Introduction:
During my sickness last December, I had the opportunity to catch up with my Chinese via reading of Qing Yung's writings. Story after story, one found vengeance and punishment as the recurring theme. Parents' or even close friends' ?? is to be revenged, even down to the next generation. In those stories, I see on the one hand endless killings, and on the other hand, tension between whether to seek revenge or not. In Chinese we have these words, "????,????". In the Chinese tradition, "forgiveness" is a very foreign idea.
Can we imagine what life would be like without forgiveness? At the personal level, when we refuse to forgive those who have wronged us, it gives us a sense of control. We will be filled with bitterness and resentment. The one who refuses to forgive is usually the one with the most pain. When others refuse to forgive us, it causes us to carry a heavy burden and sense of guilt. Interpersonal relationships will be filled with mistrust and alienation.
At the national and international scene, there will be mistrust, revenge, conflicts, wars, and isolation. This is so evident in the Balkan countries. Unresolved conflicts and hatred that occurred centuries ago still causing the death of millions of people today. A world without forgiveness is a terrible and painful place to live.
But have we ever paused and considered where this idea of forgiveness comes from?
When we come to the Christian faith, forgiveness becomes the main theme. As one reads the bible, from the beginning to the end, it is a book about forgiveness. When I did a search on the word, "forgive" or "forgiveness" in the bible, it occurred a total of almost 88 times. And certainly, the entire life and ministry of Jesus Christ cannot be separated from forgiveness. Come to think of it, without Christianity, can there be any basis for forgiveness?
In the Apostles' Creed, we read, "I believe in the forgiveness of sins." The reference here is God forgiving our sins. You see, without God, without the Christian faith, the world will know little about forgiveness. This morning we want to take a closer look at the meaning and significance of God forgiving us.
I. We must understand God's forgiveness in the context of His holiness.
Leviticus 11:44
In my discussions with different people, many have expressed their concerns about the way God was presented in the OT. He appears to be severe and angry, frequently punishing individuals, families and nations with sickness, destruction and death. This has become a major obstacle in their search for God.
But if we take a closer look at the Bible, we begin to notice that all these severities are really a reflection of God's character, of who he is. That is, He is totally different and separated from men. He is what the theologians would call the OTHER being. He is morally perfect. He has no sins and cannot sin. He cannot be compared with any other standards. He alone is the standard, against which all other ethics and behaviors are to be compared with. He is like a specimen of perfect jade. When you look at it under strong light, there's not one spot or blemish. God is pure and totally holy.
Because He is holy, therefore people and things associated with him are also expected to be holy. He expected his people, the Israelites, to reflect his holiness in their personal and social lives. His holiness is to be reflected in their political and economic systems. This is the reason we find these words in Lev.11:44,"Be Holy, for I am Holy".
On the other hand, we have the problem of man. The more we know of God's holiness, the more we see our corruption and sinfulness. Whenever we read God's commands and laws, we recognize how small, sinful and unworthy we are. Like the hymn that says, "we're but worms before him". Biblically, this is an inaccurate statement, for we're very valuable in God's sight. God never treats us like worms. But experientially, as we stand before God in his holiness, we feel like a worm because of our sins.
So the stage is set. The holy God on the one side and sinful man on the other side. Man cannot go to God's side. Man only deserves God's wrath.
The Moslems know this well. They recognize God's holiness and men's sinfulness. They constantly plead for God's mercy on sinful men, living under fear. As if they're under God's reign of terror. Very often this sense of sinfulness causes us to be remorse, full of self-doubt, self condemnation, poor self-image, and sometimes even pushing us away from God.
II. We must understand that God's forgiveness has a high price tag.
Hebrews 9:22
However, holiness is just one aspect of God. This Christian God is also a God of love. Meaning that he desires to have fellowship with men. He wants to talk with us. to have that peaceful and harmonious relationship with us like the one he had with Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden before they sinned. But to accomplish this, he must do something about the sin that separates Him from men. He can punish us or he can forgive us. He chooses to forgive us instead of treating us the way we deserve.
But, what is forgiveness? Jay Adams puts it this way: to forgive means to do three things about the intended wrongdoing: not to use it against the wrongdoer in the future; not to talk about it to others; and not to dwell on it.
When God forgives us, it means: you've sinned against me, its wrong, it has hurt me. But I won't hold you accountable to your sins. I won't punish you as you deserve. Moreover, I won't even remember it anymore. This is what God chooses to do in order to remove our sins so he can restore our fellowship with him.
But, this forgiveness comes with a heavy price. If God would say this about our sins, "It's all right, it doesn't matter", then He is really not taking sin seriously, and for that matter, not even taking his holiness seriously.
Do you remember in Gen 3, after Adam and Eve disobeyed God, they became aware of their nakedness? They were ashamed of themselves and made clothes from leaves to cover their shame and nakedness. When they left the garden of Eden, God made them clothes out of animal skin to cover them up. God was in essence saying, "Adam and Eve, you can't cover your sins with your own clothes. I'll cover it up for you. But to do so, an animal had to take your place and was killed. A life was sacrificed just to remove your sins and shame".
We have no record of God's verbal communication to Adam and Eve on this matter. But yet this principle was deeply impressed upon the first men. We learn that Adam and Eve's son, Abel, offered the first born from the herd to God. Wherever Abraham went, he offered sacrifices to God. Job, a contemporary of Abraham would get up early every morning and offer animal sacrifices for his seven children so that their sins would be forgiven. These people recognized that in order for sins to be forgiven by God, another life had to be substituted and sacrificed.
At Mt. Sinai, for the first time, God clearly told the Israelites what to do when they sinned. The person who sinned must bring an animal to the Tabernacle. He would then lay hands on it, symbolizing the transfer of sins from the man to the animal. The animal was then killed on behalf of the sinner. This was how his sins were removed and forgiven, so he would once again be at peace with God.
One can imagine Israel's history. The multitude of animals killed in the Tabernacle and Temple. But all those killed animals were pointing to one truth: In order to restore relationship with this holy God, sins must be forgiven and removed. To do so, another life must be sacrificed. In Hebrews 9:22, scripture tells us; "Without the shedding of blood, there's no forgiveness".
When Jesus began his ministry, the first thing John the Baptist said about him was, "Behold the lamb of God, who takes away men's sins". You see, in Genesis 3 God hinted that in order for sins to be forgiven, an animal had to die in the sinner's place. In Leviticus, he clearly explained this principle to His people. They all pointed to Jesus. That he would be the ultimate Lamb. God would put all our sins on Him. He was crucified and died on the cross on our behalf. His was a substitution death. This is how man's sins are removed, with an extremely high price. It cost the life of God's son.
The only requirement God has for us is that we confess to him our sins. 1 John 1:9,"if we confess our sins, he is faithful and will forgive our sins and cleans us from all our unrighteousness". God paid a high price to forgive us. but its free to us.
III. We must understand the thoroughness of God's forgiveness.
Psalm 103:10-12
A counselor asked a physically abused wife, "Can you forgive him"? She replied that she didn't know. She wasn't sure if she could forget the hurts. She wasn't sure if she would not use these incidents against the husband in the future. She wasn't sure if she would not revenge later on. It's difficult to forgive, isn't it? You see, we like to hold onto the wrongs done to us. We remember and talk about them to others. We say we have forgiven that person, but we really have not.
But what is God's forgiveness like? Psalm 103:12,"As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us". Isaiah 1:18,"Come now, let us reason together, though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool". It is from dark red to pure white. This is how thorough God forgives and removes our sins. He throws them away from us. He will not use them against us. He will not even remember them.
Moreover, he will not punish us for our sins. Because when Jesus died on the cross, he also bore our punishment. From time to time I hear Christians say, "God must be punishing me because of my sins." This is wrong. And don't let anyone tell you that God is punishing you because you have sinned. NO, Jesus was already punished for our sins.
When Jesus died on that cross, God completely and thoroughly removed all of our sins and the punishment we deserve and put in on Jesus Christ.
Conclusion:
The Christian God is Holy and Loving. But He is also Forgiving. He puts all our sins on his son Jesus Christ who died in our place, so that our sins will be forgiven.
Are you still living under the shadow of your past sins? Constantly feeling guilty over what you've said and done? Are they causing you internal turmoil, robbing you of peace and rest? Are you trying to make up for the past sins by doing good, or even actively serving in the fellowship and the church? You know, the guilt just won't go away.
But there is good news. Whatever sins we may have committed, big or small, personal or public, if we confess them to God, he would forgive all of them.
In the Chronicles of Narnia, there's a story about Eustace. Due to a series of mishaps and rebellions, Eustace turned into a nasty little dragon, with scales all over him. Then he felt real sorry about his former attitude and behavior. One evening, he met Aslan, the lion. Aslan told Eustace to follow him. They came to a garden with a well in the middle. Aslan told him that if he wanted to get in there he must undress first. So he started to scratch himself and the scales began to come off here and there. And then he scratched a little deeper and, instead of just scales coming off here and there, his whole skin started peeling off. So Eustace started to go down into the well for his bath. But just as he was going to put his foot into the water he looked down and saw that it was all hard and rough and wrinkled and scaly just as it had been before. So he scratched and tore again and this under skin peeled off beautifully and out he stepped and left it lying beside the other one and went down to the well for his bath.
But exactly the same thing happened again. So he scratched away for the third time and got off a third skin, just like the two others, and stepped out of it. But as soon as he looked at himself in the water he knew it had been no good. Then the lion said, you have to let me undress you. By now Eustace was so desperate. He just lay down flat on his back to let Aslan do it.
The very first tear was so deep that Eustace thought it had gone right into his heart. And when the lion began pulling the skin off, it hurt worse than anything he'd ever felt. The only thing that made him able to bear it was the pleasure of feeling the stuff peel off. This was how Aslan peeled off the scales from Eustace. Yes it hurt, yet it was so thorough.
You see, often we try to get rid of our sins like Eustace trying to get rid of his scales. It just doesn't work. They keep coming back at us. So we too, need to come to God with our sins and let him peel it off from us. To face our past and present sins is very uncomfortable and painful. But its so necessary for forgiveness. Let's listen to these comforting words again. "He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us".
Rev. William
Hsueh Feb 13, 2000 Houston Chinese
Church, Houston, Texas |