Latest / Living Waters of Grace / Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland Sunday Services / Ministry Relationship’s - 2 Corinthians 2

Transcript

Ministry Relationship’s - 2 Corinthians 2 · Living Waters of Grace / Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland Sunday Services

0:00
Good morning. Good to see everybody.
0:03
So here I am. It's May and it's my month to
0:06
teach and preach. So I'm I'm grateful to be here
0:11
again and thankful for Pastor Lewis's teaching and Book of
0:15
Revelation. It's been very, very powerful.
0:18
We're actually teaching in the Book of Revelation on Grace FM
0:22
right now as well. I'm in chapter 16.
0:24
So if you want to get ahead of Pastor Lewis and act like you
0:28
know what's going on, you can listen on radio and tell them.
0:31
I can tell you something about that book now.
0:35
But anyway, you can never get enough of that.
0:37
That particular book. So this particular book that you
0:42
were talking about, Carrie on the marquee, lady, she's a
0:46
remarkable woman. She was displaced in the
0:49
Ukraine, losing her home, having to leave because of the war.
0:53
And they have a lot of friends and family and loved ones that
0:56
still are in Ukraine, but they're in Budapest right now
1:00
developing another ministry. But a remarkable family.
1:03
They've been through an awful lot.
1:05
And that is a book that I guess if you read it, you'll really
1:09
value living in America where you don't have to be displaced
1:12
right now. You can live with a degree of
1:15
safety and comfort compared to many other places in the world.
1:19
So we need to keep Ukraine in prayer as we do Israel, Iran,
1:23
all these places, Russia that are battling with each other and
1:27
pray that these wars will come to an end sooner than later.
1:31
And I was thinking to the, I had a dream the other day.
1:35
It was really crazy. Dream says you're young men will
1:39
dream dreams, right? Your old man will see I have
1:42
visions. Is that how it goes?
1:43
Right. All right, so I guess I'm still
1:46
a young guy. I'm having dreams.
1:47
But anyway, the dream is on Grace FM and it was such a
1:51
powerful dream. And I was meeting these people
1:54
that were listening to the radio station, and their lives are
1:57
being dramatically impacted because of the message of the
2:00
gospel on Grace FM. And when I'm out in public and
2:05
in real life, I run into people many times they tell me they
2:08
listen to Grace FM and it's a blessing to them.
2:11
And they watch on the YouTube too as well, or the teaching.
2:15
So this church, this isn't the people in the building.
2:18
We have a tremendous outreach in the community to many people
2:21
that aren't going to church right now for some degree of
2:25
reason maybe, but they find comfort in listening to Grace FM
2:29
online and also watching the YouTube and then turning the
2:33
radio on in their car. And so please continually pray
2:37
for that outreach. It's very powerful.
2:40
I take it for granted. I guess I shouldn't, but I do.
2:42
Sometimes we have a radio station, it's not easy to get
2:45
one. And so we have this tremendous
2:48
outreach where we can reach so many, many people and, and the
2:52
Lord is providing for that station that funds commend by
2:55
listeners and people support the, the station with the Grace
2:59
FM app, Calvary Chapel apps that we're very grateful for that as
3:04
well. So let's pray and then we'll get
3:07
into the book of Second Corinthians chapter 2.
3:11
Father God, we thank you this morning for the opportunity to
3:14
be together as a body of believers, a family of God, in
3:19
one place for a little bit of time today where we can let the
3:23
Word wash over our minds and our hearts and transform us and make
3:27
us a little bit more like you, Lord.
3:30
And we're grateful that the Word has power to change our lives,
3:33
no matter where we've been, what we've been through, what we've
3:36
experienced, the things we've done wrong.
3:39
Lord, the Word always comforts us because it reminds us that
3:43
there's a Savior, Jesus Christ, who went to the cross to die on
3:47
the cross for our faults, our sins, our dysfunction, and has
3:54
forgiven us for everything we've ever done and ever will do, and
3:59
has cleansed us with His blood and made us new creatures in
4:05
Christ. As your word says, if anyone is
4:07
in Christ, a new creation, new creatures, old things passed
4:12
away, old things become new. And we're so thankful that
4:16
there's the opportunity to be made new every day, no matter
4:20
where we've been, what we've been through, what we've had,
4:23
the experience. Lord, with regret and sorrow,
4:26
we're grateful that your word covers all of our sins, your
4:31
blood and your death, your bury, your resurrection.
4:34
So we praise you. That's why we're here today,
4:35
Lord, to learn more about you and how to walk with you and how
4:39
to how to treat others like you treat us.
4:42
And we pray these things in Jesus name, Amen.
4:46
So before I get into this, this particular chapter today, I was,
4:50
I was thinking as I was preparing for this message that
4:54
that all the problems in life that we have are relational.
4:59
They have to do with our ability to communicate with other
5:03
people, whether it's family, whether it's marriages, kids,
5:08
workers, people in the body of Christ.
5:12
It's, it's sometimes it's just really hard to get along with
5:15
people. You ever experienced that
5:17
sometimes you just have a difficulty and a challenge with
5:20
the people in general. And I, I know that by
5:26
experience, everyday Cindy and I, we're learning after so many
5:30
years of marriage that we still disagree about things and we
5:34
still sometimes act in ways that maybe we shouldn't toward one
5:39
another. And the Lord has to continually
5:41
correct us and remind us how to forgive and how to let go and
5:45
how to be gracious. And, and, and that's a, that's a
5:50
learning lesson that you don't learn one time.
5:52
You need to keep learning it over and over and over again how
5:55
to forgive people for certain things.
5:58
So this is the issue of Paul and he's teaching in this chapter
6:02
about the struggle that he's had with this church in Corinth.
6:06
It was a difficult church. The leadership wasn't really
6:09
flowing the way it was supposed to and the the power of the Holy
6:12
Spirit. They were taking sides and
6:16
supporting things that they should have been supporting.
6:18
And this initiating a lot of conflict, conflict at times.
6:25
And so Paul had to correct them by writing a letter.
6:29
And sometimes letters are helpful.
6:31
You write a letter to someone about something, maybe that
6:35
you're struggling with a relationship issue or something
6:38
that the other person doesn't see or understand.
6:41
And the letter sort of covers the other person's viewpoint.
6:45
And you have a chance not to react, but to read it and listen
6:48
to it and then consider what's being said.
6:51
We're trying to figure out how you can justify your behaviour
6:55
and have a conversation with the person that wrote the letter and
6:58
tell them why they're wrong or why you're right.
7:00
That happens too, unfortunately, but this happened in Corinth.
7:05
When Paul wrote this letter initially, they weren't
7:07
responding to the letter the way they should to, to take
7:10
corrective action. So Paul had to really put some
7:13
pressure on them and really call them out on their behavior as
7:17
leaders and allowing sin to exist in the church.
7:20
It should have been dealt with and, and sort of blowing,
7:24
blowing past the issue of the incestuous relationship that
7:28
that one guy had with his his stepmother.
7:33
So they did they did deal with it.
7:35
They eventually had to call the guy out and he was disciplined
7:41
by the church and he was out of the church for a while until he
7:44
got his life back together again.
7:47
So this is sort of the chapters background and, and what we're
7:51
what we're dealing with. But one of the things that's
7:53
hard for leaders and pastors and, and, and guys, you, you're
8:01
pastors of your home as well. It's never easy to have to wear
8:08
a Black Hat and bring a message of warning or exhortation or
8:14
correction. Because most of the time
8:17
whenever you have to say something, it's truthful and
8:21
it's hard. People don't really respond to
8:24
it right away with optimist, optimistic attitude.
8:28
They they sort of have pushed back or they don't want to hear
8:31
it. And so whenever you bring some
8:33
correction to someone about something, it causes a degree of
8:36
pain. And none of us want to be
8:39
responsible for causing pain in anybody else's life.
8:42
I know I don't and I'm sure you don't either, but sometimes we
8:46
cause pain by the way we handle things or don't handle things in
8:50
this situation. Paul was a guy that the Lord
8:54
used to create the awareness of the dysfunction that was
8:59
involved in the spiritual leadership of this particular
9:03
church. And, and Lewis and I and the
9:05
guys, we pray every Sunday when we're in the hallway before we
9:09
come out here, that sometimes the messages we have a really
9:12
difficult to preach. Sometimes you, you wish that you
9:16
could skip a chapter or skip a verse or skip, you know, a
9:20
paragraph, whatever. And when you're in a Bible
9:23
church, you don't have the luxury of doing that.
9:25
You got to cover everything that the scriptures teach because
9:28
it's God's Word and he wants you and me to hear it and then also
9:33
to be blessed by it, but also to be corrected by it whenever we
9:36
need to have a heads up about something in our life.
9:40
And so when we teach these things, we certainly as leaders
9:44
don't act like we have it all together.
9:46
We're in process too. We're all learning how to live
9:50
the Christian life. It's it's not one and done kind
9:53
of thing. It's something that you got to
9:54
constantly be educated in and her hearing the word and then
9:59
being able to repent and be corrected, not out of guilt or
10:03
regret, but out of like, thank you, Lord, you showed me this
10:07
and I can actually be changed by you.
10:10
I want this area in my my heart and my life to be changed.
10:13
So this is what Paul's dealing with.
10:15
So let me read some verses here and then we'll begin to make
10:18
some comments. But I in chapter 2 of second
10:22
Corinthians verse one determined this within myself that I would
10:26
not come again to you in sorrow. For if I make you sorrowful,
10:30
then who is he who makes me glad?
10:32
That the one who is made sorrowful by me.
10:36
And I wrote this very thing to you, lest when I come, I should
10:39
have sorrow over those whom I ought to have joy, having
10:42
confidence in you all, that my joy is the joy of you all.
10:47
For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you
10:51
with many tears, and not that you should be grieved, but that
10:55
you might know the love which I have so abundantly for you.
10:59
So he's laying the background here of he can't make the trip
11:03
to Corinth right now. He's not making excuses.
11:06
He has to do other things. But he knew that the timing
11:09
wasn't right. He had already told them what
11:11
they needed to do. They were processing the letter
11:14
and beginning to make correction and where they needed to do
11:17
correction. But it wasn't easy for them to
11:19
do this. So instead of Paul showing up as
11:22
some kind of heavy-handed dictator, which he never was, he
11:26
he's behind the scenes now letting the Holy Spirit do what
11:29
only he can do in the hearts of the people in the church.
11:32
And the particular man had committed this grievous sin to
11:36
get right with the Lord. But as he was dealing with this,
11:41
he wanted the people to know that this was breaking his heart
11:44
as to what was going on in the church.
11:47
He felt bad for them. He felt sorry for them.
11:50
He obviously felt bad for the man who had fallen into sin and
11:53
had to be basically thrown out of the church for a period of
11:56
time because he wouldn't repent. And it was, it was very
12:00
difficult. And this was the responsibility
12:03
of, of the, of the leader. He had to be faithful to to say
12:07
to speak the truth and love, just like you have to be able to
12:11
be able to speak the truth in love when you when you don't
12:14
really want to, but you know, you need to in order to see
12:17
changes made, whether it's in your marriage or with your kids
12:20
or with someone at work or some neighbor or someone in in the
12:24
church, whatever it there's always these conflicts that can
12:28
occur. So he he begins in verse 5.
12:32
Now we'll pick it up where I left off last time, but if
12:35
anyone's caused grief, he has not grieved me, but all of you
12:40
to some extent, not to be too severe.
12:45
Whenever you or I do something in our lives that is hurtful
12:49
towards someone else, we think sometimes it's just between me
12:52
and that person. But what happens is if you're in
12:55
a family or in a church, many times what happened in that
12:59
relationship spills out to hurt other people, right?
13:03
If you're a husband and wife and you're having conflict, your,
13:07
your problems are going to spill over into the lives of your
13:10
children. It's going to hurt them, it's
13:11
going to stumble them. And so the Bible says the sin of
13:14
one person effects everybody. And it's really true.
13:18
We have to take responsibility to understand that your sin
13:23
effects other people and my sin effects other people.
13:28
And so we have to understand that.
13:31
And Paul talked about this pain that was being caused in Second
13:37
Corinthians chapter 2 verses 5 through 8.
13:40
This punishment, verse 6, which was inflicted by the majority,
13:44
is sufficient for such a man. So that On the contrary, you
13:48
ought rather to forgive and comfort him, lest perhaps such 1
13:51
be swallowed up with too much sorrow.
13:56
So you have a situation where someone has done something wrong
14:01
and they get it and they are truly repentant.
14:05
They're sorry and they want to let you know they're sorry that
14:10
they wish they wouldn't have done what they've done the way
14:13
they did it. They they feel really bad that
14:16
it caused all this pain for other people beside their own
14:20
personal regret of what they had caused and what they had
14:25
inflicted on someone else. So this particular situation
14:31
that we're studying about here, it could be that man who
14:35
committed the incestuous incident with his mother-in-law.
14:39
It's not real clear like who this person was.
14:41
The name isn't there and the consequence of the story isn't
14:44
really clear in this particular chapter.
14:46
Or could have been someone else in the church that was rebelling
14:49
against the apostles and the leadership and causing a big
14:53
uproar and, and, and trying to bring division in the church.
14:56
It could be several, several different things, but it's
14:59
immaterial. That's not really important as
15:02
to who or what did this, this problem.
15:06
The the point is here in this chapter that discipline had been
15:10
exercised that the people did what they needed to do in that
15:14
church in Corinth to correct whatever the situation was.
15:18
So Paul's urging them now that this man really repented.
15:22
He's sorry for what he did and everybody has to change your
15:26
attitude toward this person now. They can't be condemning them.
15:30
They can't be hating them. The church needs to respond in
15:37
in a way of God's grace and his love.
15:40
And so we talked about this last time I was in this chapter that
15:44
if someone sins against you, Matthew 1815 says you go and
15:48
tell them their fault between you and him, you or her alone,
15:52
it doesn't matter. Male or female, you, you, you
15:54
deal with this issue yourself and not trying to bring a bunch
15:57
of other people into the situation.
16:00
If they listen to you, you've gained your brother, it says in
16:03
Matthew 1815. So whenever there's pain that's
16:09
caused and someone's life because of something you or I
16:13
have done or said, we have to on the other side, the receiving
16:20
side, if I've received the pain, I have to ask the Lord for help
16:25
to know how to forgive and to be willing to forgive and not to
16:31
come against that person who created the pain in me in such a
16:35
way that's going to cause more problem or more conflict.
16:41
And when there's a grievance between two individuals, it's
16:46
not good if this grievance begins to spread and touch other
16:50
people as well in their lives. So This is why Paul is writing
16:58
this in verse 8. He's talking about not causing
17:01
too much sorrow upon the person who committed the sin.
17:05
He says I urge you to reaffirm your love to him.
17:09
For to this end, I also wrote that I might put you to the test
17:13
whether you're obedient in all things.
17:16
Now whom you forgive anything I also forgive.
17:19
For if I indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that
17:23
one for your sake and the president of Christ, lest Satan
17:26
take advantage of us, for we are not ignorant of his devices.
17:31
So one of the biggest problems in relationship is that the
17:35
devil is never letting things lie.
17:41
He always wants to poke and to provoke you to more
17:46
unforgiveness and more anger and more hatred and more bitterness
17:52
in your heart toward whoever it is that you have your conflict
17:55
with. This is the the role of the Evil
17:58
1. He likes to sow discord among
18:01
the brother, and he loves and he smiles and he's happy when
18:04
people leave churches because someone did whatever or because
18:08
churches split because of the leadership.
18:11
Or I mean, it can go on and on and on.
18:13
And it's tragic what happens because of our unwillingness to
18:18
get our eyes on the Lord and to forgive people who have hurt us.
18:24
And the Bible tells us the effect of righteousness.
18:28
God's righteousness will be peace.
18:30
Isaiah 3217 says that. And so there has to be a
18:35
faithful confrontation of of of a problem.
18:38
You just can't act like something isn't there or it
18:40
didn't happen because it won't be dealt with that way.
18:43
And that's the way it is when you have real difficulties in
18:47
your life with people, you have to understand that the basis of
18:54
working out peace in a relationship, it's fractured, is
18:59
to have this readiness and this willingness to forgive.
19:04
And there's an indication in in this chapter thus far that the
19:08
person that did the sin acknowledged it.
19:11
And they they know they're wrong.
19:12
They see the hurt they cause. So there's grief and sorrow
19:17
because of it. So what do you do if someone
19:24
hurt you and you've forgiven them?
19:27
How do you restore that person's relationship to you?
19:31
Are you going to say I forgive you, but you don't want to have
19:36
anything to do with them? But that's that's not real
19:38
forgiveness. It has to be the love of God.
19:41
And many times there's an unwillingness to forgive things
19:47
in the past that someone's cleared up a long time ago, but
19:52
they're still being head over held over his head.
19:57
So why? Why would we say we forgive
19:59
someone and then we don't want to forgive them?
20:02
Really, down deep inside, this man's repented.
20:06
He's admitted what he did was wrong.
20:09
And in his repentance, he's coming to you personally or that
20:14
person, whoever it might be, is coming to you, letting them know
20:18
that they understand what they did was wrong and it's hurt
20:23
them. And your role in this, according
20:27
to Paul and his teaching, is you're to comfort them that they
20:31
wouldn't be involved or overwhelmed by excessive sorrow.
20:35
Have you ever done anything in your life that you wish you
20:37
never did to someone and you really feel bad about it haunts
20:42
you many times. And the person you did it
20:45
against, you just feel uncomfortable because you know
20:49
they're still struggling with letting something go, yet you
20:54
know they're hurting too, because they want to be restored
20:59
to a relationship with you again, if if at all possible.
21:05
And the real sign that someone's really repented about something
21:08
that has not been good is that you see the hurt in them and
21:14
they understand the hurt that they caused you.
21:18
It creates a sense of sorrow in their lives and remorse and that
21:24
they've damaged you in some way by the way they acted and what
21:29
they did. And it really is difficult.
21:34
So the person that hurt you wants to be forgiven, but you
21:40
can't demand forgiveness from anybody.
21:42
You can't, like, put pressure on someone.
21:44
Well, you need to forgive me. The Bible says you need to
21:46
forgive me. And that's not it.
21:48
You got to give people space and time to be able to process and
21:53
to be able to forgive, right? Like if I offend Cindy,
21:57
sometimes I want to get it right, right away, like in 5
22:00
minutes. She says I need some time.
22:02
OK, how much time do you need? How much time do you need?
22:07
I don't know. God's grace sometimes is 1/2 an
22:09
hour. That's great.
22:10
Sometimes it's three days. And that's, that's hard, right?
22:14
But you got to walk on egg shells and you just got to shut
22:16
your mouth and just let the Spirit do what only he can do in
22:19
regards to, to, to the reconciliation.
22:23
But the mark of true repentance is, is that you, you see in the
22:27
life of the other person that they're very disturbed and
22:31
there's sorrow over what they've done.
22:34
And the goal of you and me as Christians is to bring people to
22:38
a place of recovery, right? That's what Jesus does with us
22:43
when we sinned against him and he's forgiven us.
22:47
He wants to restore us, doesn't he, and to treat us just like
22:51
we've never sinned. He's anyone that can really do
22:54
that perfectly. He chooses to not remember our
22:58
sin anymore. Human beings aren't like that.
23:02
We we have to ask God to help us be like that, but only the Lord
23:06
has that ultimate kind of way of, of forgiving.
23:11
And so sometimes though, we'll, we'll look and we'll think,
23:16
well, what this person did? I, I know I need to forgive
23:21
them, but what if it comes up again?
23:25
What do I do? What if, what if that behavior
23:28
in that person is sort of habitual and, and it's going to
23:32
show up again somehow? Well, Jesus was asked the
23:36
question one time, How often do I forgive someone for the same
23:39
sin? He says 70 * 7 four, 190 times,
23:45
that's I'm lucky if I can do it once, let alone twice, 490
23:51
times. But that's the grace of God.
23:54
That's what's so marvellous about Jesus Christ and who he
23:57
is. He's the only one that does that
24:01
to anybody and can do it perfectly all the time and more
24:05
than 490 times. He does it continually as long
24:09
as we repent and come and ask for forgiveness.
24:11
He's faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to
24:15
cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
24:17
So the whole process of the recovery of the offence is to
24:22
bring someone to recovery. And I've watched this in this
24:25
church, happened with relationships.
24:28
I've watched it in my own family, to see people restored
24:31
and forgiven and healing occur. That's what makes our message so
24:37
powerful when the world sees what we do that they don't
24:41
really ever see happening in real life.
24:44
They see you as a Christian forgiving someone that they
24:49
would say they never could forgive.
24:52
And they'll sometimes say to you, well, how can you do that?
24:55
Or how can you forgive or how can you let that go?
24:58
And you tell them what Jesus did for you.
25:01
That's why you can do it, because Jesus is in you, isn't
25:04
he? And his life is living through
25:07
you. So any form of restoration or
25:13
correction doesn't come from anger, it comes from love.
25:20
Love covers a multitude of sins. And Paul suggests that you
25:28
should forgive and comfort this person, let's say be overwhelmed
25:33
by excessive sorrow. And so this is what we all have
25:41
to learn how to do. And this is not an easy thing to
25:45
do. So he says in nine through 11
25:50
here again that let's see here for to this end.
25:59
I also wrote that I might put you to the test whether you're
26:02
obedient in all things now whom you forgive anything I also
26:06
forgive. So he's be an example.
26:09
Paul's forgiving for if I indeed if forgiven anything, I've
26:13
forgiven that one for your sake in the presence of Christ, lest
26:17
Satan should take advantage of us.
26:18
We're not ignorant of his devices.
26:21
So this is what I want to dive into a little bit here.
26:26
There's three things that are really important in this little
26:29
section that I just just read there in regard to restoration.
26:35
And this is what we all have to understand how we have to deal
26:39
with, deal with this. We can't be ignorant of the
26:43
design devices of the devil. Why is there so much division in
26:51
our country, in our culture? Why are there so many marriages
26:56
ending up in divorce? Why are there so many church
27:00
splits? You ask yourself these
27:04
questions. We're not to be ignorant of the
27:07
devices of Satan. If there's an arsonist loose in
27:12
California and they haven't caught him yet, guess what?
27:16
There's going to be a lot of fires, isn't there?
27:19
And the enemy is always going around trying to start fires,
27:25
and he'll do that until the final day when he's thrown into
27:28
the abyss. We have to be eternally vigilant
27:32
in regards to not being ignorant of the plan of the Evil 1.
27:37
We are all in a battle, spiritual battle.
27:41
Enemy is constantly trying to take advantage of this situation
27:45
and he uses us to defeat us until we're ready to extend full
27:50
forgiveness when there are broken relationships within us.
27:56
That's what keeps the enemy from taking advantage over you.
27:59
Whenever you have the power to forgive, and the power to
28:04
forgive comes from Christ, it doesn't come from you.
28:07
It comes from Christ in you. There's no way in your human
28:11
capacity and ability do you have the ability to forgive people.
28:16
This is a work of God's sovereign, omnipotent,
28:23
omniscient character. He's merciful.
28:28
His goodness endures forever. His mercy endures forever, Paul
28:35
tells us in Ephesians, don't let the sun go down upon your wrath.
28:39
And Cindy and I were taught this when we first got married at
28:42
Bible college. It's easy to get mad and angry
28:46
and be proud and just refuse to give each other a kiss before
28:50
you go to bed at night. Doesn't mean you're, you've
28:52
resolved everything, but you're showing them, Hey, I love you
28:55
and I do forgive you, but I'm trying to work through this
28:58
problem right now, right? So even though you really don't
29:02
want to, the Lord says, get over there and kiss her and tell her
29:04
you love her. I, I just want to dig in and
29:07
make her feel like she's like, it's all your fault, you know,
29:11
but that's not what you do as a Christian.
29:13
You, you, you got to, just got to forgive, right?
29:17
You don't carry it over to the next day because if you do,
29:20
you're giving the enemy the opportunity to keep the evil
29:23
power going there. You got to let let it go.
29:27
You got to let it go and and on and on and on.
29:31
If it's unresolved, you're giving the devil an opportunity
29:35
to continually fuel the fire. And then it gets hold of
29:39
everybody that's involved. It creates more problems and
29:41
spreads it wide and turns the whole family, the church,
29:46
whatever upside down eventually. And one of the elements of
29:50
restoration involves this awareness that we're in a battle
29:56
and that we live in a crazy world under a crazy leader.
30:00
And his name is Satan. He's a madman, and all he wants
30:05
to do is create conflict and insanity.
30:09
So first of all, we have to deal with all this stuff in our own
30:12
heart to turn the attack away from the evil 1 and away from
30:20
us. Someone said this is a an
30:25
analogy to Pastor use at this mental hospital.
30:29
The way they could figure out when people were ready to be
30:32
able to leave is that they would bring them into a room and there
30:36
would be water flowing out of a spigot, spigots on and the water
30:40
and they give the person a mop and they say, can you clean this
30:43
water up? Well, if if the person just went
30:46
over and started cleaning the water up, but then go over and
30:49
turn the faucet off, they knew they weren't ready to go out of
30:51
the mental hospital. But anybody that went over and
30:55
turned the faucet off and then started cleaning water, they
30:59
knew that they were healthy and that they could be able to to
31:03
move on and, and live their lives with us and you and me.
31:09
There's no sense trying to clear a situation up until we've
31:14
turned off the tap of the devil's lies.
31:19
If we're leaving that tap on and that information keeps flooding
31:23
our minds from the Evil 1, there's no forgiveness and
31:27
there's no ability to acknowledge any wrongdoing.
31:31
One of the problems, too, is you.
31:33
You forgive, but if you persist in bringing it up over and over
31:37
again, it's like you're trying to mop up a situation where the
31:40
water's still flowing. You, you haven't stopped the
31:44
insanity, right? And that's plain stupid.
31:49
That's why in marriages and many family relationships and in
31:52
church, these kind of harmful, hurtful things can go on for
31:56
decades and decades. Nobody's turned off the tap.
32:01
Nobody's forgiven one another and let it rest in the past.
32:07
We all need forgiveness continually, don't we?
32:10
I need Jesus more now than I ever needed him ever at any time
32:14
of my life. I was thinking like, why did I
32:17
get into ministry? Why did I want to be a pastor?
32:20
I had no desire to be a pastor. To stand up front and give
32:23
messages and then have people say, oh, that was a nice
32:26
message, whatever. I wanted to do this because
32:29
Jesus helped me and I wanted to help other people.
32:34
That was my whole heart for why I wanted to be a pastor, to see
32:37
God, help people see their lives change.
32:43
He's changed mine. When forgiveness happens in
32:52
lives, marvelous things begin to take place.
32:57
Families are restored, Marriages are restored.
33:01
Couples are restored. Kids are restored.
33:04
Your your whole life is transformed whenever you allow
33:09
the Lord to to do this kind of stuff in your heart.
33:14
What's the purpose of of a church existing if there's no
33:20
message of forgiveness being proclaimed?
33:24
First of all, Christ forgiveness to us and then our opportunity
33:30
and privilege to forgive others. That's what changes the world.
33:35
That's why people want to know why you believe what you believe
33:38
or what church you go to or is there, is there anybody that
33:42
lives this stuff out? Is there any, is there any place
33:45
I can find God's mercy? That's what people were looking
33:52
for and that's what we all need in our lives.
33:59
It's it's an interesting thing, you know, in the marriage
34:06
relationship, if you've been married for any period of time
34:09
in your marriage has lasted, it's only lasted because you
34:13
both have been willing to forgive as Jesus has forgiven
34:16
you, right? To see any, any glue that holds
34:19
a marriage together in a healthy way.
34:23
You recognize your own shortcomings and you always have
34:26
them to the day you die and some of them are less than they were
34:31
before. Thank God you can't change, but
34:37
I think the greatest illustration in this subject
34:42
that we're covering today is in Luke chapter 15.
34:46
If you got a Bible, just turn there for a minute before we
34:49
prepare to take the Lord's Supper.
34:54
This is one of my favorite sections of the Bible.
35:01
When I came to Calvary Chapel or I, I first heard about Calvary
35:05
Chapel, this this teaching in the prodigal son was exhibited
35:13
to me personally through the teaching of the pastor to the
35:17
flock over and over and over again.
35:21
And I wanted to be in this kind of place with this kind of God,
35:24
with this kind of message, because it's the message of
35:27
miraculous healing and transformation.
35:31
The parable, the lost son, verse 11.
35:34
Then he said a certain man had two sons and the younger them
35:38
said to his father, father, give me the portion of goods that
35:41
falls to me that his inheritance.
35:44
So he divided to them his livelihood.
35:48
And not many days after the younger son gathered all
35:51
together, journey to a far country and they're wasted his
35:54
possession with prodigal living. That's our story, right?
36:01
How many times have we come to places in our life where we've
36:06
known what our father wanted, but we didn't want what the
36:09
Father wanted, so we went our own way, right?
36:14
Even though we knew is against the will of the Father, we still
36:19
wanted to do what we wanted to do because we're all still
36:23
prodigal. I don't care how long you've
36:24
been falling, Jesus, how much you love him.
36:27
There's deeper places you can go to get closer to him, right,
36:32
returning to him at a deeper level than you've ever returned
36:35
on before. So he he goes out there, he
36:39
wastes his possessions with prodigal living stupid stuff.
36:46
But when he had spent all their all his stuff, there arose a
36:50
severe famine in the land and he began to be in want.
36:53
In other words, he started to get broken and he was reflecting
36:56
on where he got to in his life. All the decisions I've made-up
37:00
into this point have been a disaster and I'm suffering the
37:04
consequences. Then he went and he joined
37:07
himself to a citizen of that country and he sent him into the
37:10
fields of feed swine. So he's desperate.
37:14
Where's the rehab facility or where's the counselor?
37:17
Where's the place I can go get help?
37:19
So he finds this place that said, hey, you can make some
37:23
money, go out and feed the pigs, right?
37:26
And so he said he would have gladly filled his stomach with
37:29
the pods that the swine ate, but no one gave him anything.
37:33
So he's this guy's so low and so broken that he's ready to get
37:37
his face down in that pig pen in that pig slop and eat what the
37:41
pigs were eating. It looked really good to have at
37:43
that point in his life. I remember when I was in boot
37:49
camp training at, at the missionary training school at
37:52
Cindy and I went to this young kids at the time, we're in early
37:56
20s. And you know, I was, I was
37:59
clueless, man. I knew a lot about the Bible,
38:01
but boy, I didn't know a lot about fallen Jesus, right?
38:05
I knew how to be religious and self-righteous, but I I didn't
38:09
know how to be real because I wasn't willing to be real with
38:12
God. I was playing the game, I guess.
38:16
And I remember my job there. I was always deflated because
38:20
all the other guys, they had tool belts on.
38:22
Like I go burger, he can fix anything, right?
38:24
You go out. Why can't I be like him and have
38:27
those tools and how I use a tool I'll tear my finger, I'll do
38:32
something it's just not going to work.
38:34
I'm not not a mechanically minded person says at the end of
38:37
the time with the guys giving us a job for the day it tell me and
38:41
this other guy I think his name is Jeff.
38:43
You guys, you go feed the pigs. So we get in this truck that
38:47
look like green acres. If you ever watch that show, Mr.
38:52
Haney, and there was no doors on the truck and it was, it was a
38:55
mess, man. And we had these big things of
38:58
garbage that we had to take down to the pig.
39:01
And we, we get down there and they be like going smarting at
39:04
us, looking at us. We're going to feed me, feed me.
39:06
And we have these long boots on. We have to get down, pour all
39:08
this stuff out. Of course, I, I was, I was low,
39:11
but I wasn't low enough to eat that.
39:12
I was going to eat what Cindy had for me later on.
39:15
But anyway, we're, we're pouring all that stuff out.
39:18
And I thought how pathetic this is.
39:19
This is, you know, and we were fattening these pigs up to
39:23
eventually they would be killed and they would teach us how to,
39:27
you know, tear the skin off. And boy, I said, this is ham.
39:31
You know, this, this looks really good.
39:32
It smells good. But I'm thinking it's disgusting
39:35
just watching, pulling that whole skin of that animal off as
39:39
it hung on a hook. And that was that was my pig
39:42
experience. Pig pen, Pig pen experience,
39:45
right? But anyway, this guy, he got so
39:50
broken, it says in 17 he came to himself.
39:53
He said, how many of my father's hired servants have bred enough
39:57
to spare? And I perish with hunger.
39:59
I will rise and go to my father. And I'll say to them, Father,
40:02
I've sinned against heaven and before you, I'm no longer worthy
40:06
to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired
40:08
servants. So he's coming to his senses.
40:11
Now. This is repentance.
40:13
I'm wrong? I've sinned.
40:15
He's repenting before God now he's going to go repent before
40:19
his father. He knows he can go home there.
40:22
He knew enough about this father that his father would be
40:25
merciful to him. And he was willing to just go
40:28
back and be a servant. He didn't need to be called a
40:30
son anymore. And and he, he saw his sin for
40:34
what it was. It was it was so bad that he
40:37
wasn't even worthy to be called a son anymore.
40:41
And I know when I've had my darkest points of my life for my
40:44
own sin, I'm thinking, God, how can I still be your son?
40:51
How can you still call me your Son?
40:54
Your love is without end. So he arose, He came, comes to
41:05
his father. But when he's still a great way
41:08
off, the Father saw him. So this Father and this is our
41:12
heavenly Father, every day He's looking out on this earth for
41:17
you and me to come back to him, to come closer to him, to come
41:22
to him the first time of my, my, our lives, or to come to our
41:25
senses about something in our life that we're doing as
41:28
believers that we know we shouldn't be doing or messing
41:30
around with. And he, he knows we're going to
41:33
hit the fan and everything's going to fall apart if we don't
41:36
get back to him soon. And He's everyday praying for
41:40
us. Jesus is ever living to make
41:42
intercession for us. We come to our senses and as
41:46
soon as we start making that first step forward, guess what?
41:49
God is running full speed to grab you before you have a
41:53
chance to go back again, just to hold you tight and restore you
41:57
back into that relationship with Him.
42:00
So the Father sees him, He has compassion, He runs.
42:03
He fell on his neck and he kissed him, and the son said to
42:07
him, Father, I've sinned against heaven and in your sight, and
42:10
I'm no longer worthy to be called your son.
42:14
Father didn't even address that. He already knew the heart.
42:18
He knew he had repented. He knew he had seen the light.
42:25
And he didn't have to say, well, we're going to have a counseling
42:28
session for the next six weeks so I can make sure you're really
42:31
serious about your repentance like we do, You know, someone
42:36
falls. I mean, how long do I have to
42:38
tell them about their problem that if they understand their
42:41
problem, they repented. Jesus says go and sin no more.
42:46
He didn't say you need psychologist and medication to
42:49
get passed by this. You just come and repent and
42:52
come to the Father and the Father will restore you rapidly.
42:57
The Father said to his servants, bring out the best robe and put
43:00
it on him, put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet.
43:04
Bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be
43:07
merry, for this is my son who was dead and is alive again, was
43:11
lost and is found, and they began to be merry.
43:14
This is how we need to be with each other, isn't it?
43:17
Celebration when people come to their senses, have a party, have
43:23
a great meal, love on each other and not talk about the problem
43:28
anymore, because the problem now has been forgiven and the person
43:33
is turned back to the Lord. Now the older son, and this is
43:39
religion here, was in the field and he came and he drew near to
43:43
the house. He heard music and dancing.
43:45
She called one of the servants and asked what these things
43:47
meant. And he said to him, your brother
43:50
has come, and because, because he has received him safe and
43:54
sound, your father's killed the fatted calf.
43:57
But he was angry and would not go in.
43:59
This is the unforgiving heart. This is the bitterness.
44:04
This is the enemy and the stronghold.
44:09
This is the faucet that's still on.
44:13
It hasn't been turned off. His father comes out and pleads
44:18
with him. And he answered and said to his
44:20
father, Lo, these many years I've been serving you, I've
44:23
never send or transgress your commandment at any time, and yet
44:27
you never gave me a goat and make make make merry with my
44:30
friends. But as soon as the son of yours
44:33
comes, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots and
44:38
killed the fatted calf for him, and this is the father's heart,
44:42
He says to him, Son, you're always with me, all that I have
44:46
is yours. It was right that we should make
44:49
merry and be glad for your brother was dead and is alive
44:53
again and was lost and is found as a password.
44:58
My greatest heart and joy as I see someone I know who's gone
45:03
through a rough time. Last time I heard about them,
45:06
they've fallen from the Lord. They're not following Jesus
45:09
anymore. They lost their home, they lost
45:11
their marriage. And all of a sudden I see that
45:13
person come in the doors of Calvary Chapel and it this makes
45:18
me weep with joy knowing that they've been found again, they
45:24
were lost, and they've come back to their Savior.
45:27
And what I want to do is rejoice and be merry with what God has
45:31
in store for them in the days ahead.
45:36
So we have the opportunity every Sunday to take the Lord's Supper
45:39
as a worship team can come forward, and we have the ability
45:43
to think about the message and process it in our hearts and
45:49
think about how God has been so good to us.
45:53
So every time we take the cup and the bread, we're reminded of
45:57
the significance of the forgiveness of Jesus and what
46:01
he's done for you and me. We're able to understand that
46:05
forgiveness is continual and we can come into this relationship
46:12
with the Lord again in a very, very powerful way.
46:16
It reminds us of the strength that we have to forgive comes
46:22
alone from Jesus Christ. And it's possible to forgive
46:26
because God has forgiven you and me.
46:30
And by the strength of the Lord, we can provide this forgiveness
46:34
to one another as the Lord forgives us every time we gather
46:38
and we take the supper together at the cross of Jesus Christ.
46:44
So let's prepare our hearts. Let's take a moment to think
46:46
about any relationship in our life that the Lord wants us to
46:52
forgive. Whether it's 30 years ago, 50
46:57
years ago, 10 years ago, one year ago, one month ago, one day
47:02
ago, let's give it to the Lord. Let's be a body of believers
47:07
that understands why we're doing what we're doing and why we're
47:12
following Jesus. We want people to know about
47:16
salvation. We want people to know about
47:19
Jesus Christ. And the only way they're going
47:22
to know is if you and I live this out.
47:25
Show them. Tell them what the Lord has done
47:29
for us. That all bitterness and wrath
47:52
and clamour and evil speaking be put away from you, and be kind,
47:57
tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for
48:03
Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Oh, Lord, we're so thankful that
48:08
you've forgiven us and that you keep forgiving us, Lord.
48:14
And you know, in our hearts where we struggle with who we
48:19
may struggle, and we bring these people to you, asking you for
48:25
your mercy on their lives, that they would understand that
48:30
you've forgiven them, that they would come to you for
48:33
forgiveness. And that we could all forgive
48:36
one another and move ahead. Lord and new life together,
48:43
building each other up, not tearing each other down,
48:46
strengthening each other in the ways of the Lord.
48:51
Lord, we come before you every Sunday.
48:54
We have this supper. It's not a ritual, it's a
48:57
remembrance of you. You say as often as we eat the
49:03
bread and drink the cup, we show this as we remember you.
49:10
Lord, let us do this today the right way, with the right heart
49:14
and the right mind. On the night that Jesus was
49:20
betrayed, he obviously had a lot to forgive of of all those who
49:29
betrayed him. He took the bread in his hands
49:33
and he broke it and he gave thanks and he said, take, eat.
49:37
This is my body which is given for you, given for you, given
49:43
for you. Eat this in remembrance of Me,
49:57
the same manner He took the cup. He said This cup is a new
50:02
covenant in My blood which is shed for the forgiveness of sins
50:07
of many. Our sins have been forgiven.
50:12
Many others have been forgiven. Thank you Lord, for your
50:18
forgiveness. Drink this in remembrance of Me.
50:28
For us, as often as we eat the spread and we drink this cup, we
50:33
show forth the Lord's death. That comes again, right?
50:37
Hey man, what a what a way it ended, huh?
50:41
God bless you guys.