Forgiveness of Sins

SERMON OUTLINE
This We Believe #6 – Forgiveness of Sins

Main Text: Titus 3:1-11

(1) Why We Need the Forgiveness of Sins (3:3)

• Sin is the real problem
• Sin is deadly, now and forever
• We all sin against God
• We all sin against other people
• Reconciliation with God is impossible without forgiveness
• Forgiveness is impossible without atonement

“To forgive is to absorb the debt instead of making the other person pay.”  Tim Keller (Forgive)

(2) How We Receive the Forgiveness of Sins (3:4-7)

• We acknowledge our true condition without Christ
• We own our sin instead of blaming others
• We trust in Christ’s righteousness, not our own
• We believe in His saving grace

“Believer, if your sins be sought for, they shall not be found; your transgressions shall not be mentioned against you forever.”  – Charles Spurgeon

(3) How We Live as Forgiven People (3:8-11)

• We devote ourselves to good works
• We turn from old, sinful patterns
• We forgive those who have sinned against us

“Forgiveness is the key that unlocks the door of resentment and the handcuffs of hatred.”  Corrie Ten Boom

What about you?

SERMON MANUSCRIPT

Opening Illustration

If you ask people what is wrong with the world, you will get a lot of different answers.

Some people say the problem is politics.

Others say the problem is the economy.

Some say the problem is education, poverty, or inequality.

Every worldview tries to diagnose the problem.

Buddhism says the problem is desire. If we could eliminate craving, we could eliminate suffering.

Hinduism says the problem is ignorance. People simply don’t realize their true spiritual identity.

Many secular thinkers say the problem is external restrictions on internal desires.

We need more freedom to express our true selves.

But Christianity gives a different diagnosis.

The Bible says the problem with the world is sin.

Not just broken systems out there.

But rebellious hearts in here.

Human beings have rebelled against the God who made us, and that rebellion has fractured everything—our

relationship with God, our relationships with one another, and even the created world itself.

Isaiah 53:6 – “We all went astray like sheep; we have all turned to our own way.”

Romans 3:23 – “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

Need

If sin is the real problem, then the greatest need in the world is forgiveness.

Not merely education, political reform, or self-improvement.

Our deepest need is for our guilt before God to be removed.

We need to be reconciled to the HOLY God we have sinned against.

And we need a new heart that actually desires what is good and righteousness, not what is evil and wrong.In the Apostles’ Creed, we have learned so far about the nature of God:

The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

But now we learn about our nature as human beings and the reason Jesus came to the earth, died on the

cross, and rose from the dead.

We already learned that we are created by God – made in His image with value, dignity, and worth.

But now we learn that we have a sin problem – that separates us from God and from each other.

Sin is the reason our lives are unmanageable, and our world is broken at every level.

The Apostles’ Creed teaches us that Jesus came to the earth to:

1- Redeem us from sin

2- Create a new spiritual family

3- Give us eternal hope

Today, we focus our attention on this powerful, one-sentence summary of the gospel:

“I believe in the forgiveness of sins.”

Jesus’ perfect life, sacrificial death, and resurrection from the dead were necessary for our forgiveness.

Subject

This morning, we are talking about the forgiveness of sins.

The church is not a gathering of morally superior people (where we are better than everyone else).

It is a gathering of forgiven sinners.

The gospel we believe produces the church we belong to.

That’s why we’re talking about forgiveness first, even though the Creed mentions the church before

forgiveness. The church exists only because God forgives sinners.

I pray today that the Lord will open our eyes to see our need for grace and the forgiveness we have in Christ

alone.

Can you open your Bibles with me to Titus 3 and stand for the reading of God’s Word?

TEXT: Titus 3:1-11

Remind them to submit to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work, 2 to slander no

one, to avoid fighting, and to be kind, always showing gentleness to all people. 3 For we too were once foolish,

disobedient, deceived, enslaved by various passions and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, detesting

one another.

4 But when the kindness of God our Savior and his love for mankind appeared, 5 he saved us—not by works of

righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy—through the washing of regeneration and

renewal by the Holy Spirit. 6 He poured out his Spirit on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior 7 so

that, having been justified by his grace, we may become heirs with the hope of eternal life.8 This saying is trustworthy. I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed God might

be careful to devote themselves to good works. These are good and profitable for everyone.

9 But avoid foolish debates, genealogies, quarrels, and disputes about the law, because they are unprofitable

and worthless. 10 Reject a divisive person after a first and second warning. 11 For you know that such a

person has gone astray and is sinning; he is self-condemned.

Preview:

In this passage, Paul shows us three things about the forgiveness of sins:

1. Why we need the forgiveness of sins (v.3)
2. How we receive the forgiveness of sins (vv.4–7)
3. How we live as forgiven people (vv.8–11)

And when we understand these truths, we begin to see what makes the Christian life—and the Christian

church—so different from the world.

Sermon:

(1) Why We Need the Forgiveness of Sins

• Titus 3:3

• Paul begins with a sober reminder of who we were before Christ.

• “For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various passions and

pleasures…”

Sin is the real problem

• The Bible’s diagnosis of the sickness in the human condition is sin.

•“sin” as a word has fallen out of favor in American culture because it requires a belief in God and makes

people feel uncomfortable.

• But if we can’t diagnose the real problem, we can’t get to the real solution.

• Sin is sometimes defined as anything we think, say, or do that disobeys God’s laws. Which is true.

• But at a heart level, sin is rebellion against God’s authority and rejection of His ways. It is a refusal to

love God first and the choice to love self over God.

• Paul uses six descriptions of sinful humanity (what we once were):

• foolish
• disobedient
• deceived
• enslaved to passions
• living in malice and envy
• hateful toward others

• This description matches the broader biblical diagnosis of the human heart.

• Romans 3:10–12 – “There is no one righteous, not even one.”

• But why is this a problem for us?

Sin is deadly—now and forever

• Sin destroys lives now through:

• addiction
• conflict
• injustice
• broken relationships
• self-destruction
• all the “isms”

• But Scripture also warns that sin carries eternal consequences before a holy God.

• Hell is a real place created for the devil and His demons’The reality of hell teaches us the heaviness and weight of sin.
• Choosing life without God now leads to life without God forever.

•How does this relate to me and you?

We all sin against God

• Every sin ultimately violates God’s holiness.

• As David said in Psalm 51:

• “Against you, you only, have I sinned.”

• David had sinned against Bathsheba, Uriah, and his nation.

• But at the end of the day, his sin was first and foremost against God.

• This is true for each of us.

• The ultimate reason SIN is devastating is that it is ultimately against our Creator.

• We all turn away from God and go our own way.

• And because of that…

We all sin against other people

• Sin also damages human relationships.

• That is why the world is full of conflict, betrayal, injustice, and pain.

• When we turn away from God, we hurt other people.

• Every. Single. Time.

• So, how can we be reconciled to God and one another?

Reconciliation with God is impossible without forgiveness

• If God is holy and we are sinful, then something must be done about our sin and guilt.

• Titus says we are washed by the Spirit.

• We need someone to remove our sin and restore us to our right condition.

• But watch this…

Forgiveness is impossible without atonement

• Forgiveness does not ignore justice.

• A price must be paid for the sin committed.

• Forgiveness is only possible if our sins have been atoned for.

• Which is why the Bible points us to the cross of Jesus Christ.

Illustration —

Imagine someone loans you $10 million.

But you lose the money and cannot pay it back.

The bank calls. The debt is real. The obligation is real.

There are only two possible outcomes.

Either you pay the debt, or someone else pays it for you.

Forgiveness always means someone absorbs the loss.

When God forgives our sins, He is not ignoring justice.

Jesus absorbs the debt in our place.

The cross is where the debt was paid.Tim Keller (from Forgive): “To forgive is to absorb the debt instead of making the other person pay.”

We need forgiveness because we all owe a debt from sin that we cannot repay on our own.

How then…

(2) How We Receive the Forgiveness of Sins

• Titus 3:4–7

• After describing our sin, Paul gives one of the most beautiful transitions in Scripture:

• “But when the kindness of God our Savior and his love for mankind appeared…”

• The gospel begins not with our goodness, but with God’s kindness.

• His kindness and love appeared in creation when Jesus was born into this world.

• He came out of kindness and love to rescue us from our sin.

• How do we receive that mercy? Watch this – very important:

We acknowledge our true condition without Christ

• Forgiveness begins with honesty.

• We admit what Paul says about us in verse 3.

• We are sinners in need of grace.

• We will never turn to Christ until we can acknowledge our true condition without Christ.

• I am a sinner. You are a sinner.

• We have turned from God and gone our own way.

• But here’s the trap we often fall into: we blame other people from our sin.

• This goes all the way back to the garden of eden in Genesis 3:

• The man blamed the woman and God, the woman blamed the serpent.

• We have to get to step 2:

We own our sin instead of blaming others

• Our culture is quick to shift blame.

• But forgiveness begins when we say:

• “Lord, I have sinned.”

• No one made me do it.

• We live in a therapeutic generation that is focused heavily on the traumas we have endured.

• Which can be helpful in understanding and debunking the lies we have believed.

• But we have to be careful in that an over-emphasis on what others have done to us can get us off the

hook for the choices we have made.

• The truth is that we take the evil others have done to us and combine it with the evil in our own hearts

to sin against God and others.

• To experience forgiveness, we stop blaming others and start owning our sin.

• Then, where do we go if we can’t blame others?

We trust in Christ’s righteousness, not our own

• Paul says in verse 5:

• “He saved us—not by works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy.”

• Our hope is not our moral performance or religious observances.

• Our hope is Christ’s righteousness given to us.

• This is the HEART of the good news – that Jesus has done for us what we could not do for ourselves.

• He lived the perfect life we could not live.

• He died the death that we deserved.• He rose from the dead to give us new life.

• He offers forgiveness to all who put their faith in Him.

• What does it mean to put our faith in Christ?

• To put our confidence in His goodness, not our own.

• To say it another way….

We believe in His saving grace

• God washes us.

God renews us.

God justifies us.

God gives us the hope of eternal life.

• Forgiveness is not earned.

• It is a gift of grace through Jesus Christ.

• Grace is not an excuse to keep sinning and to rebel against God.

• Grace is a gift that we receive that changes our hearts and makes us new.

• As Titus says, we are justified by His grace.

• We are declared righteous before God by His grace.

The result: our sins are removed as far as the east is from the west.

This is amazing. Listen to Psalm 103:8-12…

“The LORD is compassionate and gracious,

slow to anger and abounding in faithful love.

He will not always accuse us

or be angry forever.

He has not dealt with us as our sins deserve

or repaid us according to our iniquities.

For as high as the heavens are above the earth,

so great is his faithful love toward those who fear him.

As far as the east is from the west,

so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”

When we confess and repent, and we turn to Christ alone to save us, God removes our sin far from us.

His mercy covers us completely.

He doesn’t bring back up our past sins to accuse us that He has already forgiven.

“Believer, if your sins be sought for, they shall not be found; your transgressions shall not be mentioned

against you forever.” – Charles Spurgeon

How then should we live?

(3) How We Live as Forgiven People

• Titus 3:8–11

• Forgiveness changes not only our standing before God but also our way of life.

We devote ourselves to good works

• Paul says believers should “devote themselves to good works.”

• Not to earn salvation.

• But because we have been saved.• This is really important.

• We are not earning our standing with God.

• We are grateful for our standing with God and living joyfully under His authority.

• We love Him because He first loved us.

• We want to live more like Christ because we have been given the righteousness of Christ.

• We obey because He loved and forgave us.

• We don’t obey to get His love and forgiveness.

• The order shapes our motivation for godliness.

We turn from old, sinful patterns

• Forgiveness does not mean continuing in the same patterns.

• Grace leads to transformation.

• At the end of the passage, Paul basically says “don’t go back to your former way of living.”

• This is always a temptation for believers:

• To abuse God’s grace as a reason that our sin doesn’t matter.

• We can do whatever we want because we know God will forgive us.

• But this is the wrong way to think about God’s grace.

• God’s grace is not covering for continued rebellion.

• It is fuel for transformation.

• It gives us the power to become the people God created us to be.

• Changing old habits is hard, but it is possible.

• God’s grace, God’s people, God’s Word, and God’s Spirit make real change possible.

• You are not destined to always do the things you’ve always done.

• But you must set your heart to turn from old, sinful patterns in your life.

• And finally…

We forgive those who have sinned against us

• Forgiven people become forgiving people.

• Jesus taught us to pray:

• “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

• When we understand how much God has forgiven us, it reshapes the way we treat others.

• We can’t confess the creed, “I believe in the forgiveness of sins.”

• And then hold on to unforgiveness toward other people.

• We can’t ask God to forgive us our sins and then be bitter toward those who sin against us.

• Forgiven people forgive people.

• And this is one of God’s greatest gifts to us as His people.

• Let me get more personal to explain how important this truth is…

Personal Story Illustration

There was a season in my life when someone hurt me deeply.

For a long time, every time I thought about that situation, I felt anger rising inside of me.

I would replay the situation in my mind.

And what I eventually realized was this:

Holding on to unforgiveness was not hurting them.

It was hurting me.

It was making me angry. Bitter. Unhappy.

And the Lord had to teach me what it really means to forgive.

To bring that pain to Him again and again.

Until eventually something changed in my heart.When I thought about that person, I was no longer filled with anger.

Instead, I felt sadness for them.

And even love.

That is what forgiveness does.

It frees your heart from the prison of bitterness.

I’m not naturally good at this. I need God’s help.

I need to remember how much God has forgiven me.

“Forgiveness is the key that unlocks the door of resentment and the handcuffs of hatred.” – Corrie Ten Boom

What about you?

Conclusion

• The church is not made up of people who think they are better than everyone else.

• We are not a self-righteous people.

• We are a forgiven people.

• People who know the depth of our sin.

• People who know the greatness of God’s mercy.

• People who stand before God only because of grace.

• And when a church is filled with people who know they are forgiven…

• It becomes a community marked by humility, gentleness, patience, and grace.

• Which is exactly what Paul describes in Titus 3:1–2.