Forgiven People - Forgiving People Part 3

Forgiven People - Forgiving People Part 3

This sermon is about what it means not just to be forgiven, but to actually live as forgiven people.

We believe that God forgives. But learning to live in the freedom, peace, and confidence of that forgiveness wherever we are in our spiritual journey can be a slower and deeper process. You may, for example, still be discovering the offer of the gospel for the first time. You may, on the other hand, know about the offer of forgiveness in your head but find it hard to translate that to your heart. You may have received forgiveness, yet still carry guilt, shame, or self-condemnation. 

The simple but life-giving truth is that the gospel is not God saying, "try harder." It is God saying, "come as you are, and be forgiven." Jesus does not merely soothe guilty people; he deals with our guilt before God. Through him, forgiveness is proclaimed and freedom is offered.

It is possible to be around grace without fully receiving it. Forgiveness can be spoken about, understood, even admired, and yet still somehow be held at arm's length. Like an unopened gift, it can be real and near but not yet enjoyed. The invitation of the gospel is not to perform, but to receive what Christ has already paid for.

A large part of this message focuses on what happens when we receive forgiveness but struggle to live in agreement with it. This is often where phrases like, "I can't forgive myself," come from. That phrase usually points to something very real, but if God has forgiven us in Christ, then we do not need to keep reopening the case, rehearsing the failure, or living as though the cross was not enough. As 1 John 3:20 reminds us, "If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything." That is a steadying word. Our hearts are not the highest court. God is. And as we stand before the cross and see the love of Christ and the cost of our redemption, we are being shown again: this is enough. His grace is enough. His sacrifice is enough. We do not need to add to what Jesus has already finished.

Forgiveness is meant to do more than cancel debt. It is meant to bring us home. In Christ, we are not only pardoned but welcomed and received as children of God. Grace does not simply clear our record; it begins to reshape our hearts. That does not mean there is no need for boundaries, that there are no consequences, and that there is no need for wisdom or evidence of change. But it does mean that forgiven people can begin, slowly, honestly, and sometimes painfully, to become forgiving people.

Reflect on this message and locate where you are before you take your next step. Hear the offer. Receive the gift. Agree with God. Let grace go deeper because we are forgiven people—not because we got it right, but because Jesus carried what we got wrong. And now, by his grace, we learn to live in that forgiveness and extend it to others.

You can see past sermons on the Leominster Baptist Church website at  Leominster Baptist Church - YouTube and can contact us directly with your feedback or queries through the Contact Us link at the top of the episode description text.

Leominster Baptist Church can be found on Etnam Street in Leominster, Herefordshire. To find out more about us, visit our website leobc.co.uk. If you would like to speak to someone about anything that you have heard on our podcasts please give us a call and ask for a chat.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:07

Welcome back to Growing Together in the Gospel. This sermon is the third in a series. And it's about what it means not just to be forgiven, but to actually live as forgiven people. We believe that God forgives. But learning to live in the freedom, peace, and confidence of that forgiveness wherever we are in our spiritual journey can be a slower and deeper process. Forgiveness is meant to do more than cancel debt. It is meant to bring us home. In Christ, we are not only pardoned, but welcomed and received as children of God. Grace does not simply clear our record, it begins to reshape our hearts. That doesn't mean there is no need for boundaries, that there are no consequences, and that there is no need for wisdom or evidence of change. But it does mean that forgiven people can begin, slowly, honestly, and sometimes painfully to become forgiving people. Let's listen to Dean.

SPEAKER_00 1:10

Welcome to our final session in our series that we've been doing. If you've been with us, we've been looking at forgiven people and forgiving people. So this is part three. If you want to go back and watch the other two, they're on YouTube, they will be on the podcast at some point. You can follow along. And we've really been centering so far on the forgiving people, the act of forgiving others, what that looks like, what that doesn't look like. And so we've had our diagram that you have imprinted on your brain. We'll send out that there are different steps to forgiveness. That forgiveness is different from trust, it's different from healing, it's different from reconciling. They're all part of the same thing, but often we get into a trap because we think forgiveness is the whole thing. And it's not. It's the call to say, I'm not going to make you pay, and I'm not going to repay. And those two things make up forgiveness. And then on the other side, there's the person who's done the offending, there's a recognition, a confession, there's repentance that needs to take place, there's restitution, trying to make things right as far as they're able to, and there's reconciliation. So we've tried to major on that and try to break down to help us to take the step of forgiveness, realizing that as we saw last week, as far as it depends on you, you live at peace with everyone. That there are things that you can do that may not mean they respond in the way you want, but you still are called to do it. Likewise, you may recognize you were wrong and never receive the forgiveness you want, but it's still on you to take that step. And so that's all the framework. But if you've done all that, you might go, this is still really hard. This is still perhaps too hard. This still feels like I'm doing something that I don't have the power to do. And that's where this week we're going to focus on the other part, forgiven people. There's something in the aspect of us being forgiven, right with God. He has done something for us that if we can grasp it, if we can understand it, gives us the power, gives us the strength, gives us the understanding, gives us the ability, gives us the option to choose to forgive. It's what we pray every time we say, Father, forgive our sins as we forgive others. They are related to one another, they are connected. And today we're going to explore that connection, what it means for us to be forgiven and that to give us the power to forgive others. And we're going to look at something that we've come across many times in different settings. The language that often people use is I know God forgives me. I know God has forgiven me. He's a forgiving God, as one philosopher said, that's his job. He forgives me. I understand that, but I can't forgive myself. God's forgiven me, and I understand that, and I believe I receive that, but I'm struggling to forgive myself. And so we're going to look at that. Some people will voice it like that, and that's good. There's some understanding there of what's going on inside them. Others, others don't voice it. They just they just live without the joy of forgiveness. And you can't articulate it, you haven't put it into words, but you just there's a lack of joy. There's a lack of just uh amazement and wonder that God, the highest being, the creator of all things, has made you right with Him. And that that that aspect is just missing. Joy and the overflow of love that's meant to be there isn't. And perhaps that's your experience. Others, it's not that that's missing, it's that you are you are obsessed with the faults of others. And it comes out in this way that when you gather with others, when you live with others, you are very aware of all their faults, of their failings, of their sins, but perhaps less aware of your own. And the wonder that God would see you exactly as you are and declare you forgiven. So wherever you find yourself in one of those camps, but today we're gonna give you a path to locate yourself and to hopefully move us towards a full understanding of what it means to be forgiven people. And so we've got four different steps that you may find yourself on. The first is those who haven't heard of forgiveness. So I'm gonna use the illustration of this is the door being opened, okay? So the idea, I'll see if I can illustrate it here. Can you still hear me? Still working? Okay, so you're on this side of the door. Forgiveness is that you see there is an open door. Okay? So some people haven't even heard that there is an option to be forgiven. Some people haven't even heard that there is a God in heaven who has invited you to be right with him, who has come. Maybe you've heard it in different ways, maybe you've been around it, you've heard of Christianity, you've heard about being a good person, you've heard about trying harder, but you haven't heard the message of the gospel, which is that you can be right with God by his grace and his goodness and his love alone. That God is not, first of all, asking you to improve your life, he's not asking you to be a better person, he's not asking you to fix what you've broken. He's saying, I've come, as we've declared today, I've come to save you, to rescue you, to do something that you couldn't do for yourself. That that there was an obstacle that you couldn't overcome. There was something between you and God that you couldn't put right, but he has done it. We're gonna celebrate that this Friday, we're gonna celebrate it next Sunday. The Easter story is about this. God has done something. You're in a courtroom, imagine, and you're you're guilty and you're there, and then you hear someone in the gallery and they shout out, It's alright, you're forgiven. And you go, Well, that's that's nice, but actually it doesn't really matter what you say. There's a judge, and it matters what he says. Doesn't matter what the person says, doesn't matter what I say. But if the judge says I'm innocent, then that means I'm innocent. Everything changes. This is what Jesus does. Jesus isn't just a nice person on the sidelines going, You're all right, really. Don't worry about it, you're okay. Everything's fine, God's alright, he doesn't mind. Jesus is there saying, No, there is something wrong. There is a barrier, there is distance, that you do feel burdened and weighed down. You have tried to live your life as if you were God and it's crushed you. You've tried to be in control, you've tried harder, you've tried to clean yourself up, you've tried to improve, you've tried to fix things and only ended up worse and worse. And you feel the burden of that, you feel the guilt of that, you feel the shame of it. You think I can't do it. I cannot try. I've tried, I've tried Christianity, I've tried to love your neighbor, I've tried to do good to others, I've tried to forgive and I can't. I failed and I failed and I failed, and the gospel was not keep going, try harder. It's that's okay. Not because it's okay in and of itself, it's actually very wrong. It's awful. The situation you're in is dire, but it's okay because God has taken that burden on himself. God has taken that weight, he's taken the responsibility, and he has done something so that you can be right with him. He's done something that pays the debt you owed, and he's done something that means that God is not against you, he is for you. That his face shines upon you, his love rests on you, his power and his grace is for you. And God is not at a distance waiting for you to sort yourself out. He's not asking you to clean yourself up and then you can come to me. He's not saying be a better person and then we'll talk. He's saying, come as you are and receive my forgiveness. And so if you haven't heard it, let me put it as clearly as I can. Many of us walk through life carrying more weight than we were ever meant to carry. We feel weighed down by choices we've made, by things we wish we could undo, by just a sense that something isn't right even if we can't name it. We've tried to hold it together, we've tried to make it work, we've tried to be in control, we manage, we cope, we present something on the outside, but something different on the inside. There's a heaviness. We ignore God, we push him to the edges, we live as if he's not really there, and then we quietly take his place and we carry that weight our whole lives. We try to define what's good and right, we deal with our own guilt, we try to secure our own future, we try to think hold things together, and it is exhausting because you were not made to be God. And the weight you feel, the constant pressure, the underlying guilt, that sense of I should be better, that's not random. That's what life feels like when you're carrying something you were never meant to carry. Here is the good news that Jesus invites us to know that God is not asking you to carry something else. God does not come to ask you to carry anymore, he invites you to lay it down. You don't have to be your own savior, you don't have to fix yourself, you don't have to hold everything together. You come as you are with the guilt, with the mess, with the pressure, and you receive God's forgiveness. Not improvement straight away, not patching up things, forgiveness. You are right with God through Jesus and what he has done. And in that moment, everything shifts because you're no longer trying to be God, you're no longer trying to be right with God, but you are because he has made it possible. And at the cross, Jesus takes everything that stands against you your sin, your guilt, your shame, and he deals with it fully. Forgiveness is not a feeling, it's not wishful thinking, it's God's not God pretending it didn't happen. It's the settled truth that God has paid the price so that you can be forgiven fully and freely and completely, not gradual, not partial, or bit by bit. His response is simple. Come to me, receive what I have for you. That's why the early church, when they preached, they said this, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him, everyone who believes is set free from every sin. A right standing you are not able to obtain under the law. You couldn't get right with God by yourself, but the proclamation isn't be right with God by your own effort. It's he has forgiven, he has set you free. And if you haven't heard it, now you have. Now you've heard there is an open door. It's there before you, and the invitation is to come and step through it. You can be right with God. You can be good with God that He you can know that He is for you and not against you. You can know His love will come on to all the rest of it, but for now, just picture it. It's the open door that you walk through. That's the one of the options. Maybe you haven't heard it, and now you have. The next step is maybe you've heard it, but you haven't received it. You've heard about the open door, but you haven't stepped through it yourself. In John's Gospel, he starts saying this the true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. This is Jesus. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, he came to his own people, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. Some of us have heard the message, we've grown up around the message, perhaps we were brought up hearing the message, but we never received it for ourselves. You heard about Jesus, maybe you've heard about the cross, maybe you've heard about forgiveness, but you haven't received it fully and personally for yourself. Sometimes it's resistance, I don't want this, I don't want this in my life, I'm not ready to let go, I'm not ready to come to him and to lay it down. That's that's one option. Sometimes it's self-sufficiency, I don't need this. I I may not say it out loud, but I'm doing all right, I'm I'm okay, I'm I can manage, I can cope, and maybe you can, or at least look like you can for a while. But often it's more subtle. Sometimes it's we don't receive it because to receive it means to admit I need something to be forgiven. To receive it means I have to face the truth about who I am. Forgiveness, you see, is at the same time the simplest thing and the hardest thing. It's simple, but it is not easy. It's simple because the gospel isn't asking you to do anything. Look, you receive it. It is a gift that you receive, but it's hard because receiving it means you surrender your pride. It means you drop your defenses, it means you give up trying to make yourself right. It means admitting that before God you do not need to boast that I need mercy. I need Him to do something for me, and that is hard for any human being to do. It means facing things you'd rather not face and owning things that you've you've put aside and forgotten about. It means letting go of a version of yourself that you betray to the world, knowing that before God nothing is hidden. But in that place, as hard as it might be to say, I'm not fine, I'm not okay, I'm not even good, as hard as it is to say those words, it is the simplest thing to do, and it is the most freeing thing. It feels vulnerable, but that vulnerability is met with the grace and the goodness of God. Some of us have been around it a long time, but it's like uh when you get the inoculation. We've had just enough that our body can build up a defense mechanism, but not enough to get sick. But today, I invite you if you've heard the gospel, but you've never received it. If you've been given the gift, but it sat there unopened, beautifully wrapped and given with care, but there it is, still unopened. Today to receive it, to understand it, to see that this is for you. And perhaps that's another reason why we don't receive it, because we think, well, I'm not worthy of it, I don't deserve it. I couldn't possibly, not me, not me. Don't don't get rid of that idea. That's true. You're not deserving, you're not worthy. You don't do that, don't dismiss that and try and say, Well, actually, yeah, I am good enough for this. No, no, that's the whole thing, you're not, but this is grace. This is the goodness of God, it is unbelievable, but to be believed. You can't imagine receiving it and yet you can receive it. It seems too good to be true, and yet it is the truth for each one of us. And so Jesus says that I'm not gonna stand at a distance. I give you the gift of myself and my forgiveness. And so if you've heard it, perhaps you need to receive it. You need to take it for yourself. You need to receive what God has. And that can be as simple as a prayer. Jesus, I I need your forgiveness. I can't fix this myself. Thank you for dying for me. Please forgive me and give me a new start. That's it. That that's it, it's as simple as it is. That heartfelt prayer is perhaps the first step for some. If that is you, if that's what you want to do, then please we've got these little booklets that talk about making the connection. If today you've heard it, and if today there's something in you going, I just I haven't received it, but you want to, then come have a chat. We'd love to pray with you, we'd love to give you some help to walk in this because this is the door, the open door before you, the invitation to step through. It's how everyone starts. There is no back door, there is no other way in, there is no uh way that people have found to get to God except through the forgiveness of God. The door is before you open, and we invite you to step through it. But having stepped through it, we then need to accept it. So in this picture, we've come into the house, we've stepped through the door, and now we're taking a sit at the table. I am welcome here. I'm allowed to be here. Because I think I think this is where the majority, perhaps, in the room, might find themselves. That you've heard of forgiveness, you've received that forgiveness, but then you sort of step in and out of the door. Sometimes you feel forgiven, sometimes you don't. Sometimes you feel like you belong, sometimes you don't. Sometimes you feel like it's uh you're a part of this, and sometimes you don't. That you you you struggle to accept the truth that you're forgiven. And this is where the language of I can't forgive myself. This is where this comes in. You've heard about it, you've responded, you know Jesus, but you haven't accepted the truth of it. You're not in agreement with it. It seems, like I say, either too good to be true or that I don't have it, you still feel like you carry guilt or shame, or you're you condemn yourself. And so you say, I just can't forgive myself. I know God has, I believe He has, but I still live with this. Interestingly, the Bible never uses that language, so we maybe we need to reframe how we think. The Bible never talks about forgiving yourself, it doesn't, it's not that it doesn't speak to that feeling, that feeling is valid, we understand what you're saying, but it's also a kind of language that can quite easily keep you stuck. Because the truth is, you were never meant to forgive yourself. The Bible doesn't talk about that. Forgiveness isn't something you can give or receive yourself, forgiveness is given by another to us. And if God is forgiving you in Christ, then you are not actually responsible for forgiving yourself. We go back to the first second point, you are only responsible to receive that forgiveness. And I think that's what we're really saying. We're not saying I can't forgive myself. What we're really saying is I'm struggling to receive the forgiveness that God has given me. And I just want to reframe it because you can get stuck with I can't forgive myself, but how would you forgive? How can you forgive? Can you forgive yourself? And if you can't, then I'm just in this hamster wheel of going round and round. Whereas if I reframe it as it's not that I can't forgive myself, I'm just really struggling to believe fully, to live in agreement with the fact that God says I'm forgiven. And if that's the case, then the Bible does have something to say. It's like God, we we've there's a case against us, and what God has done is he's closed the case, and we just keep going back and going. Let me just check that a second. Let me just make sure you got that right, because this seems I'm forgiven, but but what did you did you remember this bit? Do you remember when I what I did here? Do you remember the way I acted? Do you remember the years that I lived in rebellion? Do you remember the hurt that I called? Did you see this bit? Then there's a footnote down here. Did you notice that? And God's saying, no, it is closed. But we keep reopening the case and reopening the case and reopening the case and going over and over and over a bit. You can't believe it. You don't deserve it. But the case is closed. Yet so many of us live with this idea of we just need to go back and check that. Just need to reopen it. There is one verse that I think speaks to this and it does so beautifully. It's um a letter by John, and he says this if our hearts condemn us, that's what's happening. I'm forgiven. I believe I'm forgiven, but my heart, something in me, is going, no, surely not. And it's condemning me. If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. So what John is speaking about there is there are there's a verdict that's final. You are forgiven. That there is no condemnation. Jesus has paid the price, your debt is clear, and God is not out to harm you, but to heal and to restore and pour grace and goodness into your life. And so God has done that, but there's something in us that says, no, that can't be true. And what John is saying is it's a question of authority. Which voice has the greatest authority in your life? Now, if you if it's you talking, then you you can give yourself quite high authority. And what John is saying, well, God is greater than your heart. Okay, so your heart's voice is here, and often we think God's voice is down here. So you're not forgiven, you are forgiven. Who whose voice wins? The one with the greater authority, which is mine. And John is saying, let's just recognize that God's voice is higher, his authority is greater, his verdict is stronger, and he knows everything. So his assessment of the situation is clearer than your own. He knows everything. He knows what caused it, where it came from, he knows what influenced you, what happened in you, he knows exactly what Jesus did, he knows what you did do, what you are doing, and what you will do. He saw the beginning and the end, every aspect of you, and still said, I've come and paid the price that you could be forgiven. So if he knows everything, then I can check all the notes I want. I can believe he must not have seen that bit. No, he did. He knows everything. Well, he must not be aware of this. No, he knows that he knows thoughts, he knows attitudes, he knows mindsets, he knows all of it, and he declares it, and so his authority is greater than yours. And so the problem that John identifies is that our hearts condemn us. But really, what we're doing is saying, my heart, my voice, my assessment is greater than God's. When we put it like that, we suddenly go, that's a really silly thing to do. Okay, I can see myself doing it, but but if I'm saying my voice is greater than God, well, I know that's not the case, but I'm living as if it is. I know it's not true, but I live as if it is. And so what we need to do is realize God's authority is greater. And if his authority is greater, then what he says is is more powerful than what I say. And I need to have my mind, my mind transformed, need to be transformed by the renewing of my mind to allow his word to speak when my word contradicts it. If my heart condemns me, I need to go to God and say, here's what my heart's saying. Let me just see, does this line up with what you say? And if it doesn't, we submit to what God says. And at first, as always, it feels unnatural. At first it feels hard, it feels like that doesn't fit, but if the truth will set you free, and the more you live in the truth, the more you proclaim the truth, the more you receive the truth, the more you rehearse the truth and you open the document, the imagine it the certificate that says you are forgiven, the more you open it and you you live in it and you remind yourself of it. You gradually allow that voice to speak greater over you than your own voice. And so it's not a case of I can't forgive myself. It's a case of I can't forgive myself, but I was never meant to. But God Almighty, who sees all things, who knows all things, He has declared finally, once and for all, it is finished, it is done, it is paid, I am forgiven. And all I want to do is try to live up to that, to make sure my heart is in line with his, to bring myself under that truth. That's the authority argument, and that may answer it for some of you, and that may help for some of you. There's another verse that isn't quite talking about this, but I think it's helpful nonetheless. In Hebrews, he talks about people who've fallen away, and he says it's like they're crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace. So he's saying there's a group of people and they're they've gone, well, we don't really like this gospel because it seems a bit loose, it kind of lets people get away with things. So we're gonna work hard and we're gonna make ourselves right with God. And the right of Hebrews says that's like saying, Jesus, what you did didn't matter. And it's like you're crucifying Jesus again because it wasn't important. And so while the authority of God might help you with this idea of forgiveness, the other picture is to do this. And we're gonna do this on Good Friday, it's what the day is all about. You imagine yourself coming to Jerusalem on that Good Friday. You imagine seeing the events that took place there. Imagine as you see the Son of God beaten and bloodied, struck in the face, as you see him mocked by soldiers and spat upon, as you see him stripped and humiliated, as you see the crown of thorns pressed into his head, as you see him lashed until his body is torn open, as you see him forced to carry the timber of his own execution along the road, as you see him laid out and nails driven through flesh, you see him lifted up in shame for the world to gape at. You see him jeered at and mocked, bearing sin, bearing judgment, bearing the weight of rebellion. You see him breathing his last and praying forgiveness for the people who do it. And then you imagine yourself standing there and say, that's not enough. That's not enough. And for me, like I said, that isn't that's not a case of authority, that is a case of simply standing at what happened, seeing the truth of it, and then asking myself, what more do I expect God to do? If that, if if that isn't enough to forgive me, what would be? If that isn't enough that I could have all my debts paid for, what else would God have to do? What else would he have to give? What else would he have to suffer for me and my sin to be swept away? And you're a very brave person if you're willing to stand there, I would suggest, and say, all of that, not enough for me. So great the pay the price he paid, so deep the suffering. It is enough for all forever. And perhaps it's not a case of authority, maybe it's a case of coming back to the cross. We preach Jesus Christ and him crucified, and it's another chance just to stand before the cross, and maybe we haven't done that enough. We haven't stood there and just seen it, seen him lifted up and said, That is enough. If my heart condemns me, if I still feel like I'm not forgiven, I need to stay here a bit longer. Because it is enough. It is enough that I would be set free forever, it is enough that I would never have to pay the price. It is enough, as Paul would write, that I can say there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ. He goes on, he says, Well, what should we say in response to this? If God is for us, if God has shown us on the cross he's for us, then what can be against us? Who can be against us? He did not spare his own son, what else could he give? But he gave him up for us all. How will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is the one who condemns? You? Are you going to condemn yourself when he's paid that? Are you gonna say you've got more to pay when he's paid it all? No one. No one can condemn. Christ Jesus who died more than that who was raised to life is at the right hand of God and is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? And all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. I am convinced neither death nor life, angels nor demons, the Satan can accuse you and it doesn't count. You can angels can accuse you and it doesn't count. Your presence, your actions here could accuse you. Your future, what you're going to do could accuse you. Your own voice can accuse you, all these things, but nothing can separate you from the love of God. It is settled once and for all because it is done on the cross, and you can stand there and see it. And when you gaze into the face of your Savior as he dies, you see your forgiveness accomplished once and for all. And I don't want this to be another guilt trip. Oh, yeah, I feel bad now because I that's not what I mean. It's that that that even that's paid for. Your denying of his forgiveness, even that's paid for, it's all done, it's all settled. And if you struggle with this idea of I can't forgive myself, one, recognize his voice is higher than yours, and two, sit at the cross for a bit. Come this good Friday, just sit and look and see what he did, so that when he says it is forgiven, it's not a flippant thing, it's not a light thing, it is a thing that is put on display once and for all. The love of God displayed for us. That you could know him, that you could be right with him. You've heard it and you received it, and this is how we come to accept it, to live in light of it. This is for me. And while my heart may condemn me, I know that God is greater than my heart's. While there are things that I think I've done that are outside of his forgiveness, the cross tells me nothing is. And my role is to live in agreement with that, to accept it as a settled fact. Now there is one more step, and it's this step that we want to keep going forward because we don't want to stop it. I've accepted it. There's the third step which is transformed. I've got the guy there lying on a sofa, he's helped himself to the fridge, he's kicked his feet up because this is where it's meant to lead. Forgiveness is not just opening the door, it's not just stepping in, it's not just accepting it at sitting at the table, it is opening the fridge, it's making yourself a drink, it's getting your slippers on and realize you are now part of the family. That is the way it's meant to lead. And if it hasn't led there, then you haven't experienced the fullness of it. Notice what John said, we read it earlier. To all who received him, to those who believed in his name, they got forgiven. Oh, yeah, they did, but that's not how he puts it. He says he gave them the right to become children of God. Those who help themselves to the fridge, those who raid the cupboards, those who live in the house, those who are part of the family, those who have the inheritance, everything belongs to them. They are welcomed not just to accept it, but they live as children in that house. This is where forgiveness is meant to lead us. This is where it's meant to take us. That we become members of God's family who look like our Father, who grow up in his likeness. So you can know you're forgiven and you could have received it and be in agreement with it, but you haven't yet been transformed by it. Perhaps you're struggling to enjoy it. The weight of this world weighs you down, but the wonder of forgiveness doesn't fill you with joy. That every day, every moment you wake up saying, I'm part of his household, I'm his child, and that I've been welcomed in, that everything, like the prodigal son, the older brother, if you notice in the story, he comes in and he moans because his younger brother's got all this lavishness put on him. And the father says to him, Don't you realize everything I have is yours? And God would say the same to us because we can be like that older brother. We're living in the household, but we're not transformed by it. We're living as children, yeah, I'm a child of God. But do you know that means that everything that God has is yours? All the grace of God, all the love of God, all the power of God, all the mercy of God, all the future of God, everything that God has is yours. You've been given everything, Paul Peter says later, for life and godliness. Everything you need. You have a spirit within you, you have a power for you, you have a future secured, you have a standing with God, you have an authority from God, you are salt and light in the world. You are transformed head to toe by the fact that you are now right with God and He is with you and in you, that you are part of His family. And so we are not just a forgiven people, we are a forgiving people. We are a blessing people. We are something more than we were because we are now belonging to God. That's why when Jesus talks about this, it's not just go and forgive others, it he takes it to another level. Forgive your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you. Forgiveness may be the first thing, but he says there's also a place of blessing those who persecute you, of doing good to those who harm you. Forgiveness may be the bare minimum, but Jesus says there is a power in you that can do more than they deserve. That can do more than that. That's astounding that you could go to those who have hurt you most and not just say, I forgive you, although that would be a wonderful thing to be able to do. But you can go and bless them to go above and beyond because Jesus did. And Jesus is now in you. Jesus does forgive you fully and freely and forever. But he does more than forgive you. He blesses you with everything you need. He makes you a child. Imagine that, it's not like I've paid off your debt. I've paid off your debt. Now I've given you the cast, the keys to the Porsche, and the keys to the house and the holiday home. Everything is now yours. I've not just paid the debt, but you now have when I die, everything I have belongs to you. All my wealth, all my property, everything is now yours. That's the added extra. And that's what Jesus has done. We are not just forgiven. We are not merely forgiven. We are made into children of God, and everything is now ours. And that is meant to transform us. So when Jesus talks about this, you remember the woman who comes in and with her tears washes Jesus' feet and lavishes her love on him. And the Pharisees stand at her side and say, Doesn't he know who this woman is? That she would do this. And Jesus tells the parable when he says, This woman she loves much because she's forgiven much. She's been transformed by forgiveness. It is shaped her, it has marked her, it has renewed her, that it overflows. There is joy. She isn't spotting the faults of the Pharisees. She isn't pointing out the fault their attitude. She's too enamored with the forgiveness that she has in Jesus. It's like standing at the Grand Canyon and taking in the wonder and beauty of it all, and then focusing on the ladybird that's crawling along the floor. It might be wonderful, but there's a Grand Canyon there. The ladybird that can wait, that little thing. We get obsessed with the details, we get obsessed with others, we criticize and we bring down other people, we point out other floors where we should be spending our time gazing at the canyon, going, This is incredible. This is all mine. So deep, so vast, so lavish, and all for me. I am made right with my God. More than that, I am made into his child. This is where Jesus wants to take us. And it hits the ground in everyday relationships, in the way that we live, in the way that we act. And it gives us power. We come full circle. When we are transformed, we are then able to forgive people. What does forgiveness look like? Refer to week one and two. And if you lack the power to do that, come back to week three. And they go round and round and round. You are forgiven so that you can forgive. And the last two weeks are kind of they're nice advice, but they're completely useless or weak or powerless to make anything happen. It might be the right thing to do, but we don't do the right thing because we don't have the power to do the right thing. That's why today is about the power. You are forgiven. And in you now is the power to forgive others. The power that Jesus had to die on the cross and pray forgiveness for his enemies, that power now dwells in you. That power now lives in you. And that as you come into agreement and you let it transform you, you are able to do something that you would previously say is impossible. You have been forgiven so that you can forgive others. These are just words. Let me play you a clip that's in one of the alpha um sessions that just illustrates the power of this in a way that truly leaves us breathless. I'm just gonna play it's the story of Corrie Temboom, and we're just gonna listen to it together.

SPEAKER_03 34:54

One of my great heroes is Cori Temboom. She's a Dutch Christian who hit Jews during the war. She was caught, and Cory and her sister and her father went to Ravensbrook concentration camp. Her father and her sister Betsy died there. She's an amazing woman, and after the war, she went and spoke to others about forgiveness. She was speaking in a church in Germany one time, and at the end of her talk, she recognized the man coming up to her, and she could see it was one of the most cruel guards from Ravensbrook. She pictured him as he was then. And as he came up to her, he said, I was a guard at Ravensbrook. He didn't recognize her, but she knew she recognized him. She could see him, and she remembered walking naked past him. She said she felt so cold and so angry. He said, I've become a Christian now. I know I did some very cruel things, but I've received God's forgiveness for the cruelties I've done. And I asked God's grace for an opportunity to ask one of my very victims for forgiveness.

SPEAKER_04 36:05

Fraulein Tenbure, will you forgive me? And I forgot. I remember suffering of my dying sisters. Can you forgive your enemies? Can you forgive? No. I can't leave it. But he can.

SPEAKER_03 37:19

This total, unlimited forgiveness. I can honestly say it transforms marriage, family life, all our relationships, all our friendships. God loves you. You are loved. The Son of God, Jesus, gave himself for you. When I understood that, it totally changed my life. And it can change everything for you too.

SPEAKER_00 38:00

To hear her saying it in her own words is so powerful because you wouldn't believe it'd be possible if you've if it wasn't for her saying it. But there is something in this that is this isn't a trivial thing, these aren't small matters. This is the Son of God bearing the sin of the world. And so we read, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Because through Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. Unforgiveness is part of that law, the cycle of violence and death that we go through. We are hurt, we hurt in return. We are offended and we withhold forgiveness in order to hurt back, and round we go. But Jesus brings us into a new cycle, one that is truly astounding, one that changes lives. And I think about that guard, and I think that doesn't seem right. And then I remember the person who wrote these words is a man called Paul, a man who dragged out men and women and children from their homes and persecuted them, who put them to death for being followers of Jesus. And we read these words as such encouragement, but they come from the voice of someone who understands the depth of forgiveness, who has been so transformed that we read his words with delight and with comfort because God has done a work in his heart. This is what forgiveness does for all who hear it, all who receive it, all who are coming to agreement and live and light with it, all who are transformed by it. We are forgiven. That we might go and forgive others. If you've not heard it, the offer is real and it's there for you. If you've not received it, I encourage you to open the gift. A simple prayer, a step you can take. Jesus, forgive me. If you've received it but you aren't living in agreement with it, to allow God to speak his verdict, memorize the verse, write it down, rehearse it, let the truth of it wash over you. Stand at the cross and see what he has done and ask, is there any more? And then if you're struggling to extend it, allow the grace to go deeper. You may never feel like forgiving. And I love how Cory Temboom puts it. I didn't feel it. I didn't want it. I was cold, I was hard, I was angry. But as I received it again, I was able to make the choice to do what is impossible for humans to do. And to extend what I've been forgiven, to let God's love flow through me. A love that is stronger than my hatred, stronger than my anger, stronger than perhaps I ever realized it could be. Maybe I thought the love of God was so small it wouldn't be able to, but the love of God is an ocean that can drown out anything else, that can overwhelm and heal and restore anything else. We are forgiven people. That is a beautiful thing, not because we get it right, but because Jesus carried what we got wrong. And now we don't just receive forgiveness, we live in it, we announce it, we proclaim it, and by his grace we begin to extend it. Let me just pray for us as we we ask God to show us where this meets us today, where we are on this journey in this path. Father, we do ask that you would you would be showing us where we are, at what point we find ourselves and the struggles and the obstacles to take the next step. We pray today for ears that can hear your invitation, for hearts that are receptive, for those who've carried so much and are weighed down by so much, for those filled with guilt and separation who feel the distance, that they would hear today your offer. Your proclamation, there is forgiveness through Jesus. Come. If you're wearied and burdened, come. If you're guilty and heavy, come. For those who have heard and perhaps have been around church, Christianity, other Christians that never received it for themselves, Lord, help them to open that gift, to receive what you have, to be able to say, This is for me. For those who have received it but live in that constant tug of war, of being in agreement, God, would you speak louder than their own hearts? Would you speak with greater authority? They see that your verdict is final. Or if it helps, Lord, would you bring to mind help them to see Jesus Christ and Him crucified? And to say, along with Paul, if he's given us this, what else could he give? For those who have accepted it, Lord, but struggle to extend it, would your grace today go deeper? Would it transform? Would it renew? Would it soften? Would you allow it to help them to extend it to others? And to go even further, to be able to bless those who persecute, to do good to those who only want to do harm. For there is a power in them that is greater than all the powers of this world. There is a spirit of God, the character of Christ being formed in them. You, Jesus, dwell in their hearts that they could do the impossible. We said, Lord, this is not an easy thing, but it is simple. Help us to take our step. Wherever it is that we are today, whatever it is that you might be showing us, help us to take our next step. That we might live in the freedom and the love, the joy of being a forgiven people, who in turn can forgive people.

SPEAKER_01 44:09

We hope that you've enjoyed listening to Dean's thoughts today. If anything that he has said has challenged you or raised questions that you'd like answers to, please don't hesitate to contact us and ask for a chat. You can find our details on our website which is leobc.co.uk, as well as on the information that we have posted for this podcast. Alternatively, if you live in our area, you're very welcome to join us on Sunday morning at 10 30 to hear things first hand. We'd love to see you there.