OUR GREATEST BOAST - The Joy of Knowing the Lord (5)

WE HAVE COME TO THE END OF THIS SERIES: OUR GREATEST BOAST - The Joy of Knowing the Lord.

No doubt this could be a series that never ended but I trust that what we have learned over the past few weeks has been encouraging and has been a means of awakening us to the serious of our worship and praise of this great and awesome God

Redirecting Our Boast

The God Who Is Dangerous

The God Who is Immutable

The God Who is Jealous

Today - Was going to be Our last sermon but I have one more that I MUST do on next week, the Lord willing, to conclude this series

1 JOHN 1:5-10 -

1 John 1:5 ESV

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

1 John 1:6 ESV

If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

1 John 1:7 ESV

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

1 John 1:8 ESV

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

1 John 1:9 ESV

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

1 John 1:10 ESV

If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

TODAY I WANT YOU TO CONSIDER THIS ABOUT OUR GOD:

HE IS THE LORD WHO FORGIVES

This great and awesome God is God all by Himself. This means that He is, by Himself, Happy and Holy and Satisfied. HE DOES NOT STAND IN THE NEED OF ANYTHING OR ANYONE.

FOR THIS REASON THE LORD WAS NOT COMPELLED BY THE SIN OF MAN TO FORGIVE THE SIN OF MAN. NO, HE WOULD HAVE BEEN RIGHT AND GOOD AND JUST IF HE CONDEMNED MAN TO ETERNAL DESTRUCTION. BUT HE DID NOT

AS I LOOK OVER MY LIFE AND CONSIDER MY WAYS;

AS I CONSIDER SOME OF THE YEARS OF LACK LUSTRE WORSHIP

AS I CONSIDER THE YEARS OF AFFECTIONS THAT WERE DEEPER FOR SIN THAN FOR THE SAVIOR

AS I CONSIDER THE DAYS WHEN THERE WAS A HOLE IN MY HOLINESS AND I WAS CRANKING THE WRENCH OF WRETCHEDNESS

Forgiveness did not begin at the cross: it culminated and was completed there

Genesis 3:15 ESV

I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

FORGIVENESS DEMANDS THAT MAN HITS A WALL

WHEN GOD FORGIVES YOU HERE IS THE OTHER SIDE

THE FORGIVENESS OF THE LORD IS RESTORATIVE

TO RESTORE SOMETHING MEANS THAT THAT THING OR THAT PERSON HAD TO HAVE ONCE BEEN NEAR BUT FOR A TIME HAD GONE AWAY

IT SPEAKS OF A RELATIONSHIP THAT HAS GONE BAD AND NEEDED TO BE MADE RIGHT AGAIN

THUS WHEN WE SPEAK OF THE FORGIVENESS OF GOD AS RESTORATIVE WI MEAN THAT GOD’S FORGIVENESS MAKES THOSE WHO ARE FAR OFF, NEAR.

THOSE WHO HAVE NOT KNOWN JESUS -THEY ARE OFFERED FORGIVENESS THAT WILL BRING THEM TO A PLACE AND RELATIONSHIP WITH THE LORD THAT IS ONE OF RESTORATION

BUT I ALSO MEAN THIS:

FORGIVENESS IS OFFERED TO THE SAINTS OF GOD AS A MEANS OF BEING RESTORED IN FELLOWSHIP TO THE LORD WHEN WE ENGAGE IN SINFUL ACTIONS AND ATTITUDES THAT ARE WORTHY FO SPIRITUAL DEATH.

WE WERE HOME, BUT THEN WE LEFT AND YET, THE LORD REMAINS TRUE TO HIS LOVE FOR US AND IS THERE WHEN WE COME HOME.

THE PARABLE OF THE PRODIGAL SON

LUKE

EXPLAIN THE STORY

The restorative aspect of God’s forgiveness demands that

but the Lord will make a man go far - deep - and a long way from home just to come to the place where he eats with pigs etc...

BUT WHEN YOU REPENT

Luke 15:13 ESV

Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living.

Explain this

Far country (Forgetfulness of God)

Reckless living (another version “loose living)

SINGING A LITTLE CHUCK BROWN AND THE SOUL SEARCHES

“I FEEL LIKE BUSTIN LOOSE”

BUT THEN IT STARTED TO UNRAVEL

FAMINE IN THE LAND AND HE BECOMES IMPOVERISHED -

THE BOY WHO HAD LUXURY IS NOW FEEDING PIGS

THE PIG FOOD WAS LOOKING LIKE FILET MIGNON

BUT HERE IS WHAT WAS HAPPENING: RESTORATION WAS TAKING PLACE.

I KNOW IT DOES NOT LOOK LIKE IT BUT IT WAS:

YOU SEE, THE RESTORATIVE ASPECT OF THE FORGIVENESS OF THE LORD DEMANDS THAT THE PRODIGAL WHO GOPES ASTRAY - HITS ROCK BOTTOM!

OHG YES, THE LORD WILL LET A MAN WHO MUST SIN GO FAR - A LONG WAY AWAY FROM HIS PRESENCE TO A PLACE WHERE DARKNESS AND DEPRAVITY EXISTS IN ITS FINEST!

BECAUSE GOD’S RESTORATIVE FORGIVENESS DEMANDS REPENTANCE AND REPENTANCE HAPPENS, TRULY, ONLY WHEN A MAN IS AT A PLACE WHERE HIS EYES ARE OPENED TO A REAL HELL ON EARTH EXPERIENCE!

THAT’S WHAT WAS HAPPENING WITH THIS SON. WHAT LOOKED LIKE A ADVENTURE HAD TURNED INTO A LIVING HELL AND JESUS TELLS US SOMETHING POWERFUL ABOUT RESTORATION IN VERSE 17

Luke 15:17 ESV

“But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger!

HE ONLY CAME TO HIMSELF (ANOTHER VERSION - HE CAME TO HIS SENSES) WHEN HE BEGAN TO SEE - TRULY- THE IMPLICATIONS OF HIS LOOSE LIVING.

SOMETIMES WE HAVE TO LET PEOPLE GO IN ORDER FOR THEM TO RETURN. LET ME REPEAT THAT

SOMETIMES WE HAVE TO STOP GOING AFTER FOLKS WHO ARE WALKING AWAY FROM THE LORD OR WHO SIMPLY ARE IN PLACES OF SELF INFLICTED DARKNESS BECAUSE WE MIGHT ABORT THE LIFE THAT CAN ONLY EMERGE IN THE WILDERNESS.

YOU KNOW THAT YOU ARE IN THE RESTORATION PROCESS WHEN YOU BEGAN TO THINK CLEARLY

Luke 15:17 ESV

“But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger!

LET ME TELL YOU THE DIFFICULTY OF THIS RESTPRATIVE FORGIVENESS

YOUR WAY FROM THE LIVING HELL BACK HOME IS THE SAME PATH YOU TOOK FROM HOME TO YOUR LIVING HELL

HERE IS WHAT I MEAN: GOD WILL MAKE IT THAT, ON YOUR WAY HOME, HE WILL GIVE YOU A GUIDED TOUR OF EVERY PLACE YOUR FOOT TROD:

IF YOU LOOK OUT THE WINDOW TO YOUR LEFT, THAT’S THE PLACE WHERE YOU GOT SLOPPY DRUNK

AND JUST TO THE RIGHT, IS THE HOTEL WHERE YOU ENTERTAINED YOUR MANY LOVERS

AND JUST OVER THERE YOU WILL HEAR, BUT YOU WILL NEED TO BE QUIET, YOU WILL HEAR YOUR PROFESSED LOVE FOR ME BUT, IN THAT SAME MOMENT, SELLING YOUR SOUL FOR THE NEXT PROMOTION, JOB, HIT.

OH YES, GOD’S FORGIVENESS IS RESTORATIVE FORGIVENESS - HE TAKES US BACK - BUT NOT UNTIL WE HAVE SEEN AND WEPT OVER THE TRAILS OF SIN.

GOD’S FORGIVENESS IS SO EXPENSIVE THAT HE WILL NOT STTLE FOR CHEAP REPENTANCE OR FALSE TEARS: NO IT MUST FEEL AS IT DID TO DAVID WHEN HE SAID

Psalm 51:8 ESV

Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice.

DON’T FIGHT THE RESTORATION PROCESS

THE FORGIVENESS OF THE LORD IS RELENTLESS

INTRODUCE THE SITUATION OF HOSEA’S DAY

KING JERABOAM II HAS DIED AND THE NATIONAL PEACE AND PROSPERITY HE BROUGHT TO ISRAEL IS NOW BEING CHALENGED BY KINGS THAT PROMOTED IDOLATRY AND FORMED CONNECTIONS WITH THE PAGAN NATIONS WROUND THEM.

THEY WERE SPIRITUALLY WAYWARD AND MORALLY DYSFUNCTIONAL

INTO THIS CLIMATE HOSEA IS CALLED BY THE LORD

BUT HE IS CALLED IN A UNIQUE AND STRANGE WAY

Hosea 1:2 ESV

When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.”

HOSEA IS TOLD TO MARRY A PROSTITUTE AND OUT OF SHEER OBEDIENCE HE DOES SO

EVERYTHING WAS COOL AT THE BEGINNING

BUT THEN HE STARTED TO HEAR RUMERS THAT GOMER WAS CREEPING - SNEAKING OUT TO BE WITH OTHER MEN

HOSEA IS NOT SURE THE KIDS ARE HIS: HE IS BROKEN, BETRAYED AND YET STILL HAS TO PRWACH TO A WAYWARD NATIONS ABOUT THEIR SPIRITUAL ADULTERY WHILE HIS WIFE IS COMMITTING ACTUAL ADULTURY

NOW, IT GET WORSE: GOMER IS NOW A SEX SLAVE, SHE IS NOT SIMPLY OPERATING ON HER OWN;

YET, TIME AFTER TIME, AFTER TIME

AFFIAR AFTER AFFAIR AFTER AFFIAR - HOSEA GOES AND GET’S GOMER

Hosea forgives Gomer each time AND renewing his faithful love to her

GET THAT: HE NOT ONLY TOLD HER HE LOVED HER BUT HE RENEWED HIS LOVE FOR HER

BUT HOSEA WAS ACTING AS A REPRESENTATIVE OF GOD’S LOVE AND FORGIVENESS OF HIS PEOPLE

Hosea 3:1 ESV

And the Lord said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.”

HOSEA’S RELENTLESS FORGIVENESS OF GOMER IS A PICTURE OF GOD’S RELENTLESS FORGIVENESS OF HIS PEOPLE :

IT IS A PICTURE THAT PROVES THAT GOD’S LOVE IS GREATER THAN ANY SIN WE COMMIT.

I KNOW WHAT YOUR’E SAYING: I DON’T KNOW PASTOR - THAT A LOT OF WHOREDOM GOIN ON. I AM NOT NSURE, BUT IM ALMOST POSITIVE, THAT I COULD NOT BE HOSEA

BUT I AM GLAD GOD IS NOT LIKE ME!

NO, HIS LOVE SETS HIM IS A RELENTLESS PURSUIT OF MY HEART AND MY JOY AND IA M GLAD THAT WHEN I PLAYED THE HARLOT

WHEN I ACTED OUT AND IN MESS HE MERCY WAS IN THE MIDST OF MY MESS

My messed up mind

My messed up heart

My messed up life

THE RELENTLESS PURSUIT OF ME AND ANY WHO LOVE THE LORD WAS AN EXPENSIVE PURSUIT

Hosea 3:2 ESV

So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley.

HOSEA IS A BOOK THAT CALLS US TO MAKE A CHOICE IN THE LIGHT OF THE CHOICE GOD MADE

THE FORGIVENESS OF GOD IS RADICAL

IN PSALM 103 DAIVD STARTS OUT BY A DOUBLE WORD TO HIMSELF

Psalm 103:1 ESV

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name!

Psalm 103:2 ESV

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits,

THEN HE TELLS US WHY HE BLESSES THE LORD

Psalm 103:3 ESV

who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases,

HERE IS THE RADICAL NATURE OF THE FORGIVENSS OF THE LORD

HE FORGIVES ALL YOUR INIQUITY

INIQUITY REPRESENTS OUR “WICKED AND IMMORAL NATURE

GOD MUST FORGIVE OUR INIQUITY BECAUSE THIS IS WHERE THE REAL PROBLEM LIES

GET THIS POINT:

WE SIN BECAUSE WE ARE SINNERS; WE ARE NOT SINNER BECAUSE WE SIN.

IN OTHER WORDS WHAT WAS WRONG WITH ME WAS NOT WHAT I DID. WHAT WAS WRING WITH ME WAS WHO I WAS

MOST PEOPLE TRY TO CHANGE THEIR BEHAVIOR - AND THEY MIGHT SUCCEED - B UT THE PROBLEM HAS ALWAYS BEEN DEEPER: OUR NATURE

THAT’S WHY DAVID SAYS

Psalm 51:5 ESV

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.

You see, OUR ACTIONS CAN BE RIGHT AND OUR CHARACTER WRONG. SO WHAT DAVID IS SAYING TO US IS SOMETHING RADICAL ABOUT GOD’S FORGIVENESS:

FORGIVENESS GOES DEEPER THAN CLEANING UP OUR ACTIONS FORGIVENESS CLEANS OUR DIRTY AND IMMORAL CHARACTER

BUT THE GOOD NEWS ABOUT ALL OF THAT IS THIS:

BLESS THE LORD - BOAST IN THE LORD WHO FORGIVES US OF EVERY OUNCE OF INIQUITY THAT DRENCHED OUR ENTIRE NATURE AND CHARACTERS

BIT DAVID GOES DEEPER INTO WHAT THIS RACIAL FORGIVENESS OF GOD IS

PS 103:10-

Psalm 103:10 ESV

He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.

THIS RADICAL FORGIVENESS OF THE LORD HAS CHANGED HOW HE DEALS WITH MY WEAKNESSES. HE DOES NOT TREAT ME LIKE I WILL NOT BE PERFECT AND, THEREFORE, HJE DOES NOT REPAY ME WHEN MY HEART AND NATURE BETRAY ME

Psalm 103:11 ESV

For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;

Psalm 103:12 ESV

as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

Micah 7:18-19-

Micah 7:18 ESV

Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love.

HE DELIGHTS IN STEADFAST LOVE

THE LORD LOVES TO FORGIVE HIS PEOPLE

Micah 7:19 ESV

He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.

CAST OUR SINS INTO THE SEA OF FORGETFULNESS

GOD DOES NOT FORGET IN THE SENSE OF NOT REMEMBERING

WHAT MICAH IS TEACHING US IS THE RADICAL NATURE OF GOD’S LOVE: WHEN HE SEES MY SIN HE REMEMBERS HIS PROMISE OF LOVE TO ME AND HE BINDS HIMSELF TO HIS WORD!

THE FORGIVENESS OF THE LORD IS RELATIONAL

- IT IS BECAUSE OF CHRIST

- IT IS IN CHRIST

Acts 2:38 ESV

And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

SO WHAT DOES THIS ALL MEAN?

OUR BOAST IN THIS GREAT GOD WHO HAS FORGIVEN US IS DEMONSTRATED IN NO GREATER WAY THAN WEHN WE FORGIVE OTHERS

TO NOT FORGIVE PEOPLE IS NOT ONLY TO HOLD THEM IN CONTEMPT BUT IT IS PLAYING GOD

HOLDING GRUDGES IS NOT CHRIST-LIKE

TREATING PEOPLE ACCORDING TO THEIR TREATMENT OF YOU IS NOT CHRIST-LIKE

MATTHEW 18:21-35-

•A MAN (A) owes a debt in the amount of 200,000 years wages to his creditor . He pleaded to his creditor and, amazingly, the entire amount was forgiven

Now, THE MAN WHO HAD BEEN FORGIVE 200,000 YEARS WAGE HAS A SERVANT WHO OWEN HIM MONEY -ABOUT 100 DAYS WAGE. THE Servant knowS THAT HIS MASTER HAD BEEN forgiven 200,000 years worth of debt THEREFORE pleads to him to be forgiven FOR THIS MEASLEY 100 DAY WAGE DEBT

HIS MASTER REFUSES AND THROWS THE SERVANT INTO JAIL UNTIL HE CAN PAY IT ALL

Then HIS master who had forgiven HIM A 200,000 years of debt called him, rebuked him for his lack of compassion and threw him into jail until he could pay 200,000 years wages!

Then Jesus end the parable with this incredibly hard statement:

Matthew 18:35 ESV

So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”

FORGIVEN PEOPLE FORGIVE PEOPLE