IV. Reject the Causes of Your Past Failures (2 Cor. 4:2; Ps. 32:3-5; Prov. 28:13)
2 Corinthians 4:2 But [we] have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.
• When a person genuinely repents, he seeks to avoid repeating the sin!
• To put it simply, he does not plan to repeat the sin!
• The Bible pronounces serious consequences for willful sin.
• If we are honest, we will look back and examine the causes of our failure.
• We will acknowledge that those ways led to misery.
• Hear the Psalmist as he reflects the misery of past sinful ways:
Psalm 32:3-5 When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. 4 For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah. 5 I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.
• We will seek God’s forgiveness, but we will seek to avoid again hurting the heart of God and others in that way.
• Playmates and Playgrounds must be changed.
QUOTE: True repentance shows itself in eager care not to offend again. This care prompts the sinner to go back on his past life to discover how it was that he came to sin, and to avoid the cause. Is it a friendship? Then he will cut the tender cord, though it were the thread of his life. Is it an amusement? Then he will for ever absent himself from that place, those scenes, and that companionship. Is it a profitable means of making money? Then he will rather live on a crust, than follow it a moment longer. Is it a study, a pursuit, a book? Then he will rather lose hand, or foot, or eye, than miss the favour of God, which is life. Is it something that the Church permits? Nevertheless, to him it shall be sin. If you cannot walk on ice without slipping or falling, it is better not to go on at all. If you cannot digest certain food, it is better not to put it in the mouth. (F.B. Meyer, Some Secrets of Christian Living)
Proverbs 28:13 He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.
• Failure to confess or failure to forsake, means that one will not prosper.
• To confess and forsake sin brings mercy!
APPLICATION:
Stupidity: Doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results.
What do you need to remove from your life? Apply!
V. Restore any Public or Private Harm
NOTE: In the providence of God, we will be concluding tonight the series on the Levitical offerings. We had scheduled a baptism, but were unable to follow through with those plans due to mechanical failure. So, it has just so happened (happened just so) that we will be preaching on the Trespass offering and the law of restitution.
• Remaining right with God and right with others is like swimming upstream.
• It will not happen automatically.
• As a matter of fact, if you do not maintain your relationship with the Lord with all diligence, you will drift away from God, drift downstream!
• We can so easily find ourselves without joy, without spiritual power, without the abiding peace of God, as a branch severed from the vine.
• We have been preaching on “Finding Your Way Back to God.”
I. Remember the Heart of God
II. Remove the Barrier between You and God
III. Receive the Forgiveness of God
IV. Reject the Causes of Your Past Failure
• Having taken these steps, you may find that the Lord is still prompting you to do more.
• What could that be?
• That is what we want to preach to you about today.
ILLUS: RESTITUTION - SHOPLIFTER COMES CLEAN… ALMOST
The story is told of a shoplifter who writes to a department store and says, "I've just become a Christian, and I can't sleep at night because I feel guilty. So here's $100 that I owe you."
Then he signs his name, and in a little postscript at the bottom he adds, "If I still can't sleep, I'll send you the rest."
Citation: Bill White; Paramount, California, Illustrations for Every Topic and Occasion - – Perfect Illustrations: For Every Topic and Occasion.
• Restoration is a step that, left undone, will hold back spiritual joy and victory in your life.
• We want to preach to you today on the subject of restoration or restitution.
A. Restitution in the Old Testament (Numbers 5:6-9)
• The primary text for restitution is Leviticus 5:13 to 6:7.
• That will be the focus of our message tonight.
• There is also the beautiful illustration found in 2 Kings 8:1-6 (Widow asking for her house and lands back after her sojourn in the land of the Philistines).
• But for this morning, look with me this morning to the book of Numbers.
1. Restitution Demanded by God (Numbers 5:6-7)
Numbers 5:6-7 6 Speak unto the children of Israel, When a man or woman shall commit any sin that men commit, to do a trespass against the LORD, and that person be guilty; 7 Then they shall confess their sin which they have done: and he shall recompense his trespass with the principal thereof, and add unto it the fifth part thereof, and give it unto him against whom he hath trespassed.
• Restitution is not optional.
• It is not simply a good ethical practice.
• It is essential, divinely commanded, and required of anyone who wrongs another.
2. Death Did Not Release One from Restitution (Numbers 5:8)
Numbers 5:8 But if the man have no kinsman to recompense the trespass unto, let the trespass be recompensed unto the LORD, even to the priest; beside the ram of the atonement, whereby an atonement shall be made for him.
• If the person you wronged has died, his or her descendents should be recompensed for the wrong you have done to them.
• Even if there were no descendents, the offender was not released from responsibility.
• The trespass offering was to be given to the Lord!
3. Restitution Required Sacrifice to the Lord (Numbers 5:9)
• Restoring a wrong done works both ways.
• If you have wronged your brother or sister, you need to make restitution to them.
• But that is not all that must be done.
• If you have wronged your brother or sister, you need to get forgiveness from God.
• But that is not all that must be done.
• To bring the joy and peace and power back into your life …
• You need to make restitution to God AND to man!
Numbers 5:9 And every offering of all the holy things of the children of Israel, which they bring unto the priest, shall be his.
QUOTE: 5:6 Doing something wrong to another human being is the same as betraying—literally breaking faith with—the Lord (cp. 5:8). A right relationship with God produces right relationships with people; a wrong relationship with others shows a wrong relationship with the Lord. NLT Study Bible.
B. Restitution in the New Testament (Luke 19:8; Matthew 5:21-24)
Luke 19:8 And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord; Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.
Matthew 5:21-24 21 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: 22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. 23 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; 24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.
NOTE: The wrong done to someone may not be financial. It could be slanderous words, bad attitudes, cold shoulders given over time. Those things must be dealt with just as quickly and seriously as financial losses. Don’t sit on the church pew, teach your class, sing in the choir, tithe, give to missions … until you have made peace with your offended brother.
ILLUS: A Religion Worth Having
Dr. F. E. Marsh used to tell that on one occasion he was preaching on the importance of confession of sin and, wherever possible, of restitution for wrong done to others. Afterward a young man came up to him and said: "Pastor, you have put me in a sad fix. I have wronged another and am ashamed to confess it or try to put it right. I am a boatbuilder, and the man I work for is an unbeliever. I have talked to him often about his need of Christ and have urged him to come and hear you preach, but he scoffs and ridicules it all. In my work, copper nails are used because they do not rust in the water, but they are quite expensive, so I had been carrying home quantities of them to use on a boat I am building in my back yard." The pastor's sermon had brought him face to face the fact that he was just a common thief. "But," he said, "I cannot go to my boss and tell him what I have done, or offer to pay for those I have used. If I do he will think I am just a hypocrite, and yet those copper nails are digging into my conscience, and I know I shall never have peace until I put this matter right."
One night he came again to Dr. Marsh and exclaimed, "Pastor, I've settled for the copper nails, and my conscience is relieved at last." "What happened when you confessed?" asked the pastor. "Oh, he looked queerly at me, and then said, 'George, I always did think you were just a hypocrite, but now I begin to feel there's something in this Christianity after all. Any religion that makes a dishonest workman confess that he has been stealing copper nails, and offer to settle for them, must be worth having." —Emergency Post Knight's Master Book of New Illustrations.
APPLICATION: (Very brief here. See Levitical Offerings sermon 5, the Trespass Offering for details. I will be preaching this tonight.)
Romans 13:8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.
1. Without restitution there would be no justice.
• Who would want to live in a world with no justice?
• Restitution helps to right the wrong that you have done to another.
• If you are offended, seek restitution and restoration, not revenge!
2. Without restitution there would be no righteousness.
• We have learned that sins against our brother/sister are also sins against God.
• To touch God’s children is to touch the apple of His eye.
• If I cheat, steal, slander, falsely accuse, vandalize … against my brother, I CANNOT be right with God!
QUOTE: The presence of unconscious sin with us is the reason why we are often unable to pray or read the Word of God at night. We are aware of a certain distance, a vail, a cloud, which has settled down between us and the beatific vision. At such times we do well to examine ourselves and the past more critically; for probably we shall be able to detect the hidden cause, which, when we know it, must be confessed and placed on the head of our guilt-offering, whilst we yield ourselves to God as a whole burnt-offering, in a new act of self-surrender. (From Daily Homily on Leviticus 5 by F.B. Meyer)
3. Without restitution there would be no complete forgiveness.
• There is something very hollow, very superficial, very artificial and fake about a request for forgiveness that does not include restitution.
• Restitution helps the offended person to be more ready to forgive.
• And it makes the offender less likely to harm them again.
QUOTE: It is not enough to confess to God; you must also confess to man, supposing that you have sinned against him. Leave your gift at the altar and go to be reconciled to thy brother. If you have done him a wrong, go and tell him so. If you have defrauded him, whether he knows or not, send him the amount you have taken or kept back, and add to it something to compensate him for his loss. Under the Levitical law it was enacted that the delinquent should restore that which he took violently away, or that about which he had dealt falsely, and should add one-fifth part thereto, and only then might he come with his trespass offering to the priest, and be forgiven. This principle holds good to-day. You never will be happy till you have made restitution. Write the letter or make the call at once. And if the one whom you defrauded is no longer alive, then make the debt right with his heirs and representatives. You must roll away this stone from the grave, or the dead joy can never arise, however loudly you may call it to come forth.
QUOTE CONTINUES (ON HANDOUT)
I do not believe in a repentance which is not noble enough to make amends for the past, so far as they may lie within its reach. (Secrets Of Christian Living, pp. 17-18, F.B. Meyer)
