Tag: forgiveness

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Release from Guilt

“I believe in the forgiveness of sins.”

This statement, near the end of the Apostles’ Creed, is a joyful declaration of release from the guilt of sin. It assumes that God is a forgiving God who delights in showing mercy. It is the worshipful expression of our deepest faith and eternal gratitude.

Martin Luther was the father of the Protestant Reformation. Before that, he had been a priest who had spent years studying theology. He was devout, brilliant — and miserable. He was deeply troubled by a sense of his guilt before a holy God. He was haunted by the thought that his sins were not forgiven. He made a pilgrimage to Rome seeking answers. But he returned to Germany more troubled than before.

As a university professor of theology, he studied and taught Paul’s letter to the Romans. He encountered Romans 1:17, “The righteous will live by faith.” This eventually led him to the conviction that people are saved by faith in Christ alone and not by good works. His conversion was a profound release from feelings of guilt and an understanding of the freedom of grace.

It is not surprising that Luther stated that the phrase in the Apostles’ Creed that was most important to him was the phrase, “I believe in the forgiveness of sins.” He wrote, “If that is not true, what does it matter whether God is almighty or Jesus Christ was born, died and rose again? It is because these things have a bearing on my forgiveness that they are important to me.”

The author of Psalm 130 would agree. He knew how it felt to reach the depth of despair. “Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord; O Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy” (vv. 1-2). Verse 3 says that he had reached bottom because of his sins which were too numerous to count. The psalmist is expressing the futility, despair, and guilt that Martin Luther described.

You may know the feeling. Guilt is pervasive. Sometimes it is false guilt which cripples people psychologically. Sometimes it is true moral guilt which has resulted from awareness of a moral failing. When we are honest with ourselves, we have to admit that God has written on our hearts a sense of right and wrong (Romans 2:15). We know we haven’t always lived up to our own standards, much less God’s (James 2:10). The Bible calls this sin. Every one of us has broken God’s law (Romans 3:23).

The psalmist asks, “If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand?” (v.3). Who could survive the scrutiny of God’s judgment? Who could be righteous enough to deserve a place in his presence? The writer is helpless. We all are helpless. We need God’s forgiveness because of our sinfulness and our inability to do anything about it.

What hope do we have for forgiveness? The good news is in words addressed to God: “But with you there is forgiveness, therefore you are feared” (v. 4). “Fear” is reverential awe and worship. One of the reasons we worship God is because he makes a habit of forgiving sins. He is eager to forgive. He loves to forgive.

In the vocabulary of the Bible, forgiveness means to be set free, loosed, liberated. It means to be set free from guilt and from sin’s penalty. This is possible because of the sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He purchased redemption with his blood. “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins in accordance with the riches of God’s grace” (Ephesians 1:7).

Those who are in Christ are forgiven. Have you, like the psalm writer, admitted your sinfulness and helplessness to God? Have you trusted in Jesus Christ and asked for forgiveness? God loves to forgive. That is why he sent his Son the Redeemer. He is a God of unfailing love and full redemption (Psalm 130:7).

The Bible illustrates forgiveness in various ways. God removes our sins as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12). God puts our sins behind his back (Isaiah 38:17). God blots out our sins like a cloud (Isaiah 44:22). God forgets our sins and remembers them no more (Jeremiah 31:34). God buries our sins in the depths of the sea (Micah 7:19).

That is why Martin Luther said his favorite part of the Apostles’ Creed was “I believe in the forgiveness of sins.” It is the reason for everything else in the creed. Forgiveness is the very point at which all the profound theology expressed in the creed touches our lives.

Pastor Randy Faulkner

 

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No Place for Anti-Semitism

Jesus was a Jew. His apostles were Jews. The first Christians were Jews. Most of the Holy Bible was written by Jews. It says of the Jews that “God did not reject his people whom he foreknew” (Romans 11:2).

The scripture also says that “There is no difference between Jew and Gentile — the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call upon him, for everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:12-13). This is quoting the Jewish prophets Isaiah and Joel to teach that salvation is by grace through faith for people of all ethnic backgrounds, Jewish as well as Gentile.

This means that there is no place for anti-Jewish bigotry among Christians, or anywhere else. The US Department of Education has documented an alarming rise in harassment, intimidation, and discrimination against Jewish students in American universities. These demonstrations have been attributed to the conduct of the state of Israel in its war against terrorism.

One does not have to agree with every policy of the nation of Israel to say that anti-Semitic hatred and violence are just plain wrong, and sinful. Martin Luther said as much early in his ministry. But, famously, and unfortunately, his later writings laid the groundwork for the 20th century’s  explosion of violence against the Jewish population of Europe under Adolf Hitler.

Luther wrote, in a document called “Against the Jews and their Lies,” that Jewish synagogues should be burned, properties confiscated, books should be burned, travel restricted, and persecution tolerated. These inflammatory rantings provoked unspeakable horrors  against the Jews of Luther’s day. They are an embarrassment to all who identify themselves as followers of Jesus.

It is hard for us to understand Luther’s anti-Semitism. I do not think we should dismiss it by saying, “Well, he was just a man of his times. This was a part of his cultural heritage as a German.” That may be true, but Luther was also a man of the scriptures. He knew what the apostle Paul had written, “My heart’s desire and prayer for the Israelites is that they may be saved” (Romans 10:1). Did Luther become embittered against Jews because they refused to voluntarily convert to Christianity?

He also knew and believed what the Bible teaches about the forgiveness of sin. There is a familiar story Luther told about himself. He said that the devil approached him one day and tried to use the fact that every person is fallible. The accuser reminded Luther of his sins. He presented him with a long list of his past failures of which he was indeed guilty.

When Satan finished Luther asked him if he had omitted some of his sins. “Think a little harder. You must have forgotten some!” The devil complied and added some other sins to the list. Then Luther said, “That’s fine, now write across that list in red ink, ‘The blood of Jesus Christ God’s Son cleanses us from all sin!'” There was nothing the devil could say to that.

Luther knew the scripture which says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

One wonders, did Luther ever confess the sin of anti-Semitism?

Pastor Randy Faulkner

 

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Come to the Table

Billy Graham related the tender story of the Scottish theologian John Duncan of Edinburgh. As Communion was observed in the church on one occasion, the elements were passed to a teenage girl. Duncan saw her turn her head and motion for the elder to take the cup away — she couldn’t drink it. John Duncan reached over, touched her shoulder, and whispered, “Take it Lassie. It’s for sinners!”

To receive the Lord’s supper is to confess that God has made provision for our sins in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The ordinance of communion is a way for us to say “yes” to Jesus, “yes” to his sacrifice, “yes” to his forgiveness, and “yes” to our ongoing fellowship with him and with his church.

Jesus specified the concrete, visible symbols of bread and wine to picture his body and blood. These common physical elements are sanctified and become what Michael Horton called “visible signs of invisible grace.” We need God’s grace for salvation and we need it to continue to be faithful to him. Communion draws us close to him.

We are weak. Our love for Christ grows tepid. We face temptations. We are susceptible to doubt, fear, and spiritual depression. Inwardly we sometimes rebel against the will of God. Like Adam and Eve, we try to hide from him. When the Father sees us in that condition, he says, “Come to my table. Take it. It’s for sinners.” Communion restores our souls.

Communion strengthens our fellowship with Christ and with his church. An old liturgy has these words, “For out of many grains one meal is ground and one bread baked, and out of many berries, pressed together, one wine flows and is mixed together, so shall we all who by true faith are incorporated in Christ together be one body.”

Communion strengthens believers’ confidence in the forgiveness of sins. It strengthens believers’ worship of Christ as the crucified, risen, glorified and returning Lord. Communion strengthens believers’ separation from the sinful practices of the world and of the devil. Communion strengthens believers’ confidence in the gospel because it proclaims the gospel of grace.

Recent months have forced the limitation of normal church activities for many people. One of the most precious and important of these is the Lord’s Supper. Those who have been unable to meet for corporate worship because of the restrictions of the pandemic, are eager to return.

They know the Lord is calling them to his table. They long to receive the bread and the cup which in a mysterious way brings us near to the One they represent. The great thinkers and teachers of the church have always felt a sense of awe before the overwhelming mystery of the Lord’s Supper. So should we.

But that should not keep us away. it is for sinners like us.

Pastor Randy Faulkner

 

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“Father, Forgive Them…”

We might be tempted to wonder, Why a sacrifice? Couldn’t God simply forgive sins without requiring the death of Christ? After all, God is love and it is his nature to forgive. Why was the cross a necessity?

An answer may be found in the first statement of the dying savior from the cross: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34).  We cannot understand, any more than Jesus’ tormentors could, the depth of our sin or the height of God’s holiness. If we did, we would more fully understand the necessity of Jesus’ sacrifice as an atonement for sin.

A reading of the crucifixion narratives in the four gospels arouses our amazement. Jesus offered no resistance during his arrest, unjust trials, savage flogging, public mocking, and torturous crucifixion. We hear no cry for revenge. There is only empathy: “They do not know what they are doing.”

This fact did not relieve them of responsibility, however. Their ignorance was willful ignorance. They rejected him in the face of the overwhelming evidence that he was the divine Son of God. It was lazy ignorance, the apathy of indifference to the truth that he preached. It was blind ignorance because “they loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil” (John 3:19).

It is the same for us. We are responsible for our sins, even those of which we are not aware. We must recognize that we, too, are guilty of sin (Romans 3:9-20). If not the same sins as of those who crucified our Lord, they are sins that are equally offensive to God’s righteous nature and holy law. His perfection requires the satisfaction of a perfect sacrifice in order for forgiveness to be possible. He must be true to himself (2 Timothy 2:13).

“He was numbered with the transgressors,” Isaiah prophesied (Isaiah 53:12). It is noticeable, then, that Jesus prayed for their forgiveness as he was dying on the cross. It was his death on the cross that accomplished satisfaction. It was on the basis of his sacrifice that Jesus was asking the Father in heaven to withhold his wrath. Yes, God is love, and he is willing to forgive sins. But his love is a holy love. His holy nature requires satisfaction (1 John 2:2).

Their forgiveness depended upon their response to Jesus’ sacrifice. One of the hardened Roman officers at the scene confessed, “Surely he was the Son of God!” (Matthew 27:54). Joseph of Arimathea, a member of the Jewish high council, had “become a disciple of Jesus” (Matthew 27:57). The faithful women disciples who had followed Jesus from the beginning of his ministry mourned his death amid the mockers at the foot of the cross.

This precious word, “forgive,” means to remove, to send away, to release from a debt. It refers to restoration of a relationship that is broken by sin. It involves two parties, the one offended, and the offender. There must be a granting and an acceptance of forgiveness. This acceptance involves confession and confession involves a change of outlook toward sin. This is called repentance (2 Corinthians 7:10).

What about those who deny their moral responsibility and who refuse to acknowledge their sin? Are they covered by Jesus’ prayer from the cross? Judas, the one who betrayed Jesus was not forgiven. Jesus said of him it would have been better if he had not been born (Mark 14:21). Caiaphas and his co-conspirators thought it would have been better for Jesus to die than for them to lose their political influence (John 11:49-53). They remained embittered toward Jesus and his followers (Acts 4:5-7). The criminal dying at Jesus’ left side joined the chorus of willful defiance against Jesus (Mark 15:27-32; Luke 23:39). These who rejected Jesus then represent all who now exempt themselves from the benefits of his prayer for God’s forgiveness.

“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” shows us the compassion of the Lord Jesus, even toward those who reject him. It shows us God’s willingness to forgive those who confess their sin and trust in his Son. It shows us that forgiveness before a holy God is available for all who believe the message of the cross: “Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God” (1 Peter 3:18).

    –  Pastor Randy Faulkner

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