Forgiveness?

We are going to be traveling all over the Bible this morning. So, again, this isn't what I normally do, but today is a survey class, if you will, and so you're going to be traveling through your Bible, so get your fingers ready, and we will see what God has to say. Before we look into His Word, let's pray. Father, we are here because of Your grace. we are here because even though we did not deserve it you drew us to yourself out of free and amazing grace you drew us and opened our eyes so that we could see the beauty and the majesty the glory of Jesus and we embraced Him in faith and found from You forgiveness for all our sins.

Help us now to gain an understanding of such grace as much as is humanly possible that we may praise You, that we may love You, that we may serve You. We thank You in Jesus' name. Amen. Jesus refuses to be tamed. And we have to resist the urge to tame Him. He arrives with news of the Kingdom of God, a Kingdom where everything is turned upside down.

Where the slave is the greatest in the eyes of God. Where we no longer hate, but love our enemies. where we rejoice not when things are going well, but when we suffer for obeying Jesus. It's a kingdom where God offers free forgiveness. The dead of guilt wiped clean. Wiped clean not because of any efforts on our part. A clean slate on the basis of a broken heart that seeks refuge in Jesus and His sacrifice no more charges on our record no matter how deep and vile the sin If that were not radical enough the Lord Jesus commands us to offer the same kind of forgiveness to one another.

And that sort of requirement we want to tame. I think we need to understand such radical grace. We need to explore it. We need to seek to understand it. And this morning I propose that we take a survey of forgiveness. I want us to understand what exactly Jesus requires of us when we forgive one another.

Now I propose to seek to understand this by understanding three facets of forgiveness. The first is that we need to understand what it means when God forgives us. The second, we need to understand what it means when God commands us to forgive one another. And finally, I think we need to answer a nagging question. How should we understand the relationship between forgiveness and the consequences of our sin?

Those are three areas I want to explore with you today. And as I warned you, we're going to be going through a lot of Scripture because we want to build, if you will, a very pastoral theology of forgiveness that's drawn from the Word of God. Not drawn from the world around us, not drawn from our feelings, not drawn from what we want or don't want, but drawn from the Scripture.

And so I'm going to ask you to pay careful attention to the passages as we look at them. Well, let's look at the first issue. Understand the grace of God in forgiving you. Understand the grace of God in forgiving you. God forgives you. Our God has always been a gracious God who forgives.

This morning's Old Testament reading was Psalm 130. A marvelous, marvelous psalm from the Old Testament about the nature of God's forgiveness. Part of it said this, out of the depths I cry to You, O Lord. O Lord, hear my voice. Let Your ears be attentive to my cry to the voice of my pleas for mercy If you O Lord should mark iniquities O Lord who could stand But with you there is forgiveness that you may be feared.

O Israel, hope in the Lord, for with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with Him is plentiful redemption. and He will redeem Israel from all His iniquities. Marvelous psalm about the forgiveness of God. The prophet Micah in Micah chapter 7 made this declaration. Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of His inheritance?

He does not retain His anger forever because He delights in steadfast love. Isn't that marvelous? I love that part. He delights in steadfast love. He will again have compassion on us. He will tread our iniquities underfoot.

You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. Have you ever lost something over the side of the boat? Do you ever hope to see that again? That's the point, isn't it? You will show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old. God forgives.

God forgives because of His steadfast love. Because of His unchanging love for His people. But God is also a God of justice. He cannot merely overlook sin as if nothing happened. He cannot do that. He must remain consistent to His righteousness and holiness. here's something we need to understand.

God does not possess righteousness and holiness like you and I. God does not possess it. God is righteousness. God is holiness. That's Him. That's who He is.

It's the very person of God. And for Him to overlook any sin would be to deny His being. Listen, if God would overlook one sin, He would cease to exist. Can you think that thought It not like oh well I wasn righteous He is righteous And to Him to act unrighteously is to act against His very being And He cannot do that. That is impossible for God. So then how can He forgive?

How can He, as the prophet Micah put it, pass over our transgressions if He can't just overlook it? Here's the reason. God forgives you freely in Jesus. and that's the key. Forgiveness only happens because of Jesus. God can forgive and remain just only because of Jesus. Again, consider Ephesians 1, verses 7 and 8.

Ephesians 1, 7 and 8. Write these things down so you remember them and look at them later. In Him, that is in Christ, in Christ, we have redemption through His blood. the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of His grace which He lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight. Notice, in Christ. In Jesus is where you find that forgiveness.

You must be in Him in order to be forgiven. You must be united to Him. You must be in Christ in order to enjoy the fruit of forgiveness. How is that achieved? In Jesus. And you've heard me use this passage, Colossians 2, verses 13 and 14.

Many, many, many, many times. It's one of my absolute favorite passages on forgiveness. I always go there. I always wonder at this. Here's what it says. And you who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses by canceling the record of debt. that stood against us with its legal demands, this He set aside, nailing it to the cross.

Do you see what it says? Your sin accumulates a debt. You must pay. Never forget that. Every sin you commit accumulates on your record. Your record of debt.

There's more to pay every day. I remember being in Romania and while I was there I listened to Greg preach got on the internet and listened to him and I remember him saying this I want to tell you where this illustration comes from, and I can't take credit for it. Greg said, if I had a penny for every sin that I committed, all the banks in the world could not hold what I owe God for my sin.

This passage tells us that that record of indebtedness that stood against us, God nailed it to the cross so that it no longer can accuse us. He took it away by nailing it to the cross with Jesus. Jesus took the record of our indebtedness and He assumed the debt so that God can forgive you and still remain just. And He forgives you. Notice what that passage says.

All your trespasses. Every one of them. And so by faith in Jesus, uniting you to Him brings the forgiveness of all your sins. the cancellation of the obligation. Here's the last point we need to understand about God's forgiveness. God forgives you freely in Jesus with a promise. What exactly is forgiveness?

What exactly is forgiveness? Is it a feeling? Is it a sense of we're okay with one another? What is it? Maybe it's forgetting. You've all heard that, right?

I'll forgive, but I'll never forget. You've heard that? You've said it maybe. What is forgiveness? Well, again, I want you to look at Psalm 130. Look there again, and I want you to notice something that's very, very key.

In verses 3 and 4. In verses 3 and 4, here's what God says. If you, O Lord, note, if you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? but with you there is forgiveness that you may be feared. See what he says? Notice that first line and notice the third line. If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities.

What's the opposite of that? Fourth line or third line. But with you there is forgiveness. The opposite. What is forgiveness? It's not marking your iniquities.

You see? it not keeping the tally He doesn mark them Look at Jeremiah 31 Jeremiah 31 verse 34 Here is the new covenant that God promised to His people ages ago The covenant under which we now live. Jeremiah 31, verse 34. Notice again the parallelism, the explaining of forgiveness. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know Me.

From the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. Now note, for I will what? I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more. There it is. What is forgiveness? Not remembering your sin.

Now notice what you find. First of all, forgiveness is a promise. God promises. It's not a feeling. It's not some sense of okayness. Forgiveness is a promise that God makes.

It's a promise that He makes. And it is a promise in Jeremiah 31 to not remember. Now, God cannot forget anything. God hasn't forgotten any of your sins. He's omniscient. For Him to forget something, He's no longer omniscient.

That's His being He sees to exist. Right? Can you think that thought? God can't forget anything. But that's not what it says. It says He chooses to not remember.

He chooses to not remember. That is, He chooses not to call it to mind to use against you. He will not remember it to you. That is, He will not bring it up, your sin, ever to use against you. My friends, I don't know about you, that's marvelous, marvelous, gracious, this unbelievably freeing words to me. The fact that God will never use any of my sins against me ever.

He will not bring them up. He has chosen to not remember them. In 3 John, that little tiny epistle in the New Testament, right before Jude. 3 John 9-10. It's interesting, the Apostle John writes this, I have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority. So if I come, I will bring up what He is doing, talking wicked nonsense against us.

Now it interesting I will bring up That word in some older English translations and the word in Greek means it says this literally I will remember what He is doing What's John saying there? He says when I arrive, I'm going to bring it up to Him. I'm going to remember. And God chooses in forgiveness not to forget, but to not remember. That is, He says to you, I will not bring your transgressions up ever to use against you.

Man, that's good news. Some of you here have never come to Jesus. Why? Why? You're stacking an obligation that will take eternity in hell to pay. And God says in Jesus, I will choose never to use your sin against you ever.

I will not ever bring it up to use against you. In the day of judgment, your record won't be there. No record. in Psalm 130 it says to not forgive is to mark iniquities that means the file is not going to show up at the trial it's not going to mark it forgiveness is not forgetting forgiveness is not a feeling it's a promise to not bring up your transgressions to use against you choosing to not remember this is the radical grace of God he freely makes the promise on account of what Jesus did.

It's a forgiveness that cost Him His Son, but cost you nothing. Nothing. He freely gives, and we freely receive that forgiveness. But that radical grace does not stop with God forgiving us. It doesn't stop there. God expects us to express the same radical grace toward one another.

He expects us to be as radical with one another as He is with us. So you need to understand the command of God to forgive one another. Two passages come to mind. One is Ephesians 4, verse 32. If you want to look it up, or at least mark it down. Ephesians 4, verse 32.

Be kind to one another. Tenderhearted. Note, forgiving one another as God forgave you in Christ Ephesians chapter 2 I sorry that Ephesians chapter 4 verse 32 And then two books later in Colossians chapter 3 verses 12 and 13 as the Apostle Paul turns his attention to our relationships with one another says, Put on then as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness and patience, bearing with one another.

And if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other. As the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. As the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive one another. Here you find the same radical grace that's required of us. Because God's forgiveness must be the model of our forgiveness. God's model God's forgiveness is the model that we must follow it's clear it's absolutely clear from the scriptures that that is the case well what happens when a brother who comes to you and repents of his transgression against you what does God require if God's the model what does he require a broken and contrite heart.

That's it. No penance. No making it up somehow. No, no, I'm not going to forgive you unless you. None of that. A broken and contrite heart is all that God requires.

You cannot require anything more. Jesus Himself said, and listen, I don't say these things flippantly, okay, because these have to be true of me as well. I don't say these things flippantly. What am I going to do though? Here's Jesus. What does He say?

He says, if your brother sins, rebuke him. And if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in a day and says, I repent, what? If he sins against you seven times in a day and repents, what do you do? Forgive him. Oh, we want to tame that, don't we?

We want to domesticate that. We want to say, yeah, he means that except for. Don't we? Jesus refuses to be tamed, folks. This is one of the things that has just gripped my heart in the years of ministry. As I read what Jesus says, I find us all the time saying, yeah, yeah, I see that, except for when this happens, right?

No, Jesus is as radical as He sounds. That is how radical He is. And by the way, if your brother sins against you seven times in a day, forgive him. Let me ask you, isn't that what God does for you? You say, no, no, I only get to five times a sin against God in a day. Really?

I think five times is plenty. Whatever the case is, do you find that God forgives you? that's our model what should you do in response like God you must make the promise to not remember now this is a key I think this is what's helped me immensely in my Christian life and in my ministry as a shepherd what does it mean to promise ok if forgiveness is a promise when my brother comes to me and says I repent will you forgive me my response is not to say it's ok is it ok Is it? What He did to you, is that okay?

No, that's the wrong answer. The right answer is yes, I will forgive you. And when I utter those words, I am saying in essence, I now make a promise to you. I'm making a promise to you right now. And that promise is this, that I will choose to not remember your sin. That is, I will choose not to bring that sin up to use against you. with you.

I promise I won't bring it up to use against you with anyone else. And I promise, thirdly, that I will not bring that sin up to me. I will not brood over this sin. I will not continue to think about this sin. I will choose to not remember this sin even to me. I make that three-fold promise when I offer forgiveness.

But we want to tame Jesus and we want to say, you're not serious about that. Really? Is that what you mean, Jesus? You mean if my brother does this and this and this, I must forgive him and not require anything from him but a contrite heart and repentance? I don't know what to tell you. Jesus says, yeah, that's what I mean.

That's what I mean. How can we do that? Friends, there's only one way you can do that. Only one way. And that is you look at Jesus and you look at the cross and you recite these words in your mind. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 15.

And He died for all that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and was raised again I don't live for me anymore. I live for Jesus. I live for Him. And then, of course, I need to remember Matthew 18. That marvelous parable we heard this morning in the New Testament reading. That parable should send a dagger to your heart.

Isn't it? You know what Jesus essentially says in that parable? It doesn't matter what anybody has done to you. It does not matter what anyone has done to you. Remember this, what you've done against God is so much worse. It is so much worse, and that King, that Master, has forgiven you a greater debt.

You can forgive the lesser debt of a sin against anyone else. Now, I don't say that lightly as well, because people can sin against one another in horribly grievous, awful ways. But, Jesus saves us from our self-righteous smugness when He says, never forget. It doesn't matter what that brother has done. I've forgiven you much more than what he's done against you. that should wipe away our self-righteousness like that and say to us, who am I to say your sin is so great?

But we want to tame Jesus and say, you're not serious about that, right? You really don't mean that. Do you know how He hurt me? And Jesus says, you forgive. God commands you to exercise radical grace in forgiving your brother or your sister. Now I want to bring up the last facet of our investigation.

Understand the relationship between forgiveness and the consequences of your sin. Alright? Let me say this again. Understand the relationship between forgiveness and the consequences of your sin. You know what? Many times God in His merciful providence guards us.

Or actually takes away the consequences of our sin Many times many times God forgives and takes away any consequences We don't suffer any. But that doesn't always happen. It doesn't always happen. Although we can say this, one consequence is always eliminated by the promise of forgiveness. There is one consequence that's always eliminated. You know what it is?

My relationship to you is going to change now. I'm not going to treat you the same. That consequence is gone. I cannot treat you differently. I cannot hold your sin against you, in other words. I cannot treat you as if that sin has separated us.

That's a consequence that's been eliminated. But some consequences may not be eliminated by the promise of forgiveness. Some consequences may not be eliminated by the promise of forgiveness. How would we look at that? Well, let me give you some examples here. Natural consequences may not be eliminated.

Natural consequences may not be eliminated. For example, here's a brother who's fallen into gambling. He's wasted his money, his family's money, and he's kept it a secret from his wife and his family. but coming to his senses he repents and says to his wife what I have done is grieve sin against God and against you I have sinned terribly that's where the money was going even though I didn't tell you it went here and it went there and it went there and it went there and I repent his wife forgives him she's not going to bring his sin to use up against him but she may struggle with trusting him for a while and she may be understandably afraid.

That's a natural consequence. Or here's a man who's abused his family for years, but then God wonderfully, in a marvelous way, reaches down, makes him alive, he believes in Jesus, and God radically changes his life. Never to be the same man again. But God hasn't guaranteed that the broken relationships with his sons will be restored. That may not happen.

You see? Sometimes, natural consequences take their course. Sometimes they do They flow from our sin The guy who a horrible drunk who been in a great bar brawl gets thrown through the plate glass window and as a result he loses his arm Two years later he's marvelously saved. Does God grow his arm back? No. It's a natural consequence of his sin.

So sometimes there are natural consequences. Criminal consequences may not be eliminated. Criminal consequences may not be eliminated. say two men from the congregation go on a fishing trip together and one of them suddenly says i forgot the one who's driving says i forgot to tell my wife something he starts texting they get into an accident and his brother is killed he realizes that what he's done is not just unlawful it's sinful he repents to the man's wife he repents before the whole congregation for his for his negligence for his for the fact that what he did was wrong.

And the whole congregation forgives him. Alright? However, he broke the law. He is guilty of texting, which is against the law, while you're driving, I should say, and manslaughter. The congregation absolved him of his guilt, but the state cannot. The state cannot.

The state still says, you are guilty. The state does not come to the church and say, have you forgiven him? well, then we're not going to put him in jail. Is that what happens? No, listen. Listen. We can forgive the sin, but we cannot forgive the crime.

That's the state's responsibility. And remember that God has said there are two spheres of ministry that I want you to understand. One is the church. One is the state. The church has the ministry of the Word. The state has the ministry of justice and the sword.

The church has this particular ministry. And we don't have this ministry. Do we? No. We have two different areas of ministry. In fact, God calls this the ministry of His Word.

God calls this. You know what He calls the governing officials? His ministers. He uses that term in Romans 13. They are my ministers. Right?

The man who stands before you on Sunday mornings is a minister of the Gospel to you. the man who stops you for speeding the very next day is a minister of God to you Martin Luther called this God's right Right hand, this is God's left hand. And so the point is that sometimes we will do what we can and must do in our sphere, but there's still another sphere. And so there may be criminal consequences that are not eliminated through forgiveness of sin.

A third one, God-imposed consequences may not be eliminated. I want you to turn to a very difficult passage. it's found in 2 Samuel chapter 12 I believe I'm right in saying what I'm going to say to you 2 Samuel chapter 12 listen to me now you will hear of God's consequences imposed on a man who has repented of his sin 2 Samuel 12 the background to 2 Samuel 11 where David sees a woman commits adultery with her and then orders his commander of his army to work in such a way that her husband is killed so that it'll look like the husband made her pregnant, not the king who committed adultery with her. David committed adultery with Bathsheba.

David won't repent of it until Nathan comes to him, tells him a parable, and then confronts him with his sin, beginning in verse 7. 2 Samuel 12 verse 7 Nathan said to David you are the man David has said as Nathan has told him a parable about a man who took a sheet from another man he says that man must die and Nathan looks him right in the eye and says you are that man you are the man says Nathan to David thus says the Lord the God of Israel I anointed you king over Israel and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul and I gave you your master's house and your master's wives into your arms and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if this were too little, I would add to you as much more.

Why have you despised the word of the Lord to do what is evil in His sight? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house. That's tough. therefore the sword will never depart from your house because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.

Thus says the Lord, Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house, and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this son. For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before Elisrael and before the son. David said to Nathan, and I have sinned against the Lord.

There's repentance. And Nathan said to David, The Lord also has put away your sin. You shall not die. Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord, the child who is born to you shall die. Then Nathan went to his house. Hey, wait a minute.

Blood forgiveness means God doesn't use your sin against you. And I say that's right. Here are the consequences that God lays out. Violence will plague his household. that he will be publicly shamed and he will lose his son. God assures David that he has forgiven his sin. The Lord has forgiven you.

Right? He will not use it against him. And David even confirms that in Psalm 32. Listen to his words. Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. My sin is covered.

Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity. And in whose spirit there is no deceit. I acknowledged my sin to you and I did not cover my iniquity. I said I will confess my transgressions to the Lord and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. David even confirms it. Psalm 32 was written after this incident.

And David confirms that. But here's what we must see. God imposed those consequences because he needed to restore the glory of his name and the glory of his word. You despised my word, right? Now I've got to restore that. I'm not using this against you.

I am using this to restore the glory of my name and the glory of my word. And by the way, here's the thing that strikes me the most. Listen. Listen the sword inflicted on David household was the very instrument that drove him closer to God I want you to turn to Psalm 63 Now what was the nature of the sword in his house Well, one of the expressions of that was a son named Absalom.

And Absalom mounted a palace coup, tried to take over the kingdom from David, and was successful in taking his armed forces and driving David out of the city. driving him out. By the way, you know what else happened? Absalom took David's wives, pitched a tent on the roof of the palace where everyone could see and had sexual relations with David's wives.

Just like God had said He would. Publicly shaming his father before all the residents of the kingdom. They knew what was going on and it was him jabbing his thumb in his father's eye. Bringing shame on his father. But he drove him out. David ran.

He had to get away. And you know what happened? He was driven into the desert. And while he was in the desert, he penned these words. Psalm 63 O God, You are my God. Earnestly I seek You.

My soul thirsts for You. My flesh faints for you as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I've looked upon you in the sanctuary beholding your power and glory because your steadfast love is better than life. Do you hear what he's saying? He's saying God's love is steadfast toward him even though he's been driven out of his palace. And for all he knows at this point, he's done.

Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you so I will bless you as long as I live in your name. I will lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied as with the fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips when I remember you upon my bed and meditate on you in the watches of the night, for you have been my help.

And in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy. My soul clings to you. Your right hand upholds me. Here's what you need to see. those consequences that God imposed upon him to honor his name, right? Those very things drove him deeper into the heart of God Psalm 63 was written as he on the run And what does he say God, I want you more than anything.

The very consequences of his sin drove him to God. Now, listen, there's one last example. Man-imposed consequences. Man-imposed consequences may not be eliminated by forgiveness. Consider the young man, who while his parents are gone, takes one of the cars. And as he's out driving around on a lark, he wrecks the car.

He realizes his sin. He says to his parents, please forgive me. Please forgive me. And they forgive him. Next day, dad says to him, son, sit down, I want to talk to you. Over the next six weeks, you're going to be driving with me all the time.

I want to see how you drive. And by the way, you're going to start paying for your own insurance. You can't be wrecking cars like that. I think you need to understand some things. You need to start paying your own insurance. That'll help you.

And his son says, wait a minute, Dad. Wait a minute. I asked forgiveness for this. Right? You can't hold this sin against me. And a wise father would reply, this is not punitive.

I am not doing this to punish you. I want you to learn. I want you to grow. These are intended to help you, not to beat you down. I'm not holding your sin against you. Our relationship has not changed.

But you need to learn. Right? Isn't that what God does with us? What about the church treasurer? Brian, I'm not talking about you. This is hypothetical.

This treasurer's name is hypothetical. Okay? So this treasurer slowly but surely embezzles funds from the church. He comes to his senses. He repents. He goes to the elders and tells them that.

They bring him before the church body because he sinned against them. And he honestly repents and asks for forgiveness. And then the leadership says to him, oh, by the way, we're going to have you step out of being treasurer. Look, we're not even going to ask you to be an officer. Okay. Are they holding his sin against him?

No, they're not punishing him. Number one, they're removing the temptation from him, as wise people would do. We forgive you, but we want to help you to grow. So we're going to remove temptation from you altogether. Right? And you're going to pay back the money you embezzled.

Because that's what God wants you to do. And so you see, forgiveness doesn't always eliminate consequences, but the consequences are never intended for punitive measures, to punish, but to grow. Now in all this, you always have to remember something. Whatever consequences flow from a believer's sin, a believer's sin now, from whatever consequences flow from a believer's sin, God always has a gracious intention in them.

Listen to me now. Whether this is a sin that needs forgiveness from another person or not, whenever there are consequences to your sin, always remember God has a gracious intention in those consequences. For His children, His intention is always one of grace in any consequences that flow. Hebrews 12. Very familiar passage, but we need to be reminded. Hebrews 12.

You all know this passage, but I want you to see the gracious heart of God in these verses. Hebrews 12, verse 5. And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by Him. For the Lord disciplines the one He loves and chastises every son whom He receives.

It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you're left without discipline in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them But He disciplines us for our good that we may share His holiness.

For the moment, all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Do you see that? God's discipline and in this passage it's defined as any hardship that comes into your life whether it's just suffering or whether it's consequences for your sin whatever hardship has come into your life God intends it to help you notice, God's discipline is never punitive I'm going to make you pay for that if God actually thought that the earth would open up right now and all of us would descend to hell if we had to pay.

He's already paid for our sin. His discipline is never punitive. I'm going to make you pay. It is always corrective. I'm going to move you in the righteous direction. I'm bringing this into your life to move you into a different direction.

For the believer, whether the consequences are criminal, whether they're imposed by God or man or even natural consequences, God intends them always for the believer for correction. That is to bring you to the joy of holiness and the peace of righteousness. Right? He disciplines us so we share in the holiness of God. The holier we get, the happier we get.

And He says, so that they may know the peaceful fruit of righteousness. When things are operating the way they should, there's peace. You see? God's intention, and even the consequences of our sin, believers, God's people, is to move us toward the joy of holiness and the peace of righteousness. God never intends consequences to get you. He always intends His consequences to grow you.

Forgiveness will wipe the slate clean. Consequences prepare the ground for more growth that how you need to reconcile forgiveness with consequences So for the man who gambled away his family's money, what's going to happen to him? He's going to learn how to love his wife. You know that? He's going to learn to love his wife. She's afraid.

He's got to learn to love her. I'm going to do whatever I can to assure you. Whatever I can do, I'm going to do whatever is necessary so you don't have to be afraid. He's going to love his wife like he never loved her before. He's going to become a truthful man. God's going to use the consequences to make him a truthful man if he works with those consequences.

What about the man who must face the judge for the death of his friend? He's going to grow in humility. He's going to admit that what he did was wrong. He's going to admit that what he did was wrong. He's going to trust God to take care of him no matter what those consequences are going to be. What about the church treasurer?

He's going to know grace even more as the church forgives him. He's going to see how God provides as he now has to take some of his income and pay back the church. He's going to be forcefully cast upon the promise of Jesus that if you seek my kingdom, I will give you all that you need. He's going to learn that now in a way he never knew before. Isn't that right?

And he's going to be glad to God that he has wise leaders who are keeping him from temptation. He'll rejoice in that, you see. Listen, grace has to have the last word. not first of all a grace that extends free forgiveness because of Jesus but also a grace that strengthens us as we face the consequences because of Jesus that is how the radical grace of God works and God calls us to be radical Father we are faced not just in your word we are faced in our life with the necessity of radical grace you've not left us here just to know this theoretically you've brought things into our lives that we'll have to learn this experientially a grace that offers forgiveness but also a grace that would see us through the consequences of our sin a grace that actually motivates those consequences so that we become more like Jesus Father your grace is majestic it's marvelous to us oh Lord God help us to live in your grace not a grace that excuses our sin but forgives it not a grace that ignores not a grace that ignores the the ripple effects of our sin how our sin has affected other people not a grace that does that but a grace that willingly accepts the consequences knowing that you mean for them to help us to grow.

So please, I pray, make us people that are radical like our Savior. Help us not to be satisfied with comfort, with ease, with never being disturbed, but move us out so that we will, by faith, have to do what You've called us to do. Help us to view life from this perspective. Help us to do this all so that the name of Jesus will be exalted in our congregation.

God help us, we pray. In Jesus' name, Amen.