Forgive Me Lord For I Have Sinned

                                           
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
 
Tonight, we will be partaking in the Lords Supper as we always do once a month.  Why is so important that we come to the Lords table with all seriousness?  Do we come to the Lords table as a means of just tradition? Or is there really something in the Lords Supper that we need to take seriously? If you look at v24-25…24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
 
We can clearly see that it resembles the Lords Body & Blood. And to partake of this in the wrong way, other than a clear heart, comes with a warning of judgement.
 
1 Corinthians 11:27-32
27 Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. 30 For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. 31 For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.
 
“For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body”.  What is Paul saying here in these verses? Paul is basically saying…look, this is the Lords Body & Blood, do not take it lightly! If you are going to partake, make sure that you have confessed any sin done, in action, mind, and speech. That is why when we partake of the Lords Supper, we take about a minute or two to confess any sins that we have done against the Lord, or with another.
 
 
 
Keep in mind that we do live in a fallen world where sin is normal. But remember that we have been separated by God from the rest of the world. Chosen, made new, being sanctified. The work of the Spirit is to change the person from the inside out. To be conformed to the image of Christ.
 
The title of this message is, “Forgive Me Lord For I Have Sinned”. Emphasis on “Me & I” Myself, not my wife, not my sons but me! Look at the person next to you, it is not their sins that needs to be examined, it is yours!
 
Sadly, we do live in a world where putting the blame on someone else is the norm, right! There is always an excuse, and there is always someone else to blame. Am I right!!! Am I the only one who believes this? Remember, we will be partaking in the Lords Supper this afternoon, its not the sins of the person next to you that will be on the Lords judgement, it is yours, its mine.
 
Here is the biggest excuse every Christian has ever made. We blame the fall, correct! We blame Adam & Eve, we blame the flesh! Sounds familiar! If I am being honest with you tonight, I too have made that excuse. And then im reminded of this verse…
 
Galatians 2:20
20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
 
So…with this verse alone, we can no longer put the blame on Adam & Eve. “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me”. We cannot use this excuse anymore church, we cannot pass the blame on anyone ever again! Speaking of Adam & Eve, I know that we like to joke around that it was the “Woman” who is to blame right? But was Adam really blaming Eve, or was Eve the excuse? Let’s look at that real quick…
 
Genesis 3:10-13
10 So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.” 11 And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?” 12 Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” 13 And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
 
“Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate”.  Sounds to me that Adam was blaming God, & Eve was the excuse for his mistake. “The woman whom You gave to be with me”.
 
So… men, after tonight, we can longer say, “it was the woman”. I like how John MacArthur quoted this verse…
 
“Look…I went to sleep single, I woke up married. I didn’t even know what a woman was and there she was, and she lead me into sin, and You made her”.
                                                                                                                                     (John Macarthur)
                                                                          POWERPOINT
 
I’m no lawyer, but Adam had a good point there, Adam was the one taking care of the garden, he was naming all the animals, and all of a sudden there is Eve. “The woman whom You gave to be with me”. And of course, you all know the rest of the story. Adam blames God for creating Eve, Eve blames the serpent for being crafty, and the blame game continues till now! It is always the easy way out just to blame someone else. Even to the point of blaming God.
 
Let me share something with you, in all my years as a Christian, I have heard… not just once, not just twice, coming from Christians, how they blame God for what is happening in their lives.
(I don’t know why this is happening in my life? Why is God allowing this to happen? Now that I gave my life to Christ, why is my life miserable?)
 
My marriage isn’t working out, blame God. My children are disobedient, blame God. For our singles here tonight, the whole dating game, your praying to God to send you a nice guy, nice girl, and as the months, years go by, that guy or girl turns out to be not so nice, blame God. Its also the same for our youth, why did God make my parents so strict, why can’t they understand what I’m going through? Even in the area of relationships, the world tells them to just bounce from one relationship to the next, until you find the right one.
 
Before we put the blame on God, let see what James… scripture has to say on this topic of blaming God…
 
James 1:13-15
13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.
 
“But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death”.
 
 
So…James, scripture, the Word Of God is clear, we cannot blame God whenever we are being tempted. The temptations of the flesh is already in us, and this what we fight with every single day, every single minute. But, it should no longer have any control over us, because as Galatians 2:20 remind us that… “I have been crucified with Christ, I no longer live but Christ lives in me”
 
What is James trying to say here, what are these desires that he is telling the readers, that can give birth to sin?
 
Galatians 5:19-21 (NKJV)
19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
 
Galatians 5:19-21 (NIV)
19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
 
I only used two translations here, but which ever translation you read it in. it will have the same meaning. And in every translation, the warning is the same…
 
“I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. (NKJV)
I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. (NIV)                                   
                                                                      POWERPOINT
 
You see… we all know that the struggle is real. The battle against the flesh is real. “Forgive Me Lord For I Have Sinned”, Comes with a willing heart to repent. Repent from what? What did we just read? Repent from what? “adultery, sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness”, and so on… these are like heavy baggage that we need to let go. We don’t need to hold on these things, let it go. There’s a warning if we don’t… “I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
 
These are the things that we cannot blame anybody on, especially not God! “Forgive ME Lord For I Have Sinned”  
I am not up here preaching this because I have already overcame all of these, no not at all. I am in the same battle as you are. The only difference between you and I and the person next to you is this… Which one of these is your biggest struggle, biggest battle?
 
“adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like”.
                                                                          POWERPOINT
 
Church… you and I are in a battle everyday, every minute. Whether its by action, speech, or thought. The struggle, the battle is real. The desires, the temptations, they are all real. As we are being conformed to the likeness of Christ, we should be defeating these desires of the flesh one by one. We should be crossing them out one by one, battle won! If not, the warnings are real…
 
“That those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God”.
                                                                          POWERPOINT
 
In Conclusion:
 
We are going to partake in the Lords Supper in a just few minutes. You have heard the Lords message tonight, you and I, we have no excuse anymore. The sin is ours, the blame is ours. By action, speech, thought. You are the one to blame, I am the one to blame. Admit it, own it, confess it to God, and by His Spirit, let us win the battle together.
 
1 John 1:8-10
8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.
 
Let Us Pray….