Revelation

 

From Elizabeth Prata's blog on June 7, 2023

The word apocalypse comes from the Greek for “revelation,” or “unveiling.” It’s about future things dealing with the return of Christ and the events of the end time. Do you know that a third of the Bible is prophecy? Did you know that every book in the NT except Philemon speaks about the end times? It’s not just a Revelation thing. It’s a Jesus thing, and Jesus is throughout the entire Bible.

So what IS going to happen? Jesus is going to punish sin, plain and simple. Punishment is never pleasant, and Jesus said that the Apocalypse will be the worst time on earth there will ever be. (Matthew 24:21; Daniel 12:1b). Daniel 9:24 explains the 6 things God will do during the Apocalypse punishments. God, who is loving, wants us to be righteous so we can be with Him in heaven, so He sent Jesus. God, who is holy, is going to punish the unholy, who reject Jesus.

There will be earthquakes so bad that entire mountains crumble and islands flee away. One hundred pound hailstones will squash men. Plagues (and wars and beasts) will kill 1/3 of people. Demons will be let out of the abyss to inflict a painful bite so bad that people want to die: but can’t. They’ll chew their tongues in agony. Starving people will die in the streets, but no one will care. Things will come upon the earth so frightening that people have heart attacks on the spot. The sun and moon go dark, stars fall from the sky. Jesus said it will be so bad that if He let it go longer nobody would survive. As it is, 4 billion die within the 7 years. (Revelation 6-19).

Sin is real. God’s judgment of sin is real. Satan is real. Hell is real. The coming Antichrist is real. Everything in the Bible is real. Not any other book. Apocalypse will happen. The rapture will be the signal that it’s beginning.

How can I be so sure? Because for 43 years I had everything I ever wanted. Money, fame, comforts, ease, professional recognition, world travel, and yet I felt empty. I felt in my soul that there had to be something more. What was this longing? This hole I felt within me? (Ecclesiastes 3:1). Is this all there is? Live a life and then die? It seemed like a lot of trouble to go through just to die. Is there a heaven? Will I go there? I wondered all these things.

It was the lack of knowing Jesus that was the problem. He created us. (Rev 4:11) and because we are born with a sin-nature, I was separate from him. THAT’S what I was feeling. I had been trying to fill that hole with temporary and unfulfilling things. I finally found the answer, at middle age without ever having gone to a church (so I’m not brainwashed into Christianity, lol). When you confess your sins and repent to Jesus, He forgives you and He brings you to fellowship with Him. He sends the Holy Spirit to make the things of God understandable, like the Bible. (2 Corinthians 3:14). Before I was saved, the Bible made no sense. I thought it was stupid. I thought Bible thumpers and Jesus followers were stupid. After I repented, the Bible made total sense and I loved Jesus.

I now see death differently from all the rest of the world that has no hope. It is simply a transition, from something tiring and full of struggle, to something wondrous and glorious beyond compare. I have no fears of the Apocalypse, because I won’t be here to experience it. Those in Christ will be taken out of the way, because He is not angry with us. We’re forgiven sinners. He is angry with unrepentant sinners. O, it is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of an angry God!

I am very sure this age will come to a terrible end. I am sure that time is not long away. I am very sure that I will be lifted bodily away from earth to meet Jesus in the air at the rapture to live with Him forever. (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 1 Corinthians 15:50-54.) If you want that certainty too, then repent of your sins and turn to Jesus. Believe He is Lord, who sacrificially died to satisfy God’s wrath about sin and who was raised on the third day. I will be in heaven. I hope you will be too.

Today is the Day!

NOW IS THE TIME!!! 

(click on above)

War and Rumors of War Matthew 24:6

So many people, including many Christians, cannot make sense of what is happening in Ukraine. They cannot believe in 2022 something like this could occur and nothing or no one seems to be able to stop it. After all, we are a civilized world now with the voice of reason and we all want peace. Ah, wait a minute . . . . open the Bible, God's Word . . .  start reading.  Almost one third of the Bible is prophecy - some already fulfilled and some to be fulfilled. And because so much of past prophecy has already been fulfilled, we can rely on future prophecies to also come true. God actually tells us in His word the world will become increasingly evil and dark (Matt 24:12).

Man loves to believe that he is inherently good, but the Bible tells us how man's heart is corrupt and selfish (Gen 6:5). Humanists prefer to believe that we will eventually weed out evil and good will remain. Yes, there are stories of compassion coming from the war and we can thank God for those acts of kindness. His Holy Spirit and Angels are working to keep complete darkness from taking over. But the day will come when that very thing will take place and darkness will overtake the world (Joel 3:15). And what is happening today will seem like child's play. God help us.

Yes, God help us - and He does. He has provided a way out and that Way is Jesus Christ. Jesus came to reconcile us with the God who created all of us. Jesus who is God incarnate, took all of our sins upon himself and died a sinner's death in our place - my place and your place. He rose after 3 days, alive and victorious, so that we, too, may have eternal life with him. He defeated Satan and his demons, whose day of judgement is coming. Satan and his demons will be thrown into a lake of fire where they belong. Those who have chosen to repent and surrender their lives to the Lord will be forever with him, joyful and holy. There will no longer be any tears. (Rev 21:4).

So when you read on social media, "whatever your religion or belief," know that isn't true. There is only ONE WAY to the God of eternity - the true God - and that is through His Son, Jesus Christ. ALL other ways will fail and only take you to a destiny separated from God - an eternity in hell. We ALL have an eternal life. Make your choice to believe and surrender to Jesus today. The way things are going, the end could be closer than you think.

As Russia Invades Ukraine, Pastors Stay to Serve, Pray … and Resist

JAYSON CASPER|FEBRUARY 24, 2022 

“In our churches—whether it is Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant, or Evangelical churches—there are more new people. Not only on Sundays or Saturdays, but also during the week,” he told the Australian Bible Society news service. “On evenings when we have a Bible study, new people are coming. They want to pray, to hear something that brings hope or comfort.”

Rick Perhai, director of advanced degrees at KTS, said the international church he pastors in Kyiv has several leaders recommending the congregation continue its worship this coming Sunday. Some of their expat members have fled; others want to stay and join the fight.

He laments that the enemy is seeking to destroy Ukraine as its Christians grow more and more poised to carry the gospel to surrounding nations. Nonetheless, he is praying for the Russians, asking for God to grant them repentance.

But his petition is also imprecatory.

“Pray that the nation of Russia would tire of their tyrant’s rantings at home and abroad,” Perhai said, “and that they would remove him.”

Dyatlik also requested prayer for “the truth,” citing all the “perspectives” in the media.

“We did not invite the war. The Kremlin and Vladimir Putin brought it to Ukraine. … There is moral evaluation of the acts of aggression like this,” wrote the theological educator. “These acts have biblical definition and biblical evaluation. Please pray for the spiritual discernment about these things.”

Dyatlik closed his prayer letter with requests for believers on both sides of the conflict:

Please pray about Russian Christians that they would raise their prayers and voice toward Russian government to stop the aggression; [that they] would not keep silent; please pray for the Western governments, of the US and European Union.

Finally, please pray about Ukrainian Christians, that we will serve and live as the community of hope in a full sense of this term; that during these terrible times we would invite more and more people to the relationships with God and His children, to the relationships of love, hope, encouragement, support; that our minds and characters would continue to transform into the character of Jesus Christ.

Western nations have roundly condemned Putin, and readied sanctions. Reports circulated of Russians lining up at ATMs to withdraw their cash, fearful the nation would be cut off from the international banking system.

Meanwhile in Donetsk, where 25 missionary teams have been working to establish churches, gas lines require a wait of hours for a rationed supply of five gallons. Grocery stories suffer empty shelves, as Ukrainians stock up on emergency food and water.

Bandura conveys his supervisor’s two main prayer requests.

“First, to stop the aggressor,” he said. “But then for peace of mind, to respond with Christian character and not from human hate.”

The Hope and Darkness of Advent

Bonnie Kristian

Paris Orlando/Wikimedia Commons
December 8, 2019



Christmas is coming, but it is not yet.

Commercially, of course, this year's Christmas season is already long in the tooth. But if you are a Christian in a tradition which keeps the full Western liturgical calendar (and not all traditions do), it has yet to begin. Advent is the four Sundays before Christmas Day, the season of preparation for Christmas, for re-enacting the anticipation of God's rescue of humanity that starts with the birth of Jesus. It is a time of expectation rather than fulfillment, of longing rather than joy. It is the season for waiting.

Coming to this as we do, two millennia after the fact, it is difficult — for me, anyway — to feel this wait as real. I can't pretend I don't know the end of the story. I've heard its spoilers my whole life. And I am not by nature sentimental: The Christmas tree in our home is a concession to my marriage, not something I'd bother with on my own. (Among my earliest memories is when, at 3, I took my mother up on her threat to cancel Christmas if I continued to refuse to dress for the Christmas Eve service — and considered it a fair bargain.) But while I struggle to share in the Advent wait for Christ's first coming, I have no such difficulty participating in its dual anticipation of his return. And the yearning that entails is a yearning I think we all share, whether or not you're a Christian in an Advent tradition, or even a Christian at all.


It is, most basically, a yearning for justice. I don't mean the unsatisfactory justice we habitually encounter, the justice of courts and cops and prison. I don't mean anything so empty as retribution, which as the subject of yearning nearly always takes the uglier form of revenge.

The justice Christians hope for in the return of Jesus is far more than that. It is no sterile terror, no cruel machine that gnaws the innocent and guilty alike. It is the sense — more than that, the reality — that all is as it should be. It is as small as a perfect dinner with loved ones and as grand as the greatest wrongs of history coming under divine judgment, their victims finally, fully made whole. It is God dwelling among his people on a renewed Earth, where "there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." It is the redemption of everything, not only humanity, as "creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God."

It is an end to war and terrorism and abuse, yes, but also to the suffering of animals and the disfigurement of our planet. It is the realization of our hope that darkness will be broken by light, that death, evil, and oppression will not have the final word.

It may be tempting, when reading this, to say, "Well, that's all very nice, and naturally I would like that too, but that's not the real world. It's just a fairy tale for adults, or perhaps a falsely pious excuse to avoid the work of justice now, to imagine a future when God fixes it all for us so we are not responsible for fixing it ourselves." And that reaction would be very understandable, because too often Christians have used our expectation of Jesus returning in exactly that manner. There are even distorted theologies which explicitly make this move, condoning callousness about poverty because, in this age, "the poor you will always have with you" or dismissing concern over environmental destruction because "the Earth is going to be all burned up anyway. It's in the Bible."


But it's not, not like that, anyway. What the Bible describes, albeit in poetic, apocalyptic language very difficult for us to read in a culture which has lost the genre of apocalypse, is not "the abandonment of the present world, but rather its fulfillment," as N.T. Wright, a New Testament scholar who is among the most important living Christian theologians, has explained. "You don't liberate something by destroying it," Wright continues. "All the beauty, all the goodness, all the pulsating life of the present creation, is to be enhanced, lifted to a new level, in the world that is to be. ... [So] there is a strong incentive to work, in the present, to anticipate the new world in every possible way."

The occupation of those who live in this hope of justice is not to muck things up so God has more to make right. It is to work with God toward that good end, to act now, insofar as it is possible, as the sort of people we will be then. And I'd submit the appeal of this narrative is not an item of evidence for its falsehood: If the hope Advent offers is real, we would quite expect to find a longing for it in every human heart.

Advent, then, is a season of hope and darkness. It is a season which looks unflinchingly at the evil that now besets us and stubbornly insists its days are numbered. And then the joy of Christmas comes, bringing with it a gaiety which, T.S. Eliot tells us, must "not be forgotten in later experience/In the bored habituation, the fatigue, the tedium/The awareness of death, the consciousness of failure," so that our "accumulated memories of annual emotion/May be concentrated into a great joy/Which shall be also a great fear, as on the occasion/When fear came upon every soul:/Because the beginning shall remind us of the end/And the first coming of the second coming."

Christmas is coming, but it is not yet. Advent bids us wait, declaring justice is not yet either, but it will just as surely come.

Who Are Today's Watchmen?

 by Darris McNeely 

In ancient times, watchmen stood guard on a city's walls to see to the welfare of its citizens and to warn of coming trouble. Who is to do that job today in a dangerous world moving closer to the crisis of the close of the age?

Do we sigh and cry for the moral condition of our nation? Do we see the world through God’s eyes and understand how far people have strayed from His righteous commandments?

Through Isaiah the prophet, God promises the watchful eye of servants who will hold day and night vigils for the peace of Jerusalem and its inhabitants:

“I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; they shall never hold their peace day or night. You who make mention of the Lord, do not keep silent, and give Him no rest till He establishes and till He makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth” (Isaiah 62:6-7).

God charges this group to watch for the safety of the city and its citizens.

Walking in God’s laws and instruction insulates us from the course of the world and its deceptions.

These special servants understand the dangers of the present world. They see the dark clouds gathering on the world’s horizon and are moved to proclaim a warning message to all who will hear.

The message would also include teaching the way to personal peace for those who listen. It will show the true teaching of God and the way to salvation. It will show how one could choose to escape the judgment God will bring on the world.

Do you see yourself in this group of watchmen? Is there a role for you among those who watch today’s world and yearn to make it better? Putting a number of scriptural commands and principles together, it becomes clear that today’s true Christians are meant to shoulder this grave responsibility now in the last days. We are to share in the role of standing vigil like a watchman of old, and showing the way forward through the suffering and evil in much of our world.
Sigh and cry

We saw in part 1 of this article that Ezekiel was set as a watchman to the house of Israel (Ezekiel 3). God took Ezekiel in vision back to Jerusalem to observe the lifestyle of those Jews who were left behind when Nebuchadnezzar captured the city and took many captive to Babylon.

It seems that the majority of the populace had not learned from the many warnings to change their wicked ways. In Jerusalem the people continued to worship false gods and strange customs completely different from what God had given their forefathers. Violence was an everyday occurrence.

While in the temple—the heart of the city and the place representative of the presence of God—Ezekiel saw six men (angels actually) approach, each carrying a battle-ax. Another angel had a writer’s inkhorn; they all came and stood beside the altar (Ezekiel 9:1-2).

Next, God “called to the man clothed with linen, who had the writer’s inkhorn at his side; and the Lord said to him, ‘Go through the midst . . . of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it’ ” (Ezekiel 9:3-4).

God was going to send the six angels through the city to kill the disobedient. But those who were not caught up in sin and rebellion against God would be spared. Those who prayed from a heart sick with grief over the state of society were granted a mark that protected them from God’s judgment.

What was their distinguishing feature? Their active concern for the moral and ethical condition of the society. God honored that attitude.

Does this describe you or me? Do we sigh and cry for the moral condition of our nation? Do we see the world through God’s eyes and understand how far people have strayed from His righteous commandments?

If so, then we have a duty to help others understand what is coming when God sets His hand in judgment on the nations.
A national affliction

Today America and Great Britain stand at a crossroads. For more than 200 years they have dominated the world in virtually every arena. As Great Britain retreated from its empire after World War II, America was there to take its place and continue the legacy set by the English through their peak years.

But America’s dominant power is under siege from many sectors. Its will to stay the course in Iraq is being tested, its military machine strained under the pressure of the extended fighting. Though it is the primary engine for the world’s economy, a weakened dollar and a trade balance deficit are both troubling indicators of a major crisis ahead.

God warns us through the message of the prophets that sins will demand a day of reckoning. People cannot continue worshiping the false gods of materialism and self, blindly stumbling along in their own righteousness, and expect their affluent standard of living to continue.

God’s Word confirms there will be an accounting; the lesson of history is that any people who corrupt their moral core will eventually fade from power. God calls on America and Great Britain to wake up, acknowledge their sins and repent before national calamity descends on them.
“Do this and live”

Amos the prophet walked into the city of Samaria, capital of the northern kingdom of Israel, and boldly told the king and city leaders to repent or face captivity at the hands of the Assyrians. He pointed to neighboring states that had fallen and said, “You are no better than they were.”

He rebuked those who did not want to hear a “message of doom.” To those who stocked their homes with the finest luxury goods and gourmet foods, trusting that affluence was a sign of God’s blessing, he said, “Don’t trust in materialism.” The citizenry, at all levels, looked only to their comfort and ease and did not grieve “for the affliction of Joseph” (Amos 6:6).

Those who “grieve” and “sigh and cry” over societal sins are called to a unique role. They are part of God’s elect, called to the duty of proclaiming the announcement of the Kingdom of God. That message includes the good news of Jesus Christ’s return to restore all things (see Acts 3:19-21). The message also contains a warning to repent and receive God’s blessing or ignore the warning and face the judgment of God. It is a double-edged message—plain-spoken, yet full of hope.

Fulfilling this role requires courage, perseverance and a love for the people addressed. One of the best examples of this was the prophet Jeremiah. Jeremiah spent more than 40 years in the role of a watchman to the nation of Judah, urging people to heed his warnings and return to the ways of God.

Notice this passage: “Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; then you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it’ ” (Jeremiah 6:16).

God’s main message throughout the Bible is to return to His paths, His teachings, as the solution for the suffering and pain of human life. “Do this and live,” He says.

Jeremiah and others like him have stood in the role of a watchman. “Also, I set watchmen over you, saying, ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’ But they said, ‘We will not listen.’ Therefore hear, you nations … Behold, I will certainly bring calamity on this people —the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not heeded My words nor My law, but rejected it” (Jeremiah 6:17-19).
Today’s watchmen

Examining the concept of watching in the New Testament helps to complete the picture of this role. The Greek word gregoreo, translated as “watch,” means to keep awake, to watch and to take heed. Through neglect or laziness we could let down and be overcome with sin, or a sudden calamity could overwhelm us spiritually.

Notice in Mark 13:32-37, in Jesus’ prophecy of the end time, that He urges His disciples three times to “watch” during the times leading to His second coming. The emphasis is on a personal watch through prayer to know the times.

By prayer and righteous living, we stay tuned to Jesus Christ. Through this way of life one can discern the moral climate of the times and avoid being tossed around with every shifting ideology of modern culture. Walking in God’s laws and instruction insulates us from the course of the world and its deceptions.

Revelation 16 describes a massive end-time deception perpetrated by Satan and demons that work through the human instruments called “the Beast” and “the False Prophet” (Revelation 16:13). Their influence gathers the leaders of the earth “to the battle of that great day of God Almighty . . . to the place called in Hebrew, Armageddon” (Revelation 16:14-16).

In our fascination over these otherworldly figures, we can easily skip over Christ’s charge: “Behold, I am coming as a thief”—suddenly and unexpectedly. “Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame” (Revelation 16:15, emphasis added throughout).

Jesus pronounces a blessing for those who, during mankind’s darkest moment, watch. That is, they are living prudently and properly. The natural by-product of this close relationship with God is being alert to religious deception. Those who frame their life around the coming Kingdom of God will watch and keep themselves from the wiles of the devil.

This is the end result of fulfilling the role of a watchman within the Body of Christ—to be found standing in the faith, blessed of God at the dawn of His Kingdom on this earth.

Our world is moving toward this time of global cataclysm. Revelation 16 describes a future moment when people will be caught up in events engineered through the Beast and False Prophet. The former is a political leader of compelling personality and ability; and the other, a religious leader unlike any in modern times.Together they will convince armies to move toward Jerusalem to fight Jesus Christ at His coming.
Warning and hope

This is a time for the watchmen to mount the walls and sound a clear, unmistakable warning message of the dangers facing not just the English-speaking peoples but also the whole world. It is a time to make known the hope of the coming Kingdom of God.

Isaiah’s message stands bright and clear today: “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who proclaims peace, who brings glad tidings of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’ Your watchmen shall lift up their voices, with their voices they shall sing together; for they shall see eye to eye when the Lord brings back Zion” (Isaiah 52:7).

Come, take your place on the walls, work for the Kingdom and pray for its speedy arrival!

The question is not "why do bad things happen

to good people?" - the question is "why do

good things happen to bad people?"

Peter Kreeft

Sermon: Psalm 51, A broken and contrite heart

by Matt Slick

"Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions. 2     Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.     3     For I know my transgressions,And my sin is ever before me.     4     Against You, You only, I have sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You are justified when You speak and blameless when You judge.     5     Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.     6     Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being, and in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom.     7     Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.     8     Make me to hear joy and gladness, let the bones which You have broken rejoice.      9     Hide Your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities. 10     Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.     11     Do not cast me away from Your presence and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.     12     Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit.     13     Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners will be converted to You.  Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation;  Then my tongue will joyfully sing of Your righteousness.  15 O Lord, open my lips, that my mouth may declare Your praise.  16 For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; You are not pleased with burnt offering.  17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.  18 By Your favor do good to Zion; Build the walls of Jerusalem.  19 Then You will delight in righteous sacrifices, In burnt offering and whole burnt offering; Then young bulls will be offered on Your altar."

Being king must have gone to David's head.  He may have thought himself above even the Law of God.  He set aside all his morals, scruples, and ethics to follow the way of his selfish desire.  He looked with lust on Bathsheba as she bathed; he had her brought to his palace and engaged in an adulterous alliance with her.  Then when she told him she was pregnant, he tried to cover his sin by having her husband Uriah brought home from battle for some R&R.  Uriah refused the luxury of sleeping at home, so David had him abandoned in the front lines of battle where he was slain.

This was no sin of impulse.  David wasn't just caught up in circumstances beyond his control.  He planned and plotted to carry out his sin, and he put great effort into concealing it.  This Psalm reveals David's folly and restoration.  It is the Psalm of the changed heart.  David's story could be told and retold under a hundred different scenarios.  Maybe this Psalm relates your own story.  This morning let me relate a situation that parallels and illustrates the universal process of spiritual recovery.

When he was just 19, Al Johnson had joined two other men in robbing a Kansas bank.  The case was closed after the two other criminals were killed in an auto crash and were mistakenly identified by bank officials as the robbers.  Al felt sure he would never be caught.  He married a Christian girl and even pretended to be a Christian.  She knew nothing of his past crime.  Then someone sent him a tract in the mail entitled, "God's Plan of Salvation."  Reading it, he noticed the Bible verse that said, "whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved."  The realization struck that salvation was for him.  He could be forgiven and his conscience set free.  The guilt of his crime accused him, the cowardice of hiding his crime shamed him.  He realized his guilt and hated it.  That is the first step in having a changed heart.  David took it, and so must we.  What is the first step to a changed heart?

1. CONTRITION: V17:  "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise"
   1. David spoke of a broken and contrite heart.  The word for "contrite" means
      1. To be bowed down with the awareness of our spiritual bankruptcy.
      2. That our inner spirit is crushed with a sense of its guilt.
      3. That we have a genuine and deep sorrow for our rebellion against God and a determined desire to do differently.
   2. A contrite heart
      1. Does not seek to rationalize or explain or excuse or defend or justify sin.
      2. Does not try to fool God or others or self.  It recognizes that God demands truth and honesty.
      3. Does not mean merely feeling bad or remorseful about sin!
      4. Does not seek to blame circumstances or other people or God for our own failure.
         1. Remember Adam saying, "The woman YOU gave me handed me the fruit and I ate it.  Eve pointed to the serpent and said, "He deceived me and I ate."  He blamed God and Eve; she blamed the serpent.
         2. Can't you just hear David doing something like that?  Blaming God or blaming Bathsheba: "Lord, if you hadn't made me king I wouldn't have been walking on the palace roof in the first place.  And besides, did you see what she wasn't wearing?"
         3. Maybe we do the same thing: "Well, Lord, if you were married to this jerk, you'd cheat, too!"  Or "It's not my fault; the boss is so cheap I have to steal from the company to survive!"  Or, "If I didn't have such terrible neighbors, I wouldn't lose my temper as much!"
   3. A contrite heart recognizes that sin is:
      1. A spiritual crime since it is a violation of God's laws.
      2. An offense against all that is decent and moral and right.
      3. Rebellion, disobedience, and stubbornness of heart.
   4. When we become aware of our sins, iniquities and transgressions and are contrite, we need to know that
      1. God isn't interested in empty apologies.
      2. God doesn't want cheap promises or resolutions.
      3. God cares nothing for our efforts to balance evil with a little more good.
      4. God desires a broken and contrite heart which is the true sacrifice of one who determines to turn from sin, to forsake sin, and to abandon it.

Al Johnson became convicted of sin, was contrite, humbled his heart and decided to truly forsake his sin and to follow Jesus Christ.  When he did, his life changed.  He stopped a lifelong habit of lying and cheating.  And after much thought and prayer, he confessed his crime.  His confession made television newscasts and newspaper headlines.  Honest acknowledgment of sin is an essential in our own lives, too; and it was another step in David's reclamation.  What is the next step in having a changed heart?

1. CONFESSION: verses 3, 4:  "For I know my transgressions, And my sin is ever before me.  4 Against Thee, Thee only, I have sinned, And done what is evil in Thy sight, So that Thou art justified when Thou dost speak, And blameless when Thou dost judge."
   1. There are two sides to his confession:
      1. He confessed to himself: "I know, I am acquainted with, and recognize my sin! I cannot deny it or escape it or forget it.  The memory haunts me, the devil accuses me, the sin taunts me; and it is always before me."
      2. He confessed to God: "Against You only have I sinned."
   2. Along with his admission of guilt is a confession of God's correctness and justice in judging him for his sin.  David makes no plea for indulgent lenience or permissiveness, no claim that God is being too hard on him, and no appeal for a light sentence.  Simply put, it is, "I am wrong; you are right!"
   3. Genuine confession demands:
      1. A right estimate of sin.  It is not a mistake or a slip or mischief.
      2. A right attitude to sin.  A loathing, a disgust, a disapproval.
      3. A right conduct regarding sin.  A forsaking of and a determined renunciation of sin.
   4. This brings us to the cross of Christ.
      1. At the cross, we do not hide our sins but confess them and trust the Savior to wipe them away.
   5. Solomon said, "He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, But he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion." Proverbs 28:13.  To confess demands the honesty of:
      1. It was Isaiah who said, "Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, . . . " Isaiah 6:5.
      2. It was Peter who fell at Jesus' feet and said, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!" Luke 5:8.
      3. The publican smote his breast and prayed, "God, be merciful to me, the sinner!" Luke 18:13.
      4. Paul who declared "It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all." 1 Timothy 1:15.

Al Johnson, convicted of sin, converted to Christ, went and tried to make things right with the state by confessing his crime.  As it turned out, under a Kansas statute of limitations, he was set free.  There was no penalty that could legally attach to him for his crime.  David experienced something even better than that.  And there is something even better for the Christian.  There is forgiveness, justification, salvation.  Let's consider, then, the last step in having a changed heart:

1. CLEANSING: verses 7, 9, 10:  "Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. . . 9 Hide Thy face from my sins, And blot out all my iniquities.  10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me."
   1. David recognized the filth and grime of his sin and wanted to be cleansed of it.
      1. He said, "Purge me, purify me, and wash me."  The words he uses imply a thorough scrubbing.  One pictures an old time mother with her child at the sink scrubbing him until his skin literally shines and squeaks.
      2. He said, "Blot out my iniquities."  It is the image of erasure where a mark is totally obliterated, wiped away, and removed.
      3. He said, "Create in me a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within me."  David knew the inclination of one's heart to evil.
         1. He knew that "every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."Genesis 6:5.
         2. He knew that "The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick."Jeremiah 17:9.
   2. It was not David's desire, nor God's intent, to gloss over or to wink at or to indulge sin. Sin had to go.
   3. It is not while we indulge or excuse or conceal sin but when we have experienced God's cleansing, that we can know the joy of His salvation.
   4. Sometimes we have door-to-door salesmen trying to sell us some "Miracle Cleaner" that will remove everything from berry stains to tattoos.  Never works!  But God has a cleanser that never fails: "the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin."  1 John 1:7.  All sin, all times, all people, always.

Conclusion

In a sense, the statute of limitations had cleansed Al of all punishment.  Yet, although he was beyond the scope of law to punish him, he still chose to repay his share of the stolen funds to the bank.  In time he became the manager of a service station, the father of three admiring children, and an outstanding Christian layman.  But he didn't do that alone.  David couldn't do it alone.

Someone once said, "Man cannot cope with guilt alone.  I don't care how many worship services you attend or good deeds you do, your goodness is insufficient.  You can't be good enough to deserve forgiveness . . . No one.  Not you, not me, not anyone.  Quit trying to quench your own guilt.  You can't do it.  There's no way.  I don't care how bad you are.  You can't be bad enough to forget it.  And I don't care how good you are.  You can't be good enough to overcome it.  You need a Savior."  And, for those who come to Jesus Christ in contrition and confession, He is that savior.  Will you come to Him?  Will you ask Him to cleanse your heart?  Will you allow Him to transform your life?  Will you experience the salvation He, and He only, can provide?  This is the moment to decide as you ask Him to change your heart.