What God Calls You - Part Two

Last week we looked at four things God calls you: He calls you by your name; He calls you forgiven; He calls you beautiful; and He calls you His precious son or daughter. 

Today we will look at a few more names He calls us, but before we move into this message, I need to reiterate something I’ve said time and again as your pastor: It is only because of our relationship with Him through obedient faith in Christ that what He calls us can apply to us. Those designations of forgiven, of being His child, and so forth apply only to the true Christian who has been – and continues to be – cleansed of their sins by faith in Christ’s sacrificial blood spilled on Calvary’s cross.

 

So, let’s now look at what else God calls you:

 

God calls you and me “Saints.” The Greek word translated in many of our bibles as saints (or ‘holy ones’ in some versions) is the word, hagios. It means, sacred, morally blameless, ceremonially consecrated. And even a cursory reading of the New Testament epistles demonstrates the truth that God calls ALL Christians, ‘Saints.”

 

For example: Colossians 1:1-2 – “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.”

 

And 1 Corinthians 1:1-2 - “Paul, called as an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother, to the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours . . . . (1 Corinthians 1:1-2).

 

Does God call us saints because we are so blameless and saintly in ourselves, or because of the wonderful things we do? Hardly. The Corinthian Christians had their share of divisions, immoralities, jealousies and so forth. That’s one reason Paul wrote them that letter – to exhort them to repent and change their ways.

No, God doesn’t call us saints because we are worthy in and of ourselves of that title. He calls us saints because of what He has done (past tense)—what He has done in us when we placed our trust in Christ.

 

What is it He did in us? Well, for one thing, He made us a NEW creation in Christ. He tells us through Paul’s pen: (2 Corinthians 5:17-21) “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

 

The apostle continues a few verses later: He (the Father) made [Christ] who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

 

Let’s pause another moment and emphasize the point. God does not declare us saints, holy ones, because of what WE do; our rituals, receiving the sacraments, or our good works. Listen to the Scripture again: (Titus 3:4-7) “But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

 

Can you see? It’s all about what God did for us. It has absolutely nothing to do with what we did to be reconciled to Him that He would call us saints, Holy ones.

 

Let me repeat that for emphasis. God calls ALL who are in Christ Jesus, saints. And we must stop permitting our thoughts to tell us otherwise. In other words, don’t believe everything you think. Instead, train yourself to think and live according to God’s word.

 

No wonder Paul wrote to the church at Philippi: (Philippians 3:13-14) “One thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

Christian!  Press on toward that goal of the upward call of God on your life to which He called you in Christ Jesus – and that call is to live as a saint, separated from the ways of godless cultures and apostate church teachings that grow more insistent and insidious with each passing year, diluting the commandments of a holy God; Twisting God’s word to assuage their conscience so they can live as they choose. That’s what fools do. Instead, decide today and every day to turn your life over and over to God and His commandments.

He calls us saints because of what He has done in us through Christ. And so, what else does God call all who belong to Him through obedient faith? He calls us strong, even in our weakness.

Listen to the Lord’s words to the Christians at Philadelphia. (Revelation 3:8)  “I have put before you an open door which no one can shut, because you have a little power, and have kept My word, and have not denied My name.”

 

How do people, especially those in the church, how do they deny His name? Listen to Paul’s letter to Titus: “They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed. (Titus 1:16).

 

Hear that again: “I have put before you and open door which no one can shut, because you have a little power, and have kept my word, and have not denied My name.”

 

Listen, Christian. God knows your limitations. Remember what Jesus said about the woman who broke her Alabaster jar full of precious ointment? When she broke the jar and poured the ointment over the Lord’s head, His disciples complained about what she had done. But what did the Lord say to them? 

 

Mark 14:6, 8, 9 “Why do you bother her? She has done a good deed to Me. . . . She has done what she could; she has anointed My body beforehand for the burial. Truly I say to you, wherever the gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be spoken of in memory of her.”

 

“She has done what she could.” The point of that is this: The Lord never, ever asks us to do what we cannot do. Period.

 

God knows your limitations. He knows about your failing strength and health. He knows about your finances, your family situations, your difficulty even getting to the doctor or supermarket without someone taking you there. He knows all about you and how your life has slowed down from the vigor and strength you used to have. But let what He tells us in Scripture encourage you. The great apostle wrote:

 

(Philippians, 4:12-13) “I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”

 

“She has done what she could.”

 

He calls us strong in our weakness because His strength is made perfect in our weakness. His strength is made abundantly manifest when we CANNOT do what only He can do. You might remember Paul’s boast about his ‘thorn in the flesh’ – whatever that thorn might have been:  “Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore, I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:8-10

 

You perhaps cannot do for the Lord what you used to do, but do now what you still can do for the Lord.

 

Christian, what does our God call you to do? He calls you to be saintly.. Separated from our godless culture. And to be strong in your weakness and frailty.

 

What else does God call you? He calls you “beloved.”

 

In the New Testament, “beloved” refers to someone who is dearly loved and cherished. When God calls someone beloved, the word expresses a relationship of love and preciousness.

At least two passages of Scripture illuminate the meaning of that word. The first appears in Matthew 3, the context of which is the Lord’s baptism in the Jordan. Here is how Matthew reports it: (Matthew 3:16-17) “After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him, and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”

 

“This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.” It is important to note that the Father spoke that of His Son before Jesus began His public ministry of preaching, healing, and, ultimately, going to the cross. In other words, the Father’s love for His beloved Son was not based on anything Jesus had yet done. And likewise, Scripture is very clear about this: The Father’s love for you, His beloved, is not based on anything you’ve done for Him. You are His beloved, His precious child, because you love Jesus.

 

Listen to Jude say it: (Jude 1:1) “Jude, a bond-servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, To those who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ.”

 

Jesus is dearly loved and cherished by the Father, and YOU – Christian – YOU are also dearly loved and cherished by the Father. And His love for you is not in the abstract. It is what you ARE in truth and in fact.

 

I don’t think we can say it often enough: You are precious to Him in Christ, and NOT because of your works or personal ‘likeableness.’

 

Let me say another few words about this adjective, ‘Beloved’ by God. For that, we turn to John 17:23 wherein Jesus prays to the Father: “That the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.”

 

This has got to be one of the most incredible truths in the entire Bible which speaks of God’s love for His children adopted into His family through faith in Christ. Listen again to Jesus speak to the Father: “You have loved THEM, even as You have loved Me.”

 

In other words, Jesus tells us the Father loves YOU – (name them one by one) – the Father loves YOU in the SAME WAY He loves Jesus.

 

Tell me that is not extraordinary, and I will tell you that you’re not thinking that truth through. No wonder Paul writes with complete confidence:  “For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God.” Romans 8:15–16

 

Abba – the Aramaic word expresses an intimate familial trust-relationship of a child with his ‘daddy.’ It’s the same word Jesus used in the Garden of Gethsemane: “Abba! Father! All things are possible for You; remove this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but what You will.” Mark 14:36

 

And notice, please, Jesus’ intimacy with the Father did not eliminate suffering, BUT it sustained Him – and it will sustain us – in suffering. And on that note, it is important to also remember, when we fail, we do not become less loved, nor does our Father expect us to punish ourselves with guilt. Instead, He expects our confidence in His love to drive us to confess our sin, through which we will always receive His forgiveness and opportunity to continue walking with Him.

 

This is KEY; And it’s a key Satan doesn’t want you to know about or to use. The dialogue between the resurrected Christ and Peter is germane to this point. Peter had so terribly failed the Lord with his thrice-denial and was riddled with guilt, as many a Christian has been riddled with guilt over their own sins.

 

But the conversation between Jesus and Peter is not only instructive to us but ought also to be of great encouragement. Peter had denied the Lord three times, and the resurrected Lord asked Peter three times if he loved Him.

 

You know the story; Three times Peter answered in the affirmative. But with each exchange, I want us to notice what the Lord told the fisherman: “Feed my lambs” (John 21:15); “Feed my sheep” (John 21:16); “Feed my sheep” (John 21:17).

 

This is a crucial point for ALL penitent sinners regardless of the magnitude of their sins. Jesus did not merely reassure Peter that he was forgiven. He entrusted Peter with responsibility of caring for the people who belonged to Christ. In other words, Jesus told him to stop with the guilt. They were now reconciled. It was now time for Peter to get back to working for the kingdom.

 

Listen, please. Jesus says the same thing to ALL His beloved children – me, included. Stop with the guilt. Our penitence has reconciled us. So, let’s get up and get back to work for His kingdom.

 

And yet one more point: Scripture never promises that the Christian will always feel God’s love. A cursory reading of the psalms ought to make that clear. There will always be seasons of spiritual dryness, grief, unanswered questions, and painful discipline. But the Christian’s assurance rests on what God has revealed and accomplished in Christ, not on the emotions of a particular day. Paul reminds us “we walk by faith,” – faith in the One who is utterly trustworthy.

 

God calls you and me many wonderful things. He calls us by our name. He calls us beautiful. He calls us His own precious son or daughter. He calls us forgiven. He calls us saints. He calls us strong in our weakness. And He calls us His beloved son or daughter, loving us in the same way as He loves His Son Jesus.

 

The SAME way.

 

So, I close this message with this purposely redundant word: God loves you. When we say those words too quickly, we might miss the wonder and glory and warmth and beauty and hope bound up in that phrase. God is deeply, passionately, intimately in love with you.

 

When you return to your apartments now, or this evening, I urge you to spend some quiet time reflecting about His love and about His relationship with you because of your trust and faith in His Son Jesus.

 

And please, for His sake and for yours – continue your work for His kingdom.

What Does God Call You?

 

Occasionally, and for any number of reasons, a mother sheep will give birth to a lamb and reject it. If the shepherd tries to return the lamb to its mother, it may even kick its baby away. Once a ewe rejects one of her lambs, she never changes her mind. These lambs are called, ‘Bummer Lambs.” To look at one it will seem its spirit is broken, and unless the shepherd intervenes, the lamb will die.

 

So, the shepherd takes the bummer lamb into his home, hand-feeds it, keeps it warm, and holds it to his chest so the lamb can hear his heartbeat. Once the lamb is strong enough, the shepherd places it back with the rest of the flock, but that sheep never forgets how the shepherd cared for him when his mother rejected him. When the shepherd calls for the flock, the bummer lamb is the first to run to him.

 

Which segues us into today’s primary text in which the Good Shepherd Jesus tells all humanity – the lonely, the content, the frightened, the lost, the sick, the healthy – all humanity: “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.” “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. . . . .I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me.” (John 10:1-3, 11,14)

 

Have you heard His voice? And in hearing it, are you following the Shepherd?

 

I’ve preached this message in the past, and I thought it good to bring the message again to remind us of God’s great compassion for all men and women, including all who are ‘bummer sheep’ – rejected by others but called alongside of the Good Shepherd. And so, the title of this message is:  What Does God Call You?

 

What does God call all who are His own sheep because of their obedient faith in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus the Christ? Well, He calls us many things and we don’t have time today to cover but only a few. So let’s begin:

 

First, and not necessarily in order of importance, God calls us by our name.

 

Think about that for a moment. Among the most important words in any language is a person’s name. And of the several BILLIONS of people on this planet, God knows YOUR name. And mine.

 

How can that be? Because He is God. He is omniscient, knowing all things from before the creation of time itself existed. He knows when each sparrow falls to the ground, He knows our thoughts, our days before they were even written in His book.

 

The devil will whisper in your ear from time to time – or maybe all the time – God doesn’t know you. Or if He HAD at one time known you, He’s forgotten you because of your sins. But the devil is only doing what he does best: He lies.  And he is bold-faced lying when he says God doesn’t know you or He’s forgotten you because of your sins. Truth is, God never forgets His own children. To do so would be contrary to His very nature.

 

I recently saw a church marquee on the 141 as I was driving home. It read, “Satan knows you by your sin. God knows you by your name.” Satan calls you “Drunkard” or “Drug Addict” or “Adulterer” or “Thief” or ‘Liar’ or ‘whatever.’ But God calls you by your given name. He calls you John, or Barabara, or Cheryl, or Paul, or whomever. He calls me ‘Richard.’ I’ve heard Him in my thoughts many times, perhaps especially when I’m confused and seeking His guidance, or unhappy and seeking His comfort.

 

There is in the Old Testament an easily missed detail regarding the High Priest’s clothing. Whenever he entered the Holy of Holies once a year in the Tabernacle to minister on behalf of the nation, he wore a chest covering on which were the names of the 12 Tribes of Israel: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Asher, Dan, and so forth. (See Exodus 28:29). In other words, the High Priest brought the NAMES of each of the Tribes as a memorial before the Lord.

 

But that was only a picture of a much greater memorial our Great High Priest Jesus would do in the eternal tabernacle in heaven. Listen to this text in Isaiah: (Isaiah 49:15-16): 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 . . .”

 

Think a moment about that. Jesus has YOUR NAME inscribed – not tattooed, but engraved – with those Roman spikes, engraved into His hands to forever serve as a reminder of our covenantal relationship with Him each time He looks at His hands, and each time He appears as our high priest before the Father.

 

Yes, Jesus is our great High Priest. We find that reference throughout the New Testament book of Hebrews.  Here are only two examples: “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Hebrews 4:13-15 

 

Hebrews 9:11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.

 

Your High Priest knows your name! Remember what the Lord Jesus told us: “He who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep . . . and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. . . . I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. . . . .I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me.”

 

Do you ever hear Him speak your name, especially while in prayer? If you’re His sheep by obedient faith, and you haven’t heard Him call your name, then you’re not listening quietly enough. If you belong to God through faith in His Son, God talks to you by His Holy Spirit all the time.

 

You may remember the story of Elijah in the cave, hiding from Jezebel. You can find it in 1 Kings 18-19. What happened to that great prophet has direct relevance to the likely reason we so often do not hear God speak to us, even when He speaks our name:

 

19:11 “[God] said [to Elijah], “Go forth and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord was passing by! And a great and strong wind was rending the mountains and breaking in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of a gentle blowing. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. And behold, a voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

 

What are you doing, Elijah? Did you get that? In the quietness of the gentle blowing, Elijah heard God call his name!

 

It’s difficult – I wonder if it is even possible – to hear God speak when we’re so busy with noise around us and noise in our minds. That’s why we must often get alone and quiet with God. 

 

God calls you by name. What else does He call the true Christian? He calls us ‘Forgiven.’

 

Many of you know the name, Sandi Patty. She’s been singing about Jesus for decades. But some of you might not know, a few years after marrying her first husband, Sandi committed adultery against him, which ultimately led to their tragic divorce.

 

But in time and through confession of her sin to God, Sandi found forgiveness at the foot of the cross, forgiveness at the foot of the same cross which every soul on earth must find forgiveness if they hope to receive eternal life, and with it, a new start.

 

Sandi’s history of adultery makes the lyrics of a song she wrote and performed years later even more powerful. Let it serve as a reminder to all of us of God’s mercy and forgiveness – despite our failures, as serious as some of them have been:

“I hear You calling out my name as only You can do
Your voice it covers all my shame, the old You turned to new
No matter how things look to me
You see a destiny, a perfect promise

 

“You call me beautiful, You call me righteous
You call me worthy of Your Son's own precious blood
You call me holy, You call me strong at my weakest
Forgiven and pure, You call me Yours

 

Some might think what Sandi sang here was wishful thinking that God could forgive her with her simple confession and repentance – heartfelt as it was.

 

But ask St. Peter who denied his Lord with a curse if God forgives the penitent. Ask St. Paul, who viciously murdered Christians, even travelling to distant cities to carry out his horrific persecutions against the faithful – ask him if God forgives the penitent. Ask the unnamed woman at the well in Samaria, or the millions of Christians throughout the last two thousand years who brought their sins to the foot of Calvary. And ask ME, guilty as I was of the grievous sins in my past, ask me if God totally, completely, utterly forgives the penitent.

 

And, with the lyrics of Sandi’s song still in our thoughts, another thing I want to tell us that God calls us is Beautiful.  The Song of Solomon has been long understood by theologians across the two millennia as a picture of Christ and His Bride, the Church. Listen to these words that remind me of the Good Shepherd calling His sheep home with Him:

 

The Bride says, “My beloved [i.e. Christ] responded and said to me, ‘Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come along. For behold, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. ‘The flowers have already appeared in the land; The time has arrived for pruning the vines, And the voice of the turtledove has been heard in our land. ‘The fig tree has ripened its figs, And the vines in blossom have given forth their fragrance. Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come along! (Song of Solomon 2:10-13)

 

Oh, why does anyone delay coming alongside Him when He invites us so lovingly to do so? How does a person come alongside? By faith. By trusting that Jesus is longingly waiting for you to bring yourself and all your needs, all your doubts, all your remorse, all your sorrow for your sins, bring them all to Him. Just do it by faith. Ask Him to forgive you and simply tell Him, “Jesus I Come to Thee.”

 

Some of you might know the words to this old hymn:

 

Out of my shameful failure and loss, Jesus, I come, Jesus, I come;
Into the glorious gain of Thy cross, Jesus, I come to Thee.
Out of earth’s sorrows into Thy balm, Out of life’s storms and into Thy calm, Out of distress to jubilant psalm, Jesus, I come to Thee.

 

Oh come. If you’ve come before, come again.  Come often. And if you’ve never come, come now. Just come!

 

What does God call you? He calls you by your name. He calls you Forgiven. He calls you beautiful. What else does God call you? He calls you a precious son or daughter.

 

Listen to Paul write to the Christians at Galatia: “But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a child; and if a child, then an heir through God.” Galatians 4:4-7)

 

When the Lord Jesus taught us the “Our Father’ prayer, the word, ‘Father’ is not just a fill-in word, something to make the prayer sound homey and encouraging. No, Jesus taught us to pray to our Father because He gave birth to us through the blood of His only begotten Son. We have been born again, or as St. John tells us in the third chapter of His gospel, we have been born ‘from above.”  

 

Every true Christian has a new ‘heritage, a new spiritual DNA. He tells us it’s so through Paul in his letter to the Christians in Corinth: (2 Corinthians 5:17) “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”

 

As far as God is concerned, you are not the same person you used to be before you gave yourself to Jesus. Before your commitment to Christ, you were NOT a child of God. Those are not my words. Those are the words of Scripture. Many of you know them: (John 1:10-13) “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”

 

But now as a child of God your record of sins has been forever bleached clean. Because of your faith in Jesus, you are now and forever will be a child of God.

 

So, as I bring this message to a close, I will ask you this all-important question: What does God call you?  Today we looked briefly at four things He calls every Christian: He calls us by name. He calls us forgiven. He calls us beautiful. He calls us His precious son or daughter.

 

There are so many people – even perhaps in this chapel – so many of us have been bummer lambs, rejected and broken. Ahh! But the Good Shepherd has taken us to Himself, holds us tightly to Himself, and feeds us from His own hand.

 

I close with God’s beautiful promise through Isaiah: “Like a shepherd He will tend His flock, In His arm He will gather the lambs And carry them in His bosom; He will gently lead those with young.”

 

And with the lyrics of another song of promise:

Are you tired of chasing pretty rainbows?
Are you tired of spinning round and round?
Wrap up all those shattered dreams of your life
And at the feet of Jesus, lay them down.

Give them all, give them all, give them all to Jesus
Shattered dreams, wounded hearts, and broken toys.
Give them all, give them all, give them all to Jesus
And He will turn your sorrows into joy.

 

Amen

I Will Follow Him

 

Our text for today is Psalm 116:5-8, 12-14 “Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; Yes, our God is compassionate. The Lord preserves the simple; I was brought low, and He saved me. Return to your rest, O my soul, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you. For You have rescued my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling. . . What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits toward me? I shall lift up the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. I shall pay my vows to the Lord . . . in the presence of all His people.”

 

So, according to the psalmist, what has God done? He tells us in verses 5-8: The Lord has dealt bountifully with us; He has rescued our soul from death, our eyes from tears, our feet from stumbling.

 

And what, then, ought to be our response? He answers that question in verses 12-14: “What shall I render to Him for all His benefits? I will call upon Him and pay my vows in the presence of everyone.”

 

So, let’s start with verses 5-8. Any honest Christian who’s taken the time to review what their lives were like before they were born again through faith in Christ’s sacrificial atonement for their personal sins – any of them will quickly and willingly proclaim to others “the excellencies of Him who has called [them] out of darkness into His marvelous light.” (1 Peter 2:9) They will strive to tell others walking in darkness of God’s incomprehensible truth that He “demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”  (Romans 5:8) 

 

Nevertheless, while we were actively living life our own way, doing what was right in our own eyes, caring not about God or His commandments – despite it all, God delivered His own blessed Son to die a torturous death for us so WE would not have to experience His wrath for our sins.

 

It always causes me to wonder about the true state of someone’s salvation when they brush off my suggestion to routinely ask God to reveal to them their sins – as if to ask Him that question is unworthy of their time.

 

But the truth seems clear to me: Anyone who claims to be a follower of Christ but is unwilling or reluctant to ask God to show them their sins – they’re deceiving only themselves about their salvation. Those who are unwilling for God to reveal to them their sins do so only because they really don’t want to know their sins. They like living as they do and being as they are.

 

An unwillingness for God to reveal their sins is the very antithesis of the attitude of godly men and women described in Scripture. They WANTED God to show them where they were failing Him, so they might repent and please Him. For example, we’ve looked in the past at David’s prayer in Psalm 139, and we do it again to make the point “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me and lead me in the way everlasting!” Psalm 139:23–24

 

Job cried out to God: (Job 13:23) “How many are my iniquities and sins? Make known to me my rebellion and my sin;” and Paul counseled the Corinthians: (2 Corinthians 13:5): “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves.”

 

So, tell me how a Christian who doesn’t routinely ask God to reveal to them their sins – how is that person walking with Christ?

 

In his book, The Problem with Pain, CS Lewis writes: “We have a strange illusion that mere time cancels sin. I have heard others, and I have heard myself, recounting cruelties and falsehoods committed in boyhood as if they were no concern of the present speaker's, and even with laughter. But mere time does nothing either to the fact or to the guilt of a sin. The guilt is washed out not by time but by repentance and the blood of Christ: if we have repented these early sins we should remember the price of our forgiveness and be humble.”

 

Repentance is the only means of forgiveness, and humility is the mother of repentance. Without humility we will never honestly repent – and let me reiterate the point: Without repentance there can be no forgiveness.

 

The first recorded words of Jesus in Matthew’s gospel was, ‘Repent’ (Matthew 4:17). And the apostle John warned his readers: “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.” (1 John 1:8-10)

 

Christian, this is critical for our understanding of who we are in Christ, and why being in Christ is so vital to our lives both now and in eternity. If we’re unwilling to let God show us our sins – past and current – then how can we truly rejoice in His rescue, as the psalmist in today’s text describes it? How can we begin to grasp how close to eternal death we’ve come? How can we really appreciate the tears He’s save us from and the disastrous life failures that never happened to us?

 

Listen, please. Unless we see our sins in HIS light, the psalmist’s follow-on verses about what we can render back to God will mean little to us and our answer to that question will be anemic at best: “And perhaps worst of all, our attempts at evangelization will fall flat because the joy of our rescue from the domain of darkness will be muted because we’re not entirely convinced our darkness was really that dark.

 

Listen to those verses in 5-8 again: “Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; Yes, our God is compassionate. The Lord preserves the simple; I was brought low, and He saved me. Return to your rest, O my soul, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you. For You have rescued my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling.

 

Yes. Yes. God is gracious and compassionate well beyond our deserving. And it is worth our while to frequently call to mind our past lifestyles because when we do so with honest hearts we will be able to extrapolate – to deduce – where we’d be today if He had not SAVED us from a life of spiritual darkness.

 

Truly it is so, and please take time – lots of time and often – to think about how God saved us – saved YOU – from a lifetime of tears of regret, a lifetime of meaninglessness. He saved us from ending our lives like Solomon ended his, whose regrets bleed through that last chapter of Ecclesiastes: Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near when you will say, “I have no delight in them”; before the sun and the light, the moon and the stars are darkened. . . Remember Him before the silver cord is broken and the golden bowl is crushed, the pitcher by the well is shattered and the wheel at the cistern is crushed; then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it. “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher, “all is vanity!” (Ecclesiastes 12:1-2, 6-8)

 

And so, moving further through the text, the psalmist asks – and so should we: “What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits toward me? Shall we live like ungrateful recipients of His many and abundant gifts? Don’t we know how that hurts His feelings, just as OUR feelings are hurt when our children ignore us or hardly visit or call anymore, despite the many sacrifices we made to protect them and to prosper them?

 

May God forbid it that we – you or I – ever be ungrateful to God for rescuing us from a life of tears and loss and regrets and hopelessness.  And so, what shall we render to Him? The psalmist answers that question in the next two verses: “I shall lift up the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. I shall pay my vows to the Lord . . . in the presence of all His people.”

 

To the Hebrews, lifting the cup of salvation was in a measure like publicly raising a glass of toast in joyous celebration and honor to the Lord. If we listen carefully, we can almost hear him call out to the Lord as his cup is raised: “Hallelujah, O Lord. You alone are worthy to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing forever and ever.” (see Revelation 5:12-13)

 

In other words, God’s saving acts ought to produce a public response of gratitude and praise in the hearts of those who are sensitive to and appreciative of His overflowing mercy. And how might the believer ‘flesh’ out that gratitude in public, not only with words but also with actions?

 

Here is only one set of guidance from Scripture: “Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind . . . Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor . . . devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality . . . Do not be wise in your own estimation. Never pay back evil for evil to anyone.”

 

The truth is, we give a public response of gratitude to God when we live like Jesus calls us to live. And notice also from the psalmist, God’s saving acts produce within the believer an almost reflexive and spontaneous calling upon the name of the Lord. And that makes perfect sense to the believer: Psalm 8:1  O Lord, our Lord, How majestic is Your name in all the earth; Psalm 138:2 You have exalted your name and your word above all things; Proverbs 18:10  The name of the Lord is a strong tower; The righteous runs into it and is safe.”

 

What shall we render to the Lord for all His benefits toward us? Oh! How can we not give public thanks and public honor and public obedience to the One who has rescued our souls from death and our eyes from tears and our lives from incalculable regrets?  How can we not unashamedly call on His Name AND, how shall we not pay our vows to the Lord “n the presence of all His people?”

 

I want to pause here a few moments and consider the vows we have made to Him. What were those vows? To be honest, when we first committed ourselves to the Lord Jesus – whether as a young person or as an adult, most of us did not know what such a commitment meant. We only knew we were sinners and Jesus came to save sinners by releasing them from the debts those sins required. Many of us may have also promised Jesus we’d follow Him for the rest of our lives. But how many of us knew what that really meant?

 

I liken those vows to the vows young people make to each other at the altar of wedding. The most common marriage vow is: “I take you to be my wedded [husband/wife], to have and to hold, from this day forward,
for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, forsaking all others, till death do us part.”

 

When young people speak those vows, they usually have no idea where their lives together will bring them, and how those vows will be tested.

 

Many years ago, I met a woman whose husband of 55 years was suffering a slowly debilitating illness that had begun requiring near constant care. I remember asking her how she was coping and I’ll never forget her answer.

She told me she was doing well and then added: “I signed up for this when we first got married.” On the other hand, Nancy and I also know a woman who not very long into their marriage was diagnosed with a life-changing illness. But in her case, her husband divorced her.

 

To have and to hold, for better, for worse, in sickness and in health . . .

 

What are the vows that YOU have made to the Lord? The promises men and women make to each other at a marriage altar should not be different than those we make to the Lord at the altar of salvation. “For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, forsaking all other gods, till death brings me into Your presence.

 

And as many couples renew their marriage vows every 20 or 30 or 50 years, so the Christian ought to renew their vows to God – especially perhaps when life takes a turn for the worse as it often does as we age: “I will still follow YOU, I will still cherish you, I will still love you, in sickness and in health, in poverty and in wealth, and I will continue to forsake all that would pull me away from You.

 

Listen to another psalmist for whom life fell apart and yet renewed his vows to Him: “You have rejected us and brought us to dishonor, and do not go out with our armies. 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 . . . 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.” Psalm 44:9-11, 17-18

 

The prophet Habakkuk also maintained faithfulness to his vow, even though life for him was rapidly falling apart: “My inward parts trembled, at the sound my lips quivered. Decay enters my bones, and in my place I tremble because I must wait quietly for the day of distress, for the people to arise who will invade us. Though the fig tree should not blossom and there be no fruit on the vines, Though the yield of the olive should fail and the fields produce no food, though the flock should be cut off from the fold and there be no cattle in the stalls, Yet I will exult in the Lord, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.” Habakkuk 3:16-18

 

Just before the Lord’s arrest and crucifixion, He gathered His disciples and told them: “You are those who have stood by Me in My trials.” Biblical scholars believe the Lord was referring, at least in part, to the various and often deadly opposition He faced throughout His ministry during which they also were often in mortal danger. I believe the Lord is here thanking them for their perseverance in remaining with Him.  (Luke 22:28)

 

And I also believe it does no harm to the whole of Scripture if we modified this text to read Jesus’ words to His disciples – you and me: You are those who have stood by Me in YOUR trials.

Think for a moment of the emotional and physical traumas you’ve faced in life – and through which you have persevered. Those trials aren’t anything to be glossed over, are they? They represent your life, your blood, your sweat, and your tears.

 

At any time, you could have given up. You could have walked away from your earlier vows. But you didn’t – and even if you did at one time walk away – you’ve returned. Thanks be to God – you’ve returned.

 

What shall you and I render to the Lord? We will with God’s help continue to publicly lift up the cup of salvation, call upon our Lord, and continue to pay our vows to Him in sickness, in health, in poverty and in wealth.

 

In 1963 a young woman by the name of Peggy March sang what became a popular song. Her lyrics tell of her love for a young man – but as the song played in my memory while I was preparing this message, I realized the lyrics could very easily apply to our love for our Jesus Christ. Think on these words at the close of this message:

 

I love him, I love him, I love him/And where he goes I'll follow, I'll follow, I'll follow/He'll always be my true love, my true love, my true love/From now until forever, forever, forever/I will follow him/Follow him, wherever he may go/There isn't an ocean too deep/A mountain so high it can keep, keep me away/Away from my love.

 

Amen