Sunday Sermons
The Basis of Forgiveness
“Vengeance is popular today; forgiveness is not. Retaliation is often portrayed as a virtue reflecting healthy self-esteem. It is heralded as an inalienable right of personal freedom. Our society is drunk on the grapes of human wrath. Road-rage, disgruntled employee rampages, drive-by shootings, and other crimes of vengeance are the hallmarks of this generation. I have often defended the notion that doctrine is inherently practical. What we believe determines how we think, how we behave, and how we respond to life’s trials. Abstract beliefs never remain abstract; they inevitably manifest themselves in behavior. A right belief system therefore lies at the foundation of all truly righteous conduct” (The Freedom and Power of Forgiveness, John F. MacArthur, pp. 7,8). MacArthur further observes that he has noticed that nearly all the personal problems that drive people to seek counseling are related in some way to the issue of forgiveness. There are many questions that people have about forgiveness: Can we be sure of God’s forgiveness? How are we supposed to confess our sins? Do we confess to other people, or to God alone? Does God require that I unconditionally forgive others, even when they do not repent? If we are to forgive seventy times seven, as Jesus taught Peter, do we ever have cause for questioning the legitimacy of a repeat offender’s repentance? What about justice? What about the prayers of godly men in the Old Testament who prayed that God would not forgive someone? Does forgiveness require forgetfulness? What does genuine repentance look like? Is apologizing always the same as asking for forgiveness? How do I hate the sin and love the sinner and is this even a biblical concept? What if a non-Christian sins against me? What about the concept of forgiving yourself? And does forgiveness remove earthly consequences?
Minimizing our sins
There is a tendency among men to minimize our own sins and magnify the sins of others. When it comes to our sins, we want mercy, but when it comes to the sins of others we want justice. “If we would only learn to be more (or at least, equally) repulsed by our own sin than we are at the wrongs others commit against us, we would be well on the road to spiritual health” (MacArthur p. 10). It is so easy to lose sight of the evil of our own sins. In Matthew 18:24 our sins against God are compared in this parable to a debt amounting to ten thousand talents. Wayne Jackson writes, “Ten thousand talents is an enormous debt of some $10,000,000. In Palestine a laboring man's daily wages were one shilling (approx. 17 cents). It would have taken the servant more than 200,000 years to pay off that debt!” (Parables p. 49). Barclay observes that this debt “was more than the total budget of the ordinary province. The total revenue of Idumaea, Judaea, and Samaria was only 600 talents; the total revenue of even a wealthy province like Galilee was only 300 talents. Here was a debt that was greater than a king's ransom. Suppose the debts were to be paid in sixpences. The 100 denarii debt could have been carried in one pocket. The ten thousand talent debt would have taken to carry it an army of about 8,600 carriers, each carrying a sack of sixpences 60lbs in weight” (p. 214). Therefore, we cannot allow ourselves to think that the debt incurred by our sins is just a little beyond our ability to repay or that we simply need just a little help in making atonement for this debt. “His lord commanded him to be sold, along with his wife and children and all that he had, and repayment to be made” (18:25). The King is not a tyrant; rather, he acts according to strict justice (Exodus 22:3; 2 Kings 4:1). Outside of Jesus Christ sin demands payment (Romans 6:23). The family was sold, because they were viewed as part of his property. The sinner always involves others in his sin; no one is unfaithful alone (1 Corinthians 15:33). Some are so selfish that instead of parting with some sinful activity, they are willing to let that activity ruin themselves and their family. Be impressed, that even with the selling of all these things, the debt is still not paid. For all practical purposes the debt could never be paid. The Law of Moses allowed such a sale (Lev. 25:39-47; 2 Kings 4:1). “Divine justice is not popular in the world and in certain types of preaching; but aside from the Scriptures the moral sense of men and their frequent experience brings home to them the fact that God is just and visits the iniquities of the sinner upon his head. We also see daily that one sinner draws others into his guilt and his punishment. None of us lives to himself or dies to himself” (Lenski p. 713). This is a horrible fate, especially the prospect of being separated from wife and children, yet we need to realize that a far worse fate awaits every unforgiven sinner! Without forgiveness, every human being would be dragged down into an eternal dungeon without any hope of escape or pardon (18:34).
How God sees the unforgiven
More often we need to read the following passages and realize that such passages are accurately describing us before our conversion (Romans 3:10-17; 5:6 “the ungodly”; 1 Corinthians 6:9 “the unrighteous”; Ephesians 2:1 “dead in your trespasses”; 2:2 “sons of disobedience”; 2:3 “children of wrath”; 2:12 “having no hope and without God in the world”; Colossians 1:21 “formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds”). One barrier to forgiveness and especially the desire to forgive others is the fantasy that we were not really that bad prior to our conversion. “But he who is forgiven little, loves little” (Luke 7:47). Now Jesus is not saying that there are people who only need just a small amount of grace, for that would contradict all the above passages. Rather, the woman appreciated her forgiveness because he realized the depth of her sins, but the Pharisee perceived himself as only needing a little forgiveness. Trench notes, “He who has little forgiven is not necessarily he who has sinned little, but he who is lacking in any strong conviction of the great evil of sin, who has never learned to take home his sin to himself; and who, therefore, while he may have no great objection to the plan of salvation, yet thinks he could have done nearly or quite as well without Christ--He loves little because he has little sense of deliverance wrought for him” (p. 105). “All real love towards Christ must be preceded by a deep consciousness of our own sinfulness and unfitness for acceptance before the Holy God and by the assurance that for Jesus' sake our sins, however great they may be, are forgiven. Love of the Lord that is not founded upon these two foundations cannot be genuine or permanent” (Geldenhuys p. 234). But evil and selfishness can come in all sorts and sizes (Luke 7:36-50), and even those who appear to be diligent, hardworking, middle-class, conservative, and respectable can be full of evil (Matthew 23:28).
Any route but forgiveness?
“With what shall I come to the Lord and bow myself before the God on high? Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings, with yearling calves? Does the Lord delight in thousands of rams, in ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I present my firstborn for my rebellious acts, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” (Micah 6:6-7). Smith feels that the people do not really recognize their sins, but that they feel that God is the one with the problem, that is, something must be done to change His attitude towards Judah. “They actually thought that they could bribe God with gifts to change His attitude toward them” (Minor Prophets p. 345). Laetsch notes that the people offer no recognition of their wickedness; there is no plea for mercy or forgiveness. “They are convinced that they can merit God’s good will by their own efforts. They are willing to bargain with God, as if He were a bargainer like themselves. They are ready to buy His favor” (p. 279). “Does the Lord delight in thousands of rams?” Quantity is the essence of this question. Can just a whole bunch of sacrifices or good deeds make up for their sins? Can they simply do a ton of extra credit? “But in all these questions they indicate a willingness to do anything except what Jehovah required”(Hailey p. 214). Many people today are like this, they will make tremendous sacrifices for God, but not the sacrifices that God has commanded. They will do all sorts of things in the name of God, but not the things which God wants done. “Shall I present my firstborn?”: “At the same time an undercurrent of impatience and dissatisfaction runs through their bargaining, as if God were a greedy, bloodthirsty tyrant, hard to satisfy, punishing people who are willing to make great sacrifices, as if they were unworthy criminals” (Laetsch p. 279). The firstborn represents the most precious thing one could give to God, but it was still something outside the individual; it wasn’t the individual’s will, heart, mind, or soul. The sacrifices that God had always wanted were a broken and contrite heart, a heart that was truly humbled, sorry, and repentant (Psalm 51:16-17). Remember, unbelievers are not speaking in Micah 6:6-7, rather God’s own people are asking such questions. It is easy to fall into the trap of thinking that I can atone for my sins simply by doing some extra credit. If I have been mean and nasty to someone, I can simply be overly nice to someone else. If I have been lax in my service to God, then a flurry of religious activity this week will somehow make up for it. It seems that even Christians at times are willing to do anything but repent and seek God’s forgiveness.
Forgiveness and human effort
The Bible often stresses the point that salvation or forgiveness cannot be obtained on the basis of works (Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:5; Romans 3:27; 4:6). Sadly, many denominations have taught that this means that there are no conditions prior to salvation, or that man does not play a role in his salvation. Actually, the passages that stress that salvation is not on the basis of works also mention or infer such conditions as faith and baptism (Compare Ephesians 2:4-6 with Colossians 2:12-13; Titus 3:5; and compare Romans 4:6-7 with Acts 2:38). If God justifies the sinner through the process of forgiveness, then whatever is necessary to be forgiven is essential to salvation, and this includes baptism (Acts 22:16). But what the Holy Spirit is teaching in the above passages is that man cannot plan or engineer this own atonement. Not only are all humanly devised plans of salvation vain, but even “good deeds” or as Paul says, “deeds which we have done in righteousness” (Titus 3:5), cannot remove or make up for our sins. Obeying God faithfully is essential, but obedience to God’s commands cannot make up for a failure to repent (1 John 1:8-10). More obedience in other areas is not the answer when we have sinned. God graphically makes this point when He notes that adherence to the Law of Moses could not justify one once they had sinned (Romans 3:28; 4:15); neither could all the animal sacrifices (which must have numbered into millions during the Old Testament era) (Hebrews 10:4), and neither could costly and elaborate sacrifices made by men (Micah 6:6-7). Our sins are so horrific, and so evil, and deserve such wrath, that only Jesus’ blood could make forgiveness possible (2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 2:24; Hebrews 9:28; Isaiah 53:5).
Ransom for many: Mark 10:45
Contrary to what some people think, this “ransom” was not paid to Satan, for he is in no position to demand a payment for the redemption of souls—seeing that he is a sinner! Rather Jesus’ death upon the cross was rendered to satisfy, not Satan or anyone else, but God’s own justice. This is why Isaiah speaks of God being pleased to crush Jesus (Isaiah 53:10). Whatpleased God about such a sacrifice was that it would enable Him to extend forgiveness to sinners without expecting from them the full payment for their sins. If we think that it is easy for God to forgive—because He is God, we have a very deficient view of God. God cannot and will not simply ignore the evil that people do. God cannot pretend that we never sinned and neither can God simply accept an apology. God will only do that which is truly just, and true justice demands that if the sinner is going to be forgiven then the ultimate price had to be paid (Romans 3:25-26 “that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus”). And the truth is that no one’s sins are trivial.
Psalm 130:3-4
The word “mark” means to “keep account of”. If God should simply keep track of all our sins and refuse to forgive, then our account would become so lopsided that our punishment would be certain and immediate. Are we thankful that the God who exists is a God who is willing to forgive? If God were to keep tally of all sins and continue to hold people accountable for all their past sins, even the most godly could not stand before Him (Romans 3:23). “Verse 4 is notable, too, for its second line,that Thou mayest be feared, which may sound a strange outcome of forgiveness. In reality it confirms the true sense of the ‘the fear of the Lord’ in the Old Testament, dispelling any doubt that it means reverence and implies relationship” (Kidner p. 446). “When we truly understand God’s forgiveness and the cost of it, in sending Christ to the cross, we are broken and humbled, as we bow in awe before God. There is no presumption here. There is no flippancy here. We deserve judgment; we receive mercy (Luke 15:1ff)” (Williams p. 440).
