If I came to you and said, “You’re free!”, that may or may not be good news to you. For most of us, it wouldn’t be really news at all – you might say, “OK… I didn’t know I needed freeing.” It would only be good news if there was a few inches of glass between us and I was delivering that news to the telephone – and even then only if I was relaying the news of the judge who had previously put you behind bars.
Or, if I came to you and said, “You’re healed!”, that may or may not be good news to you. For those of us who are already relatively it wouldn’t be good news at all – you might say, “ok…I didn’t realize I was sick.” But it would be good news if that news was delivered to you by a medical professional who had previously delivered the bad news that you had terminal cancer.
Or, if I came to you and said, “You’ve been rescued!”, I might excuse you for saying, “from what?” – but if you had been trapped in a house fire until there was no glimmer of hope left and the emergency responder gave you that news as he carried you out of the building, then you’d rejoice over that news.
Often good news only makes sense – and reaches it’s highest potential for joy and gratitude and the personal transformation that can come about a result of that news – only in the context of the bad news. And if you remove the context of bad news that necessitates the need for and urgency and preciousness of the good news, then you lose the good news altogether.
And when Christians Creed says, “I believe in the forgiveness of sins”, Christians declare the best news – the greatest news – the most precious, soul-stirring, joy-producing, gratitude-resulting, personally transforming news in all of human experience and history – in all the universe.
But, for many people, telling them they are forgiven may result in a response like we imagined earlier: “forgiven? from what? I didn’t do anything wrong!”
I believe in the forgiveness of sins, to many people falls at best falls on apathetic ears and at worst causes great offense – because the good news only makes sense – and only reaches it’s highest potential – in the context of the bad news.
And we’ve lost the bad news.
I can’t tell you how many people I’ve talked to – and even my own experience growing up going to church every Sunday and hearing lip-service about forgiveness but never hearing about forgiveness from what – never hearing about sin – the bad news that necessitates forgiveness and makes it such good news.
And when that happens, the gospel declaration of the forgiveness of sins falls on deaf ears and apathetic hearts.
If we deny the reality of sin, we empty the gospel of it’s meaning and turn the death of our lord and savior into a vain waste.
And If we deny our own personal sinfulness, we deceive only ourselves & the truth is not in us – and we can’t be partakers of the grace of Jesus who forgiveness us from all our sin.
So before we talk about forgiveness, we need to talk about sin.
- The reality of Sin
- The offer of Forgiveness (Wash, forget, remove)
- The call to Forgiveness
Sin is described in the bible as lawlessness – rebellion; as a rejection of God; as a turning away from God and going my own way from God; as a defying and despising of God – an act of hatred against him; as a betrayal of God; as a breaking of God’s good and holy and righteous law.
And, we must never think of God’s law is some arbitrary, impersonal standard – it is an expression of our personal God.
God’s law isn’t just some thing out there that exists independently of him; nor is it something he just sort of makes up for no particular reason; it is an expression of who he is.
It commends what he loves; it prohibits what he hates; it’s an outflow of his goodness and righteousness; it is the maker of the universe’s path by which those he made can live rightly in that universe for their temporal and eternal good and blessing.
And so you can’t separate God’s law from God’s person; which means that sin is intensely personal. A rejection of GOd’s law, is a rejection of God himself; a breaking of God’s law, is a betraying of God himself and a breaking of relationship with God – that time doesn’t just magically mend nor can it be just swept under the rug until the source of that rift is dealt with.
Scripture tells us that the depth of sin extends not only to outward actions, but to the thoughts and intentions of the heart – desires, motives, thoughts:
Sermon on Mount: Jesus says to self-righteous people who thought they were not in need of forgiveness just because they didn’t commit adultery or murder people – that sin includes not just the outward act of adultery, but the sinful heart intention of lust; Not just the outward murder, but the sinful heart desire of hatred towards someone.
Sin isn’t just something we do on the outside – like a mistake that accidentally proceeds from an otherwise pure heart – but a consistent outflow of a defective nature – but it is a stain and a corruption in which we are totally defiled in all the parts of our soul and body such that apart from the grace of God we are left dead in sin, enslaved to sin;
WSC: “Any lack of conformity to, or transgression of, the law of God”
And there’s a couple of things that I want to point out:
First this gives two categories of sin – sins of commission, & sins of omission.
Omission – “lack of conformity to God’s law” – generally deals with the positive commands of God’s law – means leaving out, neglecting, failing to do something – so, failing to do something we ought to do.
Commission – “transgression of God’s law” – generally deals with the negative prohibitions of God’s law (the “You shall nots”) – means the opposite, doing something that we ought not to do.
This – sins of commission – transgressions is what we normally think of when we think of sin: The 10 commandments say not to steal; stealing is a transgression of that; stealing is sin. And certainly it is.
But God’s law also commands generosity. And when we omit that from our lives; when we leave that out and neglect to use the ways that God has blessed us to bless others or meet needs around us with generosity; then even if we haven’t stolen, we’ve failed to live up to God’s law.
Second, this definition gives us a reminder that it is “any” lack or transgression.
“sin is Any lack of conformity to, or transgression of, the law of God”
What this means is that ultimately, there aren’t big sins that matter to God and small sins that don’t; or people whose sins are big enough such that they need forgiveness, and people whose sins are small enough that don’t.
There are bigger sins and smaller sins; there may be bigger or smaller sinners – but sinners we all are; and any sin – measured against the infinite holiness of the God who that sin is directed towards – warrants God’s holy wrath and requires his merciful forgiveness, if that rift created by it is to be removed.
“There is no sin so small that it doesn’t deserve God’s wrath;”
But: “so there is no sin so great that it can’t be forgiven by God, when we repent.”
Some people think their sin is too small such that it doesn’t need forgiveness; others think their sin is too big such that it can’t be forgiven.
But the beauty of the gospel is that while, no matter how small our sin may seem or feel in our eyes, in the light of the holiness of God it is ugly, evil, odious and worthy of his eternal wrath because it is sin not just in a vacuum but sin against an infinitely holy God and so measured in that light – there is no sin too small such that it doesn’t need forgiveness –
“If you Lord kept a record of sins, Lord who could stand?”
The reality of sin; the reality of a holy God – means that no one – not even the best of us – can stand in our own righteousness before him.
But that doesn’t mean there isn’t hope – it just means we look outside of ourselves for that hope. We don’t look to our own innate goodness or ability to fix ourselves or clean ourselves or live up to GOd’s law –
how could we?
Jesus summarized the law as: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart mind soul and strength; and love your neighbor as yourself.”
Who thinks they’ve always perfectly done those things in heart, mind, and deed?
If you do you are only deceiving yourself.
“If you, Lord, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand?”
That prayer doesn’t end there: “But with you there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve you.”
- The reality of Sin
- The offer of Forgiveness
With God is forgiveness.
For anyone who’s seen the reality and depth of their sin, that is the best news;
And for anyone who needs to take a look at themselves without the self-deception; with new honesty – that is the only thing that can enable it; With God there is forgiveness – so go ahead. take a look inside your heart. take a good long look and don’t be afraid of what you’ll find; don’t make excuses for it; don’t blame someone or something else; don’t deny it or minimize it or ignore it but take a look knowing that whatever you find there, God can forgive. That enables you to take a new look inward with courage and honesty.
We’re going to look at a few images that the bible uses to describe the forgiveness of sins that we find from our gracious, merciful God.
Cleansing: the image of cleansing shows us that sin makes us unfit for the presence of a Holy God. Imagine trying to get into a fancy black tie event wearing filthy rags.
But, Forgiveness is being cleansed from the stain of sin. Isaiah 1:18 – “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.”
Sin leaves us stained before God; sin leaves its dark stain on us – that we can’t wash off of ourselves; and that God can’t not see.
Imagine if you’re at a fancy event and you’re wearing a white shirt and you spill a huge cup of grape juice on it – try as you might, you won’t be able to wring that stain out of there and no one around you will be able to not notice it;
But forgiveness cleanses us. it takes us who had the crimson stain of sin upon us and makes us white as snow because the blood of Jesus has ultimate stain-removing power – such that when he spilt it out on the cross for our sins and when it is applied to us by faith, we are forgiven.
If you’ve felt the stain of sin in your soul; on your conscience; remember the stain has been removed. You are clean before a holy God.
Cleansing; Removal:
The image of removal shows us that sin puts something between us and God – & so we are separated from him. But in forgiveness God removes that so we can be reconciled to him.
Psalm 103:12 – “as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”
They are removed from us – such that when God looks us, he no longer sees us in our sin; such that even if sin might feel like a burden still on our shoulders – we know that it was carried off on the shoulders of Jesus when he bore our sins on the cross – so that they can never come back.
Spurgeon: “Sin is removed from us by a miracle of love! What a load to move, and yet is it removed so far that the distance is incalculable. Fly as far as the wing of imagination can bear you, and if you journey through space eastward, you are further from the west at every beat of your wing. If sin be removed so far, then wee may be sure that the scent, the trace, the very memory of it must be entirely gone. If this be the distance of its removal, there is no shade of fear of its ever being brought back again. Not even satan himself could achieve such a task. Jesus has born them away.”
Cleansing; Removal; Forgetting:
The image of forgetting shows us that because of sin God rightly has something to hold against us; but when he forgives it’s as though he’s forgotten that which he has against us; & he no longer has something against us.
Hebrews 8:12 (quoting Jeremiah): “For I will forgive their wickedness, and will remember their sins no more.”
God forgets our sin. Now, I don’t believe this to be a literal forgetting by God – he’s all knowing, and certainly Jesus who bore our sins on the cross won’t forget why he died on the cross.
But it means that he deals with us as his forgiven children as though he had forgotten our sin.
He knows our sin – but that makes forgiveness all the more powerful. If forgiveness was merely divine amnesia then that weakens forgiveness – forgiveness is easy when that which required it is forgotten, but when that which required it is remembered by the one forgiving but the one forgiving nevertheless deals with the person as though it is totally forgotten, that is an unparalleled strength of mercy and love.
God deals with us as though our sin is totally forgotten – not just a thing of the past which memory could bring back up to recollection along with a potential return of anger; but totally gone from memory – never to return.
You might remember your sins and they might bring shame, or tempt you to try to beat yourself up over them; but God doesn’t remember them, and so treats you as his child whom he will never cast out or cease to love and embrace.
Cleansing; removal; forgetting; payment.
Our parable shows us this. Sin is the incurring of a debt before God – a debt that we if we worked all our lives could never hope to be able to repay.
& when there’s a debt, you have two options: you can demand payment – you can make them pay. Or you can make a payment. Instead of making them pay you can absorb the cost of that debt & pay it yourself – that’s forgiveness.
Sin is the incurring of a debt. And so, forgiveness isn’t just erasing the debt, but it is the paying off of the debt by someone else.
When God forgives, he doesn’t just ignore sin; he pays it’s debt himself.
And all we can do, like the man int he parable; like the author of our psalm; is beg to God for mercy. “Out of the depths I cry to you Lord; Lord hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy.”
The good news of the gospel is that God saw, responded to, and made provision for our need even before we cried out to him; he came, he died; and in his death he fully paid the penalty of our sin so that there is nothing left that we need to pay – we are fully forgiven.
And so we know that when we cry out to him for forgiveness, we will be heard; he will have mercy because he is a God who loves mercy and is gracious.
- The reality of Sin
- The offer of Forgiveness
- The call to Forgiveness
We looked at a little bit last week, but: this reminds us that the Christian community is going to be a community of forgiveness; which means that the Christian community is going to be a community where, unfortunately, sin happens.
We don’t excuse sin against one another, we don’t want to sin against one another; we strive not to and grieve when we do; but we still, regrettably, do.
And maybe some of us haven’t been honest enough with ourselves about the fact that we are still sinners, and maybe, part of the problem.
And maybe others of us haven’t been gracious enough to others, by expecting of them what we could never expect of ourselves – that they ought to be beyond the need for forgiveness.
God calls us to the humility of asking for forgiveness, and the humility of extending that forgiveness.
When we receive God’s forgiveness, God calls us to extend forgiveness.
And when God calls us to extend forgiveness, he at the same time empowers us to do it.
2 ways: perspective; personal experience.
Perspective enables us to extend forgiveness.
Perspective: this is the main point of the parable. When we receive God’s forgiveness, that gives us perspective on the forgiveness he calls us to.
It doesn’t mean that others sin against us isn’t hurtful and painful and damaging; or that it doesn’t matter; or that forgiveness is ever easy.
But it puts those things into perspective. Because even the worst of sin we receive at the hands of another person – real and painful and damaging as it is – is small in comparison to our sin against God which he forgive at great cost to himself – and so when we realize that; we are enabled to forgive. In fact, we see the obligation to forgive because we see the utter hypocrisy that is created by those who receive God’s unfathomable forgiveness but don’t extend forgiveness to others.
The response to receiving forgiveness from God for our sins against him, is to extend that forgiveness out of humility of heart that recognizes that my sins against God which he graciously willingly fully forgives greatly exceed any sin any one could sin against me.
If we’ve received forgiveness from God, then – it doesn’t mean forgiveness is easy or always happens quickly or without struggle – in fact the very occasion and need for the parable suggests just that – that forgiveness is anything but easy, but when we put it into the perspective of the gospel, it’s possible.
Perspective; personal experience.
Colossians 3: “Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” You see, this isn’t just saying that Jesus’s forgiveness is the example for how we forgive even though it is; it’s saying more than that though – its not just saying, “forgive as you – an unaffected distant observer – observed Jesus forgiving someone.”
No – forgives as the Lord forgave you. Not just forgive as the Lord forgave but forgive as the Lord forgave you.
You can observe an act of radical generosity or sacrifice and that can inspire you to be more generous or sacrificial towards others, but often when we hear these inspiring changes they create good intentions but recede to the background of our default attitudes.
But it’s different, when you not just observe an act of radical generosity or sacrifice, but when someone extends that generosity to you; when they sacrifice of themselves for you; when you are a recipient of it such that you benefit from their intentional love-inspired loss for your sake.
We are called to forgive.
Forgiveness isn’t approval. The very need for forgiveness implies that the thing needing forgiveness is not ok (“Im sorry”… “It’s ok). When we’re struggling to forgive a wrong or a hurt, we can’t just say “it’s ok”. But we can say, “I forgive you.”
And We can’t really forgive until it’s asked for; until someone acknowledges & confesses wrong & asks for forgiveness; and, forgiveness does not always necessarily result in the full reconciliation of a relationship – there are times when it doesn’t.
But this is one of the ways that the church and christians can live as a counter-culture to the ways of the world around us. That we don’t hold grudges. That we don’t let bitterness grow; that we don’t get even by paying back insult for insult; that we forgive even when forgiveness is most undeserved.
And when we do those things, we show people that we are forgiven people. We show people that we believe int he forgiveness of sins – the forgiveness of our sins – that we believe in the hear to the gospel: That Jesus our savior died on the cross to forgive sinners. And that that offer of forgiveness is open to all who need it.