Word for Word: Rev. Ron Pederson

Easter Means Forgiveness in Christ Forgiveness is a common experience in our lives. Spouses forgive one another. Parents forgive their children. Friends forgive each other. One person sins against another person. And sometimes the person who was sinned against forgives the person who sinned against them. Whether or not the person who sinned believes or accepts the forgiveness has nothing to do with the fact that he has been forgiven by the person who they sinned against. The forgiveness comes from the heart of the person who was sinned against. That’s how it is between us and God. We sinned against God. The whole human race has sinned against God. But Jesus became guilty of our sin. God punished Him in our place when He suffered and died on the cross. St. Paul says: “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor 5:21). Easter morning God gave His approval of Christ’s sacrifice for sin by raising Him from the dead. Because of what Jesus did, God says to you and me, to the whole world, “I forgive you.” That is the gospel, the message the church has to proclaim: “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their sins against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation” (2 Cor 5:19). You may not believe it or accept it, but that doesn’t change what God has determined in His heart. That does not mean that the whole world is saved and will be heaven. Only those who put their personal trust in God’s forgiveness will be saved. Those who reject it will have to pay for their own sins in the torments of hell for all eternity. That is what Jesus accomplished by His life, death and resurrection. We sinned against God and He says to you and me, to all people, to the whole world, I forgive you in Christ. Confess your sin and believe it, trust in it, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). Rev. Ron Pederson King of Grace Lutheran Church Waukon