"That’s all I can stands, I can’t stands no more!" -- Popeye
Stuff – can’t stand no more
Holy Discontent
Are you discontent. Gap – Hole – need?
END IT RIGHT HERE THIS MORNING
Acts 2:37-39
The famous evangelist Billy Graham put it this way:
“If your sorrow is because of certain consequences that have come on your family because of your sin, this is remorse, not true repentance. If, on the other hand, you are grieved because you also sinned against God and his holy laws, then you are on the right road.”
COMPARE HOW WE HANDLE OUR WEAKNESSES/SIN VS GOD
We try and hide = Adam and Eve/Achan/Jonah/Peter
We try and hide behind it.
We try and project it onto someone else
There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God...”
Romans 3:22-23 (NIV)
Quite frankly – we just don’t quite know what to do with it do we?
Oh we can stand and say we cant stands no more, but what are we actually doing about it?
SCIPTURES ABOUT HIDING IT?
Jeremiah 23:24 tells us "Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the LORD. Do I not fill heaven and earth?"
WE CANT SO WE DISTANCE OURSELVES FROM HIM THAT CAN
Ps. 27:9 "Do not hide your face from me, do not turn your servant away in anger;"
Ps. 13:1-2 "How long O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day
have sorrow in my heart?"
Ps. 89:46 "How long O LORD? Will you hide yourself forever? How long will your wrath burn like fire?"
WE CANT HIDE IT
“There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered
in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.” Luke 12:2-3 (NIV)
“...your sin will find you out.”
Numbers 32:23 (NIV)
RESULTS OF OUR EFFORTS
Three Absolutes about Sin:
Sin will take you FURTHER than you planned to go!
Sin will cost you MORE than you wanted to pay!
Sin will take you LOWER than you planned to go!
HOW DOES GOD HANDLE IT?
Does not give us what we deserve.
Psalm 103:10-12
“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.
(NIV)
PUNISHMENT
What does that mean? My sins deserve punishment. I ought to have to pay for every one of them. It’s all my fault!
Romans 5:8
“BUT GOD demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
(NIV)
Ephesians 2:4-5
“BUT GOD, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),...”
(NKJ)
Psalm 103:11:12
“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
THE RESULTS OF GOD HANDLING THINGS
Three Absolutes about FORGIVENESS:
Sin will take you FATHER than you planned to go BUT forgiveness will bring you CLOSER than you expected!
Sin will cost you MORE than you wanted to pay BUT forgiveness will FREELY GIVE you more than you ever thought you could have!
Sin will take you LOWER than you planned to go BUT forgiveness will lift you HIGHER than you ever dreamed.
WHEN GOD HANDLES IT = GRACE
We don’t have that kind of grace.
God has that grace.
Cuts us some slack. HE FORGIVES US.
REPENTANCE KEY TO GRACE
Repentance should not be confused with feelings of guilt or remorse. Read what Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 7:8-10 NIV.
“[Godly sorrow] manifests itself by repentance and the experience of divine grace” (see NIV Study Bible notes on 2 Cor. 7:10. p.1770).
DEPENDS WHOSE HAND IT IS IN.
you can put a violin in my hand and it will never be used in the way it should be. Put it in the hand of Antonio Stradivari and it becomes an instrument of beauty. (Develop for all items below)
Violin - Antonio Stradivari
Tennis – Venus Williams
Golf – Tiger Woods
Sling shot – David
Rod – Moses
Spit and Clay – Jesus Christ
Fish and Loaves – Feed the nations
Material - Healing woman
Nails in my hand – Salvation
It depends whose hands it’s in.
Have you entrusted your life into the hands of the master. Have you?
GRACE MAKES REPENTANCE ACCEPTABLE. EG Peas and Carrots
