Is there any sin that can’t be forgiven?

Hey, thanks again for sending in questions related to our recent sermons. This last week we started our series Christmas Prophecies, where we’re looking at many passages from the Old Testament that detail who this Messiah is that will arrive, what he’ll do when he does. And this first week, we talked about how really to prepare for his arrival. Um, which is a passage out of Malachi that God will send a messenger before he arrives himself.

And then we learn in the New Testament who this messenger is. It’s John the Baptist. And the way John prepares us for Jesus is through um preaching repentance. Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand, he says. And people people came out and heard his message. They confessed their sins uh to prepare for the arrival of the savior. Um, and so the question comes in this week in in regards to confession and repentance. Um, is there anything that God won’t forgive?

Is there anything so big um or so wrong that we will be excluded from his presence forever? We we won’t be able to get back, you know, if we go too far away. Um, and I’ll say I don’t know the circumstances of the person who asked this question, but um generally, when I when someone asks that question, um it’s it’s one, it’s people in one of two different groups. Um, and the first group that asks that question is uh generally a um a younger person, usually a teenager, um that is contemplating um

stepping outside of God’s design for his or her life. Um wants to do something that God says, don’t do. Um and so before they step out and do it, they want to know if I step out and do it, you know, if I rebel, can I get back? Um, it’s like, is there forgiveness? Was is there really a penalty for what I want to do?

If I do it, will is can I be forgiven or am I out forever? Um so that’s one group. And if that’s the group that you’re in, I would just say, look, I talk to somebody older than you. Um, we’ve all been there and you know, we’ve run, we’ve embraced the darkness and it and discovered it was not the freedom that we thought it would be. Um, what we thought would liberate us really enslaved us. Um, and so it’s really for for your good, even though it doesn’t feel like that right now, it’s for your good

that God uh tells us how to live our lives. We um especially in our culture right now, we think we think freedom is the absence of all restraints. If I do whatever I want to do, then I’ll be free and being free is good. But that’s not really what freedom is. Uh freedom is the presence of the correct restraints. Um, there the example I always use is, you know, a fish in water could say, I want to be free and jump out of his aquarium. Um, that’s not going to be freedom for the fish.

That’s going to be death for the fish. He’s like, I’m free from all constraints. I do whatever I want. That’s not freedom. Freedom is the presence of the right constraints. Um, in the in the instance of the fish, it’s water. Fish must be constrained by water, but that would be what freedom is. For us, freedom is following God’s designs for our lives. Okay?

Stepping outside of that is actually death. Okay? That’s the first group. The second group uh that often asks um about if is there anything God won’t forgive? Um, are people who are carrying a lot of guilt uh and shame. And they they might have been that teenager at one point that ran away from God and got into all kind of things and feel um enslaved by them.

And now they they’re worried. Will God ever have me back? Can God ever look at me the same way? Um, can I ever be forgiven? I feel like I’ve done too much wrong. Um, and for that group, absolutely God will forgive you. Christ’s sacrifice is enough. What Jesus paid on the cross is big enough for any sin that has ever been committed. Um, and the whole reason he went to the cross was so that you could be brought back. Um, you could be brought back home, no matter how far you’ve strayed.

Jesus uh says he came comes to seek and save the lost. That’s any lost, anywhere. Um, he interacts with tax collectors, murderers, you know, the people who crucified him. He’s like, forgive them, Father. They know not what they do. Um, uh prostitutes. He welcomes he welcomes them. No matter what sin you’ve been entangled in, Jesus’ sacrifice is enough to reconcile you to God. Um, so we pray that you would receive him, that you would see that that he’s running towards you, not away from you. You know, it’s

like the parable of the prodigal son. When he when he when the when the prodigal son starts coming home, the father runs out to meet him, right? There’s no there’s no need to grovel at the father’s feet. He’s running out to embrace you um because of what has been paid for through Christ. Um so we hope that is helpful and we’ll see you next time.