Sin, Redemption, and Forgiveness Explained

Now most of you know how much I like to goof around. When I worked at Gilster, we played pranks on each other, welding lockers shut, filling lockers with burnt popcorn, greasing the handles on tools and just all kinds of crazy things like that to help the shift go by faster.

When I worked at EFCO in Monett, somehow, I found another prankster like me and we used to play pranks on each other. He was a welder and when he would get ready to weld, I would take the ground clamp off and that would not allow current to go through the metal, so no welding could happen. I would stand behind the welding curtain and spray him with Windex or water.

He would sneak up on me and do things to my tools while I wasn’t looking, like shut the air off, so that the air driver would work for a few seconds and then quit. One day I saw him sneaking around, looking at me through another work station and so I said, “I see you, you stupid moron!” And it wasn’t my buddy but it was the new boss. Uh oh! Man oh man! It took the next 30 minutes of explanation to get out of that one. Luckily my friend spoke up for me and we both got off with a warning.

Needless to say, we learned a lesson. That lesson was to be sneakier. God gives us an “out” also…and I would like to talk a little about that this morning. Let’s read our main text. Romans 3:21-26

Man that seems easy enough right? All we have to do is believe and we are made right. There is more to believing that just thinking something is true. The demons know more truth than you and I put together, but that will know save them.

So, lets break this down a little and maybe some light will be shed on this. Starting with point one.

1. Everyone has messed up. (Sinned)

Romans 3:23, Isaiah 53:6

Almost everyone in here not only knows who I am now, but they also know who I was growing up. I wasn’t the perfect kid, but man I was close. Me and Bob Hendrix were almost inseparable and I was usually guilty by association.

My dad was in the Navy and we lived in Maryland when Dad retired. When we moved back to Granby, I was in fourth grade. I had already passed fourth grade in Maryland and it was summertime, but when we moved, school was still going in Granby and my parents made me go to school. I was so mad.

Sometime during my 5th grade year, the Hendrix’s became the pastor. They moved here and Bob, their son, and I were the same age and when he started school the fifth-grade classes were pretty full. They brought Bob to our class and there were not any empty desks. Bob said that he didn’t mind to share a desk with me and so it began. And it ended about as fast as it started. The next day, not only were Bob and I not sitting together, we were no longer in the same class. I am not sure what we did wrong, other than probably everything, but boy we sure messed up a good thing.

I am not perfect and as long as I am here in this life, I will not be. And it is important that I own my mistakes. And by owning my mistakes, I mean confessing my sin.

I want to clarify a little something, DO NOT try to justify sin, by just calling it a mistake. “I didn’t mean to insult and cuss someone out, it was a mistake.” No, it was a sin. I remember when Cheryl and I first got married and I was one of those people that cussed like a sailor for a long time. One day I made a comment that something was way out in (something I should not have said.) It slipped out and I felt horrible about it. I apologized over and over. That was a mistake. There are things that we do on purpose that we can not just call a mistake and go on.

One thing about it, everyone sins. Everyone has messed up, but you gotta own it and when you do, you will see that this is true which is point 2.

2. There is hope for all.

Romans 3:22, 25, Romans 6:23

In 2011, the St. Louis Cardinals were playing the Texas Rangers. In the 9th inning down 7-5 and baserunners on first and second, David Freese comes up to bat with 2 outs. After seeing 3 pitches David was down in the count with 2 strikes and 1 ball. With one pitch the game could be over. With one pitch the Texas Rangers could win the World Series.

The pitch was a strike on the outside of the plate, but Freese hit the ball to right field over the head of the outfielder and off the wall. Both runners on base scored tying the game in the bottom of the ninth inning. In the 10th inning, the Rangers scored 2 runs in the top of the inning. The Cardinals scored 2 runs in the bottom of the inning. Keeping the hope alive for another World Series victory. In the bottom of the 11th inning, David Freese is up to bat again. With a full count, Freese hits a walk-off homerun.

The St. Louis Cardinals won game 7, winning the 2011 World Series. How exciting to be a Cardinal fan. Down by 2 runs in the 9th, down by 2 runs in the 10th, but they still had hope. Many Cardinal fans had given up, down by 2 runs in the last inning with 2 outs and 2 strikes…it’s over…felt like all hope was gone, but it wasn’t.

Just because you have sinned in your life does not mean that your hope is gone either. I mean sure, the bible tells us that the wages of sin is death (hell) but the gift of God is eternal life (heaven) through Christ Jesus our Lord. That ought to get you so excited. Because if you are not saved, earth is as close to heaven as you will ever get. If you are saved, earth is as close to hell as you will ever get.

Let me tell you there isn’t anything better than a get out of hell free card. The bible tells us that Jesus is our atoning sacrifice. What is that? Atoning Sacrifice? It is the sacrifice that is offered to compensate (make payment for) wrongdoing or sin to bring forgiveness.

This is one of the ways that we fail as humans and Christians. We are supposed to be imitators of God. What did God do when we sinned against Him? He provided the payment necessary to resolve the issue. Can you imagine someone burning your house down and you giving them the money so that they can have it rebuilt? Maybe someone lied about you and caused you grief and you bake them a pie, go to their door and offer it to them, so that you can be friends again. Crazy right. Not exactly. We sinned and God gave us Jesus to make it right. To make it possible for us to be called His children.

Which brings us to point 3.

3. Being forgiven is not a green light to continue to sin.

Romans 3:31, I Peter 1:13-16

Does anyone know who this is? This is Willie Frank Peterson. Willie had been in jail serving 6 years. He pleaded guilty in 2023 to the charges of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance. Which means he was selling drugs.

Willie was pardoned and set free on January the 16th. Good for him, right? Willie was so thrilled to be free, he went right back to his old ways. Just 60 days later, Willie was arrested and charged with possession of cocaine and hydrocodone, possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of a firearm.

Willie didn’t learn a lesson. Many would not say that he was thankful for is pardon. Sadly, Willie is like many people that are call themselves a Christian. God gives us a pardon. He forgives our sin through the death and resurrection of Jesus and people will continue to do evil things.

Things that Jesus and Paul and Peter and John and James, all tell us not to do. I ain’t the smartest person in the world, but if Jesus says not to do something, I should not do that something. If Jesus tells me to do something, I should do that something. If I tell you to do something that Jesus tells you not to do, first thing…DO NOT DO IT! Second thing, tell me where I was wrong.

God calls us to be holy like He is holy. But what does it mean to be holy? To be holy is to be pure in heart, to be free from sin and sinful actions, to be set apart from everything that is not God. Jesus told the woman caught in adultery to go and sin no more. He told the man that He healed from being paralyzed to stop sinning before something worse happens to him. Paul said, that we reap what we sow. If we sow to please the flesh, then we will reap destruction.

We are saved by grace; you cannot earn it. No matter how much good you do, you can’t do enough. But here’s the deal… if you are truly saved by grace, you are a born again, you have the Spirit of God in you and your desires and actions will produce good works. The Spirit of God will never lead you to go against the will of God and the will of God is for you to produce fruit, to live your life that will do good works.

The Escape Clause