Gaylord Diaz's Blog

YOUR SIN AND GOD’S LOVE

Many people do not believe that God loves them, they have a hard time accepting God’s love, because they believe they’re so unworthy of God’s love. Why are they unworthy? Because they’re sinful and imperfect. They’ve sinned.

But, brethren, GOD’S LOVE FOR YOU ISN’T CONDITIONED ON YOU BEING SINLESS OR PERFECT. IT NEVER WAS. IT NEVER WILL BE. If God’s love for you was conditioned on you being perfect or good He wouldn’t have loved you in the first place because you weren’t good;  you were a sinner. But God loved you as a sinner and it is a settled truth that He won’t quit loving you now that you’re a son.

Now if you’re in a habitual state of sin, that is, you’re continually sinning, then repenting, then committing the same sin again, then repenting; it’s as if you have no control, but you’re enslaved or compelled to sin; then you do have something to be truly concerned about. God doesn’t hear, or answer, the prayers of those who continually sin. Psalm 66:18 tells us, If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. John goes on to say in 1 John 3:22, And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. It’s not our purpose today to talk about Christians who continually sin. This is another sermon for another day. If you’re not a habitual sinner, this sermon is for you. The Lord’s talking to you.

None of us are perfect. None of us are sinless. Even after years in God’s family, all of us are still capable of sinning. We strive not to sin. We don’t want to sin. But the fact of the matter is, from time to time, we’ve all sinned.

Now when you sin God is displeased with you. God hates sin. And yes, God does get mad. His madness or anger, however, isn’t sin. He could get mad and still not sin. But God’s anger or displeasure doesn’t mean He doesn’t love you anymore. He’s grieved with you when you sin, but His grief doesn’t mean He’s quit loving you. Brethren, His compassions fail not.

When your children disobey you, you’re grieved. But do you know what? You still love them. Why? Because they’re your children. You love them no matter what. You would even die to protect them. You may be angry with them, you may be displeased and disagree strongly with what they’ve done. But the bottom line is, you still love them.

Brethren, God’s love for you is something like this, only more and a lot greater. Just as your children’s misbehavior doesn’t end the love you have for them, so your own misbehavior as God’s son or daughter doesn’t end the love He has for you. GOD, BRETHREN, LOVES YOU NO MATTER WHAT. HE KEEPS ON LOVING YOU EVEN WHEN YOU’VE SINNED. EVEN WHEN HE’S ANGRY WITH YOU.

Now you need to know that when you sin there are consequences you’ll have to suffer. God’s anger doesn’t mean He doesn’t love you. But it also doesn’t mean He won’t discipline you. You discipline your children when they misbehave. Guess what.  God does the same thing with you. He disciplines you when you miss it or when you mess up. God’s love, you see, doesn’t mean He won’t ever discipline you. It doesn’t mean you won’t ever have to suffer the consequences of your sin. You will suffer. You will be disciplined. But only because God loves you.

Hebrews 12:6 reads,  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. God’s discipline is meant to drive foolishness out of you and make you a better Christian. Hebrews 12:11 goes on to say, Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.

So what’s the point in all this? The point is, when you sin God’s not pleased with you. But the fact of the matter is, He still loves you. He still wants you!

If you’re not in sin right now, if you haven’t committed any sin lately, then there’s no separation between you and God. The fellowship between the two of you is intact. You see, so many people think God’s mad with them. Mad about what? If you haven’t sinned lately, then there’s nothing for God to be mad about! He isn’t mad with you. To the contrary, God is pleased that you’ve been good.

People think that God’s mad with them because of a sin they committed a long time ago. But brethren, if you repented of that sin, God forgave you. Do you know what God did with that sin? He removed it and buried it “out of His sight.” Psalm 103:12 comforts us with these words, As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.  Micah adds, He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea (Micah 7:19). God, my friend, has gotten rid of the sin. Every past sin that you ever committed, which you have confessed and repented, has been gotten rid of!

Now this word subdue in Micah 7:19 is an interesting one. The word in Hebrew is kabásh and it literally means to tread down. On the one hand, it means to disregard and pay no attention. And on the other hand, it means to subject or subdue. In other words, when God forgives your sin He subdues it, He keeps a lid on it, He keeps His foot on it and keeps it from rising to the surface to remind Him of it. God, brethren, forgets your sin, He pays no mind or attention to it. Brethren, FORGET YOUR SIN BECAUSE GOD HAS. Let go of it because God has. Why would you want to remember it and why would you want to call it to God’s attention again? Condemnation, you see, makes absolutely no sense at all. Condemnation isn’t rational. It’s insanity.

Other people think that God has refused to forgive a particular sin that they committed, the sin is still unforgiven, therefore, God’s mad with them. For some, it was a sin of murder. Others had an abortion. Some went into a fit of rage and permanently injured a loved one. Others were too strict and unloving that they drove a son or daughter away from the Lord. Some committed adultery. Others robbed a young man or woman of their childhood innocence or virginity. On and on we could go.

Brethren, sin is a bad thing. God doesn’t like it. It’ll send a person to Hell in a heartbeat. But that’s just the point. God doesn’t want you to go to Hell. He sent Jesus to die for you to save you from Hell. He loves you enough to die for you and He loves you enough to forgive you.

Psalm 103:2-3 exhorts us to Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: {3} Who forgiveth all thine iniquities. God forgives, brethren. HE’S A FORGIVING GOD. Maybe you’ve forgotten that. But God doesn’t want you to forget: Forget not all his benefits.

The promise is, NO MATTER WHAT SIN IT WAS THAT YOU COMMITED, IT WAS A FORGIVABLE SIN AND GOD FORGAVE IT. He forgiveth all thine iniquities.  Do you know what this verse of Scripture tells us? It tells us that THERE IS NO SIN THAT GOD WON’T FORGIVE.

I know the Bible says there’s one sin that God won’t forgive. It’s the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Matthew 12:31-32 talks about it. That’s another sermon for another time. In fact, I’ll be blogging about this sin in the very near future.

This one sin aside, there are a lot of terrible, horrific sins that’s been committed in this world. But the promise of Psalm 103:2-3 is that NONE OF THESE SINS ARE UNFORGIVABLE. God, brethren, forgiveth all thine iniquities! This Scripture ends the notion that there are some sins that God won’t forgive. No matter what the sin was that you committed, it was a forgivable sin. If you repented of it and asked God to forgive you, then you need to know that He forgave you and you stand forgiven right now. That’s a Thus Saith The Lord direct from God Himself. You’re forgiven!

Brethren, if God forgave every sin you committed, if He forgives every sin you commit, then who are you to say God hasn’t forgiven this or that particular sin? Who are you to stop God from forgiving you? God says He forgives all thine iniquities. You say He hasn’t forgiven this one iniquity. You’re calling God a liar! Who are you to tell God what He can, and cannot, forgive? Are you God’s boss? What insolence and presumption! Condemnation, I’m telling you, is pure lunacy.  

We talked about a sin that you committed a long time ago. Now let’s talk about a sin that’s more recent. If you sinned recently, did you repent and ask God for forgiveness? If you did, then you need to know that God has forgiven you. He doesn’t hold on to your sin and remember it. He gets rid of it. And He holds absolutely no grudge against you. 1 John 1:9 tells us that if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. IF GOD REFUSED TO FORGIVE YOU HE WOULD BE UNFAITHFUL AND UNJUST. HE WOULD QUIT BEING GOD. Brethren, would God quit being God just because of what you’ve done?  No way! Of all the billions of people that have lived on earth, with all the billions of sins that have been committed by people, God has still remained God. He’s still God today! Which means He’s still just and forgiving. Brethren, you serve a very forgiving God! Bless the Lord!

You see, brethren, God’s faithfulness and justice demand that He forgive you. But more than that, God wants to forgive you. He doesn’t forgive grudgingly or hesitantly. He loves to forgive. Do you know what this means? It means you don’t have to beg, plead, or convince God to forgive you. He loves to forgive. He’s glad to forgive.

Now brethren, if God has forgiven you, how can you be unforgiven? If God has forgiven the sin, how can the sin be unforgiven and be held against you? Condemnation, you see, doesn’t make any sense at all because once God has forgiven you, you’re forgiven. You don’t remain unforgiven!

Here’s an analogy to drive the point home. When you sin it’s like playing in mud. You get muddy all over. But when you repent and ask God to forgive you, God washes the mud off you and you’re clean once again. When God cleans you, you’re clean. It’s like the showers or baths you take. When you come out of the shower or bath, you’re clean. You’re not dirty anymore. Are you dirty and muddy when you come out of the shower? Of course not. How absurd. Brethren, that’s the way it is with God’s forgiveness. WHEN GOD FORGIVES YOU, YOU’RE FORGIVEN. YOU DON’T REMAIN UNFORGIVEN!

Coming Up On My Next Blog Post, Part 5. The Devil plays a very real part in rejection. It can get scary if you don’t know about demonic oppression. But it’s real. I’ve seen it first hand lots of times. It ain’t fairytale or make believe. Getting rid of rejection involves getting rid of the demons behind it. So check in next time and let’s send those demons out into the deep. Swine provided free of charge.