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Category: Forgiveness (Page 4 of 4)

Three Crosses: The Conclusion. Matthew 6:33

August 12, 2018 /

 “But first and most importantly seek (aim at, strive after) His kingdom and His righteousness [His way of doing and being right—the attitude and character of God], and all these things will be given to you also.”

It has always been and will forever be, all about Jesus…

We preach Christ crucified. This is the focal point of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is a picture of blood flowing from Christ’s veins as He hung on the cross. The message of shed blood is repugnant to many, and they turn from such a gory sight, feeling that their delicate sensibilities have been outraged. Many people will accept Christ’s character, but they reject His crucifixion. –Billy Graham

“It is finished.” The three most powerful Words ever spoken. In them the “amen” to every promise God ever made for those who believe in Him…

Those three Words were sitting inside Jesus’s mouth waiting to be released over a world He had yet to speak into existence. As He said, “Let there be light”, “It is finished” was holding its breath, back straight, ready—waiting its turn. As the Light of the world literally spoke light into existence—a way had been made too for that same Light to pierce the darkness of sin-stained hearts…

… “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit” –John 19:30. The cross of Jesus Christ is elemental to the Christian faith. The cross unveils the character of God. The Cross is where God’s love for sinners and His perfect justice converge. It’s where Jesus said a visible yes to the will of God. “Yes, I’ll lay down my life for them Father.” “Yes, though it means leaving heaven to take on their every sin, I’ll go. Though it means wrapping up the Light of my glory, concealing it in flesh, though it means betrayal and heartbreak and hunger and pain, though it means rejection and ridicule, being momentarily forsaken by You, I’ll go. Though it meant that the One who knew no sin would take into Himself every sin that every person ever created had ever committed—past, present, and future, still, before any one of us had broken through our mother’s womb—drew our first breath in, He had already said yes, “I’ll die for her, for him, for all of them”.

If God had to send His only Son to the cross in order to pay for sin, than sin must be dark indeed in the sight of God.–Billy Graham

In the Cross we see two inseparable Truths:

The greatest proof of Love known to man was ordained before one living-soul stepped foot on the earth. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” “It is rare indeed for anyone to die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God proves His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” And, besides this evidence of such great a love, we see evidence too of God’s intense hatred of sin. Both attributes are inextricably linked, foundational Truths standing side-by-side, indivisible. “The one who sins is the one who will die. The child will not share the guilt of the parent, nor will the parent share the guilt of the child. The righteousness of the righteous will be credited to them, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against them” (John 3:16; Romans 5:7-8; Ezekiel 18:20).

And, though we have His love and can also know His Love; to fully rest in its promises, we must first come to the Cross He stepped down across time and space to lay Himself upon. And we must answer His call of Love. We must first confess our guilt and ask forgiveness for it. We, like Peter, must answer this one question: “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed), the Son of the living God” –Matthew 16:15-16.

In so doing, in answering this one life-changing question, what we’re professing is this:

Jesus I know, I admit, You are God. I know I deserve to be hanging there—not You. I know it should be my blood spilled and not yours. I’m the sinner, not You. I’m sorry, terribly sorry, I repent of my sins and I thank you that You’ve made a place at the foot of Your Cross for me to come and acknowledge openly that You are God and I am not, and that I need you. Thank you for taking my place Jesus. And thank you that I’m now able to serve you, to be with you eternally…

This final teaching on the Cross of Christ may make some a bit uncomfortable. I make no apologies for that. Truth can often makes us squirm a bit. And that’s okay. Rather, I boldly offer you the Truth His Cross offers the world—the Life it affords us all. Instead of offering an apology for the Cross, I’ll ask that you think of—conjure up, the most unimaginable, most vile, hate-filled, perverse, twisted sin you can scarcely image, have ever heard tell of.

Got it? Now, understand this: As much as God hates that sin, hates all sin—He loves us, the sinners, infinitely more…

That same Cross that offends so many, that shed Blood of Jesus Christ—the Sinless Son of God, the One who left heaven for you and me, took that unimaginable sin, no, more, He willingly died, to take upon Himself all the unimaginable sins. And, with them, every other sin ever committed—and to be committed, so that the ones who confess those sins and truly repent of them will not have to die for having committed them. He did that for us—died in our place that is. That is the power, the humility, the forgiveness, and the unfathomable pure Love of our final and greatest Cross. The Cross of Jesus Christ. Sit with that thought for a second…

This Jesus came and in His coming, is the incarnate New Covenant. Covering laws, we could not keep with His Blood, once for all, so that we might be afforded life eternal. “For if that first [covenant] had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second” –Hebrews 8:7.

All are welcomed at Jesus’ Cross. It doesn’t matter who you are, Jew or gentile, black, white, brown, tan or “other”. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done, or who you’ve done it with. It doesn’t matter who you identify as—not even that “scarcely unimaginable sin” you’d heard of earlier is any match for the Love God has for you. For the Power of Jesus’ shed Blood to scrub it so white, only you will ever know it was ever there. “And love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” –1 John 4:10.

So, to recap: At our first cross, the Law, we saw God lay down an exacting, yet life-giving path that leads us towards the knowledge of who He is—of His standards. At our second Cross, we witnessed Jesus teaching us—transitioning us, readying us for a more intimate, a more “Parent-child” relationship with Himself. Teaching us the “how to’s” of presenting ourselves, our prayers and petitions, before Him. How to carry on a conversation with our Father. And here, now, at our third and final Cross—The Cross of Christ, we witness the price God our Father was willing to pay that we might be restored into relationship with Him. A relationship destroyed by sin. A relationship only the Cross of Christ; faith in Truth of His life, death, and resurrection could afford us… “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us” –2 Corinthians 5:21.

The cross of Christ is not only the basis of our peace and hope–but it is the means of our eternal salvation. The goal of the cross is not only a full and free pardon, but a changed life lived in fellowship with God. No wonder Paul said 2,000 years ago, “We preach Christ crucified.” The world needs this message today. This is the message of hope, peace, and brotherhood. This is what the world calls “foolishness” but what God has been pleased to call “wisdom.” What do you call it? –Billy Graham

Friend, if you haven’t yet come to His Cross, I implore you to come today. Christ died for you. Confess your sins to Him, ask Him into your life, and let your life truly begin anew… “Therefore if anyone is in Christ [that is, grafted in, joined to Him by faith in Him as Savior], he is a new creature [reborn and renewed by the Holy Spirit]; the old things [the previous moral and spiritual condition] have passed away. Behold, new things have come [because spiritual awakening brings a new life]” –2 Corinthians 5:17.

God’s Work. Philippians 2:13

July 22, 2018 /

 “For it is [not your strength, but it is] God who is effectively at work in you, both to will and to work [that is, strengthening, energizing, and creating in you the longing and the ability to fulfill your purpose] for His good pleasure.”

God. The beginning of every good thing.

He who has always been—having no beginning and no end. Sovereign. Nothing of any eternal value can happen outside of Him. And, anything—any thing that happens in our lives does so with a grand design in place to bring about that “things” best possible outcome…

Today I’d like to talk with those, all those, who have been deeply wounded.

Those, who, though saved—having a relationship with Christ, those possessing faith—even deep faith, still face areas in your life where the wounds of the past are the fetters of your present. Those who sit famished, Bible open, soaking up all that God has to say—wanting it the way a starving man uses his last crust of bread to lap up the bits of food stuck to his plate. I’m talking to those who show up early to church on Sunday, not wanting to miss one Word. Those who worship from their toes, their depths, who have felt the weigh, both of their sins and their forgiveness —those who give their tithes lovingly, serve because their heart demands that they do.

I’m talking today to me, first. And, if this fits, I’m talking to you too…

I’m talking to those whose midnight howl has been—is, “Jesus please!”

That belly howl, that sobbing, I need Thee, oh I need Thee, cry. If you’ve ever cried this cry I need not say more.

You love Him and trust Him. You’ve witnessed His miracles in your life time and again. Perhaps, like myself, death came for you—but Jesus stood blocking its icy hand from dragging you into an early grave? Perhaps drugs or sex or drinking had a grip on you? Maybe abuse, molestation, being given up as a child—abandoned as an adult, abused at the hands of someone so hurt themselves, they couldn’t see how tender the trusting soul they were bruising was? Has any of the above left you frozen—locked into a place and a time that Jesus died to set you free from?

Here me, more, here God: “It was not your fault”—if you were raped, molested, beaten, abandoned—it was not your fault!

In that moment a choice wasn’t afford you—you were robbed. Robbed of your voice, your identity, your innocence; just as surely as if a thief were to break into your house tonight and rob you! Would that be your fault too? Of course not! You were robbed! Stop blaming yourself!

Thank God however, for today…

For this new day—and the choices that are now yours—mine,  to make. Today, we have this new choice, this ability to never be robbed again—to choose freedom! And no, I’m not saying that nothing bad will ever happen again. Any more than I’m saying that what has happened was your fault. But, what I am saying—what the Lord has shared with me—is that everything you need to move past yesterdays residue, past those clinging, cloying lies that accuse you and rob you of self-esteem and true freedom, past those “things” inflicted upon you—and perhaps because of them, those things you inflicted upon yourself, is already inside of you—if, Jesus is your Lord.

God has spoken to me about forgiveness… again.

If you’re a student of Scripture, then surely you know when God sees fit to repeat something to us we are wise to pay special attention to it. What do I mean by that? He has put this message of forgiveness squarely in front of me as of late. The unconditional, unrelenting necessity of it. No matter where I’ve turned—this “theme” of forgiveness has been a thread God has used to connect one day, and its lesson, to the next. Weaving together this tapestry, this picture of what must happen in a life, our life—yours and mine, so that we might step out not only in complete freedom, but more still, to walk together with that freedom, forever forward, in the power and authority God has given us in Christ Jesus!

Unforgiveness is the fodder that fertilizes our seeds of bitterness, resentment, and hatred. And, when watered with our fears, shame, and guilt, they produce the fruits of our self-destruction. The roots of which must be pulled out—least they stay, spreading out, mocking us, just below the surface of our praises…

So important is forgiveness—so paramount, that Jesus, while looking down from His Cross at the very men whose hands were stained by His Blood, saw the need to teach us, one last time, about its law—its seed and harvest principle. He had done it earlier via the model prayer He gave us to follow and expand upon, but, how much more powerful impactful now with His last breaths? Jesus chose for us to hear about forgiveness with His dying Words: “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” If Jesus, the sinless Son of God thought forgiveness so needed to be modeled in His final hour, how much more should we, the guilty, model it in our daily lives…? “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

Plainly said, we will be forgiven according to the measure we forgive…

I am speaking today—rather, hear the heart of God for your life today. Please, listen, those who have been deeply wounded—robbed. In fact, we all are in need of this one lesson. Scripture informs us, and the Spirit within us will confirm, we serve a High Priest who is familiar with our every pain—our every sin, who knows us better than we will ever know ourselves, better than our parents, spouse, or best friend. He created us. Knit us together inside of our mother. He did not intend for us to carry unforgiveness.

We are, after all, made in His image, and there is no darkness in Him…

God knew—knows, how very toxic unforgiveness is. What a thief it is—what a liar. Dare I say a false idol? When we choose not to forgive, when God has brought to our attention an area in our lives, a person or situation that He is telling us we must forgive, and we chose instead to say; I know you told me that I will only be forgiven as much as I am willing to forgive, but I’m going to go with my feelings here over your Truth. Not only are we being directly disobedient we  are also blocking our own forgiveness, along with some of the blessings God is trying to get into our hands. Forgiveness is the authoritative, life-changing, galvanizing, stain-fighting, clog-busting, past eradicating, cathartic command that teaches us the true meaning of the, “free indeed” Jesus both spoke of and died for.

He wants so much more for you than your salvation alone…

And yet, a reminder here, a plea really: You must remember that even this desire to forgive and your ability to submit to it—is possible only through a relationship with God. Why? Because it’s not something we can do on our own. We’re not capable. It is only through His power—by His Holy Spirit at work in us, as our verse today so aptly describes, both willing us to forgive and, enabling us, through His power, the same power Jesus used on His Cross, to forgive.

Outside of Him we simply do not have it in us to forgive…

And, more, if we need further proofs of the power of forgiveness—the power love has over hate, over bitterness, self-pity, animosity, and revenge—on the third day, by this same power, He rose from the dead, putting an end to the powers of sin and death in our lives. Forgiveness defeated the fetters death tried to use to rob Him of His Life. God sent me here to share with you the Good News that this same freedom is within you—if, you are a child of God. I know you’ve been asking and praying and trusting. And God has heard and has answered.

Believe, choose to forgive, and let the cathartic process of moment-by moment forgiveness begin…

And friend, if You have read through this but don’t yet know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, don’t think this wasn’t meant for you. It was. It is. You’re not here by accident. God brought you here first, that you might ask Him into your heart, and then, from that, that you two might begin the work of forgiveness that needs to happen in your own life…

“Because if you acknowledge and confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord [recognizing His power, authority, and majesty as God], and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart a person believes [in Christ as Savior] resulting in his justification [that is, being made righteous—being freed of the guilt of sin and made acceptable to God]; and with the mouth he acknowledges and confesses [his faith openly], resulting in and confirming [his] salvation.” –Romans 10:9-10

 

 

It Was, And Is, A “We” Thing…Luke 23:34

January 21, 2018 /

 “Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.”

So, here’s the question: Which them was Jesus referring to when He asked the Father to forgive them?

I wasn’t standing among the crowd that day, but that fact didn’t limit Jesus’s knowing that on a particular day and time, some two thousand plus years later, I would need His prayer—His forgiveness. And so, would you. It wasn’t necessary for us to be standing there as witnesses.

Love knows no limits…

There is no such thing as time and distance where love is concerned. Ask any parent—they’ll tell you the same. When it comes to reaching the child they love, nothing can stop them.

How much more God?

How much further reaching is the one that fashioned us in our mother’s womb—knows our every thought, and the number of each hair on our heads? The One who knows not only the moment He predestined us to be born—to live, but knows also, the exact millisecond He will ask for our breath to be returned to Him…

So, as Jesus hung dying on His Cross, just who was He asking the Father to forgive?

Was it for Pilot’s succumbing to the blood-lust of Caiaphas the high priest and his followers? —John 18:12-28. Maybe it was for the thief hanging beside him—the one chiding Him to, “Come down off your cross?”— Luke 23:39. Or, maybe He was asking the Father to forgive those underhanded religious leaders who had Jesus dragged, in the middle of the night, in front of some of the scheming and self-serving Sanhedrin. As if the cover of darkness could hide the darkness within them! —Mark 14:53-65. Or, is it possible that Jesus asked this forgiveness for the amped-up many who stood crying out to Pilot for His Blood? “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!”, can you hear their malevolent cries…? —Luke 23:21. Was He asking forgiveness for the soldiers whose hands were still wet with His Blood? —John 19:18. Or, perhaps it was for those who’d been hunched over at the foot of His Cross, throwing dice for His clothes? —John 19:23-24.

More, Scripture tells us that this same Jesus that prayed this prayer as He hung dying, is the same yesterday, today, and forever. —Hebrews 13:8.

Thus, inferring that His desires, His intentions, remain the same also. Those being, in this instance, intercession and forgiveness. So, with that in mind, I would posit, and Scripture points towards, Jesus—in addition to each of those souls listed above, was praying in fulfillment of Scripture for you and me too. “…Because He [willingly] poured out His life to death, And was counted among the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore and took away the sin of many, And interceded [with the Father] for the transgressors.” Isaiah 53:11-12; emphasis my own. He was praying for the whole of humanity who—as with those above, had no clue—didn’t fully understand, the import, the weight of their sin. Nor did they understand what was being accomplished on that Cross…

Neither do any today who deny Jesus…

They’ve no understanding the far-reaching implications of their choice. If anyone in that blood-thirsty crowd, on that fateful day, had any idea that their words, spoken in frenzied mob speak, would bring about the death of the very Messiah they had prayed for—one must wonder if they wouldn’t have run around just as feverishly; physically covering up the mouths of any one shouting, “Crucify Him!” Who in their right mind would want to put to death the very person they had prayed would come and save them? That would be the equivalent of a drowning man refusing the life-saving buoy thrown to him…

“Mercy here!” but the drowning man gulping, says “Thanks, I’m good, I can swim!”

Yet, many that day did exactly that. Why? Because their help didn’t come the way they anticipated it would. Didn’t say, speak, look like, what they thought it would. So, they reject it. No, they made sure this “impostor”, this false Messiah, this blasphemer,  would never come back to tell His imprecate tales. And, for those in authority who were threatened by Him, afraid that if He succeeded they would fail—lose out. His being sent away wasn’t an option. They needed an end to Him and all He stood for. “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!”

All the while Mercy was praying—extending to “all who would”, the opportunity to be forgiven…

“Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.”—Hebrews 10:17 (Also see: Hebrews 8:12; Isaiah 43:25; 1 John 1:9; 2 Corinthians 5:19; Psalm 103:11-12).

The good news is some, that fateful day, heard Jesus’s prayer—and said yes to His unfathomable offer of mercy and forgiveness of their sins. And, as I said at the start, I believe though you and I weren’t standing among those in the crowd that day—Jesus saw us.

We were included in His offer of forgiveness…

Cornelius, the Roman centurion at the foot of His Cross heard it—more, he received it. Listen: “Surely this man was the Son of God!”—Matthew 27:54. And the thief, the other one, not the one who chided Jesus, he too accepted Mercys offer of forgiveness, listen to his dying words: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”—Luke 23:42. So long as there is breath, there is hope. And, there was Nicodemus too, a member of the Sanhedrin. He said yes to mercy—along with his friend, Joseph of Arimathea—a secret disciple of Jesus. —John 19:38-40. Lastly, there were some three thousand who were gathered in Jerusalem. Whether any of them heard Jesus’s offer of forgiveness at His Cross is unknown—but they heard it nonetheless!Mercy reach is limitless. “So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.”—Acts 2:41.

And don’t forget me! I was sitting in a church pew in 2008 when suddenly Mercy said, You are mine. You’re forgiven, Now, come, follow me… And, by His grace, I’ve never looked back!

Friend, Jesus’s prayer to the Father for forgiveness is for you too…

There was a  piece of ground at the foot of His Cross with your name written on it. It’s purpose? To traverse across time and space that it might reach you today. If you’d just stand still and look up, right where you are, you’d be looking into the eyes of the One who is offering you forgiveness. More, an opportunity to go where He is and spend eternity with Him.

But, first, you must say yes to Mercy’s invitation…

Won’t you please say yes, now? Mercy has been praying for you. “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.”—Ephesians 1:7

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