He Killed His Wife and Children — Can He Really Be Forgiven?

00:00:00.000 | A horrifying story out of Colorado has grabbed headlines since it happened in August.

00:00:09.040 | It's the story of a man who killed his entire family, his wife of six years, their unborn

00:00:16.400 | child along with their other two young daughters.

00:00:20.200 | It's sickening, so sickening.

00:00:22.560 | A listener named Stephanie wrote us, "Dear Pastor John, I'm a 33-year-old mother and

00:00:27.600 | elementary teacher.

00:00:28.800 | My question comes from the recent news that Chris Watts, a Colorado man who killed his

00:00:33.400 | pregnant wife and two daughters, has confessed the details of his crime and been sentenced

00:00:38.880 | to five life sentences without the possibility of parole.

00:00:42.960 | And now in these few short months, he has claimed to have found God in prison.

00:00:48.960 | After following the news closely back when he was originally suspected of the heinous

00:00:52.920 | crime, my reaction to his so-called finding God was anger.

00:00:57.960 | Is it wrong for me to not want this man who committed unspeakable acts to know my Jesus?

00:01:05.000 | Do you believe someone like him can truly repent and enter the kingdom of God?"

00:01:11.240 | This is weighty because it deals not only with the moral reality of whether someone

00:01:18.360 | who has done something so horrific can ever be forgiven, it also deals with how we should

00:01:25.080 | feel about it.

00:01:26.320 | And those are two really, really big issues.

00:01:29.280 | And I think the safest thing I can do, I just sat down when I heard this question a little

00:01:36.320 | bit ago and tried to think of places that are relevant in the Bible.

00:01:41.400 | So here are six passages of Scripture.

00:01:44.520 | Let me just read them, and I think it will be obvious to Stephanie how she can appropriate

00:01:50.760 | these.

00:01:51.760 | Verse number one, 1 Peter 2.23, "When Jesus was reviled, he did not revile in return.

00:01:58.600 | When he suffered, he did not threaten, but he continued entrusting his cause or himself

00:02:06.360 | to him who judges justly."

00:02:09.600 | In other words, whenever we feel that injustice is being done to us, as it certainly was to

00:02:15.920 | Jesus on the cross, or to anyone else, we must ultimately entrust our cause, either

00:02:25.840 | our own accusation or our indignation at somebody else's accusation or non-accusation, we must

00:02:33.120 | entrust our cause to God who judges justly.

00:02:37.520 | In other words, our final confidence after we have done all we can do with regard to

00:02:44.680 | seeing that justice and mercy are done in this world, our final confidence is that God

00:02:50.360 | will set all things right.

00:02:54.080 | Justice will be done.

00:02:55.600 | Nobody gets away with anything in this universe.

00:02:59.920 | Romans 12.19, "Vengeance is mine.

00:03:03.200 | I will repay, says the Lord."

00:03:06.120 | And so you don't need to take it up and bear that burden.

00:03:09.740 | So it's right, it's right for Stephanie to care about justice being done in this universe

00:03:18.420 | and nothing being swept under the rug and people getting away with murder, as we might

00:03:24.140 | say.

00:03:25.140 | So that's the first observation, 1 Peter 2.23.

00:03:27.140 | Here's the second one, Luke 23.42, "The thief on the cross said to Jesus just moments or

00:03:33.500 | hours before they both died, 'Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.'

00:03:40.820 | And Jesus said to him, 'Truly I say to you, today you'll be with me in paradise.'"

00:03:47.860 | Which means that an entire lifetime of sinning and stealing from others, and probably worse,

00:03:57.220 | can be forgiven one hour before you die.

00:04:01.020 | Matthew 3, Matthew 20.12-15, Jesus told a parable about a farmer who hired workers to

00:04:10.220 | work all day in his vineyard for one denarius.

00:04:13.500 | And they said, "Fine, that's good, that's fair pay."

00:04:16.260 | And then others came, and by the end of the day, he was hiring people for one hour and

00:04:20.540 | giving them one denarius.

00:04:22.540 | And the first group complained.

00:04:23.920 | They said this, "These last worked only one hour and you made them equal with us and we

00:04:30.780 | borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat."

00:04:34.780 | And he replied to them, "Friend, I'm doing you no wrong.

00:04:39.420 | Did you not agree with me for a denarius?

00:04:42.560 | Take what belongs to you and go.

00:04:44.420 | I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you.

00:04:48.220 | Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me?

00:04:54.920 | Or is your eye evil because I am good?"

00:04:59.540 | In other words, God is free to be gracious to whom he will be gracious and to give them

00:05:07.860 | anything he chooses.

00:05:10.220 | And every person who is not satisfied with God's choices will hear the words, "I'm doing

00:05:19.460 | you no wrong."

00:05:22.860 | Number four, Luke 15.25-32.

00:05:27.740 | People of the prodigal son, there were two sons, right?

00:05:31.340 | And the one who lived the debauched life came home repenting.

00:05:35.020 | And the father ran out to greet him, blew everybody's mind that he would be so merciful

00:05:40.260 | to his son who had wasted his entire inheritance.

00:05:45.380 | And his brother who had stayed at home and served like a good slave, that's my interpretation,

00:05:52.860 | and said, "I never broke any of your rules and I didn't ever get a party."

00:05:57.020 | Here's what he says, "Your brother has come and your father has killed..."

00:06:01.900 | No, this is the report that comes to him of what happened.

00:06:04.180 | "Your brother has come and your father has killed the fatted calf because he has received

00:06:08.180 | him back safe and sound."

00:06:09.380 | But he was angry.

00:06:11.060 | This older brother was angry and refused to go in.

00:06:13.500 | "His father came out and entreated him, but he answered, 'Look, these many years I have

00:06:19.380 | served you and I never disobeyed your command.

00:06:22.700 | Yet you never gave me a young goat that I might celebrate with my friends.

00:06:28.860 | But when this son of yours comes home who's devoured your property with prostitutes, you

00:06:33.820 | killed the fatted calf for him.'"

00:06:37.780 | And the father said, "Son..."

00:06:40.500 | This is Jesus talking to the Pharisees.

00:06:42.180 | You have to understand the context.

00:06:44.300 | The Pharisees have objected his eating with tax collectors and sinners.

00:06:48.740 | This is one of the clearest places in the Gospels where Jesus lets down his woes.

00:06:54.340 | Woe to you, Pharisees.

00:06:55.540 | And he talks like this, "Son, you're always with me and all that I have is yours.

00:07:04.700 | It was fitting to celebrate and be glad.

00:07:09.780 | For this your brother was dead and he's alive.

00:07:12.700 | He was lost and is found."

00:07:15.340 | And you can just hear Jesus saying to the Pharisees, "Don't you get this?

00:07:20.820 | These are your fellow Jews.

00:07:23.060 | They're being forgiven.

00:07:24.060 | They're repenting."

00:07:25.060 | So the problem with the older brother is that he lived like a slave, not a son.

00:07:30.460 | He related to his father as if his work would earn good things instead of enjoying the fellowship

00:07:36.900 | of the father's bounty.

00:07:38.180 | So when the younger brother was freely forgiven, the older brother doesn't have any categories.

00:07:43.420 | He doesn't have any ability for enjoying grace because he's not living by grace.

00:07:49.940 | Number five, Luke 747.

00:07:53.060 | Jesus visited a Pharisee's house, remember, and a woman from the street came in and bent

00:07:58.940 | over Jesus' feet as they were stretched out behind him at the reclining of the table and

00:08:04.900 | weeping with thanksgiving for her forgiveness of her sins.

00:08:09.500 | She wipes his feet with her hair and the Pharisee was indignant and Jesus told him a parable

00:08:14.900 | about a man being forgiven $500 and another man being forgiven $5.

00:08:19.420 | And he asked the Pharisee which one would be more thankful.

00:08:22.420 | And he says, "Well, I suppose the one that he forgave more."

00:08:25.460 | And Jesus said, "You didn't anoint my head with oil, but she has not ceased to anoint

00:08:32.780 | my head with ointment.

00:08:33.780 | I mean, anoint my feet with ointment.

00:08:36.780 | I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven as you can see in her great love.

00:08:44.740 | But he who is forgiven little loves little."

00:08:48.260 | And he said to her, "Your sins are forgiven."

00:08:51.980 | In other words, our sense of thankfulness and love rises with our sense of how much

00:09:00.940 | we don't deserve from God and how much we are forgiven.

00:09:04.780 | Lastly, Psalm 51.3, David had committed adultery with Bathsheba and killed her husband.

00:09:13.620 | That's pretty rotten, ugly.

00:09:17.660 | And he says after he's confronted, he says in this Psalm, "I know my transgressions

00:09:24.500 | and my sin is ever before me.

00:09:27.900 | Against you and you only have I sinned."

00:09:30.300 | Now that's just outrageous that he would say that, isn't it?

00:09:32.740 | I mean, if you were Uriah's dad or Bathsheba's mom and you heard David say against God and

00:09:39.700 | God only have I sinned, wait a minute, you killed my son.

00:09:45.540 | Against you and you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, Psalm 51.3-4.

00:09:54.580 | And Paul said, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

00:10:00.380 | So what makes sin, in other words, most serious, this is David's and Paul's way of saying

00:10:08.220 | what makes sin most serious is not that it hurts people.

00:10:12.500 | Oh, it hurts people.

00:10:15.140 | But what makes sin most serious is not that it hurts people, but that it defames and belittles

00:10:21.260 | God.

00:10:23.180 | So here's the key question, am I more indignant that a murderer may be saved and go to heaven?

00:10:35.140 | Am I more indignant about that than I am amazed that I might be saved and go to heaven?

00:10:43.740 | Amen.

00:10:44.740 | Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.

00:10:48.460 | Thank you, Pastor John.

00:10:50.460 | Thank you for the question, Stephanie.

00:10:52.380 | For more about this podcast, you can go to DesiringGod.org/AskPastorJohn.

00:10:59.580 | And on Friday, we close the week talking about college and universities.

00:11:03.420 | What are some priorities for education?

00:11:05.660 | How does a young Christian choose the best college or university for them, even the best

00:11:10.300 | major all the way down to choosing particular classes?

00:11:13.660 | Pastor John has thought a lot about educational priorities, and he will share his perspective

00:11:17.840 | with us on Friday.

00:11:18.840 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke.

00:11:19.840 | We'll see you then.

00:11:19.860 | [END]

00:11:20.360 | [BLANK_AUDIO]

00:11:27.960 | Connect with us on facebook! www.facebook.com/CIRCLELINEARTSCHOOL

He Killed His Wife and Children — Can He Really Be Forgiven?

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