“Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.” Deuteronomy 4:2

When Moses reminded God’s people of all that God had revealed to them and commanded them, he added this warning not to add to or take away from the word which he had commanded.

Many would diminish the teaching and commandments given to us by the LORD God by denying or explaining away the clear and plain words of Scripture and somehow saying those words do not apply to us today. Preachers have denied the historical accuracy of the creation account, denied sin, the virgin birth, the miracles of Jesus and His bodily resurrection on the third day. Some explain away the clear pronouncements of God against sins which have become culturally acceptable with the argument that the commandments were culturally relative to a different time and place and do not apply to mankind today.

Clearly, diminishing from God’s Word is prohibited by God. Look at Jesus’ own words: “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:17-19).

But harder for us to recognize are those instances in which we seek to infuse our own thinking and add our own applications into the words of Scripture. Notice that God’s Word here warns against adding to the words of Scripture before it mentions diminishing from it. Perhaps that’s because we are prone to add to what God says (cf. Genesis 2:16 and 3:3).

Jesus encountered it in during His ministry. He was accused of sin for healing on the Sabbath (cf. Matthew 12:10ff.). His disciples were condemned for breaking the Sabbath when they were walking through the grainfields on the Sabbath Day and picked, hulled and ate some of the grain (cf. Matthew 12:1ff.). The Pharisees and scribes excused themselves from honoring their parents in old age as required in God’s commandment by dedicating their property to God upon death and saying they could not use it to help their parents because it is dedicated to God (Mark 7:6-13).

And Jesus had harsh words of judgment for the scribes and Pharisees: “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel” (Matthew 23:23-24; read chapter 23).

Not only do we need to use great care not to diminish or take away any word or command of the LORD; we need to be careful not to add to God’s words and commands with our own interpretations and applications. And, as the scribes and Pharisees were zealous to follow every tradition passed down to them by the elders, we need to exercise care that we do not do the same things by demanding obedience to the doctrinal applications of our fathers in cases where those applications are not commanded of God in the Scriptures.

To take away from the Scriptures often leads to minimalizing sin and reducing the atonement accomplished by Christ Jesus to an example of love for us to follow. To add to the teaching of Scripture can lead to condemning those who trust in Christ alone for forgiveness and life and who, as a fruit of faith, seek to live in accord with God’s Word. Both are dangerous and damaging to souls for whom Christ shed His holy and precious blood.

Rather, we should teach exactly what Jesus has commanded us to teach, neither adding to it or diminishing from it, that souls be moved to repent of their sins and look to Christ and His cross for pardon and forgiveness. Woe to us if we destroy souls redeemed by the blood of Christ by adding to or taking away from Scripture!

O God, grant that we neither add to Your words nor take away from them, but hold fast to the truth You have revealed to us that we may repent of our sins and look to You and receive pardon and forgiveness through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself to redeem us. Amen.

[Scripture quotations are from the King James Version of the Bible.]

“And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” Matthew 6:12

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The Bible teaches us that “there is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin” (Ecclesiastes 7:20); and that even our best “righteousnesses are like filthy rags” in His sight (Isaiah 64:6). Therefore, our greatest need from God the Father is His mercy and forgiveness; and so we ask that He would not look upon our sins and failures to keep His commandments but forgive our sins for the sake of Christ Jesus and His innocent sufferings and death for us upon the cross. Like the tax collector who knew his own sinfulness and shortcomings and would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, we also say, “God, be merciful to me a sinner!” (Luke 18:13).

Because God’s own dear Son, Messiah Jesus, took our sins upon Himself and bore our punishment when He suffered and died upon the cross in our stead, God is merciful and forgiving toward us. The Bible tells us: “For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, and abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You” (Psalm 86:5); “If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared” (Psalm 130:3, 4); and, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness…And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world” (1 John 1:8-9; 2:1, 2). It is because of Jesus, who suffered and died for our sins and rose again, that we can confidently come before God the Father and seek His mercy and forgiveness, saying, “Forgive us our sins” (Luke 11:4).

Because God has graciously provided atonement for our sins and the sins of the whole world in His Son (1 John 2:1-2), and because God “has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:10-12), so we also promise to forgive those who have sinned against us. We pray that God would forgive us “as we forgive our debtors.” The Bible calls upon us to “be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32). When we consider and remember our own unworthiness of mercy and the great debt of sin which our heavenly Father has forgiven each of us for Jesus’ sake, certainly we can also share that mercy and kindness toward others who have sinned against us!

When Peter asked Jesus how often he should forgive his brother who sins against him, suggesting up to seven times, Jesus said to Peter: “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven” (Matthew 18:21, 22; cf. verses 23ff.). Jesus also said, “If you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:14-15).

Dear Father in heaven, graciously forgive us for all our sins against You, for the sake of Jesus and His blood shed for us upon the cross, and move us also to extend Your grace and mercy to others by forgiving those who have trespassed against us. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

(A Psalm of David, Maschil.)

1 BLESSED is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. 2 Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.

Have you ever considered what a blessing it is to have forgiveness of God? What a blessing to have the LORD not hold our sins and iniquities against us? To have the LORD’s forgiveness removes all fear of wrath and condemnation and gives us peace with God. To have forgiveness for all our sins gives us the assurance of life everlasting. Indeed, the one who admits his sin to the LORD instead of attempting to hide and cover up his sins is blessed because in the LORD, for the sake of Jesus’ holy life and innocent sufferings and death, he has forgiveness of God. Cf. 1 John 1:5 – 2:2.

What about you? Do you have God’s forgiveness, or are you attempting to hide and cover up your sins? Are you justified of God, or trying to justify yourself? Are you self-deceived and attempting to fool others in regard to your sinfulness, or do you admit your utter sinfulness and look to God for mercy and forgiveness?

3 When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. 4 For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.

What happens when we keep silent about our sins? When we are unwilling to admit our sinfulness and look to the LORD for forgiveness? When we are unwilling to give up our sins? God’s hand is heavy upon us. We grow old and weary through our groaning and sighing all day long as we feel the guilt and weight of our sins. Our moisture, our vitality, our joy, is turned into the drought of summer; it is evaporated away.

5 I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.

To confess our sins is to say and agree with what God says of us and our sin (cf. 1 John 1:9). Confession makes no excuses for sin, but acknowledges sin as sin and deserving of God’s eternal wrath and punishment! When we acknowledge our sin unto the LORD and quit attempting to hide it and cover it up, when we confess our transgression of God’s commandments unto the LORD, He graciously forgives our sins for Jesus’ sake. “We have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Ephesians 1:7).

6 For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him.

For God’s forgiveness, everyone that is godly will pray now, before it’s too late! “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2). Don’t put off repentance! Don’t wait another day. Acknowledge and confess your sins now and receive God’s forgiveness. Tomorrow may be too late for you. You may never have the opportunity to receive God’s forgiveness again. If you turn to the LORD now, God will have mercy upon you and save you from the judgment to come!

The Bible says, “For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee” (Psalm 86:5).

7 Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.

When we turn to the LORD for forgiveness, He also will protect and preserve us from evil and trouble. Cf. Psalm 91. That doesn’t mean that we will have an easy life here in this world. Quite the contrary is often true. But He will preserve us and bring us safely through the difficulties and sufferings of this evil world to himself in heaven.

8 I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye. 9 Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.

God desires to instruct and lead His children in His ways. He does this through His Word, which is “a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (Psalm 119:105). But, how often are we not like the horse or mule which must have a bit and bridle to get them to go in the right direction! How much easier it would be for us, and better too, to let God instruct and guide us through this life!

10 Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the LORD, mercy shall compass him about.

Just think about this word of God: “Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the LORD, mercy shall compass him about.” The wicked, the impenitent, will have many sorrows. Not only will this life be full of sorrow, not knowing the forgiveness and peace of God; the life to come will be one of eternal suffering and sorrow for the wicked! On the other hand, God’s mercy and forgiveness shall surround and encompass the one who trusts in the LORD!

11 Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.

Indeed, those who have God’s pardon and forgiveness, those to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity and sin but counts them righteous and holy in His sight for Jesus’ sake, have cause to be glad in the LORD and rejoice. And, they can shout for joy; for they are blessed of the LORD forevermore!

[SCRIPTURE TAKEN FROM THE KING JAMES VERSION OF THE BIBLE]