Luke: 00:07

Heavenly father, Lord, I ask that you would be working through the proclamation of your truth and your word this morning. That is pastor Cameron delivers the things that you have laid on his heart. I pray that your hope would be empowering his words, that you would make us open receptors, that you would open our hearts and our ears, and that pastor Cameron would be listening to your holy spirit, that he would be driven by you and your word and not himself. Lord, we ask that you would have your way on us today. In Jesus name, we pray.

Luke: 00:49

Amen.

Cameron: 00:51

Amen. Good morning, conduit. How are you this morning? Good morning. Good.

Cameron: 00:58

I'm grateful to be back in the pulpit after a 3 week break. Thank you for pastor Luke for preaching a great series on Elijah over the last 3 weeks or so. But, here we are starting a new series on the topic of forgiveness. We're gonna jump kinda right in because we got a lot to cover. And we'll this will span over a couple of weeks, almost a month long.

Cameron: 01:22

Forgiveness, the topic of forgiveness, the practice of forgiveness really is a test. We believe that forgiveness is a test can be a test of how sincerely we believe the gospel. What we believe about forgiveness, how earnestly we pursue forgiveness, what forgiveness does into our relationships really does it it both reflects, and it reveals how earnestly we believe the truth of the gospel. Over the next, couple of weeks, we're gonna be hitting on a couple different broad topics and answering some questions, looking, of course, every week at some really particular scriptures having to do with forgiveness, both God's forgiveness of us as well as our forgiveness in relationship with others. Understanding that forgiveness really has 2 different axes.

Cameron: 02:31

Right? That's the word for that. Right? Planes. All you math people out there.

Cameron: 02:35

My mathing math right? Right? It's 2 different axes. It has a vertical axis, right, our relationship with God. Right?

Cameron: 02:43

And it has a horizontal axis, our relationship with others. And forgiveness is a part of both of those. Here's some of the things that we'll be talking about. This first point is primarily what we're gonna be talking about, today. It's this, is that we will be we will be incapable of true forgiveness if we have not grasped the gravity of God's forgiveness of us.

Cameron: 03:12

And in order to grasp God's forgiveness, we must grasp the gravity of our own sin. Meaning that it will be impossible for us to pursue life giving, freedom altering, forgiveness in our human relationships if we haven't first understood the forgiveness that is offered to us in Jesus Christ. And we can't understand the forgiveness that's offered to us in Jesus Christ if we haven't even first come to some holy spirit conviction and awareness of the sin that lives in us. And what is what our lives have become and the the place of our heart, and how God calls us in response to confession and repentance. And so we're gonna be talking a lot about this as it becomes and is the ground or the foundation upon which all other forgiveness is built.

Cameron: 04:16

We cannot understand forgiveness in a worldly or relational sense, in a horizontal sense with one another if we do not first understand it here. Number 2, primarily, what we'll be talking about next week is that is this, forgiven people, forgive people. You know, the inverse of that the the other side of that coin is that phrase that you might have used before or you might, have, you might at least understand what it means when someone says, you know, hurt people hurt people. When you have when you have, held hurt in your heart and in your life, when you have been hurt significantly, when you have not, when you have not dealt with that hurt, when you have not processed that hurt, when you have not surrendered that hurt, and you've just shoved it down into your life for a long long long time, eventually the pressure of that hurt becomes too much, and the bottle proverbially explodes, and you end up that hurt spills out on the people next to you. Right?

Cameron: 05:22

And because you are hurt, and because you've never dealt with that hurt, you end up hurting other people. What is the same with forgiveness? People who have been forgiven of much forgive much. And what god is doing in our hearts via his forgiveness is is creating an identity in us that makes us eager to forgive as he is eager to forgive. Forgiven people forgive people.

Cameron: 05:59

Talk about that next week probably. Number 3, forgiveness is a choice that everyone can and should make. We're gonna talk a lot about the difference between forgiveness as a choice that we make and forgiveness as a feeling. I feel like forgiving that person said no one ever. Right?

Cameron: 06:34

When I have been hurt, the last thing that I am feeling is forgiving feelings towards the other person. And so if we are going to be forgiving people, our forgiveness needs to come from somewhere other than our feelings. It needs to come from our identity. It needs to come from who god has made us to be in Jesus Christ as forgiven people. And that allows us to move away from our, like, oh, I don't feel like forgiving, so I don't have to forgive or I can't forgive to a place where like, you know what?

Cameron: 07:15

I am choosing to forgive because that is what I do as a forgiven person. Okay. 4th is the danger of unforgiveness. We'll talk about this here in a few weeks. Unforgiveness will burrow a hole right through the center of your soul.

Cameron: 07:40

Unforgiveness has a fantastic way of cultivating the soil in your life where bitterness and anger and rage and hate and malice and pride all take root and produce fruit. And so in order to avoid the fruit of bitterness, anger, rage, malice, pride, we pursue forgiveness because we understand the extraordinary, the extraordinary danger that cultivating unforgiveness does into our hearts. Now we're gonna be talking, obviously, it's a whole it's a whole sermon series on forgiveness. And so it makes sense to just at the very least answer the question, well, what is the work what is our working definition of forgiveness? And while I'm not gonna we're not gonna completely extrapolate that today, I will give you kind of what we're gonna be talking about how we understand forgiveness moving forward because just for posterity sake.

Cameron: 08:46

Forgiveness is the decision to release someone from the debt or obligation that resulted when they hurt or injured me. You said this to me. You did this to me. You you did that thing. You took that action.

Cameron: 09:08

I am offended. I am hurt. I have been injured. Therefore, because you have done all of those things, the relationship is broken or, there's there's tension between us or you owe me x, y, and z. You owe me the apology.

Cameron: 09:28

You owe me the explanation. You have to make it up for me to me. You have to make it right. It is forgiveness is the decision to say, yes, you have hurt me. Yes, you have said these things.

Cameron: 09:43

Yes, you have caused injury in my life. I am releasing you from the debt that that created. I am releasing you from the obligation that I am now holding you to to make it right in my life. Someone else has made it right in my life. I forgive you.

Cameron: 10:04

And while that has a lot of complexity to it, I didn't wanna and we will talk about that complexity going forward. I wanted to make sure that we got that definition out at the beginning so that there wasn't any confusion about what we were talking about as we talk about forgiveness going forward. Because this is the same definition in a very and maybe a very clinical way. I think of it. This is the same definition of God's forgiveness of us.

Cameron: 10:29

Our sin has created a debt. It has created a a a debt. It has it has it has become our sin is an offense to God's holiness and glory. We have broken from our purpose that our creator has given to us. We have turned to our own ways into our own devices, and it has created we it has created a gap.

Cameron: 10:52

It has created a debt. But in god's forgiveness, the debt has we have been released from that debt. You no longer owe that. Jesus tells a fantastic parable in Matthew chapter 18, which we're gonna study next week on called the un the parable of the unmerciful servant. It's all about this releasing of debt, this releasing of obligation, and how that applies to forgiveness.

Cameron: 11:22

So that's kind of the the backbone of the series. Today, we're gonna be talking about God's forgiveness. God's forgiveness of us. The foundation upon which our forgiveness of others sits. Brothers and sisters, listen.

Cameron: 11:42

We need god's forgiveness. We need the forgiveness of God because we are lost, drowning, overwhelmed, broken, hard hearted without the forgiveness of God in our lives. Our hearts, they are desperately wicked. And we have no way to make atonement for our sins under our own power, under our own mechanisms, in our own way. This puts us in grave danger.

Cameron: 12:37

If we are desperately wicked, and sinful, and broken, and we have also no way to atone for our sins on our own, then it puts us in the place of needing to like, we have no other choice. We must trust in someone else to atone for our sins for us. We cannot do it on our own. Of course, this is the microcosm. This is the a short version of the telling of the whole gospel.

Cameron: 13:15

Is it not? That we are we we have sinned. We have broken the heart and the covenant and the law of God. We are unable to make atonement for that sin on our own. Someone must make atonement for it for us.

Cameron: 13:31

Enter Jesus, who has come to seek and save those who are lost, who has come to live and die and rise again, that those who would believe in him might not perish, but have everlasting life. The reality and the base of forgiveness is the proclamation of the gospel. We need God's forgiveness through Jesus Christ because we are unable to deal with the problem of sin on our own. It is beyond our control. It is beyond it is beyond our fixing.

Cameron: 14:14

It is it is beyond anything that we have the power to do. We also need God's forgiveness simply as a practical matter of our personal relationships with others. Live in close and listen, Like, there are no intimate there are no long lasting relationships without forgiveness. Friendships, relationships with family, with a spouse, with a child, with a parent, with a co there are no long lasting relationships without forgiveness. Forgiveness you you will forgiveness will be a necessity of any relationship that you want to maintain over the long term.

Cameron: 15:25

So as a practical matter, listen, we will be unable. You will be unable to pursue freedom giving forgiveness in your life if you attempt to do so outside of the reality of God's forgiveness to you. Worldly forgiveness can only exist on shifting sin. Meaning, you you have probably had, I'm willing to bet, a relationship in your life, where you where someone who does not follow Jesus has maybe not experienced the forgiveness of God in Jesus Christ thank you, babe. Where someone you're in relationship with them, they don't follow Jesus, they have no foundation of God's forgiveness of them, and there's a break in a relationship.

Cameron: 16:22

Maybe it's a friend. Maybe it's a coworker. Maybe it's someone in your family even. And, and and you try to make reconciliation or repair to that relationship. And you're doing it from the place of God's forgiveness.

Cameron: 16:37

God has forgiven me. Like, I wanna work towards forgiveness and reconciliation with you. And so maybe you extend forgiveness. Maybe you ask for forgiveness, and they reciprocate. Yeah.

Cameron: 16:48

I forgive you. Until they don't. Right? Until because their forgiveness is not grounded in the gospel, but is grounded in their feelings and their emotions. That as soon as their feelings and emotions switch or as soon as something that you do or say or whatever reminds them of what happened between you, the thing that you were forgiven for now is back on the table and being held against you.

Cameron: 17:22

K? And so and anyone ever been in a had a situation like that? Not many of you? Okay. We're all just in relationship with forgiven people.

Cameron: 17:34

I get it. Right? Y'all is lying. Let's try that again. Anyone have a situation like that where you've dealt with someone?

Cameron: 17:44

Okay. Okay. Good. We're here we are. We're honest in church this morning.

Cameron: 17:48

It's a good thing. Okay? And so but but but the reality, you know, the reality is this is it's it's imperative for us that if we want to have relationships where forgiveness is extended and then freedom is realized in the relationship, then we must ensure that the basis for our reconciliation with others is the forgiveness that god has first extended to us. Because if we don't if we don't operate off of the foundation of God has forgiven me and God has forgiven me in certain ways and with certain conditions and with no strings attached, then there's no way whatsoever that we could walk into a relationship with worldly standards and expect that that forgive that reconciliation will be there. If we're gonna break free from the chains of unforgiveness in our lives and the bitterness and the anger and the brokenness that it has caused, we must understand the depth of what God has forgiven in us.

Cameron: 18:58

For us to forgive others, we must recognize that we have been forgiven. Now in a few minutes, we're gonna we're gonna look at a small portion of scripture in first John chapter 1. We're not gonna get there yet, but we'll say really quick here, one little caveat or nuance to this. You know, John says in his epistle, he starts out by saying that if we believe that we are without sin, we lie and the truth is not in us. The unfortunate reality is that there are times in our lives where we may encounter people who do honestly and earnestly do not believe that they are in need of the forgiveness of God because they are basically good people.

Cameron: 19:59

I do more good than bad. I don't really think that I need all of that because, like, God actually knows. He sees the tally of good, and he sees the tally of bad, and the tally of good is much longer than the tally of bad. And so I don't really feel like I'm really even in need of forgiveness. That feels like forgiveness is something that, like, the bad people need.

Cameron: 20:26

Right? The, like, the super sinful people. There are moments like these and listen. In all gentleness and respect, you may that may be where you stand or sit this morning. You may stand in a place of being like, you know, I don't really know about this whole forgiveness thing that feels like it's a thing that just the bad people need.

Cameron: 20:46

I'm actually pretty good. My life is good. I treat people with kindness and respect. I try to do more good than bad. Like, I don't really no.

Cameron: 20:54

I'm not really jiving with this like a I need god's forgiveness type of thing. Okay. It will probably fall on deaf ears then on your deaf ears to hear me say something like, actually, you are sinful and you do need god's forgiveness. And I don't say that as a like a a judgmental statement at all or a value judgment at all. I'm just saying that's that's likely likely the reality.

Cameron: 21:27

There that that reality exists in our lives and we will interact with people in who we might be at break in relationship with and we're trying to reconcile and make amends to that relationship. And we recognize that there is zero concept whatsoever of their own sinfulness or complicity in the brokenness of the relationship. And so now that we're stuck in a place of being like, what do we do? And it's been my experience that say that just looking them in the eyes and saying things like, well, you have to realize that you're sinful is very, very rarely works. Very rarely.

Cameron: 22:19

But what we must do, what we can do and what we must do is to ask the Holy Spirit of God in prayer to fulfill His ministry in their life, to shine a light on the reality of their sin and guilt, and bring conviction into their hearts in relationship to the their own awareness of their sin an awareness of their own sin. This is a foundational part of the ministry that the holy spirit, that the a ministry of the holy spirit that Jesus talked about. In John chapter 16, right before Jesus ascended, he told his disciples, he's like, I'm gonna send the comforter, the counselor, the holy spirit to you and he will do this. First, John 16 verse 8. When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment.

Cameron: 23:21

Then it is the actual it is the role and place in ministry of the Holy of the Holy Spirit of God themselves to reveal and bring to conviction the guilt of sin in a person's life in regards to righteousness and regards to judgment. It is his it is what he does. It is it is if you've ever have you as a follower of Jesus Christ, have you ever been like, oh, I shouldn't have done that. I shouldn't have said that. I feel deep sorrow.

Cameron: 24:03

Something inside of me feels like a like there's a I have a burden now for that thing that I have done. I gotta go to that person and ask for forgiveness. Why do we feel that as followers of Jesus? We feel that as followers of Jesus because when we believe when we when we surrender our lives to Jesus, repent of our sins, are baptized into the name of Jesus, Acts chapter 2 verse 38 says that we receive the Holy Spirit at that time. The presence of the Holy Spirit within us now goes to act active work at all times in all places to convict us in moments of sin, to bring to bring guilt over sin.

Cameron: 24:52

And guilt leads to confession and repentance. I feel guilt. I feel sorrow. And because of this guilt and because of this sorrow, the ministry of the Holy Spirit works in me to pursue forgiveness and reconciliation in that relationship. Right?

Cameron: 25:12

It is the work of the Holy Spirit in us that brings us to repentance. So we need God's forgiveness. Both because we are unable to atone for our sins on our own. And because without the forgiveness of God, we have no foundational base upon which to pursue forgiveness and reconciliation in the relationships around us. It's impossible.

Cameron: 25:42

It's all then built on the the worldly foundation of shifting sand, which gets washed away with the experiences and circumstances of life. Understand this. Forgiveness always always always starts with God. Forgiveness is the possession of the Lord. So much so that it cannot be separated from his identity and character.

Cameron: 26:13

Forgiveness is not just something that God does. It's not just something that God feels. God doesn't do forgiving things. God doesn't have forgiving feelings. Right?

Cameron: 26:27

No. God is forgiving. He is a forgiving God. It is the it is essential to his character and his nature. You cannot separate forgiveness as just something that he does because forgiveness is who he is.

Cameron: 26:47

This is a really difficult thing for us to begin to wrap our mind around. Right? But I wanna go through this little small exercise here for just a moment. Way to trust me. And if you would, just close your eyes for a minute so you can, at least through your eyes, shut out the distractions of the room.

Cameron: 27:06

And I want you to imagine yourself in an empty room. No windows, no doors, just an empty room. For me, every time I imagine this, I'm in a room that has white walls, white ceiling, white floor, white everything. It's nice and bright. It's not harsh.

Cameron: 27:26

It's warm and welcoming, but it's empty. Except I'm standing in front of god. He's not saying anything at all, but his eyes are fixed on me. His eyes are fixed on you. His eyes his gaze is it's not piercing.

Cameron: 27:57

It's examining. He is able to see in this moment. And you can feel it through his eyes. He's able to see all of the things that you have become excellent at hiding from one another. You get this understanding that the things that you're ashamed of, the things that you are embarrassed by, the things that make you feel worthless, the sin that is so deeply entrenched in your life, the thing that you have never told anyone or that you don't talk about, he sees it all.

Cameron: 28:47

Now I want you to imagine also in this moment that he is preparing to speak to you, to talk about what he sees. Now don't manufacture anything, but just out of your natural instinctual response of how you envision this interaction with god, what are some of the things that he says to you about what he sees? What does he say? What is his response in light of the vulnerability that is before him? How does he make you feel?

Cameron: 29:45

Open your eyes. Now, I don't know about you. Everyone's experience is, everyone's experience is obviously different. But when I go through exercises like that, and I get to the point of where god where I ask the question like, well, how do I feel? And what is god saying to me?

Cameron: 30:03

And like, how like, what is it like, what are the things that he is saying? There is a there is a kind of a voice that creeps into that moment. And in that moment, right, what I hear is I hear sometimes, I I tend to hear a voice of condemnation. Just track with me for a minute. Okay?

Cameron: 30:35

Hear a voice of condemnation. Hear a voice of disappointment. Hear a voice of, like, well, why are you doing that? And why are you like that? And what's the matter with you?

Cameron: 30:49

And if I sit with it long enough, I can recognize that it's not actually the voice of god at all. Right? Well, it's the voice of the enemy reminding me of all of the times or all of the people in my life, right, who held very important positions in my life, who were supposed to be people who spoke life and encouragement and and, like, spoke life into me. But but instead, they saw me for what I did and who I was, and they were very harsh with me. And they spoke, they they they spoke unkind words, of their disappointment, and they spoke out of their anger, and they spoke, they spoke out of their judgment, and they spoke out of their condemnation.

Cameron: 31:38

Why would you do that? Why are you like that? You're such a disappointment. What like, well, just stay they get away from us. Like, you just hear and hear and hear and hear the voice of people who maybe were meant to love and protect you, but out of their own hurt spoke words of pain and discouragement and condemnation.

Cameron: 32:08

What often happens, okay, what often happens is that when we imagine God's posture towards us, when we imagine God speaking to us, when we imagine the things that he would say to us about us, right, we think that God is a lot like the people in our lives who had places of or positions of authority, family members, you know, other other people like that. We think that we think that God God is a lot like us. And so because I hear all of these things from the people in my life, that's probably how God is too. God's a lot like you. He speaks.

Cameron: 33:08

And if you're not careful and we're not we don't do the work intentionally long enough to understand that, you know, like, no. Like, actually, the the enemy of our souls is using the brokenness of other people to try and convince us that god is exactly like us, and we're exactly like god, And that God has feelings about you and thinks things about you, and they're all bad just like all the people that you hoped would speak love and trust and encouragement into your life spoke. Because we often act out of our feelings, because we often act out of our emotions, we believe that God does too. Because hurtful things have been said to us because we've said hurtful things. We believe that God acts out of his feelings.

Cameron: 34:12

And we get twisted about what the feelings of god are towards us. But listen. God is not like us at all. Hallelujah. God is not like your mom.

Cameron: 34:32

God is not like your dad. God is not like that teacher. God is not like your spouse. God is not like that hurtful friend or neighbor. God is not like that.

Cameron: 34:47

God does not operate out of his feelings. And God does not operate out of his brokenness because there is no brokenness there. God operates out of the center of his character and identity. His very nature, who he is. That is how God is in relationship to us.

Cameron: 35:06

And so when we go back into that room with the knowledge focusing on, like, oh, no. Hey. God operates to us not on our not off of feelings like we are like we relate to one another. God relates to us out of the nature of his character and identity. Then we begin to hear things that come in a much different voice.

Cameron: 35:28

They come from a place of love and gentleness and kindness. They come from a place of forgiveness. They come from a place of encouragement. They literally breathe the breath of God that breathes life into our dry and weary bones. So, the question is, what is God's nature and identity when it comes to forgiveness?

Cameron: 35:53

If god operates out of his nature and out of his identity and not out of his feelings like human beings do, what is the nature and character of god? Number 1. God is not a reluctant forgiver. Where we are often reluctant to forgive because we have been hurt, because we have been injured, God is quick to forgive. We like to hold on to our hurt.

Cameron: 36:28

We like to hold on to unforgiveness because we believe in some way that holding on to it helps us to have some sort of control over the moments where we've been hurt. I'm not gonna let go of that hurt. I'm gonna hold on to it. Because holding on to it allows me now to feel in control of a situation that I was not in control of, and that was imposed upon me. And so now, I'm not letting go of this situation because I hold it now, And I'm not dropping it.

Cameron: 37:07

And if we were to forgive, it would mean that we that we would have to forget in some way. And we we have to forget that that thing happened. We would have to lose the sense of identity that was created in us in that moment of our hurt. And that person may I may never experience the justice that I think I deserve and that they deserve if I choose to let go and forgive. And so what we do is we take that moment of hurt.

Cameron: 37:37

We take those words. We take that person and we put them in our little hurt jar. Right? And we bottle it up and we put it in our pocket. And every so often, we take it out and we revisit that moment as a matter of control over the pain that we feel in our hearts.

Cameron: 37:54

Now, we control it. We we get to think about it when we wanna think about it. We get to think about how we wanna think about it. We get say about it, what we wanna say about it. We have no responsibility whatsoever to actually deal with it.

Cameron: 38:07

We just possess it and carry it around with us, thinking that it does no damage to us whatsoever. See, but god is not like this. God is not reluctant to forgive like we are reluctant to forgive. God is not forgiveness is not just something that he does. It's a part of his very identity.

Cameron: 38:35

It's what makes him who he is. Nehemiah says this in 9, chapter 9 verse 17 of the book of Nehemiah. He says, you are a forgiving god, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, and abounding in love. Not you think forgiving thoughts. You say forgiving words.

Cameron: 38:57

You take forgiving actions. No. If you are you are a forgiving God. It is who you are. The prophet Micah says something similar about the nature of God.

Cameron: 39:11

In Micah chapter 7 verses 18 and 19, he says, who is a God like you who pardons and forgives the transgressions of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever, but you delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us. You will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea. Listen.

Cameron: 39:43

God did not have to forgive us. It was a choice that he made birth out of the center of his love and grace. And not only that, god went to great lengths to forgive us. He went to great lengths to forgive us. The apostle Paul says in 2 separate places, 1st in Ephesians chapter 1 verse 7, that it is in him, Jesus Christ.

Cameron: 40:15

In him, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins in accordance with the riches of God's grace. Later in Colossians chapter 2, he says this. He says, when you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all of our sins, having canceled the written code with its regulations that was against us and that stood opposed to us. He took it away nailing it to the cross.

Cameron: 40:53

Forgiveness is offered to us because of the sacrifice made by Jesus on the cross. We could not earn forgiveness, so Jesus bought it for us at the cost of his blood. All that stood in opposition against us due our sin, was taken to the cross by Jesus and left there. Because of what was done by Jesus on the cross, we can go from being dead in our sin to being alive with Jesus. Listen.

Cameron: 41:28

Forgiveness is not free. Forgiveness costs something. It cost God a great deal. It cost him the life of his son. And we should also understand that forgiveness will cost us something.

Cameron: 41:51

It costs us something to experience the forgiveness of God. It costs us our sin. It costs Jesus his life. It costs us our sin. We must be willing to leave behind our sin.

Cameron: 42:15

So God is eager to grant us forgiveness through the blood of Jesus Christ. But listen, this this is key. But we must respond to the eager offer of forgiveness with confession and repentance of our sin. Confessing our sin and leaving behind our sin is the our cost to forgiveness. It is what is required of us to experience the forgiveness of God.

Cameron: 42:47

Listen so closely here. Okay? Listen closely. This is a this is a very I don't want to say delicate theological point, but it's a very thin line that often gets really confused. And I want you to hear it clearly.

Cameron: 43:05

Forgiveness is universally available, but is not universally applied. Forgiveness is universally available. It is available to everyone. But it is not universally applied. Just everyone just gets forgiven.

Cameron: 43:29

Everyone just gets forgiven. No cost to you. No requirement to you. No response to the offer of forgiveness. It's common but theologically incorrect to say that God forgives everyone.

Cameron: 43:45

It's a common statement. God forgives everyone. God forgives everyone is a form of universalism that strikes at the very heart of the gospel. Scripture actually tells a different story where there is a condition to our forgiveness. It says that confession of our sin and repentance of our sin are the steps that apply the offer of forgiveness to our lives.

Cameron: 44:20

Scripture says it this way. 2 examples. 1st John chapter 1 verses 8 and 10. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

Cameron: 44:45

If we claim we have not sinned, then we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives. Peter, in one of the first sermons after the ascension of Jesus, Acts chapter 2 verse 38 says this, repent. He says this, repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The you the the the unequivocal message of the scripture is that forgiveness is universally available to all.

Cameron: 45:21

Paul says this in Galatians chapter 3 verse 28. Right? No Jew, nor Greek, nor Scythian, nor free, nor slave, nor free, nor man or woman, all are 1 in Christ Jesus. The offer of forgiveness is universally available to everyone who would come to receive it by confession and repentance of their sins through faith in Jesus Christ. It is universally available.

Cameron: 45:43

It is limitedly applied to those who would receive it through confession and repentance. Listen. God is eager to forgive, but we must respond by confessing and repenting of our sin. Finally, god's forgiveness is final. God does not revisit our sins upon us.

Cameron: 46:12

When we have confessed our sin and repented of our sin and received the forgiveness of God through the blood of Jesus Christ, it is as if our sin was no longer in existence. It no longer exists. The word of God says that in Isaiah chapter 43 verse 25, God says, I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake and remembers your sin no more. In Psalm chapter 103 verse 12, he says, so far as the east is from the west, how far is that? There is no place where they meet.

Cameron: 46:56

Right? As far as the east is from the west, so far does the Lord remove our transgressions from us. Book of Hebrews, which we're studying here on Wednesday evenings. The writer of Hebrews quotes the psalmist when he says, for I will forgive their wickedness, and I will remember their sins no more. See, this is a function.

Cameron: 47:23

The the forgetfulness of God in regards to our sin upon forgiveness is a function of the finality of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. Because if our sins were revisited upon us after they had been forgiven through the cross of Jesus Christ, It would be as if the sacrifice of Jesus was not sufficient to fully atone from them in the first place. And so God now has to revisit it and say, hey. I wanna remind you of this thing. Right?

Cameron: 48:02

But not only will he not do that, but he can't do that because in Jesus Christ, it is what? Finished. The sin is forgiven. It is as if it has no longer existed. I will separate you from your transgressions as far as the east is from the west.

Cameron: 48:24

I will have no memory of it. It is not as if, this like, listen. God has a better memory than you and I do. He makes the choice to say, I count it no more. The debt has been paid.

Cameron: 48:41

The obligation erased. It is gone. The reality is when the forgiveness of God is applied to our lives, it doesn't just change our relationships with people now. It changes our relationship with God in a way where he now takes our identity, and he transforms it from sinner to saved. From forsaken to forgiven.

Cameron: 49:33

So now our identity is as if our sins are no more. It is now who we are. It is what we've become. It is how we live. I'm not so I walk I I now walk around perpetual forgiveness of sins for all those who have harmed me.

Cameron: 50:08

You have hurt me. I understand. Like, that hurt has caused damage. God has forgiven me of much. It create it has created a break.

Cameron: 50:16

I forgive you because God has forgiven me of much. I am a forgiven person. I am a forgiven person. I am a forgiven person. It has changed who I am, not just what I do.

Cameron: 50:33

I don't just feel forgiving thoughts. In fact, I very rarely feel like forgiving those who have hurt me. No long I don't just feel like forgiving people, forgive what I feel is beside the point. I am a forgiven person, and a forgiven person forgives others. My identity has been changed.

Cameron: 50:53

My feelings have not. I now operate out of a place of who I have been created and transformed to be. No longer who I feel like I want to be because of the brokenness of life. I have been forgiven. I am a forgiven person.

Cameron: 51:14

God's forgiveness is a reality in our lives. Whether or not we feel it, it is a reality that it creates a new identity. What does this what could this possibly mean for us going forward? Well, glad you asked. Because many of us are waiting to be forgiving people until we feel like we're able to forgive.

Cameron: 51:44

You know, one of these days, I'm gonna feel like forgiving that person for the hurt that they have caused in my life. And when I feel like forgiving them, I'm gonna I'm gonna do it. Now news flash for you. The feeling ain't coming. It's not coming.

Cameron: 52:08

It never has. Right? In any of your other relationships or any of your other situations, you've never felt like forgiving someone who has hurt and harmed you. You've had to make a choice. Because the reality is is that we must forgive people before we feel like it because that is who god has made us to be, forgiven people who forgive people.

Cameron: 52:40

If you want to experience freedom in your life, if you want to break free from the chains of bitterness, anger, hurt, offense, you must make the choice to live from a place of your identity as a forgiven person rather than feelings. We do not operate in a godly way from our feelings. We only operate in a godly way from our identity. They're connected. I want you to see this little graphic here.

Cameron: 53:13

Right? At the bottom of the triangle, the foundation is our identity. Right? When we have a when the ident when our identity as a forgiven person is at the foundation of our lives, then we take certain actions. Our identity informs the actions that we take.

Cameron: 53:35

We are a forgiven person, and so we do forgiving things. Once we do forgiving things, we feel forgiving thoughts. We feel we feel forgiving feelings. We operate from the place of who we are, not how we feel. Now what often happens in the spiritual life as a whole, not just with forgiveness, is this triangle gets turned on its head.

Cameron: 54:10

And we we wait to act until we feel like acting. And it never comes, and so we never act. And so we never live into the identity that God has given to us. We continually walk in a state of being a spiritual orphan because we have no rooted identity in who God has called us and created us to be. Because the only thing that we wanna do is live off of how we're feeling in the moment.

Cameron: 54:52

But when you live from a place of your identity, it allows you to do things that create in you feelings that are complicit with that identity. And what you will begin to realize is that as a forgiven person, when you begin to extend true forgiveness to others, your heart will change towards them. After the action of forgiveness has been extended, but not before. This is not gonna be all of the topics that we're gonna talk about here in the next few weeks, but I wanna give you at least a brief summary of some of them because I know there's always questions about, like, well, what about this? What about that?

Cameron: 55:35

What about this? Are we gonna talk about that? We're gonna talk about this. We're gonna end with this. Okay?

Cameron: 55:41

Some of the things that we're gonna be talking about over the next few weeks. What is the relationship between forgiveness and reconciliation? Can I forgive a person? If I forgive a person, does it necessitate that I reconcile the relationship back to its original form or status? Or are or can I forgive a person and then create boundaries?

Cameron: 56:09

Right? Of physical safety, mental safety, emotional safety, spiritual safety. Does forgiveness equal the return to the beginning? What is the relationship between forgiveness and reconciliation? Do I have to forgive them if they don't apologize?

Cameron: 56:33

This is where we're gonna talk about and Jesus gives 2 examples, Right? Of forgiveness that's that's extended when there is no apology and forgiveness that's extended when there is apology and repentance. He talks about in the gospel. And so do I have to forgive if they don't apologize? This is where we're gonna get into the dynamics of the difference between the the conversation of forgiveness that we have with the Lord and the conversation of forgiveness that we have with the person.

Cameron: 57:04

K? 2 separate conversations in concert and relationship with one another. That math thing. Right? K.

Cameron: 57:14

There's a rationalization for unforgiveness. Well, if I forgive them, they will just do it again. Yeah. Yep. Yeah.

Cameron: 57:24

And you know what? If you don't forgive them, they're still gonna do it again. And so instead of just holding 1 hurt, then you're gonna hold 2 and 3 and 4 and 5 and 6 and 7 and 8 and 9 and 10. Right? Not setting down the boulder they placed in your arm because you're worried they're gonna place another boulder in your arm is a really bad rationalization for not forgiving.

Cameron: 57:48

It's actually a really good argument to forgive, and to forgive quickly, and to forgive often, and to forgive as immediately as you can. Because the likelihood of being sinned against again is super high. Because we're sinful people. And we hurt one another. And forgiveness is the way to freedom.

Cameron: 58:12

What has been done to me hold on. Go back. What has been done to me is too big of a thing to forgive. Listen. I wanna be super, super clear and gentle and sensitive to understand.

Cameron: 58:31

Want you to hear from me. I understand that some of the things that have been done to us are extraordinarily painful, horrific, heinous, wrong, illegal, unjust, painful. We're not minimizing forgiveness is not the minimization of the pain and the hurt of what has been done to you. It is not to say that it doesn't matter. It's not what forgiveness is.

Cameron: 59:15

It is not to say that it's not as bad as you think. It is not to say that it's not a part important part of your story. But the bible scripture and Jesus himself is not unclear on even big things still being a part of the conversation of forgiveness. And and and in a way of speaking, the bigger the thing, the greater the necessity of forgiveness. Last one.

Cameron: 59:49

Last question that we'll deal with in the series. How do I forgive if I can't forget? Can't forget it. How can I forgive it? What what the word of god is gonna communicate to us is that we you can't forget because you won't forgive.

Cameron: 01:00:15

It's not how do I forgive if I can't forget. It's actually the opposite. Is it's impossible to forget, and by forget, we mean move move through and move on, when we have not dealt with it in forgiveness. Pray with me as we, close this morning. Heavenly father, lord, I ask that you would help us to align our feelings with your identity.

Cameron: 01:01:05

Our with our true identity. That we would put off the temptation to operate under our own feeling. And, lord, instead that we would embrace the identity that has been given to us through the forgiveness of Jesus Christ, the forgiveness of our sins. In Jesus' name, amen. Lord, we surrender to you.

Cameron: 01:01:35

Yes. Ask you, Lord, that you would have your way in our lives creating and transforming us, Lord, into a person, into a people whose identity is as having been forgiven. Lord, because we have been forgiven, we will forgive. Lord, help to align our feelings with who you have created us to be. Lord, help us to help to bring us into alignment, father, with your identity as a forgiving god that we might be a forgiving people.

Cameron: 01:02:14

In Jesus name. Amen. Conduit, you are loved. Be blessed. Have a great week.

Cameron: 01:02:22

We will see you next time.