Well, do you think forgiveness is important and good?
Sounds like a pretty obvious question.
I know it's probably not gripping you yet,
but perhaps your mind is already starting to work out
when forgiveness isn't good.
Like, is there a frequency limit?
They have done the same thing again.
I can't forgive.
Or is there a severity limit?
They've caused me way too much pain.
They don't deserve forgiveness.
Or are there other conditions?
Like forgiveness is given for as long as the relationship is going well,
but if it's starting to break down, you can call in past hurts
and bring them to the surface again.
Or when has forgiveness actually occurred?
When you no longer engage in the fight,
but you still decide to avoid that person for the rest of your life?
Or when trust and intimacy and affection even starts to be rebuilt?
Well, what do people even mean by the idea of forgiveness?
Roughly speaking, everyone has some idea that forgiveness is no longer seeking justice
or revenge on the person who has wronged you.
But is forgiveness something that can only happen between two people
where forgiveness is offered and received,
or is forgiveness something that can happen just in your own mind?
I think it's more common to hear today that forgiveness is something you can do by yourself in your own mind.
The top Google result, I know that doesn't bring much authority with it,
top Google result.
But then again, people do go to Google for direction in life, don't they?
What is forgiveness?
Forgiveness, it goes to a health organisation and it says, among other things, says this,
forgiveness can help free you from the control of the person who harms you.
Do you see the motivation there?
It's to free you from the control.
It goes on to say, and I agree with this bit,
forgiveness doesn't mean forgetting or excusing the harm done.
I definitely agree with that.
I don't agree with this next bit.
Forgiveness doesn't mean making up with the person who caused the harm.
Forgiveness brings a kind of peace,
talking about your peace, inner peace,
that helps you get on with life.
That's a common view of forgiveness these days.
Or do you wish I stopped asking these questions?
Are you sick of these questions?
This simple topic of forgiveness is starting to unravel.
People have so many different ideas of what it means
and so many different ways of practising it.
When people say all is forgiven, how forgiven is that?
What do they mean?
It's really hard to know.
And I realise, I'm skimming, I'm just bypassing so many other aspects
that we're not looking at today.
Like the difference between genuinely forgiving but still requiring real consequences for actions.
We're not going to touch on that.
Or the need to rebuild trust over time.
Or the fact that sometimes you can have the desire to forgive in your heart,
but the person has passed away or they are unwilling to talk to you.
So there's a difference there as well, an attitude of forgiveness.
Just leaving all that to the side.
The main thing I want to focus on today,
and the point of this whole series of key words of salvation,
what we need to get straight today in our mind is,
what does God mean by forgiveness?
When he says all is forgiven, what does God mean by that?
When people say it, it's really hard to know.
But what does God mean by that?
That is, we need to know what he means.
How forgiven is that?
So we're up to the third of four sermons in this series on salvation.
We've looked at the problem in the first week,
sin, that all of us do evil things and evil words come out of our mouths.
And the Bible says that's because our heart has a problem.
We look for life outside of God.
It's called idolatry.
We look for other things to give us life.
Fundamental to all that is we think we can rule our lives better than God can.
We can play God.
So our heart problem, which expresses itself in evil behaviour,
it deserves God's judgement and his anger, his eternal wrath.
That's the problem.
But last week we saw the solution.
Redemption, what God has done.
Like a prisoner of war, captive in our sin.
He has bought our freedom.
If God wants us back home, he had to pay the price.
And he did.
The blood of his son.
We are not captive anymore.
We are now at home.
Restored relationship to God.
Today we're looking at the result of that redemption.
What is the result?
And the Bible terms for that is justification and peace.
So when God says all is forgiven, how forgiven is that?
So let's get into this word justification.
And you're going to notice that this series in Colossians really is just a launching point.
I'm spending our time in Romans today looking at, but the idea is there in Colossians.
I think it says it just a little bit clearer in Romans.
So justification.
It's a legal picture.
We looked at redemption last week.
Redemption pictures our captivity as slaves to sin being set free at a price.
Whereas justification, it pictures the final day of judgment.
When each of us, we're told, have to give an account for our lives.
We're in the cosmic courtroom at the end of our lives with God presiding on the bench.
And Jesus says that we're going to have to give an account for our whole lives,
even every careless word that comes out of our mouth, even the ones in secret.
Our whole lives.
I remember this one time when I was a youth, I made the whole youth group laugh.
I said this joke and I made the whole youth group laugh.
And I was enjoying my joke, all the laughter.
But then my eyes locked onto one person whose look on his face just cut me.
I knew that that word was really disparaging of another person.
Everyone else was laughing.
One person just goes, oof.
I still remember it.
For some reason, it's stuck with me.
I'm not going to tell you what that word was.
I've got you all curious now.
And whenever I make these comments, my parents call me up every week,
what were you referring to?
You don't need to know right now.
You'll find out on the day of judgment.
You'll hear it then.
Every careless word.
I've got a lot of careless words.
So picture the courtroom.
All the evidence brought in.
All of it.
And there's only two verdicts.
Guilty.
Righteous.
Depart from me forever.
Come, enter your master's joy.
Now, the reason we need to...
I'm not sure if you find that picture impersonal of God.
But despite the fact that the Bible talks a lot about justification,
the reason we need to understand this image is because of who God is at heart,
who he is in his character.
Because God is completely righteous.
He is just.
God is so reliable.
He only ever acts according to what is right.
Unlike anyone else you know, you can count on God to be totally just.
And hopefully you're starting to feel the problem that that's a terrifying prospect.
If you think of God and the question in your mind is,
how can a loving God not forgive me?
That is a wrong starting point for thinking about God.
You've got to start with who he is, his justice.
How can a good, just God forgive me?
That's the right question.
How can the God who said in Proverbs 17, 15,
he who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous
are both alike an abomination to the Lord.
How can the God who said that in his courtroom declare me,
a guilty person, righteous, forgiven?
If the problem hasn't been clear enough,
I'm going to use the imagery from the prophet Micah.
Listen to what Micah says.
Hear what the Lord says.
Arise.
Picture that courtroom.
Arise.
Plead your case before the mountains,
the mountains that were there since the beginning,
so they've observed it all.
Let the hills hear your voice.
Hear, you mountains, the indictment of the Lord
and you enduring foundations of the earth,
for the Lord has an indictment against his people.
And then Micah responds a few paragraphs later.
With what shall I come before the Lord
and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
If God is to forgive you,
if he is to acquit you of all guilt,
he has to do it in a righteous way.
He's got to do it in a just way because that's who he is.
And that's the good news of Romans 3,
of all of Scripture,
but Romans 3 just says it so succinctly and clearly,
unlike me.
But can you turn to Romans 3,
if you're following in your Bibles?
I know I've had two passages previous weeks
and you're probably not sure where I'm going,
so today we're sticking in Romans 3,
from verse 21.
Just before we read some of these verses,
how would you feel if you met King David,
who lived a thousand years before Christ?
Israel's greatest king.
How would you feel in his presence,
as you go to shake King David's hand?
Would you just be like shaking
because you're in the presence of this great man?
Or would you even shake his hand?
This man who took Bathsheba in his lust
and then plotted the murder of Uriah,
could you shake his hand?
I don't know,
does it matter how remorseful he was?
How could a just God say to King David,
and he did,
through the prophet Nathan,
the Lord has put away your sin.
You shall not die.
How can a just God say that?
That's scandalous.
Romans 3 tells us how.
Romans 3,
I'm going to start reading from verse 23.
For all have sinned
and fall short of the glory of God
and are justified,
declared righteous,
by his grace as a gift,
through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus,
whom God put forward
as a propitiation by his blood
to be received by faith.
This was to show God's righteousness
because in his divine forbearance,
forbearance he had passed over former sins.
It was to show his righteousness
at the present time
so that he might be just
and the justifier
of the one who has faith in Jesus.
God put away David's sin,
not by sweeping it under the rug,
but by placing his sin on his son
who paid the penalty.
So many religions claim
to provide a way to be forgiven,
whether it's praying to ancestral spirits,
ceremonial washings in water,
building shrines to Buddha,
a pilgrimage to Mecca,
going again and again and again
to a human priest
and eating the mass
to pay for your sins,
or as secular Australians say,
to forgive yourself.
The question is,
do any of these
claims of forgiveness,
do they deal with it justly?
Is the penalty actually paid?
It's not.
None of these ways
clear the conscience.
They don't work.
And there's a reason it doesn't work,
because they don't deal with sin
in a just way.
When God says all is forgiven,
the sins are actually dealt with.
They're actually paid for.
Not by you,
but by his son.
Only in Jesus
is all your sin forgiven.
Now, I've got the privilege
in a few weeks
to preside over the marriage
of Zach and Caitlin.
You're probably nervous
now that I'm putting
the spotlight on you.
Now,
during the marriage ceremony,
when it's done legally
and righteously,
in the eyes of the state
and more importantly,
in the eyes of God,
now I've got the privilege
of making this
very profound statement.
I pronounce you
husband and wife.
That doesn't count.
All right?
It's not yet.
Not yet.
All right?
Now,
people are so focused
on the next bit.
You can kiss the bride,
and I'm sure, Zach,
it's going to be kissing
for the first time, right?
Everyone's waiting
for that moment.
But more profound
is that statement.
And I get to say it.
I pronounce you
husband and wife.
Before I say that,
Zach is Zach,
Caitlin is Caitlin.
But in saying those words,
the very words,
changes your reality.
You are now one flesh
because of those words,
that declaration.
You're not individuals anymore.
You're one flesh.
That pronouncement
changes you.
Do you hear what
Romans 3 is saying?
That future verdict,
righteous or guilty,
that declaration of righteous
is now in the past.
The declaration changes you.
You are righteous.
You are completely changed
at that point
through this pronouncement
that has occurred
when Jesus rose
from the dead.
You are righteous.
All your sin
has been transferred
to Jesus.
He paid the penalty.
All his righteousness,
the life of obedience,
is transferred
to your account.
When God looks at you,
he sees Jesus.
Righteous.
The verdict of the future
is already in the past.
It's done.
When God says,
justify it,
all is forgiven,
he means it.
Unlike everyone else,
he means it.
Today apparently
is the anniversary
of Martin Luther,
the father of the,
is he the father
of Protestant?
I should probably know
that as a pastor.
Anyway,
he nailed the 95 theses
on that door.
This is the anniversary,
but for those
who don't know
the story of Luther,
Martin Luther,
he was a Catholic monk
before that.
And he annoyed
his superiors
because he would just
be in the confessional
for hours.
His superiors are like,
you're confessing piccadillos.
I don't know,
it's an old-fashioned term,
but he was so burdened
by his sin
that every day
he would be spending
hours confessing
every single sin.
He was so tormented
by this idea
of a just God.
Here's how he put it.
I had hoped
I might find
peace of conscience
with the fast,
going without food,
and the prayer
and the vigils
with which I miserably
afflicted my body.
But the more
I sweated it out
like this,
the less peace
and tranquility
I knew.
And it was this passage,
Roman 3,
that changed everything
and opened his eyes.
This is how he put it,
his famous paragraph.
Thereupon,
I felt myself
to be reborn
and have gone through
open doors
into paradise.
Now the whole of Scripture
took on a new meaning
and whereas before
the justice of God
had filled me with hate,
now it became to me
inexpressibly sweet
in greater love.
This passage of Paul
became to me
as a gate
into paradise.
Because before
he was trying to earn
his righteousness
righteousness
and now
he understood
it's a gift.
It's a gate
of paradise.
But this gift
of being declared
righteous,
it's not automatically
applied to everyone.
It's only for those
with faith
and not just any
religious faith
but a very specific faith
as verse 26 says.
God is just
and the justifier
of the one
who has faith
in Jesus.
Now
this faith,
it doesn't,
faith isn't just
a lowering of the bar.
He tried,
it's not as if
God tried the law
with Israel
and they just
failed at the law
because,
okay,
at least
try a bit,
try and have some faith.
That's not what's
happening here.
Faith is not
a merit.
It's not
saying you do.
It's a receiving thing.
Even our faith
is a gift.
And Romans chapter 4
clearly demonstrates
this with the life
of Abraham
that God
is always,
not just post-Christ
but always
since Abraham
has counted
a person righteous
not based on
what they do
but on their faith
in God's promise.
So in chapter 4
of Romans
he quotes
Genesis 15, 6
Abraham believed God
and it was counted
to him
as righteousness.
It's always been
by faith.
So what is faith?
Faith is taking
God at his word
despite all
the evidence
that makes it
seem impossible.
It's taking
God at his word
and we see this
in the life
of Abraham
in chapter 4.
We see it
described
from verse 17
onwards.
Paul is saying
picture Abraham.
What was going on
in Genesis 15?
What was happening
in the life
of Abraham?
Well Abraham
was about
100 years old.
His wife
in the 90s
never had a child.
They had no
heir
to inherit
their name,
to inherit
all the promises
God had given
that he would be
a blessing
to the whole world
and the land
and all the promises.
They had no heir
to keep going
in those promises.
Now that must have
been incredibly painful,
just a hopeless
situation.
How would they
have a child?
But,
verse 17,
Abraham knew
who God was.
He's the God
who gives life
to the dead
and calls
into existence
the things
that do not
exist.
So when God
showed Abraham
all the stars
in the sky
and said,
so shall
your offspring be.
I love this
phrase in here,
in verse 18,
in hope
he believed
against hope.
What a beautiful
description of faith.
In hope
in what God
promised to do,
he believed
against hope
in anything
he could do.
That's the
description of faith.
It seems impossible.
He looked at
all the evidence.
There is no way
we can have an heir.
But God said,
so shall it be.
And he took him
at his word.
That's faith.
And it's God's word
that creates
the faith.
I'm not going
to add to that.
If you want to
know what I mean,
come talk to me
later.
Now,
as you weigh up
the evidence
of your life,
think of all,
think of your life
and whether you'll
be counted
righteous or not.
Look at,
let's bring all
the evidence in.
All your regret,
those big sins
that you just
can't forget,
all the
half-hearted
worship,
all the lack
of compassion
for people,
all the inconsistency
of your zeal
for living for Christ,
all the feelings
of guilt and shame,
even how weak
you feel your faith is.
It feels like
a flame that is
flickering,
barely burning
sometimes.
All that evidence
says impossible
for you to be
forgiven.
But God says
justified.
Faith is to
take God
at his word.
In hope,
believe against
hope.
It's not the
strength of your
faith that matters.
It's the strength
of the one you
have faith in.
That's everything.
Now,
I think I'm
borrowing from
Carson here
this next
thought experiment
to describe
that it's
all the
faith of the
one.
It's not
about how
strong your
faith is.
So imagine
in Egypt
in the
Passover,
they hear
through Moses
that God
is going to
come and
kill the
firstborn
throughout
Egypt.
And two
neighbouring
Israelite
families hear
this message
and they hear
the message
that you need
to sacrifice
a spotless
lamb and
paint the
doorway of
your house
in its
blood.
Now,
one father
is just
full of joy
and sacrifices
the lamb
in thanksgiving
to God
and paints
the doorway
and sits
down and
enjoys the
meal at
ease with
the family
knowing that
God will
keep his
word and
goes to
sleep knowing
that they
can trust
that God
will do
what he
promises.
He can
look into
the eyes
of his
ten-year-old
son and
go,
I'll see
you in
the morning.
But then
next door
another
father is
just full
of dread.
Maybe his
own guilt
is coming
up and
he does
do the
sacrifice
of the
lamb.
He paints
the doorway
but he
cannot
eat.
He cannot
sleep.
He looks
at his
ten-year-old
son and
he's just
watching the
chest going
up and
down.
Is God
going to
keep his
word?
Now,
both will
be saved
in the
morning
because it
doesn't matter
about the
strength of
your faith.
It matters
that God
keeps his
word.
When he
offers a
sacrifice in
Jesus,
he will
keep his
word.
That's all
that counts.
When God
says all
is forgiven
by faith in
Jesus,
he means
it.
he means
it.
So let's
spend our
remaining
minutes just
looking at
a passage
that was
read in
Romans 5,
just looking
at how
much he
means it.
So Romans
5 verse 1,
therefore,
since we
have been
justified by
faith,
we have
peace with
God through
our Lord
Jesus Christ.
peace isn't
here about
an inner
feeling of
tranquility.
Peace here
is a
relational
term.
We are no
longer enemies.
We're not
trying to rule
our lives
anymore.
We are
reconciled,
verse 11
says.
God's
justice and
anger has
been dealt
with.
We are
at peace.
That's the
goal of
justification.
He doesn't
give the
blood of
his son so
that we
can exit
that courtroom
and then
go on
living for
ourselves.
No,
he justifies
us in
his courtroom
so that we
can then
go home
into his
home and
have peace
and enjoy
the father
again and
live for
him.
Because
justification
is already
sorted,
we have
been justified.
Past tense.
It's already
sorted by
his grace.
Nothing we
do, not
even the
strength of
our faith
adds to
it.
We can
be 100%
sure that
we and
God are
good.
Verse 2
states this,
Through him,
through Christ,
we have
also obtained
access by
faith into
this grace
in which
we stand
and we
rejoice in
hope of
the glory
of God.
Now,
please notice
at this point,
none of this
is telling you
what you must
do.
this is all
saying what
God has
done in
Jesus.
It's not
saying you
need to
obtain access
by praying.
It's not
saying that.
It's saying
you have
access.
He's done
this.
You are in
grace.
If you're a
Christian,
that's where
you live.
You are in
grace.
That's where
you stand.
That's all
you'll ever
receive from
God.
Now and
forever is
grace.
And I
think that's
why it
talks about
sufferings in
the next
verse.
I was
wondering,
why talk
about
sufferings as
the first
thing?
Because once
you understand
justification is
sorted, it
changes your
perspective on
sufferings and
any other
evidence that
you don't have
peace with
God.
You can even
rejoice in
suffering now.
Not that you
love pain,
but you can
see a meaning
to it now.
There's hope
now.
It's a pretty
wild thing for
a Christian to
think, I've
got peace with
God and yet
he's given me
this medical
diagnosis.
Really?
You've got
peace with
God but your
mental illness
just won't
get better?
Really?
That's what
you're claiming?
sure seems
like punishment.
Or is
Martin Luther
trembled before
the council that
told him you
better retract or
you will be
excommunicated from
the church and
you'll die?
You sure you've
got peace?
You sure you've
got peace?
God says your
justification is
sorted at the
cross and
resurrection,
then we can be
sure that not a
drop of
suffering is
punishment.
Not a drop.
this came home to
me once when I
was doing the
washing up.
It was a bit
random but it
just, this is just
my personal, it
just came home to
me afresh for some
reason.
I cut myself
washing up on a
pair of tongs, I
don't know how you
do that but I did
it.
And sorry for this
image but I was
just bleeding into
the sink and I
was, I don't know,
it just came home to
me that this blood is
not punishment.
Because Jesus'
blood is spilled.
I will never
experience a drop
of punishment.
Discipline, yes,
but that is very
different.
If you are
disciplined because
you're forgiven,
because you are a
legitimate child,
you're disciplined.
That's not
punishment.
Because our
justification is
sorted, it
changes your whole
view on
suffering.
It's God making
sure you make it
home to glory.
So Christian,
don't look at your
circumstances or
what people say or
what your mind says
even about your
peace with God.
Look at the
cross.
All you ever
receive is grace to
make sure you make
it home to glory.
You may not
understand how but
that is where you
live.
You live in grace.
And we've got the
down payment of it.
In verse 5,
God's love has been
poured into our
hearts through the
Holy Spirit who has
been given to us.
I think that as we
look at the cross,
we know we are
loved.
The Holy Spirit
testifies to us.
What about the fact
that I still wrestle
with sin?
I still sin every
single day.
Surely that's
evidence that I'm
not fully forgiven.
I think that's what
verses 6 to 11 in
chapter 5 are about.
Verse 8,
God shows, he
demonstrates his
love for us in that
while we were still
sinners, Christ died
for us.
Jesus has already
done the hard
part.
When you're an
enemy, he's now
reconciled you.
You're a child
now.
While you're a
sinner, he died for
you and demonstrated
his love.
He's done the
hard part.
Trust him to do
the rest.
He's already
paid for that
sin today and
that sin tomorrow.
He's paid for
that in the
past.
He's living to
make sure you
will get home.
We're not to
look at our
ongoing sin as
the measure of
how much peace
we have with
God.
We're to look
at the cross to
tell us how
much peace we
have with
God.
Even, dare I
say this, even
in that moment
when you are
loving sin, you
just don't want
to do what
God says and
you are
hardened, you
just don't
care and you
are choosing to
do what you
know is wrong,
even in that
moment, you
have peace with
God.
He loves you
with all he
has.
You are
robbing yourself
of enjoying that
peace, but
that doesn't
change the
fact that you
have peace.
I think that
thought, for
me at least,
it ruins the
enjoyment of
sin.
God loves me
right now.
So let me
finish.
When God
says all is
forgiven, how
forgiven is
that?
Well, you can
rely on God
being just.
Like the
prophet Micah
said, not
even offering
your firstborn
child will pay
for the sin of
your soul, but
God's firstborn
has.
He has, all
his justice has
been poured out
on his son, and
you can trust him
to be just, to
only give you
grace from here
on.
He did it so
that he might be
just and the
justifier of the
one who has
faith in Jesus.
We can walk in
hope knowing
that even in
suffering and
ongoing sin, all
we've got is
grace.
Because the
final verdict over
your life,
righteous, is
now in the
past, when
Jesus rose from
the dead.
We've got to
take God at
his word.
Despite all the
evidence, we
take God at
his word.
So brothers
and sisters
who already
do believe,
such a God,
such a just
salvation, as
Romans 12
says, in
gratitude,
deserves a
whole life
of worship.
That's how we
are to respond
to this.
And if you
haven't yet
tasted such
full forgiveness
and peace with
God,
if God is
giving you
even a glimpse
this morning
into that
gate of
paradise, if
he's giving
you a glimpse,
don't linger at
the gate.
Why would you?
What are you
waiting for?
Let me pray.
Let's pray.
Father, in
light of what
you've done
for us, I
just want to
pray and
say thank
you.
Amen.
Thank you.