0180 - Seek the
Lord
(To the Lord our God belong compassion, and forgiveness)
Isaiah 55:6-7; Daniel 9:9
Quacco Bapatist Church
Savannah, Georgia
Oct. 20, 2024
Almighty and everlasting God, in Christ you have revealed
your glory among the nations: Preserve the works of your mercy, that your
Church throughout the world may persevere with steadfast faith in the
confession of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Introduction -
A lot is talked about
“forgiveness”. I delivered a message on forgiveness using Simon Wiethensal’s
book “The Sunflower” the theme was on his silence on forgiving a young Nazi SS
man who was asking forgiveness/obsolution from a Jew for his actions against
the Jews during WWII.
He posed the question of
whether one should forgive or not to 53 erudites and of the 53 that answered
only three responded that there should have been forgiveness. Among those
arguing for forgiveness was the Dali Lama, Edward Flannery Roman Catholic
Priest. The rest was a mix of to not forgive and undecided.
There were a the large
number of undecided and I thought of Jesus’ word to the church to the church of
Laodicia, “I know your works: you are neither cold
nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are
lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit (meaning, vomit eject from the
stomach through the mouth; to cast forth, gush, or eject, as in disgust
or anger:
you out of my mouth” (Rev.
3:15-16). Leaves you with something to think about, at least it does me.
This brings to today.
After having a
lengthy conversation and
listening to a story of an individual, involving a church, the accused, and one
accuser; it appears, there’s much unforgiveness within the Body of Christ, the
church; regardless of denomination. But not just within the church there is
also a lot of condemnation coming from within the secular and the Godless
world.
I quoted last week from
Bessell Van Der Kolk’s book … People have a hard
time bridging the gap from when the trauma occurred to their current lives. An incident occurs,
they have done a great wrong; They’re accused, there is a plea for forgiveness,
but none is given, just condemnation. We can come up with examples times 100.
Anyway,
years pass and the person is bitter, mistrusts everything and everyone. As for
as the relationship with a church, the Body of Christ is concerned, that is at
a point that is now anethema for them.
How does the body of Christ react?
Well, some, I say very few, a speck actually will forgive but the leaders and
the majority they certainly do not open their arms and proclaim the gospel of
Jesus Christ to them.
The gospel is
preached every Sunday in one form or another. It is a repetitive thing. Forgiveness
and acceptance. Jesus told a story, the parable of the prodigal son. I deals
not the only about a prodigal; it isn’t limited to a son, male. It can be told
about females. Daughters. Everybody is well familiar with the parable. Charles
Dickens even called it the greatest story ever told.
The
parable is about forgiveness. People are very often treated that whatever thing
they committed is unforgivable. I will always bring up Leslie Van Houten all of
you know my reasons. People I know, that knew her yet talked with an
unforgiving heart. But what bothered this preacher was the unforgiving heart of
a Baptist Preacher towards her.
Then
there are two others, I’m sure among many other whom has Christ called,who
answered and just like the adulteress woman and Mary of Magdala, came to
Christ. And thing common with these two is they can’t keep their mouths shut
talking about Jesus.
Yall
familiar with.. Jim Bakker. Televangelist. He went off the deep end to put it
mildly. You can check on him on the net and one could surprised at all Bakker
had been charged with. He received a 45 year prison term of which after appeals
Bakker’s sentence was reduced to 5 years and given parole.
If I remember correctly, he was the butt
of jokes. Was love and forgiveness shown to him? More than likely no, but there
was one incident that isn’t spoken of, I
should say I’ve heard it only once. He did have one visitor. Remaining in the
clothes he wore while cleaning the bathrooms in the prison he was escorted out
and met the visitor who turned out to be Billy Graham who reached out to Jim
and hugged him. After being released Ruth Graham, invited Jim to the church
where she and Billy attended. She took Jim to the front of the church and had
him sit next to her. That action alone spoke volumes on forgiveness.
‘Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.’ – Martin Luther King, Jr. Jesus taught that the
only way for us to grant forgiveness to others is in the way He has forgiven
us. We are to forgive regardless of the nature or gravity of the offense
against us, the number of offenses, or the character of the offender. We are to
show unconditional mercy as God has shown mercy to us.
As we humble ourselves and extend forgiveness to others, God
opens the way for us to seek forgiveness for our own mistakes and sins. God
fully forgives all who come to Him with a humble and repentant spirit.
As we follow the Holy Spirit, we will know the truth, and
the truth will make us free (John 8:32). Verse 36 says, “If the Son
therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.”…“To day if ye will
hear his voice, harden not your hearts” (Hebrews 3:15). In Matthew 11:28, Jesus said, “Come unto me... and I
will give you rest.” As we follow these teachings, we will be forgiven and will
be able to forgive others.
How do we come to God? The answer is in
the Bible. “No man can come to me,
except the Father which hath sent me draw him” (John 6:44).
Through His Holy Spirit, we become aware that we are sinners and in need of
a Savior. Sometimes we don’t fully understand God’s call. We may begin to
notice an empty, lonely feeling in our heart—a need of something, a feeling we
are not right, a conviction we are lost.
When
we become aware of this restlessness in our spirit, we need to open our heart
to God for direction. The load of sin will become very heavy, and our heart
will become remorseful because of our past sinful life. God wants us to
surrender our life to Him in true repentance. When God sees our broken and
contrite heart The LORD is near to the brokenhearted, and saves the crushed
in spirit. Psalm 34:18; For thou hast no delight in sacrifice; were I to give a burnt
offering, thou wouldst not be pleased. 17 The sacrifice acceptable to God is a
broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. Psalm 51:16-17 therefore our readiness to fully do
His will, He forgives our past sinful life, and we receive forgiveness and
peace. We’re happy, and we want to share with others what Christ has done in
our heart!
And
so are my friends who when in conversation it’s all Jesus this and Jesus that.
One friend’s older brother, by two years, raised in a foster home, in fact all
three, two boys and my friend. The foster parents were Baptist and the foster
dad a minister. The older at some time in his life, rode with a motorcycle gang
up in Washington. What’s interesting is that on his jacket, in addition to the
club’s colors, they gave him the name Rev. Short for Reverend. I commented,
funny how God works. He will even infiltrate a motorcycle gang.
This freedom isn’t something that comes through human
reasoning. It’s all the Holy Spirit in the heart that converts us to a new
life. Through this power of the Holy Spirit, we have faith to trust God so we
can lay down our own will and forgive others. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says,
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is
a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new.”
God’s method of forgiveness is something else; trusting faith in the
sacrifice of Jesus, erases all the guilt from our heart. We are completely
covered by the blood of Jesus Christ. God’s forgiveness takes away our all our offenses and hurts. Your “rap sheet,” the
charges against you is clean, non-existent, and to top it all off He forgets our sins; Psalm 103:11-12, as
the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward
those who fear him; 12 as far as the east is from the west, so far does he
remove our transgressions from us. 13 As a father pities his children, so the
LORD pities those who fear him; and (Hebrews 8:12) “And
their iniquities will I remember no more”
