FAITH CAPSULE: Identify your sin before God to gain His forgiveness. 

Luke 7:36-50

To experience the forgiveness of sin before God comes with a condition.
The Bible records certain conditions that provoke forgiveness before God.
The listed conditions for forgiveness are to confess, repent, have faith, and demonstrate love.
Confession provokes forgiveness:
Confession of sin before God provokes the forgiveness of God.
1 John 1:9 records, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Psalm 32:5 testifies that confession is a way of receiving forgiveness before God, stating, “I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” And You forgave the iniquity of my sin.” 
Recognize your sin before God to gain His forgiveness. 
Repentance provokes forgiveness:
Repentance must come from the depth of the heart. 
To repent and not repeat sin is a choice not to be held down as a sinner but to gain forgiveness from God.
Repentance of sin that provokes forgiveness states:
“Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.” (Acts 5:31)
“Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you.” (Acts 8:22)
Repent, and God will forgive!
Having faith provokes forgiveness:
God alone sees faith that is genuinely rooted in the heart and acts. 
With faith demonstrated in the sight of God, the forgiveness of God shall answer for the sinner.
The healing of the story of the roof-tearing faith by a paralyzed man was the result of his forgiveness. 
Luke 5:18-20 documents, “Then behold, men brought on a bed a man who was paralyzed, whom they sought to bring in and lay before Him. And when they could not find how they might bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the housetop and let him down with his bed through the tiling into the midst before Jesus. When He saw their faith, He said to him, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” 
Jesus saw his faith, and the forgiveness of Jesus for the sinner provoked healing.
Love demonstration provokes forgiveness: 
A sinful woman gains forgiveness from Jesus. 
With love, she approached Jesus with an alabaster flask of fragrant oil; she wept; washed His feet with her tears; wiped them with the hair of her head; she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil. 
She loved the Lord, but she was the sinful woman of the city. 
The forgiveness of the woman by Jesus provoked questions from the people. 
Jesus talked to Simon, “Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.” Then He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” (Luke 7:47-48) 
The conversation between Jesus and Simon confirms that love demonstrated before God provokes forgiveness. 
Let us have a heart of receiving forgiveness from God.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace not to be a victim of unforgiving.