Promise of Forgiveness
Introduction: What did it cost the one who forgave you? What did it cost you to be forgiven? To ask forgiveness is humbling. It costs your pride. You have to acknowledge that there is such a thing as love and feel the joyful weight of its obligation. I. God's Forgiveness: John 3:16-20 By believing in the son. For not believing in the son. Why do some prefer to stay in darkness rather than light? Their deeds are evil. Explanation: Once on a college campus I asked a guy, after he had asked me a ton of questions, “If I answered all your questions, and you believed my answers, would you receive Christ?” He said “no!” I asked him “why?” He said he would have to give up what he was doing. I explained that he was not rejecting Christ for intellectual reasons, but for moral reasons. He wanted to do bad stuff. Who Did Jesus Claim to Be? John 10:25-33 25 Jesus answered, "I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father's name speak for me, Jesus claimed to be God. That was either true or false. If it was true He is the Lord. If it is false, He either knew it was false, or he did not know it was false. If he knew it was false, He was the greatest liar the world had ever known. If he did not know it was false, He was a lunatic on the same level with someone who believes he is Napoleon. Many religions say the Jesus was just a great man, or a prophet. This is not possible. Someone who claims to be God can only be the Lord, or a Liar, or a Lunatic. The only good explanation for Jesus’ life is that he is the Lord. II. Forgiveness--a Gift from God: Ephesians 2:8, 9 What does it mean that forgiveness is a gift? Forgiveness is something that God does. He forgives based on his decision to forgive. God has the right to choose the conditions on which he will forgive. He has chosen to forgive those who believe in Jesus Christ. He has chosen not to forgive based on our being good enough, or based on good stuff we have done. I am so thankful he has not based his forgiveness on our goodness, because none of us would be forgiven, if that were the basis of forgiveness. (Story: Bill Bright used to tell the story of a wife who had a mean husband. He would grade his wife each evening on how she performed as his wife that day. He gave her a grade “C”, “C-“, etc. Rage built up in her as she bristled under the unrealistic expectations of this ogre. Thankfully that husband died. She married a new husband. This husband was completely different. He just loved her and met her needs. He put no expectations on her. A few years later she was rummaging through the attic and came across a list that the old husband had demanded of her. At first all the rage came back, but then she laughed. She was now doing everything on the old list for her new husband. But it was not a burden because her actions were actions of love toward someone who just loved her. God is more like the second husband. Because he has given his forgiveness as a gift, we respond by obeying him. We obey, not to be forgiven, but we obey because we have already been forgiven. That obedience is not a burden, because it is out of our heart of love and thankfulness.) The Great Trade: our Sin for Christ's Goodness II Corinthians 5:21 How do we become righteous? (righteous means complete goodness, declared innocent by God.) Explanation: This is an amazing trade better than any sports trade in history. We get rid of the guilt of our sin, and Christ takes on the guilt of our sin (already paid for by Christ’s death on the cross). We get, in sin’s place, the righteousness of God over our lives. Now when God looks at us from an eternal perspective he does not see our sin any more, but sees Christ’s goodness and righteousness and character in and over us. Notice we are not righteous on our own merits. We have righteousness from God in us. As righteous people is is only right that be do good things which reflect how we have changed inside. II. Forgiveness through Believing: I John 5:11-13 The promise here is that if you believe in Christ, you have eternal life. Story about belief: A man walked on a tightrope over Niagra Falls. The man asked how many believed he could walk across the rope with a wheelbarrow. Everyone clapped. After taking the wheelbarrow across, he asked, “How many of you believe I can take a man in the wheelbarrow?” Again the crowd cheered. Then he pointed to a man in the crowd and asked him to ride in the wheelbarrow. The man refused. He did not believe in such a way as to trust the tightrope artist with his own life. Believing in Christ means trusting that the only way I will be forgiven is through Jesus’ death on the cross for me.2 What about you? Have you received Christ as your own personal savior? Jesus is called a savior because he has saved or rescued us out of a life of sin and darkness and ultimate destruction, into a life of purpose and meaning and ulitmately eternal life with him in Heaven. Can you tell how that happened? If you were to die tonight, do you know for sure that you would go to heaven? Yes No Maybe If you were to die tonight, and come before God, and He were to ask you, "Why should I let you into my heaven?" what would you say? 3 From what we have learned in this lesson the answer here would be that we have believed in Christ. Believing in Christ is the only way to have eternal life. One way of expressing trust is to talk to someone. We can talk to God and tell him that we trust that Christ has forgiven us for our sin. Saying the words alone will not bring forgiveness, but having the trust in Christ that the words express allows Christ to come into our lives. Christ will not come into your life unless he is invited. A prayer to receive Christ: Dear Jesus, I believe you are God and that you died on the cross for me. I want to be forgiven for all the things I have done against you. Please forgive me, and come into my life. I allow you to be my leader and guide--my Lord. Give me the power to obey you. Amen Extra Reading Each night you may enjoy reading a chapter out of the Gospel of John. This book of the Bible speaks of belief in Christ and forgiveness. You may like to write down any questions you may have and talk to a believing friend about your questions. Related Topics Attribute of God: God does not lie
return to Discipleship Lessons move on to Discipleship Lesson 2: Daily Forgiveness
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