What Do You Expect?

The whole concept of linear ‘time’ is a construct created by the One who is not subject to what He created. He exists outside of time. In eternity, there is no past, or future. Eternity is always the eternal present.

As impossible as it is for us who are trapped in time to comprehend such a reality as the timelessness of eternity, the apostle Paul nevertheless, seemed to have had every expectation to be with Jesus immediately upon his death. Here is what he tells the Christians at Corinth:

“For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked. For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life. Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge. Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord— for we walk by faith, not by sight— we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.” 2 Corinthians 5:1-9

He repeats himself in his letter to the Christians at Philippi: For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose. But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better; yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake. Philippians 1:21-24

And again, in his letter to Timothy: “As for me, I am already being poured out as a libation, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing. (2 Timothy 4:6-8, NRVCE)

So, my point? The apostle expected to be immediately in God‘s presence when he died.

What about you? What do you expect to be your destination after your die – and why?

 

Sermon Fire and Rain

 Our text today comes from Romans 8:35-39: 

Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, “For your sake we are being put to death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

What a powerful promise that is for the Christian. This text alone can be our invincible shield of faith with which we will extinguish all the flaming arrows of doubt hurled by Satan. We cannot take time today to speak in detail about this text. We will come back to it though next week.

But for today, I want to take us in another direction as we look at two other passages of Scripture which will dovetail into the meat of my message today.

The first of those two other texts is from Mark’s gospel. Jesus and His disciples are in the boat headed across the sea of Galilee. The Sea of Galilee was well known then, as it is to this very day, as a place where storms can spring up quite suddenly. Even seasoned sailors were cautious about sailing too far out into the middle of the water. And so, Mark tells us:

And there arose a fierce gale of wind, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up. Jesus Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke Him and *said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” And He got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Hush, be still.” And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm. And He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” They became very much afraid and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?” (Mark 4:37-41)

Let’s hold our finger on that text a moment and look at one more story, this one from the book of Daniel. Daniel and his three friends, known best as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, had been taken into captivity and exile years earlier when the Babylonian army ravaged through Jerusalem and Israel. They were probably among a VERY FEW exiled Jews who did not compromise their faith and obedience to God while in exile – even at the threat of death.

Most, I suspect, just went along to get along. Isn’t that human nature? Don’t get too radical in your faith. Don’t draw attention to yourself. What’s a little compromise of faith and principle here and there if it means staying below the proverbial radar of the anti-Christ crowd?

Anyway, when the three young men would not kowtow to their culture – in this case, the idol set up by the king – Nebuchadnezzar increased the heat of the furnace seven time hotter than usual and had them tossed into it.

Most of you know what happened next. The astonished king came close to the furnace when He watched the three men standing unharmed amid the fire, and a fourth standing with them who looked to the king “like a son of the gods.” (Daniel 3:25)

Now to the point of my message.

No Christian – that means you and me – no obedient and faithful follower of Christ should be surprised at the fiery trial that comes upon any of us for our testing. That’s what St Peter tells us in his second epistle (1 Peter 4:12) “Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you.” Likewise, St. Paul warns us, “All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” (2 Timothy 4:12)

From one end of the New Testament to the other, God warns those who choose to follow Jesus of what to expect when we stand for Christ against the prevailing anti-Christ culture such as the one in which we now live.

Now, it is true, not every Christian goes through fire. Some do, but not everyone. And the fire is not to the same intensity for every person in those flames. And likewise, not every Christian goes through fierce storms. Some certainly do, but not everyone. And the ferocity of the storms is not of the same intensity for every person in those storms.

But here is the point: whether in the furnace of fire, or in the boat filling up with waves, God is with us – not will be with us, God IS with us as He was with them the three Jews in the furnace and with the 12 Jews in the boat on the water.

Listen!  This is very important. We have God’s unalterable promise that He who CREATED us also knows very well our mettle. He knows to the most exquisite detail what we can endure and what we cannot.  No trial has overtaken you that is not faced by others. And God is faithful: He will not let you be tried beyond what you are able to bear, but with the trial will also provide a way out so that you may be able to endure it. (1 Corinthians 10:13, NET)

For those whom God permits the fire, He is there in the midst. For those whom God permits the storm, He is there in the boat.

The issue for us here today is not whether the fire or the storm will come. It will – to one degree or another, it will. Christians in America should not be so dangerously naïve to think any of us will escape what our Christian brothers and sisters in virtually EVERY part of the globe today – TODAY – faces for their persistent faith.  

So the issue for us today is not whether the fire or the storm will come. Our issue must be HOW can we prepare for what storms or fires may come?

First, foremost, and above all: Ask the Holy Spirit to SUPERNATUALLY impassion your trust in God’s promise when He tells us He loves you. Ask the Holy Spirit to embolden your trust in God’s impeccable honesty when He tells you there is nothing that can separate you from His love.

So, seek God’s supernatural strength that we will forever keep forefront in our hearts that promise of Romans 8 I read earlier: Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? . . . For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

As I said at the beginning of this message, I will speak in more detail about this particular text next week, but for now let the simple words of this promise dwell long in your spirits. Doing so will feed your faith.

Second, in preparation for the storms and fires that WILL come to us to one degree or another, practice REMEMBERING God’s daily interventions in your life. Many of you remember the song, Count Your Blessings. Here are some of the more relevant lyrics:

When upon life’s billows you are tempest tossed/When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost/Count your many blessings, name them one by one/And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

So, amid the conflict whether great or small/Do not be disheartened, God is over all/Count your many blessings, angels will attend/Help and comfort give you to your journey’s end.

Count your blessings, name them one by one/Count your blessings, see what God hath done!

 

Those lyrics are not merely positive self-talk. The principle behind those lyrics are quite Biblical. For example, God tells us through the psalmist “Remember His wonders which He has done, His marvels and the judgments uttered by His mouth.” (Psalm 105:5)

 

The context of this text is the psalmist’s encouragement to the people to REMEMBER how often God intervened in the lives of their forefathers. Why remember? Because remembering what God did in their past will encourage them to trust God for their present distresses. And their future ones.

 

Or what about Psalm 77? “I am so troubled that I cannot speak. . . . Has His loving kindness ceased forever? Has His promise come to an end forever? Has God forgotten to be gracious, or has He in anger withdrawn His compassion?”

                                

Christian, have YOU ever been in that place – in that fire or in that storm – wondering if God has forgotten to be gracious to you, if His lovingkindness has ceased? But now listen to this psalmist’s remedy:

 

“I shall remember the deeds of the Lord; Surely, I will remember Your wonders of old. I will meditate on all Your work and muse on Your deeds.
(Psalm 77)

 

Did you catch that? This remedy the psalmist prescribes is to REMEMBER what God has done for them in the past. Is it therefore any wonder why the Lord Jesus picks up this same didactic principle when He told the disciples at the last supper to remember Him: His passion, His death, His resurrection and ascension – BECAUSE in remembering what He did – and WHY He did it – their confidence – as well as OUR confidence – will be bolstered. It is always true, as St Paul writes in 2 Corinthians, “in [Christ] every one of God’s promises is a “Yes.” For this reason it is through Him that we say the “Amen,” to the glory of God.” (2 Corinthians 1:20, NRSVCE)

 

How do we prepare ourselves to practice REMEMBERING God’s DAILY work in our lives? Write them down.

 

Here is a question I have often asked, and I ask it again to make the point: What did you have for dinner three nights ago? Eight days ago? Last month on the second Tuesday of the month?

 

See? Unless any of those dinners were significant because of some celebration, who would remember such things? Likewise, it is easy for our memories to be clouded when we think of the things God routinely does for us. That is why I suggest keeping a journal of the ways God intervenes EVERY DAY in our lives.

 

Get a notebook for that express purpose. I started my own journal last week because I need this message of encouragement as much as the next person. I call the journal: See What God Has Done.

 

When storms threaten to swamp our boat, or when the furnace gets very hot, we can turn to our daily journal and remind ourselves how God has ALREADY intervened in our personal lives in so many ways in the past. That written record will serve to bolster our confidence, being reminded that HHHe did not leave us alone then, neither will He leave us alone now.

 

What should you write in your diary? Record the big things, of course. But ALSO the little ones, such as: Did you remember to make that important call, or mail that important letter? Did you remember to pick up the orange juice and carton of eggs at the store? Don’t credit YOURSELF for being so smart. Give credit where every humble servant of Christ knows such credit belongs – that being with the Holy Spirit who reminded you to do whatever it was you needed to do.

 

You see, even in the so-called little things, if we train ourselves to recognize His hand in every minute detail of our life – especially in things we have always believe originated from our own selves, our own insight, our own experiences, our own intelligence – if we train ourselves to recognize the TRUE source of our insight and recall, then it will be much easier to trust that He is actively involved in the big things of life – like the storms and the fire.

 

Storms and fires will come – again and again. But . . .

 

When upon life’s billows you are tempest tossed/When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost/Count your many blessings, name them one by one – Remember God’s many interventions in your life – name them one by one – and it will surprise you what the Lord hath already done in your life.

 

The Wages and the Gift

 You can listen to this message here: https://youtu.be/cpsAwqAhiGc 

The Wages and the Gift 

 

My primary texts today come from Romans 6:23 and 8:1. “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life IN Christ Jesus.”  And – “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are IN Christ Jesus.”

 

Before I get too deeply into today’s message, it is necessary to pause a moment or two and focus on an important preposition the apostle uses in these two texts. It is the preposition, ‘in’ – because eternal life is a free gift of God ONLY to those who are IN Christ. Why? Because we are His adopted children through Calvary’s cross.

 

And God promises to never condemn those who are IN Christ. Why? Because He said so. However, to be IN Christ begs two questions – what does it mean to be IN Christ? And how does one get IN Christ?

 

To answer the first question – what it means to be IN Christ, let’s let Scripture clarify Scripture. Here is Jesus in John 15:4-6 –  

 

“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. ⁵ I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.” 

 

The key word in this text is ‘abide.’ Whether in the original Greek, or in our English translations, the word means to “actively remain with, to actively dwell with.” The word ‘perseverance’ comes to my mind when I think of actively staying with or remaining with Christ.

 

Paul is a good example of such perseverance. Listen to what he wrote to the Christians at Corinth: “Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren; I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches. Who is weak without my being weak? Who is led into sin without my intense concern? (2 Corinthians 11:24-29)

 

This text is not one that anyone should quickly gloss over. Paul LIVED what the word ‘abide’ meant. He lived what it means to be IN Christ.

 

Along those lines of what it means to abide in Christ, listen to what the Lord Jesus said to His disciples in Luke’s gospel: “You are those who have stood by Me in My trials; (Luke 22:28).

 

I think it does absolutely no harm to that Scripture if I alter one word in what He said to His disciples, AND to what He says to us in 2021: “You are those who have stood by Me in YOUR trials.”  I’ve talked about this very thing in the past, and I purposely do so again – for your encouragement.

 

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

 

But through it all and after it all, Jesus says to you: “You are those who have stood by Me in YOUR trials.” You could have given up. You could have walked away. But you didn’t – and even if you did at one time walk away – you have returned, haven’t you?

 

AND THAT’S what it means to be IN Christ. To actively continue with Christ. Which brings us to then to that second question: How do we get to be IN Christ in the first place?

 

For this, let’s turn to only two Bible passages, The first is from Psalm 51:1-4  “Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your loving-kindness; According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against You, You only, I have sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You are justified when You speak and blameless when You judge.”

 

And here is that second text that helps answer the question, how do we get to be in Christ. It’s from Luke 18:10-14 

 

“Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

 

So, how does one get to be IN Christ? The answer to that question is not at all complicated. God purposely made it easy enough for a child to understand.

 

First, admit to God you are a sinner. Admittedly, that’s easier for a child to do than an adult. We have had so much more time to clothe ourselves with pride that it has become for many of us like a second skin. But admitting to God that we are sinners deserving of eternal hell is a prerequisite step to finally being IN Christ.

 

After telling God you deserve hell, then you simply ask Him who loves you very much, you ask for His forgiveness – and you promise Him and yourself that you will live your life from then on in obedience to His commandments.

 

That’s how we all get IN Christ in the first place.

 

So, let’s return to that first of today’s texts in Romans: “The wages of sin is death . . . ”

 

Paul is not speaking here only of physical death when he speaks sin’s payday. He is speaking also and more ominously of eternal death. A death that is – as Scripture teaches – an endless torment in the Lake of Fire.

 

For the sake of time, we will not turn to more than a passage or two regarding the endless torment of eternal death. You’ve read the Bible often enough in your lifetimes that you know what God has told us about the final judgment.

 

But to hear the false teachers talk today about hell, you might think Jesus was wrong when He warned us of the eternal flames. False teachers might wear religious garb and parade in their academic degrees and church-assigned titles – but they are nothing more than Satan’s workers dressed as God’s children.

 

Truth is, Jesus spoke more about hell than He did about heaven. For example, Matthew 18:8-9) “If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than to have two hands or two feet and be cast into the eternal fire. If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than to have two eyes and be cast into the fiery hell. (Matthew 18:8-9)

 

Or Revelation 21:8 But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”

 

Listen – if Jesus and the New Testament writers were wrong about an eternal hell – then can we believe what they wrote about an eternal heaven?

 

Those who tell us hell does not exist to the dying words of some of the infamous atheists who tell a very different story than those false teachers, shepherds, and pastors.

 

For example, Voltaire, that infamous anti-Christ atheist of the mid-eighteenth century, said on his deathbed: “I have swallowed nothing but smoke. I have intoxicated myself with the incense that turned my head. I am abandoned by God and man. I shall die and go to hell!” His nurse said: “For all the money in Europe I wouldn’t want to see another unbeliever die! All night long he cried for forgiveness.”

 

Sir Francis Newport, the one-time head of an English Atheist club, said to those gathered around his deathbed: “You need not tell me there is no God, for I know there is one, and that I am in his presence! You need not tell me there is no hell. I feel myself already slipping. Wretches, cease your idle talk about there being hope for me! I know I am lost forever! Oh, that fire! Oh, the insufferable pangs of hell! . . . Oh, eternity, eternity forever and forever! Oh, the insufferable pangs of Hell!”

 

Christian, when it comes down to it – who will you believe about heaven and hell and the final judgment? Will you believe God’s inerrant, infallible, and eternal word, or will you believe the musings of Satan’s children dressed in clerical garb who twist God’s word to their own benefit?

 

But now let’s move quickly to the second part of Romans 6:23: The wages of sin is death – But God’s free gift of eternal life is given to all who are IN Christ. And I think it good that we look at this clause with what the apostle wrote in the first verse of chapter 8: “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are IN Christ Jesus.”

 

The reason Paul writes that the true Christian will never face God’s condemnation at the final judgment is BECAUSE of God’s promise in 6:23 – the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus. We do NOTHING to earn our salvation. It is a FREE gift of God.

 

So, if we are IN Christ Jesus, we WILL escape God’s condemnation. Again, it really is so simple a child can understand the concept. That’s why Paul would write to the Christians in Corinth: “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Corinthians 15:56-57

 

And just as there are those who tell us there is no hell – or that if there is a hell, it is empty because a loving God will not consign any soul to an eternal lake of fire – just as there are those who vomit such slippery lies, in the same way there are ALSO those who tell the Christian he or she can have no ASSURANCE of heaven until we die and stand before the Judgment seat.

 

It ought to make our blood boil to hear such unbiblical drivel like that. If the Christian cannot have an assurance of heaven, then why did Jesus tell a grieving Martha: “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, ²⁶ and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.”

 

If the Christian cannot have an assurance of heaven, then why did Jesus tell us, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life”? (John 3:16)

 

If the Christian cannot have an assurance of heaven, then why did the Holy Spirit move the apostle John to assure us: “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13)?

 

Earlier in this message I read the last words of some famous – or rather, infamous –atheists. I did so to demonstrate that those who try to deceive us into believe hell does not exist are liars. Those atheists I quoted had lived their lives believing and teaching a deadly demonic deception. And for them, all was lost.

 

But now let me read to you the last words of Christians who, from their deathbeds, still have much to teach us regarding eternal life for those who are IN Christ.

 

For example, Elizabeth Catez, known as St. Elizabeth of the Trinity, died at the age of 26. She went to her Lord murmuring a soft chant: “I am going to the light, to love, to life!’ They were her last intelligible words.”

 

When Christian pastor John Inskip's lay on his deathbed, he pulled his wife close, took her hands in his and raised them up together. With a countenance beaming with delight, he shouted, "Victory! Triumph! Triumph." These were his last words on earth.

 

St. Teresa of Ávila’s last words were these: “My Lord, it is time to move on. Well then, may Your will be done. O my Lord and my Spouse, the hour that I have longed for has come. It is time for us to meet one another.”

 

Dwight L. Moody, famous preacher and founder of the Moody Bible Institute, said on his deathbed: “Can this be death? Why it is better than living! Earth is receding, heaven is opening. This is my coronation day”

 

Mother Theresa of Calcutta said these words before she passed: “Jesus, I love you. Jesus, I love you.”

 

St Catherine of Sienna “Blood! Blood! Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit.”

 

Augustus Toplady, author of the hymn, “Rock of Ages,” told those surrounding his death bed: “Oh, what delights! Who can fathom the joy of the third heaven? The sky is clear, there is no cloud; come Lord Jesus, come quickly!” Then he closed his eyes and died.

 

When I visited my friend and early mentor, Dan Taub, as he lay dying from liver cancer, Dan placed his hand on mine and quoted St. Paul’s last words to Timothy, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.”  (2 Timothy 4:6-8)

 

And finally, you can tell those who tell us the faithful Christian cannot be sure of heaven, tell them of the 96-year-old Christian who died of a stroke on June 11, 2021. As she lay on the floor dying, she called her daughter to tell her what had happened. Then she told her daughter to not call the ambulance. He last words were: ‘I’m going to finally be with my Lord.” And she fell asleep.

 

Christian, listen once more to the word of God: “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life IN Christ Jesus.”

 

Please note, the Holy Spirit moved Paul to write the free gift of God is – not might be – but the free gift IS eternal life for those who are IN Christ Jesus.

And then Paul also wrote a chapter and a half later – “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are IN Christ Jesus.”

 

Please note again, the Holy Spirit moved Paul to assure all God’s children that there IS NO CONDEMNATION – not that there might not be be condemnation – but that there IS NO CONDEMNATION for those who are IN Christ Jesus.

 

Are you IN Christ Jesus? Have you confessed to God your sins? Do you do so as often as you sin? Have you repented of those sins – turned from them to the best of your frail human abilities? Have you asked God to forgive you as often as you sin? And are you following Jesus in faithful obedience?

 

If you answer yes to all those questions, then God assures you – God assures you – you ARE IN Christ Jesus. That means, you will NOT face condemnation at the Judgement, and it means that you HAVE – right now – eternal life.

 

It doesn’t get any more clear or more glorious than that.

 

Forgiven!

I am dead. 

I don’t know how I know it, but I am dead. And I stand before the Judgment Seat of God. (1) The Accuser (2) stands next to me, denouncing me and charging me with the many crimes I’ve committed during my life. Murder. Perversions. Treasons. Rebellions. The litany seems to never end. He cites all of them. Each in order. 

I don’t remember most of them, but my prosecutor holds aloft his dossier of dates and times and places. And with each accusation the memories of my forgotten sins flood my mind. They overwhelm me. With great shame – and fear – I try to push them from my memory, but to no avail.

Then almost from nowhere, He appears – my advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous.(3)

He waits for the accuser to finish. Then He looks soberly at the Judge. “These accusations are all true,” Jesus says. “But Father, I ransomed him with My blood.(4, 5)  He entered the waters of baptism. He confessed his sins with each offense.(6) He followed Me and served Me these many years. (7) And You promised I would not lose any whom you have given Me.” (8) 

The Judge listens in silence. Then He looks at my Accuser. He looks at me. He looks at my Advocate. He raises His gavel, and I wait for what is about to come next.

“Guilty,” the Judge says with a solemnity I shall forever remember. “I declare you guilty on all counts.”

Panic – unrelenting panic grips me. And then I hear Him add, “But I hereby pardon you of all counts for the sake of my son, Jesus.” (9, 10)

His gavel falls to the Bench with a crack that echoes throughout the chambers of heaven and of hell.

Dazed, I look at my Advocate. His eyes smile back. It is true. Gloriously, wondrously true. I am pardoned. Forgiven. Redeemed forever because of the blood of the Lamb. 


SCRIPTURE TEXTS

 

1 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Also another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, by what they had done. (Rev 20:12)

2 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. (Rev 12:10)

3 And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. (1 John 2:1) 

4 And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy art thou to take the scroll and to open its seals, for thou wast slain and by thy blood didst ransom men for God from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. (Rev 5:9)

5 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace. (Ephesians 1:7)

6 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

7 If any one serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there shall my servant be also; if any one serves me, the Father will honor him. (John 12:26)

8 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up at the last day. (John 6:39)

9 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole . . . and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:5-6)

10 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1)