Discover the transformative journey of forgiveness and its place at the heart of Christian faith as we explore the richness of the Apostles' Creed. Our latest episode delves into why the act of forgiving isn't just a theological concept, but a vital necessity for our spiritual well-being. We'll take you through the process of recognizing our inherent sinfulness, the incomparable grace found in Christ's love, and how this shapes the very core of our relationship with God.
This conversation isn't your average Sunday school lesson; it's a deep dive into the practical implications of God's pardon on our daily lives. We share poignant stories and biblical anecdotes that shed light on the struggle against sin and the life-changing relief that comes with embracing the full extent of God's mercy. It's a candid look at how the acknowledgment of divine forgiveness can lead to a radical transformation, fostering a love for God that is as genuine as it is profound.
As we wrap up, let the heartfelt truths of Paul and Peter resonate within you, and consider how living a life of forgiveness can act as a testament to the gospel's power. Join us in rethinking what it means to embody the gospel's grace, not just in thought, but in every encounter and relationship. Be inspired to carry the message of reconciliation and unconditional love into a world that is ever in need of both.
Discover the transformative journey of forgiveness and its place at the heart of Christian faith as we explore the richness of the Apostles' Creed. Our latest episode delves into why the act of forgiving isn't just a theological concept, but a vital necessity for our spiritual well-being. We'll take you through the process of recognizing our inherent sinfulness, the incomparable grace found in Christ's love, and how this shapes the very core of our relationship with God.
This conversation isn't your average Sunday school lesson; it's a deep dive into the practical implications of God's pardon on our daily lives. We share poignant stories and biblical anecdotes that shed light on the struggle against sin and the life-changing relief that comes with embracing the full extent of God's mercy. It's a candid look at how the acknowledgment of divine forgiveness can lead to a radical transformation, fostering a love for God that is as genuine as it is profound.
As we wrap up, let the heartfelt truths of Paul and Peter resonate within you, and consider how living a life of forgiveness can act as a testament to the gospel's power. Join us in rethinking what it means to embody the gospel's grace, not just in thought, but in every encounter and relationship. Be inspired to carry the message of reconciliation and unconditional love into a world that is ever in need of both.
We are in the middle of a theological series taking us through the summer, and we've just a couple of more of these to go before we begin a new series that will take us through a book of the Bible, but going through the Apostles' Creed, the oldest confession written outside of Scripture that the church today. It's a beautiful creed that highlights the foundation, the doctrine of our church and it's a doctrine doctrines really that is shared by Christians everywhere. At least those that are in the Orthodox and Evangelical and even Catholic traditions, would affirm the Apostles' Creed. And we're at that section in the creed where it says that we believe in forgiveness of sins. It's so important to us that we actually say we believe in the forgiveness of sins. There's a lot that could be mentioned in this creed. There are a lot of doctrines that are very, very important, lot of doctrines that are very, very important, and the framers, which really span quite a bit of time, who put this together as the church continued to grow and articulate its theology, understood that this doctrine is the most important issue, not just belief. It's the most important issue that we will ever encounter in our lives the forgiveness of sins.
Speaker 1:What I want to talk about? I'll tell you where we're going, just so we are all on the same page. We're not just going to talk about the forgiveness of sins in general. I want us to see number one, that the forgiveness of our sins is our greatest need. Number two, I want us to see that the forgiveness of our sins can only be found in Christ. And number three, that the forgiveness of our sins can only be found in Christ. And number three, that the forgiveness of sins produces Christian or gospel graces in our lives. First, it is our greatest need, it is your greatest need, it is the world's greatest need, and sometimes we get a little confused Even the church gets a little confused about this being the greatest need, because there are so many truly important issues that we need to be dealing with. Right, I mean, there's social issues, there are social issues, there are moral issues. Right, we think that the renewal of a city is a good thing and we ought to seek the city. We ought to seek to feed the hungry and clothe the naked, and these things truly matter. You can't be a Christian and not feel the importance of those issues and work to be involved in those issues.
Speaker 1:But the most important issue that anyone will ever deal with in their lives is the forgiveness of sins, and the reason we don't recognize it as the most important issue is frequently because we do not get the seriousness or the ugliness and the consequences of our sin. The degree to which you understand your sin and the cross of Christ is the degree to which you understand just the priority and the place of this doctrine, this grace of God, our forgiveness. We don't see it for what it is. Sin is small and consequential. This issue isn't at the center. Like the wicked make very, they make nothing of their sin. Really, the wicked don't care, it's not an issue. They don't think about their sin. The moral make very little of their sin right Because they're looking at all of their good deeds. They're looking at how well they can balance the scales. And the religious believe that they can manage their sin right, that they can jump through hoops or perform certain religious traditions or rituals or sacraments and somehow overcome their sin. But none of these not the wicked or the moral or the religious have a proper understanding of how sinful and guilty we are. Because this is the issue that we are guilty sinners before God, right, I mean? Romans 3 makes this clear.
Speaker 1:If you want to spend some time looking at the issue of sin, your sin, spend some time in chapter 3 of the book of Romans. Right, romans 3 makes this clear. If you want to spend some time looking at the issue of sin, your sin, spend some time in chapter 3 of the book of Romans, romans 3.23, where Paul says All have sinned, everyone religious, wicked, moral, it doesn't matter. All have sinned and we all fall short of God's glory. And really, romans 3, beginning in verse 10, paul begins to quote the Psalms to unpack just how guilty and sinful we are. Listen to what he says. He says none is righteous, not one. No one understands, no one seeks for God. All have turned aside Together. They have become worthless. One does good, not even one. And it's the pride in us that wants to say no, I do good. I know people who do good. We can look around in our culture and see some people doing kind things to others, and in that relative social kind of sense, yes, absolutely. We see the image of God in people when we are kind to other and are generous with one another. But Paul's point is, as we stand before God, all of us are bankrupt and have no righteousness that will commend us into God's presence.
Speaker 1:We are sinful and guilty, and our guilt really hinges on two things. We are sinners because of two reasons, very simply. One is this doctrine of original sin, which some people are very opposed to, but I find that most people are just entirely ignorant of Like. Most people don't really understand what a sin is. And it is essentially that we are guilty sinners for what happened with our first parents, adam and Eve. Through them we have inherited a nature that is sinful in and of itself. So our first parents, adam and Eve, in the garden, hence with God, were given responsibilities to exercise dominion over the world and to procreate and to have a family culture. Our first parents had that responsibility, but Adam was our representative head, he spoke for us all and we were all in him. And Adam, with his wife Eve, disobeyed God and brought sin into this world.
Speaker 1:And Romans chapter five tells us that a couple of things happen here. One is when Adam sinned. In some way we all sinned with him. I know that's trippy because we weren't there, we weren't born yet, but somehow he is such a representative, he so much is us. When he sinned, we sinned and we are guilty for what Adam did in the garden, and I know it's playful, like Christians like to say, boy, well, if I wouldn't have done that, I mean, get out of here, crazy, perfect wife. I wouldn't want to mess that up, right, crazy perfect creation, no way. But we would. We would all do the same thing because we did. Adam represented us and somehow we were in him and we sinned with him. So we are guilty for what happened there.
Speaker 1:But also, in addition to that, we inherit from our first parents a nature that is sinful inside, inside. You see, the issue is not that you sin, as much as the issue is you are a sinner. Right, we get this backwards. We think, well, I'm a sinner because I sin. But that is incorrect. You are not a sinner because you sin. You sin because, in your heart, you are a sinner. We're dealing with who you are internally, truly who I am, the things that I do, and that's not what makes me a sinner. I do those things because I am a sinner. So we are guilty before God in and of ourselves, by nature.
Speaker 1:Psalm 51.5 is where David makes this point that even at the point of conception, right, he's a human life. He is a being made in God's image, but he is also a corrupt and fallen and sinful being even there, even before he had volitionally done anything in his life. This is original sin. So we are guilty essentially, and we are guilty because of those deeds that we commit in our body throughout our lives. We are guilty and condemned under the curse, under the wrath of God, and so this presents us with our greatest need the need for cleansing, the need for restoration, the need for restoration, the need for you, that is, the need for forgiveness. I want so much for my kids, just like you do. We want so much for our kids. We want them to be smart and happy and successful in all the appropriate ways. You know, at night I pray kids and we bless them, and it's it's so often it's the same prayer of blessing that God would protect them and and be with them and cause them to grow up into strong young men and women. But most importantly, we're praying that love God with all of their heart, that Christ would be first, that they would experience the forgiveness of sins, because that is their most important need. So, at every point along the way, we want to empower kids to this issue that we all really need to be reconciled to God Now, this need for cleansing this reality of guilt, in that most people feel right, everyone here is guilty for the things that we have done.
Speaker 1:And the question is like, what do we do about it? How do we try to cope with or deal with our guilt? And there are some people that don't feel it at all. But we have to make a distinction between the feeling of guilt and the fact of guilt, because you may feel your guilt or you may not, but it doesn't change the fact, the reality that you are culpable or that you are guilty for what you've done, for who you are. We have men here that we have a number of you that are involved in prison ministry. A couple of men actually go into prisons and you talk to guys right Of all kinds, and there are guys there who may have done. They're like they're aware that they are guilty, but they don't feel it. So some people know it but they don't feel it. Some people feel it, but we are all guilty before God. How do we help? What do we do?
Speaker 1:Because the only thing that we really can do on our part is to superficially deal with the guilt, not the fact of guilt, because we can't go back and take away what we've done. We can't change ourselves from the inside. We are guilty. So all we can try to do is try to manage our feelings, which ultimately does nothing. Our guilt is conquered, it is overcome, it is taken away in Christ. You see, the forgiveness of our sins is our greatest need, but it is only met in Jesus. You know what?
Speaker 1:Yesterday was Yom Kippur? It's the Day of Atonement Among the Jewish people. It's like our Christmas and Easter, in that even non-practicing Jews, non-participating Jews throughout the year, they'll show up on the Day of Atonement at the synagogue, just like a lot of Christians will show up at church on Christmas or Easter. Right, because it's that recognizable of an event, it is that important to their culture, recognizable of an event. It is that important to their culture.
Speaker 1:And really the Day of Atonement points back to this day, once a year in the nation of Israel, when the high priest would offer up special sacrifices and really it consisted of two goats. There was one goat, which represented the remission of the sins of the people of Israel, and the high play his hand upon that goat and symbolically, all of the sins of Israel were cast upon that goat, and that goat was driven out into the wilderness and away, away from the temple, away from the people of God. It symbolically pictured the removal of the God's sins and transgressions. They were taken away and the other goat was sacrificed. It was sliced and then burnt on the altar pleasing God. It was a picture of the remission of our sins. It pointed to the coming Messiah who would do this for us. It pointed to the coming Messiah who would do this for us.
Speaker 1:And so we read in a number of passages of scripture. Let me just mention a few. Ephesians, chapter one, verse seven, for example. It says in him, that is, in Jesus, we have redemption through his blood. What is that? The forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace. This is our redemption. That's such a big word. Right, salvation. It's such a big word and we want it to encompass all of these different things. Right, salvation, to encompass even the new heavens and the new earth. That's going to come in the end and that is a part of our salvation. But at the heart, what is at the core of it all is forgiveness. Right in Colossians, chapter verse 14, we read the same thing, verse 13,.
Speaker 1:He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of our sins. This is our redemption, all found in Jesus on the cross. You see, on the cross, when Christ died for us, there's this great, there's this beautiful, mysterious transaction that happens. There's a trade going on on the cross and what happens is when Jesus dies on the cross, he takes our sins away. Jesus is the scapegoat. He takes our sins upon himself. So we give him our sins. In a sense, he gets our sin. We get even more from him, we pardon for our sins and we get the righteousness of the Savior. So it's not just that we are forgiven and cleansed from all that we have done, we also receive as a gift everything that he write, all of his obedience to the Father, is given to us. This is our redemption in Christ the cross, and it's why it's our misunderstanding, or it's the smallness of our understanding of this truth this great transaction causes us so much trouble in our lives.
Speaker 1:Like some of you really wrestle with your sin, and I don't just mean you're fighting against it, trying to get better. Hopefully, we are all fighting against our sin, trying to follow Christ. But where you struggle is oftentimes not in the fight but in understanding, where your hope and your confidence for winning the fight, because some of you are so defeated by the presence of your sin that you feel like you can't talk to God, that you can't approach God, that you just don't know what to do. You feel like you're suffocating under its presence. You trust in Christ.
Speaker 1:Martin Luther was a man, a great man, who struggled with his sin and despaired for a long period of time until he understood that Christ is the perfect sacrifice, the perfect offering that takes away all guilt. And he was asked one time by a man who was struggling with his sin and the bigness, the deepness of it. And here's what Luther said to him. He said learn to know Christ and him crucified, learn to sing to him and say Lord Jesus, you are my righteousness I am. Then you took on you what was mine. You set on me what was yours. You became what you were, not that I might become what I was. Not Read that Christ became a curse for us. Christ became sin for us on the cross, that we might become the righteousness of God.
Speaker 1:See, here we believe the forgiveness sins. It is full, it is complete. We read earlier in Psalm 103, verse 12, god takes our sins and removes them from us, far away as far as the east is from the west. When us is forgiven by God, it happens once and it covers all. Because Christ covers all, there is no sin that you can commit that can undo what Christ has done for you. You can't undo the work of Christ. Christ justifies you, that is, he declares you forgiven and gives you his righteousness. You can't give it back, you can't lose it, you can't send yourself into some state of reprobation. Once you've been forgiven, you are united with Christ and accepted by God the Father. You are united with Christ and accepted by God the Father. Nothing that you do nor anything that you experience can then separate you from the love of God. This is the hope of true forgiveness that our forgiveness is complete and that it is forever.
Speaker 1:And some people want to know it's true. If I cannot sin myself away from God, doesn't that mean then doesn't lead me then with this. Listen, at least leave me with the opportunity or the option to sin to the full. I mean, can't I just go and sin all that I want? I mean, if God will always forgive me, then I guess I'm good to go right. I mean, wouldn't this kind of grace, wouldn't the forgiveness of sins, lead to unrighteous living? And the answer is no, it can't. Sure. Once forgiven, you cannot undo it and no matter how bad you mess up or how often you pursue sin or become selfish, you can't undo what Christ has done. But no, it will not lead to righteous behavior because the forgiveness of sins, it produces, in the forgiven soul, gospel graces. It actually does it to us, changes us and it produces a number of graces. We're only gonna talk about five. We'll talk about five of them. The forgiveness of sin produces Christian graces. One of them is love for God and hatred for sin. We'll put them together Love for God, hatred. So this counts as one Love for God and hatred for sin.
Speaker 1:I want to read one passage here, so go ahead and turn to chapter seven. It's an amazing passage. Luke, chapter seven, verse 30. I'm gonna. It says one of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with them and he went into the Pharisee's house and he placed at the table and behold, a woman of the city who was a sinner when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment and, standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and them with the hair of her head, and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. Now, when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself if this man knew, if this man were a prophet, he would have known what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner. And Jesus answering him, jesus doesn't hear him. Jesus knows what he's saying, knows what he's thinking.
Speaker 1:Simon, I have something to say to you. And he answered say it, teacher, preach it, brother. He's ready to hear this word. He says, a certain money had two debtors One owed 500 denarii and the other 50. When they could not cancel the debt, now which of them will love him more? And Simon answered the one, I suppose, for whom he canceled the larger debt. And he said to him you have just rightly.
Speaker 1:Then, turning toward the woman, he said to Simon do you see this woman? I entered your house, you gave me no water for my feet, wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss. But from the time I came in, she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, he has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore, I tell you her sins, which are men, are forgiven. She loved much, but he who is forgiven little loves little. And he said to her your sins are forgiven.
Speaker 1:Then those who were at the table with him began to say among themselves who is this? Who even forgives sins? Listen, big, just picture. Here Jesus says the one who has been forgiven loves. And the more we understand the reality of our sin and the deepness of God's grace, the more we respond in love. For him, To know that we are forgiven produces love. To know that we are forgiven of so much, it produces love.
Speaker 1:If you think you've been forgiven of very little, you don't love very much. But when you understand who you are in your heart and what God has done for us in Christ, it produces. And not only does it produce love for God, but it also produces simultaneously a hatred for sin. Because look, we're saying that the wicked think nothing of their sin and the moral man? Well, he thinks very little of his sin. But the religious person, she thinks that her sin is manageable, right. Only the forgiven understand the reality and the heinousness and the ugliness of their sin, because they see the cross. And on the cross we don't just see the ugliness of our sin, we do see it there because we see the consequence of our sin, we see what God was willing to do, we see the sacrifice that Christ made to atone. But we also, in that same event, see the beauty and the grace of the gospel that covers our sin, that takes it away and gives us forgiveness. We hate the sin that we see. We love God for his grace. It produces other Christian graces, the forgiveness of sins, also put within us.
Speaker 1:Secondly, a humble attitude, because we know what we deserve. We know what is right, what is fair, and that is that we would be held accountable for all of our actions, even our attitudes, even our thoughts. We're accountable to God for all that we are. And yet God says I'm not going to give you what you deserve. I'm going to give you so much more. I'm going to bless you, I'm going to make you my son, I'm going to adopt you, I'm going to seat you with Christ in heaven. You will reign with Christ and all of his people for all eternity. I'm giving you everything we find grace.
Speaker 1:So we can say with Jacob in Genesis 32, 10, that we are unworthy of all of the kindness and the goodness that God gives us. He wants to do us good. We don't deserve it. It produces humility within us, and it's a humility that is both related to God and to other people. Right, it's vertical and it's horizontal. It's vertical because we know that God gives us this grace. We don't deserve it and so we're. We're humbled that he would sell upon us and love us, not because we've cleaned ourselves up, but because Christ saves. But it also humility as we relate to one another, because we see that we are all the same, we're all sinners, we're all messed up, we're all guilty and no one is better than another. If you lack humility, if you find yourself characterized by pride, it is because you are unacquainted with grace. And the degree to which you are acquainted with grace, the degree to which you understand the grace that you have received, is the degree to which you will be learning the humility that comes through Christ, humility that comes through Christ.
Speaker 1:Number three the forgiveness of sin produces the Christian or the gospel grace of a happy heart. And I don't mean like silly happy, I don't mean like everything's cool, now I can just smile and laugh and giggle all day. I mean Christian gospel joy, right. Liberated people, right, people that have been in bondage, been oppressed, who have been restricted. When they are emancipated, when they are set free, when they are liberated and told to go and be free, people do. They smile, they clap, they jump up and down, they sing songs, right, because they're filled with joy, they're liberated, they have life right. The forgiveness of sins is truly a liberation, not only the consequences of our sin, but we're liberated unto a life with God. This is why joy is always at the heart of our worship. Joy is at the heart of our worship because forgiveness is the heart of the gospel and we are working to be a God-centered fellowship.
Speaker 1:It doesn't mean that every service will be a celebration. Every service is going to feel awesome, right, it says everything's going to be exciting. But it does mean that, whether we are going through a period of confession and repentance and crying out to God, or whether we are in the midst of celebrating, we have joy because God has forgiven us. Joy because God has forgiven us. If you lack joy even now, in the midst of what you're going through. If you lack joy, it is probably because you're losing sight of your forgiveness. Times can be bad, times can be hard, you can go through great difficulty, severe affliction, but in the midst of it you can have joy because you know that God is for you. He's forgiven your sins, you're accepted in him, and though the world can take so much away from you, though the devil can strip you of, such, nothing can separate you from this gift that God has given us. Nothing can separate us from him or his love.
Speaker 1:Fourth, the forgiveness of sins produces the gospel grace of a holy life. You think well, can't this idea the true? All of our sins, past, present and future, the sins that I'm going to commit tomorrow, are forgiven and atoned for on the cross by Christ. Can't that lead to ungodliness? The answer is no. It cannot lead to ungodliness. You may pursue ungodliness in your ignorance. I may do that, but forgiveness leads to a holy life because we want to obey. We want to obey the God who made and the God who redeems us. We find great pleasure in doing things his way.
Speaker 1:The thing is, when we obey God, we aren't seeking to pay him back. This is where some Christians get confused. We think, like well, jesus died for me, he gave up his life for me, so I'm now then going to pay him back by giving my life to him. It's not that kind of an exchange. We can't pay God back. It's as if somebody gives you a gift and you say wow, thank you, and you start peeling off those hundos to pay them back for this great gift that they gave you. That would be insulting, it misses the point, and no amount of work or effort could ever pay God back.
Speaker 1:You see, it is this unilateral movement of grace. He saves the undeserving. So we obey God out of a sense of joy and out of a sense of gratitude for all that he. When you receive a good gift from a friend, from your spouse, when you receive a good gift, it fills you with pleasure, right, it arouses love for them, not because you love the gift, but because you love that they gave you this. It's their giving, it's their affection that is stirred up in you, affection for them. So it is with God.
Speaker 1:So in Romans, chapter 12, verse 1, we have this principle stated by Paul. Therefore, in view of God's mercies, in view of all that God has done for you in Christ. All of the book of Romans up into this point. He says in view of all of God's mercies, present yourselves as a living sacrifice to him. Holy pleasing to God. It makes sense.
Speaker 1:And so here's the thing your growth in godliness and I know that so many of you want to grow in godliness. You want to become what God has made you to be. You wanna conquer your sin and you wanna be moving. You don't wanna be where you are now. Next year you wanna be somewhere else. You wanna be more mature, right.
Speaker 1:Your growth in godliness entirely depends upon your gospel familiarity. Because what we tend to think is I'm going to be godly by trying really, really hard, I'm going to work at it, I'm going to make sacrifices, I'm going to start new disciplines, I'm going to do all of these things, and all of that is very important. We do have to try, but that isn't what brings about godliness or makes the change. The change comes from the reality of the gospel, finding our identity there. The more familiar you are with the gospel not in an intellectual sense, but in an experiential sense the more familiar you are with the gospel, the more you will grow in godliness.
Speaker 1:There's a great passage in 2 Peter 1 that actually lays this out for us very clearly. You can go ahead and turn to 2 Peter if you would like, chapter 1., verse 5. For this very reason, what God has done for us in Christ, the salvation that he has given us, for this very reason, make every effort there's the work to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Okay, so look at what he says. I want you to grow in your understanding, in the knowledge of Christ, in such a way that it is bearing fruit. Right, if these qualities are yours love, action and godliness if these qualities are yours and they are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective and unfruitful in the knowledge of Christ. It means your theology is real, it's yours and it matters and it's leading to this experience and this transformation.
Speaker 1:If you don't have these experiences, then your theology is little more than a nod of the head. It's not in your heart. But it's what he says in verse nine that makes the point. Whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having thoughten that he was cleansed from his former sins, right Like. The reason you aren't growing in godliness, it's not because you're not trying hard to conquer that one sin that has been with you since you were 14. It's because you're not familiar with the gospel. It's because you're fearing the cleansing of your sins. That's our hope that God's grace cleanses us and leads us forward in godliness. The forgiveness of sin produces this gospel grace of a holy life and finally, it produces a forgiving spirit in us.
Speaker 1:You, christian, have been forgiven of more than you will ever know or understand. You could not possibly be to fathom the depths and the complexities of your idolatry. I am so much more corrupt and sinful on every level of my being than I will ever understand. But I do know this as big of a being than I will ever understand. But I do know this as big of a sinner as I am. Whether I understand it or not, christ is such a great, much greater Savior than that. We've been forgiven of much, so we love much and as people who have been forgiven of so much. We learn forgiveness from our Savior. You learn it through the cross and therefore we practice this holy habit of forgiveness. In Colossians, chapter three, verse 13, or verse 13, or verse 12,. We'll back up, put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved.
Speaker 1:Passion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience bearing with one another and, if one has come against another, forgiving each other. As the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive you, so you also must forgive. This is the mark of a follower of Christ. The mark, like this defining mark of the one who has been forgiven, is that he or she is a forgiver. We've learned it so well, we've seen it up close and personal. We've been a far greater offense to God than anyone will ever be to us. Listen, forgiveness is so important. It's built into the prayer that Jesus gave us right Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. It's built in, it's supposed to be, and as you are unwilling to forgive, it means that you are not. Once again, you are not familiar with the gospel in your experience.
Speaker 1:I believe in the forgiveness of sins. It is the most important thing, reality that has ever happened to me, that will ever happen to anybody, that God, our maker, would forgive us of all that we are and have done and make us his own. The question, I think, is why would you do it? Why does God forgive you? Why does he extend grace and mercy to the undeserving? We think, well, he does it for our good, he wants to bless us. He's a good God, Absolutely, but it's not the main reason.
Speaker 1:In 1 John 2, verse 12, john says I write these things to you because you have been forgiven of your sin for his namesake. And that means too. It means that we are forgiven of our sins by the merit of Jesus, for his name, for our namesake. It's not like our performance, our identity, our traditions. None of that has anything to do with why we are forgiven. It is by virtue of all that Christ has done, but it also means for his name. It also implies that it's for his glory.
Speaker 1:God forgives us Christ, that he might put himself on display and we might see just beautiful what he is. You see, because in the gospel the point really is the beauty of God would be seen and that we would be moved to worship. God forgives and restores and gives life, not just for those things. He does it so that we will see that he is not only a God of justice, but he is also a God of mercy and grace, that he is not only a creator but he is a. It's in the gospel that we see it all. It's our experience of the gospel that makes it for us.
Speaker 1:If you have not believed the gospel, if you have not found relief from your plagued conscience, if you have not found the forgiveness of sins in Christ, then I would encourage you today to believe. Stop trying to balance the scales. You cannot put more good work one day to match up a makeup. For all that you did the former day, you can't double time it tomorrow. For all of your forgetfulness and laziness and selfishness today, you can't make it up. You can't take it back.
Speaker 1:But what we can do is simply throw ourselves on the mercy of God in Christ, trust in his son and our sins are forgiven once and for all, and by that grace you will be changed. Love God and hate sin. God will grant you this humble attitude and give you a happy heart and lead you to live a holy life, an unclean holy life, and you will have a forgiving spirit, all so that people might see Christ in you, our hope of glory and our hope of forgiveness. I'm gonna ask if Tom would come and close us not close us in prayer, but lead us in prayer. And the band is going to come and close us not close us in prayer, but lead us in prayer. And the band is going to come and lead us in one more song. So if we could all come forward. Thanks, tom.