Posted:
Based on “The Urge to Purge” by Pastor Dave Folkerts; 7/18-19/09
Message #DF141, Daily Devotional #6 - “Forgiveness Forever”
Preparing the Soil (Introduction): Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. (Psalm 32:1) David was a man of great faith, but even he sinned. His faith led him to boldly conquer a giant with a mere slingshot and write 73 Psalms in worship of the Lord. David is even an ancestor of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Led down an unexpected path of temptation, he tried to keep his sin secret instead of confessing it and repenting right away. As a result, his sin continued to compound until it led him to murder a man of honor. He avoided the consequences of the law, but he did not avoid the consequence of trying to keep his sin secret from God, and the consequences were great. God allowed him to choose a sin filled path that David would travel alone. When he realized the consequences of his sin, David cried out to the Lord in despair and pleaded for mercy. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. (Psalm 51:8) It was in faith that David cried out to the Lord, for David knew the Lord. He knew God to be a God of mercy and that his heartfelt pleas for cleansing and restoration would be heard.
Planting and Watering the Seed (Growth): Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD "—and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah (Psalm 32:5) Sin is a threat, no matter how long we have had a relationship with Jesus. It weakens us and causes us great despair. Because God has shown us so much grace in our own lives, we may become proud or begin to think that the salvation we have received is somehow a shelter that will protect us from temptation, but Satan’s deception is strong. Our salvation does not eliminate the free will that God gave us. God wants us to choose Him, and He wants our resolve to be strong. He wants us to be willing to win the fight against temptation, which will strengthen our relationship with Him. Sometimes it is unexpected temptation that seizes us in a moment of weakness, as in David’s case. Sometimes it is past sins that we thought had been conquered, or at least forgotten. Sometimes it is past hurts that continue to haunt us and take our focus off our Lord. Sometimes we fail to forgive someone who hurt us badly, and we hold onto our anger in self-righteous indignation. In a moment of weakness, we can succumb to the fear that we were not entirely forgiven of our sins. Satan wants us to believe that our salvation hangs on a thread. Saved or unsaved, he wants us to believe that our sin is the exception that cannot be forgiven by Jesus’ blood. We must remember that God sent us a Savior because He knew we are unable to conquer sin ourselves. That means that when we accept Jesus as Savior all of our sins, past, present, and future, are forgiven.
Harvesting the Crop (Action/Response): Jesus answered, "A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean…. (John 13:10). When Christ washed the feet of the disciples, he was teaching them that once cleansed with His blood, their salvation was eternal. From that time forward, repentance was enough to cleanse them of their sins. We do not all of a sudden become perfect because we made the decision to turn our lives over to Christ. If you believe you are now perfect, God will soon speak to you about pride. Living the Christian life means we strive to become more like Christ, but we will never be perfect. We all fall short of the Glory of God. We are all still subject to sin, but in spite of our best efforts we succumb to it from time to time. The Bible is full of stories about saints who fell short of God’s expectations at some point in their lives. Some turned away from God as a result, and their sin ended in death, while others repented, and God, in His infinite mercy, forgave them. Today, Christ’s’ blood has granted us forgiveness. Satan is always waiting for the weak one who strays away (1 Peter 5:8). However, we can make a choice to turn to the One who gave us our salvation. Trust in the Word of the Lord when you struggle, continue to pray, and trust that Christ’s blood was enough to free you from your sin.
Cultivating (Additional Reading): John 13:2-10; Romans 8:36-39
