Introduction to The Godhead: Who Can Forgive Sins | Steve Benson

We have the word of God. It comes from

God

and it uh reveals him to us. Open your

Bibles this morning if you would to John

1 verse one.

We've looked at the titles

and the names that have been ascribed to

Jesus. And

I don't know, there's almost 60 of them.

Each one of them important. Each one of

them

uh reveals to us who he is and and what

he's about.

And he's the one that we need.

And he's given to us his word. It's the

word. We have the word of God. This

isn't the word of men.

That's the great thing about studying

God and his word is we get above the

opinions of men

and ideals of men

and you know sometimes those are good

and important but when they contradict

what God has said then we have to go

with what God says.

So, it's important for us to look at his

word. And today, we're going to look at

uh who can forgive sins but God alone.

That's going to be the theme

of this message. We're going to build up

to it. We're going to look at that verse

here in a minute. But, we've been

looking at some of the titles that have

already been ascribed to Christ.

He always has been has always been the

son of God.

And he became the son of man when he

come to work

and we have been studying him

and his preexistence in the Old

Testament

uh tells us about him. We can even learn

about him in the Old Testament before he

ever came. And now that he has come, we

can learn even more. And in John chapter

John 1 · chapter mention

1 verse one here we see that

that he is eternal. That's one of the

great things about Jesus is he's

eternal.

He has life. You know those verses. But

as we begin here this morning to think

about who can forgive sins but God

alone. You know we have God talk in the

Bible. We've talked about that

in in the Psalm 22 verse1. My God, my

God, why have you forsaken me? So there

we have God talk.

So everywhere else, you know, God is

talking to us. He speaks and then, you

know, we don't want to contradict what

he says. We want to do what he says and

believe what he says. I'll try to change

his mind.

And you know these things are written

that we might know that we might believe

that he has sent his son. That's how

John book of John ends. But Jesus says

here in chapter 1 verse one, in the

beginning was the word and the word was

with God and the word is God. The same

was in the beginning with God. So John

shows us this this eternal existence

that the son of God had. Uh he became a

man but he is always God. He didn't have

a beginning as God. He had a beginning

as a man. This was one of the things

that was hard for people even Jewish

people um to believe and understand.

They remember the Pharisees and and the

Jews, you know, they were thought they

were chosen of God and they were. They

thought they were privileged. They had

the word of God. They had the teachers

and and all these things. Yet, when it

was time for their Messiah to come,

that's what verse says over there in

verse 10. He was in the world. The world

was made by him and the world knew him

not. He came into his own and his own

received him not. So you know this he

knew

was going to happen. This John uh shares

with us as well and Jesus told him

before Abraham was I am. So before any

man like Abraham existed and that's what

they thought. Well you know you got to

we go way back to Genesis 12 when we

find Abraham and Jesus says I'm I'm way

before Genesis 12.

He's always been. And that's the way

John starts out for us here. We as well

looked at his sinlessness. Jesus never

he never made a mistake. He never

sinned.

Um he was the sinless one of God. That

you know, God can't sin. So as as you

know, as the God man, he did not sin.

And that was the testimony of his

apostles as well. We looked at those

things. We looked at his preeminence in

Colossians 1:17. There, you know, he is

Colossians 1:17

the preeminent one. He's above all.

And look over in John 6

and verse 69. John 6 verse 69.

John 6:69

And here

we have him

Here

we have uh Peter's confession of him.

You know, if anyone knew Jesus, it was

his apostles.

You know, so he if he said he was a

sinless one, he was God. You know, they

they were the ones to say, "Well, no,

you're not the sinless one. You you

sinned over here. You sinned over

there."

But not the case. They they testified to

the what he testified to that he is the

son of God. He is the son of man.

He's the one from heaven and he brought

all these great things down to us in the

earth. And here Peter says uh and we

believe and that was a whole bunch of

the apostles. We believe and we are sure

there was no doubt about who Jesus is

and was even from those who knew him

best.

You know, they Judas betrayed him um for

for money. Um but everybody else said

and then I think Judas

uh he he might have been convinced

of these things but uh he he met his

fate didn't he and Jesus said it been

better off for him not to even been

born.

So Jesus is the son sinless son of God.

And then at chapter 8

of John, John chapter 8 and verse 29

John 8 · chapter mention

and he that and he that sent me is with

me. So we established that as well that

you know Jesus came from heaven. He was

he was sent by the father. He

volunteered to come to earth uh and to

to die and to pay for our sin.

And the father was aware of these

things. And and in in 1 Peter chapter 2

1 Peter 2 · chapter mention

22, don't turn there, but that's where

Peter said he he did neither sin nor was

guile found in his mouth.

I mean, he didn't even,

you know, think a bad thought. He never

said a bad word, even when he was in the

dire of conditions, humanly speaking. So

Jesus was tested. He was he was very

tested by the world, by the devil, by

the Jews, by the Romans, by humanity. He

was put to the test and yet he come

forth as gold.

Turn over to John chapter 11.

John 11 · chapter mention

So once these things were accomplished,

then the apostles come along. You know,

Jesus said, "I want you to preach the

gospel, you know, not not of yourselves

but of me." And this is what the

apostles did. Here in John chapter 11,

John 11 · chapter mention

this is one of my favorite verses. This

one really helped me

understand that Jesus is he's the he's

the way. He's the only way.

and being the God man that he

established to the apostles and to us.

And now we have um these things

contained in the word of God. Remember

what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:21.

2 Corinthians 5:21

For he made him who knew no sin to be

sin for us that we might be made the

righteousness of God in him. So we don't

try to make ourselves righteous.

We trust in him and he makes us

righteous.

And here

in John 11:25, Jesus says he's the life.

John 11:25

He's life eternal. So we're dead. We're

born dead in trespasses and sins. We're

we come forth from Adam. We come forth

from our from our mother sinning. We we

have to learn to do right, not to do

wrong. We're um we're cursed in that

way.

But Jesus has overcome those things and

now he is the life. And here this is the

just before the resurrection of Lazarus,

the physical resurrection to remind us

that he is the spiritual resurrection

that we so desperately need.

And you know, we're spiritually dead as

a doornail.

um as dead as Lazarus was here. We are

physically going to die someday, but

spiritually we're born dead and we need

we need life. And that's who Jesus is. I

am not somebody else is. Jesus said, "I

am the resurrection and the life." And

then he and then he says it, "He that

believeth in me, though he were dead,

yet shall we live." So we see now that's

faith in this one who is the son of of

god and the son of man. Whosoever lives

and believeth in me shall never die. Do

you believe this? So now it's a faith

thing and a faith that rests in him.

And you know we find out that

you know how great this is that God

become a man. But as well we we know the

things that are true of God are true of

him. You know Jesus is he's never

change. He doesn't ever change. He's the

same yesterday, today and forever as

Hebrews tells us. And as James tells us

that you know God is just unchangeable

and and that that extends to the son of

God to Jesus. So there is just a

unchangeableness of him. There is a

sinlessness of him. There's an eternal

uhness of him. There's a lifegiving uh

that comes from him. So all of these

things he's established with him with

his uh with his apostles in here in the

New Testament for us. Turn back to John

John 5 · chapter mention

chapter 5.

John chapter 5. We're picking these up

John 5 · chapter mention

in John.

You know, and we also looked at Jesus

authority. You know who? That's what the

Pharisee want to know. Well, who in what

authority are you doing this? Well,

Jesus said, "I'm God. I guess I can do

it in my authority.

There's no guessing to it. There's Jesus

answers to no one. It's the other way

around. Everyone answers to him

and and he's made that. He's established

that, you know, so we don't have to

worry about dying and answering to some

other god that we didn't know about. No,

we're all going to answer to Jesus, the

one that we do know about. And all the

other gods, all the other false gods,

all the other false teachers, they're

all going to answer to him. Every knee

will bow, every tongue will confess.

Why? Because Jesus is God. He's not just

a man,

but he is God.

And he has this life in himself and and

he can give it to us when we come to him

by faith. And here in John chapter 5,

John 5 · chapter mention

this is about, you know, resurrecting

people.

Um, you know, that's when we go to the

funeral home,

uh, it's not a very pleasant place to be

unless you're a Christian.

And then, you know, what the, uh, the

death of a saint is pleasant to God. So,

we belong to him and he's arranged it

that we can get out of here and move on

to a place where we'll never have any

more injuries and any more infirmities

and no more no more sin, no more

problems. We're going to be like the

Lord.

>> But we still have to go through this

death process.

And and you know, so did all the

apostles and and then so did Jesus.

Well, if he's God, why in the world did

God die? Well, that's a good question.

God died that we might live.

And Jesus is saying here before he ever

died, you know, he had no doubt. He

wasn't like, well, you know, I hope I I

hope my father raises me from the dead.

We never see anything like that. He

always had the confidence.

He knew his father was going to raise

him from the dead.

and and he saw the apostles saw that.

And here he talks about resurrecting.

Who's going to who's going to empty the

cemeteries? Well, there's only one that

can do that.

And here Jesus says, "Verily, verily."

And that word truly, truly, that's like

amen. Amen. So Jesus is amening his

himself here. The hour is coming and now

is when the dead shall hear the voice of

the son of God. They that hear it shall

live. Now, this is the this is the

spiritual resurrection. Remember, we

were dead like like Lazarus was dead. Uh

we need life. We need life eternal.

We're dead. We're separated from God. We

need the new birth. And Jesus is the one

that can give it to us when we hear his

voice here, the son of God. And they

that hear it will live. So, everyone

that's been born again has heard the

voice of the son of God. Faith comes by

hearing and hearing by the word. And

Jesus says, "For as a father has life in

himself." You know, that's where it goes

back to,

you know, how do we get how do we born

again? How do we get this life? It come

from the trinity. It come from the

father. Come from the son. It comes from

the holy spirit. this eternal life that

he speaks of.

And then he's given uh in verse 27, he's

given him authority to execute judgment

because he is the son of man. So he's

he's over everything now. There's

nothing that Jesus is not over, you

know, not he didn't just, you know, live

here for 33 years. So, you know,

everyone that lived when he lived,

they're responsible and they have to

answer to Jesus. That's not what he

said. He said, "No, every man everywhere

will answer to the authority of the son

of God that the father sent." And Jesus

says, "Marvel not at this. Don't don't

let this uh you get your head around

this. Get your mind around this. Get

your faith resting on this.

The hour is coming when all that are in

the grave shall hear the voice,

and they that shall hear it will come

forth. They that have done good, those

they that have been born again

uh will be it to the resurrection of

life. They that have done evil to the

resurrection of damnation. So Jesus

decides who goes to heaven and who goes

to hell.

It's up to him. And he says those that

believe on him up in verse 25.

So there we have all these amazing

things. So he's going to raise every

single human being that has ever lived.

I don't know how many billion people

that is,

but it's going to be nothing to him.

He's just going to speak and it's going

to happen. His voice, as he said up

there, he he can he can give um the new

birth. He can give resurrection life to

us now through his word and someday he

will to our bodies as well. Go back to

John chapter 16.

John 16 · chapter mention

This made such an impact on the apostles

and back in John chapter 16.

John 16 · chapter mention

If you seen Jesus raise Lazarus from the

dead. If you seen Jesus walk on the

water,

if you seen him do all these miracles,

you would have to say he's the son of

God. But then on top of that, these men

heard him teach and preach, and now they

know why he come to earth.

And that, you know, he is the way, the

truth, and the life. And here we go

having John 16:30.

John 16:30

What did the apostles do? They rested.

And you're not living

being with your husband now. And he's

like, man, who is this that knows

everything about me?

It's the God. And now the apostles join

in. They say, who is this that knows

everything? It's none other than Jesus,

the son of man and the son of God. We

are sure you know all things. You need

not that any man should ask of thee. By

this we believe and we are uh that you

come forth from God. There's no doubt

here with the apostles. There shouldn't

be any doubt with us either. I mean we

have doubts, don't get me wrong, but

when we read the word of God, we we've

got it. We've got the truth. We have the

way. We have eternal life. You know, all

these things that Jesus said we could

have, he has given them to us. And he

told the apostles that, you know, he

knew the father. He knows the father.

And this is the father's will. And Jesus

said, you can't come to the father but

by me. So the knowledge of the son is

the true treasure as Colossians says

to know who God is.

And like Jesus told the woman at the

well, she said, "He knew he knows me."

And Peter in the boat, remember, Lord,

I'm a sinful man. Because Jesus knew

Peter.

So, everyone that's born again, everyone

that's a child of his, now we got all

can say Jesus knows me.

And that's what Peter said in the

fishing boat. Now, turn back to John

chapter one.

In verse

18, we've touched on some of his

attributes.

You know, he's God. So, he has the

attributes that God has.

And and one of them here is his

omnipresence.

You know, God is everywhere.

David said that in the Psalms, there

nowhere I can go where God is not

already there.

And Jesus is God. So he is he's

omniresent as well. And here in verse

18,

we have no man has seen God at any time.

So how do we find all this out?

Did we get get a rocket ship and send it

up into heaven with a crew to go and

explore and find God, find out who he is

and his ways. And I mean, that's all

foolishness.

No, God sent his son to earth. Now we

don't have to wonder. Now we don't have

to look anymore. Now we have what? Here

we have truth and grace. In verse 17,

the law was given by Moses. Grace, grace

and truth came by Jesus Christ. And

again, no man has seen God at any time.

The only begotten who was in the bosom

of the father

has declared him.

So this declaration of the Godhead comes

to us from God the son who is on the

present who left heaven and he came to

earth and became the son of man. And he

was God in the beginning in creation. We

we talked about that. You know that's

the testimony of the scripture over and

over and over. Jesus was there

um when everything was created. He was

there in the garden. He was the, you

know, he's the great I am in the Old

Testament. Jesus is there. And we've

looked at those verses and we've uh

looked at those great things that the

Old Testament said about him. Now, look

over in John chapter 3 and verse 13.

John 3 · chapter mention

This goes along with what John said back

there in John 1:18. Here he says,

John 1:18

this is Jesus speaking. No man has

ascended up to heaven. You know what

about all these people that say they

went to heaven.

I don't know. I'm going to believe

Jesus. He said no one no one's been up

there. I'm going to stick with him.

And no man needs to go up there

try to figure God out or understand God.

We already have an understanding. We

already have a member of the Godhead

come to earth and and has told us all

about God and has told us all about

ourselves. And now, you know, we know

how things have begun. We know how

things are going and we know how things

are going to end. And Jesus said he's

going to bring an end to them.

And in verse 13 here, he says, "No man

has ascended up to heaven, but he that

come down from heaven, even the son of

man who is in heaven." You see, is

omniresence. He's still in heaven. He's

on the earth, but he's still in heaven.

He has a knowledge that, you know, they

they know nothing of.

And and John Calvin said that he was

incarnate, but he was never

incarcerated,

you know. So Jesus could go anywhere he

wanted to go, do anything he wanted to

do. He's God as long as it was his

father's will.

So now we have a a living presence

um with him. you know things if you

understand where we were before the

cross and you understand what Jesus did

at the cross and you understand the new

birth now and and the privilege we have

the understanding we have to worship God

and to praise God for all the things

that Jesus did for us then you know he

has just a living presence with us. I'll

turn over to Matthew chapter 18

Matthew 18 · chapter mention

where he told us that.

Matthew chapter 18.

Matthew 18 · chapter mention

Yeah, we don't have to go looking for

him.

He's here.

And that's what he told his apostles.

You know, they were they were really

concerned that he was going to go away.

They didn't understand why he was going

away.

And you know that's

that's the the understanding we need of

the cross is it was for our good.

And and even Peter didn't want him to

go. Lord, you know I'm not going to let

that happen to you. And and Peter

grabbed Jesus and rebuked him. Remember

you're not going to the cross, Lord. And

Jesus said, get thee behind me, Satan.

you know, that's uh an attempt to to

throw him off the father's path. And and

it's a good thing that Jesus died for

us. It's not a bad thing. It's a

wonderful thing that he bore our sin

before the father. And here he says in

chapter 18 verse 20,

for where two or three are gathered

together in my name, there am I in the

midst of them. So,

you know, here we are 2,000 years later

and this is, you know, this is still

true. You know, we don't have to beg him

to be with us. You know, he's he's

already here. He's already there. He

already exists. He's eternal. He's the

son of God. He's the son of man. He's

the word of God.

So, you know, that's the power in the

word. That's the power. He's the power

in our lives, his name. He's the power

when we get together.

So, we have this living uh presence with

him. Did he say that's going to change?

No. If you're born again, you're never

going to be separated from Jesus. It's

only going to get better. Turn to

Matthew 18.

And that's what the apostles struggled

with. Lord, you're gone away. What What

are we going to do? And Jesus said,

you're going to remember some of these

things after I'm gone, but my presence

is with you always.

And that's what he tells them here in

Matthew 28. So, we have a sinlessness.

We have his omnipresence. We have all

these great eternal things. He's he's

life. He's light. He's all these things.

We We even have his authority to go

forth. We have his presence with us. All

these wonderful things, you know, and

nothing's going to change. You're never

going to be separated from the love of

God in Christ ever

in this life or in the life to come.

So that should bring us great comfort.

And here he says, "All authority is

given unto me in heaven and earth."

What else is there?

This is after his resurrection.

You know, this is just before his

ascension. This is where he told the

apostles, "Everything I said to you is

going to come to pass." You know, and

they written all these things down for

us. No one's going to overthrow Jesus.

No one.

The devil tried. The angels, fallen

angels tried, men have tried.

It's it's uh it's a waste of time

because all authority is given in heaven

and earth to him. And now we have his

presence and now he wants us to go and

do what?

Teach all nations.

Not just the Jewish nation, not just

America, but all nations.

Teaching all nations. Baptizing them in

the name of the Father, the Son, and the

Holy Spirit. The great Trinity. There's

the Godhead.

So, we have the presence of Jesus. We

have the presence of the father. We have

the presence of the Holy Spirit. We have

the word of God. We have the new birth.

Our sins have been paid for. We have the

presence of Jesus. We have all these

things that we might uh do what he says

in verse 20, teaching them to observe

all things, whatever I have commanded

you. And lo, there's what we want. I am

with you always. Where can we go to be

separated from Jesus? Nowhere. You know,

he's he's made that clear.

And then in you remember in Acts chapter

nine, we don't need to turn there. this

same Jesus, he he shows up there um and

and uh

to the Apostle Paul

and Paul is out murdering Christians and

doing great damage to the church.

And then Jesus confronts him and and and

one of the worst enemies of the church

is converted and made one of the best

apostles ever

for the church. How could that have

happened if he's not alive? How could

that not have happened if all these

things he said aren't true?

And Paul knew it as well. And Paul, he

preached it himself. So, you know, Paul

said Jesus is alive forever more. Thomas

said, "My Lord and my God, he's alive

forever more." Peter said, "Jesus is

alive forever more." Mary and the

Magdalene and all the ladies at the

tomb, Jesus is alive forever more.

No one can get in his way. No one can

throw him off

and go back to John chapter one.

So that's how John starts out

is with the deity of Christ. This one

who came, all the things he said, all

the promises that he made, all the work

that he did on the earth, um we have

greatly benefited from it.

And now he says in verse three,

all things were made by him and without

him was not anything made that was made.

So,

so here we see that Jesus, the one who

rose from the dead, the one who seated

at the right hand of the father, you

know, he was there in creation. He was

there in Genesis chapter 1 when uh when

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

God made everything. You know, Jesus, he

was there participated in those things.

And we already read verse 10, he made

the world. The world was made by him and

the world knew him not. So, you know,

you say, well, if he was God, certainly

the world would have known him.

Well, they didn't. The Jews didn't know

him either, you know, and and and it's

still so the only way you can know God

is through his son. The only way.

That's why Jesus said he's the light,

true light in verse 9 to come into the

world,

you know. So,

you know, it's the same now for us.

Colossians 1:16 that we've already

Colossians 1:16

looked at. He says, "For by him was

everything made uh in heaven and in

earth, visible and invisible." You

can't, you know, what is it that we're

leaving out? What is it that we're not

talking about? Where is the corner of

creation? Where's the corner of the

universe? Where's the time in the

universe where he is not over it? And it

will all answer to him. He said that

before his death on the cross and his

resurrection. He said it after. He said

it since. Read the book of Revelation.

You know, there he uh he's the judge

now, the great Messiah

um who come to earth. Hebrews 1 says he

upholds all things by his power. So, not

only did he create everything, now he is

upholding all things by his power. So,

there's not a molecule or an atom

anywhere

that will not answer to Jesus.

And he says invisible and visible, you

know, we can only see the visible, you

know, so okay, the visible is going to

answer to Jesus. Well, Jesus said the

invisible is going to answer to me, too.

And Paul said in John, excuse me, in

Ephesians 6, all the principalities and

powers in in heavenly places, you know,

this this group of angels that's

rebelled and trying to overthrow God,

every one of them is going to answer to

Jesus

someday and someday soon.

And in the meantime, our purpose down

here is First John 4 talks about, you

know, we're to love God. We're to love

our neighbor. You know, we we have

everything pertaining to life. We have

everything pertaining to eternal life.

You know, God will never leave us nor

forsake us. Jesus presence is with us

where two or three are gathered

together. You know, all those wonderful

things. Now,

so now we ask the question, well then,

who can forgive sin? Turn over to Mark

Mark 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2.

Mark

Mark 2 · chapter mention

Chapter 2

and verse 5.

Mark chapter 2 and verse 5.

Mark 2 · chapter mention

You know this is

you know the part that you know the

apostles believe

you know that the things they said about

Jesus. We're sure you're God. You're

sure. We're sure of that.

And you know that's the great thing

about knowing that Jesus is God is that

we can you know we can follow him and

and you know hear what he says and be be

under his teaching be under uh him being

our shepherd and being under his

authority being where two or three are

gathered together you know he's there in

the midst you know we have to go and

teach all men all those great and

wonderful things he has asked us to do.

The greatest thing is that we have the

forgiveness of our sins,

you know, and that's what he meant when

when Peter said, "You're not going to

the cross. I'm not going to let that

happen." And Jesus said, "Get thee

behind me, Satan." Because he was trying

to stop Jesus from paying for our sins.

And that's the very thing that Jesus

come to earth to do and more.

But you know what is all this without

the forgiveness of our sin?

You know, we're we're terrible sinners.

We're separated from God. We're going to

get into

to our depravity

uh in a future message.

But Romans says, "Where sin did abound,

grace did much more abound."

And it's the work of God's son that we

can now have the forgiveness of sins.

And here in Mark 2 and five, we have

and Jesus saw their faith. Don't forget

that.

You know, that's what Jesus is looking

for. He's looking for faith in him and

faith in his word, faith in what he has

said.

That's what he wants us to do.

And you know, faith is the way now that

we can be forgiven. And when he saw

their faith, he said to the sick of the

Pauly, "Son, your sins are forgiven

thee."

I mean, this is a great thing

for somebody on earth to tell somebody

else on earth that your sins are

forgiven.

This is a big deal.

But there were certain of the scribes

sitting there and they were reasoning in

their hearts.

Here's his omnipresence. They didn't

even have to speak. He knew what was in

their heart.

He says, "Why does this man thus speak

blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but

God only?"

So those people that say Jesus never

said he was God, my friends, right here,

he not only says he's God, but he can

forgive sin. If he wasn't God, if he

couldn't forgive sin, this would be

blasphemy. We're we're following a

blaspher.

But not true. He is God. He is not a

blaspher. He is the one who can forgive

sin. the sinless one, the eternal one.

And he says here, "And immediately when

Jesus perceived in his spirit that they

so reasoned within themselves, God knows

our thoughts. If Jesus is not God, how

does he know their thoughts?"

That should have convinced him.

And he said why you reason these things

in your heart which is easier to say

to the sick of the pulsey thy sins are

forgiven thee or say arise and walk take

up your bed

you know this is the important thing for

us to see here

you know because I mean we have a lot of

people that are handicapped out there I

don't even that might not even be the

right word but but are sick like this

have some kind of an infirmity physical

um

mental,

you know, and and we all have things

like that, but there are some, you know,

they're just, you know, they're just

bedfast

and Jesus heals him.

I don't think anyone can do that except

him. That should have convinced him he

was God.

But the greater thing here is not

healing the man of his pausy

is forgiving sin. That's the greater

thing. So Jesus puts something that's

great here against something that's

greater. So we can see

it's better for us to have the

forgiveness of sin than it is to be fil

uh healed physically.

We have our priorities wrong. Sometimes

I'm not saying that we shouldn't help

them and want that and pray for that.

But when it comes, you know, to the

physical, to the spiritual, the greater

is the gift of eternal life through the

son of God, through the son of man. He

He can do that.

Jesus can forgive you and he can forgive

me if we come to him by faith. He said

to the sick of the Pauly, and I say unto

thee, rise, take up your bed, go your

way into your house. This particular guy

got both.

He was made well physically

and he was made well spiritually

by God,

the son of God. Who who who can do it?

Verse seven, who can forgive sin but God

only? And Jesus is God.

So he being God then he being all the

things that we looked at all the things

that we have seen that he has said is he

has the authority to forgive sins.

That's what he said at the end of

Matthew. All authority is given to me.

Who can forgive sin but Jesus only?

You know and and then he hands this off

to his apostles. Turn over to to uh

Matthew chapter 26.

Matthew 26 · chapter mention

back a couple pages, Matthew.

And you know, this is where we are. You

know, we don't have the power to do

this.

Um, the church doesn't have the power to

forgive sin.

I don't care what any church says or how

much they charge you. I don't care how

many priests, earthly priests, they

have.

Uh, no human being can forgive sin. No

church can forgive sin.

The only person who can forgive sin is

God and God alone. Jesus just said that.

So then how do we come to find this

forgiveness? We have to come the way the

apostles came. We come by faith. We have

to come the way the man sick with the

policy came. He came by faith.

And when we come by faith, we receive

this great gift that God has given to

us. This forgiveness of our sins. And

this is what the apostles preached. This

is what he gave them.

And this is why we gather at the Lord's

table to remember this very thing.

Who can forgive sin? Well, there's only

one and it's God and that's Christ. And

here in verse 26

or excuse me, yeah, verse 26, chapter

26.

And as they were eating,

Jesus took bread and he blessed it and

he broke it and he gave it unto them. He

said, "Take, eat. This is my body." This

would be blasphemy if he wasn't God.

And they took up the cup, they gave

thanks, and he gave it to them. He said,

"Drink ye all of it."

And here's what we want. For this is my

blood of the new covenant which is shed

for many. For what reason? for the

remission of sin.

Why did Jesus come? Why did Jesus live?

Why did Jesus die? That we might have

the forgiveness of our sins. And the

only way is to trust in him is to come

to him by faith. Verse 29, I say unto

you, I will not drink hence for fruit of

the vine until the day which I drink it

with you a new in my father's kingdom.

So, you know, the forgiveness that we

have through Jesus is going to take us

all the way to his father's kingdom.

Who can forgive sin? Well, God alone.

Turn to Luke 24.

You know, these things happened. This is

what ended Jesus earthly life.

You know, his everything else was great.

We know we're looking at it. It's so

important. But there's nothing greater

than this.

You know, you can look at the miracles

of Jesus and miss this. You can look at

the life of Jesus and miss this.

But he and he alone can forgive us for

our sins. And here

in Luke

24 and verse 47,

I'll start in verse 46. Thus it is

written

and thus it behooved Christ to suffer

and to rise from the dead the third day.

This is what we need to get. Why did

that happen?

That repentance and the remission of sin

should be preached in his name among all

the nations beginning at Jerusalem. So

you see, God's still the only one that

can forgive sin. And we have to come to

God through him and through his death

for for us and the payment of our sin.

And we can preach this

this gospel of grace, this repentance,

this remission of sin that that God died

for our sins. God shed his blood for our

sin.

This is what John the Baptist meant when

he said, "Behold the lamb of God that

taketh away the sin of the world."

That's why Jesus came, take away the sin

of the world.

And then, you know, these men that wrote

the New Testament, I mean, that's their

testimony. Like, you know, John the

Baptist, you know, behold the lamb of

God that takes away the sin of the

world. Peter in Acts chapter 10 and

Acts 10 · chapter mention

verse 43, Peter says a similar thing in

Colossians 1:14, Paul says a similar

Colossians 1:14

thing in 1 John 1:7. Let's go to this

1 John 1:7

one. 1 John 1:7.

1 John 1:7

Our sins are so paid for now. All we

need to do is confess them to the

Father.

And we still have them, don't we? That's

what he says. You say you don't have

sin, you're a liar.

We're We still sin

even after we're saved.

What are we to do? Do we have to get

saved again?

No.

The new birth is just a one-time thing.

Make sure you've been born again. Make

sure you've been uh you've come to him

and you've received the remission for

your sins, the payment for your sins

through Christ. He's the way, the truth,

and the life. Um John 3:16, for God so

John 3:16

loved the world that he gave his only

begotten son that whosoever believeth in

him will not perish, but have

everlasting life. Make sure you've come

to God the Father through his son and

receive the forgiveness of sin.

All your sins were laid on Jesus. All my

sins were laid on Jesus. He paid for

them all.

So now we have

what John says here

in chapter 1 verse 5. This then is the

message. You know, John writes this

after his gospel.

You know, he's um you know, he knows now

why Jesus came.

Now we know why he came.

You know the we have his life in the

gospels. We have his birth. We have his

life. We have his death. We have all

those things. But if we don't know why,

we don't know if we don't see him dying

for our sins, we've missed it.

And John says this is the message that

we heard from him. Where did John get

it? Did he think this up? No. Jesus

said, "What I give you, I've received

from my father. What I give you, I've

received from heaven. Now, this is the

message from heaven. This is not the

message from the apostles

and we declare it to you and that's what

we do. That's what that's our job is to

declare what God has said and God has

done.

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 not and

do not the truth. You can't, you know,

say, "I'm abiding in God and I'm walking

in darkness." That's what some people

try to do.

You're not, you're not being truthful.

You don't know the truth.

And if we walk in the light as he is in

the light, that's where God wants us.

Walking in his word, walking in his

ways,

learning more about him, studying these

things, these great things about God.

Who can forgive sin but God only?

We walk in the light. That's light.

He is in the light and we have

fellowship one with another. And the

blood of Jesus Christ the son cleanses

us from all sin. Not our confessing, not

our remembering,

but the blood of Jesus cleanses us from

all our sin.

And for those who think they're sinless

after you're saved, you're wrong.

Because if we say we have no sin, we

deceive ourselves and the truth is not

in it. So even after we're saved, we're

going to slip and we're going to sin.

It's going to happen. I mean, you know,

a thought, a wrong thought is sin. You

don't even have to do the deed. Remember

the people that their their thoughts and

Jesus saw their thoughts. God sees our

thoughts

and the truth is not in us. If we

confess our sins,

who is faithful and just? Not us, but

God. He is faithful and just to forgive

us our sins and then to go on to cleanse

us from all unrighteousness. And that's

what the word of God does. Jesus said,

"You're clean through the word that I

spoken unto you." So that's what we

need. We need God's word in us to to

sanctify us and to help us with these

things.

One man said this about this subject. He

said if he could forgive the sins of

others because he himself was to pay the

price of their abolition.

That's why Jesus can forgive us. He paid

the price. Who can overthrow him? That's

what Romans 8 says. Who's going to

overthrow God? Go to Romans chapter 5.

Romans 5 · chapter mention

So this is what Paul preached. This is

what Paul declared after Jesus

accomplished these things and went to

heaven. And and here we are years later

and Paul writes the letter to the Romans

and he says right here in Romans chapter

Romans 5 · chapter mention

5,

we can't clean ourselves up. God didn't

say, you know, get yourself cleaned up

and then you can come to me.

That's not the way this works. We come

to him. He does the cleaning up.

In Romans chapter 5, yeah, we we're

Romans 5 · chapter mention

we're we catch the fish. He cleans the

fish.

That's the wonderful thing about the

gospel.

We're justified by faith in verse one.

No other way. Not by works

uh that we have done or anyone else has

done. Not by our money, not by our

wealth, not by our position,

none of those things will work. And this

is the only thing God accepts.

We're justified by faith. We have peace

with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

There's nothing but wrath outside of

him.

And he says here, we have access by

faith into his grace. So we're standing

in grace. That's what we need. So when

we confess our sin to God, we are

standing in God's grace, not in our

merit.

What a section this is. But look down at

verse 11 or excuse me, verse 7. For

scarcely for a righteous man would one

die, yet perhaps for a good man, some

would even dare to die. That's what

happened.

Somebody died in our place. Not just a

good man, but a righteous man, a holy

man, the son of God, the son of man. the

sinless one, the eternal one, the one

filled with life, the one who rose from

the dead.

It is he who died for our sins and we

might have eternal life. And then verse

11,

and not not only so, but we also join

God through Jesus by whom we have now

received the reconciliation. So it just

keeps going on. We don't have to be born

again and then born again and born again

and born again and born again and born

again and born again and then right

before you die make sure you get born

again. That's not the way this works.

Once.

How many times were you born

physically? Once.

And yeah, we may have, you know,

wandered off from that or we may

question that or we we have all had

issues on our side, but there's no issue

on God's side.

come to him

and be reconciled to God through the

death of his son.

And that's what Paul says in Romans 8.

And I'll quit. Romans chapter 8,

Romans 8 · chapter mention

there is there in verse one. There is

therefore now no condemnation

to them that are in Christ. So here's

the question. Are you in Christ? That's

the question.

And if you can say, "Yes, I'm in Christ

through the new birth. I've received the

remission of sins." Then there's no

condemnation resting on you. There's

only the love of God. You're not at war

with God anymore.

And you sign the peace treaty when you

trusted his son.

And then verse 31, here's the who can

forgive sin? Well, God alone.

Who can keep us in the love of Christ?

God alone.

Who can keep on doing these things? God

alone.

And here we have it in verse 31. What

shall we say then to these things

that you try to get me to doubt my

salvation? You try to get me to not

believe God. Well, God died for me. I

know I'm secure. I know I have this

love. I know there's no condemnation now

because I've been reconciled to God

through the blood of his son. And he

says, if I confess my sin, he will he's

faithful and just to forgive me.

And that's what he says here. He that

spared not his own son shall he deliver

him up for us. All house are not with

him freely. Don't miss that.

Give us all things. When God gave us his

son, he gave us everything we needed

for this uh eternal life that we have.

So God and God alone can forgive sin.

And Jesus is God. And and remember what

the argument in Acts about the the pork

and and between Peter and Paul and Paul

said, "What God has made clean, let no

one call a cursed." And that's who we

are. Those of us who have been born

again, those of us who have the

remission of sin through Christ, we

rested our faith and our trust in him.

That's what we have. We've been made

clean by him and this great gift that he

offered through his son. Let's pray.

Father, we thank you this morning

for this incredible gift of your son

that we so desperately need and we still

need.

And we confess our sins. We fall short

of the glory of God

every day. You should mark sin. Who

could stand? none of us. But we have

your son. We have a savior. We have a

redeemer. We have a mediator. We have an

advocate who is God.

And to him, all these things have been

given. And you have forgiven us through

your wonderful son. We pray for others

that come through your son and receive

this great forgiveness for our sins. Our

sins are great, but your grace is

greater. Your love is greater. Our

savior is greater. and we thank you for

these things. Bring comfort to our

hearts

uh in these last days of the church. We

pray in Jesus name. Amen.

>> Good morning.

>> Morning Martha.

Did you go to that wedding?

>> Yeah.

>> How was it?

>> It went well.

>> Did it?

>> Oh, yeah.

one.

>> Yeah.

>> And that's how I grad,

trusting you more.

May the power of your love and the light

of your word shine to a sin darkened

world as we go from this place.