He is able to deliver you

And so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, "The DELIVERER will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob.  This is my covenant with them, when I take away their sins."  --Romans 11:26-27

Hello, my name is Blynn.  I am a sinner.  It has been 25 days since I have "thrown off the sin which so easily entangles" me.  Not that I am sinless perfection.  Far from it.  But there is one particular sin that has hung like an albatross around my neck for 40 years.

No more.

I am done with wandering in the wilderness, and by God's grace I will follow Him into the Promised Land.  I know it will not be easy--Joshua and the Israelites had to physically fight to remove the heathen from the land.  Even then, they had to be on guard:

"Then it shall come about when the LORD your God brings you into the land which He swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you, great and splendid cities which you did not build, and houses full of all good things which you did not fill, and hewn cisterns which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant, and you eat and are satisfied, then watch yourself, that you do not forget the LORD who brought you from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery." --Deuteronomy 6:10-12

Jesus Himself said, "If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross DAILY, and follow Me."  (Luke 9:23).  The cross is not a burden we bear.  It is an instrument of death.  We must put to death the flesh, because "with my flesh I serve the law of sin." (Romans 7:25b).

Today I woke up with the words to an old hymn on my mind.  I had forgotten some of the text, so I had to look it up.  The refrain goes like this:

He is able to deliver thee,
He is able to deliver thee;
Though by sin oppressed, go to Him for rest;
“Our God is able to deliver thee.” 

If you did not grow up in a hymn-singing church, you can read the text without humming the tune.  I have to stop myself from humming it, because the music can get in the way of the message.  The promise is right there--Our God IS able; HE is able; He is ABLE to deliver me.   Even when I feel opressed by my sin, God alone can deliver me.

Yesterday I was reading Psalm 118.  It is a psalm of deliverance.  "From my distress I called upon the Lord," it says.  "The Lord answered me and set me in a large place." (verse 5).  The Hebrew word for "setting me in a large place" is merchâb (pronounced "mer-khawb") and it means enlargement, either literally (an open space, usually in a good sense), or figuratively (i.e. liberty)--breadth; large place or room.  Close your eyes and imagine yourself in a huge warehouse; not one filled to the rafters with stuff, but wide open.  You are not feeling hemmed in by anything.  You are not alone, either.  It's just you and God in this large room or sanctuary.  Isn't that a good feeling?  "It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man." (verse 8).  In my meditation on this verse, I added, "or women; or my favorite sin."  You can insert whatever oppresses you.

All nations surrounded me; in the Name of the Lord I will surely cut them off.  They surrounded me, yes, they surrounded me; in the Name of the Lord I will surely cut them off.  They surrounded me like bees; they were extinguished as a fire of thorns; in the Name of the Lord I will surely cut them off.  (Psalm 118:10-12)

Do you see the repeated phrase there?  This is how you defeat sin in your life.  In the Name of the Lord, you cut them off.  You can't do it in your own power; only in the Name of the Lord.  If you cut them off, they no longer have any power over you.  Many of you may have battled alcoholism.  When you were under the influence, the last thing you wanted to hear was that you were cut off.  By contrast, now (hopefully) you have taken the place of the bartender or friend who stepped up to keep you from having that next drink.  In the Name of the Lord, you are able to cut off the effects of alcohol by skipping that first drink.

It's not easy.  You have to take it one day at a time.  You have to remind yourself of when you last gave in.  You may be 25 days, 25 weeks, 25 months or 25 years into sobriety, but you still have to crucify the flesh daily.  However, there is good news.  "He is able to deliver you."

As an aside, some of my older friends make fun of the more contemporary worship services and the choruses they sing.  To some, it seems like the choruses are overly repetitious.  "Those songs are just seven-eleven songs--you sing seven words, but repeat them eleven times."  I chuckled when I looked up the hymn that God had given me this morning.  It repeats the same thought over and over as well, to drive home the point.

’Tis the grandest theme through the ages rung;
’Tis the grandest theme for a mortal tongue;
’Tis the grandest theme that the world e’er sung,
“Our God is able to deliver thee.”

Refrain:
He is able to deliver thee,
He is able to deliver thee;
Though by sin oppressed, go to Him for rest;
“Our God is able to deliver thee.”

’Tis the grandest theme in the earth or main;
’Tis the grandest theme for a mortal strain;
’Tis the grandest theme, tell the world again,
“Our God is able to deliver thee.”

’Tis the grandest theme, let the tidings roll,
To the guilty heart, to the sinful soul;
Look to God in faith, He will make thee whole,
“Our God is able to deliver thee.”

 I know.  By now you are rolling your eyes.  How can anyone complain about modern Chrisitan music being repetitious when this hymn keeps repeating the same phrase.  Over. And. Over. Again.  But I want you to look at the last verse.  If you are opressed by sin, if it seems like a swarm of bees has surrounded you and is closing in all around you--remember that through faith, in the Name of the Lord,  you can cut off the enemy and find liberty and freedom in Christ.

Never, ever give up.

Rejoice always; pray without ceasing;give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.  1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

So what do you do when you've screwed up?  You know it.  God knows it.  Your spouse knows it.  In your shame and grief, you feel like everyone is judging you.  If your daughter is quiet, you think she is not talking to you because of your guilt.  If you go to church, you feel like you can't participate in theological discussions or public prayers because of your sin.

In these cases, I think it is important to remember the words of that great theologian, Winston Churchill:  "Never give in--never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense.  Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy."

This week I read 2 Samuel chapter 24.  You should stop what you are doing and read it now.  Go on, we'll wait.  To recap, King David decided to take a census of all the men of fighting age within the kingdom of Israel.  Joab, the commander of his armies, thought it was a bad idea.  So did the other military leaders.  Nevertheless, David commanded that it should be done, and it was.  Then God convicted him of his sin.

"David was conscience-stricken after he had counted the fighting men, and he said to the Lord, 'I have sinned greatly in what I have done.  Now, O Lord, I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant.  I have done a very foolish thing."  (2 Samuel 24:10).  A prophet was sent to give David a choice: God could send three years of famine, or three months of fleeing from his enemies, or three days of plague.  David, trying to be a wise ruler, did not want to subject the people to too long a punishment.  So God sent a plague all across Israel, and 70,000 people died.

The angel of death sent by God was stopped by God before he reached Jerusalem, because David prayed, "I am the one who has sinned and done wrong.  These are but sheep.  What have they done?  Let your hand fall upon me and my family." (2 Samuel 24:17).  God instructed David to go to a certain place and offer a sacrifice.  David complied, and offered to buy the land and the altar from the man who owned it.  The man demurred, saying that as King, David could take whatever he wanted for whatever use he wanted to do with it.  David's response was, "I will not offer to the Lord that which cost me nothing."

Lessons from this passage that speak to my heart:

It is a sin to trust in our own power, instead of trusting in God.  David wanted to take stock of his fighting men so he could know his strength as a warrior king.  God had already promised Moses, "The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still."  Almost any sin that we can think of can be traced back to a lack of trust in God. When Jesus said, "Pray this way...give us this day our daily bread," He was not talking just about food; our God is able to meet all your needs according to His riches in Glory in Christ Jesus.

Your sin affects other people.  David knew that famine, war, and plague would all take a toll on the people he loved.  I don't think he realized the extent to which the consequences would affect the nation.  Losing 70,000 countrymen in just 3 days had to be overwhelming.  In the same way, we don't think about how badly our friends and family might be hurt from our own personal sins.  Even when we take full responsibility for our failures, people still will get hurt.

Do not give up on God or on godliness.  When David prayed, he spared the lives of countless Israelites living in Jerusalem.  Who knows whether his praying sooner might have stopped the deaths of some of the 70,000 who lost their lives in the plague?  What we do know is that we should not shy away from our faith.  Pray.  Fast.  Repent.  Seek God's face.  He will reward your faithfulness.  He will show grace, even in the midst of the consequences.  I think in the Church today we put too much emphasis on grace and not enough on justice.  We must remember that God is holy, and that for us to approach Him we must sanctify ourselves, putting aside our sinfulness to the extent that we are able. "If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have heard me." (Psalm 66:18).

Be willing to give what God asks.  Jesus said anyone who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is not worthy of the kingdom.  Like David, we do not trust God enough to give away what He asks us to give away.  It is a sin to hold on to anything that stands between you and God.  We must remember that obedience to God is worth more than riches or fame or anything else.  Most of the time God will reward faithfulness and obedience, and His reward will be worth far more than whatever we gave up to get right with Him.  

My local professional baseball team, the Texas Rangers, are doing very well this year.  In Spring Training, their 2nd year manager emphasized one thing in the clubhouse: Never, Ever Give Up.  Needless to say, the team culture is better for it.