Transcript for For LOVE and FORGIVENESS! (Closed Captioned)

Sunday, August 8, 2010 Closed Captioned Sermon

Let us rise for the reading of

this morning's Sermon Text recorded for us

in Psalm 103, where we read

the first 12 verses:

PRAISE THE LORD, O MY SOUL;

ALL MY INMOST BEING, PRAISE HIS HOLY NAME.

PRAISE THE LORD, O MY SOUL, AND FORGET NOT

ALL HIS BENEFITS --- HE FORGIVES

ALL MY SINS AND HEALS ALL MY DISEASES,

HE REDEEMS MY LIFE FROM THE PIT

AND CROWNS ME WITH LOVE AND COMPASSION,

WHO SATISFIES MY DESIRES WITH GOOD THINGS

SO THAT MY YOUTH IS RENEWED LIKE EAGLE'S.

THE LORD WORKS RIGHTEOUSNESS

AND JUSTICE FOR ALL THE OPPRESSED.

HE MADE KNOWN HIS WAYS TO MOSES,

HIS DEEDS TO THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL: THE LORD IS

COMPASSIONATE AND GRACIOUS, SLOW TO ANGER,

AND ABOUNDING IN LOVE. HE WILL NOT ALWAYS ACCUSE,

NOR WILL HE HARBOR HIS ANGER

FOREVER; HE DOES NOT TREAT US AS OUR SINS DESERVE

OR REPAY US ACCORDING TO OUR INIQUITIES.

FOR AS HIGH AS THE HEAVENS ARE ABOVE THE EARTH,

SO GREAT IS HIS LOVE FOR THOSE

WHO FEAR HIM; AS FAR AS THE EAST IS FROM

THE WEST, SO FAR HAS HE REMOVED

OUR TRANSGRESSIONS FROM US.

This is the Word of our Lord. Let us pray:

This is the day that the LORD has made.

Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Amen. [Sermon text

taken from the HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION 1978

used by permission of

Zondervan Bible Publishers.

Dear Followers

of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ:

I'm sure you're all familiar

with the television game show, "Family Feud" ...

where at the end

of the show, they bring out two people ...

ask them five questions that

they need to respond to

in order to get: 200 points!

So, was watching one of these

shows and an interesting question

caught my ear:

In the last month,

how many of the Commandments

have you broken?

And, without skipping a beat,

the older gentleman from Minnesota

shouted out: Zero!

[Pause]

And he had a lotta points!

But that wasn't the Number 1 answer.

It's kind of interesting because his daughter said:

Nine! [Laughter]

And he wanted to know which one she kept.

But the top answer was:

One!

What an interesting perception

people have

of God's Commandments.

Interesting way that people look at God's Law

and their living of that Law.

And maybe it's just stubborn

human nature, to be able to say

that when I look at my behavior,

in the past month, I

have to admit that I have trampled

all over those commands of God!

I haven't put Him first.

I've broken the First Commandment!

I can go through that entire list and see that

I have not used God's name in the way that He wants me to.

I haven't worshiped Him.

I haven't spent time with Him in His Word. I have

NOT treated those people around me in the way

that God would want me to treat them ...

with love and dignity and respect.

I have no respect for our government. I don't like

people. There are people that I hate. I have

lusted after objects of people

in this world and made them just

sexual beings. I have wanted

what is not mine. I have gossiped and slandered

the good name of other people and I have

looked at what other people have and I

want it. Those are my thoughts.

Those are my actions

in connection with God's Commandments.

I cannot keep that Law.

And I repeatedly and daily,

break each and

every one of those Commandments.

And God has revealed to me

that if I cannot keep that Law

perfectly in every aspect,

then I deserve eternal

punishment and condemnation.

That IS

what I deserve

because of my sins.

Because of the things that I leave undone that God wants me

to do that I think I'll have time for maybe tomorrow.

I deserve to be punished for

all eternity because I willingly look at what God

wants and do exactly

what He doesn't.

And sometimes I don't even care ...

because ... I want to do it!

That is what condemns us to the fires of hell.

But God has also revealed

to us in His Word, what He is like.

The LORD.

The LORD of the Covenant. The LORD God ...

the Savior of all people.

He is kind ... and compassionate;

slow to anger

and abounding in love.

That's the idea that people have of God

outside of Scripture ... who think He is some

doting parent who loves absolutely

everything that their child does, and if there's anything

that they don't like, it was someone else's fault.

It was their friend. It was their

teacher. It was the law. They can point to everything

but their own son, but that's not what God is like.

He doesn't sit in heaven and look at what we do and

say: Okay, I'll just ignore that.

He loves us more than that ...

because He knows

what we are to the very core.

Our very being ... is sinful.

In His love

and His compassion, He sent us

a Savior.

He sent us His Son ...

to save us from that pit.

That pit of despair.

That pit like those pits of tar

over on LaBrae.

Where the more you struggle and the more you try to pull,

the more tired you become and the less you want to fight and

the more it sucks you down, and sucks you in until you are

completely covered and destroyed.

That's the pit that we are in sin.

And we cannot get out of it on our own.

But God sent His Son ... came down out of heaven

in love and compassion

for us, and saved us.

Pulled us out

of that pit and washed off the blackness

the darkness of that sin ... that stain

and He made us stand as the children of God.

Made us stand in the holiness of Christ.

Made us stand clean and pure

before our God who doesn't ignore our sins ...

He forgives them!

He removes them from us. As far as the East

is from the West, He removes

them from us. And we stand as His holy

and redeemed children.

And the Psalmist this morning reminds us to praise God

that our sins are forgiven.

To call on that Name of God that we know

is the only name that saves people from

their sin: Jesus Christ!

To come to Him in praise. To

lift that Name high above each and every

other name on the face of the earth.

Because there is the forgiveness of our sins.

There is our joy. There is our gladness.

There's the comfort that we have received from God.

That OUR sins are forgiven.

And that we come to Him with thanks

for what He's done. We come to Him

acknowledging who and what we are

and not hiding from God everything that

He sees anyway. And plead

His mercy. And receive that forgiveness.

And therein is created the joy

in our life. To be able to go

to God in prayer for everything that we need

because He has forgiven us,

and He loves us.

How great is the compassion and love

that the Father has lavished on us!

That He knows what we need!

That He gave us His Son! That in this life

He continues to give us

good things; that He continues to give us

blessings that we hold in our hands and we

see with our eyes that are all around us.

We don't have a god who's up in heaven playing

games with our lives; wanting to see

how he can mess with our heads. How much turmoil

he can throw in our way. OUR GOD

loves us; and

He blesses us! And we open

our hands and we receive those blessings ...

willingly! Each and every day.

And the Psalmist reminds us to come and turn back to God in

thanks for what He has given us.

From the littlest of blessings

and the greatest of gifts,

and God gives to each of us

exactly what we need. The blessings he gives to me

are the blessings that are different from the ones

He gives to each and every one of you on every day.

But as God's children,

you know what they are.

When you look for them, you will see them.

God is abundant. He is in your life

every moment, with His care,

and His concern. He hears the prayers

that come through Jesus' name

that are carried on our faith

to His Holy heavenly throne!

And He answers them in love

for our good.

And in return, we raise the praise

of His name. We give glory

to God for who He is, for what He's done

and for what He continues to do for us

today. And, in faith, we know He will

do for us tomorrow and till the ends time

when He ends this world and takes us to be

with Him in heaven. And we will continue there

to praise His Holy Name

with all of the joy that is ours.

For the blessings of this world, pale

in comparison to what

awaits us in that heavenly Kingdom.

Where God's love wipes away our tears.

Where God's love surrounds us

at all times. Where there is no evil.

Where there is no weeping and sorrow, and mourning ...

... there IS the Glory of God.

The joy of God.

And we wait and long for that day

as we go through this life looking forward

to that time. Praising God that He has made

that secure for us. That we know the answers

to the most important

questions in the world.

Not just to win some points

and gain some money on a talk show.

But the answers to the question

that God is going to ask us, when we

face Him in death.

We confess that we ARE

sinful human beings. We PLEAD

the blood of Jesus Christ

and HIS salvation won for US.

And on that basis, we know that heaven

is ours. That heaven will be

ours for all eternity.

And there we will live in splendor

beyond our imagination.

Those are the answers that you have

because God has revealed who He is.

He has given you

what He is in the pages of Scripture.

He has told you His Name.

Praise the Name

of the LORD.

Amen.

Let us rise. Now may the

peace of God which goes beyond all of our understanding,

keep your hearts and your minds and especially your

lives, in the one true faith unto life everlasting. Amen.