The Positive Power of Forgiveness: “I Believe in the Forgiveness of Sins”

Out of the depths I have cried to You, O LORD; Lord, hear my voice! Let Your ears be attentive To the voice of my supplications.  If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, That You may be feared.                                                                                      Psalm 130: 1-4

Before I start this sermon I want to be clear – in only one way does God’s acts of forgiveness of sins allow the receiver to avoid the punishment for same sins- that as a sinner before God. His forgiveness doesn’t remove restitution or punishment requirements for harm done to others, neighbors, or community. The shame of sin can be used to change lives and do good in God’s Kingdom. We have forgotten.

There is a joke that supposedly dates to the Pharisidic period: As the rabbi began his lecture on repentance, he asked the class, "What must we do before we can expect forgiveness from sin?" After a long silence, one of the men in attendance raised his hand and said: "Sin?"

Forgiveness of sin is obviously only valuable to a sinner in need of forgiveness.

Up until the 1400’s or so the concept of forgiveness of sins was being perverted by being offered for sale by the Catholic Church, but if you know church history, you know that before Martin Luther became the father of the Protestant Reformation, he was a Catholic priest. As part of his training, he spent years studying Greek, Hebrew, Latin, the church fathers, and the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church.

No matter where he turned in church doctrine during his studies did he find relief from his burden of sin. His soul was deeply troubled by the perception of sin.

Burdened with the haunting sense that his sins were not forgiven, he felt that God’s judgment hung over him like a heavy weight he could not lift. Being a priest only made matters worse. No matter what he did, he never felt the assurance that his sins were forgiven. In desperation, he went to Rome, hoping to find answers, but he came away even deeper in despair at the corruption and hypocrisy found there.

Several years later, while studying the book of Romans, he encountered the phrase, “The just shall live by faith” (Romans 1: 17). Slowly his eyes were opened and he saw clearly that God forgives us, not because of anything we do, but solely on the basis of what Jesus did for us when he died on the cross and rose from the dead. He called that truth “the gate to heaven.”

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

We need to see how everything hangs on believing in “the forgiveness of sins.”

Before we look at what this phrase means: First, we are near the end of the creed. After today, there are only two phrases left—"I believe in the resurrection of the body,” and “I believe in life everlasting.”

Second, our phrase for today summarizes the entire Christian life. That’s amazing when you think about how the creed is constructed. I started preaching through the creed at the beginning of February and will not finish until July 3^rd.

The Apostles’ Creed is a God-centered statement of the Christian faith. I’ve spent five months preaching basic Bible doctrine to you—nearly all of it about God himself. When we finally get to the Christian life, the creed sums it up with this one phrase—"the forgiveness of sins.”

That’s certainly not how we think about things today. Go to any Christian bookstore and you’ll see a small shelf called “Bible Doctrine” or “Theology,” and then you’ll see a huge section called “The Christian Life.”

There you will find books on prayer, growing in faith, enduring hard times, spiritual gifts, spiritual growth, overcoming temptation, sharing your faith, and growing in holiness. Stuff like Joel Osteen’s “Your Best Life, Now.”

There are books on marriage, books for men, books for women, books on the family, raising children, overcoming addiction, forgiving others, spiritual warfare, singleness, sex, health, the purpose-driven life, and the end times, to name only a few. To us the Christian life is all about these different categories.

But the creed takes the whole Christian life and boils it down to this one essential thing: “I believe in the forgiveness of sins.” As if to say, “If your sins are forgiven, everything else is just details. And if your sins are not forgiven, nothing else really matters.”

Father’s day also could be fit in there for what father doesn’t hope that his sins will not destroy his relationship with his family or doesn’t try to teach responsibility for one’s actions? A good father should teach his children how to remit their sins.

I find that a fresh way to look at the Christian life. It’s simple, clear and direct. So let me ask you a question that I will ask again at the end of this message: Are your sins forgiven and do you know it? Remember Psalm 130: 1-4?

1) Why do we need forgiveness? Verse 3 says, “If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand?”

Novelist Franz Kafka wrote in his diary that the problem with modern people is that we feel like sinners, yet don’t feel guilt. We sense that something is amiss in our lives, something is wrong. We live in a society that tells us to get rid of guilt by getting rid of the rules that make us feel guilty. So we do our best to ignore pesky things like the Ten Commandments.

All those “Thou shalt nots” make us nervous. So the best way to get rid of guilt is to get rid of the rules—or so we think. We do away with the rules, but the rules won’t go away because they weren’t written by man in the first place.

It’s as if they are written in indelible ink. Even when you try to erase them, the image keeps coming back. So we cheat and steal and lust and sleep around. We mock God by killing the unborn and trying to redefine marriage to fit our own twisted desires.

But the rules don’t change! You can’t get rid of guilt by pretending the rules aren’t there anymore. When God makes the rules, he doesn’t ask for our opinion. God has spoken—and he did not stutter. “Thou shalt not” still means “Thou shalt not.” Even so we feel like we can ignore the rules and get away with it.

Sadly, even after we’ve changed the rules so we can do what we want, we still aren’t happy. We’ve relativized the rules, normalized guilt, but still something is wrong. Despair, shame, restlessness, dissatisfaction are rampant. Kafka was right—we feel like sinners, but independent of guilt. We know something is wrong with us, but we don’t know what, and we don’t know how to fix it.

2) What hope do we have of forgiveness?  By that I mean, what are the chances that we can be forgiven?

Look in the mirror and consider your own soul. If you do, the outlook will not be hopeful. One British writer put this way: “There is no man who, if all his secret thoughts were made known, would not deserve hanging a dozen times a day.”

To which I reply: Only a dozen times? I would think it would be much more than that. The first part of verse 4 brings us some very good news; “But with you there is forgiveness.” Or to say it another way, God makes a habit of forgiving sin. He does not delight in punishing our sin. He looks for chances to forgive us because forgiveness is in his nature.

3) What happens when we are forgiven? The last part of verse 4 has the answer: “Therefore you are feared.”

Another way to say it is, “Therefore we worship you.” Once we are forgiven, that vague feeling of unease is removed. Our slate is wiped clean. The prison cell swings open and we walk out. We’re free at last. Sometimes that’s the hardest part to accept.

The only way to deal with Satan’s accusations is go back to the character of God: “With you there is forgiveness.” Have you ever worried about the day when you stand before the Lord?

Some Christians fear that God is going to project all their sins—even the sins of the mind—on some huge screen for the entire universe to see. We have this mental image of God pressing a button and then our life begins to unfold on a giant screen so huge that millions of people can see it. We fear that in that day all our ugly words and deeds, all our secret sins that no one else knew about, and every dark thought filled with anger, lust, pride, hatred, rage and greed will be displayed.

How could we endure such a moment? And how could God ever welcome us into his kingdom after putting our depravity on public display?

If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, if you gazed on our sins, who could stand? No one. We’d all be doomed and damned. But that’s the whole point of Psalm 130. We cry from the depths of shame and guilt, and God says, “Good news. With me there is forgiveness.” The Bible uses a number of images to describe how God deals with our sins:

God blots out our sins as a thick cloud (Isaiah 44:22).

God forgets our sins and remembers them no more (Jeremiah 31:34).

God puts our sins behind his back (Isaiah 38:17).

God buries our sins in the depths of the sea (Micah 7:19).

God removes our sins as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12).

When God forgives, he forgets our sins, he clears the record, he erases the tape so that when he pushes the button, nothing shows up on the big screen in heaven.

Our sins are forgiven, forgotten, removed, buried, and blotted out. They can never condemn us again. Let that thought grip your soul, and you will never be the same.

But how could it be this way? How could God forgive us? Why doesn’t he look at our sins? Here’s the answer: A long time ago God fixed his gaze on the cross of his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. When we are honest enough to admit that we are wicked and evil, a stream of mercy flows out from the cross of Christ and our sins are covered by his blood. We discover in one shining moment that with God there is forgiveness.

That’s why Luther said this was the most important part of the Apostles’ Creed. That’s why this is the only part of the Christian life mentioned in the creed. This is the whole ballgame right here. Everything else is just details.

If someone is full of vague uneasiness because of the way they have been living, if they are feeling guilty and don’t know what to do about it, and are in the pit of despair, they don’t have to stay there. Run to the cross! Run, don’t walk, run to the cross and lay hold of Jesus Christ. Trust in him as your Lord and Savior.

With God there is forgiveness. That’s why the creed says, “I believe in the forgiveness of sins.” Nothing is more important. So I come back to the question I asked earlier: Are your sins forgiven and do you know it?

Softly and Tenderly:

O for the wonderful love He has promised,

Promised for you and for me!

Though we have sinned, He has mercy and pardon,

Pardon for you and for me.

Then the chorus makes the appeal:

Come home, come home,

You who are weary, come home;

Earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling,

Calling, O sinner, come home.

That invitation isn’t just for special people:  It’s for all of us. “Though we have sinned, he has mercy and pardon. Pardon for you and for me.” God has done everything necessary for you to be forgiven. All you have to do is come. Come home to God. Come in Jesus’ name. Come by way of the cross and you will be forgiven.

Last week you saw the riddle of the 2 parrots: Here’s the answer:

Ask either parrot what the other parrot would say. If you ask the Parrot who tells the truth: "which door would the other parrot say is freedom?" The truth parrot would point to the door to hell. Go to the other door.

Jesus is the only way to heaven and the only way to forgiveness of sins – many will try to trick and lead people astray. Stay firm and steadfast in Jesus.

One final word. Sometimes Christians can hear a sermon like this and wonder how to apply it. If you already know the Lord, let me tell you how to apply it:  Get on your knees and say, “Thank you, Jesus, for forgiving my sins.” Or stand up and say, “I bless the Lord for taking my sins away.” Don’t take your forgiveness for granted. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. If God has forgiven your sins, rejoice and be exceedingly glad. This is the good news of the gospel. Amen.