Ezekiel 18:27-28 “When a wicked man turns away from his wickedness which he has committed and practices justice and righteousness, he will save his life. Because he considered and turned away from all his transgressions which he had committed, he shall surely live; he shall not die.”
Pastor Herk reassures us: You are not broken beyond repair, can be forgiven and reconciled to God, sanctified and washed clean in the blood of the Lamb of God. Jesus Christ is the reason that we can confess and experience complete forgiveness and restoration in our lives. It is Divine forgiveness and truly amazing grace; much different than what we experience here on earth, on this side of eternity. Forgiveness is defined in the 1828 Webster’s dictionary as: 1. The act of forgiving; the pardon of an offender, by which he is considered and treated as not guilty. 2. The pardon or remission of an offense or crime; as the forgiveness of sin or of injuries.
It is common that each generation, when young with a lack of knowledge and experience, believes they know how to live their lives better than their parents, and even better than God. We take all that they are willing to live and waste it on careless, reckless, decadent, extravagant, lavish, wild, hedonistic living; thinking that they are smarter. We hurt ourselves and others with bad decisions based on prideful selfish desires for personal pleasures, popular trends, and playing with ambitions to lack and miss out on nothing. This is a “I see it, I want it, I get it, I have it … even if I cannot afford it or have to go into debt, or sacrifice a necessity to possess it mentality, void of wisdom and investment. When the money runs out, the party comes to an end. Yet, this materialistic, live-for-the-moment, life-squandering mentality is nothing new.
In the parable of “the Prodigal Son” in Luke 15:11-24, Jesus said, “A certain man had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood. And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything. “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.” ’ “And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.
There needs to be a time in each one of our lives, when we simply come to our senses, humbly confess the depravity of our sin against heaven and honestly realize that our life is never going to be what it was supposed to be apart from the Father. God has a plan for each one of us and He wants us to live that plan to its fullest. The good news is that you can get up out of that pig pen and come home any time you ddregret, repent and feel like going. Some of us have come to the end of our worth and realize that only through Christ are we worthy in our heavenly Father’s eyes. It is not based upon anything that we can or cannot do, but based upon the finished work of Jesus Christ on the Cross, His resurrection from the dead, and His ascension to the right hand of God in Heaven. The prodigal son’s sin reached both his earthly father and his heavenly Father as well.
“But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. The father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’” This is one of the most compassionate scenes and a favorite passage demonstrating reconciliation and forgiveness, in the entire Bible.
Let's conclude Pastor Herk's message of confession and God's forgiveness in the next post.
In Christ, Brian
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