Our Calvary

 

Our Calvary

Jesus said to His disciples, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised up on the third day.” And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.” (Luke 9:22-23)

Jesus knew He was on His way to the cross. And He knew what that meant.

I put down my Bible and contemplated that text a while. Follow Jesus. Even if . . . even if . . . even if following Jesus means following Him to our own Calvary.

I think that’s a very easy thing to do, to follow Him to our own Calvary when we do not have a Calvary. When we sit in the comfort and safety of our home, our family, our community, it’s easy to say we will follow Him wherever He leads.

But what if that comfort and safety fall apart? What if illness becomes painful and chronic. Or, wealth evaporates. Or, death takes not just one family member, but multiple members at the same time. Or, the diagnosis is terminal. Or, dementia slowly ravages the mind of a spouse. Or, long time and close friends reject us because of our faith. Or, if . . ..

The different kinds of Calvary hills are limitless, but our response to our own Calvary is limited to only one of two choices: Continue to take up our cross every day and follow Him to our Calvary;

Or we can turn away from our cross.

I think if anyone thinks living the Christian life is easy, that person is probably not living the Christian life. And I will go one step further. If anyone thinks living the Christian life without the direct intervention and aid of the Holy Spirit, then that person probably does not know what living the Christian life is all about.

Come, Holy Spirit. Fill the hearts of Your faithful, and kindle in us the fire of Your love. Make us an increasingly pure reflection of our Savior. Embolden us to follow our Jesus wherever He leads. Amen.

Two Temples

 

Sermon April 24

Two Temples

 

Text: Perfecting holiness in the fear of God. (2 Corinthians 7:1)

 

Scripture talks about two temples. The first was built with stone and mortar and timber. Solomon’s Temple, and the rebuilt Temple in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah after the Babylonian captivity are the Temples built with stone and mortar and timber.

 

The other temple spoken of in Scripture is built with flesh and blood and bone. Here is what the Holy Spirit tells us through St. Paul’s pen: “Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” 1 Corinthians 3:16

 

A few chapters later, he warns the Corinthian Christians: “Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. 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? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.” 1 Corinthians 6:18-20

 

We’ll come back to that text in a few minutes, but first we need to all be reminded that God designed both temples to be sacred places, places set   apart for worship, a place to meet God, and a place from which worshipers will go out to serve God.

 

The ‘brick and mortar’ temple was a place of sacrifice. Each day animals and birds were slaughtered to either purify or to atone for the sins of those bringing the sacrifices. The temple was also a place for prayer, as Isaiah tells us: My house shall be called a place of prayer for all people” (Isaiah 56:7). In 1 Chronicles 7, God tells Solomon that He set the Temple apart for Himself.

 

But despite the purpose God had for the brick and mortar temple, history is replete with examples of how often God’s people distorted and diluted and perverted what God had intended to be holy.

For example, Jeremiah 7 tells how Israel committed their murders, sexual sins, and idolatries during the week, and then came into the Temple to worship God on the Sabbath. Ezekiel records how the priests and elders in the Temple and its environs were actively engaged in blasphemous idolatries, prostrating themselves toward the sun in worship (Ezekiel 8).

Nehemiah tells us that the priestly leadership invited a pagan anti-God idolator to live in one of the apartments in the rebuilt temple. Such an invitation was astonishing, considering that the temple had been rebuilt under the leadership of Ezra and Nehemiah after the Babylonian exile. God had exiled the whole nation to Babylon BECAUSE of their egregious and continuous murderous idolatries and unspeakable sexual immoralities. And now, once again, in the aftermath of that exile, the religious clergy invited the symbol of sin and rebellion into God's temple.

Nehemiah was righteously furious about the sacrilege. He tossed the pagan out of the apartment, along with his furniture and clothes and everything else that belonged to him. Nehemiah then ritually cleansed the apartment and restored it to its original and holy use for God.

And then of course, the perhaps most well-known story of zeal for God's house is found in the gospels when Jesus overturned the tables and chased the profiteers out of the Temple. John records Jesus to angrily accuse them: “Take these things away; stop making My Father’s house a place of business.” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for Your house will consume me.” (John 2:13-17)

Zeal for God's house.

We could say, “Zeal for God's house” also consumed Nehemiah.

And Christian, listen. Please do not overlook this point: God expected His children – and He expects His children – to have zeal, a passion for the sacredness of His temple.

Now I am not suggesting we toss preachers or priests who preach a perverted and diluted Jesus – I am not suggesting we physically toss them out of God's local church.

But I AM urging this: If you attend such a church or financially support such a church where the pastor is a false teacher, a 21^st century Judas who distorts and perverts God's word – then stop attending and supporting that church which no longer has a zeal for God's house.

I believe this warning is appropriate here: If WE do not have a passion for Christ and for His church, then I fear we will slowly, by degrees, lose our love for the God of the Bible and fall in love with a God of our own imagination. And THAT will be disastrous for us.

I said at the beginning of this message that Scripture talks of two temples. We looked very briefly at the one built with stone and mortar and timber. Now let’s look at the other temple spoken of in Scripture. This one is built with flesh and blood and bone.

Here is what the Holy Spirit tells us through St. Paul’s pen: “Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. 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? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.” 1 Corinthians 6:18-20

Listen: Does it not make perfect sense that since God-incarnate – also known as God-in-the-flesh – was zealous for the brick and mortar temple, then is it not reasonable to believe that He who created OUR flesh expects US to be zealous for His temple in our flesh?

I wonder if St. Paul had in mind what Nehemiah did with the pagan tenant in the rebuilt temple when Paul wrote to the Christians at Corinth: “Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” 2 Corinthians 7:1

Perfecting holiness – developing holiness in ourselves – in the fear of God. Some translators render the text, “Developing holiness in the reverence of God.”  In other words, if we love God, if we really reverence God, and yes, if we really FEAR God, then we must be careful how we live our lives in these temples of flesh and blood and bone.

What it means for you to perfect or to work toward your own holiness might be different than what it will look like for me. But that is not the point. What IS the point is if we have a ZEAL for God's temple in our bodies then we have to rid ourselves of everything than can defile His house.

For example, we must cleanse ourselves of theological defilement. And how do we do that?

Well, first, we will NEVER be able to cleanse ourselves of theological error unless we fully believe in the full inerrancy and infallibility of God's word. If we permit ourselves to dilute God's word because it tells us things we do not want to hear, then we do not really believe God's word is infallible and without error.

I must, under God, remind us that we are in a supernatural battle for our souls. Satan wants to destroy you and me and those we love. And if he can get us to doubt the inerrancy of God's word, then he knows it is only a matter of time before he will take us captive to do his will.

Christian, hear this. Believe this. Live this. God's word is immutable. That means it does not change and will never change with the change of the centuries or the cultures or the technological advancements of the nations.

God's people must have a zeal for the theological integrity of their pastors and teachers. As He warns us through St. Peter: “False prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them.” 2 Peter 2:1

And St. Paul warns: “For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore, it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds. 2 Corinthians 11:13-15.

What do these servants of Satan teach? I’ve talked about these things many, many times before from this pulpit and in our Bible studies – and I will continue to speak of them and warn of them as long as I have breath.

Very few of the devil’s servants come right out and tell us to deny the full deity and humanity of the Lord Jesus. Very few will tell us to deny the full and infallible inspiration of the Bible.

Instead, Satan’s servants try to move people by degrees away from God. For example, they seduce the biblically illiterate with heretical ideas such as: “A God of love would not condemn anyone for expressing sexual love to another person outside of marriage.” Or, “A God of love would never condemn a person for expressing sexual love to a person of the same sex.” Or, “A God of love would never condemn someone to an eternal lake of fire for rejecting Jesus as the only door to salvation.” Or, “The Bible was written for another time and culture, so why in the 21st-century should anyone live by its ancient prejudices?”

And here is one of the latest damnable heresies that I’ve recently railed against, and I do so again because of its insidious evil. I am speaking about a syncretism of Christianity and Islam called “Chrislam.” 

But I will tell you as clearly and as kindly as I can, Islam and Christianity have absolutely nothing in common as it relates to God, to Jesus, and to eternal life. Islam makes no secret about its view of Jesus. To Muslims, Jesus is NOT Jehovah God in the flesh. To them, the idea of the trinity is blasphemy. In their theology, Jesus did not resurrect from the dead.

I could go on and on with the differences between Christianity and Islam, but there is no need. ANYONE who believes in the inerrancy and infallibility of God's word cannot abide with the heretical position that Chrislam takes about Jesus our Lord.

Christian – beware of receiving theological error into your temple in which the Holy Spirit lives. And while we are talking about zeal for our temples of flesh, let me also warn us all to beware of receiving moral error into our temple.

The Holy Spirit tells us again through His word: “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.” (Romans 6:12-13)

How do we unwittingly present the members of our body to sin?  Most often through what is called the ear gate and the eye gate. It is a well-documented principle that what we hear and see works in our subconscious minds for good or for evil. As Solomon instructs through the Proverb: “As a man thinketh in his heart, so he is.” Proverbs 23:7

And so, the Lord Jesus said, “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 18:9)

Now, I don’t at all think Jesus wants us to literally pluck out our eyes. But I do believe the Lord said what He said to make a critically important point: We must guard against inadvertently inviting sin through our ear and eye gates. The more often we present ourselves to sin, the easier it is for it to alter our minds.

St. Paul picked up the same theme in his letter to the Christians at Rome when he wrote: “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:2)

Our eyes and ears cause us to stumble when we willingly permit images and words to take up residence in our minds when they enter through our eye and ear gates. So, what kinds of television or movie images do we allow to enter our minds? What kinds of coarse and profane language do we willingly permit into our ears?

Listen: In this supernatural battle for our souls, we simply do not know how subtle and smooth sin can be, and how easily it can slip into our thoughts. And make no mistake: Satan knows very well how pliable our brains are. He knows how easily a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough. And if we are not ALERT to the ear and eye gate dangers we face every day, after a while our minds will be altered, and we no longer will recognize how our moral underpinnings have become warped and weakened.

Many of you remember the children’s song – which is quite applicable to adults: “Oh, be careful little eyes what you see. Oh, be careful little eyes what you see. For the Father up above is looking down in love; Oh, be careful little eyes what you see.”

The next stanza goes: “Oh, be careful little ears what you hear. Oh, be careful little ears what you hear. For the Father up above is looking down in love; Oh, be careful little ears what you hear.”

Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. Shall we take our bodies, inhabited by God Himself by His spirit, shall we take the members of our bodies and present them to sinful images and ideas and words? 

I ought to routinely ask myself – and so ought you – if the Lord Jesus were physically sitting beside me, would I watch this program? Would I listen to what I am listening to? Would I read what I am reading?

St. Paul wrote to the Christians at Corinth: “Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump.” (1 Corinthians 5:6-7)

Oh, may God Almighty give each of us a passion for His 21^st century temples – a passion for doctrinal holiness and purity in our churches, and a passion  for holiness and purity in our own personal temples, temples wherein the Holy Spirit lives. Amen.

Consider the Moon

Do you know how sometimes you can see the moon in the morning? That’s what happened to me today. As I’m walking Frenchie around the house at 8 o’clock – I got a late start to my day – as I’m walking him around the house to do his business, I looked up and saw the moon in the northern sky.

And I stopped. And I looked at it in unexpected awe. And the words of the psalmist suddenly flowed across my mind: “O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth, who have set Your glory above the heavens! . . . When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him?”

I stopped praying and just stood quietly. I couldn’t take my eyes off the moon.

“Yes,” I whispered to myself, “When I consider the heavens, the moon and the stars which You have made, surely, what is man? What are the nations, what are the peoples of the nations, what are the individual men and women who make up the nations?”

And then the Holy Spirit suddenly broke into my thoughts. “So, Richard, why are you worried about what’s happening in the world? Is not the One who made the sun and the moon and the stars the same One who has power and authority and dominion over all the nations, over all of its people, and over each individual man and woman? Fear not, Richard. I have redeemed you. And I have called you by name. You are mine.”

Wow. What a message to my heart.

And so, Christian, consider doing this the next time you see the moon: If you can, stop what you’re doing and stare at it for a while. And think about the heavens, the moon and the stars which our God has made. And fear not. He has also redeemed YOU. He has also called YOU by name.

YOU are his.

More Thanh We Want to Pay

My father could not stay out of other women’s beds. I was four when my mother finally had enough of his lies and broken promises and serial adultery. She filed for divorce and sent him packing. I still remember sitting on the black couch when mom told me that he was not coming home anymore. That was 68 years ago.

I was in my early thirties when I learned that he had died in his sleep lying next to his fourth wife. The saddest part of this story is that unless he repented of his godlessness before he died, he is in hell right now, as I type these words. And he will remain in agony for eternity. He also knows, and will never ever be able to forget, that he chose his destiny for a few moments of lustful pleasure.

Albert is an example to me. He ought to be an example to everyone reading this. The wages of sin is eternal death. And those who serve themselves will forever experience that agonizingly and unending conscious death.

It is only those who have turned their hearts to Messiah Jesus, it is only those who have repented of their sins and sought God’s forgiveness, it is only those who will experience eternal life.

Sin will take us where we do not want to go. Sin will keep us longer than we want to stay. And sin will cost us more than we want to pay.

That is why the Holy Spirit says to me – and to you – be aware of how you live your life.

Just as He Said

 

Resurrection Sunday

April 17, 2022

“Just as He Said”

 

My text for this afternoon comes from the last chapter of Matthew’s gospel. By this point, Jesus had been crucified and then stabbed through His heart just to make sure He was dead. Joseph and some other disciples took His corpse down from the cross and laid it in a tomb cut out from a hillside. And, because it was the Sabbath, they all left the gravesite to observe the commandment of God through Moses. We now pick up the story in verse one of chapter 28:

 

“Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave. And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said.” (Matthew 28:1-6a)

 

In retrospect, it might seem a little surprising that NO ONE expected this. NONE of His disciples expected the resurrection of their Lord – even though Jesus had told them that He would die and then return to life. For example, here is Matthew 16:21 – “From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day.”

 

And also, in John 10:17-18 “For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.”

 

In fact, Jesus’ promise of His resurrection was so widely known at the time that after the crucifixion, the Jewish clergy gathered together to Pilate and said, 'Sir, we remember, while he was still alive, how that deceiver said, "After three days I will rise." Therefore, command that the tomb be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night and steal Him away, and say to the people, "He has risen from the dead." So the last deception will be worse than the first' (Matthew 27:62-64).

 

So, in retrospect, from our place here in the 21^st century, having read the last pages of each of the gospels, we can understand and sympathize with the disciples who were in despair and abject fear for their own lives after Jesus’ arrest, murder, and burial. We know what happened on Good Friday. But we also know now what they didn’t know at the time – that Sunday morning was coming.

 

I love the message spoken by the angel at the tomb. “He is not here. He is risen, just as He said.” Luke records the angel’s words this way: “Why do you seek the living One among the dead? He is not here, but He has risen. Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee.” (Luke 24:5-6)

 

God's angels never wonder, or doubt, or question any of their Lord’s commandments or promises or anything else that comes out of God's mouth. They simply accept it as true because God said it. And for them, that settles it.

 

And so, they were – and I am speculating here since the Biblical record says nothing of their tone of voice – I think the angels were incredulous at the surprise of the women and the apostles when on that first day of the week, they were frightened and confused that couldn’t find the body of Jesus.

 

To paraphrase their remark: “Hey! What’s your question? Jesus is not here. He’s risen, just as He said He would rise from the dead. How is it that you didn’t believe Him?”

 

Christian! We need to get that. The angel told them, “He is risen – just as He said.”

 

I love that message because if Jesus did what He said He was going to do – rise from death – then that in and of itself alone should encourage all of us who believe the story of the resurrection. Jesus’ resurrection that should encourage us to have absolute conviction that EVERYTHING ELSE Jesus said is also true. I mean, think this through logically: If He overcame the impossible – who ever heard of anyone physically rising from the dead after three days in the grave? So, if He overcame the impossible, and therefore the impossible is true, then how shall we doubt anything else He said?

But the of course begs the question – what ELSE did Jesus say? What else did the King of glory say that we must, must, must hide in our hearts – because He said it and therefore it is true?

 

Well, we do not have more than a few minutes on this Resurrection Sunday to look in depth at them all, but let’s highlight only a few

Number one. Jesus said to the penitent thief on the cross next to Him, “This day you will be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23:43) After the criminal acknowledged to Jesus his own sin, the Savior promised him that before the sunset on that Friday, he would join Jesus in paradise.

Why is it important to know what Jesus said to the thief? I can think quickly of at least two reasons. First, since Jesus forgave the thief of his sins, then there is no reason for you or me to think Jesus will not forgive OUR sins when we bring them to Christ in repentance.

 

Furthermore, in the Lord’s response to the penitent thief, He did not even hint at what some call ‘soul sleep.’ That erroneous theory posits that when the body dies, the soul remains with the corpse until the general resurrection. But that is NOT what Jesus said to the thief. He told the thief “THIS DAY, you will be with me in Paradise.”

 

Christian, hear it again what Jesus said: When any Christian closes his or her eyes in death, they immediately open their eyes in the presence of the Lord Jesus their Savior. That is why Saint Paul could tell 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)

 

It’s also why St. Paul wrote to the Christians at Corinth: “We are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.” (2 Corinthians 5:6–8)

So, Christian – and my remarks here are directed ONLY at the true Christian, don’t be surprised when you die that you immediately open your eyes to see the risen Savior. You will be with him in paradise. Jesus said it

 

Number two – What else has Jesus said? He said not all people are children of God. Although in a generic sense all are His creation – not all are His children who are MADE His sons and daughters only by their faith in Jesus as God incarnate, who died as a sacrifice for their sins. That’s why Jesus said to the Pharisees – men who thought they were children of God – Jesus said to them: “Unless you believe that I Am, you will die in your sins.” (John 8:24)

 

The Jewish teachers and theologians thought THEY were children of God. But Jesus told them they were wrong. “If God were your Father,” Jesus said, “you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me . . . ⁴⁴ You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. . . . He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God.” (John 8:42-47)

 

In His parable of the Tares and Wheat as recorded Matthew 13:37-39, Jesus said: “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one; and the enemy who sowed them is the devil . . .”

 

False teachers and deceptive pastors tell their congregations that all men and women are children of God. But that is a lie. As the Scripture says: “He [Jesus] 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. John 1:11-13

 

Number three: What did Jesus say about the eternal destiny of all true children of God? Well, He gives us many details, such as streets of gold and gates of pearl. But descriptions of heaven defy description because we have never experienced anything like heaven, so we have no clear reference points. How can a person born blind understand the colors red or yellow or green or blue? How can a person born deaf ever know the auditory magnificence of a Mozart symphony or a Handle concerto? As the Scriptures tell us: “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9)

 

So, I will not focus our attention on the physical description of heaven. Instead, I draw our attention to Revelation 21: “[A]nd He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:4)

 

Christian, did you get that? No more pain, or loss, or separation, or tears, or sadness, or illness. Oh! I do not care a fig about streets of gold and gates of pearl if I can live forever and ever without any sorrow or loss or heartache.  And we can be absolutely certain that such things will never again darken our lives because – Jesus said so.

Number four: What did Jesus say hell is like? In point of fact, Jesus spoke more about hell than He did of heaven. An honest seeker of truth cannot read the gospels or the rest of the New Testament and come away without a healthy fear of that eternal destiny in which all who are NOT God's children will find themselves for ever and forever.

 

I could cite dozens of passages as illustrations, but let’s focus only on what Jesus said through the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus. You’ll find it in Luke 16. When both men died, Lazarus went to Father Abraham’s bosom, while the Rich Man went to hades, or hell. It was there, in utter and unending torment that he begged Abraham to send Lazarus to his brothers to warn them to change their lives, so they would not also end up in that terrible place. We pick up the story in verse 29: “But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ But [the Rich Man] said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!’ But [Abraham] said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’”

 

False teachers and lying pastors tell others a loving God will never send anyone to an eternal torment. But they are liars and children of the devil who teach such things. Jesus said hell is real. The Lake of Fire is real. And all who continued to reject God's offer of reconciliation with Himself, who lived a lifestyle of disobedience and faithlessness to Christ will, unquestionably, spend eternity in torment. No one in hell should be surprised that they are there – because it will be just as Jesus said.

 

Finally for today’s message, number five: What did Jesus say about His forgiveness of our sins? Plenty. And He said it so often as to make an unshakable point about His forgiveness.

 

Essentially, it is this: When we confess to Him our sins – no matter how egregious and horrible and awful and wicked those sins – when we honestly and humbly confess our sins to Him – He forgives all of our sins. Not a shadow of sin remains. He has cast even our worst sins as far from Him as east is from west.

 

Here are only a few of the assurances He said about forgiveness:

 

“And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins. Matthew 26:27

 

Luke records for us: and [Jesus] said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. Luke 24:46-47

 

Furthermore, the Lord, by His Holy Spirit through the apostle John promises us: “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.” 1 John 1:8-9)

John continues in chapter two of his first epistle: “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He Himself is the propitiation [atonement, the appeasing of God's wrath) for our sins . . . I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you for His name’s sake.” 1 John 2:1,2, 12

Why is it so hard for so many people to accept the truth of what Jesus said when He said, “Your sins are forgiven”? Is it because we cannot forgive ourselves that we think God cannot forgive us?

In those circumstances, when I am so very grieved about my own sins, I like to remind myself of what St Paul wrote to the Christians at Philippi: “But 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.” (Philippians 3:13-14)

The angel seemed to me to be incredulous that those at the empty tomb were shocked that Jesus was not there. “He is risen,” he told them. “Just as He said.”

 Are angels of God incredulous with us when we do not believe what Jesus said – about the identify of God's children, about heaven, about hell, about who we will see immediately upon our death, and about forgiveness of our sins?

Christian, seek the Holy Spirit’s anointing that we will always trust that Jesus will always do – just as He said.