Whether by Life or by Death

 

I didn’t get past verse three this morning when the Lord stopped me. Here is the text in John 9: “As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?” ³ Jesus answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him.” (John 9:1-3) 

 

Look again at the last part of verse three: “But it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him.” 

 

Yes, I know the Lord healed the man. But what of those whom He does not heal? Can the works of God be displayed through them? 

 

Fanny Crosby suddenly came to my mind. Blinded very shortly after birth, her physical darkness gave incalculable spiritual light to millions and millions of Christians around the globe through her thousands of hymns. 

 

“That the works of God might be displayed through [her].” 

 

Then I thought of Job. Writhing in physical and emotional torment, he proclaimed to his ‘counselors,’ “Though He slay me, yet I will trust in Him.” (Job 13:15). And through the millennia, how many untold millions of God's children have found great comfort in Job’s life AND his faith? 

 

“That the works of God might be displayed through [him].” 

And then there was Paul the apostle. Here is only the very briefest of his descriptions of his sufferings for Christ: “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.” (2 Corinthians 11:24-26) 

 

Yet, he also wrote to the Christians at Philippi: “I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.” (Philippians 1:20b)

“That the works of God might be displayed through [him].” 

 

I could cite many other examples from both biblical and church history of men and women who endured such physical or spiritual or emotional trauma as to make the average person shake their heads and wonder – “Who sinned so grievously that this person should suffer so?” Or, perhaps more to the point, one might wonder, “Where is a loving God in all this trauma?” 

 

But those are the wrong questions. For the one who believes God loves them – as He most obviously demonstrated on a hill called Calvary where He gave His Son to die an agonizing death so you and I could live forever with God – for the one who believes in that kind of God, the question should be for me and for you, whatever is our present suffering – the question should be, “How can I glorify God in my blindness? Or in my paralysis? Or in my cancer? Or in my chronic and debilitating pain? Or my . . . ?” 

 

That the works of God might be displayed through [me]. 

 

Oh, Lord Jesus Christ, who learned obedience through the things which YOU suffered, pray for us as our High Priest that we will exalt You in our bodies, whether by life or by death. (See Hebrews 5:8; Hebrews 7:23-25). 

 

Amen. 

Rich Maffeo

maffeo.richard@outlook.com 

Blog: www.inhimonly.blogspot.com

Rescued

The title of my message today is, “Rescued.” And my text comes from the first chapter of Paul’s letter to the church at Galatia:

(Galatians 1:1-12): Paul, an apostle (not sent from men nor through the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead), and all the brethren who are with me, to the churches of Galatia: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forevermore. Amen. 

I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed! For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.

For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

It’s important that we take special note that the first thing Paul does here is to establish his credentials. He was sent to them from God and the letter he is writing to them is also from God. Paul, an apostle (not sent from men nor through the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead).

He will reiterate his point a few verses later when he continues: For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

Why is he making such a point as to establish his credentials? He tells us why in the next following verses:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forevermore. Amen. I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

Listen, God is telling them – and He is telling US through Paul’s pen – that there are wolves out there who will tear them the shreds, and their ONLY protection is to believe AND practice what God is telling them – and US – through Paul’s pen. There is no other way for anyone to be rescued from the many Satanic deceptions circulating our world – even some of our pulpits and seminaries.

Rescue! Have you ever been in desperate need of rescue?  I have many times in my life, as I think back over it. Like when I was three or four years old. My mother told me the story several times of how when I was dawdling by the entrance of the parking garage to our apartment complex a car suddenly pulled out and obviously didn’t see me. If my mother hadn’t jerked me away, I would have likely died.

Or the time when I was about the same age and a lifeguard spotted me struggling to stay above the waves that were knocking me off my feet again and again. My father – who’d taken me to the beach – was obviously distracted, and if the lifeguard hadn’t pulled me to safety – I might have drowned only a few yards from my father.

But as I look over my life, I can see numerous times when God – even before I KNEW Him as my Savior – I can pinpoint numerous times when He pulled me from an ever-rising tsunami of sin that would most certainly have destroyed me.

Did you ever need rescue?  Whether or not we know it, we are ALL like the paralyzed man at the Bethesda pool in John chapter five. We have NO ONE to help us in this supernatural and deadly evil age – no one except the all sovereign, all mighty Creator whom only Christians know as our Father and Savior. That’s why Paul also wrote in another place: (Ephesians 2:4-6) “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”

In this letter to the Christians at Galatia, Paul is in the role of a parent, rushing to rescue his children from being run over by demonic philosophies that would destroy them. He is in the role of a lifeguard, jumping from his tower-chair to rescue them from being drowned by waves of false doctrines that would also destroy them.

And you and I in the 21^st century will do ourselves well to pay close attention to what Paul has to say because WE are in just as much danger of drifting into error as they were. In fact, God warns us of that very danger throughout Scripture, as in Hebrews 2:1- “For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it. 

The issue Paul had to deal with in the Galatian church was the same issue every one of us in the 21^st century has to deal with: God's truth versus Man’s philosophies and contrivances. In this Galatian letter, Paul addressed false teachers known as Judaizers. We find their theology in the 14^th and 15^th chapters of the book of Acts. To summarize their heresy, Judaizers taught that only those who were circumcised and followed the Law of Moses could be saved. Of course, that lie was in direct contradiction to the whole of the gospel message of salvation by grace.

In fact, Paul will later say in this Galatian letter that those who are circumcised and follow Moses have ‘been severed from Christ.” They have fallen from grace.” (Galatians 5:4) That’s because, as Paul and Peter and the other apostles taught, salvation is by grace alone. Following Moses saves no one. But good works – helping others in need, being kind, forgiving others . . .  good works and good attitudes are simply EVIDENCE of saving faith.

Yet another group of heretics circulating in that era were known as Gnostics. St John, in his first epistle, addressed their heretical beliefs.  It is likely Jude also alluded to them – as well as to the Judaizers – in his very short epistle. Here is what he wrote in verse four: (Jude 4) “For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”

 

Gnostics and other heretics taught a slew of lies that, if imbibed, would lead its followers to the Lake of Fire. For example, these false teachers sought to convince their listeners that the created world is evil. Only the spiritual world is good. Therefore, Jesus the Christ was not God incarnate; The holy God could not take on evil flesh and blood. Jesus only seemed to have human form but that he was actually only a spirit. Another demonic deception argued that Jesus’ divine spirit came upon his human body at his baptism, and it left Him before the crucifixion – because Spirit cannot die.

Gnosticism and its counterparts are still alive and well in the 21^st century, slithering into church seminaries and pulpits in the form of new-age philosophies such as Humanism – which stresses the inherent goodness of men and women. But God tells it differently: (Psalm 14:2-3) The Lord has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt; There is no one who does good, not even one.”

 

Here are a few more similar passages for your own study later on: Jeremiah 17:9; Romans 3:23; and Isaiah 59:2

Then there is the demonic doctrine called Relativism circulating in many churches and seminaries. Relativism states that morality and truth are simply related to specific historical cultures or societies. Who hasn’t heard (or even used) the fallacious and unscriptural proverb: “Everything is relative.” You can even hear such dribble in the dining room if you ask people about the exclusivity of the Scriptures regarding morality and faith, or in the pews if you visit some churches around town.

Finally, and only for our purposes here, another heresy with roots in ancient heresies is called Universalism. Universalists believe that EVERYONE, regardless of their faith, lack of faith, or behaviors in this life -- everyone will spend eternity in heaven. I’ve mentioned it a few times from this pulpit of the popular Catholic Bishop Barron and his Protestant counterparts who believe we can have a ‘reasonable hope’ that hell is empty.

In other words – please be careful who you listen to. Just because a person wears a collar or has the title of pastor or has a doctorate after his name DOES NOT necessarily mean that person is a faithful Christian. Remember Judas. So, BEWARE from whom you get your information about God, sin, righteousness, judgment, heaven, and hell.

So, let’s move on to verse three of this first chapter in Galatians: “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, ⁵ to whom be the glory forevermore. Amen.”

If we’ve been in Bible-believing, Bible-preaching church for any length of time (and I differentiate here between churches that are Christian in name only, and those who truly ARE followers of Christ) – if we’ve been in a true Christian church for any length of time we understand what Paul is talking about here – that Jesus sacrificed Himself on that cross to pay the penalty of death we ALL deserve to pay for our sins, and in so doing rescued us from not only God's wrath, but also from the dark forces of this world.

We cannot take the time now to look too closely at those dark forces. Some of you will remember the series I preached regarding our supernatural armor. You can read what Paul tells us in the sixth chapter of Ephesians, but here is only a portion of what he writes in Ephesians 6:10-12 (ISV) “Finally, be strong in the Lord, relying on his mighty strength. Put on the whole armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the Devil’s strategies. For our struggle is not against human opponents, but against rulers, authorities, cosmic powers in the darkness around us, and evil spiritual forces in the heavenly realm.”

When Paul writes that God rescued us from his present evil age, I believe what he means here is the age in which humanity has lived since the Garden. You and I look at our lives in terms of years and decades, God looks at the history of humanity in terms of millennia. You’ll remember what Peter tells us: (2 Peter 3:7-8) “But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.”

This present evil age began in the Garden of Eden, as we saw in last week’s message. It began then. It was ongoing in Paul’s day. It is STILL ongoing in our day. It will end only when God brings the age to a close as He describes for us in the book of Revelation.

We are living in an evil, evil age, overflowing with wickedness spewed from the bowels of hell itself. I was somewhat surprised to learn that, according to a 2003 New York Times article, humanity has been entirely at peace for only 268 years out of the last 3400 years. To say that in a different way, 92% of human history over the course of the last 3400 years has been embroiled in warfare somewhere on the globe. And the fundamental CAUSE of wars? Listen to James tell it:

(James 4:1-4) “What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

Sin makes us adulterers and enemies of God. Sin makes us enemies of each other. Sin is what led to the first murder as recorded in Genesis chapter three. Sin is what has led to the deaths of more than 56 million babies in the United States since the early 1970s in American abortion clinics. Sin is what has corrupted and blinded our collective morality to embed into the law of the land the validity of same-sex marriages. Sin is what has corrupted and blinded our collective morality to the point that we think it’s okay to give hormone-blocking drugs to SCHOOL CHILDREN who want to change their biological sex. I mean, we don’t let children sign legally binding contracts – but we let them make life-altering decisions such as some are making!?

It is sin, resulting from a rejection of God, that has – as St Paul wrote to the Christians at Rome – that has resulted in men and women becoming ‘futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart [is] darkened. Professing to be wise, they [have become] fools.” (see Romans 1:21b-22).

Listen. I will say it with Jesus Himself: ONLY God's truth can set us free from our spiritual blindness and our racing toward eternal death. And it is God's truth that Paul is beginning to preach here in these first few verses. We’ll see in subsequent sermons what it was that he had to say.

Jesus didn’t have to give Himself up for us. God could have remained distant, aloof, and unconcerned for our hopelessly desperate plight. But his incomprehensible love for treasonous and wretched sinners moved Him to mercy. And He rescued us – at least, those who WANT to be rescued.

Listen my brothers and sisters – we know the old, old story. Some of us have heard it all our lives. And we can tell others the old, old story. But until God graciously unveils to us the depths of our sins and the dreadful danger we ALL—All – faced and face without Christ, the old story is simply that – a story.

God sent Paul to the church at Galatia AND, through the scriptures, God has sent him to the church at Ashwood Meadows to caution us – even to beg us to pay attention: There are wolves in them there cities and towns and in some churches and seminaries – wolves who want to bring you and me into spiritual bondage, chaining us to rules and rituals and traditions and ceremonies instead of opening our eyes to the free gift God the Father has given us by grace through faith in the finished work of Jesus on that cross.

May God the Holy Spirit open our eyes wider to the spiritual danger all around us and from which He has brought us – His beloved – to safety through Jesus’ sacrifice. May God the Holy Spirit open our hearts wider to more fully realize that Jesus rescued us from a hellish-eternity, bearing the wrath of God we all deserve for our sins.

I’ll close with this word from St Paul’s letter to the Christians at Colossae. The great apostle, speaking by the full inspiration of the Holy Spirit, urges them – AND us – to: (Colossians 1:10,12-14) “Walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God . . . joyously giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light. For He rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

How can ANYONE turn away from such grace?  And yet, some did in Galatia. And some do even today and even in this city. We will look more closely into that question next time.

 

My Eulogy for my Mentor and Friend

 In 1974, Dr. Daniel V. Taub learned the secret of an abundant life. It was an important lesson then. It took on even greater meaning for him twenty-two years later, in the fall of 1996.       

As soon as I walked into his hospital room, I knew he was dying.  Six weeks earlier his doctors diagnosed colon cancer. On further examination they found another tumor in his left lung. Then a CT scan uncovered suspicious spots on his liver. As I moved toward his hospital bed I tried not to notice his labored breathing or his yellowed and swollen skin.

“Hi Dan,” I choked back tears. “How are you feeling?”

 He opened his dark, sunken eyes, turned his head and tried to smile.

 “Tired,” he whispered.  “Good to see you.”

It had been nearly five years since Dan and I were last together. My job change and move across country ended our weekly chats.  When he and I spoke on the phone during the past Christmas, no one could have known it would be his last earthly celebration of Christ’s birth.

As I watched him struggling to breathe, my mind drifted to the time when he shared with me the story of his conversion.  Because he had been raised as an agnostic, educated in the most prestigious schools, and trained as a clinical psychologist, he could have easily dismissed the emptiness gnawing at his heart as irrational foolishness. The idea that sin could be the root of his emptiness was as foreign to his humanistic world view as east is from the west.

But when the Holy Spirit revealed to him the truth about sin, forgiveness and salvation, Dan suddenly knew he had to make a choice: obey God’s voice through the Scriptures or hide behind human philosophies.

He chose God, and from that moment determined to devote his life to the cornerstone of God’s truth: Jesus the Messiah.

Now, as I stood there twenty-two years later, although his body weakened by cancer, his faith remained powerful. As he had done for the last two decades of his life, he asked everyone who would listen, “Do you know my Jesus? Do you know my savior?”

During one of the last days we spent together in his hospital room, I asked him, “Dan, how does it feel to know you are dying?”

I learned long ago that a hospital room is where everything we hold dear to ourselves washes out: money, popularity, passions, careers -- like charred timbers after a house fire, a death-bed places so many things in clear perspective.

My question was deeply personal for me. I needed to know the thoughts of this man of God, my spiritual mentor. Perhaps his answer might help me cope during that future time when I lie in some hospital bed, staring into eternity.

He raised his hand to the bedrail and touched mine. “From life . . .  to life,” he smiled. “I leave this one to enter the next with Jesus. I fought the good fight. I finished my course. I kept the faith.”

I placed my other hand atop his and let his words seep into my spirit. As was always true in our relationship, the thoughts I shared with him never approached the wisdom he shared with me.

We buried Dan a few days later. A chilled November wind whipped across the southwest Missouri cemetery.  Rust-orange leaves carpeted the frozen dirt at our feet. And as the final words of eulogy drifted from the graveside, Dan’s last words to me filtered once again into my memory, “fight the good fight, finish the course, keep the faith.”

Dr. Daniel V. Taub illustrated for me how the Holy Spirit can use a child of God, even from a deathbed, to minister grace to anyone with ears to hear. Serving his Savior until his last breath, my friend’s simple eloquence reminded me that our labors for Christ are never in vain.

 Never in vain.

The Old, Old Story

 

I remember when I was much younger – and many of you probably remember it too – when we were younger, appliances like washing machines, dryers, and refrigerators – we kept them as long as we could. When they broke down, we called a repairman to fix them. It was not until they could no longer be fixed that we even considered buying something new. But today – whether appliances, computers, clothing – whatever  . . . it seems the ‘old’ is not nearly as valued as what is ‘new.’

 

And that wasteful and careless idea often spills over even into theology. You might remember what happened in Athens when the apostle Paul was invited to the Areopagus to talk with their intelligentsia. They brought him to their meeting place and said to him: (Acts 17:19-21) “May we know what this new teaching is which you are proclaiming? For you are bringing some strange things to our ears; so we want to know what these things mean.” (Now all the Athenians and the strangers visiting there used to spend their time in nothing other than telling or hearing something new.)

 

And so it is today; the ‘old’ is just not as attractive to many people as is the new. They prefer newer versions of the old, old story. Updated versions more sensitive to the sensibilities of modern men and women; Versions that preach more tolerance of the way people choose to live. Versions more friendly than the uncharitable words of those New Testament writers such as St Paul who wrote: “Don’t you know that the unrighteous will not inherit God’s kingdom? Do not be deceived: No sexually immoral people, idolaters, adulterers, or anyone practicing homosexuality, no thieves, greedy people, drunkards, verbally abusive people, or swindlers will inherit God’s kingdom. (1 Corinthians 6:9-10, Holman Christians Standard Bible)

 

New versus old – which brings us to the theme of today’s message. What is the ‘old’ message, that old, OLD story? And an important follow-on question: is that story still relevant to life now – and to life in eternity?

 

I know most of you already KNOW the old, old story. And you already agree that the old, old story is absolutely relevant to our lives in the 21^st century. But as St Peter wrote to his audience who already knew the old, old story, I am here before you this afternoon because “I consider it right, as long as I am in this earthly dwelling, to stir you up by way of reminder.” (2 Peter 1:13)

 

So, by way of reminder, let’s go to the beginning of the story where it all began: In the Garden of Eden. It’s important, by the way, as we begin here that we pause a moment to recognize that before Adam and Eve fell into sin, they apparently and routinely spent time in the very presence of God who walked with them in the cool of the day.

 

But do you know that today, on October 15^th, 2023, our God wants to routinely visit with you and enjoy your company?  No, it will not be as it was in the Garden. That kind of fellowship won’t occur until we reach the home the Lord Jesus is in the process of building for us. You’ll find that promise, for example, in the first few verses on John 14. You’ll also find such allusions in 2 Corinthians 5 and Revelation 21.  And we will also find in Revelation 20 how the old, old story will have its completion. Here are some verses from that chapter:

 

(Revelation 20:11, 14-15; 21:1-4) “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them . . . Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. . . . He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, ⁴ and 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.”

 

Oh! I’ve read the back of the book. So have many of you. And we know how the old, old story ends! All who believe the story and OBEY the story will one day enter that new eternal home and live forever in the physical presence of our God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

But let’s go back to the beginning to understand not only the end, but also the in-between, even to understand the times in which we now live.

 

After God finished His six days of creation He called His work of creation, ‘very good’ (Genesis 1:31). No sin. No corruption. No disease. No death. No loss. No separation.

 

But before long Satan entered a serpent and convinced Eve by his seductive lies to doubt God's word. She then offered the forbidden fruit to her husband who was ‘with her.’ When he ate it, “the eyes of both of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked.” (Genesis 3:7)

 

And so, sin became scripted into the DNA of every person born from those two parents. The next thing we know, Cain murdered his brother Abel, and Lamech boasted about killing others for striking him. On and on it went, and on and on it continues.

 

Have you been following the horrific evil that has been unleashed once again in our world?

What is happening in Israel today is merely the tip of the tip of the proverbial iceberg of evil that lurks just under the surface.

I am certain one of the reasons the gospel message – the Good News message – doesn’t impact humanity as it ought because virtually all of humanity, with rare exceptions, are unwilling to acknowledge our utter and incurable sinfulness. Jeremiah made that clear in the 17^th chapter of his prophecy. St Paul followed that up in his letter to the Christians at Rome:  (Romans 7:18) “For I know that nothing good dwells in me.” And Isaiah added, (Isaiah 64:6) “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.” The Hebrew word used here by the prophet describes menstrual rags.

 

Just last month I asked a retired missionary if she believed she was a wretched person before coming to Christ. She shook her head and told me she was not ‘wretched’ before she came to faith.

 

I wondered if she remembered the hymn we so often sing: “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.” And what is it the great St Paul said of himself? (Romans 7:24) “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?”

 

Unless our utterly holy God opens our eyes to our true nature, we will never fully understand just how utterly disqualified we all are from heaven. Sin is so much a part of our nature that it has thoroughly corrupted our minds to the point that we CANNOT see our sins as God sees our sins. No wonder even the best of us do not realize how richly we deserve eternal judgment for our sins and rebellions and treasons against the King of the Universe. If we DID really understand that, would we live like so many of us do – doing life ‘My Way’, as Sinatra and others have boasted?

 

But thanks to our gracious God, the old, old story doesn’t end in Genesis chapter three with the introduction of sin into the human genome. The story continues with God's RESPONSE to their fall. You may remember what He did: He shed blood in order to cover their nakedness with animal skins.

 

Why did He even bother to do that? The answer to that question is easy if you know and believe the old, old story. God created us for one purpose, and that was to love us – you and me. He created us to have deep, intimate fellowship with Him, and for us – He and we – to enjoy each other’s presence day after day forever.

But as we’ve seen, sin has thoroughly corrupted the human race. So – and speaking only in human terms – what was God to do? How would the absolutely holy God, the Creator who cannot permit sin – any sin, small or great – to be in His Presence AND who demands JUSTICE against sin – but who also desires to live with the one who has sinned – what was God to do to accomplish both, and yet not compromise His holiness?

 

Again, the answer is easy if we know and believe the old, old story. It all has to do with death. And the theme of that required death, resulting in a blood sacrifice, began in the Garden and spread like a healing thread throughout the Old and New Testaments.

 

Exodus chapter 12 tells of the slaughtered Passover Lamb whose blood covered the homes where the Jews remained safe from the Angel of Death. Leviticus chapters 16 and 17 speak of the sacrificial blood, when sprinkled on the altar by the high priest, covered the sins of the people. Here is Leviticus 17:11, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.”

 

The prophets continued the theme of a required blood sacrifice when they turn our attention to the Lamb of God whose death and sacrificial blood would finally fulfill what those ancient sacrifices were meant to foreshadow. For example, the prophet Isaiah spoke of Messiah’s virgin birth and incarnation. You might remember the name Immanuel of Isaiah 7:14 means ‘God with us.” You’ll find those promises in chapters seven and nine of Isaiah’s prophecy.

 

Then in chapter 53, Isaiah spoke of Messiah taking upon Himself all of our sins. He was to become our substitute, covering our sins with His atoning blood with covering far greater and deeper and higher and broader than the covering God provided for Adam and Eve. The apostles then told us how Messiah’s blood purchased for us eternal forgiveness and a place in the New Paradise of God. You’ll find examples of those promises, for example, in Matthew 26, Luke 22, Ephesians 1 and Colossians 1.

 

When Jesus died on that cross, He took on Himself the FULL wrath of God against sin – but only the sins of those who have made Him their Lord and Savior. All others who have turned their backs on the Messiah’s sacrifice will experience God's full wrath on themselves at the final judgement.

 

Here is a portion of what He promised through Isaiah: (Isaiah 53:5-6) “But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. ⁶ All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.”

 

Were it not for God's love and His mercy toward sinners, no one ever born would have anything to look forward to after death except God's wrath and a subsequent eternity in the lake of fire. That’s why Jesus warned (John 3:36) “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”   

 

And it is why the apostle Paul wrote: (Ephesians 2:4-5a) “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,  even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ.”

 

We have to get that last sentence: He made us alive TOGETHER WITH Christ. That is the only way to avoid God's wrath – to be alive in/with Christ.
 

Oh, we must hear this: God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – God loves you and me. That is why He fully united Himself with His creation is such a way as to actually feel physical pain, and hunger, thirst, weariness, and even physical death. The old, old story tells us on every page of holy Scripture of God’s inconceivable offer of forgiveness, despite even our most egregious sins. For example, consider King David. In the Bathsheba incident alone David broke three of the Ten Commandments: Coveting, adultery, murder. And it is important that we understand the Law of God did not provide any means of attaining forgiveness for those sins. Even if David brought a thousand lambs to be slaughtered for his sins, he could not have attained God's forgiveness. By LAW, David’s sins since required his death. But God responded to David’s humble repentance and graciously, lovingly, mercifully forgave every sin.

 

And what about the apostle Paul – guilty of blasphemy against God, and the murder and torture of Christians wherever he could find them? Listen to what he tells us in his letter to Timothy (1 Timothy 1:15-16): “It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. ¹⁶ Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life.

 

So, of what sins are YOU guilty? I won’t tell you the terrible ones of which I am guilty, but I WILL tell you this: God promises me through His timeless word that He has chosen to FORGET every last one of my confessed sins.

 

AND the same is true for EVERY person in this sanctuary who comes to God in humble confession of their sins.

 

Of what are YOU guilty? Murder? Adultery? Coveting? Blasphemy? Do you harbor a spirit of unforgiveness toward others? WHATEVER the sins, when you humbly and honestly confess them to God, He CHOOSES to forget those sins. He chooses to count them as if you never committed them. OH! The old, old story is an ever-ongoing story of hope. Of grace. Of undeserved favor and love and forgiveness and eternal life.

I need to bring today’s message to a close with this question: How then should we live in light of God's message intrinsic to the old, old story? I’ll give us the answer in two words: Humbly, and Obediently.

 

How did you receive Christ as an adult in the first place? Go back in your memory. Wasn’t it by humble faith? You believed what someone told you from the Bible about God's desire to totally forgive all who come to Him for that forgiveness. Now, you might not have realized it at the time, but that confession required your humility – admitting that God is right, and YOU are wrong. Most people – even many in pews – have never fully humbled themselves before the Almighty. They have never come to the recognition – just like that former missionary I mentioned earlier – that they are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked – the same thing of which the Lord Jesus accused the Christians at Laodicea (Revelation 3:17)

 

We also come obediently. Christian faith MUST bring with it fidelity to God and His commandments. Listen to 1 John 2:3-5 – “By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him.”

 

Humbly. Obediently. How can we not do so when we realize what He has done for us – what He has ‘gone through’ to purchase us back to Himself from sin and the devil. Because of our inherited sin nature, we all belonged to Satan and death. Here is 1 John 3:10a – “By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God.”

 

I’ve shared with you this afternoon the old, old story which many of you have heard for many decades. But it is good to hear it again and again – it is NECESSARY to hear it again and again because it is so easy in the midst of living life and dealing with the emotional, physical, financial, and social challenges of day by day living – it’s easy to forget that old, old story.

So, I hope that you are encouraged, encouraged by the remembrance of what almighty God has done for YOU – and WHY He did it for you:

 

Because He loves you. Because He wants to spend eternity with you in His very presence. Which is why we thank Him for His most wonderful gift.