Good morning. Please open God's Word to John chapter 8, the gospel according to John chapter 8. Now we'll be reading just a very brief portion of this text. Look at verse 21, John 8, 21. Then Jesus said to them again, the them being the Jewish leaders, I am going away and you will seek me and will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come. So the Jews said, will he kill himself? because he says, where I go, you cannot come. And he said to them, you are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world. Therefore, I said to you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I am, you will die in your sins. In the year 1971, John Lennon released a song titled Imagine. A portion of that song goes as follows. Imagine there's no heaven. It's easy if you try. No hell below us. Above us, only sky. Imagine all the people living for today. Imagine there's no countries. It isn't hard to do. Nothing to kill or die for. And no religion, too. Imagine all the people living life in peace. You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us and the world will be as one. And that song has become iconic. Now strongly implied in Lenin's imagining is that there is no God. If there's no heaven, no hell, there must not be a God. And if there's no God, there's no absolute right or wrong, no judgment, and ultimately no accountability. It's well that he entitled his song, Imagine. because that's all it is. God is reality. Everything that exists exists because of God. No God, no anything. And God being God means that there must be moral absolutes. There must be a moral law. And if there's a moral law, there must be sin. And if there's sin, there must be condemnation and judgment and punishment. Mr. Lennon, and it is to be feared many like him, are living in a fantasy world. And it's reflected in the song, Imagine. and they can tell I'm not a big fan of that song. Nonetheless, I'm going to work off his idea, and I'm gonna ask that you join me in trying to imagine that there is no forgiveness for sin. Imagine that there is no forgiveness for sin. What would our lives be in this world if there was no forgiveness for sinners, no remission for the guilt created by our sins? What kind of world would that be? What kind of life would we have? Well, in order to help you think about that subject, I want to take up a few questions and answers. The first question is probably the one foremost on your mind right now. Why would I ask such a question? Why would I pose such a problem? Well, obviously, it's because I want you to think about forgiveness. But it's also because I think, I fear, that many of us have come to take forgiveness for granted. We assume there must be forgiveness. If there is God, there must be forgiveness. That's what God does. God forgives. It's kind of like a mother's love. If you have a mother, you have love. And it doesn't matter what her children do or say or become, she loves them. That's what mothers do. Mothers love, God forgives. Of course he does. Way back in the 50s, Tammy Wynette of country music fame wrote a song about God. And she titled it, He. I suppose the most famous rendition was by the Righteous Brothers. And if you look it up on YouTube, you will find that it is quite stirring. And there actually are some good words, but there are some words that are not very good. One line says, though it makes him sad, to see the way we live, he will always say, I forgive. And I can remember a man singing that as a solo in my home church. And I remember thinking, even as a young boy, that doesn't sound just right. The part about God being sad over the way we live, yeah. but the part about God always saying, I forgive. But I think that captures the assumption of a great many people, particularly those who have lived all their lives in the Bible belt. God forgives, he always forgives. In John chapter eight, our Lord, speaking to pious men, religious men, said, you will die in your sins. You will die in your sins. In other words, you will not be forgiven. Now I want you to think about that. God, the Son, looking into the face of pious men, men who were acknowledged as religious scholars and leaders, and the Son of God says, you will die in your sins. Can you think of anything more horrible than that? You will die in your sins. It is a horrifying thought, but it's probably true that there are people you know, people you love, who will die in their sins. Perhaps you yourself are headed for a death of condemnation. Are your sins forgiven? Has God forgiven you? Or are you on the brink of eternity in your sins? Now here's what I'm pressing you to grasp. There does not have to be a forgiveness for sin. God is under no moral necessity to forgive sin. God would be no less God if he chose not to forgive sin, any sin. You say, but God must display his mercy. Part of his glory is his goodness and his mercy. That's why he must forgive. But Jesus told us in the Sermon on the Mount that the goodness and mercy of God is amply displayed in the fact that he sends the sunshine and the rain upon the just and the unjust. The fact that he allows one sinner to live one millisecond after he's born in sin is a demonstration of his mercy. The fact that he allows sinners to partake of common grace, to enjoy beautiful days and beautiful places and delicious food and wonderful music, That's an ample display of the mercy of God. God does not have to forgive sin. And if you're of the notion that of course God will forgive, because He has to. He's God. You're wrong. He is God, but He does not have to forgive sin. Now, Don't panic, don't misunderstand me. There is forgiveness for sins. Hallelujah. But there is forgiveness only because God graciously chose that it would be so. It's not because He asked to. It's because He has chosen to. So do not imagine that God must forgive your sin or the sins of the people you love. And that's why I challenge you to imagine that there is no forgiveness. Imagine that. What would that mean? Can't deny the reality of sin, can we? It's undeniably real. Sin is tearing our world apart before our very eyes. It is fracturing marriages and destroying families and tearing communities and even nations apart. And even churches are being ripped apart because of sin. Sin and evil are among the most real things in our world. But suppose there's no remedy for sin in our world. Well, that brings me to the second question. What would it mean for you if there was no forgiveness for sin? What would that mean for you, for your life? What would that mean practically if there was no forgiveness? Well, I want to suggest three answers. Number one, if there was no forgiveness, there would be no genuine legitimate relief for your guilt laden conscience. You have a conscience and your conscience has been, if it's not right now, it has been weighed down by sin. God has so configured the human soul that we intuitively recognize many of our sins. Not all of them, but many of them. We sin, we know it. Take a little child, a little child with very little life experience, never read a book, but he disobeys mom and dad. And immediately, he feels guilt. And he tries to hide the evidence of his misdeed. And if he is asked spontaneously, he said, no, not me. Just like our first parents, created in moral perfection, given one solitary command, they broke that command. What did they do? They tried to hide. They tried to cover up. Instinctively, they knew that they were naked. They knew they were exposed by their guilt. And those tendencies continue with us throughout our lives. Sin disturbs our consciences. It condemns us in ways that are painful, in ways that we try to escape. We try to deny that there is sin. We try to blame others for our sin. We even blame the law. If the law wasn't so strict, I wouldn't have such a hard time keeping it. Beloved, the only way of relief for a guilt-laden conscience is to be forgiven by God. to seek and secure God's pardon, God's cleansing. Maybe you sinned against other people. Well, you ought to go and ask their forgiveness, but having their forgiveness will not take the burden off your conscience. I don't know about you, but one of my favorite texts in the Bible is 1 John 1, 9. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all righteousness. Oh, man, I'm glad that text is in the Bible. How many times do I go to that text, at least in my mind? I couldn't count the times. But if there is no forgiveness with God, there is no real cleansing from sin. And even if our friends and loved ones forgive us, we're not forgiven. And one of the big lies of today's world is you must forgive yourself. That's the real issue. Will you forgive yourself? What good is it to forgive yourself if the God who will judge you in the last day hasn't forgiven you? Secondly, what would it mean if there's no forgiveness? Well, there's no remedy for a guilt-laden conscience. Secondly, there would be no healing and no reconciliation for relationships that have been strained or broken by sin. See, one of the most wonderful dynamics of God's forgiveness is the way that God forgives is the way that he reconciles us to himself. The greatest damage caused by sin is alienation from God. Adam and Eve lost residence in paradise, and they lost eternal life. But the thing that was most valuable that they lost was God. They ran and hid from God. They became estranged from God. And it was God that sought them, made coverings for them, forgave them, and reconciled himself to them. And the marvel is that in the same way that God forgives, He restores. And the fact that we can have a restored relationship with God means that any relationship that's been damaged by sin may be restored by His grace. But restoration must always begin with God. If we could not be forgiven and restored to God, we have no hope of any meaningful restoration to any relationship in this present world. Never forget, beloved, sin is not primarily a relational problem. It's a spiritual problem. It's a problem that we have come to have with God Only secondarily is it a relational problem. David did the most horrible things you can do to human beings. He stole a man's wife, ruined her reputation, and then had the man killed. And yet in his prayer of penitence, he said against you, oh God, against you and you only have I sinned and done this evil in your sight. Sin is supremely a spiritual problem. It's a problem with God. And any restoration must begin with a restoration of relationship with God. Our marriages would be permanently broken by sin. Our parenting relationships, our friendships would be permanently broken without remedy if there is no forgiveness from God. Thirdly and ultimately, if there was no forgiveness for sin, If there was no forgiveness, you would have no escape from the wrath of God. When Jesus told the Jews that they would die in their sins, he was telling them that they would perish under the never-ending wrath of God. Their sin was against God. God was their judge. And if they died in their sins, hell would be their everlasting destiny. Apart from the sovereign decision of Almighty God to forgive sin, hell would be the destiny of us all. We've all sinned. We're all sinners. We're all gonna die. We're all gonna stand before God in judgment. If there is no forgiveness, there is no hope. I've been caused to think more about death, my own death, in this year than I ever have before on some reasons. But when you're young, it's relatively easy to divert thoughts about death to a future time. But during the recent months, the pandemic, the scourge, the hundreds of thousands of people dying all over the world, and because of certain health issues that I have encountered uninvited, I assure you, I've come to realize I have become an old man. I was young. It seemed to me I was a young man at Christmas. And here it is, not even July 4th, and I'm an old man. And I can tell you this, my only comfort in the face of death, my only comfort is that God has been pleased to create a way whereby my sins are forgiven. Apart from that, I have nothing before me but the grave and hell. We look at our lives, you can have an imaginary calendar. graduate from high school, graduate from college, leave home. That's a big deal. Leave home, you get a job. Okay. I've done that. I actually retired from that job. So check that off. You get married. Okay. Done that. You have children. Doesn't that? Get children through school. They achieve adulthood. They get married. They build their own families. By God's grace, that's happened. Everything on my calendar has happened, except for one, my funeral. That could happen any time. That's the only huge event left on my calendar. What would I have to look forward to if there is no forgiveness for sin? What about you, my friend? What about you? Third question, how does God do it? How are sins forgiven? Now before I answer that, I need to explain briefly what forgiveness is. We speak about the forgiveness of sins. What exactly do we mean? What does forgiveness involve? Turn to Luke chapter four, verse 18. The Greek word in the New Testament translated forgiveness, sometimes remission, is a word that means to send away, to release. Now here in Luke 4, The Lord Jesus, for the first time, is identifying his purpose for coming into this world. Notice what he says in verse 18. The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted to proclaim liberty to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed." Now in that statement, Christ uses the word for forgiveness two times. Did you see it? He said, I don't see the word forgiveness. Well, in this text, it's translated liberty. To proclaim liberty, that's the Greek word for forgiveness, to proclaim liberty to the captives and then to set at liberty those who are oppressed. The Greek word translated liberty is our word for forgiveness. Now, what does that mean? Well, it means that forgiveness is liberation. To be forgiven is to be released from the bondage of guilt. Guilt is bondage. When you sin, you become guilty. You become locked up in your guilt until you are released from it. And guilt does what? Guilt generates the necessity of punishment. The guilty must be punished. Forgiveness sets the guilty free from their guilt. And being freed from guilt means that they are freed from the punishment that their guilt deserves. And with that freedom comes an enormous lifting of a weight off our conscience. Mr. Bunyan aptly described the guilt of sin as a heavy burden. That's what it feels like. When you sin, it feels like a burden, a weight. Are you living a lie? Are you living a secret life that would destroy your marriage if it were known? Will you tell me that you're living with freedom? You're living under a cloud and there is an enormous weight that is weighing upon you and it will be there until you're forgiven. But that weightiness that you feel in your conscience is nothing in comparison to the weight you will feel when you enter the courtroom of heaven. And it's just you. You won't have an advocate. You won't have any friends. It will be you and the judge of all the universe. The one before whom the angels who have never sinned hide their faces. That's how holy He is. He's a God who will never acquit the wicked. You don't know what the burden of sin is. until you enter the courtroom of heaven unforgiven. What is forgiveness? It is the setting free of the soul, the release of the burden of guilt, freedom from the dread of punishment. Well, that's what forgiveness is. How does it happen? How can sinners like me I hope you won't be offended. How can sinners like you be set free? How can that happen? I just alluded to a text in the Bible that says that God will never acquit the one who is guilty. He'll never forget. He will never say, God will never say what we sometimes say to each other. Don't worry about it. None of us are perfect. God will never say that. You know why? Because He is perfect. And if He dismissed sin, He would cease being perfect. God will never acquit the wicked. Sin and guilt must be punished by the just judge of the universe. Otherwise, He would cease being just and righteous. Moreover, seeing that God is infinite, His justice is infinite, His punishment is also infinite. And since we are weak and finite creatures, what will it cost us to pay for our own sin? Forever and forever and forever. Finite creatures cannot pay infinite debts in anything less than an infinite amount of time. So how is it possible? Beloved, if you take forgiveness for granted, my question is, how in the world can you do that? The most amazing thing in the world, in all the world, is that there is forgiveness for sin. How could that be? Well, that brings us to the supreme message of this book. From Genesis 3.15 all the way to the end. The supreme message of this book is what we call the gospel. The good news, and at the heart of the good news is that there is forgiveness for sin. There is. From all eternity, God devised a plan, a plan whereby sinners like you, guilty, deserving of hell, could be released from your guilt and punishment without one iota of suffering on your part. And at the same time, his absolute justice would be perfectly, completely satisfied. It's the most wonderful plan imaginable. But for God, in a certain way, it's a horrible plan. Because it's a plan that required that his only begotten son be willing to enter this world and become a human without sin, but become a real suffering-capable human. And that ultimately, he would go in the place of sinners like you and me. And he would welcome to himself the imputation of our guilt and then God would smite him with the infinite wrath that our sins deserve. We talk about that too easily. Turn to Ephesians 5. It's a familiar text. but I was caused to think about this text in a way I never had before this past week. Ephesians 5.2, walk in love as Christ also has loved us and given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling aroma. The death, the agonizing of Jesus on the cross was a sweet smell to his father. You ever thought about that? Sherry and I used to vacation in a small condo on Beach Mountain. It was a simple condo. It was small, but it had the most incredible view. And one of the things that we enjoyed was that the owners of that condo used a certain fragrance candle. And whenever we would unlock the door and walk in, the aroma of that candle would just overwhelm us. And we would look at each other and say, it's vacation now, baby. The smell was, I associated it with everything pleasant. When Jesus hung on the cross, he was a bloody mess. His face was so marred it didn't even look human. He had been beaten with stripes. He was hanging naked. in the shame of our sin. The demons of hell were barking at him. His own creatures were mocking him. And he cried out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And God the Father looked upon that and said, oh, that's a sweet smell. How could that be? How could that be? Beloved, I think there's several answers, but the primary answer is that's how much God hates sin. That's how much God desires that His justice be satisfied for sin. and he looked at the agony of his son, and he looked at his suffering, and then finally his death, and he said, that's it, that's the satisfaction of my justice for a world of sinners. It's wonderful. How does God forgive sin? It's only by the cross. That's why Paul said, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Last question, are you forgiven? Jesus said to them, I'm going away, you will seek me. Where I'm going, you cannot come. you will die in your sin. Are you sure? Are you sure? That's not true of you. Who partakes of the forgiveness of sin? The question could be answered from two points of view, from the standpoint of eternity. God foreknew that our fall into sin would be so great that no human being would ever hate his sin, admit that he needed forgiveness, or freely embrace the forgiveness offered in Christ. God knew that. He could send his son to die, but if that was all he did, no one would ever be forgiven. So he determined before time that not everyone would perish. In fact, a number beyond calculation would be chosen and redeemed by his son on the cross. And those people he gave to the son for whom the son died, they're called his sheep. They're called the Israel of God. They're called the church. And he loved them and gave himself for them. That's from God's vantage point. From our vantage point, which is the only one that really matters to us, The gospel, the good news of redemption in Christ, the gospel contains a most wonderful promise. And the promise is that if any will believe, trust their sins to Jesus, believe that he died for them on the cross, that his death had such infinite value that he could pay for all the sins of every member of the human race if he chose. The gospel is if you believe that and you will entrust yourself to him, he will receive you. and he will forgive you. God gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him shouldn't perish under the guilt of their sins, but should have eternal life. Throughout the Bible, the message is, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be forgiven. Christ, Acts 531, Christ God has exalted to his own right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. Acts 10.43, to Jesus, all the prophets witness that through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins. Acts 13.38, let it be known to you, brethren, that through this man, Jesus Christ, is preached to you the forgiveness of sins Ephesians 1.7, in Christ we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. Colossians 1.14, in Christ we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sin. It's in Jesus are you forgiven. I'm gonna ask you a series of very personal questions, short answer questions. And I urge you to answer them honestly. Number one, do you know yourself to be a sinner deserving of the judgment of God? Is that how you see yourself? Question number two, do you acknowledge Your own sin. And do you reject your sin? Do you admit that your sin, not your wife's, not your husband's, not your neighbor's, your sin is evil. Do you hate it? Do you confess that your sin is your own fault? No one else's. It's your fault. And God would be entirely just if he sent you to hell. Can you say yes to that? Question number three, do you confess that the value of Jesus is so great that his death on the cross could satisfy the justice of God for an infinite number of sinners and an infinite number of sins if God designed it to do so? Do you believe that the value of Christ is enough to pay for your crimes? Question number four, do you believe that the grace of God is so great that He would keep His promise to you that if you come to Him, He will in no wise reject you or cast you out? but if you believe on his son, he will forgive your sins. That's his promise. Do you have complete confidence in the trustworthiness of God that if he made that promise to the world, he made it to you? And if you were to respond, he would welcome you and he would forgive you. Do you believe that? Lastly, Do you trust God to forgive all your sins for Christ's sake and Christ's sake alone? Have you called upon him? Oh God, you know me. Sins that I've never recognized, you've seen them all. You know how dirty I am inside. You know the crimes I've committed. I deserve to perish. But I believe that Jesus is more than capable of saving sinners like me. And I believe your promise is true when you invited me to come to him and be saved. And I do come. I do come. Right now I come. And I ask you, Lord Jesus, be my salvation. Forgive and take away my sin. Release me from my guilt. I trust you. If you trust Christ to death, if you trust God's promises in Christ, I urge you to refuse to think of yourself any longer as a condemned sinner. There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Instead, I urge you to see yourself as unworthy as you are as being united to Christ, fully forgiven, accepted in the beloved, Adopted into the family of God, made a sure heir and citizen of heaven. And I urge you to praise Him. Can't repay Him, but you can praise Him. You can worship Him. You can live for His honor and for His glory. But what about those of you never trusted, never called, what about you? If you do not believe, you will die in your sins. That's it. It's Jesus or hell. Don't go on rejecting Him. Come to Him now. Let's pray. Dear Father, O Father, forgive us if we have for one moment taken forgiveness lightly for granted Forgive us for losing sight of the horrors of the cross, and yet the wonders of what thy cross accomplished for people like us. Make Jesus more precious to us, his cross more valuable to us, and whatever time we have left, May we spend it giving praise and honor to him. We come because of him, thanking you for him. Amen.