“The Cross and Forgiveness” 

Pastor David Moore 

Old Testament reading: Psalm 98 

Sing to the Lord a new song, for He has done marvelous things; His right hand and His holy arm have worked salvation for Him.  The Lord has made His salvation known and revealed His righteousness to the nations.  He has remembered His love and His faithfulness to Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. 

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music; make music to the Lord with the harp, with the harp and the sound of singing, with trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn— shout for joy before the Lord, the King. 

Let the sea resound, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.  Let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing together for joy; let them sing before the Lord, for He comes to judge the earth.  He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples with equity. 

Theme: last week we looked at Jesus dying for our freedom.  This week the death of Jesus is for the forgiveness of our sins, and with a deeper look at the importance of guilt in our process in accepting Christ into our life. 

New Testament reading: Romans 5:1‐10 

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.  And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.  Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.   

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.   

Since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through Him! For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!

Our problem as a human is, we are taught to ignore the feeling of guilt because there is no such thing.  It is a feeling to be dealt with in having no meaning or importance in this life.  Man is creating his own reality about guilt.  ~D. Moore 

The past cannot be changed, forgotten, edited, or erased… It can only be accepted. 

God has created a different reality than this world around guilt.  God is calling all sinners to reconcile wrong actions, wrong thoughts, cheating, harming others, etcetera.  God created this guilt feeling to call us to a new freedom through His forgiveness.  ~D. Moore

Our brokenness deserves a payment to restoring man’s lost dilemma.  God’s answer is a payment of debt.  ~D. Moore 

For the essence of sin is man substituting himself for God [Gen. 3:1‐7], while the essence of salvation is God substituting himself for man [2 Cor. 5:21].  Man asserts himself against God and puts himself where only God deserves to be; God sacrifices Himself for man and puts himself where only man deserves to be.  ~John Stott 

Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe; sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow. 

Jesus did not have to die.  But He chose to, while we were still lost to sin.  Therefore, it follows that what Jesus did is of infinite worth.  That action is unique, it never has been done before or after.  Guilt is real, alerting us that we need to do something about the sin in our life.  Sin will not go away until it has been confessed to Jesus.  ~D. Moore 

The amount of your dumbness of your actions is transformed into the amount you are loved by your friend, Jesus.  The amount of sin you can admit, is the amount you can be healed of. 

Romans 5:9:  Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 

John 3:16:  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. 

This week, think about your sins, admit them to Christ and He will forgive you.  Only your freedom will return to your heart, soul, and mind.    

Respond to the human feeling of guilt and repent of your sins and then forgiveness and freedom will follow. 

God bless you!