Longing For Forgiveness

The word “Advent” means coming. And we are at the beginning of that time period that the Church has for a very long time celebrated called “Advent”. It is celebrated the four Sundays before Christmas and is a time of preparation. We are preparing ourselves in a time of expectant waiting and preparation to celebrate the first coming of Jesus Christ.

So, over the course of the next few weeks we will be preparing ourselves to celebrate the coming of Christ. This first message is from Psalm 130 and it’s called “Longing for Forgiveness”.

It’s easy to lose sight of what the Christmas Season is all about. I feel like the older I get the harder it is to do also. I want to get the perfect gift for my wife. I want my children to have great gifts for Christmas. I want to go and see all of my family. Amanda wants to go see all of her family. And, we don’t want to spend too much money getting all of this stuff done.

One enormous way to put my attention where it needs to be during the Christmas Season is to set my gaze upon the salvation that Christ accomplished for me when He came to Earth

My challenge to you is to hear afresh and anew the forgiveness given to us through Christ. Take yourself back to a time when Christ had not yet come and people did not quite know about the salvation that would be offered in Christ. You need to push back against what Christmas has become so that you can approach Christmas with the right attitude. We need to think rightly about our need for salvation, the reason that Christ came, and what He accomplished when He came.

We are sinners who are in need of a salvation that has already come.

Read Psalm 130.

Understand Your Need For Salvation (Vv. 3-4)

Look specifically at verse 3-4 here. The question is asked, who can stand when God is counting the sins of people? The obvious answer is no one. No one can stand when God is marking sins. And this is a huge deal.

No one is free from sin. No one is perfect. There is no one who is good in the eyes of the Law. The fact is that I can feel good about myself if I’m comparing myself to other people, but when i compare myself to God’s Law and His Word things are incredibly different. No one is free from sin.

“What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already changed that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written: 

“None is righteous, no, not one;

No one understands;

No one seeks for God.

All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;

No one does good,

Not even one.

Their throat is an open grave;

They use their tongues to deceive.”

“The venom of asps is under their lips.”

“Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”

“Their feet are swift to shed blood;

In their paths are ruin and misery,

and the way of peace they have not known.”

“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

-Romans 3:9-18 ESV

No one can stand before God’s judgment. The question is asked here, “who could stand?”. It’s a rhetorical question with an obvious answer. That obvious answer is “no one”. No one is good according to the Law. At the Judgment no one will be seen as good based on the fact that they are not good. Everyone has broken God’s Law. Everyone is found to be guilty in the presence of God.

Ask the average person out buying Christmas presents about whether or not they are a good person. What response are you likely to get? Well, most of the time people will state that they are good. They believe themselves to be good. But when we look into the perfect Law of God we find ourselves in quite a different place. We simply cannot measure up. We have not done what is good and right. And we all have earned for ourselves God’s judgement.

The truth is that Christmas is going to be an indictment of you before it’s going to be a delight. If you are going to approach Christmas with the right attitude and thankfulness for what Christ has done you will see yourself as wicked and in need of the Savior.

Imagine a doctor said to you after an appointment that you needed to undergo treatments and take medicine. You may take it, but likely you wouldn’t. But if the doctor looked at you and said that you are very sick and have a deadly cancer then you would likely undergo the treatments and take the medicine. In fact, you would likely take the medicine gratefully because the doctor told you that you were sick. It is the same idea here. You are not going to fully appreciate Christ coming to Earth for your rescue until you understand what bad shape you are in.

Then verse 4 ends on a rather positive note. With God there is forgiveness of sin so that we can come in earnest love and worship of Him.

We celebrate God coming at Christmas time. When we were separated from God He came to us. God the Son has come. he came and paid the full punishment for our sins by dying on a cross and taking upon Himself the full punishment for our sin. He then rose from the dead three days later. The power of sin and death is conquered and we can be brought to God through the work of Christ.Our response to this message is to repent and believe. It’s to turn from ruling our own lives and trust in Christ. And, all of a sudden worshipers are produced. “But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.”

Have A Real Desire For Salvation (Vv. 1-2 & 5-6)

Desiring salvation is not just the attitude of someone coming forward to trust in Christ for the first time. It is the attitude of someone who is trusting in Christ now and who will continue trusting in Christ. This passage itself is looking forward to a salvation that had not yet come, but for us has already come. We have the benefit of being on this side of history. We can look back at the salvation that has already come in Christ.

So, look backwards to the salvation that has come. God the Son took on human flesh and accomplished our salvation for us. Look backwards and ponder the fact that God the Son left the glories of Heaven to come to Earth, be born in a manger, live a perfect life, die on the cross, and rise from the dead three days later. But don’t stop there. Don’t end with thinking about Christ’s work in accomplishing our salvation. Look forward as well.

Look forward to and long for the ultimate salvation to come. This is the New Heavens and New Earth. When this passage was written both were in view because it was being viewed from the past. We are different. We view our salvation from a sort of middle ground. We stand with the cross and resurrection in history and our ultimate salvation being yet future. So, we find ourselves looking both forward and backward. With a whole lot to look forward to.

A person who longs for eternity is not thinking solely about how much stuff they’ll get for Christmas. That may be a thought, but it’s not primary. They are hoping for the world to come. Their hope is in the salvation that Christ will soon bring. Year after year we watch videos of people stampeding other people to get stuff, as if the stuff is more important than anything else in this world. We are people of another realm with our hope placed somewhere else. Yes, stuff in this world is nice, but it is nothing in comparison to the world to come.

Be Thankful For The Fact That Salvation Has Come (Vv. 7-8)

Spend this Christmas time glorying in salvation from sin. Glorying in something is to take intense pleasure in something. Find intense pleasure in the fact that Christ has saved you from your sin.

“O Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the LORD there is a steadfast love, and with Him is plentiful redemption.

And he will redeem Israel from all His iniquities.”

-Psalm 130: 7-8 ESV

Christ has come and if you are a believer, He has saved you from your sin. You were a rebel against God and He rescued you from the just wrath of God.

People who can approach the message of Christmas with an attitude of “Oh, I’ve heard that before.” or “Why are we talking about this again?” are people who are not in awe and wonder of what Christ has done. If you are going to be truly thankful for the gift given at Christmastime then you need to understand what a dire situation that you would be in without Christ.

If when you hear the message of what Christ has done, you act as if it’s old news that you don’t need or want to hear then there is something wrong. You probably don’t understand how evil you are, how glorious the salvation that Christ has accomplished is, and how wonderful our ultimate salvation will be in the New Heavens and New Earth. How different is the attitude of Christians throughout the ages?

“I love to tell the story, for those who know it best, seem hungering and thirsting to hear it like the rest. And when in scenes of glory. I sing the new, new song, ‘Twill be the old, old story that I have loves so long.”—Katherine Hankey, I Love To Tell The Story, 1886

This is really what Christmas is all about. We are in a hopeless state and helpless to change anything, and then God came to us. The reason that people throughout the ages have been able to and even desired to hear about what Christ has done week after week is that they have a true appreciation for it. They understand the dire situation that they are in and how marvelous Christ’s salvation is.

Hope In God And The Salvation To Come (Vv. 7-8)

Christ is our only hope. Cling to Him. Our hope is not in the newest IPhone, IPad, Playstation, XBox, or anything else. Nothing else is worth so much devotion. There is nothing else that is worth putting our hope in. Christ is where our hopes are fulfilled. For the believer Christ is your great treasure.

It’s hard for us to imagine eternity, and because of that it is sometimes hard for us to think through how glorious it is. For the first time in our lives our relationship with god will be completely restored. Our relationship has been made right with God now if we are believers, but we will actually and physically be with Him for eternity because of what Christ has done. This is a situation that we have never been in before. It is hard for us to imagine the length of time that eternity is. It will never end. We have never seen anything that literally never ends. We simply do not know what that is like. I can visualize it as a line segment that has a beginning and no end. But in reality that does not help me to understand how long it is. I can imagine what 34 years is like, but I can’t wrap my mind around 100, let alone the thought of 1,000 years and my time in the New Heavens and New Earth has just begun.

It’s also hard for us to imagine perfect relationships with other human beings, but that will also be restored. There will not be any fighting between each other. There will be no more gossiping and hurting one another’s feelings. There will only be perfect fellowship between people…not temporarily but forever.

It is also hard for us to imagine perfect bodies. Because sin has been defeated, we will have bodies that no longer have the aches, pains, colds, flus, strep throat, cancer, heart disease, or anything else you can think of. We will exist in such a more glorious way than we are now.

It is also hard for us to imagine existing without the sinful thoughts and attitudes we currently have. We are not going to have the horrible thoughts that run through our minds. Our anger and lust will no longer exist. We will live peaceful, upright, and fun lives for an eternity.

All this and more is what has been purchased for us because of the work of Christ. That is what Christmas is about. God the Son came down to live a perfect life for us and died to pay the punishment for our sins. It is because of this that we can have this glorious salvation.

If we will do this then Christmas will look different this year. As a group we will find ourselves praising God this Christmastime for coming to Earth on our behalf. Our worship of Him will be greater because our time will be spent pondering Him and not the stuff that surrounds us at Christmas time. We will find ourselves in awe of God, who decided to come to us and give Himself for us, that we might have a relationship with Him.

Here is the challenge for you.

1. Read, beginning tomorrow, short readings from “The Dawning of Indestructible Joy”. You will read a short passage of Scripture and a short statement about it concerning Christmas and our attitude toward Christmas. Read it prayerfully and apply it to your life.
2. If you have any questions about the reading message me or call me, I’d love to talk about it.
3. If you are here today and have not trusted in Christ I’d love to talk with you.

Conclusion

We are sinners who are in need of a salvation that has already come. And my hope is that we will, as a group be people who are longing for the salvation to come as we look backwards at the work of Christ that made it happen. Let’s be people who are filled with joy because of what God has done in coming to us this Christmas season.