“Acknowledging Our Sins”
I am going to begin this brand new year standing on my soap box and I pray that no one here is guilty of these things other than not standing up against them.
Were you pleased with yourself as a Christian in 2011?
Do you think that God was pleased with you?
We all look at the beginning of the New Year as a chance to start over, begin a fresh start, put all the bad behind us and look to the future.
Now that is a fine attitude to have but when it comes to God we can’t just brush the old under the rug and act as though it didn’t happen.
You can’t make up for sin. You can’t say, “I am going to be a better person this year so I can make up for my past.”
That isn’t the way it works because God doesn’t forget until He has forgiven!
America has risen to be the most powerful nation in the world but there is one category this nation excels in and that is getting away from what got us here.
Americans fought for the right to worship the way God commands and now that same right doesn’t appear to be as important as it once was.
And the reason is simple: America doesn’t acknowledge sin! Oh we still have laws and punishment against, thieves and murderers but what about the sins we allow.
We need to remember what God told Solomon in 2nd Chronicles.
II Chronicles 7:14 “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
That is a very easy scripture to understand. There isn’t anything gray about it, it is just that people do not acknowledge it.
We have become a society who accepts sin as a part of life and just because it is OK in society there are people who think it is OK in the eyes of God.
The beginning of a new year always starts people thinking of filing income taxes and ways they can cheat the government.
After all the government continues to steal from us so that makes it alright to get some of it back doesn’t it?
And it is not just with the government. People come up with reasons to justify getting back or retaliating against each other.
This is not the way of God. To be a follower of Christ we must obey what He taught.
Matthew 5:38-42 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
Jesus came to fulfill the old law and give us new guidelines to go by and this was not a mere suggestion but a command, yet people continue to ignore it.
All because we don’t acknowledge sin.
It is highly accepted by society for unmarried couples to live together. Again this is not acceptable to God.
We have even added a thing called common law marriage. The institution of marriage was given to us by God in Genesis when He joined Adam & Eve together.
The original Ten Commandments forbid man and woman from engaging in sexual relations outside of the sanctity of marriage, yet society has viewed this sin as perfectly acceptable.
Matthew 5:27-28 Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.’
Again this commandment is completely overlooked as if Jesus hadn’t said it at all.
Why, because we don’t acknowledge sin.
And the so called sexual revolution doesn’t stop there, because we find it totally acceptable to go against another sin God speaks against and that is homosexuality.
Look at what God told Moses to tell the Israelites in the book of Leviticus.
Leviticus 19:22 “Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable.
This was not only a sin in God’s eyes but He said it was detestable, but it is accepted so strongly now that we have to be aware of the sinful rights of the gays.
This is not what our Creator or our forefathers wanted.
Is it any wonder it appears that God isn’t blessing America anymore?
And all because we don’t acknowledge sin.
Paul in his 1st letter to the church in Corinth summed it up and when we read this scripture it describes the kind of society we live in.
I Corinthians 6:9-10 Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
Our government, our society, even some of our churches are guilty of these things and it is time we acknowledge the fact and turn our thoughts to God.
And as Bible believing Christians God is depending on us to turn it around but how do we do it?
First we must acknowledge our sin, confess and admit it to God, and turn away from it then we can be included in what Paul says in verse 11.
I Corinthians 6:11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
Maybe you here this morning and thinking, he’s not talking to me I don’t do any of those things. And I am glad you don’t but what about the little things that we can all improve on.
Being kinder to others, being more understanding, maybe not being too quick to judge.
Be a better person in the coming year but acknowledge the sins in your past and get forgiveness, then concentrate on moving forward to be that better person.
See all of us can be better Christians if we just stop and think before we say or do, what would God expect of me.
If we cover our sin now then God will uncover it later at judgment but if we uncover our sin now God will cover it up for us.
Come to God and confess your sin and ask Him for mercy.
And I promise if we do that then we will know that God is pleased with us in 2012.
Invitation:
