Catechism of Forgiveness (Part 1)

Thanks for tuning in to No Compromise Radio with pastor and author Dr. Mike Abendroth. Today on No Compromise Radio we'll be hearing Pastor Mike open the Word of God in a recent message he preached at Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts.

Now let's join Pastor Mike in progress as he preaches through the scriptures verse by verse with No Compromise.

What a Catechism Is and Why It Helps Teach Truth

What is a catechism? Have you ever been a catechumen? Is catechism strictly Roman Catholic? A catechism is a way to teach people religious truth through a series of questions and answers. It's a way to really instill in the person and ingrain in their minds like the old Puritans would say to screw the truth of the Bible into the minds and souls of the people.

Just a common way of question and answer. It's an instructional way of teaching. I remember when my kids were really little. By the way, I miss Haley and Luke so much but if I mention any of the kids in a sermon by name they get one dollar.

So now that Luke and Haley are gone I can just say their names all that I want. Never have to pay. I remember catechizing Haley when she was probably three or four and those questions and answers are still in my mind.

Who made you? God made me. What else did God make? God made all things. Why did God make you? For his own glory. How can you glorify God? By loving him and keeping his commandments. It's a way to teach people deep truth about a religious system through questions and answers.

And it doesn't have to be specifically Christian. I found the cult of Mithras, 1st to 4th century A .D. They would educate their members into secret teachings in caves with questions and answers. Zodiac catechism, ask the question, where is the animal, O Lanu, and where is the man?

Answer, of course you all know, fuse into one, O Master of Life, repeating over and over truths to instill into the minds of people. The word catechism comes from a Greek word, katekeo. It means to teach out loud, to teach orally.

And probably my four favorite are the most famous four catechisms in the Christian realm. Luther's small catechism, Calvin's Geneva catechism, Heidelberg catechism, and Westminster. Let me just give you a few random samples.

Luther's small catechism, what's the first commandment? Answer, you shall have no other gods. What does this mean? You shall love, fear, and trust in God above all things. And you just keep repeating these things over and over and you go from one question to the next to the next and pretty soon people know doctrine.

Calvin's 1545 Geneva catechism, what is the chief end of human life? Answer, to know God by whom men were created. Question two, what reason have you for saying so? Answer, because He created us and placed us in this world to be glorified in us.

Heidelberg catechism, how many things are necessary for you to know that you may live and die happily? If you want to summarize all of the world, how many do I need to know? One, five, five hundred, catechism, Heidelberg answers three, how great my sins are, number one.

Number two, how I may be delivered from all my sins. And three, how shall I express my gratitude to God for such deliverance? Guilt, grace, gratitude. Question and answers to try to fortify, to try to give a sound foundation for Christian truths and you know, of course, Westminster Shorter catechism, what is the chief end of man?

Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. So catechisms teach Christian principles in forms of questions and answers and they're very effective. So this morning, if you'll open your Bibles to Ephesians chapter one, let me give you a forgiveness catechism, a catechism on forgiveness.

Two weeks ago, I was teaching from Matthew 18 and I remember Peter said to Jesus, Lord, how often will my brother sin against me and I forgive him? As many as seven times, you know, the rabbis forgave three times, we'll double that and add one for good measure.

Jesus said to him, I do not say to you seven times, but 77 times, that is 490 times. And that people who have been forgiven much should forgive much. It would be wrong to be forgiven all your sins because of Christ's work and then not forgive other people when they sin against you.

And so in light of that, I had lots of questions about forgiveness. Somebody came up to me at the door and they, they asked me a question and they said, well, pastor, in light of all these things that you taught about forgiveness, this is really the basic concept, right?

And actually it wasn't the basic concept. And so I thought to myself today, a forgiveness catechism to reinforce Christian truths that many of you will know that will help you think properly about God and his forgiveness, and it will help you forgive others as well.

I have 10 questions. Some catechisms have 50 questions, a hundred questions. I have just 10 and I know I can get through them today because we got through the 10 at the first service. And I want to tell you up front, especially if you're younger and you're saying it's a 50 minute sermon, 10 questions, five minutes a shot.

Pastors always do the same thing. They take too much time on the first questions and then they rush through the last ones. So if you're going by time, I don't know what to tell you. Forgiveness catechism.

And really friends, I know many of these things you know, but on a real practical level, I thought to myself, you know, we are all sinful people and we sin against one another in the church and at home, in the world, and we want to make sure we're forgiving people.

And the tenor with Jesus in Matthew 18 was a striking tenor. It was a fearful thing. When those people didn't forgive it, it roused up the anger in that king and master and we just want to make sure we're a forgiving people.

And so you could almost call today forgiveness 101 back to the basics of forgiveness. So we think properly and then we'll do in light of what we think. Catechism question number one on forgiveness. Is there forgiveness found in any other besides Christ Jesus?

Is there forgiveness in anyone else besides Jesus Christ? Now our day teaches pluralism. Many gods, many truths, and it denies the exclusivity of Jesus. That is to say, if there's truth in all religion, then this religion of Jesus and Christianity can't be the only true truth, the only singular truth.

And our society is what? We like more than one option. And so how can we put all our eggs in the one basket of Christianity? We believe in many ways to God. There are many paths to God, many ways to get there.

Isaiah 43 says that there's no God formed before me and there will be none after me. Isaiah 44 6, it says I'm the first and the last and there's no God besides me. Isaiah 45, I am the Lord, there's no other.

Besides me there's no God. And every one of you would, I think at this church, say that there's salvation in no one else for there's no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be what? Saved.

You would affirm with me when Jesus said in John chapter 14, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. It's a very exclusive religion. There's one way to heaven.

There's one mediator between God and man. It's the God man. It's the man Christ Jesus. Now if you could get forgiveness in lots of different religions, then we should be fully set to study those, to worship those gods of those religions.

But there's only one that grants us forgiveness. And if you take a look at Ephesians chapter 1 verse 7, Paul's writing to the church at Ephesus and other churches, he just blasts with this, with this praise that starts off in chapter 1 verse 3, blessed be God in the Father, God, you're to be praised because of election found in verses 4, 5, and 6.

And now he starts praising God in verse 7 for what? In him, and you could read this if you want, in Jesus alone, we have redemption. There's no redemption, no forgiveness, no releasing of sins in any other.

And you can just see how this goes against society because we want to be open. We want to be tolerant. There's many truths, many paths to God. And this is important too because if you have been forgiven, and there's two gods, how do you split the forgiveness praise, the praise for forgiveness rather?

So let's say you had two gods and you got a little bit of forgiveness for both. You'd have to go like 50 -50 for praise and thanksgiving and gratitude and blessed be this God, some or the others. But what if there were three gods?

I mean, that was always my conundrum. If three gods granted me forgiveness, three separate gods, then how would I divide the praise and thanks? When my mother died, we, my brother, my sister, and I had to split the inheritance.

I think it was like 2 .3 billion. I mean, it was just so much. I was glad to be the firstborn because I received 33 .34%. My sister and brother got 33 .33%. I made an extra five bucks out of the deal, I think.

If there's a split of gods and there's 10 gods, how do you divide up praise and thanksgiving? And if you're not a Christian and you know you've got sin and you feel the debt and the guilt, which one do you go to?

But Paul says there's only one. God's not impressed with anyone else except his son. This is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased, well pleased in this one alone. Look at the text. In whom? In Christ.

All the blessings in Christ. Nothing that you have in terms of blessing can be found outside union with Christ. Sola Christus. In an age of pluralism and open theology and wider mercy, how do you get to heaven?

Forgiveness is found in Jesus Christ alone. First John 5, the one who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself. The one who does not believe God has made him a liar because he has not believed in the witness that God has borne concerning his son.

Who are you to tell me there's only one person to grant forgiveness? That's what the world says. That's what the society says. Paul even knew this as he wrote to Corinth, for the word of the cross is to those who are perishing.

What? Foolishness. If you take a look at the text, in him we have what? Redemption. We have a deliverance. That's what the word redemption means. If you were a Jew, what would flood through your mind as you were thinking about redemption?

You'd think Israel, enslaved to Egypt. How can they get out? The most powerful army in the world and God with his mighty right arm just rescues. He delivers. He redeems out of the land of Egypt from the hand of Pharaoh.

And now this is spiritual redemption. Slave to Pharaoh? Oh, it's worse for us because we were slaves to sin and now we've been redeemed through Christ's work. And that word redemption there means to emancipate.

Think for a second if you would with me. The world says the unbeliever, the sinner's free. Free will, free choice, free everything. Free indeed. Born free. Free as the wind blows. The younger ones don't know that.

Google it. But we're not free. Unbelievers aren't free at all. We're slaves to sin. We're bound. You read Ephesians chapter 2, Satan, world system, culture, our own sin and we're bound and we need to be freed.

We're in the slave market of sin and in him and him alone the text says. We have. Isn't it interesting? Look at it. It's present tense. We currently possess redemption. Oh, yes, there was a redemption accomplished at Calvary and applied when we got saved.

But we have it right now. We have redemption in this one Christ Jesus. We have it. Released us. I love Titus. It talks the same way. Titus 2. He gave himself for us that he might redeem us from every lawless deed.

Can you imagine every lawless deed that served as a ratchet, served as a cable tie, ratcheting down your soul and you can't get it off? God says because of the son's death, released, free, purified. Galatians 3.

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. The slave market of sin. Redeemed. That's why we sing songs about this redeemed, redeemed. How I what? Love to proclaim it. Jesus is the only one.

If you're someone here today and you're not a Christian and you need to be forgiven, there's only one person who can forgive you. Only one who can bear your punishment. And his name is Jesus. Would you flee to him by faith in the risen savior?

The Cost of Forgiveness in Christ's Blood

Question to catechism on forgiveness. Number two, how costly was it for God to forgive you? How costly was it for God to forgive you? For the Christian, this should help us with our thanksgiving. And it's going to help you when you have to forgive someone else because it's costly to forgive others.

It costs you something to say, I will treat you like this never happened. You've asked my forgiveness. I've granted it and I will restore fellowship completely, fully. And yes, it's going to cost, it's going to cost me having that card in my back pocket that I could play anytime I want to say, remember what you did.

It's going to cost me my advantage over you. It's going to cost me because I really was hurt. It was an awful thing that you did, a sinful thing to do. But in light of my forgiveness, I forgive you. It's costly.

Take a look at Ephesians chapter one, verse seven, Paul goes on to say, not only in him we have redemption, but now we, we, we can figure out what the price of the redemption is. If redemption is to buy out of a slave pit, it costs something.

What's the price through his what blood that's the ransom money is blood. Matthew 20, the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his what give his life a ransom for many. It was Christ's life was Christ's death paid for redemption.

Now when I first think of blood, what do you think of? I'll tell you what I think of. I think of composition, plasma. I think of college and you need to get an extra 40 bucks. So you go give some blood, right?

I think of red blood cells and hemoglobin and enzymes are in there. What makes blood red? I think of white blood cells and corpuscles, Luca, Luke, Lucas sites and thrombocytes. I mean, it's just the blood, right?

The people who are around Jesus, when they were beating his face to a pulp, when the blood splattered on them, they were redeemed, right? Just a little blood bath. So when we sing, what can wash away my sins?

Nothing but the thrombocytes of Jesus. It just doesn't have a ring to it, does it? Are you washed in the Lucas sites? What do you mean blood? Now, when you begin to think like a Jew for just a second, you say, without the shedding of blood, there's no forgiveness or you begin to think like a Jew.

You don't say the sacrificial lamb had to be strangled. It had to be sacrificed. Yes, Jesus bled. But even when you ponder this, I can think of many more ways to make a bloody execution than crucifixion, because there's not that much blood in a crucifixion.

Guillotining blood, drawn and quartered blood, crucifixion, not so much. So what's all the blood talk? Because for the Jew and for Paul, the Christian, and for us, blood is a symbol of sacrificial death.

It's shorthand. It's an abbreviation, vicarious substitution in our place, on our behalf with bloodshed that leads to death. There's death. It's abbreviation for Christ substitutionary death. Ritterbo said crucifixion was not particularly bloody when therefore the blood of Christ is referred to it is not so much of the manner of his death, but because of its significant as sacrifice.

Sacrifice. That's the idea. Sacrifice. Sin costs life. There must be death. Jesus dies for the ungodly, for the sinner. How could that be? Why can't God just be kind of like grandpa? It's okay. Like when grandma told me, grandma Nona, when I was getting babysat, if you do that one more time, little mister, are you going to get that yardstick that we got down at the hardware store on your backside?

And I walked over to that little yardstick and I picked it up, broke it over my knee and gave it to grandma. And she still didn't spank me. Lloyd-Jones says, God the father is no indulgent father who just says, all right my child, come back all is well.

No sin is so bad it's got to be punished and it's so bad because it's against God and it has to be punished. And it's either punished by God on us or on his son. No wonder 1 Peter then makes so much more sense and it just warms the soul when you say knowing that you are not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile ways of life inherited from your fathers, but with what?

A precious blood as of the lamb unblemished, spotless, the blood of Christ. God just didn't give some thing, he gave his son. God just didn't say, you're forgiven, let there be light, let there be forgiveness because God's economy of justice and righteousness and holiness wouldn't allow that.

When a man said sin is so terrible, so foul, so vile that nothing could deal with it but the blood of Christ. It's not a patching over, a covering over, it's not saying that God said don't worry all is well.

It's God showing us what sin is really like and dealing with it. It's expensive, it's costly, it cost Jesus his life. And so when we understand that and now we have to grant forgiveness and when you hear those words from someone, could you please forgive me?

And then you have to say to yourself, if I say this, I can't hold it, it's going to be costly. I forgive you. It's good to be reminded that it costs to forgive. For us, it's free. For Jesus, it was his life.

The Fullness of God's Forgiveness

Question three, catechism question number three, a series of questions and answers just trying to help our church understand what forgiveness is because it's such a topic that makes me think about the personal work of Christ and it's very, talk about relevant, talk about daily that we need to deal with this subject.

Unless you've reached the state of sinless perfection and you're a Keswick, you need this topic, right? That wasn't a joke, but that was question three. How complete is God's forgiveness? How complete is God's forgiveness?

It's going to be practical as well because maybe you'll say to yourself, this person did something against me and I can forgive all these things that they did, but that one particular thing I can never forgive.

Well, let's, let's figure out how God forgives. And aren't you glad that when God forgives you, he forgives you all your sins and he doesn't just hold one back. Look at Ephesians one seven again in Christ, we have redemption.

We currently have this emancipation from our sins through his blood, through his sacrificial death, the forgiveness of our trespasses and that amazing all, it's a plural, the forgiveness of our past trespasses, no forgiveness of all our trespasses until we believe no forgiveness of our trespasses past, present and future.

The answer is yes. Every trespass Jesus paid for on the cross of every Christian, every believer in Yahweh. And when I was a kid, were you like me growing up in a sacramental system? I knew I was sinful.

I knew Jesus paid for sins, but here's what I was taught basically, or how it interpret the theological instruction. If I don't confess every one of my sins before I go to sleep, if I die in my sleep, where am I going to end up?

And so it was nerve wracking trying to just, it was like Luther-esque trying to figure out all the different things I did. I didn't even know my sin was what I didn't do. I thought my sin was just what I did do.

All these things that I thought in my mind and it's so exacting and remember I got a little bit older. I'm 21. I had a tonsillectomy and they, I think they take out tonsils back in those days and what adenoids?

What's an adenoid? I have no idea. I guess you don't need them anymore. And I remember home from college, have the surgery at home, 21 years old, it's, I'm too old really to have my tonsils out, but they take them out anyway and I got a cold.

And so they said, here's what you do. When you're coughing through your, with your throat, you're going to get a re-bleed. You could actually die from a re-bleed and a tonsillectomy. So cough from your diaphragm.

Okay, I will. Well how do you tell yourself at night when you're sleeping to cough from your diaphragm? I'm coughing from my throat like I always do. I wake up in the night in Omaha, 21 years old, there's just blood everywhere.

Now I can't figure out where my iPad is in 1981 and WebMD, I couldn't figure that out. So I get the yellow pages and open it up to Clarkson Hospital. I figured I was born there, I might as well die there.

Going to call them, I got the re-bleed, I'm 21. And in my mind it's like, I better make sure all these sins are accounted for and I've got to confess every one of them because if I die with one unconfessed sin, I'm going straight to hell.

Whatever happened. Well kids, I want you to know I made it. Actually, I woke up, it was Christmas morning and there you go. When God forgives a sinner by the death of Christ, every sin that the sinner commits and will commit, Jesus pays for.

It is a full redemption and look at the text again, forgiveness of sins. It's plural and what I love about this word forgiveness, there's a variety of words for forgiveness in the New Testament. This word means to send away.

Amen.