Forgiveness Of Sin Series

Charlie Brown is quite certain that Lucy's offer to hold the football for him to kick will end just

like the other attempts. She will pull the ball away just as she kicks, and he will end up flat on his

back. She assures him that she is a changed person and that he can trust her. He accepts Lucy at

her word and comes running to kick the ball. But sure enough, as he kicks she does it again and

pulls the ball away. He flies through the air and smashes to the ground, and Lucy bends over

Charlie to say, "I admire you, Charlie Brown. You have such faith in human nature."

Poor Charlie is made to look like a fool, but the fact is, followers of Christ are expected to be

fools like this for Christ's sake. Jesus made it perfectly plain that the practice of forgiveness was to

be perpetual. In Matt. 18:21 Peter comes to Jesus and asks, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin

against me, and I forgive him? As many as 7 times?" In verse 22 Jesus answers, "I do not say to

you 7 times, but 70 times 7." We can only look at such radical teaching and say in the words of

Lucy, "Lord, you have such faith in human nature."

Jesus not only taught radical forgiveness, but He practiced it. We see this in these first words

He spoke from the cross. In these first of His final words He expresses a forgiveness far greater

than the 70 times 7 that He expects us to express. Forgiving those who so cruelly crucified Him

not only revealed His faith in human nature, but it opened up to the whole world an insight into

His nature as the Son of God.

We do not understand God, or the Gospel, until we grasp the significance of forgiveness of sin.

God's plan cannot be fulfilled without it, and we cannot be saved without it, nor can we live the

Christian life without it. Forgiveness is not a subject out on the edge of Christian truth. It is at the

very center. Maybe those at the cross did not hear Jesus in His prayer of forgiveness, but they

heard the Gospel of forgiveness later. In Acts 5:30-31 Peter says to the leaders of Israel, "The God

of our fathers raise Jesus whom you killed by hanging Him on a tree. God exalted Him at His

right hand as leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins."

The Gospel of forgiveness was the message of the early church. God commissioned the Apostle

Paul to preach the message of forgiveness of sin to the Gentiles also. Paul speaking before King

Agrippa tells of the message he received from Christ when He was saved. The Lord was sending

him to the Gentiles, and Acts 26:18 has Jesus saying, "To open their eyes, that they may turn from

darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins

and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me." Note how forgiveness of sin is a key

factor in the Gospel. It was a major message that Jesus wanted spread into all the world.

When Paul preached in Antioch where many, both Jews and Gentiles responded to the Gospel,

he concluded that fruitful sermon with this great news in Acts 13:38-39, "Let it be known to you

therefore, brethren, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by Him

everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of

Moses." Forgiveness of sin was the key message in Paul's preaching and writing. He writes in

Eph. 1:7, "In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our sins, according to

the riches of His grace." In Col. 1:14 he ends his statement of things to be thankful for with, "In

whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."

We could go on and on showing how the whole of Christian theology has been influenced by

the truth of forgiveness of sin. Those words of Jesus from the cross, "Father forgive them," laid a

foundation on which the church has been building ever since. We want to examine what

forgiveness means to us. First of all,

I. FORGIVENESS MEANS FREEDOM.

We just read of how Paul said that forgiveness in Christ frees us from everything from which

the law of Moses could not set us free. If the Son makes you free, you are free indeed, and the Son

makes us free through forgiveness. Where there is no forgiveness of sin, there is only bondage.

Much, if not most, of the world not only lacks political freedom, but they also lack spiritual