One of the things that God wants to do for you here at this Table is encourage you. This is a Table of thanksgiving, which you cannot properly offer when you are discouraged.
When we are discouraged, it is often because of affliction around us, or sin within us.
Affliction is God’s crucible, it is what God uses to purify His saints. To object to affliction is to object to that process of purifying. God removes the dross from the silver by means of smelting, and that means heat. You might like all your dross, and think you are doing quite well, considering. You are a rock in the rough, and the silver sparkles are obvious to anyone who knows you. But God refuses to leave you there. You want to be a rock with sparkles, while He intends an ingot, refined seven times. Hence the affliction, hence the smelting.
But what about sin within—including the sin of murmuring under the processes of smelting? What if you are discouraged because of that? Keep in mind that there is a difference between being defeated in the skirmish and defeated in the battle. You may have had a bad go of it. But is your weapon still in your hand? Are you here, worshiping the Lord? Do you want the next round to be better? Take heart. God has forgiven your sins, and His Spirit is with you here, teaching you to fight against the world, the flesh, and the devil more capably than you have done in the past.
So come, and welcome, to Jesus Christ.
Pastor Wilson, do you think some sins are unbeatable(meaning completely defeated or mastered) in life and after we die Jesus defeats them for us?
Bill, I believe that all sins can be mortified. And I also believe that all sins need to be mortified until we are with the Lord.
Thanks for this, Pastor Wilson. Very encouraging, as well as timely.