PT-3 "God's Pardon" (Matt. 6:12)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/30/2020 10:05 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  PT-3 “God’s Pardon”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 6:12

 

            Message of the verse:  “12 ’And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”

 

            I mentioned in our last SD that we would talking about the four words that come out of the four principles we looked at yesterday.  Once we look at these four words we will begin to look at the first word which I believe will take us a couple of days because of the importance of it.  Much of this and the following SD will come from either the book “Jesus’ Pattern of Prayer” or from a sermon by John MacArthur which he gave in 1978 on this topic.

 

            First we will look at these four words: 

1.      Sin makes us guilty.

2.      Forgiveness is offered by God.

3.      Confession is necessary.

4.      Forgiving one another is essential.

 

            “Those four words, fully understood, can literally open the meaning of this often confusing portion of Scripture” writes John MacArthur.

 

            So the first word we will be discussing over the next couple of days is sin and right from the start I want to recommend a sermon that we heard from our church yesterday by Dr. Gary Anderson.  We attend First Baptist Church, Elyria, Ohio.  You can go onto their website, or onto Youtube and look up the church there.  The sermon was on the 3^rd chapter of the book of Jonah. 

 

            I think that the best way for me to understand this subject and for all who read this is to just quote from MacArthur’s book, and then maybe from his sermon as I mentioned.

 

            Sin.  Romans 3:10 says, ‘As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one.’  The Lord added that last part because it is certain that if He had simply said, ‘There is none righteous,’ somebody would have said, ‘Comma, except me.’  So the Lord says there is none righteous, no, not even you.

            Verse 12 says they have all ‘gone out of the way,’ that is, they have all departed from the way of righteousness.  ‘They are together become unprofitable’ (The Greek word means to go sour like bad milk).

            Verse 19 says, ‘Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped.’  In other words, there’s no defense.  You have nothing to say to justify yourself, ‘and all the world may become guilty before God.’

            Verse 23:  ‘For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.’

            Romans 5 goes on to say that in Adam all have died and sin has passed upon them all.  Sin stirs up cosmic chaos.  Sin attacks every baby born into the world.  In Psalm 51:5 David said, ‘In sin did my mother conceive me.’

            Sin is the monarch of the world that rules the heart of every man.  Sin is the first lord of the soul.  Sin’s virus has contaminated every living being.  Sin is the degenerative power in the human stream that makes man susceptible to disease, illness, death, and hell.

            “Sin is the culprit in every broken marriage, every disrupted home, every shattered friendship, every argument, every pain, every sorrow, every anguish, and every death.

            “Sin is the common denominator.

            No wonder Scripture says in Joshua 7:13 that sin is that ‘accused thing.’  It is compared to the venom of a snake.  It is compared to the stench of death.  And tragically, from the viewpoint of human resources, absolutely nothing can be done about it.

            “Jeremiah said, ‘Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots?  Then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil’ (12:23).  It’s hopeless.

            “Sin dominates the mind.  Romans 1:21 indicates that men have a reprobate mind, a mind given over to evil and lust.

            “Sin dominates the will.  According to Jeremiah 44, men will to do evil because their will is controlled by sin.

            “Sin dominates the emotions and the affections according to John 3:19:  ‘Men loved darkness rather than light.’

            “Sin brings men under the control of Satan.  Ephesians 2:2 teaches that men are guided by ‘the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.’

            “Sin brings people under divine wrath, says Ephesians 2:3.

            “Sin makes life utterly miserable, Job says in chapter 5, verse 7:  ‘Man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.’”

 

            In our next SD we will, for the main part of it look at different words that our English Bibles translateds sin. 

            I have mentioned many times my hatred for the theory of evolution, and last night my wife and I were watching a program on two national parks on the islands of Hawaii.  As they were talking about how volcanoes made the islands, which is true, but not millions of years ago as they believe.  It was all caused because of sin as the perfect earth was cursed after the original sin committed by Adam and Eve.  Then after a few thousand years because of the sinfulness of mankind God brought the flood as seen in Genesis beginning in chapter six.  What we ended up with after the flood were mountains and islands, cold weather and many other things that were not there before the flood, and it was all caused by sinful man.  I think what I am trying to say is that even as believers we do not realize what sin has caused, and hopefully after this study we will have a better idea of it.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am thankful for this study of “The Lord’s Prayer,” as God is opening my eyes to how much He truly loves me, and how much I truly don’t deserve it.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I trust the Lord to continue to teach me as I study this prayer, and that it will make my prayer life better.

 

11/30/2020 10:44 AM