So far in our series we've learned about the importance of forgiveness. Forgiveness from God, forgiving ourselves, and forgiving others. But does forgiveness really last? This passage is based on a reading from Romans 8:37-39. To read now, click here.
This is the fourth week already on our series on Forgiveness. We’ve talked about how to be forgiven by God, we saw how to forgive yourself, and last week, how to forgive others. I hope you’re finding this series helpful, and I hope you’ve been applying what you’ve learned, and that you feeling the freedom that forgiveness offers. We are a fallen people, living in a fallen world. Hopefully we are a forgiven people, but we aren’t a perfect people. So the idea of forgiveness really lasting forever might be a little hard to grasp. But God has not fallen. He’s not limited. His forgiveness really can be forever. Today we’re going to look into this question, Is forgiveness really forever? We will start with our reading this morning, Romans 8:37-39… In 1 John 5, the entire chapter talks about how you can know that you are a child of God, that you are forgiven, secure in your faith, forever. Verse 13 is in your notes, but it says, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.” Some people get caught up worrying about their salvation. Sometimes when we mess up we get to thinking, did I mess up too big this time? And when you worry about that, you’re not experiencing the abundant life Jesus came to offer you. And worrying about God’s forgiveness can create undo anxiety, stress, and fear. But you don’t have to be worried about that. Let me give you a few reasons how you can know that you are eternally safe and secure. And to make it easy to remember, the points use the acronym SAFE. 1.) Sealing my eternity with Christ. How do I know I am eternally safe and secure? When we come to Christ, we are sealed for eternity. Think of sealing an envelope. If you put something in there, it’s in there, and it’s not going to come out unless you rip open the envelope. It’s sealed. When we receive God’s forgiveness, we are sealed. In Ephesians 1 we see the idea of being sealed in Christ. In verses 3-4, it reads, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.” In verses 6-7, “to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace”. Every blessing we see in these verses are either “in Christ” or “in him.” God is saying—in Christ you are blessed, in Christ you were adopted, in Christ you were set free, and in Christ you are eternally forgiven. This idea of placing your life in Christ is so critical. In fact, that’s what it means to become a Christian. Becoming a Christian simply means that you made a spiritual decision to take your life and place it in Christ. Many of you know that you are in Christ, but you don’t know the security that you have. Or maybe some of you are not a Christian yet, but you’ve been thinking about it. If you have never done that, if you’re here but you’re not in Christ, then I want to invite you to do that this morning. There is a short prayer that has been dubbed the ABC’s of coming to faith, you just admit you a sinner, believe that Jesus died for you, and confess your need for Him, making Him your Lord. If you do that, right now, where you are, then you can enjoy the security that comes from being in Christ. There are a lot of other verses listed that I didn’t mention on this issue of being safe and secure in Christ. They are listed in your notes and you can look these up on your own. The next three points we’ll look at this morning are things we need to do as believers to mature in our faith and enjoy the benefits of His eternal forgiveness. 2) Admit my sins regularly. You see, a person who is safe and secure in Christ admits their sins regularly. Once you’ve filled in the blank, write down the word “confession.” That’s what this is about. You regularly confess your sins to God. One of the big things you should know is that once you place your life in Christ, you are eternally secure, and the relationship is solid. But just because you place your life in Christ doesn’t make you perfect. Christians aren’t perfect. Christians are forgiven, but we continue to mess up. That’s why John strongly states our need to confess. It says in 1 John 1:9. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” Part of growing into mature Christians includes this need for us to confess our sins. Because when we confess our sins, we humble ourselves. James 4:6-10 says, “But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’ Submit yourselves then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double minded… Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.” Isn’t that an amazing promise? God draws near to you as you draw near to Him. That’s how you are meant to live. In an on-going, vibrant relationship with God. 3) Faithfully obey Him as our Heavenly Father. Obedience doesn’t save you, but obedience is one of the defining characteristics of a person who is in Christ. When you are in Christ, you have this desire to faithfully obey your Heavenly Father. Even when you mess up, you have a desire to obey. 1 John 3:1 says, “How great the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!” We really are God’s children when we come to Christ. As Christians, this is a great freedom. The idea that God would call us His children. That God says—when you are in Christ, you are His child. Colossians 3 talks about this obedience. It says, “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above… Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Rid yourself of all anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.” God is offering up some standards of how we are supposed to live, so we don’t fall back into our old life, so we can experience all that our new life in Christ has to offer. If you truly understand that God is a loving Heavenly Father, this verse can come across as motivating, encouraging, and empowering, as if God is calling you to live your life by a higher standard. And He gives us this higher standard so we can experience the fullness of life, not so He can catch you doing something wrong. He’s giving the standard so you can live right. When I was young I played football. From pee wee leagues right up to my junior year in high school. Once, when I was a freshman, the coach held me after practice. He saw something that I wasn’t doing right, and so he spent some extra time with me and we worked on it. For forty-five minutes! I was exhausted. And man was I sore the next day. Did he do it because he wanted to punish me for doing it wrong? No. He did it because he wanted to see me do better, he wanted to give me a chance to excel. With that in mind, let’s read Hebrews 12:5-8. “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son. Endure hardship as discipline: God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone goes through discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons.” You will face hardships, but understand that is how God disciplines us, so if you face hardships, that’s okay. It’s just confirmation that God considers you his child. And He will use these hardships just like my coach used that extra time together. It wasn’t fun, but I learned a lot. Which leads us to the last, and I hope it’s the easiest… 4) Enjoy your security as God’s child. You see, God doesn’t want you to just endure life. He doesn’t just lock you up in an imaginary safe and separate you from all the good things of life. He wants you to enjoy life. That sense of enjoyment is what Romans 6:14 is all about, “sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.” This verse, as simple as it is, tells us three things about what can happen when God’s children sin:
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