CURRENT SERIES
The Forgiveness of God
Jan. 21, 2018
LifeWay Moments
LifeNotes
“The people that I have found that are the most successful in the Kingdom of God are the ones who understand they have been forgiven.”
— Pastor Danny
• Once you understand the forgiveness of God, you will walk in a different light for the rest of your Christian life.
• Eleven men laid down their lives for the Gospel. They didn’t become martyrs because of something they thought they might believe; they became martyrs because they knew it for a fact.
But there is a great difference between Adam’s sin and God’s gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus Christ.
• You are no longer a sinner; you are a saint because of that one Man’s gracious gift.
• A person can be born in this world, never commit a sin, and still go to hell unless they receive forgiveness from Jesus.
On that day offerings of purification will be made for you, and you will be purified in the Lord’s presence from all your sins.
• Before the cross, a high priest went into the Holy of Holies once a year to offer sacrifices to atone for sins of the people.
For the life of the body is in its blood. I have given you the blood on the altar to purify you, making you right with the Lord. It is the blood, given in exchange for a life, that makes purification possible.
• Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission for sin. Because of His blood sacrifice we are forgiven. It has nothing to do with anything we did.
For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.
• In the New Testament, the blood of Jesus was shed for all who would receive it. We were born with a sin problem; the only solution is a Savior.
• There is not a person who ever took a breath that doesn’t need salvation. There is only one way to obtain salvation, and it is through the blood of Jesus.
• There is something wrong with anything that substitutes the blood of Jesus as your only way to forgiveness. Your good works will mess you up if you look to them for your answer.
• We have to know where our forgiveness comes from and that no one can talk us out of it.
• Today, the enemy of your salvation is preached as “tolerance”. There is nothing in the Bible about tolerance. There is a lot about love. We tell people the truth because we love them.
• You will never give an account for someone else’s salvation. You will give an account for your own.
• Satan tripped Adam & Eve up with doubts and questions. The enemy will try to get us sidetracked from the oneness of Christ.
• We can’t let what happened to somebody else dictate our doctrine or theology.
• We don’t tell people why healing or deliverance did not work for them.
“How hard is it to understand everything that happens to you? Where do we ever get off thinking we can understand what happens to somebody else?
— Pastor Danny
• But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. — Romans 5:8 NLT
• God loved us while we were still a sinner. Jesus died for us while we were still a sinner. If we have accepted Him and asked Him to be the Lord and Savior of our life, why would we ever doubt if He loves us?
• Doubts that we are not loved and forgiven come from the enemy, not God.
• If we are ever reminded of a past sin, it is the enemy, not God, as long as you are forgiven. The enemy is trying to discourage you and keep you from receiving what God has already done for you.
• Past tense gospel — everything we need has already been done.
• God never leaves us; we simply need to acknowledge His presence in our life.
• The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves. The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship. — Hebrews 10:1 nlt
• In the Old Testament, the atonement would, in effect, paint over the sins of the people, but the sins would always come back, and the guilt and condemnation would always come back. That is not the way it is with Christ.
If they could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped, for the worshipers would have been purified once for all time, and their feelings of guilt would have disappeared. But instead, those sacrifices actually reminded them of their sins year after year. For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
• The old law, through sacrifices, reminded people of their sins, and actually made them want to sin more. This is what legalism does.
That is why, when Christ came into the world, he said to God, “You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings. But you have given me a body to offer. You were not pleased with burnt offerings or other offerings for sin. Then I said, ‘Look, I have come to do your will, O God — as is written about me in the Scriptures.’”
• Anytime you try to substitute what Jesus did us, it becomes another sacrifice. There is no other sacrifice. There is only one way to forgiveness and that is Jesus.
• You can never disciple a person in the things of God until they have received God.
First, Christ said, “You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings or burnt offerings or other offerings for sin, nor were you pleased with them” (though they are required by the law of Moses). Then he said, “Look, I have come to do your will.” He cancels the first covenant in order to put the second into effect. For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time.
• Jesus entered into the Holy of Holies one time for the perfection of all people. You can’t add to that. He doesn’t need to do anything again.
Under the old covenant, the priest stands and ministers before the altar day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins. But our High Priest offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then he sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand. There he waits until his enemies are humbled and made a footstool under his feet. For by that one offering he forever made perfect those who are being made holy.
• Anytime it is Jesus plus anything else, it is not the Gospel. Jesus alone is all we need.
• Every other religion is about something other than the Savior. Christianity relies only on Jesus. It is not about our works, it is about accepting what He did for us.
• God will not override our will. He wants us to want Him. He wants to be in relationship with us.
And the Holy Spirit also testifies that this is so. For he says, “This is the new covenant I will make with my people on that day, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.” Then he says, “I will never again remember their sins and lawless deeds.” And when sins have been forgiven, there is no need to offer any more sacrifices.
“Can you remind someone of something you didn’t know? How can God remind you of your sins He said He would remember no more? Who’s reminding you? Yourself and the enemy. Forgive yourself and tell the enemy where to go.”
— Pastor Danny
And so, dear brothers and sisters,we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, 22 let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.
• If your conscience is condemning you, know for a fact that it is not God. What is the difference between condemnation and conviction? Conviction will convince you that you need to change but it will always show you the change. Condemnation will beat you up.
• God only gives you grace for your gift. We don’t have grace to walk in someone’s else’s gift.
Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.
• Hold tight and do not waver on the Gospel and God’s forgiveness.
• Think of ways to motivate one another to love and good works. Try to encourage and have meaningful conversation; it motivates people.
Life lesson
We have a blood covenant with God through the sacrifice of Jesus and it’s confirmed by the Word and the Holy Spirit. Now that’s forgiveness!