heaven is full of sinners
“The greatest men in the Bible were guys that made terrible mistakes & realized they were sinners, that they needed God. But I never got too much encouragement from those who were so perfect like Enoch, who walked so close to God that he got completely out of touch with humanity, so God had to take him out of this World because he was no longer any use to Man. I take a lot more heart from the pathetic stories of the drunks & the harlots & the publicans & the sinners who came to Jesus for love & mercy.”
king David
“In fact, one of the worst characters in the Bible is my greatest inspiration!–One of the most wicked men in the entire Bible, who was a murderer, an adulterer & a liar, but whom God turned around & called a man after His Own heart, King David! (Acts 13:22).”
“The most encouraging thing about David’s example was not his perfectionism, but his human failures, sins & shortcomings, which gave God a chance to get all the glory, & show there’s hope for me–& you! I always figured if God could forgive even as bad a guy as David, surely He could forgive me! I think King David’s been an encouragement to a lot of people.–To know how much mercy God has & how much forgiveness He has, how good He can be if you’ll really repent like David did! “
big sin big change
“He was one of the biggest sinners in the Bible & did some of the most horrible things! But look what a marvelous change occurred in him when the Lord really humbled him.–It came through a humbling of his spiritual pride.”
“But he had to be completely exposed–his wickedness & his sins & his weaknesses. He was sitting up there on his throne so high & mighty & seemingly so perfect & self-righteous. The Prophet Nathan came along & pointed the finger at him & said, “Thou art the man!” (2Sam.12) “You’re the wicked one, the sinner!”–And then the judgements of God began to fall & he just lost everything, everything but Bathsheba, she stuck by him. He lost all his other wives. He was absolutely stripped except for a few loyal friends & followers.”
“So David is a dandy bad example, yet a great example of a great man who was apparently lifted up in pride for awhile & thereby got into great sin & thereby had to have a great humbling, a great judgement, a great confession & a really terrible stripping of everything.”
Self Righteousness
“A guy couldn’t have gone down in worse defeat than King David did! And the worst of all his sins was that he had become a self-righteous hypocrite because he covered all of his other sins up & pretended to be so righteous, judging other people’s problems. That’s when the Prophet came along & exposed him!”
“Though they were great sins, he had a great repentance, & therefore God had a great forgiveness for him, because they had a great love for each other in spite of everything!–And from that squeezing & twisting of David’s life came forth the sweet honey of the Psalms & the fragrance of his praises to the Lord for His mercy! It was all God & all Grace, & none of himself or his own righteousness! –A lesson that has been an encouragement to other great sinners like me & you ever since!”
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