10/7/06
FREELY FORGIVEN
It has
been a week of unexpected violence. In the quiet, peaceful
The shock
waves have reverberated around the world. It’s hard to comprehend how someone
can do such a thing, and why this peaceful little Amish school in rural
But the
overwhelming response from the Amish families is quite surprising. Instead of
utilizing the media to push for tougher gun laws, etc., the families are
talking about forgiveness.
Forgiveness.
They have forgiven the gunman.
And they
are praying for the gunman’s family. And they are reaching out to the gunman’s
family, even while planning the funerals for their own children.
With the
whole world watching, in the midst of violence and hatred of the worst kind,
God is sending a message. He is helping these dear people to forgive even
someone as unworthy as this murderer. God is having the final word. Satan may
have succeeded in carrying out his evil plan, but God has the final word. And
that word is forgiveness.
Forgiveness
is one of the main characteristics of our Father in heaven. In Psalm 103:3 The
Bible says that God “forgives all your iniquities, and heals all your
diseases.”
When
Moses went up the mountain to receive the second set of Ten Commandments, in
Exodus 34:6, 7, God proclaimed His name there to Moses, saying, “The Lord, the
Lord God, merciful and gracious, 2
longsuffering,
and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving
iniquity and transgression and sin.”
Forgiveness
is part of who God is. It’s not how He feels. It’s who He is. Turn with me to 1
John 1:9. This is one of the clearest texts in the Bible about forgiveness, and
what our role is.
“If we confess our
sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness.”
We
confess, He forgives and cleanses. The Lord Jesus has given His very life for
us, that we might be acceptable to the Father. Chapter 2 and verse 2 tells us
that Jesus is the propitiation, or the sacrifice, for our sins. And notice it
doesn’t leave anyone out. It says the entire world, and everyone in it that is
willing to accept what He has done for them.
It’s
human nature to think that we are not worthy of the Father’s love; that we
somehow need to clean ourselves up before we come to Christ. The truth is we
can’t. We are to come as we are, and let Jesus clean us up.
There is a
man in the Bible who was despised by the Romans and was seen as a traitor by
his own people, because of his job. And he actually became one of Jesus’
disciples. Who is he?
Matthew.
Let’s turn to the book which bears his name, ch. 9 and beginning with verse 9.
Matthew was a tax collector. And tax collectors were known to charge too much.
They were hated. Matthew has listened to Jesus’ teaching here and there. And as
the Spirit of God revealed to Matthew his sinfulness, he longed to seek help
from Christ.
But
Matthew was used to the exclusiveness of the rabbis, and he thought surely this
great Teacher will never notice me. He felt completely unworthy of God’s love.
But one day when Matthew was 3
sitting
at the toll booth, he saw Jesus approaching, and he was astonished at what he
heard. Let’s take it up at Matt. 9:9.
As Jesus passed on
from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said
to him, “Follow Me.” So he arose and followed Him.
Matthew
didn’t even stop and ponder what he was giving un—a lucrative life of ease, for
a life of poverty and hardship. He just got up and followed Jesus, because
Jesus spoke the words of life, and Jesus forgave Matthew, and Jesus accepted
Matthew.
• So
overjoyed---feast in his house
• Invites
all his family and friends, some of whom were fellow tax collectors
• He just
wants to tell everyone about this Jesus who doesn’t condemn him, who loves him,
and has forgiven him and given him a new life
• But the
Pharisees don’t like it—verse 11
And when the
Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat
with tax collectors and sinners?”
• Notice
what Jesus says to these self-righteous Pharisees:
verses 12
& 13
When Jesus heard that,
He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who
are sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I
desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous,
but sinners, to repentance.”[
Our
unworthiness in the condition upon which forgiveness is granted.
Do you
feel sick this morning? Do you feel like you need a Savior?
Do you
long to be forgiven? Then you have come to the right place.
For this
is a communion Sabbath, and you have the opportunity to tell Jesus all about
it, to accept His shed blood for your sins.
This is
what communion is all about. The forgiveness of God, and the repentance of
people.