Isaiah 1:18.

INTRODUCTION:

How many of you have made new years resolutions? I don’t! I think it’s a waste of time they never last. There are a few that make it through the year but for the most part most seem to only last a few weeks or a month.

But there’s one thing we do have in common when it comes to failed resolutions, “excuses.” We all have our excuses, don’t we? We’re pretty good at making excuses. And some of our excuses are pretty creative. I was looking through the internet a few days ago and I came across some excuses that have turned up on insurance accident report forms. Believe it or not these were actually written. I think you might find them a little amusing.

     * A pedestrian hit me and went under my car.

     * In my attempt to kill a fly, I drove into a telephone pole.

     * I had been driving my car for forty years when I fell asleep at the

         Wheel and had an accident.

     * I had been shopping all day for plants and was on my way home. As I

        Reached the intersection, a hedge sprang up, obscuring my vision. I did

        Not see the other car.

     * The pedestrian had no idea which direction to go, so I ran over him.

     * The telephone pole was approaching fast. I was attempting to swerve out

         Of it’s path when it struck my front end.

     * Coming home, I drove into the wrong house and collided with a tree I

         Don’t have.

     * The guy was all over the road. I had to swerve a number of times before

         I hit him.

     * My car was legally parked as it backed into the other vehicle.

     * An invisible car came out of nowhere, struck my vehicle, and vanished.

     * The indirect cause of this accident was a little guy in a small car with a

         Big mouth.

(Sermon Central.com)

PINNING THE BLAME:

It seems as if most people like to blame somebody else for their mistakes. We don’t want to take responsibility for our actions. But we all make mistakes; we all mess up at one time or another. And there are some pretty lame excuses out there.

But the Bible says, “If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from unrighteousness.” That’s an amazing promise isn’t it? Let me repeat it: “If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from unrighteousness.”

But as it is with all promises it comes with a condition: “If we confess our sins.” In other words we don’t need to make excuses for our actions, or pin the blame somebody else, or try to wiggle out of it. We need to confess to it, we need to admit we were wrong and we need to ask God for His forgiveness.

It’s been said the only sin God can’t forgive is the sin that has never been confessed. We have a choice. We can say “God excuse me?” or “God forgive me?”

THERE’S NO PERFECT EXCUSE:

There’s no perfect excuse. If we had a perfect excuse, we wouldn’t need forgiveness. But the problem for a lot of people is that what they call “Asking God for forgiveness” usually consists of asking God to accept our excuses. We’re quick to show God our excuses: how hard this time was in our lives, how tired we were what kind of day we had, and more. And we’re so busy giving our excuses that we forget about what’s really important. We forget about the part our excuses don’t cover, the bit we have no excuse for but not, thank God, unforgivable.

If you’re into excuses, you’re spending far too much energy and receiving nothing for it. When we pray to God and give him our long list of excuses we’re just wasting our time and God’s talking about all the parts we think can be excused.

Think of a Doctor. When I go to see my family Doctor I show him the part of me I think is wrong. If I have pains in my stomach I don’t waste time explaining to him that my legs and arms and throat are all right. My stomach will never get looked after if I waste my time talking about the other parts which are working fine.

WHAT WE NEED TO TELL GOD:

It’s the same with God. What we need to talk to God about when we pray are the areas in our life where the sin is. The problem areas. And until we’re honest and open with God, until we’re willing to come to God with all that we are, including the shameful, sick sin, we miss out.

So don’t hold back, Let God have it. Besides, he already knows all about it. He’s just waiting for us to tell him. He’s given us the invitation. Isaiah 1:18 says “Come now, let us reason together.”

God wants to have a personal relationship with each one of us. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Though you sins are red as crimson, they can be like wool.”

A skeptic once asked a Christian, “How does blood cleanse sin?”  The Christian thought about it for a while. Then he asked the skeptic a counter question. “How does water quench thirst?”  The skeptic was now cornered. “I don’t know,” he said, “but I know that it does.” “Just the same,” said the Christian. “I don’t know how blood cleanses sin, but I know that it does,”

God’s promises us that when we experience his forgiveness, we become clean, like white snow or wool. He forgives all our sin. And in exchange, we receive the gift of eternal life.

When we commit our lives to God by accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, he refreshes us, he renews us and he transforms us. That’s what God promises!

2 Corinthians 5: 17-18. Tells us that “If anyone belongs to Christ, he or she is a new creation. The old things have gone; everything is made new! All this is from God. Through Christ, God made peace between us and himself.” 

You see God doesn’t just patch up the old; God makes everything new. When we accept Jesus we become a new person. There’s a word we use for this “Justification” which simply means just as if we never sinned. Through Jesus’ sacrifice we have become justified in God’s eyes.

Then after we’ve accepted Christ God begins a process in our life, sort of like the process of cleansing wool.

1. Wool has to be cut, cleaned, tanned, bleached. It goes through a lot before it becomes pure white like snow.

2. You and I are going through a process. Do you sometimes feel like you’ve been cut, like you’ve been wounded? Do you ever feel as if you being stretched or pulled on? When we’re going through the difficult times when obstacles get in our way and things just don’t seem to be going our way perhaps that’s God’s Holy Spirit working in your life.

Ephesians 4:13. Tells us that “This work must continue until we are all joined together in the same faith and in the same knowledge of the Son of God. We must become like a mature person, growing until we become like Christ and have his perfection.”

Then Philippians 1:6. Tells us that “God began doing a good work in you, and I am sure he will continue it until it is finished when Jesus Christ comes again.”

CONCLUSION:

As Christians we have been transformed but as we travel through life, as we live our faith we are going through a continuous process of cleansing. There are things in our life we need to confess, certain habits, attitudes. And as we travel through life striving to be more and more like Jesus Christ, God’s Holy Spirit will make us aware of other areas which we need to confess and let go of.

We may find it difficult to let go but if we trust in God he will give us the strength we need to overcome. Just be honest with him, don’t give him your excuse. Tell him what he already knows, the truth. What is it that you need to confess today?

Rely on God’s grace to change you. Allow him to do his work in your life. We need to be giving ourselves daily to Jesus Christ. We can’t do it on our own. The theological word we use in the Salvation Army for this process is “Sanctification.”

Becoming sanctified means that “We become more and more filled with the love of God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, to the point where there is less and less room for sin to run in our lives.”

There may be someone in this service who has never accepted Jesus Christ into your life. You’ve never asked for his forgiveness. If so you can make that commitment today. All you need to do is invite him into your life, and he will transform you, he will change your life and give you eternal life.

He will clean you like snow. And he will guide you through the process to become clean and pure like white wool.

Maybe you’ve already accepted Christ, but you have been just giving him excuses. You haven’t really grown in your relationship to God. Today you need to stop making excuses for your sins and confess them.

We need to be honest with God. We need to tell him where we went wrong; we need to tell him about our weaknesses. He will understand. And when we do that we will be changed, we will be transformed. Why don’t you make that you goal for 2010? If you do it will be a year of blessings. God Bless.