************ Sermon on Heidelberg Catechism Q & A 56 ************
Doctrine: The Apostles' Creed, "the forgiveness of sins"
By: Rev. Adrian Dieleman
This sermon was preached on February 4, 2001
Q & A 56
2 Corinthians 5:11-6:2
"The Forgiveness of Sins"
Introduction
Three words. Only three words. But they lie at the very heart of the Gospel. They lie at the very heart of the church. They are God's words to us. They ought to be our words to each other. Three short but important words. Do you know what they are? They are: "I forgive you."
The last couple of weeks we have looked at the church's confession about the church; we have looked at what we believe about ourselves. "I believe a holy catholic church," we said, "the communion of saints." In making this confession about the church, we can't forget the next article of our faith: "I believe ... the forgiveness of sins."
Why do I say that? Why should we never look at the church apart from the forgiveness of sins?
In our study of the Apostles' Creed we have confessed our belief in the church's unity, holiness, and catholicity. Yet, we all know that the church is painfully torn and fragmented; we all know that the most horrible sins are to be found in the lives of church members too; and, we all know that too often we are not willing to treat the believer next door as a brother simply because we disagree with him. Thank God that in this situation we can also confess belief in the forgiveness of sins.
In our study of the Apostles' Creed we have confessed our belief in the communion of saints. But sometimes, as you know, we do each other more harm than good; sometimes the communion of saints can be found lacking. Thank God that in this situation too we can confess belief in the forgiveness of sins.
Today, let us look at the why, who, what, how, and goal of God's forgiveness.
Don't forget, we are looking at true faith, at saving faith, as defined by the Apostles' Creed. According to the Creed, true faith includes a belief in the forgiveness of sins. It is not enough to believe in God the Father as Creator. It is not enough to believe in Jesus as the eternal Son. It is not enough to believe the virgin birth. It is not enough to believe the suffering under Pilate. It is not enough to believe the cross and the grave. In order to be saved you also need to believe in the forgiveness of sins.
I Why God Forgives
A Why does God forgive? On what basis? "Because of Christ's atonement," says the Catechism.
Christ's atonement. So much is included in the atonement: His journey to Jerusalem even though He knew He would suffer and die there; His agony in the garden as He struggled to do the Father's will; His betrayal by Judas even though He could have called twelve thousand angels to His defense; the mockery and beatings He underwent before the Sanhedrin and later at the hands of the soldiers; the declaration of His guilt even though He was found to be innocent; the darkness, forsakenness, and agony of the cross. The Apostle Paul can say in our Scripture reading that Christ "died for all" (2 Cor 5:15). And, that "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us" (2 Cor 5:21).
Why did Christ undergo all of this? Why the atonement? So that you and I could have the forgiveness of sin!
B Christ's atonement, dear people, is the one and only basis for the forgiveness of sin. Does God forgive me because I repent and believe? No, though that is still essential in the believer's life. Does God forgive me because I am now living a better life? No, though that too is indispensable in the life of the believer. Forgiveness of sin is never because of anything I have done, or you have done, but only "because of Christ's atonement."
Forgiveness – and salvation – comes only through Christ and His atonement. It doesn't come through the church or through our own efforts.
Topic: Salvation
Subtopic: Only Through Christ
Index: 3117
Date: 2/2001.101
Title: Illegal Entry
In January of 1985 a large suitcase, unmarked and unclaimed, was discovered at the customs office at Los Angeles International Airport. When U.S. Customs agents opened the suitcase, they found the curled-up body of an unidentified young woman.
She had been dead for a few days, according to the county coroner. As the investigation continued, it was learned that the woman was the wife of a young Iranian living in the U.S. Unable to obtain a visa to enter the U.S. and join her husband, she took matters into her own hands and attempted to smuggle herself into America via an airplane's cargo bay. While her plan seemed to her simple though risky, officials were hard pressed to understand how such an attempt could ever succeed. Even if she survived the journey in the cargo bay, she was sure to be apprehended and stopped by the INS.
In every age there are people who believe they'll enter the kingdom of God on their own since they've been reasonably good citizens or church attenders. But, as with the young woman, entry plans of our own design prove not only foolish but also fatal.
The only way into the kingdom, the only basis for the forgiveness of sins, is the atonement of Christ, His suffering and sacrifice. This is the only ground of our salvation and the only way of forgiveness.
II Who God Forgives
A Who does God forgive? Who are the beneficiaries of Christ's atonement? For whom did Christ die?
Don't forget, we are still talking about the "holy catholic church, the communion of saints." In other words, those granted the forgiveness of sins "because of Christ's atonement" are those whom Christ "gathers, protects, and preserves for himself"; they are "chosen for eternal life"; and they are "united in true faith."
B It hurts to say this, but this means that only some – not all – humans are granted the forgiveness of sins. Christ's atoning sacrifice is more than sufficient to save all. But it is not meant for all. It is meant only for true and living members of the church. It is meant only for those who "share in Christ and in all his treasures and gifts."
C We can't confess to know for whom Christ died and to whom God grants the forgiveness of sins. Only God knows that. All that we know is that we are to boldly proclaim the Gospel of forgiveness of sins to all people and nations. We need to tell people that if they only repent and believe God, because of Christ's atonement, will forgive them their sin. And, we are to never quit praying that God may reform the hearts and change the lives of those who have not yet experienced the forgiveness of sins – whether they be in or out of the church, whether they be unbelieving family members or neighbors.
III What God Forgives
A What does God forgive? First, God forgives my sin – all my sins, whether they be big or small, none excepted. More than once someone who was dying has confessed to me worries about the sins of their youth. Let me tell you, congregation, no sin in the lives of God's children is too big to be forgiven. Because of Christ's atonement, God forgives me all my sins – every last one of them.
B Second, God also forgives my sinful nature – this is the sin within us, the sin we are born with, the sin that is part of our makeup in this imperfect world. For this too man needs forgiveness. Many people don't seem to realize that they need forgiveness for their sinful nature. They think that because they are born that way, because it is part of their character, therefore it is nothing to be forgiven and nothing to repent of. We hear this kind of argument from homosexuals and alcoholics. But our sinful inclination to be an alcoholic or a homosexual or an adulterer or a thief all needs forgiveness and for all of these inclinations of our sinful nature we need to repent. This sinful nature is like a hereditary disease, a well, a root, which produces in man every sort of evil.
In June of 1997 my family and I camped on Edisto Island off of the coast of South Carolina. Massive trees towered over the roadway to the island making for a very scenic and romantic route. But many of the trees, I noticed, were dying because of vines growing around their trunks. The vines, I am sure, started small -- nothing to worry about. But over the years the vines had gotten bigger and bigger. By the time we passed, entire trees were covered by the vines' creepers cutting off the sunlight and intercepting the needed water and nutrients. Imagine that! Huge, solid trees were quite literally being squeezed to death by little old vines.
The sin within, the sin we are born with, our sinful nature, is like the vine. Its goal is to take over, to squeeze the life out of us. And day by day it is at work within us trying to achieve this goal.
The apostle speaks of this sinful nature in his life when he laments:
(Rom 7:23-24) I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. (24) What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
He answers this question by adding,
(Rom 7:25) Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord!
Because of Christ's atonement, God forgives my sinful nature too.
IV How God Forgives
A How does God forgive? In what way? He "will never hold against me" what I did and what I am. "God," says the apostle, "was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them" (2 Cor 5:19). That's beautiful! That's the kind of forgiveness that the psalmist speaks of:
The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in love.
He will not always accuse,
nor will he harbor his anger forever;
he does not treat us as our sins deserve
(Ps 103:8f)
There is one thing we never want to pray. We never want to pray, "great us as our sins deserve." Because then we get judgment, fire, condemnation, hell, punishment. We don't want to pray that. And, because of Christ's atonement we don't get that. Rather, God forgives our sin, He covers it, He remembers it no more. They are forever forgiven and forgotten, out of sight and out of mind.
B You and I are to be like God here. I always think of what the apostle says to the church in Ephesus:
(Eph 4:32) Be kind and compassionate to each other, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
Among us too, sins should be forgiven and forgotten, out of sight and out of mind. That's how a husband and wife must forgive – "Never hold it against her." "Never bring it up to him again!" That's how the communion of saints must forgive and can forgive.
Yet, this is easier said than done. Many is the time that we find it difficult to truly forgive each other from the heart. Unlike God, when someone sins against us we often cannot let go. We want to get even. We want to strike back. We want to nurse our grudge for a while. I remember a couple I was counseling and one of them exploded to me, "I want to stay angry for a while. Don't you see that?" But when someone sins against us we must forgive and forget their sin just like God forgives and forgets our sin.
Topic: Forgiveness
Subtopic: Examples of Human
Index: 1316
Date: 2/2001.101
Title: Hatfields & McCoys
The most vivid example I can use here is the Hatfield-McCoy feud in the mountains of Kentucky and West Virginia. It began with a disagreement over wild hogs. The years that followed were filled with blood, fear, death, and sorrow. Years of open shooting, ambush killing, threats, and house burnings made every minute a question mark for every Hatfield and McCoy.
The feud ended when Devil Anse Hatfield and his six sons were baptized in Main Island Creek. The conversion of the rugged old clansman caused such a stir in the mountain community that hundreds, including McCoys, gathered on the river banks that autumn day. Old Hatfield and his six sons stood together in the water. "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow," the minister promised. "Amen!" shouted the seven men. Then all those gathered -- Hatfields, McCoys, and their neighbors -- sang "Amazing Grace."
The twelve years of hatred and death ended when the Lord's grace became real in their lives. The Hatfields and McCoys forgave each only because the Lord's forgiveness became real in their lives, only because they were assured that the Lord would never hold against them any of their sins. And, if God's grace is real in our lives then we also will forgive.
V The Goal of Forgiveness
A What is the goal of forgiveness? What is God's purpose in forgiving us our sins? The immediate goal is "the righteousness of Christ" and being "free ... forever from judgment."
The first goal of Christ's work of atonement is our righteousness and uprightness. Through His sacrificial death, Christ's righteousness becomes ours so that it is
as if I had never sinned nor been a sinner,
as if I had been as perfectly obedient
as Christ was obedient for me.
(Q & A 60)
When God looks at us, because of Christ He doesn't see "any of my sins nor my sinful nature." Rather, all that He sees is the "perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ" (Q & A 60). Yes, we are still sinners. No, we are not perfect in any way. Christ does all the work, His is the righteousness, His was the sacrificial death, but we get to share in the credit.
B The second goal of forgiveness is freedom – freedom from judgment. Christ's blood is the guarantee that we shall never come into condemnation. "Therefore," says the apostle, "there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (Rom 8:1). We are free at last and free forever.
Whether people realize it or not, sin enslaves – it turns us into slaves of Satan. And, only forgiveness can set us free.
Topic: Sin
Subtopic: Bondage of
Index: 3352
Date: 2/1999.3
Title: Remember the Duck
A little boy visiting his grandparents was given his first slingshot. He practiced in the woods, but he could never hit his target.
As he came back to Grandma's back yard, he spied her pet duck. On an impulse he took aim and let fly. Of course, the stone hit and the duck fell dead.
The boy panicked. Desperately he hid the dead duck in the woodpile, only to look up and see his sister watching. Sally had seen it all, but she said nothing.
After lunch that day, Grandma said, "Sally, let's wash the dishes." But Sally said, "Johnny told me he wanted to help in the kitchen today. Didn't you, Johnny?" And she whispered to him. "Remember the duck!" So Johnny did the dishes.
Later Grandpa asked if the children wanted to go fishing. Grandma said, "I'm sorry, but I need Sally to help make supper." Sally smiled and said, "That's all taken care of. Johnny wants to do it." Again she whispered, "Remember the duck." Johnny stayed while Sally went fishing.
After several days of Johnny doing both his chores and Sally's, finally he couldn't stand it. He confessed to grandma that he'd killed the duck.
"I know, Johnny," she said, giving him a hug. "I was standing at the window and saw the whole thing. Because I love you, I forgave you. But I wondered how long you would let Sally make a slave of you."
Sin enslaves and forgiveness frees. Because of Christ's atoning sacrifice, I am set free forever from judgment.
Conclusion
With the church of all ages, what do you and I believe? We believe "the forgiveness of sins."
It is not enough to merely believe this. I must also seek this forgiveness and accept it with a repentant and believing heart. I am reminded of what Paul says. "I tell you," says Paul, "now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation" (2 Cor 6:2). In other words, when Christ comes again, it is too late. Therefore, we must seek forgiveness now.