Clean Slate

• we all know people who have experienced some sort of tragic failure in their lives
• as a young Christian, one of my favorite authors was Gordon MacDonald, a pastor from Lexington, Massachusetts
• his book, Ordering Your Private World, literally changed my life
• as new books came out, I would purchase and read them
• I remember the day that I was told that he had experienced a moral failure and was out of the ministry
• I felt like my heart had been ripped out of my ribcage
• but you know people as well who have gone through a similar crisis
• we all know of former preachers who have seen their ministries come tumbling down
• on a closer level, we probably all have friends or relatives whose lives have imploded through the abuse of alcohol, drugs, or some other vice
• perhaps it’s even been you
• as this new year begins, I think it’s only fitting to talk about starting out with a clean slate
• a precious passage of Scripture says this:
• (Psalms 103:11) For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him;
• (Psalms 103:12) as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
• the Bible tells us that we can experience God’s forgiveness, so much that our sins are removed from us as far as it could be
• it’s as if God has taken all of our sins to the airport and flown them to the most remote part of the earth
• so far has God removed his sins from us
• I want to talk about our guilt and God’s forgiveness this morning
• much of what I’ll talk about I learned from Gordon MacDonald and the years after his moral failure
• to his credit, but ultimately to God’s credit and by his grace, Gordon MacDonald rebuilt his broken world and continues to have a powerful ministry today
• in fact, I would say that some of his best books have been written after his moral failure, and after a period of being on the sidelines
• but here’s what I’ve learned about our guilt and God’s grace
• BROKEN LIVES ARE UNIVERSAL
• Sir Arthur Conan Doyle decided to play a practical joke on twelve of his friends
• he sent them each a telegram that said, “Flee at once…all is discovered”
• within twenty-four hours, all twelve had left the country
• we tend to think that lives that have been devastated and broken by sin are the exception and not the rule
• we think that it’s unusual when a life implodes from sin run wild
• but listen to the truth: the Bible is chock-full of people who whose lives were destroyed by self-inflicted sin
• I would argue from Scripture that it’s the rule, and not the exception
• I would go so far as to say that all God’s servants are cracked pots
• we’re not just jars of clay, as the apostle Paul says, we’re actually cracked pots
• and our need for God’s grace is universal
• you already know the Biblical teaching that all of us have sinned
• I’m not just talking about the fact all Biblical personalities, except Jesus, sinned
• I’m talking about a serious moral failure in many of their lives that was so serious, it had a dramatic effect on their lives
• think of Moses – 40 years old, and a murderer
• for forty years, he lived with the consequences of a moment of heated passion
• he went from a position of privilege to being a fugitive
• think of David
• there was never a greater king in Israel
• but one day, he’s out on the rooftop and ends up committing adultery and murder
• David, called “a man after God’s own heart,” commits the age-old sin of adultery, and his reign is never quite the same
• think also of Jonah
• Jonah’s a prophet, and he ends up deep in the sea, in a belly of a whale, because he makes a dramatic choice to disobey God
• and what about Peter?
• denying the Lord, and the Scripture says that when he heard the rooster crow for the third time, as Jesus had said it would, he went outside and wept bitterly
• I used to think these men were personally admirable, and had extraordinary human qualities, and maybe they did
• but I’ll tell you what I think now: they’re nothing more than trophies of God’s grace
• the beautiful thing is, God didn’t write these men off
• Moses began his life, in some ways, at age 80, well after his life blew apart from sin
• David was still used by God after his reign, even though he made a disastrous choice in sinning with Bathsheba and murdering Uriah
• after Jonah repented and was spit up from the belly of a whale, he went to Nineveh and the entire city repented
• and Peter, after denying his Lord, went on to be a powerful apostle used by God to bring thousands of people into the church
• the good news is, God doesn’t write us off
• if you’ve ever had the experience of crashing your car, you know that the insurance company looks at the damage to your car and the value of the car, and if the damage is greater than the value, they write the car off
• they don’t fix it; they trash it
• praise God that when he looks at the damage we’ve done to our lives, he doesn’t write us off, even though many times, the damage we’ve done looks greater to us than our value
• Romans 5:20 says:
• (Romans 5:20) But where sin increased, grace increased all the more.
• this verse could literally be translated, “Where sin abounded, grace super-abounded”
• God’s grace is greater than our sin, no matter how serious the sin
• a characteristic of all God’s servants who have been powerfully used is repentance, not sinlessness
• none of God’s servants have been sinless, except Jesus
• but all of God’s servants who sinned were also repentant, and God used the powerfully
• this morning, on the first Sunday of 1998, you can start out with a clean slate
• the fact that you’ve mucked up your life can become history today
• you can come to God in repentance, and he can use you in 1998
• as far as the east is from the west, that’s how far God can remove your sin from you
• I want to pray, right now, and give you the opportunity to respond to this truth
• maybe it’s time to come to God in repentance, and to ask God to cleanse you from some sin that’s been in your life
• perhaps you’ve believed that your sin has been so great that God can’t use you
• you can echo the words of David:
• (Psalms 51:1) Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.
• (Psalms 51:2) Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.
• (Psalms 51:3) For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.
• (Psalms 51:4) Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge.
• (Psalms 51:10) Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
• (Psalms 51:11) Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.
• (Psalms 51:12) Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
• (Psalms 51:13) Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you.
• would you pray with me?
• [chorus: Create In Me a Clean Heart]
• I’ve talked this morning about the first lesson I’ve learned, that broken lives are universal
• there’s another lesson I’ve learned
• IT COULD HAPPEN TO YOU; IT COULD HAPPEN TO ME
• remember what happened to Peter?
• (Matthew 26:33) Peter replied, “Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will.”
• (Matthew 26:34) “I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “this very night, before the rooster crows, you will di sown me three times.”
• (Matthew 26:35) But Peter declared, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.” And all the other disciples said the same.
• I’ve found that Satan attacks us often where we feel the most invulnerable
• beware the words, “It couldn’t happen to me!”
• Gordon MacDonald tells the story of the young German pilot who rented a small, single-engine airplane from Denmark and flew into the most guarded airspace in the world
• he entered what was then the Soviet Union, buzzed the Kremlin, and landed in Red Square
• a city’s most powerful defenses were thwarted
• part of the reason was probably that those on guard that day saw only a small blip on the radar
• they were perhaps relaxed and had a false sense of security
• and all of a sudden, something that began as a harmless incident became a matter of world-shaking significance
• I’ve learned never to say these words: “It couldn’t happen to me”
• when I hear of pastors who have to leave the ministry because of moral failures, I never say, “It couldn’t happen to me”
• I pray to God that it doesn’t happen, but I’ve learned something
• the moment we feel confident in our own strength in a certain area, we’re vulnerable to Satan’s attack(1 Corinthians 10:12) So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!
• Oswald Chambers wrote, “The Bible characters never fell on their weak points but on their strong ones; unguarded strength is double weakness”
• Gordon MacDonald had a strong relationship with his wife, Gail
• he said that if there is one place he wouldn’t fail, it was his marriage
• never say, “It won’t happen to me”
• there’s another truth I firmly believe
• THE CHURCH IS THE COMMUNITY OF THE FORGIVEN
• we could call believers many things, including saints, but this morning I want to call believers the forgiven
• I’ve learned this from no less than Augustine, someone we call a saint, who never forgot his broken past
• he wrote in his Confessions:

For what am I without thee, but a guide to mine own downfall? Or what am I even at the best, but an infant seeking milk, and feeding upon thee, the Food incorruptible? But what kind of thing is any man, seeing that he is but a man? Let now the strong and the mighty laugh, but let us weak and needy souls ever confess unto thee.

• did you hear that last part?
• we’re “weak and needy souls” who are ever confessing to God
• C.S. Lewis said it well:
• “Think of me as a fellow-patient in the same hospital who, having been admitted a little earlier, could give some advice”
• I like that
• we’re fellow-patients in the hospital
• about the only difference between us is how long we’ve been admitted
• Paul wrote to the Corinthians:
• (1 Corinthians 6:9) Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders
• (1 Corinthians 6:10) nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
• (1 Corinthians 6:11) And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
• did you read that?
• “And that is what some of you were”
• the church isn’t a collection of people who have it all together
• we’re a collection of sinners who have been touched by God’s grace
• I love the hymn, “Only a sinner saved by grace”
• what a difference there would be in the church if we all acted like this!
• we would truly be a community of the redeemed, and our sign outside would say something like, “Sinners welcome here”
• we’d be a hospital for the sin-sick
• that’s really what we are, isn’t it?
• a local newspaper once ran this classified ad:
• “Son, I know you are in the city. Please call your father collect. I love you son”
• you know what this was?
• an offering of grace to a son who had strayed
• but it didn’t matter to the father; he just wanted his son back
• that’s the sort of grace that should characterize the church
• there’s a church in north Toronto that put out a sign on their front lawn saying something like this: “Welcome back to your church home – no questions asked”
• they’ve had scores of phone calls from people, some of them in tears, asking, “Do you really mean that?”
• what if our churches put out the welcome mat and said, “Sinners welcome here”
• if we don’t welcome sinners here, who are we going to welcome?
• we will welcome sinners and preach repentance, and let them know that we are nothing more than sinners saved by grace
• that’s a good way to start 1998
• we can start with a clean slate, believing God that no matter how much we’ve sinned, his grace is greater
• we can come this morning in repentance and receive his gift of forgiveness
• we can humble ourselves and realize our vulnerability
• and we can let other sinners know that when they come to church, they won’t be the only sinner there