The Supernatural Battle - Part Two

 

Last week we looked at the growing supernatural evil that is evident to anyone with eyes to see. In the 1950s no one would have ever thought the killing of 2500 babies every day would be accepted so nonchalantly in our society. No one in 1950, a few years after we defeated the Socialists in Nazi Europe, and we were entering into a cold war with the Socialists in Russia, no one in 1950 would have thought that since 2020 Americans would vote Socialists into our Congress, and various state houses. And what about this self-avowed Socialist who may be the next Mayor of NYC? And who, in the 1950s, would have believed the Supreme Court of the United States would, for the first time in recorded history dating back ten thousand years, elevate sexual perversion to the status of legal marriage?

 

And then there is the stupefying and explosive increase in Antisemitism in this county – even from once most-prestigious universities such as Harvard. You watch the news. You know what is happening.

 

A report published two years ago found that 25% of American adults now exhibit prejudice toward Jewish people. One in four. That’s an increase of 26 million people in just 18 months. Listen: God has not changed His promise to Abraham in Genesis 12 that those who curse the Jew will be cursed by God. He remains the same today as He was yesterday.

 

Yes, the battle rages on multiple fronts, and so, for our own protection, we now turn our attention to the supernatural armor that God has given the Christian to successfully wage war in this supernatural battle. As King David wrote: (Psalm 144:1) “Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle.”

 

One of the best-known passages of the New Testament dealing with supernatural warfare is in the sixth chapter of Paul’s letter to the church at Ephesus. It is here where the Holy Spirit makes clearest to us what are the defensive gear and offensive weapons God supplies to us. And it is the wisest AND the safest follower of Christ who not only knows about the gear, but who wears and uses them. 

 

Starting with verse 10 of chapter six, Paul writes (Ephesians 6:10-18)

 

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. 14 Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints.

Although I read the entire section for context, today’s message focuses only on the first several verses, beginning with verse 10. Subsequent messages over the next few weeks will continue to parse Paul’s instruction:

 

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

 

Point Number One: We are not alone in our battle. Like the undetectable radio and television waves that surround us in this building, do not wonder for a moment if we are surrounded by undetectable supernatural, godly forces. Not only does the Holy Spirit live inside each follower of Christ, but unseen angels never leave our side.

 

The psalmist tells us: “The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him and rescues them (Psalm 34:7). Hebrews 1:14 assures us God’s angels are “ministering spirits sent out to render service to those who will inherit salvation” And again, Psalm 91:11 “For He will give His angels orders concerning you, to protect you in all your ways.”

 

Angels surround us in this room. If we could see them, we’d see their swords unsheathed, their eyes watchful, their ears attentive, sent by our Father in heaven, creator of all things visible and invisible, to protect us.

 

Some of you might remember the story of Elisha and his servant in Dothan. The Syrian king was at war with Israel, and Elisha – the protégé of Elijah – was at the top of his list of enemies. When the king learned Elisha was hold up in Dothan, he sent his army to surround the city. We pick up the story in verse 15 of 2 Kings:

 

“Now when the attendant of the man of God had risen early and gone out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was circling the city. And his servant said to him, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” So he answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Then Elisha prayed and said, “O Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” And the Lord opened the servant’s eyes and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.” (2 Kings 6:15ff)

 

Again, I will say it: Never let the thought remain in your brain for even a nano-second that you are alone in this battle. You are NOT ever alone. You do not ever, ever, ever walk that so-called lonesome valley all by yourself.

 

The lyrics of that song – many of you have heard it sung for years, even in churches across this country – the lyrics of that song are the most heretical lyrics of any so-called spiritual song I have ever had the displeasure to listen to:

You gotta walk that lonesome valley
And you gotta walk it by yourself
Nobody else can walk it for you
You gotta walk it by yourself.

 

Let me stop here a moment and proclaim to you that nowhere in all of Scripture does God ever tell His children bought by the blood of Jesus that we’re alone in our struggles and our trials. Never. Not one verse. Not one sentence. Not one word.

 

The song continues:

Jesus walked this lonesome valley
And he had to walk it by Himself
Nobody else could walk it for Him
He had to walk, walk it by Himself.

 

Are you kidding me? Even during that 40-days of wilderness trial, the Holy Spirit was with Him. And just before His capture and subsequent crucifixion, Jesus said to His disciples: Jesus answered them . . . Behold, an hour is coming, and has already come, for you to be scattered, each to his own home, and to leave Me alone; and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me.” (John 16:31-32)

 

Jones’ lyrics continue to wash over the hurting and frightened child of God like battery acid:

 

You must go and stand your trials
You have to stand it by yourself
Nobody else can stand it for you
You have to stand it by yourself.

 

Christian, because of your faith in Jesus’ blood to cover your sins, the Holy Spirit lives within you – and He has given His angels charge concerning you to protect you. Never forget that, despite your circumstances. You NEVER walk alone, and you NEVER fight this spiritual battle alone.

 

And because we are not alone, Paul tells us, “Be strong in the LORD.” In other words, do not depend on your own strengths or resources in this fight. Just as no soldier approaches a field of battle in gym clothes, we dare not enter this battle thinking ANY of our own abilities and talents can ever prevail in this supernatural battle. Many of you will recognize the lyrics of Martin Luther’s hymn:

 

Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing, Were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God’s own choosing: Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He; Lord Sabaoth, His Name, from age to age the same, And He must win the battle.

 

No, never trust your own battle gear, your own skills and talents. Resort only to the gear provided us by the Holy Spirit – the belt, the breastplate, the helmet, the footwear, the shield, the sword – and prayer. As the apostle wrote to the Christians in Corinth: (2 Corinthians 10:3-4) “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.”

 

So, today, as we begin our examination of that battle gear, let’s first look at the belt of our armor. Here is verse 14 of Ephesians six: “Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth.”

 

The belt worn by the Roman soldier did more than simply keep his pants from falling. The belt also held in place his dagger and the breast plate that protected his heart and other vital organs. If his belt was not secured against his body, his weapon and the breastplate would fall away – leaving him defenseless against an aggressor.

 

That’s why Paul’s analogy of ‘girding our loins with truth’ is so instructive for us. Truth is the foundation of our faith. Truth – not philosophical truth, or psychological truth, or cultural truth, or emotional truth; Only Biblical truth is the foundation of our faith.

 

If we let truth slip away, if we compromise God’s absolute and authoritative Truth, we lay ourselves open to deadly attack by our enemy, nor can we come to the defense of others.

 

I can’t tell you how many times during our lives together when I was under some sort of spiritual attack that Nancy helped me through the battle by reminding me of some relevant text of Scripture. Likewise, how often I helped her wend her way through her own spiritual battles by reminding her of some passage in God’s infallible and inerrant word.

 

Like the spider’s web I spoke about last week, Satan’s invisible strands are made visible ONLY when the light of God's word glistens on them.

 

Without the belt of Truth that undergirds our faith we are always in danger of the lurking evil. That’s why Paul wrote to the church at Colossae: ⁸ See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. ⁹ For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form . . (Colossians 2:8-9)

 

The Greek work Paul used here for captive has the idea of being carried of as a prisoner of war.  And that is what happens to anyone who gets seduced by humanistic explanations of the supernatural – such as the mockery of the Genesis account of Creation, or Israel’s crossing the Red Sea, or the virgin birth of Jesus, His miracles, including His resurrection. Those who gravitate to those humanistic lies ALL become casualties of the war and lose their ability to stay in the fight.

 

Pilate asked Jesus during His trial, “What is truth?”  (John 18:38). And then as soon as he asked the question, he turned and walked away without so much as a moment’s hesitation.

 

If Pilate really wanted to know what is Truth, he’d have waited for an answer. But he didn’t, just as so many others through the centuries have not bothered to hang around for God’s answers, likely because they didn’t want to hear His answers. And of those who do hang around, many refuse to humbly and obediently receive what God says.

 

“Gird yourselves with the belt of truth,” Paul wrote. So, what is Truth? The answer to the question is captured throughout the Scriptures from Genesis through Revelation. Here is psalm 119:60 – The sum of God’s word is truth. Ultimately, Truth is embodied in the Word of God made flesh – Jesus, who said of Himself, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except by Me.” (John 14:6) And in the Lord’s High Priestly prayer to the Father, Jesus prayed: “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.” (John 17:17)

 

The equation is so simple, a child can grasp it. The better we know AND OBEY the Scriptures, the better we know the truth. Lots of pastors and pew-sitters know the Scriptures. But without obedience to God’s word, their knowledge is worthless for any good. As St. Paul warned Titus, such people “profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed.” (Titus 1:16)

 

It is God’s truth alone that will set us free – free from fears and doubts and seductions – and yes, free from sin. The maxim has been repeated many times over: The Bible will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from the Bible.  

 

So, be careful and conscious to hold truth close to yourself – the kind of Truth that leads to action and a godly lifestyle. The psalmist asked, How can a young man [or an old person] keep his way pure?” You’ll find that question in Psalm 119:9. And he immediately answered the question this way: “By keeping it according to Your word. With all my heart I have sought You; Do not let me wander from Your commandments. Your word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against You.” (Psalm 119:9-11)

 

The clock tells me I need to bring today’s exhortation and encouragement to a close. So, let me sum up my message this way. There are four things I hope you will take away from what I have said this afternoon.

 

First: God is in absolute control of the battle AND the battlefield. From the front cover of the Bible to the back cover, the Holy Spirit assures those with eyes to see and ears to hear and hearts to receive Truth – God’s authority over every created thing – seen and unseen – God’s authority is absolute.

 

Second: We are never, ever alone in this battle. The Holy Spirit lives within each believer, And His angels always surround us.  Be assured. Be confident: We do not walk a lonesome valley – regardless of how it seems when life’s storms pummel us. God has not lied to us when He said, “I will never leave you. I will never forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5)

 

Third: Never rely on our own strengths, abilities, talents, wealth, or any other thing we might fall back on as protection against the enemy. NOTHING natural, nothing of this creation, can ever be effective against the supernatural. Put on God’s armor every day when you wake up in the morning.

 

Fourth: Don’t let anyone seduce you into thinking we can somehow accurately know truth about sin, righteousness, and judgment apart from God’s word. Intentionally seek Him in the Scriptures. Learn to love truth about God. And do not neglect to set yourself to LIVE what God says is truth.

 

Next week we will continue our look of the other elements of the Christian’s supernatural armor.

 

Cheap Grace

Cheap Grace and the Battle

 

During the last few weeks – and perhaps especially as I peruse the newscasts about what is happening in our country and what is happening in the Mideast, I concluded I need to say more about the SPIRITUAL battle everyone on this planet faces day after day. And that idea brought back to my memory the series on spiritual warfare that I’ve preached a few times in the last several years. Some of you have even read the book I wrote which is based on those messages.

 

I make no apology for the repetition because reminders of Biblical truths are not only good things, but necessary things. As the apostle Peter tells his readers – including us: “I will always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them, and have been established in the truth which is present with you.  I consider it right, as long as I am in this earthly dwelling, to stir you up by way of reminder.” (2 Peter 1:12-13)

Every time I preach this series, even more evidence accumulates just outside our front door – evidence of the powerful and deadly spiritual warfare that threatens our immortal souls and the souls of our families and friends.

Here are only a few examples of this ongoing supernatural warfare, and none of this should surprise those who are even marginally aware of what is happening in our culture. We continue to tear babies apart in their mother’s womb to the tune of 2,500 babies every DAY in American abortion clinics. That means 2,500 baby boys and girls will be ruthlessly killed tomorrow, Monday. Another 2,500 babies will be slaughtered on Tuesday. And again on Wednesday, and every day this week and this month, around the calendar. Our culture is clearly more angry at those who abuse dogs than those who kill babies in the womb.

 

You also know of the now rampaging sexual immorality which continues to spew from hell itself. I spoke to that point a couple of weeks ago. It seems that much of our American society is falling into one of two categories: The first: Those who support same-sex unions and unmarried heterosexual fornication – and now transgender medical treatments even for minors; And the second category: Those who stand against such evils.

 

These are not insignificant hiccups in our nation’s life. They are titanic disasters waiting to happen. For such egregious sins, God has ALWAYS destroyed every nation in history dating back to the early chapters of Genesis. This is not my opinion. It is history easily verified by anyone with a computer and a desire to uncover the truth of what I just said.

 

Every nation. Destroyed. And America is well along that path to utter destruction – perhaps even to the point of no return.

 

Here is what God said of ancient Israel before the Babylonian catastrophe destroyed God's people: “The Lord, the God of their fathers, sent word to them again and again by His messengers, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place; but they continually mocked the messengers of God, despised His words and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, until there was no remedy. Therefore He brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion on young man or virgin, old man or infirm; He gave them all into his hand. (2 Chronicles 36:15-17)

 

My brothers and sisters, this is a very difficult sermon for me to preach. But it is an absolutely necessary sermon for me to preach – and for you to hear. Spiritually dark days are rapidly descending across our land and over the Church. As I said a few moments ago, I’ve spoken in recent weeks about remaining faithful to Christ to the end of our lives. And if we hope to remain faithful to Christ, we must – must – wage this war according to the specific guidance God Himself gives us. That’s why we will spend the next several weeks reexamining that guidance.

 

Several years ago, I read about a pastor who received a call from a funeral home director. The man asked the pastor if he would speak at the graveside of a young man who’d recently died. The director told the pastor, “You’re my last hope. All the other pastors I’ve called have declined."

 

When the minister asked why they’d declined, he was told that the deceased had died of HIV/AIDS.

 

When the pastor arrived at the funeral home, he noticed that all the attendees were men, and he suspected many, if not all of them, were gay.

When he finished his eulogy in the pouring rain at the gravesite, many of the men stayed and asked if he would read various Bible verses which they’d remembered from their childhood. Nearly two hours later, the men thanked him and said it was the first time they could hear Bible verses without a sermon of condemnation accompanying it.

 

I understood the story’s point about the pastor’s kindness in reading the men’s favorite childhood passages. But it appeared from the story that that is all the pastor did.

 

And THAT is the problem in a growing number of churches today, including those here in this city. Clergy quote the happy verses and ignore the judgment verses. They give people false and damning hope by focusing on what people want to hear and not what they need to hear.

 

To do that is NOT an expression of Christ's love, who calls all men and women to repentance, to turn from their sins and live holy lives. What we do – what pastors and priests and bishops and teachers and other church leaders – AND those in the pews – what they do when they do not tell the WHOLE story of the gospel is that they simply help the sinner go happily on his or her way to an eternal hell. That is certainly one reason the Holy Spirit impelled Paul to write these words to young and timid Timothy:

 

I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. (2 Timothy 4)

The Lord Jesus warns us that the path that leads to life is a very narrow one, and consequently, only a few find it. But the road that leads to an eternal hell is a broad one – and lots of people are on that road.

 

Part of the reason so many travel that broad road is that they hear from pulpits and read in so-called Christian books what is known as cheap grace. Cheap grace is based on a Christianity without the Cross, a Christianity focused on God’s love and rarely if ever on His multiple warnings and examples of His justice, wrath, and judgement.

At the end of the 19th century, William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army warned of cheap grace this way: “The chief dangers which will confront the coming [twentieth] century will be religion without the Holy Spirit, Christianity without Christ, forgiveness without repentance, salvation without regeneration, politics without God, and heaven without hell.”

Decades later, the Holy Spirit again warned the church – in this case the church in Europe – about cheap grace. This time He spoke through Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Some of you might know the name of this great man of God, Bonhoeffer was a member of the Confessing Church of Nazi Germany. He and other pastors of the Confessing Church stood openly – for as long as they could – against the evil sweeping Nazi Europe under the guidance of Adolf Hitler and his satanic-driven followers and supporters. Bonhoeffer died on the gallows in the Flossenburg concentration camp – one month before the camp was liberated by the Allies.

In his book, The Cost of Discipleship, Bonhoeffer referred to 'cheap grace this way: “Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession...Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.”

 

I will add, cheap grace is when people call Jesus their savior, but they do not follow Jesus as their Lord of life and lifestyle. Cheap grace is that grace which costs us little, or nothing. It allows us to go to church, to sing, to read, to kneel, to stand, to receive Holy Communion – but there is no change of heart, no inner conviction by the Holy Spirit, no demand of conscience toward full and undiluted obedience to the message of the Scriptures.

Cheap grace tells us that as long as we make a profession of faith, we are saved. Yet God directed Paul to write these words, “Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” (Romans 6:1-2)

 

Salvation through the grace of God is so much more than simply mouthing the words “Jesus is Lord.” It is so much more than being baptized. It is so much more than praying the Sinner’s Prayer or signing a book or walking down an aisle. We are saved by a living and active faith that manifests itself in repentance, obedience, and love for God and our neighbor.

 

Living a life of holiness is a work to imitate Jesus Christ – and if anyone doesn’t think THAT is a work – to imitate Christ, then they’ve never tried it. Holiness means growing in obedience to the Father’s commandments.

 

That’s why the Lord Jesus told us: “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words.” (John 14:23-24) 

 

And then there are these words in 1 John 2:3-4 “By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”

 

I remember an incident I had years ago with a spider’s web. I didn’t see the web until I nearly ran into it. The thing was virtually invisible. If sunlight hadn’t suddenly glistened off its strands, I would have walked right into it. So, there I stood, inches from the biggest, ugliest, hairiest spider I’d ever seen. I was glad I wasn’t a hapless bug flitting through the air, totally clueless about the spider’s trap in front of me.

 

But like a spider’s web, in the world of the supernatural, Satan’s subtle web is often invisible to the natural eye – which is why it’s so incredibly easy to get caught in his deadly trap. And most of the time we don’t even realize we’re in his web until he has devoured our health, wealth, homes, and families.

 

Sometimes even our lives.

 

There is no better way, there is no surer way, to avoid Satan’s web than to see the light of God’s word glisten off its strands as a warning: Danger! Don’t go any further.

That’s why I believe the Lord Jesus said this during His Sermon on the Mount: (Matthew 7:24ff) “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock.  Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.”

Whether or not we obey the prophets and the historic exhortation of the Church – all of which exhort us to become fluent with God’s word – Satan remains patiently waiting in his web. Problem is, we won’t see it unless God’s light glistens off the web.

So, what will we each do with this message? I hope at least four things:

 

1. Pray that the Holy Spirit will give to you a hunger to obey God in every nook and cranny and corner of your life. The grace of God that sent Jesus to pay the penalty our sins deserved was not cheap grace. That grace required of God an immeasurable cost. And our response to His grace must also cost US something – that being ever-growing obedience to His commandments, even and perhaps especially when we don’t want to obey.

 

2. Be quick to repent and turn from your sins when the Holy Spirit gets your attention about something you have done or not done.

 

3. Determine to faithfully and prayerfully read God’s word, to be single-minded in your pursuit of Christ and to seek godly and Christ-honoring teachers to answer your questions as you seek Him through His word.

 

4. Hide God’s word in your heart – even if it’s a verse here and there. Hide it in your heart so you will know when you are approaching that supernatural satanic web.

 

This powerful and deadly spiritual battle rages all around us. It is DEVOURING our families and friends – including those who sit in the dining room beyond these doors. And we MUST wage this war according to the guidance God alone give us. That’s why we will spend the next several weeks examining that guidance as we look at the spiritual armor spoken of in Ephesians chapter six.

 

I hope you all will join us – and also invite others to come along as well.

Contemplating Marriage?

 Christian – are you thinking of getting married?

 

If you are, I’d like to give you some unsolicited advice from this 75-year-old man, married to Nancy for more than 50 years: Obey the scriptures about your choice of spouse.

Before I met Nancy, I came very close – twice – to marrying. But each time I planned to ask each young woman, Billy Dodson – the Christian chaplain on the navy base where I was stationed – asked the same question: “Is she a Christian.”

 

They were not.

 

Then he showed me what God has to say about such unions: “Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever?” (2 Corinthians 6:14-15)

 

I did NOT like Billy’s counsel. But I now had a critically important choice to make: Obey God, or not.

If I had decided to go my own way, to ignore, to disobey the clear word of scripture, then it is easy for me today – 50 years later – to extrapolate how tragically different my life would have turned out. I would have NEVER been able to serve Christ as I have for the last half-century.

 

And I would now be in my mid-seventies, living with a ton of regrets because I chose my own way instead of His. And I never would have met and then married Nancy – a godly Christian young woman – with whom we have together loved and served our Lord for all these decades.

Christian: Are you contemplating marriage? Don’t make a terribly serious mistake by ignoring God’s instructions clearly outlined in scripture. Do not be unequally yoked with an unbeliever.

 

It doesn’t matter if the person goes to church. It doesn’t matter if the person can speak ‘Christian-ese,’ and knows a lot of Chistian doctrine. What DOES matter is this: Does your intended spouse love Jesus? I mean, REALLY love Jesus? Does the person want to serve Him with everything they have – mind, body soul, spirit, finances, time, and talent? Unless the person you want to marry can answer ‘yes’ to each of those questions, your fruitfulness for Christ will be far less than it could have been. And you will end up with a ton of regrets.

 

Please hear this experienced old man: Obey God.

Bless the Lord, O, My Soul

 

Let’s begin this message by first looking at the entire 103^rd psalm. Although I’ll focus primarily on the first two verses, I read the entire psalm for context.

 

“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits; Who pardons all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases; Who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion, who satisfies your years with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle. The Lord  performs righteous deeds and judgments for all who are oppressed. He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the sons of Israel. The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness. He will not always strive with us, nor will He keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. Just as a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him. For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust."

 

"As for man, his days are like grass; As a flower of the field, so he flourishes. When the wind has passed over it, it is no more, and its place acknowledges it no longer. But the lovingkindness of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, and His righteousness to children’s children, To those who keep His covenant and remember His precepts to do them. The Lord has established His throne in the heavens, and His sovereignty rules over all. Bless the Lord, you His angels, mighty in strength, who perform His word, obeying the voice of His word! Bless the Lord, all you His hosts, you who serve Him, doing His will. Bless the Lord, all you works of His, in all places of His dominion; Bless the Lord, O my soul!"

 

Look with me again at those first two verses: Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits; Who pardons all your iniquities.”

During my morning time with the Lord, I’m trying to redevelop once again the habit of praying back to Him one or two of the adoration psalms. I find that doing so centers me on Him who loves me and whom I want to love more and more with each passing year of my life.

 

David wrote at least four psalms at some points after his wicked adultery with Bathsheba and the subsequent murder of Uriah, her husband. Along with psalms 32, 38, and 51, he wrote this 103^rd psalm, all for the same reason. 

 

And let me add this note: It’s good from time to time to revisit our own past sins – certainly not to dwell on them, nor to carry them with us like heavy baggage – but as a distant voice in the back of our minds to ever cut at our pride and tendency toward self-righteousness – toward the idea that we are not all that bad.

 

Not that bad? Really? If you don’t think your past is all that wretched, then I challenge you to ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you HIS view of your past. If you do so with an honest heart, you will melt with anguished grief. Listen for a moment to the Holy Spirit’s charge against all humanity – every one of us:

 

“There is none righteous, not even one; There is none who understands,
There is none who seeks for God; All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, there is not even one.” “Their throat is an open grave, with their tongues they keep deceiving,” “The poison of asps is under their lips”; “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.” (Romans 3:11-14)

 

When we let God speak to us about our pasts, and we are brutally honest with ourselves about our pasts, then we cannot help but to be brought face to face with our unworthiness of God's mercy.

 

‘Unworthy,’ but NOT worthless. There’s a stark difference between the two. ‘Unworthy’ means to be ‘undeserving’ – and yes, we ARE undeserving of God's mercy. ‘Worthless,’ on the other hand, is to be without any value. Christ’s death for us on Calvary should forever put to rest any doubt of our tremendous VALUE to God – even though our sins make us undeserving of His mercy.

 

So, as I said a moment ago, it’s good from time to time to revisit our past sins so they can remain a voice – a distant voice – in the back of our minds to remind us of our unworthiness, but at the same time remember His incomprehensible love that DRAWS us to Himself. Our memory of our sins – perhaps especially our worst sins – should remind us that it is only by God's mercy that we stand blameless before Him. It is He Himself who assures us that He has cast all of our sins – every last one of them – as far from Him as east is from the west.

 

You might remember another of David’s psalms that speaks of such incredible love. Here is a portion of Psalm 139 (verses 1-6) “O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. You scrutinize my path and my lying down and are intimately acquainted with all my ways. Even before there is a word on my tongue, behold, O Lord, You know it all . . . Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is too high, [I cannot understand] it."

 

Our God knows everything about us: Our thoughts. Our words. Our deeds. Our motives. And yet, He loves us from eternity and back. O, such love. Such incomprehensible love. That God should love a sinner such as I – and as David – How wonderful is love like this.

 

I urge you to read Psalms 32, 38, and 51 on your own, and when you do, do so in light of what you know about David’s sordid and murderous affair surrounding Bathsheba and Uriah. There are important lessons in those psalms – lessons God will teach you about His mercy toward YOU, despite your sordid past.

 

I’ve said this in earlier studies and sermons that David broke at least three of the Ten Commandments in that Bathsheba incident. He ignored God's commandment against coveting another man’s wife. He defied God's commandment about committing adultery. He set aside God's commandment about murder. And we need to remember that God made no provision in the Law for forgiveness for anyone who willfully trashed any of those Ten Commandments. His law required David’s death for his crimes. Nothing less. And that is exactly what would have happened to him – were it not for God's mercy.

 

When God forgave David, it was not on account of anything he’d done other than his remorseful confession his sins. And the forgiveness he received from God was entirely rooted in God‘s mercy. And David knew that. Listen to what he wrote in the 32^nd psalm: “How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered! How blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute [or, charge with] iniquity.” (Psalm 32:1-2)

 

And it is at that point I want to pause. There is not a person in this sanctuary who has not willfully trashed any number of those Ten Commandments – and done so repeatedly. As Jeremiah wrote in the midst of Jerusalem’s destruction by the Babylonian army: “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed.” (Lamentations 3:22).

 

We get into serious trouble when we think we can do something to even the score, to compensate for our sins, that our good deeds will somehow outweigh the bad. To think that is to fall into a demonic trap. There’s nothing David could have done, and there is nothing WE can do to cleanse our sins. There is no atonement WE can make to cover our sins. That’s because God designed it that way. He alone will receive all the glory and praise for our salvation. As Paul wrote to the Christians at Ephesus (2:1ff):

 

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ . . . so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

 

Please trust God's promise of total forgiveness because as was true of His mercy toward David, so is His mercy toward YOU, and me, and all who repent before the Almighty. Indeed, God's compassion toward the penitent sinner frames this entire 103^rd Psalm. Listen again to what David wrote:

 

“The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness. He will not always strive with us, nor will He keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. Just as a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him. For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust.”

 

How far is east from west? That’s not a trick question. The answer is – the distance goes on and on forever and into infinity. And THAT is the point David makes here. When God forgave his sins, He removed them completely and infinitely from David’s record. God promised to never bring those sins up again to David after death. It is as if he never committed them.

 

The application for you and me? Don’t think for a moment that God has not ALREADY done the same with YOUR confessed sins – MY confessed sins – as He did with David’s. They are cast from God's memory as far as east is from west and into infinity.

 

Now do we begin to understand why David wrote: Bless the Lord, O my soul”? And do we begin to understand why it should not be difficult for any of us to pray this psalm of adoration back to God: “Bless the Lord, O my soul”?  

 

When you return to your apartments today, think for a while of the Lord’s incomprehensible mercies toward you when He redirected His wrath against your sins and onto Jesus, His only begotten Son.

 

And this is also important: For David, God's forgiveness was not theoretical. It was his daily reality. It was THE reason he could move on with his life, instead of wallowing in paralyzing guilt. When the king believed the prophet Nathan’s words that God had forgiven him, he was then able to move on with his life and complete the work God had given him to do for the rest of his life.

 

Do you believe the prophets and the apostles who all assure you of God's forgiveness of every sin you’ve ever confessed and of which you repented? Even the most terrible sins? If not, why not? CS Lewis said it well: “I think that if God forgives us, we must forgive ourselves. Otherwise, it is almost like setting up ourselves as a higher tribunal than Him.”

 

So now, and in the very short time remaining today, let’s move on to what David wrote next in this 103^rd psalm: “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits;

 

He lists a few of those benefits in the following verses, and while those benefits are certainly not all-inclusive, they’re a starting point for us:  “[He] pardons all your iniquities, [He] heals all your diseases;  [He] redeems your life from the pit, [He] crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion, [He] satisfies your years with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle.”

 

Not only, as I’ve already stated, not only does God pardon all our iniquities – the Biblical definition of ‘pardon’ means to be set totally free from all punishment for the offense – but God also heals us; He redeems us from the eternal terrors of His judgment and of hell; He crowns us with lovingkindness and compassion, and He satisfies our years with good things.

 

But there are yet more benefits to being a true child of God. We know from experience that life is not – even for the Christian – a proverbial Rose Garden. Each person in this sanctuary has had his and her share of thorns. But think of the Christian’s awesome privilege, the astonishing benefit that God allows us – that He USES us to turn our thorns into a means of comfort and a source of hope and, yes, even to encourage perseverance in others who are wounded by their own thorns.

 

This is not at all an insignificant point. How many people do you know or have heard of who turned away from Christ because of disappointments or trauma in their life? But God reminds us of the beautiful benefit we have as Christians to support others who are on the precipice of desperation: (2 Corinthians 1:3-4)

 

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 

 

Let us not be ignorant or unaware of Satan’s tactics. How often has the devil whispered doubts or disillusionments into the ears of God's children as they suffered illness, or loss, or heartache? How often has he been able to seduce them from their Savior?

 

THAT is why it is so much a privilege to come alongside and lend comfort to those who need comfort. And we can do so because we also have received God's comfort through the words and actions of others. The writer to the Hebrews understood that principle: (Hebrews 3:13) “Encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”

 

Whenever you sit in the dining room there will be people all around you – maybe even at your very table – for whom YOU can be the encouragement of God. A word, a hug, a kind look, a soft hand on their arm.

 

During the last few weeks, we looked at ways to bear fruit for Christ. Well, here is a way to do so. Only God and the person with whom you speak will know how your words, or touch, or look has blessed them in their time of need.

 

As I said, we must not be ignorant of Satan’s tactics to seduce any of us away from our Lord. But God has blessed us with the wonderful benefit to be used by Him to help and encourage our brothers and sisters to persevere for and with the Lord.

 

But what about the non-Christian, the ones who don’t believe God loves them because of their sins? They don’t believe God will – or can – forgive them for the terrible things they’ve done in their life.

 

Well, the Christian knows such doubt is designed and then nurtured by Satan himself. But God has blessed the Christian with the extraordinary benefit of telling them God DOES love them – despite their sins. That Calvary’s cross is God's immutable answer that, yes, He will forgive everything they’ve ever done. All they have to do is confess their sins to God, repent, and ask Jesus to be their eternal Lord, King, Master, and Savior.

 

Coveting. Adultery. Murder. God forgave David of them all. He then cast David’s sins as far as east is from west and into infinity.

 

And God will also forgive you and me – anyone, everyone – when we confess and repent. We have the unalterable promise of the Holy and Righteous God.

 

Yes, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name.”