Before you turn back to John
chapter 20, while you're turning there, tonight
we're going to consider the faith of Samson. The faith of Samson. I'd like to read verse 23 once
again of John chapter 20. Whosoever sins you remit, and
that word remit is quite often translated forgive. Whosoever sins you forgive, they
are forgiven unto them. And whosoever sins you retain,
they are retained. I've entitled this message, The
Remission and the Retaining of Sins. Question. What is the greatest need that
we have? I know the answer to that question. The forgiveness of my sin. That is my greatest need. I think I have some understanding
of what David meant in Psalm 25, I believe it's verse 11,
when he said, pardon my iniquity, O Lord, For it's great. Pardon mine iniquity, O Lord,
for thy name's sake. For it's great. He doesn't say
pardon my iniquity because it's not all that bad. But pardon
it because it's great. My sin. My sins are many. And they're great. My greatest
need is the forgiveness, the remission of my sins. Now in our text, we read of the
remission and the retaining of sins. Some will not have their
sins forgiven. That's a very sobering thought,
isn't it? Not everybody is forgiven. Some will die in their sins and
be raised in their sins. Turn with me for a moment to
John chapter 5. Hold your finger there and turn to John chapter
5. Verse 28. Marvel not at this, for the hour
is coming. in the which all, John 5, verse
28, the hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves
shall hear his voice, and shall come forth, they that have done
good, unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done
evil, unto the resurrection of what? Damnation. What a sobering, sobering thought
there are some who will die in their sins and will be raised
in their sins and spend eternity suffering the wrath of God. Now that's subtle. I want to
be in this group whose sins are forgiven, don't you? Whose sins
are remitted. Now back to John chapter 20. The last part of verse 21, the
Lord says to His disciples, As my Father hath sent me, even
so send I you. Now, why did the Father send
the Son? God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the
world. We're already condemned. But that the world through Him
might be saved. That's why he sent his son. And our Lord says, as the Father
has sent me, even so send I you, has something to do with men
being saved. And when he said this, verse
22, he breathed on them and saith unto them, receive ye the Holy
Ghost. What's that mean? Did they already
have the Holy Spirit? Of course they did. If they were
born from above, they were born of the Spirit. If they believed,
they were enabled to by the Spirit. All believers have the Spirit
of God. But what he's talking about here is this supernatural
ability to preach the gospel. I think the best example is Acts
chapter 2. Shortly before that, Peter was
afraid of a maid. Now, all of a sudden, he stands
and preaches the gospel in an unusually powerful way. with
an understanding of the scriptures that he didn't have before. Remember
there in Luke chapter 24, it says, Then opened he their understanding
that they might understand the scripture. And you look at the
way Peter used Psalm 16 in the Old Testament to preach the gospel
at that time. He received a special anointing
of the Spirit. And this is what our Lord is
talking about for the preaching of the gospel. And when he said
this, he breathed on them and saith unto them, Receive ye the
Holy Ghost. Now look what he says next. Whosoever
sins you remit, they are remitted unto them, and whosoever sins
you retain, they are retained." Now, this verse has been the
subject of debate throughout the centuries. Some people believe
that he conferred on the apostles the authority to forgive sin
and to absolve from sin. Now, what if that power was in
any man's hands? I want you to think about that.
What if the forgiveness of your sins was up to me? What if the forgiveness of my
sins was up to you? Now the plain fact of the matter
is, is if the forgiveness of sins is in the hands of a man,
nobody will be forgiven. We think, well, I'd forgive everybody. Well, I know you say that, but
saying it and doing it are two different things. Let me cross
you one too many times and we'll see if you forgive me. You know,
people argue with the sovereignty of God and salvation. And they
say, well, how can it be right for God to forgive some and not
forgive others, to choose some and not choose others, to die
for some and not die for others? How could that be right? And
when a man makes that objection, he's saying, I'm more merciful
than God. That's what we're saying. And the fact of the matter is,
is if salvation was in my hands or your hands, nobody would be
saved but me. And actually, I didn't end up
being saved. I'd get so frustrated with myself, I'd probably say
there's no hope for this guy. Do you remember when Christ said
to the man taken with Paul's son, be of good cheer, thy sins
be forgiven thee? And we read where the scribes
said in their heart, why does this man speak blasphemies? Who
can forgive sins but God only? They were right, weren't they?
There's only one who can forgive sins, and that is God only. Indeed, no one but God has the
prerogative to do this. Jesus Christ is God. And Jesus
Christ has authority on earth to forgive sins. Now what the
Lord is saying to his disciples is I bestow upon you the power
to authoritatively declare whose sins are forgiven and whose sins
are not forgiven. Now that's what's going on in
gospel preaching. It's a declaration of whose sins
are forgiven and whose sins are not forgiven. Here's an illustration.
When Joseph declared that the butler would be restored and
the baker beheaded, he didn't restore the butler and he didn't
behead the baker. He simply declared what would
be. That's it. When the prophets declared what
would be, they didn't accomplish what would be. They didn't cause
what would be to be. They simply declared it. And
in the preaching of the gospel, That's what's going on. A declaration
of who sins are forgiven and who sins are retained. Now I have three very simple
points to this message I'm going to attempt to bring. First, there
is the forgiveness of sin. There is the forgiveness of sins. And secondly, I'm asking whose
sins are forgiven. There is the forgiveness of sin,
whose sins are forgiven. And my third point is an application
of forgiveness to the heart. And I know only God, the Holy
Spirit can apply this, but I pray that's what he does. First, there
is the forgiveness of sins. Now, let me tell you, what is
utterly unique about the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. All
other religions, all other counterfeit gospels end with the forgiveness
of sins. If you do this, if you stop doing
that, If you believe this and if you don't believe that, then
you will have the forgiveness of sins. The gospel of Christ
begins with the full, free, frank and
complete forgiveness of sins. It doesn't give you a formula
that you need to perform in order to have your sins forgiven. It
declares the complete forgiveness of sins. Psalm 130, verses 4
and 5, If thou, O Lord, should mark the iniquities, O Lord,
who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with
thee, that thou mayest be feared. Psalm 86 says for the Lord, thou
Lord art good and ready to forgive and plenteous in mercy unto all
them that call upon thee. Now let me remind you, when we
talk about the forgiveness of sins, the forgiveness of sins
is in God's hands. It's not in yours. It's up to Him as to whether
or not you or I will be forgiven. It's in God's sovereign hands. Now, men in our day get this
backwards. They present God as wanting to
forgive everybody. But He can't forgive you unless
you let Him. He's wanting to forgive you,
but you've got to let Him forgive you. in order for you to be forgiven.
Now, something's wrong with that picture. As a matter of fact,
it's ridiculous. As a matter of fact, it's stupid.
And I'm not using too strong a language. What if I murdered
your child? And then I said to you, I'm going
to let you forgive me. Something's wrong with that picture,
isn't there? Forgiveness isn't me letting If you come up and
hit me in the face and say, I think I'm going to let you forgive
me. It doesn't work that way. Forgiveness is in God's sovereign
hands. It's up to him as to whether
or not you and I will be forgiven. But he does forgive. And he is ready to forgive. He delights in mercy and his
forgiveness is not like ours. Narrow. Difficult. Half hearted. With strings attached. But his
forgiveness is full. Free. Boundless. Bottomless. And absolute. That's the kind of forgiveness
I need. God's forgiveness is free. You know what that means? That means there are no conditions
to be fulfilled before he can forgive me. God's salvation begins
with the forgiveness of sins. God's forgiveness is not his
response to something I do or something I believe. It's a declaration
of forgiveness. What condition did that thief
meet before God could forgive him? Did he do something in order
to get God forgiven? No, God intended to forgive him.
That's why he was forgiven. Salvation, forgiveness is in
God's sovereign hand. And His forgiveness is full. That means all sin is forgiven. If He forgives you, He forgives
you of all sin. Not some sin. Not just the bad
ones. Not the little ones. No matter. No. All sin. All sin. John Owen said, when Christ died,
He either died for all the sins of all men, and if He died for
all the sins of all men, all men will be saved, or He died
for some of the sins of all men, and if that's the case, no one
will be saved, or He died for all the sins of some men, and
if that's the case, everybody He died for will be saved. Now, He died completely for all
the sins of all of His people. All sins are forgiven. I love
this. There's pardon for the sins of
past. It matters not how black they're
cast. And oh my soul, with wonder of
you, for sins to come, here's pardon too. All sins. Oh, get that. Sins I haven't
even committed yet. If Christ died for me, if he's
forgiven me, that means all my sins are forgiven. And this forgiveness is everlasting. It's irreversible. It cannot
be changed. Now, that's God's forgiveness.
Now, when God forgives, there's two things involved. First, no
punishment. And second, the reason for punishment
has been taken away. First, there's no punishment. Romans 8, 1 says, there is therefore
now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. I will never
be punished for my sins. Christ took my punishment for
me. And there is absolutely no condemnation
for them that are in Christ Jesus. I'll never have to give an account
for my sins. I'll never be punished for my
sins. Do you find that desirable? I sure do. I don't want to go
to hell, and I don't want to be punished for my sins in any
way. But here's the key behind this.
The reason that I'll never be punished for my sin is that there's
no reason to punish me. Now, this is the gospel. This
is the gospel. The reason for me being punished
has been taken away. God does not have a reason to
punish me. You see, all my sin became Christ's. That's what was going on on the
cross. My sin became His so that He actually became guilty of
it. And God the Father poured his
wrath upon him because he was guilty. My sin became his. Now, I don't understand how all
that takes place, but I don't need to understand it. I believe
it. It's what the Scripture teaches. For he had made him to be sin
for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. My sin became His so that He
actually became guilty of it, and God poured His wrath on Him
because He had the wrath of God coming to Him. He deserved to
be forsaken by God. That's what happened on the cross.
My sin became His, He became guilty, and just as truly As
my sin became his and he became guilty, his perfect righteousness,
his obedience, his law-keeping becomes mine so that I actually
deserve God's favor. I actually deserve God's love. I'm accepted in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, that's the way forgiveness
works. Listen to this scripture from Acts chapter 13. You see, his forgiveness is a
righteous forgiveness. It's a forgiveness based upon
justice. Not just because he's forgiving,
but the justice of God calls upon the salvation of everybody
Christ died for. Look here in Acts chapter 13,
beginning in verse 38. Paul says, Be it known unto you, therefore,
men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you
the forgiveness of sins, and by him all that believe are justified
from all things which you could not be justified by the law of
Moses. You're justified. The reason he forgives you is
because you're justified. He justifies you, and then he
says, I'll forgive. I'll forgive. See, when we forgive
somebody, We do it because we should. We do it because God's
forgiven us. We ought to forgive others. But
his forgiveness is because God's justice demands the salvation
of everybody Christ died for. That's the forgiveness of God.
He doesn't punish us because there's no reason to be punished. Isn't that wonderful? Now, that's the first point.
There is forgiveness. That means for those who are
forgiven, there's no condemnation because the reason for condemnation
has been taken away. Now, here's the second point.
OK, there is forgiveness. Who's forgiven? Who is forgiven? Not everybody is. Some have their
sins retained. Now, if I'm preaching the gospel,
I can declare authoritatively, with the authority of God, whose
sins are forgiven. And that's what our Lord is saying
to his disciples in that 23rd verse. Whosoever sins you remit,
they are remitted. And whosoever sins you retain,
they are retained. Who is forgiven? Not everybody
is. That's evident. There is a place
called hell. And those people in hell are
not forgiven. Who is forgiven? I can answer that question. First
of all, the elect of God are forgiven. Listen to this scripture. Ephesians chapter 1, beginning
in verse 4, says, According as He hath chosen us in Him before
the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without
blame before Him, in love, having predestinated us under the adoption
of children by Jesus Christ Himself, according to the good pleasure
of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein
He hath made us accepted in the Beloved, in whom we have the
forgiveness of sins. the forgiveness of sins, according
to the riches of His grace. Who is forgiven? The elect of
God. Who is forgiven? All those that
Christ died for. If somebody could perish that
Jesus Christ died for, that would make the blood of Christ meaningless. Meaningless. In my heart, I hate
and despise, and I'm using strong language, but I mean it. I hate
and despise that teaching that says that Jesus Christ shed his
blood for all men without exception. Because if that's the case, and
some of those people that he shed his blood for end up in
hell, you've taken away the only hope that I have. Because the
only hope that I have is that Jesus Christ died for me. And
if he could die for me, and I might wind up in hell anyway, that
means it's not his blood that saves. It puts salvation in my
hands and makes salvation by works. That teaching is the teaching
of salvation by works. There's not a drop of gospel
in it. Who's going to be forgiven? Everybody
that the Lord Jesus Christ died for. Who will be forgiven? All who are born of God. All who are regenerated. You
see, we're talking about the work of the Trinity in salvation.
The Father choosing, the Son redeeming, God the Holy Spirit
regenerating. Everybody that's born of the
Spirit Everybody who believes they're forgiven. Now, I want
you to listen to this. Those points are so infinitely
important, but this one's just important. And this is one I
really like. I like them all. Don't misunderstand me, but this
is what I really like. Who is forgiven? Those who believe. Who so believe? That Jesus is
the Christ, is born of God. Do you believe that Jesus is
the Christ? Do you believe that He's God's
anointed prophet? Do you believe He is the Word
of God? Do you believe that He's God's anointed priest, the only
one who can make you acceptable before God? Do you believe He's
God's anointed King, that He's the King of glory? Do you believe
that? You're forgiven. I can say that authoritatively.
You are forgiven. All your sins, every single one
of them are forgiven. Somebody says, you're just making
it too easy. No, no, no, I'm not. This is the truth. Do you
believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Do you believe
that he's the second person of the Trinity, the eternal Son
of God, the creator of the universe? Do you believe that he's God
the Son? Somebody says, I do. And my dear friend, your sins
are forgiven. They've been washed away. They're
separated as far from you as the East is from the West. Do you rely on Jesus Christ as
your righteousness before God? Do you? You can answer that.
Do you rely on Him as your only righteousness before God? You're forgiven. All your sins are forgiven. Are you trusting him as the only
way you can come into the Father's presence? If you are, my dear
brother or sister, you are forgiven. Who's forgiven? Everybody who
endures to the end, continuing to look only to Christ Jesus. They are And that's what our
Lord meant when he said to his disciples, whoever sins you remit
or forgive, they're forgiven. That doesn't mean I have the
power or the authority to forgive your sins, nor does any man.
But we declare whose sins are forgiven. Those who believe. And in like manner, we declare
whose sins are not forgiven. Well, whose sins are not forgiven?
Those folks that are not elected. Those folks that Christ didn't
die for. Those folks that had not been
regenerated. Those folks who do not believe.
Those folks who do not continue in the faith. They are not forgiven. And I need to zone in here also. We talk about
the Lord not forgiving people. If God forgives everybody in
this room but me, do I have a reason to say He's
unjust? Not fair? No, I don't. If He forgives you
and passes me by, He's just. Amen? Amen. But He is ready to forgive. He delights in mercy. So don't start looking at God
as, well, why didn't He forgive everybody? Thank God He does
forgive. And He's ready to forgive. And
we see whose sins are forgiven and whose sins are retained.
Now I want to try to... This third point is the application. Now, turn with me to Acts chapter
26, the application of the forgiveness of sins. Acts chapter 26. This is Anne and I speaking to Paul. I'm sorry, this is the Lord Jesus
speaking to Paul after he appeared to him on the road to Damascus.
He used Ananias, but this is the Lord speaking to him. Verse
15, And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus,
who thou persecutest. But rise and stand upon thy feet,
for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee
a minister and a witness, both of those things which thou hast
seen and of those things into which I will appear unto thee.
Delivering thee from the people and from the Gentiles, unto whom
now I send thee, to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness
to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they
may receive forgiveness of sins. Now what does it mean to receive
the forgiveness of sins? People say many times over the
years, you need to forgive yourself. I never had any problem with
that. I'm pretty quick to forgive myself. I can forget about it. That's not what this is about.
You've got to forgive yourself. That's foolishness. Receive God's
forgiveness. That means that you believe.
that through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, you are forgiven
of all sin, past, present, and sins you have even committed
yet. You receive, you embrace the forgiveness of sins. Receive. And I think of what our Lord
said to that fellow that was taken of the palsy, crippled,
and they brought him before the Lord. Do you remember that story
where our Lord was preaching and they broke up the roof? They didn't have room to get
him in. So they broke up the roof and
they lowered this man down on his bed right while our Lord
was preaching. And our Lord looked at that man
and He said, be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven thee."
And they murmured that, who is this that forgives sins? Why,
none can forgive sins but God only. And then he said, what's
easier to say, rise, take up your bed and walk, or your sins
be forgiven? It's easier to say, your sins
be forgiven. But I want you to know that the
Son of Man has power and authority on earth to forgive sins. So
then he looks at Phileas and says, rise, take up your bed
and walk. And the one who can say, rise,
take up your bed and walk, has all authority to forgive sins. Now, be of good cheer. All those sins that you stress
about, they've been forgiven. They've been put away. Be of
good cheer. Do you have any reason to not
be of good cheer if your sins are forgiven? I don't care what the
circumstances are. If your sins are forgiven, you
have reason to be of good cheer. Here's another application. First,
receive the forgiveness of sins. Second, be of good cheer. And
third, love much. You remember when our Lord said,
He that's been forgiven little, loves little. But he that's been
forgiven much, loveth much. Now, some people will almost
glory in past crimes. I've got a reason to love much,
and they almost talk about their past I don't know, they glorify
their sin. You know, I was a real rounder. I was this, I was that,
and God forgave me. And, you know, I've got reason
to love much. And I've got a powerful testimony. God's done all this.
And that's a bunch of foolishness. That's pride. It's self-righteousness.
But I have been forgiven much in this sense. Every time I breathe,
I've sinned. Everything I've done is sin.
And I've been forgiven much. And if you've been forgiven much,
you know what? You love much. You love Him much. You love Him for what He's done
for you. He's forgiven you of your sins. So love much. And fourth, forgive. Didn't our
Lord say, if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither
will your Heavenly Father forgive you your trespasses? He sure
did. If I refuse to forgive somebody,
God's never forgiven me. Be ye kind. Ephesians 4.32, Be
ye kind, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for
Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. If you see His forgiveness
to you, you don't have any problem forgiving somebody else. No,
sir. I said this recently. I'm going
to say it again. If me and you make it through
till tomorrow, we're going to need each other's forgiveness. I'm going to need you to forgive
me. And you're going to need me to forgive you. Isn't it a wonderful thing to
be enabled to forgive somebody? Forgive, and you'll be forgiven. Now turn to Hebrews chapter 10.
I want to close with this passage of scripture. Verse 18. Now where remission of these
is, Where forgiveness of these is, there's no more offering
for sin. Up in verse 17, he said, their
sins and their iniquities, will I remember no more. The reason that he doesn't remember
them is there's nothing there to remember. They've been put
away. They've been blotted out. Now, where remission of these
is, there's no more offering for sin. The offering's already
been made. It's already been accomplished.
So don't you try to bring one. What do I mean by that? How many
times with sin fresh on your mind, fresh on your conscience,
you're afraid to come to the Lord? You want to feel better before
you do. You can't really come like this.
You're too bad. You're too evil. I mean, if you
come like this, you'd be kicked out. You want to wait till you
feel better. You want to wait till you've
done a little something, maybe offered a little repentance and
a little sorrow and a little something that you do that'll
make it a little bit better. You know what that's doing? That's
bringing an offering for sin. Come, right now, as you are. Let not conscience make you linger,
nor a fitness fondly dream. The only fitness he requireth
is to have a need of him. And I have that need. Don't try
bringing an offering for sin. The offering has already been
made and accepted. It's put away. Verse 19, having
therefore, brethren, boldness, confidence, freeness of access
to enter into the holiest house by the blood of Jesus, by a new
and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the
veil, that is to say, his flesh, and having a high priest over
the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart, in full
assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil
conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water." Believer, your sins are remitted. Receive it. Be of good cheer. Love much. Forgive. And don't dare bring an offering
for sin. And anybody who rejects what
I'm saying, let me tell you something. Your sins are retained. They're still on you. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son shall
not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. It's there to stay. were always brought back to this.
What must I do to work the works of God? And he answered like this, this
is the work of God, that you believe on Him whom He has sent. Let's pray.