Good evening. Let's open tonight's
service with hymn number 13 from your Spiral Gospel Hymns hymn
book, number 13. We sing this hymn to a different
tune than you're used to, and we just sing it straight through,
no refrain. Mark the stain that soiled man's
nature, long the distance that he fell, far removed from hope
and heaven, into deep despair and hell. But there was a fountain
open, and the blood of God's own Son purifies the soul and
reaches deeper than the stain has gone. ? Conscience of the
deep pollution ? ? Sinners wander in the night ? ? Though they
hear the shepherd calling ? ? They still fear to face the light
? ? This the blessed consolation ? ? That can melt the heart of
stone ? ? That sweet balm of Gilead reaches ? ? Deeper than
the stain has gone ? ? All unworthy we who've wandered ? ? And our
eyes are wet with tears ? ? As we think of love that sought
us ? ? Through the weary wasted years ? ? Yet we walk the holy
highway ? ? Walking by God's grace alone ? knowing Calvary's
fountain reaches deeper than the stain has gone. When with holy choirs we're standing
in the presence of the King, And our souls are lost in wonder
while the white rope choirs sing. Then we'll praise the name of
Jesus with the millions round the throne. Praise him for the
power that reaches deeper than the stain has gone. Please be seated. Let's open our Bibles to Colossians
chapter 2. Colossians chapter 2. As we were singing that hymn,
I couldn't help to think of the verse where the Lord tells us,
where sin abounds, grace does much more abound. Our souls have been stained by
sin, and yet the blood cleanses us of that, and goes deeper than
the stain of our sin. We'll begin reading Colossians
2 at verse 8. Beware, lest any man spoil you
through philosophy and vain deceit, after the traditions of men,
after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in
him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you
are complete in him which is the head of all principality
and power, in whom also you are circumcised with the circumcision
made without hands and putting off the body of the sins of the
flesh by the circumcision of Christ, buried with him in baptism,
wherein also you are raised with him through the faith of the
operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead, and you, being
dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh,
hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all
trespasses." Having forgiven you all trespasses. Blotting out the handwriting
of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us,
and took it out of the way. nailing it to the cross, and
having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of
them openly, triumphing over them. And that last phrase actually
reads, in himself. He triumphed over sin in himself. Let's pray together. our gracious, merciful, glorious
Heavenly Father. We find great hope and comfort
in knowing that all of the ordinances that were against us, all of
the law that condemned us, nailed to the cross, our sin being put away, having
full forgiveness and having the blood of thy dear son cleanse
us of all our sin. Lord, we pray that you would
speak that truth to our hearts tonight. We pray that you would
enable us to to worship you and to glory in Christ and to rejoice
in the forgiveness of sin. Lord, we pray for our dear brethren
that you have afflicted. We ask that with your affliction,
Lord, would be a hand of grace and comfort and strength and
hope. Lord, we thank you that it is so. Lord, we We look forward to that day when
we will shed this flesh, be made in the fullness of thy
likeness. It's in Christ's name we pray,
amen. Number 222, 222, let's all stand
together. ? There is a fountain filled with
blood ? ? Drawn from Emmanuel's veins ? ? And sinners plunged
beneath that flood ? ? Lose all their guilty stains ? ? Lose
all their guilty stains ? And sinners plunged beneath that
flood lose all their guilty stains. The dying thief rejoiced to see
that fountain in his day. And there may I, though vile
as he, ? Wash all my sins away ? Wash all my sins away ? Wash
all my sins away ? And there may I, though vile as he ? Wash
all my sins away ? Dear dying lamb, thy precious
blood ? ? Shall never lose its power ? ? Till all the ransomed
church of God ? ? Be saved to sin no more ? ? Be saved to sin
no more ? ? Be saved to sin no more ? Till all the ransomed
church of God ? Be saved to sin no more ? E'er since by faith
I saw the stream ? Thy flowing wounds supply Redeeming love
has been my theme, and shall be till I die, and shall be till
I die. and shall be till I die. Redeeming love has been my thing
and shall be till I die. When this poor lisping, stammering
tongue Lies silent in the grave Then in a nobler, sweeter song
I'll sing thy power to save I'll sing thy power to save ? I'll
sing thy power to save ? ? Then in a nobler, sweeter song ? ?
I'll sing thy power to save ? Please be seated. What glorious singing that'll
be. I've titled this message, Forgiven. Forgiven. Having forgiven you
all trespasses. Is there anything more precious
to the heart and soul of a sinner than to be forgiven? to be forgiven by God. And let me remind you that God's
forgiveness is perfect forgiveness, not like our forgiveness. Everything
he does is perfect. Perfect love, perfect hatred, perfect justice. perfect righteousness,
and perfect forgiveness. Complete forgiveness, not partial
forgiveness. No loose ends in God's forgiveness.
No stone left unturned. Nothing in us conditioned for
that forgiveness. To be forgiven. of all our sin before God. Turn with me in your Bibles to
Isaiah chapter 43. Isaiah chapter 43. Look with
me at verse 25. I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions
for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins." Now for a
sinner, that's a glorious promise. That is a glorious promise. For
those who do not see themselves as sinners, well, no big deal. But for a sinner, One who has
experienced separation from God as a result of their sin, and
that's what sin does. Your sin has separated you from
your God. The glorious truth of it is that
it's also our sin that drives us to God. It's like taking two magnets
and putting them together. You put the positive side of
one magnet to the negative side of the other magnet and they
will draw each other right together. Try putting the positive side
to the two magnets together and they will repel one another.
And that's what happens when we go to the law in order to
try to find forgiveness for our sin. We are presenting God our
righteousness. in hopes that somehow we can
atone for these sins and you put man's righteousness up against
God's righteousness just like those two magnets, the positive
poles pushing themselves away from each other. You cannot stick
them together. It won't happen. But you turn
it around and take the negative pole of that magnet, the sinful
side, and it just gets drawn right to the positive side of
that other magnet, doesn't it? It's the way it is. God makes
you to be a sinner. Yes, it is our sin that has separated
us from our God and is our sin. When the Lord shows us what we
are, that causes us to flee to him as the only hope of forgiveness,
the only hope of forgiveness. Now, can I go to the law with
my sin? The law only aggravates my sin. The strength of sin, the scripture
says, is the law. All the law does is make me more
sinful. That's really what the book of
Job is about. Job's miserable comforters represent
the law. And his, they were piling on
already to the terrible circumstances he was in, the shame and guilt
of thinking that somehow if he could just measure up to the
law that everything would be well. And he justified himself
because he kept running, he kept seeing his hope in the law until
the Lord brought the gospel and then he realized. Oh Lord, I've
got no hope outside of you. What was the first thing that
Job said when he saw the Lord, when he heard from the Lord,
he said, behold, I am vile. I am a sinner. I am full of sin. I'm in need of a savior. No longer
did he find any hope for his salvation in the law. God had
turned that magnet around and now The Lord is drawing him to
himself as a sinner, as a sinner. That's the only way we come.
Only sinners come to Christ. Boaz had to reason with that
nearer kinsman in order to redeem Ruth. And, uh, That's what the
Lord Jesus Christ did when he went to Calvary's cross. He satisfied
the demands of the law. He was obedient, even unto death,
yeah, even the death of the cross. And so God required perfect obedience
to the law, and that's exactly what the Lord Jesus did. And
he became the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believeth. He has forgiven us of all our
trespasses. You remember when Elijah was
being pursued by Jezebel and he ran to Mount Horeb, which
is the same as Mount Sinai. And he tries to hide in a cave.
I can only imagine that perhaps being the same exact rock that
the Lord hid Moses in. And the Lord says to Elijah the
prophet, he asked him twice, he said, Elijah, what are you
doing here? Why did you run to Mount Horeb?
Why did you run to the mountain of the law? The Lord was pleased with a still
small voice to speak to Elijah and to assure him of his forgiveness. God makes you to be a sinner
and he writes the law of sin on your heart You know that sin
is not just what you do, sin is what you are. You agree with
the Apostle Paul in Romans chapter seven, when he said, when I would
do good, evil is ever present with me. To will is with me,
but how to perform that which is good, I find not, I'm a sinner. I've got a sinful nature. The
sinful nature that I have is inherited from my father, Adam. The only difference in the manifestation
of sin is the restraining grace of God, not the nature of the
sinner. It is in our nature to produce
just as much rotten fruit and to grow out just as many limbs
as any tree, because the sin is in the root. The only thing
that limits the amount of rotten fruit that a sinner produces
is the restraining grace of God, not the nature of the sinner.
And that's why We can't look down our self-righteous noses
at anyone and think, well, I would never do that, or look how horrible
they are and look at the life I'm living. No. No, we understand
that the nature of sin is just as real and just as powerful
in us as it is in anyone. And that we are dependent upon
God to restrain that sin. The best definition I know of
sin in the Bible is very simple. All have sinned and fallen short
of the glory of God. That's why it's important for
us to preach Christ, because when Christ is lifted up, then
men are caused to see, as Isaiah did, when he saw the Lord high
and lifted up in Isaiah chapter 6, he said, woe is me, I'm undone. I'm a man of unclean lips. I
live among a people of unclean lips. My eyes have seen the King.
I'm going to die. Look at me. There's nothing in
me like Him. That's what Isaiah would say.
I'm a sinner. And God has just revealed His
glory to me in the sinless, perfect person of His Son. The harmless,
sinless Son of God. Who's higher than the heavens. And everything about me is sinful. And because I do it, it's infected
with my sin. I cannot not sin. Paul said, the law, the law of
God is spiritual. The law of God is good. It's
holy and just. But he went on to say, but I'm
carnal, sold under sin. That's who I am. How am I going
to stand in the presence of a holy God and find acceptance only
if he forgives me? Only if he forgives me. And his
forgiveness must be perfect. It must be just. It must be consistent
with His nature. That's what I'm dependent upon.
That's why the sinner rejoices in having a Savior. Let's consider A few questions
concerning this verse that we just read from Isaiah chapter
43. The first question I would ask is, who is this promise for? When God says, I, even I am he
that blotteth out thy transgressions, puts them away completely, erases
them. Separates them from you as far
as the East is from the West. Sows them up in a bag and throws
them behind his back and hides them in the depths of the sea.
Who is this that blots out our sin? It is God. Sin is an offense
against God. We can't go to another man to
get forgiveness of our sin. And yet that's so commonly practiced
among men, isn't it? Priestcraft. You know, people
find out you're a preacher and they want to confess their sins
to you in hopes that somehow that's going to salve their conscience.
Don't confess your sins to me. I can't help you. I can't help
you. Your business is with God. That's
who our sin is against. And He's the only one that can
forgive us. That's who forgives us of our
sin. I, even I am he that blotteth
out thy transgression. If we offend one another, then
we can forgive one another. And even then our forgiveness
is not like his forgiveness. We forgive, but we still have
a little, less trust in that person, don't we? And we still
remember those things. Our Lord's forgiveness is perfect,
but our offense is against Him. You remember when they brought
that young man on a pallet They opened up the tiles in the ceiling
and lowered him down because they couldn't get through the
press of the crowd. And the Lord saw their faith. And he said,
he said, your sins are forgiven you. And those self-righteous
Pharisees started murmuring. And the scripture says the Lord
knew their hearts. And what were they thinking?
Only God can forgive sin. Who does he think he is? And
so our Lord spoke to them. He looked right at them and he
said, what is easier to say your sins are forgiven you or take
up your bed and walk, but that you might know that the son of
man has the power to forgive sin. I say unto thee, take up
thy bed and walk. And the young man took up his
bed and walked. What was the Lord saying? I'm God. And I forgive
sin. Your sins are forgiven you. What
a precious promise. He's the only one that can do
it. Sin is against him. David said in Psalm 51, against
thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. And the offender, us, the sinner,
doesn't have the right to say to the offended one, I'm going
to give you permission to forgive me. It doesn't work that way,
does it? It doesn't work that way among
men. How would, why would we think it was going to be worked
that way against God? With God, that we were going to somehow
give him permission to forgive us. That's not the way forgiveness
works. We have offended him. He will
have mercy upon whom he will have mercy and whom he will he
harden. All the sewed together fig leaves
in the world will not be sufficient to cover our nakedness. A sinner's conscience cannot
be satisfied with the forgiveness that men
affirm. We don't go to a man in order
to try to get forgiveness. It doesn't matter if it's a priest
in a confessional or whether it's a preacher who points you
back to some sort of experience and tries to give you assurance
of your salvation by reminding you of when you walked the aisle
or prayed a prayer or made a decision or got baptized or anything.
No, men cannot speak peace to our hearts. Only God can do that.
Only God can speak peace to our hearts. But what peace it is
when he does. And he speaks, he speaks by his
word. And I'm hoping right now, tonight, that he's gonna speak
to our hearts as sinners and affirm to us, I, even I, have
blotted out all thy transgressions for mine own sake. No man can speak peace to a sinner's
heart. Only God can do that. Second question is, who is this
promise for? Notice with me in verse 22 of
Isaiah 43. But thou hast not called upon
me, O Jacob. This forgiveness, is for prayerless
sinners. This forgiveness is for prayerless
sinners. You know, we see these false
prophets on TV saying that, you know, if you just pray this prayer,
that you can obligate God to forgive you of your sin and save
you. What's the Lord saying here? He said, I, even I am going to
blot out your transgressions. And who's he talking to? Thou
hast not called upon me, O Jacob. In other words, forgiveness is
not God's response to our prayer. God's not rewarding us. We're
not obligating God. We're not somehow putting him
in a position to have to forgive us because we've prayed a prayer. Let me show you that in Isaiah
65. Turn with me over just a few
pages to Isaiah chapter 65. Now, am I saying that believers
don't pray? No, I'm not saying that. We do. And the Lord puts it in our hearts
to cry out for forgiveness always. Lord, forgive me. But that's His work of grace
in the heart that makes us to pray like that. It's not that
we decided that we would pray and somehow God would reward
our prayers. Look at Isaiah chapter 65 and
we'll begin reading in verse one. I am sought of them that
ask not for me. That's who this forgiveness is
for. If God's waiting for me to do
something in order for Him to be able to forgive me, then I've
got no hope of my forgiveness. And if that was the case before
the Lord brought you to faith in Christ, then you've got some
contribution to make in your salvation, don't you? But you
didn't. No man seeketh after God at any
time. It's the spirit of God that calls
us out of darkness into his marvelous light. And you found yourself
one day believing. And even now, even now, child of
God, as you pray, you're not in any way, proud
of your prayers or dependent upon your prayers for God to
give you forgiveness. If anything, you're ashamed of
how insincerely and how inconsistently your prayer life is, aren't you?
Aren't you? So this is what the Lord's saying.
Oh, Jacob, you didn't call on me and yet I forgave you. That's
the kind of forgiveness I need. If God's waiting for me to frame
and voice a prayer that's going to be sufficient to grant forgiveness,
then I'm in trouble. Look at verse one of Isaiah 65.
I am sought of them that ask not for me. I am found of them
that sought me not. I said, behold me, behold me
unto a nation that is not called by my name. I have spread out
my hands all the day unto a rebellious people who walketh in a way that
was not good after their own thoughts. Does this describe
you? This is a sinner. Lord, I didn't
seek you. And I wouldn't seek you now if
you didn't seek me, if you didn't turn me and cause me and work
in me and enable me to pray, or I wouldn't do it. Oh, child of God, you've, like
me, you've prayed enough prayers that, you know, public prayers
are the hardest prayers to pray. And I, in a position where I
have to do that. And it, it grieves my soul because,
you know, I feel like you and you in your prayer closet, you
just, you just bare your soul to God and cry with groanings
that cannot be uttered. And, and you don't worry about,
you know, how, what your words sound like. Um, but you prayed
enough prayers where you just spoke words. Look at verse three. A people
that provoketh me to anger continually to my face, that sacrificeth
in the gardens and burneth incense upon the altars of bricks, which
remaineth among the graves and lodge in the mountains, in the
monuments, I'm sorry, which eat swine's flesh and broth of abominable
things in their vessels, which say, stand by thyself, come not
near to me, for I am holier than thou. Do you see these things in yourself?
You say, well, that's not the way I am. Well, then I don't
have a message of hope for you. Because the Savior is only for
sinners. I don't want to be this way,
but there's so much about me. Lord, I can be just as self-righteous
and condescending and presumptuous and worldly and fleshly as the
next person. I see it. I see it in the root
of the tree. Lord, refrain this tree from
producing the fruit that would, that would profane you. These are a smoke in my nose,
a fire that burneth all the day. Behold, it is written before
me, I will not keep silent, but will recompense, even recompense
unto their bosoms. Their iniquities and the iniquities
of their fathers together, saith the Lord, which have burned incense
upon the mountains and blaspheme me upon the hills. Therefore,
will I measure their former work into their bosom. This is the
conviction of the Spirit of God. When He burdens our soul, the
conviction of the Spirit, convicting us of our sin because we believe
not. This is the sinner's cry, Lord,
I believe. Oh, help Thou my unbelief. There's so much of it there.
Lord, I need forgiveness for my unbelief. I need a Savior
to stand in my stead. Look at verse 8. Here's our hope,
brethren. Thus saith the Lord, as the new
wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, destroy it not,
for a blessing is in it, so will I do for my servant's sake that
I may not destroy them all. So the first seven verses that
we just read is a description of all men, us included. And the Lord says, there's a
cluster, there's life in the vine, speaking of Christ. And I'm not going to destroy
them all. I'm gonna save a remnant. There's a certain number of people
that I'm gonna cause to see their sin. They're no less wicked, they're
no less sinful, they're no less evil than the rest of the world. But I'm gonna make them to differ.
I'm gonna make them to differ. I'm gonna cause them. to be burdened
for their sinful nature and their sinful flesh, and they're gonna
flee, then that sin will be the negative side of the magnet that
will draw them. That old man will serve the new
man, and he will cause them to see their need for Christ. So this promise is only, can
only be made by God. He's the only one that can forgive
sin. And it's, it's for, first of all, it's for prayerless
ones, prayerless ones. That's what, go back with me
to our text and look at again, look at verse, verse 22 again. But thou hast not called upon
me, O Jacob. I'm so thankful that our forgiveness
You see, we pray, yes, and we do pray, Lord, forgive me, but
we're praying because we are forgiven. And yet, as I said,
what child of God is not ashamed of how little and how insincere
their prayers are? And yet, this is who forgiveness
is for. Second of all, it is for those
who easily grow weary over spiritual things. Does this describe you? Is it easier for you to sit and
watch a two and a half hour movie than it is for you to concentrate
on the things of God for less than an hour in a worship service? Look at the rest of verse 22. But thou hast not called upon
me, O Jacob, but thou hast been weary of me, O Israel. Can you say, Lord, the battle
that I go through between the flesh and the spirit wearies
my soul. and the ability to, I mean, just
think about your own, but we're talking about prayers, just thinking
about your own personal prayer time. I mean, we pray for just
maybe a few seconds and already our mind, you're weary of me. You can engage in conversation
with another sinner and never miss a beat and listen to every
word and you come to me and you're weary of me. That's who I'm going to forgive.
The ones who don't pray as they ought and the ones who become
so easily wearied of spiritual things. That's who I'm going
to forgive. And the self-righteous says,
well, I'm not weary of spiritual things. I can engage in prayer
and worship and spiritual exercises all day long. And they'll tell
you about all the things they're doing for God, won't they? But
the believer says, oh, My flesh wearies me of God so quickly. Let me show you that. Turn with
me to Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12. You know, Hebrews chapter 11
is all about those Old Testament saints and they wearied of the
Lord. They wearied of Him. You see, this is how you know
that you're a sinner. You're more conscious of how
little you pray than you are of how much you pray. You're
more conscious of how easily it is for you to become wearied
of God than how zealous you are for God. You would be zealous
for Him if you could. This is who He forgives. Look at Hebrews chapter 12. Wherefore,
verse one, seeing also that we are compassed about with so great
a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the
sin which doth so easily beset us and let us run with patience
the race that is set before us. Does this sound like a casual
exercise? Does this sound like something
that you do just haphazardly? No, this is something that requires
great concentration and great effort. Why? Because we are so
easily wearied of God. You get wearied of God real quick,
don't you? looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before
him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at
the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that
endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest
you be wearied and faint in your minds." You see, we weary of
God very easily. And we faint in our minds very
easily. Why? Because we're sinners. And
this is who God, this is who Christ came to forgive. Oh, Jacob, you didn't pray. Oh, Israel,
you got weary to me. But I, even I, will blot out
your transgressions. Look at verse 4 of Hebrews chapter
12. You have not yet resisted unto blood striving against sin. Your struggle with sin is striving?
You haven't yet died over it as, you know, you haven't yet
been killed, been martyred. That's How easily wearied of God sinners
become. Here's the difference. The unbeliever
has no interest at all in God. They don't weary of Him. They
never think of Him. There's no conflict for them.
They're living their lives in the flesh and walking after sight
and there's no thought of God. The thought of God is not even
in their mind. For those who have two natures
and for whom the thought of God is in their mind, those who have
been forgiven, they're more conscious of how
easily wearied they are. of God than they are of how zealous
and faithful they are to God. Sinner, is that your experience?
Here's the good news. This is who he came to save.
This is the description of a sinner laboring to enter into his rest. Look at verse 23 in our text. Thou hast not brought me the
small cattle of Thy burnt offerings." What is the offering spoken? This is the offerings of Thanksgiving. How quickly we can murmur. Now, the unbeliever draws God's
air into their lungs and eats God's food and enjoys God's Son
and God's health and they never, oh, they may They may try to
impress somebody else by telling, I've got somebody in my life
that's always telling me, you know, how thankful they are for
life. And I know they don't know the
Lord. And yet they, you know, they, they, they think it's spiritual
and religious to, you know, to talk about, but they, they, they
can't thank God without knowing Christ. And yet the scripture speaks
of the believers, the calves of our lips. So he said, you
didn't bring your offerings, your Thanksgiving offerings to
me as you ought. How ungrateful we can be. And we ought to be, we ought
to be thankful in all things. for all things is the will of
God and Christ Jesus concerning us, and yet how easily we can
become disquieted, how easily we can become discouraged, how
easily we can become complaining and murmuring. Again, the unbeliever doesn't
know how unthankful they are. The child of God is convicted
by the fact that they aren't as grateful as they ought to
be. We ought to be bringing the sacrifice
of praise to God all the time. Thou hast not brought me the
small cattle of the burnt offerings, yet I, even I, have blotted out
thy transgressions. You see, this is who he's forgiven. He's forgiven sinners. He doesn't
forgive the self-righteous. He doesn't forgive the Pharisee.
He doesn't forgive those who think that they're, you know,
living their lives in spiritual gratitude and light and life
and hope. And no, He forgives those who
see how far short of the glory of God they really are. all have
sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. I don't know if
I finished that thought earlier. It's the best definition I know
of in the scriptures. What in your life falls short
of the glory of God? If you've seen the Lord, you
know that every thought you have and every word you speak and
everything you do falls short of His glory. And you can't,
you can't, Be impressed with yourself. Look at verse 20, the second part of verse 23.
Neither hast thou honored me with thy sacrifices. How? vain we can be in seeking honor
to ourselves. We ought to always be deferring
all glory and all honor and all praise to Him. Ought we not?
And yet we, we value the praise of men. The Lord is describing the person
that he has forgiven. That's what he's doing. He's describing the sinner. What did that Pharisee say? Oh,
it's not me. I pray all the time. I fast twice a week. I give tithes. I see. And the publican would not
so much as even look up but smote himself on the breast and said,
God have mercy upon me, the sinner, the sinner. And the Lord said,
which one of these two men went to his house justified? The sinner
did, the sinner did. My third question is, when does
God forgive? Look at verse 25. I, even I,
am he that blotteth out thy transgressions. That word is present tense. Lord, I need my sins forgiven
now, right now. I need you to blot them out.
There ever before me, Lord, to will, is present, but how to
perform that which is good, I find not. Lord, I'm sold under sin. I need to know right now, right
now, that my sins have been blotted out. I need deliverance now. I need
peace now. I need hope now. I need grace
now. I can't rely upon a past experience. I can't eat yesterday's manna.
It's it's spoiled. It's got worms in it. I can't
rely upon that experience. I need you to blot out and forgive
me now. Present tense. And the Lord doesn't
say I will forgive you if No, he's saying, in spite of
the fact that you didn't pray, in spite of the fact that you're
not thankful, in spite of the fact that you didn't bring your
sacrifices, in spite of the fact that you're wearied of me, yet I, even I, God Almighty,
have blotted out thy transgressions, put them away right now. That's hope, isn't it? Isn't
that child of God? It's a sinner's hope. Lord, that's
me. And that's what I need. My third
question is, how much of our sin does God forgive? Well, in
our text that we began with in Colossians chapter two, he hath
forgiven us or forgiven you all your trespasses, past, present,
and future. and future. Not a sin you can
commit. The Lord doesn't say, I blotted
them out. So you can't say that preacher,
someone's thinking, well, that's going to give folks a license
to sin. You know, you don't need to tell believers that grace
is not a license to sin. You don't have to say that to
a believer. You might have to say that to
the abuser of grace, that this is not licensed to sin, but you
don't have to say to a believer that grace is no license to sin
any more than you have to say to a loving wife, the trust that
your husband has for you is no license for you to be unfaithful. You have to say that? No. No, you don't have to say that. When we say the Lord blots out
all our transgressions, we're not in any way thinking, well,
since all the sins of my future are already forgiven, then I
can live this way or that way. No. Turn with me to Exodus chapter
34. I want you to see something in the scriptures here as to
how God defines our sin. Exodus, Exodus 34. Verse six, and the Lord passed by before
him that God's taken Moses and put him in the cleft of the rock.
put him in Christ, here we are, and proclaim the Lord, the Lord
God merciful and gracious, long suffering and abundant in goodness
and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving, iniquity,
transgression, and sin. So the Lord defines our sinful
nature in three ways, iniquity, That word means unequal, and
that's the things that we do. The things that we don't do,
I'm sorry. Iniquity is what we don't do.
We don't measure up to the glory of God. Everything we do is iniquitous. Everything we do is fall short
of His glory. Transgression, those are the
things that we do. in transgressing God's law. And
sin is what we are. So here, iniquity, transgression,
and sin. What you don't do, what you do,
and what you are. And I've forgiven it all. Every
bit of it. Every bit of it, past, present,
and future. 1 John 1, the blood of Jesus
Christ cleanses us of all our sins. You are washed, you are
sanctified, you are justified before God. Why does God forgive? For my own sake. Notice in our
text, go back with me to our text. We have to see this. I know we've run out of time,
but, I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine
own sake. I didn't blot out your transgressions.
because you prayed a prayer, or because you were thankful,
or because you were repentant, or because you were sincere,
or because you made a promise, or because you were sorry. That's
not why I forgave you. I forgave you for my own namesake.
The glory of my name was at stake in the forgiveness of your sin.
I made a promise. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
surety that agreed with his father in eternity past to be everything
necessary for the forgiveness of our sin. His name is Jesus,
for he shall forgive his people of their sins. I'm forgiving
you for my glory, for my namesake, not for anything that I saw in
you. The only reason is because I am Jehovah Sidken
you, the Lord, our righteousness. I am living up to my name, not
to have nothing to do with you. And the sinner says, oh, wonderful. I'm so thankful for that. I'm
so thankful that my forgiveness is not determined on my sorrow
or my sincerity or my repentance or my faith or my goodness or
anything in me. that he's doing it for his name's
sake. There's my hope. My last question is, can God's
forgiveness be forgotten? Can it be rescinded? Can it be
revoked? Can it be annulled? Look at the last part of verse
25, and will not remember thy sins. There's some things that God
can't do. Scripture says God cannot lie. He cannot change. His holiness will not allow Him
to lie. His eternal nature will not allow
Him to change. He cannot forget His covenant
promises. He's too faithful. He cannot
forget His people. He's loved them with an everlasting
love. There's no chance that he could stop loving them. And
justice will not allow him to punish sin twice. Justice will
not allow God to punish sin twice. How are we forgiven all our sins? Every one of them, past, present,
and future, all the sins of all of God's people were placed on
our sin bearer, our substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ. The full
wrath of God's fury, the full fury of His wrath was poured
out on Christ on Calvary's cross. The fire was quenched. The sword
was wet. Blood was shed. Sin was covered. God requires no more. No more. And he can settle for nothing
less, nothing less than the sacrifice that Christ made for the forgiveness
of our sin. And there's our hope, brethren.
I'll remember them no more. I'm not going to bring them up
at judgment. Let conscience, let the devils
of hell, hurl all the assaults and all the accusations that
they will, the Lord Jesus Christ as our advocate will stand in
our stead and he will say, I don't remember those sins. Those sins
have been put away. You know, and another sense is
that right now in our lives, when we go before the Lord as
a guilty sinner and ask for forgiveness, The Lord doesn't do to us what
we do to one another. How many times would someone
be able to come to you and ask you to forgive them of the same
exact thing over and over and over again until finally, well,
you'd start by rolling your eyes, and then you'd quit listening,
and then you'd just say, you know what? I'm done with you. You come to the Lord with your
sin, and He doesn't remember the past sins. He doesn't hold
those things against you. He doesn't say, not you again.
He doesn't say, well, you know, you... No. He remembers them
no more. He's put them away by the sacrifice
of Christ. He doesn't bring these things
up. He doesn't charge us with those sins. And He doesn't use our sins to determine our rewards in heaven. I am thy shield and thine exceeding
great reward. Our rewards are not determined
by how faithful we are or were. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
reward. His likeness is our reward. The Lord's not going to say,
well, you know, you did this and that. So you take a back
seat over there and you, you know, I'll give you a little
bit of my, no, no. We're going to, we're going to
be made like Him. We're going to see Him in the
fullness of His glory. And our sins are not going to
determine that. Trust and love. You know, someone
sins against us, and we say, well, I forgive you, but it may
take a while for me to start trusting you again. The Lord
doesn't do that. You know, we might withdraw our
affection from that person for a while, or forever for that
matter, because we're punishing them
or we're not trusting them. I remember them no more. You
come to the Lord with your sin every day. And He doesn't say,
not you again. He doesn't say, well, that's
the same sin you've already confessed before. He doesn't say, well,
you take a back seat and let me give you a chance. See how you do this time, and
I'll know whether I can trust you, or whether I'm going to
love you as you need me to, or whether... No. No. I remember
them no more. When He forgives sin, He forgives
perfectly and completely. And that's what gives the believer,
the sinner, hope. Our Heavenly Father, thank you for the forgiveness of sin. Lord, our sin is continual and
we're always in need of your forgiveness. Thank you, Lord. In Christ's name, Amen. 232, let's stand together, 232.