He Said Your Sins are Forgiven

June 16, 2013 Sermon   He Said: Your Sins are Forgiven

 

Old Testament I Kings 21:1-21

Deceit- v.20-21 Ahab said to Elijah, “ Have you found me, O my enemy?”  He answered, “I have found you.  Because you have sold yourself to do what is evil in the sight of the Lord. I will bring disaster on you.  (consequences of evil)

God Almighty , The Holy One, stands against all systems that commodify and destroy the lives of human beings.  Because God is merciful, empires founded on blood and exploitation are doomed.  The story of Ahab’s greed offers eloquent testimony to God’s mandate that believers practice compassion and justice in their economic dealings. Consonant with this testimony are the Beatitudes of Jesus, the prophetic witness of liberation theology (Not Liberalism but liberation as in setting free from oppression), and the robust cultural critique of postcolonialism.

The evangelist Luke reminds us that the poor are blessed heirs of the Kingdom of God (Luke 6:20).  Matthew’s testimony that the poor in spirit are blessed (Matthew 5:3) may be seen not just as a spiritualization of Luke’s tradition but as an assertion that poverty of spirit is beloved of God.

Liberation theology preaches that the focus of God’s saving work has always been the lives of the downtrodden.  From Israel’s deliverance from slavery in ancient Egypt to Central American peasants’ struggles today for economic dignity, we see redemption afoot in God’s grace to the poor…..The voices of Scripture declare:  the Living God is known through solidarity with the weak and powerless.

Jesus declared it at the beginning of His Ministry in Luke 4: 18-19 and had been prophesied in Isaiah 61:2

¹⁸ The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,

¹⁹ To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

 

Psalm 5

v.4 You are not a God who delights in wickedness….

In verses 4-6, the psalmist describes the oppressors as wicked, evil, boastful, evildoers, speakers of lies, bloodthirsty, and deceitful and affirms that God does not delight in such folk, will not tolerate them, and will destroy them.

How do you feel when you see others abusing others? Righteous anger swells up. Thats God.

These verses contain the words of trust of Psalm 5.  God has provided in the past; God will provide in the future.  The psalmist knows that God will not tolerate those just mentioned.

This knowledge  may come from firsthand experiences of the psalmist, or it may come from the stories about God’s workings in the lives of the ancestors in the faith.  The God of the past and the present is a God of Justice and provision.

Epistle- Galations 2: 15-21 Paul gives us a clear message.

v. 19  For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.  And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Gospel -Luke 7: 36- 8:3

Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love……He said to her and all of us, “Your sins are forgiven.”

Some people continually consider their sins as unforgiveable. We may take into account our personal failures, the seemingly unforgiveable sin, and may struggle with such good news, wondering, “  But did Christ die for this, too?”

No sin is an  addendum to the cross.  Not stubbornness or stupidity. Not addictions or depression. Not guilt or greed. God’s grace is unconditional. That is why it is called Good News.

The word on the street is that churches are seen as a place of judgment and bad news, avoided by those who are troubled and struggling …the addict, the divorced person, the homeless.  Why would I want to go there? They would just make me feel worse.

We can all quote John 3:16 but open your bibles to that passage.…For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life…….

So often the next verse is not mentioned……v. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

The word “ Whosever” is key in John 3:16.

God clearly tells us in the next verse that Jesus was not sent to condemn.

Not only do sinners live under condemnation but Church members as well can live under condemnation because they do not Clearly understand Who They ARE in Christ Jesus.

Now read v. 18

He that believeth on HIM is not condemned: but he that believeth NOT is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

The UNFORGIVEABLE SIN is NOT BELIEVING IN JESUS>

 

 

NOW Look at John 3:19-21

KJV ¹⁹ And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.²⁰ For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.²¹ But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

AMPLIFIED ¹⁹ The [basis of the] judgment (indictment, the test by which men are judged, the ground for the sentence) lies in this: the Light has come into the world, and people have loved the darkness rather than and more than the Light, for their works (deeds) were evil.

²⁰ For every wrongdoer hates (loathes, detests) the Light, and will not come out into the Light but shrinks from it, lest his works (his deeds, his activities, his conduct) be exposed and reproved.

²¹ But he who practices truth [who does what is right] comes out into the Light; so that his works may be plainly shown to be what they are—wrought with God [divinely prompted, done with God’s help, in dependence upon Him].

^{NIV 19} This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰ Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. ²¹ But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

John Wesley asked this question in his daily small group meetings:

How is it with your soul today?

IS there something that is troubling your Soul? Have you fallen off the path of righteousness?

Do you find yourself asking the question – Am I saved? Have you wondered about your Relationship with God?

Are you tired of wondering?

Are you tired of carrying around this burden?

Are you tired of living in your sins?

Are you feeling weak and powerless this morning.

Today can be your 2^nd chance at Life Everlasting.

Today is the day of Salvation.

Some of you may have never had a chance to say the sinners prayer.

This morning I want us to all pray together the Sinner’s Prayer….just repeat after me.

 

 

Dear Heavenly Father,

I come to you in the name of Jesus.

Your word says, “….him that cometh to me      I will in no wise cast out,    but You take me in and I thank You for it.

You said in Your Word, “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Rom. 10:13).

I am calling on Your Name,      so I know You have Saved me now.

You also said “.,..If thou shalt confess…..with thy mouth…..the Lord Jesus…..and shall believe…in thine heart…. that God hath raised him from the dead…..thou shalt be saved.

For with the heart….man believeth unto righteousness……and with the mouth …

confession is made .unto salvation “ (Rom. 10-9-10).

I believe in my heart….Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

I believe that he was raised from the dead….for my justification,

and I confess Him Now as My Lord.

Because your Word says, “  with the heart man believeth unto righteousness…” 

And I do believe with my heart……I have now become the righteousness of God

 in Christ (2 Cor. 5:21)….And I am saved!!! Right Now ….for all Eternity. Amen.

Thanks be to God. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord.