If you will, turn back in your
Bibles to the Psalms 130, if you will, Psalms 130. I'm going
to read the whole of the eight verses in order to set a context
for our reflection today. Psalm 130. I was intending to
have all eight verses read for a reason, but that's OK. You'll
get a chance to hear it again now. The psalmist says, out of
the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice
and let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications. If you, Lord, should mark iniquities,
O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with
thee that you may be feared. I wait for the Lord, my soul
doth wait, and in his word do I hope. My soul waits for the
Lord more than they that watch for the morning. I say more than
they that watch for the morning. Let Israel hope in the Lord,
for with the Lord there is mercy, and with him plenty is redemption. And he shall redeem Israel from
all his iniquities. And then again the psalmist reminds
us in Psalm 143 verse 1 and 2, Hear my prayer, O Lord, give
ear unto my supplication, and in your faithfulness answer me,
and in your righteousness. Verse 2, And do not enter into
judgment with your servant, For in your sight shall no man living
be justified. Should we go back to Psalm 130
for a moment? I'll lay a foundational thought
as we begin to enter into our consideration for the next three
weeks. Psalm 130 is a compilation of
the Psalms beginning at Psalm 120 and they end with Psalm 134. This is largely held by most
Hebrew scholars as being what are called Psalms of Ascent.
Or in your Bible it may be Psalms of Degrees. And that's because
traditionally two things occurred when these Psalms were read in
worship. The one is as the pilgrims were
headed to Jerusalem and they had to ascend that Mount Zion
to get there, as they made their way to Jerusalem to engage in
the three major feasts that took place in the course of the year,
they would sing these hymns that are in the Psalms, particularly
Psalm 120 through Psalm 134. And as they went forth, they
would sing, ascending to Jerusalem. On the other hand, in the temple,
the priests themselves would strategically stand on what was
stated to be in Solomon's temple, 15 steps leading to the place
where the priests would engage in the sacerdotal practice of
worship. And so it was implied or inferred
that upon each step, they would stop and they would sing a song
of degrees. The next step, they would sing
a song of degrees until they made it all the way to the platform
where they engaged in the mediatorial work of worshiping God and the
people would hear these Psalms sung. We will, in the course
of our summer Wednesday class, actually be dealing with this
category to show you some very rich, redemptive realities in
these Psalms. Quite interestingly, Psalm 130,
is said to be one of the most popular Psalms of our Puritans
and Reformers because Psalm 130 deals with the most critical
areas of a person's life. And Psalm 130 has been the comfort
and edification of many a men and women who have struggled
with an awareness of their sin. So I would encourage you to get
acquainted with the psalm in your own time and certainly join
us as we go through our summer series in our Wednesday Bible
study. We will unpack this even more fully. Let me just give
you a framework of the psalm before I get into my topic. We
can actually break Psalm 130 verses 1 through 8 up into, let's
say, five categories. Verse 1 and 2 I describe as the
woe of the sinful self. The woe of the sinful self, where
the psalmist is crying out because he is drowning in the reality
of the depths of his human depravity. The woe of the sinful self. And
then when we get to verse three and four, he discovers what I
call the wonder, the wonder of the God of forgiveness. I'm gonna come back there for
today. the wonder of the God of forgiveness. You see, he's
amazed that there's a place that he can go to to deal with his
sins. And then he moves away from the
wonder of the God of forgiveness to the waiting and watching of
his soul. My soul waits on the Lord. My soul watches more than they
that watch for the morning. He's describing the watchman
that sat on the tower, who watched all night to protect Israel from
enemies and adversaries, and they had to dwell in the dark.
The watchman therefore was always in danger of arrows by night,
and adversaries by night, overcoming them in the dark. And the watchman
could not wait until what came? The morning light. And what the
psalmist is describing is what it's like when you are seeking
the forgiveness of sins and you cannot wait till the morning
comes so that the light of God's goodness and mercy once again
restores you to the joy of your salvation. And then the psalmist
finally closes with what I call a word of promise to God's elect. He turns and he tells Israel,
there is mercy with God and there is plenteous redemption with
God. Let Israel hope in the Lord because God will deliver them
from all their iniquities. It's a woe, it's a wonder, it's
a watching, it's a waiting, and then a word of promise. Is that
a good framework? And then we can break it up into three other
categories which we'll plumb the depths of when we deal with
the Psalms. The first category is sin. That's verses 1, 2, and
3. The second category is mercy. That's verse 4. And the third
category is redemption. That's verses 7 and 8. Sin, mercy,
and redemption. Now, the reason there is mercy
is because of redemption. The only reason God can be merciful
to you is because of redemption. And the mercy that God shows
to you and me is because of our sins. You see that category there? Very, very powerful psalm and
a lot for us to learn. Now, I'm getting ready to warn
you that I'm about to step on my Sunday school teacher's message
only because he stepped on mine this morning. He did not know
it, I did not know it, but God knew it. And that's how it works.
And as I begin to introduce to you the subject that I want to
address, I want you to understand that for those of you who are
privileged to go through our Sunday school class with us and
enjoy the rich, redemptive metaphors and analogies of a mighty Savior
typified in Joseph, I want you to use as a terminology undergirding
what you guys are dealing with right now in terms of Genesis
43 through 50, because this is where we're headed. I want you
to understand that you are dealing with what we call theologically
The process of the forgiveness of sins. OK, I want you to get
that. The process of the forgiveness
of sins. The elder is knocking it out
of the park, is he not? The process of the forgiveness
of sins. Now, you're going to really appreciate
why I use that term, because over the next three weeks, our
messages are topical and the topic is forgiveness. And whenever
we deal with biblical topics, we're being diagnostic. and diagnostic
messages get at your heart. And I want you to understand
as we work through the subject of forgiveness, that forgiveness
is a process. This is why these boys are going
through what they are going through, because they are going to be
made to confess their sins. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? And so it is with the people of God. So it is with
the people of God. So of course, my topic is what?
Forgiveness. And my title is Christ, the sinners,
only what? Right, so I'm being exclusive
about the concept of forgiveness for a very important reason.
In this universe, there is no place by which you can find forgiveness
of sins but in Christ. In the whole of God's created
world, created universe, and the expanding galaxies that are
in front of us with all of the false hopes of this fallen world
system seeking to get away from this world, Even there, you will
need that which God has exclusively placed in His Son, Jesus Christ,
and that is forgiveness. Forgiveness. I want to talk to
you about forgiveness because I am very sure that some of us
do not understand it. I am very sure that many of us
do not know how important it is as a category and practice
in our life. And I'm also sure that many of
you don't know forgiveness in terms of it's saving mercies
in our lives. So the topic is gonna be very
important. The forgiveness of sins is what we are dealing with.
And I want to address this vital subject from three perspectives.
Today, I wanna address it from the standpoint of forgiveness
being a revelation in God alone. That forgiveness is a revelation
found in God alone. It is found nowhere else. It
is nowhere seen on planet Earth since the fall of man. Let me
make a brief argument for that. When we were in Hawaii last year,
One of the things that amazed me, I think we were in Honolulu
and my sister's here, she's Hawaiian. She would give me the term if
she weren't so embarrassed to stand up and tell me the term.
But one of the tourist guides were telling me that long ago
in Hawaii, there were territories that if you cross over into that
territory, unawares, there was only one consequent that would
occur for crossing that territory. Do you know what that was? Death.
That's called transgression. That's called transgression.
And I thought to myself, now what if I wandered over into
that territory unawares? You still die. And it became
a very clear and vivid picture to me that mankind in his fallen
state cannot comprehend forgiveness until it is revealed to them
by God. Do you guys understand what I'm
getting at? And this is why Adam ran. when he transgressed God's
law. And he never confessed his sin
because he knew nothing about forgiveness. Are you guys with
me so far? It's so very important to know that if you have been
privileged to even contemplate the subject of forgiveness, that
was by divine revelation. The second reality is this, that
forgiveness is not only revealed only in the true and the living
God, but that forgiveness is manifested in the full scope
of the person and work of Jesus Christ. In other words, don't
ever contemplate forgiveness outside of the person and work
of Christ. Forgiveness is not a throwaway
term like we use in our culture. We'll just forgive him. God cannot
forgive sins. He doesn't just throw sins away. He doesn't just let them go.
In other words, forgiveness is only the consequence of a massive
foundation of prerequisite work that is already established by
which a just God can forgive us. Are you guys hearing what
I just stated? Forgiveness is never just let
it go. But more than that, I want you
to understand that when we understand forgiveness in the light of the
person and work of Christ, forgiveness is not only laid based upon a
foundation of massive redemptive purposes, it has an end game. And this is where the burden
of my heart comes in at now. Forgiveness has an end game.
It has a goal. Whenever forgiveness is employed by God to you and
me, it has a goal. It has an objective. And that
objective is to bring you to God. Forgiveness, therefore,
has the aim of restoring relationships. Do you guys get that? Its aim
is the restoration of relationships. This is phenomenal. So no longer do I want you to
just use that word and bandy it about as if somehow it's a
throwaway term. Because in doing so, you are
denying the enormous weight of obligation and responsibility
that your mediator took on for God to forgive you. Are you guys
with me so far? All right. So I'm getting ready
to lay down seven propositional points. I'm not going to develop
them. I'm going to lay them down. They're in your outline. Keep
them and learn them. Because when you look at these
seven proposals, you're going to discover as you learn what
forgiveness is, that these seven proposals will light up like
a bulb every time you understand and see forgiveness implied or
applied. These seven statements are, under
our first point, the following. Forgiveness, ladies and gentlemen,
is the only way back to God. You got that one? Forgiveness
is the only way back to God. Without forgiveness, we can't
get back. I am the way, the truth, the
life no one can come will come does successfully come to the
father apart from me now if you have your theological bearings
on then you understand that forgiveness is defined and manifested and
fully developed and illustrated in a person is that true that's
the title of my message Christ is the sinners only forgiveness
that's my first proposition forgiveness is is the only way back to God. Secondly, secondly, it exposes,
that is forgiveness, it exposes a horrible predicament. If in fact forgiveness of sins
is a real vital component, essential to our getting back to God, essential
to our having a right relationship with God, it must mean that we
have a bad situation going on in our life. And the Bible tells
us very plainly in Isaiah chapter 59 verse 2, Isaiah 59 verse 2,
your sins have separated between you and your God. Your sins have
separated between you and your God. But your iniquities have
separated between you and your God. And you know we're in trouble
when we're separated from God, aren't we? But here, understand
this, the only reason we're separated at any time under any circumstance
is because of what? What's the remedy? Forgiveness.
Your sins have separated between you and your gods and has caused
God to do what? Hide his praise from you that
he will not hear you. Forgiveness then precludes a
horrible predicament on the part of mankind. Look at verse 12
of Isaiah chapter 59. Verse 12 and verse 13, Isaiah
describes further our predicament. He says, for our transgressions
are multiplied before whom? God. And our sins testify against
who? Us. Listen, for our transgressions
are with us and our iniquities, we do what? You know what the
writer is saying here? We realize that we have a problem
and we can't get rid of it ourselves. It's with us, it's with us and
we know them. It's with us and we know them.
Let me say this because I'm gonna be saying a lot of things over
the course of these three weeks that you may have never heard
before. Are you ready? Here's one. You cannot forgive
yourself. That's one, that's one. I'm gonna
be sharing with you a lot about this. You cannot forgive yourself. When you are in this predicament,
unless somebody else cares about you and is capable, you will
be left in your sins. You got that? Here's a part B
to that proposition. You cannot forgive yourself.
If you think you can, you're God. Forgiveness has as its only way
back God. Secondly, it exposes a horrible,
horrible predicament. Look at verse 13. Look at verse
13. Verse 13 of the same text. Isaiah
chapter 13, verse 59, verse 13. In transgressing and lying against
the Lord. Didn't we learn this morning
all men are what? and departing away from our God.
Have we departed from God? The whole human race, particularly
America today. We've abandoned God today. Had
to teach a bunch of high school students this on Friday. We have
abandoned the wisdom of the poor wise man. We forgot who the deliverer
is, who the Savior is, and we're trying to work our problems out
by our own strength. Are we not, as a nation? When
Jesus is the only answer to all of our problems, really. But
here, Isaiah is telling us the condition of Israel under a very,
very departed state, very similar to America in transgressing.
We lie against the Lord and we depart from our God. We speak
oppression and revolt. We conceive and utter from the
heart falsehood. That whole line of statement
there really underscores one word. Are you ready? Liars. Liars. By nature, we are liars. And until we admit that, we cannot
be extricated from what verse two says is the endemic sin that's
increasing and will send us to hell. The topic of forgiveness,
my brothers and sisters, is so important that if you don't get
it and you don't understand it, you will fail to comprehend the
enormity of the gospel and the benefits of the gospel in your
life. The subject of forgiveness is
that important. And I want to press that home
over the next several weeks. So first, forgiveness is the
only way back to God. Forgiveness exposes a horrible
predicament. Thirdly, it was purchased by
God at an inestimable price. Romans chapter 8, verse 32, Romans
8, 32 tells us if God spared not his only begotten son, but
gave him up for us all that's the price that's the price did
you guys get that that's the price he spared not his son he
delivered him up for us all and then he tells us the benefits
of it how shall he not with him also freely do what i'll get
to that in our last point i'm laying a foundation for forgiveness
and i do not want you to miss it the price that god paid to
be able to say to you and me, I forgive you was the price of
the life of his son. That is the foundation that I'm
talking about, upon which forgiveness is built. The massive monumental
foundation of the incarnation, the suffering, the righteous
life, the passive death, the resurrection of Christ is the
foundation upon which God could say those few words, I forgive
you. You see why I'm saying don't
just bandy it about? Don't do that. Don't play frivolous,
loose and fast with words like forgiveness. But please learn
them. Because your eternal destiny
hangs in jeopardy if you don't know what forgiveness is. And
I would also say that the quality of your life is going to be radically
poor when you and I do not know how to engage forgiveness at
the level that God wants us to. Let me move on to my next basic
proposal. Here it is. It also is an expression
of God's what? Forgiveness is the only way back
to God. Forgiveness exposes us of a horrible predicament. It
was purchased by God at an inestimable price, but it's also an expression
of God's redeeming glory. Exodus 34, verse six and seven.
Here's what I mean by that, and I want you to get this. There
is an aspect of God's glory and glory should be a primary topic
for every believer, right? We were made for glory, were
we not? We were saved by a glorious redemption, were we not? We were
saved by a glorious gospel, were we not? And this glorious God
who has a glorious gospel by which he has saved us is glorious
in his attributes. Now there are two sides to God
that you need to know. You need to know the side of
his holiness and justice. His holiness and His justice.
And then you need to know the sight of God's mercy and graciousness. And they are summed up in the
expression of verse six and seven. And the Lord passed by before
him, that is Moses. Remember when Moses said, Lord,
if I'm gonna make it through, you gotta show me what? Your
glory. This is what he's doing right here. Hear what he says. The Lord passed by him and proclaimed
what? The Lord, the Lord God. What is he? Merciful and gracious,
long suffering and abundant in goodness and truth, right? That's
what we call the redeeming glory of God. But that's not the whole
picture. Verse seven, look at it. Keeping
mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgressions and
sins. Watch this, but will by no means
clear the guilty. You see, this is the God that
we were talking about this morning. He does not just let you go.
Look at what it says. Visiting the iniquity of the
fathers upon the children, upon the children's children, unto
the third and fourth generation. In other words, God is a just
God, is he? He must punish sin, must he not? So that forgiveness
is never ever sweeping sin under the carpet. Forgiveness is never
just saying leave it alone. Let it go a holy God Can't let
it go and the people of God must understand what we are implying
when we say just forgive them But I want you guys to understand
that today. So what we're saying is that
forgiveness Forgiveness is actually hidden in the nature of God that
until you know God you can't actually know biblical forgiveness
and It's one of the points I stated earlier. It's hidden in God,
right? It's hidden in God. Until God reveals to you and
me His redemptive mercies and grace in His character, you and
I don't know how to deal with sin. On a vertical level, watch
this. Or on a horizontal level. One
of the reasons why I want to press this home in three weeks
is to teach you and I that where we are not careful about how
to utilize the great gift and blessing and benefit of the concept
of forgiveness, we can actually endanger our walk with God and
we can ruin our fellowship with everybody else. Did you hear
what I just stated? I'm going to press that home.
Some of our experiences in life as Christians are raggedy and
poor and wretched and deteriorated and corrupting because we have
failed to understand what forgiveness is all about. wretched our lives are because
we are not understanding the nature and character and blessing
and benefit of forgiveness. This is what the psalmist was
crying out in Psalm 130 verse one, out of the depths, am I
crying out to you? How did he find himself sinking
to the bottom of the seas of his own conscious other than
God finally opened his eyes. to how hell bound he was living. And now he was starting to feel
his sin. And he sensed his separation
from God and his separation from men, did he not? And God in his
mercy from up above pierced a shaft of light down into the deep waters
and penetrated his heart and caused that man to see the one
way of escape. There is forgiveness with you,
God. There's forgiveness with you.
We need to know that, don't we? Because there's only one line
coming to the heart of the sinner to deliver him from his sin.
And that's the line of forgiveness that comes from God. And this
is what we must understand. Let me finish out then these
proposals. It's an expression of God's redeeming
glory. It's the consequence of justice
satisfied and mercy exhibited. But more, it is the right of
God alone to what? It is the right of God alone
to grant. Never say, God is willing and
will forgive everybody. And don't say, we're learning
this in theology right now. I am one class of my brothers
and sisters stumbling over the gospel. That God forgives everybody. If he does, there is no hell. If he does, there is no hell. If God has just cleaned the slate,
if the blood of Christ has automatically saved everyone, there's no hell. For sinners are devils. But I'm
told in my Bible that he made hell for the devil and his angels
and everyone who forsakes the mercy of God. Is that right? So I want you to understand that
you and I don't get to just take God's mercy and just blanket
it over the whole human race. There are conditions by which
the blessings of forgiveness must then be experienced by the
sinner. I just want you to understand
that it's God's right to grant it or not. Will God be unjust
if he doesn't grant you his forgiveness? Will God be unjust if he lets
you perish in your sin? Would God be unjust when he allows
sinners to continue rebelling against him and then they perish
justly under his wrath? He wouldn't be unjust, would
he? But I want you to see what the Bible says so that you can
understand this. It's God's right alone to grant
forgiveness if he should. Exodus chapter 23, verse 21. Here it is. Beware of him. Can
I talk about him for a moment? The angel of the Lord. The Lord
Jesus. whom God had to place between
him and Israel as they were journeying through the wilderness, because
Israel forgot how holy God was. But God didn't forget. As God
was giving Moses his law, Israel was committing rake idolatry
at the bottom of the hill. And God told Moses, go on down,
separate the aints from the saints, because I'm about to kill a bunch
of people. That's my translation, but it's good. And on that day, he killed some
20,000 people who had committed idolatry. It shook Moses up. This is why he said, OK, OK,
OK, OK. I just learned something about God I didn't know. He actually
punishes sin. That's why he said, stop the
presses. Stop the wagons. I got to go
meet with God and find out who this God is. Because the way
these people are acting, none of us are going to make it to
the promised land this way. Are you with me? This is what drove Moses to ask
God. And here's what God said to Moses in Exodus 23, 21 concerning
the angel of the Lord, who is the Lord Jesus Christ. Here's
what he says. Beware of him and do what? Obey his voice. Do not
provoke him. For he will not what? Pardon
your transgressions. For my name is in him. Did you
get that? It says it a couple of other
times, too, in the book of Joshua and forward. Here is the point.
I want you to get this. God was telling Moses to tell
the people, don't act like 21st century churches, telling people
just God automatically forgives anybody, anytime. Forgiveness
is predicated upon a massive work and its aim is an authentic,
mutual, reciprocating relationship by which people acknowledge God
for who he really is. This is what you are learning
in the Genesis account. Joseph will only reveal himself
fully to them when they become true men. Are you hearing me? He's working on them as God has
to work on us. So God doesn't forgive everybody
their sins. He doesn't willy-nilly just forgive
sins. Be very careful to understand that. It's a very important concept
for you and I to grasp. I'll give you one more. It's
in Romans 9, verse 18. You can read in your own time,
Joshua 24, 19. When Joshua was old, as you go to Romans 9, Joshua
was old, he was tired of the people, just like Moses was tired
of the people. And Joshua preached one more
gospel message. And in that message, here's what
he said. He says, you cannot serve the Lord God. You cannot
serve the Lord God. Even though you're telling me
you're gonna serve him, Joshua says, you cannot serve the Lord
God and neither will the Lord God pardon your sins. That's
a terrible worship service, isn't it? To come to church and be
told you can't serve God and your sins are not going to be
forgiven? Here's the point. I want you to get this. The Spirit
of God was working through Joseph to help those people understand
how precious the forgiveness of sins is so that we don't play
games or affront God for the gift of forgiveness. Are you
guys hearing me? I'm going to make this even more
plain over the next several weeks through the New Testament. Listen
to what the text says. Therefore, hath he mercy on whom
he will what? Have mercy. Is that what it says? That means God has the right
and prerogative to show mercy to whom he will. Is that true?
And on whom he will, he'll do what? Do you believe your Bibles?
One hundred percent. And God is just either way it
goes. Is that so? I want you to get
this. Not everyone will experience
this massive blessing called the forgiveness of sins. But
as you presume yourself to be a child of God, I want you to
get this. You must understand forgiveness
in relationship to your walk with God and your walk with other
people. OK? You'll walk with other people.
All right, let's move forward. A couple of things I want to
say as I get ready to deal with my topic on forgiveness today.
There are five aspects to forgiveness I want you to think about. Today
we're going to deal with the first. It's called the meaning
of forgiveness. The meaning of forgiveness. The meaning. It's
not written down in your outline. You can just write it down now.
Five things about forgiveness I want to underscore. The meaning
of forgiveness. It's like love. People think
they know what love means. But once you ask them, what is
love? They go to scratch their head. I don't know. It's just
a word I use about a thousand times a day. I don't know what
it means. We're getting ready to understand forgiveness. The
Lord willing. The meaning of forgiveness. And
then what I call the mandate of forgiveness. The mandate.
Children of God, do you not know that God mandates that we forgive
one another? It's a mandate. It's not an option. It's a mandate. It's a mandate. Not only will we talk about mandates
next week, but it's also a process. Write that down. Process. And
here is where we're gonna really be struggling. When I talk to
you about the mandate and process of forgiveness, you're gonna
be raising a bunch of objections and you're gonna be raising a
lot of questions when I start talking about it. Here's the
reason why. I'm getting ready to give you
another truth about forgiveness that you aren't thinking about
It's because of this. Forgiveness is not a natural,
endemic, intrinsic gift to us as fallen creatures. Forgiving people is not natural
to our nature. I want you to get this. You and
I do not automatically forgive people. And so when you are told,
forgive, and you will be forgiven, this pushes us back on our heels.
And when you're told, if you don't forgive men their trespasses,
your father will not forgive you. We find a way to erase that,
explain it away, avoid it, not deal with it. Because intrinsically,
we do not have the capacity by human nature to forgive. I'll
show you that. I told you my Hawaiian brothers,
they said, don't even put a sign up. You know you're trapped. Don't put a sign up. If they
cross, shoot them. That's mankind by nature. And that's how you and I treat
one another sometimes too. Are you listening to me? I have
to go on the latest foundation. It's very important to know.
So then you're way up, jumping up. You're way jumping up. Shouldn't
even be up there. Because I haven't dealt with that yet. I didn't
call you to go there yet. So I'm saying that we're going to
be dealing with four things. Meaning of forgiveness, the mandate of
forgiveness, the process of forgiveness. Here's another word, the grace
of forgiveness. The grace of forgiveness. And
that's what you're going to need to execute the process. Or you're
going to hell. Listen to me, child of God. Please
listen to me. The reason why I have to do this
series is because I know some of us think that we can live
a life of continual unforgiveness towards others. and still have
God's smile on our life. And I want you to know that's
not possible. Do you hear me? It's not possible.
It's not possible for you to hate people and act like they
can go to hell. But God's going to just open
his hands wide and say, come into heaven, my child. Do you
hear me? So the final one will be not
only the meaning and mandate the process and grace, but the
goal of forgiveness. That's what I want us to get
to, the goal of forgiveness. But there was a couple of points
that I had under that first one, the seven proposals. And I need
to finish those two while I head towards my definition. So I said,
the only way back to God is through what? Forgiveness. But forgiveness
does what? Exposes our horrible what? Predicament. This is what I call the atom
scatterer effect. Didn't we learn that last week?
I share with you that we are in Adam one We are scatterers
in the last Adam. We are what gatherers When you
and I are not walking in forgiveness, we are scattering You guys got
that scattering That's what happened at the fall When Adam and Eve
walked away from the garden everything started to scatter all of humanity
scattered you guys got that because no one knew on planet earth how
to deal with the sin issue So all of humanity is scattered
because of sin, because we don't have the solution. Are y'all
following me? Adam scatterers. You want to know whether you're
an Adam 1 or Adam 2? Think about what happened when you finished
that conversation with that person. That's good. And it's awesome too, because
it's pressing home some diagnostic issues that we have to deal with,
right? So I said, it's an expression of God's Redeeming glory is the
purchase of its inestimable price. It's the right of God alone to
grant. It is the heart and aim of the gospel. Do you believe
that? So when I say that forgiveness is important, it's because it's
the heart and aim of the gospel. Listen, Saints, if we go out
and tell men and women that Christ died on Calvary Street, but it
wasn't with this aim to forgive sins, where's the good news?
The good news is that there is forgiveness of sins. this is
what this brother that's sinking down to the bottom of the ocean
waving at Jonah is saying there's forgiveness with God that's the
gospel Ephesians 1 7 pull it up Ephesians 1 7 just show you
what it says in whom we have what told you redemption is the
basis isn't it through his what Christ is the price isn't he
Even what? The forgiveness of sins. Now
watch this last line. I'll deal with this later. According
to the riches of his grace. Do you know what that means?
That means God has an aim and goal for forgiveness of which
he wants us to plunge into and enjoy the riches of his grace. And that tells me, Jesse, if
you are not enjoying the riches of his grace, you're not operating
the concept and principle and provisio of forgiveness as you
ought to. You are stingy and therefore
God's grace is stingy to you. Am I making some sense? This
is so very important. So very important. So very important. I'll look at one more to underscore
this point and that would be in the book of Colossians chapter
1 verse 12 through 14. You guys with me so far? Right.
So it's very important that we're laying down a foundation. This
is teaching time. Colossians chapter 1 verse 12.
Are we there? We are always giving thanks unto the Father who has
made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints
in life. You know what that means? God fitted us for the kingdom. He shaped us for the kingdom.
He qualified us to be in his kingdom. That was a tremendous
work. Verse 13. who have delivered
us from the power of darkness and has translated us into the
kingdom of his dear son. You guys see that? That's the
Star Wars stuff. We got translated out of darkness
into light. Zip zap. God did that. Hallelujah. You need to think
that one through. That takes a cosmic God whose
powers are able to just take you from a hell-bound condition
and put you in a heaven-bound condition all in a nanosecond. Verse 14, in whom we have what? Through his what? The aim is
what? You got it? Don't separate those
three. Those encompass 130. Remember,
sin, mercy, redemption. That brother, when he saw the
mercy of God in Psalm 130, he turned around and started shouting
to everybody, God is plenteous in redemption. God is plenteous
in mercy. Wasn't he? and that's how you
and I should be every day, people of the gospel. So richly blessed
and so richly thankful for God's goodness in our life, we telling
everybody about redemption. That's only when you and I know
that we are objects of God's mercy and His forgiveness is
ours. So very important to get. All
right, so now I wanna move on into a couple of thoughts. As
we work through this, as I stated, it's very important for you and
I to understand what I am calling now a chief commodity. Forgiveness is a chief commodity
in the portfolio of the believer's inheritance in Christ. You know
how some of us have 401ks and money markets and we got all
kinds of commodities there. Y'all know anything about that?
Right. And so I'm calling this as part of the commonwealth of
Israel that we all have, because we're all rich in Christ. We
have the riches of His grace encompassing the nature of the
kingdom under many different commodities, many different stocks,
many different bonds. But there is one stock that is
the master key to all stocks, for which if we don't execute
this stock, none of the other stocks work. And that's the stock
of forgiveness. It's the master key that opens
the door to all the other stocks. Watch this. Watch this. Are you
with me so far? You can talk faith all you want. but you're
not operating out of the forgiveness of sins, your faith is a farce.
You can talk love all you want to, but if you're not operating
out of the forgiveness of sins, your love is a farce. You can
talk grace. You can talk justification. You
can talk propitiation. You can talk election. You can
talk eternal life now or in glory. It all means nothing. While you
are not utilizing the stock of forgiveness as both to maintain
a healthy vital walk between you and God, and you and your
loved ones and you and neighbors. Am I making some sense? See,
I'm pointing to the mandate aspect of forgiveness now, whether you
know it or not. The disciples ran up on Jesus when they found
out that he knew how to pray and they said, Lord, teach us
how to what? He says, call him Heavenly Father.
His name is hallowed. Recognize that his will be done.
ask him to do it down here where we at and then immediately didn't
immediately be as it were beseech him for your daily bread because
God has to take care of us every day okay now let's get to the
real business and forgive us our trespasses just as we forgive
others whoa guess who told you that the object
of your forgiveness Does he mean for you to play with forgiveness?
No, he doesn't. He doesn't. This is why this
series is going to be so very important. So very important.
Here's the last one. I want you to get this now. The
reason for which we must contemplate forgiveness is not only is the
only way back, not only does it expose a horrible predicament,
it purchased its purchase at an inestimable price. It is an
expression of God's redeeming glory. It is the right of God
to grant alone. It's the heart and aim of the
gospel. Here it is. Here it is. Here it is. Forgiveness teaches us how valuable
relationships are to God. I can close with the doxology. The problem is I haven't preached
the gospel yet. I'll just put you on the premise of why we
need the gospel and its full impact and why we need to stop
playing church and working on the periphery of biblical theology
and dive into the heart of the reality of all that Christ is
as a revelation of the invisible God for our salvation and the
good of people around us. Are you guys hearing me? So very,
so very important. Then let's move on to our second
point. So I can quickly move into this.
My second point then is to deal with the meaning of forgiveness.
Can I do that? The meaning of forgiveness. You
can pull it up now. And the meaning of forgiveness, which is a rich,
what we call grammatical study. We have a five-fold hermeneutic
of study. You guys know what that is, right? Let His grace
teach us what? Redemption. That's the acronym,
right? Literal, historical, grammatical, theological, redemptive. I love
that acronym, don't you? Let His grace teach us redemption. And so, as we work through the
grammar, here's what we discover. In the Old Testament, there are
literally hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of
times in which the word forgiveness is used. It is, in its root verbal
form, the word saw. It's combined with the word nos,
and so it's translated frequently nosaw or nosay. These vowel points
are used for different nuances. But nosaw, or the word saw there,
can be translated this way, to lift. Do you see that word? To
lift. Do you see it? To lift. When
God talks about forgiveness, He talks about lifting. Lifting. The analogy is in Genesis chapter
7 verse 17. Don't go there for time sake
because it's too slow. It's when God had told Noah to build the
ark. And that when the ark was finished
building, God brought the flood. And the waters of the flood did
what to the ark? Lifted the ark up. When we are
engaged in the forgiveness of sins, as God had to be engaged
in the forgiveness of my sins, God had to find a way to lift
the weight of my sin off my being. Did you hear it? To lift the
weight of my sin off my being. To lift the weight of my sin
off my being. That's what it means in the first
sense. And in the second sense, it means
to carry it. To carry it. It's the same word
that's used for the carrying of the Ark of the Covenant. And
you shall carry the Ark of the Covenant on two staves. The stave
of faith and obedience, right? And when God in his mercy looked
upon me to save my soul, he had to find a way to lift the tons
of sin off my conscience and my soul. And only God could do
that. And he found a man in the person
of the Lord Jesus who came and got up under my sin and lifted
him up and gave ease to my soul, ease to my soul. Because I was
under the burden of sin, the burden of sins, the burden of
sin. And the hymn writer said, it
was love that lifted me. I was sinking deep in sin, far,
far, far from the peaceful shore. You guys understanding him? You
understand what I'm saying? So the verb is to lift and then
it's also to carry. I mean, I'm gonna embellish this
one. This is beautiful because when we get into the process
mode next week, what this means is Jesus comes alongside of his
saints and helps carry their sin, the sin that remains. so you can actually get about
the business of the kingdom. Stay with me. Are you with me?
We actually, most of us here, I don't know if everybody is
the way, but most of us here are not under any delusions that
we are all that and a piece of cake. Can I get a witness? Right, right. So now here's what
we never say. We never tell people, listen
to me, that I'm not a sinner. We never tell people that. We never tell people I'm not
a sinner still. I am still a sinner. But because I am also the righteousness
of God in Christ, I have a substitute who comes along and helps me
with my sin so that I can bear my sin. Am I making some sense?
Right, because see this bearing or carrying my sins along with
me is my sanctification. That's good, you better write
that down. Watch it, watch it. See, here's what he does. I know
positionally all my sin is gone. I know that. I understand what
Christ did. But there's a whole bunch of sin right here, right
here that I'm worried about. But I got a Savior right next
to me helping me deal with this sin. He's carrying my burdens
with me. He's carrying with me. Am I making
some sense? And he is present with us as
believers in the person of the Holy Ghost called the Helper.
He helps us with our infirmities. He helps us with our infirmities.
Now I'm getting to the gospel. Am I getting to the gospel? He
helps us with our infirmities because we need help. One sin
will send you to hell. We need help. We need help. The other way the word is used
is in the ultimate work of not only lifting our sins off of
us, but in placing them on Christ. And he, like the scapegoat of
the Yom Kippur Day of Atonement, carries our sins away. Do you
got that? He carries our sins away. We
get to stand in the person of the high priest Aaron, along
with Aaron, and watch that scapegoat leave our presence with our sins. Is that good? Is that good? That
is what forgiveness of sins is all about in the Old Testament.
Let me move to the New Testament. In the New Testament, the Greek
term is aphe. It's a root verb and it has different
stems on it, depending on the tenses of the verb. And afe can
be translated three ways too. Greek is a little bit more technical
than the Hebrew. Hebrew is more colorful, but
you can see the analogies there. The Greek term afe is translated
to release. You guys see that? To release,
to release. And this is a term that's used
in Matthew 5, 24, don't go there, where Christ tells us, and we'll
deal with this under the mandate, if you go to worship, you are
laying your gift at the altar and you remember you got an issue
with somebody so right now a whole bunch of us are smitten aren't
we and you think you're gonna keep worshiping God and God's
gonna just be happy with your worship you know what he says
forgive your gift you know what the word is leave it right there
you got that forgive your gift leave your gift right there and
go handle that business does God value relationship does he
value relationship He values mostly your relationship with
him where he does not want you to be a hypocrite and inconsistent
in your walk with him since we are called sons of God through
Christ. Forgive your gift. Leave it there. I love the way
the disciples use this term when the master had a whole bunch
of people following him in the early days of his ministry and
they were hungry. They had been in the desert for three days
and the master saw that they were hungry and the master says,
these folks are hungry. I've got compassion upon them.
Let's feed them. And the disciples said, that
would be cool, but we don't have nothing to eat. I'll tell you
what, it's not quite night, send all these folks away. Just send
them away. Tell them to go to 7-Eleven,
tell them to go to Walmart and eat and we'll be cool. That's
the concept of forgiveness. Now, I want to say something
about that. That's how you and I are in our forgiveness with
people. Send them away. But that's not
biblical forgiveness. Just letting it go or sending
it away is not the aim of forgiveness. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? See, if we had our way, we would just get rid of people.
Just get rid of them. Yeah, I forgive them, but I don't
even want to live on the same planet with them. That's not
biblical forgiveness. That's not biblical forgiveness,
because if God treated you like that, that's not biblical forgiveness. So now, so now, yes, it does
mean the release. And it means to grant. This was
the switch that took place between Barabbas and Jesus when they
wanted a murderer to be released to them. Give us Barabbas. You guys see that? We'll work
that more fully over the next couple of weeks. And the last
one means to simply permit or to allow. Now, this concept of
forgiveness that we're dealing with in our text has to do with
not holding a person to the responsibility of their actions. Are you following
me? When we enter into the first
stage of forgiveness, what we are doing is saying, I have a
right to see you punished for what you did, but I'm letting
you go. That is a judicial act or privilege
of the person who has the power to pardon. So the governor often
pardons people of their crime, right? That is not biblical forgiveness.
We already learned that, right? You cannot forgive without first
punishing the sin, right? But the idea of releasing, releasing,
releasing is at the heart of this verb. And so it's used in
the Gospel of Mark when it speaks to Christ setting the captives
what? Free. Liberating the captives. So in the sense of this, that
when you and I come to Jesus, He has already accomplished what's
necessary to let us out of prison. And so he opens the door and
says you are a free man or a free woman in Christ. Is that true?
But he does not let us out so that we can go back to what we
were doing, live the same way we were living, think the same
way we were thinking, or act towards God or one another the
same way we did. In other words, forgiveness has
a goal and an aim. That's good, isn't it? I'm gonna
press this home so that we can get it. So very good. Here's
the last New Testament verb for forgiveness that I'm going to
work through when we deal with the process and grace of forgiveness. It's used only a couple of times
in the New Testament. It's the Greek term karidzo.
And this word is translated to forgive or to give. And here's the meaning of the
word. Here's the meaning of the word. It means to show what? Now we're talking about adorning
the act of forgiveness with the character of Christ when we do
it. I'm gonna say it again. Now we're
talking about adorning the act of forgiveness with the character
of Christ when we do it. In other words, you don't want
to forgive with an anti-Christ attitude. Do you understand what
I just stated? Here it is. It's to show favor.
Not only that, to show kindness. To be kind. Now, what does it
mean to be kind? Are you ready? It means to be
sympathetic. To be kind means to step in that
person's shoes and understand what they are going through.
This is what we are learning in the Joseph account, are we
not? Is not Joseph deeply sympathetic to the condition and state of
his brothers? Was Jesus not deeply sympathetic to the condition
and state of us? This is what I mean by forgiveness.
Forgiveness not only just says, let him out, let him go, let
him go. Forgiveness says, let him go and give him everything
necessary so that he can be restored to the condition for which in
my valuing that relationship, I want him to have. Did you guys
get what I just stated? For which my valuing the relationship
I want him to have. In other words, I don't want
him out and be at a disadvantage. I want him out so that he can
have everything that was originally his when we were in right relationship
before the fall. So it means to show favor, kindness,
to gift and to adorn. Is it good, Saints? I'm going
to close down with my final, final argument on this and it's
point number three. Point number three in our outline.
We're almost here. And while we are looking at our
third point, point number three, the true forgiveness has three
parts to its gospel. Do you guys see that? True forgiveness
has three parts to its gospel. Go with me in your Bible to Genesis
chapter 50. You stay right there. I want them to see the PowerPoint
as you go to Genesis 50. I'm jumping ahead of our elder
study, but there's plenty work in Genesis 50 for him to cover.
I am just going to deal with something that I know is critical
to underscoring this last point. Now, the last point that I'm
about to deal with as we close is rooted in what I stated in
the seventh of our proposals in the opening points. And it's
this. Forgiveness teaches us how what
valuable relationships are to whom. Forgiveness teaches us
how valuable relationships are to God. Now when we say this,
under true forgiveness has three parts. Two, it's gospel. Two,
it's good news. When you and I are exercising
biblical forgiveness, when we're exercising redemptive, Christocentric
forgiveness, when we're exercising the forgiveness of the gospel,
three things take place. Are you ready? Release. Release. And what you are releasing is
that person from the act of sin that they committed. Did you
guys get what I just stated? You are releasing them from the
act of sin that they committed. Pastor, that's hard, I know.
We'll deal with that next week. You are releasing them from the
act of sin that they committed or else you're sending them to
hell. The wages of sin is what? You're going to kill the relationship
if you hold unforgiveness. You're going to kill the relationship.
Am I telling the truth? You're going to kill relationship.
You're going to kill the relationship. It's going to die on the vine
while you are not forgiving. There is no way any relationship
can thrive where forgiveness is not granted. You guys are
logical people. The seven point corresponds to
the first point. If forgiveness is a valuable
commodity in terms of relationship with God, it must be because
it's the only way back to God. Now, if God deems that forgiveness
is the only way back for us, it's important, isn't it? It's
important. So, forgiveness is to release
the person from that sin or transgression that they committed against you.
Secondly, it's in order, ready to reconcile the two grieving
parties. the two grievant parties. Because
see, what sin does is separate. Didn't we learn that? Sin divides. Sin creates hostilities. Sin
creates variances. It makes people enemies. Hatfields
and McCoys, right? When the sin is dealt with, the
objective is reconciliation. To wit, God was in Christ, reconciling
the world unto him, not imputing their trespasses to them. Forgiveness
to reconcile. Are you hearing what I just stated?
Forgiveness to reconcile. And here is the final stage of
biblical Christian forgiveness. It's in order to restore the
relationship. Now that's hard, but that's the
work we got to do. Follow this now. These principles
that I'm sharing with you are non-negotiable principles in
any relationship. You don't have a relationship
of what you value or care about that you're not already doing
some of the things I'm talking about. You can't have a relationship
with another human being who is a sinner just like yourself,
where you are not automatically forgiving them, automatically
setting the stage for reconciliation, and automatically setting the
conditions for a restoration of the relationship. When you
love people, that's what you do. Am I making some sense? You do this
with your children. Husbands and wives must do that
with one another. You do that with anyone that
offends you, of which once you experience the offense, you have
the option of putting them in jail and thus destroying the relationship
or letting them go with the opportunity of reconciliation and restoration
of everything that's promised in the nature of that relationship.
Is that true? See, all relationships are different, but whatever that
relationship is based upon, the only way that relationship can
flourish is if reconciliation is a constant basis for the interaction
necessary for the relationship to thrive. As soon as I don't
forgive, there's no reconciliation. As soon as I don't reconcile,
the relationship dies. It dies. Dead. I want to talk to you about Joseph
and his brothers and shut it down here. Chapter 50, verse
15 through 21. Chapter 50, verse 15. Can you
pull that up? Let me just do a little preface
here. I'm enjoying our Sunday school lesson so much. Are you
guys? If you don't come, that's your fault. Because here's the
thing. You really need to learn the
gospel. The problem with our everyday
Christian is we don't have gospel. We don't have gospel lenses.
And because you don't have a gospel framework to interpret things,
you don't know how to put them in their proper category in your
life situation. And the way that the way that
is in your life situation is also the way that it is in your
Bible study. Without a gospel paradigm, a
framework for biblical interpretation, you can't see how God's redeeming
grace is working through the text of scripture. And to learn
that, you have to be under sound teaching that is Bible-based,
God-centered, Christ-exalting, so that you see Jesus in the
text, teaching us how to live out the gospel. Point number
one, these boys in chapter 50 are standing before their judge.
And the reason they're standing before their judge is because
they have not yet confessed their sin. They've been under great test.
I'll leave that for the elder to unpack. And you and I are
under test in this world every day. And every day our Christianity
is under test, whether it's valid, whether we are, the word is three
times by Joseph, true man, whether we're going to tell the truth.
Up to chapter 50, they have never told the truth. They've always
boasted in their own righteousness. Chapter 50 comes, and they know
now they in trouble. You know why? Because Daddy Jacob
is dead and gone. We done buried him. We done had
seven months of mourning over him. And now these 11 boys are
looking up and saying, whoo, we got to deal with Joseph all
by ourselves. Are you with me? Are you guys
with me? Watch this now. They saw that their only hope
was the relationship, here comes the gospel, between Joseph and
Jacob. You got it? Are you with me?
They saw that their only hope was the love relationship between
the father and his what? You got it? Are you with me in
a paradigm? You with me in a paradigm? And 11 boys are like you and
me. We don't have a relationship with Jesus like Joseph had with
his son Jacob, with his daddy Jacob. Those two had a unique
love for each other, didn't they? The 11 were strangers to that
love. See, and this would speak to the authenticity and uniqueness
of Joseph being like Jesus, being actually God's son. We're adopted. Now we can have the blessings
and benefits of adopted sons, But we got to get right with
Joseph. Am I telling the truth? We got to get right with Joseph.
See, because right now on those boys' minds, are you with me? On these boys' minds is 30-something
years. From 17 to now, Joseph is about
56 years old in this text. 30-something years of a guilty
conscience. for having done what they did
to Joseph, as hell-bound sinners have done with Jesus. Are y'all
following me so far? But now they are standing in
front of the very man that they lied about and tried to kill. Standing in front of him. Now
let me show you what they did. And when Joseph's brethren saw
that their father was dead, they said, Joseph, per adventure,
will what? Do you know why they said that?
Because they hated Joseph. Like we all do against God until
his love is poured into our heart by the Holy Ghost in regeneration.
Am I making some sense? They were afraid of Joseph because
they didn't know anything about the love of God. They represent
the scribes and the Pharisees. You hate me because you know
neither me nor my father. Are you with me? Follow this
line now. He said, and Joseph preached
and he says, and he will certainly requite us of all the evil which
we done unto him. You know what we call that? Justice. Right? All they're thinking is
justice. All they're thinking is justice.
They don't know anything about mercy or forgiveness. That's
a revelation that must come to our heart as God opens the window
of heaven and revealed to us his glory in the person of Christ.
All we do is run from God until he reveals that forgiveness is
with you. Forgiveness is with God. So you
know what they're about to do? They're about to appeal to Joseph,
not on the grounds of their relationship with Joseph, but on the grounds
of Joseph's relationship with Jacob. I'm good with that. I'm
good with that. Save me any kind of way you want
to. Verse 16. Here it is. Verse 16. Are you
ready? and they sent a messenger unto Joseph saying, your father,
your father, your father. You see how they're separating
themselves from Joseph and Jacob? Yo daddy, yo daddy. It's they
daddy too. Yo daddy. Did command before he died. Glorious. That's why I told you
it starts with the father. It always starts with the father. It always starts with the Father
from whom all blessings flow. It always starts with Him. He
is the first cause of everything. He drew up the scheme. He purposed
it. He planned it. He established
it. And they say, your daddy commanded
before he died, saying, verse 16, watch this, I love this.
So shall you see unto Joseph. Here it is. Forgive. I pray thee
now. Do you see what I see? Do you see that these men are
appealing to Joseph, who is their judge and leader and ruler, to
forgive them for the father's sake? Do you see it? They are
appealing to Joseph not on the basis of their authority, but
on the basis of the Father's authority. This is the gospel. It's the Father's will that none
should perish, but all come to repentance. All that the Father
giveth me shall come to me, and he that cometh unto me I will
in no wise cast out. Father, thine they were, and
you gave them to me. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? Your daddy said, forgive us. Your daddy said, forgive
us. I love it. I love it. For God
so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that if
anyone would say, your daddy said, forgive us. And now we pray. And now we pray. And now we pray. Forgive the
trespass of your servants, the God of thy father. Here is where
the pivot turns. because now they are owning their
sin. And they are petitioning for
forgiveness themselves. Are you hearing me? They are
petitioning for forgiveness themselves. And I'll tell you, there's a
whole much more, there's so much more here, I won't deal with
it. I just want you to see how this line falls out. They request
on the part of the father to the son, Their request has moved
them to be honest about their own sin. This is the first time
that they are executing 1 John 1, verse 9. If we confess our
sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and
to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. This is the grounds upon which
we have fellowship with the Father and fellowship with the Son through
the blood of Christ. Am I making some sense? Watch
this now. Here it is. Watch it now. And it says, and
Joseph wept. when they spoke this unto him.
Our brother was a crying high priest, wasn't he? He was a crying
judge, wasn't he? Can I tell you why he was crying
here? Because he saw the Spirit of God had honored his test. And those men are being true
now for the first time. They can't hide behind a superficial
relationship with daddy. They must admit that they didn't
love daddy like Joseph loved daddy. And daddy had problems
with them too but daddy cared for them through joseph as god
cares about us through christ are you guys hearing what i'm
saying now watch this next verse i'm almost done watch this next
verse and his brethren also went and did what fell down before
his face Every knee shall bow. Every tongue shall confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the Father of things
in heaven, of things in earth, of things under the earth. They
shall confess Jesus is Lord. And they said, behold, we your
slaves now. This is what real repentance
is about. It's not standing up, coming to God, telling God what
you want. It's bowing the knee, acknowledging that you are a
hell-deserving sinner, and we're just glad to be slaves. Slaves. Next verse. Is it there? Look at it. And Joseph said unto
them, Do not what? Is that the way God talks? Yes,
he does. The grounds upon which God's
fear and wrath is removed when we confess our sins. and acknowledges
mercy. Now watch this. I'm not going
to unpack this, but it's beautiful. For am I in the place of God? Yes. As a type of Christ? Yes. As a human being? No. As no human being can do
what God does, and that is God has a right to determine whether
or not forgiveness is going to be yours. Joseph is saying, I'm
not God. I can't really determine. But
here's what I know. As a man, watch this. Are you ready? As
a man, as a Christian, as a believer in Christ, as one for whom God
has shown mercy, when you ask me to forgive you, I've got to
forgive you. Verse 20, but as for you, you
thought evil, but God meant it to good to bring to pass as it
is this day to save many people alive. God always turns evil
to good for those that trust him. Verse 21. I'm going to show
you a New Testament forgiveness. Verse 21. Verse 21. Are you ready? He says, now therefore
do not fear. You got it? I'm not going to
punish you. I'm not going to send you to
hell. In fact, I'm not only going to let you out. I'm letting you
out because I want a reconciled relationship with you. I always
wanted that with you. But you guys are such transgressors.
I had to test you all the time that daddy was alive because
I knew you were liars and snakes. That's my translation. That was
that whole long journey. Are you hearing me? Let me test
you. He tested them because they were liars and snakes. And here's
what Joseph learned. Sometimes you can open the door
for forgiveness for some people and you can give them the first
stage, but you're not getting the second stage unless their
heart is right. Now we're going to learn that
when we get in the process. So Joseph was testing whether
or not he was going to allow them back into the bosom of his
blessings. And when he heard that they had
truly repented, not only did he release them from the guilt
of their conscience, he opened the door for reconciliation with
them. And the third stage is what we call the restoration
of the relationship, which is under the term nourish. Do you
see the word? Not only will I let you go, I'm
going to nourish our relationship. I'm going to strengthen our relationship. I'm going to build our relationship
up. I'm going to make our relationship everything that it was meant
to be and more. Our relationship today is going
to be better than it was yesterday. You guys are going to know the
blessing of your little brother who told you 37 years ago, I
had a dream. and all the she's bowed down
in front of me and the 11 stars bowed down and the moon bowed
down and the sun bowed down and daddy jacob said boy what you
talking about i better stop because this boy might be telling the
truth and here it is his brothers are bowing before him now this
is the bow of salvation this is not the bow of judgment day
this is where we ask you lost sinner to bow before christ right
now bow Don't accept Jesus into your heart. Bow before the Lord
Jesus and acknowledge his rule in your life and enjoy the forgiveness
of sins that only come through Christ. Are you guys hearing
what I'm saying? He's not your president. You don't vote for
him. He's Lord. You don't accept him. He's already
Lord in God. You bow before him. You bow before
him. and believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and you shall be saved. Amen. Amen.