Opening Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank you for your son Jesus, our Lord and Saviour, one who loved us so much he died on the cross for our sins. One so powerful and mighty that he rose from the grave and defeated death. You, Lord, are seated in the heavenly places, reigning over all. Lord Jesus, we give you glory and praise for what you have done for us. And Lord, we thank you for your word which you have spoken and given to us, the Bible. And Lord, I pray you would speak this morning into each and every heart. I pray where there’s darkness in people’s lives, your light would shine and you would lead us into truth and joy and forgiveness. I pray this in Jesus name. Amen.
Introduction
How do you deal with feeling guilty? How do you deal with feeling guilty? Sometimes we can be in a dark place, can’t we? And we’re hoping that the light of God will shine into our lives. But actually we can take ourselves into an even darker place by feeling really guilty that we’re in the dark place in the first place. So how do you deal with feeling guilty? We’re continuing our Deuteronomy sermon series this morning and we’re looking at three chapters. I’m not going to read it all, but Deuteronomy 19:21. And in those chapters of the Bible, God makes it very clear that he is a God of justice who punishes sin. Who punishes sin. But even as he is a God of justice, he doesn’t want a people who are crippled by guilt. He doesn’t want his people to be crushed by guilt and unable to free themselves from that place of feeling guilty. And so sections of what we’re about to read speak of God’s justice, but also speak about purging the nation of Israel from guilt. So how do you deal with feeling guilty? And perhaps more biblically, more importantly, how can we purge ourselves of guilt from the things that we’ve done wrong? God deals with many different issues in the chapters that we’re about to look at. He shows his justice in rules about changing property boundaries. He shows his justice with laws concerning warfare. There’s an interesting law concerning warfare about what trees you’re allowed to cut down and what trees you can’t cut down. God wants them to leave the fruit tree still standing when they go to war. He cares about the provision of fruit in the land. God shows his justice with laws about inheritance rights and also rules about rebellious sons. But we’re only going to read three sections together and the first section I’d like us to read together is Deuteronomy 19, verses 1 to 13 and these verses are about manslaughter, and Jason actually referenced them in his sermon last week. What happens when someone kills someone accidentally?
First Bible Passage
So Deuteronomy 19:1 13 and the verses are in the screen behind me. When the LORD your God cuts off the nations whose land the LORD your God is giving you, and you dispossess them, and dwell in their cities and in their houses, you shall set apart three cities for yourselves in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess. You shall measure the distances and divide into three parts the area of the land the LORD your God gives you as a possession, so that any manslayer can flee to them. This is the provision for the manslayer, who by fleeing there may save his life. If anyone kills his neighbour unintentionally without having hated him in the past, as when someone goes into the forest with his neighbor to cut wood, and his hand swings down the axe to cut down a tree, and the head slips from the handle and strikes his neighbour, so that he dies, he may flee to one of these cities and live, lest the avenger of blood in hot anger pursue the manslayer and overtake him, because the way is long, and strike him fatally, though the man did not deserve to die, since he had not hated his neighbour in the past. Therefore I command you, you shall set apart three cities, and if the Lord your God enlarges your territory, as he has sworn to your fathers, and gives you all the land that he promised to give to your fathers, provided you are careful to keep this commandment which I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, and by walking ever in his ways, then you shall add three other cities to these three, lest innocent blood be shed in your land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance, and so the guilt of bloodshed be upon you. But if anyone hates his neighbour and lies in wait for him, and attacks him, and strikes him fatally, so that he dies, and he flees into one of these cities, then the elders of his city shall send and take from him from there, and hand him over to the avenger of blood, so that he may die, your eyes shall not pity him, but you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, so that it may be well with you.
God Is A God Of Justice
Now you can see in God’s law here that if you kill someone accidentally, you can run to a city of refuge, and the cities need to be placed strategically in the land of Israel, so you don’t have to run too far. So if you’re Unfit. And you think, I can’t get there in time. Hopefully there’s a city near enough that you can make it. So if you kill someone accidentally, you can run to the city of refuge and you can be protected from the person who presumably is very angry, a family member who’s chasing you. In verse four, this is a provision to save the manslayer’s life because he’s innocent. He hasn’t deliberately killed someone. He’s innocent of the blood that has been spilt.
Now, why does that matter to God? Why doesn’t God just go, oh, it doesn’t matter, just kill the manslayer. We’re not going to have these cities of refuge. Why does that matter to God? Well, the answer is in verse 10. God cares that innocent blood is shed. So the innocent manslayer is running and gets killed before he reaches the city of refuge. God cares that that innocent blood has been shed, and he doesn’t want the guilt of bloodshed to be upon the land of Israel. Do you see? If the manslayer gets murdered, then suddenly the whole nation of Israel is under guilt because they’ve done something wrong. Innocent blood’s been shed in their land, and God wants to protect the nation from. From guilt. Of course, in verses 11 to 13, if a person deliberately attacks and kills someone, then that person must be put to death. It’s a life for a life. Otherwise the whole nation is guilty of the murder and the guilt of innocent blood comes upon the nation in that way. Justice must be done, says God, to purge the guilt of innocent blood in the land of Israel.
And so there’s two things to draw out of that passage that are really, really important. God is a God of justice. He wants to protect the innocent one in this example, but he punishes the wicked one in this example. God is a God of justice. Now that is a reason to rejoice. Because. Because God is good. He’s so good that he cannot leave sin unpunished. He can’t go, oh, I just forget that I saw that and leave it and do nothing about it. God cares about that because he is good. We worship a God who is perfectly and utterly good. And so in all his judgments, he is perfectly and utterly good. And therefore in everything he does, he protects the innocent but punishes the wicked.
Guilt Must Be Purged
Now, the second thing that we need to see from this passage is that justice must be done, because God is a God of justice. Justice must be done. Otherwise the whole nation comes under guilt for what’s happened in the land. They’ve not obeyed the laws that God has given, and therefore the whole land suffers in guilt because justice has not been done. Do you see? That guilt must be purged from the nation of Israel. The two points. God is the God of justice, and guilt must be purged from the land. Let’s hold those two points in mind as we keep going and read a different passage from Deuteronomy 19:21.
Second Bible Passage
I’m going to read Deuteronomy 21:1:9. Deuteronomy 21:1: 9. If in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess, someone is free, found, slain, lying in the open country, and it is not known who killed him, then your elders and your judges shall come out, and they shall measure the distance to the surrounding cities. And the elders of the city that is nearest to the slain man shall take a heifer that has never been worked and that has not pulled in a yoke, and the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with running water, which is neither plowed nor sown, and and shall break the heifer’s neck there in the valley. Then the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come forward for the Lord your God has chosen them to minister to him and to bless in the name of the Lord. And by their word, every dispute and every assault shall be settled. And all the elders of that city nearest to the slain man shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley. And they shall testify, our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it shed. Accept atonement, O Lord, for your people Israel, whom you have redeemed. And do not set the guilt of innocent blood in the midst of your people Israel, so that their blood guilt be atoned for. So you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from your midst when you do what is right in the sight of the Lord.
Innocent Blood Must Be Purged
So that passage has some similar ideas as well. But there’s also some development in that story. This murder that has happened in the land of Israel is unsolved. No one knows who’s committed this murder. The perpetrator has run away and has hidden himself and got away with it, in a sense. So he cannot be punished directly because no one knows who the murderer is. But look at verse nine. The people of Israel still need to purge the guilt of innocent blood from their midst. How can they do this? They can’t do justice by punishing the person who’s committed the murder. So how can they purge themselves of innocent blood?
Well, the answer is spelled out in the passage in verse two, they like measuring in the land of Israel, they measure which city is the closest to where this murder has happened. Call the elders of that city. And they come out and they bring a heifer to a valley in verse four, and they break the heifer’s neck. All this happens under priestly supervision. And as it happens, the elders wash their hands and confess their innocence. Do you see? What’s happening here is it’s a life for a life. But the heifer who’s giving its life, injustice is a substitute. The heifer hasn’t actually committed the murder, but is a substitute for what’s happened. And in this way, the land of Israel and the elders in the city are able to say, we’ve purged the guilt of innocent blood from our land.
Atonement
Now look very carefully what they say while they’re washing their hands. In verse 8. Accept atonement, O Lord, for your people. And at the end of that verse, it says, so that the blood guilt be atoned for. Now, I wonder if you’ve heard that word atonement or you’ve heard that word atoned for, and you thought, I don’t even know what that means. What is that word, atonement? What does it mean? Well, that word was invented by a man called William Tyndale, who was martyred in this country for translating Bibles into English. And when he came, he found this Hebrew word and he thought, how can I possibly translate that into English? And he invented a word, atonement, or at one ment. At-one-ment. And what the word atonement means is to cover over sin, to purge and get rid of guilt so that a person or a nation can be at one with God. That’s what the word is all about. How can someone be at one with God? And that’s what that word atonement is all about. So the elders are praying as they’re washing their hands. Oh, Lord, accept this heifer as a substitute. We know you never leave sin unpunished. But we can’t find the murderer, so we can’t do justice in the land. So may this heifer be an okay substitute so that we do not come under guilt.
In fact, take our guilt away, Lord God, as we kill this heifer. And then without guilt, without evil in our land, we. We are free to be at one with you, Lord God. You see, God is a perfectly just judge, which means he always punishes sin. So if the sin has not been dealt with, then how can the people be at one with God? It doesn’t make any sense. And so to be at one with God, the guilt needs to be dealt with. The guilt needs to be purged and taken away. We’re building a picture of God here in Deuteronomy 19:21. We’re seeing that God is completely and utterly just, that evil must always be punished, even if the sinner can’t be found. We can’t just overlook a murder and pretend it didn’t happen because God’s perfectly just. And there needs to be a punishment for the crime. Guilt. We’re also seeing that guilt must be purged. God doesn’t want his people living with guilt in their midst. And guilt must especially be purged because it stops people being at one with God. It stops people having a relationship with him. The perfect judge can’t hang out with guilty people because he must bring justice in that situation. So the guilt must be atoned for. Then when the guilt is atoned for, the perfect judge can be in relationship with that people again.
Third Bible Passage
Well, let’s look at another passage. We’re going to go back to Deuteronomy, chapter 19, and we’re going to read verses 15 to 21. Deuteronomy 19, 15, 21. A single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offence that he has committed. Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established. If a malicious witness arises to accuse a person of wrongdoing, then both parties to the dispute shall appear before the Lord, before the priests and the judges who are in office in those days. The judges shall inquire diligently. And if the witness is a false witness and has accused his brother falsely, then you shall do to him as he is meant to do to his brother. So you shall purge the evil from your midst, and the rest shall hear and fear and never again commit any such evil among you. Your eye shall not pity, it shall be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
God Hates Lies
The language is slightly different here in this passage. It’s about purging evil from your midst, not about purging guilt from your midst. But the idea is still the same. It’s still about atonement. It’s still about at one ment with God. A perfect judge can’t hang out with guilty people. A good God who’s perfectly and utterly good cannot be won with evil people. So you need to purge the guilt and you need to purge the evil from your midst. If you’re going to be atoned for if you’re going to be at one with God. Now, in verse 15, in this example, for a charge to be established, it says you need the evidence of two or three witnesses. And the reason for that is because God cares about truth. He’s not just a God of justice, he’s a God of truth.
In fact, when we get to the New Testament, we read about Jesus, God in human flesh, we see that he’s the way, the truth and the life. And so God really cares about what is true because he is the truth. Establishing truth matters to God. And so he has this system that you need two witnesses in order to accept a claim. Now from verse 16 onwards, you have what happens if a witness turns up who’s malicious? What happens if a witness comes and claims something about someone which isn’t true? And in verse 18, it says the judges and the priests get together and inquire diligently. You see this as a system of careful law. This is a system about really working out what is true. They don’t just go, oh, let’s just make a decision. They carefully, diligently inquire to work out what is true because he’s the God of truth and therefore it matters what is true. And if after investigation, the witness is shown to be a false witness, they receive the punishment they were trying to give to someone else. You know, if they’re coming into the law courts and saying, this crime has been committed by this person, therefore gouge out their eye, then it’s an eye for an eye. Or if they’re coming to court and saying, this person deserves to die, then it’s a life for a life.
Two key ideas come from this text as well. God hates lies and lies deserve to be punished and therefore false witnesses deserve to be punished. But lying in other areas of life is also dishonouring to God. It compromises who he is. If you claim to be a Christian and to follow the God of truth, and yet there are lies on your lips, then that dishonours him. Imagine if a person would come into this room and praise the God of Truth in song, then leave the room and speak things that aren’t true in everyday life on a Monday morning. Or imagine if a Christian would go into the streets proclaiming the truth of the Gospel, Jesus is the Saviour, believe in him. But then elsewhere in their life, they’re telling things that aren’t true. There is a moment here, I think, for some of us in this room to confess that we have lied, that we have not told the truth, to confess to Jesus and to turn around, turn away from that sin, to repent of that sin, and to know that Jesus died on the cross for sin. So there is mercy and forgiveness. But also there’s a moment to pray for the Holy Spirit to come and change your heart, to transform you so that you would be a truth teller, one who worships the God of truth and speaks truth in every area of your life. God hates lies. That’s clear from the passage.
God’s Justice
But there’s also this clear revelation of God’s justice in that passage. Verse 21 is the kind of verse that feels awkward for us to read in church. It feels uncomfortable. But let’s read it again. Your eye shall not pity, it shall be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. Now, that verse is very, very interesting. That verse is very, very interesting for Christians to read, because in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus references this verse. If you’re recognizing this, it’s probably not because you’ve read it in Deuteronomy, but because you’ve heard Jesus say something about this verse in the New Testament. Many of you will be familiar with the greatest sermon that was ever preached when Jesus sat down on a mountain on the Sermon on the Mount and preached to all those who came and followed him. And in this astonishing sermon, which you can read in Matthew 5. 7, this astonishing sermon, Jesus reinterprets the Old Testament law over and over again.
Does Jesus Agree?
In this sermon, Jesus says, you. You have heard it said. And then he quotes from the Old Testament law. And then he says, but I say to you. And he reinterprets what he’s read about. In the Old Testament, Jesus was either the divine Son of God, and in the Sermon on the Mount, he was speaking truth, or he was the most arrogant man who ever, ever lived. If I stood up to you and said, you’ve heard it say in the Bible this, but I say to you something different, you would go, hang on a second, Duncan, get down from the pulpit. How dare you? How dare you say something like that? But this is what Jesus did in the Sermon on the Mount. He said, you have heard it said, quotes the Bible, but I say to you something different. That is astonishing arrogance. If he isn’t actually the divine Son of God who’s come down from heaven, who really understands the Old Testament law and is able to teach from it, I would use the sermon if someone said to me, jesus isn’t God. The Sermon on the Mount would be one of the places I would go to. Because I would say, if he’s not God, then this is horrendous. This is horrendous what he does in the sermon. But because he is God, he’s teaching us what the law is really about.
So let’s read some of this. Let’s read some of what Jesus does in Matthew 5, verses 21 to 22. This is what Jesus says. You have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not murder, and whoever murders will be liable to judgment. But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment. Whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council, and whoever says, you fool will be liable to the hell of fire.
Now, maybe you’re reading Deuteronomy 19:21, and you were thinking, yeah, quite right, the false witness deserves to die, and the person who murders someone else deserves to die. Quite right. I think I agree. But Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount, even if you didn’t commit the outward sin of murder, the inner anger against a fellow human being convicts you and makes you liable for judgment. If anger turns to insults and you say to a person, you fool, what Jesus says, not Duncan. Jesus says this, you will be liable to the hell of fire. Jesus is saying, you’re guilty of innocent blood even if you didn’t commit the murder. It’s the anger in your heart that could have led to murder. In a sense that shows that you are not right with God, that there’s something wrong in your heart. And if that’s you, then you are liable to the hell of fire. I don’t think there is a person in this room who will have gone through their whole life up to this point and have never got angry at someone, never insulted someone. So everyone in this room is now currently thinking, oh, dear, I’m in trouble. Jesus doesn’t just intensify the commands about murder. He also intensifies commands about adultery. He says, you have heard it said, you shall not commit adultery. But even if you look with lust, then you are liable for judgment. And he intensifies the laws about oaths. You’ve heard it said, you shall not break an oath. But Jesus says, just let your yes be yes and your no be no. It’s not just about taking an oath and breaking an oath. It’s about making sure that every word you speak, you follow through on. And so as you’re hearing the Sermon on the Mount, imagine you’re there. You’re kind of. I think you’re probably shrinking back from what Jesus is saying going, man, I am in big, big trouble. This is scary, what Jesus is saying in the Sermon on the Mount.
Now let’s read what Jesus says about retaliation. Matthew 5:38, 42. You have heard that it was said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Quoting from Deuteronomy 19. But I say to you, do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who begs from you and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.
Radical Forgiveness
Now, two things strike me about those words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. The first is this. Jesus is calling for radical forgiveness and blessing of our enemies, isn’t he? Can you imagine that someone takes you to court and lies about you in the judgment? Court? Well, Jesus is quoting from Deuteronomy, which is about that very thing. A false witness, someone stands up, takes you to court, wants to get you killed or wants to have your hand chopped off, or wants to have your eye gouged out. And they stand in the courtroom and they say, this person did this. You would be so angry, wouldn’t you? To be in that courtroom and think, this person is lying about me. They’re trying to get me killed. They’re trying to get me thrown in prison. You would be furious. And Jesus quotes from that passage in order to say, don’t retaliate, don’t retaliate. In fact, bless the one who’s trying to do evil to you. If they want to slap you on one cheek, turn to them the other cheek. Also, if they want to sue you and take your tunic, well, give them your cloak as well. If they want you to go one mile, go the extra mile in order to bless them and love them and serve them. That is radical, radical teaching and such a huge challenge for us, isn’t it, Christian? Don’t just forgive the person who wrongs you, but do what you can to go the extra mile to bless them. And in the very next section, Jesus says, love your enemies. Love your enemies. So that’s the first thing that occurs to me. There is a massive challenge here for what Christian life looks like in terms of forgiving and blessing those who try and do you wrong.
Is Jesus Contradicting the Old Testament?
The second thing that occurs to me, though, is this. Isn’t Jesus directly contradicting the Old Testament in this verse Deuteronomy 19:21 says, you, eye shall not pity. Jesus says, turn the other cheek. Are these not polar opposite instructions? How can God the Son, the Divine Son, stand up and preach and almost directly contradict what’s going on in Deuteronomy chapter 19? What happened to the God of justice in the Old Testament? The God in Deuteronomy could not leave sin unpunished. But Jesus is saying, do not resist the evil one. Turn the other cheek. Go the extra mile. How? How can these two things be reconciled together?
Taking just these two passages in pure isolation, you can understand why some people think the God of the Old Testament is different to the God of the New Testament. In the Old Testament, God is angry at sin and demands justice. And then Jesus comes and says, turn that other cheek. Be lovely to everybody, even if you know it’s two different gods, isn’t it? That’s what people say. But let me tell you this very, very clearly. God does not change. And Jesus, who is God, is the same God of justice from Deuteronomy 19:21. And we believe that. So we’ve got to find a way to bring these two chapters together. How is it that Jesus can say something so radical in interpreting the Old Testament law?
And there’s a huge clue back in Deuteronomy. So let’s turn back to Deuteronomy and read chapter 21, verses 22 to 23. Here’s what it says. If a man has committed a crime punishable by death, and he is put to death, you shall hang him on a tree. His body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day. For a hanged man is cursed by God. You shall not defile your land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance. So this is a law for Israel about murderings, about killing someone, injustice, and they are hung on a tree. And that person is described as cursed by God. Now this is not just a law for the land of Israel. It’s also a prophecy about the Savior of the world. One day a man will be cursed by God by being hung on a tree. And we know who he is. His name is Jesus Christ, the one who is God, who’s fully God, but also fully man would hang on a tree. Cursed by God. Galatians 3, verse 13 describes this very thing, saying, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree on the cross.
Jesus Christ, the Beloved, eternal Son of God became cursed by God. He took all our sin upon himself. All of humanity’s murder. He said, I’ll take that. All the lies that have been told, he says, put that on me. Every moment of hypocrisy where we’ve praised God with our lips one day and lied about something the other day, Jesus says, I’ll take that on me as well. Every act of adultery and every lustful look, every time we’ve been angry in our heart at a brother or insulted someone out of that anger, all the broken oaths, every unfulfilled yes or no, all piled on top of Jesus Christ, the perfect one, who never ever did any of those things, who never ever committed any of those crimes, takes it all upon himself and he hangs on a tree and dies cursed by God. Just like the heifer in Deuteronomy 21. Jesus dies as a substitute. They never found the murderer, so they killed a heifer instead. Well, they have found the sinners. And yet Jesus says, let me die as a substitute in your place. Christ died cursed on a tree as a substitute for us. He is treated as guilty so that all who believe in him become innocent. He’s taken everything, everything you’ve ever done wrong upon himself. He’s taken it to himself and he’s died. So justice has been done, which means you can be truly free, purged from guilt, if you are a believer in Jesus Christ.
This morning, everything you’ve ever done wrong, past, present and future, was dealt with by Jesus upon the cross. So you can say in the courtroom, in the presence of God, I’m the innocent one. I’m free. Justice has been done. And yet, mercifully, I’ve been forgiven for every single thing I’ve ever got wrong. Brothers and sisters, let’s not take this teaching for granted. I know we talk about the cross every week, but let’s not just go, oh, yeah, that’s nice. No, let’s go. This is extraordinary. Extraordinarily glorious. I can’t even say it. So wonderful. Brothers and sisters, let’s gaze once again upon the Saviour who loved us so much he bore the curse of our sin upon the tree. And let’s feel that guilt being completely and utterly and perfectly purged from us taken away. Let’s not live crushed by guilt, but let’s go. Jesus took it all. So you can see. Then let’s come Back to Matthew 5 and the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus isn’t saying, forget justice and just overlook evil. That is definitely not what Jesus is Saying when he says turn the other cheek, instead he’s saying, God does not change. I am still the God of justice, but leave justice to me and you can love and bless and forgive others, even if they’re a false witness against you, lying about you in order to get you into trouble.
I want you to consider, just for a moment, someone who’s done you wrong in your life. Someone who’s done you wrong in your life. If that person is or will become a Christian, then Christ has already died for that wrongdoing that they committed against you. The guilt has been purged. It has been dealt with. A life was given for a life. And that means it’s not up to you therefore to punish that person for what they’ve done wrong. It’s up to you to forgive them and to bless them as a brother or sister in Christ. You don’t need to retaliate. You can bless because justice was done by Christ upon the cross. Or if that person is not a Christian and never becomes a Christian, then at the end of time they will suffer God’s justice in the hell of fire. God will not leave any sin unpunished because he’s a perfect good God.
Therefore you have to be patient with this one. But you can forgive and bless rather than retaliate yourself because you know God will do justice for that wrongdoing against you, either on the cross or at the end of time. Justice will be done, not your job to retaliate and do justice on God’s behalf. Jesus isn’t ripping up the Old Testament law. He’s saying I’m the fulfilment of the Old Testament law. You, you’ve heard it said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I’m the man who was cursed and hung upon the tree in order that justice would be done so that you can receive forgiveness and you can forgive and bless even your worst of enemies.
Conclusion
I want to call three groups to respond to this sermon this morning. And can I invite the band up as well? I want to call three groups of people to respond to this sermon. Firstly, I want to speak to you. If you’re not a Christian, God is a God of justice. He will not leave any sin unpunished. God is perfectly just. And therefore there’s only one way to be purged of guilt. And it’s by putting your faith in Jesus Christ, who was cursed, as a substitute in your place on the tree. And so if you’re a non Christian, please, today, don’t leave it till tomorrow, but do it Today, put your faith in Jesus and have all your guilt taken away from you so that you can be at one with God forever and ever. It’s the greatest deal in history. Don’t miss it. Don’t miss it. God says, give me your guilt, give me your sin. I’ll purge you and you can be at one with God forever and ever. That’s the first group I want to call to respond this morning.
The second group is I want to call Christians who struggle with feeling guilty. I believe that there are Christians in this room who go through life crushed by feeling guilty, thinking, I’m not doing it right, I’m not getting it, I’m not doing well. I feel crushed by guilt in my life. And what I want to say is, please do not ignore or downgrade what Jesus did for you on your behalf on the cross. Look at the cross and go, that was the perfect work of Christ. He did not fail in taking away my guilt. He did not fail in purging me of evil. He is the great God. Christ did not fail. And so if you’re a Christian who struggles with guilt, look upon Jesus and go, yes, he did it. He took it all off of me. He took every single last speck of guilt away from me. So I’m innocent in the sight of God. And then you can do this if you want to, but maybe metaphorically jump and rejoice out of your seat at the freedom you have in the true forgiveness, forgiveness and work that Christ has done for you. I want to call you to respond, let’s not live lives feeling guilty all the time. As Christians, let’s know that all our guilt was dealt with by Jesus on the cross.
And thirdly, and finally, I want to challenge Christians who need to forgive someone else and not retaliate. Instead, forgive and bless an enemy, trusting in God to deliver justice on your behalf. And. And what I want to say to you has already been said in the way we took communion this morning. You have received forgiveness. You have received grace that you did not deserve. Now go and show that forgiveness and grace to the one who has wronged you. And believe in the justice of God on the cross or at the end of time.
Closing Prayer
Let’s stand and pray. Heavenly Father, we want to confess that every single one of us has done things wrong. Every single one of us have been angry at someone in a wrong way. Every single one of us has insulted someone when we ought not to have done. Every single one of us have had lustful thoughts in our hearts or have said something and not followed through on it, every single one of us as we hearing the Sermon on the Mount go. We’ve fallen short, God. We haven’t reached your perfect standard of righteousness. And we know that every single one of us in and of ourselves is guilty of innocent blood and deserving of punishment and wrath in our lives. We confess that we have sinned, but we also confess that we believe in Jesus Christ as Saviour, that he died on the cross for us and took away all our guilt and all our sin. And therefore we are innocent in your sight, perfectly and utterly forgiven. And we rejoice in the work of Jesus that he died in our place as a substitute that he rose again, our glorious, glorious Saviour. I pray that every heart would know that freedom from guilt that Christ won for us on the cross right now, in Jesus name and Lord, make us our forgiving people. I pray we would turn the other cheek, that we’d give our cloak as well. We would go the extra mile even for some someone who would wrong us so terribly. Lord, make us forgivers and blessers of our enemies. For Jesus you blessed, you even prayed for your enemies on the cross in that moment. Forgive them Father, you prayed for they know not what they do. May we follow that example in following and blessing people who wrong us, I pray. Help us with the power of the Spirit in Jesus name, Amen.
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