May 14
Ps 103, 108-110, 122, 124
It is so easy to question our own salvation because we base it on our response rather than His perfect sacrifice. You blow it again. Those sins, whether in thought or deed resurface again and again. You think to yourself, if you were really His child you wouldn't even be tempted by this any longer. But this is our mistake. We don't get to rid ourselves of our flesh until we reach eternity. Until that time we will fail time and time again, because on earth only Jesus is perfect, the rest of us won't be. The beautiful thing is that God doesn't forgive us like the world forgives us. We tend to question one's sincerity when their sins are repeated. Many will let out with that popular godless comment, "I will forgive, but I won't forget". Here is the truth that we must understand. Once you repent of your sins, which means, change your mind about those sins, so that you agree that God's view of them are correct, and accept Jesus' payment of those sins, which is the blood that He poured out for all mankind at Calvary, then you are His child, and you are forgiven. This mercy extends not just to your past sins, but your present and future sins as well. So, the day that we breathe our last, and come before God in judgment, and perhaps feel as inadequate as we are before a perfect and holy God, when all of our sins now seem as dirty as they really are compared to His purity, when we expect to be scolded, we hear our God say, "what sin?" Once Jesus covered our sins, they are forgiven and forgotten, erased from existence. We read of this transaction in 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NKJV), " For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."
We read in Psalm 103:3, "He forgives all my sins...". Notice the word "all", not some. David goes on in 103:8-12, "The Lord is compassionate and merciful, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. He will not constantly accuse us, nor remain angry forever. He does not punish us for all our sins; he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve. For his unfailing love toward those who fear him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth. He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west." Our sins are removed from us, never to be considered again, by our compassionate God. We read in Hebrews 8:12, "And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.” Perhaps this seems foreign to us, because we don't forgive like He does, but His mercy is perfect and complete.
Knowing this, we still sin. Paul writes in Romans 7:15, 19, " I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate... I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway." We can almost sense the frustration and hopelessness as Paul reaches a climax in 7:23-24, " But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?" But then Paul comes to the solution, which rests not in his ability, as we read in 7:25, " Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord...". So when we begin to feel condemned as the reality of our own sins are brought to our minds, we must remind ourselves of Romans 8:1, "So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus." A perfect sacrifice along with perfect forgiveness that is the reality for the children of God. So it is time that we replace the burdens that we sometimes walk around with, with the joy that comes with being His child, guaranteed with His promises, and one day enjoying the fullness of His plans of eternity for us.
Messages from Pastor Lloyd Pulley: