If you were to specifically say to Jesus Christ, “I want a change in me, God. I don’t want to be the same. I want to be different,” what would He do?
#2. He will eliminate your guilt.
Notice the second thing Jesus says to this paralyzed man in Luke 5:20, “Then Jesus said, ‘Friend, your sins are forgiven.” Time out! He didn’t come asking for forgiveness. He came for healing and Jesus looks at him and says, “Your sins are forgiven.” What’s going on?
This man was more interested in his external problems which is typical of human behavior. We always care more about the problems going on around us and the problems in our bodies than we do the problems in our souls. Jesus looks beneath the surface issue, He looks beneath the symptoms and He deals with the real issue. He looks beneath the effect and He deals with the cause. When Jesus works in your life, He always works on your heart first. He looks at this man and He saw that he was physically paralyzed but He knew that he had a hidden wound in his heart and he was emotionally paralyzed too.
This man was paralyzed by his past like many of you are. You can’t get on with the future because you’re stuck in the past either by guilt over things you’ve done to other people or resentment over things they’ve done to you. You’re stuck in the past and you can’t get on with the present and you’re certainly not going to move on into the future. So Jesus comes and deals with the real issue here. And He says “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”
Most of the world is dying to hear three words – You are forgiven. Everybody needs to hear these three words – you are forgiven. Why? Because we’ve all blown it. We’ve all messed up. We’ve all made mistakes. None of us is perfect. So we all need forgiveness.
Guilt is an incredibly paralyzing emotion. Probably the worst one of all. It paralyzes you. It robs you of your energy, your strength, your joy. It destroys relationships. No telling how many marriages have been destroyed by guilt or guilt manipulation.
And it harms your body. Our bodies weren’t meant to carry a load of guilt. Studies have shown that fifty percent of the people in hospital beds right now are there because of a stress related illness primarily for unresolved guilt or anger. I'm not saying that all sufferings is the cause of guilt. It is not. But a lot of it is.
You say, “Should a follower of Jesus Christ ever feel guilty?” Yes… for about ten seconds. That’s how long it takes to recognize you blew it, that you have sin in your life, confess it to God, admit it and say, “God, I want to change.” God doesn’t want you carrying around a load of guilt all the time. Some people actually think that the more guilt you carry, the more spiritual you are. No, you’re just more miserable. Jesus Christ came to relieve your guilt, to ease your fears and to eliminate your guilt. That’s what the cross is all about.
Here’s the truth. All of us have blown it. We’re all imperfect. I don't measure up to my own standards much less God’s. We all need to know how Jesus Christ forgives. And the Bible is very clear about that.
1. Jesus forgives me instantly.
In Isaiah 55:7- “God is merciful and quick to forgive.” [Notice “quick”] God’s quick to forgive. It doesn’t say, “I want you to suffer a little while.” That’s the way I like to forgive but that’s not the way God forgives. If someone hurts me I don’t want to instantly tell them it’s ok. They’re forgiven. I want them to suffer, I want them to feel it, I want them to grovel a little bit. But Jesus never makes us wait. He never delays. He never says, “I’ll think about it.” The moment you ask for forgiveness, it’s instant. What a deal!
2. Jesus forgives you completely
Completely. That means every sin in your life. Notice this verse in Colossians 2 “He has forgiven all your sins [circle “all”], He has utterly wiped out the evidence [circle ”wiped out”] of broken commandments which always hung over our heads and He has completely annulled [circle “annulled”] it by nailing it to the cross.” Jesus Christ was nailed to the cross and your sins were nailed to the cross with Him so you can stop nailing yourself to the cross. It’s forgiven. And it’s instant and it’s complete.
3. He forgives us freely.
In other words, you’ll never be able to earn it. You’ll never be able to deserve it. God’s forgiveness is a gift.
Notice this verse in Romans 3 “God says He will accept us and acquit us and declare us not guilty if we trust Jesus Christ to take away our sin no matter who we are or what we’ve been like.” I love that in the Living Bible – the last phrase – “no matter who we are or what we’ve been like.” That includes all of us. It’s free.
Did you notice when Jesus looked at this guy He said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.” Jesus called him a friend. I don't care what you’ve done in your life Jesus Christ wants to be your friend. He wants to have a relationship with you because that’s what you were put on earth for. You were made to have a relationship with God. If you miss that, you miss the purpose of your life. The purpose of your life is not to make a lot of money, retire and die and that’s it. The purpose of your life is to have a relationship with Jesus Christ. God wants a relationship with you. He wants to be your friend. And He wants you to be His friend no matter what you’ve done.
Jesus Christ looks at this man who’s physically paralyzed and He sees a deeper wound. He’s got an emotional paralysis too. It’s guilt. Jesus didn’t minimize the guilt – “It’s no big deal,” because it is a big deal when you sin. He didn’t minimize it. He eliminated it. He wiped it out. Remember Etch-A-Sketch – you do it, shake it upside down and it’s gone. It’s like starting over. This is the etch-a-sketch verse of the Bible.
Why don't you thank God today for this great gift - the gift of forgiveness. BTW, is there anybody in your life you need to forgive? You can not flourish with an unforgiving spirit.
No comments:
Post a Comment