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1. A real letter to a Christian radio program host:

2. "Dear Brother Hendley: Will you please pray for me? I want to be a real Christian, but I have committed some horrible sins and they haunt me day and night. I beg and pray and cry and worry and try to trust and believe, but I am afraid I have committed an unpardonable sin or a sin unto death. Such horrible thoughts go through my mind. It seems I cannot control them. Please pray that God may forgive me. I will give my life to Him if He will forgive me and have that peace that passes all understanding. I am so afraid I am going to hell. I can almost hear it, it seems. Preacher I beg you to please pray for me that if it is His will, He will forgive a poor, hell deserving wretch like me. Again I say, please pray. God bless you. Yours truly. Worried almost to death." Illustration by By Reverend Jesse M. Hendley

3. You think God's heart isn't touched by that? If my heart is touched by it, and if other people's hearts are touched by it (who love the Lord), how much MORE is God's Heart touched by that? God does want to save, and God WILL save, and IT IS His will to forgive!

4. There are so many of God’s people today who live under a heavy burden of guilt because of their past. They have a hard time believing that God could forgive them much less forget their sin. Part of this may be because others remind them of their past. But even more prevalent than that is, the challenge of forging themselves.

5. What would you say to the writer?

6. I thought to myself many people feel this way at one time or another in their life. What words of advice do you have to them?

(1 John 5:11-13) And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. {12} He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. {13} These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.

A. The book of acts tells of an occasion when thousands of people felt like The letter writer.

(Acts 2:37-39) Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" {38} Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. {39} "For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call."

A. Joseph forgave his brothers (Gen 50).

B. David forgave Saul (in the cave).

C. Stephen

(Acts 7:59-60) And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." {60} Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not charge them with this sin." And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

A. If Joseph, David and Stephen were able to forgive in such a magnificent fashion, How much greater is the forgiveness of God.

(Isa 55:6-9) Seek the LORD while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near. {7} Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the LORD, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon. {8} "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," says the LORD. {9} "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.

(Psa 103:8-18) The LORD is merciful and gracious, Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy. {9} He will not always strive with us, Nor will He keep His anger forever. {10} He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor punished us according to our iniquities. {11} For as the heavens are high above the earth, So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; {12} As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us. {13} As a father pities his children, So the LORD pities those who fear Him. {14} For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust. {15} As for man, his days are like grass; As a flower of the field, so he flourishes. {16} For the wind passes over it, and it is gone, And its place remembers it no more. {17} But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting On those who fear Him, And His righteousness to children's children, {18} To such as keep His covenant, And to those who remember His commandments to do them.

B. Do you believe that?

(Eph 1:7) In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace

(Col 1:14) in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

(1 John 1:7-10) But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. {8} If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. {9} If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. {10} If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

A. The prophets of Baal certainly had feelings so strong they mutilated themselves. But, it proved nothing

(1 Ki 18:26-29) Then they took the ox which was given them and they prepared it and called on the name of Baal from morning until noon saying, "O Baal, answer us." But there was no voice and no one answered. And they leaped about the altar which they made. {27} It came about at noon, that Elijah mocked them and said, "Call out with a loud voice, for he is a god; either he is occupied or gone aside, or is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and needs to be awakened." {28} So they cried with a loud voice and cut themselves according to their custom with swords and lances until the blood gushed out on them. {29} When midday was past, they raved until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice; but there was no voice, no one answered, and no one paid attention.

A. Rom. 7:15-8:1

B. Have you ever felt like this?

1. Rolls Royce takes great pride in the reliability of their handcrafted automobiles. An obviously wealthy owner of a Rolls Royce took it to Europe on an extended trip. While traveling in France the car had mechanical problem. He called the Rolls Royce factory and asked that they send out a mechanic immediately to fix the problem. He was wealthy and didn’t care about the expense. The company responded in royal fashion. They put a mechanic on a private jet with all of the necessary tools and flew him over to France to make the repairs.

After several months he realized that he had not received a bill. He had his secretary contact the Rolls Royce factory to inquire about the bill. He received this reply from the Rolls Royce company: In typical British fashion, it said simply, "We have no recollection or record of any Rolls Royce having ever had a breakdown or being in need of repair anywhere in France."

2. That reminds me of how God treats us when he forgives us of sin. Sometimes we have a harder time forgiving ourselves than does God. We sometimes feel weighed down with the burden of guilt long after God has removed the burden of sin. We need to follow God’s instructions to find forgiveness, then trust that God has kept his promise to forgive. Take comfort from these words:

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." (2 Corinthians 5:17)

3. If you are a faithful Christian and have doubts about the forgiveness of the sins of the old man, when you pray to God about those sins already forgiven, Heaven replies, "I’m sorry but we have no record of that person ever having existed.