Forgiven. All of it. Forgiven.

 The theme of Scripture, from the first chapters of Genesis through the last chapter of Revelation is one of sin, righteousness, and judgment. It is the theme of sin because what happened in the Garden of Eden has infected and followed every man, woman, and child since Eve ate of the forbidden fruit. It is also a theme of righteousness, because Almighty God has imputed righteousness to all who come to Him through faith in the substitutionary sacrifice of God the Son – Jesus – on Calvary’s cross. And it is a theme of judgement, because the one who seduced Eve and brought sin into our world has been judged and WILL be further judged, along with all those who have followed him in this life – either wittingly or unwittingly.

 

I’m leaving Genesis for a moment this week to jump into the New Testament where the apostle Paul writes of sin, righteousness and judgment in his letter to the Christians at Corinth. We’re coming here today because his message is as applicable to us in the 21^st century as it was to those living in the first century.

 

Applicable, how? Well, when we take time to realty think about our sins and God's incomprehensible righteousness, it is all quite inconceivable that He would extend to sinners such as you and me such mercy and undiluted forgiveness. When we’re brutally honest with ourselves, and when the Holy Spirit exposes to us the sins we’ve hidden even from ourselves – the honest person cannot help but cry out like the prophet Isaiah when he saw himself in the light of his Holy God: (Isaiah 6:5) “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.”

 

But please hear this, because this point is important: God's mercy and forgiveness applies only to those who KNOW they desperately need His mercy and grace and forgiveness. As the Lord Jesus said: (Mark 2:17) “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

 

Which brings us to my primary text for today. Paul writes in his first letter to the Christians at Corinth: “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, HCSB)

 

At first blush, that sounds pretty ominous, doesn’t it? And it should, because God is a God of utter holiness. But the Holy Spirit did not let Paul stop at verse 10. He moved the apostle to continue with these words of pure promise and hope: “And some of you used to be like this. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God

 

Before we move on, let’s understand the context of Corinthian society. Corinth during the days of Paul was economically prosperous and culturally diverse. But like many large cities of the time, it was a hotbed of idolatry, sexual perversion and immorality. The temple worship of Aphrodite included a thousand ‘priestesses’ whose role in the temple amounted to what we would call common prostitution. So debauched was Corinth’s culture, the phrase ‘to Corinthianize’ was known throughout Asia to mean living in sexual depravity. 

It was within that cultural context that Paul wrote his two letters, and the important take-home point of the text I just read is that many in the Corinthian church USED TO BE guilty before a holy God of all kinds of sins, which included idolatry, drunkenness, adultery, homosexuality, and so on.

 

The operative phrase, of course, is: “Used to be.” And why the past tense? Because they God imputed to them His righteousness because of their now obedient faith in Jesus. And so they were WASHED. They were SANCTIFIED. They were JUSTIFIED.  And they needed to be told – as often as necessary – they needed to be told, just as WE need to be told as often as necessary that their pasts would now never determine their destiny.

 

Just as God created a new creature when He created Adam from the dust of the earth, in like manner God created new creatures in Corinth when each former pagan turned in faith to Christ Jesus for new birth and new life. As Paul told them – and us – in his second letter to the Corinthians: (2 Corinthians 5:17) “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”

We should pause a moment and reflect on this absolutely life-changing reality: Whatever horrible things I have done in my past, they’re all gone. Purged from God's record book. Every shadow of every stain washed away by the sacrificial blood of my Savior Jesus, who took the Father’s wrath for MY sins on Himself.

 

And you; You who sit here in this sanctuary – whatever horrible things YOU have done in the past, if you’re a new creature in Christ by your faith in the atoning sacrifice of Christ who took the Father’s wrath for YOUR sins on Himself – your record has ALSO been purged. Tossed into the deepest oceans.

 

Listen to Revelation 20:11-15, and as I read it, I hope you will let the Holy Spirit apply this glorious truth to your heart: “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. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. 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.”

 

Let me speculate for a moment with you about this scene. I picture myself standing before the Holy God at the Great White Throne Judgment. And He will open the book – MY book – that catalogues every sin I’ve ever committed – whether in act or in thought.

 

Every sin – which should mean that I would have every good reason to panic. But do you know what God will see when He opens my book? Every page of the book – EVERY page of the book – will be blank. Nothing there. And do you know why? Because all of those sins have been washed away – purged by the blood of the Lamb of God who takes away our sins.

 

And listen to this, also: If YOU are living a life of repentance, seeking to the best of your human frailty to obey Jesus Christ and honor Him with your lifestyle – then when God opens the book that records all the wrongs YOU’VE done in your life – what will the Father find? Every page – EVERY page will be blank.

 

We know from Paul’s comments in that sixth chapter of 1 Corinthians that some in that Corinthian church were guilty before God of some quite corrupt and perverse sins – any of which would have brought them eternal damnation. But – and that’s an important word here, ‘But’ – but they were WASHED in the blood of the Lamb of God. Listen to God's promise in 1 John 1:7 – “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses (Greek: purges, purifies) us from all sin.

 

That promise of Scripture is the reason I selected that song we sung at the beginning of this message: “Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power?/Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?/Are you fully trusting in His grace this hour?/Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?/ (Oh) Are you washed in the blood/In the soul cleansing blood of the Lamb?/Are your garments spotless?/Are they white as snow?/Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?”

 

The Corinthians who’d come to Jesus out of lifestyles of sin now had dazzling white garments. Their pasts – just as MY past and YOUR past – no longer shadowed them. Like any shadow dispelled by blinding light, the shadows of their past sins – of OUR past sins, as egregious as they might have been – every shadow has perfectly, absolutely, and entirely disappeared. They are gone forever. No need to fear any further cleansing or purgation of forgiven sins either in this life or in the one to come.

 

But there was more for them – as there is more for us and for all who have come to Jesus for new birth and new life. They – and WE – were sanctified.

 

I don’t want anyone in this sanctuary to miss that point. Former thieves and homosexuals and drunkards and idolators and liars and gossips – God had now sanctified them. That means He set them apart for His work, whatever that work might be, whether prominent to others or virtually unnoticeable to others – it doesn’t matter. What DOES matter is that God sent those former pagans, those used-to-be sinners to work in His vineyard.

 

And do not overlook this next comment for even a moment: God has done the same all-inclusive cleansing to everyone in this sanctuary who belongs to Him through their obedient faith in Jesus.

 

Yes, that means God has ALSO saved, washed, and sanctified all of us who are retirees. He has sent even YOU to work in His vineyard, regardless of your age and physical limitations. And if any retiree doesn’t know what they can do for the Kingdom – just ASK the King of the vineyard. I absolutely guarantee He will tell you.

 

Those saved sinners in Corinth – and we who are saved sinners here in this sanctuary – were not only washed and then set apart for God's fields, but God had also JUSTIFIED them just as He has justified us.

 

If you remember some of my earlier messages and Bible study teaching, the Greek word translated as ‘justified’ means that God Himself declares the redeemed sinner to be righteous!  God declares the saved sinner to be without guilt!

 

Yes. God calls you and me – of all people – righteous. Listen to Paul’s words to the Christians at Philippi: [That I ] may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith”. (Philippians 3:9)

 

Why did the Holy God call the Corinthians righteous? Because their sins – as are our sins – were all transferred to Christ as He shed His blood on that cross to wash away our sins. The penitent sinner now stands fully righteous before our holy God.

 

I’ll say that again: God called those in the Corinthian church who’d placed their lives into the hands of the savior – God called them ‘righteous’ on the sole basis of what Jesus did for them and how they responded to what He did for them.

 

THAT is why Paul and the other New Testament writers called their audience, ‘saints.’ The Greek word means, ‘holy ones.’ For example, here is how Paul opened his letter to the saved sinners in Corinth: (1 Corinthians 1:2) “To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours.”

 

Application time: If you have received Jesus as your Lord, King, Master, Savior – if you have confessed to Him your sins and do so in an ongoing fashion – then it matters not one whit your sinful past. Even if you were once like those in Corinth – adulterers, homosexuals, drunkards, liars, thieves, blasphemers – when you became a child of God by your obedient faith in Christ – God now calls YOU a ‘saint.’

 

Oh!  Hallelujah! Thanks be to God for His indescribable free gift.

 

Many years ago, I ran across a most somber post on the internet social media site called, ‘Facebook.’ This is what the man wrote:

--------

“Guys, I’m struggling. I don’t think I’ll be saved. In fact, I might be more assured of my damnation than my salvation. Getting to heaven seems to be the most difficult thing in this entire world. The road to heaven seems to be fraught with not only outward crosses, but inward trials. By that I mean the struggle with sin, the uncertainty of grace, the easiness to lose the state of grace, despair and discouragement mounting up and creeping in.

 

I don’t understand how anyone cannot be discouraged at the prospect of these things. Heaven is so uncertain to reach and to get there takes the most arduous and strenuous effort. If this is the requirement for heaven, then I know assuredly that I will perish.

 

The writer concluded: If that doesn’t bring despondency, then I don’t know what will.”

Oh, what a horrible and totally unnecessary BURDEN that man suffered under. He clearly wanted to please God but was convinced he could never do so. And do you know anyone like that?

Please hear this reminder: Calvary’s cross did not happen in a vacuum. It did not catch God by surprise, and the Creator of the universe did not have to implement Plan B when Jesus fell into the hands of those evil children of Satan. God the Son went willingly to that cross to pay the price of death that God demands for our sins.

The person who wrote that note is living in hopeless fear – the fear that Jesus’ sacrificial death was not completely and finally sufficient to save him from eternal damnation.

The Corinthians learned what I hope that Facebook writer has by now learned – and what you and I must remember day after day: The penitent sinner is washed. We are sanctified. We are justified by and though our faith in Jesus our Christ.

The heart-rending note written by a poorly taught Christian was not the first time I’d ever heard such despair rooted in the lie that God is not true to His promise of mercy. And whenever I tried to remind them of His mercy, their typical response was something along the lines of: “Yes, but you don’t know what I’ve done.”

And I always responded back: I don’t need to know what you’ve done. All I need to know is what God has promised – and that is the complete and total forgiveness for the penitent sinner. How could God make His vow any clearer?

Listen to what Paul wrote to the saved sinners in the church at Rome:

Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:1-4)

 

In other words – the penitent sinner is now washed in the blood of the Lamb. He and she are sanctified – placed into God's vineyard. Yes, even retirees. The penitent sinner in Corinth and the penitent sinner at Ashwood Meadows is now justified – one whom God Himself decrees to be righteous. A ‘saint.’

 

I’ve quoted CS Lewis before and I do it again because what he said makes perfect Biblical sense: “I think that if God forgives us, we must forgive ourselves. Otherwise, it is almost like setting up ourselves as a higher tribunal (a higher court) than Him.”

Let me say it kindly, but also unmistakably: How dare we sit in the corner nursing our guilty conscience when the faithful, and utterly trustworthy God has said to the penitent: I forgive you?

Please, don’t go another moment believing the devil’s lying whispers that you cannot be forgiven for what you have done. Join me now in this prayer, and then leave this chapel in full confidence of God’s faithfulness to His own promises to us.

Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; 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. . . . Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 

As you have promised all who confess their sins to you to forgive us of those sins, I believe what you have said to be always true, and I now thank you, heavenly Father, for making me clean through the blood of Jesus. Amen. (Based on Psalm 51).

Days of Noah

Although we are still moving through Genesis, my primary text for today is from Mark’s gospel. That text, which the Lord intended to be one of warning, is a segue from Noah’s Flood to where we sit in 2024. (Mark 13:33-37)  “Take heed, keep on the alert; for you do not know when the appointed time will come. It is like a man away on a journey, who upon leaving his house and putting his slaves in charge, assigning to each one his task, also commanded the doorkeeper to stay on the alert. Therefore, be on the alert—for you do not know when the master of the house is coming, whether in the evening, at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning— in case he should come suddenly and find you asleep. What I say to you I say to all, ‘Be on the alert!’”

 

Did you know that 2,700 babies were murdered in cold blood yesterday? You didn’t hear about it, did you?  But it happened. Another 2,700 babies were murdered the day before that, as well. And you didn’t hear about those deaths, either. But it gets worse. Twenty-seven hundred babies were murdered in each of the 31 days of July. And they will continue to die every day between now and the end of the year. Some one million every year in American abortion clinics. More than 60 million since 1973 when the Supreme Court of the United States signed their death warrants.

 

That’s a big number. Too big for most of us to wrap our minds around, so let me try to put that number in perspective. If a foreign army invaded the United States today and murdered the entire populations of Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, South Carolina, Alabama, Arkansas, and Missouri – they would have slaughtered sixty million men, women, and children.

 

And the Church has been essentially desensitized to that bloodletting. We’re callous to the demonic ocean of blood. How do I know that? Because with each election cycle in America, multitudes of those who stand in pulpits and who attend church services each week vote for politicians who support and promote that death.

 

And Satan, having successfully calloused the conscience of that huge swath of pew-sitters and pulpit-standers, has turned his attention to another evil – this one for which God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. I’m talking now about the sexual perversions identified by the Rainbow Flags known internationally to represent homosexuality, lesbianism, and (now also) transgenderism.

 

And the Church is being methodically desensitized to that satanic corruption of the crown of God's creation – men and women. How do I know the Church is being desensitized? Because with each election cycle, multitudes of those who stand in pulpits, and those who sit in pews each week vote for politicians who support and promote that perversion.

 

I won’t say much more about the evils that are overtaking us, but because I am your pastor, I DO want to say enough that those who still have eyes to see and ears to hear will themselves do – and CONTINUE TO DO – what is necessary to deliver themselves and their families from judgment. As your pastor, I am responsible to warn us, as St Paul warned the church at Ephesus: (Ephesians 5:11-13a) “Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light.” 

 

As your pastor, I am responsible before God to be a Watchman on the wall to warn every one of us about how we must live before God and before others.

 

What was a watchman on the wall? The reference from the prophet Ezekiel. Here is a portion of Ezekiel 33:3-6 “(If the Watchman) sees the sword coming upon the land and blows on the trumpet and warns the people, then he who hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, and a sword comes and takes him away, his blood will be on his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet but did not take warning; his blood will be on himself. But had he taken warning, he would have delivered his life. But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet and the people are not warned, and a sword comes and takes a person from them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require from the watchman’s hand.’”

 

Are Christians paying attention to the trumpet’s warning? You can decide.

 

At the height of the social and civil unrest that nearly ruptured America in the 60’s and early 70s, the singing group, Buffalo Springfield, wrote a song many of you may remember. Here are some of the lyrics: “There’s something happening here. What it is ain’t exactly clear . . . I think it’s time we stop, children, what’s that sound? Everybody look what’s going down.”

 

It’s hard – I think impossible – to pay attention to what’s happening in our culture and not sense that ‘something’s happening here.” And while it might not yet be exactly clear – alarm bells – even if they are muffled – alarms should be clanging for many people in the pews and the pulpits.

 

Did you know that last month a family in Maryland was embroiled in a legal battle to get their son back after the State of Maryland took the child from them? Do you know WHY the State took their 16-year-old son? Because the parents refused to allow him to transition to a girl.

 

Did you know that parents in several other states have also lost their children to Child Services because they objected to the surgical and medical ‘transitioning’ of their son or daughter to the opposite gender?

 

Did you know that on Easter Sunday this past March, U.S. President Joe Biden, with the concurrence of the Democrat Party, proclaimed Transgender Day of Visibility? And while it is true that Mr. Biden has declared every March 31 since 2021 as Transgender Day – he chose to do so this year, even as the day fell on the most holy of days in the Christian calendar. We should wonder if he would have done such a thing on a Muslim holy day.

 

Did you know that he and the Democrat party have also been silent – and by their silence – seem to have endorsed the Paris Olympics opening ceremony in which ‘Drag Queens” blasphemously reenacted the Last Supper? Did you know that First Lady Jill Biden publicly praised the opening ceremonies, even though that sexually perverse display directly attacked Christianity and promoted LGBQT ideology? Yet, can you imagine the First Lady doing such a thing if the Paris Olympics had blasphemed the Muslim prophet, Mohammed?

 

Christian! We’d better be asking ourselves how these things can be occurring with REGULARITY right under our noses. Yes, there’s something happening here, and we’d BETTER wake up because God is watching what we do in response. And oh, by the way, He is watching how we vote in response.

 

Listen to what He tells us in 2 John 1:10-11, “If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching (e.g. the gospel message) do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; ¹¹ for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.”  

 

And you are all wise enough to make application to what we do on election days.

 

The Lord Jesus warned people of His day – and we also better pay attention – (Matthew 24:37-39) “For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be.

 

As it was in the days of Noah. Sudden destruction. Sudden death. No more opportunity to change course. The door to the Ark of Christ’s safety will have been forever closed.

 

And then the Lord also warned: “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ And in the morning, ‘There will be a storm today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Do you know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but cannot discern the signs of the times?” (Matthew 16:2-3)

 

Are we recognizing the signs of the times? Yes, there’s something happening here, and we certainly have enough information about what is happening to make educated guesses as to where it is all headed.

 

Except for Noah and his family, the flood destroyed everything on earth that breathed. And we ought to remind ourselves of the REASON the God of Love executed His wrath on humanity. He tells us why in Genesis 6:5 - “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”

 

And while it is true that God promised to never destroy humanity again with water, it is ALSO true that He promised that the next time He destroys the wicked and the ungodly, it will be with fire. Here is 2 Peter 3:7 –  “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.

 

As it was in the days of Noah, let’s also pay attention to the signs of the times in 2024. The Lord Jesus was serious when He warned what life will be like for the Christian in the days before His return. Matthew 10:21-22 “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. ²² You will be hated by all because of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved.”

 

Signs of the times. And I hope you remember the prophecy in Revelation 13 about the antichrist who will control the ability of individuals to conduct any type of business transaction, such as for food, clothing, housing, utilities, medical care, and transportation. He will do so by what is known as the “Mark of the Beast” – which will be some kind of mark – probably a computer chip – in the hand or forehead.

 

Do you know that such information-laden microchips are already in use in Europe and in some places in America? People use them for the convenience of opening locked doors at their workplaces and at their homes. It’s only a matter of time before those chips also link to their credit cards and bank accounts, and the one who CONTROLS the information stored on those chips will control that person’s money. Every dime. Every penny.

 

Then there is the prophecy regarding the turn of all nations against Israel. Zechariah is only one prophet to tell those with ears to hear that in the days before Jesus returns, all nations – including (it is beginning to seem) America – all nations will turn against Israel. Listen to Zechariah 12:2-3 “Behold, I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that causes reeling to all the peoples around . . . And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it.”

 

If you’ve been following the news even tangentially and sporadically, you ought to be SHOCKED at the virulent rise of antisemitism on college and university campuses across the nation. And then there are the ongoing demands of the UN and even some in our Congress that Israel cease what they call her ‘aggression’ against their Palestinian neighbors – the same neighbors who murdered and raped some 1200 Israeli civilians – including infants – in that sneak attack on October 7. And today those same terrorists hold some 100 hostages whom they continue to torture.

 

As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days when the Son of Man returns. And I bring us back again to our opening text: “Therefore, be on the alert—for you do not know when the master of the house is coming, whether in the evening, at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning—  in case he should come suddenly and find you asleep. What I say to you I say to all, ‘Be on the alert!’”

 

Christian, not only is it my intent in this message to help us properly DISCERN the signs of the times, but I want us to be able to successfully navigate through our times.

 

And so, how are we to live in such a way as to demonstrate day by day – and that includes election day – to demonstrate our citizenship is in HEAVEN, and not on this earth? As I said earlier – and to our deep, deep shame – many of us in the Church have become insensitive to the evil around us. We’ve become that way because we see the evil so often, and we hear the same from the cultural spokespeople in the media, in education, and politics who so openly and routinely try to normalize what the Christian should ALWAYS judge as abnormal.

God wants us to be sensitive to his Holy Spirit, and we become increasingly sensitive through consistent humble and confessional prayer – and by not only reading the Scriptures – but also by OBEYING His Scriptures.

 

St James tells us (James 1:22-24) “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.”

 

In other words – let God's mirror reveal to us those areas in which we need to mature in faith and obedience to Him. Prayerfully read it. Prayerfully memorize portions of God's word. Such processes of letting God's word mold us into the image of Christ is not likely to be accomplished by rushing through a chapter. It is accomplished by spending time reflecting on what God is trying to say to us. These are ways to take up the full armor of God St Paul writes about in Ephesians six.

 

As we do those things – prayer, reflective reading, and memorizing God's word, we become increasingly sensitive to what God calls sin and what He calls righteous, to what God calls normal and what He calls perversion.

 

Wherever we look, we see Satan’s fingerprints. And it is far past the time that Christians – of all people – be sensitive to what God calls us to do – that being, “Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; But wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.” (2 Timothy 4:2-4)

 

Remember – we are NOT citizens of this world. God requires us to be citizens of heaven who live in this world. And we ought to plant this truth deep into our souls: (Romans 12:2) – “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

 

I fear – and I am convinced – that we are living in a day similar to as it was in the time of Noah. And we need to ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to us where we have fallen into slumber. None of us wants to hear Jesus say to us what He said to the Christians in the church at Sardis (Revelation 3:1-3)

 

‘I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God. So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you. 

 

 

Finally Clean

  

Salespeople don’t usually do well at my house. They hardly start their pitch before I turn on my plastic smile, say I’m not interested, and close the door. This time, though, things were different. I’m not sure why they guy got past my front door, but I can tell you what convinced me I needed his product. It was the dirt.

 

I thought my rug was clean. I vacuumed it once a week and swept the heavily trafficked areas more often. But when I ran my top-of-the-line department store vacuum cleaner over the carpet and the salesman did the same with his machine, I almost gagged when he showed me hair, grit and who-knows-what-else my machine left behind. I attacked two other areas, just to satisfy myself it wasn’t a fluke. It wasn’t.

 

I bought his machine on the spot.

 

That evening, as I brooded over the realization I’d been living for decades with so much hidden filth, my thoughts turned to a spiritual parallel.

 

For years, I'd presumed I was clean. When I did something wrong, I usually washed my conscience with self-rebuke. And when I compared myself with others, my life seemed as clean as the next person’s. Maybe cleaner.

 

Then one day Jesus knocked on my heart’s door, and I was sickened when He showed me how dirty I really was. My slanders, thefts, lies, sexual sins, drug abuse . . . . The list of secret (and not-so-secret) sins stuck hard in my throat. I’d thought I was doing well, but He uncovered the truth. I thought I was in good shape, but He showed me I was poor, wretched, miserable, naked, and blind. For years I’d been attempting to clean myself with religious practices, top-of-the-line philosophies, and doing good works that made me feel good. But I couldn’t see the dirt beneath the surface.

 

When I caught a glimpse of how God saw my life, I immediately fell to my knees and repented for every smear and grain of dirt I could remember. And it was then I received Christ’s priceless cleansing and forgiveness.

Finally clean!

 

But that’s not all. From that day forward, as I have walked with Him in faith and repentance, His blood has continued to wash me, making me as clean in His sight as a mountain top stream.

 

Scripture is so clear I don’t understand how anyone ever misses it. Nothing can wash away our sin – not religious rituals, or good works, or self-rebuke, or philosophies. Nothing can make us clean in God's sight – nothing but the blood of Jesus.