The Lord, there is forgiveness with Him. Why? That we might adore and reverence Him. We have been invited in to conference with Him. Forgiveness takes a great risk because it can be so misunderstood. The risk is worth taking because God took it. (Psalm 130:1-8)
Redeemed from All Iniquity
Speaker(s): Pastor Thomas Schaller
Sermon 11763
6:30 PM on 10/6/2019
#hope
P. Schaller –
That was amazing. That was fun. That was really good. It reminded me this morning the message of forgiveness
was really touching. To think we are forgiven of all our sin immediately, totally, and completely
at the cross. All my sin gone forever. That is amazing. I felt that in the music. We are forgiven,
rich, blessed, and people that are God’s children. I’m going to tell you what we are going to do
tonight. Is Brittany Howard here? Then I saw Heidi Pekarek here from Moscow. That’s amazing! You moved back! Welcome Heidi. There she is.
P. Jay Estabrook and his team is here. Wow. Praise the Lord. This morning Owings Mills had their first service. The dream team over there.That was 32 people. Their first Sunday morning service with P. Renaldo, P. Adam and a great team. We also had this morning Harold Harbor, Federal hill -how was that? Federal Hill, Havre
De Grace, and Silver Spring. That’s six I think and here. Isn’t that amazing? Years ago, we didn’t
have that.
We always had the moving of God with us – halleluiah – but we’re so encouraged
with our brothers laboring in the field to bring Christ and forgiveness to the hearts of people.
We also have Seacon going on with P. Scibelli. Let’s have prayer for Philippe Serradji. He has a
back problem and is out of commission for a little while (Prayer). I had that. Chronic pain in my
neck down for six weeks and it humbled me. Nothing else could humble me! I swore I’d always be sympathetic with people with chronic pain.
There was a senior retreat for GGCA, Ladies Connection Bible study, MBC&S picnic, fellowship dinner, Friday outreach, Saturday outreach, and Midnight Express. Any guests with you, P. Ray? There we go. New folks. A group of teens went with Kimmy Andrulonis apple picking. We had youth Bible studies. Grace overcomers with
Tom Sliva. Small group meetings last night. GGCA alumni meeting last night. Mary and Jerry
Laflamme welcome party.
Good News club. Finnish prayer meeting this afternoon and Grace
Hour and raps. I think we are a church on the move. This is the place, this is the time, and we
are the people. We have Brittany Howard who came from Turkey to be with us tonight. No!
She’s going to a wedding. Katie Szabo is getting married. Soon it will be over. They’ll be married.
Brittany, say a word to us.
Brittany –
I don’t think I’ve ever been up here without a guitar in my hand. I saw P. Schaller at
the student picnic. I came Friday night so I’m super jet lagged right now. I heard about the
picnic and went to that. It was a great thing to come home to. I walked into this back yard and a
huge group of young people and believers. I was overwhelmed. It was super encouraging to be
immediately surrounded with young people going to Bible college. P. Schaller and different leaders. I got a chance to talk with you. We talked about what’s happening in Izmir. God is
working there.
What do I want to say about it? I’m honored and privileged to be there. Even
tonight worshiping with you tonight. These words we are singing have so much weight. I
haven’t heard English words for a long time. There is a whole country of people who never
heard these words before. I’m broken about it. I think of P. Schaller, P. Matti and P. Brian Lange,
– of people who have gone before us and given us a great example. I’m really privileged to be
doing this. Thank you for your example and encouragement and support.
Heidi –
It’s good to be back. Like Brittany said there is something special hearing these words in
your own language. Worship in English touches really deep. Greetings from Moscow. Felix is
here somewhere probably. Good to be back. I got to know different people over there and
learned a lot of different things. I hope to go back for a visit but for now I’m here.
P. Schaller –
People make decisions in the church and in our hearts and sometimes they are big
decisions. These young people who hear from God and say I’m going to go. Or as we heard this
morning in our message about this court case and in the trial of this police officer who shot a
man and the brother of the man was in the courtroom and said to the police officer, I forgive
you. I want the best for you. I don’t even want you to go to jail for what you did.
How many heard that this morning? How many didn’t hear it? Then you know it. It was so touching. It was
very touching. These are big things when our faith comes home to us. We actually move on it.
We move with what we believe. What the Spirit does as a result. When we obey God we follow
God, what does the Holy Spirit do in leading us? I talked with a student yesterday at the picnic
and they said I want to make a decision believing what I lose is nothing compared to what I will
gain.
I will lose something but gain something else. I don’t know what it is but will do it by faith.
By faith, I’ll believe God will give me something. Without faith it is impossible to please him, but
he that comes to God must believe that God is, and he is a rewarder of those that diligently
seek him. This is a formula for life. It’s for our lives. I want to play that video clip. This is for
everyone even if you’ve seen it before.
The brother of the man who was shot to death is in the courtroom and saying to the police officer who is found guilty and goes to prison for ten years and the man is saying I forgive you. So this morning we used that to teach what kind of ministry we have as people like that young man had a ministry to a hurting woman. And he was able to
say I forgive you. I love you. We said this morning the main part of the message was a man is
made to be a prophet, a priest and a king and Christ was a prophet, a priest, and a king. And
you and I have become by God’s grace a prophet, a priest and a king.
In that man’s life, you see those three. In that man’s life when he ministers to this woman, you see a prophet. He has the word of God and is thinking with God. He’s saying I don’t condemn you. I’m not in a place to
judge you. I would like to minister to you and say I love you because God loves you and he’s real
and loves you. 2). He’s a priest. The woman needs someone to stand on her behalf to represent
her interests. He’s a king because after he leaves that courtroom, he’s walking with God.
God is my glory and the lifter of my head. God has used me to minister to someone in trouble. This is
what we explained about Jesus Christ and us. It was an awesome time and it ministers a lot to
me. I can’t stop thinking about this kind of life we saw here. It’s a ministry of grace. It says in
our New Testament that’s the ministry we have with each other.
We need to be careful to hear from God as prophets, and minister to God as priests and live above the demons that want to put you down and say you are nothing. You have no right to say anything. Go into a cave and
hide. No, we are kings and we are priests. Take a minute with each other and then we will take the offering. The media called it a moment of grace. The media got it right! Bob Segal. Don’t
you love that guy.
Bob Segal! We love you. Those that didn’t want to talk to each other, you still
have no choice regarding the offering! You must give in the offering! No, I’m having fun! Turn in
your Bibles to one phrase in Isaiah 1. We have a special little panel tonight. P. Barry Quick and
P. Pete Westera and a few others on the panel to help you raise your teenagers with their
iPhone.
They have an iPhone and it’s like a weapon and they don’t know how to use it. Actually,
they do know how to use it. If you want to stay, you are welcome. How many plan to go to
Eurocon this spring? Isaiah 1:18, God is speaking, and we think of the young man in the
courtroom who said could I give her a hug. And then he said please. It’s out of protocol and the
judge said yes and he did.
If God was to talk to you when you are guilty as that woman who has
judged to be and God was to say these words, come now let us reason together. When we
meet God and many people don’t want to meet God just like maybe that woman did not want
to be in the courtroom. In the courtroom, she was judged and maybe that’s the end. God would
judge me, and I’m judged and it’s over.
I was thinking this afternoon about the phrase when God drove Adam and Eve out of the garden. They could have been driven to hell. He only drove them out of the Garden, but they could have gone all the way to hell and it’s over because of the sin they committed. Sometimes, we don’t realize what sin is and we don’t realize the
severity of it. And the meaning of it to God. it’s incredibly powerful. It’s terribly wrong. It’s
painful.
It’s hard to God and for him to get rid of the sinners like he did the fallen angels. They
were gone like lightning. He allowed Lucifer to go through heaven and propagate his message
and then poof! They are gone out of heaven. Heaven is holy. There is no betrayal, no lying, no
pride, no unbelief. There is only love. There is the nature of God and freedom. We see that. He
gave the angels freedom.
If they wanted to believe a lie, he allowed it and they were gone. Never to be saved or redeemed or forgiven. It seems their sin is stamped permanently, and they become demons. That’s it. With man it was different. He had flesh. The sin we commit can be stamped in our flesh, but we can be saved in this lifetime before we enter eternity. The sins of the world went on the body of Jesus Christ. On his body, we bore our sins. Our sins can be
taken away in time by the body of Jesus Christ.
God in his wisdom saw the way for us to be saved, to be forgiven. This is who God is. Come now he says in vs. 18. It’s an invitation to a – I’d like to say it this way, – to a conference. I don’t want to go to a conference. If God is at the
conference, I want to be there. At the conference he said, let me reason with you, talk to you.
Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Vs. 18. This forgiveness is at the
very heart. Martin Luther said Jesus didn’t die for our good works.
He died for our sins. What he was saying, he said it this way, he didn’t die for our good works because they are meaningless. Maybe I wouldn’t say it like that, but he said it like that. Jesus died for all of what we are and all
what we have done. He’s saying even our best is nothing. Ps 130:1 the detail in the story of the
police officer is she was on a 13-hour shift and came home – I’m not excusing her or
representing her but just for you to see we can make a mistake.
She parked her car on the wrong floor, and she goes to her apartment, and they are all the same in appearance. The door is ajar, and she shoots a man thinking he is a burglar, but she is in a wrong apartment. Ever
make a mistake? The man who drove to work and had his baby in the car seat. He didn’t know that and went to work all day and the car heated up and the baby died. He came out and was in great distress and he realized what he had done. Out of the depths in vs. 1.
The depths of making horrible mistakes. Deep regret, deep guilt, have I cried unto you, oh Lord. Vs. 2. Please
hear me. Vs. 3. Charles Spurgeon said that before he was saved, he was so troubled with his sin.
For five years he was in despair. “No poor soul was ever more wracked than I was, no more
hunted of the devil. For five years I was a victim to that black thought that God would never
forgive me, and I bless his name for it.
I never could have preached to the chief of sinners if it had not been for that experience. If I had come fresh from my mother’s apron strings without any deep sense of sin and have found Christ as many young man does readily and at once, I should have never had like to go down and rub my hands in the mire to get at the foul and the
vile but now I look back upon those times with anguish. There were days when I thought I was
worse than the devils in hell.
There were days if anyone asked me my character though no one ever knew anything amiss of it, still I would have said…there did not breathe God’s air a greater miscreant than more deserved to be in hell than I wrote bitter things against myself. If anybody had said, why, your life is moral, I would have said, yeah, but my heart is like a dunghill full of everything that is foul, and I felt it, too. Though my lips never cursed God, yet my heart did with
blasphemies so foul that I shuttered to think of it.
When I was given up a prey to the devil, it seemed as if there was pandemonium within my heart, then indeed I knew what it was to be sore broken in the place of darkness, to be like a ship drive out to sea with the mask gone over the side and every timber strained.” He is saying what maybe you have felt. I don’t know. I
remember before I was saved, I was convinced I’d go to hell if I died. I felt it. I was lost. Our
prayer is people would come here prepared of God and feeling they need God.
If you mark iniquity, who could stand? Vs. 3-4. Feared, trusted. I think that woman in that court case when
he hugged her and loved her. The story goes on. The judge got involved too. I saw another one
of those. The lawyers were weeping in the courtroom. They were weeping also over what was
happening in the courtroom. When you are forgiven, when God almighty, the holy God says I
have forgiven you not of just this one thing but all.
When you are forgiven of everything, of every sin, every thought, every word, every action. When you are forgiven of all your sin. Imagine. God is coming to sinners and saying come to me, this conference, this courtroom to
use this analogy and I will tell you I forgive you and your sins are gone by the blood and your
character is white as snow. The heart I give you is the heart of Christ. The name I give you is the
name of God.
The purpose I give you is an eternal one. I didn’t make you to die. I made you to
live. I call you by my name. vs. 5. I can wait a long time because he is the one that has forgiven
me of my sins. I can wait on God. I can sit there a thousand years waiting on God. He is the one I
trust, that I fear, that I respect because he forgave me of all my sin. You wait on God. Listening,
anticipating, receiving. He will speak.
He will minister to us. He will show up. He will answer us and take care of us. He will uphold us, though we fall in Ps 145. He will see us through to the end. He didn’t take us out of Egypt not to bring us out. He brought us out to bring us in. He is a faithful, loving, merciful God. How do we see each other but in this grace. It’s a spirit of grace
and the nature of grace. That’s why we are active during the week. We’re not so much goofing
around like in a bar room, goofing around and wandering around wondering what we are doing.
There is a kingly focus, royal priesthood. Vs. 6. Have you ever watched for the morning?
Have you ever got up early to see the sun come up? First the night and then the crown of the
sun. I know it’s coming. It comes every day. I wait on God more than those that wait for the
morning. I know even more my God will be there for me. I can wait for God and he is coming.
He is there for us. Vs. 7. You might say we are living in the 21 st century.
“People are not guilty.” Yes, they are filled with guilt. “This is old fashioned.” No, it’s relevant. “People are not coming
out to a meeting or listening or caring.” No, they are. They are. It’s our prayer as an American
that as people living in this country the Spirit of God would move in our country like in the past.
There have been great revivals in America just there have been in Europe. In France, I was
sharing with the brothers, there were great revivals in Europe in the 17 th , 18 th , and 19 th century.
There were Norwegian revivals, Finish revivals, Swedish.
There were Hungarian revivals. There were revivals in Germany, In Switzerland, in the Netherlands. There have been revivals in Denmark and in the U.K. Hundreds of years of revivals. Now we are looking at the world is so
big and strong and powerful, and they are not talking about God or fearing God. They have lost
God. They told me in France one of the pastors said we don’t believe in God and we say there is
no God and then the same person when a relative dies says why did God do this to me?
He took away my mother or brother. I thought you didn’t believe in God. We were soul wining at the
University of Montpellier, and I met a beautiful, young French girl. We stopped her. Do you
believe in God? No, I don’t believe in God. My boyfriend is a Muslim and I’m going to become a
Muslim. I thought you don’t believe in God. She said my boyfriend is a Muslim and I’m going to
become a Muslim. One of the French pastors said it’s a judgment on our country that we say
there is no God. It’s moving in this direction.
Look at what can happen. If there is no Christianity, what will fill the vacuum? If there is no forgiveness, where will I find the forgiveness? If there is no moving of the Spirit in the communities farmers and workers and
university people, we are all made the same way. If we are timid as Christians and back off,
where is our message? This young man in the video God bless him because he had a message
and so do we. We have a message. We have a message.
Let’s take risks and talk to people about the important things. Let me reward it. We are afraid of talking to people about the important things. It sounds so unusual. We’re afraid of being rejected. I don’t know why.
Maybe it’s hard for me to talk about those things. Let’s get it in our heart. This woman was
forgiven. I’m sure that grace changed her life. That woman heard a message. There are people
around us every day, they take their lives.
They go to drink themselves dumb. They go to a doctor and ask for a prescription because they are in so much trouble in their soul. Let us wait on the Lord and fill us. Then the adventure of a risk. These radical things. You don’t have to be radical. You just have to be sincere and speak to someone at work. Be on the street and talk to
someone on the bench. Talk about their dog and the weather and look for an opportunity and
run the risk of sharing with them something deep and personal.
Come now…white as snow. This is our privilege and our honor. It’s a source of our joy, motivation of our hearts. It’s what makes us unique as people in the world.
Please enjoy these sermon notes from the messages preached at Greater Grace Church in Baltimore. These notes are provided to aid in your study and understanding of the Word. Note that these notes do not represent complete, word-for-word transcriptions. Also, they may contain omissions as well as some errors in spelling and structure, etc., as we attempt to provide them as soon as possible. Our hope is that these notes serve as a way to help you search and connect with messages on related subjects and passages. Thank you for your interest in the ministry of Greater Grace.
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