We are in a four-week series called “I can only imagine” based off of the movie of the same name. Last week we talked about imagining a father… A perfect heavenly father who loves you a million times more than I could ever love anyone; a heavenly father who is perfect, gracious, loving and all of his dealings with us.
- A father with a personal love
- a father with a purposeful love
- a father with a providing love
- a father with a protecting love
- a father with a promised love
- a father with a proven love
- a father with a powerful love
- a father with a passionate love
Today let’s talk about and let’s imagine forgiveness.
Way back when I was a kid I remember my grandma giving me a $20 bill and asking me to go to the store up the street and get something. Somewhere between her house and that store I lost that money. I couldn’t find that money. I couldn’t even imagine where that money went. I was feeling so guilty and so low because to me $20 was like $1000! I came back empty-handed; no food and no money. I was met with grace and forgiveness. And that felt awful good!!
Maybe in one of the most shocking stories of the New Testament Jesus explained it best. You find in Luke 15 the story of the prodigal son. It is here that Jesus reveals the vastness of forgiveness that our Father in heaven has for us. We looked at some of this last week but let’s look at it again.
The story begins with a son who wants his father to be dead so we can have his money now and live the life he wants to live. He is sick of the rules, the boundaries, the responsibilities and he just wants to do what he wants to do. He sees his father as controlling, restrictive, straight-laced, no fun and to tame. For some reason the father gives him what he wants; his portion of the inheritance right up front.
The kid predictably goes off binging on whatever the world could offer him; Wild living, wild parties, lots of drinking, lots of women, the life of the party right up until the day he spends his last dollar. Now he is broke and the economy has taken a downturn. He has no job, he has no friends, he has no prospects and no one will give them credit anymore. This young man ends up at a hog farm trying to find something to eat in the slop buckets that won’t make him sick.
And then the story turns…
Luke 15:17 “When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger! 18 I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, 19 and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.”’
You know the story - he decides to go home. But it’s very risky; what will his father do and what will happen? What will they do? This boy is well aware that he has disgraced his father and his family and could actually be stoned to death by his father’s village before he ever makes it to his father’s farm. He prepares a speech, he just wants a job, he’s hoping for mercy.
But this boy feels worthless, wasted, he’s ashamed of himself, he’s embarrassed and dirty and tainted. He realizes that his sin against his father has completely wrecked the relationship. He’s wracked by guilt, he’s ruined his life and he has nothing left to offer.
And now is about to show up at the house of his father and his father owns all the power in this relationship to do with this boy whatever he wants to do…
And this is where Jesus shocked them all…
Luke 15:20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. 23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.
Now that is some kind of a father. And Jesus is telling you right now… That is your father in heaven. And that is what we talked about last week.
But today I want to talk to you about imagining what it is like to be forgiven… To have your sins erased… To be in good standing with God.
This amazing father offers one of the rarest commodities on the planet; forgiveness. He resets the relationship. He removes the garbage. He doesn’t pretend that the sin didn’t happen, but he covers it, he removes the shame, the embarrassment is gone, he makes the relationship what it ought to have been all along. As I said, this father holds the power in the relationship, he holds all the cards, and he does the unimaginable.
Forgiveness is not just erasing the past so that you can go back and do it again in the future. God’s forgiveness removes the negative but it offers you a brand-new standing with himself.
Forgiveness is God’s promise not to bring up the offense again. Not to discuss the offense again. Not to dwell on the offense again. And no never hold that sin against us again. It’s like the father is saying, “let’s forget this ever happened.”
His forgiveness to this boy didn’t just take away his shame but he offered something as well - a restoration of the relationship, to throw him a party, and made him a part of the family once again.
Do you know that it is God’s will that you would stand before your father today with a clean conscience, without any condemnation, blameless before him, without any drama, without anything hidden, without shame, without our past failures being brought up again and again and experiencing nothing but freedom?
Let’s talk about what it means and feels like to be forgiven like this young man in this story. Here is a key verse that sums up what happened to the prodigal son.
1 John 1:7 But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin… 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.
Four things happened to bring about complete forgiveness and a release from the old life…
1. He realized he had sinned.
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins…
He brought all of his shame, his bankruptcy, the stench of his life to the father. He knew that he was in trouble. He knew the pain he had caused. He was deeply ashamed of his condition. He knew that he had been a rebel. He knew that he had disgraced his family. He knew that he had wasted life and opportunities for his own selfish gain.
Let me to say this; you are never going to feel and understand complete forgiveness of sin until you understand how devastating sin is, how selfish it is, how destructive it is, how disfiguring it is and how it devalues you and God. It’s like a man who’s having an affair and his wife and for some reason he just doesn’t get it that what he’s doing is deeply destructive… Until… His wife finds out and then it all comes crashing home.
We need to see our sin… And then…
2. He took responsibility for his sin.
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins…
This prodigal son took responsibility for where he was in life. It was his sin. It was his decisions that got him there. It was not about his father. It was not about his brother. It was not about the barkeeper and the other town. It was not about that woman. He did it. He snorted it. He drank it. He slept with it. He walked away. He spent it.
There is no forgiveness and restoration with the father and a restoring of what our life was meant for as long as we keep blaming others.
3. He repented of his sin.
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins…
Confession is calling sin what it is.
This young man eventually left the pig farm and made his way home. By his actions he was announcing that he wanted a new direction in life, that he hated what he had become and wanted to become something new.
Repentance is a leaving behind everything to seek God’s mercy and God’s intervention in God’s grace in our life.
4. He was forgiven of his sin.
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Going to doctor to get stitches…
And look how the father responds.
The father responds faithfully.
The father responds justly.
The father responds with forgiveness.
The father responds with cleansing.
The father responds to remove all things that are not right.
Forgiveness feels like freedom.
By the way, have you ever thought about what God does with your sin? Here’s a few things that you can find in the Bible about that…
1. He tramples them underfoot.
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!
He stomps on them like a snake on a playground. He grinds them underfoot until the dead and gone.
2. He throws them into the sea. 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!
They are thrown away and not a single one of your sins will continue to torment your soul.
3. He blots them out. Isaiah 43:25 “I—yes, I alone—will blot out your sins for my own sake and will never think of them again.
This means that he erases every record of every trace of every transgression or sin – forever - and will not remember it. It’s out of his books, it’s out of his mind, and it’s out of his memory.
4. He forgets your sin. Hebrews 8:12 And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.”
They will never be brought up against you again.
5. He removes your sin. Psalm 103:12 He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.
6. He takes away your sin. John 1:29 “behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
7. He cancels the debt of your sin. Colossians 2:14 He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross.
His issued a “not guilty verdict.”
8. He washes your sin. Isaiah 1:18
9. He forgives your sin. 1 John 1:9
So what does he do with your sin? He steps on it, drowns it in the sea blots it out, forgets it, removes it, covers it, takes it away, cancels it, washes it, and forgives it!
At the cross Jesus said “it is finished.” Let it be finished.
And why? Romans 5:1 Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. 2 Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.
And this feels good.
But let me turn the tables for just a moment… Imagine not just being forgiven but giving forgiveness to others in the same manner that we have been forgiven. Now you are in the driver seat…
Ephesians 4:32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
Family feuds can be the worst. In the late 1920s two brothers named Adolph (Adi) and Rudolph (Rudi) Dassler began a sports shoe company out of their mother’s laundry room in Germany. Adi was the quiet thoughtful craftsman who designed the shoes. Rudi was the extroverted salesman who sold the shoes.
They ended up joining the Nazi party in 1933 but that didn’t stop them from getting the legendary Jesse Owens to wear their shoes when he won four gold medals in the 1936 Olympics. That exposure because their sales to explode worldwide.
But success created tension. The brothers a wives were constantly fighting each other and what made it worse is they lived in the same little condo. During one bombing incident during World War II the two brothers and their wives climbed into a bombing shelter when Adi said, “the dirty blanks are back again.” Rudy and his wife thought that they were talking about them. That set off an epic feud.
Rudy would get called up to serve the German army and he thought it was his brother Adi who did it. When Rudi got sent to the front lines he thought it was Adi who schemed it so that he could take control of the company. Then Rudy was arrested for deserting his post and he thought it was his brother who ratted him out. While Rudi was in a prisoner of war camp, Addie rebuilt the business, selling shoes to American GIs.
After the war was over the brothers split the company in 1948. Adi named his company Adidas. Rudy named his company Puma. They built competing factories on opposite sides of the river and became responsible for much of the economy of their town in Germany. Nearly everyone worked for either one or the other company.
In the companies hated each other. The brothers hated each other. And the employees of either company hated each other. Everyone was involved in the family feud. People would not marry across company lines. People would not eat at certain restaurants. And both companies prospered but during their feud they never saw another company nipping at their heels – Nike.
The brothers died and were buried in the same cemetery - at totally opposite ends.
Why did they go a lifetime when all they had to do is walk across the bridge to the other side of the river and forgive each other? Why did they allow their perceived hurts to fuel them to do everything they could to destroy the other one? And why did they allow an entire city to become embroiled in their ugliness?
I tell you why I'm not going to forgive you…
- Because you owe me and you don't deserve to be let off the hook.
- Because I'm mad and I'm not going to take it anymore.
- Because you look like you're enjoying life and I'm just miserable.
- Because you have to be held accountable and on the one to do it.
- Because you might do this again to somebody else and so I must broadcast what you did to everyone, everywhere.
What if one of those brothers took their offenses cast them into the sea, or stomped on them, or covered them, or erased them? What a difference it would’ve made in their lives, their families and the whole town.
When it comes to forgiveness I get a lot of questions thrown my way. Forgiveness is complicated. To make it easier I have created a list of what forgiveness will not do.
1. Forgiveness will not untangle them from their sin, but it will entangle you from their sin.
2. Forgiveness will not restore their integrity, but it will protect yours.
3. Forgiveness is not excusing them or letting them off God's hook, it's letting them off of your hook, they no longer owe you.
4. Forgiveness will not make you forget, some things need to be remembered so that they will not be repeated.
5. Forgiveness does not mean that they will not pay for what they did, it means that payment will be extracted by God, not you.
6. Forgiveness does not mean that you cover up bad things and you go on living in an abusive relationship.
7. Forgiveness doesn't mean that God removes their sin. That can only come with repentance.
8. Forgiveness does not restore their purity or integrity.
9. Forgiveness does not mean the relationship will be restored to what it once was, it means that you will be restored.
The truth is whoever owes you can never pay you back anyway so why not just close the account and say, “you don't owe me anymore.”
