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To be prepared for the message you have for us today lord and we pray this all in jesus name. Amen Okay, we're in psalm 103 look down at your bibles at verse number eight it says the lord is merciful and gracious Slow to anger and plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide neither. Will he keep his anger forever? He has not dealt with us after our sins Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities for as the heaven is high above the earth So great is his mercy toward them that fear him as far as is from west so far hath he removed our transgressions from us And the time of my sermon this evening is what forgiveness does what forgiveness? Does this evening want to preach on the impact that god's forgiveness can have on a life of a believer? And forgiveness, of course meaning the pardon or the fact that a person has been exonerated or cleared of any accusation Or crimes and when we look at the totality of everything that we receive in christ Forgiveness is one of the many things that we receive when we believe on the lord. Jesus christ You know when we get saved when we believe on jesus Obviously the main thing that we focus on the main thing that we think about is the fact that we have eternal life, right? In other words, we will live forever. We will never die We shall be immortal in a sense. Okay, we live forever We have an everlasting life, but that's not the only thing that we receive once we get saved and in fact the bible Lists many different things that we receive. In fact, the bible even tells us That in hebrew chapter 6 and verse 9 says this but beloved we are persuaded better things of you and things that accompany salvation Though we thus speak there are plenty of things that accompany salvation plenty of things that we receive Such as the quickening of our spirit that was dead in trespasses and sin We receive the indwelling of the holy spirit, right? The bible tells us that we are indwelt by the holy spirit until the day of redemption He is the earnest of our inheritance unto the redemption of the purchase possession. He's the one that guides us into all truths So not only are we sealed with the holy spirit. He anoints us with understanding and knowledge and enlightenment of god's word, etc And so we receive the holy spirit we receive One day a glorified body. So right now we have this corruptible flesh this corruptible body that desires to sit The works of the flesh are made manifest through this old man But one day at the resurrection we shall receive a glorified body which comes included in this package of salvation We also receive the adoption of children. In other words, we become sons of god The bible says but as many as received unto them give you power to become the sons of god Even unto them that believe on his name we become children of god Which is a great indicator that we can never lose our salvation because god will never cease becoming our heavenly father And we will never cease being his children We get it, uh, you know, this includes a trip to heaven all expenses paid All right, we get we get to go to heaven and obviously heaven is not the eternal dwelling place of the believer We will forever dwell on this earth as we see at the latter end of revelation chapter 20 21 There is that we are in heaven with god And we are we're in heaven with god prior to that but then we're also in the new earth thereafter This includes being heirs with god it includes the opportunity to be a joint heir with christ This will be that we suffer with him the bible talks about that This includes the death of the old man Which basically means that we have daily opportunity to conquer sin in our lives, right? You know once we get saved obviously we as christians we can come with a lot of baggage a lot of things that we struggle with Sins iniquities transgressions bad habits, but now that we're saved we crucified the flesh now We have an opportunity to actually conquer those bad habits or sins on a daily basis as we die to self But one of the greatest things that we receive actually is the forgiveness of sins And a lot of people don't really take this into account as much as we should Because of the fact that we receive so many things we think well, you know, yeah, i'm forgiven of all my sins And there we go, you know that that's pretty much it but there's so many things that come that comes Uh with that look at verse 10 again. It says he has not dealt with us after our sins And nor rewarded us according to our iniquities now let that sink in just a little bit because you got to understand that sin Is that which causes? Mankind to go to hell it causes god's wrath to come upon mankind it causes Consequences and heartache and destruction upon a person's life and the bible tells us that he has not dealt with us god's people According to our sins, so you think of the fact that you know, you've been in church you're saved You're reading your bible and you think to yourself well, you know, I clean up my life i'm basically doing right But you know There's other sins that we are guilty of that we probably don't even think we've done today And you know what the bible tells us god has not dealt with us according to our sins still right? Okay He says for us As the heaven is high above the earth so great is his mercy towards them that fear him As far as this is from west so far hath he removed our transgressions from his term with me if you would to Uh, go with me if you would to first corinthians chapter six first corinthians chapter six And then we're going to go to romans chapter number four romans chapter number four I want to talk about forgiveness today and more specifically what it should enable in our lives or what it should cause us to do or think Um, it says in ephesians chapter one to the praise of the glory of his grace Wherein he hath made us accepted and the beloved and whom we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins According to the riches of his grace So what's the first thing that we receive what's what's what is the first thing that forgiveness does in our lives? Well, obviously the most evident one would be the fact that forgiveness saves us from hell, right? The reason why we're not going to hell is because we've been exonerated By the blood of jesus christ, we've been given eternal life due to the fact that he has cleansed us. He's cleared us He has justified us in the eyes of god. We've been made righteous Through the blood of jesus christ and a great way to define what it is to be justified It basically means just as if we've never sinned Doesn't mean we don't sin. It's just saying god views us as though we've never sinned before okay Because of the fact that the righteousness of jesus christ is imputed upon us Therefore when god views us he views us to the blood of christ, which is pure. It's sinless, etc Okay So the forgiveness of sin saves us from hell james 2 9 tells us But if you have respect the persons he commits sin and are convinced of the law as transgressors For whosoever shall keep the whole law yet offend in one point. He is guilty of all now It blows my mind That people can think well, you know, of course, we have to believe on jesus christ for salvation But you got to make sure that you repent of your sins as well You got to make sure you stop sinning. You got to make sure that you keep god's commandments You got to make sure that you do not transgress because for the wages of sin is death and it's like Buddy, you know, you've already broken off god's commandments And even if you come to the conclusion that you're no longer committing this particular sin There's a bunch of other sins that you have committed and will commit I mean don't let's take into account the fact that you live in a corruptible flesh that only knows how to sin And the bible says that the works of the flesh are made manifest But even aside from that they think well if I repent of my sin now You know, the the punishment of god won't come upon my life as far as hell is concerned But hold on a second. What about the sins you've committed in the past? You think god's just gonna oh you confessed it. Oh, you know you you stop doing it I guess you don't have to pay for those sins. No folks who server keepeth the whole law yet offended one point You're already guilty of everything according to the bible And look the bible tells us obviously, you know, we see in galatians chapter five We see in first corinthian six, we see in revelation 21 8 a list of sins That people commit that basically Helps them to merit Hell the bible tells us in revelation 21 8 but the fearful and unbelieving And the abominable and murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake Which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. Look at first corinthians 6 verse 9 This is the verse we read earlier this morning. It says knowing not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of god Be not deceived neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor effeminate nor abuses themselves with mankind Now these are verses that people who believe in that doctrine always want to pull out As though that's like their checkmate, right? Hey, they shall not inherit the kingdom of god and but but here's the thing. You think these are the only sins That the bible says will not allow you to inherit the kingdom of god He's giving you just he's just throwing out a list out there But you can basically replace this with any other sin mentioned in the bible So they think just because it says drunkenness just because it says railing just because it says fornication idolatry Adultery being effeminate all of a sudden. This is the particular things that you need to stop doing in order to be saved wrong folks And in fact, we know that that's wrong because later on in the verse it tells us such for some of you But you are justified etc. Look at roman chapter four if you would roman chapter number four The bible says here in verse number one What shall we say then that abraham our father is pertaining to the flesh hath found For if abraham were justified by works he hath worth to glory but not before god now Let me just quickly explain what this is referring to because in order to have a clear Understanding what this is stating we have to compare with james chapter two And james chapter two also talks about being justified the difference being being justified before man This is why james two emphasizes the importance of having faith and works not for salvation but rather to be a blessing or Really for the salvation of someone else, you know If you have a brother or sister that is naked or destitute of daily food and you say be warmed and filled How can your faith save that individual right? So in order for your faith to properly affect another person? You need to couple it with some works And so at that point you have worth to glory so to speak because people can see your faith based upon your works Whereas here in roman chapter four it says that abraham was justified by if you were justified by works He has worth to glory but not before god referencing james chapter number two. He says in verse three for what saith the scripture Abraham which by the way is in the old testament Abraham which is in the old testament believed god and it was counted unto him for righteousness And later on we'll see that he also he also talks about david who's in the old testament now, how is god going to use An example of someone who's supposedly saved by works in the old testament As an example that it's faith alone Right, it doesn't make any sense. It's like well david was saved by keeping the animal sacrifices because he was under the old testament law Well, why would he use him in the new testament as an example of how to get saved by faith alone? I'll tell you how because of the fact that he was saved by faith alone In the old testament he wasn't saved by works or keeping god's commandments It's nonsense He says what saith the scripture abraham believed god and was counted unto him for righteousness I want you to notice verse number four, which is a verse that we don't really focus on. We typically go to verse number five He says in verse four now to him that worketh Is the reward not reckoned of grace but of debt Now this is a very interesting verse because of the fact that what it's stating here Is that a person who thinks they have to work for their salvation obviously clearly doesn't understand what grace means Because of the fact that he's saying the person who works is doing it based upon they think that they can pay off their debt So they say well we got to work because of everything that he's done for us, you know And salvation we should do our part and somehow the integration of our righteousness along with the righteousness of jesus will somehow save us But he's saying there This person doesn't understand grace Because grace is something that you receive in spite of what you do Right in spite of who you are and in spite of what you do And god views the individual who works for his salvation as someone who's trying to pay off his debt But let me let you in on the little secret. You can never pay off your sin debt You are incapable of paying off your sin debt It's impossible It's impossible to pay off your iniquities and transgressions It's absolutely impossible, but it's not impossible for jesus christ to pay it off And in fact, that's the only payment to heal that god accepts You know, you go to those stores or whatever and it's just like we don't accept american express or something Sorry, we don't I don't know they don't accept discover or whatever, you know, they don't accept certain credit cards or something Well, you know in god's economy. He doesn't accept your lame little debit card That's already in the red anyways It has no money in the bank anyways What's that? Filthy rags it has nothing in there. There's no Type of justice or justification in those debit cards so to speak The only one that he accepts is jesus christ expressed He says to him that worketh is the reward not reckon of grace but of death You know the bible also says in romans 11 verse 6 and if it is of grace then there's no more of works Otherwise grace is no more grace That's why the bible tells us that you know salvation is by grace through faith and that not of yourselves It is the gift of god not of works lest any man should boast So he says in verse number five but to him that worketh not But believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is counted for righteousness. Why is it counted for righteousness? Because of the fact that it's not a reward that is reckoned of grace or of debt, excuse me It's not a reward that is reckoned of debt, but of grace He's understanding i'm, you know believing because I can't work my way to heaven. I can't earn salvation. I can't buy it There's nothing I can do on my part. I have to believe on jesus christ Now verse six says even as david also described the blessedness of the man unto him god impudeth righteousness without works Saying blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven past tense Whose sins are covered present blessed is the man to whom the lord will not impute sin referring to that future tense So this is a great passage of scripture to help us to understand the fact that when we get saved We are forgiven of past present and future sins Now I hear this from pentecostals I hear this from charismatic people people who believe you could lose your salvation They have this warped Thing in their mind that basically states well when you get saved you're only forgiven of your past sins I mean you've heard that before Not in the future. You're only forgiven of past sins But once you get saved you got to make sure you live a clean life or else you're not going to be forgiven of those sins But but here's the thing think how stupid this is Okay Aren't all our sins Relative to jesus christ, aren't they all in the future? I'm from I mean from when jesus christ physically paid for our sins on the cross 2 000 years ago They're all in the future So, how is it that only my past sins can be forgiven by the blood of jesus christ When technically all of them are in the future from his perspective And in that case, you know, would you also apply that same definition to those he's forgiven from before he came on this earth? Three thousand four thousand years ago. Let me think about that And really if you think about it, you know The bible says that jesus christ is the lamb who is who is who is slain before the foundation of the world So he was slain in eternity past in other words past present or future mean nothing to him It's the severity of sin It's not when you committed the sin that that makes it, you know valid to be forgiven It's like when did you do it though? Did you do it before or after it doesn't matter? Because from god's perspective he sees everything from the beginning all the way to the end You know god's punishment Isn't based upon Did you commit sin on march 15th? 2022 Because from his eternal perspective you just committed it you understand he sees it all Completely and so here we see that we're forgiven of past present and future sins now here's the thing is that another thing that people don't seem to understand is that You know when jesus christ saved us It's a fulfillment of what we see when the bible tells us that he had made him to be sin who knew no sin That we might be made the righteousness of god in him So when people think well, you know, uh, yeah, you know, he forgives over your past sins But you're going to suffer in hell for your future sins. You're basically saying that god jesus christ only took upon himself certain sins And not the totality of sin. Whereas the bible literally says that he had that he became sin for us He had borne our sins on his own body on the tree the bible says, okay and so That's important to note there. Now. Why is this important to think about? Well because of the fact that forgiveness of sins shows us that We are saved from hell. We will no longer suffer the punishment of hell And you say well, I already know this though, you know why I emphasize this Well, because it's important to emphasize basic doctrines like this because it helps us to be grateful For salvation And never to lose sight of the fact that you know what when I got saved I was forgiven of every single thing And look, let me just say this is that there's plenty of people out there who are so off doctrinally They struggle with this matter of salvation because they didn't hear this from the pulpit folks No, I don't know, you know, i'm doubting my salvation because I just I don't know if i'm i've committed these sins I don't know if i'm gonna you know, if I lost my salvation or something like that and it's just like It's very simply laid out here in the bible That you're forgiven of the totality of sins, okay Turn with me if you would to uh, go to first john chapter five And here's something that I hear all the time especially now more than ever Oh, we just believe on jesus christ, then let's go rape and murder and steal And here's my response man. You're wicked Like who thinks that first and foremost I and I I think one of these people I responded to I said i've actually never met a person who got saved who actually has said that Or has done it He's like i'm saved. All right, cool time to go commit a bunch of crimes now It's time to just go live a wicked horrible life because i'm just forgiven that's in their heart Okay No one in their right mind actually thinks those thoughts if when they believe on jesus christ folks But what they're what they're insinuating is this well now that we're saved You know, we can just commit whatever sins because there's zero punishment for our actions But does the bible teach that no, the bible teaches us that once we get saved we no longer no longer suffer the punishment of hell In other words once you get saved that's been paid for Your ticket to heaven has been paid for you have eternal life from here or not. The bible says you shall never die You shall never die Now wouldn't we all agree that we will physically die one day So obviously it's not referring to our physical bodies now, is it? It's referring to our spirit shall never die And in order for god to make that promise and for it to be valid that means that we could never lose our salvation Because to say well you shall never die unless you sin or something like that But once you sin you lose it obviously at that point it's no longer It's not true But we know that god is not a man that he should lie In hope of eternal life which god who cannot lie promised before the world began, okay? What the bible teaches us is that once we get saved we've received the forgiveness of sins In order for us to be completely exonerated from the eternal punishment of hell, but here's the thing is that forgiveness of sin Also saves us listen to this from earthly punishment So you not only actually Are saved from hell but a daily confession or a daily repentance of sin Will deliver you from earthly punishment. He said why would I need deliverance from earthly punishment if i've already If i'm already saved i'll tell you why because of the fact that we still live on this earth And god has commandments for us to follow here on this earth He wants us to obey him here on this earth And when we don't and we get involved in sin and we get involved in transgressions and we commit iniquity there is a punishment for that Okay, there's consequences to our actions So the forgiveness of sin saves us from earthly punishment people will attack this doctrine of eternal security Because the bible teaches that once you're saved there's no longer an eternal punishment But what the fail to realize is that salvation doesn't remove the consequences of our sin here on this earth. Look what first john five says verse 16 If any man see his brother sin of sin Which is not unto death he shall ask and he shall give him life for them that sin not into death There is a sin unto death I do not say that he shall pray for it So the bible says there's certain sins that a person can commit that is into death And all the prayer and fasting in the world will not remove that sin He said what is that sin? I don't know and I don't want to know Yeah But it exists and you know There's a reason why god gives us numerous examples in the bible where god literally destroyed someone and killed someone thousands of people for idolatry for fornication for sin Why because he wants to instill the fear of god in our lives? In order for us to avoid sin as much as possible because we don't want to be a part of that little statistic now Do we that percentage of people who actually perish because of our earthly sin? Yeah, of course, we can't lose our salvation praise god for that But you know what? I don't want to die a dishonorable death either now I don't want to suffer an earthly punishment for my transgressions here on this earth It says all unrighteousness is sin There is a sin not unto death now go back go to second samuel chapter 12 if you would second samuel chapter 12 So no, we're not teaching that after you get saved you can just live however you want in fact, no one's ever preached that Right here No one's ever preached that no one who believes one saved always saved has ever preached that ever I've never has anybody ever heard that sermon where it's just like all right folks. We're saved after church. Let's go. Let's go to the bar Drinks on me No, because that's only in the minds in the hearts of people who prefer the word of god, okay Okay And in fact, let me just say this independent fundamental baptists have always been known to preach against sin extremely hard Right Baptists have always been characterized by preaching against sin Preaching against the specifics of sins such as fornication drunkenness Adultery covetousness railing we have been known for these things because of the fact that we we don't want people to suffer the consequences Of their sin here on this earth Because we know that adultery can destroy your marriage We know that drunkenness can destroy your reputation We know that covetousness can destroy your life. That's why we preach against it. If that weren't the case then why preach against sin? I'm not I don't preach against sin to try to turn you away from sin so that you don't go to hell That's a false gospel We preach against sin so that you can live a peaceable life here on this earth Right avoiding god's wrath upon your life and the consequences of your sin look at verse 11 Here's a here's a clear example of this david who committed adultery and conspired to murder a man and succeeded Is now going to suffer the punishment of his sin says in verse 11 does say the lord behold. I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house And I will take thy wives from before thine eyes and give them unto thy neighbor He shall lie with thy wives in the sight of the sun. This is god speaking by the way You know, he's merciful he's kind but this is a pretty harsh punishment here, right? For thou didst it secretly But I will do this thing before all israel and before the sun Verse 13 and david said unto nathan. I have sinned against the lord And nathan said unto david the lord also hath put away thy sin thou shalt not die So what is this telling us? It's telling us that in spite of the fact that he even repented of his sin He got right with god There is still severe punishment to be to be executed upon david because of the fact that he had caused the enemies of god to blaspheme For his sin and when you read the story of david you see that his sons rose up against him Hit, you know the swordiness, you know didn't depart from the house of his of his sons Killing each other but here's the thing Here's one thing he did receive was mercy from god and he himself did not die now if he's saying there thou shall not die What's the implication god was probably going to kill him? He didn't have to tell him that he didn't have to tell me that he was going to kill him He just told him this thou shall not die Insinuating what I was going to kill you. I was going to destroy you You say I don't know about that. There's plenty of examples in the bible where god did that You say yeah, but this is david though, this is the man after god's own heart he almost killed moses Yes He met him outside of the inn And sought to slay moses And then, you know his wife Who was just like i'll just circumcise the child myself and threw the foreskin at the feet of moses I mean, that's some pretty heavy stuff because the lord was going to slay moses for his disobedience What does that tell us it tells us that god is no respecter of people folks So it should cause you to understand that if you don't want to suffer the punishment of your sin here on this earth Get right with god Repent forsake the sin Clean up your life now. Look obviously there's built-in consequences to sin Sometimes god doesn't even have to issue a punishment upon your life for your sin. The punishment is already built in You drink you drive you get a dui You get in a car accident You become a paraplegic that's a built-in punishment Right you commit fornication. You have a bachelor child as the bible puts it. That's a built-in consequence You commit adultery you ruin your marriage That's a built-in consequence to sin Plain and simple, you know you commit adultery you commit fornication you get an std Built-in consequence pun intended Right What am I saying i'm saying but there's times folks though That when we get right with god that we receive the forgiveness of sins here on this earth And we avoid the earthly punishment of that sin And I think all of us to a certain extent can testify of a time where we committed sin We we failed the lord and we got right with god and we didn't suffer the consequences of our sin as we should have Amen So why is that because god was merciful until us that's why He was gracious with us. He was merciful to us and the forgiveness of sins Causes not to suffer this earthly punishment that we would deserve if we didn't get right with god. Okay Bible says in proverbs chapter 28 go to hebrews chapter 10 if you would hebrews chapter 10 Proverbs 28 verse 13 says this he that covered the sins shall not prosper But who so confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy happy is the man that feareth always But he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief someone who's hurting their heart is basically Obstinate they're not willing to get right with god They hear sherman like this they read a verse like that and they'll say well, it's not going to happen to me I'm going to continue in this sin I'm, just not going to get right with god and the bible says not only will they not prosper that will eventually fall into mischief And of course the end product would be that they suffer the consequences of their sin look at hebrews chapter 10 And verse 26 one of the reasons I want I wanted to preach this tonight And obviously this is probably something that all of us already know as far as these doctrines are concerned It's because of the fact that you know, i've been getting a lot of comments about you know, willful sinning Because you know a lot of people out there in on internet land They're just against once saved always saved and they always bring up hebrews 10 26 For if we sin willfully if we sin willfully if we sin willfully and it's just like oh, man This is getting so like grievous to me The fact that so many people just think that this is an ironclad verse to tell us that we lose our salvation or something Look what it says in hebrews 10 26 For if we sin willfully after that, we have received the knowledge of the truth There remaineth no more sacrifice for sins now tell me where in this verse does it talk about salvation? Nowhere Nowhere in this verse does it even mention anything about salvation But you said where are they getting it from they impose salvation on this First and foremost, let me just say this any sin that you commit Let me just give you a rude awakening is you willfully sinning? Did you know you willed yourself to to commit that sin? Because they interpret it as oh, yeah, but you're willfully sinning though Let's say it's like, you know, you're just making yourself you always make yourself sin You can't blame anybody else when you sin It's like I sin. Oh, that's not my fault. The devil made me do it or something like that No, my friend. That was you. It was your members. It was you When lust that's conceived it bringeth forth death you were enticed by your own lust you gave into it and you committed that sin I have no one to blame but yourself So it says if we sin willfully after that we receive the knowledge of the truth there remains no more sacrifice for sins Now, what is this specifically talking about? well If people stop reading the bible in such a way that they only isolate verses they would be able to know Because the context of the entire book of hebrews and even specifically chapter 10 Is the animal sacrifices? Okay When he says the remainder no more sacrifice or sins, it's a reference to the old testament law And the old testament law daily sacrifices were to be made to atone for daily sin Okay, you say well that doesn't really make sense because we don't do Daily sacrifices to atone for daily sin. Yeah, that's because jesus christ has already sacrificed himself once and for all and the reason old testament saints were to Uh, you know offer these animal sacrifices on a daily basis Was not to maintain their salvation. It was literally just to stay right with god That's why the bible says we offer the sacrifices of our praise You understand we are a what living sacrifice And what does it mean to be a living sacrifice? It means you die to self. It means you crucify the flesh It means you don't partake in wickedness and sin you live a life that's pleasing to him you walk in the spirit And you don't fulfill the lust of the flesh, okay So when he says that the remainder no more sacrifice for sins he's he's indicating the fact that we are in the new testament You know These new testament christians can't be looking for animals to sacrifice because that's no longer a thing That has been repealed Once the new testament began You understand it's just like it's no longer a thing. Don't look for any more animals. There's no more the remainder There's no more sacrifice for sins That's been done away with in the old testament. Okay, and here's the thing folks, you know Someone needs to tell these dispensationalists The animal sacrifices couldn't save the old testament saints either Well, how do you know that i'll tell you how because it's impossible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins verse four But it took away their sins no it didn't It is impossible. The bible says in verse four that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins It can't take it away. Well, then why would it say that it atoned for their sin, though? I'll tell you why because it atoned for their daily sin, but it could not take away the totality of their sins There's only one person who was able to do that which is jesus christ Okay Look at verse 27. What is this referring to? He says there remains no more sacrifice for sins But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries verse 28 He that despised moses law So how do we interpret what he's talking about here? It's based upon what we just saw earlier someone who's sinning willfully Can be defined as someone who's despising moses law in context, right? He that despised moses law died without mercy under two or three witnesses Now, what is he talking about? He's talking about the under the theocracy of god In the nation of israel god deputized his people to carry out the death penalty for crimes that merited death And so if someone committed adultery someone was a sodomite or someone committed some, you know crime That was that merited, you know capital punishment They would die without mercy under two or three witnesses So if you have a saved person who believes on the lord But they commit adultery They have to die During the old testament And according to moses law they were to die under two or three witnesses, you know In other words the the people who can testify of this crime would be responsible for laying hands on that individual first Now, what would we call this? This is what this would be called an earthly punishment They received an earthly punishment for their sinful crime So this is proving here That when he says willful sinning there remained no more sacrifice for sins It has nothing to do with salvation because no matter how many animal sacrifices a person wanted to do To atone for their capital crimes the crimes still need to be punished If they committed adultery there remained no more sacrifice for sins for that person that person merits That person merits death the death penalty according to the bible So he says in verse 29 of how much sore punishment suppose ye Shall he be thought worthy? Who hath trodden under the foot the son of god and hath counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified An unholy thing and hath done despite unto the spirit of grace For we know him that hath said vengeance belongeth unto me I will recompensate the lord and again the lord shall judge his people now In verse 28 There's three witnesses right That will testify against the person who committed a capital crime, but we're no longer under that system But now whose system are we still under? When it comes to sins that we commit that you know, we could be judged for god Because he says he will judge his people. Well, who are the three witnesses the trinity my friend? There are three that testify in heaven the bible says Right So in accordance with the with the with the triune god states Regarding our crimes at that point. He can execute vengeance upon us here on this earth for our sins that we commit here Now look united states of america. They don't have the death penalty for adultery Right, they don't have that I mean, yeah, it'd be nice if they reinstituted these these These laws again, but it's not gonna happen. Let's just be honest, you know a man can dream but it's not gonna happen man But we're still under a law into christ though And if god sees fit You know according to the triune god the trinity to execute punishment upon a believer For their specific sin and by the way, it doesn't even have to be adultery It could be something that in the old testament didn't merit the death penalty I mean folks i've known of i've heard of stories in my christian life where people just backslid they got away from god They got out of church. They defiled the temple and the bible says in first corinthians chapter three That he that the father of the temple him shall god destroy And god allowed that individual to die a horrific death because they refused to get right with god happens all the time So, what is the forgiveness of sin do it causes us not to suffer the punishment here on this earth Now are there sins? They're just like you're just already done for yeah, absolutely I mean, I think I shared this before I remember I had a cousin who who destroyed his body so much with alcohol And drugs and all types of things that you know, he was basically about to die He was in the hospital and he was gonna die. He ended up getting saved. I think he was saved prior to that And you know, I remember talking to him on the phone because my family was telling me Hey, this person's gonna die. You might want to go say goodbye to him And I called him and I and I told him, you know, I love you I heard you got saved i'm so happy about that He goes, yeah, I trusted christ as my savior. I'm saved and he says I believe god's gonna deliver me from this though I don't think i'm gonna die and I honestly, you know, I didn't have the heart to tell him because He was gonna die within the next few days So all I told him was this i'll see you again I'll see you again Two days later. He passed away You know, those are the built-in consequences, but you know what? I guarantee you the element of god's punishment was also there as well And it didn't matter if he was saved It didn't matter if he believed on the lord jesus christ because god has no respect for people There's there comes a point where someone can cross the line where god has to call you home And and and because if not, you're just going to cause more destruction for the cause of christ you know and so That's important go to luke chapter seven if you would luke chapter seven We're talking about what forgiveness does forgiveness saves us from hell But not just that he saves us as believers from the punishment here on this earth at times Where sometimes we don't suffer the consequences of our actions because you know in sincerity of heart we get right with god There's plenty of examples. David, of course is one of them where you know He should have suffered a great punishment for what he did. I mean what he did was bad Committing adultery and then conspiring to murder one of his best men One of david's mighty men And and thinking he's gonna getting away with it and and when you look at the timeline It was like a year where he was just not right with god He was doing this for an entire year and yet god chose not to punish him by taking away his life Because of the fact that he got right with god, you know, this is different than saul, of course Saul had this like fake repentance and that's why saul suffered the consequences of his actions and god told them through the prophet samuel Tomorrow thou and thy sons shall be with me Basically telling him like you're gonna die and of course the philistines came at him Injured him and he was gonna die and he chose to commit suicide and just die a dishonorable death But even aside from that when we read later on and you know spoiler alert here because we're going through the book of first samuel You know, they completely just desecrate his body They decapitate his head they put his torso and pin it against the wall They parade his body, I mean that's a very dishonorable way to die He said why did god allow that because he was so angry with saul that's why Even though saul was a child of god He allowed him to suffer those consequences and you know Unfortunately, but fortunately of course it's in the bible for us to read forever now I mean that's part of the testimonies of the lord Okay Whereas david on the other hand, even though his sin was also grievous because he actually repented in his heart He desired to get right with god He you know, uh was blessed with the benefit of obtaining god's mercy Look at luke seven Let me also say this is it what is what else does forgiveness do in our lives forgiveness of sin makes us actually love god more It actually makes us love the lord more And here's one thing i've noticed. Okay in the christian life is that Someone who gets saved later on in life Maybe they've been through like a lot they have a lot of baggage once they get saved they get on fire for god They get on fire for god. They get extremely zealous for the things of god They they love soul winning. They love the bible. They love righteousness. They love the lord, but why is that? In comparison to someone who just might grow up in church You know, they still love the lord but they don't seem to be as zealous for the things of god Why is that? Well, look at luke chapter 7 and verse 39 Now when the pharisees which had bitten him saw him he spake within himself saying this man If you were a prophet would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him for she is a sinner And jesus answering said to him simon. I have somewhat to say unto thee and he saith master say on There was a certain creditor which had two debtors the one owed 500 pence and the other 50 And when they had nothing to pay he frankly forgave them both Tell me therefore which of them will love him most Simon answered and said I suppose that he to whom he forgave most And he said unto him thou has rightly judged and he turned to the woman and said unto simon seest thou this woman I entered into thine house thou gavest me no water for my feet But she hath washed my feet with her tears and wiped them with the hairs of her head Thou gavest me no kiss, but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet My head with oil thou didst not anoint, but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment Wherefore I say unto thee listen to this her sins which are many are forgiven for she loved much But to whom little is forgiven the same loveth little He's saying you know why she's willing to go to this extent to show me this much love It's because she was forgiven of a lot of things What does this tell us it tells us that the forgiveness of sins can often give us the capacity to actually love god more than other people can Why is that because you see the great debt now we all all everyone for all have sinned come short of the glory of god All sin is on righteousness. We've all been saved from hell But from a practical perspective someone who got saved later on in life Who had their life ruined by sin who has has had their life destroyed they come from a broken home They come from drugs. They come from just you know, just trauma or whatever it may be They have a tendency to actually love god a little more Right now it doesn't always have to be that way Right because i've known christians who actually grow up in a christian home They have christian parents and they're on fire for god still Amen I mean very zealous for the things of god, but in general this is often the case right here So what we see here is that what forgiveness of sin does is it causes us if we allow it to To love god that much more Because we recognize how much we've been forgiven the great debt that has been paid on our behalf To be saved and in light of that we love the lord You understand You said why is that important to note? Well because of the fact that you know Never get to a point in your christian life where you're so clean You got everything together to the point where it's just like you think you you think you're just better than everyone else You understand never get to the point where it's just like well, you know, i'm a christian and now I got a christian home And everything I got my stuff together. I'm a hard worker now. I I think differently I act differently But by the grace of god though Just remember that Never get to a point where you will, you know, look down on people Because of where you're at now Because but by the grace of god You probably still be there And so we never want to have this prideful arrogant attitude as christians that we think that we're better than anybody Because of the fact that we're better off You understand and you know the doors that you knock on where you're out soul winning the people that you meet And who are you know unsaved and they're they're in the ghetto And you know, they they have all kinds of issues and all kinds of problems And all kinds of things going on in their life never look down on someone like that because but by the grace of god You are what you are at this moment You should love much because of what you've been forgiven You should have a greater and deeper love for the lord jesus christ because you've been forgiven Hey, you know what? You know, I got saved at the age of 21 I didn't destroy my life, but I like anybody else was just a sinner You know, I I was a teenager just living for myself and and you know living for the world I was a young man and and you know, I came from a a broken home I didn't grow up necessarily with my dad and you know when I got saved I saw that And I thought to myself man god is good Because you know what now I have a heavenly father And now I have a church I have all these things and it made me love god more It made me recognize. You know what? I really want to serve god now because of everything that he's done for me What we don't want is like well You know I've been forgiven so I guess I can just you know, i'm just gonna Have a low grade type of a zeal for the lord no use it to its highest capacity Love the lord that much the more and and here's a good exercise for you to do in order to have that Think about where you came from Take time to think about where you came from and where you are now Think about the journey that you've taken from where you were before to where you are now and you say well You know, I didn't really have to struggle with a whole lot You know, I had a good family and there's no trauma in my life and you know all these things. Okay Well, you just think about heaven How about that You know, you're on your way to hell like everyone else, you know that should Motivate you to be grateful and to love the lord that much the more because you like myself like everyone else We're on our way to hell right and you know what hell Is a good motivator or a good little inspirational thing to think about To evoke gratitude in our lives because like i'm not going there anymore And so forgiveness of sins can help us love the lord that much the more okay go to matthew 18 And here's my last point Talk about what forgiveness does lastly is the forgiveness of sin listen to this Should make us Should doesn't always but it should make us forgive others It should make us forgive others It should actually move us to be more compassionate towards those who have offended us Because in light of our offense toward god and the great forgiveness that we've received We should be more merciful to others when they do us wrong understand The bible tells us here in matthew 18 i'm gonna read to you from matthew 6 verse 12 and forgive our debts As we forgive our debtors He says in matthew 18, he gives a story here. Let's read through verse 23 Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king which would take account of his servants And when he had begun to reckon one was brought into him which owed him ten thousand talents But for as much as he had not to pay his lord commanded him to be sold And his wife and children and all that he had and payment to be made The servant therefore fell down and worshiped the lord saying lord have patience with me and I will pay thee all Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion and loosed him and forgave him the debt by the way This is a picture of our salvation Because we like this man had a debt that we could not pay And we well i'll just get into church i'll pay it somehow or you know I'll give to the poor i'll feed the poor i'll do all these things And it's just like nothing that we could ever do will ever pay off that sin debt But the lord being moved with compassion for god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son Whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life Verse 28, but the same servant went out And found one of his fellow servants which owed him a hundred pence nothing near what he owed 20 bucks or something And he laid hands on him and took him by the throat saying pay me that thou always And his fellow servants fell down at his feet and besought him saying have patience with me and I will pay thee all But and excuse me verse 30 and he would not That's a sad statement But went and cast him into prison Till he should pay the debt So when his fellow servants saw what was done, they were very sorry And came and told their lord all that was done then his lord after he had called him said unto him Oh thou wicked servant. I forgave thee all that debt because thou desirous me Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow servant even as I had pity on thee And his lord was wroth and delivered him to the tormentors till he should pay all that was due unto him So likewise shall my heavenly father do also unto you if ye from your hearts forgive not everyone his brother The trespasses what is what is the principle that he's teaching here? He's saying this, you know, god forgave you a massive debt You could never pay off And here you are making a big stink about 20 bucks Here you are making a big deal because someone you know said something mean to you here you are making a big deal because someone you know, uh, did you wrong or Hurt your feelings or you know said this about you or or You know, whatever maybe something that caused you to become bitter towards that individual and god is saying don't you remember the big debt that I? Pay for you And here you are trying to cause this individual to pay you something by any means necessary Even though I forgave you of this particular debt And obviously the illustration there is that god is trying to help us understand that in light of that which we we've been forgiven We should have that same attitude towards others when we are offended When our spouse offends us don't try to get your spouse to pay those 20 bucks It's like I can't believe her 50 cents you owe me 50 cents for hurting me or whatever, you know, you owe me those 50 cents and it's just like god's like You had a debt you couldn't pay and I paid it off for you You should forgive her of that debt I can't believe him. You know, he he said so many mean things to me or he forgot our anniversary or he forgot my birthday or You know, he didn't like the food that I cooked them or I don't know He didn't like this or something. He didn't you know say that I was beautiful today or something like that Well, you know that that's like that's like 25 cents Whereas god forgave you of that massive debt Now i'm not saying that it doesn't hurt Offenses hurt folks, right don't they hurt Doesn't don't offenses cause pain and sorrow and hurt absolutely, but you know I'm, pretty sure jesus christ was hurting on the cross too, right? Yeah I'm, pretty sure he suffered some pretty severe pain hanging on the cross He his nails were were uh, his hands were nailed to the cross his feet to the cross crown of thorns upon his head He was scourged He was beaten and bruised for our iniquities He suffered a lot of pain But you know one thing jesus never does he never like rubs that in our faces He just expects us to know that So So i'm not saying that offenses will never hurt I'm, not saying that someone who's going to offend you in our church or in your family or in your marriage that it's not going to Hurt obviously it's going to hurt What i'm saying is this when it hurts deeply and you want to become bitter towards that individual just remember The debt that was forgiven you that's right Just remember how much we've hurt the lord The Bible tells this group not the holy spirit of god whereby you're sealed into the day of redemption It talks about let all bitterness and wrath and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice Be kind one to another tenderhearted forgiving one another even as god for christ's sake hath forgiven you Now I hear this phrase all the time and I hate it because it's such a stupid phrase i'll forgive but I won't forget You guys ever seen that Duh, of course, we're not gonna forget We have a memory But let me tell you what it's code for I'll forgive but i'll always be bitter towards that person That's what that means I'll forgive but i'm never gonna forget because you just hurt me so bad. I'm just gonna remain bitter towards you folks Put all bitterness away from you So, how do I how do I like forget what you don't forget But what you can do is fill your mind with new memories The best way to put away from yourself bad memories is fill your mind with new memories I'll be honest with you. There's a lot of I have a lot of bad memories from my past many many bad memories But I can't really recall any of them though They're somewhere in there They're filed away in some cabinet in my mind under z There's like a rolodex of memories of bad memories bad stuff that happened to me But I can't really recall them unless someone comes to me and says hey remember this and i'm just like oh, man Then you just start hurts or whatever But at that point what I do is I create new files new memories good memories wholesome memories I'm, I try to be a blessing to others Because that's what I want to remember Because I can't control the actions of other people I can't control what people did to me in my past I can't control the the volition of others But what I can do is file it away and not ever think about it ever again. All of us have a junk drawer Some of us at least I do You know and there's some junk drawers. There's just like something's like tucked away way way way in there And you'll probably never see it again for like 10 years unless you clear out the house or something like that Well, you know that memory needs to be stored all the way back there oh, but we should never suppress our memories and Get that psychological nonsense out of here We have memories And they cause pain But the way we deal with it is by making new memories and forgiving Now obviously if it was some pervert reprobate who offended you You don't have to forgive that person because they have never forgiven us in this lifetime nor in the life to come And here's my philosophy if god doesn't forgive him now, then should I I'm talking about people who can be forgiven Okay, i'm talking about people who make mistakes and let me just say this and I say this all the time You also will offend somebody that's right And you will also listen to this will create a file for someone's memory as well You will also create a file for someone's memory of pain and hurt as well one day you will because we're human and that's what happens What we need to do is create new files new memories and and forgive as much as we possibly can And recognize this is what forgiveness should do to us The forgiveness of our sins and trespasses and transgressions should cause us to be merciful and to show pity And to be compassionate towards those who offend us Amen That's what forgiveness should do. Let's pray father. We thank you so much for your word We're so thankful for the forgiveness that we've received through jesus christ. Thank you for the reminder lord Pray you help us lord to to be compassionate one toward another and lord, uh, may the forgiveness of god and help us to recognize that there's There's an earthly punishment that we could have faced And in line of that may the goodness and forbearance of god lead us to repentance And also lord help us to think about that which we've been forgiven of so that we can love you more That our capacity to love you increases that much to more and uh, but of course Lastly help us to to think upon your forgiveness so that when we are offended in this lifetime We can go back to that day that we got saved and we're exonerated of all of our sins through christ And I pray lord that you bless us as we go on our way