What Is This Forgiveness Jesus Speaks Of?

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Hello and welcome to CCC. We are so happy and honored you first chose to honor God this morning by putting Him first and coming to church and 2nd honored you are here in person to worship with us or are watching the live stream or will hear this message on youtube at some point.

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Introduction

I pray this sermon series and journey through the Beatitudes and Sermon on the mount has convicted you, encouraged you, edified you, got you to move off of whatever spot God wanted you to move off of. I pray you have gotten real with God and yourself and allowed God to truly examine your heart and that you have dealt with what He showed you in a manner that brings honor and glory to God and brings you closer to God.

This morning is a big topic and in fact we will spend two weeks here on just these two verses.

Matthew 6:14-15

“If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

Over the next two weeks we are going to dive into not just these two verses but forgiveness itself. We are going to look at 5 questions that God is going to answer through scripture. Those five are:

How does God Forgive?

Who does God forgive?

How does one access God’s forgiveness?

What is the result of God’s forgiveness?

Does forgiveness require action?

We are going to wrestle with the first 3 questions this morning and then tackle the final two next Sunday then on Easter we will look at How we are to live in Christ’s forgiveness.

How Does God Forgive?

I believe this question is answered in two parts, Quickly and Completely.

How Does God Forgive? Quickly

Luke 23:26-34

“As they led Jesus away, a man named Simon, who was from Cyrene, happened to be coming in from the countryside. The soldiers seized him and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus. A large crowd trailed behind, including many grief-stricken women. But Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, don’t weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For the days are coming when they will say, ‘Fortunate indeed are the women who are childless, the wombs that have not borne a child and the breasts that have never nursed.’ People will beg the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and plead with the hills, ‘Bury us.’ For if these things are done when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?” Two others, both criminals, were led out to be executed with him. When they came to a place called The Skull, they nailed him to the cross. And the criminals were also crucified—one on his right and one on his left. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” And the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice.

If you and I are honest “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing” is the last thing that would be on our minds at this time. This is after the sham trial, after the brutal beatings and mocking, after carrying the cross and after being nailed to the cross and Jesus forgives them as they are doing these horrible things to Him.

Notice none of them stopped and said I am sorry God I have sinned against you and Jesus please forgive me.......no they were throwing dice to see who got His clothes. They weren’t the least bit sorry for their actions. They were celebrating their actions.....they were gambling for Jesus clothes before He was even dead!!!!!!!

Jesus forgave them quickly. Long before they even knew they needed forgiveness. The same applies to you and to me by the way. Jesus died over 2000 years ago, long before we were born, long before we ever sinned and long before we realized we needed a Savior.

Mark 11:22-25

“Then Jesus said to the disciples, “Have faith in God. I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart. I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours. But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins, too.””

Jesus expects you and me to forgive quickly as well. This is why it is dangerous to take a single verse out of context. The truth still applies if you just look at verse 25 which is the verse that brought me to this section of scripture....if anyone is holding a grudge against you and you realize that during prayer you have to forgive them.

Look though what that truth is with, Jesus is teaching on prayer and the power of prayer, a mountain can be cast into the sea, you can pray for anything and if you believe you’ve received it then it is yours. BUT. Big word there BUT......but not if you refuse to seek forgiveness from those you have wronged. That is why Jesus says to forgive quickly. If you forgive quickly, if forgiveness becomes a part of your lifestyle you will not have to worry about forgiveness getting in the way of your prayers.

As we have discussed all along this points to relationship not knowledge or faith or works but relationship. If you know Jesus forgiveness is natural because of what He has forgiven in you. It is easy to quickly forgive when you look at what Jesus endured and in the midst of that quickly forgave them and you!

How Does God Forgive? Completely

Psalm 103:12

“He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.”

That is completely....if you go North you will end up going south but if you go east you will NEVER end up going west.

Micah 7:19

“Once again you will have compassion on us. You will trample our sins under your feet and throw them into the depths of the ocean!”

The deepest part of the ocean is 35,876 feet deep. That is 6.79 miles.

7 miles is not that far but think of what is on top of it.....All that water in fact at that depth there is 15,750 psi At the bottom of the trench, the water column above exerts a pressure of 1,086 bars (15,750 psi), more than 1,071 times the standard atmospheric pressure at sea level. There is no coming back from that if something was cast into these depths it would be destroyed.

QUESTION FOR ? SHEET DON”T SAY OUT LOUD

Do you truly understand how God forgives? If so does your life and attitude reflect it?

Who does God forgive? Everyone

Daniel 9:1-10

It was the first year of the reign of Darius the Mede, the son of Ahasuerus, who became king of the Babylonians. 2 During the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, learned from reading the word of the LORD, as revealed to Jeremiah the prophet, that Jerusalem must lie desolate for seventy years. 3 So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and fasting. I also wore rough burlap and sprinkled myself with ashes.

4 I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed:

“O Lord, you are a great and awesome God! You always fulfill your covenant and keep your promises of unfailing love to those who love you and obey your commands. 5 But we have sinned and done wrong. We have rebelled against you and scorned your commands and regulations. 6 We have refused to listen to your servants the prophets, who spoke on your authority to our kings and princes and ancestors and to all the people of the land.

7 “Lord, you are in the right; but as you see, our faces are covered with shame. This is true of all of us, including the people of Judah and Jerusalem and all Israel, scattered near and far, wherever you have driven us because of our disloyalty to you. 8 O LORD, we and our kings, princes, and ancestors are covered with shame because we have sinned against you. 9 But the Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him. 10 We have not obeyed the LORD our God, for we have not followed the instructions he gave us through his servants the prophets.

Again verse 9 is what drew me here but wanted to get the full back story.....Listen to Daniel cry out to the Lord......why Because he KNEW God....He knew that God is merciful and forgiving in spite of our shortcomings and rebellion.....that is truly what sin is....rebellion.

God forgives everyone

2 Peter 3:9

“The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.”

This is the Lord’s heart, does not want anyone to be destroyed but wants everyone to repent. If He wants everyone to repent then He wants to forgive everyone. Repenting isn’t worth much if when you repent you are not forgiven. God already has forgiven everyone!

Matthew 5:45

“In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike.”

Jesus is teaching about loving our enemies here but this points to the fact God wants everyone to repent and accept His forgiveness. Sunlight on evil and good....rain on the just and the unjust......God loves all people....God wants all people to accept the gift Jesus so freely offers and died to give to everyone who walks the face of the earth!

Since that is true guess what Church.........you must also forgive everyone, including yourself. There is no get out of jail free card with forgiveness. You have been forgiven of much so you therefore must also forgive. Everyone....Even those folks that drive you crazy, those folks who have and will continue to hurt you, even those folks who continually borrow and take and never repay or never show gratitude or thankfulness. Everyone.

QUESTION FOR ? SHEET DON”T SAY OUT LOUD

Do you believe that God forgives everyone, including you?

How does one access God’s forgiveness?

Holy Spirit Awakens You To Fact You Are A Sinner

Romans 3:23

“For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.”

Romans 6:23

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”

When you realize you have sinned and that the price or wages of that sin is death, eternal death in hell that is the first step to accessing God’s forgiveness. One must realize they need forgiven to access forgiveness.

Believe And Confess

Romans 10:9-10

“If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.”

That is salvation. You realize you are a sinner. You realize that your sin requires you do go to hell when you die. You realize that Jesus died on the cross to pay for your sin and rose three days later to defeat death and give you eternal life. You believe in your heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus is Jesus and that Jesus is the one and only way to heaven and that you accept Him as your Lord and Savior.

This is the beginning not the end. Salvation is where it all starts not ends. As long as you and I are on this earth we will sin. I will fail you as your pastor and your friend just as you will fail me. Most likely it won’t be intentional but the fact is that humans will sin everyday. Since that is the case we must realize that since Jesus paid such a high price for our salvation our lives must be different.

Repent

Acts 3:19

“Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away.”

The Greek for word translated repent here means to think differently or afterwards, i.e. reconsider (morally, feel compunction):—repent.

When you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior you must also repent. Think Differently reconsider. At first this is easy because once we felt the weight of our sin and gave it to Jesus it is easy to rethink because that sin was hurting us or our families. We hated that sin so it is easy to walk away from, the problem is those stronghold sins, those sins we like, those sins we justify we must also repent, think differently, reconsider those as well.

Isaiah 55:7

“Let the wicked change their ways and banish the very thought of doing wrong. Let them turn to the Lord that he may have mercy on them. Yes, turn to our God, for he will forgive generously.”

Look at this scripture in Isaiah.....let the wicked change their ways…repent. you and i are wicked....our hearts are desperately wicked according to the Word of God so we must change our ways. Isaiah goes further....Banish the very thought of doing wrong. Think differently. Jesus paid much too high a price for you and I to keep living like we did before we accepted Him.

Turn to the Lord so He can have mercy and forgive generously. That leads to the next point

Confess

Proverbs 28:13

“People who conceal their sins will not prosper, but if they confess and turn from them, they will receive mercy.”

Don’t hide your sin. Really that is an oxymoron....hiding your sin.....God knows and sees everything so you are not hiding your sin you are just lying about your sin. If you hide your sin then you will never surrender that sin and that sin will continue to corrupt you and eat away at you from the inside out and before you know it that sin that you are concealing destroys you.

God is clear, you are already forgiven....Jesus died once for all mankind. There is nothing to hide God already knows He is just wanting you to bring your sin to Him.

I John 1:9

“But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.”

Most of the time when we refuse to confess a sin, we try to hide or conceal a sin it is driven by pride. We refuse to surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ is really what is going on.

God is clear if you confess He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all wickedness. Not maybe. Not if you pray right or long enough or hard enough. Not if you give enough money to the church........no If you confess!

QUESTION FOR ? SHEET DON”T SAY OUT LOUD

Have you confessed with your mouth and believed in your heart that Jesus lived, died for your sins, and rose again and lives forever?

What Is The Result Of God’s Forgiveness?

FREEDOM

Galatians 5:1

“So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law.”

If you are saved sin and death and the world and satan have NO POWER over you any longer. You are Free. Free from sins power. Free from death’s grip. Free from the world and free from the power of satan. Now you can choose to give power back to those things when you do not live in the freedom of Christ and are not obedient to God and His Word but that is where I John 1:9 comes back into play.

Church I beg you to realize this truth. If you have Jesus as your Lord and Savior YOU ARE FREE!!!!!!! Stop living a life enslaved to sin because you refuse to take Jesus at His Word. Because you refuse to confess and repent of your sins. YOU ARE FREE!!!!!!!!

You Are A New Creature

II Corinthians 5:11-17

11 Because we understand our fearful responsibility to the Lord, we work hard to persuade others. God knows we are sincere, and I hope you know this, too. 12 Are we commending ourselves to you again? No, we are giving you a reason to be proud of us, so you can answer those who brag about having a spectacular ministry rather than having a sincere heart. 13 If it seems we are crazy, it is to bring glory to God. And if we are in our right minds, it is for your benefit. 14 Either way, Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. 15 He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.

16 So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! 17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

QUESTION FOR ? SHEET DON”T SAY OUT LOUD

Are you living your life in the freedom of Christ? Do you truly realize you are a new creature?

List several areas in your life that Christ set you free in and several areas in your life where you are new and the old is dead and gone.

Some of you have got to stop living like the old you. Stop thinking like the old you. Stop talking like the old you. Stop looking at the world like the old you. That old you is dead and gone, stop trying to bring life back to a dead and gone creature!!!!!!!

We have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view.......we realize that we are no longer bound by human and physical things but are now free from that in Christ and that He made us into new creatures, spiritual creatures and everything we say and do and think must be from that perspective.

When the devil and his demons and this world whispers in your ear you are worthless to fire back with no I am worthy God said so when Jesus died for me and defeated you......you get on down the road I am a Child of God.

What Does Forgiveness Require?

Action

Forgiveness is a verb, an action word. Look at what action God took to offer us forgiveness.

It required Jesus to be sent to this earth to be born of a virgin in a food trough

It required Jesus to walk this earth for 33 years during that time all He did was love and teach and heal and what did He get, rejected, beaten and hung on a cross

Speaking of cross forgiveness required Jesus to willingly mount the cross and willingly die

Forgiveness requires us to respond to the Holy Spirit as He awakens us to our need for salvation

It requires us to accept God’s forgiveness in the person of Jesus Christ

It requires us to forgive as we are forgiven (we will cover that next week)

Make no mistake about it forgiveness is not free. Freedom is NEVER free. Forgiveness cost Jesus His blood and life. Accepting that forgiveness gives you freedom but also costs you your physical life.

QUESTION FOR ? SHEET DON”T SAY OUT LOUD

Do you take up your cross daily and die to yourself as many times as necessary each day?

Have you taken the action of accepting and living in God’s forgiveness?

Luke 9:23

“Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me.”

You must die to yourself, your desires, your wants, your lusts, your will, your thoughts.....die to YOU!!!!!!!! You are no longer in control....wait…you were never in control that is another lie from the enemy. You must willingly give up your perceived control just as Jesus willingly gave up His life for you.

The title of this sermon series is Sermon on the Mount: Are you In or Out? I want to ask that question here today. Are you in or out?

If you have never accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior you are out. You will go to hell when you die. You are not a child of God and you do not have access to the Holy Spirit. That is not pastor Josh trying to be mean or scare you into salvation that is the truth of the Bible. In fact it has nothing to do with being mean at all and everything to do with I love you and want to spend eternity with you so I will be honest with you and speak God’s truth!

Maybe you are here and you have some repenting, some confessing, some different thinking that needs to happen. I beg you come. Confess and be forgiven. You can fool yourself into leaving here concealing that sin but all you are doing is destroying yourself. God wants your sin. God wants your burdens. God wants to have you follow HIs path for your life. God has already forgiven you He is just waiting on you to come.