Pentecost Sunday Message

Sermon

May 31, 2020 Pentecost

The Ongoing Season of Pentecost

Today is Pentecost Sunday. The fiftieth day after the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus. You can listen to my YouTube message here https://youtu.be/bIzA1jai2JE  Or you can read the edited text below:

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Pentecost Sunday also commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles and the 120 other disciples of Jesus while they were in Jerusalem celebrating the Jewish feast of Pentecost, also known in Judaism as the Feast of Weeks or the Harvest Festival. Many theologians consider Pentecost the birthday of the church.

As I studied the texts for today’s message, I saw something in the second chapter of Acts that I don’t remember having ever seen before. And so, I will focus our attention on what the Lord showed me, and I hope it will both encourage you and challenge you in your continuing walk with Christ.

For context, let’s first look at a section of Acts chapter one: Before His ascension back to the Father, Jesus gathered His apostles to Bethany. He promised they would soon be baptized with the Holy Spirit and empowered by Him to testify of Jesus in all four corners of the earth. And after giving them His instruction, “He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.”

Now, to verse one of chapter two: “When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language . . . (now dropping to verse 11, the text continues) “we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.”

Some scholars tell us that Jerusalem at that time was probably no larger than a square mile in area and was home to between 70-80,000 residents. But during the three mandatory Jewish feast days instituted by God through Moses, the city’s population could swell to more than twice as many people.

Those three mandatory feast days on which all Jewish men had to pilgrimage to Jerusalem – those feast days were Passover and Pentecost in the spring, and Booths in the fall. And so that is why, as Luke tells us, there were Jews from all parts of the Roman Empire were in Jerusalem, listening to Peter’s sermon. And of that crowd, 3000 were saved (Acts 2:5-11).

Of that 3,000, surely some were those visiting Jerusalem and who then went back to their homes across the Roman Empire with the message of Jesus. But what does all that which happened in the first century at Pentecost have to do with you and me today? Well, it’s this:

Are you a Christian?  What do I mean by that? Do you follow the Jesus Christ as described for us in Scripture and taught to us by the Church through the millennia? Have you brought to Him your sins – and do you daily bring to Him the sins you commit virtually every waking hour? Do you ask Him to cleanse you of those sins by His atoning blood? Have you followed the Lord in baptism as the apostle Peter urged those devout Jews in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost?

Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. . . . So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls. (Acts 2:38. 41)  

If you’re a Christian – and this is one of the points of this Pentecost Sunday message – then you ARE filled with the Holy Spirit. How do we know that? The Bible tells us so. Here are only a few of the many passages in the New Testament that testify to that glorious truth that the Holy Spirit lives IN you and abides WITH you at all times:

John 14:16-17, Jesus said to His disciples,  “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever;  that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.”

St. Paul wrote to the Christians at Corinth: “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?” (1 Corinthians 6:19)

And he wrote to Timothy, “Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you.” (2 Timothy 1:14)

God the Holy Spirit is ALWAYS with us because He resides IN us. Wherever we are. We do not need to go to a special place to be with Him. As Jesus said to the woman of Samaria, the time had come that people no longer needed to go to a special place to worship, because God wants people to worship Him anywhere, everywhere, in spirit and truth.

So, Christian – the SAME Holy Spirit who opened the eyes of those 3,000 in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost is the SAME Holy Spirit who has opened YOUR eyes to God’s truth.  And just as He sent those Jews back to their homes with the gospel message, so also He has sent YOU – He has placed YOU -- wherever you are, to be a light of freedom and of hope and of promise of eternal life to those in your own sphere of influence in your neighborhood, among your friends and acquaintances, even in your own home.

It surprises me that some Christians believe only a special class of Christians called ‘clergy’ have the right and the authority to tell others of Jesus’ wonderful love and forgiveness. But that’s not what St. Peter believed. Listen to what else he said on this day of Pentecost as he stood with those proclaiming God’s message of redemption.

Quoting from the ancient prophet Joel, Peter said: “‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; ¹⁸ even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. (Acts 2:1-18, English Standard Version)

No wonder Peter, in his first epistle wrote these words to the laity in the churches: “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” (1 Peter 2:9)

Please listen. According to God’s word it is the PRIVILEGE of all Born-Again men and women – rich or poor, male or female, young or old – God has granted each of us the honor AND the commandment to proclaim the excellencies of Him who called us all out of darkness and into His marvelous light.

I’m thinking now of the woman at the well of Samaria. When she realized who it was speaking with her, she ran to her village and told everyone she met: Come see a man who told me everything I’ve ever done. This is not the Christ, is it? (John 4)  Soon the whole town went out to meet Jesus and after listening to Him for a few days said to the woman: “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world.” (verse 42)

And what about the demoniac in Luke 8? When Jesus cast the demons from the man and into the herd of pigs, the healed man begged Jesus to permit him to follow Him. But what did the Lord answer? “Return to your house and describe what great things God has done for you.” (Luke 8:39)

Doesn’t that sound like what the Holy Spirit did with those who came to faith after listening to Peter and the others? They were given the privilege and the MANDATE to go back to their homes and spread abroad the great news that forgiveness and eternal life are available to all who will believe Christ.

The woman at the well and the demoniac were not specially trained in theology. They had no degrees or pedigrees. I doubt they even knew Hosea from Hezekiah or Ruth from Abigail. But they both had THIS in common: They had met Jesus. He had changed their lives. And they would not shut up and sit down.

Which brings us to this important question of the day – what will you permit the Holy Spirit to do with your life today and every day through the rest of your life?

Listen! YOU know the cure for cancer – the cancer of sin that is eating its way through the lives of people you meet every day. You know the cure for heart disease – the sin-sickened heart that kills the soul as surely as a disease physical heart will kill the body. You know the cure for blindness – blind to truth. You know the cure for deafness – deaf to God’s promise of forgiveness and eternal life.

Oh! May the Holy Spirit enliven us that we not shut up and sit down – but that we proclaim the excellencies of Him who called us out of darkness and into His marvelous light!

How can we be emissaries of light and hope to our communities? That’s easier than some might think. When the Holy Spirit takes up residence in our bodies, He give EACH of us ‘gifts’ for the building up of the kingdom of God.

How do we know that?  Again, the Bible tells us so. For example, here is St. Paul to the Christians at Rome: “In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So, if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.” (Romans 12:6-8, NLT)

Along with what might be called the flamboyant gifts of proclaiming God’s truths through preaching and teaching, Paul also talked about the quieter gifts of encouragement, of hospitality, of being merciful and kind to others. And those are only a very few of the gifts God the Holy Spirit gives each Christian. There are lists throughout the New Testament of the treasures He has given us to build up the kingdom of God.

Today we celebrate the events of Acts chapter two. But do not overlook this truth: We are STILL in the ongoing season of Pentecost, right up to this present moment. Oh! How awesome is the privilege God has given each Christian man and woman to tell others of the Savior.

Each of us has that privilege. No exceptions. Oh, God help us to never sit down and shut up when we have such a glorious message!

Who Will Go with Me?

Who Will Go with Me?

By Richard Maffeo

American fiction writer, Madeline Le’Engle (d. 2007) tells a poignant tale of her grandfather. He’d always been a strong, vibrant, robust man – until the dementia demon grabbed hold of his mind and slowly reduced the nearly 100-year-old to a shadow of what he once was.

Madeline tells how while he lay dying, he gripped her mother’s hand and asked, almost as a child might ask, “Who will go with me when I die?”

Those words have haunted me since I heard of them. As I pictured the scene in my mind, the once powerful, domineering, ‘in-charge’ guy had become as a small frightened child. I know nothing of the man’s place in Christ. I do not know if he ever humbled himself before the cross of Jesus. But if he had, Oh! What comfort someone could have given the frightened child inside the man.

I minister each week to many men and women in their seventies, eighties, and nineties. A few attend my weekly Bible studies and Sunday sermons. Most of them, however, do not. I am unsure why.

When I read Madeline’s grandfather’s plaintive plea, “Who will go with me when I die?” I wondered again how many of those once-robust men and women I meet each week will be dead before the end of this year.

But most important, as they one day lay on their death beds, will they each know for certain that Jesus will go with them, that He will hold their hand as they journey the valley of the shadow of death together?

Oh! How I hope so.

And – what about you? Whatever your age, do you know for certain that Jesus will hold your hand through the valley every soul must some day journey through?

You CAN be certain. Truly, you can be certain. How?

Believe the Lord Jesus died to pay the penalty your sins deserve. Believe that He rose from the dead as proof that all your sins can be forgiven. Confess to Him your sins. Ask Him to cover them with His blood. Commit to obey Him the rest of your days. And if you have never been baptized as a Christian, follow the Lord in baptism. Then, it would be wise to start reading the Holy Scriptures to grow in your faith. There are numerous annual Bible reading plans on the internet. And if you are Catholic, begin receiving the Sacraments, especially of the Eucharist and Confession.

You can be certain about the answer to that important question: Who will go with you when you die. You can face the grave with an assurance that all, truly, is well.

While You are Young

I just finished Ecclesiastes a few days ago. I read the book at least once a year. And as always, Solomon’s words in the last chapter caught my attention: “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”

I don’t think it coincidental that I also recently finished reading a sermon preached long ago by a 19th century Church of Scotland pastor, Robert Murray McCheyne. Here is part of what he told his congregation:

“I do not pretend to give a reason why . . . the period of youth is the best time for being saved. It has been observed, and it is very remarkable, that in all the great revivals that have taken place in our own and in bygone days, the most of those who have been converted were young people.”

I never thought much about the connection of one’s age with the time they committed their lives to the Savior. But the older I get – seventy in a few days – the more it seems true that the older a person becomes, the less likely it is that he or she will choose Christ over eternal death.

Why is that? I think it is because they have for too long hardened themselves against the call of God and the claim of the gospels.

I’ve never researched the subject, and certainly never done a statistical analysis, but as I look back over my own walk with Jesus it does seem – at least anecdotally – that most of those who become children of God do so before the age of 30 or 35.

That’s not to say an 80-year-old cannot get saved. I’ve seen it happen. But I’ve seen it only rarely.

So, my point? If you’re a teenager, a 20-something, or into your thirties, the longer you wait to give yourself to Jesus, the harder it will become to become a child of God.

Solomon opened chapter 12 of Ecclesiastes with these words: “Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth . . ..” He closed the chapter with these: “The conclusion, when all has been heard, is [this]: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.”

Please. Young or old, please, make the right choice today. It is remarkably easy to harden your heart against Jesus’ call to follow Him.

Too-Familiar Jesus (revised)

You can find the video recording of this message at https://youtu.be/apuFIFZfl48

Or you can read the edited message below.

Mark records in the 5th chapter of his gospel several miracles of the Lord Jesus, such as His healing of the demoniac living among the tombs, the raising of Jairus’ daughter from death, and the healing of the woman who’d had a hemorrhage for twelve years.

Chapter six starts out telling us Jesus and His disciples then returned to His hometown of Nazareth – the town where the Lord grew up:

“The next Sabbath he began teaching in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed. They asked, “Where did he get all this wisdom and the power to perform such miracles?” Then they scoffed, “He’s just a carpenter, the son of Mary and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon. And his sisters live right here among us.” They were deeply offended and refused to believe in him. Then Jesus told them, “A prophet is honored everywhere except in his own hometown and among his relatives and his own family.” And because of their unbelief, he couldn’t do any miracles among them except to place his hands on a few sick people and heal them. And he was amazed at their unbelief.” (Mark 6:2-6, NLT)

Of all places, Nazareth should have been the town where people flocked around Jesus. After all, it was the place He'd grown up -- the place His mother and family still lived. Yet, the Lord couldn't perform miracles there because His former neighbors thought they knew Him. Jesus is simply a carpenter, the son of Mary who lives down the street.

Like Jesus' neighbors and childhood friends, perhaps a reason we rarely see God's power in our lives is because the Jesus we grew up with is too familiar. Many of us have known about Him ever since we were in the cradle. We know the stories and the things He taught. We know about His mother and father. We know about His friends and disciples.

And so it is possible that our knowledge of Jesus can lull us into familiarity. Familiarity can dull us into complacency. And complacency can harden us to His ability to miraculously live out His life within us.

Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it (Matthew 13:45-46). And the familiarity-complacency cycle can only be broken when we decide to seek the Pearl as if He is unreservedly the most important thing in our life.

But how do we do that? How do we seek Jesus as if He is unreservedly the most important thing in our life? I will answer that question by saying something both shocking, and theologically sound.

We cannot of our own and within ourselves seek Him at all – and much less with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Being able to seek Jesus in the first place is a supernatural experience given to us only by and through God’s grace alone. Like being born again, only God can give life to the dead.

Listen, we can know all kinds of facts ABOUT Jesus. But that is not the same as actually KNOWING Jesus. That’s why the great apostle Paul repeatedly cried out in his epistles, “[Oh,] that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.” (Philippians 3:10) 

Paul told the Ephesians that he prays “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. (Ephesians 1:17-19)

Don’t you see? Our ability to KNOW Jesus is rooted in the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit alone. On and on we could move from one end of the Bible to the other demonstrating the utter hopelessness of KNOWING Jesus with our own wisdom and intelligence. No wonder He so often becomes a mundane addition to the Christian’s life relegated to Sundays, and perhaps a quick prayer over meals.

Let me reiterate to emphasize the point: To unreservedly seek the Lord can only begin with the supernatural work of God’s grace to awaken us to our spiritual need. Then WE must take the first baby steps toward Him. Here is what God tells us through Isaiah the prophet: “Seek the Lord while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; And let him return to the Lord, and He will have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.” (Isaiah 55:6-7) 

Has God ever awakened you to the recognition of your need for His mercy? If not, you need to beg God to do so.  And if you have seen and routinely repented of your sins, here is what you can do to avoid becoming complacent over time in your life with Christ:

First: “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous his thoughts.”  If we are unwilling to repent of what God calls our wickedness, our sins, our rebellions – then we should not expect to ever know Jesus better. It simply isn't possible.

The psalmist wrote: If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear [me] (Psalm 66:18).  St. Paul tells us: Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. Whatever a person sows is what he will reap. If we so to the flesh we will reap corruption. If we sow to the spirit, we will reap eternal life (Gal  6:7-8)

So, if we really want to know Jesus better – not just know ABOUT Him – then the first thing we must do is repent and turn from of every sin the Holy Spirit brings to our remembrance.

And we need to learn to pray – to communicate with God much better than we now communicate with Him. I’m talking here of an intimate, one on one relationship with our God, creator, and savior.

Oh, that the Holy Spirit would fill our hearts with a love for communicating with our Father in heaven as Jesus loved to communicate with Him. Or as the psalmist loved to communicate. Or as Mary, the mother of our Lord, or saints Paul and Peter, or Augustine, or Francis of Assisi, or Charles Wesley, or John Hyde – known as ‘praying Hyde’, or George Muller, or Mother Theresa, or any of the thousands of Christian men and women throughout church history who learned to love to communicate with the Father. Oh! That the Holy Spirit would awaken in each of us a passion for prayer.

Another thing we must do to avoid complacency and a ho-hum boredom in our relationship with Jesus is to consistently read the Bible. St. Peter tells us in his first epistle: “[L]ike newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation”  (1 Peter 2:2) God’s word is food. It is drink. It is life-giving and soul-cleansing. Study God’s word. Memorize it.

Now before some of tune me out, answer for me this question: What did you have for dinner two nights ago? Unless it was a special occasion like a birthday or other celebration, you might be hard-pressed to remember.  But what about three nights ago? Or last week? Ten days ago?

Some of you are asking what that has to do with reading the Bible? Well, if we so easily forget what we ate a few days ago that gives us physical nourishment, how much easier is it to forget what gave us spiritual nourishment if it’s been days or even weeks since we last feasted on spiritual food in the Bible?

Martin Luther said, “We need to hear the gospel every day because we forget it every day.” That means in simple terms, unless we remind ourselves every day of the razor-sharp truths of Scripture, those truths will – whether in a short or a long time – those truths will lose their sharp edge, they will be dulled by the culture in which we live until the unthinkable happens to us – that we begin to call evil ‘good’ and darkness ‘light.’

The Catechism of the Catholic Church says this about Scripture: The Church "forcefully and specifically exhorts all the Christian faithful. . . to learn the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ, by frequent reading of the divine Scriptures. Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.” (paragraph 133)

St. Paul wrote: “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17, NLT).

I’ve spoken of this many times before, and I have no hesitation to repeat myself: Did you know if you read an average of three chapters of the Old Testament every day and only two chapters of the New Testament every day, you will read the Old Testament ONCE every year and the New Testament THREE TIMES every year?  Reading three chapters of the Old Testament is not as arduous a task as some might think. Many chapters – for example, in the psalms – are less than a dozen verses long. Most chapters in the rest of the Old Testament books are less than two dozen verses long. The same is true about the length of most of the chapters in the New Testament.

So, to summarize what I have shared in this message about avoiding complacency in our relationship with Christ, we need to first recognize a vibrant relationship with Him begins first with a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit, followed by our ongoing repentance and turning from sin.

Then we must establish a routine of prayer during which we COMMUNICATE with the Father – not just talking at Him, but also LISTENING to Him. And we must develop a habit of reading the Bible.

And finally, for the sake of time I will be very brief, if you’re a Catholic, frequently receive the sacraments – particularly the sacrament of confession and of the Eucharist. Receive them in humility and purposely focused on what you’re are doing.

We all make time to do the things we think are important. If we think it’s important to KNOW God, and not just know ABOUT God, we will change what needs to be changed in our lives. 

There aren’t any shortcuts to knowing Jesus. Knowing Him takes time and effort. And it is not too late to start today – for the first time or to renew your determination – to make Jesus that pearl of great price.

Making Time

What did you have for dinner two nights ago? Unless it was a special occasion like a birthday or other celebration, you might be hard-pressed to remember.  But what about three nights ago? Or last week? Ten days ago?

Martin Luther said, “We need to hear the gospel every day because we forget it every day.” That makes a lot of sense to me. If we forget so easily what we ate a few days ago that gives us physical nourishment, how much easier is it to forget what gave us spiritual nourishment if it’s been days or even weeks since we last feasted on spiritual food in the Bible?

Jesus said, The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it (Matthew 13:45-46). And the cycle of Bible ignorance among the faithful will be broken only when the faithful decide to seek the Pearl as if He is unreservedly the most important thing in our life.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church encourages the faithful: (paragraph 133) The Church "forcefully and specifically exhorts all the Christian faithful. . . to learn the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ, by frequent reading of the divine Scriptures. Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.”

St. Paul wrote: “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17, NLT).

Did you know if you read an average of three chapters of the Old Testament every day and only two chapters of the New Testament every day, you will read the Old Testament ONCE every year and the New Testament THREE TIMES every year?  Reading three chapters of the Old Testament is not as arduous a task as some might think. Many chapters – for example, in the psalms – are less than a dozen verses long. Several of the New Testament epistles can easily be read in less than ten or fifteen minutes.

We all make time to do the things we think are important. If we think it is important that we know what God wants to tell us through His word, then we will make the time to consistently and prayerfully read it.

Sunday May 17 Message, Hurting God's Feelings

Hurting God’s Feelings

Psalm 139 part three

Video Recording at https://youtu.be/14c37ewPNSQ  

This message is the last of this current series of messages through Psalm 139. You can find part one here: https://tinyurl.com/y73zrnzx  and part two here: https://tinyurl.com/ydgqpe4u 

Today we look at David’s closing verses of this psalm: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way.”

Notice how similar are David’s closing words to his opening words in verses 1-3: O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. You scrutinize my path and my lying down, and are intimately acquainted with all my ways.

David concludes his psalm with another appeal to God to search Him; To examine him; To PROBE him. THAT is honesty and integrity at work. He wants to know the truth about himself. He wants to know God’s view of His heart. It would seem David knows something about himself that the prophet Jeremiah would express about himself six hundred years later:

“The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; Who can understand it? “I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give to each man according to his ways, according to the results of his deeds.” Jeremiah 17:9-10)

Do you want God to search your heart and reveal to you your sins? One of the surest ways God speaks to us about our hearts is through His word.

Here is what the writer to the Hebrew says: “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any double-edged sword, piercing even to the point of dividing soul from spirit, and joints from marrow; it is able to judge the desires and thoughts of the heart. And no creature is hidden from God, but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must render an account. (Hebrews 4:12, NET)

But in your willingness to let God search your heart, be advised. The revelation will not be pretty. The first time I asked the Lord to show me my sins was something like 46 years ago. The revelation was so startling that I still remember it clearly.

I’d been a Christian at the time for about a year. And what a wonderful and spiritually stretching year it was. I’d devoured the Scriptures – Old and New Testaments. I probably read the whole thing twice that first year. And how my life had changed. I grew up in the sex-drugs-and rock ‘n roll era of the 1960s, and I typified the whole debauched culture.

Then I met Christ on December 25, 1972, and my life changed in an instant. Really, in an instant. As soon as I rose from my knees after promising God that I was going to follow Him for the rest of my life – I was a totally new creature in Christ. All those old lifestyle attitudes were gone.

I lived the next 12 months or so on a spiritual high, and I honestly thought I had purged myself of all my sins. I laugh at myself even now as I think how childishly innocent I was of my heart’s hidden depths and crevices.

So, one day as I got to thinking I’d like to make sure I had cleansed myself of all sin, I asked the Lord to show me if there was anything else He wanted me to confess and turn from. I genuinely thought there wouldn’t be much for Him to say to me. So, I asked Him the question.

But as soon as the words were off my tongue, my mind flooded with what to that point I’d effectively hidden from myself. In what took no longer than a few moments, the Holy Spirit replayed in my mind my anger, jealousy, unforgiveness, pride, selfishness – shall I go on? And those were sins I’d committed in only the past 24 hours. What I thought would be no more than a few incidental revelations from God about my sins turned into a veritable tsunami.

I remember stopping my thoughts from going any further with the lists. I’d seen enough. I have never forgotten it. And Jeremiah’s words continue to ring true: “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately wicked.”

Why do I share this with you? Well, for two reasons. The first reason ought to be obvious. We can with exquisite ease hide from ourselves the depths and the length and the breadth and height of our sins.

And the second reason I share my story with you is not so obvious, but just as important as the first reason.

God not only KNOWS the depths of our sins, He LOVES us despite those sins. And He really, really does want to cleanse every one of those sins, cleanse them under the blood of His Son, Jesus – whose sacrificial death alone wipes from the book of our lives every stain of every sin of every penitent sinner who comes to Christ for cleansing and forgiveness.

Why did David ask the Lord to search him? I can’t be dogmatic about the reason, but I will tell you what I strongly suspect. It was because he trusted God to be merciful to the penitent sinner. He trusted God to forgive the penitent sinner. David knew God is compassionate and abounding in love for the penitent sinner.

Do you know God in that way? Merciful? Compassionate? Loving? Oh, I so much hope you do.

I can't tell you how many Christians I have spoken with – even in the last couple of weeks – who carry such a heavy and unnecessary burden on their shoulders, thinking God would never really forgive them of their sin – whatever the sin – without first getting from them His pound of flesh.

And although I remind them time and again of the cost God paid to wipe their sins from His book, I remind them of the cost God paid to demonstrate how much He loves them and WANTS to forgive them – nothing I say, no scriptures I quote to them – nothing releases them from their conviction that God is going to make them pay dearly for their sins.

Why the bloody death of His Son does not convince them of God’s willingness to forgive the penitent – I do not understand. I am reminded of what CS Lewis said to this issue of God’s forgiveness: “If God forgives us, we must forgive ourselves. Otherwise, it is almost like setting up ourselves as a higher tribunal than Him.”

And so, we truly ought to feel comfortable to pray with the psalmist: “Search me, O God. Try me, (Hebrew: test me, as one tests gold) and know my anxious [disquieting – Hebrew) thoughts.”

All of us know what it is like to be anxious, to lose sleep worrying about tomorrow. You’ve been there. Maybe right now some of you ARE there. So worried, so anxious that it affects your appetite and your sleep and your interpersonal relationships. But if you get nothing else from today’s message, please get this: God loves you. Deeply, tenderly, earnestly, sacrificially loves you. Even when we are faithless, God remains faithful to His promises to us.

David continues: “See if there be any hurtful way in me and lead me in the everlasting way.” (verse 24)

For those of us who have adult children, have they ever hurt your feelings by what they did or did not do? What they said or did not say? Of course, they have. But many of us don’t realize, we hurt God’s feelings when we do or say what we should not, or when we do not do or say what we should. Yes, God – who created us in His image, has emotions – including the emotion of being hurt by those He loves.

For example, speaking to His beloved nation, He says through the prophet Ezekiel, “Then those of you who escape will remember Me among the nations to which they will be carried captive, how I have been hurt by their adulterous hearts which turned away from Me, and by their eyes which played the harlot after their idols.” (Ezekiel 6:9a)

Through St. Paul’s letter to the Christians at Ephesus: “Do not grieve (Greek – sadden, make sorrowful) the Holy Spirit of God. (Ephesians 4:30a)

And can you not sense the sadness in the Lord’s voice when He says of His beloved people in Deuteronomy 5:29 “Oh that they had such a heart in them, that they would fear Me and keep all My commandments always . . .”

Or in Psalm 81:13 “Oh that My people would listen to Me, that Israel would walk in My ways!”

The apostle Philip asked the Lord to show them the Father. And Jesus answered: “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? (John 14:8, 9)

From our repetitive reading of the gospels we have a pretty good idea what Jesus is like. St. Luke tells us: “When [Jesus] approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it.” (Luke 19). And when Jesus stood at the tomb of Lazarus, John tells us, “Jesus wept.” (John 11:35).

Therefore, we know what the Father is like because we know what Jesus is like. Jesus wept. We should not be surprised that the Father weeps – weeps over our sins, our self-destructive acts, and attitudes. He weeps when we hurt others. And He weeps when we walk away from Him. When we ignore Him.

You want to avoid hurting God’s feelings just as much as David wanted to avoid it. You don’t want to grieve the Holy Spirit any more than St. Paul wanted to grieve Him. That is why this simple prayer of David can bring us so much spiritual healing: Lord, see if there be any hurtful way in me. And lead me in the everlasting way.

Listen! I will risk being redundant, but it is so important that I be so: God loves you. Deeply, intimately, passionately. He wants to forgive you, and hold you close to Himself. He only waits for you to come to Him in humility.

Will you come now?