INTRO.- Forgiveness if a beautiful thing, but not everyone expresses it or demonstrates it.
ILL.- A couple had been married for 15 years. They were having more than the usual marital disagreements. They wanted to make their marriage work, however, and agreed on an idea the wife had. For one month they planned to drop a slip of paper in what they called “the fault box.” Each would have their own “fault box.” They would simply write their “irritations” on a slip of paper and drop it in the respective box.
And the wife was very diligent in writing her “irritations.” Some read: “Left the lid off the jelly jar.” “Wet towels on the shower floor.” “Dirty socks left in the floor.” On and on until the end of the month came.
At the end of the month, after dinner one evening, they exchanged boxes and began reading one another’s “irritations.” The husband read and reflected on what he had done wrong in his wife’s eyes. Then his wife opened her box and began reading. TO HER AMAZEMENT, ALL THE SLIPS OF PAPER READ THE SAME THING: “I LOVE YOU!”
Brethren, that’s what I call “forgiveness” and not everybody expresses it or demonstrates it. But God does.
Rom. 3:10-12 “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”
Rom. 3:23 “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”
Brethren, let’s admit it. WE’VE ALL BLOWN IT BEFORE GOD! But in Christ there is forgiveness, complete forgiveness. Perhaps we can think of it this way.
ILL.- I read a story about a priest, a beloved man of God, in the Philippines who always carried the burden of a secret sin he had committed many years before. He had repented of the sin but still had no peace, no sense of God’s forgiveness.
In his church was a woman who loved the Lord and claimed to have visions in which she spoke with Christ. The priest, however, was skeptical. To test her he said, “The next time you speak with Christ I want you to ask him what sin your priest committed while he was in seminary.” The woman agreed.
A few days later the priest asked, “Well, did Christ visit you in your dreams?” “Yes, he did,” she replied. “And did you ask him what sin I committed in seminary?” “Yes.” “Well, what did he say?” “He said, ‘I DON’T REMEMBER.’”
Brothers and sisters, when God forgives us our sins, He also forgets them!
Heb. 10:17 “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.” Thank you, Lord! Bless you!
What forgiveness! What grace! What love! We are forgiven in Jesus Christ!
PROP.- I want to share three thoughts about our forgiveness in Christ.
1- Forgiveness is a fact
2- Forgiveness is a gift
3- Forgiveness is a treasure
I. FORGIVENESS IS A FACT - BELIEVE IT!
ILL.- While walking by a plastic factory in Hungary, a man named Mr. Rubik caught a unique little plastic cube that hurled into the air by a factory explosion.
After some investigation, it was found that the factory had not manufactured the “cube,” not was it on the drawing board. It just came into existence by itself in that factory explosion.
Mr. Rubik examined the “cube” and found that it was composed of 27 smaller cubes of six different colors totaling 54 squares. Mathematicians calculated that thousands, even millions of different patterns could be arranged on that one cube. And, of course, that cube came to be known as the “Rubik’s Cube.”
Do you believe this story? Do you believe that the Rubik’s Cube was formed by an explosion in a plastic factory? IF YOU DO, I WOULD LIKE TO SELL YOU SOMETHING!
Brethren, some things are hard to believe, whereas other things should be believed.
ILL.- On Sunday, July 20, 1969, hundreds of millions of people watched their TV sets as man set foot on the moon. When Neil Armstrong stepped down on the moon’s surface, he said, “That’s one small step for man - one giant leap for mankind.”
That moon landing is a fact, but do you realize that many people didn’t believe it? And there are probably some people today who still don’t believe it!
Some things are hard to believe, but some things should never be doubted! AND ONE OF THEM IS THE FACT THAT WE HAVE FORGIVENESS FOR ALL OUR SINS IN JESUS CHRIST! It’s a fact and you should believe it!
Eph. 1:7 “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.”
Col. 1:13-14 “For He (God) has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
If God said it, if God wrote it, if God did it, if God guarantees it, then we must believe it!
One of the reason some people have trouble believing that complete forgiveness is available through Jesus Christ is because they have a wrong image of God.
ILL.- Dr. David Seamands is a counselor at Asbury College. He tells about a seminary student who was struggling with guilt about his past. He was an “A” student but was an emotional wreck.
Seamands asked him, “What is your view of God?” The young man said, “I’ll bring you a picture of God to you tomorrow.” Dr. Seamands said he could hardly wait. He was very much interested in seeing a picture of God. The next day the young man came in with a picture of Ebenezer Scrooge. He said, “That’s my view of God.”
No wonder the young man had a difficult time believing in God’s forgiveness and being able to forgive himself! Here’s a better view of God.
ILL.- Richard Hofler, in his book, WILL DAYLIGHT COME, tells about a boy who went to his grandparents’ farm for the summer. Jimmy made a slingshot one day and practiced shooting it, but he couldn’t hit the side of a barn.
One day his grandma’s pet duck was in the backyard. Just for fun, he aimed at the duck, shot at it, and lo and behold, he hit the duck in the head and killed it. He panicked, took the dead duck behind the barn and buried it under some straw.
His sister Sally came up to him and said, “I saw what you did with that duck.” And he begged her not to tell.
That evening when Grandma asked Sally to do the dishes, Sally said, “Oh, I think Jimmy would like to do the dishes, wouldn’t you, Jimmy?” And she whispered in his ear, “Remember the duck.” AND JIMMY DID THE DISHES.
Later that night, Grandma asked Sally to carry some clothes upstairs for her. She said, “I think Jimmy would probably do that for you.” AND JIMMY CARRIED THE CLOTHES UPSTAIRS FOR HIS GRANDMA.
For a day and a half, Jimmy was Sally’s slave, until finally he couldn’t take it any longer. In tears, he went to his grandma and said, “Grandma, I’ve got to tell you what I did. I didn’t mean to do it, but I hit your duck with my slingshot and killed it.”
His grandma said, “Jimmy, I was watching out the window and I saw what you did, but I love you and I wanted to hear you say that you were sorry. It’s all right. You’re forgiven.” AND JIMMY WAS SET FREE.
To me, that grandma is a picture of our all-loving, forgiving Heavenly Father. Forgiveness is a fact in Jesus Christ - believe it!
II. FORGIVENESS IS A GIFT - ACCEPT IT!
Rom. 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, BUT THE GIFT OF GOD IS ETERNAL LIFE IN CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD!”
Eph. 2:8 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this is not from yourselves, IT IS THE GIFT OF GOD.”
ILL.- In 1986, preacher Wayne Smith was honored by his church, the Southland Christian Church, Lexington, KY, for his 30-year ministry with them. 1793 people were in church that Sunday morning and nearly all of them gathered in front of the church after the service to honor Wayne and his wife, Marge.
What did they do for him? How did they honor him? They did something that very few congregations would do or even could do! THEY GAVE WAYNE AND HIS WIFE A NEW LINCOLN TOWN CAR!
And do you know how Wayne Smith responded to their gracious generosity? He said, “Well folks, this is really nice. This is outstanding. This is unbelievable, but I just can’t accept it. There is no way in the world that I can accept it. I’m not worthy of this gift. In fact, I have sinned a whole lot more that you’d ever believe. So I have to turn you down.”
NO, THAT’S NOT WHAT WAYNE SMITH SAID! But that’s the very attitude that some people seem to have when it comes to accepting the gracious gift of forgiveness in Jesus Christ.
Some people think or perhaps even say, “God could never forgive me of my sins. Look at what I’ve done. Look at how many times I’ve blown it in life.”
I believe it is none other than Satan who tries to convince us that our sins are so great that God could never forgive us. I’ve actually heard people say, “I have sinned too much for God to forgive me.” That’s a lie of the devil!
Have we forgotten about Moses the murderer? And David the adulterer and murderer? And Zacchaeus, the greedy cheat? And Saul of Tarsus, the people-abuser and murderer? And James and John, the temperamental sons of Thunder? And what about the story of the prodigal son who wasted his money and life in wild living? DID NOT GOD FORGIVE HIM?
We must never think that our sins are greater than God’s love! THERE IS NOTHING GREATER THAN GOD’S LOVE!
ILL.- Here is what preacher Wayne Smith actually said when they gave him that Lincoln Town Car. He said, “I honestly don’t know why God picked a less than attractive, overweight preacher to be the recipient of one of the most generous churches in the world. You have gone to all extremes and not a little sacrifice to say, ‘We love you.’”
Brethren, there is no doubt in my mind that Wayne Smith felt like he did not deserve that gracious gift, but he did accept it! Why? Because he knew it was given from a heart of love!
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world...”
Rom. 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
How could we ever doubt God’s love for us? No one loves more than He does. No one. And no one has done as much for us.
Forgiveness in Jesus Christ is a gracious gift from an all-loving God. Accept that forgiveness. Believe in Christ. Trust Christ. Trust what Christ did on the cross. Surrender to Him. Follow Him in baptism. Follow Him in all ways. Accept Him.
1- Forgiveness is a fact - believe it.
2- Forgiveness is a gift - accept it.
III. FORGIVENESS IS A TREASURE - PURSUE IT
Phil. 3:7-8 “But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ.”
What a statement of faith! Paul said he was willing to give up everything for the sake of Christ, in order to know Christ and have Christ as His Savior! What have you given up for the sake of Christ?
ILL.- It is said that Noah Webster worked for 36 years to write his dictionary and he crossed the Atlantic Ocean twice to gather material. He did all that just to publish the dictionary? Can you imagine the sacrifices he must have made?
ILL.- I read that Sir Walter Scott put in 15 hours a day at his desk, getting up at 4 o’clock every morning. He averaged writing a book every two months. As a bare minimum, that man sacrificed sleep in order to write books!
ILL.- It is said that Leonardo Da Vinci worked on “The Last Supper” painting for 10 years. He often became so absorbed with his work that he would forget to eat for whole days. What a sacrifice!
ILL.- It is said that when Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, he tried over 2,000 experiments before he got it to work. Now you know that took a lot of time and effort!
ILL.- Did you ever hear of Dan Gable? He was the American Gold Medal winner in freestyle wrestling in the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Germany. He was unbeatable. What made him unbeatable? His training. His training consisted of: running, weight lifting, calisthenics, and wrestling. AND HE DID THESE THINGS 7 HOURS A DAY, 7 DAYS A WEEK!
That’s a lot of hard work just to win an Olympic Gold Medal.
And think of all the hard work and long hours that people have put in for various pursuits in life: to make money, to become famous, etc.
Brethren, if all these people could expend all their time and energy, sweat and strain to pursue and fulfill their earthly goals, WHAT SHOULD WE DO IN ORDER TO PURSUE CHRIST?
Phil. 3:13-14 “But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
There is nothing wrong with having some earthly goals, whether they are in regard to our work, business, play, sports or whatever. But our major goal or pursuit in life should be Christ and His will for our lives!
If Christ is who He claimed to be. If He is indeed the Son of the living God and offers forgiveness for all our sins and offers us a home in heaven, THEN WE MUST PURSUE HIM AND THEM WITH ALL OUR MIGHT!
CONCLUSION-------------------------------------------
ILL.- What happens when a dog enters a concert? Max Lucado tells the story about a night in Lawrence, Kansas, when the oldest continually operating orchestra in the world was playing.
It was hot that night in Lawrence, KS, so the doors were open. Hock Auditorium was not air-conditioned. Combine bright lights with formal dress and furious music, and the result is a heated orchestra. Outside doors on each side of the stage were left open in case of a breeze.
Enter, stage right, a dog. A brown, generic, Kansas dog. Not a mean dog. Not a mad dog. Just a curious dog. He passes through the basses, the violins and the cellos. His tail wags in beat with the music. Had he passed on through the orchestra, the music might have continued. Had he made his way across the stage into the motioning hands of a stagehand, the audience might never have noticed.
BUT HE DIDN’T LEAVE. HE STAYED. At home in the splendor. The musicians laughed. The audience laughed. The dog looked up at the conductor and panted. AND THE CONDUCTOR LOWERED HIS BATON. The most historic orchestra in the world. One of the most moving pieces ever written. A night wrapped in glory, all brought to a stop by a wayward dog.
The conductor stepped off the podium and scratched the dog behind the ears. The tail wagged again. The maestro spoke to the dog a few seconds, then led him off the stage. AND THE PEOPLE APPLAUDED.
Lucado wrote, “Can you find you and me in this picture? I can. Just call us Fido. And consider God the Maestro. And envision the moment when we will walk onto his stage. We won’t deserve to be there. We will not have earned it. We may even surprise the musicians with our presence.
“The music will be like none we’ve ever heard. We’ll stroll among the angels and listen as they sing. We’ll gaze at heaven’s lights and gasp as they shine. And we’ll walk next to the Maestro, stand by his side, and worship as he leads.
“He, too, will welcome us. He, too, will speak to us. BUT HE WILL NOT LEAD US AWAY. He will invite us to remain, forever as guests on his stage.”
