I am FORGIVEN and Free - Louie Giglio

Now, just to kick off the talk again today, this message is for people who are in Christ. So if you're not in Christ, what we're going to share today is not true about you, but it can be because by faith through grace, you can be in Christ the moment you surrender your life to Jesus. So I want you to know today that what we're going to proclaim out of the Word of God is true for everyone who's in Christ because in Christ our identity changes. We're no longer the old us, but we've become new in Christ. And so as you're hearing this talk today, I just want to remind us all that if you're like, "Wow, that's incredible, I believe that, I accept that. I'm going to walk in that only if you're in Christ." And so the most important thing, we've said this every week about you, the most critical question over your life today is, "Are you in Christ?" Obviously, we're all grateful that you made it into the buildings. We're grateful that you made it to church, to the church gathered today, but it's not about being in a building, it's not about being in a gathering, it's not about being in a denomination, or even being in a Bible study. The question is, "Are you in Christ?" And if you are, everything has changed. The way Paul wrote it in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 17, he said, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, that's powerful, that means this is an all-comers faith. If anyone is, and there's the position, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come, the old is gone, the new is here." Another translation said, "If anyone is in Christ, he or she is a new creation. The old is gone, the new is here." So what we're doing in this collection is we're taking Paul's advice in Ephesians 4, where he says that we are to put off our old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires, and to be made new in the attitude of our minds. So that's what we're going to do today. We're going to open God's Word, and we're going to ask God's Word to make our minds new, to renew our thinking, to right-size our thinking.

And when that happens, we're able to put on the new self. So we're putting off the old me. You know the angry me? Anybody remember that guy? Anybody remember the bitter me? You remember her? Anybody remember the selfish me? Remember that person? Anybody remember the striver? Remember him? Remember her? Anybody remember the addict? Remember him? Anybody remember the failure? Remember him? Remember her? Well, we're taking him and her off, and we are being renewed in the attitude of our minds, and we're putting on the new self. Last week I was actually, you know, taking off one coat and putting on another one. Turns out I liked the coat that we put on. I was going to wear it today again, but then people will get confused on YouTube, like is that same talk, same guy, whatever? It's got the same thing on it. So I just wore something new today that no one's ever seen before in that awesome. Walked in today, and there's a little loop rolling at our locations, just, you know, pictures from church, and you're in some of them, and, you know, our location leaders are in some, some of them are worshiped, some of them are my kids, and a couple of them are me, and I looked up, I had the exact same thing on, walking in today that I have on right now. It simplifies life. We'll edit all that out.

It's not necessary for where we're going in the talk today. So today, the label that we want to understand in the renewing of the attitude of our minds is found again in Ephesians chapter one. If you have your scripture, I encourage you to turn there. We're just working our way through this amazing text where Paul is writing to a church to challenge them in the way that they should live. So when you read all through the letter that he wrote to the church at Ephesus, he gets into all of it. He gets into marriage. He gets into family. He gets into how to fight spiritually. He gets into how to work as a team. He gets into the gifts that God's given us to make church work, but before he gets into Before he gets to the way he wants them to act, he wants to make sure they know who they are. Before he gets down to, hey, walk like this, not like that, walk like this. Don't live like this, live like this. Before he gets there, he wants them, and he wants us to know who they are and who we are. And so let's just read these first eight verses together. We'll be covering ground that we've already covered, but that's good. That's how you renew the attitude of your mind. Paul, that's who's writing an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God to God's holy people in Ephesus. So they're in Ephesus geographically. I just want us to enjoy this today. The faithful in Christ Jesus. So geographically, we're in Ephesus,

but positionally and spiritually, we're in Christ Jesus. Now I went through Ephesians in my Bible, and I just put a little dot by every single place in Ephesians all the way through where in Christ is mentioned. And it's remarkable how God is trying to underscore for us our position. He keeps saying it over and over and over. So let's count them today. Help me not miss any of them. There's the first one right there. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him, him being Christ, before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. So this was our word chosen. In love, he predestined us for adoption to sonship or daughtership through Jesus Christ. In accordance with his pleasure and will to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the one he loves. In him, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. In accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us. This is our focal point today.

In him, in Christ, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he has lavished on us. So let's just see if I can get a label out. Dear Lord, help us all. The label for today. I don't know what labels you're carrying around. Today. I don't know what's been spoken over you. I don't know what's been said about you. I don't know if you just quickly go, who am I? These few things come to mind. Maybe it's your profession. Maybe it's your name. Maybe it's your thing. I don't know what label the enemies try to put on you. I don't know what label you've put on you. I don't know what your ex put on you. I don't know what circumstances have said about you, but I do know that in Christ, you are forgiven. (audience applauds) (audience applauds) 25 words in this verse. Spilling over a little bit into the next verse, but in this sentence, 25 words and powerful. In him, in Christ, we have redemption through his blood. Redemption is connected to the word forgiveness and what it means is to be released.

In other words, it's that phrase, you're free to go. So you've sinned against God. You've chosen your own way, even if just one time. It's put you at odds with a holy God. There's no way that you can correct all this on your own. And yet somehow God is saying, you're free to go. The weight in the wrath of sin is over your life, but I'm declaring to you today in Christ you're free to go. How? How does He do that? How can He do that? We have redemption. You're free to go, but how do we have it? We have it through His blood. In other words, an exchange was made, the righteous for the unrighteous, the perfect for the imperfect. And when Christ gave His life, how great that this one is on the red tape, when Christ gave His life, His sacrifice was sufficient for God to declare Him guilty and you innocent. In Him we have redemption. We're free to go. We're free to go from shame, free to go from guilt. We're free to go from the penalty of our sin. How are we free to go through His blood? And we have the result of that, say it with me, the forgiveness of sins. And that is in accordance with the riches of God's grace. So that's the agent that said in motion our release was the grace of God. And that grace has been lavished on us. We have redemption. Can we say that together? We have redemption.

We have it in Christ. We're not going to get it. We have it. Not might come, we have it. Not if we hit the mark, no, we have it. We have in Christ been set free to go through His blood. It is the forgiveness of our sins. This means it's not earned or deserved, it's served. And that takes off the table, all the butts that are in the room today. Well, that's true, and I'm sure that's amazing, but let me tell you my story. I'm sure and that sounds fantastic, but you don't know what I've done. I'm sure that sounds great, but come on. You need to look into my story. Well, what I want you to know when we look into your story is that this forgiveness isn't earned or deserved. This is what the Psalmist wrote in Psalm 103. This is just the greatest news that there is. The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love. How could a good God send anyone to an eternity without Him? He doesn't. Our God doesn't send people to an eternity without Him. Our God is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love. And anyone who ends up in an eternity without Him doesn't because of their own choice to reject a compassionate God who is slow to anger and abounding in love. He will not always accuse nor will He harbor His anger forever, for He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His love for those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on His children. So the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.

For He knows how we are formed, He remembers that we are dust. I've messed up so many times. There've been so many potholes in the journey, and I'm thinking if I'm, you know, thinking rightly what I'm going to get from God is I'm going to get wrath, rejection, condemnation, and a massive guilt trip. That's what I'm getting. But I want to tell you today, God is the one who's serving today. And what he's serving you, are you ready for this, is not what you deserve. There's so many people in that thinking, man, I know there's just a major guilt trip coming. I'm ready for it. I'm bracing for it. And he goes, no, I have a heart of love for you. And because of my great love, I am not giving you what you deserve. I am giving you grace because I love you and I want a relationship with you. I love this. God is serving what we don't deserve. Would you like, would you like some of what you don't deserve? I want you just to see the permanence of it. This is Paul later in the same letter in chapter 4. In verse 32, he says, "Be kind and compassionate." I just want to underscore this before we kind of take our journey toward home. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other. Just as in Christ, are you ever going to miss this now? God forgave you. So we're flipping around the kingdom teaching of Jesus, which was, forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sinned against us or forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. That's kingdom teaching. But now the crosses happen. Calvary is in the story.

And Paul is teaching out of the finished work of Christ. And now the story has flipped. So now I'm forgiving you not so that I can get forgiven. I'm forgiving you because I have been forgiven. This is the way Paul writes it. You see the same thing in Colossians 3. Just as in Christ, God forgave you. Now this tense of this verb in Greek is the heiress tense, and you're like, "Why does that matter to me?" Well, I'll explain it from one Bible study. It says, "In this specific context, just as God in Christ forgave you, Paul uses the heiress tense to ground human forgiveness in a definitive, historically accomplished reality, namely God's supreme act of grace and forgiveness achieved at the cross." The heiress tense is saying, "This happened. This actually happened. Not might happen, going to happen. This did happen. God forgave you." And what we see in Ephesians 1 is all this is happening before the foundation of the world. We're chosen in him before the foundation of the world. So forgave or forgive simply means that God forgives. And we've got some real important spelling people in our church who put the "e" in there, but really don't need it. Before he gave. Before you botched it up, he repaired it. This eliminates all the buts because Christ was slain before the foundation of the world. And so God forgives us and he forgave us, definitive act in history and the finished work of the cross. It's done in Christ.

It's done. Well, let's talk about some of the responses to this truth. I think the first one, when you talk about forgiveness, are the earners, and they're chasing it. They've got something worked out in their mind. If I can make it a year without whatever whatever, God might take me back. If I can somehow do this much good, God might take me back. If I can work on this thing for a while, God might take me back, they're the earners of forgiveness. They've got a system they've worked out, and they're chasing after it right now. They would not say to you, if you ask them in this moment, do you consider yourself 100% forgiven by God? They'd be like, "Ah, I don't know about it, 100%. "But I'm working on it." They're also the burners, they abuse it. Oh my goodness, in Christ, I've got this, you're free to go thing happening, great. I'll just have a nonchalant attitude towards sin then. And they're burning the precious redemption that came through the blood of Christ in accordance with His incredible grace, which He lavished on us. They're the belittlers of forgiveness. They just don't think they need it. They're the hoarders. I got it, I like it, I believe it, I'm gonna keep it. As for you, not giving any to you.

There are the mirrors who reflect it. They're quick to forgive because they know that they have been forgiven. And when that news hit them, it freed them. They were free to go, and people that are free to go don't hold on to an unforgiving spirit. They're also the worshipers. I love these people, they never get over it. It's the woman who came to that dinner at the Pharisees' house and she had some kind of reputation. We don't know all of what was in that phrase, but everybody knew her story and it wasn't great. But somehow she and Jesus had had some kind of interaction. And she came and brought, remember this super expensive bottle of perfume. And she pours it on to Jesus and she weeps on his feet with her hair, she wipes the tears and is pouring out what some say is a year's worth of income in this bottle of perfume. And of course, the people around are like, "Man, what a waste that is." And this woman's like, "No, this is not a waste 'cause I've been set free." And Jesus ultimately gets to that part of the story 'cause they're like, "Man, what is going on here?" And he goes, "Well, let me ask you this." The two people owed the bank and one emode a ton and one emode, not quite so much, but they both got their debt canceled. Who's gonna be more grateful?

God had owed the most. Jesus said, "Yeah, exactly. This woman gets it. She gets the price of forgiveness. She gets the act of grace and love." And he tells her, "Your sins are forgiven and your faith has saved you." And her life does a 180 that day. And she never looks back and she never regrets the alabaster jar. She never regrets pouring it all out. She never gets over the grace of God. This is church, by the way. It is not people who kinda roll in and are like, "Yeah, we're doing pretty good." Church is people who never get over the fact that it was through the blood of Jesus Christ that their debt was canceled, their sin was erased, and they were forgiven by the grace of God. And every time they can, they wanna say, "Thank you, Jesus. I'll never get over it. I'll never get over it. I will never get over the cross. I'll never get over the price that was paid." So I wanna encourage you two things today. It's simple. Would you receive it? If you're not in Christ, put your faith in Christ today. But a lot of us who are in Christ and know about the cross haven't had its power domino all the way to us yet.

And the enemy has convinced you that you're not worth forgiving. that there's no turning back. And he is telling you today, I'm serving something today. And what I'm serving today is not what you deserve. I'm serving grace because of the blood of Christ poured out for you. Would you receive it? You're like, it's not for me. Well, it was for the worst of the worst guy hanging next to Jesus. It's like a drug dealer on the corner. Common criminal. He got it. It was good enough for the high flyer guy Zacchaeus who's living in the gated community. He got it. He got it so much that he went paid back, multiples on everything he's stolen from everybody. It was good enough for the woman that they caught in the act of adultery and threw her in the middle of the town square. It's good enough for her. All she heard were the rocks ducking onto the ground. All the people standing around her were like, see y'all. It was good enough for the guy they lowered through the roof who was helpless. By the way, he took up his mat and went home. I call him Matt. He's in my notes as Matt. That's how I remember him. He took up his mat and went home. But do you know that was like the ancillary benefit? That was like secondary. Like when he got home that day, I hope it was, look at me. I'm walking. I hope it was, I met a man. He forgave my sin. And he said, oh, you don't think I can forgive sins? Matt, get up if you will and take your mat and go home. Matt gets up, takes his mat and everybody's like, okay, maybe you can forgive sins. I don't know. Never seen anybody do that before. And it was good enough even for Jesus to pray for the people that were driving the nails through his hands and feet. Even they could get it. He said, Father, forgive them. They're clueless. Just doing a job. But I know what's happening here today. And I know that you are teeing up redemption. And even they can be free to go. Forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. So are you the exception to the criminal? And the guy in the gated community? And the lady caught red-handed? And the dude lying paralyzed on the floor? And the drivers of the nails, you're the exception to all of them. So I can see that happening for all of them, but I can't really see it happening for me. And in love, I just want to say to you today, you can't rise into your full potential in life, until you lower yourself, humble yourself, to receive the full potential of your forgiveness in Christ. You will never be everything God has designed you to be if you cannot lower yourself and receive the fullness of His forgiveness for you. And secondly, obviously today, God is encouraging us to reflect it. And no doubt there are people

in this room right now, and there's been some bad stuff come your way. And the power of the gospel is to say, "I'm in Christ, and I've been set free." And just as I've been set free, I want to forgive you. Now, there are a hundred reasons why we don't do that. They don't deserve it. They don't even are not even asking for it. I don't even have communication with them anymore. How would I even forgive them? They blew me off so long ago. Put up a wall so long ago. I don't even know how. I would forgive them. I can't... Can't see them, not safe to be around them. Well, how you forgive them then, is you just stand before Almighty God and say, God, as you are my witness, I forgive them. And if I ever get the opportunity to communicate that, I want to. But if I don't, you're my witness today. I forgive them. Now, please always have to qualify this. That doesn't mean that there aren't consequences to what they did. It doesn't mean that there aren't boundaries that have to be put in place because of what they did. It just means that free people, free people. And the enemy is convinced you that if you don't extend forgiveness, you maintain the power. You maintain control. But what is true is that by you not extending forgiveness, gives them control even to this day. Freedom doesn't come by lording over the one who's wounded you. Freedom comes by immersing yourself

in the finished work of Christ and going, I'm free. And I'm free from what you did to me. I am free from what you did to me. I forgive you. And that sounds crazy, except for the fact that God will forgive you. And I'm not above God. Oh, you'll have to deal with the consequences and you're gonna have to deal with the boundaries. Nobody's sweeping anything under the rug, but what we are doing is putting the cross on a pedestal today so the whole world can see it. This is the radical power of God in Christ. He sets people free and free people, free people. (gentle music) So what do we do when we sin? We just confess it to God and repent. We don't beg God for forgiveness 'cause we already have that in Christ. So we say, I know who I am in Christ. So I already know that I have forgiveness in you. So I just wanna clear the air with you, God. I confess what I have done and I turn away from it, I wanna repent and I'll confess it to anybody I need to confess it to you. I'm sorry, I was wrong. I'm sorry, I was wrong. I'm sorry, I was wrong. I'm sorry, I was wrong.

I wanna change that. I don't wanna do that again. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. And if it's a person, I would ask him, would you forgive me? But if it's God, I wouldn't ask him, will you forgive me? Because I'm in Christ and in Christ, I have redemption. I have it, not might get it. I already have it, might not get it. I already have it through the blood of Christ. I have the forgiveness of sins. And so I say to God, thank you, God, that you have forgiven me, have forgiven me. I confess my sin to you, I wanna repent of it and change by the power, the Holy Spirit in me. Forgiven people, walk it out and live it out. Day by day, not reaching for it, not a earner, not abusing it, not a burner. I'm not gonna belittle the forgiveness of God by acting like, I think I'm pretty good, thank you. He needs it. I wanna be the kind of person who doesn't just hoard it or as we've said many times in the past, receive it as a dump truck comes back and into our mess. But then when you wrong me, I got my little teaspoon over here. I wanna be a mirror that reflects it. I wanna be a worshipper that never gets over the forgiveness of God. (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music)

(gentle music) You