A few years ago I got a phone call from a friend of mine named Danny, he was a fellow I worked with for years. I hadn’t talked to him in quite a while but he had a couple of questions for me. Are you still a preacher? Will you preach a funeral for me on Wednesday?
Listen, I truly believe God has called me to do what I do so I kind of feel an obligation to preach funerals when someone asks. And so I said “sure.”
Jerry was the name of the man who had died. He didn’t have a wife. He was estranged from his only living brother and had very little to do with anyone. My buddy Danny and his wife were his neighbors. And for 10 years Danny and mainly his wife had taken care of him. Taken him to the doctor and hospital. Made sure he had something to eat. Kept his house clean. And when the doctors had said there was “NO HOPE”, Danny’s wife had brought him home to their house and took care of him until he died. She is a very kind and loving person.
I got to the cemetery for the Graveside service. The casket was open so I walked up and looked at Jerry. I had never met him or seen him before. I looked at his empty SHELL. There was no OBITUARY. There was NO EULOGY from someone who knew him. Just a few people there. But there was Danny and his wife. They had made all of the arrangements. They were still taking care of Jerry.
But this is where I’m going with this. Danny’s wife came up to me with tears in her eyes and this is what she asked me, “Can you please give Jerry forgiveness?” And it kind of caught me off guard. She turned and walked away and I told Danny, “I can’t do that. Only God can do that.” She was still trying to take care of him.
I don’t know if she really thought I could give FORGIVENESS like the Roman Catholics do or if she was asking me to PREACH Jerry into Heaven. But either way, as much as I would have liked to, I couldn’t do it.
And so I preached a message out of John 11. Lazarus had died and it seemed that all hope was gone until Jesus showed up on the scene. Jesus gives HOPE. HOPE here in this life and HOPE when it comes to ETERNITY.
But what she said really bothered me. I KNOW that Jesus HAD DEALT with Jerry’s heart. John 12:32 tells us that He will draw all men to Him. Jesus, through the Holy Spirit had DRAWN HIM, WOOED HIM. But I DON’T KNOW what decision Jerry made. Did he accept the FORGIVENESS of GOD? I hope so but I DON’T KNOW where Jerry is tonight and where he will be for all eternity.
And so this evening I want to take a look at three things, three attributes when it comes to GOD’S FORGIVENESS. But before we do let’s go to the Lord in Prayer.
Brother _____, would you lead us?
I. And so, first of all, God’s forgiveness will cause us to do things we normally wouldn’t do. Acts 2:38
“Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”
Now this Verse has been TWISTED by different denominations to make it say something they want it to say. They try to say that the FORGIVENESS of SINS comes from being BAPTIZED. THE PHYSICAL ACT of going down into the water and being submerged actually washes away our SINS.
Here’s what I want you to see. The word “FOR” has two different meanings in our English language. TO GET and BECAUSE OF. Some of these folks try to say you are BAPTIZED TO GET the REMISSION or FORGIVENESS of sins. Kind of like, “I will PAY YOU $500 “for” your truck.” I will pay you $500 to get your TRUCK. But, I believe, in this passage, the word “FOR” means BECAUSE OF. I’m going to take an ASPIRIN “for” my headache. I’m certainly NOT going to take an ASPIRIN TO GET a HEADACHE. I’m gonna take one BECAUSE OF my headache. I’m going to BE BAPTIZED BECAUSE OF the FACT that GOD has forgiven me of my SINS.
Now the Greek word used here for the word “FOR” is “EIC” and it often implies movement into a space or a change of condition. I think this Verse tells us that we should be baptized because of the change of condition in our lives. Salvation has come.
Listen, the FORGIVENESS of GOD will make you do things you normally wouldn’t do.
I guarantee you that most people wouldn’t come up to the front of the church or go down into a pond, creek or river and just let somebody DUNK THEM down into the water while everybody watches. But the FORGIVENESS of GOD makes us want to DECLARE to the WORLD what GOD has done for us. He has FORGIVEN US of our SINS.
ILLUS: I've been to baptisms where it was so cold everyone watched from their cars on a pond bank while the preacher and this getting baptized walked out into the ICY WATERS.
I’ll tell you another thing that God’s forgiveness will do. It will help you forgive yourself. That’s something that doesn’t always come easy. It’s not the normal thing to do.
In my line of work I’ve talked to a LOT of PEOPLE with REGRETS and I think ALL of US have done things that we wish we could take back.
We’ve SAID THINGS we wish we wouldn’t have said.
And we’ve BEEN PLACES we wish we wouldn’t have gone.
But the FORGIVENESS of God HELPS ME and it HELPS YOU to FORGIVE OURSELVES. Paul tells us in Philippians 3 that he came to a point where he had to leave some things behind and press toward the MARK for the PRIZE of the HIGH CALLING of GOD. And the FORGIVENESS of GOD helps us do that. And 2 Corinthians 5:17 tells us,
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
Also the FORGIVENESS of God helps us to become NEW CREATURES in HIM. That’s CERTAINLY NOT NORMAL. You know, it’s been PROVEN that things don’t NORMALLY MUTATE or CHANGE for the GOOD but USUALLY for the BAD. But through the POWER of GOD’S FORGIVENESS, HE will change us for the GOOD.
I’m THANKFUL that I’m not the same as I used to be.
You know what, I NEVER lived a WICKED LIFE like some folks. I have always lived a pretty good life. But I was still just as LOST as the DRUNKARD or ADULTERER. I needed GOD’S FORGIVENESS just as much as they did.
II. God’s forgiveness comes from us forgiving others.
Matthew 6:14 and 15.
“For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:
15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
Yeah, you read that right. It’s pretty plain and clear isn’t it. It’s hard to EXPLAIN AWAY. God EXPECTS US to forgive others for HIM to FORGIVE US.
First of all I want to point something out. Jesus doesn’t say the PERSON you forgive must be DESERVING.
“Well, I guess he has PAID HIS DEBT to society. I guess I’ll FORGIVE HIM NOW.”
“Well, she asked me to FORGIVE HER .... SO I GUESS I WILL!!!”
Let’s face it, a lot of people that we need to FORGIVE DO NOT DESERVE IT.
And a lot of people that we need to FORGIVE NEVER ASK FOR IT.
ILLUS: I worked with a guy YEARS AGO when I was young. He was older than me, had a wife and kids and I sold him my pickup. It was a NICE TRUCK. 1974 Ford in really nice shape. I’d sure like to have it today. But he didn’t have the money and was going to pay me when his income taxes came in. To make a long story short ... he never did. He literally stoled the truck from me. I got laid off and he didn’t and I never saw him again. I had to FORGIVE HIM. “Sorry thief.”
But you know why I had to FORGIVE HIM? Because MY SINS that I needed God to FORGIVE ME FOR were far worse than that one SIN of stealing my truck. YEAH, it was WRONG to steal it. YEAH, it made me mad. But in the WHOLE SCHEME of THINGS. The WHOLE SCHEME of LIFE, it doesn’t amount to a HILL of BEANS.
If I saw OLD TOM today, I might recognize him and he might recognize me, and I’d have to just pass on by and not say a word.
Now I know, I have to FORGIVE OTHERS for GOD to FORGIVE ME.
III. God’s forgiveness is never earned, it’s given from God’s GRACE. Ephesians 1:6 and 7.
“To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;”
I told you at the beginning of my message about how that Danny’s wife wanted me to GIVE FORGIVENESS. And I told you how that even though the Catholic Church might believe it, I DON’T. I CANNOT FORGIVE SIN.
And so at the end of my message that day. Jerry laid out there in front, Danny and his wife setting on the front row. Maybe 10 or 15 more people there. Me standing at the HEAD of the CASKET. I asked everyone to sing Amazing Grace.
“Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that SAVED a WRETCH like me,
I once was lost but now I’m found, was BLIND but now I see.”
God gives us FORGIVENESS because of HIS GRACE. His UNMERITED FAVOR to you and I. It’s not something we can EARN. It’s not something we DESERVE. It’s given to us by HIS GRACE.
My SALVATION and my FORGIVENESS wasn’t free. It COST JESUS, the VERY SON of GOD, His own LIFE. He PAID the PRICE. GOD’S HOLINESS DEMANDED a RANSOM for SIN. The PRICE had to be PAID. So Jesus was CRUSHED UNDER the WRATH of GOD. And by that, He paid the price of SIN so that we could have FORGIVENESS.
ILLUS: Mar-ghan-ita Laski, was a well-known Jewish ACTRESS, JOURNALIST and NOVELIST, she wrote several well known books, (the Tower and Little Boy Lost). She was a HUGE OPPONENT of NUCLEAR WEAPONS. But she was also an ATHEIST and SECULAR HUMANIST. She BELIEVED MANKIND has all the answers. But shortly before her death in 1988 she told an interviewer:
“What I envy most about you Christians is your forgiveness; I have nobody to forgive me.”
That is one of the saddest things I’ve ever read. She THOUGHT she had NO ONE to forgive her but she did. Jesus DREW HER to HIMSELF just like He has every one of us. But it seems she rejected Him. Maybe she found His Love and Forgiveness before she died. Listen, He draws us to HIMSELF and OFFERS FORGIVENESS for our sins. He truly is a WONDERFUL GOD.
Let’s Pray
