-out soul might stand erect and clean and in its right mind before God (Luke 23:43).
… No one who reads the Gospels will ever be led astray by the argument that to pardon freely is simply to condone sin and therefore to make for the demoralization of the sinner. To know oneself forgiven, and forgiven as so great a cost, is always a moral dynamic of the first order. It is a mainspring of the dedicated life. It creates character. It works righteousness. It brings honor back to the throne. It makes the forgiven sinner Christ's man, body and soul, forever.
from, "The Life and Teaching of Jesus Christ"
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