Forgiven, Forgiving and Free
Teachers
Lesson Summary
In this Bible study class, Pastor Larry Johnson continued the series on forgiveness, focusing on how God's forgiveness transforms believers and how we can extend that same grace to others. The discussion centered on the four aspects of forgiveness—covering, carving, casting, and concealing—using Old Testament imagery like the Ark of the Covenant and the mercy seat to illustrate Christ's atoning work. The class emphasized that forgiveness is not about personal effort but relying on Jesus' completed sacrifice, which allows God's grace to flow through us. The teacher also explored different theological perspectives on atonement from scholars like Brother Everett Ferguson, noting how sacrifice, reconciliation, redemption, and justification are all facets of God's forgiveness. Key scriptural insights included the role of Christ as the propitiation for sins (1 John 2:2) and the significance of His blood cleansing believers (Hebrews 9:24). The lesson concluded with a reflection on how we can cooperate with God's grace to forgive others as we have been forgiven, emphasizing the freedom this brings.
Key Scriptures
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.