Go with me if you would to Colossians
chapter three again. Colossians chapter three, I want
to bring a message to you now. from one line that really caught
my attention. I'm telling you, this seriously
caught my attention. It's at the end of verse 13.
It says, even as Christ forgave you, Christ forgave you. Is there any way we could put
a Sela right there and ponder that for a minute? Christ forgave you. That's our message today. That's
the title of our message. Christ forgave you. You. That's the outline of our message
today. Christ forgave you. Isn't that good? Did Christ forgive everybody? It doesn't say Christ forgave
everybody. It says Christ forgave you. Christ forgave you. I have a wonderful message. For
you. I have a wonderful, wonderful message. For you. Now, not everybody is a you. But if you are a you, then I
have a wonderful message for you. Christ forgave you. Let's start this message by finding
out who the yous are, okay? Turn with me, if you would, to
Ephesians 2. In Ephesians 2, Paul is going to
tell the Ephesians here exactly who the Word of God is talking
to when it says, YOU. Ephesians chapter 2, look with
me at verse 1, it says, And you hath he quickened who were dead in
trespasses and sins. Dead. That was you. Now, I'm, I pray by God's grace,
a you. I want to be a you. So when I
say you, I'm talking to me too. But our wording today is you.
Okay? You. Dead. That was you. Oh, the spiritual deadness. Man cannot understand spiritual
deadness because all he can see is physical life. But oh, the
spiritual deadness. Oh, the spiritual hardness. Oh, the spiritual coldness. That's something we can't enter
into. The spiritual coldness. That was you. That was me. That
was you. When this Word says that I was
dead before God in trespasses and sins, by God's grace, I believe
this Word. By God's grace. He gets all the
glory. He gets all the credit. He caused
me. He made me. In spite of me. Thank God. He made me believe
His word concerning me. All of God's yous will. If you are a you, if you're one
of God's yous, it'll be evidenced by this. You will believe what
God says about you. You will. This is what He says
about you in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 1. He said, And you hath
He quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. Your life
has been full of nothing but trespasses and sins against God. That's so. I'll remind us one
more time. I'm talking to me too. Your life has been full of nothing
but trespasses and sins before God. Someone says, somebody will say,
wait a minute now, that's not true. No, that's not true. That doesn't describe me at all.
That doesn't describe my life at all. My life has not been
full of trespasses and sins against God. Quick question. So then
we're calling God a liar? That's a trespass. That's a sin. Only those who are not you's
will deny what God says about you. Really. Really? All of God's you's, whatever
this word says about you, all of God's you's say amen. That's
right. I believe. I believe what this
word has to say about you, Gabe Stoniker. I agree with this word. I don't
agree with my mind. I don't agree with my heart.
I know my mind thinks I'm a pretty good person. I agree with him. That perfectly, I'm telling you,
I won't speak for you, I'll just speak for me, that perfectly
describes my life before the holy God. I'm just being honest. Verse one says, and you hath
he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein
in time past you walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit
that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom also
we all had our conversation in times past, in the lust of our
flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind,
and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. Let's
ask this question to all of ourselves. Is that you? Is that you? Look at verse 11. Wherefore remember that you being
in time past Gentiles in the flesh who are called uncircumcision
by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands. That
means God's people Israel consider Gentiles to be outcast, heathens. You have no right to the promises
of God. Verse 12, that at that time you
were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel,
and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and
without God in the world. This word says, in spite of what
you believe about yourself, you've lived your life on this earth,
in this flesh, without Christ. Talking about in this flesh, in this old man, a stranger from
the covenant of promise, alone as I am naturally before God,
having no hope and without God in the world. And if God left
you there, If God left you there, that's
what you would still be, and that's where you would still
be. Do you see you in that? Does that sound like you to you? Turn with me over to Romans 3. Romans 3, this word says that
you are right now in the world, right now in your, our flesh,
okay? This word says you are not righteous. Okay? Look with me at verse 10. Romans 3, verse 10. As it is written, There is none righteous. Are you kidding me? No. Not one. This word says you do not understand
God. And I'm talking about this old
man of the flesh, this old man that was born into this world
and loves this world and craves this world and just eats up the
sin of this world. You do not understand God. You
do not seek God. All right, look at verse 11. There is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after
God. This word says you have gone
out of the way. What is the way? Christ said,
I'm the way. And this word says you have gone
out of the way. You are unprofitable. You are not good. Look with me at verse 12. They
are all gone out of the way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that do it good. Honestly, are you kidding me? No. Not one. Now, is that you? If that's you, then I have wonderful
news for you. Christ forgave you. Every soul on this earth who
fits the description of God's you, Christ forgave you. He forgave. He forgave you. What is forgiveness? What is really, what is forgiveness? Just listen to Webster's dictionary
definition of it, okay? To forgive is to cease all feelings
of resentment against an offender. Is that good news? To forgive is to grant relief. from all payment of debt, Christ forgave you. In the death of His cross, why
did Christ have to die? Why that bloody death on the
cross? Why the beatings? Why the suffering? Why? You. Was I really as bad as He says
I am? Look at the cross of Jesus Christ.
That's what it took to forgive you. By the sacrifice of Himself,
He forgave you. Look with me at Hebrews chapter
9. Hebrews 9 verse 11 says, But Christ being come, and high
priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect
tabernacle not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building,
neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood,
in His own body, in His own tabernacle, He came. And by His own blood
He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal
redemption for us. That means an eternal payment
for our sin. Eternal. Look at Hebrews 10 verse
11. Every priest standeth daily ministering
and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can never take
away sins. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of
God. from henceforth expecting till
His enemies be made His footstool. For by one offering He hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified." He was made sin so that you could
be made righteous, righteous in Him. Verse 15 says, "'Whereof
the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us, For after that he had
said before, 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. My sin, oh, the bliss
of this glorious thought. My sin, not in part, not just
from right now past, but the whole, was nailed to His cross
and I bear them no more. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord,
O my soul. He forgave us. Who gets the glory in this? I
didn't straighten up and fly right. He forgave me. He forgave
us. Christ relieved all the debt
and removed all the resentment. He forgave us. By the one sacrifice
of Himself, He freely paid the debt for all the trespasses of
all His people. And because of that, the Father
said, their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. They're
forgiven. forgave you. Christ forgave you. He did it. He did it. Christ forgave you fully, completely. He paid it all. He gave it all. If you have Christ, you have
everything. Christ forgave you. Colossians 3, 11 says, Christ
is all and in all. He is the one that everything
hinges on. Christ forgave you. If you have
Christ, you have everything. If you have forgiveness in Him,
you have everything in Him. Without Him, there's nothing. No forgiveness with God, but
with Him, in Him, because of Him, you have everything. Christ
forgave you. He did it. It's all because of
Him. That's the point I want to stress. It's all because of Him. He is
the reason you have favor with God. All forgiveness, all favor, all
blessing, all acceptance, every good and perfect gift, every
grace, every mercy, everything, all of it is because of Him.
It's all because of Him. While He was hanging there on
the cross of our salvation, He cried, Father, forgive them. Who was He talking about? Who
was He referring to when He said them? He was referring to all
of His yous that the Father had placed in His hands, placed in
His safekeeping. Did the Father hear His request
and deliver His people from the resentment and the payment of
sin and death and hell and eternal damnation? Did the Father hear
His cry? Absolutely. How do we know? He raised Him from the dead.
He said, well done, thou good and faithful servant. Well done. Well done. Everything that has
been given to us pertaining to our salvation and our eternal
life with God, all of it is because of Christ, the glorious son. The glorious son, it's all because
of him. Now turn with me to 1 John chapter
5 and while you're turning I want to tell you a true story that
I just recently heard. 1 John chapter 5. I believe this happened back in
the 1950s. There was a man in England who
over the course of his lifetime had accumulated a very vast art
collection. He had bought artwork throughout
his lifetime and he accumulated a very, very valuable collection. He had a great fortune in artwork. And the man died and his entire
collection was going to be auctioned off. So on the day of the auction,
people came from all over England and all over other countries
there because it was such a rare opportunity to purchase such
valuable art. Just rare, rare pieces. So they started the auction with
a painting that the man had of his son who was killed in World
War II. First painting that came up for
auction. The painting was not a very well-done painting. It
was not, you know, it was slightly amateurish. It wasn't done by a well-known
painter. The artist was actually not known
at all. It was just a painting that the man had done of his
son who died in World War II. And they started the auction
on it and nobody bid on it. It just wasn't much to look at.
There wasn't any value in it. And all these high rollers, you
know, all these wealthy men and women, they just didn't bid on
it. But there was a man there who
came to the auction not to buy anything because he didn't have
any money. He didn't have any money to speak
of. But this man came because he
used to work for this art collector. He was a servant to this art
collector. And he just wanted to see what
would become of his employer's things. So he came to this auction. And when he saw that nobody was
bidding on the painting of his son, he thought, I loved him. I knew him. He was very dear
to me. He was a kind man. He was a loving
man, and I would love to have that piece of artwork hanging
on my wall in my house. So it wasn't much at all. He didn't have much on him at
all, but he bid all that he could. Very low bid, just a very, very
low bid. But after a moment, the auctioneer
realized no other bids are going to come in. So he cried, sold. And the servant was just so thankful
to have won it, he went up and he got his painting and he went
back to his seat and he waited for the auction to continue.
And as soon as the servant sat down in his chair, the auctioneer
said, this auction is over. According to the owner's decree. He said whoever gets the painting
of my son. Gets it all. Look at first John 5 verse 11. And this is the record that God
hath given to us eternal life. And this life. Is in his son. It's not in me, it's not in you,
it's not in the law, it's in His Son. Verse 12 says, He that
hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. These things have I written unto
you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may
know that you have eternal life. and that you may believe on the
name of the Son of God, Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ forgave
you. He forgave you. He did it. It was all because
of Him. And because it was Him, it's
done. It's over. This thing is over. It's accomplished. Let's give
thanks to God for the son of our forgiveness. All of all of
you. I pray all of you. Me, too. Let's all give thanks to God
for the son of our forgiveness.