The other day we talked about being bold in regards to the preaching of God’s word. When you are bold you are confident and courageous. If you are confident you have a strong belief or you are full of assurance that something is going to happen. If you are courageous it means to do something without fear or being frightened. These are all examples of how we need to come to Jesus Christ to get forgiven. We need to come to him boldly, with confidence knowing that He is going to forgive us. We can approach Him without being afraid.
God’s desire for us is to be reconciled to Him through His precious Son who died for our sins. God the Father wants us to go to Jesus, because in Him you will find all the grace you will ever need.
Hebrews 4:16 “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”
Many people today, even some Christians, have a misconception about God. The reason why is they don’t see Him rightly in their own minds and hearts. Everything that we want or ever need to know about God is seen in the person of Jesus Christ. The reason why I say this is because He is exactly like the heavenly Father.
Although you and I are both sinners and we were born into this world through flesh, Jesus was born into this world by the Holy Spirit. He is fully God and He is perfect even though we may come short of that at times. The life that Jesus lived on the Earth was the life of perfection towards the heavenly Father. That became the greatest sacrifice that God could ever have. All that we could ever do in this life would never amount to the perfection found in His only begotten Son.
The scriptures teach that God is love. 1 John 4:16 “And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.”
The scriptures teach us that He careth for us. 1 Peter 5:7 “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.”
They teach us that he wants us to come home to him. They teach us that there is forgiveness available through Christ Jesus. 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
They teach us that we can have complete remission for our sins and wash them away during holy communion. 1 John 1:7 “…and the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanseth us from all sin.”
So, occasionally if we need to get forgiven for our sins, God wants us to come boldly to Him for forgiveness. Remember that Peter asked the Lord Jesus, if my brother sin against me how many times should I forgive him, and Jesus taught him “490 times”! Because the Lord Jesus taught that to Peter, imagine how forgiving He is with us.
In our human nature we may make mistakes along the way. When it happens, come boldly to the throne of grace. Sometime in our life you made do something that we wish we hadn’t done; when that happens come boldly to the throne of grace.
God is waiting and ready to forgive us. Psalm 86:5 “For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.”
Here is some of the parable of the prodigal son.
11 And he said, A certain man had two sons:
12 And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living.
13 And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.
14 And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want.
15 And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.
16 And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him.
17 And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!
18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee,
19 And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.
20 And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.
21 And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.
22 But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:
23 And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry:
24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.
We learn in the parable of the prodigal son that when he returned home, the dad received him with open arms. He completely forgave him of everything. They even had a celebration upon his return.
We learn in that parable that if we return to God the Father as a sinner, He’s going to forgive us through Christ. Although this parable describes an earthly relationship, Jesus uses it to describe a heavenly relationship between sinners and God. If we come boldly to Him, He will forgive us. He forgets our past. He blots out our sins and iniquities and remembers them no more.
The apostle Paul taught and felt that he was the chief of sinners, that he had sinned more than anybody else, but yet God used him as an apostle in the church. Why does God choose these kinds of men to do his work? I think it’s because they recognize how forgiving God is. They see in their own lives how much God has forgiven them. They take that forgiveness that they’ve been given and they show it to others.
Paul referred to himself as a wretched man. Romans 7:24-25 “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.”
The word wretched means “desperately wicked”.
So what do we learn here from this verse today? It’s that God saves wretched, wicked sinners from the error of their way when they come boldly to the throne of grace. Some of us have sinned more and some have sinned less. But God gives to each of us the grace that we need to cover our sins.
Ephesians 4:7 “But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.”
The apostle John teaches that, if we simply confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
God makes it very easy for us to be forgiven. Trust in Jesus. Admit your mistakes, learn from them and move on. God wants to free us from our sinful past. Do you want to erase your past? Do you want to get forgiven for your sins?
It’s a burden that Christ wants to bear for you. I’ve always told others that knowing Christ is like having a room in your house that is filled with grace and forgiveness and gifts from God. All you need to do is go through that door into that room. Jesus Christ is that door. Come get forgiven and do it today because today is the day of salvation!
With love, Eric
Teufer Lake King James Bible Church 