Four Words To Change Your Life

“forgiven” – What a word! It means that you have been pardoned; your sins have been canceled. You have been loosed, and set free. Your sins have been released from you. You have been freed from the slavery to sin to become a servant of God your Creator. You now have the ability to follow after God instead of fleeing from Him. You now have the ability to flee from sin and run to the Lord.

What does this mean? What are the implications for us today? To know that your sins are forgiven means:

- There exists the possibility of a personal relationship w/ God. To have a “right relationship” we must be right w/ God. [just like your spouse…when feuding, you have a relationship, but it’s not right until it’s made right…forgiveness must be obtained thru some means!]

- Jesus’ death on the cross makes your forgiveness possible. He paid the price. He was the perfect sacrifice, the perfect Lamb that was slain for my sins and yours.

- Jesus’ resurrection from the grave makes a relationship w/ God possible. If He had stayed in the grave, we would have no Savior, no eternal life, no place in heaven.

- There exists the possibility of a restored relationship with God.

- There exists the possibility of restored relationships with others.

Ill.-- There was a widow who had “Rest In Peace” inscribed on her husband’s tombstone. When she found out that he left her out of his will, she had the words added, “TILL I GET THERE!”

- Because we are forgiven, we are called to be forgivers. Until we do, our relationship w/ God will continue to be hindered.

And we must forgive ourselves…some of you may need a big dose of Extra Strength “Forgiven-All”! [slide] Some have a hard time releasing others because you won’t release yourself…accepting God’s forgiveness makes it easier to grant it to others even if they aren’t worthy...either!

Ill.-- A pastor [I won’t name him] finished his message early one Sunday, (ok, so, you know it wasn’t me!) and he wanted to check his congregation’s understanding. So he asked, "Can anyone tell me what you must do before you can obtain forgiveness of sin?"

There was a long pause and then, from the back of the room, a small boy spoke up, "You have to sin."

I suspect we don’t have a problem fulfilling that prerequisite. But Jesus reveals that another prerequisite for God to forgive is our willingness to forgive others. Now is the time to step out of that spirit of unforgiveness, confess it to God, repent of it, and forgive those who have wronged you.

Ill.--February 24, 2005 Just days after the head-on crash that killed their three sons, Nathan and Connie Backstrom did something most people would consider remarkable: They forgave the person responsible.

Matthew, Jacob and Justin Backstrom died after a man, 22 at the time of the accident, swerved into their car on a dark two-lane road. He apparently was using a cell phone and had been drinking that night.

"This young man has consequences for his actions, and so I can forgive him because my God has forgiven me," Nathan Backstrom said days after the accident. "It is my duty as a Christian. I can’t live the rest of my life carrying that anger."