The Passion Of The Forgiven

The Passion of the Forgiven

Griffith Baptist Church – 4/19/09

P.M. Service

Text: Psalm 51:14-19

Key verse: Psalms 51:15 – O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall show forth thy praise.

Premise: Praise and a humble spirit characterize the passion of those who experience the ongoing forgiving power of God.

The Introduction

Sen. Mark Hatfield recounts the following history: James Garfield was a lay preacher and principal of his denominational college. They say he was ambidextrous and could simultaneously write Greek, with one hand and Latin with the other.

In l880, he was elected president of the United States, but after only six months in office, he was shot in the back with a revolver. He never lost consciousness. At the hospital, the doctor probed the wound with his little finger to seek the bullet. He couldn’t find it, so he tried a silver-tipped probe. Still he couldn’t locate the bullet. They took Garfield back to Washington, D.C. Despite the summer heat, they tried to keep him comfortable. He was growing very weak. Teams of doctors tried to locate the bullet, probing the wound over and over.

In desperation they asked Alexander Graham Bell, who was working on a little device called the telephone, to see if he could locate the metal inside the president’s body. He came, he sought, and he too failed. The president hung on through July, through August, but in September he finally died—not from the wound, but from infection.

The repeated probing, which the physicians thought would help the man, eventually killed him..

So it is with people who dwell too long on their sin and refuse to release it to God. - Roger Thompson

Source unknown

When sin is forgiven and fully released, there is tremendous freedom.

There should also be a renewed sense of worship and belonging to God that drive us to please Him more and more.

There are three aspects to what should happen to you when you feel His loving hand of forgiveness.

Body

1. Our Worship of God is More Powerful – 14-15

A. Deliverance from guilt brings peace and confidence in worship (14a)

i. When God forgive, He forgives completely

ii. He removes sin completely - Psalms 103:12 - As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.

iii. His Son’s sacrifice made our sin completely forgivable - Hebrews 10:2, 10 - 2For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. 10By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

iv. He will never recall our sins again - Hebrews 10:17 - And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.

v. This is the product of a spiritual mind - Romans 8:6 - For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

B. There is the strong desire to proclaim worship of the one who has forgiven you (14b)

i. When God shows His mercy and forgiveness, there is a deep sense of thankfulness

ii. Psalms 86:12-13 - 12I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: and I will glorify thy name for evermore. 13For great is thy mercy toward me: and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell.

iii. There is the good feeling of indebtedness to a perfect God who loves us

C. There is a sense of freedom to express openly your love for God (15)

i. When we are not weighted down by sin, we can express worship openly

ii. Sin is a chain that enslaves us and wears us down in our worship

iii. There is hypocrisy that comes with trying to worship the God we are currently offending.

iv. Many times, it is not that we are so busy that we become weary, but that there is sin in our lives that we are not owning up to that makes us weary

v. This is what freedom from sin produces - Psalms 63:3-5 – 3Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee. 4Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name. 5My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips:

2. Our Relationship to God is More Personal – 16-17

A. The knowledge of God is deepened by a sense of knowing what pleases Him more (16)

i. Micah figured this out – Micah 6:6-8 - 6Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? 7Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? 8He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?