There are many things in life I don't understand. I don't understand why Seung-hui Cho, a distraught South Korean student would go into a couple of campus buildings and start shooting people. The massacre at Virginia Tech left 33 people dead and many others wounded. How could this ever be? Why? I just don't understand.

Another thing I don't understand , there is one preacher who through the years has almost entirely escaped any level of criticism—Billy Graham. I don't understand completely how God can use one man to stand and preach a simple message of salvation and see thousands come forward to receive Jesus into their lives.

Here is something else I don't fully comprehend. Let Billy Graham stand next to Seung-hui Cho (if he were still alive). And let's pull Osama bin Laden out of his hideaway cave and let him stand with the other two. They all have something very much in common. God would say to them, "You all are sinners who need forgiveness." Billy Graham and Osama—a lot in common? Graham and Cho? Yes, all are sinners.

No matter how good a person you are or how bad a person you are, you are a sinner needing God's forgiveness. Today we're making a transition in the direction of the messages. We've been talking about God's formula for receiving His healing and blessings. "Renew our spirit" has been our prayer. Up to now we have talked about the things we must do in order for God to renew us. We must humble ourselves, we must earnestly seek God's face when we pray, we must make spiritual U-Turns in our lives, and we must forgive and release those who have wronged us.

What can we expect from God if we fulfill our part of this agreement? Let's read the verse together. "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land" (2 Chronicles 7:14). God says, "Here's the deal. You do your part and I promise to do my part. You humble yourselves before me, pray and seek my face, and repent from your sinful ways; then I will do my part."

If you've been here during this five-week journey and you've tried to put some of these things into your life, God has taken notice. He is listening. He is smiling. And rest assured that He will uphold His end of the deal.

Today, we're going to focus on God's forgiveness. I hope I can say something today that will convince you that God loves you and wants to forgive you. I hope I can convince you today that no matter where you are on the good-bad scale, whether you're on the mass murderer side or the Billy Graham side or somewhere in between, you are not beyond the reach of God's forgiveness.

A dad was talking to his son about God's love and forgiveness. He asked his 8-year-old, "What must we do before we can expect to be forgiven?" The boy responded, "You've got to sin." That's not quite what the dad was fishing for, but the son was correct. If you have no sin, you don't need God. But we all are sinners.

To understand the full impact of God's forgiveness, we must understand the significance of Jesus' death on the cross because the Bible teaches that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. Let's read a couple of New Testament passages that are filled with nuggets of truth to help us understand the nature of God's forgiveness (p. 832). "For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins"(Colossians 1:13-14). Then look in the next chapter and let's read. "When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross" (Colossians 2:13-14).

What does it mean to be forgiven? To what extent does God forgive us? Why is forgiveness even necessary? Folks, what I'm about to give you is good stuff. The forgiveness God provides should put every one of us in the mode of celebration. When a person steps into a relationship with Jesus Christ, many positive things happen. One of the most important is that God forgives our sins. But what exactly does that mean?

For one thing, it means that God removes the punishment for our sins. We all are sinners. Sin breaks our fellowship with God. He cannot walk with us and help us as long as there is a sin problem that comes between us and Him. The sin must be punished. The way God set up His plan for sin removal requires the shedding of blood. In the days before Christ, the priest would sacrifice an animal on the altar. The animal served as a substitute. Its blood on the altar served as vehicle for God's forgiveness.

When Christ died on the cross, shedding His blood, He became the ultimate sacrifice. His sacrifice was a one time deal that caused the animal system to become extinct. His perfect sacrifice paid the penalty for all of our sins. So the moment we decide to become a Christ follower, God rescues us from the punishment we deserve for not measuring up to His standards. God says, "The punishment for your sins is removed. Jesus took care of it for you. So let's enjoy our relationship with one another."

Second, to be forgiven means that God removes the cause for my sin. The little boy I told you about a moment ago—he was right when he said we've got to sin before we can be forgiven. What he didn't understand, however, was that he already was a sinner. Every single one of us was born with a nature that is bent toward sin. Do you have to teach a pre-schooler to be selfish or to share? Selfishness comes naturally, doesn't it? Do you have to teach a child to throw a temper tantrum? Do you have to teach them to say no when you ask them to do something?

God has a standard by which He designed us to live. In order to have a relationship with Him, do you know what we need to make on our spiritual report card? You think the grading system at Chapin High is tough. A 98 on God's report card will send you to hell. Only a score of 100 will get you into heaven. So how can anyone make it then? How can anyone be forgiven?

Look back at Colossians 2. "He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross." His standard is called the law. The law stands opposed to us because there is no way possible anyone can ever live up to its standards. The good news is that God took the code and nailed it to the cross. In other words, God said, "I know you can never live up to my standards alone. So I'm going to sacrifice my only Son and if you come to Him admitting your sin, I will not only remove your punishment. I will also remove the cause for your sin. When I look at you, I will no longer see your sinful nature. I will see my Son Jesus who gave His life for you.

Third, God forgives us freely. In other words, it's all grace. There is not one thing you can do that will earn God's favor. Can you imagine what heaven would be like if we all had to earn our way there? Heaven would be filled with a bunch of arrogant Christians. How did you get here? "Man, I took care of my family very well and took them to church almost every Sunday." How about you? "Sort of the same, except I did a lot of ministry in the community." Another chimes in, "You're not gong to believe this, but I memorized the whole Sermon on the Mount and the book of Philippians."

Martin Luther, back in the 1500s, was almost killed by a lightning strike. He took that incident as a sign that God was calling him into the ministry. He began to ignore his worldly needs and did everything he could to earn worthiness in God's eyes. He would actually spend up to six hours a day in the confession booth just to make sure that he didn't leave any sin unconfessed. Yet still he had no peace in his heart.

Martin hiked to Rome, a 700-mile journey. In Rome was a re-constructed palace of Pilate. Martin was told that climbing the steps on his knees would earn favor from God. On his knees he climbed every step, stopping on each one to pray the Lord's Prayer. Each step represented 9 years off his Purgatory stay.

Eventually Martin developed a hatred toward God for demanding a moral standard that no one could achieve. Thankfully, he began to study intensely the Word of God and there discovered in the book of Romans that a relationship to God came about on the basis of faith and not works.

Folks, you do not have to earn God's forgiveness. None of us deserve His forgiveness. It's all grace.

Fourth, God forgives us forever. Colossians 2—"He forgave us all our sins." I want to clarify something that many people miss. When I accept Jesus into my heart, He forgives me of all my sins. All of them—past, present, and future. Even the sins I commit tomorrow, they're already forgiven. Otherwise, we're back to the earning our way to heaven mode again.

What if I said something ugly to Anita and then died right there on the spot before I ever went to God and confessed it? Forgiven. Yes, God wants us to confess every sin that He brings to our attention. Why? Not so that He will forgive us. We're already forgiven. It's so that we can fully enjoy the blessings of His forgiveness.

Has anyone ever owned a computer that did not give them one bit of problem? Some problems are minor and can be corrected easily. Some are a bit tougher. Microsoft has a feature called System Restore. Let's say your computer is having a bad mood day. It's slow as Christmas. Maybe you picked up a virus. But you think back and remember that all was working fine one week ago. So you go into System Restore, plug in the week ago date. And voila! The computer is acting as if it didn't live through the problem days.

God has His own system restore. Except He can go back to the day you were born. When you decide to take a faith step and invite Christ into your life, He goes all the way back and wipes all the bad stuff away. He cleanses you completely. He doesn't necessarily eliminate all the consequences you're facing because of sinful behavior. But He does forgive you. He removes the punishment for your sin. He removes the cause for your sin. He doesn't forgive you on the basis of your merit but only on the basis of His Son's death on the cross. And He forgives you forever—past, present, and future.

God is still in the business of forgiving sin. If you have never committed your life to Jesus Christ, I want you to know He loves you very much. He wants to forgive you. He wants to do a complete system restore on your life. It doesn't matter how guilty you are, whether you're of the bin Laden variety or the Billy Graham variety. It doesn't matter how deeply rooted in sin you are. It doesn't matter what your past looks like. He wants to forgive you and give you a brand new start. What must you do? Give Him your heart. That's it.

If you already are a Christian, let me remind you that you are forgiven. Quit beating yourself up. Don't use His forgiveness as a license to go out and sin anyway. No, live like you are forgiven. Thank God every day that the blood of Christ cleanses you from every sin.

God wants you to experience His forgiveness today. Come sinner, come Christian. Come to His table of forgiveness. There you will find happiness, joy, peace, and fulfillment. No I don't understand it all. How could God ever save me, a sinner? I might not understand. But I understand enough to say, "Thank you, Jesus, for dying on the cross to forgive me of my sins."