Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Matthew. Matthew chapter 26. I'd like
to read verses 26 to 28. And as they were eating, Jesus took bread and blessed
it and break it and gave it to the disciples and said, Take,
eat, this is my body. And he took the cup and gave
thanks and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it, for this
is my blood of the New Testament. which is shed for many for the
remission of sins. Our Father, this evening, as we call upon You, we do so
with the assurance of knowing that You hear us for Christ's
sake. We realize that He is the way,
the truth, the life. He is our great High Priest,
ever liveth to make intercession for us. And for His sake, you
hear us. We ask your blessing upon this
message. Lord, encourage us by your Spirit
Teach us these things we ask for Christ's sake. Amen. This is my blood, blood of the New Testament, which
is shed for many. And this is the reason, he said,
for or concerning the remission. the forgiveness of sin. Now, when you think, when you
hear of the remission of sins, the
forgiveness, actually it means the sending away, the freedom
from, the deliverance, remission. When you hear that, the forgiveness
of sins, what are your thoughts? Can this truly be so? Is it so that God Almighty truly
forgives sin? The Scripture declares it to
be so. Ephesians 1, 7, in whom we have
redemption, the buying back, the payment of, through His blood, the forgiveness
of sins according to the riches of His grace. There was one sick of the palsy
that was brought to the Lord Jesus one day by some men. And
this is an amazing passage of Scripture. It says, seeing their
faith, he said, Son, be of good cheer. Thy sins be forgiven me. I have sent them away. I've remitted
them. I don't hold you accountable
for them. David said in Psalm 32, verse
1, Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. That's a blessed man. What does it matter? what this
world holds, what you have, if your sins are not forgiven. So forgiveness of sins is truly
so. And we have the authority of
the Word of God. The foundation of all peace before
God Almighty is the assuredness that for Christ's sake, God will
not impute my sin to me. He will not charge me with it. He has forgiven my sin. I'll
tell you, it's the greatest act of rebellion and disrespect to
doubt God's Word concerning forgiveness. Forgiveness of sin is so. Don't think lightly. If you sit
here this evening and God Almighty, for Christ's sake, has forgiven
your sins, you are above all men that this world could ever
say are blessed. You are truly blessed. to be able to leave this world
without chargeable guilt. It's the peace and the privilege that a believer in the Lord Jesus
Christ has, enjoying the certainty of it. Can you be certain of
it? That's the question. Can you
be certain of this? Is this truly so? I've got three things I want
to say tonight before we observe the Lord's table. He was getting
ready to eat of that supper with his disciples. He told them,
he said, here's some bread. I want you to take it and eat
it. This is my body. Took the cup. Gave thanks. Drink it. This is the blood of the New
Testament which is shed for many. for the forgiveness, for the
remission of sins. Three things about the forgiveness
of sins. Number one, what is the ground,
what is the foundation of the forgiveness of sins? What is
the foundation of Almighty God? He said, this is My blood which is shed for many. for the forgiveness of sins. Sin is real. Sin is a reality. God's holiness and God's justice
is a reality. I am a just God. Last Sunday
morning, I was flipping through the channels. There's one guy I stopped on. on Channel 5 out of Pinnsboro,
West Virginia. And he made this statement. He said, The Lord Jesus Christ, absolutely, His law of love outweighs,
exceeds His law of justice. He said the Lord Jesus Christ
is more willing to love and to forgive than He is to be just. You will come to Him. That man knows nothing. of the
justice of Almighty God. Sin is real. God's justice is
so. I am a just God. And the reality of the forgiveness
of sins is that the Lord Jesus Christ must be just. Man by nature
thinks that God can just sweep it under the rug and it's going
to be okay and it's not going to be a big deal and He'll just
forgive you. No! Almighty God never forgives at
the expense of His justice, no. God is holy. He must justly deal
with sin before He is going to forgive
me. My sin had to become the sin
of another. for God Almighty to forgive me. These are the words of the Lord
Jesus Christ in Psalm 40, verse 12. This is a Messianic, well,
someone said all Messianic Psalms concerning the Lord Jesus Christ.
He said, My iniquities have taken hold upon me so that I am not
able to look up there more than the hairs of my head. Therefore,
my heart faileth me. My heart is forsaken. Mine iniquities. The Lord Jesus Christ must have
been dealt with in absolute justice and wrath so that my sin could
justly be paid for, the debt of which was owed. So the foundation
of forgiveness is the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Forgiveness from God Almighty
to sinners is a righteous forgiveness. It is not at the expense of His
justice. Secondly, what is the extent
of forgiveness? Or let me ask you this. for all
for whom Christ died, how many are forgiven. What about the sins that I have
committed since I believed? What about the transgressions
that will follow? When I ask the Lord to forgive
me for my sins, My transgressions. Scripture says He's faithful
and just to forgive me my sins. When I find myself, because of
the presence of sin, doing again, thinking again that which I hate,
that which I despise, what is the extent of the forgiveness
of sins. Here is the answer. All the sins
for all of God's elect were atoned for at Calvary. Now, you know
that. How many of those sins is God
going to require at the hands of those that Christ died for?
How many will they answer for? None. None. I want you to listen at Isaiah
38, 17. Behold, for peace I had great
bitterness, but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it
from the pit of corruption, for thou hast cast all my sins behind
thy back. How about the ones that I will
commit? Hebrews 8, 12, For I will be
merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities
will I remember no more. Does a believer sin? Yes. If we say we have no sin,
we make God a liar. We are sinners. by practice,
sinners by birth, sinners by practice, sinners by choice. And I'm telling you, a believer
despises it. Oh, wretched man that I am who
shall deliver me from the body of this death. Does a believer
think lightly of rebellion against God? You know better than that.
Does a believer think lightly of his transgressions before
Almighty God? Do you love it because of the
sin and the presence of it that you see in you? Do you excuse
it? I had a man tell me this in Franklin,
Tennessee. Well, it doesn't really matter. I'm just a sinner. with a chuckle in his voice when
he said it. What he was saying to me, Brother
Scott, was it doesn't matter. It don't matter. We're just sinners. Let me tell you something. If
you can rebel against God with no feeling of remorse, the Lord's
never done anything for you. Oh, wretched man that I am. But
the greatest joy that I can think of is that based upon the foundation,
God's foundation, the sure foundation, Almighty God, because of Him
who has put away by the precious blood of His cross, He put away
my guilt. How many of them? I am so thankful that there is
coming a time that He will absolutely deliver me from the body of this
death and I will not be plagued anymore with the presence of
it. While we go through this world
right now as pilgrims, sojourners, the older we get, the more we
realize. of the depravity of this old
nature that's still there. Thirdly, what is God's attitude in forgiveness
toward His people? What's the foundation of His
forgiveness? It's the blood of Christ. What's
the extent of the forgiveness of my sins." He said, I will
remember them no more. And I'm telling you, a believer
does not look at that as an excuse. Well, then let me just rebel
more and more. Paul asked, shall we rebel more
and more that grace may abound? God forbid. But oh, the thankfulness
of knowing that He's put away my guilt. But this last point,
has got to be one of the most comforting thoughts that I have
thought of in a long time. What is the attitude of God's
forgiveness? I made a statement a few weeks
ago. Sometimes we think God tolerates us for Christ's sake. He does
not tolerate us for Christ's sake. He said, I have loved you
with an everlasting love. As He loves His Son, so does
He love those in His Son. They are one with Him, and He
loves them. No greater Scripture. Turn to
Luke 15. I cannot think of a greater Scripture. Luke 15. I'm just going to read
this. And I'm telling you that this
parable, this story, the parable of the prodigal son, there is
no greater story that sets forth the attitude of Almighty God
toward those that He's everlastingly loved. Luke 15, verse 11, and
He said, A certain man had two sons, and the younger of them
said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that
falleth to me. And he divided unto them his
living. And not many days after, the
younger son gathered all together and took his journey into a far
country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.
And when he had spent all There arose a mighty famine in that
land, and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself
to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields
to feed swine. And he would fain have filled
his belly with the husk that the swine did eat, and no man
gave unto him. And when he came to himself,
he said, How many hard servants of my father's have bread enough
and to spare, and I perish with hunger. I will arise and go to
my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against
heaven and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy
son. Make me as one of thy hired servants.'
And he arose and came to his father. But when he was yet a
great way off, his father saw him and had compassion and ran
and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said unto him,
Father, I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight, and
am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said
to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on
him. And put a ring on his hand, and
shoes on his feet, and bring hither the fatty calf, and kill
it, and 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 merry." What is the attitude of Almighty God
in the forgiveness of sins? The Scripture says that there
was one man, two fellows owed him some money. And it says, and frankly, He
forgave them both. What is the attitude of Almighty
God? I'll tell you what it is. He
joyfully forgives His people for Christ's sake. I think about my son, one of
my daughters. I'm telling you, Think of the
attitude that you have toward your children. Think of the attitude
that you have if one of your own that had taken what was yours,
your honor, your glory, and had despitefully used you, your good
name, and in riotous living Spin it off and despise what was yours." And Almighty God gave him a heart
to come to himself and to realize, I have been so disrespectful
to my dad. I am not even worthy to be called
his son. I'm going to go back and I'm
going to tell him because I mean it. I've sinned against heaven. I've sinned against you. And
I'm not worthy to be called your son anymore. You treat me like
a hired servant. I just want to be back here."
And he rehearsed that. And the Scripture says that he
started going home and his dad saw him. A long way off, he recognized
his gate. It says that the father ran to
him and the boy had his speech prepared. How many times have we had our
speech prepared come before God? Lord, I don't even know how to
ask this. I don't have the right words. I know You helped me by Your
Spirit, but I don't even know what to pray. I don't even know
what to ask. I am so sorry. I am so sorry. And the Scripture says that that
dad right there ran to that boy and fell on his neck and kissed
him. That boy that had rebelled against
him. What is the attitude of Almighty
God in the forgiveness of sins? He absolutely looks on His own
in Christ joyfully and forgives them for Christ's sake in absolute
mercy. Can that be so? Yes, it can. Because of the foundation
of God's forgiveness, justice has been satisfied. And when
we come before Him being brought To realize, come to ourself,
realize what we've done. And we approach Him in Christ
and ask Him to forgive us for Christ's sake. Lord, You've given
me a heart to believe that the establishment of the foundation
of Your forgiveness toward me is the blood of Your Son. And
I ask You for Christ's sake. And I'm telling you, He does
not just tolerate us. What would you do? One of your
kids, girl. You'd do the same thing. You'd
forgive them. They'd come to you and ask. What
father would come if a son asked him, you know, for a fish? Would he give him a snake? What
would he do? Forgives him. This is my blood, shed for many for the remission
of sins. Forgiveness. Oh, the joy of that
blessed truth. God Almighty, for Christ's sake,
forgives His people. I'm going to ask if the men will
come, and let's receive the Lord's table.