Can God Really Forgive This?

 

Can God Really Forgive This? 

 1 COR. 6:9-11; 1 JOHN 1:9

SUBJECT: FORGIVENESS/ SALVATION

THEME: God can forgive anyone and everyone who will receive His forgiveness. No individual and certainly no sin is beyond His realm of divine pardon. God is no longer angered over your sin or merely offended by your actions, flaws, mistakes, and sin. He offers forgiveness! 

RELEVANCY: God wants you to experience complete forgiveness today! You may be grieving about some sin you have committed recently or even years ago, let me reassure you that God is still in the forgiving business. Your unforgiving attitude may be stifling your ability to love and to receive love. It stunts the growth of marriages and friendships also. It is keeping you from enjoying the full abundant life that Christ promised. I can say without any reservations that God wants you to experience complete forgiveness! That is forgiveness of your sins and a full establishment of your relationship to the Lord God, forgiveness of others who have wronged you, and even the forgiveness of yourself.

INTRODUCTION:

1) Have You Ever Ask Yourself,

   a. Have I committed a sin that God will not forgive?

   b. Can I ever be free of the weight of this guilt?

       c. Will God forgive every sin?

2)  God wants You to Experience Complete Forgiveness, but have You Heard your own Objections?

“Forgive me? How could God ever forgive me? You don't know what I've done.”

“Forgive that person after what she did to me? You've got to be kidding!”

“I can't believe I've done such an awful thing. I can never forgive myself for doing that.”

3) Christians Have Not Right to Question a Person’s Motives Based on What They Use to Be Before They Were saved!

“Why do you let people like that person join your church?”

“Why is it that the worse folk in town are welcome at your church?”

“Why do you accept people who lead questionable lives?”

These are some of the questions you may here from well-meaning Christians who refuse to understand that any sinner, no matter what their sin or failures can be saved, and their lives can be change by the grace and power of God. 

MESSAGE:

I.  Any Sin Can Be Forgiven by God!  1 Cor. 6:9-11

The apostle Paul dealt with an instance of sexual immorality in the Corinthian church. It was a case of incest in which a man had taken his father's wife. Although the woman was not his mother, the law of God condemns the act as a vile abomination. Against that backdrop, Paul wrote,

1 Cor. 6:9-11, Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators (Any Sexual Perversions), nor idolaters (Worship anything or anybody else; involves practicing terrible sins of immorality), nor adulterers (Illicit sexual intercourse on the part of a married person), nor effeminate (Homosexuals), nor abusers of themselves with mankind (Sodomy practices on others), [10] Nor thieves (Stealing non belongings including internet downloads and tax evasion), nor covetous (Immoral Cravings & Wrongful Acquisitions), nor drunkards (Alcoholism), nor revilers (Cussing), nor extortioners (Stealing/enrichment—taking Advantage of the Poor), shall inherit the kingdom of God. [11] And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. 

Characteristically the unsaved, “unrighteous” will not go to Heaven at death; people who practice these things are not believers. This passage holds three great messages for us. (based on Dr. W. McDonald) 

A.  GOD DOES NOT DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN SINS.  

First, 1Cor. 6:9-11, tells us that sin is sin. God doesn't differentiate between one type or brand of sin and another. Most of us wouldn't think of “revilers” (slanderers) as being in the same sin boat as “idolaters” and “thieves”. But God doesn't have categories of sin.

1. Sin is still sin with God.

It is a gross mistake to view mortal sins as grave offenses that sever our friendship with God and, consequently, cause a loss of sanctifying grace. Or to view anyone dying in a state of mortal sin as suffering eternal separation from God in Hell due this violation. It is also wrong to categorize venial sins as lesser offenses that injure but do not destroy a person’s relationship with God. Both ideas are misconceptions and errors to avoid in our perception of sin.

Later in this chapter, Paul made a distinction between the sin of sexual immorality and other sins, teaching the Corinthians to “Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.” (1 Cor. 6:18). But this is a differentiation of sin according to the temporal effects/impacts of certain sinful behaviors, not the very nature of sin itself.

2. The Unpardonable Sin relates to Christ’s Miracles Wrought by the Spirit!

Truthfully, the singular unforgivable sin is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit by whose power Jesus worked miracles (Matt. 12:22-37). Such blasphemy as attributing the works of the Holy Spirit to the devil involves incredible hardness of heart and determination against the evidence for the miraculous works of Jesus Christ. Such dismissals of the supernatural power of Christ were not forgivable because it expressed a resolute and final rejection of Jesus. It is the true nature of a person’s words that divulges the real condition of their heart whether good or bad.

Those who committed this sin were hardened and unrelenting in their opposition to our Lord Jesus. They had no apprehensions about insulting the Spirit of God and no hesitancy in plotting the death of the Son. They showed zero regret, shame, or repentance. (based on Holman KJV Study Bible)

B.  EVERY HUMAN BEING IS A SINNER. (1Cor. 6:9-11)

    1.  Second, it Tells Us That Sin Is a Lifestyle, a Mind-set, a State of Being.

Paul was not describing one specific act or behavior as condemning; rather, he was stating that sin had been the identity of the Corinthians in the past. Sin had been their all-consuming character. For example, he didn't say, “Some of you have taken things that weren't yours.” Paul called them former thieves—people who had stolen as a way of life. He didn't say, “Some of you had too many drinks on occasion.” He said some in the Corinthian church were drunkards. (Dr. C. Stanley)

    2.  Every Man Has Sinned Against God.

Eccles. 7:20, For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.

Now before you start thinking, Well, I haven't been any of the things on Paul's list, let me quickly advise you that this is not a definitive list. Paul wasn't trying to list all types of sinners. Rather, he was giving examples of the sinful state to point out the same truth that he shared with the Romans: “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). Every person, before receiving a new identity in Christ Jesus, has had the identity of a sinner.

        a.  Some People Look Back over Their Lives and Conclude, “I've never done anything very bad. I'm a pretty good person and always have been.” And sometimes they conclude, “What is there that God needs to forgive?”

        b.  We All Are Sinners by Our Nature.  They have missed the entire point about sin and forgiveness. They have been taught a wrong perspective on life and on themselves. This is the perspective that the Romans apparently had, for Paul spent much of the book of Romans teaching that we are born with a sin nature. (Rom. 3:10, 23; 5:12; 6:23)

Sin isn't merely something you do. Rather, sinful is something you are from birth.

C.  BUT GOD CAN FORGIVE ALL TYPES OF SIN. 

1Cor. 6:11, And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

Third, this passage tells us that all types of sin can be forgiven. Paul said, “And such were some of you” (v. 11). Paul reminded them that they were no longer who they were, but they had been washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God. Praise God! The Corinthians—as sorry a group of sinners that ever came together to be a church—found a new life, a new identity in Christ Jesus! (Dr. C. Stanley)

Note the words that Paul used:

  1. They Were Washed.  1Cor. 6:11

Paul spoke of a cleansing of the spirit. So did the psalmist when he said, “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow” (Ps. 51:7). 

“Washed” (Tit. 3:5) by the Holy Spirit from their sin and impurity through the precious blood of Christ, and they were being continually washed from defilement through the word of God. (Based on Dr. W. McDonald) 

1 John 1:7, But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

  2.  They Were Sanctified.  1Cor. 6:11

Hebrews 13:12 Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.

They were “sanctified” in the Lord Jesus (1 Cor. 1:2) by the operation of the Spirit of God, being set apart to God from the world. (Based on Dr. W. McDonald)

     a.  Something That Is Sanctified Is Dedicated to God, Set Apart for Holy Uses. In Old Testament times, blood from sacrificed animals was applied to certain vessels in the tabernacle or temple to make them holy for God's use. Hebrews 13:12 states, “Wherefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered.”

     b.  When God Forgives Us, He Sets Us Aside —apart from the world of unredeemed, unregenerated, unforgiven humankind—and considers us to be wholly and solely for His purposes and fellowship.

  3. They Were Justified.  1Cor. 6:11

Romans 3:24, Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:

They had been “justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God;” that is, they had been reckoned righteous before God the Father based on the work of the Lord Jesus on the cross for them (Rom. 8:33). (Based on Dr. W. McDonald)

     a.  In the Natural, When We Justify Something We Line it up —for example, we justify the margins on a page or we justify our legal arguments against the law of the land. When we are justified in our actions, we are vindicated.

      b.  In Forgiveness, God Lines Us up Against the Truth of What Jesus Did on the Cross, and God vindicates us and declares us to be as righteous and just because we are lined up with Jesus. We aren't righteous in ourselves, but the shed blood of the Lord Jesus justifies us before God.

   4.  Nothing Is Beyond God's Forgiveness.  No sin is too great, too awful, or too prolific for God to forgive. No person is so deep in sin, so ingrained in a lifestyle, so steeped in evil, that he or she cannot be saved. Any sin can be forgiven by God.

 CONCLUSION: 

Paul outlines in Romans 10:9-10, writing, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10, For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” 

We cannot simply believe anything about Jesus or be forgiven for any reason, we must believe that the Son of God, died for our sins, was buried, and God raise Him up again the third day for our justification before The Father (1 Cor. 15:1-4 and Rom 3:21-31). It is vital that we understand that it is faith in Jesus Christ and His Gospel that is the power of God that saves us...that grants us forgiveness (Rom. 1:14-17). This is how we all experience God’s spiritual birth.

So then, what must we do to experience God's forgiveness? Accordingly confess your sin and accept God’s forgiveness by faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Beloved, God can forgive anyone and everyone who will receive His forgiveness. No one and certainly no sin is beyond His realm of divine pardon. God is no longer angered over your sin or finally offended by your actions, flaws, mistakes, and sin. He offers forgiveness!  

Remember, Christ’s suffering at Calvary was God the Father providing payment for our sins. That’s what Calvary was about—justice was served, and sin was paid for entirely. Since then, sinners can be saved—born again to enter a spiritual relationship with God. Being born again means we become a part of a new family; God is our Father who shares with us His very own divine nature. Beloved, we must exercise faith in the Person and Work of Christ to experience the spiritual birth.