Believe You Are Forgiven!

Believe You Are Forgiven!

John 8:34-36 “Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, every one who commits sin is a slave to sin.  The slave does not continue in the house for ever; the son continues for ever.  So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.”

The reason I thought this would be a good one to talk about today is because we are still in the Easter season.  We just celebrated Jesus dying on a cross for our sins and then rising again.  We are all pretty excited right now because we know that Jesus rose from the dead.  We know that He did not just die on a cross that day and that was the end of the story.  He rose again.  He came back and ministered to His people and then when He went to sit at His Father’s right hand, He sent us the Holy Spirit to be with us and to help us.  I have talked about the power of the Holy Spirit a few times last week.  Today I want to talk to you about Jesus dying on a cross for our sins and what that really means.  We know that Jesus died on a cross so that our sins would be forgiven.  We all understand this when we are celebrating Easter.  We understand this enough to explain it to others.  I feel as though we all get in on some level.  Yet, I feel as though we have a hard time remembering it when it comes to thinking about our own sin.  

It seems to me this happens a lot with the things we read in the Bible or the things we know to be true.  We know them, we believe them, and yet somehow we struggle to apply them to our lives.  We think we are somehow exempt from them.  As if Jesus died on the cross to forgive others sins, but not our sins.  If He knew how bad our sins were, surely He would have changed His mind.  Do you ever think like this?  Maybe you have never consciously thought these things.  However, do you ever have a hard time forgiving yourself?  Do you ever go to confession, confess your sins, and then keep holding on to them?  If you do, you would not be alone.  I think this is a common struggle.  We hand our sins over to God to take care of, and yet we still hold onto them also.  What this verse above is saying is that if the Son makes you free, which He did by dying on a cross, then you will be free indeed.

The way I heard it explained once is that when we are holding onto our sins we are thinking we know better than God.  Jesus told the disciples in John 20:23 “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”  Jesus is telling the disciples that they have the power to forgive sin and yet, we go to confession, we confess our sins and then we still hold onto them, we still let them have power over us.  Why is this?  I don’t think we are intentionally thinking that we are smarter than God.  I don’t think we think are intentionally trying to offend God.  We just struggle to believe that our sins are forgiven that easily.  What I don’t think we realize in the moments after confession is that it wasn’t easy.  God sent His only son to walk among us so that He could be sacrificed for our sins.  That could not have been easy.  What Jesus went through on the cross was not easy.  It seems a little too easy when we go to confession and then come out 5 min later and our sins are forgiven.  However, that is not why our sins are forgiven.  Our sins are forgiven because God sent His only Son to die on a cross and because Jesus said yes to God’s will instead of His own.  

I know it can be hard to believe that your sins are forgiven.  I know it can be hard to let those sins go.  We feel as though they deserve some sort of punishment.  We feel as though we need to do more to make up for them.  I get it.  I think we have all been there at one point or another.  We all have feelings of unworthiness.  We all feel at times like Jesus died for most sins, but surely He didn’t know I was going to do this.  Jesus knew.  God knew.  That is the reason He sent His son.  Those sins that you don’t think Jesus knew about, He did.  Do you remember in Luke 22:44, it says, “In his anguish he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down on the ground.”  I imagine this is when Jesus was thinking of all of those sins.  All those sins that we worry won’t be forgiven.  Jesus knew about them before you even did them.  Jesus went into this sacrifice with open eyes.  He was fully God.  He knew all that we would do and He still chose to die for us.  So, why are we still holding onto our sins?  Why aren’t we accepting this sacrifice?  Why aren’t we accepting this gift from our Heavenly Father?  

This verse says, ““Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, every one who commits sin is a slave to sin.  The slave does not continue in the house for ever; the son continues for ever.  So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.”  Lets all decide, right here and now that we will not be a slave to sin any longer.  Lets decide to accept the freedom that Jesus is offering us.  The freedom He gave up so much for, the freedom he endured so much suffering to win for us.  Let us not turn away from that freedom.  Let us not refuse to accept the freedom that He is so freely giving us.  “If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.”

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, help us to release all the guilt from our sins.  Help us to accept that Jesus died for our sins, yes our sins.  Help us to not hold onto them.  Lord, please heal whatever needs to be healed so we can accept this gift you have given us.  Help us to be free and no longer be a slave to our sin.  Give us the strength we need to rise above our sin and feel the forgiveness that you are offering.  We love you Lord, we are so grateful that you send your only son down to die for our sins.  You are truly amazing and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus holy name, Amen.

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk Boldly With Jesus.  I look forward to spending time with you tomorrow.  Have a blessed day!

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