Mental Health through our Faith - Forgiveness

Teacher: Rusty Kennedy
Series: Mental Health & Spiritual Maturity

Rusty's Notes

1 John 2:12-13
12 I am writing to you, little children,
because your sins have been forgiven
because of Jesus’ name.
13 I am writing to you, fathers,
because you have come to know
the One who is from the beginning.
I am writing to you, young men,
because you have had victory over the evil one.[1]
----------------------------
One Thing…

• I want to teach you one thing today.
• Don’t believe a word I say.
• This is something that I was not taught at OBU.
• I never heard in seminary.
• I did not learn this until I was 35 years old.

 
What percentage of the church understands forgiveness? Hold your responses.

1 John 2:12
12 I am writing to you, little children,
because your sins have been forgiven
because of Jesus’ name.

• To begin with, “little children” refers to all believers.
• John is not talking about age here.
• John is referring to spiritual maturity.
• Literally, this word means “born ones.”
• All Christians have been born into God’s family through faith in Jesus Christ, and their sins have been forgiven.[2]
• “Have been forgiven” is in the perfect tense (John will use a perfect tense form six times in these verses).
• This forgiveness occurs because the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ made the mercy and grace of God available to those who repent of their sins and believe in the name of Jesus.[3]
• “Forgiven” – the forgiveness of sins is mentioned as a completed fact, which, as a ground whereon they stand, as a sphere wherein they move, as a benefit they have received, has and is to have on them and the rest of their life a lasting effect and an efficient power.[4]
• The first and most fundamental word of encouragement that John can give to all members of the church is that in the past they were forgiven of their sins and that this forgiveness remains effective in their lives.[5]

 

• Many will teach that forgiveness is a gift that we can’t take for granted. (I agree) Therefore in an act of humbleness and pure desire to not abuse this gift of God they have been given, they accept it as they need it.
• It’s like an endless water fountain to them.
• At one point in my life I began to see God’s forgiveness differently.
• I saw God’s forgiveness like an ocean… and I was swimming in it.
• I couldn’t escape it.
• It is inevitable that I was and am going to sin. (1 John 1:10 - 10 If we say, “We don’t have any sin,” we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.”) [6]
• I can see forgiveness as my nightly medicine I am expected to take to get better.
• OR… I see forgiveness as my remedy and I am already healed.

 

• How many times did Jesus die on the cross?
• One time...
• How does Jesus forgive sins?
• He's not getting back up there.
• He said, "It is finished"
• Everything you've done in the past,
• Everything you are currently doing, and everything you are going to do... Jesus has taken care of on the cross... one time.
• It was good enough for even your worst day.
• Every night I was taught I need to put Jesus back up on the cross.

 

• Oh… I get it… I know what you are thinking.
• How can you dare teach that because people will interpret what you are saying as “they are free to do whatever they want to.”
• The truth is… I am!
• But I also want to teach you about who you truly are as “a little child that calls on the name Jesus.”

 

• This is the way it works.
• God created a perfect world and a perfect couple.
• Genesis 3 happened and sin entered into the world.
• Everything began to die and it never was the way God intended eternity to be.
• Genesis 3:15 is our first understanding in the Scripture that a Messiah will come to save us.
• Throughout the whole Old Covenant it is proven that we cannot save ourselves.
• God gave us the Law and we could not fulfill it.
• He went to great lengths to show us. He even used the actual law to prove His love for us.
• Romans 5:20 - 20 “The law came along to multiply the trespass.”[7]
  • One rule
  • Ten Commandments
  • 613 Laws
  • Sermon on the Mount
  • Everything
  • Cross
• It all changed at the cross.
• Hebrews 10:
• 10 By this will of God, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all.
• 11 Every priest stands day after day ministering and offering the same sacrifices time after time, which can never take away sins. 12 But this man, after offering one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God. 13 He is now waiting until His enemies are made His footstool. 14 For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are sanctified.[8]

- Now let’s break this down…
- 1 Thessalonians 5:23 - 23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely. And may your spirit, soul, and body be kept sound and blameless for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.[9]

• Paul indicates that we are 3 parts: spirit, soul and body.
• “Body” obviously describes the physical being of a person.
• “Soul” (psychē) is the life force that all living things (including animals) possess and that distinguishes them from the inanimate or the dead.
• The word is used of life itself, as the seat of internal thoughts, desires, and emotions, or of that aspect of life that survives physical death.
• “Spirit” (pneuma) refers to the “breath” characteristic of life.
• It is roughly synonymous with “soul,” and like soul it sometimes is paired with “flesh” or “body” to sum up the entirety of a living being.
• In one Pauline context, (1 Cor 2:14–15). The “spiritual” (pneumatikos) person is one enabled to commune with the divine. The “natural” (psuchikos) person lives apart from the knowledge and power of God (cf. 1 Cor 15:42–46).
• The key distinction here is relational.
• Paul was not describing the human person as a three-part conglomerate but as a being with material and nonmaterial existence who may or may not be spiritually enlivened in relation to God.[10]
  
  
• Body – Physical being here on earth… originally came from dust and will return to dust.
• Your body is not going into eternity.
• This includes your brain (hard drive…memories)

 

• Soul – Mind, will, emotions (personality). It makes each individual unique.
• The soul is eternal. (Luke 16 – Abraham & Lazarus on one side and the rich man on the other side)
• If the soul is eternal (out lasts the body) it has to be redeemed. When is it redeemed?
• I have been given the mind of Christ. (1 Cor 2:16)

 

• Spirit – It is our connection to God. We are born with a dead spirit… (from the seed of Adam).
• Galatians 2:19-20 – 19 For through the law I have died to the law, so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ 20 and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. [11]
• 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 - 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things have come. 18 Everything is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed the message of reconciliation to us. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, certain that God is appealing through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf, “Be reconciled to God.” 21 He made the One who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. [12]
• John 1:12 - I am a child of God (Romans 8:16).
• John 15:15 - I am Christ's friend.
• John 15:16 - I am chosen and appointed by Christ to bear His fruit.
• Romans 3:24 - I have been justified and redeemed.
• Romans 6:7 - I have been freed from sin's power over me.
• Romans 8:1 - I am forever free from condemnation.
• Romans 8:17 - I am an heir of God and fellow heir with Christ.
• Romans 11:16 - I am holy.
• Romans 15:7 - Christ has accepted me.
• 1 Corinthians 1:2 - I have been sanctified.
• 1 Corinthians 2:12 - I have received the Spirit of God into my life that I might know the things freely given to me by God.
• 1 Corinthians 6:17 - I am joined to the Lord and am one spirit with Him.
• 2 Corinthians 1:21 - I have been established in Christ and anointed by God.
• Galatians 2:4 - I have liberty in Christ Jesus.
• Ephesians 1:1 - I am a saint (1 Corinthians 1:2; Philippians 1:1; Colossians 1:2).
• Ephesians 1:3 - I am blessed with every spiritual blessing.
• Ephesians 2:5 - I have been made alive together with Christ.
• Ephesians 2:10 - I am God's workmanship, created in Christ to do His work that He planned beforehand that I should do.
• Ephesians 2:18 - I have direct access to God through the Spirit.
• Ephesians 3:12 - I may approach God with boldness and confidence.
• Philippians 4:7 - His peace guards my heart and my mind.
• Philippians 4:19 - God will supply all my needs.
• Colossians 1:27 - Christ Himself is in me.
• Colossians 2:10 - I have been made complete in Christ.
• Colossians 3:4 - Christ is now my life.
• 1 Thessalonians 5:5 - I am a child of light and not of darkness.
• 2 Timothy 1:7 - I have been given a spirit of power, love, and discipline.
• Hebrews 2:11 - Because I am sanctified and am one with Christ, He is not ashamed to call me His.
• Hebrews 4:16 - I may come boldly before the throne of God to receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
• Hebrews 10:14 – I have been perfected by His one offering.
• 1 John 3:1 - God has bestowed a great love on me and called me His child.
• 1 John 4:15 - God is in me and I am in God.

 
What percentage of the church understands forgiveness based upon what we just discussed? 

1 John 2:12
12 I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven because of Jesus’ name.

It is the simplest of things of our faith that are necessary to understand so we can mature into sound and blameless followers of Jesus.

[1] The Holy Bible: Holman Christian standard version. (2009). (1 Jn 2:12–13). Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers.
[2] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 2, p. 495). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[3] Akin, D. L. (2001). 1, 2, 3 John (Vol. 38, p. 104). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[4] Lange, J. P., Schaff, P., Brain, K., & Mombert, J. I. (2008). A commentary on the Holy Scriptures: 1, 2, 3 John (p. 61). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.
[5] Akin, D. L. (2001). 1, 2, 3 John (Vol. 38, p. 104). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[6] The Holy Bible: Holman Christian standard version. (2009). (1 Jn 1:10). Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers.
[7] The Holy Bible: Holman Christian standard version. (2009). (Ro 5:20). Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers.
[8] The Holy Bible: Holman Christian standard version. (2009). (Heb 10:10–14). Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers.
[9] The Holy Bible: Holman Christian standard version. (2009). (1 Th 5:23). Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers.
[10] Martin, D. M. (1995). 1, 2 Thessalonians (Vol. 33, p. 189). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[11] The Holy Bible: Holman Christian standard version. (2009). (Ga 2:19–20). Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers.
[12] The Holy Bible: Holman Christian standard version. (2009). (2 Co 5:16–21). Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers.