00:00
00:00
00:01
Transcript
1/0
Does everybody have a copy of
the handout? Yeah? Okay. So the question tonight is not,
is God able to forgive my sins? Hopefully there would be no one
here that doubts that. But the question is very deliberate.
Is God also willing to forgive my sins? Because that's the question
that I've been confronted with over and over again, also in
my pastoral experience. And some of us may have grown
up with the idea that to know that your sins are forgiven is
almost unattainable, and that the assurance of the pardon of
sin is but the privilege of very, very few. And so I really want
to dispel that notion. I really want to get across to
you tonight, not by means of my words, but by means of the
word of God itself, that God is not only able, but that he
is willing to forgive my sins. Now, having said that, we need
to realize What an absolutely vital issue this is. A question
that we need to reflect on even tonight. A question, are my sins
forgiven? Are your sins forgiven? But that's
literally a life and death matter. Because there is nothing worse
than to know that your sins are not forgiven. If your sins are
not forgiven, that means that the God against whom we have
sinned is against us. And if we die without our sins
being pardoned, we will face the wrath of God. And so sin is the one thing that
separates us from God. And we need to realize, and I
include myself, too often I think we have superficial views of
sin. We have no idea how serious it is to be a sinner. We have
no idea how offensive sin is in the sight of God. We have
no idea how sin provokes God to wrath. Of course, we do have
a window into that when we consider the cross of Calvary, when we
consider what God did to his only begotten son so that he
could be the savior of sinners is a window into how God views
sin. But that's the wonderful truth
of the gospel, is that the God whom we have so infinitely offended,
The God to whom our sin is so infinitely offensive, that this
God goes out of His way throughout His Word to communicate to us
that He is a God who is ready to forgive. That's the opening
passage. So what I want to do tonight is I simply want to walk
through Scripture with you. I want to show you how this whole
theme of the forgiveness of sins is such a pervasive theme of
the entire Word of God that that truth comes to us in so many
different ways. So it's my hope, it's my hope
that the witness of Scripture will encourage you tonight. And
even if you're here tonight and you're not certain. whether your
sins are pardoned, that this will encourage you to flee to
this God who's willing to forgive. So fundamental truth, God is
ready to forgive. And the English is somewhat weak. The Dutch is even more beautiful,
is a God who delights to forgive sins. So what this means, when
we look at that text, look at Psalm 86. It says, Rejoice the
soul of thy servant, for unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my
soul. Here it comes. For thou, Lord,
art good and ready to forgive, and plenty is in mercy unto all
them that call upon thee. So what that means, dear friends,
what it means, my dear people, is that readiness to forgive,
is a revelation of the very character and heart of God. He delights
to forgive. It's his favorite work to pardon
sinners. That in itself is an amazing
and astounding truth. And so right from the very outset,
we need to dispense with this whole idea that God is a God
who reluctantly pardons. That God is a God who rarely
pardons. God is a God whose delight it
is to pardon. And I'm sure I've said that here
already once in my preaching. And if you have Matthew Henry's
commentary, read his commentary on this passage. I love the statement that he
makes. And I paraphrase. He said, God
is more ready to forgive that we are to repent. Think about
that. God is more ready to forgive than we are to repent. And so
let's walk through Scripture and see how this truth of God
being a pardoning God, God who has done everything to make that
pardon available to sinners, how that theme is woven all through
Scripture. So, we begin at the very beginning,
where we have God accepting, that'd be a great idea, a glass
of water. Thank you very much. We have Hebrews 11, verse 4.
It says, by faith able, offer unto God a more excellent sacrifice
than Cain, by which He obtained witness that he was righteous. God testifying of his gifts,
and by it he being dead yet speaketh. And so why did God declare Abel
to be righteous? Because he was a better man than
Cain? No. But by grace, Abel understood
the gospel that his parents had taught him. God himself, before
they left the garden, taught Adam and Eve the gospel, the
gospel of pardon on the basis of shed blood. And so the reason
why God rejected Cain's sacrifice is because Cain refused to come
with a lamb. He rejected God's way of salvation. It's not that there was no pardon
for him. Andrew Bonar actually has this wonderful idea where
it says, sin lies at the door. He says in Hebrew, he say, God
is saying sin, there is a sin offering by the door. In other
words, Cain, I can forgive you too. If you submit to my way
of redemption, I would be more than willing to pardon you as
well. So Abel believed God's, the simple
witness of the gospel. And so throughout the Old Testament,
we see that God shows his approbation by fire. He is a God who answers
by fire. And so most likely, God answered
by fire, consumed the sacrifice, and thereby testified to Abel
that he was righteous, that he had forgiven his sins. So from
the very outset, From the very outset, we have the fundamental
gospel that was taught to Adam and Eve. They passed it on to
their children. Forgiveness on the basis of shed
blood. All right, now we work our way
through the Old Testament, and of course, we have the the classic
passage of Exodus 33 and 34, that passage that so profoundly
impacts the entire Old Testament, a passage to which all of the
prophets refer, that incredible revelation of God's character. So in Exodus 33, in Exodus 33, We have Moses longing for God's
glory, longing to see God's glory. And God says, I will show you.
I will cause all my goodness to pass before you. And I will
proclaim the name of the Lord before thee, and so forth. And
then comes the passage in Exodus 34. And the Lord passed by before
him and proclaimed, the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious,
long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy
for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. God
says, this is who I am. This is who I am. He proclaims
his name. And God uses three different
types of sin and thereby covering all sin. And so God is saying,
I am a God who forgives all manner of sin. What an amazing truth
that is. And of course, right after that,
he says, I will by no means clear the guilty. Almost seems like
a contradiction. But again, remember, The secret
to this verse is the cross. It is true. God's character is
such that he cannot overlook sin. The God who is ready to
forgive sin cannot overlook it. He can by no means clear the
guilty. And now we see the wonder of the cross. The cross reconciles
this apparent contradiction. And so the cross shows us why
God can be more than ready to forgive. It's not because he
ignores sin or overlooks sin, because he himself has provided
the way in which he, the offended God, can freely pardon sinners. Then we have the institution
of the morning and evening sacrifice. Exodus 29. Now this is that which
thou shalt offer upon the altar. Two lambs of the first year,
day by day continually. And then he says, and I will
dwell among the children of Israel and will be their God. So by means of that morning and
evening sacrifice, God wanted to affirm every single day, every
morning and evening, He wanted to affirm that He was their God
for the sake of that sacrifice because of that shed blood that
was shed every morning at 9 o'clock, every evening at 3 p.m., morning
and evening sacrifice. And so by means of that daily
ritual that repeated itself every day for a couple thousand years
until Christ came, God was saying every morning to his people,
today I am ready to forgive. Here's the evidence. At the end
of the day, after they had failed, sinned, he would say, I am still
ready to forgive on the basis of the shed blood of that lamb. I am always a God ready to forgive. Seventy times, seven times. So, God went out of His way to
teach the people of Israel that He was a gracious God because
of that lamb, because of that shed blood of So in Numbers 14, then Moses appeals to this. This
is beautiful. Now he says, I beseech thee,
let the power of my Lord be great. According as thou hast spoken,
saying, the Lord is longsuffering and of great mercy. forgiving
iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty,
visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children of
the third and fourth generation. So Moses is now appealing. He's
appealing to this revelation that God gave him in Exodus 34.
And now he pleads about this. He says, pardon, I beseech thee.
The iniquity of this people according to the greatness of thy mercy. And look what he says here. And
as thou has forgiven this people from Egypt, even until now. What a beautiful statement, even
until now. And the Lord said, I have pardoned
according to thy word. So what Moses did, he appealed
to the heart of God. He did what we so often see in
the Old Testament. They appeal, they take aim at
the heart of God. My friends, this shows the character
of God. This shows how willing and ready he is to forgive if
we come to him in his ordained way. That means, of course, by
trusting in the Lamb of God. He is so ready to pardon. That's why it is the pervasive
theme of the ceremonial law. Excuse me. is that 10 times, 10 times it
is said, and it shall be forgiven them. And so the priests were
instructed that if a guilty Israelite came in God's ordained way with
the appointed sacrifice, they were commissioned by God to say
to that Israelite, Your sin is forgiven. Again, this is the
God who's ready to forgive. So of course, we should not be
surprised that we find this theme woven throughout the Psalms.
Psalm 32, this beautiful Psalm of David that he wrote after
he experienced the wonder of pardon even though he was a child
of God, and he had sinned greatly. And
yet what's so beautiful, when Nathan comes to him, and when
Nathan says, Thou art a man, and then when David confesses
his sin, Nathan immediately tells him his sin is forgiven. The
moment he confesses it, Nathan says, your sin is pardoned. Nathan
understood the character of God. So that's where he begins. Blessed
is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord imputeth not iniquity, in whose spirit there is no guile.
Psalm 65 verse 3, iniquities prevail against me. As for our
transgressions, thou shalt purge them away. Psalm 85 verse 2,
thou has forgiven the iniquity of thy people, thou has covered
all their sin. By the way, let me quickly add
here, there's no difference between forgiven sins and covered sins.
Covered sins are forgiven sins in scripture. Covered by the
blood of Christ. Covered so that God no longer
sees them. So this whole idea that covered
sins are not forgiven sins is simply unscriptural. Psalm 86, of course we did that. Psalm 99 verse 8. Thou wast a
God that forgavest them. Psalm 103 verse 12, as far as
the East is from the West, so far hath He removed our transgressions
from us. What a beautiful statement about
the nature of God's forgiveness. The pardon that He promises to
every sinner that puts their trust in His Son, right? And so, as you know, this is
an analogy. East and West never touch. So
far has he removed our transgressions. This is Old Testament. Psalm
130, we just sang it together. If thou, Lord, shouldst mark
iniquities, I preached on it a couple weeks ago, who shall
stand but the wonder of the gospel, but there is forgiveness with
thee. The God against whom we have
sinned, the God before whom we cannot stand, the God whom we
have so infinitely offended by our sins, with that God there
is forgiveness. The testimony of the prophets, Isaiah 1 verse 18, this beautiful
verse, come now. And let's reason together, saith
the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson,
they shall be as wool. I mentioned it Sunday, right?
These are dyes that are so powerful that once something is dyed with
scarlet and crimson, you cannot ever remove it. God said, even
if your sins were like that, or to put it very simply, if
you are a dyed-in-the-wool sinner, I will pardon you. I will pardon
you. Isaiah 43, thou hast made me
to serve with thy sins, thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities. I wonder how often we stop and
think about that. How often we think about our
sins in this way that God has to say of us, you are made me
to serve with your sins, you weary me with your iniquities.
And so then you would expect judgment. And what follows? I, even I, am he that blotteth
out thy transgressions. Mine own sake, and will not remember
thy sins. The wonderful passage from Isaiah
55. Let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return unto the Lord,
and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God. And again, this
beautiful statement, for he will abundantly pardon. That's the
character of God, a God of abundant mercy, plenteous mercy. In other
words, his pardoning grace, folks, so infinitely exceeds your and
my sins. He will abundantly pardon if
the wicked forsakes his way and turns unto him in God's ordained
way. Jeremiah 33. And I will pardon all their iniquities
whereby they have sinned and whereby they have transgressed
against Me." That's why Micah has this statement of holy astonishment. He said, who is a god like unto
thee that pardoneth iniquity and passes by the transgression
of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger forever,
because he delighteth in mercy. Who is a God like unto thee?
Who can fathom this? Who can fathom the wonder of
that truth? Song of Zechariah, New Testament. Zechariah moved by the Spirit,
he says, and thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the
highest. For thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare
his ways, to give knowledge of salvation unto his people, and
listen carefully, by the remission of their sins, through the tender
mercy of our God, whereby the day spring from on high, which
is Christ, hath visited us. So how does God give his people
the knowledge of salvation? By assuring them of the remission
of their sins. That's why God commissioned Isaiah,
comfort my people, comfort them, declare to them that their sins
are pardoned. I want my people to know that.
I want my people to be assured of that. I want my people to
rejoice in that. that their sins are pardoned. In Matthew 9, we have the story
of the man sick with the palsy, lying in the bed. And Jesus,
seeing their face, said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, be
of good cheer. Thy sins be forgiven thee. But
as you may know, that the Son of Man has power on earth to
forgive sins. Then said he to the sick of the
palsy, Arise, take up thy bed. and go into that house. There's
a lot of things that could be said here. It's obvious that
Christ knew that this man had a greater burden than his palsy,
and that was his sin. But there's another reason why
he first pardons him, then heals him, because he knew that the
Pharisees, they challenged him, or they thought by themselves,
what right does he have to pardon sin? So he pardons this man,
and then he shows his Godhead. He does a miracle. He heals him,
thereby simply stating, now you know why. I have power to forgive
sins. He affirmed them of his divinity. Luke 7, the woman, the sinful
woman who comes and weeps and washes his feet with her tears
And then he says, wherefore I say unto thee. This is so beautiful.
It's the character of Christ. He says, her sins, which are
many, are forgiven. So simple, and yet so profound. That's how simple the gospel
is. That's how rich the gospel is. Here comes a woman laden
with sin. A woman who had led an immoral
life. And she comes to the feet of Jesus. And as she finds a
full pardon, her sins, which are many, are forgiven. The parable of the unmerciful
servant in Matthew 18 also tells us something about God's character. Because Christ there tells us
the story of this king who had a servant who owed him 10,000
talents. And I won't weary you with the
math right now, but in today's value, we're talking about anywhere
from $7 to $9 billion if we do the math. So in other words,
Christ deliberately chose an amount that an Israelite could
not wrap his mind around. 10,000 talents. And yet, what does the king do?
When that servant pleads for mercy, he pardons him in one
moment. The debt is gone, one moment. It's wiped away. Of course, Jesus told that story
because Peter said, how often should I forgive my brother?
Seven times? He thought that was quite impressive.
And Jesus said, no, 70 times 7 times. Why? Because that's God's character.
God is a God who is ready to forgive 70 times 7 times. The parable of the prodigal son
or the parable of the forgiving father, which would be a better
title, the portrait of a God who is ready to forgive. And
why did Jesus tell that story? Because the Pharisees mocked
him. And they said, this man received his sinners. He eats
with them. So rather than arguing with them,
Jesus tells three parables, basically with the same thrust. But the
most powerful of the three, of course, is this. And there we
see. Because see, the Pharisees had
a similar story, but with a totally different outcome. Jesus told a story here where
he literally poked him in the eyes a story whereby he a Story that would be so provocative
to the Pharisees who were so self-righteous Here's this young
man who had the audacity to say to his father. I can't wait till
you die I want money now what my inheritance now I Then he
goes and he squanders it with harlots and who knows what else.
Then he ends up caring for pigs. So to the Jewish mind, this young
man was the worst of the worst. And he comes back when his father sees him. He doesn't wait till the boy
gets to him, he goes to the boy. He sees his son and he runs to
him, totally contrary to the protocol of that day, he runs
to him. And before he has a chance to
open his mouth, he kisses him and he pardons him. So Jesus
was saying to the Pharisees, the reason I The reason I receive sinners,
because that's who my father is. I am. I am the revelation
of the father. This is who I am. I am the savior
of sinners. It is my delight to save sinners. Then, of course, we have the
rent veil, the act of a God who is ready to forgive. So in Matthew 26, 28, when Jesus
institutes the Lord's Supper, and we quote it every time when
we have the Lord's Supper, for this is my blood of the New Testament. And look what he says about it,
which is shed for many for the remission of sins. Christ is
saying, I am going to shed my blood so that sinners can be
forgiven because of my sacrifice. And that's why, as you know,
the very first thing Jesus addresses when he's kneeled to the cross,
Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. First
thing he says, Matthew 27. Jesus, when he had cried again
with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost, and behold, the veil
of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. God's
dramatic acceptance, the sacrifice of his son. So when Christ sends his disciples
into the world, He gives them the message. We've recently considered
that. The Great Commission. He says
that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in
his name among all nations. So in my name, you must call
sinners to repentance. But in my name, you must proclaim
to them the remission of their sins if they believe in my name. Because repentance here encompasses faith as well, because
faith and repentance are two sides of one coin. They're two
Siamese twins. They are inseparable. In other
words, repentance is in itself an act of faith. The sinner who
turns to God from his sins does that because he believes what
God has revealed of himself. And so repentance is already
an act of faith. They belong inseparably together.
So Christ is clearly giving a commission to his church that wherever the
gospel is proclaimed, this has to be made crystal clear. The
sinner who takes his refuge or her refuge to the Lord Jesus
Christ must be told that that simple act of faith secures for
us the pardon of our sins. That's the gospel. That's the
word of God. And then we have the testimony
of the apostles. So we're in the Bay of Pentecost.
Here they are, pricked in their hearts. Men and brethren, what
must we do? They are in utter despair. They've
just been told by Peter, you have crucified your Messiah. This was staggering to these
people, staggering. They had crucified their Messiah.
What must we do? And Peter does not give them
a complicated answer. Peter does not say, you have
to jump through all kinds of hoops. No, he says, repent. be baptized every one of you
in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you
shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. And we have to realize
here that submitting to New Testament baptism here for the first time
was an act of faith that the Jew who did this thereby confessed
that he believed Jesus Christ to be the Messiah. And Peter
is saying If you do that, if you put your trust in that Christ,
your sins will be remitted, will be forgiven. Acts 5, 30, 31, the God of our
fathers raised up Jesus, whom he slew and hanged on a tree. Him has God exalted with his
right hand to be a prince and a savior. for to give repentance
to Israel and forgiveness of sins. I want you to notice how
this matches Luke 24. So he says, you must go and preach
repentance and remission of sins. And here, Peter says that this
Christ has been exalted to give repentance and remission of sins. Beautiful how they fit together.
And so Christ gives what he demands. Acts 10. Acts 10 verse 43. I will preach on that text one
of these days because I've often, in all of my churches, I've said
to parents, you know, there are some texts you want your children
to memorize. Acts 10 verse 43 is one of them.
Very important text. Peter is now in the house of
Cornelius, okay? And he commanded us to preach
unto the people and to testify that it is he which was ordained
of God to be the judge of the quick and the dead. Here it comes,
to him give all the prophets witness. That through his name,
whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. This is so foundational, folks. I cannot, I don't even know how
to emphasize that properly. So foundational. To him, give
all the prophets witness. That's what I've been showing
you tonight. So, what Peter is saying, this is the witness of
God's word. This is the witness of God's
revelation. that if you believe in this Christ,
if you trust in him, you shall receive the remission of sins. That's why in Acts 13, Paul ends
his sermon there in Antioch, Pisidia. It says, be it known
unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man, preached
unto you the forgiveness of sins. Through this man, this Christ,
this Savior, this Messiah is preached unto you. That's my
calling, my task is to preach unto you the forgiveness of sins. To preach to you that if you
believe in that Messiah that I have preached to you, this
Christ, your sins will be forgiven. Acts 26, delivering thee from the people
and from the Gentiles unto whom I now send thee. He's telling
his conversion story, right? To open their eyes, Paul is telling
his conversion story, to open their eyes and to turn them from
darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God. That
they may receive, that's it, there you have it, that they
may receive forgiveness of sins. and inheritance among them which
are sanctified by faith that is in me." Ephesians 1 verse
7, in whom we have redemption through
his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches
of his grace. That's why, the riches of his
grace in Christ. because of the cross, because
of that perfect sacrifice of the Lamb of God. God is so willing
and ready to grant the forgiveness of sins. He can do it freely,
without reservation. Colossians 1, who has delivered
us from the power of darkness and has translated us into the
kingdom of his dear son. in whom we have redemption through
His blood, even the forgiveness of sins." And then finally, 1
John 1 verse 9, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and
just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And I've only given you now,
I've given you a sampling a sampling of the Scriptures. This is the
theme that is woven throughout the entire Word of God. So it should be abundantly clear
that God is a God who delights to pardon, so that there be no
doubt in your mind whether He is willing to pardon you. This
is who he is. This is how he has revealed himself.
So our creeds, our creeds affirm that, right? Lord's Day 31. Question 84. How is the kingdom
of heaven opened and shut by the preaching of the Holy Gospel?
This beautiful answer, so beautiful. when according to the command
of Christ, it is declared and publicly testified to all and
every believer that whenever they receive the promise of the
gospel by a true faith, all their sins are really forgiven them
of God for the sake of Christ's merits. That's it. Right? That's opening. That's the job
of us as ministers to use the key of the kingdom, is to open
the kingdom of heaven by declaring to sinners that if they put their
trust in Christ, their sins are forgiven for the sake of Christ's
merits. Belgian Confession, Article 23. We believe that our salvation
consists in the remission of our sins for Jesus Christ's sake,
and that therein our righteousness before God is implied. As David and Paul teach us, declaring
this to be the happiness of man, that God imputes righteousness
to him without works. And the same apostle says that
we are justified freely by His grace through the redemption
which is in Jesus Christ. Then our canons of Dort, three
forms of unity. Moreover, the promise of the
gospel is that whosoever believeth in Christ crucified shall not
perish but have everlasting life. This promise together with the
command to repent and believe ought to be declared and published
to all nations and to all persons, promiscuously, without distinction,
to whom God, out of His good pleasure, sends the gospel. There you have it. So the promise
of the forgiveness of sins is the cornerstone of the gospel. And so it is a sacred commission
of God's servants. I alluded to already. Comfort
ye, comfort ye, my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably
to Jerusalem, and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished,
that her iniquity is pardoned. For she has received of the Lord's
hand double for all her sins. Isaiah, go out of your way. Go
out of your way to comfort my people. Burdened by sin, go out
of your way to speak comfortably to them. And tell them in my
name that their iniquity is pardoned, that she has received of my hand
double for all her sins. What a beautiful statement that
is, double for all her sins. There you see that God's grace
exceeds our sin. In a sense, we have a double
problem as sinners. We have a double problem. Our
sin renders us guilty, and it renders us polluted. But there's
a double remedy. There's a double remedy for our
sin, for our guilt, and for our pollution. And so the wondrous invitation
of a God who is ready to forgive. Here is God manifested in flesh,
Immanuel, the Lord Jesus Christ, coming to me. All ye that labor
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. What kind of rest? The rest of knowing that my sins
are pardoned, fully, freely, Comprehensively. Exhaustively. So how does the Bible end? The final invitation of the Bible.
So beautiful. Revelation 22, 17. And the spirit and the bride say, come.
And let him that heareth say, come. Let him that is a thirst,
come. And whosoever will, let him take
the water of life freely. So I've given you an overview
of the witness of scripture of our confessions, that it is really
true. What David confesses in Psalm
86, that God is a God who is ready to forgive. If you know
any Dutch, een gaarne vergevend God, who delights to pardon.
Is God Also Willing to Forgive my Sins?
Series Topic Nights
| Sermon ID | 111923201211679 |
| Duration | 47:00 |
| Date | |
| Category | Teaching |
| Language | English |
Documents
Add a Comment
Comments
No Comments
© Copyright
2025 SermonAudio.