INTRODUCTION:
The Lord Jesus was born into a sinful world. His advent was not designed as an inspirational moment to crown all the others, but rather He was sent as a Savior. He came to bring forgiveness, and consequently if there is anything His followers should understand and practice, it is forgiveness.
THE TEXT:
“Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily. But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins” (Matt. 1:19-21).
“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin” (Heb. 10:16-18).
OVERVIEW:
After Joseph discovered that Mary was pregnant (and he knew that he wasn’t the father), the only reasonable conclusion to draw was that Mary had been unfaithful (Matt. 1:19). But he did not want to humiliate her, so he resolved to divorce her quietly. While he deciding what to do, an angel appeared to him in a dream, called him a son of David, and told him that Mary had conceived as result of the work of the Holy Spirit (v. 20). The angel told him, further, that the baby would be a boy and that Joseph was to name Him Jesus. The reason for the name is that He would save His people from their sins (v. 21). The name Jesus is the New Testament equivalent of Joshua, which means that “God is salvation,” a meaning that Matthew confirms, adding the important detail that the salvation is from sin.
Jeremiah had looked foward to the coming of the new covenant—a time when Israel and Judah would be transformed into covenant-keepers. In the eighth chapter of Hebrews, the entire passage from Jeremiah is quoted. In Hebrews 10, it is quoted again in abridged form, emphasizing the key details of the new covenants. These key terms were the internalization of the law (Heb. 10:16), and the forgiveness of sins (v. 16). And where there is remission, there is no further need for sin offerings (v. 17).
DEEP FORGIVENESS:
The Lord Jesus did not come, live a perfect life, die on the cross and come back from the dead in order to dab around the edges of our wound. Our complicity in the sin of Adam, and our continuing screwed-up-ness required a great remedy, which could not be had apart from the work of a great Savior. But remember that Jesus is saving us from our sins, and not merely from the consequences of our sins. And one of the central sins He is saving us from is the sin of the double standard—wanting to receive forgiveness on easy terms, and wanting to extend it with the heart of a stickler for justice. We want to borrow easily, and lend with difficulty. We want our fingers open to receive, and our fist clenched for giving. But Jesus has given us fair warning that we do not receive forgiveness on our terms. Not at all. In the Lord’s prayer, we are taught to say this to God—”And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” (Matt. 6:12). “Dear God, please harbor toward me all the thoughts I harbor toward others.” Do the words stick in the throat? “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart” (Matt. 18:21-35). Forgiving others is not optional.
THE HEART OF THE GOSPEL MESSAGE:
“Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins” (Acts 5:31). “Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins” (Acts 13:38). “To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me” (Acts 26:18). “In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace” (Eph. 1:7; cf. Col. 1:14).
SO WHAT IS IT?
We usually have a better understanding of forgiveness when receiving it, because we need the forgiveness we receive to be all-encompassing. We want to receive forgiveness dispensed from a fire hose, and we want to ladle it out with a tea spoon. But Jesus came to save us from our parsimonious selves. Forgiveness means treating the other person as though they did absolutely no wrong—even though you know that they did. Forgiveness presupposes real sin. You don’t have to kid yourself to be forgiving—in fact, it is crucial not to. “I’ll forgive him because he didn’t really mean it” is whitewash, not forgiveness.
MECHANICS OF FORGIVENESS:
Having been forgiven for everything, we must have hearts that are completely and entirely full of forgiveness for those who have wronged us. But the world is a messy place—what does this look like?
First, love and forgivness cover a multitude of sins (1 Pet. 4:8). This means that forgiveness (for a certain kind of sin) can be extended without the other person’s cooperation. But this “cover” has to be a cleansing carpet, not a lumpy one.
Second, love and forgiveness do not attempt to read the heart (Luke 17:3-5). We are told to forgive, up to seven times daily, which actually means 490 times, and this applies even though all of would have our suspicions about the third or fourth time. Forgiveness is a transaction, like the sale of a mule.
Third, love and forgiveness confront when necessary (Matt. 18: 15-19). This must only be pursued for the sake of the other person, not your own sake. It is quite striking that Jesus tells the parable of the unmerciful servant immediately after the famous “Matthew 18” instruction. But both these teachings are in Matthew 18. The unmerciful servant is the one sinned against, and so he would have been the one following the Matthew 18 court process. Conservative believers are far more comfortable with accusation than they ought to be. Run a thought experiment concerning 200 Christian law students who have just passed the bar. One hundred of them are going to be defense attorneys and one hundred will be prosecutors. Which group will be asked to justify their choice of a profession with their Christian faith?