Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Monday, May 19th. Today's podcast begins an eight-part series exploring the freedom found in forgiveness. Here's part one laying the foundation of our forgiveness. Why does God forgive you? The only thing that motivates God to forgive us is that ultimately it goes back to God's unconditional love for mankind. The Bible says that God is love.
And because He is love, God is always reaching out to do something. That is to bridge this gap between us and God. Because you see, in the Garden of Eden, when many of us are in the Garden of Eden, we are in the Garden of Eden. We are in the Garden of Eden. We are in the Garden of Eden. We are in the Garden of Eden.
We are in the Garden of Eden. When man sinned against God, here's what happened. The beautiful relationship that God and man had together, there was a breach in that relationship. And there wasn't anything that man could do to bridge that gap, to make it right again. So God is the one who had to initiate the bridging of the gap and bringing God and man back together again. And in order for that to happen, holy God, looking upon sinful man, God had to decide that He was willing to accept again sinful man and therefore bring him back in the right relationship with him. But there was a problem.
And here's the problem. If I may describe it this way. The holiness of God is like the noonday sun. The sinfulness of man is like the midnight, the blackness, the darkness of total darkness. You can never amount enough darkness to put out the rays of the sun.
Wherever the sun is, it drives the darkness away. So to say that holy God, whom we rebelled against, and sinful man who chose to be disobedient to God, can simply come back together by the desire of man is as possible as darkness of midnight. And the brilliance of a noonday sun getting together and being compatible, it just cannot be.
Did you hear that? It just cannot be. It is a distorted, it is a totally unbiblical viewpoint to begin to put holy God and sinful man together. The answer is sinful man. Not only have we sinned against him today, or yesterday, or last week, or last month, but the truth is we're going to sin again.
Not because we've planned it, not because we've designed it, not because we have chosen to, but you and I know ourselves well enough to know that we're not going to live a perfect life. So we know, that by mistake or by moments of weakness we're going to sin against God. The question is why does God forgive us? How can holy God forgive sinful man?
man when we have disobeyed him and the breach has been caused and the holiness of God never diminishes and the blackness and the sinfulness of man never diminishes. How can God forgive us? So I want to begin the only place you can begin with forgiveness. I want to say several things several times.
Number one is this. There is no forgiveness of sin apart from the sacrificial, substitutionary, atoning, sufficient death of Jesus Christ, period. Now if Jesus Christ did not die for our sins, if there is no atoning death of Christ, on what basis am I forgiven? So I want you to turn to Romans chapter 3 because Paul deals with this very dilemma in this particular chapter when he considers the holiness of God and then considers the fact that God has forgiven man.
Now when we talk about the attributes of God, we're talking about his characteristics such as holiness, goodness, merciful, grace and all of these things. Now listen to what Paul says and let's begin in verse 21 of Romans chapter 3. But now he says, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus. Now the righteousness of God is his rightness, his holiness, his perfection and so forth. For all those who believe, for there is no distinction, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
Now we all understand that. Verse 24, watch every word. Being justified, that means pardoned. It means forgiven. It means declared, no longer guilty. Being declared no longer guilty as a gift, not by my works, but as a gift by his grace, that is motivated by his love, I've been declared not guilty though I am guilty. It is a gift from God provided by his grace through the redemption that is the purchase price which is in Christ Jesus. So my forgiveness, my being declared no longer guilty is directly related to the Lord Jesus Christ. Whom, now look at this next phrase, whom speaking of Christ, God, look at this next word, displayed publicly.
How did he do that? When Jesus Christ was crucified, God the Father displayed his own son publicly as a propitiation or as a sacrifice. He displayed him publicly as a sacrifice in his blood through faith. This was to demonstrate God's righteousness because in the forbearance, the patience, the long suffering of God, he passed over the sins previously committed. That doesn't mean he ignored them, I'm coming back. For the demonstration I say of his righteousness at the present time that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Now look at that. He says he did this in order that God may be just and at the same time declare not guilty those who have been guilty. Listen very carefully. Jesus did not come to give you and me an example of how to live.
Did you hear that? Jesus did not come to give you and me an example of how to live. He is the perfect example.
He didn't come to give us an example. He came to die. Jesus came to die. That was his goal in being born to die. His goal in living to die. His goal in leaving heaven to die.
His goal ultimately and always to die. Jesus came to die. There is no forgiveness apart from the death of Jesus Christ. It was God who condescended to come into this world and die upon that cross and he bore the penalty of all of our sin. Now holy God can look upon sinful man but remembering what? That all of the sinfulness of man has been placed upon his son and he accepted the death of his son and therefore his son having paid the penalty.
What does that do to you and me? That justifies us. We are free and liberated then in my spirit though I am not perfect because my spirit is holy before God. My holy spirit and God's holy spirit can now fellowship together because I've become a new creature in Christ Jesus. My sins have been forgiven.
I've become a new creature. I've become redeemed. I'm a child of God.
Now I'm talking God's language, thanking God's thoughts. My spirit is in oneness with him. Now I'm a forgiven child of God walking in forgiveness. I don't have to perform to get forgiven. I don't have to plead to get forgiven. I am forgiven based on one thing and one thing alone and that is that Jesus Christ died on the cross. God placed all of your sin upon him and God's acceptance of his son's death, the resurrection's proof of it. Your acceptance by faith of his son and placing your trust in him frees you and liberates you from all guilt of all sin for eternity future and eternity past, you and I are free. It is heresy to say that anyone can be saved and bypass the cross of Jesus Christ. But my friend, your children and mine, if we're not careful, are going to grow up and go to schools and they're going to be taught after all, God is love.
Now you see, here's the subtleness of it. You and I wouldn't disagree with God is love, but you see, here's the approach. Do you believe that God is a God of love? Oh yes. Do you believe that God is good? Oh yes. God is merciful? Yes. Well, if God is good and merciful and God is a God of love, do you mean to tell me that if you ask him to forgive you that he won't forgive you?
Now watch this. It is not a question of whether he will or he will not. The question is the basis upon which we're forgiven. You see, those who do not believe this book, only believe portions of it, what they do is they cut, they gently and very intellectually and skillfully carve out the atoning death of Christ. After all, a loving, wonderful, good God's not going to send anybody to hell. God doesn't send men to hell.
People choose a life of rebellion and disobedience and unbelief. God is a God of love. God is a God of goodness and love and kindness and mercy. Can you tell me anything more that God could have done than to stretch himself out on that cross and die and assume the penalty for the sin of mankind? What more could God himself have done? He could have done nothing more than to assume all the penalty for all of my sin. But for me to say, and this is what you're saying, when anyone says the death of Jesus Christ is not necessary for the forgiveness of my sin, here's what he's saying, God, you really blew it. I mean for you to come down here and die and heap all of our sin upon yourself and take the penalty.
That wasn't necessary. Can you imagine anything being so blasphemous as that? But to deny, to avoid, to detour the cross in forgiveness is an act of blasphemy against God. And in this book, you cannot name one single verse that even implies forgiveness apart from the blood of Jesus Christ. So let me ask you this question. If you can be saved, if you can be forgiven and ignore the cross, then what is your method of forgiveness?
There's only one left. If it isn't the cross, then it's got to be your conduct. You're going to stop doing these things and start doing these.
But I want to go back to something so very important. Remember that it is the spirit of man that must be born again in order to relate to God. It isn't conduct, it is the condition of the spirit. The spirit is either alive to Almighty God through the new birth experience or it is dead to the things of God. And my unbelieving friend, because your spirit is dead to the things of God, we do understand why you act the way you act. We do understand your conduct. We do understand the way and the reason you believe the way you believe.
But I want to tell you, my friend, when the spirit of God comes into your life and cleanses you and forgives you and redeems you and you have a new spirit, you're going to understand what we understand, that apart from the death of Jesus Christ, there can be no forgiveness. So you only have two choices. The conduct of man, the performance of man, or the cross of Jesus Christ.
That's the only two choices. And the Bible very, very clearly says, not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy, the mercy seat, the cross of Jesus Christ, but according to the cross, by his mercy, he saved us. Now you see, there are about three theories of the atonement.
Let me briefly tell you what they are. One of them is called the ransom theory. And it comes from Mark chapter 10. This is the passage of scripture that is oftentimes used. Even the son of man did not come to be served, but the servant to give his life a ransom for many. Now here's the idea of forgiveness according to the ransom theory of the atonement. That God paid the devil off by sacrificing his son and giving him to him at the cross. And Jesus died and went to hell and therefore that paid for man's sin. So Jesus was given by God as a ransom. And in the resurrection, Jesus conquered death and rose from the dead and therefore Satan was the loser and man was saved. That is not what the Bible teaches.
It's a misinterpretation of that verse. The other theory is called the moral influence theory. And that is the atoning death of Jesus Christ. Its impact is in its moral influence as an example to mankind. It belittles the holiness of God, the deity of Christ, the awfulness of sin. It eliminates hell.
It puts acceptance on a performance basis. It violates every single principle you and I know about forgiveness, cleansing, salvation, redemption. It violates every single one of them. But it plays into the hands of the humanists who say, you don't really need God. Sure, you can have your religion, your Christ, fine.
Wonderful example, but deny its essentiality. Deny the atoning death. Deny the cross.
Deny the blood. Deny the gospel. And my friend, there are many folks who are sitting in church periods who really believe that all you have to do is just ask him and God's going to say, okay. Because after all, God's good. And if God's good and God's loving, well surely he's not going to turn you down. But my friend, you know what? God loves you and me too much to simply say okay to my sin today, okay to my sin tomorrow and the next day and the next day and the next day in a lifetime.
You know why? Because the Bible says that God predestinated you and me to be conformed to his likeness. And in order for that to happen, we must have a whole new spirit. The third view is the one that you and I believe and that is that the death of Jesus Christ is the substitutionary, sacrificial atoning death. That he died in our place, that is that God placed upon him all of our sin. And because he placed upon him all of our sin, he paid the penalty. We receive him, our penalty is paid and you and I are freed. Now my friend, that is the whole basis of forgiveness.
That's it. Jesus, substitutionary, he took my place, sacrificial, he was sacrificed. All sufficient, totally adequate for all my sin. Atoning, paid the penalty for your sin and mine.
That is the only view that is consistent with Scripture. It is the view of Scripture that is the foundation of all forgiveness. I believe when you and I confess sin, there's one thing that God wants me to see every time I confess.
You know what that is? The cross. It is the awareness of the price of what it cost him to forgive me that motivates me to righteousness and holiness and godly living.
Not because I'm afraid I'm going to get caught, but because of what it cost him. And my friend, if you understand what I've shared with you, you understand the whole core of the gospel. You understand the foundation of all forgiveness and we will build on that.
Now let me ask you this. How many of you can look back in your life and you've asked God to forgive you a lot of times, but you can't ever recall coming to the realization that in order to be forgiven, Jesus had to die and God placed your sin upon him and you somehow, it's just that you said, Lord, just forgive me of my sin. Friend, salvation isn't just asking God to forgive you, but I'm saying that apart from the shed blood of Jesus Christ, there's no forgiveness. And to ask God to forgive you for your sins and ignore Christ, put him aside, go to God without him is absolutely impossible. He said, I am the way, the truth and the way. No man comes to the father but by me. I want to invite you today by an act of your will, an act of your choice, right where you sit, right where you stand, wherever you may be driving, I want to ask you right now in Jesus' name to place your trust by asking God to forgive you of your sins and placing your trust in his sacrificial, substitutionary, all sufficient atoning death on the cross as the one who bore all of your sin and received Christ as your savior, yielding your life to him. I want to encourage you to do that because you see, if you denied Jesus, you're going to die and you're going to face the judgment and you will not spend eternity in heaven, my friend. You shall be eternally separated from God and all of your performance is going to be like feathers blowing in the wind.
They shall amount to nothing and be gone because they will not weigh anything in the eyes of God. You know why you and I can be so confident? Because of what it costs God to save us. Thank you for listening to The Foundation of Our Forgiveness. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or In Touch Ministries, stop by InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.
