FORGIVENESS (Office of the Keys)

  

OFFICE OF THE KEYS (FORGIVENESS)
Text:   John 20:23 23 If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven."
INTRODUCTION:  My dear friends in Christ, there is a device invented this century or last called the electro-magnet. It is an amazing device. It is made up of a bar of soft iron surrounded by a coil of wire. When an electric current is flowing through the coil of wire the iron becomes a magnet. The strength of the magnet depends on how many loops there are in the coil of wire. The iron remains a magnet as long as the electricity is flowing. Electromagnets are used in many things today—in telephones, in electrical generators and electric motors.
I.  In any case, we may be able to learn a bit about binding and losing of sin in our text from an electromagnet and how iron sticks to it.
	A.  We are like an electromagnet and iron when we think about our sin. Sin sticks to us as iron sticks to an electromagnet that has electricity flowing through.
		1.   We are sinful from birth—we have sin stuck on us from the beginning.
				a. We have what is called original sin. Sin that is stuck on all men since Adam disobeyed God. In a way you can think of this as sin stuck in us, like iron filings that get inside the magnet and can’t be removed. b. We also have what we can call day-to-day sin stuck to us. This is the sin we acquire when we break the 10 commandments. c. The sin cannot be removed no matter how hard we try. It is like an electromagnet that is so strong iron sticks and cannot be removed and the electricity cannot be shut off.
		2.   The result of having sin bound to us and sin stuck in us is judgment—ultimately the result is Hell.
				a. God is just—perfectly so. He must punish sin. For us to be accepted by Him we must be totally without sin stuck to us or sin stuck in us. b. Paul writes, “There is no on righteous, not even one” and “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” c. We are all like electromagnets with iron filings stuck all over us—God only accepts totally clean magnets. We can’t be what He requires. Our prospects are dim.
	B.  But God knows how to turn off the electricity—to make the electromagnet not hold the iron. He knows how to make the sin “loose” and fall off of us.
		1.   He did this through His Son Jesus.
				a. Jesus lived a perfect life. No sin ever stuck to Him. No sin ever stuck in Him. In ways He was like an electromagnet with no electricity flowing through—a totally clean magnet. b. He went to the cross at the age of only 33; on that cross God stuck all the sin ever committed to Jesus and punished Him for all that sin. You might say He became the greatest superconducting electromagnet the world has ever seen. Paul states this idea clearly when he writes: “God made Him (Jesus) who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”
			2.   What Jesus has done is given to us. You might say God is offering to turn off the electricity of our magnets so all our sin is bound on Jesus and not on us.
				a. God makes this gift available to us through the Word and through the Sacraments. b. God creates faith in us through these means and our sins are then bound on Jesus and not on us.  He takes the sin from the inside and out.
II.   But our text talks about the disciples binding and loosing sin. The disciples are given the authority to forgive or not forgive. And we have carried that through to the church. How can the church bind and loose sin? We may ask the same question the Pharisees ask in Luke 5:21 of Jesus, “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” A good question.
	A.  The answer begins to be clear when we understand a couple of things.
			1. The church has been given the Good News – the church is the keeper and giver of the news about Jesus.
				a. This was done by Jesus. He gave the message of forgiveness. He sent men into the world with the message. He does this in the verse before our text. 21 Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you."  22 And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. b. This commission and authority was given to the disciples and from them to the church after them.
			2. Also we need to understand that God is the one active in the message. Men are only announcing what God has made so—but the announcement has God’s power.
				a. God does not forgive or retain because of what we do. But the announcement of the Gospel declares the results of belief and unbelief.
					i. God’s Gospel carries its own results. ii. The message itself has the power to forgive, it works faith in the hearer—gives forgiveness. iii. The message does the work. God is active in the message.
				b. But if the message is not believed—condemnation is announced – the message has the power to condemn like this story: God is gracious, but he will not force the acceptance of His grace upon men. In 1829 George Wilson, in Pennsylvania, was sentenced to be hanged by a United States Court for robbing the mail of the United States and for murder. President Andrew Jackson pardoned him, but this was refused, and Wilson insisted that it was not a pardon unless he accepted it. That was a point of law never before raised, and the President called the Supreme Court to decide. Chief Justice John Marshall gave the following decision: “A pardon is a paper, the value of which depends upon its acceptance by the person implicated. It is hardly to be supposed that one under sentence of death would refuse, but if it is refused then it is no pardon. George Wilson must be hanged!” And he was hanged. The Gospel of Christ which is the power of God unto salvation is for everyone irrespective of what he may be or what he may have done. But it is applied only to those who are brought to believe what Jesus has done was for them.
	B. The church is the keeper of the Gospel, but what gives the pastor the right and power to make this announcement as if he could forgive and retain sin? What is the pastor’s role in all this?
			1. We need to understand one thing first, if the church is the keeper and giver of the gospel, believers are the church—then every Christian has the power to declare the Gospel—to forgive and retain sin. To speak God’s words of forgiveness—words which themselves forgive or retain sin.
				a. Each believer can privately forgive or retain sin. Each believer privately can proclaim or teach God’s word. b. In our lives we are each in situations where we forgive people—where we tell others God has forgiven them. If they believe they are forgiven. If they don’t believe--their sins are still stuck on them—private ministry.
			2. Second, since a congregation is made up of many members, a pastor is called by God through the congregation to publically give the Gospel to people.
				a. It can be said that “Every believer is a minister but not every believer is a public minister.” b. God gives this authority to a minister. It is done for order as I Cor. 14:40 states, “everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.” c. Not everyone is trained or called.  So God gave the public ministry. But it is still God’s Word doing the work. It is still God’s authority that is forgiving or retaining. This is called the Office of Public Ministry.
CONCLUSION: I can best summarize this topic with this:  A clergyman walking near a brook, observed a woman washing wool in a stream. This was done by putting the wool in a sieve, and then dipping the sieve in the water repeatedly, until the wool became white and clean. He asked the woman if she knew him. “Oh, yes, sir,” she said: “I shall have reason to bless God to eternity for having heard you preach some years ago. Your sermon was the means of doing me much good. I rejoiced to hear it. “What was the subject?” “Ah, sir, I can’t recollect that, my memory is so bad.” “How then can the sermon have done you so much good, if you don’t remember even what is was about?” “Sir, my mind is like this sieve: the sieve does not hold the water, but as the water runs through, it cleanses the wool; so my memory does not retain the words I hear, but as they pass through my heart, by God’s grace they cleanse it. Now I no longer love sin, and every day I entreat my Savior to wash me in His own blood, and to cleanse me from all pollution.” The announcement of God’s forgiveness cleanses us, faith takes hold of God’s promise. Eternal life is ours. But now we wait and while we wait, the announcement of God’s forgiveness cleanses us daily. Amen