When You Don't Feel Forgiven - Zane Zybach

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

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

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

1 John 1 · chapter mention

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 John 1 · chapter mention

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

Romans 8 · chapter mention

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

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

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.

Exodus 34 · chapter mention

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

Luke 19 · chapter mention

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

Luke 23 · chapter mention

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

John 1 · chapter mention

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

Hebrews 4 · chapter mention

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.

on Sunday afternoons and recharge with us midweek

on Wednesdays at 7 p .m. For more information

or to hear past messages, follow us on your favorite

podcast platform. Look us up on Facebook and

Instagram. We hope you have a blessed week and

we'll see you next time.