“Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; Mercy and truth go before Your face” – Psalm 89:14
When you cross over the Verrazano Bridge onto the Belt Parkway going east and drive along the southern coast part of the Five Burroughs of New York City, at one point you will cross the border of Brooklyn and there will be a sign along the parkway that reads, “Fuhgeddaboudit.” Now you might wonder “What does that mean?” You’ll probably get a little grin at the onomatopoeia.[1] You might impulsively ask Siri what the long word means and get a little understanding. No one knows who invented the expression. But to hommie New Yorkers, we know what it means. To us it’s a colloquialism, an expression and condensing of the phrase, “Forget about it,” which can be used for good things happening, bad things happening, good and bad things that might happen, and just a catch-all expression.
If I were to ask you how your day was going, and you were a New Yorker, especially one from Brooklyn, you might say, “Fuhgeddaboudit.” The only way I’d truly know what you meant by your response was by your facial expression. Eye contact and a smile would mean you’re having a good day. Looking down, shaking your head in disbelief and sighing, well, that would mean you need some prayer. So, in Brooklynese I ask, “How you’s doin?” I hope it’s so good that all you can say is, “Fuhgeddaboudit” with full eye contact and a bright smile.
So, what am I trying to say? In a lighthearted kind of way I’m inviting you to consider your day. But more than that I’m inviting you to consider your life, how it’s going, your direction, and ultimately, your end. To that you might think or say, “Fuhgeddaboudit,” but I hope instead you would consider the voice of the Holy Spirit.
We might be tempted to live as though all that there is, is what we see, hear, or feel. But there is more to life than that. There is a Creator who cares for us and desires to guide us through life in a way that we can spend eternity with Him. But there is a problem. From birth to the grave we are infected with sin. [2]That’s a serious predicament because sin separates us from God our Creator. [3]Because He is a just God, He must one day justly administer judgment on the sinner.[4] We all will one day stand before God and be judged. [5] How we lived our lives will determine our eternal destiny, Heaven, or “H-E-double-toothpicks,” Hell.
On the City streets long ago they used to play a game called “Three Card Monty.” I haven’t been on the streets for some time, but if you want to save yourself some grief, it’s never a good idea to play a game, on a table, with cards, or cups, in the City. It was a game aimed at luring unsuspecting tourists to gamble their money. They were enticed with the temptation to win some “easy” extra cash. And, at first they would win. But the game was fixed. No one left that game richer. Everyone left that game poorer. Why do I mention Three Card Monty? I’m not playing with you here. This is not a game. I’m hoping you’ll read on because there’s a way in life that you can truly guarantee riches at your finish line. But there is also a way that you can lose everything. That’s no joke. That’s no scam. That’s the truth.
This sin problem of ours is serious. Because of the pain and suffering sin causes, God will judge those who persist in sin.[6] The closest we come to understanding this is when someone victimizes someone we love, we know they deserve a just consequence. That is especially the case when it comes to adults victimizing children. In this world, justice often escapes us. But with God, it never does. [7]
When we look around and see all the lies and propaganda, arguments, all the conflicts, all the wars, all the crime and rebellion, yes, sin is a very big issue in this life. Sin confuses people. Sin blinds people. Sin wears people down. Sin depresses people, destroys people. Sin is the worst thing that ever happened to people and this world.
“Whoa!” you might be thinking. “This conversation got serious pretty quick.” Well, life is serious. Our eternal destiny is serious. Our lives are serious, but they are short. Even if we live to be one hundred, our lives are short in the grander scheme of things. The sooner we deal with our sin related problems, the sooner we can begin to understand and live the good and abundant lives God intended us to live.
Another variable in this life equation is that we have an adversary. There is a created being referred to by various names such as “the serpent,” Satan, the devil, who rebelled against God and is vying for control of God’s creation.[8] The Bible says he prowls around like a predator lion looking for someone to devour.[9] He desires to thwart any plans of God and inflict as much pain to God as he can. One way he does that is by trying to steal God’s image bearers, us. This adversary seeks to hurt God by hurting the objects of His affection. We are created in God’s image. [10] Because of sin we are hell bent and prone to be owned by this devil.[11] All humanity is under this devil’s influence. [12] All fallen sinful humanity is blinded to their predicament which makes their plight all the more perilous. [13] Life is like a dark alley with the fiercest, most vicious, and ravenous predator imaginable, and we are walking in his territory.
I hope I haven’t lost you. I hope you haven’t said, in your own vernacular, “Fuhgeddaboudit.” What Rocky Balboa told his son is true, “The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place and I don’t care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life.” [14] On our own, we very well may give up and say, “Fuhgeddaboudit.” In our own strength, we fall short, every time, all the time. [15] “But God,” that phrase changes everything. God has given us a reason and way so that we don’t have to just give in to the tidal wave of sin and pain and suffering in this world. It all begins with the phrase, “But God.”
The Bible says, “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:1-2). In sin we are dead, not dead as in unable to make a response, but dead in that we are separated from the One who gives us life, God. Like a prodigal son who leaves home to waste their inheritance in prodigal sinful living, we are dead because we have chosen to separate from our Father who gives us life and meaning (Luke 15:24).[16] In our sinfulness we are on course to spend eternity in hell with “the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,” who we are a part of because of our sin. This gang of sinners lives in lust and are preoccupied with thoughts and plans contrary to God’s will. This is who we are aligned with, whether we realize it or not, when we live without God. The result is that we are “by nature children of wrath” or people destined to eternal punishment that is the just consequence because of the pain and suffering our sins have caused (Ephesians 2:3).
You might be tempted to think, “Wait a minute, I’m not such a bad person.” Most sinful or religious people think of themselves as not so bad. The issue is not whether people are good. The problem is that no one is good enough to get into heaven. The Bible says our efforts to be good before God are to God, “like filthy rags.” [17] To get to heaven our righteousness must be more than mere religious practice. [18] If we rely on our own religiosity our righteousness must exceed the merely religious. God’s standard is to be perfect to get into heaven. [19] Jesus said the way to heaven is “narrow” and the way to hell is “broad.” [20] On our own, we will fall short of what God requires to get into heaven. [21]
Right about now you’re probably thinking something like what Jesus’ disciples thought. Jesus once said it is easier to get a camel through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven. Jesus said similar things about religious people.[22] They then exclaimed, “Who then can be saved?” [23] Jesus’ response gave them, and gives us, hope. “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” [24]
“But God,” intervenes. “But God,” But God,” But God,” are some of the sweetest words that any sinner convicted of their sins have ever heard. God doesn’t just let us wallow in the sinful swampy world of wastedness. “But God, who is rich in mercy,” looks on sinners in His mercy and decides, “I am going to make a way that they don’t have to receive the just consequences for this sinfulness.” Justice is getting what you deserve. We deserve justice. But mercy is not getting what you deserve. God made a way to be merciful to us; a way that was also just. Not even a judge in a Brooklyn court will just overlook crimes. And the God of Heaven is Just. “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; Mercy and truth go before Your face” (Psalm 89:14).
“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,” are some of the sweetest words ever spoken or written. We might be tempted to think God hates us. If we were God, we might simply wipe out this sinful world and start over. Thankfully, we are not God. Thankfully, God is God and He is loving. And His love is revealed and proven in that, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Why did Jesus die for us? The Bible says the just consequence of sin is death (Romans 6:23). So Holy is God, so high is His standard, so just is His way, that sin, left unrepented of, deserves and will receive, a death sentence. Death here does not mean annihilation, but separation from God eternally. That penalty must be paid if God is to remain just. If He just overlooks sin He minimizes its seriousness and is reduced to a weak Sovereign. That will never happen. So God who is rich in mercy and love, provided Someone to step in on behalf of the guilty to pay their death-debt of sin. That Someone is Jesus.
“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Jesus was made sin for us in that He paid our death penalty. It’s as though we are standing before a judge, the evidence is slam-dunk undeniably certain that we are guilty. There is no plea bargain option in God’s courtroom. We are guilty and admit our undeniable sinfulness before this Almighty Judge. The death sentence is pronounced. But low and behold, an Almighty Advocate steps up and steps in on our behalf. His name is Jesus. He tells His Father the Judge, “I have paid this penalty and if this guilty sinner believes in Me, put my death payment to their account and set them free.” All that guilty criminal has to do is believe and accept what Jesus has done for them, and they can be set free. Jesus did that for you and for me. I have said, “Yes!” to Jesus’ sacrifice on my behalf. What do you say?
But not only that, when we say in faith “Yes” to Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf, there is a holy justification that takes place where JESUS PAYS OUR SIN PENALTY AND HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS IS PUT TO OUR ACCOUNT. From that point on, when God looks at you, He sees the righteousness of Jesus. That’s incredible. That’s beyond any meaning of “Fuhgeddaboudit!” On the cross Jesus said, “It is finished!” (John 19:30). All that was, is, and ever will be required for God to justly forgive the sinner who admits their sin and trusts in Jesus’ redemptive work on the cross, is accomplished on that cross. The work of the cross does not have to be perpetuated or continued. TETLESTAI – IT IS FINISHED! To suggest anything must be added to what Jesus did on the cross, is the most offensive possible slur on the most holy act of God in Christ.
We know this redemptive act of Jesus is totally sufficient for our forgiveness of sins and salvation because of the resurrection of Jesus. Death is caused by sin. By rising from the dead Jesus demonstrated He broke the shackles and consequences of sin which is death. The sting of death and the threat of Hell are removed by Jesus. [25] And because of that, “Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:58). Remember that.
All of this is offered to us as a gift of God’s GRACE! “Grace” means gift. God offers to us the saving benefits of Jesus redemptive work as a gift. All we need to do is accept it by faith. The Bible explains it like this, “Even when we were dead in trespasses,” we were, “Made alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:5-6). We receive this “by faith” (Ephesians 2:8-9). “In Christ,” is a literary way to refer to those who, by virtue of God’s grace received by faith, now have a personal saving relationship with God in Jesus. Jesus said eternal life was personally knowing Him (John 17:3). Jesus came to bring us near to God (Ephesians 2:13).
Why would God do this? Why would He design such a plan of salvation to redeem sinners hopelessly lost in their sins? Why would He do this for those who were living in outright rebellion toward Him? The answer is, “that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:7). Sin alienates us from God and causes us to see Him as a tyrant, angry and mean. But that is a lie from the father of lies. [26] God loves the world and so gave His only Son Jesus to die for and redeem those who would believe in Him (John 3:16). It is true that “God is angry with the wicked every day” (Psalm 7:11). He is justly angry at those who reject his offers and efforts to reconcile them from their sins. He is justly angry toward those who reject what Jesus His only Son has done by grace in mercy and love. In fact, this is the one unforgivable sin, to reject Jesus the Redeemer.[27] But God would much rather the sinner be redeemed. The Bible states of God, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). “Repentance” simply means a change of heart toward God and His Gospel of Jesus Christ. That is God’s desire for every person.
All of what happens to the person who admits their sins to God, trusts in Jesus as Savior, and receives the forgiveness He offers, can be summed up with the words, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). Our salvation is provided to us by God. We can take no credit for any of it. He has created us in His image with the capacity to hear and decide whether to receive what He offers. All the “work” of salvation is done by Jesus. It’s all offered to us as a gift to be received by faith. There’s no room for boasting in our salvation other than boasting in the blessed provision of God our Savior.
Ask yourself, “Why am I even reading this?” Ask, “How on earth did I even come to such a conversation?” You’re reading this because God is reaching out to you.[28] The Holy Spirit is communicating to you, reasoning with you that you need to believe in Jesus, that you can’t work your way to heaven, and that if you don’t respond in faith to this gospel of Jesus Christ, you will be judged along with the god of this world. [29]
You may have been searching for meaning in other alleys. You may have searched in mysticism or New Age world views. You may have searched in other religions like Judaism, Islam, Hinduism. You may have said, “Fuhgeddaboudit” and settled for atheism. But the bottom-line truth in all of this conversation is what Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). That’s not bigoted, racist, or arrogant. That is simply the unwoke unadulterated truth. God didn’t confuse us by putting many doors before us to enter heaven. God put one Door, Jesus, and said, “This is the Way.” “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved. . ..” (John 10:9). Jesus said that. The first converts to Christ were referred to as “The Way” because they had followed the way of Jesus provided by God. [30]
I hope at this point you’re thinking, “Wow! That’s incredible.” I hope you’re maybe experiencing a “Fuhgeddaboudit,” that is one of amazement and appreciation. If that isn’t enough for you to be amazed, please understand that when a person responds to this “good news” (which is what the word “gospel” means) they receive spiritual life. The Holy Spirit indwells and regenerates them.[31] Jesus described this as being “born again” (John 3:1-21). The person who puts their faith in Jesus becomes a new creation and all the old stuff, the sinful stuff we’ve committed up to that point in our lives is put behind us (2 Corinthians 5:17). Indeed, when we come to the Lord through faith in Jesus our sins are forgiven, and God purposely remembers them no more.[32] This provision of God truly is incredible.
One final penultimate aspect of this Gospel plan of God. The Bible states that, “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:19). There are no words to describe that other than the inspired words of scripture. The God we so easily and often rebel against, ignore, disobey, and even hate, it is that God who justly went to the cross and paid our debt of sin. It is that God who, in love, made a way for us to live eternally with Him. Don’t forget that! Just be thankful for Him that He did it.
But what do we do once we’ve been saved from our sins? The end of that verse points us in the right direction, “and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.” It goes on to say, “Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:20). That’s why I’m writing this to you. God has a plan for you. “For we are His workmanship,” the Bible says. “Workmanship” is translated from the Greek term poema which means a fabric, thing made, work of a worker. We get the English word poem from this term. We are God’s poetry. The Bible says of those who have trusted Jesus as Savior, “clearly you are an epistle [i.e., a written letter] of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart” (2 Corinthians 3:3). Our lives are a story written by God. What does your story look like? Is there a chapter where you come to Jesus and believe in Him as your Savior? Is there a point where you begin living for Him? Live to tell others about Jesus. Live to tell others the good news of this incredible gospel. Don’t let them forget about it! “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10). God has always had a plan for you. It’s time to forget about life apart from Christ and look forward to life lived for Him. Its time to live to tell others about Jesus.
Don’t “Fuhgeddaboudit” when it comes to getting right with God and dealing with the sin that separates you from Him. I hope and pray you’ve responded to the gospel and there’s a smile on your face, and in your heart. If you’re still uncertain, you might pray something like this:
Father in Heaven, I come to You in Jesus’ name. I admit to you that I am a sinner. I know I cannot work off my sin. I deserve Your judgment. But I believe Jesus died for me. I believe He paid the penalty for my sin. I believe He rose from the dead. Please forgive me because of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross for me. I believe this with all my heart. Fill me with the Holy Spirit and give me spiritual eternal life. I’m trusting in You. Help me to live for you. Write the story of my life in a way that gives glory to You. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
It’s no accident that you’ve happened upon this teaching. It’s no accident that you haven’t said “Fuhgeddaboudit” and have pressed on to the end here. Now, embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ. Embrace Jesus. In faith embrace His grace. Do that, and you will never “Fuhgeddaboudit.” Let’s get busy representing our loving God and living for Him. Let’s share this good news, this gospel with others. Let’s give Him glory by living for Him. In Jesus’ name. Amen!
[1] Onomatopoeia – words that sound like they are said.
[2] Genesis 3; Psalm 51:5; Romans 3:9-18
[3] Isaiah 59:1-2
[4] Psalm 89:14; Exodus 34:6-7; Romans 3:25-26; Hebrews 2:1-3; 1 Peter 1:13-16
[5] Hebrews 9:27
[6] Habakkuk 1:13; Psalm 66:18
[7] Galatians 6:7-9
[8] Isaiah 14:12-17; Ezekiel 28:11-19
[9] 1 Peter 5:8-9
[10] Genesis 1:26-28
[11] Ephesians 2:1-3
[12] 1 John 5:19
[13] 2 Corinthians 4:4
[14] Rocky Balboa 2006
[15] Romans 3:23
[16] The Parable of the Prodigal is in Luke 15:11-32
[17] Isaiah 64:6
[18] Matthew 5:20
[19] Matthew 5:48
[20] Matthew 7:13-14
[21] See Matthew 19:16-22; 1 Timothy 1:8-11.
[22] Matthew 5:20
[23] Matthew 19-24-25.
[24] Matthew 19:26
[25] 1 Corinthians 15:50-58
[26] John 8:44
[27] Matthew 12:31
[28] John 6:44
[29] John 16:8-11
[30] Acts 9:2; 19:9; 24:14, 22.
[31] Titus 3:4-7
[32] Jeremiah 31:34; Micah 7:18; Hebrews 8:14; 1 John 1:7 and 9