We’re currently in a message series called “How God Sees You.” In this series, we’re looking at God’s Word to better understand how God sees each one of us. Our goal in this series is to grow in seeing ourselves and others as God sees. I believe that seeing your world correctly begins with seeing yourself correctly. If we don’t have an accurate view of ourselves, then we won’t see others the way that God sees them.
Jesus taught us that the greatest commandment was to love God with all your heart.
Matthew 22:39 (NIV) And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
Now, let’s think about this second commandment for a minute. If we are to love our neighbors as ourselves, what if we don’t love ourselves? What if we don’t even like ourselves? That would be a problem wouldn’t it. And a lot of people have a problem loving others, because they really don’t love themselves. Why should we love ourselves? Because God looks at you and He loves you. When we see ourselves as God sees us, then we will be able to love ourselves and love our neighbors as God does.
Today, the topic for our message is “Completely Forgiven.” We’re going to be talking about the main area where people don’t feel good about themselves, where people don’t see themselves as God sees them. That area is the area of sin. What is sin? Sin is when we go our own way in life without consulting God. Sin is when we do wrong things that God says we shouldn’t do. Sin is when we neglect to do right things that God says we should do.
What happens when a person sins? What happens is that you feel guilty for what you’ve done. God has given each person a conscience and the ability to discern right from wrong. When we sin, we develop a guilty conscience and that guilt doesn’t go away. We can try to hide it, to escape from it, to bury it, but it is still there. Guilt can lead to depression, relationship problems and many other negative consequences in our lives. And the root cause of guilt, our sin, causes us to be separated from a holy God.
Today, we’re going to be talking about God’s forgiveness. We going to learn how to see ourselves as God sees us. When we see ourselves in that light, we can see others the same way. I believe this message from God’s Word will set many people free today. God wants to set people here today free from sin and free from guilt. If you’re a believer here today, God is going to show you that you are completely forgiven. If you’re not a believer yet, than today God wants you to enter into the experience of complete forgiveness, so that you can enjoy a relationship with Him.
Our passage today is found in Hebrews 10 and we’re going to learn about forgiveness from both the Old and New Testaments.
The forgiveness of Jesus is the greatest power! Living in His forgiveness is to live in freedom! God Bless!