Welcome to the official podcast of the Church
of Christ Wheeler area. We're so glad that you've
tuned in for today's message. Whether you're
on your morning commute or if you're relaxing
at home, we're here to share the strength and
truth of God's Word with our community. If you're
in the neighborhood, we'd love to meet you in
person. Come see us at 1500 South Allen L. Bean
Boulevard right here in Wheeler, Texas. We gather
every Sunday morning at 1030 a .m. and in the
afternoon at 230 p .m. We meet again on Wednesdays
at 7 p .m. Right now, let's open our Bibles together
and dive into today's sermon. For everyone that's
here, you might grab a Bible and turn to Galatians
chapter 5. We'll be there in a little while.
It's the only reading that we're going to have
for our study today that's not going to be up
on the board. And everything else should be a
new King James if you're following along in something
different. That's why. I was requested this sermon,
and I don't like being given sermons all that
often, because I don't know if I'm going to preach
what people want me to talk about, but this one
came from my wife, and so I kind of forced into
following through with that. But really, it's
a good thought, and it's a good thing that we
need taught on. Something that has been on my
mind something that I've dealt with and something
that I think Maybe most Christians have dealt
with in one way or at one time or another And
therefore, I hope that it's helpful for you.
I hope that it's not something you're going through
But unfortunately, I know that something as Christians
we deal with Have you ever looked at something
and known something that the Bible says realized
it understood it and still struggled to believe
it. I think that's something we do as Christians.
We can see it there in the Bible, and at the
end of the day, it's like, that's hard to believe.
I have a hard time knuckling down and just believing
God when he says that. One of the simple examples
is prayer. The Bible says that if we pray and
we ask for things faithfully to God and we don't
ask amiss, we don't ask to for things just because
we want them and we want to consume them upon
our lust, as the Bible says, then God's faithful
to give us those things. Sometimes that's hard
to believe, isn't it? When you've prayed and
prayed and prayed for something, but that's what
the Bible says. And sometimes we just got to
knuckle down and believe that. But what I want
to talk to you about this morning is a little
bit different topic where I think we do the same
thing. And that's when you don't feel forgiven.
God promises forgiveness, but sometimes we don't
feel it. Maybe you committed a sin that, all
sin is bad, of course, maybe you committed a
sin that in your mind was just really so terribly
bad. And maybe that was 10 years ago, 20 years
ago, 30 years ago, and you still think about
it, and you still dwell on it, and you still
don't know if you're forgiven or not. Maybe it's
not some single thing that you did, but maybe
it was a way that you lived. You just lived a
life full of sin, and you sinned, and you sinned,
and you sinned, and you did this for maybe decades
or for the majority of your life, and you realize
that now, you realize that was wrong, and you
just can't overcome the guilt of that sin. You
lay down at night, and you beg God, please forgive
me. All along, that's something God forgave you
four years ago. Sometimes we have a hard time
just feeling that forgiveness. Do you think that's
how God wants you to live? Do you think that's
how God intends Christians to live? Not knowing
if they're forgiven or not? That's kind of crazy,
right? God wants us to be able to know when he
says we're forgiven, to take that to the bank
and live that out, that you're forgiven. And
I want to make a distinction here that I'm not
talking about somebody who's never obeyed the
gospel, somebody who doesn't believe in God and
doesn't feel forgiven, or somebody who maybe
hasn't been forgiven. That's kind of a different
deal and we'll talk about that a little bit too.
I'm talking about a Christian who God has forgiven
and they just don't feel it. I've felt that before,
have you? And going to bed and just going, boy,
I hope I'm forgiven. Sure hope I'm forgiven now.
God doesn't want his people to feel that way.
God wants his people and he's given us ample
evidence to make us want to know that we're forgiven,
to be confident in his forgiveness. But sometimes
we just don't feel it. And so I wanna talk about
that. Today I got three things that we're going
to look at for when you don't feel forgiven and
number one is the problem Well, why don't we
feel forgiven at times? I think there's a couple
different reasons for that and then what good
is a problem without a solution Let's talk about
the solution if you don't feel forgiven as a
Christian. Well, how can you start to feel that
way? What can you do to make yourself confident
in the forgiveness that God has promised? And
then finally, I want to talk about that promise,
that God is a faithful God. He's faithful to
forgive. We're gonna look at 1 John chapter 1
where God talks about that, where God says that
he's faithful. And so we're gonna go through
these points today in our study. Number one is
the problem. What is the problem? And I think
we'd be remiss not to at least acknowledge that
sin is a problem. that we sin and we do things
that God said don't do and that we don't do things
that God said to do and anytime that happens
that's sin it's wrong God punishes sin sin is
a problem sin is a breaking of any of God's commandments
and we as Christians from time to time we commit
sin that's not good that's not right And then
I think the other side of that, more of what
I wanna focus on today is, I didn't know exactly
how to put that, so I'll put your feelings. When
you don't feel forgiven, that's what that is.
It's a feeling. That's a feeling. When you don't
feel forgiven, that's your own feelings and you
bringing your own feelings into the equation.
God doesn't want you to do that. I hope we can
prove that today. God doesn't want you to rely
on your feelings for forgiveness. That's not
what it's about. God says you're forgiven. Let's
believe that. Let's believe that. So as we talk
about the problem of sin, we all understand that.
In Romans chapter six and verse number 23, it
says, for the wages of sin is death, but the
gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our
Lord. And I'm gonna use a common illustration
here because of this one word here, wages. Paul
said in the letter to the Romans that the wages
of sin is death. And no matter which way you
look at it, no matter how you want to believe
it or what you can do in your own mind, when
you sin, you earn death. We can't get around
that. Sin leads to death and that's what Paul
says. He says the wages of sin or death And what
are wages? Wages are something that you earn
for doing the job that you do I don't get paid
an hourly rate at my job, but I get paid for
the work that I do and so that's my wage and
Some of you get an hourly rate some of you get
a salary Some of you are married to me and you
take care of our kids and those are your wages
Right? Wages are something you earn. And whenever
we sin, what have we done? Paul says we've earned
death. We deserve it. We have earned it. The
wages of sin are death. And so we can't deny
that sin is absolutely a problem. And when sin
is committed, it brings forth death and death
has to be punished, or rather sin has to be punished.
And either we're going to pay that punishment,
we're gonna make that punishment, or we're gonna
let Jesus do the heavy lifting on that. And I
certainly hope that's what you've chosen today.
In Romans chapter eight and verse number six,
Paul said here, for to be carnally minded is
death, but to be spiritually minded is life and
peace because the carnal mind is enmity against
God. for it is not subject to the law in God,
nor indeed can be." You know what? Alarms need
to be going off. Whenever we commit sin, whenever
we recognize that, the alarms need to be going
off. This is not okay. This is not right. We
need to do something differently. Why? Because
the Bible, Paul said there that the carnal mind
is it makes you an enemy against God. I don't
want to be the enemy of God. I don't want you
to be either. But when we go throughout our day
-to -day lives and we live with what Paul said
was a carnal mind or a worldly mind and we live
after the things that are in this world and that's
our focus and that's our pleasure and that's
our desire and that's what we live for, well,
that's just living a life that's leading to a
spiritual death. That may be a lot of fun. to
live like a billionaire here on this world, right?
And have all the different toys and all the different
things you want. But if that's what you're after,
you're after a spiritual death. Paul says there
in the latter part of that verse there, the carnal
mind, it's not subject to the law of God. It
doesn't do the things that God wants you to do.
Can you do the things that the world wants you
to do and do the things that God wants you to
do? Paul says, you can't do that. He says, nor
indeed can be. You can't do it. You can't do
the things that the world wants you to do and
do the things that God wants you to do. Can't
be done. It's impossible. Doesn't work that way.
And once again, when we get to 1 John chapter
1, we'll read a little bit more about that. Sin's
a problem. It's a problem. And if you don't believe
Jesus is the Son of God, if you haven't obeyed
Him, salvation, that's a real big problem. That's
a real big problem. What does Satan want? Out
of each and every person in the whole world,
what does Satan really want? What does the devil
want from us? You know, if we kind of go back
and we work at it from this angle, it makes a
lot of sense in my mind. You know, number one,
I think what Satan wants is he wants us to not
believe in God. That's just the simplest way
to do it, right? Don't believe in God and then
Satan doesn't have to worry about you being obedient
to God. Satan doesn't want you to name the name
of Christ. Satan doesn't want you to be baptized.
Satan doesn't want you to wash away, to have
God wash away your sins. That's the first thing
he's after. Don't believe Jesus is the Son of
God. Let me ask you, so what next? You believe.
You believe He's the Son of God. You've been
obedient to Him in baptism and you've had your
sins washed away. What does Satan want next?
Well, he wants to bring you back into the world.
He wants to get you obsessed and addicted to
sin. He wants you to live a life with that carnal
mind that we talked about there in Romans chapter
8. He wants you to live a life after the world
and just live a life full of sin and He wants
you to like it and He wants you to enjoy it.
He wants you to be comfortable there. So what
if Satan can't do that to you? What if you believe
and you've been saved, you've had your sins washed
away and Satan can't bring you back into the
world, you're living your life for Jesus? What
does Satan want next? What's his next plan of
action? He wants to go after your feelings. He
wants you to doubt God. He wants you to doubt
your forgiveness. What we're talking about this
morning. He wants you to doubt what the Bible
says. Don't you think that's what Satan wants
out of any Christian? Each and every one of us
here, we believe in God. We've been forgiven
with Him and we've been buried with Christ in
baptism. What's his next move? He wants you to
doubt it. Doubt that you're forgiven. Doubt that
what God says is the truth. Doubt what the Bible
says is true and I can prove that for you because
Satan's done it from the beginning He's a liar
and he's been a liar from the beginning is what
the Bible says in Genesis chapter 3 in verse
number 1 here we see Adam and Eve here in the
garden and and They're about to commit their
sin right and Satan's trying to convince him
of it says now the serpent was more cunning than
any beast of the field which the Lord God had
made and he said to the woman has God indeed
said you shall not eat of every tree of the garden
And there's this conversation that goes on between
Satan, the serpent, and Eve here. And she goes,
no, God said we can't eat of that tree back there.
All the other ones we're good to eat out of,
but we can't eat out of that one. What does Satan,
what does he say? He says, has God indeed said,
did God really say that? Do you think God really
meant that? That doesn't sound like what God
would want. God's just trying to keep you from
having your eyes opened is what he says. What's
Satan trying to do? He's trying to get her to
doubt what God said was true. He's trying to
get her to think about how this can be good for
her. And then a few verses later, then the servant
said to the woman, no, you will not surely die.
You know what God said is not true. You need
to doubt that. What God said you need to do to
have a good relationship with him, oh, that's
not what you need to do, right? That's a problem.
That's a problem, not only sin, but our own feelings,
our own thoughts. That's what Satan wants. Satan
wants us to second guess what God has to say.
And whenever you're a Christian, whenever you've
been forgiven, and then we still sit there and
dwell on that sin from 20 years ago or from last
week, whatever the case may be. Is that what
God wants? No, that's what Satan wants. Satan
wants to just bring little seeds of doubt into
your relationship with God. He wants to slowly
try to pull you just a little bit further, a
little bit further away from him. And that's
a problem with our trust. That's not a problem
with God. That's Satan doing his job and us believing
it. That's on our feelings. That's on our trust
in God. And as you can tell, that's no good.
But we've all done it, haven't we? We've all
sat down and thought about that sin from years
and years ago and just, boy, I hope I'm forgiven.
That's Satan's ploy. Doubt God, trust him, and
trust yourself. Do anything but trust God. But
bring your feelings into the mix. Let's think
about what you feel, not what God said. And that's
the issue that we're talking about today at the
heart of it. It's us bringing in our feelings.
It's us allowing doubt in between us and God.
Folks, that's what Satan wants. That's not what
God's after. So let's talk about the solution.
Let's talk about the solution. Luckily there
is one as God makes these solutions for us. Now
if you're not a Christian, if you've not named
the name of Christ, if you don't believe that
he's the Son of God, if you haven't repented
of your sins, if you haven't confessed, if you
haven't been baptized, well that's a whole different
thing there. That's a whole different thing.
I urge you to do that. I urge you to have your
sins washed away in baptism with our Lord and
Savior. That's what you need to do first. And
we can talk about that. If you haven't done that,
let's talk about that. But today we're talking
about for the Christian, for somebody who's been
forgiven, somebody who was washed in Jesus' blood
and raised to walk in newness of life. And the
first and the most simple thing is to walk in
the light. The Bible tells us that in 1 John.
We'll get there, I promise. And the other thing
for a Christian I think very simply is for us
to understand and for us to recognize God's desire
for us to be forgiven and how God wants each
and every one of us to know and to feel his love
and his forgiveness. Sometimes that's just the
simple solution. Realize who God is, realize
what God wants. So let's talk about these two
things there that we have highlighted in blue.
Number one, to walk in the light. Let's get our
Bibles out and read out of Galatians chapter
five. We're gonna read a few verses. We're gonna
highlight one or two. I looked at this reading
here and I usually don't like to read longer
ones if I can keep from it, but I think it's
important that we get the whole picture here
of what Paul was writing to the churches of Galatia.
He says in verse number 16, I say then walk in
the spirit. and you shall not fulfill the lust
of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the
spirit and the spirit against the flesh, right?
This goes back to what we were talking about
at the beginning. You can't do both of these
at the same thing, at the same time, rather.
The flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit
against the flesh. They clash, they collide,
they don't mix, they don't go together. These
are contrary to one another, he says, so that
you do not do the things that you wish. But,
he says in verse 18, if you are led by the Spirit,
you are not under the law. Now the works of the
flesh are evident, or they're obvious, which
are. And now Paul's gonna lay out some of the
sins that he's seeing going on that are a problem
that are works of the flesh. He says, now the
works of the flesh are evident, which are adultery,
fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry,
sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts
of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies,
envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the
like. And anything else that's like that, any
other sin that you can think of, of which I tell
you beforehand, just as I also told you in time
past, now pay attention here, here's the verse
we want to look at, who practice such things
will not inherit the kingdom of God." Now he
goes on to list the fruits of the Spirit. But
the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, self -control. Against such, there
is no law. And those who are Christ have crucified
the flesh with its passions and desires. He says,
if we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in
the Spirit. And so the solution is to walk in
the light. That's a fancy way of saying, don't
sin, stop doing that. Walk in the light. Do the
things that God wants you to do. Stop committing
and living in these sins. He says some of these
are the works of the flesh. And whenever we're
committing these sins, He says that's you living
after the flesh. And then he goes on, he says,
now some of these, they're the fruits of the
spirit. And if we see these fruits in our life,
then if we're doing these fruits or producing
these fruits, is probably the better way to put
that, then that means you're led by the spirit.
And so a simple test in your own life is to look
at yourself and go, well, what fruit am I producing?
And you can look at these fruits of the spirit,
love, joy, peace, long suffering, self -control.
Do we see these in our life? If you don't see
those in your life regularly on a regular basis,
maybe you're not living after the Spirit. And
he lists a bunch of sinful things. So maybe if
you see those in your life and you're after those
things in your life or they're regularly a part
of your life, maybe you're living after the flesh.
Not maybe you are living after the flesh. And
he says there, you can't do both of these things
at the same time. You're gonna live after the
spirit or you're gonna live after the flesh.
And when you're trying to live after both of
them, you know what he calls it? He calls it,
it's a fight, it's a war, it's a battle. And
so maybe you're somewhere in the middle today.
Maybe you find yourself. really hard. You want
to live after the Spirit and you want to do the
things that God tells you to do, but you keep
these sins around and you keep committing them
and they're like little pesky flies. They just
keep bothering you. You can't get them away.
You're in this battle. You're in this war between
the both of them. Paul says you can't do both.
You're gonna have to do one or the other, but
the word that I want to look at here is in verse
number 21 that we stopped and looked at there.
He says, those who practice such things. And
this word's really important. We're gonna look
at it here in just a moment as well. Those who
practice this laundry list of sin that he goes
through. He says, those people will not inherit
the kingdom of God. And the important things
there in that word practice. That word practice
means like you're doing them. It's a regular
thing. And we'll look at that here in just another
moment. Are we practicing these things? Or are
we practicing the fruits of the Spirit? We gotta
pick one or the other to practice in life. We're
gonna practice the things where we won't inherit
the kingdom of God, or we're gonna practice the
things, the fruits of the Spirit, where we will.
And the difference is... where you're walking.
Are you walking in the light or are you walking
not in the light? So that word there comes from
Greek 42 38. That's the Greek word. And everything
I put on there is the definition for that word.
It means to perform repeatedly or habitually.
Do you see any sin in your life that you commit
out of habit? It's just a habit that you do it
at this point. You've done it so many times.
You've done it so much. You don't even think
about it. You aren't even really that tempted
to do it. You just went and did it. Paul says
when you're living life like that, you're in
a bad spot. You're in a really bad spot. Those
alarms we talked about, they need to be going
off. Or you perform them repeatedly. A good way
to think about it is a pattern. Do you see any
kind of pattern of those sins in your life? That's
not good. But on the opposite side of that, it's
to use that same word. Do we perform repeatedly
the fruits of the Spirit? Do we see a habit of
those things in our life? That's very good. That's
very good. That's what we need to be going after,
walking in the light. What does it mean to perform
repeatedly or habitually the fruits of the Spirit?
Those good things. You know what? God knows we're...
Human. And God knows you're gonna fail every
now and then. Tell you what, I'm a Christian
and I still commit sin every now and then. That
doesn't make it right. Doesn't mean that's what
God wants. That doesn't mean God's giving me
a pass on all those things. God knows we're weak
and we're sinful. What God's really upset with
is whenever you start making that a habit in
your life. Whenever you're repeatedly going after
that sin, whenever you see a pattern of that
sin in your life, and that's when God says, no,
you're not gonna inherit the kingdom of God.
Why? Because you can't do them both at the same
time. The fruits of the spirit and the things
of this world, the works of the flesh, he says,
they don't go together. You can't do them both
at the same time. Now, we're gonna... We're here,
1 John chapter one. I hope it's exciting as I've
made it seem so far. We're gonna see now where
walking in the light is talked about a little
bit more directly. And verse number five says
there, this is the message which we have heard
from him and declare to you. He says that God
is light and in him is no darkness at all. If
we say that we have fellowship with him and walk
in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
So we can come here to church on Sunday and we
can act like everything's perfect in our lives
and we can act like everything's roses, we can
act like we don't ever commit sin, but if when
we go home today and throughout the rest of the
week, if we really are over here secretly committing
sin and we have a pattern of sin and we're committing
sin individually and we're repeatedly doing that,
that's called walking in darkness. And you know
what? But what said of that is that means, no,
you're just a liar. And if I do that in my own
life, folks, I'm a liar. If I say that I have
fellowship with him, if I say I'm a Christian
and I say I'm really living for Christ, but in
reality I just keep committing sin over and over
again, you're a liar. That wouldn't make me a
liar. And he says, you don't practice the truth.
Let's keep reading though. In verse number seven,
he says, but if you walk in the light, as he
is in the light, we have fellowship with one
another and the blood of Jesus Christ, his son,
cleanses us from all sin. What a wonderful promise.
What a wonderful thing that we need. I need that.
You know, from the moment that I had my sins
forgiven, I had my sins remissed in baptism,
I've kept committing sin. Not in the same way.
I'm not trying to walk after it. I'm not trying
to walk in darkness, but from time to time, I
commit sin. And you know what? God knew his people
were going to stumble and trip up every now and
then. He's not making excuses for that. He's
not saying that it's okay. He's not giving you
a pass. Instead, he's made a way. He says, if
you're walking in the light, you're trying each
and every day to walk in the light, to live after
Christ, to do the best that you can, and you're
not letting those sins become habit, you're not
letting them continue in your life, then he says,
then for the Christian, the blood of Christ his
son cleanses us from all sin. I want you to notice
something about that word. He doesn't say that
the blood of Christ cleansed in the past tense.
This is a continual word. This is a current word,
cleanses. It's still cleansing, and I enjoy the
cleansing of Jesus' blood every single day, because
that's what God promised. He says, if we say
we have no sin, in verse number eight, we deceive
ourselves. See, I could stand up here today and
say, and now I just have no sin. That would be
me deceiving myself. That is foolish. That is
foolish. And the truth is not in us. Verse number
nine, he says, if we confess our sins, this is
for you. If you're a Christian and you don't
feel like you're forgiven, I want you to pay
special close attention to verse number nine.
He says, if we confess our sins, then God is
what? He is faithful and he's just to forgive
us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
What an incredible promise from our God. What
an incredible promise. What an incredible thing
that can go on in our lives that Jesus' blood
can continue to cleanse. each and every one of
us, if we walk in the light, if we continue each
and every day to the best of our ability to live
for Him, and we confess those sins, we're gonna
fail, we're gonna mess up. And if we'll confess
those things to Him, and we walk in the light,
then we can go to bed every night knowing that
we are cleansed, knowing that we are forgiven.
What an amazing thing, people. Without that,
we'd be in a heap of trouble. And Romans chapter
eight, verse number one says, there is therefore
now no condemnation to those who are in Christ
Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh,
but what? but according to the Spirit. What does
it mean to walk according to the Spirit? Well,
that's what we've been talking about this whole
time, to walk in the light as he is in the light,
to have a pattern to be repeatedly working after
those fruits of the Spirit, to be living for
him. And if you're doing that in your life today,
then you can leave here today, you can live tomorrow
and the next day and the next day knowing that
there's no condemnation for you. That's awesome.
That's wonderful. The solution is to walk in
the light. The solution is to live for Him. To
make it your life goal. And when it's your life
goal, you can live every day knowing that there's
no condemnation. Because you're in Christ Jesus.
Those who do not walk. According to the flesh
and when those sins come up that one that maybe
you struggle with for a long time Whenever it
comes back and it tries to get back in your life.
You say no You keep it away, but walk according
to the spirit instead Now let's shift gears and
let's talk about another part of the solution
That may be a more important one or equally as
important. I guess is to understand God's desire
for forgiveness I think this is something Christians
have struggled with just as much. Sometimes we're
really, really hard on ourselves. We're our own
worst critic, and we look at ourselves and we
view ourselves as worse than everyone else. We
know our sins, we know our shortcomings, and
there's no way Matt would do that. You see him
on Sunday, you see him here, and man, Matt's
just, he's a perfect guy, and Matt, I hate to
spoil it for everyone, Matt's not perfect. And
neither am I. We mess up. And we're hard on ourselves.
I want to go back to Exodus chapter 34 here.
Moses got angry, broke the tablets, and now God
says, go get me some more tablets, I'll do it
again. And Moses goes up for God to write down
the word on the tablets. That kind of catches
you up to where we're at. So now God comes down.
It may be in the verse before that. And here
we are. And God's got this chance. He's got this
opportunity here to Moses. And he's gonna tell
a little bit about himself, himself being God.
And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed.
Here's what God says. The Lord, the Lord God,
he is merciful. He is gracious, long -suffering.
God is abounding in goodness and truth. He says,
I'm one behind, he says, keeping mercy for thousands,
forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.
by no means clearing the guilty." What a powerful
statement from God. What a powerful thing for
him to say to Moses. You know, it's the same
for you and I, it's the same God that we serve.
And if you're a Christian that has struggled
with feeling forgiven and if right now you've
felt, had difficulty feeling forgiveness from
that sin or for those sins that you committed,
I want you to take a look at what God says. He
says he's merciful, he says he's gracious, he
says he's long -suffering, he says he's abounding
in goodness and truth, and he forgives iniquity
and transgression and sin. In other words, you
know what God does? God's the guy who forgives.
That's what he does. Praise God. That's what
he wants to do. That's how he wants to be known.
He doesn't want to be known as somebody who doesn't
forgive. He's the long -suffering God. He doesn't
want to be known as the God who doesn't forgive
he forgives iniquity and transgression and sin
He says by no means clearing the guilty and that
kind of seems like he's saying the opposite there
That's not what that means what that really means
is He doesn't just give people free passes to
go sin and do whatever they want and just have
forgiveness You know for this this is the perfect
message for those who are striving each and every
day to walk in the light This is a perfect reminder
for those who are doing their best each and every
day to produce the fruits of the Spirit, to keep
those works of the flesh out of their life. This
is for you. God wants to forgive you. He wants
to see you forgiven. He wants to pour out his
mercy and his grace. That's our God. And Luke
chapter 19 and verse number 10 says, for the
son of man has come to seek and save that which
was lost. Earlier on in the book, I have not
come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance,
Jesus says. That was the whole point of Jesus
coming here to this world, wasn't it? So that
you and I could be forgiven. And sometimes we
overlook that. Hello, Christian? That's why Jesus
came and died, was so that you could be forgiven.
And we forget that sometimes. We sit and we sulk
and we let our feelings get in the way and we
let Satan put little seeds of doubt into our
relationship. All the while we forget that's
why Jesus came. He came to seek and save those
who are lost. He came to give sinners, call them
to repentance and so that they could have forgiveness.
This is our savior. And he shows that. in this
wonderful example, in his last hours on earth.
As Jesus is hanging between these two sinners,
these two thieves, what does he show? He shows
mercy. He shows grace. He shows that he's abounding
in goodness and truth. He shows that he wants
to forgive iniquity, transgression and sin. His
last moments on the earth. before he's crucified.
I want to think about this, all three of these
men, Jesus included, but specifically these two
thieves that were on each side of Jesus. I want
to think about them for just a minute. They were
guilty and they admitted that. They said that
they were guilty. They admitted such. And I guess
in the eyes of the Roman society, they were deserving
of what they got. I don't know what they did.
It just says they were thieves, criminals. You
know, in our world today, we punish people who've
done things that they're not supposed to, who
break the law, right? We throw people in prison.
And what do we call that? The politically correct
term would be the correctional facility. We're
going to correct them. And we put people in prison,
why? Well, I guess somewhat to punish what they've
done because they broke the law. They did something
that was wrong. But the other thing is, like
I said, we call it the correctional facility.
We think they can be corrected. As a society,
we're telling you, you can be corrected. You're
gonna go sit in timeout for however long the
judge decrees. And we think that when you come
out of this, that you can be corrected and you
can go back into society and you can live a life
just like each and every other person out there.
You can come back from what you've done that
was wrong. We can forgive you and we can put
you back out there with everybody else. And we
also have something called the death penalty
and whether you agree with that or not, that's
not what I want to talk about and years ago they
had the electric chair. Why did, as a society,
why did we give people the death penalty now?
Why did we then? That's because as a society
or as a judge and jury, they say, this person
doesn't deserve forgiveness. They deserve to
die for what they've done that was wrong. We
don't think you can come back from this. We don't
think that you should be forgiven. We don't think
that you can be corrected. In fact, the only
course of action now is for us to kill you. because
what you've done was so bad. That's what we say
with the death penalty. That's what they said
with the electric chair, right? That's kind of
the gist. You don't deserve forgiveness. You
don't deserve mercy. You cannot be corrected
or else we'd put you in prison. You know, they
had a death penalty 2000 years ago in the days
of Jesus. Jesus was on it. These two thieves
on the cross, they got the death penalty. They
were on death row. And their execution was being
carried out in that verse we read in Luke chapter
23. What are they saying to these guys? I don't
know what they did. I don't know what they stole.
Must've been valuable. You don't deserve to live.
Now the Romans were, believe it or not, much
more harsh than we are today. And they said the
same to Jesus. Jesus, you deserve to die. They
crucified a lot of political and religious opponents
and Jesus was probably the biggest opponent they'd
ever faced. You can't come back from this. You
don't deserve mercy. You don't deserve pardon.
You cannot be corrected. You cannot come back
from this. We cannot put you back out into society.
You're too much of a danger. That's what crucifixion
was saying. That's what the death penalty was
saying. That's how society looked at it. And
in the midst of all that, Jesus said, you're
forgiven. The world may say, you don't deserve
none of this. You deserve to die like a dog.
And Jesus said, you're forgiven. I will forgive
you. That's our God. That's our God, and that's
His desire for forgiveness for each and every
one of us. Not to live a life where you don't
deserve it, even though we don't. When everybody
around says, you deserve death, you can't be
corrected, you can't be fixed, God says He'll
forgive you and He'll fix you. God shows that
he shows his willingness to forgive in the parable
the prodigal son won't read through this here
a Little bit quickly says there in verse number
11 of Luke 15 a certain man had two sons and
the younger of them said to his father father
give me the portion of Goods that fall to me,
so he divided them His livelihood, and not many
days after, the younger son gathered altogether,
journeyed to a far country, and there wasted
his possessions with prodigal living. Here's
this son, he asked for an early inheritance,
the father gives it to him, he goes, and he blows
it on partying and living a fun lifestyle. But
when he had spent all there, arose a severe famine
in that land, he began to be in want. Then he
went and joined himself to a citizen of that
country, and he sent him into his fields to feed
swine. And he would have... gladly have filled
his stomach with the pods that the swine ate,
and no one gave him anything. But when he came
to himself, he said, How many of my father's
hired servants have bred enough to spare, and
I perish with hunger? I will arise and go to
my father. I will say to him, Father, I have
sinned against heaven and before you. I am no
longer worthy to be called your son. Make me
like one of your hired servants. And he arose
and he came to his father, but when he was still
a great way off, his father saw him, had compassion
and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.
And the son said to him, father, I've sinned
against heaven and in your side, I'm no more
longer worthy to be called your son. But the
father said to his servants, bring out the best
robe, put it on and bring and put a ring on his
hand and sandals. On his feet bring the fatted
calf here and kill it. Let us eat and be merry
for this my son was dead and Is alive again?
He was lost and is found and they began to be
married Mary This shows that God is ready to
forgive And you know here we have, it's a parable,
it's Jesus teaching in a way that we can understand
by putting it in a story. We have this son, it
represents each and every one of us. We're children
of God's, we've been saved, we've been forgiven.
And then you know what? Sometimes you choose
to go and you choose to live that carnal life.
You choose to walk away from him and live a life
of sin instead. And that's what this son did.
And then he realized that this wasn't no good.
This was wrong. I shouldn't be doing this. I
don't need to be here. And he said a few verses
earlier, it says he came to himself. He realized
what was going on was so bad and so wrong. He
realized the terrible state he was living in.
He realized he was walking in darkness as we
read in 1 John. He realized that he was carrying
out the works of the flesh. As we read in Galatians
chapter five, he says, I don't wanna do this
anymore, but I don't deserve forgiveness. Is
my father really gonna accept me? Is he really
gonna want me back? And while he's still a long
ways off and he's coming back to his father,
what? The father comes out to meet him and the
father says, you're alive again. I forgive you.
And if you're a Christian and you've totally
walked away from God, or you're living a life
of habitual sin, a life of repeated works of
the flesh, not walking in the light, but walking
in darkness, this is the blueprint for what you're
supposed to do. This is the blueprint for what
you need to come back to the Lord. Understand
his desire to forgive you. Understand that's
what he wants. That's what he's after. He's waiting
to see you come back over the hill He's waiting
to see you come back to him and he'll come out
and meet you. God is faithful to forgive He's
faithful he wants it he's looking for it Going
back to 1st John chapter 1 if we confess our
sins he is faithful and just If we'll come back
just like this prodigal son, if you're a Christian
and you goof up and you commit a sin, let's confess.
Why? Because God, he's faithful and just to forgive.
You know what that means? God told you he'll
forgive you. So believe that he'll forgive you.
Not only that, I didn't highlight it, he's faithful
and just. He's decided that that's what's right.
That that's the correct thing to do for those
who come to him for those who repent and confess
It's right for him to forgive and to cleanse
One more verse in Hebrews chapter 4 in verse
number 14 It says seeing then that we have a
great high priest who has passed through the
heavens Jesus the son of God. Let us hold fast
our confession For we do not have a high priest
who cannot sympathize with our weakness, but
was in all points tempted as we are, yet without
sin. It says in verse 16, let us therefore, because
of this, because we have a high priest to understand
this, because we have a savior who came and lived
and was tempted in every way that we could be
tempted. and who understands how difficult it
is to live in this world with sin and with temptation
and who is tempted in all these points, because
of all that, what do we need to do? What can
we do, Christians? He says, come boldly to the
throne of grace. Come boldly to the throne of
grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace
to help in time of need You know when you were
a kid and you'd say a friend go ask my mom if
you can come stay the night because I know she'll
Say no if I come ask her that's not really going
boldly to the throne of mom and dad Says go boldly
go ask him Go boldly because we have the high
priest who understands he knows what you're going
through So go to him and boldly confess your
sins. Tell him you're wrong. Tell him you messed
up because he's faithful to forgive. Then you
can obtain mercy. You can find grace in that
time and in that hour. Folks, I wanna leave you
with this. Forgiveness is not an offer that you
get or don't get, that you can try to get and
maybe not get. Forgiveness is a promise from
God to you, a promise. He showed us. He wants
to forgive and I don't care what you've done.
You can be forgiven. I don't care what you've
done. God forgave a man being crucified on death
row under Roman authority. He'll forgive you.
He will. He says he's faithful to forgive and
not because you're worthy. Not because you deserve,
it has nothing to do with that, but because he
is. And so if you're not forgiven this morning,
let's get you forgiven. Let's come to the Lord.
He says, if you believe, repent, confess, and
are baptized with him, you can come out of that
water and walk with him in newness of life. You
can be remiss, you can be forgiven of those sins.
If you are forgiven, if you're a Christian and
you walk in darkness, Come back to him just like
the prodigal son did. And if you're a Christian
who don't feel forgiven, look at him. Look at
the forgiveness that he promises and know that
that's for you. That he's a God who's ready,
willing, and able to forgive iniquity, transgression,
and sin. Thank you for listening to today's sermon
from the Church of Christ Wheeler area. We hope
this message encouraged you and strengthened
you in your faith this week. Don't forget the
doors always open at 1500 South Allen L. Bean
Boulevard at 10 30 a .m. on Sundays, 2 30 p .m.
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