Do You Know You're Forgiven?

1 Corinthians 1:1-3

Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,

To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours:

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Corinthian congregation had a lot of problems.

 They were divided. Some followed one leader. Others followed another.

 There was a case of a man who was sleeping with his father’s wife. And the people weren’t confronting him. They were proud!

 They were suing each other. They were sleeping with temple prostitutes. They were making a mess of the Lord’s Supper.

 Yes, they had a lot of problems.

 Why didn’t Paul ream them out from the beginning? Why didn’t he turn on the fire hose and blast them away? Why does he start off by calling them—yes, all of them—God's holy people, his saints?

 He wants them to know they’re forgiven. He wants them to remember that Christ carried even these sins to the cross. Yes, Paul does correct the Corinthians. In 2 Corinthians, we hear about some of their fruits of repentance. They confronted the man who was sleeping with his father’s wife. He also repented. Paul pronounced the man forgiven through Jesus.

 You and I have a lot of problems.

 Your problems might be different than my problems. But when you read God's Word, you might find yourself saying, “I’ve done that, done that, done that, didn’t do that even though I should’ve, done that, done that…” Even outside of reading God's Word, I’m sure you lose track of the mistakes you make, the people you hurt and how many times you hurt them, the vile thoughts that creep in, that turn into wicked words, or even sinful actions. You commit a sin you think is so big, you won’t ever be able to face your Christian friends again, let alone God.

Do you know you’re forgiven?

 The world apart from Jesus doesn’t deal in forgiveness. It deals in punishment. In retribution. In compensation. I often wonder how many of us don’t even hardly hear the name of Jesus during our week, much less recognize that he’s forgiven us. And when we aren’t hearing about Jesus’ forgiveness, and are instead hearing all about what we’ve done wrong and what we have to do to make amends, that shapes us. It shapes our attitudes. It shapes our outlook. It weakens our faith. We might even forget we’re forgiven until we get that forgiveness boost on Sunday.

 Yes, in his Word God condemns sin. He condemns your sin. He corrects you. But most of all he wants you to know this: You’re forgiven. Jesus was condemned for you. Jesus was made alive to guarantee your forgiveness. He wants you to know this Sunday through Saturday. He wants you to know this from the time you wake up to the time you go to bed. He wants you to know this so that you may have peace now and rest forever with him in heaven.