Carl wrote:
>
> In the following sermon, Damian Phillips preaches on God's forgiveness
of
> sins and His mercy and love. It is an uplifting and encouraging sermon.
>
> May God bless,
> Carl
> my website -- http://www.nettally.com/saints/
> my blog -- http://www.anniemayhem.com/cgi-bin/wordpress/
>
> ---
Truly amazing isn't it.
God says nothing to anyone that can be verified
yet these people write screeds about what they claim their
god wants.
What conclusion should any intelligent non delusional person
draw from this?
>
> From Death To Life
> by Damian Phillips
>
> This morning we are going to talk about how we can have peace of mind
about
> our eternal destination. If you have ever been worried about whether or
not
> you will go to heaven, or how you can gain God's favor, then this
passage is
> for you. Concerning our passage this morning, the Bible commentator
Matthew
> Henry says it is, "A psalm of David giving instruction, and there is
nothing
> in which we have more need of instruction than in the nature of true
> blessedness . . . [or] what we must do to be happy . . . We are here
taught
> that our happiness consists in the favor of God . . ."
>
> This morning we are going to see that David gives us a prescription for
> happiness. Peace and happiness in life lies in having favor with God,
and
> the favor of God will grant us entrance into his kingdom when we leave
this
> world. Let's dig into the Scripture and see what we can learn from
David.
>
> The need for forgiveness (vv. 1-2)
>
> David says, "Blessed is he . . . whose sin is covered." Why do we need
to
> have our sins covered or forgiven? One logical reason is because we are
all
> sinners. Romans 3:10 says, "As it is written: There is none righteous,
no,
> not one." Romans 3:23 says, "For all have sinned and fall short of the
glory
> of God" All of us have not only sinned, but we have sinned against God.
> Psalm 51:4 tells us, "Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done
this
> evil in Your sight - That You may be found just when You speak, and
> blameless when You judge." You see, we are all sinners from birth. Our
own
> death warrants are written into our birth certificates.
>
> In verses 1-2 David provides a threefold description of sin. He speaks
of
> "transgression," "sin," and "iniquity." 1.) "Transgression" depicts a
spirit
> of defiant disobedience against God. 2.) "Sin" denotes a missing of the
> mark, a deficiency with respect to one's intent or purpose. The Greek
word
> for sin in the New Testament is hamartia, which was an archery term.
Someone
> would shoot an arrow at a bull's eye, and if the person missed then
someone
> would shout out "hamartia!" meaning, "you missed the mark!" 3.)
"Iniquity"
> represents a perversion, and a distortion of that which is straight.
> Iniquity is a voluntary sin.
>
> Every person in this world has committed transgressions, sins, and
> iniquities. In verse 2 David says, "Blessed is the man to whom the LORD
does
> not impute iniquity." Why is a person blessed whom God does not hold
> accountable for his or her sin? Because Romans 6:23 tells us that "The
wages
> of sin is death." Without the forgiveness of sin we are destined to die.
We
> know that we will all die a physical death, but Scripture tells us that
we
> will also die a spiritual death if our sin is not forgiven.
>
> In verses 1-2 we see a threefold counterpart to sin. This counterpart or
> blessing is associated with forgiveness. The main word here is
"forgiven."
> The other two phrases are "being covered," and "not imputing." 1.)
> "Forgiven" means "to lift up" (as a burden), "to take away," and "to
bear."
> 2.) "Covered" means "to conceal or hide," as from the eye, and 3.) "not
> impute" pictures the canceling of a debt. Our sins can be forgiven and
> hidden from God's eyes if we want them to be. Jesus, God's Son, wishes
to
> forgive us of our sins and take on our burden, that's why he says in
Matthew
> 11:28, "Come unto to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I
will
> give you rest."
>
> You may have heard the expression "forgive and forget." If we accept
Jesus
> into our hearts, God will remember our sins no more.
>
> A man who was telling his friend about an argument he had with his wife
> commented, "Oh, how I hate it, every time we have an argument - she gets
> historical." The friend replied, "You mean hysterical." "No," he
insisted.
> "I mean historical. Every time we argue she drags up everything from the
> past and holds it against me!"
>
> The Lord is not going to be historical with us if we have accepted his
Son,
> Jesus, as our personal Lord and Savior.
>
> All of us have sinned and are in need of forgiveness. In verse 2 David
says,
> "Blessed is the man . . . in whose spirit there is no deceit." We see in
> verse 2 that David affirms the fact that forgiveness is obtained only
when
> there is absolute sincerity and honesty on person's part in
acknowledging
> his sins before God. Forgiveness is granted to the person in whom there
is
> no deceit, and who truly desires to be forgiven.
>
> Without forgiveness there is death (vv. 3-4)
>
> David was referring to those times that we try to hide our sin. We know
that
> we have sinned but rather than confess it, we try not to think about it
and
> try to fill our minds with something else. These verses illustrate the
> biblical principle that one's physical health is vitally related to his
> spiritual well being. Matthew Henry said, "The wounds of sin, not
opened,
> wilt fester, and grow intolerably painful. If the conscience is seared,
the
> sin is even more dangerous." As long as David did not acknowledge his
sin,
> he suffered great pain, both bodily and mentally. In Job 33:19 Elihu
told
> Job that people who run from God will be chastened with pain upon their
bed,
> and with strong pain in many of their bones.
>
> One of the most painful times I can recall is when I was convicted of
the
> fact that I was a sinner and lost without Jesus in my life. When I was
made
> aware of my sin, and that I was destined to hell without Jesus, I was
very
> troubled. As Elihu told Job that the person in sin would lie in his or
her
> bed in pain, I lay in my bed with the pain of thinking about where my
soul
> would be if I had died without Jesus in my heart. Maybe some of you can
> identify with what I am saying. That pain won't go away until you make
your
> life right with the Lord through his Son, Jesus Christ.
>
> In verse 4 David said, "Your hand was heavy upon me." This is the weight
of
> sin he felt.
>
> A youth once asked a preacher, "You say that unsaved people carry a
weight
> of sin. I feel nothing.
>
> How heavy is sin? Is it ten pounds? Eighty pounds?" The preacher replied
by
> asking the youth, "If you laid a four-hundred pound weight on a corpse,
> would it feel the load?" The youth replied, "It would feel nothing,
because
> it is dead." The preacher concluded, "That spirit, too, is indeed dead
which
> feels no load of sin or is indifferent to its burden and unaware of its
> presence." The youth was then silent.
>
> Thankfully David felt the load and the pain of sin. Only when we are
aware
> of sin's presence can we do something about it. And what we should do
about
> sin is repent of it, and ask God's forgiveness.
>
> In verse 4 we read, "My vitality is turned into the drought of summer."
> David here suffered spiritually but he also suffered physically. He
became
> like an old man. God's hand of conviction was heavy upon him both day
and
> night. He dried up like a brook in the drought of summer. Have you ever
felt
> that you were walking through a spiritual desert, or were in a spiritual
dry
> spell? That is what unconfessed sin will do. Sin causes a distance
between
> the Lord and ourselves. The farther apart we grow from the Lord, the
less we
> will feel his presence in our lives.
>
> Proverbs 28:13 says, "He who covers his sins will not prosper, but
whoever
> confesses and forsakes them will have mercy." Don't expect God to cover
what
> you are not willing to uncover. In order to for a Christian to feel
God's
> presence again, and in order for a non-Christian to have eternal life,
he or
> she must ask forgiveness through Jesus Christ.
>
> Forgiveness leads to eternal life (v. 5)
>
> Once David realized his sin, he acknowledged it to God and didn't try to
> hide it from him. That is called repentance. Millard Erickson defines
> repentance as, "Godly sorrow for one's sin together with a resolution to
> turn from it." We have to feel truly sorry for having displeased God,
and
> then we must turn from what we have done wrong in order for it to be
true
> repentance.
>
> Erickson says, "If we have sinned and the consequences are unpleasant,
we
> may well regret what we have done. But that is not true repentance. That
is
> penitence. Real repentance is sorrow for one's sin because of the wrong
done
> to God and the hurt inflicted upon him. This sorrow is accompanied by a
> genuine desire to abandon that sin." We read earlier in verse 2,
"Blessed is
> the man . . . in whose spirit there is no deceit," meaning basically,
> "Blessed is the man who is truly and sincerely sorry for his sin and
desires
> to repent."
>
> We must feel sorrow in our heart and confess our sin to the Lord in
order to
> be forgiven. Romans 10:10 tells us, "For with the heart one believes
unto
> righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." We
> must not only confess our sin, but we must also acknowledge the One who
is
> able to pay the penalty for our sins, Jesus Christ.
>
> In Matthew 10:32-33 Jesus says, "Whoever confesses me before men, him
will I
> also confess before my Father who is in heaven," meaning that we will be
> forgiven of our sin and have eternal life. Jesus continues to add,
"Whoever
> denies me before men, him I will also deny before my Father who is in
> heaven," meaning that if we fail to repent and accept Jesus as our
Savior we
> will experience spiritual death.
>
> Time of Reflection
>
> What we have seen today is that whether we are a Christian or a
> non-Christian, if we choose to hide our sin and not acknowledge it to
God
> and repent, then our lives will be miserable without any peace of mind.
For
> the Christian, he or she will have to live with the pain, guilt, and
sorrow
> for sinning against God. For the non-Christian he or she will live with
the
> fear of eternal death and eternity in hell. The only way to have peace
is to
> confess our sins before the Lord and sincerely ask for his forgiveness.
If
> we do this he will heal us and make us spiritually whole.
|
