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You’re forgiven. Deal with it!

You’re forgiven. Deal with it!

JANUARY 6, 2022

/ Programs / Key Life / You’re forgiven. Deal with it!

Steve Brown:
You’re forgiven. Deal with it! Let’s talk about it on, Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
It’s for freedom that Christ set us free and Key Life is here to bring you Biblical teaching that encourages you to never give into to slavery again. Our teacher on Key Life is Steve Brown. He’s an author, broadcaster and seminary professor who is sick a phony religion.

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. If you have your Bible open it to the ninth chapter of the book of Acts, as we continue with our study in this absolutely amazing book. Paul has been converted and now he’s got a past to deal with. I mean, he’s scaring this spit out of everybody. His past scares the people he was with before he changed, they want to kill him. His past scares the new disciples, because they’re not sure this is real. His past is something that follows him everywhere he goes. And by reading this text and I’m not going to do it again, you can read it. It starts at the 19th verse and goes down to the 31st verse. If you read this text, you can see some things about the past that are kind of cool and that are good for us to talk about for a little bit. And the first thing about this, is first and foremost, please note that Paul’s past was forgiven. I don’t mean a little bit, I don’t mean kind of, I don’t mean that he was reminded about it occasionally. I mean, forgiven, in so much so that when the Scripture talks about it, God says, I will remember their sin no more. Now, that doesn’t mean that God has a memory problem. Of course he knows, but he’s thinking something very, very important. And that is, if you’re a Christian, you’re forgiven. And you say, what about yesterday? That’s your past too. That’s forgiven too. I mean, it all is. We stand clothed in the righteousness of Christ and forgiven. Look at the 17th verse.

So Ananias departed and entered the house. Laying hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”

And you immediately think, no, no, no, no, no, no, not me. Don’t you know what I’ve done? Don’t you know where I’ve been? Don’t you know, the people who are dead because of me. What do you mean filled with the Holy Spirit? I Timothy 1:15 through 16 says it well.

The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance,

Paul writes.

that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, and I am

not, I was,

I am the chief of sinners. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost sinner, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience for an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.

I think I’ve told you about the Easter Cantata, our church used to do when I was a pastor and the choir would be in mass behind them. And the guy who played the soldier who participated in the crucifixion of Christ is singing a song. And the lyrics says, I struck him. And the choir shouts, and it is so moving, I can’t tell you. They shout, forgiven. And he said, I plotted a crown of thorns, placed it on his head. And the choir sings, forgiven. I killed him. And the choir sings, forgiven. The choir still sings that. He sings it about you. I don’t care where you’ve been. I don’t what, what you’ve done or care, don’t care. I don’t care who you’ve hurt. I don’t care the list of your sins. You’re forgiven. That’s the gospel. I mean, if you want to put the gospel in the shortest possible presentation, that’s it. You’re forgiven. Really forgiven. Not only are you forgiven for the past when you were 16 years old. I got an e-mail from a lady yesterday who confessed, she’s now 40 something years old. The bad stuff she did in the past. And she’s so sure that God is gonna judge her for that time in her life. And I laughed at her and said, you’re crazy. Get an attack of sanity. God doesn’t even remember your sin. He is not a child abuser. You’re forgiven. Get used to it. It’ll make your arrogant. That’s sometimes why I, well, sometimes I am, I don’t have anything to be arrogant about, but sometimes I sound that way and you know why? Cause I’m forgiven, deal with it. I really am, I’m free, I’m loved, I’m accepted by the King. I don’t live in the servants quarters anymore. I live in the big house. He’s got my back in everything. He owns everything. I started to say he has more money than God, but he is a God. And it’s all his, and he’s my Father. If that doesn’t make you a little less humble, there’s something wrong with you. So, you’re forgiven. And you’re thinking, oh yeah, but you don’t, yeah I do, you’re forgiven. You don’t understand Steve, how evil I am. You’re forgiven. You’re forgiven. Did I tell you the story, a student of mine taught, told me about is a pastor. They were building a new church and there was a, the workmen were working on the roof of the new church. And the pastor said to himself, you know, I haven’t met any of these workers, these construction guys, I ought to meet some of them. So, he climbed up on the roof to be with a guy that was working up there. And the guy, and he was kind of shocked because the guy had a tattoo on one arm with the F word and a tattoo on the other arm with the S word. And the pastor introduced himself. And he said, you ever thought about Jesus? And he, and the guy started laughing. He said, you don’t understand, Jesus won’t have a thing to do with me. Reverend I’m evil, I’m really evil. And the pastor said to this guy, I’m worse than you are. And the guy said, no, you’re not, you don’t know nothing. And the pastor said, let me tell you what I’m going to do. I’m going to talk to you about Jesus, to try to keep you out of hell. And you’re probably going to turn it down. And then after I do that, I’m going to that Burger King, you see across the street, I’m going to get a hamburger for lunch, and I’m not even going to give you a single thought. I’ll never think of you again. And the guy said, that’s evil. And that was the beginning of his move to Jesus and his salvation. Isn’t that a great story? Because it’s so true. And it’s so real. We are so driven by our guilt and Satan has a field day with it and we need to learn to say to him often, Hey, I’m forgiven. You leave me alone. I don’t belong to you anymore. I’m forgiven, not only for yesterday, that goes without saying, but for today and for anything I do wrong in the future because I’m the King’s son. Deal with it! And so, when you talk about the past and you look at what happened with Paul, he was not a good person. He was a smart person. He was an educated person. He had been to the best rabbinical schools and taught by the best scholars, he was organized, he was effective, he was efficient and he was evil. And God said, you’re forgiven. And when God said he was forgiven, he was. And so, as you read this text, it says, you know, after this time with the disciples, he searched preaching. Man, I would have preferred him, get a little education or go to seminary or something, but he didn’t do that. He went and because of his extreme education, I mean, this is a bright guy and he knows what the Scriptures say. When he was converted, he brought all of that knowledge he had been using as a pagan to the forefront of his service for Jesus Christ. And the lives were changed. Where did, where did he get that freedom? You know, I sometimes read about a Christian leader who falls. And I think, you know, I could do that. I’m not that good a person, man. I, it could be me. And if it was me, you know what I’d do? I’ll tell you, I’d move to the mountains of North Carolina in a log cabin way out in the woods, long ways out in the woods. And I would never speak to anybody again. I would hide. I would, people would think I died. I mean, I would run. And yet when you look at the apostle Paul here, he doesn’t run. He runs to the people and he proclaims the gospel of Jesus Christ. How could he do that? The same way you can do it? You’re forgiven. That’s the gospel. Really and truly, you’re forgiven. I’m going to think about that as soon as the broadcast is over. And I would suggest you think about that too.

Matthew Porter:
Thank you Steve. That wraps up another fantastic week of our unhurried tour through Acts. Remember if you missed any episodes, you can find them all online for free at www.keylife.org You can even find transcripts for each episode as well. And tomorrow being Friday, it must be time again for Friday Q&A with Steve and Pete Alwinson. Don’t miss that. Well, if you Google radical grace, the first result is content from Steve, true story. It’s central to his work, but that’s only because radical grace is central to the gospel. If you could use a reminder of that, we have a booklet, we would love to send you for free. It’s called Radical Freedom: Surprising Faithfulness. It’s a newly reprinted excerpt from Steve’s classic book on radical grace called A Scandalous Freedom. Jesus said we would know the truth and would be free indeed. Well, let’s see if he was right. Get your copy now by calling us at 1-800-KEY-LIFE. That’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also e-mail [email protected] to ask for that booklet. If you’d like to mail your request, send it to

Key Life Network
P.O. Box 5000
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In Canada, mail

Key Life Canada
P.O. Box 28060
Waterloo, Ontario N2L 6J8

Just ask for the booklet called Radical Freedom: Surprising Faithfulness. Oh, and last thing, have you ever considered partnering with Key Life through giving? It’s easy to do. Just charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope. Or Key Life to 28950. Key Life is a member of ECFA in the States and CCCC in Canada. And we are a listener supported production of Key Life Network.

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