The booklet 'Forgiven, Forgotten and Gone Forever was written by Dr. Carl H. Stevens, Jr. who was the founding pastor of ggwo.org.

INTRODUCTION

"Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity,and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger forever, because he delighteth in mercy. He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea" (Micah 7:18-19). "I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more" (Jeremiah 31:34b). "He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel" (Numbers 23:21a). "In those days, and in that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found : for I will pardon them whom I reserve" (Jeremiah 50:20). "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature : old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17). "Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more" (Hebrews 10:17). The Bible abounds with truths that go beyond natural comprehension. Hebrews 11:30 tells us that "through faith we understand." According to 1 Samuel 16:7, "The Lord seeth not as man seeth." In Isaiah 55:8, God says, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord." One truth that has always amazed me is how a God who has all knowledge and is everywhere present has the ability to forget something. This book is the story of God's forgetfulness. It is the story of the eternal Lamb and the eternal Cross. It is the story of our Sin-Bearer, and how an all-powerful God has overruled the knowledge of our sins-past, present, and future. It is the story of God's secret place. It is the story of a God who looks beyond our faults and sees our real need. It is the story of God's new creation-His royal family of believer-priests who have indescribable value in His eyes. And, it is the story of the greatest Friend in the world: Jesus, the Friend of sinners. Our sins are forgiven, forgotten, and gone forever! This is the glorious gospel, the greatest news the human race could ever hear. But the sad part is how seldom Christians treat one another according to this truth. In my many years as a pastor, I have heard people say, " I can forgive, but I just can't forget what that person did to me." That statement is not biblical. Ephesians 4:32 says, "Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as [to the same degree, in the same way] God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." How has God forgiven? He has forgotten. Would God tell us to forgive this way if it were not possible? To be sure, with men it is impossible, but with God, all things are possible (Matthew 19:26). This book, if received in meekness, will revolutionize relationships forever. Strong relationships within the churches will help to mobilize the Body of Christ worldwide as we carry out the Great Commission to reach the lost. After all, what is the greatest evidence to the world that we are disciples of Christ? It is that we have love, one to another (John 13:35). We are at our best when we forget what God has forgotten and remember what God remembers.

Chapter One

THE SPIRIT OF WISDOM AND REVELATION

"For I always pray to the God of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, that He may grant you a spirit of wisdom and revelation [of insight into the mysteries and secrets] in the [deep and intimate] knowledge of Him. "By having the eyes of your heart flooded with light, so that you can know and understand the hope to which He has called you, and how rich is His glorious inheritance in the saints (His set-apart ones)." (Ephesians 1:17-18, Amplified Translation) God desires to richly bless every one of His children with a personal revelation of the Finished Work of Jesus Christ. Yet, this personal understanding of the Finished Work cannot be grasped overnight. Many Christians struggle for years in their desire to experience the truth about their cocrucifixion, coburial, coresurrection, and coascension with Christ. Perhaps what lacks most in Christianity today is the personal understanding of the forgiveness of God that forgets. Unless the Spirit of God makes this truth alive to our souls, we can never experience it. Progressive spirituality comes through progressive humility as we respond to the promises of grace. The concepts of who we think we are and how we have always been must be laid aside so we can experience personal growth in response to a gracious Person.

Being Spirit-Taught

Often I hear people say, "I don't get anything out of the messages." They don't get anything because they are not Spirit-taught as they listen (John 14:26; 16:13-15; 1 Corinthians 2:9-12). The eyes of our understanding are opened only in the measure that God Himself personally teaches us, whether during a message or in our private meditations. . I have discovered that brand-new believers can comprehend deep truths from the Word of God because they have a pure child-like faith and are Spirit-taught. We must not try to "figure out" a message when we hear it. We need to be God-conscious and let the Holy Spirit teach us. Rather than saying, "I don't understand the message," we should say, “I need to be Spirit taught." "Which things also we speak, not in  the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but Which the Holy Spirit teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual (1 Corinthians 2:13). "The letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life" (2 Corinthians 3:6b). If we try to figure out the "letter" of the message, it will not profit us. It is the Spirit that gives life to the words of Scripture. Jesus said in John 6:63, "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." The Spirit-filled hearer of the Word receives, in God-consciousness, the Holy Spirit’s illumination to the inner man of what his outer ear is healing.

We Know Nothing As We Ought

"Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth. And if any man think that he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know" (1 Corinthians 8:1b-2). Sometimes a pastor will quote a verse and say to the congregation, "Of course, you're familiar with this verse," or, "I know you know this." Though the pastor may be a humble man, he doesn't understand what he is saying. We are never to be familiar with anything in the Word of God. None of us knows anything as we ought to know it. Furthermore, knowledge means nothing unless the Holy Spirit causes it to live inside us. We may be able to quote the whole Bible from memory, but It doesn't mean a thing unless we manifest the inspired character and nature of the One who wrote it. The issue isn't how much we know; it is knowing something and living in it. If a Christian hears a verse quoted in a message and finishes it mentally before the pastor is finished, that person is being familiar with what he thinks he knows. He doesn’t know where the pastor is going with the message or what new illumination the Spirit will bring in the freshness of the correlation of Scripture. We must come to the Word of God as little children; hungry and thirsty after righteousness. "As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, 0 God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God" (Psalm 42:1-2a). Research has shown that we need to hear a precise truth at least thirty times just to retain 10 percent of it for application. Because of busy schedules and the many details we must attend to, in the course of two weeks it is possible to lose from 70 to 90 percent of what we have heard or read. This is why repetition through the freshness of an anointing is vital. "For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little" (Isaiah 28:10). Our memory center needs to be trained by the Holy Spirit before inspiration can connect with the memory in cognition (the process of knowing).

Experiential Knowledge

"So shall the knowledge of wisdom be unto thy soul: when thou hast found it, then there shall be a reward, and thy expectation shall not be cut off" (Proverbs 24:14). "Wisdom" means to hear the Word of God and apply it. Psalm 18:44 says, "As soon as they hear... they shall obey,'" When we live in faith-obedience to the Word of God (Romans 1:5), God promises us a reward: Our expectation will not be cut off. Proverbs 3:20a says, "By his knowledge the depths are broken up." What are the "depths"? The depths of sin, the depths of weakness, the depths of satanic activity in Our lives. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom : and the knowledge of the holy is understanding" (Proverbs 9:10). "A wise man is strong; yea, a man of knowledge increaseth strength" (Proverbs 24:5). These verses are not speaking of knowledge as just an awareness of facts. They are speaking of having experiential understanding in the human spirit. Ephesians 1:17 says that the God of Our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Father of glory, gives us "the spirit of Wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him." Herein lies the key to being transformed by the message in this book.

"Now" Is the Accepted Time

"We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain. (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee : behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)" (2 Corinthians 6:1-2). With the word "beseech," the apostle Paul is pleading for Christians to go from theology to experience, from knowing to applying, and from human understanding to practical experience. (Paul also uses "beseech" in the transition from positional truth to experiential application in Romans 12:1 and Ephesians 4:1.) "The day of salvation" does not refer to the time of accepting Christ as Savior but to the time of personal deliverance. Paul was saying, "Now is the acceptable time. Now is the day of deliverance-not tomorrow or the next day, but now." How probable is this in churches today? Is it possible to receive our deliverance now instead of continuing on the way we have always been? Yes, it is, according to Hebrews 4:12: "For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." If we will only believe (Mark 5:36) with no distractions, hindrances, or subjectivity lingering in our thoughts, then the Word of God will come quickly and powerfully to deliver us now. This series is from the booklet written by Pastor Carl H. Stevens, Jr - the Founder of Greater Grace World Outreach. PS - If you would like to enjoy a thought provoking spirituality quiz, then jump to our fun quiz page. You may also watch our YouTube videos. What about learning about life after death?