“Getting Right With God”
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Judges 10:6-16
Introduction: Example- Computers can be great. Computers have helped us to accomplish so much more than we could ever do with typewriters. With computers you can easily save and make changes. You can e-mail documents. You can connect with other people through the internet. The computer has increased our ability to work in many ways.
But if you have ever had a computer lock up, or ever had one crash, you know that the computer is still there, still looks the same on the outside, but really becomes useless to you. It is a broken machine, really good for nothing anymore. This happened to me about a year ago, where my computer crashed. I was fortunate, because my step-father was able to build me a new one, but in the waiting time, I was using my laptop. And I did lost some of the information that I hadn’t saved.
Like a computer that crashed, we can become spiritually broken down in a way that keeps God’s Spirit from operating in and through us. We can be in a relationship with the Lord, but there are some disastrous scenarios that can occur, which the Bible talks about, where we become spiritually unhinged.
I. From Defeat to Victory- (Judges 10:6-16; 11:29-32; Romans 6:23; Revelation 3:16; Psalm 66:18, 32:1-2)
a. Sold out- Let’s consider for a moment the case of the Israelites that we
just read about in Judges, chapter 10. The Israelites were in bondage, slaves in Egypt. They were struggling and grumbling about their situation. They felt as if God had abandoned them, even though what got them in this predicament was their abandoning God.
God raised up Moses to be their leader. And we see how God was more powerful than Pharaoh and all his armies, as God freed His people from slavery in Egypt. In their freedom, the Israelites wandered in the wilderness for the next 40 years. Now to them this might not have seemed like freedom, but God had truly delivered them from their oppressive predicament and was preparing them for what was next. Then after many years God replaced Moses as leader with Joshua, who led the people across the Jordan River into the Promised Land.
This Promised Land had been promised to the Israelites back in Abraham’s time (in Genesis 17), and had been given by divine decree to the descendents of Abraham. To enter the Promised Land, the Israelites had been instructed by God to boldly drive out all the Canaanite nations. God promised that He would fight for Israel.
And yet, we just read in Judges 10:7-9, “… God sold the Israelites into the hands of the Philistines and the Ammonites, and they crushed and oppressed the
Israelites that year. For eighteen years they oppressed all the Israelites…”
Why did this tragic and unthinkable reversal come about for Israel? Weren’t the Israelites the chosen people of God; given the Promised Land by divine decree? Weren’t they under a covenant with the Almighty? What is wrong with this picture?
To get the explanation, we need to probe deeper. And when we probe deeper, we discover that God Himself was behind the entire matter. This happened because of what we are told in Judges 10:6- “The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord…”
The Israelites were prone to persistent, unconfessed sin. This sin caused them to be separated from God; from God’s power, from God’s promises, and led them to defeat. God knew that it is more important to bring some punishment onto His people if it meant that they would turn and be restored. And this is just what happened, as we read in Judges 10:15-16, “Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord, ‘We have sinned against you, forsaking our God and serving Baals (idols).’”
As soon as the Israelites honestly confessed their sins and repented, God went from selling them into the hands of their enemies to quickly raising up a warrior leader, Jephthah, who reversed the fortunes of God’s people.
KEY THOUGHT: The great spiritual hinge that opens the door to
heaven is honest confession.”
b. God hates sin- So we see that Jephthah is chosen by God to lead God’s
people to victory. We are told about this in Judges 11:29-32, “Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah…then Jephthah went over to fight the Ammonites, and the Lord gave them into his hands.” From defeat to victory, from slavery to dominion—it all hinged on the simple act of sincere confession of sin. Israel didn’t increase the number of soldiers they had, or work on any new military strategies. They didn’t get any new sophisticated weapons. They simply confessed their sin, and God moved over to their side. They simply needed to get right with God by confessing from the depth of their hearts. Honest, heartfelt, truthful confession. “We have sinned.”
Until they took that step, God’s hand had opposed His own people. Isn’t this true of parents? They will sometimes oppose their children for the purpose of causing their children to see what is the right road; for the purpose of helping them to understand that the way their parents are trying to lead them, which is hopefully the way of the Lord, is the better way!
The reason why this is all true is because God hates sin. Now I know that as parents we tell our children not to hate anything, but the one thing we can and should hate, like God does, is sin. This is the most basic and important place to start. God’s holy nature detests every kind of sin. We see this mentioned over and over again in the Bible.
Romans 6:23- “For the wages of sin is/ death…..”
Revelation 3:16- “So, because you are lukewarm (this is speaking of their
attitude to sin)—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.”
God…… hates…………. sin.
Why does God hate sin? Because sin, and nothing else, is what separates people from God. God, who is perfectly holy, cannot be in the presence of sin. This is why Jesus Christ endured the cross and its shame and shed His blood, and went through all that agony. He did it to deal with the sin in your life and mine! He did it so that He could impart to us His righteousness.
In the end, God will annihilate all sin. The good news is that through Jesus our sin is washed away, and with the presence of God’s Spirit within us we have the power to overcome sin in our lives.
So the first order and last order, and as much in between that we can, of our every day lives, for every Christian should be to deal with the business of our sin. Daily, hourly, moment-by-moment, we must bring our sin to God in sincere confession and receive the grace and mercy and forgiveness of God.
We cannot forget Psalm 66:18- “If I regard iniquity in my heart,
the Lord will not hear.”
And so we take encouragement from Psalm 32:1-2 “Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose
sin the Lord does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit.”
II. From Victory to Overcoming- (Psalm 32:3-6; 1 John 1:9)
a. Real confession- King David knew that confessing our sin leads to the
greatest spiritual joy and peace we can experience as human beings. That is why David wrote Psalm 32, so that we could understand what real confession is about. Real confession is to say the same thing about sin as God says; to feel the same way about sin as God feels.
So David continues in Psalm 32:3-4, “When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.”
These last couple of weeks have been very hot. And so we know what heat does to our energy level; how we feel drained of energy when it is hot. How we don’t feel like going outside and doing much. David is telling us that when we have sin in our lives, sin that we haven’t fully dealt with, sin that we’ve kept silent and hidden, this sin will drain away our energy to live and to be able to enjoy life.
We have to be real about the sin in our lives. So David continues in verse 5: “Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, ‘I will confess my transgression to the Lord’—and you forgave the guilt of my sin.”
David was really asking himself: “Why do I continue to live under the Lord’s displeasure?” You see, David knew that he couldn’t undo his sin, but through confessing it to God, God could make it right. And at the very instant he made a true confession, he found God’s abundant mercy and pardon waiting for him.
I know there are many of you out there today who are keeping silent about your sin. In fact, you probably are uncomfortable that I am even talking about sin! Isn’t sin your own personal business? Yes and no. It is personal for you in regards to me and others, but it should not be kept personal from God. And because of this thinking, this feeling, you are wasting away and not enjoying life; because of this you are not able to fully give yourself to God and to the church; because of it you are not able to be fully blessed by God!
But like David, all you have to do is confess your sin and the Lord will forgive you and be on your side again. Remember God’s eternal promise in 1 John 1:9- “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” The problem is not with the Lord’s ability or desire to forgive us; to restore us. The problem is with us; “If we confess….” The verse says. We must confess to receive forgiveness; we must admit our mistakes, we must no longer remain silent.
KEY THOUGHT: God will not bless and grow the church if its members
don’t have a deep longing to be delivered from the power of sin.
b. Fresh Blessings- Example- You might have heard me telling this story,
but it is fitting to make a point here. A number of years ago I was playing racquetball 2 or 3 times a month with my good friend Dean. Dean was a much better player than me, and because of my competitive spirit, I would get frustrated because I would never win! In time I improved, until I could actually win a game here and there. Then I was able to win 2 out of 4 sometimes. But still, most of the time Dean would win most of the games. As in any sport, there are times when you hit lucky shots. This would really frustrate me, because since Dean was already better than me, the last thing I would want to see is him getting lucky breaks in the game. When this would happen, I would often have bursts of anger. Yes, I am confessing this to you now! Consequently, after the game, because of my anger, I found it difficult to tell him what a good game he had played. I would often say rude things like: “I probably would have won that one game had you not been so lucky.” Dean, being the great friend that he was, would just ignore these comments. So in time, I learned that before I spoke, I would take a few moments, separate myself from Dean by going outside and praying, and calm myself down. I found that I couldn’t pray until I admitted my sin and confessed before God. After this, I could spend a few moments with God, and God calmed my heart. I could then come back to Dean and compliment him on the great game he played.
So instead of breaking down my relationship with Dean/ through confession and prayer/ I was able to enhance my relationship. Instead of ignoring my prideful, competitive attitude, I could acknowledge it before Dean, and show him how I was letting the Lord work with me on this. AS KING DAVID SAID:
“Then I acknowledged my sin to you (O God) 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. Therefore let everyone who is godly pray to you while they may be found; …”
When we honestly confess our sins, we clear the way for fresh blessings to come upon us from the Lord. When we confess our sins, we will experience God’s favor in our lives. The only thing that can keep you from this, is unconfessed sin. Why should we live even one minute longer than we have to in this condition when a loving, merciful God is calling you into fellowship with him?
What is your sin that you are keeping hidden? I don’t need to know it. But God knows it. And yet, until you admit your sin and confess it, it will bring you down spiritually, and ultimately physically.
Conclusion: If you were to ask a Christian what they want most, the answer you would probably get most often is: “To be right with God.” And yet, so often people fail to do the things that will allow them to be right with God; the biggest one is having unconfessed sin in their lives. We know our spiritual condition is important, but we allow so many other things to break us down.
Like the Israelites, who did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, we often choose to do things that the Lord would not approve of. And then we wonder why we aren’t right with God. We wonder why feel that we have unresolved issues in our lives. The answer is clear: CONFESS. It is so easy for me to say, but so challenging for us to practice.
James 5:16, says- “Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed…” This verse reminds us that if we can have a person in our life to confess to, then that helps all the more than just going to God. When we confess to another person, it seems more real. And when we are not judged by this person, we feel the presence of God’s forgiveness all the more.
And so today I am attempting to train us to remember that real confession is the way to grow in the Lord and receive spiritual joy and peace. I hope that you will seek to practice this on a regular basis, hopefully starting today. Amen.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Judges 10:6-16
Introduction: Example- Computers can be great. Computers have helped us to accomplish so much more than we could ever do with typewriters. With computers you can easily save and make changes. You can e-mail documents. You can connect with other people through the internet. The computer has increased our ability to work in many ways.
But if you have ever had a computer lock up, or ever had one crash, you know that the computer is still there, still looks the same on the outside, but really becomes useless to you. It is a broken machine, really good for nothing anymore. This happened to me about a year ago, where my computer crashed. I was fortunate, because my step-father was able to build me a new one, but in the waiting time, I was using my laptop. And I did lost some of the information that I hadn’t saved.
Like a computer that crashed, we can become spiritually broken down in a way that keeps God’s Spirit from operating in and through us. We can be in a relationship with the Lord, but there are some disastrous scenarios that can occur, which the Bible talks about, where we become spiritually unhinged.
I. From Defeat to Victory- (Judges 10:6-16; 11:29-32; Romans 6:23; Revelation 3:16; Psalm 66:18, 32:1-2)
a. Sold out- Let’s consider for a moment the case of the Israelites that we
just read about in Judges, chapter 10. The Israelites were in bondage, slaves in Egypt. They were struggling and grumbling about their situation. They felt as if God had abandoned them, even though what got them in this predicament was their abandoning God.
God raised up Moses to be their leader. And we see how God was more powerful than Pharaoh and all his armies, as God freed His people from slavery in Egypt. In their freedom, the Israelites wandered in the wilderness for the next 40 years. Now to them this might not have seemed like freedom, but God had truly delivered them from their oppressive predicament and was preparing them for what was next. Then after many years God replaced Moses as leader with Joshua, who led the people across the Jordan River into the Promised Land.
This Promised Land had been promised to the Israelites back in Abraham’s time (in Genesis 17), and had been given by divine decree to the descendents of Abraham. To enter the Promised Land, the Israelites had been instructed by God to boldly drive out all the Canaanite nations. God promised that He would fight for Israel.
And yet, we just read in Judges 10:7-9, “… God sold the Israelites into the hands of the Philistines and the Ammonites, and they crushed and oppressed the
Israelites that year. For eighteen years they oppressed all the Israelites…”
Why did this tragic and unthinkable reversal come about for Israel? Weren’t the Israelites the chosen people of God; given the Promised Land by divine decree? Weren’t they under a covenant with the Almighty? What is wrong with this picture?
To get the explanation, we need to probe deeper. And when we probe deeper, we discover that God Himself was behind the entire matter. This happened because of what we are told in Judges 10:6- “The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord…”
The Israelites were prone to persistent, unconfessed sin. This sin caused them to be separated from God; from God’s power, from God’s promises, and led them to defeat. God knew that it is more important to bring some punishment onto His people if it meant that they would turn and be restored. And this is just what happened, as we read in Judges 10:15-16, “Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord, ‘We have sinned against you, forsaking our God and serving Baals (idols).’”
As soon as the Israelites honestly confessed their sins and repented, God went from selling them into the hands of their enemies to quickly raising up a warrior leader, Jephthah, who reversed the fortunes of God’s people.
KEY THOUGHT: The great spiritual hinge that opens the door to
heaven is honest confession.”
b. God hates sin- So we see that Jephthah is chosen by God to lead God’s
people to victory. We are told about this in Judges 11:29-32, “Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah…then Jephthah went over to fight the Ammonites, and the Lord gave them into his hands.” From defeat to victory, from slavery to dominion—it all hinged on the simple act of sincere confession of sin. Israel didn’t increase the number of soldiers they had, or work on any new military strategies. They didn’t get any new sophisticated weapons. They simply confessed their sin, and God moved over to their side. They simply needed to get right with God by confessing from the depth of their hearts. Honest, heartfelt, truthful confession. “We have sinned.”
Until they took that step, God’s hand had opposed His own people. Isn’t this true of parents? They will sometimes oppose their children for the purpose of causing their children to see what is the right road; for the purpose of helping them to understand that the way their parents are trying to lead them, which is hopefully the way of the Lord, is the better way!
The reason why this is all true is because God hates sin. Now I know that as parents we tell our children not to hate anything, but the one thing we can and should hate, like God does, is sin. This is the most basic and important place to start. God’s holy nature detests every kind of sin. We see this mentioned over and over again in the Bible.
Romans 6:23- “For the wages of sin is/ death…..”
Revelation 3:16- “So, because you are lukewarm (this is speaking of their
attitude to sin)—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.”
God…… hates…………. sin.
Why does God hate sin? Because sin, and nothing else, is what separates people from God. God, who is perfectly holy, cannot be in the presence of sin. This is why Jesus Christ endured the cross and its shame and shed His blood, and went through all that agony. He did it to deal with the sin in your life and mine! He did it so that He could impart to us His righteousness.
In the end, God will annihilate all sin. The good news is that through Jesus our sin is washed away, and with the presence of God’s Spirit within us we have the power to overcome sin in our lives.
So the first order and last order, and as much in between that we can, of our every day lives, for every Christian should be to deal with the business of our sin. Daily, hourly, moment-by-moment, we must bring our sin to God in sincere confession and receive the grace and mercy and forgiveness of God.
We cannot forget Psalm 66:18- “If I regard iniquity in my heart,
the Lord will not hear.”
And so we take encouragement from Psalm 32:1-2 “Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose
sin the Lord does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit.”
II. From Victory to Overcoming- (Psalm 32:3-6; 1 John 1:9)
a. Real confession- King David knew that confessing our sin leads to the
greatest spiritual joy and peace we can experience as human beings. That is why David wrote Psalm 32, so that we could understand what real confession is about. Real confession is to say the same thing about sin as God says; to feel the same way about sin as God feels.
So David continues in Psalm 32:3-4, “When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.”
These last couple of weeks have been very hot. And so we know what heat does to our energy level; how we feel drained of energy when it is hot. How we don’t feel like going outside and doing much. David is telling us that when we have sin in our lives, sin that we haven’t fully dealt with, sin that we’ve kept silent and hidden, this sin will drain away our energy to live and to be able to enjoy life.
We have to be real about the sin in our lives. So David continues in verse 5: “Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, ‘I will confess my transgression to the Lord’—and you forgave the guilt of my sin.”
David was really asking himself: “Why do I continue to live under the Lord’s displeasure?” You see, David knew that he couldn’t undo his sin, but through confessing it to God, God could make it right. And at the very instant he made a true confession, he found God’s abundant mercy and pardon waiting for him.
I know there are many of you out there today who are keeping silent about your sin. In fact, you probably are uncomfortable that I am even talking about sin! Isn’t sin your own personal business? Yes and no. It is personal for you in regards to me and others, but it should not be kept personal from God. And because of this thinking, this feeling, you are wasting away and not enjoying life; because of this you are not able to fully give yourself to God and to the church; because of it you are not able to be fully blessed by God!
But like David, all you have to do is confess your sin and the Lord will forgive you and be on your side again. Remember God’s eternal promise in 1 John 1:9- “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” The problem is not with the Lord’s ability or desire to forgive us; to restore us. The problem is with us; “If we confess….” The verse says. We must confess to receive forgiveness; we must admit our mistakes, we must no longer remain silent.
KEY THOUGHT: God will not bless and grow the church if its members
don’t have a deep longing to be delivered from the power of sin.
b. Fresh Blessings- Example- You might have heard me telling this story,
but it is fitting to make a point here. A number of years ago I was playing racquetball 2 or 3 times a month with my good friend Dean. Dean was a much better player than me, and because of my competitive spirit, I would get frustrated because I would never win! In time I improved, until I could actually win a game here and there. Then I was able to win 2 out of 4 sometimes. But still, most of the time Dean would win most of the games. As in any sport, there are times when you hit lucky shots. This would really frustrate me, because since Dean was already better than me, the last thing I would want to see is him getting lucky breaks in the game. When this would happen, I would often have bursts of anger. Yes, I am confessing this to you now! Consequently, after the game, because of my anger, I found it difficult to tell him what a good game he had played. I would often say rude things like: “I probably would have won that one game had you not been so lucky.” Dean, being the great friend that he was, would just ignore these comments. So in time, I learned that before I spoke, I would take a few moments, separate myself from Dean by going outside and praying, and calm myself down. I found that I couldn’t pray until I admitted my sin and confessed before God. After this, I could spend a few moments with God, and God calmed my heart. I could then come back to Dean and compliment him on the great game he played.
So instead of breaking down my relationship with Dean/ through confession and prayer/ I was able to enhance my relationship. Instead of ignoring my prideful, competitive attitude, I could acknowledge it before Dean, and show him how I was letting the Lord work with me on this. AS KING DAVID SAID:
“Then I acknowledged my sin to you (O God) 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. Therefore let everyone who is godly pray to you while they may be found; …”
When we honestly confess our sins, we clear the way for fresh blessings to come upon us from the Lord. When we confess our sins, we will experience God’s favor in our lives. The only thing that can keep you from this, is unconfessed sin. Why should we live even one minute longer than we have to in this condition when a loving, merciful God is calling you into fellowship with him?
What is your sin that you are keeping hidden? I don’t need to know it. But God knows it. And yet, until you admit your sin and confess it, it will bring you down spiritually, and ultimately physically.
Conclusion: If you were to ask a Christian what they want most, the answer you would probably get most often is: “To be right with God.” And yet, so often people fail to do the things that will allow them to be right with God; the biggest one is having unconfessed sin in their lives. We know our spiritual condition is important, but we allow so many other things to break us down.
Like the Israelites, who did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, we often choose to do things that the Lord would not approve of. And then we wonder why we aren’t right with God. We wonder why feel that we have unresolved issues in our lives. The answer is clear: CONFESS. It is so easy for me to say, but so challenging for us to practice.
James 5:16, says- “Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed…” This verse reminds us that if we can have a person in our life to confess to, then that helps all the more than just going to God. When we confess to another person, it seems more real. And when we are not judged by this person, we feel the presence of God’s forgiveness all the more.
And so today I am attempting to train us to remember that real confession is the way to grow in the Lord and receive spiritual joy and peace. I hope that you will seek to practice this on a regular basis, hopefully starting today. Amen.
Labels: Confession
posted by Logan's Blog at 1:50 PM
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