In my years of ministry and study, I’ve often reflected on the nature of God’s grace and mercy, and how we, as human beings, grapple with the concept of forgiveness. It never ceases to surprise me just how much the Bible speaks to this fundamental aspect of our existence. As the Apostle Paul wrote, the death of Christ for our sins is of first importance. Yet, in contemporary society, this profound truth often gets relegated to the periphery of our lives.

It’s as though experiencing God’s forgiveness is akin to ordering fries and a coke—something we welcome but don’t necessarily cherish. We may desire forgiveness, but we fail to recognize its urgency, its paramount importance. This begs the question: is the Bible exaggerating, or is our ability to discern what truly matters fundamentally flawed? I believe it’s the latter.

Observing people’s lives, I’ve noticed a common trajectory. Initially, many dismiss God’s forgiveness or simply take it for granted. However, as they mature, they begin to wrestle with it, striving to grasp its essence. This struggle, I believe, underscores the power of the gospel.

Our initial awareness of needing God’s forgiveness often stems from a deep sense of guilt, a condemnation within our own conscience. We recognize that our actions were wrong and deserve punishment. The Bible affirms the validity of our conscience, indicating that it serves as a witness to our need for forgiveness.

The journey from indifference to conviction often involves experiencing guilt, regret, remorse, and even anguish. In our despair, we may resort to blaming others or rationalizing our actions. Some may even attempt to distance themselves from religion, mistakenly believing that it is the source of their guilt. However, these strategies ultimately prove futile. We oscillate between despair and denial, repeatedly confronting the reality of our sin. It is during this process that Paul’s assertion about the importance of forgiveness begins to resonate deeply within us.

Many years ago, I had the opportunity to write a book exploring this very issue: the transformative power of God’s grace and how we can move from guilt to joy through faith in Jesus Christ. This experience led to the publication of “The Great Work of the Gospel,” which is available as a free PDF download on passionlife.org.

The journey towards experiencing God’s forgiveness often begins with a series of profound questions that demand answers. These questions, once easily dismissed, gain increasing significance as we grapple with our need for redemption. These questions include:
Does God forgive?
Does he forgive everyone, or only some people?
Are there degrees of sin? Is speeding to church as bad as slitting a throat? Is slander the same as all these other things?
Does the forgiveness of God only go so far?

We might readily accept forgiveness for minor transgressions, such as speeding on the way to church. However, when confronted with more heinous acts, such as murder, we hesitate. This hesitation reveals our understanding of God’s righteousness and justice, which demands that sin be punished.

This line of questioning leads to even more complex considerations:
Aren’t some things just really unforgivable?
If God’s sense of righteousness demands that we never condemn the innocent but always pass judgment on the guilty, then how can God forgive us without being bad himself? How can God forgive the guilty without impugning his own righteousness?
Do rapists and murderers sit down in heaven with the people they raped and murdered and say, “Let’s all have a meal together. Is that heaven? Or is there hell to pay for the things that we’ve done in the past? And if there is hell to pay, then how can we escape it?
Will God be more willing to forgive us if we make a sincere effort to reform ourselves? It’s a good question. Will it help if I punish myself in certain ways?

We often attempt to atone for our sins through self-punishment or by attributing misfortune to past wrongdoings. But these attempts only highlight the inadequacy of our own efforts. If we, in our limited understanding, recognize the need for judgment, how can a just and righteous God do any less?

These questions inevitably lead us to the central mystery of the cross:
Why is the cross necessary?
If God requires us to forgive others without requiring some sort of a blood sacrifice on our part, why doesn’t God practice what he preaches and merely just declare that he forgives us? What happens on the cross that was necessary in order for God to forgive us? Why did Jesus go through with it?

Furthermore, we yearn for assurance of God’s forgiveness:
Can I have any assurance that God has forgiven me? Do I just have to believe it even though I can’t feel it? I can’t rationalize it. I can’t justify it. I just have to scrunch up my brow and believe it or does a sense of God’s assurance of forgiveness grow? And if so, how do we obtain it? What are the grounds of his of this assurance?
And can I ever live without the painful shame of the past. Is there a point that we can get to where we can both acknowledge the truth of what we did but not feel the pain and the weight of it so that it becomes more of a testimony rather than a burden on our back?

These are the questions that I sought to address in “The Great Work of the Gospel”. My hope is that it will help you explore these profound issues and discover the liberating answers found in the gospel.

John Piper, in the foreword to my book, aptly described it as “God-centered good news” that has the power to create strong individuals and churches. He emphasized its ability to “release people from the self-absorbed rationalizations that keep us from the fullest engagement in the global cause of God”.

We are called to participate in a great work, a global mission. However, we cannot effectively engage in this mission if we are burdened by our past, weakened by guilt and shame. To serve God effectively, we must find freedom from the past. This freedom comes through a transformational experience of God’s grace, an experience that allows us to exclaim, “Mercy me!” with the full assurance that we have indeed obtained it.

If you find yourself intrigued by these questions and desire a biblical, orthodox, and liberating understanding of God’s forgiveness, I encourage you to explore “The Great Work of the Gospel”. It is my sincere hope that it will empower you to know the God who raised Jesus from the dead and to live with the same power and purpose.

This article is adapted from the episode transcript.