When We Are Forgiven Part 2

Jesus think we can hide our sins, God is about in Psalm 32 red-handed in great sin. David came clean before God and man. Today what it takes to be fully forgiven.

God sees everything we do from the Moody Church in Chicago this running with Erwin Moser teaching helps us make it. Why is it that some people think they can hide anything from God. That's a very good question. In the course of our hearts are deceitful and as a result of that, we think that we can somehow partition off our minds thinking that God doesn't see everything, but it's only when David understood that God does indeed see everything that he began to experience forgiveness. Well, today is Thanksgiving and we have so many things to be thankful for and among those gifts. Of course, is the gift of thanksgiving to God for forgiveness but also were thinking about Christmas that comes very quickly, doesn't I hold in my hands a CD that we are making available. I believe it will be a tremendous blessing. It's titled in all of his glory. Christmas music I'm reading. For example, songs such as O holy night and Angels from the realms of glory and all is well. I think that you'll be greatly blessed for a gift of any amount. This CD can be yours. It'll help prepare your heart for Christmas and bless others along with you for a gift of any amount you can go to RTW offer.com that's RTW offer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337 1-888-218-9337 and now let us refresh our spirits is again we learn about the mercy and the forgiveness of our God. John Wesley put it, excuse me Charles Wesley my chains fell off. My heart was free.

I rose when and follow.

Notice how David describes it, one hour back to verses one and two are in place is blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. God took the ugly mess and he sent the snowfall to cover the ugly trails all of the ruts in the road of my life. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven is sin is covered.

God no longer imputes that he no longer holds us guilty as a result of it.

Oh yes, consequences may continue as David experience but that sense of guilt is gone, there is now freedom. You'll notice in verse one.

He says God for gave me. Isn't that blessed notice verse seven. You are my hiding place.

Now that my sin is forgiven, were back in fellowship you for gave me you made me indeed. You preserve me from trouble and you surround me with shouts of deliverance. You forgive me you hide me. Verse eight you guide me this now. Maybe God speaking. I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. I will counsel you with my eye upon you. The whole idea is this, that when I was at a fellowship. I had no sense of God's guidance and ever prayed for God's will.

You say I want God's will. God show me your will. And even when you are praying you are walking in disobedience out of fellowship with God with sin in your life that you're not willing to expose to the all seeing eye of God.

Just try that. Well don't drive but if you do you'll find there's no sense of God's guide because you know what God is saying is got a single luck. You know you're asking for guidance over here but it's what's over here if you deal with this, then we can talk guide got you forgive me you hide me, you guide me. You inspire me notice it says in verse 11. Be glad in the Lord and rejoice so righteous and shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart. Finally, you qualify to sing in the choir because now it is not merely words that you are singing, but from the heart you're giving praise to God because of the freedom and because of the conscience that has been planned and that's done by God. So he says, Lord, Lord, thank you for freeing me check. David says you know during that time when I was part of the cover-up. I was like a horse or mule verse nine do not be like a horse or a mule without understanding which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you. I know something about horses. Nothing about mules but I can imagine how stubborn they are like that old story about a man who hit a meal with a 2 x 4 in the prison.

So why don't you just speak to them is that I've to get his attention. First, David says that's why I was stubborn, unwilling to be led by God, like a horse that is unbroken or a mule that is determined to go nowhere and David is saying now.

Don't be like I was.

Don't hide your sin don't rationalize it. Don't tell yourself that you're not as bad as somebody else because of it and don't ever think that somehow it'll go away. If you simply ignore it because as I mentioned time will deaden the conscience, but time never cleanses the conscience. The stain is still there so I have to ask you, what does it take in your life and mine for us to really genuinely confess our sins before God of all honesty and allow God to go into all the crevices of our life. I'd like to bring you some lessons that we learn from this that I hope will be transforming.

I hope the Holy Spirit of God will use these lessons for as long as you live in for some of you to be an awful long time.

First of all, we repent we repent, not when we see the light but when we feel the heat we repent, not when we see the light.

People say oh I hope he sees the light will you know how much more like does he need Ms. got all the ladies listen to all the sermons they knows the truth.

He was brought up in a Christian home.

He knows the light he seen the light, but is never really felt the heat. Notice this in the text.

David just didn't say it was my conscience that was bothering me.

He said day and night your hand.

Verse four was heavy upon me. This is God bringing about misery in David's life so that his misery in the cover-up is so great that he says this, the idea of exposure, no matter how costly that is. I'm willing to do it because I can't live with myself anymore.

The misery is that great when I was a student in seminary, which seems to be getting further and further away. In terms of time, we had to study Greek.

We had to learn Greek. One day the prophet my greatly respected sent us all to the chalkboard and we had to parse various Greek verbs. I think that's what you do you parse them, you decline nouns, don't you, and parse birds at least that's I think we're supposed to do. Well, I wasn't that good and great you know why my mind is more philosophical. I like grand ideas in all of these details to memorize and so I was there and I was a little embarrassed as I stopped back on the chalkboard and out of the corner of my eye saw what my friend was writing and I knew that he was good and great so I wrote down his stuff like that comedian says you know I could've done a lot that are in school. If only it and ask the guy sitting next to me had been smarter, so I thought okay I know that that was wrong, but I'll live with it all manage ever tried to manage sin that you're not willing to face. I forget how much further it was in the school year, or maybe just a couple of days as I recall, we had a communion service at the seminary in my conscience troubled me so much. I was in so much misery when that service was over I spoke to know student I went directly to the props office. He wasn't there I waited until he came didn't have an appointment set down said there's something on my mind.

I need to tell you I cheated in every class. I told that he was very gracious to me but you know what, at that moment, I wouldn't have cared too greatly if he had said hate your you flunked the whole semester I would've hurt, but I've been willing to flunk the semester because the hand of God's misery was so much upon me.

I couldn't function with a hand of God in my life because of sin, but I had committed and that's the only thing that brings us to repentance is when our misery in our sin is greater than our desire for self protection.

See that's why sometimes has been said that there are psychiatrists who are trying to put people to sleep whom God is trying to wake up I can't sleep well. There many reasons and taking medication for sleep is perfectly fine. I've done it once in a while especially to overcome jet lag, but there are times when when the hand of God is on you and you'd better listen to what God is saying. And you better give God time to show you what the problem is within your soul. That's the first lesson. Let me give you a second God would rather bring one of his children to repentance.

God would rather bring one of his children to repentance then maintain his reputation in the world I tell you why I say that in the case of David when Nathan was speaking the word of God. To him this is what God said, God says David because the enemies my enemies, to blaspheme because it's a word spread from the palace all throughout the nations but David was an adult for and a murderer. Everybody knew what I need. If the king does it, it gets talked about. It's not in the Jerusalem Post CNN couldn't pick up the story at that time yet. Of course, but certainly people talked, and God says you know what David because of your sin, you made me look bad because all the other nations or sinkhole. King David worships God, but just look at him. He's just as bad as everybody else and they couldn't contain their glee over this king who pretended to know God to act this way. So why didn't God participate in the cover-up. Why did he have Uriah go home cover-up David's sin. I mean, God would've looked better. God says I'm willing to have my reputation tainted in the eyes of the world to get through to one of my servants was hiding sin, and will complain while either we will cover our sin are will expose it and let God cover it. Third, the world is really divided into two categories to get categories of people, not a racial divide or educational or geographical divide two categories. The forgiven and the unforgiven. And if you talk about the unforgiven. There are two categories. First of all, there are those who are unconverted.

They've never been forgiven and many of you who are listening, fit into that category. And you know probably who you are. If your dad honest.

But then there are also those who are Christians. They have received Jesus Christ as Savior and they belong to him, and legally and judicially their sins have been forgiven by God, he has imputed to them the righteousness of Jesus Christ. But they're out of fellowship and they're out of fellowship because they don't want to deal with issues that God brings to their attention like that man who purports to be a Christian fills out a form for workers for workers compensation says on the form that the accident happened at work. It didn't happen at work. It happened when he was hunting but he feels it out and now every month receives a check that was obtained fraudulently. His pastor said to him, now aren't you willing to come clean on this.

You have to confess that you have to make it right in his responses do you think that I'm stupid if I went to the labor relations board and told them that I had signed a document fraudulently. They throw me in jail. The pastor's is there some things that are even worse than jail. One is the hand of God on your life day and night finding you that you have sent that you've not taken care. There is something worse than jail that is displeasing God. And then there are those who are unforgiven who never been converted for you. You don't begin by confessing your sins did you know that Luther Martin Luther confessed his sin six hours at a time in the monastery in Erfurt and was not converted. First of all, you can't remember all of your sin. Secondly, tomorrow's another day with new sentence so you're kind of in a cycle know what you need to do is you need to accept Jesus as your substitute. You need to receive them as Savior so that he gathers up all of your sins.

And one bundle and end through your faith and through his work to give you the ability to believe you are then converted your name is written in heaven and you belong to God thanks to Jesus, you're so how is David saying he was in the Old Testament.

Jesus hadn't come yet. Yeah that's right. Jesus was still more than a thousand years before Jesus would come, but already, then the Bible teaches us very clearly that God was imputing. David was saved on credit.

We all know the credit cards are. We enjoy it. Today we pay for it today, but actually then we pay for it. Further down the line. God's is David, you're going to be saved because Jesus is coming, and your sin will eventually be imputed to Christ who is the only Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

And so even way back then God says I'm gonna take your sin and I'm going to put it away, but not permanently. Because Jesus hasn't come yet to make that sacrifice.

So David two was forgiven by Jesus and what you need to do is to receive him as your sin bearer as your Savior, right urge you to believe on him was a man who was walking along the seashore and he looked back over the trail that he was creating along the beach and he noticed it was helter-skelter was because he had been walking absentmindedly, it wasn't going anywhere in particular in that he looked back and he said you know that's the story of my life not going anywhere in particular kind of waltzing through life aimlessly.

He spent some time in the home of a friend and he walked back the same way and expected to see his footprints, but they were gone because the tide had come, and God was giving him a new beginning.

Blessed are they whose transgression is forgiven. Who sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. So I ask myself the question is, I ask you the question today. Are we willing to come honestly openly say Jesus here I am exposed in your presence begin their then going to those possibly whom we have wronged saying at all costs want to be right before God and man. Let's pray our father, we want to thank you today for this marvelous home. We thank you that there was a time when David finally decided that your hand was too heavy upon and then his iniquity was acknowledged.

I don't know what represents here in this congregation, there may be those who are involved in adulterous relationships, sinful relationships among singles, whatever it is we ask in the name of Jesus preps there's been stealing dishonesty ask in the name of Jesus, would you enable us to come clean. How many of you say this morning pastor Luther got a spoken to me and I'm willing to come clean. Would you put your hands up all throughout the audience.

I see people in all three sections doing it. What about of the balcony. Any of you say God is talk to me want to come clean father grant grace of God. We pray to each and for the many who didn't raise their hand. May your hand be upon them for good and we pray that the day may come when they say yes. Whatever. Whatever will be obedient do that. We pray in Jesus name, amen, my friend. Today we have so many reasons to be thankful. Don't we on this special day that is set aside to give thanksgiving to God. We are reminded of the forgiveness that we've just heard about what an opportunity it is for us to share with others our gratitude to God, and for that matter also. Our thanks to others for the impact that they have had in our lives. Thanksgiving should be something that we experience every single day of the year, but today is special. So take out time to give thanksgiving to God and share your Thanksgiving with others. I just feel the need in my own hard to conclude today with a word of prayer, encouraging us to be grateful to share the good news of the gospel with others and to prepare our hearts that they might be right before our Lord. Father, we want to thank you today that in everything we can give thanks and for those who are struggling today. We pray that Thanksgiving might still be on their lips because they look beyond their circumstances and they see you on this special day we thank you for your son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself that we might be saved. Help us Lord to share him with others and to rejoice in all the blessings you've given us in Jesus name we thank you amen it's time again for another chance for you to ask certain questions you may have about the Bible or the Christian life Christian baptism.

It takes many forms and can have a variety of meanings. Ashley has written. Pastor Luther concerned about her own baptism. Here is her story in my past I was baptized because it was something my mom decided for me.

I did not understand it at all and I don't agree with a lot of things that went on at the church I attended at the time.

I've come to understand that the things I once called mistakes. I now see more clearly as sins.

Recently I've been attending church consistently and I feel as if I'm growing closer to God. So I was just curious to know is it wrong for me to be baptized again, knowing that I will understand things more clearly. The second time around, Ashley.

I believe that the answer to your question is no. It is not wrong for you to be baptized again. The reason I believe that Ashley is because in the 19th chapter the book of acts you remember there were those who were baptized by the baptism of John. And they were now being rebaptized. Having understood the gospel more fully and having received Christ as Savior and so they were baptized a second time. I interpret that to mean that there's nothing wrong with being baptized again.

If the first time, you may have been so young. Maybe you didn't even know what was happening. Some people are baptized as infants. For example, or if you are baptized as an adult, but as you say here. Your mother made the decision and you weren't really living for Christ and you didn't know what it meant.

I think it would be great for you to be baptized again and this time as an adult with better understanding knowing that through baptism we are saying no to the past and yes to the new life that we have in Jesus Christ.

I would encourage you to be rebaptized. Thank you Ashley for your question. Thank you Dr. Moser for your answer.

If you'd like to hear your question answered.

Go to our website and RTW offer.com and click on ask Pastor Luther or you can call us at 1888-218-9337 1-888-218-9337 you can write to us run into when 1635 N. LaSalle Boulevard Chicago, IL 60614.

Next time we turn to Psalm 37 and see what happens when we wait for God to win is sponsored by the Moody Church