We have read how "it is never too late" to
receive the gift of Salvation. Let's address the other disabling condition
that plagues the souls of men. I am unworthy. My sin is of immense proportion.
I have sinned beyond measure, sometimes secretly and sometimes openly.
I am stained beyond repair. It is as if my heart was tattooed with evil,
so indelibly inscribed that the stains can not be removed. The feeling
that you have this moment, if you are as that person described here,
is perhaps Satan's greatest device in preventing your salvation.
One of the reasons I love to read about King David is that God's Word
presents David exactly as he was. A man, whose heart sought God, but
whose flesh was weak. David's sins are well chronicled as well as his
servant's heart. David is clearly God's man, chosen before the beginning
of time to be a righteous leader and servant. But isn't it useful, for
we who have sinned, to know that King David, a man after God's Heart,
sinned also? David's position in the Kingdom of God is assured and God's
love and mercy made it so, not David's perfect record.
What joy it must have brought to God's Heart that David's heart sought
God. The stories of David's love and mercy toward God's anointed and
towards those whose loyalty to David and to God's will, abound. Thank
God we are able to see both sides. The flesh, in which David's sin resided
and the spirit, in which God's Spirit resided. The Spirit led David
because David sought God with all of his strength. God greatly blessed
David, even though he was a sinner. Why? God's mercy triumphs over judgment
by the Law. The Law is much too straight an edge by which to be judged.
David truly loved God, but God first loved David. David responded to
God's love.
Psalms 32:1-11
1 Blessed is he whose
transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
2 Blessed is the man
to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there
is no deceit.
3 When I kept silent,
my bones grew old through my groaning all the day long.
4 For day and night
Your hand was heavy upon me; my vitality was turned into the drought
of summer. Selah
5 I acknowledged my
sin to You, and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, "I will confess
my transgressions to the LORD," and You forgave the iniquity of my sin.
Selah
6 For this cause everyone
who is godly shall pray to You in a time when You may be found; surely
in a flood of great waters they shall not come near him.
7 You are my hiding
place; you shall preserve me from trouble; you shall surround me with
songs of deliverance. Selah
8 I will instruct you
and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye.
9 Do not be like the
horse or like the mule, which have no understanding, which must be harnessed
with bit and bridle, else they will not come near you.
10 Many sorrows shall
be to the wicked; but he who trusts in the LORD, mercy shall surround
him.
11 Be glad in the LORD
and rejoice, you righteous; and shout for joy, all you upright in heart! (NKJ)
David knew the Messiah, the unblemished
Lamb of God, was coming to redeem his soul and to establish the Kingdom.
So did the woman who talked to Jesus at Jacob's well. Listen.
John 4:25
25 The woman said to
Him, "I know that Messiah is coming" (who is called Christ). "When He
comes, He will tell us all things." (NKJ)
How did she know the Messiah is coming?
The only time in the Old Testament that the word "Messiah"
is used, although He is referred to in other ways, is in Daniel's prophecy.
Listen
Daniel 9:25-26
25 "Know therefore
and understand, that from the going forth of the command to restore
and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks
and sixty-two weeks; the street shall be built again, and the wall,
even in troublesome times.
26 "And after the sixty-two
weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; and the people
of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary… (NKJ)
Listen to the Psalm David wrote in
which he knew "atonement" would be provided. Since David had
participated in many sacrifices before, to what atonement did he refer?
Psalms 65:2-3
2 O You who hear prayer,
to You all flesh will come.
3 Iniquities prevail
against me; as for our transgressions, you will provide atonement for
them. (NKJ)
It is Satan who wants you to believe
that your soul is beyond redemption, that no atonement is available
to you. It is Satan who wants you to believe that you are destined to
die, anyway, and that death is not all that bad. You may have had a
"good life," accomplished a lot of things and so on, but listen.
Death is only pleasant if your "spirit" was to die, not live
on. If death was a sort of "permanent silence," one might
say, that is an improvement.
There is only one force on the earth that is more powerful than the
power of Satan. That Force is the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. If you,
in your own strength believe that you can reverse the power of sin in
your life, you under estimate the power of the flesh and the power of
Satan. This prince of the power of the air, the evil spirit who now
works in the sons of disobedience is not anything like the cartoon character
portrayed with a red cape, horns and a spear. This is a powerful spirit,
one that neither you nor I can combat. If you do not think Satan is
the ruler of this world, look around. Are those you observe from up
close and from afar serving God?
How powerful is Satan? Listen to the truth about Satan's power. This
is the one with whom you do battle, every day.
Ephesians 6:11-17
11 Put on the whole
armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the
devil.
12 For we do not wrestle
against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers,
against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts
of wickedness in the heavenly places.
13 Therefore take up
the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil
day, and having done all, to stand.
14 Stand therefore,
having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of
righteousness,
15 and having shod
your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
16 above all, taking
the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery
darts of the wicked one.
17 And take the helmet
of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; (NKJ)
1 Peter 5:8-9
8 Be sober, be vigilant;
because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking
whom he may devour.
9 Resist him, steadfast
in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your
brotherhood in the world. (NKJ)
The devil is your adversary, the one
with whom you do battle. Your flesh seeks to serve him by sinning. Let's
not bother to categorize your sins and mine but let's simply acknowledge
that our flesh "defaults" to sin unless the Holy Spirit communes
with your spirit and mine to rescue us from temptation. We have more
than "a tendency" to sin. It is much more like a compulsion.
Remember sin is sin, no matter how subtle or invisible to others, it
appears. Pride, lust and all sorts of more obvious sins abound in the
life of every person and the only victory is to wrap ones self in the
Righteousness of Christ and be filled with the Holy Spirit. The Lord
will fight the battle with Satan, not you and not me. If we say we are
without sin or beyond sin, we simply delude ourselves and unwittingly,
at times, serve Satan by asserting that we have the personal power not
to sin.
The battle, again, is not ours. Listen.
Revelation 12:9-11
9 So the great dragon
was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives
the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast
out with him.
10 Then I heard a loud
voice saying in heaven, "Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom
of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of
our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been
cast down.
11 "And they overcame
him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and
they did not love their lives to the death. (NKJ)
Does it surprise you to hear Satan
characterized as the deceiver of the whole world? He is also the "ruler
of this world?" Listen.
John 12:31
31 "Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will
be cast out. (NKJ)
John 14:30
30 "I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world
is coming, and he has nothing in Me. (NKJ)
John 16:7-8
7 "Nevertheless I tell
you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not
go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send
Him to you.
8 "And when He has
come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of
judgment: (NKJ)
John 16:11
11 "of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. (NKJ)
Jesus, the Messiah, has defeated the
power of death. The Messiah rules, but only where you have His power
within you. Satan, on his best day, can not overcome the power of the
Holy Spirit. In the following verses, the "evil one" is referred
to as a prince. Let's put his identity in context as you learn how to
overcome the prince. Listen
Ephesians 2:1-9
1 And you He made alive,
who were dead in trespasses and sins,
2 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,
3 among whom also we
all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the
desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of
wrath, just as the others.
4 But God, who is rich
in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
5 even when we were
dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you
have been saved),
6 and raised us up
together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ
Jesus,
7 that in the ages
to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness
toward us in Christ Jesus.
8 For by grace you
have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the
gift of God,
9 not of works, lest
anyone should boast. (NKJ)
No, Satan does not "own"
you because of the depth of your sin. Your sin needs to cease and you
need permanent relief from being its captive and slave but understand
this. You are the reason the Messiah came. You are the one whom
God created in His image. God loves every person that He created and
it is His will that none perish, including you.
If you had no sin, if you were righteous in your own strength, none
of this would make sense. God's plan for the eternal redemption of your
soul pivots on the redeeming power of the blood of Jesus, being shed
to cover your sins and mine. Once you grasp that fact, a new heart,
a new perspective, a new form of empowerment, is yours.
Psalms 62:11-12
11 God has spoken once,
twice I have heard this: that power belongs to God.
12 Also to You, O Lord,
belongs mercy; for You render to each one according to his work.
Psalms 63:1-8
1 O God, You are my
God; early will I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs
for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water.
2 So I have looked
for You in the sanctuary, to see Your power and Your glory.
3 Because Your lovingkindness
is better than life, my lips shall praise You.
4 Thus I will bless
You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name.
5 My soul shall be
satisfied as with marrow and fatness, and my mouth shall praise You
with joyful lips.
6 When I remember You
on my bed, I meditate on You in the night watches.
7 Because You have
been my help, therefore in the shadow of Your wings I will rejoice.
8 My soul follows close
behind You; your right hand upholds me. (NKJ)
Galatians 6:18
18 Brethren, the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. (NKJ)
No, your sins are not such that the
shed blood of Jesus Christ cannot redeem you. If you are not forgiven
and not cleansed, you simply have not acknowledged your Redeemer, the
One who atoned for your sins and mine or you have not been enveloped
by His Spirit. You can "resolve" to sin no more, but in and
of your own strength you will fail. We delude ourselves if we think
that our flesh can overcome Satan. We need the constancy of the Holy
Spirit in our lives. Not just when we go to synagogue or church, not
just when we are reading the Word or praying, but constantly. The enemy
is simply more powerful that we fully understand.
Life is not about this physical experience. It is a testing ground of
very short duration in which you either serve your Creator, our Lord,
or you serve yourself and the inclinations of your flesh. This reality
is so pivotal that God sent a form of Himself, His only begotten Son,
Jesus to tell us of His love and to redeem us from our sin. The Father,
the Son and the Holy Spirit are One and if you can't accept that fact,
then your sins are still with you because the Redeemer, at least in
the case of an unbeliever, may as well have not come.
What would be worse, in my opinion, is to acknowledge that the Messiah
came and to not appropriate His Spirit. This is not an intellectual
exercise. We are talking about a "new heart," a new will to
serve Him with the hours or days you have left. Our lives can not be
about seeking our interests. What we must seek is His will for our life.
What does the Lord want you to do with the days of your life? The answer
is clear enough. Serve Him, respond to His love and be directed by His
Spirit. Worship Him and glorify Him. Turn and live!
Ezekiel 18:31-32
31 "Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed,
and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you
die, O house of Israel?
32 "For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies," says the Lord
GOD. "Therefore turn and live!" (NKJ)
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