R253 The Real Meaning of Forgiveness

We all could use some encouragement and we'll find it together today in the Bible-based preaching of Dr. Don Wilton and a message from the book of John. Together we'll open God's Word to John chapter 8 beginning in verse 1 on this message called the real meaning of forgiveness as we remind ourselves what God's Word tells us about forgiveness, understanding how much we have been forgiven and how we can extend that to others.

It will empower us to be the men and women of God we are called to be. As we study the Word together, know that we're here for you. We'd love to connect with you on our website at www.tewonline.org. That's www.tewonline.org. While you're there, sign up for the daily encouraging Word email from Dr. Don, a wonderful, insightful snippet of God's Word, a wonderful application and a grand challenge. Visit us online at www.tewonline.org.

Now, Dr. Don Wilton. I want to invite you to turn with me in your Bibles to John's Gospel chapter 8. It's very important to follow along because the Bible says everything that we need to say about everything in every circumstance of life. Now, I wonder if we were to take a survey here in our congregation this morning and we were to ask the question, what are the two greatest needs of mankind? I wonder what you would have to say about that. If I was to just walk around our great congregation and perhaps take a survey or a poll and try and determine what the greatest needs are among people, I wonder what we would say this morning.

May I suggest that probably topping the poll would be two issues. Number one, the need to be loved. And number two, the need to be forgiven. Perhaps two of the greatest needs that all of us have, the need to be loved. Isn't it just wonderful to be loved? That's what this church is all about.

If you are visiting with us today, I'm going to give you a guarantee. You're going to be loved today until you can hardly stand it. My wife and I have come to understand in a great hurry the amount of love that is in this congregation. I believe Larry Talon spoke about it just a moment ago, whether you find yourself at the bottom or whether you find yourself at the top, you're going to be loved. Just something about being loved.

You know, every time I leave home, for whatever reason it is, I just look forward to getting home because I know that I'm going to be loved. My heart breaks when I think about children around the world who do not have the privilege of practical love, of people who don't understand what it means to belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, where there is neither Jew nor Greek, neither male nor female, neither bond nor free, where no matter where or who or why, when we become born again believers, we are one in Christ and one of the hallmarks of this fellowship of encouragement and of God's church all over the world ought to be the issue of love. But there's a second need that all people have and it's the need to be forgiven.

It is one of the most perplexing questions and issues that we ever have to deal with. And I'm going to submit to you today as we begin to look at John chapter 8, that in every pew this morning, there is a broken heart. I'm going to submit to you today, my beloved friends, that in every pew this morning, there is a need to be forgiven. I'm going to submit to you today on the authority of God's Word that in every pew this morning, there is a sinner. I'm going to submit to you today that there is a sinner saved by the grace of God. I'm going to submit to you this morning that the only difference between the best of us in here and the worst of them out there is the grace of God.

And I'm going to submit to you today, my friends, that if we ever need something in our lives that nobody else can give to us, it is the forgiveness of God in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. One of those unbelievable passages, one that this pastor, despite the degrees, despite the theological disposition, has very little understanding of. One that many people have debated, which the scribes and the Pharisees haggled about and debated about, became angry about, had absolutely the greatest questions to ask about. Let's read and let's understand the real meaning this morning. Our subject, the real meaning of forgiveness.

But Jesus in verse one of chapter eight went to the Mount of Olives and at dawn he appeared again in the temple courts where all the people gathered around about him and he sat down to teach them. The scribes of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. Some of you are going to say to me, well, pastor, what is adultery? I think we need to understand what the biblical definition is. Adultery, my friend, according to God's standard, is any form of sexual activity outside the sanctity of marriage, is adultery.

Let me just run that by again. According to God's standard of marriage and the sanctity of marriage, any form of sexual activity outside of the sanctity of marriage is classified as an adulterous relationship according to the biblical standard. The Bible tells us that the Pharisees and the scribes brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of adultery. And the law Moses commanded us to stone such a woman.

Now, what do you say? They were using this question not because of her guilt as charged, but they were using this question, the Bible says, as a trap in order to have a basis for accusing the Lord Jesus Christ. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and he said to them, if any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.

Again, he stooped down and he wrote on the ground. At this, those who began, those who heard began to go away one at a time. And in the Jewish tradition, the older ones left first until only Jesus was left with the woman still standing there, rather remarkable. Because friends, if we're going to ever understand forgiveness, we're going to have to understand that the one who needs to be forgiven has to come face to face with the only one who is capable of forgiving them. Jesus put it like this in John chapter 14 and verse 6.

I can't wait to get there in the next 30 years. John chapter 14 and verse 6, Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life. No man can come unto the Father but by me. At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first until only Jesus was left with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and he asked her, woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?

No one, sir, she said. Then neither do I condemn you, Jesus declared. Go now and sin no more.

Go now and leave your life of sin. That's what repentance is all about. Repentance, my friends, means that you're willing to acknowledge your sin. Number two, it means that you're willing to confess your sin to Jesus Christ, the only one that you're left standing facing and the only one who can forgive you for your sin. And number three, repentance according to the word means that having been forgiven, you are willing to turn away from your sin and go and sin no more. And then in verse 12, which begins the next section, Jesus put it into perspective. Jesus spoke again to the people and he said, I am the light of the world.

Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. May the Lord write his word upon our hearts this morning. Billy Graham, probably the greatest preacher and minister of all time in my opinion, wrote a book entitled Peace with God.

How to have peace with God. Just scoured through the pages to remind myself of its true essence. I'm convinced that Mr. Graham was trying to capture the very essence of what Jesus meant when he said, I am the light of the world and I dwell in the midst of the darkness of men and women in their sinfulness and that because I am the light of the world that when you come into a relationship with me, the darkness that is in your heart is going to flee for its life and that I am the only one who is capable of and who has the authority of God to harmonize your world. I love that word harmony, don't you choir?

That's what it's all about. Jesus was saying, I am the only one who has the authority and the capability of harmonizing your world. You see, if we were to talk about love, we're talking about harmony. A person who is loved is a person who is living in harmony. A person who is forgiven is a person who is living in harmony. An unforgiven person is a person who is out of harmony. They are out of sync.

They are unbalanced. They are out of line with the express will and the command of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so how do we understand what happened in the life of this adulterous woman in John chapter 8? I'm going to submit to you, my friends, that we cannot understand it unless we understand four dynamics that took place right here. This story stands in harmony.

Number one, with true life. We cannot understand the real meaning of God's absolute forgiveness if we're not willing to understand that this encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ stands in absolute harmony, number one, with true life. This is you and me Jesus is talking about. This is the every man, the every woman of society. The Bible puts it like this.

The Bible says all of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And when we analyze and when we come to grips with the dynamic of the life that we live and the genesis to revelation into the present day and age, what do we find? We find perplexities. We find problems. We find puzzles. We find places. We find people. But there is one common denominator about the life that we live that stands in full harmony with the experience Jesus had in John chapter 8.

It's simply this, that all of us are sinners saved by the grace of God. Please forgive the interruption. We'll return to today's message, the real meaning of forgiveness in just a moment. But Dr. Wilton wants me to remind you we are connecting both online and on the phone 24 hours a day. Our phone number is 866-899-WORD.

That's 866-899-9673. Many are calling to start your pre-order for the new book from Dr. Wilton coming out the end of March called Saturdays with Billy about the time Dr. Wilton spent over 25 years being the pastor to one of the most remarkable men in all of our century, Dr. Billy Graham. Again, you can find more details on our website as well at www.tewonline.org. That's www.tewonline.org. While you're there, sign up for the daily encouraging word email. Get some more insight on other resources available right now. A wonderful book from Laura's Story.

Again, all of it is there on our website at www.tewonline.org. Now back to today's great teaching with Dr. Don Wilson. How many of you have ever told a lie before? Raise your hands.

If your hand's not up, you're telling one right now. Now folks, that's in harmony with real life. The Bible puts it like this. The Bible says that from the time of Adam, we are all born in sin. In Adam all die. We die because of our sinfulness. We die because we have been separated from God. We die because of the perplexity of our very being. The Bible says that we are born dead in our trespasses and sins.

There are cults, there are philosophies that would seek to tell us the absolute proverbial spiritual lie. That all people are born inherently, basically good. And that from the time you're born, you become entrapped by all the goings on of society. And society begins to corrupt you.

Society does corrupt you, but society corrupts an already corrupted heart. Because the Bible says as a result of the sin of Adam, all people die. You know that sounds like terrible news, but I want you to know that's such great news this morning.

You know why? Because all of us in here today are sinners saved by the grace of God, aren't we? Every single person in this congregation and every single person watching by way of television, every person in every hospital room, every person in every office, every nurse, every doctor, every fireman, every law enforcement officer, every person today who hears the word of God. I've got wonderful news for you today that this woman caught in the act of adultery, that we will never understand the real meaning of Christian forgiveness if we don't understand that everything Jesus said stands in full harmony with real life.

This is the second point that we need to note this morning. We're ever going to understand forgiveness. This story stands in complete harmony with the entirety of the Gospel story. It doesn't just stand in harmony with real life. It stands in harmony with the whole of the Gospel. If we're going to understand John chapter 8, then we need to go back to Genesis chapter 1.

Because the Bible tells us that God created man in his own image and man was perfectly created and God was pleased with that which he had created and he breathed upon him. Nefeshchaya in the Hebrew tongue, he breathed upon him the very breath of God himself and right there in that perfectness Satan came and said to Eve, take of that which God has expressly forbidden you to partake of and Eve said, absolutely not. I cannot do it. He said, what do you mean you cannot do it? You don't really think that God would give you all of this and deny the things that you enjoy? How could God give you taste buds and then tell you not to eat the best apple in the orchard? It's a contradiction of the love and of the grace and of the heartbeat of God.

And so she said, but Satan, you don't understand. He said, if I do take it, I'll die. He said, die? You don't even know what death is. You've never seen death. You've never participated in death. You've never experienced death. You cannot define death.

It is something which will boggle every figment of your imagination. And so the word of God records that the woman took of that apple and ate and gave to her husband and they ate and God, God came down from the heavens to find his creation hiding behind the abomination of their sin. And from that moment on in time, the gospel story tells us that man died, he died, she died, he died, and he died. And the word of God says the wages of sin is death. The wages of sin is death. The wages of sin is death. This story stands in harmony with real life, but it stands in harmony with the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Do you know why? Because in verse 12 of chapter 8, the culmination of the story is that God made a way possible for man once again, despite his separation, to be reconciled to the Father. The apostle Paul says God was in Christ Jesus reconciling the world unto himself. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man can come unto the Father but by me. It is God's word that tells us that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him should not die but should have eternal life.

Why? Because God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might believe and might be saved. You see, the forgiveness of God is conditional, my friend.

It is conditional upon the penalty and the price which was paid upon Calvary's tree. This story cannot be understood outside the reality of life. It cannot be understood unless we see it standing in harmony with the gospel picture.

But there's a third thing here that I want you to note. We cannot understand the forgiveness of God unless we understand that this story stands in harmony with the behaviour of the scribes and the Pharisees. Right there from verse three onwards, it's full of it. These were a bunch of people such of which we cannot even begin to describe. Their unspeakable behaviour, their despicable behaviour, all they were interested in is not the condemnation of the woman because of her absolute unapologetic guilt before God. All these people wanted to do was to try and entrap the Lord Jesus Christ. And that entrapment, my friend, culminated in the cross of Christ. Is it any wonder that the scribes and the Pharisees got so angry with Jesus?

Is it any wonder that when it culminated at the cross that the Roman authorities brought out the criminal Barabbas and said, do you want Barabbas who's guilty as charged or do you want the spotless Son of God and they screamed in a frenzy, give us Barabbas, give us Barabbas. You cannot understand the cross unless you understand that everything that Jesus said stands in harmony with the behaviour of the scribes and the Pharisees. You see, friend, the sinner delights in his own way of judging and condemning sin. It is the sinner who is blind to his own fault. It is the sinner who is keen to detect the faults of others.

It is the sinner who hides behind the cloak of his religious respectability. These scribes, who were they? Did you notice, have you noticed in God's Word that every time the scribes are mentioned, they are mentioned alongside the Pharisees? It's like Jesus says, the Pharisees and the scribes. Or the scribes and the Pharisees.

They were just kind of put on at the end there where they were sort of an addition. Who were these scribes? Who were these people? Josephus and all the historians tell us a lot about them, my friends. They were the experts in the Scriptures, these scribes were. They were the ones who copied the written law.

They were the custodians of the traditions of the elders. They were the ones who were most frequently charged with hypocritical character and with hypocrisy. These were the ones who were consistently charged as being enemies of the cross. You cannot understand the forgiveness of God. If you don't understand that what God is doing here stands in harmony with the behaviour of those who stood in absolute opposition to everything that the cross represented. But we cannot understand the meaning of forgiveness, my friends, in the fourth place. If we don't understand that this story stands in harmony with the life of the Lord Jesus Christ.

That's the part I love so much. That's why I read verse 12 of John chapter 8. Read it with me again when Jesus spoke again to the people. He said, everything that I've said is because I am the light of the world.

Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life. This is the Jesus of mercy and hope. This is the Jesus of forgiveness and life. This is the Jesus standing alone with a sinner standing alone condemned. You see, friend, there was no doubt whatsoever that Jesus stood in condemnation of this woman's sin.

She was guilty as charged. In Galatians chapter 5, the apostle Paul puts it like this. He says, those that are guilty of adultery, of fornication, of drunkenness, of revelings, of hate, those who are guilty of the antithesis of the purity and the holiness of God, shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

Jesus was in no way compromising the sin of adultery. Jesus was saying, my friends, that there is no sin that God will not and cannot forgive, excepting one which is the sin of saying no to the Spirit of the living God, the unpardonable sin of rejecting the convicting power of the Spirit of God. Do you know God's forgiveness today? He wants to forgive you.

That is such good news. God wants to forgive you. God is ready to take you out from under that shame and that condemnation. His love is greater than anything you have done, anything you have run from or away from God. God is ready to use this moment today to bring you home to Him.

You've heard Dr. Wilton teach now as he steps into the studio. Hear these most important words from our pastor, Dr. Don Wilton, coming up next. Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ?

I'm so happy to hear that. Why don't you pray this prayer with me today? Dear God, I know that you love me very, very much, and I know that the Lord Jesus Christ came and died on a cross so that I might be forgiven of my sin. Today, I repent of my sin. I confess my sin to you, and I invite you to come into my heart and into my life, I pray. In Jesus' name, I pray. If you prayed that prayer, let me be the first one to welcome you to the family of God.

This is wonderful. I hope that you know how much I'm going to be praying for you and how very important this is for me. Call us so that we can talk to you and connect you in the right place so you can begin this wonderful journey. Welcome to the family of God. I'm convinced that some of you in your heart, whether you've said the words or not, you know it's time to give your heart to Jesus Christ, and you are ready to turn your back on your sin and begin a fresh and anew.

Why don't you let Dr. Wilton know about it? We'd love to hear from you. You can call 866-899-WORD, and we would love to put some resources Dr. Wilton wants you to have if you gave your life to Christ moments ago or you'd like to discover what it's like to give your life to Jesus. Call us. Let's answer those questions together from God's encouraging word, the Bible. Our phone number is 866-899-9673, or meet us online at tewonline.org. You'll discover wonderful resources like this wonderful set of teaching messages with Dr. Don Wilton called Walking with God's Giants.

Here's Liz with all the details. God's intended purpose for us never changed. We are not defeated. We are overcomers through Jesus Christ. The Word of God is alive and is relevant to all times in which we live. There are countless testimonies of people who walked with God in the Bible. They are our cloud of witnesses to encourage us on the Christian journey.

Learn from them. You can walk with God's giants. With your gift of $20 or more in support of the encouraging word, you will receive Dr. Wilton's new dynamic two-part series, Walking with God's Giants. Series two, Walking with God's Giants, is available on CD or DVD. It includes four messages on the lives of Nehemiah, Naaman, Solomon, and David. Call us today at 866-899-WORD to request series two, Walking with God's Giants.

If you missed the first series, you can request it too. Thank you for your continued partnership to help us share the gospel of Jesus Christ around the world. What a great day it's been studying God's Word together, and there's more where that came from.

Tomorrow at this same time, Dr. Wilton's going back to John chapter 8, but moving forward with this message called The Light of the World. I hope you'll join us, perhaps even let someone else know when we're broadcasting, when we're podcasting, and invite them into the Bible study. Between now and then as well, let's stay connected on our website, TEWOnline.org. That's TEWOnline.org. Looking forward to connecting with you.