Good morning and welcome in today. Today we’re going to take a look at a passage of scripture from 1st Peter chapter 4 but before we do that, I wanted to ask you something.
What is something that a lot of children like having done to them at bedtime each night? After they brush their teeth they run and jump into their beds. How many times have you heard the words, please come and tuck me in! They want you to cover them up with their blankets. When we cover something up, it’s being completely hidden from view.
When we cover something up, it means to put something on top of or in front of (something), especially in order to protect or conceal it.”
Have you ever had an old tough looking table that was filled with scratches and marks that you covered with a really nice tablecloth?
Think about an old landfill that has gotten to capacity. With some bulldozers they cover it all up with dirt. In time when the grass and trees start to grow, you wouldn’t even know that it was there.
God wants to cover our sins up. He loves and cares for us and wants each of us to come to a place of repentance. Just like love in somebody’s heart will tuck children in at night, it is love that covers, forgives and forgets sin.
1 Pet 4:8 , 10
8 And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.
10 As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
Forgiveness happens because of true Charity in a person’s heart. You realize how much you’ve been forgiven by God each and every day of your life and you want to show other people that same forgiveness. You want to be merciful with others because God has been merciful to you. Many times the most forgiving people in this world are those who’ve been forgiven much.
There are reasons why people can be so unforgiving with each other. They’ve been hurt or wronged. It doesn’t feel good when others do something bad to you. We have to suffer but remember during those times of your life, you have to think about what Jesus did for us at the cross. He took the nails in order to forgive us.
Colossians 3:14 – And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.
A bond is something that holds us all together, like when you glue two pieces of wood together. That’s why we’re supposed to forgive and reconcile with people in the church because without those two qualities there’s a lack of Christian charity. In a marriage people are joined together and supposed to stay together. It’s forgiveness in a person’s heart led by true charity for Christ and others that results in reconciliation. It’s the bond that keeps us all together day by day.
Pro 10:12. Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins.
When somebody apologizes in a church you need to be capable of forgiving them otherwise you’re turning away from everything the Christian faith teaches us. You’re turning away from everything he has done for us at the cross. This is why all the apostles taught that we need to be so forgiving with each other because that is the way God is towards us. Without charity forgiveness cannot happen, it only turns into hatred and bitterness.
James 5:20 – Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.
Hunting is a large tradition up here in northern Minnesota and there are things that a lot of hunters use to be concealed, it’s called a hide. They are hidden from view.
Each of us have sin issues that we have to confess and get forgiven for from God and others. When we get forgiven for our sins, they are hidden from view just like those hunters in the woods. He forgets them, reconciles us, hides them away and forgets our misdeeds.
This is why if you can convince a sinner about the forgiveness and mercy found in Christ, they can get forgiven for them, resulting in their transgressions to be blotted out.
How many of you like to have a good cold refreshment on a hot summer day? I really like freezing cold lemonade with ice. It really refreshes the entire body. That’s what God wants to do to us. He wants to refresh our hearts with forgiveness.
Acts 3:19 “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;”
I guarantee you that forgiveness is the greatest refreshment you could ever have.
Here’s a beautiful passage about God’s forgiveness.
Ps 51:1-9 Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.
5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.
9 Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.
Here’s one more beautiful passage in the Psalms.
Psalms 32:1-5 – Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.
This is how forgiving God is with us and it’s why the disciples taught the church to be this forgiving with each other.
Forgiveness is a gift that is extended from God to us. It’s a free gift because we cannot earn it. All we can do is confess and apologize to receive it. We can’t undo our past misdeeds, but God can forgive us and wash them away from our hearts and our minds.
10 As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
Manifold means he has a lot of grace available. God is ready to forgive. His mercies are there for each of us. It’s not a problem of having no forgiveness available, it’s having the problem of not admitting your own faults unto him and others in the church, and learning to forgive as we go. Be forgiving as God forgives. Thank God for Jesus Christ.
That’s it for today and Lord willing I’ll talk to you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody.♥️ tlkjbc.wordpress.com
Teufer Lake King James Bible Church 