I Believe In The Forgiveness Of Sins

“I Believe in the Forgiveness of Sins” Psalm 130:3-4 Before Martin Luther became the father of the Protestant Reformation, he was a Catholic priest. He was obviously brilliant and devout. But he was burdened with a nagging sense that his sins were not forgiven. It was as if God’s judgment hung over him like a heavy weight. He never felt the assurance that his sins were forgiven. After years of this, while studying the book of Romans, he encountered the phrase, “The just shall live by faith” (Romans 1:17). As he meditated on this, he began to see clearly that God forgives us, not because of anything we do, but solely on the basis of what Jesus did for us when he died on the cross and rose from the dead. He called that truth “the gate to heaven.” After embracing this truth, Luther said that the phrase, “I believe in the forgiveness of sins” was the most important article in the Apostles’ Creed. He wrote, “If that is not true, what does it matter whether God is almighty or Jesus Christ was born and died and rose again? It is because these things have a bearing upon my forgiveness that they are important to me.” To these words of Martin Luther, John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, would shout a resounding “Amen!” You see, it was as he heard Martin Luther’s words on this matter of faith and sin that he felt his heart “strangely warmed” and the burden of guilt that had plagued him for so many years just rolled away. When we come to the essence of the Christian living, it’s all summed up in these seven words: “I believe in the forgiveness of sins.” Today, using Psalm 130:3-4 as a guide, I want us to examine three questions about forgiveness that every one of us needs to ask and receive an answer if we are going to join Martin Luther and John Wesley in the fullness of the Christian Life.