Daily Devotional For Saturday, October 19, 2024
Yes! Yes! Saturday is here. I pray that your week so far has been one where God used you to make a difference in another person’s life, especially someone who is lost. They do not have a personal relationship to Jesus Christ other than knowing who He is. If you have been reading these devotionals, you know we are making our way through Jesus’ Sermon On The Mount found in Matthew chapters 5, 6, & 7. We have completed Matthew 5 and now we are in Matthew 6, looking at what has been traditionally called “The Lord’s Prayer.” As I have already told you, many Bible scholars call this prayer, “The Disciples’s Prayer,” since Jesus gave it to His disciples as a model to follow when they pray.
We have already looked at parts of this prayer and now we are in Matthew 6:12, “And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” (NASB). Let’s face the music here. Our greatest problem is sin and our greatest need is forgiveness. Forgiveness is so important that Matthew mentions it six times in Matthew 6:9-15. This is really the main theme here.
When we received Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we immediately received God’s judicial verdict of “Paid in Full” for our sinful nature. This means we no longer stand condemned before God. This is Paul’s point in Romans 8:1, “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (NASB). This means that no one, not an angel, not the devil, not a demon and not any person can bring any kind charge or accusation against us. There are people and demonic beings who love to do this.
We read about this in Revelation 12:10, “Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, `Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night’” (NASB). The Bible affirms once saved, we are chargeless. Look at Romans 8:33-34, “Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; (34) who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us” (NASB).
But that does not mean we are innocent and guiltless. We still sin and for that we need forgiveness. Prior to salvation, we needed God’s forgiveness as Judge. But once saved, we need God’s forgiveness according to Jesus at the beginning of this as Father (Abba). One of the earliest Bible passages I memorized when I was young was 1 John 1:8-9, “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. (9) If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (NASB). Some people see God as some kind of vindictive deity, but in reality, He wants to forgive. He is eager to forgive. Look at Nehemiah 9:17b, But You are a God of forgiveness, Gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger and abounding in loving kindness; And You did not forsake them” (NASB).
This means we all must be honest with ourselves as well as to God. Many people, including some who call themselves a Christian, are reluctant to acknowledge their sin nor feel a need to confess it to God and seek His forgiveness. We have an almost demonic aspect to ourselves when it comes to this. We have a tendency to think we are better than some people, when God says we are not. God says this in Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (NASB). What does “all” include? Every single person, which includes you and me. We compare our lives to someone else we deem is a worse sinner than us and feel we are better. But the truth is no one, not Billy Graham or Chuck Swindoll and not Jeffrey Dahmer or Adolph Hitler, are the standard we should compare ourselves to in life. God is the standard and He compares us to Himself. So, let me ask you, when you compare yourself to the perfect, sinless, holy, and righteous God, how did you fair? Need I say more on this!
This means we must be willing to confess our sins to God uninhibited. No ignoring, no rationalizing, no relabeling, and no denying of our sin. We come totally clean to God. There is nothing we can hide from Him as we hide from others, not even our sinful thoughts. We do not come clean before God, we cannot stay clean in life. Look at Proverbs 28:13, “He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, But he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion” (NASB).
Pastor and author John Stott writes this:
“One of the surest antidotes to the process of moral hardening is the disciplined practice of uncovering our sins of thought and outlook, as well as of word and of deed, and the repentant forsaking of them” (Source: John Stott, Confess Your Sins, p. 19).
This means we never view our eternal forgiveness before God as a license to sin. Look at Romans 6:1-2, What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? (2) May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?” (NASB). Confession of sin is more than just praying, “Lord, forgive me of my sins.” What sins? The Greek New Testament word for “confess” is [ὁμολογέω, homologeo}. This word means “to say the same thing as.” Meaning, if God calls our attitude or action a sin, we do too. We call it what it is – sin.
One of the best expressions of humility is when we confess our sins to God, we name them. Why? Naming them shows humility, remorse, regret, repentance and sorrow. As vast and evil our sin is, Jesus Christ is vast in His willingness to forgive us our sins even more. New Testament scholar Douglas Sean O’Donnell writes this:
“Think of it this way. Let’s say you owe the government $100,000 for school loans. You are well aware of the severity of the hole you are in financially. What we are asking God to do here is like you asking the government to cancel what is owed. If you have any personal pride or honor, it seems like a shameless thing to do. But that is precisely what Jesus calls us to do. We are to put aside our pride and ask our Father for what we need—our debt forgiven” (Source: Douglas Sean O’Donnell, Preaching The Word, “Matthew: All Authority in Heaven and on Earth, p. 170).
Questions To Consider
- Are you genuinely remorseful, sorrowful and regretful over your sins? What is the proof?
- Do you ever feel or compare your sins to others and think you are better? Why? The devil and his demons love to accuse us to our heavenly Father. Why do you think they do this? What do you think is God's response and why?
- Are there any attitudes or actions God calls sin, but you tend to call it something else – a struggle? A habit? A compulsion? An addiction? Rather than calling it a sin? Why?
- Do you name your individual sins to God when you confess your sins or do you simply pray something such as, “God, forgive me of my sins”? Why?
- What do you think is the most challenging aspect to confessing our sins to God and why?
Scripture To Meditate On: Psalm 51:17, “The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God” (NLT).
Prayer To Pray: “Dear Jesus, I have to admit that I am not always broken, sorrowful and remorseful over my sin. I have to admit that instead of “saying the same thing” about my sin as you do, I have a clever way of calling it something else. Please forgive me for my pride, my comparing myself to others and their sins, to rationalizing my sin and for being quick to judge others. Please convict me to depict my sins before You honestly. I love You Jesus. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
I love you Southside!--Pastor Kelly