Give God Another Chance --- God Did Not Design You to Live a Sinless Life

Why Don’t You Give God

Another Chance?

 

Pastor Rory Clark

Barah Ministries

www.barahministires.com

 

Hi there!

 

My name is Rory Clark and I am the Pastor of Barah Ministries…a worldwide Christian Church based in Mesa, AZ

 

I have a question for you…

 

Why Don’t You Give God Another Chance?

 

That’s the focus of these ten-minute lessons.  You can give God another chance.  Why consider doing that?  You might want to consider it for several reasons.

 

GIVE GOD ANOTHER CHANCE

 

God Loves You

 

God Wants a Relationship With You

 

God Cares For You

 

Isn’t that all wonderful?  You know the thing that has always fascinated me as a Pastor, is that when I talk about how much God loves, wants, and cares for people, the look on their faces is typically a look of boredom.  “Yeah.  Yeah.  Yeah, Pastor.  But get to the good part!”  I wondered, “What good part?”  “The part about Satan, the enemy of God…the part about sin…the part about me not following the rules.”

 

When I start telling people how bad they are, they seem to move to the edge of their seats.  They are fascinated to hear how bad they are.  They don't seem to want to hear much about how much affection God has for them. 

 

I notice the contributions to the church always seem to go up when I teach about Satan.  Almost as if from guilt, people need to protect themselves by buying favor with God.  Of course you don’t need to buy favor with God…He loves you just as you are.

 

Well I have more bad news for you.  I’m going to shock you now. 

 

God did not design you to live a sinless life!

 

I repeat…God did not design you to live a sinless life.  Said another way, and perhaps in a more understandable way…the fact that you commit personal sins is not a shock to an omniscient God who knows all the knowable.  God knew every sin you would ever commit before He even created you.  So while your sins may be a surprise to you…your sins are never a surprise to God.

 

Let’s get this straight…just in case there are some childish ones among you…God does not want you to sin!  First John, Chapter 2, Verse 1…

 

1JO 2:1a

My little children, I (John) am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.

 

It would be God’s preference that you not sin.  Sin never works out.  It always leads to death.  But God knows you sin.  And since God considers your sinning problem to be His responsibility, He did something about your sin problem at the Cross.  God the Father sent His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to a Cross to pay for every one of your sins with His blood.

 

Does that take any of the pressure off of you? 

 

Your personal sins don’t merit as much attention as you give to them.  Now for the immature, that’s like announcing a day off from school or a day off from work.  Wooohooo!  Party!  Chaos.  God has more important plans for you.

 

God placed human beings in a state of imperfection from the moment of physical birth.

 

King David, one of the greatest of all kings of all time and one of the greatest sinners of all time knew about his own imperfection…if you take a look at Psalm 51, Verse 5, it says…

 

PSA 51:5

“Behold, I (David) was brought forth (born) in iniquity, and, in sin , my mother conceived me.”

 

The bible tells us that human beings were born in a state of condemnation.  This is not our fault, but it is our circumstance.  We were born “in the flesh,” so we were born with a part of us that is a sin manufacturing plant.  You commit personal sins now, and your personal sinning is never going to end as long as you’re on planet earth.  The part of you that sins is called “the flesh.”  In Romans, Chapter 7, Verse 18, Paul says…

 

ROM 7:18

For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh…

 

Ever notice that something is always pulling you away from God, away from truth and away from doing the right thing?  It’s the flesh.  The flesh in you is antagonistic toward God, antagonistic toward you, and antagonistic toward others.  It loves sinning and it loves breaking the law.  Paul highlighted this beautifully in Romans, Chapter 7, Verse 15…

 

ROM 7:15

For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.

 

Can you relate?  Romans, Chapter 7, Verse 21…

 

ROM 7:21

I (Paul) find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good.

 

As humans, we have to get comfortable with the fact that we are going to sin as long as we’re in our earthly body.  Our friends who are religious and legalistic are quick to point out our sins, as if erasing personal sinning is the essence of the Christian Way of Life.  It is not.  The essence of the Christian Way of Life is a relationship, a real relationship…a deep, intimate and personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.  The essence of this relationship is all the things God does for us, not the things we do for Him.

 

If you are a perfectionist, you’re torturing yourself needlessly because you can’t make yourself perfect.

 

How many of us are spending most of our time trying to perfect our flesh, a feat that will never happen?  God demonstrated He doesn’t need us to be perfect by offering to save us when we were imperfect…

 

ROM 5:8

But God (the Father) demonstrates His own (unconditional) love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners (as unbelievers), Christ died (as a substitute) for us.

 

God demonstrated He doesn’t need us to be perfect by selecting the apostle Paul to write two thirds of the New Testament.  Here is what Paul said about himself in Ephesians, Chapter 3, Verse 8…

 

EPH 3:8

To me (Paul), the very least of all saints (believers in Christ), this grace was given (by God), to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ…

 

Paul was by his own admission the worst person who ever lived.  He was quite imperfect.  His mission, before He became a believer in Christ was to wipe out the Christian Church.  Acts, Chapter 9, Verse 1 and 2 say…

 

ACT 9:1

“Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord (Jesus Christ), went to the high priest…

 

ACT 9:2

…and asked for letters from him (the high priest) to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he (Paul) found any belonging to The Way (Christians) both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

 

Acts, Chapter 9, Verses 3 through 12 detail Paul’s decision to become a Christian.  Can you imagine the lack of trust the apostles and the disciples of the Lord had for “Paul the Murderer” when he suddenly started preaching in favor of Christ?  Can you say “no trust?”  The Lord asks Ananias to minister to Paul.  Can you imagine being Ananias in that situation?  Ananias, in Acts, Chapter 9, Verse 13, is thinking … “Lord, are you nuts?!”

 

ACT 9:13

“But Ananias answered, ‘Lord, I have heard from many about this man (Paul), how much harm he did to your saints (believers in Christ) at Jerusalem, and here…he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call upon Your name.’”

 

But the Lord made it clear…

 

God chooses imperfect people to do His perfect work.

 

In Acts, Chapter 9, Verse 15…

 

ACT 9:15

…the Lord said to him (Ananias), ‘Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine, to bear my name before the Gentiles and (before) the kings and the sons of Israel…’”

 

Imagine a guy whose sole purpose was to eliminate the Christian Church…being asked by God to proclaim that Jesus Christ is the Lord…here is Acts, Chapter 9, Verse 20…

 

ACT 9:20

…and immediately he (Paul) began to proclaim (the Lord) Jesus (Christ) in the synagogues, saying, ‘He is the Son of God.’”

 

God shows us through selecting Paul, the worst person in human history, whom God made into the greatest believer of all time, exactly what He wants to do with us.  God wants us to let Him perfect us in our imperfect condition.  First, He wants us to say “Yes” to His salvation offer.  Second Peter, Chapter 3, Verse 9…

 

2PE 3:9

The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you (unbelievers), (and is) not willing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance (a change of mind about Christ).

 

The Lord Jesus Christ wants to take us, in our sinful condition from physical birth, and simply have us say “Yes” to His reconciliation offer.  Acts, Chapter 16, Verse 31…

 

ACT 16:31

“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and (everyone in) your household (who also believes).”

 

Why?

 

God picks imperfect people to do His perfect work.

 

So get comfortable with your imperfection!

 

If you like these short lessons, tell your friends.  Keep joining me.  And keep on giving God another chance.  I’m Pastor Rory Clark.

 

Pastor Rory Clark

Barah Ministries

www.barahministires.com