By Wesley Smith

What sins have you committed that you think cannot be forgiven? Lying, lust, cheating, stealing, drugs, drunkenness, adultery, betrayal, hypocrisy, or perversion? Satan wants to whip you with the memory of your sins so that you believe that you can never be forgiven.

The Corinthian church was filled with people who were the vilest of people: fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, homosexuals, perverts, thieves, covetous (wanting what someone else has), drunkards, revilers (those who despise others), and extortioners (those who obtain by force). The Scripture declares that each one of these types of people were members of the Corinthian church. But the Bible goes on to explain that they were washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. So they were just as clean in the sight of the Lord as anyone else. They were forgiven people.

Forgiven people love much. The more you are forgiven the more you love. And when you know that you are forgiven for everything you have ever done in your life (and will do) then you will most likely respond to Jesus and make a full surrender of your life to him. His love is the most powerful force in the universe!

I met Kay Walker in a prison where I was speaking. Her teeth were rotting out from drug abuse. Her hair was disheveled and her eyes were bloodshot. It was certain that she was a STD carrier and maybe even had AIDS. She looked like she was sixty years old; she was only thirty-six.

As we chatted briefly she began to cry uncontrollably. She almost shook apart with the inner pain she was feeling. Theres no hope for me now! she exclaimed. Nobody wants me. Nobody cares. I have wasted my life. I have abandoned my children for the life in the streets. I have prostituted my body for crack cocaine. The police caught me selling and I may be in here for the next twenty years.

If ever there was a picture of what Satan will do to a life, here it was. Kay Walker was probably one of the most miserable people on the face of the earth.

But as I watched her shoulders heave with the deep sobs I had to think that God must have been hovering nearby. He is close to those with broken hearts. Surely Kay Walker was a woman with a broken heart.

In that split second I decided that I would be a pen pal to this woman. Physically she was repulsive. But there was something actually sincere about this woman. I felt that it was more than a jail-house conversion. She meant it and her confession was directed more to God than to me.

It would take an entire book to tell about Kay Walker. But little by little light began to come into her. She fully accepted Jesus into her life and used almost all of her waking hours studying the Bible and applying what she learned. It was not too long until other hurting women in the prison began coming to her with their life stories.

In short, she became the unofficial pastor in the prison and gave her personal testimony of hope to the other women. I do not know how many girls she led to Christ while she was there. A powerful transformation had taken place in her life and the light shined so brightly through her.

In spite of what Satan had done to her physical body, little by little restoration came. God does promise to restore the years that the cankerworm has eaten.

And then one day the biggest Christmas present arrived for Kay Walker. She was released from prison. She called it a miracle, and, I guess for her it was.

I found a Christian house for her where she could be surrounded by Gods people. I told her that she absolutely could not ever see any of her old friends againat least for a long, long time. I told her that they were really not her friends anyway. They were the worst enemies she could ever have. Their one purpose was to use her and bring her down. Satan had them waiting to drag her back into the cesspool.

What choices would she make? I told her that every day for the rest of her life she had to decide which road she would take. The real test of her Christianity would now come as she embraced freedom.

There are many stories like Kay Walkers storyat least up to this point. But they are jail-cell conversions, and the street temptation is too powerful for them and they go right back to the hell they came out of. Kays story has a wonderful ending. She hung in there with Jesus in spite of the strong downward pull toward drugs, prostitution, and the whole street scene. Today she is married to a wonderful man. He is a Christian, too. In fact, he is a pastor of a growing church and Kay Walker has a powerful ministry in her community. Of course, Kay Walker is not her real name. I would never reveal to anyone her real name. But Jesus knows it and he has become her very best friend.

The song, I Will Serve Thee, by Gloria and William Gaither reflects Kay Walkers story: Heart-aches, broken pieces, Ruined lives are why You died on Calvary; Your touch was what I longed for, You have given life to me. (Copyright 1969, by William J. Gaither, Gaither Music Company)

In the well-known story of the prodigal son (Luke 15) the father did several things when the wayward son returned: The father saw him. The father had compassion on him. The father ran to him. The father fell on his neck. The father kissed him. The father said, Bring the best shirt and pants for my son. Put a ring on his hand. Put shoes on his feet. Grill some steaks. Lets have a party and celebrate. Bring in a band. Lets have a dance. My son was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found.

Dancing and music! What a contrast to what modern religion offers. This was a real partynot a pretend party.

Without a doubt Jesus told this story to show us what God is like. He told the story to tell us about forgiveness and how easy it is to receive it. The son came home just hoping for a job on the farmlike a servant. He told his father that he was no longer worthy to be called his son because of the way he had squandered his money and the life of debauchery he had lived. What a shock he !

How many suffering people think that they are unworthy? Believing this lie keeps them from coming to God and getting a total life change. Believing some of the lies from organized religion keeps people trapped in a lifestyle that torments them.

But God is not like the warped message of the lies. He actually cares for you and is waiting for you, just like the prodigal sons father. God wants to party with you.

How many people have this kind of a picture of God? How many people even have this kind of a picture of their own father? We have forgotten that God is a person who actually loves us and cares about us, someone who has feelings, someone who likes to rejoice and throw a big party.

Bible vindication means being washed, sanctified and justified. It is interesting that the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines vindicate with the one word: deliver. This parallels nicely with Gods Word that tells us we are delivered from our sins.The actual truth is that there is nothing that cannot be forgiven. Absolutely nothing! This story of Davids life is a very clear picture of how God feels about you. Yes. David sinned. He not only sinned, but he betrayed Uriah in the lowest form of betrayal possible.

Uriah was not only a soldier in Davids army, he was one of the Thirty-Seven (2 Samuel 23:39). The thirty-seven soldiers were the elite of the elite. They were max-warriors, fighters who were dedicated beyond dedication, something like the Navy Seals. One of them, Abishai, killed three hundred men all by himself. Another one, Benaiah, killed an Egyptian who had a spear. All he had was a staff. He disarmed the Egyptian and killed him with his own spear.During Davids sexual intercourse with Bathsheba she became pregnant. David knew that when her husband returned from the battlefield he would discover that she was pregnant. His wrath would know no limits. He would probably beat her mercilessly, maybe even have her killed (it was his legal right under the law of Moses). He would more than likely use his military contacts to find out who impregnated her. And then there would be very big trouble.So David called Uriah back to Jerusalem from the battlefield, hoping upon hope that he would spend at least one night in bed with Bathsheba. But being the honorable soldier that he was, he refused to sleep in any bed and rested on the floor with Davids servants. His thinking was if all of his buddies were out in the open fields of battle he could not dare to indulge in the pleasure of a good nights sleep in his home.

What a hero and model Uriah is for us today. He was a mans mana warriors warrior!
But David betrayed him in the worst possible way. He took his wife. He got him drunk. He deceived him. He sent the death letter in his own hand. And then he had him killed to cover up the sin of his own adultery. And he did not repent. He did not confess. Instead, after Uriahs funeral he took Bathsheba for his own wife.
We might have a little bit of respect for someone who sins and then confesses his sin because he feels so guilty. It is easier to forgive someone whose conscience gets pricked by what he has done, and then he voluntarily makes a full confession. But David only admitted his sin after Nathan the prophet came in and boldly told him, You are the man! Many ministers today get caught in adulterous affairs and then repent. What else can they do after they are caught? It is much easier to believe someone has truly repented when he openly confesses his sin before he is caught and confronted.

One would think that God would not forgive someone like David. But the God of the Bible is full of compassion and mercy. Even though David did not willingly confess his deed until he was found out and could do nothing else, God still had mercy on him. And not only did he have mercy upon David, but he is referred to in the Bible as a man after Gods own heart. Think of the depths of Davids sin. During that period of his life he was absolutely the biggest hypocrite anyone could ever be.

And he sinned in spite of his thorough knowledge of the Bibleafter knowing God. After being blessed beyond measure. After killing the bear and the lion. After defeating Goliath. After being anointed by the prophet Samuel. After being picked as the one who would replace King Saul. After writing a large portion of the Bible. After writing spiritual songs and singing them in public and in private to the Lord. After dancing for joy in the streets when the Ark was brought to Jerusalem. After preaching to others. After being exalted from a lowly sheepherder to becoming the most famous king Israel has ever had. Wow!

The Scriptures tell us that though our sins are as scarlet they shall be as white as snow, though they are red like crimson they shall be as wool. There is not any sin that God will not forgive. And we can see this in Davids life. Yes. He suffered dearly for his sins. The son Bathsheba bore him died. He was humiliated beyond measure when his own son had sexual intercourse with his wives. This same son forced him from his throne and ran him out of the city. Talk about humiliation! He was cursed publicly as he fled before Absalom. He had the heartbreak of finding out that Absalom had been murdered as he hung in the tree by his hair. He knew the depths of emotional pain as he wept for his son.

We see David emotionally broken as he wept and cried aloud, O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!

There are times when it takes an extreme emotional breakdown for us to truly repent. At times like this we dont care who is listeningor watching. We are so destroyed in the inner man that all pride is gone. We are like a broken bottle, a destroyed vessel. And it is when we are at our weakest that God moves into our hearts! Truly, Gods strength is made perfect in our weakness.

But after this God restored David completely, totally, no strings attached. And God blessed his life in his old age. He is still the king that Israel exalts and remembers more than any other king. Davids Citadel stands inside the Damascus gate of the old city of Jerusalem.

Davids turning point came when he exclaimed, I have sinned against the Lord!So often we are most concerned about our own reputation. And when our heart is softened we are so remorseful about all of the people that weve hurt because of our sin: My parents have been humiliated. My wife or husband has been betrayed. My church will never trust me again. My employer will never give me a promotion after this. And if we have done something worthy of prison time, then we know that we will have a permanently scarred record.But Davids confession goes way beyond this. After the prophet Nathan confronted him with his sin he openly admitted that the ONE person he had hurt the most was God. In this modern society of ours do we ever even pause to consider that God is a person with feelings? Does it even matter to us that our sin hurts HIM? Do we ever feel sad for Him? Do we even care how He feels when we mess up, when we turn our backs on him?
This is the true turning point in repentance. Yes. Weve hurt other people and weve damaged our own reputation, but the one person we have hurt the most is God. Recognizing this and verbally admitting this is the key to deep change inside of our hearts.

I have sinned against God. I have hurt God. After all he has done for me I insisted on doing my own selfish thing. In spite of the fact that I knew that it would hurt him, I did it anyway. I have deeply injured my very best friend.

Vindication? Is it possible for you? It certainly is. God is waiting for you every bit as much as the prodigal sons father looked for him to return home. His desire is to throw a party for you, to dress you in new clothing, to put a ring on your finger, to have music and dancing. His desire is to totally forgive you for whatever you have done. Men may never forgive you, but God forgives you. Not only does God forgive, but he has the power to forget. You do not have to confess the same thing over and over to him. The first time you confess it he forgives and forgets. When you come to God through his son, Jesus, it is as if you had never sinned. He looks at you through the shed blood of Christ and you are sin-free in his sight.
This is Vindication with a capital V.

Will you receive Gods forgiveness? If you want to you can wallow in the lies of the Devil who will tell you that you are such a rotten sinner that even God wont forgive you. Satan will tell you that you are the biggest hypocrite that ever lived and that God is mad at you that he is against you, that he even hates you and wants you to burn in hell forever. No wonder he implants these thoughts in our minds! He is the father of lies and will never tell us the truth.

When the Devil suggests these false ideas to you, think about what David did and how he was totally restored and the joy of his salvation came back to him. Have you been worse than David? Have you been worse than Paul, who said that he was the chief of sinners? If he was the chief, then all you can do is come in as a second. Both Paul and David were forgiven of murder. Surely your life cannot be worse. And even if you think that you are a bigger sinner than either of them, God will still forgive you and cleanse you from all unrighteousness.
This is who God is. No matter what you may have learned about God, the Bible tells us that He is not willing that anyone should perish. He actually likes you. He actually loves you. He is actually on your side. He is not against you. He has a plan for your life even if you have wasted most of it on selfish living. It is never too late to get a fresh beginning. You can start all over with Jesus.

It is Satan who is against you and who wants to keep you from responding to Gods wonderful love and forgiveness. The choice is yourstotal vindicationor eternal condemnation. My prayer is that you will open your heart right now to Gods love and let the cleansing blood of Jesus wash you clean from every sin you have ever committed.If this happens to just one person, then the labor of this book will have been worth it.

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Full Life Crusade
P.O. Box 398
Winona Lake, IN 46590

1-574-267-7546

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Wesley E. Smith- wesed@hotmail.com
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