Good morning and welcome in everybody. Today, we are going to take a look at a passage of scripture, but before we do that I wanted to tell you a little story.
I’ve always enjoyed going sailing, and I eventually learned how when I was a freshman in the ninth grade. We had an smaller dolphin sailboat on the property that wasn’t getting used very much, so I would take it out on our bay almost every day during summer vacation. Although I like to sail a monohull, I prefer getting out on a catamaran on a really gusty day, especially when you have someone who knows what they are doing out on the trapeze line. But as most of you have probably observed, when you go sailing, the boat likes to tip on its side, and depending on how strong the wind is, the angle can be extreme. But sometimes my cell phone would work its way out of my life vest, and I think I have lost four of them over the past ten years. I used to look at satellite images to identify bad weather, but sometimes the phone would fall out of my pocket and sink into the depths, never to be seen again.
This reminds me of the Christian Life.
God in His incredible benevolence wants to forgive us of all of our past sins. When we are baptized into the Christian faith, we are submerged underneath the water, and at that moment, God completely forgives us of our past misdeeds. He then grants us the gift of the Holy Spirit so that we can overcome the carnal nature. Like losing a cell phone in the lake, God wants to bury all of our sins in the depth of the sea.
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.
Sin is like an anchor that weighs heavy on our hearts, but God wants to completely free you from all of that. Through His extreme Grace, He wants to cleanse our consciences, just like cleaning off a blackboard at school.
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;
At one time of his life, the Apostle Paul was trying to prevent churches from starting and was wreaking havoc among the Saints. But God completely forgave him for all that he had done, and after he got forgiven for them, he would completely forget about them. The word “forget” is actually defined as putting something out of one’s mind, or ceasing to think about it any longer.
Philippians 3:13-15 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.
When little children learn how to ride a bike, they are told by a parent to keep focused on the road that is in front of them. After Paul was baptized into the faith, he dispelled any past memories of sinful things that he had been involved with. This was so he could keep completely focused on the narrow path of Christ Jesus.
1 Corinthians 15:9-10 For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
Galatians 1:21-24 Afterwards I came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia; And was unknown by face unto the churches of Judaea which were in Christ: But they had heard only, That he which persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed. And they glorified God in me.
All of us have sinned at one time or another, some more and some less, but through faith in Christ Jesus we can have all of our past misdeeds expunged. The Apostle describes it aptly as a “free gift.”
Romans 5:15-18 But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.
Psalms 32:5 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.
We can see the depths of God’s forgiveness by what He was teaching Peter in the following passages.
Matthew 18:21-22 Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.
Luke 17:4 And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.
Like I’ve been saying for twenty years, sometimes when people sin against another person, they will go out and join another church just because they are too proud to admit fault. But that’s not christianity. Actually, it’s not even love for the party that you wronged, it’s just running away from humility. The proper way to do it is to confess your faults to the other person so they can pray for you. Then you both wash your sins away in the blood of the lamb during Holy Communion so that the relationship can be completely restored to what it was before.
James 5:16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
1 Peter 4:8-10 And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins. Use hospitality one to another without grudging. As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
Although I don’t take my cell phone with me on my sailboat anymore, I did learn a very important lesson. God wants to forgive us for a multitude of sins, by casting them all……
………Into the Depths
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 all, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody.
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Teufer Lake King James Bible Church 