When You Need to Be Forgiven

When You Need to Be Forgiven

The Reading of God’s a Word

Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity,and in whose spirit there is no deceit. For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the Lord," and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.

                                                                                                                        Ps 32:1-5

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say 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. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

1 John 1:5-10

Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13  bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.

Col 3:12-13

Let’s Pray

Father, blessed are we who hear your words and can amen them with deep gratitude, sincere worship and obedient action. May we as your people hear your words, in a greater more sensitive light today, not taking this message and enduring it for the next 30 minutes or so. But to eagerly open our hearts to your Spirit to search, convict, heal and transform? In Jesus Name, Amen

Warming up

We’ve been going through the past few weeks, What the Bible Says about certain things. As God’s children we want to… as the verse in 1 John says, to walk in the light of your truth. We want to know what God says to us in times when God does say no, or when the enemy attacks or when we don’t desire God. To gain God’s almighty perspective, to know how he is working and how he wants us to respond. Today is no different. We are going to look at What the Bible says when you need to be  forgiveness.

Introduction

Now sitting in a building with other believers, just finishing  the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, forgiveness is on our worshipful radar. Forgiveness is a message that is central to the gospel. The topic of forgiveness is fully understood in the bigger theological teaching of justification. Justification is the great exchange of our sinfulness with Christ’s righteousness,  that happens by a favor of unmerited love from God, to those whom God called and they answered with faith in Christ’s work on the cross and belief in His resurrection.  “The deepest longing of the sin burdened heart is found in the message of the cross of Christ.

All these truths are to burn in our heart this morning. Forgiveness though is a topic that either we will lie to ourselves for the actual need for it or we will stand condemned struggling with a burden of sin.

For those who lie to themselves, they need to hear the words of British theologian, James Buchanan who wrote on the doctrine of justification back in 1867. I’m quoting from  James White’s book, The God Who Justifies, which I think every Christian should read the first chapter- truly-, anyway, If you think you are without the need for forgiveness listen to this.Talking about the proper understanding of Justification Buchanan writes:

“The best preparation for the study of this doctrine is- neither great intellectual ability, nor much scholastic learning, - but a conscience impressed with a sense of our actual condition as sinners in the sight of God. A deep conviction of sin is the one thing needful in such inquiry—a conviction of the fact of sin, as an awful reality in our own personal experience- the power of sin, as an inveterate (which means a fixed bad habit) evil cleaving to us continually and having its roots deep in the innermost recesses of our hearts,-- and  of it’s the guilt of sin, past as well as present, as an offence against God …”

Buchanan goes on to say that   Without some such conviction of sin we can speculate and bring all of our intellectual abilities together but have no “suitable sense of our actual danger and no serious desire for deliverance from it.”

           

Its my prayer for those who sense that this subject is exhausted in your life and that you are tired of hearing it and generally feel that you have less sin needed to be forgiven---- that God would convict you of the actual danger of your sin-even as a justified child of God and believer who has received forgiveness- that the actual sense of the danger of your sin would be revealed, not in a condemning way.

But in a manner in which God’s holiness would be sooooo bright in your life, that you have no alibi, no excuse for the tolerated faults you walk in, the little sins. That in the light of the glorious presence of God, that your desire for God and your delight in worshipping him is not hampered by any little thing.

Now for those who as believers justified by faith struggle with forgiveness from God. Those who are burdened and accused and condemned I have an example for you

Ill.        There was a well known missionary to China named Rosalind Goforth. With her husband Jonathan they enjoyed years on the mission filed ministering for the Lord. But even during those years, Rosalind felt oppressed by a burden of sin. She felt guilty, dirty, nursing an inward sense of spiritual failure…finally one evening when all was quiet she settled at her desk with bible and concordance, determined to find out God’s attitude toward the failures, faults and sins of his children. She wrote on the top of the page “What God Does with Our Sins” . Then she compiled a list of seventeen truths. I’ve included them in your notes take a look and notice the imagery and let it minister to you who struggle…

                                                            What God Does with Our Sins

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.                                                                                                         Isa 53:6

The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!                                                                                                                         John 1:29-30

as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. Ps 103:12

In those days and in that time, declares the Lord, iniquity shall be sought in Israel, and there shall be none. And sin in Judah, and none shall be found, for I will pardon those whom I leave as a remnant. Jer 50:20

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,                                                                                                                                                 Eph 1:7-8

·         These three verse encompass the definition of forgiveness. Forgive means "to carry away." This reminds us of the ritual on the Jewish Day of Atonement when the high priest sent the scapegoat into the wilderness (Lev 16). First the priest killed one of the two goats and sprinkled its blood before God on the mercy seat. But get this Then he confessed Israel's sins over the live goat. That the Lord laying the sins on Christ. (Isa 53:6  And then the goat was  taken into the wilderness to be lost. This is the taken away and removal idea in the other two verses.

·         Notice in Jer 50;20, sin is looked for but never fond. Again the scapegoat is looked for, but not found. Its lost.

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.                                                                                                           1 John 1:7

"Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.                                 Isa 1:18

·         Note the word of cleansing. Ill. When I was in the cleaning business for 9 years, we would both disinfect and clean bathroom. It was a total cleansing of dirt both the germs and the physical ugliness of dirt. When we are forgiven of sin it not only cleanses us of the dirty behavior outside, but he cleanses the inner infections of sin in our heart. The sinful attitudes and motives. Forgiveness wipes it all.

Marker board ill.?

let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.                                    Isa 55:7

·         See the word abundantly, he leaves nothing to punish later he doesn’t forgive partially but abundantly.

He will again have compassion on us;  he will tread our iniquities under foot.  You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.                                                                                                                    Mic 7:19

Behold, it was for my welfare that I had great bitterness;  but in love you have delivered my life from the pit of destruction,  for you have cast all my sins behind your back.                                                Isa 38:17

·         This image is what I call the victorious image, one commentator put it like this, treading iniquities under foot meant  “Yahweh's forgiveness of Israel allows a conquest of sin in much the same way that a monarch triumphs over his enemy, treading him underfoot or placing his foot on his neck “

·         When God forgives us  “He takes away also the power of sin, that it may not rule us.”

·         For some of you, sin is the enemy,  the tyrant who ruled your life. Through forgiveness the almighty God who we worship has subdued sin in us and stands victorious with his foot on the neck of sin.            THAT WE CAN GLORIFY HIM FOR, ITS NOT US WHO ARE VICTORIOUS, ITS HIM!

·         Notice also the casting imagery.

·          Ill.  The bottle of sins.   teens idea. Can’t reach into it and take it out again. Cast it into the dump.

"Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin."                                                                                 Rom 4:7-8

"I, am he  who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.

Isa 43:25

I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like mist;                           Isa 44:22

by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.                                                                                                                                                 Col 2:14-15

·         In this group see the imagery of accounting. When a debt is paid, the charge is blotted it is canceled. The idea is that the record of proof that you owed, is now gone.

·         When sin are blotted out   sins disappears like clouds that disappear and the sky becomes calm. The threat of storms are gone. When sin is gone, the threat of punishment is gone.

·         They have been set aside nailed to the cross.

With all of God’s word shown to you,, do you rejoice with what God does with our sins? Doesn’t it give you a deeper sense of worship and humbleness? That’s what he does for us. We can’t do that. Only Christ can, That is the gospel… the good news for mankind for all who receive by grace through faith in Christ,

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[Transition now]

• We could be like David and have our  bones wasted away and groan all day long.Day and night youcould have God’s hand heavy on you; and have your strength dry up.
• We could live in the envy of A well known secular humanist and novelist  in England, who said just before she died, “What I envy most about you Christians is your forgiveness; I have nobody to forgive me.”

When forgiveness is needed in your life I want us to look the key passages of instruction that God gives us in his Word. Turn over your notes as we to look at

When You Need to Be Forgiven

If we say 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.                       1 John 1:8,9

When forgiveness you need to be forgiven you must  be sober in spirit.

Turn to Romans 12:3-4

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. Rom 12:3-4

To frame my thoughts here, I’ve used the acronym, SOBER you can use it for your own use in your worship or not. So

Start with a honest heart

“If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves…”v 8

Let’s be honest Ps 69:5 says O God, you know my folly; the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you.

There's nothing more difficult than trying to hide something that cannot be hidden. There is nothing more wearying, nothing more costly. Why try to hide it from God?   When we walk in darkness, we talk in darkness, we tell ourselves all sorts of things. We can deceive ourselves in the following ways:

We Hear messages about God but not living for God.

We Think that we can sin and you'll never have consequences.

We Criticize others of the same things we struggle with.

We Pretend to repent but do not resisting temptation.

We Lie to enhance a good image.

We do Not admit mistakes.

We Enhance spirituality (prayer, fasting, etc.) to impress others.

We Saying one thing but doing another.

We Pretend devotion and zeal to the Lord when struggling.

We Try to hide fears and sin from God.

Be honest. Let’s Have God’s word truly govern what we believe about ourselves. Listen to this warning

“If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” 1 John 1:10

Let’s get God’s word into us and listen to his conviction when it is there and to start by being honest with God.

Observe the Seriousness of Sin

“and the truth is not in us.”

What is the truth?  Unlike the Movie, you Can handle the truth. You need to handle the Truth The truth is this:

Turn to Romans 1:18

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth Rom 1:18

            Unrighteous men and women suppress the truth of the knowledge of God and His glory and His holiness by their unrighteousness.             Restate: That is men and women in their unrighteous behavior, suppress the knowledge of God.

[preach] God has come forth! He has revealed, he has witnessed to his own glory. So clearly and inargueable God’s existence is shown that God can hold all men accountable togive him thanks and to give him glory. Those who don’t do so without excuse, alibi or defense!

But what about us, here who are believers, we stand justified. How do we observe the seriousness of sin in our lives.

[preach] The truth that should be within us while the depths of our own sin are not a pleasant subject it should be a subject that ejects us from our lethargic walk of Christianity

and cause us to land on our knees, falling before the throne of Grace

Worshipping the most holy God, who,

when we view Him, is all beautiful

all majestic

all pure

and all satisfying enough for us to know of our own simple unworthiness in our humanity            

Yet His greatness in his calling of sinful people

and his saving of sinful people

and his electing of sinful people

to be his children

And as Children of a Gracious Father  who obey now out of love and walks in ways to relate and fellowship with him,our Father…sin still disrupts the relationship, the sweet fellowship of delight we are to have in order to be most satisfied in God Himself.

The seriousness of sin for the believer should not be taken any less serious, just because we are covered. The daily prayer of  forgiveness is not a prayer relating to God as eternal judge of the universe, but rather to God as our Father. It is a prayer in which we wish to restore the open fellowship with our Father that has been broken because of sin.

Take the fellowship and Fatherhood of God seriously. Some of your love and affections of God are lost when sin keeps us at arms length.

Another thought: take sin serious by Guarding against being hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Sin is subtle  and such a hardening can ultimately  lead to grace not being amazing. We can become hardened right here in the corporate worship time, because we know the routine. Its for that reason, we invite you to pray before service. It’s a time where we ask God to keep us sensitive to sin in our hearts.

This leads me into my next thought

Build a habit of humility

“But if you confess…”

To confess means to agree with the truth of what God says about you. You say to God, "I agree with You about this. It's wrong and it hurt. I agree with what You think about this sin. I agree with what You think about this

wrong that I've done."            Agreeing with God over your sin and over what he says about you and your position in Christ is a great habit of humilty.   It means we don’t know everything!

Habits take a while to form. But good habits like bad ones are tough to break.

I’ve got some good recommendations from C. J. Mahaney’s book Humilty

Let me give them to you.

Reflect on the Wonder of the Cross.

• Sing the song slowly,  when I survey the wondrous cross. Do you mean those words!
• John Owen said Fill your affections with the cross of Christ that there may be no room for sin.
• Dr. Carl Henry was a brilliant and yet humble man of God, D.A. Carson asked him how he had remained humble for so many decades: He responded ”How can anyone be arrogant when he stands besides the cross.”

Start each day with an expression of need for God and agreement with God over your need for him

Quietly transfer all kind words of success, in your life, ministry or vocation to the glory of God.

Agree with Him that he is the dispenser of success and you are but a vessel for His glory to shine.

We do this quietly, because humility doesn’t boast.

Study the attributes of God. Its very humbling to acknowledge  that apart from God, we cannot exist.

Study the doctrine of sin. To aid us in observing the seriousness of sin

Ok

Speaking of sin, when we need forgiveness we start with an honest heart. We observe the seriousness of sin. We build a habit of humilty. Next

Evaluate Your Mind, Mouth, Motives and Motions

“ our sins”

Evaluate your life for sins! not just the big ones but even the respectable ones.

In his book Respectable Sins, Jerry Bridges says this: “Above all, pray that God will make you more conscious of the fact that you live every moment of everyday under His all-seeing eye., While you may not be mindful of Him, He is certainly aware of you and see every deed you do, hears every word you say and knows every thought you think (see Ps 139:1-4). Beyond that He even searches out your motives. Let us then seek to be as mindful of Him as He is of us.”

            Because he sees it all, we are to confess it all.  We are to be mindful of what God sees and if what he sees is satisfactory (pleased with it)  or sinful (and displeased with it)

Recognize God and Accept His Grace

“he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”   v 8

Trust God's character. Recognize God. Forgiveness is not something you achieve, its

Many people confess their sins but really never get to know the God who is forgiving them. Because of that they never feel the forgiveness that He wants to give. "... He is faithful and just..." You can count on God. You can count on His faithfulness. I know a lot of people who think they can't get close to God because they just don't feel forgiven. In a way that's a trap, because the truth is the closer you get to God, the more you'll feel forgiven. When you and I get close to the God who loves us, who gave His life for us in Christ, when we get close to Him, we really sense what His forgiveness is all about. So as long as you hold God at arm's length, you're not going to feel His forgiveness.

Jesus makes us free from a guilty conscious. That's what the cross is all about. That's what Him giving His life for us is all about. Once I've accepted that gift, the invitation is, "Get close to me." When you get close to God and understand His grace in a new way it frees you to become the person that He wants you to be.

 Accept God's forgiveness. If we confess our sins, He's faithful, He can be trusted to forgive us our sins and the verse ends by saying, "... and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." He will purify us from all unrighteousness.

Not, "He'll purify us from most unrighteousness or a lot of unrighteousness." But He will purify us from all. What an important three letter word about grace, what God's able to do! Yet I know a lot of people who ask for God's forgiveness, recognize that Jesus is willing to forgive and yet they only feel cleansed from part of their sins

rather than all. Look at God's promise. You just accept God's forgiveness.

G. K. Chesterton said that God  paints in many colors, but he never paints so gorgeously as when he paints in white.

Corrie ten Boom says, “when I bring my sins to the Lord Jesus He casts them into the depths of the ses—forgiven and forgotten. He also puts up a sign that says, “No fishing allowed.”

Conclusion

For some of you in here, you are still enemies with God and you know that you are not at peace with Him. You have recognized throughout this sermon that you need to be forgiven—for the first time.  The Bible clearly says, that no one comes to God the Father except through Jesus Christ. He is the great Peacemaker between us and God. He died so your sins could be forgiven. He rose again so that spiritually you can be born again.

Now today, God offers everyone the gift of grace which if you receive today, includes forgiveness of sin, and the gift of the Holy Spirit living inside of you.

            But you must receive it by admitting your sin, believing Jesus died for you and rose again and is alive today, and Confess Him as your Forgiver and Leader. It can start this very moment, would everyone please pray with me

If you’d like to receive the gift of salvation and experience peace with God pray with me in your heart…

“God I admit I’m a sinner. I believe you died for my sins to be forgiven. And that you overcame death and live at the right hand of God. I put my trust in you to save me and cause me to be born again. I want you to be the Savior of my life and the one to lead my life. I now repent of sinful practices and ask for your strength to not look back. Thank you for your mercy and grace in Jesus Name Amen.”

For Others

“bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.”                                                          Col 3:13-14

Charles Spurgeon, who is regarded as one of the greatest preacher of all time advised this concerning forgiveness

“Pray for a short memory as to all unkindness.”

 What forgiveness is not

 Where do you get the ability to do that?

Watson:

Resisting revenge not returning evil for evil wishing them well grieving at their calamity, praying for their welfare seeking reconciliation  coming to their aid in their distress