ONE of my favorite films is Tender Mercies; if I were to pick a favorite actor it would be Robert Duvall. Tender Mercies is a film about redemption and forgiveness, and “the process.” I believe the title is taken from Psalm 25, printed below in part, with emphasis on verse 6 quoted in the movie in a moment of quiet prayer.
v1 To You, O LORD, I lift up my soul.
v2 O my God, I trust in You; let me not be ashamed; let not my enemies triumph over me.
v3 Indeed, let no one who waits on You be ashamed; let those be ashamed who deal treacherously without cause.
v4 Show me Your ways, O LORD; teach me Your paths.
v5 Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; on You I wait all the day.
v6 Remember, O LORD, Your tender mercies and Your loving kindnesses, for they are from of old.
v7 Do not remember the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions; according to Your mercy remember me, for Your goodness’ sake, O LORD.
v8 Good and upright is the LORD; therefore He teaches sinners in the way.
THE phrase tender mercies is found ten times in the Psalms referring to the loving kindness of our God. It is found once in the Proverbs as being grossly absent in the character of the wicked; and once in the NT, in Col. 3:12 as a needful disposition and character trait of the elect in Christ, along with kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering. I mentioned all this because we are in that section of our book dealing with Sins and Conscience (Chapter VIII), and in particular that great portion of God’s word addressing confession and forgiveness – 1John 1 and 2.
WE sometimes think of God with some kind of split personality, a “loving and gracious” NT God, and “Law demanding, wrathful” OT God. Such is simply not the case; the way of redemption has always been the same and consistent: show me my sin and point me to the means of atonement, and in it all we see “tender mercies” and a God of infinite grace.
I BELIEVE it has been said that Psalm 51 is the 1John of the NT. It is the prayer of David enunciated after his great sin(s) related to the Bathsheba affair; and in it we do see his forgiveness, cleaning, and renewal:
v1 Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your loving kindness; according to the multitude of Your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.
v2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
v10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
v12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me by Your generous Spirit.
v15 O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall show forth Your praise.
THE Advocate to whom David made his appeal is the Eternal I AM, the same we find in 1John: 1&2
And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.
This is where we pick up in the reading below.
IN the joy of the Lord,
Joe
Neh. 8:10, Isa. 30:15 & Job 2:10
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Chapter 26—Sins and Conscience – Part 4
Praise the Lord that, if and when we do sin in thought, word or deed, consciously or otherwise, “we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 2:1, 2). His advocacy has nothing whatsoever to do with our eternal standing, nor is it the placating of an angry, vengeful God (He already bore the wrath due our sin). But in His personal reconciliation on the cross and righteous presence before God, He makes it possible for our Father justly to show us mercy despite our sins.
The chasm between our perfect position and our imperfect condition is bridged by His advocacy and cleansing. Our only source of life and growth is in Christ. From that completed source our condition is gradually developed. Our progress on earth is dependent upon our fellowship with Him in heaven. Because of sins committed, that fellowship must be restored by Christ’s advocacy and our confession. As we mature spiritually, there are fewer sins to be confessed. How futile to seek to deal with sins in any other way than through His advocacy and our confession!
There are those who, for one reason or another, by-pass the identification truths of Romans Six, and rely rather upon confession and cleansing for dealing with the problem of sin. But there is no real spiritual progress unless the source of sins is dealt with continually by the Spirit’s application of the cross. He carries on that ministry as we reckon upon self having been crucified. Apart from this, there is nothing but the endless struggle of the treadmill—sinning, repenting, confessing, but then sinning again and again. On this erroneous basis there is no dealing with the source that relentlessly produces the sins.
Rather, we are to learn to rely upon the cross to deal with the sin principle, as we abide in the risen Lord for our spiritual growth. Then, if we do sin, we depend upon our Advocate in heaven to reestablish our fellowship with the Father, and our Advocate within to repair the spiritual damage by means of conviction, leading us to repentance and confession.
While living in this world it is heartening to realize that we neither have to ask nor to plead for His intercession. Both our Advocates are unceasingly interceding for us. “Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them” (Heb. 7:25). The fact that we commit sins despite such faithful ministry does not reflect upon the worth or effectiveness of the intercession, but upon our faithfulness. We fail to count upon our death unto sin and our life in Christ.
If it were not for the constant intercession of our heavenly Advocate, our faith would surely fail when we are overcome, or when we willingly submit to the tyranny of sin and self. Think of what happened when Simon Peter denied his Lord. “…Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat; but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted [restored], strengthen thy brethren” (Luke 22:31, 32).
The Lord Jesus did not pray that Peter might not sin, but, having fallen, that his faith would respond to His Lord’s advocacy. …….to be continued.
