The "Mechanics" Of Forgiveness

I’ve been a mechanic for 20 years and the beauty of an engine is in its simplicity and clarity. When the “check engine” light comes on, you fix the problem and the light goes off.  Things either work or they don’t. A good mechanic is not determined by how you feel  about him, or if he’s a nice guy, but if the engine works when he’s done. 

It seems crazy not to use this same, common-sense logic when it comes to looking for answers to our inner problems. There is an unspoken, underlying thought that anything about God is “nice,” but no one has any expectations that what He offers actually does anything practical. But either God works, or He isn’t. 

I was sitting face to face talking with a beautiful man in a prison. He was serving a life-sentence. He told me that nothing helps deal with his guilt. He tried the whole gamut of religions, including Christianity. For a while, he felt better, but once he returned to his cell, the hope vanished, and he was crushed by the feelings of condemnation and a tormented conscience. They simply didn’t work. He must have told me ten times how he just could not forgive himself. What he had done was killing him inside. I showed him Romans 8:1. Paul says “There is now no condemnation (no guilt, no punishment, no penalty) for those who are in Christ Jesus.”  He stopped me mid-sentence and said “Wait, what?! Do you mean no guilt? How is that even possible?” Brother, or sister, not only is it possible, it’s the entire reason Jesus came. 

Religions don’t work to remove man’s guilt because they are only doctrines, teachings, feelings, and emotions. Jesus is not about empty concepts and ideals. He is the only One who did something in time and space to physically remove our guilt. 

Not A Concept, But Reality

When I first learned about engines, it was through the mail. I passed all the written tests. So on paper, I was a “Certified Mechanic.” I knew all the concepts, saw the diagrams, and learned the terminology. But the first time I removed the head of an engine, I was overwhelmed by the reality of it. I realized I didn’t have a clue how to fix what was broken. 

I’ve heard so many men talk about the ‘sacrificed blood of Jesus’ with much emotion, but when asked: “Why does it matter?”, they reply with blank stares and no understanding. They’ve learned the doctrines, but don’t know how it practically works. 

Turning the Gears of our Mind

After admitting I didn’t know what I was talking about, I had to relearn so much of what I thought I already knew. It took a lot of thinking to grasp the workings of an engine, but in the end, it was well worth it. In the same way, brother, I’m gonna ask you to stretch your mind a bit to get this. I know how irrelevant and ‘out there’ a word like “sacrifice” can sound. But understanding the sacrifice of Jesus will give you something real. It will conquer all of the accusations and memories that flood your mind in the tormenting hours of the night. So just roll with me, okay, man? Sacrifice is not some side issue. It’s not like a taillight or horn, but the heart of the engine. It’s literally the entire thing of the whole Bible. So let’s break it down like we would if we were gonna diagnose an engine: 

Check Engine Light

When you’re driving a car and the “Check Engine” light comes on, you know you can’t ignore it. The car may continue to run, but it’s only a matter of time before it shuts you down and you’re on the side of the road. (Like when my engine light came on and my alternator failed while in the Peruvian desert and the nearest mechanic within 100 miles was a goat.) 

Guilt is our “check engine” light. It nags us, telling us something is wrong. Guilt is no joke. If you ignore it, it’ll continue to wreak havoc in your heart and mind and shut you down. A sinner’s prayer or Bible verse may ease it off, but it’ll come right back. Guilt has to be dealt with. 

The Diagnosis 

When you take your car to the shop, the mechanic will hook it up to a diagnostic machine. He will do a thorough analysis to define the origin and pinpoint the exact location of the problem. Otherwise, he’ll end up trying to fix a symptom of the problem without ever dealing with the root cause.

Our conscience is the very seat of our being. It is the location and source of all of our guilt. It’s like a busted head-gasket that keeps leaking oil. It’s a small indication of an enormous problem that will seize the engine if not fixed.

The constant dripping of guilt proves that the conscience is broken down and needs an overhaul. Just like in an engine rebuild, it’s necessary to remove the old gasket and, after thoroughly being cleaned, a new gasket can be installed. So also our conscience must be washed clean so that the seal of forgiveness can be properly seated and stop the leakage of guilt.

A Temporary Repair

When an engine needs a complete overhaul, you have to do a temporary fix to hold it over until you can get the right parts. It takes time to set up and have everything laid out in perfect order. 

The Old Testament is kind of like that. It was a temporary fix for a gigantic problem God was preparing to solve later in Jesus.

We all have that feeling that when we do something wrong, we should try to do something right to compensate for the wrong we did. So many men talk about starting a charity after leaving prison in hopes to make up for their crimes. We hope that the good stuff we do will atone for the bad stuff we did and our conscience would stop nagging us. This thinking actually comes out of our conscience as an effort to appease our need for atonement and sacrifice. 

The Mechanics of Sacrifice

It’s not as complicated as you think, bro. The whole thing of sacrifice can be summed up in one word: Substitute. It’s like an exchange or a replacement. Instead of God killing a man for his sin, He allowed the man to substitute one of his animals. The penalty for his sin would fall on the animal, instead of on him. It was a life for a life. The blood of the animal was offered in exchange for his blood and he would be forgiven (Lev. 5). 

You see, God says: “For the life of all flesh is in the blood” and so “Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness” (Lev.17:11/Heb.9:22).60 Makes sense, hey, man?

Every time this happened, it was only for one specific sin. It would temporarily remove the guilt, but it came right back because sin is not just an occasional act but the very nature in which we live. It just got to be absurd. Men just couldn’t keep up with all the sacrifices needed for their sins. Many guys have told me about  having to remember all their sins to confess to a priest. They just gave up because they couldn’t keep up.

Complete Overhaul

Before beginning an engine overhaul, a mechanic will sit down and calculate every detail of the work to be done. He’ll make sure that he has every tool, part, fitting, and knows all specifications so the engine will run perfectly once reassembled. 

Before coming to Earth, Jesus sat down and contemplated every legal detail of what He would have to do to offer a perfect sacrifice and meet all of the Father’s requirements. He thought about you by name and what it would take to restore you. He saw your crime, whether it was theft, rape, murder, or something even worse. Jesus calculated the exact, excruciating punishment He would have to bear for the crimes of the entire world.51

It’s like Jesus got up, came to the Father, and despite everything, said, I will go. I will offer My own perfect blood as the substitute sacrifice for their sin. It will be one sacrifice for all sin, for all time. They won’t have to do anything. I will do it all (Heb.10:7-10).46/51/60

The High Cost of Reliable Performance

Jesus did not do this on some distant, cosmic planet, or in a mystical dream. He took on a physical body and walked as one of us. He carried in Himself the same sin that broke our conscience, so He could fully relate to everything.110 He willingly, from His own heart, carried a cross up a hill, “as a lamb being lead to slaughter” (Is.53:7). For that one moment, God put upon Him the entirety of sin (not individual sins, but all sin) so it could be one sacrifice for all time. Jesus bore the full penalty that we deserve and it killed Him. As the sacrificed Lamb of God and our substitute, on the cross, Jesus won “eternal redemption.” Not with the blood of animals, but with His own perfect blood “He offered Himself without blemish to God, and cleansed our conscience” (Heb. 9:14/Jn.1:29).

When Jesus cried out “It is finished!”, at that moment the “check engine” light clicked off (Jn.19:30). What He did works! Guilt was absolved. Absolute forgiveness, for all things past, present, and future was complete.  

Just Get In And Drive

If someone gave you a brand-new, high performance vehicle with a chrome-plated V8 turbo, you wouldn’t go work on the engine, you would hit the open road. 

The sacrifice of Jesus is complete and requires no work from you. Get in and drive. Believe Him.68 He walked out of the tomb and tossed you the keys to the ultimate “vehicle” that can take you to His Father.36/99/57 

So if you leave this article thinking you got to clean up your act to get forgiven, then I’m sorry, man, but you missed the whole point. As long as you think it’s up to you, then your guilt will remain. A constant dripping of guilt proves that the seal of forgiveness was not properly seated. Anything that you think you have to stop or start doing, is you trying to offer up your own “sacrifice” for each individual failure and sin. If it’s still up to us to make amends for ourselves, then everything Jesus did was in vain.

To believe Him is not some long, drawn-out process of reform. It’s a simple choice. It is real faith that says “I’m not good and I never can be. I can’t forgive myself, but Jesus, You did, and that is all that matters. Your blood is enough.”

Every time the devil accuses you or tries to use guilt to bring you down, recall His sacrifice.

Forgiveness doesn’t forgive. Jesus forgives. Stop trying. Start believing.

When the guilt is gone, it’s like the freedom of driving along the ocean with the top down and the wind in your hair. There is no greater happiness in all of life than being forgiven.