first kings chapter 13 beginning in verse 1. By the word of the Lord man of God came from Judah to Bethel as Jeroboam was standing by the altar to make an offering. He cried out against the altar by the word of the Lord. O altar, altar. This is what the Lord says. A son named Josiah will be born to the house of David. On you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who now make offerings here and human bones will be burned on you. That same day the man of God gave a sign. This is the sign the Lord has declared. The altar will be split apart and the ashes on it will be poured out. When King Jeroboam heard what the man of God cried out against the altar at Bethel, he stretched out his hand from the altar and said sees him but the hand he stretched out towards the man shriveled up so that he could not pull it back. Also the altar was split apart and its ashes poured out according to the sign given by the man of God by the word of the Lord. Then the king said to the man of God, intercede with the Lord your God and pray for me that my hand may be restored. So the man of God interceded with the Lord and the king's hand was restored and became as it was before. Hereins are reading, there's a response of thankfulness printed for you in your bulletin, the word of the Lord. Thanks indeed. Let's pray. Our God and Father we are grateful that you love us and that out of your love you've given us instruction not only for salvation but also for life. Thank you for caring for us for eternity giving us knowledge of salvation through the good news of your son Jesus but also that you don't leave us here as Jim said earlier to flounder about to wonder what your will is about how to live in this life. We pray that you'd instruct us in both ways. Teach us the good news of Jesus and direct us in the way we should live for our good and that our lives might bring glory to you. We pray this Father in Jesus name. Amen.
When I was maybe fourth grade, maybe fifth, we lived south of Rochester, New York and we lived on about eight acres and behind our house was a shed and it was a permanent shed. It was concrete block like cinder block shed probably 12 by 10 something like that and we kept our lawn mower in there and our German shepherd was in there too and yet an outdoor that he could go and from there but he could come in there as well and and on the back of this shed there was a door to the front of it and we had a gas pump there that was cool because we had tractors and stuff like that so we could go up and actually do our gas there but behind it was this window in the back that gave light inside the shed and my friend and I one time were behind the shed and there was a hill going down between the shed and our barn and on this hill was gravel and the gravel was like that about that side of the gravel and so as boys in the fourth grade do you have various contests about anything and at the time we didn't have video games so we were having contests about throwing sticks and rocks and making holes and those kind of exciting things that we did back then and so we had a contest who could hit the window with one of these rocks and you know the back shed window and so we did that we did that we kept not you know kept hitting the the center block wall and then finally you know I threw one and I hit it and I was like yeah I hit that window pop you know and there was that rock shaped hole in the window and of course we quickly realized that now there was evidence that I hit hit the window and so I just went on from that hoping my dad would never realize
but eventually I don't know how much longer it was my dad and I were back there in the driveway and by the shed we went down to the barn which is a typical thing for us to do and stuff and turned around and said John do you know anything about that that hole in the back window the shed and so I did with any good faithful son did I lied I don't know and he explained to me he said you know I heard this story in a number of contexts it was always helpful actually he said one time he he was a pitcher in baseball in high school my dad played pitcher on baseball team he said I was practicing in the living room and I had a baseball in my hand and I would wind up and I would throw like this but I wouldn't let the ball go you know and I just carried it with me and then I'd practice again okay my dad said to me he said curl don't quit doing that you know you might that ball might fall out of your hand he said no dad I won't let it go and so you know very probably the very next row when my dad's telling you this I did it one more time and the balls looked out of my hand and it went on my dad's bare toes and he said I felt so awful he said but I know John sometimes we do things and you don't think about the consequences and then something bad happens and sometimes we do something stupid did you throw a rock through that window at this time I realized he had given me grace and I said yeah that was me my chin was quivering I was crying and he was very gracious with me and he said really I know sometimes we do dumb things in life and we'll get the window fixed but you know think about things before you do and think about you know think about that next time you're in a situation like that but it was my dad's graciousness to me telling him telling me that he when he was even older than I was at that time he was in high school and I was in fourth grade that he had done something stupid and that had caused his father whom he loved very much pain and that enabled me then to confess what I had done to my father this passage gets at and you see there and I thought about a more complicated you know the Puritans had sermon titles that were like three sentences long so I thought about a longer title for this but I thought you know I just want you to get the impact of this God is gracious and this affects not just our eternity but it affects our lives and how we live our life both how we live our life toward God but how we live our lives toward other people in a couple of different directions and so that's what this one of the things this passage gets at and that we'll discuss this morning so number one if you'd like to fill out blanks in your outline remember the graciousness of God in your life as you live your life always remember that God is gracious a there in your outline God's graciousness here in this passage to wicked idolaters like Jeroboam and I remind you if you haven't been here for the last couple of weeks I think you all have at least one of the two weeks this altar spoken up here was not the altar in the temple in Jerusalem it was a renegade a rebel altar God said you only offer sacrifices on the altar that I have prescribed the bronze altar in the temple just outside the temple in the temple court guard in Jerusalem and you don't you're not to sacrifice anywhere else God was clear about that we looked at passages about that two weeks ago and so Jeroboam has established an altar in Bethel and another one up in Dan two different places in the southern part of northern Israel it was Bethel and then the northern northern most part in Israel which was Dan and so that God sends us this man of God that's a synonym for prophet up to preach against this altar while Jeroboam is there and so Jeroboam and you can you can read here at the end of chapter 12 from 25 on down just how bad Jeroboam is and that that's two sermons ago just all the ways he's transgressing the specific commands of God that God had given to his people through Moses about how to worship him where to worship him and all this kind of thing but even if you didn't know that you can look at those verses 25 through 33 there and see that he's saying that these golden calves that have been erected next to these altars were the God that led them out of Egypt and so Jeroboam's up to know good he's up to know good because he wants the people's faithfulness to him which God had promised him anyway in chapter 11 he said Jeroboam just be faithful to me and I'll give you a lasting dynasty but Jeroboam isn't faithful to the Lord he thinks he has to do it himself and so he creates an alternative or competing altars for the people the 10 tribes under him to go to and so we see that the Jeroboam is a bad guy and we see later in the history of northern Israel that Jeroboam is still talked about as the initiation of the people's sins in northern Israel and they were they were exiled in 722 BC Judah the southern kingdom isn't exiled until about 600 so the the sin of northern Israel was 120 years worse it brought judgment 120 years faster than the sin of the southern kingdom brought judgment to them and so so Jeroboam's an idolatry he literally brought this idol this golden calf and he hasn't just said worship our God Yahweh the Lord by giving attention to this golden calf he's actually said this golden calf is your God who brought you up out of Egypt but God is gracious to him and this passage informs us here's your blank here God's graciousness to wicked idolaters like Jeroboam informs us that he is willing to be gracious gracious to great sinners and so chapter 12.633 establishes Jeroboam was wicked and this altar was wicked and what Jeroboam was up to was wicked and Jeroboam says see this prophet this man of God in prison him or maybe put him to death we don't know what Jeroboam's intentions are at this point but but God should not treat Jeroboam well um verse four Jeroboam says sees him yet verse six look at verse six that God in verse six after this wicked worship after seeking the prophet's life perhaps at least imprisoning him um God heals Jeroboam in graciousness upon Jeroboam's simple request Jeroboam doesn't say I'll be better I promise he doesn't say I'll get rid of the golden calves here in in Dan okay rid of this altar I'll tell my people to go and worship you down in Jerusalem as you have prescribes in the law of Moses he he he simply you know appeals uh verse six intercede with the Lord your God no see his your God not our God not my God the Lord your God and pray for me but then my hand may be restored um and just note here um you know the the man of God doesn't review him he just intercede for him and God is gracious a second after that verse the king's hand was restored and he came as it was before so this pastor teaches us something about God and that's something as God is gracious and he's even gracious to to to great or terrible sinners so number one number one so we learn here that there is no sin so big that's your blank no sin so big I mean that's about as big as you can get right worshiping another God and convincing other people to do that as well he has always people though the bulk of God's people ten tribes under him and he leads them early first thing in his kingship you know this first act you know what what what the president signed like on his first or not not divine the out what what's he signed executive orders he gives an executive order to do all these wicked things build the build these idols and worship at these places instead of where the Lord has designed so this tells us there's no sin so big and secondly there in your your line there there's not a number of sins not a quantity of sins that exceeds God's limits of graciousness and so this is what we saw in our declaration of the gospel you can turn there to refresh yourself on the front page first empty one one fifteen sixty this is the apostle Paul talking about himself and we remember that Paul used to be called Saul and when he was Saul in Acts chapter eight verse one we realized that he's kind of the authority figure who was there in chapter seven when the order was given for Stephen one of the first deacons in the church after Acts chapter six one of the first deacons in the church Stephen proclaims the whole testament and says and by the way this is all about Jesus and it's all been fulfilled in him and they stone Stephen and Paul or Saul is there giving his approval to this act a persecutor of the church and then after that the next chapter eight he gets permission from the Jewish leadership in Jerusalem to go to Damascus that he might imprison and put to death more Christians more people who are following Jesus especially among from among the Jews and so first empty one fifteen this is why Paul says there here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance in other words get this Christ Jesus came into the world to save not the nice people not people who are being faithful he came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the worst he was personally other people were just sinning he was using a 40 in God's name to kill those who were following God to kill those who received his son discouraging people like Jeroboam right that's who Paul that's who Saul was discouraging people from following the one true God discouraging people from sending the king that God the father had sent in Jeroboam's day that was Rahabom and so Paul knew what it was like to be Jeroboam and so he said of whom I am the worst on the worst sinner for that very reason because I was the worst sinner I was shown mercy why was the worst sinner me Paul says shown mercy so that for this purpose in me the worst of sinners Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and might receive eternal life so no very clearly with Jeroboam and with Paul there is no sin too big for Jesus to forgive and there's no number of that it's too many for Jesus to forgive as part of what Paul's getting at and what Jim read for us in Romans 8 if God is for us who can be against us who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen so if God the father chose you and brought you his spirit regenerated you under life gave you eyes to see an ear to hear and you believed who will bring a charge against you that will stick that's a rhetorical question nobody will Satan is the great accuser you might try to bring a charge against you but I won't stick because the blood of Jesus has washed your sins away through your faith and so Paul says if God is for us who can be against us think about final judgment if God is for you who can be against you who will bring any charge against those who God has chosen that is who will bring any charge against you it is God who justifies and he selected you before the foundation of the world he sent Jesus and Jesus bore your sins in his body on the cross he sent his spirit to regenerate you to give you spiritual light so you could see and hear the gospel and believe and he gave you a heart of flesh so that you could so why would any accusation that you've actually done not the accusations false it's just that it won't stick and it won't separate you from the love of God in Christ so it is God who justifies who is it that condemns not Satan not anyone that it will accuse you for a sin that you've actually committed who is it that commit condemns it is Christ Jesus who condemns who died more than that who was raised to life and has at the right hand of God and is also not condemning you but who is interceding for us like this man of God right Jesus said all scripture speaks of me okay so we see it here you know this man of God is it's like Jesus um turn to Matthew 12 just you know something you're always learning from scripture and so I learned this today while I was eating breakfast and I thought that had been convenient to have as another verse on that sermon point well I'll just mention it orally so Matthew 12 verse 9 I was thinking about this shriveled hand this morning I don't know why it was eating breakfast my eggs weren't shriveled or anything um uh Matthew 12 verse 9 that's page 88 in my Bible uh ha ha going on from that place Jesus went into their synagogue and a man with the shriveled hand low and behold this man of God in first things 13 yeah that happened in neural history but it was to foreshadow what Jesus would do here an ultimate like what we'll do with all sickness and deformity in the New Heavens and New Earth going on from that place he went into their synagogue and a man with a shriveled hand was there looking for looking for a reason to accuse Jesus the Pharisees asked him is it lawful but he'll on the Sabbath he said to them if any view has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath will not take hold of that sheep and lift it out how much more valuable then is a man then a sheep therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath remember we mentioned this morning I mentioned but you agreed with me I presume that the Sabbath is a day of restoration Jesus understood with the Sabbath meant and when he's conflicting with the Pharisees it's usually on this point they didn't understand why the Sabbath was in place and he said it's a gift of God for you I didn't create the Sabbath for you to obey I created the Sabbath for you to have as a gift I created the Sabbath for for the benefit of man so she wouldn't be working seven hours a day and be like Jack Nicholson right all work and no play makes Jack a doll boy that and so Jesus is conflicting with him and saying the Sabbath is a day for people to be restored through their rest this is why it's okay to walk through the grainfield and eat because eating is restoration not eating fasting on the Sabbath day is breaking you down and making you weak so that you walk into the next day not able to serve your man and love him with your labor and so Jesus goes at them and says David got it when his men were famished they ate the old stale bread that went on the table with bread of presents which is quote this is an air quote Jesus doing air quotes not lawful wink wink for them to eat but David understood the Sabbath he understood it with the day and the laws of God were there for God for God's people to be restored and so Jesus makes the point to them which the Pharisees probably didn't get here but he said this is a day for people to be restored and that's why in the law it says it's okay to bring your ox out of the ditch it's all in the ditch for a sheep because it's a day of restoration not a day of you saying well I got a rest sorry hope you don't die until tomorrow morning it's 6 a.m. okay um verse 13 and he said to the man stretch out your hand so he stretched about and it was completely keyword restored think of that with Sabbath that's why we rest on the Lord's day we want to be restored just as and it was just as sound as the other but the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus Jesus guys doing a lot of good for us let's kill him uh it's part of Matthew's point of rights to Jews that reason Jesus was crucified there's nothing to do with logic uh but but uh this uh this uh this uh man is is is restored on this on this day uh so verse uh Romans chapter 8 Paul goes on and all these things were more than conquerors through him would love this for I'm convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor demons neither the present nor the future nor any powers neither height nor death nor your own sin nor anything and all creation will be able to keep point here to separate you from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord no sin too big no number of sins too great to separate you Paul's just named everything he can think of that someone might think would separate them from the love of God in Christ Jesus um so to put another way number two Christ's death is big enough Christ's death is big enough to cover every sin of each of his people uh at Christmas time we hear this we don't often think of it in terms of uh definite atonement or or or that that you're all your sins we're in Jesus body and the cross but certainly it is uh the angel says to Matthew she will give birth to a son and you're to give him the name Jesus because he will save his people from their sins so Jesus saves his people from their sin that's his job if he doesn't do that for you and you're one of his people the father's elected you and he doesn't do that then Jesus has failed in his job he's let his father down but that's not true uh first Peter to 24 Jesus himself bore in his bore our sins in his body on the tree Romans 5 20 but where sin increased grace increased all the more you can't out send the blood of Jesus there was no sin that you can surprise God with when Jesus was on the cross all your sin all my sin was in the future and he knew each one we're not surprising him in our lives and Jesus bore in his body all our sins on the tree on the cross okay um if you say well God couldn't forgive this mentioning a sin that you think is just so big you're just wrong God the Father knew it placed it upon Jesus body Jesus willingly took it upon himself and died for it and on the cross all God's wrath against all your sin all however many number of them there will be until you see him face to face either through death or his return all your sins were in Jesus body on the cross and what's the penalty for sin death what's Jesus do bearing your sins on the cross dies all God's wrath goes out against your sin on the cross and so if you say well certainly God can't forgive this guess who you're insulting Jesus anyone want to be in the business of insulting Jesus how about this one I just don't know if I can forgive myself what the world are you talking about are you a God above are you a judge above God is your standard of holiness above God's standard God is forgiving you of all your sin but you can't forgive yourself oh let me bow down to you miss high and mighty you see how ridiculous that is to say I don't know if I can forgive myself hey get with the gospel program right if I hear that again I'm on a bars right you say that quit saying that and believe the gospel I'm not mad at you but a man that you've heard that term and you think that's true right there's no one in the Bible it says you need to forgive yourself that that phrase is not in the Bible you're not the judge Jesus did say that Matthew 7 you're not the judge so don't judge others Matthew 7 7 there's my old license plate frame miss said Matthew 7 17 here's Matthew 7 7 judge not Jesus said all judgment Jesus said has been given to me by the father John 5 okay you're not the judge it's not your job to grant forgiveness that's Jesus job okay okay and so when you sin you need to exercise your faith that you've already had in the gospel and say this has been forgiven God has forgiven it he designed to forgive it before he created anything that was what election was about he spilled out all his wrath against that sin 2,000 years ago when Jesus bore that sin in his body and the cross and God the father spilled out his wrath injustice against Jesus to boy that sounded bad sorry against Jesus on the cross so that his justice is fulfilled towards that and with God he's just there's no double jeopardy doesn't punish Jesus and then punish you too so we don't call Jesus death inadequate the writer of Hebrews gets at this he talks about somebody being saved and then thinking they're not saved anymore and then having to come to faith again or some kind of scenario like that and he talks about that has trampling the blood of Jesus underfoot and we don't want to trample the blood of Jesus or call the blood of Jesus inadequate or not strong enough or having it or having not completed its task part of Jesus being faithful to the father was that his death took upon did with the father and send it to accomplish through Jesus took all the wrath for all your sins upon himself and our our obedience to him now is not to escape his wrath his wrath has already been spent against our sins our obedience now is because we loved him we want to glorify him we want to be like him we want to walk in his ways that's half of it the glorify God and the other reason is because God calls sin stupid right that's dumb for us we have natural consequences that we experience when we don't walk in God's ways and so we've got two motivations not to send and neither of those motivations the glory of God in that I don't bring natural consequences on myself right if I tell off my boss you know if I say you know you're so stupid I watched the sign fell episode this week written by Larry David about George telling off his boss because his boss sent out a memo that said you can't use the executive bathroom anymore and so George George goes in and tells his boss off you're stupid and everyone's making fun of you out there and then George realizes he doesn't have another job to go to and so it just shows up next Monday at work like nothing happened oh you thought I was serious oh you but but they're natural but George gets fired they're not natural consequences from our sins from the things we do and so we don't send because we want to be like God we want to fulfill our destiny be be an image of God on the earth and we don't send because we want do you don't want to experience the natural consequences of our sins so I don't throw another rock through that shed window right then I'd be in trouble I got understanding the first time my father would have still been gracious with me but it would have been tougher so be the thus because this God is gracious and the death of Jesus is so big and so adequate never believe in the also looking toward others never believe in the unlikelihood of a really sinful disbelieving person becoming a Christian and I put that's a way I wanted to put it but they tell you when you preach put in the positive so I had kind of a double negative there so here's your positive thus believe that all people can potentially be saved what we mean by this is that person who is spewing atheism right now and making fun of you because of your faith or that person who has a Muslim background and will be disowned by his family but it's one of your co-workers or a neighbor or that kind of thing don't look at that person and think all they'll never believe remember the Apostle Paul okay God is gracious he was gracious to Jeroboan he was gracious to Saul so always believe that all people can be potentially saved we don't know if they're elect or not but we know that it doesn't matter what they look like right now what matters is if they are elect which we'll never know so we just share the gospel and let God work and maybe he'll regenerate that person on the spot and they'll say you know what I've been resisting this all my life but I don't know why and we'll see faith right there before I maybe it's just something that'll stick in their head and six years later having not been able to get rid of this the Jesus is God and forgive sins and you know this curse always been nice to me at work why have I been resisting this and six years later they come to faith but believe that all people can potentially be saved all can come to faith in Jesus see another angle on this the graciousness of God so with the graciousness of God first of all know that all your sin none of your sins are too big and know that your sins are not too many second thing know that any unbeliever that you know can come to faith you know when we say oh they'll never believe God's just laughing you know if that person is is of his elect even if they're not God's laughing it's like you don't believe I could I could make you know God's not gonna change his election but you know I'd be tempted right to do that just to show you up you know he can change anybody now see know that God's graciousness to wicked idolaters who were among his people Jeroboam remember Jeroboam is in covenant with God he's one of God's people remember of one that's in tribes from the tribe of Ephraim God's graciousness to wicked idolaters who were among his people like Jeroboam shows us that he will be gracious to you when you sin in other words God is not just gracious to you before you come to Christ and also gracious to those who have not yet come to Christ and bringing to them salvation but God is also gracious to those like you who have come to Christ come to faith in Jesus and sin big sins and keep sinning and have many sins God is gracious here with a big sinner who is in covenant with him you've been in Sunday school a big boxer Jeroboam okay in covenant with God but sinning really big not just sitting for himself but leaning other people down half of sin and God is gracious to Jeroboam and all Jeroboam says that man of God is intercede for me and God just heals him God is gracious toward this great sinner who's a member of the church back then so number one you still may have to face natural consequences of sins in your life so God's word comes true there are certain disciplines that come and so when you don't you know yelter boss you may have consequences for that when you don't do what your parents tell you to do you may have consequences for that when you don't do your homework assignment you'll have consequences for that whatever authorities above you when you don't do what your authorities said there will be consequences but you're kind of walking through this verse these verses that I've listed for you verse two when there's false worship in 2nd Kings 23 there's this proclamation to you because this false worship that you priests who are leading this false worship your bones will be dug up the man of God says and burnt as a sign of God's curse when a descendant of David comes a long name Josiah and that happens in 2nd Kings 23 15 through 20 Leviticus 26 said there would be a covenant curse of exile if God's people departed from their worship of him and they refuse to listen to the prophets that the worst of all covenant curses Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 was exile and that indeed happens to Northern Israel in 2nd Kings chapter 17 or as Paul put it in Galatians 6 God will not be mocked a man will reap what he says and the man who says toward his sinful nature will reap the war will end chaos in other words but those who reap toward toward God toward their spirit toward the spirit of God within them will reap blessing and fruitfulness in their lives so you still may face natural consequences for your sins when you sin in your life but number two two but God will not cast you away he will not cast you away Deuteronomy 31 8 will be our benediction today it's one that I've said recently to you the Lord himself goes before you and will be with you he will never leave you nor forsake you do not be afraid do not be discouraged and now this is Moses talking to God's people before they went into the promised land the Lord himself will go before you he'll fight the battle but he gives this promise to his covenant people he will not leave you he will not forsake you and this promise is repeated to us and in the book of Hebrews in Hebrews 13 5 that's what the writer of Hebrews is quoting the old I will never leave you nor will I forsake you and so when you sin know that and if you think boy this is really a big sin not surprised even myself know that the Lord will not forsake you he will not cast you away first Peter 2 1 sorry first few 1 2 5 and you call for hold it worship you can look at that you are shielded true faith by the power of God until the coming of salvation which will be revealed when Jesus comes back you are shielded by the power of God God will keep you in covenant he will preserve your faith to the end and you will rejoice at the coming of Jesus and then number three in other words and just a review some we talked about if the father elected you that's Ephesians 1 4 if the spirit regenerated you to spiritual life that is if you gave your spiritual birth regenerated that's your blank that's Titus 3 5 it gave you life by a spirit regenerated you to spiritual life gave you spiritual birth then it also means that if he has regenerated you if you have eyes to see and ears here that means Jesus bore your sins all your sins that's your blank all your sins in his body and the cross if he hadn't born your sins the spirit wouldn't have regenerated you to life and the gospel would never have made sense and the spirit to death that meant the father elected you before the creation of the world Ephesians 1 4 and that Jesus came to the earth 2000 years ago to bear your sins in his body and across 1 Peter 2 24 so Romans 5 9 is true since we have now been justified by Jesus blood how much more so would be saved from God's wrath through him so if you believed don't worry don't worry God will not cast you out you may have natural consequences for your sins but God especially allows to come to you to discipline your to train you in righteousness as we've talked about recently but he will not cast you out your eternity is safe so d d thus always return to the Lord quickly upon your own great or many sins always return to the Lord quickly upon your great or many sins because God will always receive you because all of your sins were forgiven 2000 years ago when you sin even though you are surprised God the Father is not Jesus is not Jesus says yep I died for that one I remember that when I took that sin in my body on the cross and suffered the wrath of God for that God's not surprised so come to him right away even if he were surprised he saw you do it so that's why we're commended in scripture first John 1 confessed your sins this is one of the tests of what a true believer is and first John first John's full of all the tests of what a true believer is versus somebody who's a wolf or somebody who just leaves the church that it happened to the church in Ephesus the Timothy was pastoring and that's why John writes this letter first John to Timothy and it gives Timothy all these things to share with the congregation who was still there as opposed to those who had left and so first John John said Timothy you know if they had been of us they would not have left us but because they left us they know they were never we know they were never of us and one of the signs that God gives how do you know who a real Christian is first John 1 verses 7 through 9 a real Christian is one who confesses his sins because he knows his eternity is safe when your eternity is safe when you understand the gospel that all your sins were in Jesus body and the cross confessing your sins doesn't earn you eternal punishment or jeopardize your eternal punishment because your eternal punishment was taken care of two thousand years ago on the cross so don't hesitate when you sin to come to the Father right away and to confess your sin and to say Father I know that you know this but you told me confess my sins to you so I confess this to you and I know this was wrong and that's what John calls stepping back into the light instead of hiding going off into the darkness and hoping God doesn't see I'm learning now Psalm 139 and David says this you know even the darkness is as light to you you know because sure I thought surely the darkness will hide me and they says but but the night will be a day to you it's light to you you see all things and so we come to the Lord and we confess her since we return to the Lord quickly upon our own great or many sins knowing that God will always receive us and so that's what we saw there in Luke chapter 15 that's what Jesus presents to the people as he's talking about sin and Luke chapter 15 I should have put verse 1 on there too because the Pharisees were upset that Jesus is eating with text collectors and sinners and so Jesus tells three parables about how God always receives sinners who come to him in faith and one of these parables was the parable the the lost son who comes to his father and he comes to his father not quickly but when he repents of his sin he comes quickly and and and you see the Father's waiting for and the Father runs to greet him and says kill the fatty calf let's have a celebration in Jesus that you're communicating to you that's how the Father is when you come to him in confession when you have sinned when you have been the the prodigal son even just 30 seconds ago for a sin that lasted two seconds when you confess that sin the Father's response to that confession is the response of that Father of the prodigal son he rushes to you he sees your repentance and he comes to you and he says kill the fatty calf okay so return to the Lord quickly that's the lesson there now practical points for your living okay I always hate when people say well what's pretty beautiful something practical oh sorry I just taught you about God I know that's real junk yeah not if you do that I used to have that a long time ago but they're there always is practical stuff out of truth everything about God has true implications because we're to be like God we're to be godly okay so here's some practical things for you that come out of this truth that God is gracious so practical thing number one parents this is for you and you future parents this is for you parents be gracious to your kids God the Father in his fatherhood and his parenthood of you was gracious to you be gracious to your kids be like God in Christ who forgives all sins and disciplines toward improvement not with anger okay and that can be tricky sometimes but discipline for improvement because you care about your kid being gracious and at the same time while here's your wild clause here while yet holding up holding up the standard of biblical behavior there's not a divorce between being gracious and holding up biblical behavior so that your kids here's why you're gracious so that your kids will be free to come to you so we talk about a couple of things as deacons and elders two Saturdays ago we had our normal session meeting but we have the deacons in for a joint meeting together and we talked about two two things and one is is potentially giving our old chairs the dojo we gave them to redeem her and it turns out they didn't need them they were building an addition they didn't need them and so we found that out and so we you know I want to approach Eddie and Hunter who own this place about offering our chairs to them and then also we talked about maybe having a bigger screen here you know maybe we could do that and I was really nervous about this because I'm an introvert and I respect authorities and so I didn't want to come to them and I knew I'd be kind of sweaty and nervous and I knew they'd want to talk to me because I've been there you know point talk person since 1999 and that kind of thing and then you know I was driving up I'd coffee with Emily down at 1442 and I was driving up I didn't even call ahead of time because I was nervous about calling and what to say that kind of thing I'll just pop in on you know like when you're trying for a date with someone you like and you're trying to make a casual that's another sign spelled episode too it's a great one where George Hanks heard Jerry hangs out in the lobby of this woman that he wants to date he knows where she works but he doesn't know her name or her phone number but so I just popped in but on the way up here literally I'm route 42 I said why am I nervous everything we've ever needed from Eddie and Pandra it's done for us they've given us yeah they say oh you want coffee just use our coffee just use our coffee maker oh you need you know so we have a Christmas party and we order food and so Eddie hands us our bill and he's done this more than once we don't presume this is true but I had forgotten it he hands me the bill on on January 4th or whatever it was and I open the bill and it has all the stuff that we'd ordered for our Christmas party and it says all those all these things listed no charge thank you for being a part of the rainbow lane family why am I nervous asking them about giving them chairs and buying them a bigger TV why am I nervous that made no sense at all and want you to have and so I was not nervous then and I came in here and luckily Pandra was here filling in for somebody you didn't show up for work she's making a sandwich there I said hey Pandra I said I got a couple ideas I want to run by about our worship space if it's a good time not we can talk to somebody time and she's don't want to let us find let me just finish with the sandwich I'll grab Eddie and as I talked to him and they were delighted you know why didn't I just think that at first you know they've always been for our good and when we did officers training they just said no John I want you to know I can do a pretty good Eddie but I won't do it he said I just I just want you to know this is your part of your rent there's nothing extra for this whenever you need this place you can just have it that's just that's just part of the deal you know when you set for six months two two hours every Saturday morning you know for six months and no extra charge but that's the way we want to be with God this is a good God this is the prodigal father you know and he wants our good he's like well I hope he comes home so I can just show him how good I am and and give him joy and he can invite his friends and we can have a big party and and that's so that's that's that's the thing you want to parents you want to be this way with your kids so they are not hesitant to come towards you because they have they're convinced beyond all reasonable doubt that your good they're good is in your mind and that that will be happy and you know parents you know it's like you know if your kid ever come came to you and said you know dad I may not have seen it yet but I threw a rock through the window my dad would have been so proud I mean he has been why'd you do that but still to confess that you know that's something to be proud about your your son and your daughter about so so know that Ephesians 432 become kind and compassionate to one another forgiving each other just as God and Christ also is forgiving you so have your kids know they'll be forgiveness therefore them Ephesians 64 fathers do not exasperate your children instead bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord so parents teach your kids how to behave but but be gracious and forgiving toward them give instruction to them hold up the standard like my dad did with the with the shit now second thing kids this is for you kids go to your parents and admit your sins against their rules if they've got some rule something you've done that's against their rules go to them remember the prodigal father and his response my parents I mentioned you first you got to be like that but kids go to your parents and and with what you've done and trust that you'll find this response now third members of the church members that's your blank there come to your session come to your session with your sins and struggles quickly your line next line as this is so closely related don't seek to impress your session if you are impressing us I'm gonna tell you something that's 100% sure you are not impressing us we see people who are trying to impress us and that is just a red flag of spiritual immaturity and you can you can spot trying to impress us from a mile away okay and I don't see any of you trying to impress us stay that way you know who impresses us someone who comes to us and says I'm really struggling with something can you help me we're like wow you know that takes guts and they don't care about the approval of men they care about the approval of God approval of God and approval of God and they're not doing well and they care that they'll be doing well with God and and they're humiliating themselves before us their spiritual authorities and we as a session we see that and we let it we look at each other and say wow we've been in trips discipline issues like that and we've had people come just and they tell us all these ugly things they've done or embarrassing things we've done and and they go away and we're like wow so great and we're impressed with them because they're understanding of who God is is I have a forgiving God so I can admit nothing can harm me even if my session rejects me my God doesn't he's forgiven all my sins and if my session is anything like God is and I trust that they are they'll forgive me too and they will meet my sins with helpful instructions which is what I want because I'm experiencing the natural consequences of my sins or God's been gracious to me and I haven't met those natural consequences but I sense maybe the next time I do this I will and I want to reform before that happens so that God doesn't have to allow to come upon me so don't so come to your session with your sins and so so many people's lives shipwrecked are because they didn't come to their sessions they didn't come to their elders for help and they could have gotten help and they could have been things would have been so much better and some of you have come to this session and I remember those times I'm looking around here where you came and you were in trouble and and and and and have gotten in a place where you were in this pattern of sin and you came wisely in humility and said my my walking with Christ is more important than what the session and what my pastor thinks of me and you know what that did for me you know what that did for the session your our view of you and like this because God loves a humble and tried spirit not a proud one and so know that members so so come to us with your sin and struggle know that that's that's the response you'll get from this session parents be those parents gracious to your kids and uphold God's standard in instructing them seeing that they've had a hard time with this particular thing so say okay um like coach Kay when his players would not have a right attitude about something you could just call them to him and say you know what this isn't working well for you right now is it and was an anger um and it's like what can we do about this how can we get you in a better place both for the way you're playing and the way you're relating with the teammates um and so parents be that for your kids and kids come to your parents for help that's where they're here you know most of you you know your parents would die for you and so know they'd be willing to help you to not get yourself in in trouble or do you think that'll bring a very hard consequences to your life okay we'll end with we'll end with that um let's spread