Purification of Sins

 

Today’s text once again comes from the 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. 

 

A few weeks ago, as I began thinking about the messages I plan to bring from the book of Hebrews, I didn’t realize that today’s text which speaks of Christ’s purification of sin would dovetail with the Biblical holy day of Yom Kippur (also known as the Day of Atonement). Yom Kippur, as some of you may know, is the highest of holy days in Jewish faith. It falls on a different day each fall because – like Ash Wednesday, Passover, Good Friday, and Resurrection Sunday (Easter) – it follows the lunar calendar and not the solar calendar.

 

This year, Yom Kippur fell on this past Wednesday, October 1. I’ve preached about Yom Kippur before, and I do it again today because repetition is a good method to retain information. As St Peter wrote to his readers (2 Peter 1:12-15): “I will always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them.”

 

There is a scientific reason for the use of repetition. Studies on what is called the ‘forgetting curve’ demonstrate that people typically forget approximately 50% of new information within one hour. Within 24 hours they’ve forgotten 70% of new information. They’ve lost up to 90% within a week. This rapid decline in memory retention underscores the need for effective reinforcement methods – and those include repetition. That’s why teachers told us to ‘study’ for our tests. And Luther was spot on when he said: “We need to hear the gospel every day because we forget it every day.”

Thus, the reason for today’s review of things we’ve heard and read before. This information is important to our understanding and our confidence in our purification of our sins in God’s eyes.

 

As I just said, the Day of Atonement is the highest holy day in the Jewish faith. It’s the day when many Jews – even non-observant Jews – call to mind their sins and make an appeal to God for forgiveness. This last point is important because Jews – as well as Christians – know that only God can forgive sins committed against Him; And as we all should know, ALL sin, small and big and in between – all sins are ultimately against God and His commandments. Anyone who questions that needs only to take a few minutes to read the Ten Commandments in Deuteronomy 20 and the Lord’s commandments in His sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapters five through seven.

According to the Books of Moses, on the Day of Atonement the high priest received two sacrificial animals from the people. One he slaughtered, catching its blood in a basin and then sprinkled it on the lid of the Ark of the Covenant.

 

That lid was called the “Mercy Seat.” The Hebrew word for Mercy Seat translates to the Greek word used by the New Testament writers – propitiation – which means “to a make atonement for sins and remove the associated judgment for those sins.” Propitiation is how God’s wrath against the sinner because of their sins is appeased, satisfied, pacified.

 

The high priest then took the second sacrificial animal, placed both his hands on its head and thereby transferred ALL the sins of the people. The ‘scapegoat’ (as it was called) was then led out into the desert, never to be seen again. 

 

In other words, on Yom Kippur, God not only covered the people’s sins with the blood sprinkled on the Mercy Seat, but He also showed them by the Scapegoat that He was removing their sins from their midst, just as the Psalmist tells us in Psalm 103, He removed the penitent’s sins “as far as the east is from the west.”

 

The events of the Day of Atonement was a picture of what God would do 1400 years later on Good Friday when He transferred the sins of the world – including yours and mine – onto His Son, Jesus the Messiah. Jesus filled the role of the sacrificed animal when He spilled His blood on the cross to cover our sins. AND Messiah Jesus filled the role of the scapegoat who took our sins as far from us as east is from the west.

 

So, in this, and in many other portions and many other ways, God promised humanity a means by which our sins could be purified, purged, completely erased. He promised us an ‘Etch-A-Sketch’ clean over a Magic Slate clean.

Some of you will remember that illustration I used several months ago. I repeat the illustration for the sake of those here who have not heard it.

 

The Magic Slate is a stiff piece of cardboard about 8 inches wide and maybe 12 inches high. The center of the cardboard is covered with a black waxy film which is then overlaid by a thin translucent sheet. When you write on the sheet with a stylus, the black wax behind it causes marks to appear on the thin overlay. To erase what you wrote, you just lift the translucent film, and all the writing disappears. But you don’t have to look too closely at the black wax underneath to see the indentations of the stylus on the black wax. They are always there.

By contrast, the Etch-A-Sketch is a box of approximately the same length and height as the Magic Slate, but the box has a glass screen coated on the underside with a metallic powder. The box had two knobs, one on the left and one on the right. By turning the knobs, a stylus under the glass moved across the screen either horizontally or vertically and causes marks to appear in the powder under the glass. To erase the marks, the user simply turns the box upside down and shakes it. Doing so causes the lines to completely disappear. But unlike the Magic Slate, the stylus DOES NOT leave any depressions on the glass. Once erased, the user has a completely clean surface on which to write.

When it comes to God's forgiveness of our confessed sins, Christians fall into two general categories of thought. I call them the ‘Magic Slate’ and the ‘Etch-A-Sketch’ categories. Those in the Magic Slate category think that when they confess their sins to God that He ‘lifts’ the translucent film and our sins disappear. But – and to keep the metaphor – God can always see the traces of those sins still embedded in the black wax.

However – and this is the KEY difference – the Magic Slate ‘removal of sins’ is completely contrary to the way the totality of scriptures describes how God treats our confessed sins. When God forgives sins – the Greek word used by the New Testament writers means to ‘remit’ our sins – when God remits our confessed sins, He treats them as if they’d been written on an Etch-A-Sketch. When we confess our sins, God turns the Etch-A-Sketch upside down – again, to keep the metaphor – and gives it a mighty shake.

When Jesus made ‘purification of our sins’ He turned the instrument right side up again, and every trace of our sins – let me say that again for emphasis – EVERY trace of our sins was gone. Completely erased even from God's memory because He CHOOSES to erase those sins from His memory.

The prophet Micah tells us God casts our sins into the depths of the deepest oceans (see Micah 7:19). And in Jeremiah’s prophecy (31:34), God promises the penitent: “I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

 

Focus a moment on that last clause: “I will remember their sin no more.”  That means YOUR sin, my sin – everyone whose sins are atoned for, they are ‘Etch-A-Sketch’ removed – they are PURIFIED by the blood-washed sacrifice of Jesus, the Lamb of God. God remembers our sins ‘no more.’

That’s one reason the idea of Purgatory is so profoundly false. The penitent Christian has nothing to fear of further purging of their sins after death because in God’s eyes, those sins no longer exist.

 

But there is even more good news: Because Jesus made purification of sins – even sins for which the Christian is unaware – even THOSE sins are purified by the Son of God. And THAT forgiveness is also pre-figured by Moses in this passage related to the Day of Atonement.  For example, in referencing Leviticus 5:17-18, the writer to the Hebrews, assures the Christian: “Now when these things have been so prepared [meaning the elements of the Tabernacle], the priests are continually entering the outer tabernacle performing the divine worship, but into the second, only the high priest enters once a year [on Yom Kippur], not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance. (Hebrews 9:6-7)

 

God's incomprehensible mercy displayed on Yom Kippur is a picture of the incalculable mercy He would display some 1400 years later on Good Friday. Yom Kippur and Good Friday are evidence that God knows our sin-nature makes it utterly impossible to free ourselves from the penalty of our sins – that penalty being eternal separation from God and eternal death.

 

Now, all of this raises a logical question: Since, as we’ve already seen, all sins we commit are sins against God, how could Jesus forgive those sins which only God can forgive?

 

Well, let’s turn for a moment to Matthew chapter nine. When Jesus was about to heal the paralytic, He told the religious leaders present: “So that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” — He said to the paralytic, “Get up, pick up your bed and go home.” (Matthew 9:6)

 

How could Jesus forgive sins committed against God? The answer is simple: Because Jesus IS God. Jesus is God incarnate. Jesus is God who took the form of a man. The Scriptures give abundant and repeated evidence of that truth. That’s why in this text I quoted from Matthew the religious leaders accused Jesus of blasphemy because they knew Jesus was claiming to be God.

 

As for Christ’s deity, look again at the very context of today’s text about Jesus making purification of sins: “God . . 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 the writer tells us Jesus is the exact representation, the Greek word means He is the ‘precise reproduction’ of God in every respect.” One commentary explains it this way: “He is one who has the whole nature of God in him.”

 

In other words, God is utterly holy, and therefore Jesus is utterly holy. God is omnipotent, therefore Jesus is omnipotent. God is eternal from before time began, therefore Jesus is eternal before time began.

 

You will remember some of the profound statements He made to His followers and to His enemies. For example, (John 10:30) “I and the Father are one.” And (John 14:9) “He who has seen Me has seen the Father.”

 

The writer of Hebrews is simply reiterating what we find elsewhere in Scripture about the deity of Jesus. For example, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men . . . And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us.” (John 1:1-4, 15)

 

Look also at Isaiah, 700 years before Jesus was born in that little town of Bethlehem: “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6)

 

And yet again, “Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He [i.e. God] Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives . . . Therefore, He [i.e. God] had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation [atonement] for the sins of the people.  (Hebrews 2:14-15, 17)

 

For millennia, Satan has tried and continues to try to conceal the plain truth of Jesus’ deity so as to bring the deceived away from God’s Truth and imprison them in error and, ultimately, the Lake of Fire. The history of the Church underscores Satan’s strategy. The earliest heresies are called heresies because they denied the full deity and the simultaneous full humanity of Jesus.

 

That’s also why modern so-called ‘churches’ are rightly called heretical cults, such as The Church of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) and Jehovah’s Witnesses. They are heretical because they deny the deity of Jesus. They claim Jesus was a created being.

 

So, as I conclude this message, let’s go back to our text. When Jesus made purification of sins, the Greek word means to purge, to cleanse, to totally remove the sinners guilt before God. That’s what Jesus meant when He said from that cross, “It is finished.” 

Jesus paid with His life’s blood the penalty our sins deserved. He was our propitiatory sacrifice. His sacrificial death appeased the righteous wrath of God against our sins. And in appeasing God’s wrath, Jesus reconciled God’s enemies – you and me – and brought the Christian into intimate and loving relationship with our Creator.

 

THAT is why there is no other name under all of heaven given to us whereby we MUST be saved, because only the incarnate God – Jesus – could die for our sins against God.

 

When Scripture says Jesus made purification of our sins, it means exactly that. Jesus wiped our sins from existence itself. The penitent sinner who comes to Jesus for cleansing will have every stain, every shame, every contamination of sin erased forever.

 

No wonder the apostle cried out: (Romans 5:1) “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” And later cried out: (2 Corinthians 9:15) “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!”

 

God Still Speaks - Part One

 

Today’s text comes from the first few verses of Hebrew 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. 

 

In our multicultural, pluralistic culture, to make the claim that Jesus Christ is the ONLY Savior, the ONLY hope for eternal life, the ONLY hope for God’s favor – such a claim nowadays seems to border on what some would call absurd (at best) or hate speech (at worst).

 

But frankly, I for one do not care if others think my unwavering declaration that Jesus is humanity’s ONLY savior, that He is humanity’s ONLY hope for eternal life – I don’t care if others think I am being absurd or if they lie about being hateful.

 

Those who chose unbelief in the days Jesus walked the earth killed Him because He told them things they did not want to hear. And so, today, those who CHOOSE unbelief do the same. Satan hates truth. Satan hates light. And so, the Lord warned His disciples in that first century, as He warns His disciples in 2025: “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and have them put to death. ¹³ You will be hated by all because of My name, but the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.” (Mark 13:12-13).

 

According to a report in 2024 by Open Doors – a global ministry dedicated to serving persecuted Christians – including here in America – more than 4,000 Christians were murdered around the globe because of their beliefs in Christ and His resurrection. Nearly 5,000 were imprisoned. Nearly 8,000 churches and Christian properties were attacked. And Charlie Kirk is only one of the more recent Christians martyred for their bold faith in Christ and their courageous proclamation of God’s truth.

 

And speaking of God’s truth, this is a good place to pause and consider the very idea of God as He describes Himself throughout Scripture, because if He does NOT exist, then there is no infallible and unfailing Truth – absolute truth, unchangeable truth, perfect truth.

 

And that is precisely what atheists, agnostics, and whatever other labels modern scoffers of God and His Truth assign to themselves – that is precisely why such men and women want to believe God doesn’t exist, because if there is no absolute truth – truth to which they are and will be held accountable – then they can live as they choose. And if anyone wonders how a culture looks when led by atheists and agnostics and those who mock God – watch the nightly news for 10 minutes.

 

A favorite excuse many atheists use to soothe their own conscience is that faith in God is a fairytale fit only for old women and small children. They like to tell themselves that intelligent adults have no time for myths.

 

But when they say such things, they simply parrot the ignorance of others who themselves parrot the ignorance of others. However, and to the contrary of what they tell themselves, when any intelligent person with an honest and humble heart seeks to know if God exists, they ALWAYS come away with the answer that converts them to God AND to the Savior, Jesus.

How many of our unbelieving family, friends, and acquaintances know that in the 20^th century, just under 66% of those receiving Nobel awards in physics and medicine were Christians? Nearly 75% of Nobel prize awards in Chemistry went to Christians.

Were those Nobel Prize awardees uneducated and superstitious fools because they believed in God? Really? And I could spend the next hour just listing the names and the contributions to science that Christian men and women have made in the last several centuries, up to and including the 21^st century. Yes, it takes a certain kind of self-blindness to hang on to the irrational excuse that God is the stuff of fairy tales fit only for old women and small children

You meet your share of scoffers and unbelievers in your daily rubbing of shoulders with those at the tables around you at each meal. That’s why I remind you of things I have said here in this sanctuary before: Your faith in God and of His Christ is found to be true by all who seek truth with an honest and humble heart. And let us ever remember what the Lord Jesus said of those who look for excuses to deny Truth:

“Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.” (John 3:19-21)

 

So, let’s go back to that first clause in today’s text: “God, after He spoke long ago to the Fathers . . . .”

 

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 God’s promise to bring us a savior to break Satan’s chains.

 

I need to repeat that for the emphasis it deserves. It was 1400 years before God finally fulfilled His promise to send a Redeemer, a Savior, a Messiah to humanity trapped by Satan’s chains of sins. That means that for all those 1400 years after Moses wrote his books, generation after generation were born, lived, and died, without seeing 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 their 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 His ascension, “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6)

 

Their waiting – indeed, and now OUR waiting for the return of Christ, which has now lasted two thousand years – such delay 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)

 

And besides waiting for Christ’s return, are you tired of waiting for answers to your prayers? It’s no surprise if you are. Our culture has conditioned us since infancy to expect quick results when we want something. But when we do not see the expected results of our prayers – how many just give up – not only praying, but some even walk away from the Lord, thinking He’s not concerned about my prayers.

 

That idea, of course, is utterly preposterous.

 

The first clause in today’s Scripture text ought to give us a better perspective about being PATIENT about God’s timing. And in addition to patience, God teaches us something else in this first clause related to waiting. It also teaches us about trust.

 

God tells 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 NOT a psychological trick we play on ourselves and 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 hairs we have on our heads.

He is so connected with us that – as we saw when I preached through Psalm 139: “For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them. (Psalm 139:13-16)

I’m the first to admit this kind of trust is far easier to say than it is to do when life throws us a wicked curve. It was not that long ago, as some of you know, that I failed miserably to live up to the kind of trust I just told you we should have. When Nancy was in the ICU with a stroke, I melted into a slough of dread and anxiety that plagued me for many weeks.

But the truth is – truth with a capital T – the truth is we can trust our Father in heaven – regardless of how we ‘feel.’ We can trust Him because He really and immeasurably cares for us. For you. For me. Put your name on that statement. The Almighty, omnipotent God profoundly cares for you.

 

Never think your existence or your role in His grand plan for humanity is insignificant. As I spoke last week about what the Lord did with the fish and loaves, we are each an integral part of God’s plan for humanity in general and for specific individuals, in particular.

 

Listen: If we are NOT integral, then we wouldn’t have been born, or been 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 safely 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 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 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 exalted through our lives and others will be drawn to Him.

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. For example,

“The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.” (Psalm 19:1-2)

 

God has spoken through shepherds and kings, priests and paupers, farmers and tentmakers, fishermen and physicians. He declared His words through men and women who were well-known, little-known, and unknown.

 

He speaks through His creation of man and woman. Any high school biology textbook illustrates with photos and maps of the intricacy of the human cell – not to mention the astounding complexity of the entire human body.

 

But as is true today, 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 and apostles. 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.”

 

Why do we think so many, even among those who warm a pew each week, why would they continue to travel the broad way to the wide gate that leads to destruction? Why do very few choose the narrow road and the small gate that leads to life?

 

Perhaps because the narrow road and the small gate are arduous. Anyone who has ever given more than lip service to an obedient and holy lifestyle knows how arduous the road is. It is 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, it remains true: In these last days, God has spoken His final and unalterable word about sin, righteousness, judgment, eternal life and eternal torment. And He has spoken His truth to us through His Son.

 

For good reason, the apostle Peter told the religious leaders of his day: “There is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)

 

Peter was simply restating what the Lord Jesus had said earlier to the crowds of laity and clergy: “Unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.” (John 8:24) Then later to His disciples: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” (John 14:6)

 

That’s why I don’t care if unbelievers think what I am saying about Jesus is absurd or if they lie and call it hate speech. There is no one else who can save us from the wrath of God toward us for our sins. No one but Jesus. Not Buddha. Not Muhammed. Not Moses, not our good works or good intentions. Nothing and no one in all history can save us from the eternal Lake of Fire. Only Jesus can do that. Only Jesus can save us.

 

Do not ever be ashamed of that unique Truth – capital ‘T’ – in a pluralistic world racing toward the eternal damnation. You and I are created by God to exalt Him, to be an integral part of His plan of redemption, of reconciliation for sinners who WANT to be reconciled. And our part is wrapped and sealed in the unique truth of Jesus Christ.

 

That’s why Paul proclaimed on the streets and in the towns and villages of his own pagan, 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 [Gentile].”  (Romans 1:16)

God has spoken. God continues to speak. And He has ENTRUSTED us with His message of hope and the forgiveness of sins through faith in Jesus Christ.

When God said in Isaiah’s hearing: “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Isaiah answered, “Here am I. Send me!”

May God please change our hearts to become increasingly willing to answer God’s question with the same answer: “Here am I. Send me.”

 

Fifty-Three Years Ago

 

Yom Kippur – the Day of Atonement – is the highest of the holy days in Jewish faith. The holy day falls on different days each fall because Yom Kippur – like Ash Wednesday, Passover, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday – follows the lunar calendar and not the solar calendar.

 

This year, Yom Kippur falls on October 2^nd, but in 1972, it fell on September 18^th. For me, today is my 53^rd anniversary of the time God began to change my life-trajectory.

 

First, let me back up just a little. On Yom Kippur in 1971 I woke up thinking about how I’d been living my life – and I was not happy about it. I knew intuitively that I was a sinner. I also knew God was not pleased with the way I was living. I knew I had to change. I needed to be a better Jew. So, when I awakened on Yom Kippur in 1971, I determined that I would obey the Ten Commandments for the rest of my life.

 

But when my girlfriend unexpectedly knocked on my apartment door around noon – my determination quickly evaporated.

 

Now, fast forward a year later. On Yom Kippur in 1972 I sat in my navy barracks room, sadly remembering my failure of one year earlier. I pulled my journal from my locker and wrote a heart-felt plea: “Oh, God – forgive me for my past sins and look with tolerance on my future ones.”

 

I wrote as I did because I knew I was trapped in sin. I knew no matter how hard I tried and how many promises I made – I could not live up to God's commandments. I didn’t know it at the time, but heart was at a place it needed to be for God to break through and reveal to my heart the answer to my prayer for forgiveness.

 

His answer was – and will always be – Jesus.

 

I think back to that day in 1972 quite often. And please do not misunderstand me – I am nowhere near the living out of holiness that I know I must live. I sin routinely. I suppose it is fair to say I remain trapped in sin because I still have a sin nature.

 

But now I DO have full access to God's forgiveness when I repent of those sins. Now I DO have access to the Holy Spirit who always empowers me to say ‘No’ to some temptation that wants me to say, ‘Yes.”  And while God does not, nor will He ever, look with tolerance on my sins – He always provides me the assurance that when I confess my sins – even if I must do so a dozen times a day for the same sin – God promises to wipe them from my record and from His memory. I’ve memorized dozens of Scriptures to that point.

 

But, enough about me. I hope what I am saying here speaks to you because until we grieve over our sin nature, we won’t know how desperately we need Jesus. Until we recognize we’re trapped in sin, we won’t know how desperately we need Jesus. Until we weep and mourn because we keep doing the same thing again and again and again – hating every time we do it – then we won’t know how desperately we need Jesus.

Please. Think long about what I am saying here. We fool ourselves to tell ourselves that all we need to do to please God is walk down the church aisle and make a ‘commitment’ to Christ. It’s wholly insufficient to be baptized and attend church each Sunday without a true and DAILY commitment of life and lifestyle to Christ. And such a change in our life will only happen when God wakes us up to realize we really DO need Jesus to save us from ourselves.

 

And that would be a good prayer, wouldn’t it? To ask God to reveal to you how desperately – how desperately – you need Jesus, and to ask Him to forgive your sins and change your own life-trajectory to match His will for your life.

 

If you’ve never done that, please don’t delay to do so.

Still Useful

My text today comes from the 92^nd psalm: The righteous man will flourish like the palm tree, he will grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God.”

 

I hope you got that. The righteous man or woman will FLOURISH in their work for God.

 

Now listen to the prophet Isaiah: “You who have been borne by Me from birth and have been carried from the womb; Even to your old age I will be the same, and even to your graying years I will bear you! I have done it, and I will carry you; And I will bear you and I will deliver you.” (Isaiah 46:3b-4)

 

I hope you got that one, too: Even to your old age and you graying years – God will not change in His care for you.

 

It always grieves me to hear men and women who have served the Master for many for decades and who think He has put them out to pasture. They think God is no longer able – nor interested – in using them for His Kingdom because they’re too old, or feeble, or forgetful of Scripture, or inarticulate, poor, or . . . fill in the blank.

 

Well, I stand here today to shout it from the rooftop – that that idea is a satanic lie intended and designed by the devil himself to discourage you from being all you can STILL be for Christ.

 

Still be!

 

This poem I am about to read was supposedly written by an elderly nursing home patient. What this old woman experienced lays the foundation for the theme of my message. She wroteS:

 

“What do you see, nurse, what do you see? What are you thinking when you're looking at me? A crabby old woman, not very wise, uncertain of habit, with faraway eyes? Who dribbles her food and makes no reply when you say in a loud voice, "I do wish you'd try!"  Who seems not to notice the things that you do, and forever is losing a stocking or shoe.....

Who, resisting or not, lets you do as you will, with bathing and feeding, the long day to fill.... Is that what you're thinking? Is that what you see?
Then open your eyes, nurse; you're not looking at me.

I'll tell you who I am as I sit here so still, as I do at your bidding, as I eat at your will. I'm a small child of ten ...with a father and mother, brothers and sisters, who love one another. A young girl of sixteen, with wings on her feet, dreaming that soon a lover she'll meet. A bride soon at twenty -- my heart gives a leap, remembering the vows I promised to keep.

At twenty-five now, I have young of my own, who need me to guide a secure happy home. A woman of thirty, my young now grown fast, bound to each other with ties that should last. At forty, my young sons have grown and are gone, but my man's beside me to see I don't mourn.

At fifty, once more babies play round my knee, again we know children, my loved one and me. [But now] Dark days are upon me, my husband is dead;
I look at the future, I shudder with dread. For my young are all rearing young of their own, and I think of the years and the love that I've known.

I'm now an old woman ...and nature is cruel; 'Tis jest to make old age look like a fool. The body, it crumbles, grace and vigor depart, there is now a stone where I once had a heart. But inside this old carcass a young girl still dwells, and now and again my battered heart swells. I remember the joys, I remember the pain, and I'm loving and living life all over again.

I think of the years .... all too few, gone too fast, and accept the stark fact that nothing can last. So, open your eyes, nurse, open and see, not a crabby old woman; look closer ...see ME.

 

That last line always catches my attention as she pleads with her caregivers: “Look closer – see ME.”

 

Christian – I know it can be terribly depressing to think you are nearly invisible to others, ESPECIALLY if it’s your family who cannot see you. It can be incredibly discouraging to think no one thinks of you as valuable any longer.

 

But Christian AND non-Christian, please hear this! WE must receive this into our hearts: Whoever you are, God has not put you out to pasture. You might be lonely. You might be frightened about the future. You might be frail, or ill and unable to do the things you did even last year. But God has not put you out to pasture.

 

If you’re a Christian, God sees you as extraordinarily useful to His kingdom. And if you are not yet a Christian, God sees how extraordinarily useful you CAN be for His kingdom if you will place your faith and obedience in Christ Jesus who died to erase your sins – all of them; Even the ones you don’t remember.  

 

Scripture and church history abound with examples of old and young, of feeble and powerful, of poor and of rich, of the inarticulate and the golden-tongued – Scripture and church history abound with examples of men and women used of God because they WANTED to be used of God.

One of my favorite passages in the gospels is of the poor widow who shuffled up to the Temple treasury to deposit what amounted to a few pennies. You probably remember the story from Mark’s gospel: “And [Jesus] sat down opposite the treasury and began observing how the people were putting money into the treasury; and many rich people were putting in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which amount to a cent. Calling His disciples to Him, He said to them, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the contributors to the treasury; for they all put in out of their surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in all she owned, all she had to live on.” (Mark 12:41-44)

 

That impoverished widow had absolutely no idea that God would use her simple act of sacrificial faith as an example – for as long as this earth continues – He would use her act as an example of usefulness for the kingdom.

 

How was her act fruitful for the Kingdom? We’re still reading about it two thousand years later, aren’t we?  And doesn’t her gift give us a glimpse into the mind of God who is more interested in our heart than in our gifts, or our health, or in mobility, or in ANYTHING we consider important to being able to work for God.

 

If God has our heart, then what won’t He do with the rest of us?

 

Charles Stanley, in his booklet, We Shall Be Like Him, writes this: Do you know what God has called you to do? There’s much emphasis today on accomplishing something great for the Lord, and that can lead some of us to think that our ordinary life doesn’t amount to much. However, not everyone is called to preach to thousands or serve in distant lands. Being a mother, a student, or a hard-working employee is a tremendous calling, if that’s the task God has given you.

 

And I will add to what Stanley said by saying that being helpful, generous, encouraging, hospitable, and even exhorting others to do what’s right are also tasks God has given us to do.

Speaking of exhortation, Bill Santee was no one anyone might have called spectacular. He was a blue-collar worker. He had no special skills. But God used that humble servant to get my attention when I was succumbing to the satanic lie that I was not very useful to God’s kingdom.

 

Many years ago, as my friend and I chatted over coffee, our discussion turned as it always did to the Lord. As we finished our drinks and donuts and got up to leave, I mentioned how useless I sometimes felt because I thought what I was doing for Christ was only a small thing, compared to what others were doing.

 

When we stepped outside and headed for our cars, Bill stopped me. I’ll never forget what he said. He pointed his finger at my chest and said: “Don’t ever call what God has given you to do a small thing.”

 

I knew immediately that the Holy Spirit Himself had rebuked me. And I needed that rebuke. And maybe you also need that kind of rebuke.

 

We must ever be reminded: It’s all about Jesus’ supernatural power to take what is natural and of the flesh and use whatever we give Him for His glory. I mean, we’re talking about God here. So, stop thinking such foolishness that God is done with you, that He has put you out to pasture.

 

The 25^th chapter of Matthew’s gospel should help put to rest such foolish ideas about our so-called uselessness to God. “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’ (Matthew 25:34-40)

I hope you noticed how those standing before the Lord at the judgment were surprised to learn they’d been fruitful for Christ. All they’d done was fed the hungry, clothed the naked, visited the sick, helped the helpless, spoken kindly to the depressed, cut the food of those who can’t cut it themselves, retrieved the wheelchair or walker for those who needed help getting up from the dining room table, read the scriptures to those who can no longer see well enough to read, prayed with and for those who feel all alone . . . simple things.

 

St. Teresa of Avila (d. 1582) reminds us of a critical and very biblical point: Christ has no body but yours; No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes with which He looks compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which He walks to do good. Yours are the hands, with which He blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are His body. Christ has no body now but yours.

I quoted something from Psalm 92 at the beginning of my message, and I need to do it once again for emphasis: “The righteous man will flourish like the palm tree, he will grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God.”

 

We’ll never flourish as God wants us to flourish unless we accept the biblical truth that the Almighty and Sovereign God places us – all of us – where He wants us. That means, for now anyway, God has planted you here at Ashwood Meadows for His purposes, to use you in this place for His kingdom. Now, bloom where He has planted you.

 

Let me now remind you of the story in the 14^th chapter of Matthew’s gospel: “When it was evening, the disciples came to Him and said, “This place is desolate and the hour is already late; so send the crowds away, that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go away; you give them something to eat!” They said to Him, “We have here only five loaves and two fish.” And He said, “Bring them here to Me.” Ordering the people to sit down on the grass, He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He blessed the food, and breaking the loaves He gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds, and they all ate and were satisfied. They picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve full baskets. There were about five thousand men who ate, besides women and children.”

 

Christian, how many fish and loaves do you have? More than you probably think you do. So, for those who have lived your Christian life for years serving Christ to the best of your human abilities – keep at it, even here in Ashwood Meadows.

And to you who might regret the years you’ve wasted by not giving the Lord whatever loaves and fish you had, you can still COUNT for God in whatever time He has yet given you to live – whether ten days or twenty years – you can still count for God if you will only take what you have . . . and offer them to the Master.

No, we cannot get back the time we have lost, but God will still use us for as many tomorrows as He has granted us – God is able and desires to use us to bring forth fruit for His glory and His kingdom.

 

But the crucial question we must answer is this: Are we willing to do what we must do for the rest of our days to accomplish that?

 

In the last stage of our life-journey, we can end up like the old woman whose poem I read at the beginning of my message, longing for others to recognize the young girl within her, crying out for others to see the real “her” . . . 

 

Or we can end our days with a confidence, knowing that God DOES see the real you and me, that He does know our heart’s cry. We can end up without the answer that satisfies our soul when it asks that inevitable question – does anyone see me? Or we can have a great and comforting answer to that question – my God sees me. He has ALWAYS seen me.

At no time in the whole of Scripture did God ever put His child out to pasture because he was too old or feeble or ill to do anything useful for Him. 

 

Yes, you and I are in different pastures than we were when we were younger, but our different pastures simply give us different opportunities to serve as His hands and feet. We may be in different fields, but those fields are still white unto harvest.

 

Christian – be encouraged. God has not shuffled you off to some corner of His Kingdom, and so I close with this final word from Scripture. It’s a word about our labor for Christ, our planting and watering for Christ, our sacrificial giving for Christ, and our moving forward toward ever-increasing fruitfulness in Christ. It’s about being kind and thoughtful and prayerful and humble because you belong to Him. And so ,the apostle Paul reminds us:

 

“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 15:58)