Seeking for the help of the Lord, I direct your prayer for attention to the gospel according to Luke. Luke chapter 24, the last chapter, reading from our text, verse 47. The Lord's commission to his disciples and also to all ministers of the gospel and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations beginning at Jerusalem.

Forgiveness God's way. Remission of sins is forgiveness of sins. Our text, it begins with two things that go together. Repentance and remission of sins. The Lord in his commission joins those two things together. Where sins are forgiven, there will be repentance. And repentance is the true token that those sins are forgiven. And the gospel is that God himself gives repentance and God himself gives remission of sins. This is the good news of the gospel. This is what is in the commission here.

We also not only have the Gospel message, but the means of bringing that message. Our Lord says that repentance or remission of sins should be preached. That is the authoritative declaration of the Gospel. It's not just a talk, it's not a lecture, it's not a Bible study. It is preaching which is aimed at the heart of the hearers. It is both doctrine, it is experience, and it is practice. And it reflects the Word of God. Preach the Word is our commission.

Not only then is the means, but in whose name and by what authority and by whom come these gifts, these blessings of repentance and remission of sins, and it is in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ should be preached in his name. There is none other name given among men whereby we must be saved. There's no other way of forgiveness. There is no other way of getting to heaven. There's no other way of being saved. But Jesus of Nazareth, the true Son of God, the eternal Son of God, all other ways, all other gods, all other names, shall all lead to eternal destruction. No other way of salvation but the way set forth in the word through our Lord Jesus Christ shall be effectual. Any rules and devices and teaching of men will never result in the saving of a soul.

But also we're told in our text where this preaching should take place. and it is among all nations. To the Gentiles, to every nation under sun, in all languages, not just to the Jews now, but to all people, this is a wonderful reassurance, a wonderful comfort. There's so much in this verse that gives us that comfort of the gospel itself, in whose name and the authority and where it is to be preached and set forth.

But the Lord did not leave it there. He also told them where to begin. Imagine if it hadn't been so. Just preach among all nations. Where shall we begin? And he says, beginning at Jerusalem. The Jews were to be preached to first. It was where Christ had suffered, bled and died. That is where they were to begin. And that is where we see in history, they did begin and the blessings flowed forth. And so our Lord's words that they should flow forth, that from Jerusalem, half toward the former sea, half toward the hinder sea, where it should be, are the sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I must bring.

And so we have very comprehensive teaching of the gospel, God's way, God's way of forgiveness in this commission of our Lord. to the apostles and then through them to all of us who preach the gospel. He says regarding them who first preach the word, ye are witnesses of these things. But even that does not just apply to the apostles because every servant of the Lord must first be a partaker of the fruits They themselves must know the Lord Jesus Christ. They must know repentance. They must know what it is to be forgiven themselves. And we set forth those things that we've handled, tasted, and felt.

I want to look this morning at three points. Firstly, a people needing forgiveness. And then secondly, a God ready to forgive. And then thirdly, God's conditions to forgiveness that are also evidences of being forgiven.

Firstly, are people needing forgiveness? But let's just think first, what is forgiveness? Forgiveness is a settling of a debt, a putting away of a debt, so that it is not needing to be paid anymore, There's no guilt at all associated with it anymore. And we have in the psalms some really clear definitions of what it is to be counted blameless or to have nothing laid to our charge at all.

that the relationship between God and us is healed, where there is that distance because of our sin, because of what we have done against God, broken his law, transgressed his commandment, incurred upon ourselves the sentence of death, and the wrath of God which is upon all that disobey Him. God is angry with the wicked every day. The original sentence, in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

But forgiveness is, as is described in Psalm 103 verse 11, For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. It is a very clear, complete removing of transgressions.

we think how it is set forth in the New Testament in the Hebrews. In Hebrews 8 and verse 12 we read, for I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. This is the forgiveness of sin, this is dealing with sin in God's way. Then in chapter 10 of Hebrews, this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days saith the Lord. I will put my laws into their hearts and in their minds will I write them and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.

Now where remission of these is, remember the commission we read, repentance and remission of sins, where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. It is through the Lord Jesus Christ who has offered himself a sin, put away sin. So that's Hebrews 10 and from verse 16. So we need to be very clear with forgiveness how complete and utter it is. It's not to be revisited again with punishment. Once the debt is paid, God cannot require twice of one debt. Once that debt has been paid, the benefit is to the debtor, not to the creditor. It is the sinner that receives the benefit of the forgiveness of sin, the remission of sin.

Now all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That is why the law of God was given, that all the world might be brought in guilty before God, that there is none without excuse. But by nature, we do not realise our sinnership. In fact, we hate the idea of being called a sinner. We like to think that we are good, that our deeds are good. This is evidenced by a Lord speaking of the Pharisee in the temple. In his prayers he's only speaking of his goodness and what he has done. We read in the word that our goodness extendeth not unto thee, but unto the saints that are in the earth. We cannot by our good deeds merit heaven or repair the breach or merit forgiveness of sin. But all men then don't feel that need of forgiveness. And it is under the law, it is through the preaching of the law of God, through the setting forth of what we have done, that we are brought to feel a need of forgiveness. That in itself is a wonderful thing, when one is first brought to need forgiveness.

First realise that they have broken God's law. First realise that they have sinned. We think of the parable of our Lord about the prodigal son. And the prodigal son who left his father, took his portion of goods, went into a strange country and wasted them with riotous living. And then when there was a famine in the land, he came to himself and he said that there I have nothing, but in my father's house there's food and plenty. He said, I will go. to my father and I say I've sinned against thee and against heaven and no more worthy to be called thy son make me as one of thy hired servants. He's brought to feel to need forgiveness and that forgiveness was tied up with repentance, it was tied up with wanting to return to his father, wanting to be with his father. even as a servant, and our Lord then set forth how willingly that father received him.

He is brought to feel it, to be in want, and this is the work of God, to make one to feel and to know, painful though it is, that they have sinned, they have broken God's law, and they're brought into real conviction. When our Lord spoke of those praying in the temple with the publican, it was, God be merciful to me, a sinner. And so it is the preaching here, our text, it says that repentance and remission of sins should be preached.

Well, repentance is a turning. So he's pointing sinners that they turn away from their sins, that they turn away from a false way, and that they turn to God. They turn away from the world and all its amusement, sinful pleasures, and vices, and all those things that are breaking the law of God, and that they turn to the Lord. And as repentance is preached, then those that are brought to feel that they have a need of turning, that their lives do not measure up to God's standard, that they are under condemnation, will feel and know that they're not able to turn. They cannot repent of themselves. They try to. The Apostle Paul in Romans 7 He says, the good that I would, I do not. The evil that I would not, that I do. A wretched man that I am.

It is when one feels the inability to pay the debt themselves, or to change themselves, that then they want another to do it for them. The children of Israel were unable to extricate themselves from Egyptian bondage. and we are unable to extricate ourselves from the bondage of sin. Not all the signs and wonders that were done in Egypt could bring them out, but there was one way that they could come out, in the shedding of blood, pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, the people needing forgiveness, those that feel it, this, is a gospel message. This is a way pointing to them, a people that desire that their lives be conformed to the Lord and that their way be the way of the word of God.

People that feel themselves to have sinned against God, transgressed his law, they are guilty, they're under the sentence of death, that they need this forgiveness by God. that he'd take away this debt, that he'd deliver them from that condemnation, that he'd bring them nigh to himself as a holy God and them as a sinner. Have we walked that path? Have we been that path? Are we in that path to know and value what it is to have the forgiveness of sins and want to have it, to know that we have it, that we shall stand at last without fault before his throne.

Martin Luther was once accused in a dream of Satan coming to him and giving him a whole list of all his transgressions and what he'd done. And he said, yes, they are my sins. I acknowledge them. But right across the bottom, the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth from all sin. And there is the answer. There is the way of forgiveness, God's way of forgiveness.

But may we be firstly a people that needs it, because there are countless millions in this world, and we all by nature, You have no need, no felt need, but you do have a need, but no felt need. And the gospel message is neglected, is not wanting to be heard. Stadiums are filled with people watching sport while the chapels are empty. The shopping centres are full, but the places of worship are empty. Why? Because they understand the value of material things. They like this world's pleasures, and the Word says that men shall be lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God in the last time. They have no knowledge, no idea of what debt they are under, what condemnation they are under, and how they need God's forgiveness and pardon.

So I want to look secondly at a God ready to forgive. This the Lord has shown right from the start of the Word of God in giving the promises of the seed to the woman in giving the promises of his beloved Son, in showing forth the types and the shadows that point to the way of forgiveness.

May we always remember this, however much you might feel guilt and sin, uncleanness, that God is ready to forgive. And we have the pattern shown in the Word of God. In Nehemiah chapter 9, we read in verse 15 to 17, especially at the end of this 17th verse, that first you have a contrast. You have what the Lord has done for the children of Israel. This is, in Nehemiah's day, a confession, a confession of their sin and thinking back to the children of Israel's time in the wilderness.

and gave us them bread from heaven for their hunger, brought us forth their water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and promised them that they should go in to possess the land which thou hast sworn to give them. But they and our fathers dealt proudly, and hardened their necks, and hearkened not to thy commandments, and refused to obey. Neither were mindful of thy wonders, that thou didst among them but harden their necks, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage. What a picture. What a black picture. What's God's attitude? What's his frame of mind toward them in all of this? And then we read, but thou art a God ready to pardon, Gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and forsookest them not.

A God ready to forgive. You put yourself in that position. Perhaps instead of Israel, you list the long list of all the things that you've done. Rebelled against God, spoken against Him, kicked against him, gone back to your sins again and again. And the devil says, there's no hope. God's written you off. There's no pardon, no forgiveness for you. But the word of God says, he is a God ready to pardon. Gracious and merciful, slow to anger of great kindness. That is That is our God.

And we have further verses also in the prophet Joel. Again, it's a time of real humbling before God. In Joel chapter two, we read from verse 12. Therefore also now saith the Lord, turn ye even to me, with all your heart and with fasting and with weeping and mourning, he's calling them to repentance, to sorrow over their sin. Rend your heart and not your garments. Turn unto the Lord your God. Why? For he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness and repenteth him of the evil. Who knoweth? if he will return and repent and leave a blessing behind him.

This is the message of the gospel. This is what Jonah, he said this is why he fled from the Lord in the first place, because he knew the character of the Lord that is merciful, gracious, and long-suffering. If he sent a preacher, if he warned a people, then he would give them repentance, and God did. And he saw their repentance and forgave them their sins. Jonah knew the nature of God, a God that was ready to forgive.

If we return back from our text to Luke 23, then we have our Lord Jesus Christ upon the cross. And we read in verse 33, where they came to the place which is called Calvary. There they crucified him and the malefactors, one on the right hand and the other on the left. Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. They parted his raiment and cast launce.

Our Lord Jesus Christ here was showing that readiness to forgive and praying to his Father that those that were despitefully using him, crucifying him, that they would be forgiven. We are told to pray for those that persecute us and despitefully use us. Our Lord was not, as so many quote him as doing, He was not forgiving them. He was not doing the act of forgiveness.

If we were to look back to places like Mark chapter two, where we have the paralyzed man that was let down by four before our Lord, and our Lord, he saw their faith and he said to the man sick of the policy, Thy sins be forgiven thee. And those that heard, they said, accused him of blasphemy, that who can forgive sins but God only. But our Lord, in that occasion, in other occasions, while he was on earth and in his ministry, directly forgave sins.

In this case, on the cross, he does not directly forgive those that are crucifying him. but he prays for them and he evidences that he is a God ready to forgive. This is a point that there is great confusion of and amongst in Christian circles. Quite often you might hear a public figure, especially who has suffered a loss, a death, someone has murdered their loved one, and they come out and they say, I forgive him. And the person that they are forgiving shows no remorse, they're not sorry, they have not asked for forgiveness, but they're saying that the Lord on the cross, he forgave those that were crucifying him.

The Lord did not. They're confusing a readiness to forgive with the act of forgiveness itself. And they are two very, very different things. We should not confuse those two. The forgiveness of the Lord is tied in with conditions. The readiness to forgive. is vital so that we are not consumed by bitterness, vengeance, hatred, malice, that what that other person has done doesn't then chew up our own life.

But the way it is represented in the world, and if you were to do even a search on the internet for the meaning of the word forgiveness, The meaning that is given using AI today, which of course is drawing from perhaps many Christian so-called sites. And it tells that really forgiveness is not the biblical forgiveness. It really is describing that forgiveness as a readiness to forgive. But it's very confusing for the world. And it's a wrong message. It's a wrong teaching. It bypasses the conditions that God has set for forgiveness to be bestowed. And we should not do that. We make ourselves greater than God. We make ourselves to make God say what he has not said. And we should never feel ourselves guilty or that we must forgive someone who gives no sign of repentance or remission or sorrow for sin at all.

But we do pray for them, we treat them kindly, we seek that they might be brought to repentance and godly sorrow, and that we, at that point, would unreservedly forgive them. Remember years ago there was a father who had a daughter that was murdered and he said to those that were responsible for her murder that I want you to know that if you ever ought to be sorry for what you have done, you know then that you have my full forgiveness. The way it was reported in the newspapers was that he actually forgave them. The way I heard it from his own mouth was that he was ready to forgive. And he wanted them to know at that point that they were sorry that he forgave them. But at that point, they weren't. And I felt it was a good, a scriptural way of dealing with a great bereavement and sorrow and pain so that one wasn't consumed with it oneself, but at the same time was speaking in God's way of forgiveness and seeking real pardon, eternal pardon for those people that had sinned in that way.

But may we remember this, all that we feel and know of our own sin, that God is a God ready to forgive. And we ourselves also should be a people that are ready to forgive. It's a very sad thing when even perhaps on small matters someone might do something against us and we hold it against them and we refuse to take any expressions of sorrow, any remorse, and we just hold it against them. That is a very sad thing, when that is evidence. We need to be, like our Lord, ready, ready to forgive when the evidence is there that forgiveness should be given.

On to look then thirdly at God's conditions for forgiveness. Our text here does give, for the most part, those conditions. The first is that their remission of sins or forgiveness is only through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

It is noted in Psalm 51 that though David had murdered Uriah, and though he had committed adultery with Bathsheba, in his psalm of repentance, He says, against thee, thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight. We do talk about sins against one another, and very often the things that we do against one another are a transgression of God's law as well, and therefore rightly can be called sins. But strictly speaking, sin is the transgression of the law of God. And David saw this. It was not just something done against man that needed a forgiveness from a person. Yes, we are to seek forgiveness from someone else. And we are to give that when asked. But when we realize we've broken God's law, we need forgiveness from God. We need confession. toward God, as David did confess his sin as before God. And if it's before God, it can only then be put away through God's way.

And our text clearly shows us this is only through Christ. That is the only way that God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit will recognise as forgiveness. Sins cannot be blotted out through any other name, through any other teaching, through any other doctrine. It is because our Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary's tree there paid the debt. Remember what we said of forgiveness. Forgiveness is putting away a debt, forgetting it, blotting it out, taking it from our account. but he's putting on another's account. He's not just writing it off. The debt was paid by Christ, and so it is through Christ alone. And the condition is that our faith is placed in Christ. We look to him, what he has done, what he has suffered, that he paid our debt. We are a redeemed people that believe in Him, that trust in Him.

Ye are bought with a price, wherefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are His. Redeeming is set free by payment of a price. We mention with the children of Israel in Egypt and nine great signs that ruined Egypt did not result in their being set free. Only the shedding of blood. Without the shedding of blood there is no remission or no forgiveness of sins. And that shedding of blood is only through Christ. No amount of cutting ourselves, no amount of trusting in any other God, any other name. It is, the Lord is the only name given among men whereby we must be so. is an offensive doctrine today, even amongst so-called Christian circles that, like our King, know solemnly or trust in all sorts of faiths and all sorts of religions. But there is only one name and only one way. And when we stand before the one and true God, almighty God, at the last Judgment Day, there is only one forgiveness that is acknowledged and that is through the precious blood of Christ.

This is what is to be remembered in the ordinance of the Lord's Supper. This do ye, in remembrance of me, ye do show forth the Lord's death till he come. This is one first and major condition of receiving forgiveness. A soul that is forgiven will know Christ, know about his sufferings, know about his death, realize it was their sins that caused them, be brought to believe in him, mourn over him, love the Lord for what he has done for them. They will see inseparable that their hope for heaven and pardon and forgiveness is all bound up in the Lord Jesus Christ.

unto you which believe he is precious. And he is exalted to give repentance and remission of sins unto Israel. And in our text, that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations beginning at Jerusalem. So the first condition, the first forgiveness God's way is through Christ. and Christ alone. The second is repentance, that repentance and remission of sins.

Now, we mentioned our Lord Jesus Christ upon the cross, having a readiness to forgive. Father, forgive them, they know not what they do. Was that prayer answered? How was it answered? Well, on the day of Pentecost, 50 days after our Lord suffered, then the Holy Spirit was given, and Peter, he was preaching to these same people. If our Lord had pardoned and forgiven the people on the cross, as many make out that he did, then how was it that their sins that had been blotted out Their debts taken away should then, by Peter, under the Holy Spirit's power, should accuse them and set before them of what they'd done. Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and full knowledge of God, he have taken them by wicked hands, crucified and slain. Their sin is still there. And just to confirm that as well, when he preaches it, When he says before them what they have done and the things that they had done to the Lord Jesus Christ, then we read of their own effect. When he says to them in verse 36 in Acts 2, therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus whom ye crucified, both Lord and Christ, and we read this. Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do?

This is not the language of those who would say, but the Lord forgave us on the cross. He forgave us then. They are now under conviction. They are now feeling themselves to be sinners. So what does Peter say? Does he say, I forgive you? Does he say God forgives you? No, he doesn't. He brings about another condition, the condition that is in our text.

Then Peter said unto them, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Repent, turn from your former view turn from your hatred, turn from your calling our Lord an imposter, and turn to believe in Him, to trust in Him, and to be sorry for what you have done, to mourn over what you have done. This is His command to them, and it's inseparably joined with the remission of sins. Exactly as the Lord had commissioned them.

So our Lord's Prayer was heard, but it's heard on the condition of repentance through the preaching of the Word as Peter was preaching here. Not as so many represent the Lord as actually forgiving on the cross.

Now of course many will say, well, there are many other texts where we are told that that you can forgive and there's not mention of repentance. Well, that is indeed true. But when you compare scripture with scripture, however many texts you might say, that there is not the need of repentance that is mentioned.

If we were to just look at Matthew 18, and this is a chapter that's used as discipline or to bring a people that have erred back to the Lord. The context is that if one trespasses against us, in Matthew 18, 15, we go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone. If he hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. If he will not hear thee, then take with thee too one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word may be established. And if he doesn't hear you, then you take it to the church. And all the time, the aim is to bring this person to repentance, bring them to sorrow, and then to bring them to be forgiven.

But after that, Peter, he says, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him, till seven times. Jesus saith unto him, I say, not unto thee until seven times, but until seventy times seven. And people say, there's no mention of repentance there. No, but the whole context is to bring one to change and to be sorry, but the main text and it's a good one to always remember and always go back to is that in Luke chapter 17.

In Luke chapter 17 you have in verses 3 and 4, take heed to yourselves if thy brother trespass against thee rebuke him and if he repent forgive him And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent, thou shalt forgive him.

So God's commission and condition for remission of sins is repentance, remorse, sorrow for what is done. The third one is a willingness to forgive ourselves. This is especially seen in the Lord's Prayer, and the Lord's Prayer is recorded in Matthew 6 and in verses 14 and 15. Because our Lord, he prays in verse 12 or gives the guide for prayer, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And then he says, for if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

And again, this is another text that is often being used by those that were, forgive someone that has not shown any remorse or repentance, because they say, well, if I don't forgive them, I'm not going to be forgiven. And they just take our Lord's Prayer here. Well, it is a condition. It is a condition. If we make out that we know forgiveness ourselves, and we don't show forgiveness to another, then that questions whether we really know the value of forgiveness and we certainly don't have a spirit ready to forgive and so our Lord is very clear this is a condition.

Now we said at the beginning that these conditions are not only conditions but they're tokens that our sins are forgiven. If we've been pointed by the Spirit to Christ and trust to Christ alone for forgiveness of sins, and if we've been brought to repent and be sorry and to turn away, from those sins and turning to the Lord. And if we've been willing then to forgive others that trespass against us, those very things are gifts by God. He's exalted to give this repentance, to give remission of sins. And so that is a token that our sins have been forgiven.

We read in 1 John chapter one, verse nine, if we confess our sins is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That we should make it very clear that when we forgive others, it is as Christ also has forgiven us. Paul is very clear on this and he writes the Ephesians, Ephesians chapter 4, at the end of that chapter, he says, let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice, and be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you.

We forgive others as God has forgiven us. And we say to another, oh, I just forgive you. Don't worry about repentance. Don't worry about sorrow. Then we are, in effect, saying, God's forgiven me like that. God's forgiven me without repentance. This is God's plan. God's forgiveness is unconditional. But that is not true. That is wrong. It's a wrong message. A Christian is saying this and saying it to the world. They're proclaiming an un-Christian message unto the world. It's not the way of the Lord at all.

Paul, when he writes to the Colossians, he gives the same message to them in the third chapter. And he says, forbearing one another and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any, Even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And so it's a knowledge of the way of forgiveness that we have known, that we look for another. Surely our desire is to see that real sorrow and remorse of another. And that brings to real reconciliation. It brings to embrace one another. a real healing process. And that is God's way.

Forgiveness, God's way, is bound up with his very commission, sending out. Dear friends, do not confuse being ready to forgive with forgiveness. But look at it, how God deals with it, and how God sends us forth to preach it. and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. May we know what it is to be pardoned and forgiven and have that peace in our hearts and the burden of our sin to be released from us. And we view them laid upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.