"Looking Up" by Pastor Kring
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Bethesda Baptist
Church
Church
For more articles by Pastor Kring,
please click on this link > ARTICLES
please click on this link > ARTICLES
LOOKING UP
“Your Sins are Forgiven!”
There are things that money can’t buy. Forgiveness of sins is one of them.
Ephesians 1:7 states, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the
forgiveness of our sins, according to the riches of His grace.”
Let’s take a few moments to look at this verse together. It is very helpful in
explaining how God forgives sins.
We see, first of all, that you don’t have to be rich to have your sins forgiven,
because forgiveness is “according to the riches of His grace”. Forgiveness is a gift
that flows not out of your riches, but out of God’s riches.
I don’t remember where I heard it, but some poor soul was quite concerned about
the focus religion had on money. His complaint was, “High money, high mass, low
money, low mass, no money, no mass!” It is certainly a sad commentary on the
state of the professing church in our day when people view it as always after their
money. If you think that God dispenses His blessings based on how much you give
to the church, then, my friend, you are sadly mistaken. When Jesus was here on
earth, He was poor and it was said that “the poor heard Him gladly”.
Forgiveness is also according to the riches of God’s “grace”. Grace refers to the
unmerited kindness of God to undeserving sinners. If you feel that you don’t
deserve to have your sins forgiven by God, then don’t despair. Forgiveness is
grounded in God’s grace, not in your deserving it.
It doesn’t matter what kind of sins you have committed and how many. God’s grace
is so free and so lavish that He is willing to forgive even the chief of sinners. That’s
what Paul called himself. He even said that he regarded himself as a pattern for
other sinners who would later on believe, so that they might not think that they
were beyond hope.
Also, God cannot offer forgiveness of sins to anyone unless the penalty for sin has
been fully paid and God’s justice is fully satisfied. This payment of a price is called
“redemption”. Do you notice our text? Ephesians 1:7 grounds the forgiveness of
sins in “redemption through His blood”. In other words, Through His death on the
cross, Jesus Christ paid the price necessary so that God could now freely offer
forgiveness to every sinner who comes to Jesus Christ.
Forgiveness is free to the sinner, but costly for the Lord Jesus Christ. He already
paid the price in full. On the cross He cried out, “It is finished”.
My friend, forgiveness is not for everyone. It is not for the sinner who wants to
continue to ignore God and His holy laws. It is not for the sinner who thinks that
they are better than the average person around them. It is not for the sinner who
doesn’t believe that the Bible is God’s Word.
But for the person who wants to be right with God and knows that they are a poor,
needy sinner, free forgiveness through faith in Jesus Christ is definitely good news!
(Feel free to contact Pastor Kring with any
questions or comments - phone 519-582-1452 or e-mail sckring@sympatico.ca
“Your Sins are Forgiven!”
There are things that money can’t buy. Forgiveness of sins is one of them.
Ephesians 1:7 states, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the
forgiveness of our sins, according to the riches of His grace.”
Let’s take a few moments to look at this verse together. It is very helpful in
explaining how God forgives sins.
We see, first of all, that you don’t have to be rich to have your sins forgiven,
because forgiveness is “according to the riches of His grace”. Forgiveness is a gift
that flows not out of your riches, but out of God’s riches.
I don’t remember where I heard it, but some poor soul was quite concerned about
the focus religion had on money. His complaint was, “High money, high mass, low
money, low mass, no money, no mass!” It is certainly a sad commentary on the
state of the professing church in our day when people view it as always after their
money. If you think that God dispenses His blessings based on how much you give
to the church, then, my friend, you are sadly mistaken. When Jesus was here on
earth, He was poor and it was said that “the poor heard Him gladly”.
Forgiveness is also according to the riches of God’s “grace”. Grace refers to the
unmerited kindness of God to undeserving sinners. If you feel that you don’t
deserve to have your sins forgiven by God, then don’t despair. Forgiveness is
grounded in God’s grace, not in your deserving it.
It doesn’t matter what kind of sins you have committed and how many. God’s grace
is so free and so lavish that He is willing to forgive even the chief of sinners. That’s
what Paul called himself. He even said that he regarded himself as a pattern for
other sinners who would later on believe, so that they might not think that they
were beyond hope.
Also, God cannot offer forgiveness of sins to anyone unless the penalty for sin has
been fully paid and God’s justice is fully satisfied. This payment of a price is called
“redemption”. Do you notice our text? Ephesians 1:7 grounds the forgiveness of
sins in “redemption through His blood”. In other words, Through His death on the
cross, Jesus Christ paid the price necessary so that God could now freely offer
forgiveness to every sinner who comes to Jesus Christ.
Forgiveness is free to the sinner, but costly for the Lord Jesus Christ. He already
paid the price in full. On the cross He cried out, “It is finished”.
My friend, forgiveness is not for everyone. It is not for the sinner who wants to
continue to ignore God and His holy laws. It is not for the sinner who thinks that
they are better than the average person around them. It is not for the sinner who
doesn’t believe that the Bible is God’s Word.
But for the person who wants to be right with God and knows that they are a poor,
needy sinner, free forgiveness through faith in Jesus Christ is definitely good news!
(Feel free to contact Pastor Kring with any
questions or comments - phone 519-582-1452 or e-mail sckring@sympatico.ca