THE RISE AND FALL

Songs of the Heart:

IT’S GREAT TO BE FORGIVEN!

Psalm 32

Making confession and receiving forgiveness bring us joy.

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A sermon pr= eached by

Dr. William= O. (Bud) Reeves

First Unite= d Methodist Church

Hot Springs, Arkansas

July 19, 20= 09

One of the sights that Karen, John, an= d I saw on our vacation this year was a mountain called = Ben Nevis. It is the highest peak in Great Britain, located in the highlands of Scotland. Although it is only about 4,500 fe= et high, not really a world-class mountain, it is a dangerous peak, snow-capped most of the year. It’s a favorite of hikers in Scotland and England, but sudden storms make it perilous, and several people lose their lives on = it every year.

In February of 2004, Trail maga= zine, one of the most popular periodicals for climbers and hikers, published directions for the hike to the summit of Ben Nevis. If the weather gets bad, you need specific instructions. The directions for the return from the summit, however, were wrong. If you had followed these instruct= ions, you would have walked off the north face of Ben Nevi= s, a sheer, 1,000 foot cliff that drops into the Gardyloo Gully.

Seasoned Ben Ne= vis experts caught the mistake and alerted the magazine. The editor of Trail admitte= d that they were wrong. A sentence h= ad inadvertently been left out of the article, and they planned to print a correction in the March issue. Meanwhile, let’s hope nobody decided to hike Ben Nevis in February using those intructions.[1]=

Sometimes a small mistake can have disastrous consequences, can’t it?&n= bsp; A small decision to stray from the pathway of God can lead to the destruction of a life, a home, a family, a soul. My purpose today is to keep you aw= ay from that cliff. God wants to= keep you from falling or to rescue you if you have.

Remember that one of the themes of the= Book of Psalms is instructions on the blessed life. The Psalms are poetry and were use= d as songs in worship, but they also give us a map of life. They show us how to obtain happine= ss and joy. They contain a lot of wisdom. In our Psalm today, y= ou can see these wise instructions. = It reads like a dialogue between a person and God, with God giving these instructions: “Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven, wh= ose sin is covered. Happy are tho= se to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. = …I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you w= ith my eye upon you. Do not be li= ke a horse or a mule, without understanding, whose temper must be curbed with bit and bridle, else it will not stay near you.”[2]= What instructions does this p= salm give when we stand on the dangerous precipice of sin?

= ;First, CONFESS YOUR SIN TO GOD. That’s the simple starti= ng point. We need to let God kno= w we are sorry for our sin. We wan= t to make amends, repair the injury, set things right again. We all need to do this because we = are all broken people. Sin is a p= art of our lives. We are alienated f= rom God and from other people. It’s a universal condition.&n= bsp; The Bible says, “all have sinned and fall short of the glor= y of God.”[3] God knows how we have fallen short= , but God needs to know we know how we have fallen short.

The guilt of unconfessed sin is a destructive force in our lives. The longer we hold it in, the more it poisons our soul. Hidden sin can damage our self-est= eem, our relationships with loved ones, and our relationship with God. Nearly 3,000 years before the psychologists told us this, the Psalmist knew the truth: “While I = kept silence, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was he= avy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.”= = [4]= Isn’t that true to life?

Actress Jennifer O’Neill got her= big break in the movie “Summer of ‘42” and was the face of Co= ver Girl cosmetics for 30 years. = But as a young woman, she had an abortion, and the guilt of that decision eventual= ly forced her to have shock treatments for depression. Then, she became a Christian, conf= essed her sin, and received the forgiveness of Jesus Christ. That decision healed her soul. Today Jennifer O’Neill is a Christian pro-life activist. = She recently told a Congressional panel, "I had the abortion and pa= id for it all my life until I healed, and am now able to help other women.&quo= t;= = [5]

Healing= starts with confession. So tell it to God. Take your dirty laundry = to the wash. Take your garbage to th= e can and dump it. Confess your sin.

Then RECEIVE THE FORGIVENESS OF GOD. The Psalmist simply states one= of the greatest truths of our faith: God will forgive our sin. “Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not hide my iniquity; I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,’ and you forgave the guilt of my sin.”[6] So simple, so matter-of-fact, yet = so life-changing and world-shattering in its implication. God forgives our sins!

This is= a crucial piece of our Christian faith. I John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Through confession on our p= art and forgiveness on God’s part, our relationship with him, the relationship that was destroyed and is continually destroyed by sin, can be restored.

This ph= enomenal transaction is accomplished by Jesus Christ. He gave himself to death on the cr= oss so that our sin could be forgiven, so that our relationship could be restored,= so that we could be healed. As P= aul wrote to the Romans: “since a= ll have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by h= is grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God p= ut forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> He did this to show his righteousn= ess, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over the sins previously committed.”[7]

This is= not news to most of you, but it is Good News for all of us. I think sometimes we get so sophisticated and so comfortable in our religion that we forget the fundame= ntal building blocks of our faith. We sin; we confess; God forgives us through the blood of Jesus. Even a child can get that.

Lee Strobel is a pastor who got a phon= e call from a parishioner one day who had an embarrassing request: His little girl= had been caught shoplifting from the church bookstore, and he wanted to know if= Lee would represent the church so she could come and apologize. The dad wanted to use this incident= as a teaching moment, and Lee agreed. But he had a much bigger lesson in mind.

The next day, the parents brought their eight-year-old daughter into Lee’s office= and sat down. He asked her gently to explain what had happened. =

The girl started to sniffle as she des= cribed a book she wanted, but didn’t have any money. So she stuck it under her coat and= took it. Tears came to her eyes as= she said, “I knew it was wrong. I knew I shouldn't do it, but I did. And I'm sorry. I'll never do it again. Honest!"

Lee thanked her for her honesty, and t= hen he asked her what she thought an appropriate punishment might be. She didn’t know, so Lee thou= ght for a moment and then suggested that the book cost five dollars, so she oug= ht to pay that, plus three times that amount because she stole it. The little girl’s eyes got k= ind of wide and fearful because twenty dollars is a lot of money for an eight-year= -old to raise. Where would she com= e up with that kind of cash? Nevertheless, she nodded her agreement to Lee’s terms.

At that point Lee taught that girl and= her parents something about Jesus. He reached into his desk drawer, took out his personal checkbook, and wrote ou= t a check for the full amount. He= tore it out and handed it to the girl. As her mouth dropped open, he said, "I'm going to pay your pena= lty so you don't have to. Do you = know why I'd do that? Because I lo= ve you. Because I care about you= . Because you are valuable to me. And please remember this: That's how Jesus feels about you, too. E= xcept even more."

The eight-year-old convicted sinner re= ached out and accepted the gift. Lee Strobel wrote, “I wish I could find the words to describe the look of absolute relief and joy and wonder that bloss= omed on her face. She was almost g= iddy with gratitude.”[8]=

What happens when we accept the gift of forgiveness? One, WE EXPERIENCE PEACE. The Psalmist witnesses, “= ;You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble.”= = [9]= When we are surrounded by the forg= iving grace of God, we are hidden in his love.&n= bsp; We are protected from the storm.&nb= sp; We are safe in his arms. We are not wasting away with our groaning any more. Our peace is restored. One of my favorite words of blessi= ng comes from Philippians: “The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.&#= 8221;= [10] Forgiven people experience the pea= ce of God.

But more than that, when we receive forgiveness, WE CAN EXPERIENCE DELIVERANCE FROM OUR SINS. Forgiveness is more than a one-time experience. It restores a relationship with God that keeps on giving us peace, strength, and courage to fight the power of sin in our lives. Some sins don’t go away immediately. We struggle with habits, addictions, obsessions, dysfunctional relationships that didn’= ;t develop overnight, and they won’t go away overnight either. Good news: God is with us for the = long haul.

When I was a child, maybe 5 or 6 years= old, we did a remodeling project on our house, and it changed the way things looked. One night I got up to= go get a drink of water, and as I looked down the long, dark hallway toward the kitchen, everything looked different. In fact, I was sure that I saw some monsters lurking in the shadows = that were suddenly unfamiliar to me.

So I went to my parents’ bedroom= , and I woke up my dad, who slept closest to the door. I told him I was thirsty, and he suggested I go get a drink. I= told him I was scared, and he told me not to be. I started down the hallway again, = but those shadows still looked threatening, so I went back and asked my dad to = go with me down the hall to get a drink of water. And you know what? He stumbled out of bed and took my= hand and walked with me down the hall. And we didn’t see one monster! (The next day, however, a drinking= cup appeared in the bathroom next to my bedroom.)

I don’t know what dark hallwa= y you are walking down right now. I= t could be an addiction to alcohol, drugs, pornography—any number of things. = It could be a marriage or a relatio= nship that has developed difficulties. It could be the threat of losing a job or reducing your income. Your dark hallway could be anythin= g. But what we need to navigate the d= ark hallways of life is someone who will hold our hand and go with us.

That is what God does. That is what he longs to do, even = more than my dad wanted to get out of bed and go with me. He not only wants to forgive our s= in, but he wants to deliver us from the power that sin has on our lives. He wants to set us free, so that w= e can sing with the Psalmist, “you surround me with glad cries of deliverance.”[11]

This is where we arrive if we confess = our sins and receive the forgiveness of God.&n= bsp; WE EXPERIENCE JOY. We find the happiness God inte= nds for our lives. A new day dawn= s, and the sun shines; the storm is over, and we are saved. The Psalmist sings, “Be g= lad in the Lord and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in he= art!”= [12] Nothing feels as good as knowing t= hat your sin is forgiven, and you can start afresh with your life.

John Jefferson was a drug addict, a crackhead who robbed a Krispy= Kreme doughnut store in Kingsport, Tennessee, in 1999. He got a whopping $300 to support = his drug habit. But the robbery s= omehow made John Jefferson feel so bad that he decided to turn his life around. Plagued with guilt, he turned himself in, pleaded guilty to the crime, and served six years in prison for armed robbery.

When he got out of prison, Jefferson wanted to make restitution to the Krispy Kreme store, so he called the detective who had arrested him and asked the detective to go with him and return not $300 but $400 to the store manager. The Krispy Kreme store asked that Jefferson make his check out to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, which he did. Afterward, John Jefferson told the newspaper, “I felt like a million bucks when I walked out of t= hat place.”[13]

Do you = want to feel like a million bucks today? Then follow these wise instructions from the Book of Psalms. Confess your sins to God. Receive his forgiveness. And you will find peace that passes understanding, deliverance from the power of sin, and joy everlasting. Amen!

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