Getting To Know God - Part 5 – The God of Forgiveness
Please stand as we read our newest memory Scripture together …
Jude 1:24-25
“To Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy –
“To the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.”
And our memory refresher verse(s) for today is(are) …
Philippians 2:3-4
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests but also to the interests of others.”
Please open your Bibles to Romans 6:1-7, 15-23
Four weeks ago we started taking a look into WHO God is.
It is difficult to love someone you know nothing about.
So, what do we know about God so far?
- His name is YHWY – Yahweh or Jehovah
- YHWH describes Himself as “ I AM WHO I AM”
o He is immutable, unchanging
- YHWH-Rapha – the God Who Heals
- He is Jehovah-Jireh or YHWH-Yireh … The God Who Provides
- And, last week, God The Encourager
Before we look into the Scripture reading for today, let’s look at a couple of verses on the PowerPoint …
1 John 1:9
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
Matthew 26:28
“This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”
Ephesians 1:7
“In Him (Jesus) we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.”
So, what aspect of our Great God do you think we will be talking about today? Forgiveness!!!
We serve The God Who Forgives!
What does The God Who Forgives forgive us of? Sin!
What is sin? Sin is rebellion against God!
1 John 3:4
“Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.”
We define sin by this three-fold definition: Sin is an act of rebellion of the known will of God by a morally responsible person.
1 John 3:8
“The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.”
The greatness of God’s forgiveness is magnified when we know His great hate for sin.
- Sin is destructive to those we sin against
- Sin is destructive to the sinner
- Sin is destructive to our relationship with God
- Sin is destructive to our witness for God
- Sin is destructive to the kingdom of God
God’s great forgiveness:
- Is available to all
- Restores the broken relationship between God and the sinner
- Removes the eternal consequences of the sin
- Helps us to (possibly) restore the broken human relationship as well
Psalm 103:11-12
“For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is (God’s) love for those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.”
With that in mind let’s go ahead and read … Romans 6:1-7, 15-23
(Prayer for help …)
I have heard it said that when you are born again all of your sins, past, present and future are forgiven.
If that is true, what do we do with
Romans 6:23
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
If we have been forgiven of all of our sin, past, present and future, how can the wages of sin still be death; eternal death?
Romans 8:1 says:
“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus …”
This is often taken out of context and married with Romans 6:23 to say …
“The wages of sin is death … (but) … there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus …”
So, what they are saying is, once you are saved, sin is worthy of eternal death but there are no eternal consequences for that sin except for possibly not receiving some rewards in heaven which you might have gotten if you had not sinned …
But Romans 6:23 clearly states that the wages of sin is death
So, does The God Who Forgives just overlook the sin of a born again believer?
Does The God Who Forgives take the rebellion of a born again believer seriously or does He just overlook it and only see the precious blood of Jesus covering that sin?
Let’s look at an example.
Suppose an unmarried couple who profess to be born again want to move in together. Hopefully they have attended a church where the Word of God has been faithfully taught and they know that such a thing is rebellion against the known will of God by two morally responsible persons.
Suppose a brother or sister in Christ approaches them, asks them about their intentions and asks if they know that such a thing would be sinful.
And, suppose they respond by saying, “Yes, we know it is a sin but God will forgive us.”
Remember we are talking about The God Who Forgives.
We are talking about the God who sent His One and Only Son to die a merciless death on a cross in our place for the forgiveness of our sins.
First of all, let’s take a look at what must be taking place in the life of a person who would make such a statement as, “I know it is sin but God will forgive me.”
Remember that The God Who Forgives HATES sin and, remember the greatest commandment, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind …” Matthew 23:37
When a person says in front of God (and we are always in front of God),
“I know it is sin but God will forgive me” it is hard to even think up a parallel instance on the human level.
It would be like saying to someone who you are supposed to love dearly,
“I know you hate it when I spit all of the nastiness that I can come up with right into your face but I’m going to do it anyway because I know you love me and that you will forgive me.”
We cannot even fathom doing that to someone we love here on earth.
How could we possible imagine doing that to The God Who Forgives.
It shows Presumption …
- Behavior or attitude that is boldly arrogant or offensive
- Audacity, brazenness, gall, arrogance, disrespect, impertinence, insolence
What is the danger of such an arrogant presumption?
- Furthering the already distant relationship between you and God
- Developing a heart that is hardened toward God
o Every time you do this it hardens your heart further and you push The God Who Forgives farther away
What does the Bible say about someone who spits in the face of The God Who Forgives by saying, “I know it’s sin but God will forgive me?
2 Peter 2:20-22
“If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning.
“It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them.
“Of them the proverbs are true: ‘A dog returns to its vomit,’ and, ‘A sow that is washed returns to her wallowing in the mud.’”
Are you such a person who professes to be born again?
Are you living a life of spitting in the face of God with a rebellious heart and trusting that “God will forgive me?”
If so, there is only one remedy.
This is a remedy that The God Who Forgives desires for you.
If you are such a person who is in need of forgiveness from The God Who Forgives, there is only one way to find that forgiveness and it is found in
2 Chronicles 7:14
These are the steps you will find there …
Healing for the rebellious heart:
1) Humble yourself before The God Who Forgives
2) Pray for forgiveness
3) Seek the face of The God Who Forgives
4) Stop spitting in the face of The God Who Forgives
5) The God Who Forgives will hear you from Heaven
6) The God Who Forgives will forgive your sin
Final thoughts
Possible invitation
Prayer and dismissal
