David Asks Why? Ch 3 Saying Sorry

God's Holy Spirit uses many stories and pictures to to understand who He is. Many years ago, twin brothers named Jacob and Esau lived in Canaan. Jacob had tricked Esau and taken something very precious. When Esau got angry, Jacob ran away from home. Then he felt terribly guilty. Poor Jacob was lonely and sad. He missed his family and home very much.

 But the worst thing was this: he was afraid that God was mad at him and wasn't with him anymore. ln sadness, he lay down on the ground and went to sleep.

While Jacob was sleeping, he saw a strange light. He looked across the field and saw a ladder that seemed to lead right up into heaven. God's angels were walking up and down the steps. Jacob heard God speaking from the top. That night God gave Jacob hope and let him know that He still loved him. God told Jacob that Jesus was his Savior from sin and would forgive him. 

God wanted to be his Friend again I God showed Jacob the ladder to teach him about Jesus. The ladder showed Jacob how God builds a friendship between Himself and people.

When Adam and Eve sinned, they threw away their friendship with God and the angels. Jesus came to this earth to help bring people and God back together again with ties of love. Because Jesus is our Savior, God and the angels can again be our friends. We are weak because of sin, but Jesus connects us with His Father, who is strong. Only with His help can we be strong also.

Many people have plans for how they can become better and stronger and smarter. None of those plans will work until they remember that only Jesus can make us good and strong and smart. Every good thing is a gift straightfrom God (James 1:17).

No one can be really good without Jesus, because He is goodNESS. God loves you and all His children more than any other thing.

When God let Jesus come to earth, They both gave up the very best things They had. Jesus lived and died for you. Now He is praying for you and helping you. The angels help you, and God's Holy Spirit speaks to your heart. Everyone in heaven loves you. Their job is to help save you from sin. They want to be with you in heaven.

Think about all God has done for usl Thank Jesus for all the loving work He is doing to save you. You will have the happiness of heaven and the angels for your friends. You can have a close friendship with Jesus and with God, your heavenly Father. You'll have a chance to grow and learn forever. Those are wonderful reasons to work for God. Won't you give your heart to Jesus and choose to obey Him?

Now if we obey Satan, the only things we will get in the end are God's sadness and punishment. Sin makes an ugly, wicked heart. Someday, those who obey Satan will die forever.

Let's pay attention to God's kindness. He gave us all that He could. He has loved us so much. Let's invite Jesus into our hearts, and He will make us holy and good like He is. When we do, we can be sure that the angels will be our friends. God, our Father, and Jesus, His Son, will be our very dearest Friends in the world.

How can you be holy? How can you be good when you have a bad heart? Only Jesus can make us truly good. He can make us friends with God. But how will He do that? The Bible teaches us how to come to Jesus. The first thing it says to do is to repent. 

Acts 2:37, 38 

Now when they heard this they were stung (cut) to the heart, and they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles (special messengers), Brothers, what shall we do?

Peter replied, "Each of you must turn from your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

When you tell Jesus that you're sorry for being bad, He will forgive your sin 

Acts 3:19

Reent ye and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out (erased) when the times of refreshing (Holy Spirit blessing rain) shall come from the presence of the Lord

To repent means two things. The first is to feeI sorry for the bad things you've done. And the second is to choose to obey God and stop doing those things. Unless you decide to do both, your heart will never change.

Many people don't understand what it means to repent. They are kind of sorry for being bad, and then they try to be good because they are afraid of being punished. 

That is not what the Bible is talking about when it tells us to repent. These people are sad and sorry about the getting punished instead of sorry about the bad things that they have done.

Sometimes people say they are sorry because they are afraid or because they hope to get something good out of it. But their hearts haven't changed at all. That is not what the Bible means by repentance either,

Judas was the wicked man who betrayed Jesus. He knew he had sinned, but he admitted that only because he was afraid of getting into trouble. He knew he would have to be punished for his wicked deed, so he was scared. He was never truly sorry for helping to kill Jesus. 

Almost anyone will say they are sorry so they don't have to be punished, but we should actually be sorry for the bad things we've done. We should be sad that we hurt esus.

God's Holy Spirit is working on our hearts, and when we let Him help us, He will show us the difference between good and bad. He will show us how good God rs and how bad sin is. We will understand God's greatness and love. He will show us God's love and beautiful holiness. We will want to be pure and to be God's friend!

King David did something really bad, and he was sorry. He prayed, asking God to forgive him. His prayer shows us what it means to be really sorry for sin. David was really sorry and didn't make any excuses for what he had done. He saw that he had a bad heart. 

He hated the bad things he'd done and wanted to be forgiven, but he also wanted a new, clean heart. He wanted the happy feeling that comes from being good. He wanted to be a close friend with God again. Here is the prayer he prayed to God:

Have mercy on me, dear God! I know You are loving and kind. I know You love to be nice.

Scratch out all my sins l know l've been bad!

I think about my sin all the time.

Wash my ugly heart, and I will be clean and pure.

Give me a new heart, O  God. Make it strong and patient.

Let me stay near You; give me Your Holy Spirit.

I used to be happy because You saved me-please

make me happy again. Hold me up and forgive me for hurting people

Oh God You have saved me and I will sing songs of Your goodness!

Psalms 51:1-14

Many people think that when they have done something bad, they have to be sorry before they can come to Jesus. That is not true! lt is true that repentance makes us ready to receive forgiveness because unless we are sad about our sins, we won't even know we need Jesus. But do we have to be sorry before we can come to Jesus?

No. The Bible says that we can come to Jesus right now' We don't have to wait until we feel sorry. Jesus', goodness wlll help us be truly sorry. He will help us feel sorry, and then He will forgive us and heal us. We can never repent without Jesus to help US.

Whenever someone wants to do something good, it is because Jesus put that feeling in his or her heart. Jesus is the reason sin is hateful to us. Do you want to be true and clean? Do you see that your own heart is bad? 

That's because the Spirit of Jesus is Jesus said that if we get people to thlnk about Him, He will attract people to Himself (John 12:32). 

We must teach people that Jesus is the One who can save them and that He died for everyone's sins. As we think about Jesus dying on the cross like an innocent little lamb, we will begin to know the secret of how

He saves us, and God's goodness will lead us to really feel sorry for our sin.

Sometimes people are ashamed of their bad ways, and they stop some of their bad habits even before they realize that Jesus is leading them. But if they really want to do right and are trying to be better, it's because Jesus is making them feel that way. 

The Holy Spirlt is softly working on their heart, and they don't even know it. Their hearts wake up deep down inside, and they begin to change. They see how sinful they are. They begin to see how good Jesus is and how horrible sin is. They begin to understand God's love.

We can fight against this love if we want to, but if we don't, Jesus will bring us close to His heart. When we understand how He saves us, we will go to Jesus with a sad feeling for our sins, because we will understand that our sins hurt Him.

God is talking to people's hearts and making them hungry for something they don't have. Nothing in the whole world will fill them up with what they need. God's Holy Spirit is begging them to look for the only thing that can make them happy and give themsecurity.

Sin can be fun for a while, but it leaves us sad and empty. Jesus is trying to lead our hearts away from those things and to give us all the joys we can have in Him. Jesus has a special message to everyone who is hoping for something better He says,

"Are you thirsty? Come and drink the water of life-drink as much as you want" Revelation 22.17

Does your heart need something that nothing in the world can give you?

Do you feel empty? If so, this is God's voice speaking to your heart Ask Him to help you be sorry for your sins. Ask Him to show you the love and sweetness of Jesus.

Jesus showed us how to keep God's law perfectly' He loved to share and was never selfish. When we look at Jesus, we'll see that our own hearts are selfish.

Do you think you're pretty good? Do you think that your life is 0K? Do you look at bad people and thank God you're not that bad? When light from Jesus shines into your heart, you will see the truth - that you actually have an unclean heart. 

He will help you see that you are naturally selfish and are an enemy of God. Nothing we do is really good. Everything good that we try to do is like a dirty rag {lsaiah 64:6). But Jesus can clean us up' He can give us new hearts just like His!

When God shines His holiness into our hearts, we will see just how unclean we are. We will see that our hearts are not good or healthy. We will see that the things we want aren't always good and that our hearts don't belong completely to God. 

God will show us where we break His law, and this will make us sad. When we understand what we're really like, we won't like ourselves very much. Jesus is so pure and bright that we'll see only our sins.

When we see how awesome God ls, we will hate our own selfishness. lnstead, we will want to have the pure, lovely hearts that Jesus promises to give us. He will teach us to be His friend and to keep His holy law.