Sunday, January 16, 2011
The thing that really captured
my attention about this particular Psalm is that it highlights a very real and
dangerous snare. It was over
twelve years ago that our nation cringed at President Bill Clinton’s admission
that he had an “inappropriate”
relationship with a White House intern, Monica
Lewinsky. Since then, her name has
because almost a byword for lewd behavior; and she has remained the stock in
trade for comics everywhere. I don’t
know what she’s doing today, but I couldn’t help but think, “How would you like to be known and
remembered for the rest of your life for something you did when you were 21?” We can’t dodge the fact that sin’s
destruction is real and not exaggerated.
This is not something we’re making up so that we can manipulate young
people to come to church. No, it is
painfully true! Sin can sabotage a life,
it can ruin a testimony, it can cause a marriage to implode, and as a result
someone can forfeit an opportunity to be used by God.
What drew me to this passage David’s
prayer in verse 7, “remember not the sins of my youth or my
transgressions.” Not just sin or
even sins in general, but David deliberately singles out the “sins of my youth.”
David is now well into his adult
years, but this prayer is obviously triggered by the sting of things that
happened when he was young. How many
know that you can do things when you’re young that stay with you the rest of
your life? We know that sin is sin,
whether someone is 6, or 16, or 60; why then does he single out the “sins of my youth?” I think the reason is their ability to stamp
your life: to identify and label you for the rest of your
life. While people thankfully outgrow
things, and not everything they go through ends up being permanent; we’re still
talking about a very real snare. The
notorious serial killer, Ted Bundy, was executed in 1989. He was responsible for as many as 50 deaths
of young girls and women in his warped and savage behavior. Shortly before his death he asked for and was
interviewed by Dr. James Dobson. He
wasn’t trying to excuse his behavior or justify himself, but he clearly told
Dr. Dobson that where this really started to gain control of his life was
through increasingly engaging in pornography.
This is not saying that every
person exposed to pornography becomes a serial killer. It is saying that it has the ability to stamp your life, and that can’t be
ignored.
In 2008, a book was released
called “Hooked” - New Science on How
Casual Sex is Affecting Our Children.
It was written by two M.D.’s, Joe S. McIlhaney Jr. and Freda McKissic
Bush. In their book they talk about the
“third risk” of casual sex, the first two being pregnancy and sexually
transmitted diseases. They wrote, “A wealth of new data declares plainly that
sex involves the entire person, physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually,
and in every other way. The physical
ramifications of non-marital sex should not be ignored (STD’s and pregnancy)
and neither should the emotional effects.
But the emotional effect is not just a feeling, but it arises from the
way one’s brain is molded or is damaged by bad experiences and how this effects
every area of our lives including future decisions by becoming hardwired to
repeat destructive behavior.” Their
research of the human brain argues that is not set in stone, but rather it is moldable, especially when we are
young. The hardwiring of the human brain
is affected by your actions, especially in the sexual arena. Again they wrote, “Modern neuroscience research has uncovered startling new information
about how sex affects our brains. The
effect of sex on our brains can have all sorts of consequences. We do know that sex can literally change a
person’s brain, influencing the though process and affecting future decisions. David may not have had access to scientific
research and data, but he expresses a very common sentiment when he prays
“remember not the sins of my youth.”
This is why the Gospel of Jesus
Christ is the best news of your life because it sets before us the promise of
a miraculous dimension. A friend of mine
in Australia, Greg Farrell, was involved in the construction of his church
building. They were searching for lumber
for the project, and they visited a location where a guy had loads of
timber. He told Greg that people making
furniture wanted timber that was “perfect.”
Then he added, “If people were
more forgiving, then all this wood would be gone!” Ah, ha, the light goes on! Scripture says in (Ps.130:3, 4) “Lord, if you kept a record of our sins,
who, O Lord, could ever survive? But you offer forgiveness, that we might learn
to fear you.” The living Bible
simply says, “But you forgive! What an awesome thing this is!” This is why after saying “remember not the
sins of my youth” David goes on to say, “according
to Your mercy remember me, for Your goodness' sake, O Lord.” Can you see it? Forget the sins of my youth, but remember
me. Remember me through the lens of Your
merciesPreview! God’s plan for dealing with sin
of any kind, but especially the sins of our youth, is the miracle of forgiveness
purchased through Christ’s atoning death on the Cross.
Why bring this up in relation to
revival and the next generation? I’ll
tell you. It seems some have made it a
kind of hobby or past-time to rail on “church
kids.” Yeah, they’re all
rebels...they’re all playing games with God...they’re not saved. I am not naive, I know these kind of kids
certainly do exist. My sense, however,
is that a far greater number in the church are struggling with the lack of a
sense or experience of God’s great mercy and forgiveness! They are more aware of their sins than they
are of God’s mercy and forgiveness.
November 15, 1970 in a Sunday night church service in Prescott, AZ, a
long-haired hippie bowed his knee and asked Jesus Christ to come in to his
heart. That young man was me. On the “ignorance scale” of Christianity I
was right near the top. I knew next to
nothing about what I had actually done or better, what had happened to me. What I can remember, and what stayed with me
so powerfully was such a real sense of feeling
clean. I couldn’t explain it, and I
definitely couldn’t have given you a theological explanation of justification,
propitiation, redemption, reconciliation, or sanctification....BUT I FELT
CLEAN! I had been forgiven by God,
hallelujah! This is why David continues
in (Ps.25:11) “For Your name's sake, O
Lord, pardon my iniquity, for it is great.”
What he’s describing is a
supernatural spiritual dimension. It is
almost parallel to what Isaiah had said (Isaiah 43:25) "I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own
sake; and I will not remember your sins.”
Real forgiveness is not based on our deserving it, it is based on God’s
own character and grace...“for My name’s sake.”
This is the heart of the New
Covenant according to Jeremiah, "Behold,
the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with
the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made
with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of
the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband,
declares the Lord. But this is the
covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the
Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I
will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one
teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they
shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I
will remember their sin no more.”
Some of the best news for sinners (that’s you and I) is God forgives
sin, and when He does, it is erased from the eternal record! I am afraid one reason we are not seeing
revival among young people is that people and parents are not preaching,
living, enjoying and communicating the...new covenant! Instead, we’re preaching to them a kind of
moralistic message to be good kids and don’t get into any real big trouble. That’s not the Gospel, and that’s not the
seed of revival that the next generation needs to experience and make their
own.
We must pray with passion, and
preach the Gospel with conviction to the next generation, so that they too
might experience this wonderful Savior Jesus Christ. God’s answer for young people of any
generation is still discipleship. In the
same context David says (Ps.25:4, 5) “Show
me Your ways, O Lord; teach me Your paths.
Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation;
on You I wait all the day.” This
goes beyond David’s desperation over the sins of his youth. This expresses his heart’s desire and determined direction. You see, what forgiveness frees us to
discover and experience is not just a religious inclination, but a desire to
follow Jesus’s call to discipleship and abundant living. “Follow Me!” This is what we need to be declaring to this
generation and to everyone who is to come.
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