We read in chapter 1 verse 3
of this book, Ephesians, that all spiritual blessings, whether
in time, that is in this life, or in eternity, forever, all spiritual blessings, whether
we consider being chosen as Paul wrote, being predestinated, being
adopted, being accepted. Accepted. I like that, don't
you? Accepted by God. Redeemed, which
gives us the forgiveness of sins. Not one, as we pointed out in
the reading, not one of those precious, rare, Priceless. Priceless. Blessings of grace
are realized, are experienced, are known except in Christ Jesus. They don't exist anywhere else. There is no such thing as being
accepted by God without Jesus Christ. It's impossible. It's
impossible. They never can be known. outside
of Christ. Peter wrote to believers, give
all diligence. Don't be lazy about this. It's
too important, he said. Give all diligence to make your
calling and your election sure. Why didn't Peter say your election
and your calling sure? Because you can't know you're
elect until God calls you by his grace. When he calls you,
those whom he foredo, predestined, he also called, Paul tells us
in Romans 8. We can't know those wonderful
blessings of God's grace outside of Jesus Christ. As we read in
John 3, 36, he that hath the Son, he that
hath the Lord Jesus Christ, he that believeth on the Lord Jesus
Christ hath eternal life. He that hath the Son hath life. But he that hath not the Son
hath not life. Then what does he have? The wrath
of God abides on him. Not that it will abide on him.
It abides on him right now outside of Jesus Christ. All but believers,
they stand complete before God, but only again in Christ. You are complete, Paul wrote
in Colossians Complete, without lacking anything, God requires. Doesn't that feel like a nice
warm blanket just to wrap yourself in on a cold night? Complete
in Him, lacking nothing, that a holy God demands. And included
in all those spiritual blessings is this one. Go to chapter 4. You thought we're going to stay
in chapter 1. I want to look at one verse of scripture in
chapter 4 of this book, Ephesians chapter 4, verse 32. It speaks of the sweet reality,
the sweet experience of God's forgiveness. Forgiveness, what
a blessed word. The title of my message is, Forgiveness
Assured. When we read the text, you can
see how true that is. Verse 32, chapter 4, and be ye
kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, and he
gives this as an example of doing so. And what better could he
give? Even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. For Christ's sake. Oh, that makes
it Forgiveness assured. I almost called this message,
or rather the title of it, Forgiveness Guaranteed. Forgiveness Guaranteed. And that wouldn't have been too
strong. I might call it that yet. Bobby posts the messages
on Free Grace. We might change the title to
Forgiveness Guaranteed. That's not too strong. That doesn't
go too far. Not with this attachment to it.
We receive emails and they'll have an attachment like the bulletin
I sent out. So we open that attachment. This is the attachment of God's
assured forgiveness for Christ's sake. For Christ's sake. My soul, how much sure could
it be? How much certain could it be
if it's for Christ's sake? God forgives us for Christ's
sake. He promised his son he would
in that everlasting covenant of grace. He promised his son
who stood before the world began. That's what the book says. That's
not what modern religion says, but my soul is don't be influenced
by that. They don't have anything right.
But God says, the book says, teaches such a thing as the everlasting
covenant of grace. And in that covenant, God promised
his son, if he would fulfill all the stipulations of that
covenant required of him and God put upon him, that in return,
He would give Him to heathen for His inheritance. He would
bring in time all those that Christ redeemed to the Son, giving
them life and faith in Christ, and bring them all the way to
glory for Christ's sake, for Christ's sake, because of who
He is. So God himself said concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ, this is my beloved son on more than one
occasion several times This is my beloved son in whom I am well
pleased Couldn't be more pleased Couldn't demand any more than
he's given it's enough and he proved as I've told you many
times He proved beyond the shadow of a doubt his perpetual everlasting
satisfaction with his son's life and death when he raised him
from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly
places far above, we read in chapter 1, all power, all principality,
every name that is name, oh no, not at the name of Caesar or
Trump or any other fleshly, Man, but at the name of Jesus, the
God-man, God says every knee's gonna bow. Oh, I know there are
stubborn, hard-hearted rebels that say, I will not bow. I was
one. I will not bow. I won't bow,
and there's nobody gonna make me bow. Thank God I was wrong. And everyone's gonna bow either
in this life or when they're ushered into the presence of
God Almighty. Before the great white throne
of immaculate righteousness, strict justice, every knee is
going to bow to King Jesus before he says, depart from me. There
is no question about that. There's no doubt about that.
But for Christ's sake, because of who he is, what he did, what
God promised him, that makes forgiveness sure. Look at verse
2 of chapter 5, just below our text. and walk in love, children
of God, walk in love as Christ also had loved us and had given
himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet
smelling savor. None sweeter to God than that
savor, the aroma of the sacrifice of his darling son. That's why
every lamb slain, every Sacrifice offered morning, evening. God
saw in that a type, a picture of His Son. Mmm, He said. Could have nothing more pleasing
than that. You've heard this said, and I
have too, and I wouldn't find fault with it. No, not in the
light of God's Word. But it says, God must be just. You've heard that. He must be
just and He may be merciful. He must be just and He may be
merciful. But in the light of what we just
read, for Christ's sake, God must be merciful too. That's
right. For Christ's sake, God must be
merciful. He promised that He would. For
Christ's sake, in view of his son, in whom he found satisfaction,
perfection, everything he demanded, he found in his son. So for Christ's sake, there's
no maybe about it. He will be merciful to sinners. Is that not what he said to Moses?
Moses said, show me your glory. And God said, Moses, as he passed
before him, I will be merciful. I will be merciful. Oh, my soul,
if sinners weren't blind, if they weren't completely dead,
not needing a little shove in the right direction, but needing
rays from spiritual death, if they weren't in such darkness,
oh, they would stop in their tracks and say, oh, the wonder
of it. Are you telling me God Almighty is determined to show
mercy? Oh, why not for me? Why not to
me? Have mercy on me, thou son of
David, as Barnimaeus prayed. Concerning God's forgiveness,
I want to consider about three things. Concerning God's forgiveness,
first of all, it's needed. Oh, I pity the man who doesn't
know that. You say, oh Larry, I can't believe
you took that as your first point. God's forgiveness is needed.
Everybody knows that. Is that so? Is that so? When's
the last time you talked to anybody that did? When is the last time? How long has it been? Can you
even remember? I can't. How long's it been since
you talked to a sinner that the cry of their heart was, man,
I need mercy. Nothing else matters. Nothing
else is important. I've got to have God's mercy.
Mercy's needed. For all have sinned, all, all,
no exceptions, and have sinned and come short of the glory of
God, the Lord Jesus Christ himself said. And I ask you the same
question. I put his word before us this
morning. What shall it profit a man if
he gained the whole world and lose his own soul in the process
of adopting this world's philosophy? You're just going around once,
get all you can get, grab all you can get hold of. You only
live one time, party it up and lose his own soul. What shall
a man give in exchange for his soul? I wonder. You here this
morning, anybody here that doesn't know Christ, what are you giving
in exchange for your soul? What is it? A bubble? Remember
those little soapy things you would buy, liquid, and have that
little tool in it, that little wand? I guess they still sell
them, don't they? And man, bubbles, oh, they're
so pretty, pop, they're gone. Your life's a vapor. James said
it's a bubble that appears for a little while. and it's gone. Oh, but you have a soul that's
going to live forever. In Psalm 130, turn there with
me if you will. Oh, mercy needed, needed. Psalm 130, verse 1, this sounds
like a man that realized his need of God's mercy. I like to
find I like to find him. Out of the depths have I cried
unto thee, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice. Let thine
ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications. He doesn't
sound like he's bragging, does he? He doesn't sound demanding. He sounds like a beggar before
the throne of God. Sounds like he doesn't feel that
God owes him anything except justice. Mercy, mercy. If thou, Lord, shouldest mark
iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? You ever thought about
that? You ever in your life given any
serious thought to that? How can I, a sinner, Stand before
a holy God. How can God be to me a hell-deserving
rebel, anything other than a consuming fire? How can God be just? He would have to cease to be
just if he lets me off the hook. I deserve his wrath. Every breath
I take, every thought I have is another reason why God should
send me to hell. Oh, I'm in the depths. I need
a miracle. I'm in a pit and I can't get
out. I can't get out. My will won't get me out. My
morality won't get me out. Religion won't get me out. Who's
going to bring me up out of this pit? Are you still looking at
this? Oh, look here. But, verse 4,
but, Oh, what glorious good news this must have been to that sinner
in the pit of his own spiritual death when he hears, but there
is forgiveness with thee. Oh God, is it so? Is it true? Can it be? You delight
to show mercy? Oh, depth of mercy, can there
be mercy still reserved for me? Oh, is that so? But there is
forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared." Feared. As we read a portion of Brother
Scott Richardson's article in your bulletin. Feared. Oh, that's a very prominent element
of true worship. Feared. Not a slavish fear. Not
a worried fear. Feared. Like the children of
Israel. When they crossed the Red Sea,
they sang a song of praise to God. And they stood with holy
wonder. They stood in awe of Him. And they said, who is a God like
unto our God? Fearful in praises, glorious
in holiness, doing wonders. Wow, they said. What a God. Doing wonders. That's what it
is to stand in fear of God. Reverence. Adoration. Wonder. What a God. What a God. And God forgives
sinners for Christ's sake. But I ask you this. Where is
the sinner that thinks that feels his need of God's
forgiveness. John and I had a conversation
a few weeks ago along this very line, this subject, about sinners
feeling their need of God's forgiveness. One man wrote, he died in 1912.
I don't know when he said this, But oh, it could have been written
today. It's like he was looking through the telescope of time
at this day. He said, I consider the chief
dangers which confront the coming century will be religion without
the Holy Ghost, Christianity without Jesus Christ, forgiveness
without repentance, salvation without regeneration, heaven
without hell. Man, doesn't that sound like
2019 to you? Doesn't it? Doesn't it? Jesus
is hand-handled like he's a beggar at the beck and call of man's
so-called free will? Will you please do little Jesus
a favor? You don't want to go to hell,
do you? Well, then accept Jesus. Just let him be your far escape
out of hell. How dishonoring. What an insult
to my great God and Savior to represent Him in such a horrible
fashion. Oh no, no, no, no. He's not my
little buddy. He's not my spare tire. He's King of Kings and Lord of
Lords and if I've never bowed to Him, If I've never bowed to
him as the Lord Jesus Christ, I'm lost and I'm going to hell.
I'm not a carnal Christian, I'm lost. That's just a fact. You
search the word of God. Was there ever a sinner come
to Jesus Christ that didn't bow to him? Ask the rich young ruler
how that worked out. He wanted to go to heaven, but
he didn't want to bow to Jesus Christ. You know what happened
to him. And that's what happens to everyone.
This is what I'm saying. And I can't think, and this is
why I tend to mention this so often, because I see it all around
us, children of God. I see it all around us. I don't
want us to be infected with it. There's a danger out there. My
soldier telling lies on God is what Scott said. But this is
what I'm saying. Joseph Hart expressed it better
than I can. To understand these things are
right, this grand distinction should be known. Though all are
sinners in God's sight, there are but few so in their own. Ask them. Ask them. To such as
these are lordless sent, they're only sinners who repent. What
comfort can a savior bring to those who never felt their woe?
A sinner is a sacred thing. He's rare, unusual, hard to find. Why, the Holy Ghost has made
him so. New life from him we must receive,
before for sin we rightly grieve. Salvation in every degree, in
every way, is of the Lord. This faithful saying let us own,
well worthy tis to be believed, that Christ into the world came
down, that sinners might by him be saved. Sinners are high in
his esteem, and sinners highly value Now, another thought about forgiveness
assured. Joseph Hart's hymn brings us
to this point. Forgiveness wanted. Forgiveness wanted. I mean wanted
more than you want to eat. Wanted more than anything in
this world. Until a sinner's brought to that,
he's not going to have it. He's not going to have it. I
mean, I need God's forgiveness, John, more than I need anything
else. More than I need anything else. When David wanted forgiveness,
when God's faithful prophet came to David, Concerning his sin,
you know the story with Sheba. He thought he covered it up,
committed adultery, murder. God's faithful prophet came in
and he said, David, you're the man. By your actions, you've caused
God to be blasphemous. Horrible. Horrible. You're the man. And man, the
realization of that flooded over David's soul like a flood. He said, Oh, my sin. My sin has
found me out. I hid it from everyone, or thought
I did, but I didn't hide it from God. Read Psalm 51. Read David's attitude. He didn't
say, well, I think I'll make a decision for Jesus and everything
will be all right. It's no big deal. I might just
lose the jewel in my crown. Oh, God. Oh, God, he prayed. My sin is ever before me. Against
Thee, Thee only have I sinned, oh, my God, and done this terrible
evil in Thy sight. Oh, God, purge me and I'll be
clean. Forgive me of my sin. Oh God,
please, please, please restore unto me the joy of my salvation. Ah, David represents a man who
felt his need of forgiveness. Nothing else mattered. That rich
fool that lived in plenty and died without Christ and lifted
up his eyes in hell. Man, he got serious, didn't he? But it was too late for mercy. Abraham had mercy. Mercy. There's no mercy. It's too late. Too late. Mercy needed. Revelation 22 and 11. Oh, what
words. He that is unjust, let him be
unjust still. And he that is filthy, let him
be filthy still. And he that is righteous, let him be righteous
still. And he that is holy, let him be holy still. I am in one
of two states at this very moment, right now before God. Every one
of us are. I'm either righteous, having
been justified by God, having been born of God, or I'm unjust
and filthy. As I live, I'll stand before
God in one of those two states. As I live, I'll die, righteous
and holy or unjust and filthy. And as I die socially, I'll rise
for eternity. I will either be righteous and
holy in heaven or unjust and filthy in hell. Is that not what
the text I just read to you said? Oh, therefore, therefore, do
you want forgiveness? Oh, What is that worth? Those who have been made aware
by God's grace that they're the sinner, they don't talk like
folks who don't know that. They'll say, well, folks that
really aren't concerned, they're flippant about it. Well, I'm
just as good as my neighbor. I'm not worried about it. They're
all hypocrites down there. If they go to heaven, I am too.
No, you don't find that kind of attitude to a sinner that's
been stripped by God's Holy Spirit. You don't find that. The one
who's been convicted, they don't look at anybody else. They look
at themselves. And they say, I'm the sinner.
I'm the sinner. I don't have to look outside
myself. I'm the worst sinner on the face
of the earth. Oh, there's such a one as that.
The Lord was sent. There are only sinners who repent.
A grain of hard ease, oh, is worth more than a ton of gold. For a sinner seeking mercy, oh,
when justice called for payment, it was more than I could give.
Oh, but mercy, mercy, sweet, free mercy. Smiled upon there,
saying, I forgive. I wonder how it sounded in the
ears of that poor outcast leper. And his condition is a picture
of what we are by nature. Unclean, unclean. God's law said
he's unclean. Cast him out. Cast him out. Like Adam, like our daddy was
cast out of the garden. Jesus came back and he fell down. Lord, can you imagine how sincere
he must have been? How serious he must have been?
What else mattered? Do you think a big house mattered
to him? Being popular, do you think it
mattered to him? No, no, no. He was dying. He was unclean. He was condemned.
He was outcast. And with his whole heart, he
cried, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. And he's thinking, oh, Willie,
Willie. He can, but Willie. And can you
imagine what Joy replaced his anguish and grief when Jesus
Christ reaches toward him. I wonder how long it's been since
anybody touched that filthy leper and touched him and at the same
time said, I will. Glory to God, I will. I'm not thinking about a leper
right now. Not that leper anyway. I'm thinking
about this leper. This leper. I picture, in my mind's eye,
about a 22, 23-year-old rebel, and you want a picture of a mess,
you're looking at him. Weighed about 120 pounds, because
I didn't eat much except drugs. You stay skinny on that diet. And then, God Almighty, little did I know, had determined
to have mercy on me. And He got me lost. He got me
lost. I'd never been lost in my life.
Oh, Larry, you've been lost all your life. Oh, but I didn't know.
It didn't matter to me. But God got me lost. One time, I was hitchhiking. I didn't have two dimes to rub
together. And man, I was under such conviction of sin. God telling
me, you're the sinner. I thought, man, everybody that
sees me knows what a wretch I am. So I quit hitchhiking, Carlos,
and started walking. And I got on the railroad tracks.
Nobody could see me there. And I think I've told you before,
every railroad tie that I put my feet on, seemed to shout back,
you're lost, you're lost, you're lost. I'd wake up in the morning,
that's all I heard ringing in my mind, you're lost, you're
lost. I'd lay down at night and try to sleep and I couldn't.
Larry Chris, you're lost and you're going to hell. And there's
nothing I could do. Somebody would have said, Larry,
I'll give you a lot of money. What? I don't need money. I need mercy. I need forgiveness. I remember hearing about Rolf
Barnard was preaching one time, and he finished his message. And two young men got up and
came up to where he was, standing there. And I understand Rolf
was pretty rough. He said, what do you want? What
do y'all want? And one said, rather obviously
not that concerned, I want to be saved. He said, go back and
sit down. He went back and sat down. The
other one just stood there. And the tears just rolling down
his cheeks. What do you want? Oh, Mr. Barnett, I want mercy. I want mercy. I need God's grace. I'm lost. I'm lost. And old Barnard
said, well, young man, you know, I think God might have something
for you. Oh, yeah. God delights to show
mercy, like he did to David. After Nathan said, thou art a
man, he said, but God has put away your sin. He's put away
your sin. Oh, the son of David, would bear
his sins away, David's, like he does every sinner. And God
forgave him for Christ's sake. After that, he wrote Psalm 32,
and he said, oh, let me tell you something. Blessed is the
man to whom the Lord will not impute a nickel. That's a different
tune from Psalm 51, is it not? Oh, blessed is that man. How
sweet is forgiveness? Ask Peter. Ask Peter. We see Peter standing out in
front of the other disciples when the Lord Jesus Christ, just
before he was arrested, told them, you're all going to deny
me tonight. You're all going to forsake me.
And Peter said, well, they probably will, but not me. Not me. I'll
die with you. I'll go with you to death. I'll
never deny you." And then shortly, when the Lord Jesus Christ, Peter's
substitute, stood before the high priest, mocked, beaten,
humiliated, at the same time Peter was standing not far away
at the campfire of the Lord's enemies saying, I don't even
know the man. don't know who he is, don't have
any acquaintance with him. And we read in Luke 22, at the
Lord turned and looked at him. And then we read, and Peter went
out and wept bitterly. And I believe Peter wept bitterly
for three days until he heard that glorious news. Jesus has
risen from the dead, and he's told us, go tell my disciples,
and Peter. And Peter. Paul in 1 Corinthians
15 said when the Lord was risen, he appeared first to Peter. Oh, what sweet, sweet, I can
only imagine that meeting, can't you? Peter experienced again
the sweet reality that his sins, oh the bliss of this glorious
thought, my sins, not in part, but the whole, are nailed to
his cross and I bear them no more. Praise the Lord. Praise
the Lord, oh my soul. Last of all, about God's forgiveness,
Our text says He hath forgiven you. Past tense. God's forgiveness for Christ's
sake is everlasting, it's full, it's free, it's unchanging. Christ in Him makes it so. As our Lord Himself said on one
occasion in that self-righteous Pharisee's house, He gave the
parable when that Pharisee looked down his nose at that poor woman
who was a sinner. And he said, Simon, there were
two debtors. They both owed a debt and they
both couldn't pay. And when they had nothing to
pay, a bankrupt sinner, he freely forgave them both. That's God's forgiveness. free,
unchanging, everlasting. John, there was no reason God
should have saved me in the first place. There'll be no reason
why he shouldn't keep me saved. Because it's always been for
Christ's sake. So I'm safe. I'm secure. I'm redeemed. I'm accepted. I'm
reconciled to God. I'm complete in Christ and I
always will be. Glory to his name. Those he adopts
into his family he never un-adopts or un-chooses or un-saves. That's not possible. Thank God. Forgiveness brings peace. Remember Psalm 85 and I'll come
to the close. Psalm 85 and 10. Mercy and truth
are met together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. The New Testament commentary
on that is this, Romans 3 and 24, being justified freely by
His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Justice satisfied demands the
sinner be justified. Isaiah 32 and 12. And the work
of righteousness shall be peace and the effect, the effect of
righteousness, quietness and assurance forever. I like that,
don't you? Isaiah 32 and 17. And the effect
of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever. Oh, how sweet. the trust in Jesus, just from
sin and self-decease, just from Jesus simply taking life and
rest and joy and peace. Oh, sweet forgiveness, God's
forgiveness, God's mercy for Christ's sake. Let me close quoting
a couple of stanzas of another hymn by Mr. Fortner. How blessed
is he whose trespasses has freely been forgiven, whose sin is wholly
covered before the sight of heaven. Blessed he to whom Jehovah will
not impute his sin, who has a guiltless spirit, whose heart is pure within. While I kept guilty silence,
my strength was spent with grief. Thy hand was heavy on me, my
soul found no relief. But when I owned my trespass,
my sin hid not from thee, When I confess transgression, then
thou forgavest me. The sorrows of the wicked in
numbers shall abound, but those that trust Jehovah, his mercy
shall surround. Then in the Lord be joyful, in
song lift up your voice. Be glad in God, you righteous.
Rejoice, ye saints, rejoice. God bless you. God bless you.