Joseph Prince — You Are Forgiven
There's one man who died who saw no corruption. And Paul says, "This Jesus whom God raised up saw no corruption. Therefore, let it be known to you, brethren, that through this man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins". Notice it starts with "therefore". That means what? Because Jesus was raised from the dead, "Therefore let it be known to you that through Jesus this man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins". Notice unconditional proclamation, free proclamation. There are no provisos in it except to believe. But there's nothing for us except to believe, all right?
Through this man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins and by him, by Jesus, everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you cannot be justified by the law of Moses or by the Ten Commandments. You are justified. You know how justified you are? You are as justified as Jesus is when he rose from the dead. The standing and justification of the risen Christ is as sure as your standing and justification in him. Can anyone condemn the holy risen Jesus? None, neither can anyone condemn you. That's why the Bible says, "Who is he who condemns"? It is Christ who died. Yea, rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who makes intercession for us, hallelujah.
Friend, if the bird is to be let go, the sinner, the leper must be pronounced clean. Jesus cannot be let go out of the prison of death until God pronounces us clean, righteous, amen? So, his resurrection is a divine confirmation. There are people that Jesus healed, lepers that Jesus healed in the gospels. There's one time he walked into a village near Galilee and Samaria, and there were ten lepers who stood afar off, the Bible tells us. They did not come near, of course. And they cried to Jesus, "Jesus, master have mercy on us". And Jesus says, "Go show yourselves to the priest".
Now, wait a minute, they're not cleansed yet, right? You're supposed to go to the priest in the day of your cleansing. But Jesus told them, while they were still in their state, "Go show yourself to the priest". And the Bible says, I love this sentence in the Bible, "As they went, they were cleansed". The moment you take one step of faith towards God, God meets you, amen? So, God says to you, "I know you're still not perfect. I know that when you look at yourself you still see the leprosy and all that, but as you go to the priest, don't forget, you only go to the priest after you are cleansed". But then as they were going, ten of them, as they were going, they were cleansed. One of them came back to Jesus, only one out of nine and gave glory to God. He knew who the real priest was.