UNFORGIVEN: Is your past Too Dark for God?
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Imagine being known as the worst king in your nation's history. That was Manasseh. The Bible tells us that this king of Judah did more evil than any king before him. He built altars to false gods right in the temple of the Lord and even sacrificed his own children in fire. The biblical account says that Manasseh shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem from end to end. He led God's people so far astray that they did more evil than the nations God had destroyed before them. The story of Manasseh found in 2 Chronicles chapter 33 is almost unbelievable in its darkness.
This is a man who had every advantage. He was the son of Hezekiah, one of Judah's most faithful kings. He grew up hearing the stories of God's faithfulness, witnessing the revival of true worship. Yet he chose to reject it all, embracing evil so completely that the Bible says he led Judah and the people of Jerusalem astray so that they did more evil than the nations the Lord had destroyed. But God did not remain silent. He spoke to Manasseh and to the people, but they paid no attention. So God brought against them the commanders of the Assyrian army who captured Manasseh, put a hook in his nose, bound him with bronze shackles, and took him to Babylon as a prisoner.
And here's where the unexpected happens. 2 Chronicles 33:12 tells us, "In his distress, he sought the favor of the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his ancestors. this ruthless king, this murderer of innocence, this man who had set up idols in God's own temple, he prayed. And not just a desperate prayer to escape punishment, but a prayer of genuine humility and repentance. What happens next defies logic. Verse 13 says, "And when he prayed to him, the Lord was moved by his intreaty and listened to his plea. So he brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom.
Then Manasseh knew that the Lord is God. God not only forgave him but restored him to his position as king. And Manasseh spent the rest of his life trying to undo the damage he had caused. He removed the foreign gods, got rid of the idols, restored the altar of the Lord, and offered sacrifices. He told Judah to serve the Lord, the God of Israel. This isn't what we'd expect. If we're honest, most of us would would say Manasseh got what he deserved when he was dragged off to Babylon with a hook in his nose.
But God's grace doesn't follow our expectations of justice. It goes beyond what seems reasonable or fair. Now, fast forward hundreds of years to another unlikely recipient of grace, a man named Saul of Tarsus, who we better know as the Apostle Paul. Saul was educated, zealous, and absolutely convinced that followers of Jesus were dangerous blasphemers who needed to be stopped at all costs. The book of Acts introduced us to Saul at the stoning of Steven, the first Christian martyr. Acts 7:58 tells us that the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. And then in chapter 8:1, we read that Saul approved of their killing him.
But Saul didn't stop there. Acts 8:3 says, "Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison." In Acts 9, we find him still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples. He went to the high priests and asked for letters to the synagogues in Damascus so that if he found any there who belonged to the way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. Saul wasn't just a bystander or a casual opponent. He was actively hunting down followers of Jesus, having them imprisoned and approving of their executions.
He later described himself in 1 Timothy 1:13 as a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man. Then comes the famous moment on the road to Damascus. A light from heaven flashes around him. He falls to the ground and he hears a voice. Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? When Saul asks who's speaking, the reply comes. I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.
Just let that sink in. Saul is confronted by the very one he's been fighting against. The one whose followers he's been imprisoning and killing. If ever there was a moment to expect judgment, this was it. But that's not what happens. Instead, Jesus has plans for Saul. He sends him into Damascus where a disciple named Ananas, after some understandable hesitation, delivers this message in Acts chapter 9.
This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name. Saul the persecutor becomes the Paul the apostle. The man who tried to destroy the church becomes its greatest missionary. The one who supervised the killing of Christian Christians becomes willing to die for Christ. Years later, Paul wrote about this extraordinary turnaround. In 1 Timothy 1:15-16, he says, "Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance.
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason, I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life." Do you see what he's saying? Paul understood that his story wasn't just about him. It was about showing the world the immense patience and boundless grace of God. If Paul could be forgiven, anyone could. These aren't the only examples we have, though.
Think about David, a man after God's own heart, who committed adultery with Basheba and then had her husband killed to cover it up. Yet, when confronted by the prophet Nathan, David repented and God forgave him. Psalm 51, which tradition tells us David wrote after this incident, gives us one of the most beautiful prayers of repentance in all of scripture. Have mercy on me, oh God, according to your unfailing love. According to your great compassion, blot out my transgressions. Or consider the woman caught in adultery in John chapter 8. The law said she should be stoned.
But Jesus challenged her accusers, "Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." When they all left, Jesus told her, "Neither do I condemn you. Go now and leave your life of sin." Then there's Peter, who denied Jesus three times on the night of his arrest, yet was restored and became a leader of the early church. There's a criminal crucified beside Jesus who in his final hours simply asked, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." And Jesus replied, "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise." Time and again we see this pattern.
People who by all rights should be beyond redemption in our mind receiving forgiveness and a fresh start. Why? How is this possible? At its core, grace is getting what we don't deserve. It's forgiveness when we've earned condemnation. It's acceptance when we've earned rejection. It's love when we've earned indifference or even hatred.
The prophet Micah puts it beautifully in Micah 7:18 and 19. Who is a God like you who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever, but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us. You will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea. But there's something important we need to understand about grace. It's not cheap.
It doesn't mean God just overlooks sin or pretends it never happened. The grace that saves us costs God dearly. In Romans 3:23-26, Paul explains, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement through the shedding of his blood to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness because in his forbearance, he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished. He did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. God's grace doesn't contradict his justice.
It fulfills it. The penalty for sin is paid not ignored but paid by Jesus on the cross. That's why Paul can say we are justified freely by his grace. It's free to us but it wasn't free to God. So what does all this mean for us today? How do the stories of Manasseh and Paul and all these others speak to our lives right now? Well, first it means that no one is beyond the reach of God's grace.
I don't care what you've done. I don't care how far you think you've fallen. I don't care if you believe you've committed the unforgivable sin. If Manasseh can be forgiven after sacrificing his children to false gods, if Paul can be forgiven after hunting down and killing Christians, then you can be forgiven, too. The prophet Isaiah tells us in Isaiah 59, "Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear, but your iniquities have separated you from your God. Your sins have hidden his face from you so that he will not hear." It's not that God can't reach you.
It's that sin creates a barrier. But Jesus came to remove that barrier. As it says in 2 Corinthians 5:19, God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against them. If you're sitting there thinking about your past, no, it's too dark. My sins are too numerous. My heart is too hardened. You're wrong.
God's grace is bigger than all of that. As Romans 5:20 puts it, where sin increased, grace increased all the more. Second, it means that receiving grace requires humility and repentance. Notice that both Manasseh and Paul had to come to the to the end of themselves. Manasseh in chains in Babylon humbled himself greatly before before God. Paul blinded on the Damascus road had to be led by the hand into the city where he spent three days without eating or drinking. Their encounters with God broke their pride and self-sufficiency.
True repentance isn't just feeling bad about your sins or the consequences of your actions. It's a complete change of mind and heart that leads to a change of behavior. Both Manasseh and Paul didn't just say they were sorry. They completely changed direction. Manasseh tore down the idols he had built. Paul began proclaiming the faith he had once tried to destroy.
Jesus told his followers in Luke 13:3, "Unless you repent, you too will all perish." And Peter preached in Acts 3:19, "Repent then and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out that times of refreshing may come from the Lord." Repentance isn't a one-time event either. It's an ongoing attitude. The longer I walk with God, the more areas of my life I find that need surrendering to him. Repentance becomes a lifestyle, not just a moment of crisis. Third, grace should lead to gratitude and transformed living.
When you truly understand the depths of your forgiveness, it changes how you live. Paul put it this way in Romans 6:1 and2. What shall we say then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means. We are those who have died to sin. How can we live in it any longer?
Grace isn't a license to sin. and its motivation to live differently. In Titus 2, Paul wrote, "For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in this present age." The more you understand how much you've been forgiven, the more you'll want to live in a way that pleases God. Jesus told a parable about this in Luke 7. A money lender forgave two debts, one small, one large.
Jesus asked, "Which debtor would love the money lender more?" The answer, of course, was the one who had been forgiven more. Then Jesus applied it to a woman who had been washing his feet with her tears. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little. When we truly grasp the enormity of what we've been forgiven, our response is love and gratitude that transforms how we live. Fourth, experiencing grace should make us gracious toward others.
In Matthew 18, Jesus tells a parable about an unmerciful servant who was forgiven an enormous debt by his master, but then refused to forgive a very small debt owed to him. The master's response was severe. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you? Jesus taught us to pray, "Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors." And he warned in Matthew 6:15, "But if you do not forgive others their sins, your father will not forgive your sins." This doesn't mean we earn God's forgiveness by forgiving others. Rather, it means that genuine experience of God's grace naturally leads to extending grace to others.
If it doesn't, we probably haven't really understood or accepted God's grace for ourselves. The Apostle Paul, who knew better than most the extent of God's forgiveness, wrote in Ephesians 4:32, "Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you." When we refuse to forgive others, it's often a sign that we don't really believe we need much forgiveness ourselves. We're like the Pharisee in Jesus parable who prayed, "God, I thank you that I am not like other people, robbers, evildoers, adulterers, or even like this tax collector." But Jesus said it was the tax collector who went home justified before God because he simply prayed, "God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
Finally, God's grace gives us hope. Not just for ourselves, but for others. If you're praying for someone who seems hopelessly lost, remember Manasseh. Remember Paul. God specializes in impossible cases. I love what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11. He lists all kinds of sinful lifestyles.
And then he says, "And that is what some of you were. But you were washed. You were sanctified. You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the spirit of our God. Did you catch that? That is what some of you were past tense. The Corinthian church is full of people with messy backgrounds who had been transformed by grace.
That same transforming grace is available today, right now. I've seen it change the hard-hearted, heal the broken, free the addicted, restore marriages, and bring joy where there was despair. God's grace isn't just a theological concept. It's a powerful reality that continues to work in our world. One of my favorite passages about grace is found in Ephesians 2 1-10. Paul writes, "As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air. This spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient."
All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ, even when we were dead in transgressions. It is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages, he might show the incomparable riches of his grace expressed in his kindness to us in Jesus Christ. For it is by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not from yourselves.
It is the gift of God, not by works so that no one can boast. For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do. I love that phrase, the incomparable riches of his grace. God's grace isn't stingy or reluctant. It's not given with a sigh of exasperation or a shake of the head. It's rich, abundant, incomparable. John 1:16 tells us, "From his fullness, we have all received grace upon grace."
The images of waves of an ocean. Before one wave of grace recedes, another is already rolling in. God's grace just keeps coming. This grace doesn't make light of sin. It doesn't say sin doesn't matter. In fact, it says the opposite. Sin matters so much that God was willing to pay the ultimate price to deal with it.
Grace takes sin seriously while offering a way through it and beyond it. But here's the thing, grace has to be received. It's a gift offered, not imposed. Hebrews 4:16 invites us to approach God's throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. But we have to approach. We have to come to God with our hands and hearts open. Maybe you're watching this and you've never experienced God's grace firsthand.
Maybe you've heard about it, sung about it, thought about it, but never really let it wash over you and transform you. Or maybe you've tasted grace in the past, but lately you've been trying to earn God's approval through your own efforts. The invitation of grace is always open. Romans 10:13 promises that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Not some people, not just the good people or the religious people or the people who have it all together. Everyone who calls on him. Isaiah 55:6 and 7 says, "Seek the Lord while he may be found.
Call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord and he will have mercy on them and to our God for he will freely pardon. Grace is available today for anyone willing to receive it. For the person who feels they've sinned too much, wasted too many years, hurt too many people. For the person struggling with addiction or anger or anxiety. For the person who's tried religion but never experienced relationship with God.
And for those of us who have walked with God for years, grace isn't just how we started the journey. It's how we continue. We don't graduate from grace to law or from receiving to earning. As Paul wrote to the Colossians, "So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him." God doesn't love you because you're good. He loves you because he's good. His grace doesn't depend on your performance.
It doesn't rise and fall with your spiritual temperature. It's constant, reliable, and sufficient for whatever you're facing. 2 Corinthians 12:9 tells us that God said to Paul, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." God's grace meets us in our weakness, not in our strength. It's when we come to the end of ourselves that we most fully experience the beginning of his grace.
Like Manasseh in chains, like Paul blinded on the Damascus road, like the prodigal son returning home in rags, we find that God's response to our brokenness and repentance isn't condemnation, but compassion, not rejection, but restoration. The good news of the gospel is that through Jesus Christ, we can all experience this amazing grace. As Romans 5:1 and2 puts it, therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. Through faith in Christ, we stand in grace, not on the shaky ground of our own goodness or religious performance, but on the solid rock of God's unshakable love and acceptance. If you're carrying guilt today for past failures or present struggles, hear the words of 1 John 1:9. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
Not from some unrighteousness, from all unrighteousness. If you feel unworthy of God's love, remember what Romans 5'8 tells us. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. God didn't wait for us to clean up our act. He loved us at our worst. If you're afraid you've gone too far, done too much, waited too long, listen to the promise of Joel 21:13.
Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity. The same grace that transformed Manasse from child sacrificing idoltor to humble worshshiper of God. The same grace that turned Paul from Christian killer to Christ proclaimer is available to you and me right now. It's a grace that not only forgives our past but empowers our future that not only saves us but shapes us into the people God created us to be. When we receive God's grace, it's important that we don't keep moping around, weighted down by shame for things that God has already forgiven. We might occasionally reflect with regret on our past mistakes, but living in perpetual shame and self-hatred, that's not what grace is about. In fact, that's a subtle form of pride that says, "My sin is bigger than God's grace."
It's refusing to accept the gift that cost Jesus everything. Think about it. If Paul continued to hate himself after his Damascus road experience, do you think he would have accomplished all that he did? If he had spent his days overwhelmed with shame for the Christians he had persecuted, would he have written half the New Testament books? Would Manasseh have been able to lead his nation back to God if he couldn't move past his own terrible sins? No way. Accepting grace means accepting that you're forgiven.
Period. As Psalm 103:12 tells us, "As far as the east is from the west, so far he removed our transgressions from us." If God has removed them, who are we to keep dragging them back? Your ability to move forward and be used by God depends on your willingness to embrace the clean slate he's given you. Remember what Isaiah 43:18 and 19 says, "Forget the former things. Do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing.
Let this be our prayer. Aba Father, thank you for your boundless grace that reaches even to the worst of sinners. Thank you that no one is beyond your reach, no heart too hard, no path too dark for your love to transform. We confess that we often try to earn what can only be received as a gift or we cheapen grace by taking it for granted. Help us to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is your love for us. May the reality of your forgiveness fill us with gratitude and joy that overflows into gracious living towards others. Let your grace not only save us but shape us.
Not only free us but form us into the image of your son. In those moments when we feel unworthy or when we struggle with forgiving ourselves, remind us that your grace is greater than our guilt, your mercy deeper than our shame. and give us courage to share this amazing grace with a world that desperately needs it in Jesus name. Amen. [Music]
