Hallelujah! What a Savior.

SERMON JUNE 28

Hebrews 1:1-3

You can watch the video at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnFwxIps1es

Patience and trust. Two areas of spiritual life that are great struggles for me. I suspect patience and trust are struggles for at least a few of you listening to me. My text comes from Hebrews 1:

“God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature,  and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high . . . .” 

Let’s look at the first clause in verse one: God, after He spoke long ago to the Fathers . . . . As I prepared for this message I thought a while about those four words:  He spoke long ago . . . .

From the perspective of the writer to the Hebrews, ‘long ago’ had been some 1400 years since Moses wrote the history of creation, the introduction of sin into humanity by Satan, of the strategic players such as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the 12 tribes. It was 1400 years since Moses wrote of Israel’s slavery in Egypt, their subsequent deliverance, and, of course, God’s promise of a Messiah as early as those first three chapters of Genesis.

I need to repeat that for the emphasis it deserves. It was 1400 years before God finally fulfilled His promise to send us a Redeemer, a Savior, a Messiah. That means that for all those 1400 years generation after generation were born, lived, and died, without having seen the fulfillment of God’s promise of redemption from the grip of sin and the devil.

Think for a moment how they must have felt, being among the untold millions of men, women, and children who faithfully lifted your prayers week after week, prayers from the lips of faithful Jews who NEVER saw the fulfillment of God’s promise to establish Messiah’s kingdom.

No wonder the disciples asked Jesus just prior to the Lord’s ascension, “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6)

Their waiting – indeed, OUR waiting for the return of Christ, which has now lasted two thousand years – has given skeptics ammunition to mock those of us who continue to wait for the Lord to fulfill His promise of the second Advent. St. Peter talked about mockers and skeptics in his day. Here is what he wrote:

“Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.” (2 Peter 3:3-4)

Are you tired of waiting for answers to your prayers? No surprise if you are. Our culture has conditioned us since infancy to expect quick results when we want something. In fact, in the modern church an entire false teaching has grown up around our impatience with God’s time schedule. It goes by the name of “Name it and Claim It” – or variations of that godless philosophy.  Just pray hard enough and with enough faith and you will get whatever it is you want.

But when we do not see the expected results of our prayers – how many just give up – they give up not only praying, but many even walk away from the Lord, thinking it’s all a fairy tale anyway. God, if He exists, is not listening to my prayers because He is unconcerned about my prayers.

That idea, of course, is utterly untrue.

And so, the first clause in today’s Scripture text can give us new – a better – perspective about being PATIENT about God’s timing. Here is what He tells us through the Old Testament prophet, Isaiah. His are important words with an important lesson for me and for you because they ought to remind us who WE are, and who God IS:

 

“My ways are not your ways and my thoughts are not your thoughts, For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so are my ways and my thoughts above yours.” (Isaiah 55). Listen, God could just as well have told us in that text, “My time is not YOUR time. My plans are not YOUR plans.”

Now then, in addition to patience, God teaches us something else in this first clause related to waiting. The text also teaches us about trust.

God wants His children to trust Him whose plans are bigger and grander than ours. And just as important – JUST as important – we are EACH a PART of that plan.

Trusting God is to trust Him for the long-haul. Trust in God is NOT a psychological trick we play on ourselves that gets its vigor from our emotions. Trusting God is an act of the will, an intellectual decision – not an emotional decision – it is an intellectual decision to trust the Sovereign God who spoke the universe into existence and who is so deeply connected to you and me that He knows how many hair we have on our heads.

I am the first to admit this kind of trust is far easier to say than it is to do. It was not that long ago, as some of you know, that I failed miserably to live up to what I just told you we should all do. When Nancy was in the ICU with a stroke, I melted into a puddle of fear and anxiety and dread that plagued me for weeks and weeks.

But we can trust our Father in heaven because He really and immeasurably cares for you. For you. Put your name on that statement. He profoundly loves you.

Never think your existence or your role in His grand plan for humanity is insignificant. Remember what the Lord did with a couple of fish and some bread. We are each an integral part of God’s plan for humanity in general and for specific individuals, in particular. If we are NOT integral, then we wouldn’t have been born, or placed in the circumstances in which we find ourselves.

If every sheep was not important to the Shepherd, He would not have left the 99 safe in the corral and gone looking for the one lost sheep.

Yes, YOU are important.

But – and this too is critical – just because you and I are important to God’s work, that does NOT mean our role in His plan will be easy. Or comfortable. May God help us adopt the kind of attitude of the apostle Paul. While a prisoner of Rome for his faith, Paul wrote this to the church at Philippi:

“Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to everyone else, and that most of the brethren, trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear. . . .

A few verses later he shares with his readers about his expectation and hope that – the end of verse 20: “Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. (Philippians 1:12-20)

The apostle had the same nature as any other person. He had his own set of sins, of fears, of joys, and sorrows, and frustrations. He was, at a fundamental level, just as human as you and I. But he had made a decision, an act of the will, that whatever the circumstances, he wanted Jesus to be exalted in his body – whether that meant life or death. It didn’t matter, so long as Jesus was exalted.

May God help us to develop over time and with practice such an attitude, that whether in health or illness, poverty or riches, loneliness or surrounded by loved ones, freedom or imprisonment, fear or security – whatever our circumstances, God has permitted them – or in some cases actually brought them to us – so that, because of our TRUST in our Father’s love for us, Jesus Christ will be lifted up by others who see how we live for Jesus, regardless of our circumstances.

Let’s go back now to the text. The writer tells us God spoke to the Fathers in many diverse ways. And Scripture certainly confirms that. God spoke through nature – the heavens declare the glory of God (Psalm 19). He spoke through shepherds and kings, priests and princes, farmers and fishermen, tax collectors, physicians and theologians. He declared His words through well-known, little-known, and unknown men and women.

But we find throughout the old and new testaments that only a few truly listened and obeyed what God spoke. Only a remnant cared enough about God’s loving embrace to follow what He told them thought the prophets. Here is only one of dozens of sad accounts recorded for us. You will find this one in 2 Chronicles 36:15-16:

“The Lord, the God of their fathers, sent word to them again and again by His messengers, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place; but they continually mocked the messengers of God, despised His words and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, until there was no remedy.”

And so, too, as God has in these last days spoken to us in His son – only a few truly listen to Him and obey Him. If you question that, just look around. How many of your neighbors and friends and acquaintances – even among your own families – how many are clearly serving the Lord Jesus Christ in faithful obedience?

Many, even among those who warm a pew each week, many continue to travel the broad way to the wide gate that leads to destruction. Very few choose the arduous narrow road and the small gate that leads to life.

Why is it arduous? Anyone and everyone who has given more than lip service to an obedient and holy lifestyle before God knows it is much, much easier to live in sin than it is to be holy. It is much easier to find reasons to NOT obey Jesus than it is to faithfully follow Him.

And so, in these last days, God spoke His final and unalterable word to us through His Son.

Please hear this carefully. He spoke to us through Jesus Christ. Alone. God spoke and speaks through no one else. St. Peter told the religious court of his day, occupied by the theologians and clergy of his day – he told them all that there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we MUST be saved. No other name. No other savior.

And I will tell you on the on the basis of God’s word that He insists today, as He insisted in the first century, that we share with others the same message – that it is Jesus alone who is God’s final word of redemption, of salvation, of forgiveness of sins, of eternal life. It is not Buddha, or Muhammed, or Moses, or any other person in all of human history who can save us from an eternal grave. None but Jesus.

Do not ever be ashamed of that unique truth in a pluralistic world racing toward the eternal flames of the lake of fire. You and I are created by God to exalt Him, to be an integral part of God’s plan of redemption, of reconciliation for sinners who WANT to be reconciled. And your part and my part is wrapped up in the unique truth of Jesus Christ.

That is why Paul proclaimed on the streets and in the towns and villages of his own pluralistic and polytheistic culture: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek [e.g. Gentile].”  (Romans 1:16)

And HOW is that reconciliation accomplished? Most of you already know the answer to my question, but it is necessary to hear it again and again because we NEED to keep hearing it – ESPECIALLY because our culture scoffs at the idea, and even many churches have lost their first love. Martin Luther was spot on when he said: “We need to hear the gospel every day because we forget it every day.”

The text in this first chapter of Hebrews continues in verse 3, in which we are told: “When He [Jesus] made purification from sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.”

What does it mean that Jesus made purification of sins?

The Greek translated here into the English ‘purification’ carries the idea of purging, of a cleansing, the total removal of the guilt before God that accompanies our sins. That’s what Jesus meant when He said on that cross, just before He yielded up His Spirit, “It is finished.” 

Jesus paid with His life’s blood the penalty our sins deserved. He was our propitiatory sacrifice – a fancy term which means Jesus’ sacrificial death for us appeased the divine wrath of God that would have been directed at us like a laser when we stood before the Final Judge after our death.

That’s precisely what St. Paul tells us in his letter to the Christians at Rome: “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. (Romans 5:8-9)

And again the apostle tells us in his letter to the Christians at Colossae: And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind and engaged in evil deeds, yet He (Christ) has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through [His] death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach.” (Colossians 1:21-22)

I hope you caught that. Jesus’ death has not only reconciled those who come to Christ in faith and obedience, but His death has made you holy and blameless and beyond reproach in the eyes of God.

Oh! That is why there is no other name under all of heaven given to us whereby we MUST be saved, because only Jesus died for your sins and mine, only the sinless Son of God and Son of Man COULD die for your sins and mine.

When God says Jesus’ blood purified our sins, He meant exactly that. Jesus wiped our sins from existence itself. The penitent sinner who comes to Jesus for cleansing will have every stain, every molecule of sin erased forever.

I close with the lyrics of a hymn familiar to many. Please listen carefully to these words of truth:

Man of sorrows what a name for the Son of God, who came ruined sinners to reclaim: Hallelujah, what a Savior!  Bearing shame and scoffing rude, in my place condemned he stood, sealed my pardon with his blood: Hallelujah, what a Savior! Guilty, helpless, lost were we; blameless Lamb of God was he, sacrificed to set us free: Hallelujah, what a Savior! He was lifted up to die; "It is finished" was his cry; now in heaven exalted high: Hallelujah, what a Savior!

And so I conclude by repeating those first few verses of Hebrews chapter one:

 “God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high . . . .” 

Patience. Trust. And never, ever, be ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Amen

Period. Full Stop.

Sometimes, like very recently for me, I start to fall for the jaundiced and biblically unsupportable teaching that we can never be sure of our salvation until we die.

Pretty close to every week, I hear that seductive lie from people who have nary a clue of the length, breadth, and depth of Scripture and God’s promises. They do not seem to know that God knows our frame. They do not seem to know that He knows we are ‘but dust.” They do not seem to trust the promises of God who vows to those who’ve been baptized into Christ, who follow Him, who strive to know Him, to love Him, to serve Him – that they HAVE eternal life.

Please do not misinterpret what I just said. It is well-supported by Scripture that we CANNOT expect eternal life if we actively live in sin. If we have no desire to obey Christ, if we routinely live according to our own will and see no reason to repent of and turn from our sins, then we do NOT have eternal life dwelling within us.

Period. Full stop.

But my point is NOT addressed to those who live that kind of delusion. Jesus gave some pretty stiff warnings to those self-deceived liars, such as Matthew 7:21-23.

My point, however, is to those who strive to live humbly and obediently before Jesus (occasional slips into sin – of which all Christians are subject – notwithstanding). Scripture tells us they HAVE – present tense – they HAVE eternal life. St. John’s words in his first epistle is only one example: “He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.” (1 John 5:12-13)

I’ve labored under that dark cloud of uncertainty for a week now. Maybe two. Time gets away when you get depressed. But then the Lord reminded me this morning through this song by the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir, that if I die before I finish this sentence, I HAVE – not MIGHT have – I have eternal life. And the lyrics of this song describe what all who love the Lord have to look forward to.

I hope this song encourages you as it encouraged me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Hm8jJYHCgM

When You Feel Abandoned by God

This is the edited version of my June 21 message titled, “When Feeling Abandoned by God.”  You can find my recorded message here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eom9xwGOU10 

When Feeling Abandoned by God

I wrote about little Berea several years ago, and as I reflected on the Scriptures for my message today about feeling abandoned by God, the memory resurfaced. Let me tell you what happened.

As our home Bible study wound to a close, a young mother ran out to her car for a package she’d forgotten. She left her two-year-old daughter with half a dozen adults and children in the living room. But when Berea saw Mommy leave, her face froze with panic. She raced as fast as her little legs could carry her and stretched in vain for the doorknob. Her screams were laden with terror, as if she believed Mommy would never to return.

One of the other women lifted the child into her arms and tried to calm her. But it was no use. The toddler only wanted Mommy. And mommy was gone.  

A few moments later mommy returned. She lifted Berea into her arms, rubbed her back and spoke softly into her ear. In moments, Berea quieted down. Mommy had returned. All was well.

The next morning as I spent time with the Lord in prayer, my thoughts drifted back to that pitiable image of Berea screaming for her mother. And this thought spread through my meditation: What must it be like for those who rejected Christ all their lives and then find themselves on the other side of eternity’s door – knowing with horrifying certainty – Father has left and is never coming back?

I cannot imagine the unending and inconsolable grief of those who know they will remain FOREVER on the other side of that door. THAT is what every man and woman on this planet who has rejected Christ has to look forward to: Total, absolute, and unending abandonment by God with no hope of change.

That brings us then to our text for today. The context is Christ’s crucifixion. “And those passing by were hurling abuse at Him, wagging their heads and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking Him and saying, “He saved others; He cannot save Himself. He is the King of Israel; let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe in Him. He trusts in God; let God rescue Him now, if He delights in Him; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” The robbers who had been crucified with Him were also insulting Him with the same words. Now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour. About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

Dropping now to verse fifty: And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up His spirit.”

The other gospel writers record the last two statements Jesus made after His cry of abandonment and before He yielded up His spirit. They are vital to the point of my message today about when we feel God has abandoned us. 

John tells us Jesus cried out, “It is finished.” (John 19:30). Luke tells us Jesus also said to the Father, “Into Thy hands I commend My spirit.” (Luke 23:46)

Some believe Jesus’ last temptation occurred in the Garden of Gethsemane in which He begged the Father to let the cup pass from Him. His sweat became like drops of blood as He agonized over what was about to happen to Him on Golgotha’s hill. But, as you will recall, despite His agony and fear, He resolutely acquiesced to the Father’s will and said, “Not my will, but Thine be done.”

I do not believe for a moment that that moment in the Garden was Satan’s last attempt to pull Jesus off track. The devil’s last temptation occurred while Jesus hung on that cross.

With the exception of John, all His disciples had left Him. And then there were the sarcastic, spiteful comments from the mob at the foot of the cross. “If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” Others mocked, “Hey look-y here. He saved others; He can’t save Himself. He trusts in God; let God rescue Him now, if God really cares about Him.’”

THIS was Jesus’ final temptation.  An orchestrated attack and attempted seduction by the devil for Jesus to despair, to wonder to Himself, “Why should I go on?”

Have you ever gone through a Dark Night of the Soul? That’s what some call a period lasting days, or months – maybe longer – during which they felt God had abandoned them. Mother Teresa of Calcutta may be the most extensive case on record. According to her letters read after her death she endured her dark night for nearly 50 years, from 1948 until 1997, with only brief interludes of relief.

And during your own dark night, the devil is always quick to mock you, “If you are really a child of God, if God REALLY cares about you, then why are these things happening to you?”

Now before I continue, let me assure everyone who has been born again through their baptismal faith in Jesus’ blood atonement for their sins – let me assure you on the basis of Scripture – not my opinion, but on the basis of Scripture: God NEVER abandons you.

At times it might seem like or feel like He has left you, but God, who cannot lie, has said it over and over, He will never leave any of His born-again children. One of my favorite passages illustrating this truth is in Isaiah 49:

“But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me, and the Lord has forgotten me.” “Can a woman forget her nursing child and have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you. “Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands. (Isaiah 49:14-16a) And in Hebrews in which the writer quotes Jesus: “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5)

There are scores of other passages like this one, but I hope you get the point that God never forsakes His children brought to Himself through the blood of Jesus.

St. Padre Pio wrote this in 1914 (he was only 27 at the time): “Jesus is always with you, even when it seems you do not feel him. He is never closer to you then when you are in spiritual battle . . . . For the sake of love, I implore you, by all that you hold most sacred, do not wrong him by suspecting, even slightly, that you have been abandoned by him, not even for a single instant. This is precisely one of the most satanic temptations and you need to thrust it far from you as soon as you become aware of it.”

And let me tell you WHY God will never forsake any of His children. It’s because He abandoned His own Son when Jesus substituted Himself for you, when Jesus took your sins and my sins on Himself on Calvary’s tree. Paul tells us Jesus BECAME SIN for us (2 Corinthians 5:20-21).

When Jesus the Man – (remember, Jesus from His conception in the virgin womb of Mary, was fully God and fully Man at the same time) – when Jesus the SINLESS Man became sin for us, the Father turned away from Him because God cannot look on sin for even a nanosecond.

Go back for a moment to my story about Berea. If Jesus had not done what He did, if He had not BECOME our sin, then when we die and stand before the judgment seat of God, God would have no choice but to reject us, to turn away from us, to abandon us to our sins in an eternal lake of fire.  We would be forever on the other side – the wrong side – of that eternal door.

THAT is why the cross of Christ was so necessary for our eternal salvation. God will not abandon you or me at the judgment – because God the Father abandoned Jesus instead!  In OUR PLACE.

OH!  Think on that for a while!

But there is much more to this lesson of when the Father abandoned His Son because of our sin.

Despite the devil’s final temptation for Jesus to despair, even in the midst of His own dark night of the soul – Jesus did what you and I must also do to follow in His steps: That is, to continue to entrust ourselves to the Father to do what is right.

Here is what the apostle Peter tells us about this event on the cross: “For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously.(1 Peter 2:21-23)

I hope you caught that last phrase. In His Dark Night of the Soul, Jesus kept on entrusting Himself to His Father who, Jesus knew, judges righteously.

Here is another example, this one from Psalm 44. Here is the context starting at verse 10. The psalmist says to God: You cause us to turn back from the adversary; And those who hate us have taken spoil for themselves. You give us as sheep to be eaten and have scattered us among the nations. You sell Your people cheaply and have not profited by their sale. You make us a reproach to our neighbors, a scoffing and a derision to those around us. You make us a byword among the nations, a laughingstock among the peoples. . . .

Now to verses 17 and 18. Please listen closely to what he writes: “All this has come upon us, but we have not forgotten You, and we have not dealt falsely with Your covenant. Our heart has not turned back, and our steps have not deviated from Your way.”

And finally, for the sake of our point, let’s turn to Job chapter 13.  You know the context of Job’s story. In one fell swoop, Job lost his children, his wealth, and then his health. One soul-rending tragedy after the other. Even his beloved wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast [to] your integrity?  Curse God and die” (Job 2:9)

And to compound his misery,  Job’s so-called friends pontificated that he surely must have been guilty of all manner of sins, otherwise God would not be letting him suffer as he was.

But we must respect the man’s spiritual maturity and his confidence in a God who judges and does righteously. A few chapters later, despite all he was enduring, Job cries out, “Though He slay me, yet I will trust in Him.” (13:15, AKJV)

What’s the point? Jesus the man – a human being with the same emotions as you and I have – Jesus knew the Father had abandoned Him because as our substitute, He was bearing on Himself all our sins. That is why God NEVER abandons His children who have been born again into His family – because He abandoned Jesus in our place.

So, when you are in your own Dark Night of the Soul – whether for a day, a month, or longer – and you remain unaware of any unconfessed sins – then keep doing as Jesus did – who kept entrusting Himself to the Father who judges righteously.

Keep doing as the psalmist did, who said, “All this has come upon us, but we have not forgotten You . . . Our heart has not turned back, and our steps have not deviated from Your way.”

Keep doing as Job did, who proclaimed and affirmed from the midst of his sackcloth and ashes, “Even if You kill me, I will still TRUST in You.”

Oh God the Holy Spirit, make it always so in our lives. Amen.

Message June 14 Open Doors

Title: Open Doors, Clean Temples

This is an edited version of the message I preached for June 14. You can find the YouTube recording at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Qksy55mU-Q&t=2s 

Hezekiah became king when he was twenty-five years old; and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah. ² He did right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father David had done.

1. Doing Right

Scripture records for us that Hezekiah, the king of Judah, did right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his great, great-grandfather had done. But when the Holy Spirit makes this reference to King David, it is not to suggest David was perfect.

We know of his wicked sin with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband Uriah and other soldiers who died with him in battle. We also know he certainly was not the perfect parent, most notably in his relationship with one of his sons, Amnon (2 Samuel 13) and his other son, Absalom, especially in the aftermath of Amnon’s rape of Tamar. (2 Samuel 13-19).

Nonetheless, for all his failures, David was a humble man before God. We see evidence of that most clearly in Psalm 51 which records his confession and repentance before God for his sins in the Bathsheba incident. (See this link).

Psalm 32, likely written after Psalm 51, is a testament to David’s confidence in God’s forgiveness of the penitent, regardless of his sins. It reads in part this way. (See this link).

G. Campbell Morgan says of Psalm 32 says of this psalm, “It is a Psalm of penitence, but it is also the song of a ransomed soul rejoicing in the wonders of the grace of God.”

It was of because of David’s humility and soft heart toward God, that Scripture tells us he a man after God’s own heart, and Hezekiah proved himself to also be man of God.

Are You a woman or man after God’s own heart?  Do you have a soft and humble heart toward God? When you sin, do you confess those sins to God, and do you turn away from those sins as David turned away?

2. Getting Access

The text in 2 Chronicles continues in verse 3: In the first year of [Hezekiah’s] reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them. He brought in the priests and the Levites and gathered them into the square on the east.

We find in the preceding chapter, chapter 28 of 2 Chronicles, the Temple doors had been locked by Hezekiah’s father, the evil King Ahaz. It was Ahaz who led Israel deeper into the horrific sins of idolatries, child sacrifice, and officially sanctioned religious prostitution and other sexual perversions – not too unlike today, if you think about it.

But Hezekiah changed all that. He opened the doors of the Temple and called the priests whose lineage traced back to Aaron and the sons of the Levitical tribe of Israel.

You will remember that under the old covenant – better known as the Old Testament – God established a separate caste of men to lead Israel in its worship. You’ll find that history in especially in Exodus and Leviticus.

It was only men from that special group of Levites who could offer sacrifices for the sins of the people. It was only that special group who had access to the holy place inside the Temple.

And it was only one person of that special caste – the High Priest– who could access the holiest place of the Temple, where the Ark of the Covenant rested. He alone had access only once a year, during the Day of Atonement. The laity, however – the regular people in the pew – were forbidden by Mosaic Law to enter the holy areas.

In an analogous fashion, under the New Covenant inaugurated by God and promised 600 years earlier through the prophet Jeremiah, Jesus opened the doors of true worship – no longer in a Temple or on a mountain, but – as He told the woman at the well in Samaria: “But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.  (John 4:23)

Under the new covenant, all those who follow Jesus – men, women, young, old, of every race, nation, language and culture – everyone born again through their faith in the blood of Jesus can enter boldly and with confidence into the holiest of holies.

Here is what the writer of the New Testament book of Hebrews tells us as he quotes from the Old Covenant prophet, Jeremiah: “Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, when I will effect a new covenant
With the house of Israel and with the house of Judah; Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt.” (Hebrews 8, quoting Jeremiah 31)

It is the New Covenant Jesus promised at the Last Supper when He said “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.” (Luke 22:20)

Through the first ten chapters of Hebrews, the writer repeatedly refers the readers back to the Old Testament Scriptures to make it clear that everything associated with the Old Covenant worship – the sacrifices, the priesthood, the Temple, the rituals, and regulations – all of it was deleted when Jesus took our sins to that cross, died as our substitutionary sacrifice, resurrected on the third day, and ascended back to His Father.

We who follow Christ are under that New Covenant of promise. And as a result of following Christ, the doors of worship have been thrown open and we each have personal access to God’s very throne room.  Oh! Think what that means!

Again, as the writer to the Hebrews says: “Therefore let us draw near with confidence (Greek: ‘boldly, freely’) to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16)

Please recall what happened to that huge curtain in the Temple, the curtain  that separated the holy place from the Holy of Holies, the place where the Ark of God rested, and into which only the High Priest could enter once a year on the Day of Atonement.

St. Matthew tells us that while Jesus hung on the cross, He “cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up His spirit. And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.” Matthew 27:50-51

Listen again, please. There is no longer a veil that separates any child of God who has been adopted into His family through his or her baptismal faith in Christ. We have direct access to our Father who art in heaven.

3. Being Consecrated

Hezekiah continues in verse five of 2 Chronicles 29: Then he said to them, “Listen to me, O Levites. Consecrate yourselves now, and consecrate the house of the Lord, the God of your fathers, and carry the uncleanness out from the holy place. For our fathers have been unfaithful and have done evil in the sight of the Lord our God and have forsaken Him and turned their faces away from the dwelling place of the Lord and have turned their backs . . . .”  (verse 5-6)

Hezekiah told the priests to consecrate themselves, to set themselves apart for God’s work. And that is exactly what the Holy Spirit tells each of us who call Christ our Lord: to set ourselves apart for the work God calls EACH of us to do.

Here is St. Paul to the Christians at Rome: “The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore, let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts. (Romans 13:12-14)

 

And to those in Corinth: “Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” (2 Corinthians 7:1)

 

I want us to also notice when the priests began cleaning the temple, they started from the inside out. Here is verse 16: “So the priests went in to the inner part of the house of the Lord to cleanse it, and every unclean thing which they found in the temple of the Lord they brought out to the court of the house of the Lord. Then the Levites received it to carry out to the Kidron valley.” 

 

Likewise, when we consecrate ourselves, we start with the heart. It is utterly useless to dress ourselves up with good works and religious activities and rituals if our hearts remain defiled, full of envy, anger, lusts, and self-centeredness, and jealousies.

 

That’s why St. Paul wrote to the Christians at Colossae, If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” . . . . according to human precepts and teachings?  These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. (Colossians 2:20-23, English Standard Version) 

 

What is it the Holy Spirit wants you and me to cast away to our own Kidron Valley? That’s something we need to ask God: What, Oh, Lord, in my life displeases you?

4. Being Named

We saw a few minutes ago that the priests cleaned out the house of God. But there is one more point I want to make about this record of Hezekiah’s instruction. It begins at verse 12.

“Then the Levites arose: Mahath, the son of Amasai and Joel the son of Azariah, from the sons of the Kohathites; and from the sons of Merari, Kish the son of Abdi and Azariah the son of Jehallelel; and from the Gershonites, Joah the son of Zimmah and Eden the son of Joah; and from the sons of Elizaphan, Shimri and Jeiel; and from the sons of Asaph, Zechariah and Mattaniah; and from the sons of Heman, Jehiel and Shimei; and from the sons of Jeduthun, Shemaiah and Uzziel. They assembled their brothers, consecrated themselves, and went in to cleanse the house of the Lord, according to the commandment of the king by the words of the Lord.” 

The Holy Spirit considered their names important enough to record them in Scripture for multiple generations upon generations to know about. It was those men with names nearly unpronounceable by non-Hebrew speaking people who took it upon themselves to clean out the dirt, the defilement, the garbage that was in the house of God so it would be purified and ready for worship.

God tells us our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19). And so, will the Holy Spirit record your name in God’s book for all the angels to read for all eternity? Will He annotate in His book that we wanted a purified temple of the Holy Spirit – AND we made diligent effort to cleans our temples of everything which defiled it?

That is a serious question, isn't it? Please consider it carefully.

I Should Have Been Crucified

I always listen to a hymn or song of worship as I enter my quiet time with the Lord each morning. Today it was this one:

I was guilty with nothing to say,

And they were coming to take me away.

But then a voice from heaven was heard, which said,

“Turn him loose, and take me instead!”

And I should have been crucified,

I should have suffered and died.

I should have hung on the cross in disgrace,

But Jesus, God’s Son, took my place.

Crown of thorns, the spear in His side,

And all the pain that should have been mine.

Those rusty nails were meant for me,

But Jesus took them – and let me go free!

And I should have been crucified,

I should have suffered and died.

I should have hung on the cross in disgrace,

But Jesus, God’s Son, took my place.

We all as adults find Christ differently. I was alone in my navy barracks, on my knees by my bunk, when I told Jesus I would follow Him the rest of my life. My sister, Andrea, met Jesus at the altar in Central Assembly of God church in Springfield, Missouri. My wife was alone in her apartment, watching a Billy Graham crusade on television, when she told Christ she now belonged only to Him. My mother and I were in my car a block from my house when I led her in a prayer of repentance and commitment to Jesus as her only Lord and Savior.

The places and times and circumstances are as varied as the individuals vary. But the message proclaimed and which must then believed and acted upon is the same: Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost.

Have you as an adult come to Christ? Are you saved from eternal judgment?

You are if you believe in your heart that Jesus died in your place, that He paid once for all the penalty for your sins – and you are living for Him and following in His steps.

You and I should have been crucified. You and I should have suffered and died. We should have hung on that cross in disgrace; But Jesus, God’s Son took our place.

Oh, thank you Lord for your immeasurable gift!

Peace in Distress

I listened this morning to this portion of Handel’s Messiah:

“He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young. . . . Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (from Isaiah 40:11 and Matthew 11:28-29)

The words came to me in the middle of my unrest over what is happening all around me. Fear. And hatred. Unquenchable, murderous hatred. And demonic laced lies about it all from the tongues of those in politics, the media, the churches, the educational institutions, from our neighbors, and even in families.  

It is in that context that I sat in my regular chair to spend time with Jesus and listened to those comforting words of Scripture.

And they reminded me, Jesus is not dead. He is alive, radiant, powerful, majestic, omnipotent. And by His Holy Spirit is with me. And He is with you who love Him.

Right now. Wherever it is that you are reading this, if you love Him, He is with you. And like a gentle shepherd, He will feed you. And me.

He will feed us and nourish us from His holy Scriptures. He will provide us water to satisfy our thirst, milk and meat to satisfy our hunger. Calm and confidence to soothe our unrest.

He gathers us – all of us who belong to Him – and He carries us close to His chest. He embraces us and – as we carefully listen and obey – He leads us through this cold, bitter, and very dangerous world.

But we must come to Him like needy sheep if we want calm for our roiling souls. We must come every day. Several times a day, as often as we need to come. We must take His yoke – it is an easy one, but a yoke, nonetheless. And we must take His burden – it is an easy one, but a burden, nonetheless. There is no other way in this angry, agitated, and mean-spirited world to find rest.

St. Augustine said it well: God has made us for Himself, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Him.