Lessons on Repentance Psalm 51 Rev. Min J. Chung (Lock-In, Friday, April 29, 2016)

Transcription

1 Lessons on Repentance Psalm 51 Rev. Min J. Chung (Lock-In, Friday, April 29, 2016) Psalm 51 Create in Me a Clean Heart, O God To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. 1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! 3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. 4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. 5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. 6 Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. 7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. 9 Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right [b] spirit within me. 11 Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. 13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. 14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. 15 O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. 16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

2 18 Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; build up the walls of Jerusalem; 19 then will you delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar. Introduction Video Dear Elders, I m Sorry. I believe that millennials have so much information, potential, opportunity to be global and capability to do amazing things for the glory of God. But first and foremost, people of this generation have to look at themselves as they truly are and tell it like it really is. Psalm 51 tells of the spiritual state of a heart, as is. The big lesson therein is for us to learn to see ourselves. Typically, we do not like to observe or hear of bad things about ourselves. However, being real must entail a thorough understanding of who we really are. The phrase this is who I am must also have a connotation of becoming who God designed us to be. In order to achieve this, we must know how to repent. Repentance is a means of receiving God s grace, and importantly, grace and repentance are two sides of the same coin. To receive grace, please learn to repent. The book of Psalms was the main songbook of the early church. They were designed by God to awaken, express, and shape the thoughts and feelings of the Disciples of Christ. We learn from it about how to think of ourselves in times of discouragement, guilt and horrible regrets. In other words, it shows us how to be discouraged well and how to regret well. Moreover, Psalm 51, in particular, helps us to repent so that we can receive the grace to go on after Biblical discouragement upon repentantly looking at our sins. But first, we have to understand the background of David s downward spiral into sin. Psalm 51 is one of the few psalms that has its historical origin pinpointed, as its heading states: For the director of music a Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. What happened with Bathsheba prior to the writing of this Psalm is thus well known. 2 Samuel 11:1-5, 27 - In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. 2 It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king's house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. 3 And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? 4 So David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned to her house. 5 And the woman conceived, and she sent and told David, I am pregnant. After sinning with Bathsheba, David knew he was in trouble, and tried to cover up by bringing Bathsheba s husband, Uriah, home from the war, such that he (Uriah) could lie with her and think that it was his own baby. Uriah, however, was too noble to go into his wife while his fellow soldiers were still in battle. In a sharp contrast with David, Uriah still considered himself to be on duty, despite being home. David s secondary plan was then to arrange for Uriah to be killed, then marry Bathsheba. David thus committed adultery and second-degree murder. Consequently, in one of the most understated sentences of the Bible, 2 Samuel 11:27 ends with these words: But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord. In these moments, David was neither a servant of the Lord nor the covenant king, but a crooked politician, using his power to get what he

3 wanted. About a year or so later, God sent the prophet Nathan to him as he was hiding his sins, with a parable that enticed him to pronounce his own condemnation. Nathan says, You are the man!, meaning you are the man that has sinned and asks him, Why have you despised the word of the Lord? David confesses, I have sinned against the Lord. But Nathan says to David, The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die. There are still consequences to sin here. He says that David s child will die, and that David will have hatred towards sin and have painful instead of pleasurable memories. Consequently, what he receives as a corollary to sin is much less than he truly deserved. Even according to the Israeli law, both he and Bathsheba deserved to die. We have to understand that, as sinners, whatever we go through in this world is less than deserved. The consequences of sin are incomparable to the eternal condemnation that we deserve. It is a slap on the hand to make us hate sin and love Christ more, and that is exactly what David receives. The phrase, the Lord has put away your sin; you shall not die means that David is forgiven. This is outrageous, isn t it? Uriah is dead, Bathsheba is impregnated, the baby will die, but Nathan says, The Lord has put away your sin. And we may ask ourselves just like that? David committed adultery, murdered, lied, despised the Word, and scorned God! What kind of righteous judge is this? Where is justice? You do not just pass over adultery, murder, and lying! A righteous judge wouldn t do that! When we watch child molesters and different types of sinners on TV, we get angry and ask ourselves where the righteousness of God is. If you want God to be the Judge, you have to understand that God sees every small and minute sin because He is infinitely holy, and it offends Him. We deserve infinite, eternal wrath and punishment from God. If you want God to be the Judge without mercy, all of us would be cast into hell because we have sinned before the Lord and have a sinful nature inside of us. As we look into this passage, when God forgives David, it is because of Jesus. It is because both the justice and mercy of God are accomplished on the cross. David s sin and all of our sins can be forgiven in Jesus Christ. This is the objective reality of how David is forgiven for his sin and justified in the presence of God. Psalm 51 describes David s subjective thought process and feelings as he receives God s mercy, which can be helpful to us as we go through the process of repentance. Repentance and grace are synonymous, as we receive grace through repentance. In this sermon, I will cover seven lessons on repentance so that throughout your life, you will learn how to repent and be motivated to repent, in order to receive His grace. 2 Samuel 12: And now behold the king whom you have chosen, for whom you have asked; behold, the LORD has set a king over you. 14 If you will fear the LORD and serve him and obey his voice and not rebel against the commandment of the LORD, and if both you and the king who reigns over you will follow the LORD your God, it will be well. I. Always desire to be broken [0] Always be humble and desire to be broken. We are never above our sinful nature and will always have a dual (spirit and sinful) nature. We always have to ask our hearts, how can I hate sin more and love God more? A long time ago, I heard about the Native American warriors that had a saying, Today is a good day to die in order to prepare themselves to die and protect their people. Similarly, we should always say, Today is a good day to die to ourselves and always have that kind of attitude. David knew Bathsheba. She was his beloved general s wife, and they were living close by; almost like a family. This was a recurring temptation, but he did not fight his continual thoughts.

4 We need to have a constant desire to hate sin and love Christ more and always have that fight in our hearts. Be careful when you stop actively fighting your sin and desire to love God more. We need to desire to be broken away from our sin, and to be humble and willing to receive correction as we constantly have sin in our hearts. If you say, I am right or I am better after people correct you, you will never grow with such a pride. We need to desire to receive correction, both from God and from man. Every time you approach the Bible, listen to a sermon, go to a Bible study, or do a quiet time, you must say to yourself, Lord, correct me. Humble me. What can I change to hate sin and love You more? Upon correction and rebuke, even if we think we do not deserve it, or if people are wrong, it still humbles us. You should always listen to what people say and evaluate it. If they are wrong, you can say, there must be a reason that they misunderstood me, and I must change in such a way that they will not misunderstand me anymore. Always remember that our foundation is our justification in Jesus Christ. Hence, we can always go to God for repentance based on the rock solid foundation of justification in Jesus Christ. The lowest place you can fall is on this rock solid foundation of Jesus Christ. Be secure as children of God. Some of you may ask, Can I go to God again and again? Some of you are afraid and belittle God s grace. You say, I repented about my sin yesterday, I went to Him for His grace, but I sinned yet again. You have this attitude of abusing God s grace, or when you are sinning, you tell yourself, I am going to repent and be forgiven again. We must understand that the gospel of Jesus Christ is not merely saying go to Him again and again, but imploring us to do so with an attitude and a willingness to fight sin. As you are fighting, the direction of your heart must be one of wanting to change, and desiring to receive His grace, but not abusing it. When your heart is wayward, there will be more consequences of sin in your life such that the resulting pain forces us to change our ways. If your heart is wayward, but you actively want to change, yet fall in your honest efforts to change, you are not necessarily abusing God s grace. In fact, this should serve to remind such an individual of the need for God s grace, and also to appreciate such grace. Go to Him again and again with the attitude to fight, relying on his grace, rather than abusing it. Another way to belittle His grace is not to go to Him again and again because you are essentially saying, God is not faithful to us. The Bible says He is faithful and just because Jesus Christ died for us and continuously forgives us. If you do not go to Him again and again, you are belittling the Father s faithfulness and the Son s worthiness as if His blood is not enough. His blood is infinitely worthy because He is not only man but God-man, and the value of the blood of the God-man is infinite. His blood can cleanse all of our sins so we can go to Him again and again to appreciate God s grace and to exalt Christ. If you do not go to Him again and again, you are not exalting the Spirit s power. We learn in Romans 8 and the book of Galatians that it is the Holy Spirit and Spirit s nature that helps us to cry, Abba Father, and when we know our God is our Father because of the Spirit, we know we can go to Him again and again to receive grace. Therefore, when you go to Him again and again in the direction of wanting to change, you are exalting the Father s faithfulness, the Son s worthiness, and the Spirit s power in your heart. II. Seek for mercy with confidence [1-2] A. The basis of David s asking in God s mercy [1] Psalm 51:14 - Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. Often, when we think of guilt and blood, we see them as bad things, but they are blessings in disguise. When you are bleeding, your body is telling you that there is something wrong and you need to take care of it. It is God s implanted warning in our

5 physical bodies. Likewise, when there is guilt, your soul is saying that there is something wrong and requesting for you to take care of it. David s response to his sin when he feels guilty is not to turn away from God, which is what we often do, but he turns to God. We all need to repent and turn to God because even the best of us have the worst times. Constantly go to God! Psalm 51:1 says, Have mercy on me. The words unfailing love and compassion are also mentioned. Our sins cannot sway His love for us and from us in Jesus Christ. His mercy is according to the foundation of His unchanging and steadfast love. His unfailing love is a hesed love that is steadfast, unending and infinite. Three words symbolic of this love, ( mercy, unfailing love and compassion ) are also mentioned in Exodus 34 when Moses meets God face-to-face, and God gives His name to Moses, based on the promise, and expresses the kind of God he would be to the Israelites. Hence, David repents based on this unchanging character and faithfulness of God. B. He prays for cleansing from his sin [1-2] A question we can ask at this moment is why do believers repent if we are forgiven in Jesus Christ? If we have justification in Jesus Christ, and we are forever saved and forgiven, why do we need to repent? 1. To fall in love with Jesus First, it is that we can appropriate the objective forgiveness of God. We are justified, so all of our sins are already forgiven in Jesus Christ as believers. God does not see our sins. Second, it is for us to subjectively experience His mercy and grace so that we can fall in love with Jesus. We repent not to be forgiven but to know that we are forgiven and loved. The objective truth is subjectively experienced so that we fall in love with God, hate sin, and love Christ more. 2. To grow to be like Jesus As we repent, we grow to be like Jesus. The goal of our Christian lives and God s intention for us is not just to stop sinning, but for us to be like Jesus, even as we repent. We have to constantly confess our sins and repent to experience His love so that we can fall in love with Him, continuously grow, hate sin, love Christ more, and become more like Jesus. We repent to know that Christ is in us, forming Himself inside of us, in our character and in our lives. This is why the Lord s Prayer says, give us this day our daily bread and forgive our sins, as we have forgiven our debtors. We need to constantly repent and confess of our sins so that we can experience and appropriate his forgiveness and grace. Always desire to be broken, and seek mercy with confidence, which is key. Every time you fail, going back to the cross confidently in repentance will exalt Christ. III. Go deep in your repentance [1-2] Verses 1 and 2 mention mercy, love, and compassion accordingly. There are three different Hebrew words for sins that are used here: transgression, iniquity, and sin. A. Transgression refers to crossing a forbidden boundary with the understanding that it is rebellion [What we have done] Examples include specific sins, like adultery and murder. Sexual relationships ought to be only within marriage. Outside marriage, one can be said to be crossing a boundary and doing something wrong against the law of God. B. Iniquity perversion; original sin [Who we are]

6 Iniquity runs deeper. While a transgression refers to a line crossing through actions, iniquity is embedded in one s nature. If transgression is what we have done, then iniquity is who we are. It is the depravity of our nature, not a specific action but a state of being. C. Sin falling short; missing the mark [What we have done against God and His glory] Sin means falling short or missing the mark. It refers to what we have done against God and His glory. Often, we miss the mark of His glory and His intention. Sin is against God and His purpose. It is the picture of shooting an arrow and missing the target. Likewise, one can fall short of the glory of God, missing His perfection and choosing our desires instead. When we think about these three types of sins, we need to have deeper repentance from specific sins. Specific sins show us our nature, desires, and motives. Through them, we know that we have sinned against God. A shallow repentance from them is of the form, Oh, I am sorry I did this, but we must go deeper in repentance. The aforementioned is merely a phase one repentance. Phase two repentance is of the form, I am sorry for my sin, while a phase 3 repentance runs even deeper and says, I am sorry, God, that I am in rebellion against you. All of us have some kind of sin that we are conscious of, as all of our sins are related to our nature and the motives of our heart. We sin because our heart is in rebellion against God. We are selfish, want to be glorified, and want to be God. All specific sins are because of our selfishness, our nature, our desire to be God, our glory, and our heart motives. When we repent for our specific sins, they show our heart and our relationship with God. We all have different types of addictions and sins, and we want to overcome them and fight them, but through all of your specific sins, you need to see the motives behind them. Through heart motives, you can see how your motives operate through sins in a lot of areas. In neutral, normal, and externally good things, the motive is still there, and when you know how to fight your motives for your specific sins, it will help you to fight your big sins. As you learn to fight in other smaller areas, your motive and heart becomes purified so that it will help you tremendously in fighting your addiction. Learning how to fight in deeper repentance will be very helpful to you. Finally, do you see David s sexual sin mentioned specifically anywhere in Psalm 51? It is rarely mentioned, and makes us wonder if he is confessing his sins, at all. He is not repenting of shallow things but deeper things like his nature and the core of his being. David s method of repentance is a good model for us all. We know our specific sins, and through your specific sins. We need to see our nature and heart. You need to repent so that you can overcome not only your big sins, but also in every area of your life. IV. See sin with God s eyes [3-6] Notice that this passage uses the word adultery. Nowadays, the world uses alternative terms like affair or I fell in love with someone else. You can see in verses 3-6 how seriously David takes his sin. Verse 3 says, For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. It says he can t get sin out of his mind, and it is emblazoned on his conscience, that is, until he brings it to the Lord. After you bring it to the Lord, you have to move on. Do not hastily move on, but first think, learn, repent and understand. If you do not move on, you are still condemning yourself even though God says that He forgives you. That is a separate sin; you have to repent of your self-condemnation.

7 Romans 8:1 says, There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Just as you are not supposed to condemn other people, you are not supposed to condemn yourself. But you are condemning yourself because you are putting yourself in the position of God. You have to learn how to get off of that train of thought and learn to think about something else; the forgiveness train, the receiving of grace train. You need to take sin seriously. In verse 4, it says, Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. David is saying, God, you are totally justified in judging me. David vindicates God s righteousness, not himself. There is no self-justification, defense, or escape. God is justified and blameless. He is saying that if God casts him into hell, God would be innocent. This is a radical and God-centered repentance. This is the way saved people think and feel because it is true. The attitude we ought to have is, God would be just to damn me because it is true, even though He does not. The fact that I am still breathing is a sheer, blood-bought mercy. Verse 5 states, Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity Here, David intensifies his guilt by drawing attention to his inborn corruption and his innate sinful nature. Some people use their sinful nature to diminish their personal guilt, but David does the opposite. For him, the fact that he committed adultery, murder, and lied is an expression of something worse: that he is that way by nature. If God did not rescue Him, he knows that he would do more and more evil. Verse 6 says, Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. He knows that God sees the heart and even the most secret parts. He also delights in what is good for us. Thus, we need to see sin as God sees it. Sin is the only thing that keeps us away from God, and from receiving his mercy, grace, inheritance, and incredible blessings. A. Self-centered The self-centered perspective of sin asks, Why did I do that? I feel so terrible! or I hate myself! B. People-centered The people-centered perspective says, What do they think? They will not like me anymore! They will judge me! or Why are you judging me? We look at other people s approval because we are concerned of their disapproval. Whenever you are concerned about others disapproval, you essentially desire their approval, which is a people-centered way of looking at sin. C. Theo-centric The theo-centric way says, I have hindered the glory of God or I have offended His holiness infinitely. The word confession in the Bible means agree, so when God says it is sin and sees sin from His perspective, one must agree in reverence and confess confess just like David did in this passage. In other words, you see His Word with His eyes and see your sins, yourself, and what you have done from His theo-centric perspective. David broke the sixth commandment by murdering, the seventh commandment by adultery, the ninth commandment by coveting, and the tenth commandment by falsely testifying. He sinned against Uriah and Bathsheba, but the theo-centric way to look at sin is seeing that he sinned against people that were made in the image of God. God was going to use them for His glory, but David hindered that process so that God would not be glorified.

8 David abused people and went against God s calling, which, as a covenant king, was to protect his people to show God s protection over His people. He was to be a covenant king to show the rule of God in the kingdom of Israel to picture the spiritual kingdom of God but was a crooked politician. V. Desire to grow always [7-10] We must have a dual nature perspective of repentance. The first four points were in regards to our sinful nature, but the next three are going to be about our Spirit s nature. The sinful nature is the DNA of Adam, but the Spirit s nature is the DNA of Jesus Christ inside of us. Birth by the Holy Spirit allows us to have a connection with the Holy Spirit to receive God s grace. Romans 5:5 says that, God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. David s dual nature battle is evident in verses 7-8, which says, Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. He is willing to go through pain to repent of his sin and hate sin. Verses 9-10 say, Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Here, in his Spirit s nature, he is saying that he wants to grow when he says, blot out all my iniquities. Not just what he has done, but his entire nature, heart, and foundation of his sins. He wants to go all the way to hate and fight sin. Next, he says, Create in me a clean heart, not generate in me a clean heart. The word create is just as God created the universe miraculously. He is saying out of disgust that, there is nothing clean in him and asking God to miraculously create in him a clean heart because he wants to grow. Only God can blot out his sinful nature all the way, supernaturally producing a clean heart in him. He is asking for a miracle, and that is exactly what can happen through the resurrection power of Jesus Christ. Furthermore, there are two phases of growth: heart growth and character growth. Heart growth is when our heart motive is purified as we fight our sinful motives. Our vertical relationship is stronger, so there is an invisible growth of our hearts. As that happens, we have character growth, which is when we fight, live out, and do things. Heart growth is vertical, and character growth is horizontal. People see how we live, the choices that we make, and it becomes a visible growth. Character growth does not happen without heart battle. It has to be a habit of constantly fighting in our hearts to operate on the Spirit s nature. We fight for grace first, not growth, but our sinful nature hinders us, necessitating repentance. Guarding our hearts against temptation and visible sins also helps. In addition, Proverbs 4:23 says, Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. To explain this further, I will say that the most annoying thing that happens when I am sitting at a café is when a fly comes in. What do you do with this fly? Do not let it come close to you. When it comes or returns, immediately swat it away, as there are other coffee cups for them to sit on. When you swat it right away, there is a smaller chance that it will come back. Similarly, when sin or temptation comes to you, swat it away repeatedly so that you have less of a chance to do it again. When you start to nibble at the bait, soon enough, you will be hooked. When you lick the sweetness of sin, the poison that is in the sweet sin will get you. When you start to know the pleasure of sin, remember that it is going to cause pain in so many areas of your life, and the best time to overcome it is at the beginning. When your thoughts wander away from the promises, fix them right away so that they will not mess up your heart. VI. Always long to love and serve God more [11-12]

9 There are three things that go when we are in sin and not repenting, indicative of our spiritual health. A. Joy of salvation In verse 12, David is not saying that he lost salvation but the joy of salvation. You do not lose salvation once you are saved, regardless of your sins, if you are really saved. That is, once your Spirit s nature is born, it can never die. If you feel terrible and you are in the midst of a struggle, but inside of you, you are thankful, you know you are saved in Jesus Christ, and there is a certain joy. It might not be a predominant joy, but it is certainly a prevailing one. B. Willing spirit A willing spirit is the desire to love, live for and obey God. C. Willingness to serve God and others Many people misunderstand the phrase in verse 11, take not your Holy Spirit from me. It does not mean that the Holy Spirit comes and goes. In the Old Testament, kings had a special anointing from God. The Holy Spirit that he is talking about is not a salvationrelated Holy Spirit but an anointing-related one. David was a special king anointed by God, so when he received the anointing of God, the Holy Spirit came. Before David, the Holy Spirit was on Saul. 1 Samuel 16:14 says, Now the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul which means that he was not king anymore. In preceding verse, when Samuel anointed David, the Holy Spirit rushed upon David because he was now the king of Israel. When he prayed, take not your Holy Spirit from me, he is saying, do not take your anointing away from me, rather, continue to use me as Your king for your glory, and help me not to forsake my calling. Repentance restores our personal relationship with God. He never leaves us even though we are in sin, but we leave Him. When we repent of our sins, we are restored in our relationship with Him so that we can have joy of salvation, a willing spirit, and a willingness to serve God and others. Psalm 51:17 - The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Isn t it comforting to know that never in the history of mankind has God ever rejected a heart that is broken and contrite? God will never reject you. Even though you might not have the feelings but you want to be broken before God, God s going to take you and bless you. To illustrate the above points, I will say that during the last couple of years, I have learned how to grow from two simple things. Before sermons, I usually like to drink coffee, and I consequently have to go to the bathroom three times. Now I take espresso shots, which is a condensed coffee without as much water. When I drink them, I only have to go to the bathroom once. Secondly, I take vitamin C in the winter to forestall cough and cold, enabling me to preach with a clearer voice and remain healthy. The lesson from the espresso shot is to not take in what is not needed. Just like you do not have to drink a lot of water, you do not need sin and neutral things. Only take in what will help you to grow: the Word of God, prayer, and grace. VII. Share with others what you have learned [13-19]

10 We must repent of our sins, run to him and receive His grace. David is not content to be forgiven, clean, and have a right spirit and be joyful. Rather, he wants to be broken until his life serves to heal other people, so that more people would glorify God. This is what he means when he says, then I will teach transgressors your ways and sinners will return to you. Hence, this is symbolic of not only the result but also the starting motivation and goal of David s repentance. I have counseled a lot of Christian leaders who have fallen into sin. The question is: can fallen sinners serve God again? God forgives men, but men do not forgive at times. Hence, I would say, yes, but it depends. God forgives everyone and all kinds of sins because the blood of Jesus Christ is more powerful than sin. However, when you minister to people, people look at you, so it depends on the sin s magnitude and frequency. Will he/she be able to earn credibility from people? God forgives us and wants to use us, so sometimes it depends on whether that person can receive credibility, hence he/she must wisely discern. In God s eyes, He will certainly use that person in the same way or in some other way. God will always use you if you are in Jesus Christ. Acts 13:22; And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will. 36 For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw corruption. This New Testament passage evaluates David s life. David was going to be justified through a child that was going to come through his sinful self. Jesus, through this sinful lineage, was going to be born. Through his blood, David would be cleansed. Similarly, God sees you like you never sinned because all your sins are on Jesus Christ. In God s eyes, He sees your faithfulness, not your sin. In heaven, there will be many unknown forgiven people in the sight of God. Though men in this world condemned them, God forgave them. There will be many unexpected and unknown all-stars in heaven because God sees their faithfulness, not their sins. It is not about the success of your sinlessness, but the success of your repentance. The Christian life is not about the size of your sins but the size of your heart that loves God. God does not want what you can bring or give. He does not delight in your sacrifices but wants you and who you are. The best thing we can bring to God is a broken and contrite heart. If we do, He will forgive and change us, and His pouring grace will come upon us. He is pleased with us in Jesus Christ, as Jesus is produced in us, and we become the living sacrifice in our lives. Repentance leads to commitment to become like Jesus and a showing of Jesus to others. God is pleased with us when we repent, and will use us for His glory. Conclusion Video Colton Dixon Through All of It Through it all, God was with them, just as He has been with us. Let us rely on His faithfulness. Take a honest look at yourself and see your sin from His perspective. Let us let Him do His work in us so that He can work through us.