Good morning and welcome in today. Today we’re going to look at a passage of scripture from Micah but before we do that, I wanted to tell you a little story.
How many of you like to go fishing? It’s a fun hobby and it sure is exciting to watch the children catch fish. How many of you have taken your boat out to a favorite spot on the lake, stopped the motor and threw in your anchor only to realize that it wasn’t tied to the boat? Goodbye anchor! Down it goes into the depths of the lake never to be seen again.
This reminds me of the Christian Life.
Unforgiven sin is like a heavy anchor upon our hearts. Confession to God and to those that we have wronged is the answer. The scriptures teach us God will not remember our sins, but He casts them away into the abyss never to be seen again.
Micah 7:19 He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.
God wants to take that anchor of sin and throw it into the depths, but for some, that anchor is still connected to our hearts by a rope of un- confession. That heavy sin debt must be cut away with the knife of truth, so that God can cast it overboard.
Do you ever take your family to a lake in the summer? In Minnesota we are referred to as the land of 10,000 lakes so there always seems like there is one that we can find somewhere. Our children have always had a special activity while at the beach. They like to pick up rocks from the ground and heave them out into the water. They may skip a few times but eventually disappear into the water never to be seen again. This is what God wants to do with our sins.
One of our family’s favorite movies has always been Albert Finney’s Scrooge. I think we have watched and listened to it 200 times. In that movie He was making a ponderous chain of sin, link by link, caused by a cold heart of impenitence. That chain needed to be removed so that it could be cast away in order for God to completely forget and absolve it. Scrooge exemplifies the Christian life. It’s coming to grips with faults and misdeeds that have been committed, starting over, repentance, contrition, confessing and reconciling to those you have wronged.
We are promised in many passages throughout the scriptures that when God forgives, He completely forgets our entire past. He forgives and forgets. Forget means to put completely out of one’s mind or to cease to think of it or to bring it into your remembrance. Once it is forgotten, God ceases to bring it up again. That is the true grace of God folks. Because God loves us that much, we also ought to love each other. We show love by apologizing to those we have wronged, confessing faults to each other, forgiving, forgetting and reconciling. As I’ve taught for 20 years, If there is no reconciliation, you never truly forgave the person.
Eph 4:32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.
Isaiah 43:25 I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.
There are some places close to our home where we pick apples each year. As we pick them from the trees, the family can’t resist the urge to eat a few as long as we are there picking them. After eating a few, we take the apple cores and pinch them into the woods, throwing them behind our backs. That is how God forgets our sin.
Isaiah 38:17 Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.
God is merciful and gracious, but confession is the first step towards salvation. How can God forgive us if we don’t apologize for our misdeeds?
Hebrews 8:10-12 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.
The passage that we just read is being quoted from the Old Testament.
Jeremiah 31:34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
It’s such an important passage in Scripture that it was repeated twice in the book of Hebrews. If your dad tells you to do something twice it’s probably pretty important that you listen.
Hebrews 10:16-17 This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.
It is perfect love that covers a multitude of sins.
Isaiah 44:22 I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee.
When we confess our sins to God and to others that we have wronged, we can partake in Holy Communion together. What we do is wash away our sins in the blood of Christ. That is a process of complete redemption because it is by His blood that our sins are ultimately washed away. Remission is the act of remitting, to pardon, or to forgive sins or offenses.
Heb 9:22 ….and without shedding of blood is no remission.
Matthew 26:26-28 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
God wants us to be reconciled to Him. God wants us to reconcile with those we have wronged. In the church everybody needs to learn to forgive and forget because that is what results in reconciliation. When we cut that anchor cord away, God can pitch that anchor of sin into the depths of the sea.
Ps 103:12 As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.
That’s quite a distance isn’t it! Listen to this final humble plea.
Ps 25:7 Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: according to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness’ sake, O Lord.
Are you ready to cut that chain of sins off and be reconciled unto God? Have you decided to cut away…
…..The Anchor
Let’s think about these things for right now. We can be found on your web browser by searching, tlkjbc where you can find our diaries distributed through various platforms. We are not associated, nor affiliated with any other religious groups. You can get our entire podcast feeds directly, along with transcripts at tlkjbc.com or I suppose that you could find us somewhere up here, in the Great Northern Minnesota woods. Peace to you, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody. ❤️
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