Awakened to Grace

Chad Roberts: Friends, I am so excited to share with you that my brand-new book, Blind Faith: Seeing God Through Darkness, is now released and it is available wherever you buy books in any format that you buy books. This book is published through our friends at Lifeway and B&H Publishing, and you can go right now to readblindfaith.com and get your very own copy and make sure you get one to share with a friend. So go to Amazon or readblindfaith.com today.

Well, let's go today to 1st John chapter 3. Say amen if you're blessed today. 1st John chapter 3, I want to look at verses 18 through 21. I want to call today: If God has forgiven me, then why do I not feel forgiven? If God has forgiven me, then why do I not feel forgiven?

1st John chapter 3, I want you to look first at verse 21, and then we'll work our way from 18 onto 20. But I want to begin with 21 because I want you to understand the foundation of what I'm talking about today. I want you to see the premise of why I'm bringing this issue to our attention.

John wrote in 1st John 3:21, John says that if our hearts do not condemn us, or if there's not guilt within our hearts, then look what he says the conclusion is: we have confidence with God. Brothers and sisters, I want you to understand today that God wants you to have confidence that your sins are forgiven.

I want you to understand that the Bible gives you the invitation as a Christ follower, as a born-again individual, that you can go before God's throne. Think what an invitation that is. And you can ask of God with boldness and find grace and help in your time of need. Praise God, amen!

I challenge you, try this week. Try calling somebody very important. Try calling a senator and just say, "I need to speak with him or her" and see how far you get. You won't get far. Try calling the president of a corporation here in town and say, "I need to speak with so-and-so" and guess what? You'll probably be turned down.

But do you realize you can go before God's throne at any time, at any moment, and have an audience with God Almighty? But do you know what Satan would have for us instead? He would rather have us feeling contained because, see, if Satan, who is our accuser, if Satan can bring condemnation over us, if he can hold us hostage with guilt within our hearts, within our minds, within our spirits.

If every time I try to press into God, if every time I try to pursue God, all of a sudden memories begin to surface and all of a sudden guilt begins to rise up in my heart, I'm not going to pursue God, I'm going to shrink back. I'm not going to believe God and His Word and His promises. I'm not going to believe God's best for me. You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to stay away from God because I feel guilt and ashamed and condemnation.

Brothers, sisters, I want to show you clearly today out of the Word of God why you should feel no condemnation. But I want you to understand what Satan's goal is in your life. See, he can't rob your soul. He cannot steal the salvation Christ secured for you on the cross. He can't rob that. But you know what he can do? He can stop you from growing.

He can keep you from trusting. He can keep you from pursuing God. And what he can do is he can keep you contained in the walls of guilt and in the walls of shame. I'm going to show you how to break free today. 1st John chapter 3, verse 21. What Satan's goal for you, what his goal for me, is to steal, to rob, to erode our confidence in God. That's what he wants.

And if Satan can steal my confidence in God, my confidence that I am who God says I am, my confidence that God's Word is true in my life, my confidence that my sins are truly forgiven, if Satan can steal that, well, I'm going to shrink back from God and I'm not going to be close to Him. I'm going to hide from Him. I'm going to run from Him.

Look at verse number 18. May the Lord help us today to learn many truths in Jesus' name. 1st John chapter 3, verse 18, it says that we are not to be merely talking to one another about love. In other words, what this scripture is saying right here is don't be all talk; be action.

I remember growing up, I had a wonderful, fiery pastor. My pastor I grew up under is in his 80s today, amen! And he's been faithful to God for many years, many decades. And I remember I would hear my pastor say when I was a little boy and it would make me scratch my head, but he said it enough that I finally got it one day and I memorized it. And from childhood, I remember memorizing this.

My pastor would say, "Your talk talks and your walk talks, but your walk talks louder than your talk talks." Let's all say that together. I'll say it again. "Your talk talks"—what's this scripture saying? Talk is cheap. Anybody can talk the talk. You can be sitting right here today and not be the real McCoy.

You can be under this same preaching and according to the scriptures, be a tare and not a wheat. Be fake and not genuine. Anybody can do the talk. Satan can appear as an angel of light. Demons believe and tremble. Your talk talks, but that's cheap. Your talk talks, but your walk talks. Everybody say, "Your walk talks."

But your walk talks louder than your talk talks. That means what you do speaks so loud people can't hear what you have to say. Your walk talks louder than your talk talks. You know what the scripture is saying? Talk is easy; action is where it is. So look what he says. Rather than talking about love, do it. Have action. We are to love in word and in truth.

Chris and I were talking before the service began, the brother who played amazingly there, "How Great Thou Art." Chris and I were talking about how so often someone will come up to us and they'll ask us to pray for them. And what do we do so often? "Oh yes, yes, I'll pray," and then we go on and we totally forget it. That's talk. That's all that is is talk, right?

But what would happen if you just resolved in your heart each time someone asked you to pray for them, you do it right there on the spot? You say, "Can I just take your hand and can I believe God with you right now?" What would happen if every single time you resolved, "I'm going to pray with somebody right there, right then and there in person"?

Let me tell you, God would send more people across your path because He could trust that you'll be a person of action, amen! Faith is a verb, you know that? It's action. And the scripture says the way you and I are to live is in not just word but in deed—in other words, not cheap talk but in action. And then I want you to watch the link here, and I want you to with me, I want you to make this beautiful link in the scriptures.

We are to love in action, indeed, and in truth. Now look at verse number 19. It is by this truth—what truth? That we're not cheap talk, but we're the real McCoy, we're the real deal, we're serious in our faith, we're serious about our walk. It is by this truth that reassures our hearts and gives us confidence before God. What a beautiful verse!

So in other words, brothers and sisters, let's say it this way: what does the Bible tell us to do in James? Not to be a hearer only, but to be a what? A doer. Now say amen if you're with me right now. What's it mean to be a doer of the Word? It means you apply it to your daily life. Let me give you a great example.

There are so many times that I'll wake up early in the morning and I'll wake up from such a vivid dream. I so look forward to my dreams at night because I can see absolutely everything. I can see it all. And sometimes even in my dreams, I'll think to myself, "I shouldn't be able to see this. I'm blind." But I can see everything.

I see everything so vividly. But then when I wake up, it's all dark. No light whatsoever. There are some days when that happens, I don't want to get out of bed. There are some days that I'll rub my eyes and I'll know after I rub my eyes, nothing's changed. It's still black. Days like that, I don't want to get out of bed.

But see, I know what the scriptures say. The scripture says, "This is the day the Lord has made; I will rejoice and be glad in it." But is that enough to know it? No, I could lie there on my pillow feeling sorry for myself. I could keep lying there and thinking to myself, "Well, nothing's ever going to change. I pray for people and I watch God do miracles in other people's life, but nothing's ever going to change for me."

Why is it that God answers these prayers but won't answer this prayer? And I could lie there and I could just mope. But see, if I take to heart what the scripture says—don't be a hearer only; be a doer—that's when I'll sit up. That's when I'll sit on the edge of my bed and I will say to myself, "This is the day the Lord has made."

I didn't make it; God made it, amen! I will rejoice. I mean, I don't say it like that; Sadie's still asleep. But I mean in my spirit, I'm saying, "I will rejoice," amen! Even if I don't feel like it. Because I've made a decision in my life: my emotions don't lead the way. My will leads the way.

And when I lead with my will, you know what happens after my first cup of coffee? My emotions shrug and go, "Well, we might as well get in line because he's going with or without us." Amen! I will rejoice and be glad in it. And that's when my attitude begins to change. Oh, by my second cup of coffee, I'm blessing the Lord, amen!

I'm planning my day. I'm tucking everything into it carefully that I can. And I do more for the glory of God completely blind than I ever did with an ounce of eyesight. Because I'm not going to be a hearer only. I'm going to take the big step to step in truth and I'm going to be a doer. Can we say amen today?

It's by this truth that reassures our hearts before God. By this truth. Now look at verse 20. For whenever our heart condemns us—I really appreciate this word "whenever." I really value that word because you know what John's telling us? This happens to all of us. It happens to everyone.

At some point, all of us struggle with forgiveness. At some point. If you were going to take notes today, let me give you three quick things. Number one, we are to be at peace with God. Let's call that a vertical peace. Vertical peace is when our sins are forgiven by Jesus. Vertical peace is when we're at peace between us and God.

Friends, there is—you're talking about value, nothing can touch it, to be at peace with God. Today, if you're not at peace with God, today if your sins are not forgiven, I want to tell you, Hebrews chapter 13 says Jesus became our peace. You know what that means? By what He did on the cross, He removed the hostility between us and God. And now He can bring us before the Father. Now because of Jesus, there is peace with God. That's a vertical peace.

You say, "Chad, how do I get that peace?" You get that peace by surrendering your life to the Lord. You get that peace by saying, "God, I am a sinner and I need You, the Savior. Come into my life. Forgive my sins and give me peace between me and You." Friends, that's salvation, amen! But then that vertical peace is going to transition and spill over into what we'll call a horizontal peace.

That's peace between you and others. There's a lot of people that's not at peace today. A lot of broken relationships. Some of you are already dreading Christmas. You just come out of Thanksgiving and you're already dreading Christmas because there's people that you're not at peace with. Let me tell you, brothers and sisters, our peace with others is based on our peace with God.

And if there's peace between you and God, I'm telling you by the authority of the Word, there can be peace between you and others. This past Tuesday, we had a fascinating man here. His name is Michael Halsey. He serves as a missionary in the Philippines. And Michael just blew me away with his teaching. He taught on forgiveness. I don't think I've ever heard anything like it in all my life.

Michael grew up in an abusive home. His father was a wicked man. He described the last time he ever saw his father—Michael was 12 years old. Michael's 74 today. Michael said he was 12 years old and his father beat him, he beat all his siblings, and his father picked up his nine-month-pregnant mother, Michael's mother, and threw her stomach-first into a coffee table.

And that was the last time he ever saw his father. Michael goes on and receives Jesus and is called into ministry. He goes on to pastor a church. And in pastoring, God would deal with him about forgiving his dad. There would be times he thought he did forgive him, but then months later, something would trigger, something would resurface. Many of you know that pain.

You think you have a handle on it, but then something triggers you. Michael told a fascinating story. He was preaching, I believe he said in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and he was driving a long distance overnight. He was growing sleepy. To keep himself awake, he said he would turn the radio on and there was a radio preacher on.

And the radio preacher said, "Tonight I'm going to preach on forgiveness." Michael said in that moment, his father's face flashed in his memory and he reached to turn the radio off. The preacher said, "Don't turn me off." The preacher said, "A preacher is listening tonight and you need to hear this." Michael said at that point, he threw his hands up and said, "Okay, God, You've got my attention." Clearly, God was speaking to him.

And you know what that radio preacher said that night? It set Michael free. It will set you free if you're struggling today to forgive someone who's wronged you. That radio preacher began to explain the reason we struggle to forgive people who have wronged us is because somehow in our mind and in our heart, we feel that if we do forgive them, it makes what they did to us no longer valid.

And that's not true. And Michael said that he was stunned that that is exactly how he truly felt. If he did forgive his dad, then that means all the beatings he took, all the beatings his siblings took, the beatings his mother took, were all in vain and no longer valid. But the Lord showed him that that's not true. Michael did that night for the first time really in his life, he forgave his father.

Michael would go on later on to meet his father for the first time since he had been 12 years old. And Michael led his father to Jesus. And a wicked, abusive man came to know the Lord Jesus Christ. If you struggle to forgive others, I want to tell you, it is possible to forgive them. Do you know why? Because you yourself have tasted God's forgiveness.

You say, "Chad, you don't know what you're asking. You don't know how impossible that seems." God wouldn't ask you to do it if it's not possible. He'll give you the grace to do it. Many years ago, a young man came up to me after a Sunday morning service and he asked me, he said—it was clear God was moving in this young man's life. And he said, "Chad, do I really have to forgive my dad?"

He said, "You really don't know the story, and I really don't want to tell you the story. I don't want to relive it. But are you telling me that to go forward with God, I have to forgive him?" I said, "Brother, it's what God tells us, and you can do it." It went that week, I didn't hear from him. He was back that next Sunday morning and he was waiting on me after church.

I had no idea what to expect because he was really tormented by this. We went back to McCaul's office and we sat down after the service and he smiled from ear to ear and he said, "Chad, I forgave my dad. I did it. God helped me to do it." I said, "Congratulations." I said, "How did your dad respond?"

He said, "Chad, I didn't tell you, my dad died several years ago." He said, "I went to his grave and I forgave him at his grave." Wow. God can help you do what feels impossible and it will free you. It will free you. Lastly today, not only is there peace with God that's vertical, not only is there peace with others that's horizontal, but then there's peace with ourselves. That's within.

As I counsel people, what I find is the hardest of all forgiveness seems to be to forgive ourselves. Many years ago, I counseled with a lady who we met several times, three, four, five times. She would share with me the sin she battled, she would share with me her failures and why she just could not reach forgiveness. Every sin she would share, I would share a scripture: "This is why God will forgive you."