If you wanted to pinpoint what the entire Star Wars Saga was all about – you could say it was the rise and fall and eventual restoration of Anakin Sywalker. We see in Ep. 1 Anakin as a little boy with amazing upside & potential.
In Ep. 2 as he grows and matures we see him developing into a master Jedi.
In Ep.3 Anakin has honed his skills still w/ great upside and potential – but he is lured, he is tempted by the power of the darkside and he takes the bait and falls into the hands of the Evil Emperor, now becoming Darth Vader.
In Ep 4 & 5 we see him as the dominating villain, Darth Vader.
Then in Ep. 6 his son Luke Skywalker senses some good in Vader as we see the restoration of Anakin Skywalker when he destroys evil.
Hey life is full of failure, it's something that is common to all of us.
Failure runs through the veins of human beings on earth - we all have choices
& we can make the right and sometimes wrong choice, and we fail – let's take a poll – has anyone in here ever failed at anything in your life? If you didn't raise your hand look at the person next to you b/c they need your help.
but the really great news is that God takes failures & restores them.
And God can do that in your life no matter what has happened.
As we wrap up this series SW saga, I don't want to talk about the normal everyday failures and how to deal w/ that (we've kind of done that over the last 2 weeks).
I want to dig a little deeper than that, I want to turn the rocks over in your life as it were. I want you to think to that old familiar failure, you know the one I'm talking about it. That one that the last time you did it you said, “God, if you'll only forgive me this one last time, I'll never do it again.” Then we do it again, and again, and again....
All of us have those, some of us have a list of those. Maybe it's sexual,
dealing w/ lust, maybe it's drinking, possibly drugs, maybe it's greed,
maybe it's a form of controlling others, or manipulating others. I don't know what your brand of failure is. I do know it's a struggle & listen it's of great concern.
Last week we discussed how to avoid temptation, by building an offense that's your best defense. The bottom line is we are all human, we mess up,
so today I'd like to show you God's restoration process, to understand that no matter how often you fall, remembering to do your best not to, not matter how bad it is, no matter how deep we've gotten,
nothing you can do is outside of God's grace and willingness to forgive, NOTHING!
If you look throughout the Bible, David, Solomon, Peter, Paul, you'll see many individuals who messed up. But you'll also notice that God is in the restoration business. Humans who fail, and own up to it, He restores them to a right relationship w/ Him.
How do we find faith after failing? Is God willing to forgive, no matter how extreme? And if He is willing to do that, how does He do it & what's my part in the process. That's what were going to look at today – How do I come back to God after I've blown it – even a # of times?
The Heart of King David
King David was an amazing man. He was a shepherd before he became King. He had a sensitive heart, a heart to protect those weaker than him. He wrote a # of the Psalms that we read in the book of Psalms. He's said to be a man after God's own heart. David was the royal proto-type, the precursor to the coming 'Messiah' – the King of all humanity Jesus Christ – it was from the line of David that Christ came. David was a man of God to model after. So is a man after God's own heart free from failure? NO
He messed up a few times in his life – pretty big I might add.
Open to 2 Samuel 11 - tell story
David's sin:
"...and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, "Isn't this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite?" Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her."
v.3-4
"In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. In it he wrote, "Put Uriah in the front line where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die." So while Joab had the city under siege, he put Uriah at a place where he knew the strongest defenders were. When the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of the men in David's army fell; moreover, Uriah the Hittite died."
v.14-17
God doesn't turn His face in our failure – He turns His face when we don't deal with our failure.
David's self-reproach:
What's the diff. then of David's failures and of others – David sought God's forgiveness in true repentance, he owned up to his mistakes, He came to God contrite & broken –
David wrote Ps. 51 after his failures we read in 2 Samuel 11 -
"Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins. Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin. For I recognize my shameful deeds--they haunt me day and night... But you desire honesty from the heart... Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean;wash me, and I will be whiter than snow... Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me... Forgive me for shedding blood, O God who saves; then I will joyfully sing of your forgiveness... The sacrifice you want is a broken spirit. A broken and repentant heart, O God, you will not despise." Psalm 51
When David failed God he was truly sorry for what he had done. He was repentant, that's what God was looking for. Folks God is looking for men and women, not that we are perfect, but that we admit it when we blow it and are truly repentant.
God's Restoration Process
God's part...
When we fail were going to look at what God does, and what role we play.
The 1st thing we need to see is that 1. God's forgiveness isn't dependent on your sin. Or we could say the degree of your sin. He doesn't say Joe your sin is much nastier than Eric's – or well your not an axe murderer, you just cheated on your taxes - He doesn't compare sin – He doesn't grade on a curve(we do that). Sin is sin in God's eyes – and yes there are different degrees of consequences but sin is sin.
(white lie/black lie) Don't think you could ever commit a sin that is outside of God's willingness to forgive – He will forgive.
2. God's forgiveness is conditional.
I know some of you right now are freakin' out. What are you talikin' about Joe - I thought God's love was unconditional, that His grace and forgiveness was unconditional?
Look at 1 John 1:9 – it tells us God's forgiveness is conditional.
"But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong."
We have to confess, then He is faithful & just to forgive and cleanse every wrong. God cannot forgive a sin that we do not confess – and He will not force our hand. C.S. Lewis once said:
'Forgiveness needs to be accepted as well as offered if it is to be complete: and a person who admits no guilt can accept no forgiveness.'
You see it has nothing to so w/ the severity of our sin, but a broken, repentant heart that confess'
Our part...
The 1st part is we need to 1. Acknowledge our sin!
You cannot confess something that you do not believe to be sin.
"You've already put in your time in that God-ignorant way of life, partying night after night, a drunken and profligate life. Now it's time to be done with it for good. Of course, your old friends don't understand why you don't join in with the old gang anymore. But you don't have to give an account to them. They're the ones who will be called on the carpet--and before God himself."
1 Peter 4:3-5
This has to do w/ humility – recognizing that there's a higher authority. Were truly repentant.
2. Own our sin!
You can't blame somebody else – the blame game – I woke up on the wrong side of bed – I was born on the wrong side of the tracks - Lousy parents – I wasn't potty trained at the right age – I have bad hygiene -
The only reason we sin or mess up is b/c we chose to – James 1:13-14
"Don't let anyone under pressure to give in to evil say, "God is trying to trip me up." God is impervious to evil, and puts evil in no one's way. The temptation to give in to evil comes from us and only us. We have no one to blame but the leering, seducing flare-up of our own lust."
That means we have choices, we can chose to sin or not to sin. If we don't own our sin & try to blame something or someone else that's not a contrite heart and were stuck.
3. Confess our sin.
The word confess in the Greek is 'homologeo' and means 'to agree with another'. Confession is agreeing w/ God and His standards that what I did was wrong. Psalm 32:5
"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."
"I confess my iniquity; I am troubled by my sin." Psalm 38:18
and then James 5:16 says,
"Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”
If there is sin in your life, if you have an area of weakness that you can't talk about – it's out of control. We must confess to God, sometimes others in order to be forgiven and healed.
4. Believe in faith that you have been forgiven.
People say, you know I just don't feel forgiven.” That doesn't matter – it's not about you, it's about God and His character, and His willingness to forgive. If you ask, then acknowledge and own it – once you confess it then God is faithful to forgive – it doesn't matter how you feel, it's a done deal.
That's where our faith comes in.
We have a choice, we have a part to play in the restoration process.
God is faithful – He will do His part – the ? Is, how will we respond?
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