A Song of Ascents!

 Do you know the biggest problem facing mankind, today?  It’s not climate change.  It’s not war with China.  It’s not Iran getting the nuclear bomb.  What’s the thing that beats people down the very most?  What leaves us hurting and depressed?  Are you depressed about those things I mentioned?  I’m not!  I really don’t think about those things much.

What beats us down is what happens in our lives – from the decisions we've made, the things we've done and the relationships we’ve destroyed.  That brings me to the thing that is the biggest problem facing mankind today.  This is the biggest cause of problems for people; the thing that causes the most damage to families, to marriages and to people’s lives – Sin!

Do you know what one of the greatest blessings of Christianity is?  It’s that you can be set free from sin.  It can be removed from you; taken away and forgotten by God.  Never to be remembered again!  You can have a fresh start, a new beginning.  You can be Born Again!

Psalms 130:1-8 (NKJV)
^130:1 A song of Ascents. Out of the depths I have cried to You, O Lord; ² Lord, hear my voice! Let Your ears be attentive To the voice of my supplications. ³ If You, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? ⁴ But there is forgiveness with You, That You may be feared. ⁵ I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, And in His word I do hope. ⁶ My soul waits for the Lord More than those who watch for the morning-- Yes, more than those who watch for the morning. ⁷ O Israel, hope in the Lord; For with the Lord there is mercy, And with Him is abundant redemption. ⁸ And He shall redeem Israel From all his iniquities.

A Song of Ascents

The very first words of this psalm are “A Song of Ascents.”  To ascend means to elevate, to rise up; to be lifted up.  The psalmist is saying that out of the depths he cried out.  The depths of despair; the depths of shame; the depths of guilt.  I want to show you how another version of the Bible puts it:

Psalms 130:1 (MSG)
^130:1 … Help, God—the bottom has fallen out of my life! Master, hear my cry for help!

The bottom has fallen out of my life.  I have sunk as low as I can go.  My life is a mess. 

Oh, how I have been in that place before!  The bottom fell out of my own life, but it wasn’t by chance.  It wasn’t bad luck.  It was the result of continuous and ongoing sin in my life.  That’s what destroyed me.  That’s what defeated me.  That’s what beat me down.  It was out of those depths that I cried out to God and He heard my cry for help.  It was a prayer of ascents, “God lift me out of these depths.”  Take away these things that I have inflicted on my own life.

Sin always destroys – Satan is a destroyer.

 

John 10:10 (NKJV)
^10:10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

What does he want to steal?  He wants to steal your life.  He wants to steal your finances.  He wants to steal your joy, but Jesus – He has come to give you life; more abundant life.  More abundant joy.  He wants to bring you out of the depths.  He wants to elevate your life. 

The psalmist asks God to hear his supplications.  Supplications is an earnest request for favor from God.  People in the Bible often pray, “If I have found favor in your sight, meet this need.”   That’s supplication.  When we cry out like the psalmist has here – He’s asking God to hear him, to help him.  This is supplications. 

The thing about this is that when we cry out to God, He does hear us.  He heard the groaning of the people in Egypt.  He heard their cries in the desert.  He hears us when we cry out to Him and He has mercy and compassion on us.

The way He lifts us up is through our salvation.  This is when we see his mercy, His forgiveness.  This is when there is a miracle of transformation in our lives.  I thought I was stuck in my sin.  I didn’t see any way forward.  I assumed I had completely ruined my life.  I couldn’t change on my own.  I had tried…I was stuck.

When I cried out.  When I came with supplications.  When I cried out to ascend.  When I was humble enough to do that.  God heard me and transformed me.  He lifted me out of that sin and lifestyle, and set my feet on solid ground again.

God hears you.  He hears you.  He knows your hurts and sorrows.  He’s heard your groaning.  He knows the depths of your sin and your despair.  He will lift you out of those things if you will cry out to Him.  Oh, what a gracious God we serve!

The Sea of Forgetfulness

How does God move to change us or transform us?  How does God restore our peace and confidence.  The psalmist tells us:

Psalms 130:3-4 (NKJV)
^130:3 If You, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? ⁴ But there is forgiveness with You, That You may be feared.

Look again at the Message Bible:

Psalms 130:3-4 (MSG)
^130:3 If you, God, kept records on wrongdoings, who would stand a chance? ⁴ As it turns out, forgiveness is your habit, and that's why you're worshiped.

Does God remember what you’ve done wrong?  Does He remember every little sin and wrong word?  The answer to that is yes!  These things are recorded, unless…unless what an important word.  Unless you have cried out for forgiveness and really repented.  If you have then what happens?  This:

Isaiah 43:25 (NKJV)
^43:25 "I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins.

He blots them out.  He makes them disappear.  They’re removed from you as the Bible says, “As far as the East is from the West!” (Psalms 103:12) Never to be remembered again, “And I will not remember your sins.”

They will be sunk into the sea:

Micah 7:19 (NKJV)
^7:19 He will again have compassion on us, And will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins Into the depths of the sea.

Never to be brought up again.  All of those things you were ashamed of forgotten.  All of those things that brought you to despair.  All of those things that robbed the joy and life from you.  They are gone forever!

When I got saved this was the greatest thing for me.  I was able to go on as if those things were no longer a part of my life.  God had forgotten them and would remember them no more!

Hebrews 8:12 (NKJV)
^8:12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more."

We can escape the weight of our sin.  The weight that pulls us down.  The weight that keep us from ascending.  Have you ever tried to carry a heavy backpack up a huge mountain.  It’s very difficult to climb up, but when the weight is gone, how strong do your legs feel.  This is the greatest thing about salvation.  The strength you have to go on with your life once the weight of that sin is gone.  We are set free from that burden of our sin.

No religious philosophy can do that.  Only salvation and the repentance of sin can cause this.  Our God is a merciful God who loves us, who hears us, who forgives us, and who relieves us of the crushing weight of sin.  Just think of how it would be if God didn’t do that.  There would be no hope.  Repentance would be futile.  Buddhists are doomed to endlessly repeat life until they get it all right, because their ascendance is based on their behavior.  Every sin is recorded and never forgotten.  Karma is a cruel master, but in repenting, God will forgive and remember no more.  Those things you did before will not affect your future, unless you do them again, and don’t repent of them.

There is Hope in God

Our God is a God of Hope.

Psalms 130:7-8 (NKJV)
^130:7 O Israel, hope in the Lord; For with the Lord there is mercy, And with Him is abundant redemption. ⁸ And He shall redeem Israel From all his iniquities.

Before we get saved, we are sold under sin, as if we are slaves, because if you think about it, we are slaves to our particular sins.

That’s why I needed salvation, I was overwhelmed, I was burdened down, I was a slave to all that I was doing.  I couldn’t stop, even when I wanted.  I had lost all hope.  I needed the mercy and compassion of God to release me from all of that, and God did have mercy.  God did show compassion.

Here I am today, to declare to you that God is a God of mercy and compassion.  God will redeem you from the slave owner…Satan.  He will set you free from the chains that Satan uses to hold you:  The chains called sin.  There is hope today that the bondage of sin can be broken.  This is what the psalmist is rejoicing over.  This is the hope that he’s declaring.  This is the promise of salvation.

God will lift you up, in a moment of time.  You can be transformed.  All of the shame and sorrow and burden erased.  Blotted out, because God is gracious.  God is merciful.  God is a loving God and a righteous judge.  Have hope today, God can do a miracle in your life.

The Forfeit of Intimacy with God

 As we come to salvation there is something that takes place in us.  We come to know God for whom He really is.  We begin to see God as a righteous God, a holy God and a loving father.  When we have an earthly father who loves us and blesses us, and there is an intimacy that springs up between us.  We can know and have an intimate relationship with God in much the same way.

God is also able to have an intimate relationship with us.  Look at the relationship he had with Adam.  They walked together in the garden in the “cool of the day.[i]” They knew each other; there’s understanding there.  God knows each one of us down to our smallest parts.

Luke 12:7 (NKJV)
^12:7 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear; therefore, you are of more value than many sparrows.

He even knows how many hairs are on our heads.  That’s a detail we don’t even know about ourselves, but God does.

We, as Christians can often begin with a deep intimate relationship with God, but can that intimacy be lost?  Can we forfeit our intimacy with God?  People forfeit intimate relationships with other people all the time.  Marriage relationships are broken because of infidelity, the breaking of vows.  Family relationships are broken because of domestic violence or other causes.  Parental relationships can be destroyed by abuse and alcohol and drug addiction. 

In many cases those relationships cannot be restored because a refusal to forgive or because the relational trust is broken.  We can forfeit intimacy with God also.  We violate His trust.  We bring deceit and intrigue into the relationship.  Today I want to post on the forfeiture of Intimacy:

Revelation 2:1-3 (NKJV)
^2:1 "To the angel of the church of Ephesus write, 'These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands: ² I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; ³ and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name's sake and have not become weary.

Forfeiting Intimacy with God

In the Book of Revelation Jesus writes a letter to the Ephesians.  He commends them for their labor and patience in persecution.  They continue to labor for God and they despise evil but He also rebukes them.

Revelation 2:4-5 (NKJV)
^2:4 Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. ⁵ Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place--unless you repent.

Nevertheless, I have this against you; “You have left your first love.”  They’re no longer intimate with God.  They’re still laboring but, in their hearts, they’ve lost the desire for a real relationship with God.  They’re laboring for Jesus because that’s what they do, not because they have a real desire to serve Him.

This isn’t intimacy with God.  It’s a behavior similar to schoolchildren memorizing a poem or a famous speech.  They can repeat them perfectly and still have no understanding of what the poem or speech means.  It’s behavior, there’s no intimacy with the writer, that comes from understanding. 

We can continue to do the things that are called “serving God,” like praying, but without intimacy.  We are just saying words - It’s habit.  We’ve lost the intimacy with God because we have drifted from the call of God on our lives.

David is the king of Israel.  God called him to lead the nation in 1 Samuel 16.  God even called him, “a man after my own heart.”[ii] By 2 Samuel 11, David has lost his desire for what God has called him to do.  He’s become bored and complacent with his calling, and he’s backed off. 

2 Samuel 11:1 NKJV

It happened in the spring of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the people of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.

In the springtime when the kings go to war David stays back.  He’s no longer striving for the will of God…he’s arrived!  He’s laying back on his laurels and past victories.  This is a huge contrast to the David whose psalms are filled with cries of worship and devotion.  What could have caused this man to fall from that level of intimacy into what he has become, which is an adulterer and murderer.  David should have led his generals into battle as is the duty of the king. 

In verse 2, David arises from bed one evening.  Not in the middle of the night but in the evening, when the sun is still out.  He sees Bathsheba bathing; lust is kindled and in one moment of sin and self-gratification he forfeits his relationship with God.

2 Samuel 11:2-4a NKJV

Then it happened one evening that David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king's house. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to behold. So, David sent and inquired about the woman. And someone said, "Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?" Then David sent messengers, and took her; and she came to him, and he lay with her…

Then to cover his sin he kills Bathsheba’s husband, his friend, Uriah the Hittite.  David makes a conscious choice here; he’s not stumbling around and falling into sin.  He understands the sin of adultery.  He recognizes that the sin is against God.  He understands what he has done.  Look at how many sins David broke, this “man after God’s own heart.”

He broke the tenth commandment, in coveting another man’s wife; the seventh in committing adultery; the eighth in stealing what did not belong to him; and the sixth in committing murder.  All because he had drifted out of the will of God and become complacent in what God had done for him.

I’m positive that he was sure that he couldn’t be led into sin like this. So, where did it start? It started when he stopped responding to the call of God and refused to lead his men into battle.  We are at no less risk than David when we also keep ourselves out of God’s will.   Where is intimacy with God found these days?  In prayer, hearing from God and responding to His call.  Not just saying words but engaging with God.  In the Bible studying and feeding on the word of God. An intimate relationship begins by knowing someone.  You learn whom God is by reading the Bible. In church, hearing the word of God preached.

How well do you know God?  Are you engaged in strengthening your relationship with God?  When we lay back out of those things we are complacent in the same way David was.  When we’re complacent and we’ve seen no consequences, we think that Go will understand, but there is a consequence and it’s subtle. Our mind is no longer trained on His will, our faith is no longer strengthened and we come to a point where we no longer know and understand God like we once did.

That’s when we’re susceptible to sin like David was.  The loss of intimacy isn’t a consequence of sin.  Sin is a consequence of the loss of intimacy.

What About Failure?

What can we do when we fail?  What can we do when we break ranks with God? What we do with our failure is an indicator of the strength of our relationship with God.  At some point we’ll fail, we all do.  It’s not If we fail but when we fail.

In Davd’s case he immediately confessed his sin, not that he sinned against Uriah the Hittite but against God. 

Psalms 51:4 (NKJV)
^51:4 Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight-- That You may be found just when You speak, And blameless when You judge.

David was a man after God’s own heart because of the quality of his repentance.  He longed for a return to that level of intimacy with God.  He realized that he violated that relationship.  His repentance opened the door for restoration.

That’s the key or us as well, it’s restoration we desire.  Failure is not meant to be an end point.  Men have failed many times and returned to success.  Donald Trump failed to win reelection in 2020, but in 2024 he has become the forty-seventh president of the United States.  It’s being called the greatest comeback in American politics.  He could have allowed that failure to destroy him but instead made a decision to move forward.

We can allow our personal failures to destroy us, or we can be like David and cry out to God saying, “I have failed, restore me and draw me back into a relationship with you, the joy of my salvation."

David Had a Right Heart with God

God sent the prophet Nathan to rebuke David for his sin with Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah the Hittite.  David had a right heart with God.  He didn’t react to Nathan’s rebuke with anger and hostility.  He recognized his sin, accepted what he had done and immediately turned to God for forgiveness.  He didn’t complain about how the devil had tricked him.  He didn’t blame his sin on Bathsheba for being seen naked.  He turned to Nathan and said, "I have sinned."  Because of the way he accepted his responsibility and repented before God, God put away his sin and didn’t kill him.

God has a history of restoring us back into relationship with Him.  He restored Jonah when he sinned and ran from God’s calling.

Jonah 3:1 (NKJV)
^3:1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying,

He had tried to hide from God’s command to go to the Ninevites, but after repenting God once more called on him and was able to use him, restoring the intimacy.  God spoke through Jonah once again.

The pot that was marred in the potter’s hand was made new once again.

Jeremiah 18:4 (NKJV)
^18:4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make.

Because David cried out for restoration God did restore unto him the joy of his salvation.  He did restore the intimacy between them, and David continued to be a powerful leader of the people of God well into his old age.

Where is intimacy cultivated?  Where is the desire for friendship with God built?  It’s built in prayer, in the study of His word, and in the hearing the preaching of the word of God.  You’re not going to find intimacy with God by lazing around the palace but in diligent obedience to the call of God.

I always say, “Pray, read your Bible, go to church.”  Ninety percent of what I preach is just that, because it is in these things that intimacy with God is first found.

---

[i] Genesis 3:8-9 NKJV

[ii] 1 Samuel 13:14 NKJV

Mercy: I Desire it From All My Heart

The combination of a book that I finished recently, and some things I have experienced personally in the last few months, have caused me to reflect on the mercy of God.

The book, (10 Hours to Live, Brian Wills, Whitaker House, © 2006) is a true story of a man diagnosed with a particularly fast-working cancer.  He has a tumor the size of a golf ball that grows to be the size of basketball, in just a few days.  The doctor’s prognosis gives him just ten hours to live.  There’s no known cure for this type of cancer!

The shock of hearing that he probably wouldn’t survive the day, causes him to pray, and to immerse himself in Scripture. By a miracle, he survives the night and he begins to study healing scriptures, print them out and hang them all around his room.  He memorizes them and speaks them out loud to his atheist doctors.

The doctors want to start him on Chemotherapy, so he goes to a specialist, who examines him and sends a report back to his doctors that said simply N.E.D. – No Evidence of Disease,  The doctors convince him to start the chemo treatment anyway.

The book talks about how much damage that it did to his body; how sick he became; how near death he was.  He was in the hospital for six months, but he survived.

"In February 1988, one year from when I’d been admitted, I returned to the NIH for my six-month checkup. After examining me from head to toe, Dr. Rosenberg said, “Brian, there’s something that you need to know. We gave you seven drugs that were experimental and had never been researched or tested. Now that we’ve had time to test them both in the lab and in experimental use, we’ve learned some things. We now know that the drugs which made up the protocol we gave you don’t even treat Burkitt’s lymphoma. But that’s not all. The drugs themselves are so lethal that we’ve discontinued their use. The drugs killed everyone we gave them to…except you."

(10 Hours to Live, Brian Wills, Whitaker House, page 59)

Brian Wills is the only known survivor of that type of cancer.  What a powerful story about the mercy of God.

Today, I want to post on the mercy of God, and I want to look at one specific event in the Bible to illustrate my point:

Matthew 8:1-4 (Wuest)
And having come down from the mountain, great crowds followed with Him. And behold, a leper having come, fell upon his knees and touched the ground with his forehead in an expression of profound reverence before Him, saying, Master, in the event that you may be having a heartfelt desire, you are able to cleanse me. And having stretched out His hand He touched him saying, I am desiring it from all my heart. Be cleansed at once. And immediately his leprosy was cured by being cleansed away. And Jesus says to him, See to it, do not tell even one person, but be going away, show yourself at once as evidence to the priest, and offer the gift which Moses enjoined, as a testimony to them.

Jesus’ Desire

Here we see a man who has, no doubt, suffered greatly.  Leprosy, in those days, was a horrible thing to suffer.  It was a death sentence.  Lepers were forbidden to be in contact with other people including their families – No Contact! (Kind of sounds familiar, doesn’t it?) They saw their children raised from a distance.  Their families left food out for them, they would come after they had gone to bed to get and eat the food.  They couldn’t touch them – They couldn’t have a conversation, unless it was shouted from a distance.

This doesn’t even mention what the disease was doing to them, physically; it was debilitating.  There was, no doubt, great suffering.  It was even illegal for this man to even approach this close to Jesus.  He was desperate.

This is one of my favorite scriptures on healing, because of this:

"And having stretched out his hand He touched him saying, I am desiring it from all my heart."

There are two things here that show God’s mercy:

First – He touched him.  This is a man who hasn’t been touched in a long time.  Being touched is a basic human need – we all need the touch of another human being.  It was almost as if he had lost his humanity.  Jesus gave that humanity back to him with this one simple gesture.

The other thing that shows God’s mercy is what Jesus says, “I am desiring it from all my heart.”  He’s not a God who doesn’t care about us.  He’s not an angry or capricious God.  He’s a God who desires from all his heart that we be healed.  There’s a redemptive quality to His mercy.

Think about this – What is the origin of sickness and death?  Sin, rebellion and violation of God’s commands.  The Bible tells us that death is what we deserve from our sin and rebellion, but this scripture tells us that God, in the person of Jesus, desires that we be made whole once again. It tells us that it’s a deep desire – from all of His heart!  That’s mercy.  The punishment is removed!  The sin is forgiven!

There’s another event in the Bible that illustrates this:

Mark 2:2-5 (NKJV)
^2:2 Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door. And He preached the word to them. ³ Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men. ⁴ And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying. ⁵ When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven you."

These men bring a paralyzed man to Jesus.  They’re looking for him to be healed.  The first thing Jesus does is forgive his sins.  This causes quite a stir among the Pharisees, but look at what happens next:

Mark 2:9-11 (NKJV)
^2:9 Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Arise, take up your bed and walk'? ¹⁰ But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins"--He said to the paralytic, ¹¹ I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house."

Jesus Himself equates the forgiveness of sins with healing.  Healing is a product of atonement!

The Activator of Mercy

In our text, as the leper approaches Jesus, he makes the statement:

Matthew 8:2 (Wuest)

And behold, a leper having come, fell upon his knees and touched the ground with his forehead in an expression of profound reverence before Him, saying, Master, in the event that you may be having a heartfelt desire, you are able to cleanse me.

The first part of his statement is made in his actions.  He comes to Jesus and falls down before Him and worships Him.  He knows whom Jesus is!  You don’t worship a man!  You worship God!

The second part of the statement is in words, “If you’re willing you can cleanse me!” (Matthew 8:2 NKJV)  He knows that Jesus is able to heal him.  He’s not asking can you heal me, he’s basically saying, “I know that you can heal me, but are you willing to heal me?”  Both of those together are a statement of the faith of the leper.

We see this in the other event, as well.  The four friends of the paralyzed man are convinced that Jesus can heal their friend, if they can just get him to Jesus.  They climb to the top of the roof, carrying this bedridden man, break up the roof, and lower him down in front of Jesus.  You don’t go to that kind of trouble unless you’re convinced Jesus will help.  What does the Scripture say was Jesus’ reaction?

Mark 2:5 (NKJV)
^2:5 When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven you."

When He saw their faith, He said, “Son, your sins are forgiven!”  Faith is the activator of Mercy.  We see this in other healing events:

The Centurion’s Servant

A centurion has a servant who is sick.  Jesus offers to come and heal the man, but the centurion says, “you only need to say the word and he will be healed!”

Matthew 8:13 (NKJV)
^8:13 Then Jesus said to the centurion, "Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you." And his servant was healed that same hour.

The Woman with the Issue of Blood

Matthew 9:20-22 (NKJV)
^9:20 And suddenly, a woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years came from behind and touched the hem of His garment. ²¹ For she said to herself, "If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well." ²² But Jesus turned around, and when He saw her He said, "Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well." And the woman was made well from that hour.

The Canaanite Woman

This woman, who is not a Jew, comes and cries out to Jesus to heal her demon-possessed daughter.  At first Jesus ignores her; He’s come for the lost sheep of Israel.

Matthew 15:25-28 (NKJV)
^15:25 Then she came and worshiped Him, saying, "Lord, help me!" ²⁶ But He answered and said, "It is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs." ²⁷ And she said, "Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters' table." ²⁸ Then Jesus answered and said to her, "O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire." And her daughter was healed from that very hour.

In each case Jesus’ mercy was activated by faith.  These are five examples.  

Do you remember that I said healing comes with the atonement?

1 Peter 2:24 (NKJV)
^2:24 [Jesus] who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness--by whose stripes you were healed.

When Jesus died the blood that was shed through His stripes purchased our healing.  Look at the wording, “By whose stripes you were healed.”  It is already done.  The healing has already taken place, but now through faith we activate that in our lives.

Activate Healing in Your Life

I really believe that most of us have more faith in the natural than the supernatural.  We do all kinds of things on faith:  Drive our cars, fly in airplanes, even cross the street, but can we believe in Jesus for healing?  Let me illustrate with another event from the Bible:

Mark 9:17-19 (NKJV)
^9:17 Then one of the crowd answered and said, "Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit. ¹⁸ And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not." ¹⁹ He answered him and said, "O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me."

This man brings his epileptic son to the Apostles, but they can’t heal him.  Jesus says the problem is faith; they have none.  There’s no shortage of mercy on God’s part, the problem is with our faith.  We’re looking for God to move, but do we have the faith to believe that it can happen?  We want God’s mercy but we’re not quite sure.  Look at what happens after the child is brought to Jesus:

Mark 9:23-24 (NKJV)
^9:23 Jesus said to him, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes." ²⁴ Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!"

I believe that this man is like many of us, he believes but there is still unbelief!

It’s interesting, I can have the faith to pray for people to be healed, and I have seen people healed.  I can have faith for others, but I don’t always have faith enough for myself. 

Mercy is activated by faith.  That’s how we get saved.  That’s how our sin is removed, our faith activates the mercy of God.  That man’s prayer should also be our prayer, “Lord, I believe – Help my unbelief!”  If you need God’s mercy that prayer should also be your prayer!

Grace Continues to Work in You

Grace!  We’ve all heard of Grace, right?  That word grace can be defined as undeserved mercy.  Here’s an example:

Someone steals from you.  The theft not only takes something of value from you, but maybe you have a sentimental attachment to that thing.  Maybe your deceased father gave it to you. So, it’s not just that you lost something, you lost something that has value for you, beyond the monetary value.  The person gets caught, returns the item to you and asks you for forgiveness.  There are two things you can do.  You can send them to jail or you can forgive and go on.

Forgiving and moving on is grace.  The thief doesn’t deserve it, but you grant it anyway.  That’s grace – That’s what Jesus did.  While we were sinners, He came and died for us, so that we wouldn’t have to suffer God’s wrath.  We didn’t deserve it…but He did it anyway.  God’s grace.

My question for today is this:  Did His grace stop there?  Is His grace life-changing?  His mercy was; I’m not the same since I got saved.  But can grace change you?  That’s what I want to look at today.

1 Peter 5:10 (NKJV)
^5:10 But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.

The God of All Grace

So God is the God of all grace.  He has called us to eternal glory.  You know, God could have just written us off.  After Adam sinned He could’ve said, “That’s it, I’m done with these people,” and just written us of, but He didn’t.  In fact, He had a plan to bring us back to Him; back to eternal glory, which is Eternal Life with Him in Heaven.  The plan was Jesus Christ:  Who would come and pay the penalty that we should have to pay.  Look:

Romans 5:12 (NKJV)
^5:12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—

Adam’s sin spread to all of us, because we have all sinned.  So, we have a penalty to pay – The penalty is death.  We will all die, but there is a gift:

Romans 5:15 (NKJV)
^5:15 But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man's offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many.

The grace of God and Jesus’ grace are gifts that come to all who receive them.  After all, a gift is only a gift if you receive it, right.

Romans 5:18-19 (NKJV)
^5:18 Therefore, as through one man's offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man's righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. ¹⁹ For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous.

That gift of righteousness makes us right with God and:

Romans 5:21 (NKJV)
^5:21 so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Adam’s sin resulted in the sin of mankind.  Sin became a part of our nature and we all deserved death.  But Jesus came and paid that price for us, even though we didn’t deserve it; undeserved mercy.  It makes us innocent, that’s what justified means.  This is a picture of the grace of God.

There is one other thing I want you to consider here.  God created the Garden of Eden and put Adam there.  He met every need that man would have in the Garden; a place to live, food, meaning and purpose (through the job given to him), companionship and his spiritual need.  God walked with Adam in the cool of the Garden.  They had a personal relationship.  God cared about Adam’s needs – He took care of him.  He walked with him – Spoke to him.  God is a personal God; an emotional God.  He loves us.

1 John 3:1a (NKJV)
^3:1 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!

He created us to have fellowship with Him, so we are also able to have that kind of relationship with Him.  We are the children of God.  God is a personal God, not a mysterious hidden deity.  He cares about our needs.  He cares about our suffering, in the same way a father cares about his children. 

In our text, He warns us that we will suffer for a while, but that He is in control and can use that suffering to do a work in us – To perfect us, establish us, strengthen us and settle us.  So, the grace of the cross didn’t end there.  Grace is ongoing.  God still works in us.  We are made better through suffering.  We’re not just suffering for suffering’s sake.  There is a purpose in our suffering. 

This is why I feel sorry for atheists.  For them all of life is futile.  You’re born into a hostile world.  You suffer all kinds of troubles and pain.  Then you die, never knowing the comfort of God’s grace.  There’s no meaning and purpose to life.  There’s nothing to look forward to.  There no hope of anything better.  What a bummer to think that life here, with all of its suffering, is the best life there is.  No wonder that so many people that don’t know God commit suicide.  There’s no real purpose to life outside of God’s grace.  It’s just one struggle after another.

God’s Grace Extends Throughout our Lives

His grace continues, even after we get saved.  It’s not just limited to what Jesus did for us.  Look at the second part of our text:

 1 Peter 5:10b (NKJV)
^5:10 …after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.

I want to elaborate on what I said earlier, He uses our suffering to do a work in us.  

He perfects us – That word perfect means to thoroughly complete us.  This life is a training program; a preparation.  He’s making us ready for eternal life.  He’s working out all of the bad things in us; the selfishness – attitudes; the bitterness – bigotry, anger, and impatience, all the things that make us imperfect humans. 

God knows that we all have some of those things in us.  He uses our suffering to work those things out of us, to perfect us.  That’s how He makes us ready for Heaven.  In modern times, we use that word perfect to mean without flaws.  That’s what God is doing in completing us, taking out the imperfections and flaws.

He establishes us – That word establish means to set fast; to make permanent.  Another way to say it would be, to make it solid.  Sometimes, people have so much trouble serving God:  They’re in, they’re out.  One day, they’re sacrificing for the will of God, another day they can’t even come to church once a week.  They’re not solid, they’re not set fast.  When things go well they praise God; when things go badly they can’t even pray.  Our text tells though, that we suffer a while and God does a work in us.   That suffering can make us solid in the things of God, because when we get to a place where we can do nothing to solve or alleviate the suffering on our own, we have to turn it over to God.  It’s impossible for us.

They say there are no atheists in foxholes.  When the bombs are falling there’s nothing you can do to change the situation…except pray.  Life is like that.  We all encounter situations that we can’t change except by answered prayer.  That’s how we learn that we can trust God.  We realize that without Him life is pretty bleak, so we become less wishy-washy with our faith.  He establishes us in that faith.

He strengthens us – He strengthens our spiritual knowledge and power.  When things get really ugly in the world what do we do?  When we find out we have an incurable disease, or lose a loved one, or our job disappears?  When life gets really bad, what do we do?  Most of us pray.  Most of us want to draw nearer to God. 

Do you know that most people get saved in times of struggle and turmoil in their lives?  People want to come before God with their problems and plead for help. “Oh help me, God, help me!”  We begin to interact with God.  We improve our relationship with God.  We start to read our Bibles to find answers. 

By reading our Bibles we learn more about God:  Who He is and how he works in our lives.  Our knowledge of God increases.  By praying we are able to tap into the power of God.  We become stronger in those things.  Our relationship with God is strengthened.

Finally, He settles us.  He settles us in the sense of settling the frontier.  He builds something in us.  We become more grounded.  We’re not so easily moved.  We’re not so anxious  and worried over circumstances.  We trust God for his grace.  We know that He will come through.

People that are worldly live in fear a lot.
  

“What of this good thing doesn’t happen.”
“What of this bad thing does happen?”
“What will I do?”  

People get ulcers.  People have anxiety attacks, nervous breakdowns; go to psychiatrists, or just plain freak out.  Some of you may be able to see yourself in that.

We can trust in God to see us through.  That’s the faith part of the Christian lifestyle.  God’s grace is ongoing throughout our salvation. It doesn’t stop.  God is with us all the way through.

That’s How God’s Grace Helps us

We are so lucky to have found Jesus, but we have to be careful, because we sometimes take grace for granted.  We think that because His grace always works in us that we won’t suffer the judgment of sin.  We think thatwe can do whatever we want, but look:

 Romans 6:1-2 (NKJV)
^6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? ² Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?

We need to walk away from sin and allow God’s grace to work in us to do those things that we have just spent all this time talking about

Let Him PERFECT you!

Let Him ESTABLISH you.

Let Him STRENGTHEN and SETTLE you.

Do you Believe?

Recently, we have seen, in the Middle East that a number of Christians have been, martyred. Men have knelt before their persecutors and without resistance allowed their throats to be cut.  Why would they do that? They were given a choice between renouncing their faith and converting to Islam, or dying.

They had to BELIEVE that Jesus was who He said He was!  They had to believe that the cross, that bloodstained cross really is the instrument of their redemption.  That’s the only way they could lay down their lives for what, to many has become just a symbol; a piece of jewelry.

Today, in this post I want to put that question to you.  Do YOU believe?  Is the cross just a symbol or is it the power of God? 

1 Corinthians 2:1-5 (NKJV)
^2:1 And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. ² For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. ³ I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. ⁴ And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, ⁵ that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

The Eloquence of the Cross

This is a question that all Christians should ask themselves:  Do I believe? – Do I really believe?

I know some salesmen.  They’re really good salesmen; they could sell ice cubes to Eskimos.  They know the right words to say to influence you to agree.  I also know the key to being a good salesman.  You have to believe in your product.  You have to believe that what you’re selling is the very best of that type of that product.  Do you want somebody to buy your product?  Then make sure it’s a product that you would want to buy.  The very best way though, is to demonstrate how good it is. 

As Christians we want to tell people about Jesus, and we think we have to be salesmen:  That we need to speak eloquently about Him:  That our words need to be persuasive, but I want you to know that the cross speaks for itself.  Look at what Paul said, “I did not come with excellence of speech…”  Paul did have that eloquence in his words.  He didn’t have his “salesman patter” down. He said, “[I came] in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.”

So, I was thinking about this.  What is a demonstration of the Spirit and of power?  Isn’t one of the ways we demonstrate through how our lives are led.   It’s in how we live.  It’s in making our lives a reflection of Jesus’ life.  It’s in other people seeing how redemption works in us.  That’s the eloquence of the cross.

How is redemption seen in your life?  I’ve been giving this a lot of thought lately.  I know what God has done in me.  I’ve shared my testimony.  I went from a horrible messed up life to what I have now.  I’m a different person than I was.  It was a dramatic change, but not everyone can relate to that.  Some people, their testimony is, “Before I got saved, I was a decent, honest person, now I’m a decent, honest person who knows Jesus Christ.”  So, how can you demonstrate the Spirit and power?  You can do that by showing the same redemptive power that you have received to other people:  through forgiveness, through selflessness and through unmerited kindness.  You’re kind to people who don’t deserve your kindness.  All of those things Jesus did on the cross.  He forgave sin – all of us have sinned, even the decent, honest ones.  He GAVE his life – His life wasn’t taken from Him – selflessly for us sinners, and enemies of God. 

Romans 5:8 (NKJV)
^5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

He did that, even though we put Him on the cross.  Even though we didn’t deserve His kindness.  Even though we rejected Him and put Him on the cross.  He went there for us, for our redemption.  That was His purpose on the earth. That was the purpose of the cross – REDEMPTION!

1 Timothy 1:15 (NKJV)
^1:15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.

Paul said that Jesus came into the world to save sinners.  That was his whole reason for being here – redemption.  Paul brings that redemption down to a personal level, by saying, “of whom I’m chief,” He’s saying, He died for sinners; sinners like me!”  Paul says, "Jesus died for me!"

1 Timothy 1:16 (NKJV)
^1:16 However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all long-suffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life.

I obtained mercy – As a pattern for those who come after me.  That’s the pattern we should follow, “showing all long-suffering.”   Like Jesus did for Paul.  When we act like Jesus in all long-suffering and forgiveness others can see power of redemption.  That’s the eloquence of the cross.

The Value of Human Life

Recently, a number of videos have been released about Planned Parenthood.  These videos show Planned Parenthood selling the bodies of the children whom they have aborted.  As I watched the videos I was struck by the callousness of the women in the videos, haggling over the price of these innocent human beings’ bodies.  One woman is carelessly eating her lunch as she discusses the best way to remove the body, kill the baby and preserve the organs intact.  Another woman while negotiating the price of each body, looking for the maximum financial benefit says, “I want to drive a Lamborghini.”  It sickened me that they were talking about human beings' bodies as if they only had a financial value.  Look at what was paid for us.  Look at the ransom that had to be paid for our sin; my sin, your sin.  It had to be purchased; a price had to be paid.   Do you know the price that was negotiated for each aborted baby’s body?  $100 USD.  That was the negotiated price, but do you know what price was paid for each of us?  The blood of Jesus – God – spilled on the cross. 

Jesus suffered the most gruesome death ever devised by man when He suffered and died that day.  The thing that’s so powerful about that is that it was personal – He died for us all – individually, like Paul said.  Jesus didn’t die for an ideal, He died for you and I, personally.  If you were the only person who ever lived; if you were alone on this earth, He would have come and died just for you!  What’s the value of a human being?  To the ghouls at Planned Parenthood its $100 USD but to Christians it is the life that was given for us. 

Our lives have value, our God was willing to sacrifice for us, but what does that mean for us?  When we look at other people; homeless people, people from other nations, people of other races, when we look at them what are they worth to us?  Do we see a value in them?  Do we feel compassion for them?  That same blood was spilled for them.

What about those who’ve mistreated us?  Those who have hurt us?  They’ve gossiped or slandered us.  They’ve cheated us in business.  They’ve persecuted us.  Can we be compassionate to them?  Can we forgive them like Jesus did?  That’s really the whole question of this post.  Can WE show the long-suffering and redemptive power of Christ?  We are called to be like Christ, even when it’s hard.

Matthew 5:44-45 (NKJV)
^5:44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, ⁴⁵ that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

That's what Jesus meant when He said, "Take up your cross and follow me."

Do You Really Believe?

That brings me back to my original question, “Do you really believe?”  The cross isn’t just a necklace or a pair of earrings.  The cross isn’t just to mark the location of a church.  These days the cross is cleaned up.  It’s a hip fashion accessory.  It’s just another symbol in today’s society.

And the message of the cross has been watered down:  Not too much sacrifice, the prosperity doctrine, anything goes grace, but that’s not what the cross is.  The cross is rough – It tore into His flesh.  The cross is bloody – He spilled His blood there and the cross is the price of Redemption.  It’s the work that He did to buy us back into a relationship with God.  He paid that price so we don’t have to. 

He left us with the work of the cross; to present it to others, so that they can be redeemed.  But we can’t or won’t do that unless we truly believe it.  It’s the message of God’s love for us.  It’s the message of God’s grace and long-suffering.  It’s the message of mercy.

We can bring that message to others if we truly believe what God did for us.  If we truly believe that the sin has been taken, then we can face death without fear.

That’s how the Christians in the Middle East can face martyrdom for Jesus.  That’s how a group of church leaders in North Carolina can forgive the murderer of nine of their church members.  That’s how a young woman can face her classmate as he held a gun to her head and asked, “Do you believe in Jesus?” knowing what was coming, look him calmly in the face and say “Yes.”   They believe; they REALLY believe.

I hope none of us will ever have to make choices like these.  I pray that none of us ever has to face anything like that, but I believe that society is polarized and soon we’re going to have to make a choice.  It’s prophecy.  It will come to a choice.  I think in America that time is close, and it will come to Taiwan, too.  Now more than ever we have to be sure of what we believe. 

Do you REALLY believe the message of the cross?  Can you model redemption in your life?  So that others will desire it?  Can you reflect the mercy of Christ and demonstrate the selflessness of Christ?  Can you find hope and strength in what Jesus did on the cross:  The hope of a better world with Him; the hope of Eternal life; the strength to accept persecution?  Do you believe in the cross – The bloodstained cross?

Our Lord and Rescuer: The Straight Skinny

I listen to a lot of preaching and I read a lot of sermons and books, and I find it surprising how much of it is on the deeper things of God:  Deep heavy theological thoughts, on obscure passages and ideas.  For the place where I’m ministering these things are too deep and complicated to get across with all the cultural and language barriers.  It’s not because people couldn't grasp it, but because I have a difficult time communicating it to them within their cultural context.  The problem is mine, not theirs.

But in reading these things I realize that the gospel was meant to be simple. It’s meant to be understood in all cultures and by all people.  The Gospel works everywhere it’s tried, but a failure to reach people is usually the fault of the communicator.  So in thinking about this today, I want to approach the Gospel with some simplicity.  The Gospel is intended to be straightforward; it’s good news. 

In the US we have a term for that, it’s called the “Straight Skinny.”  That term merely means the unembellished truth.  I’m going to tell a story that I think will illustrate the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  So here it is, the straight skinny…

In 1991 something took place that rarely happens.  Three storm fronts collided to create a situation that meteorologists referred to as the “The Perfect Storm.”  During this storm in 1991, a warm front, a cold front and a hurricane combined to create 100-foot waves, high winds and torrential rains. 

If you know anything about sailing this is a very bad time to be at sea.  However, in this storm a thirty-two foot sailing vessel, the Sartori by name, found itself in high seas.  The crew consisted of a very experienced captain and two somewhat inexperienced women.  The women became frightened as the vessel slammed its sail against the sea and then righted itself, and called the US Coast Guard, who came out in a helicopter to rescue the crew of the Sartori.

What makes this a powerful story isn't that the people needed rescue, but it was the action of the Coast Guard that’s important.  The Coast Guard dispatched a helicopter into the high winds of the hurricane.  They flew out to the Sartori, and then a lone man, called a rescue swimmer, jumped into the high winds and huge waves to evacuate the crew: A lone man swimming against the power of a hurricane and 100-foot seas. 

This man put his life at risk in order to rescue these people.  He was jumping into an extremely dangerous situation; not for himself; not for the glory or recognition, but selflessly for other people.  He was fully prepared to give his life to rescue them; he was the first into the water and the last one out.

John 15:13 (NKJV)
^15:13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.
 

We have a friend that was willing to do exactly that:  To give His life for us.  That’s what I want to declare to you today our Lord and Rescuer.

1 Timothy 1:12-15 (NKJV)
^1:12 And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, ¹³ although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. ¹⁴ And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. ¹⁵ This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.

God Can Use Us, Even Though

In verse 12 of our text, Paul is speaking of the trust that God has placed in him.  I am often amazed by the grace of God.  God’s gracious, Paul is a blasphemer and a persecutor, and yet God is using him.  I want you to take a moment and think about this, because we are in the same boat as Paul.  We love Jesus and we’re trying to live out his will…now.  But it wasn't always that way, was it?  At one point we were as bad as Paul.  Look at this scripture.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 (NKJV)
^6:9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, ¹⁰ nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. ¹¹ And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.

That pretty much sums most of us up.  We all are at least one, if not all, of those things.  We were opposed to the will of God.  We were at enmity with God.  We were opposed to living the will of God; in fact, we were opposed to anything other than what made us feel good.  Am I right or am I wrong?

Even though we were all that, now God has entrusted us with His purpose and will on earth.  We are God’s plan for salvation for the world.  It’s up to us to draw others.  It’s up to us to lead others to Jesus.   It’s a sacred trust between God and Christians.   Maybe you’re reading this and you’re not a Christian.  Maybe you’re just here, on this website, exploring what this is all about.  Maybe you've been attending church, but you still don’t see the value in Christianity.  The value in it is right here in what Paul is saying.  Even though we have been a rebel and a sinner, God has had mercy and given us a way out of the punishment of our sin.  The sin and the filthiness are all taken away.  It’s not just that we are forgiven; the Bible tells us that the sin is removed; washed away.  We’re cleansed, we’re sanctified, (holy; literally made as saints), and we’re justified; made innocent.  God did that for us, even though.  Even though we were rebels and enemies of God, because we did those things in ignorance.  We didn't know what we were doing. 

Isn't that what Jesus said, as he looked at those who brutalized and crucified Him.  In the midst of all that he looked down from the cross at the people who were murdering Him and called out, “Father forgive them, they don’t know what they’re doing.”  Look at His words:

Luke 23:33-34a (NKJV)
^23:33 And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left. ³⁴ Then Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do."…

He said, “They don’t know what they’re doing.”  They didn't know what they were doing.  Do you think if they knew they were crucifying God that they would have done it?  That’s just like us; we don’t see our sin from God’s perspective before we have Jesus in our life.  We don’t know we’re offending God.  It just doesn't occur to us.  If we knew God was real and that we were offending the Creator of the Universe, we wouldn't do it, would we?  Some of us maybe, but most of us wouldn't want to offend the creator.  After all, we’re ignorant; we’re not crazy. 

God used Jesus in the same way the US Coast Guard uses rescue swimmers.  Think about this, rescue swimmers jump out of the relative safety of a helicopter, into the storms and troubles that others are facing, risking death, in an attempt to rescue them.  That’s what Jesus did.  He became man:  He took on the troubles and storms of life that we are facing to rescue us.  We face certain death…the Bible says we are dead in our sin.  He jumped into the world from the safety of Heaven to rescue us from certain death.

In this same storm, another man, another rescue swimmer, in the midst of another rescue died.  He disappeared into the storm and was lost at sea.  The people were rescued but the rescue swimmer died.  He gave his life for those people.  This is exactly what Jesus did.  His death rescued us:  His spilled blood was the payment for our sin, our wrong behavior.  Because of his death we are rescued; saved and then we are entrusted to be a part of the rescue of other people.  “The grace of our Lord is exceedingly abundant.

God’s Mercy is Abundant

That’s what mercy is all about.  The whole thing is amazing to me.  In the beginning of time, Adam and Eve rebelled from God.  They did the one thing He told them not to do and because of that they lost the Garden.  They lost the place that God gave them that met every one of their needs, because they chose themselves over God’s will.  That’s basically what happened.  They chose to be like God rather than to obey God.  That’s the choice that they made and it cost them the Garden.  They were kicked out.  God separated Himself from them.

The tree of life was now off limits for them.  The thing that gave eternal life was now out of reach.  We can’t have eternal life and sin at the same time.  It’s one or the other.  So they were separated from God and they were to remain separated for centuries. 

So about now you might be thinking, where’s this mercy, you've been hearing about; this exceedingly abundant mercy.  The mercy is found in the beginning, immediately after they sinned.  This is an interesting moment:

God is laying curses on them.  Eve would have pain in childbirth.  She was crested to be the mother of all, that’s what Eve means, mother of all.  But now that blessing would be the curse.  God had given Adam food, shelter, and everything he needed.  He even gave Eve to him.  Now Adam is going to have to work for it.  What was freely given before would require sweat and struggle.  There will be thorns and thistles, pain and setbacks. 

He said these things after he had cursed Satan.  What He told Satan was that an offspring of Eve would come and destroy his power.  His power was the power to lead us into hell; to keep us in the bondage of rebellion:  A slave to sin.  That’s what we all are:

John 8:34 (NKJV)
^8:34 Jesus answered them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.

We all do things that we know are wrong; even though we know we shouldn't do them we do them anyway.  We’re slaves to it.  It’s sin and we’re slaves to it.  This is what God’s mercy is all about; we didn't deserve what God did for us.  What would we do if someone did something wrong that hurt us?  We would want to get revenge.  That’s what we do when we’re angry…”It would serve them right if ______________ (fill in the blank with something horrible.)

Look at what God did.  He said, they did wrong and they hurt Me, so I will send someone to make it right.  Someone who will pay the price for what they have done. Someone to take their punishment for them, even though they hurt Me.  Someone who will go to His death so they won’t have to, just the same way that the rescue swimmer who died to rescue other people did.

In the storm, the people who were out in the in Sartori shouldn't have been there.  They’d heard about the storms converging.  They knew what was coming.  They were ignorant.  They ignored the warning, that’s ignorance.  Even though they knew all that, a rescue swimmer was sent to go in after them.  A man was sent to rescue them…even though.

That’s mercy, they didn't deserve it but a rescuer was sent for them anyway.  That’s mercy.  That’s also what God did for us.  We didn't deserve it but it was done for us, anyway…that’s God’s mercy.  What makes it exceedingly abundant mercy is the price that God paid to rescue us. 

Think about the family of the rescue swimmer who died trying to rescue those people who were out where they shouldn't have been.  Do you wonder how they felt?  “ We've lost a heroic, selfless man, because he wanted to rescue some idiots who had no business being out there in the first place.  Look what we traded for them.”  That’s what they were thinking, probably.  That’s what I would have been thinking.  Look at the price we paid for them.

Look at the price God paid for us.  Some of us though, we make that sacrifice of little value because we continue in sin. We remain ignorant of the price that was paid for us, or we neglect to help others to understand the price that was paid for them.

I was reading something on the Internet the other day that made me want to throw my computer on the floor:  Made me want to just toss it out the 10^th floor window.  Some guy, some pastor said he hates when we say things to people about their sin and the ultimate result of sin…hell.  He said we shouldn't do that.  He said we should let people just find his or her own way to God.

That goes against everything I believe as a Christian.  There was a price that was paid for that sin; a heavy price.  As a Christian I shouldn't let that price be wasted by not bringing it to people’s attention.  Otherwise, how will people know they’re doing it? 

Jesus confronted the woman at the well.  She’d been married five times and now she was shacking up with another man.  Jesus said, “Bring your husband to me.”    She’s telling him how religious she is and he says, “Bring your husband to me.”  That’s confrontation.  Jesus didn't hold back and neither should we.  They don’t know what they’re doing.  They don’t realize that it’s sin and that they will have to pay a heavy price for it.  Somebody needs to tell them, so they can escape the price.  When we continue to sin or refuse to warn others we make that price that was paid worth nothing.

What if the people who were rescued through the death of the rescue swimmer, went into the next storm, and the next, and continued to need to be rescued.  It would mean that that man gave his life for nothing.  Those people would be frivolous with the lives of those who risk it all to rescue them.  When we continue in our si,n or allow others to do the same we are being frivolous with God’s mercy and Jesus’ sacrifice.

Jesus went to the cross to free us from slavery to sin. He did it to destroy Satan’s power over mankind.  He did it to rescue us

He Saves Sinners

Finally, here’s the good news.  That what the Gospel is, that’s what I said at the very beginning of this.  Gospel literally means the good news.  So here it is:

1 Timothy 1:15 (NKJV)
^1:15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.

Paul says that Jesus’ purpose was to come into the world to save sinners.  Then he says that he’s the worst of the worst:  The Chief of all sinners.  He’s saying that if Jesus can save him, He can save us, too.  You haven’t killed Christians just for being Christians, have you?  Paul did.  He stood by and consented to their death, that’s the same as throwing the stones.  God forgave him and he can forgive you.  In fact, there are many people whom we would consider to be horribly evil sinners:  Murderers and rapists.  People who have done horribly evil things and God forgave them.  

They've repented and they’re saved.  They've been given a second chance.  They are free from sin.  If they could be forgiven what would hinder you?

I talk to people sometimes and they tell me, “God can’t forgive me.”  But the Bible says that if we will confess our sin, God is faithful to forgive.  “But you don’t know what I've done, is the response.”  No I don’t, but I know what Paul has done.  I know what others have done and God forgave them.  God can forgive you as well.  That’s the good news today.  Jesus came to save sinners like you and I.  He came for us.  He’s our Lord and Rescuer.

Judgment and Mercy

Anyone who has spent any time witnessing to people has been told, “You’re judging me, who are you to judge me?” But I think the problem is that we call them on their sin and then tell them God is going to send you to hell for that. What we leave out is the good news. If you repent, you’ll be accepted. So today I want to bring a balance to judging. We are called to judgment tempered with mercy.

Recently, I read in the news of a young woman who was on trial for the murder of her two-year old daughter. This woman, Casey Anthony, and her family, repeatedly lied to the police, sent them on wild goose chases, kept them from finding the body. Finally, three years after the murder and her arrest, the trial concludes with the woman being found not guilty of murder, manslaughter, child abuse and other charges. She is only convicted lying to the police. A jury of twelve people heard the evidence and the arguments and judged her to be not guilty of the crime.

The press, on the other hand doggedly, throughout the trial and before, made the judgment that she was guilty. They made this judgment without the presentation of evidence and arguments and witnesses. They made their judgment on hearsay and their own opinions.

The jury made a judgment in a correct way, the media didn’t. Is the woman guilty? I have no way to know that. The evidence was pretty sketchy, no cause of death, no witnesses, no DNA: All of the evidence was circumstantial.

I’m not judging the rightness or wrongness of the jury’s decision. I’m not making any statements about her guilt or innocence. I’m only making a statement about human nature. We have a tendency to make a judgment based on our own assumptions about what happened. Jesus tells us we need to be careful about how we judge.

Luke 6:37-42 (NKJV)
6:37 "Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 38 Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you." 39 And He spoke a parable to them: "Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into the ditch? 40 A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher. 41 And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not perceive the plank in your own eye? 42 Or how can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me remove the speck that is in your eye,' when you yourself do not see the plank that is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck that is in your brother's eye.

Making Judgments

In our text Jesus is talking about Christians making judgments of other people. Making judgments is what people do, isn’t it. Most of our lives are spent making decisions and judgments. Those are the things that get us through life. They can be simple decisions about what to wear to a meeting or school, or they can be more complex decisions about finances or direction for our family or our lives. But Jesus warns us about judgments we make involving other people.

People have an interesting capacity to look at other people’s sin while at the same time overlooking their own. We have a “perfectly good reason” for the sin we’re committing. “I know I drink too much, but the pressure at my job is awful.” “Well yeah, I ripped off the company, but they’re not paying me what I’m worth.” “I know I shot up my university, but I had a bad childhood.” These are the justifications we use that are intended to make it okay for us to act improperly. But the problem is that while justifying our own misbehavior we have a “no excuses policy” for everyone else. We can harshly judge someone else with no thought of mercy, and this is Jesus’ point.

Look at the context of this statement, “Judge not and you shall not be judged!” You can find the context in the verses preceding the text. Look at the statements found in those verses:

1. Love your enemies
2. Bless those that curse you
3. Pray for those that use you
4. Turn the other cheek
5. Give to those that ask
6. Treat others, as you want to be treated

Look at verse 36 the last verse before the text:

Luke 6:36 (NKJV)
6:36 Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.

So, mercy is the context of Jesus’ words about judgment. Mercy is found in all of God’s judgments. Let’s go back to the Garden of Eden for a moment. God created the Garden and He gave Adam and Eve only one command. He told them they could eat of any tree in the Garden but one. What did Adam and Eve do? They ate the fruit of the tree God told them not to eat and God judged their actions.

When God did that He laid down some pretty heavy curses on them, didn’t He? He told Adam that all of the provision God had made in his life to this point was over. Adam would have to sweat to receive what God had freely given before. Eve was created to be the mother of all, and a partner with Adam. But now God told her she would have pain in childbirth. So this is a judgment of God.

But at the same moment of this judgment God tells Satan that the offspring of Eve, whom Satan had deceived, would eventually destroy him. In other words, He would send someone who would make it possible for human beings to return to God’s favor. That’s mercy. Adam and Eve did nothing to deserve for God to make it possible for them to return to a relationship with God, but God made a way for them anyway. That is the dictionary definition of mercy, by the way: Undeserved compassion shown to an offender.

How do we make judgments of things people do wrong? We condemn without mercy. “I’ll never speak to him again.” We assassinate people’s character through Gossip and innuendo. We destroy opportunities.

I just read in the news the other day about a hacker who is going to prison for 18 years. He got angry with his neighbor because the neighbor was dismayed that this guy kissed his neighbor’s son on the lips. So look what he did. He bought a program that allowed him to steal his neighbor’s IP address, and then he hacked his email and sent threats to the Vice President of the United States. He sent child pornography to the guy’s colleagues; all of this was done to destroy the neighbor. They called it Internet terrorism. People do things like this all the time. Maybe not on a lesser scale, but we act without compassion or mercy all the time.

But God tempered His judgment with mercy. That same mercy is seen in these context statements that I’ve presented:

1. Love your enemies: Jesus died for the very people who were crucifying Him.
2. Bless them that curse you, pray for those that use you: Pray for their salvation, Jesus did that on the cross, “Father forgive them…”
3. Give to those that ask, treat others as you would want to be treated.

Sometimes people are in need because of their own bad decisions or bad habits. Sometimes they realize that they have caused themselves to be in that situation. Other times they are defiant about it. But when it comes to real need, regardless of the situation, Jesus is telling us we need to give. It doesn’t have to be money…it can be clothing or blankets or food. Treat them, as you want to be treated.

There is an interesting moment in scripture when a rich, young ruler comes to Jesus and asks Him, “What thing must I do to inherit Eternal Life?” Look at Jesus’ answer:

Mark 10:19 (NKJV)
You know the commandments: 'Do not commit adultery,' 'Do not murder,' 'Do not steal,' 'Do not bear false witness,' 'Do not defraud,' 'Honor your father and your mother.' "

Don’t you think it’s interesting that all of these have to do with how people treat each other? Not one of them mentions our relationship with God; they are all about our relationships with other people. You want Eternal Life? If so, relationships with people are important. Our text speaks of an important component of relationships; mercy and forgiveness.

Does This Mean We Shouldn’t Judge Sin?

Unfortunately, we all sin; sin is a part of our nature. Let me ask you a couple of questions: Is there anyone reading this who has never told a lie? How about stealing, can you say you’ve never stolen anything, this can even mean work time from your boss?

Romans 3:23 (NKJV)
3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Romans 3:10 (NKJV)
3:10 As it is written: "There is none righteous, no, not one;

So we can’t do it. Our works can’t justify us. We can’t earn heaven by living out the law, because we can’t live the law completely. But does that mean we can’t judge sin? Look at what the Apostle Paul says:

1 Corinthians 5:11-12 (NKJV)
5:11 But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner--not even to eat with such a person. 12 For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside?

We must be able to judge sin. We have to be able to recognize sin in order to judge it in our own lives. Sometimes that means judging it in the church. We have to judge it in the church, and what Paul is saying here might seem harsh, “Do not keep company with…not even to eat with such a person.” That seems like a pretty harsh judgment, doesn’t it? But Paul tempers it with mercy. Look at this statement:

1 Corinthians 5:4-5 (NKJV)
5:4 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, 5 deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

The goal of judging is to bring the person back to the will of God; to see that person saved, once again. It isn’t about punishing the person it’s about bringing that person back to the place of salvation. Why should the people of God judge? Paul answers that question, as well.

1 Corinthians 5:6-8 (NKJV)
5:6 Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? 7 Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. 8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

The people of Corinth were not only not judging, they were kind of proud of it. Paul is warning them that a little leaven leavens the whole lump. In other words one person’s sin can spread to the rest of the congregation.

I’ve seen this happen a number of times. If sin in a congregation isn’t judged, that sin will spread. Fornication, rebellion and adultery especially will spread quickly through a congregation. I know a church where these things took place a number of years ago and they haven’t recovered still. The church is still struggling with some of these same issues today.

So judgment must be made for the sake of the person involved in the sin and the well being of the congregation. It must be made in order to give the offender opportunity to repent and so that the church will remain pure; to keep sin from spreading throughout the congregation.

There is one other thing; judgment must be made so that the blessing of God will remain on the church. There is an illustration of this in the Old Testament. It’s found in the story of Achan.

God has given Joshua a plan for the defeat of Jericho. This was the first city that Israel had to defeat in battle, as they began to take possession of the land of Canaan. He tells Joshua to walk around the city for seven days and then blow their trumpets and the walls will collapse. Bus as he gave him those instructions He warned him that all of the spoil will belong to God. The people are not to take any of the spoil of the battle. That spoil is a tithe to God; it is the first fruits of the Promised Land.

But Achan sees some wonderful things; gold, silver, garments, treasure and he takes it. He violates the command of God. When we violate God’s commands that’s called sin. So Achan sins and what happens? In the very next battle the people of Ai rout Israel.

Joshua 7:4-5 (NKJV)
7:4 So about three thousand men went up there from the people, but they fled before the men of Ai. 5 And the men of Ai struck down about thirty-six men, for they chased them from before the gate as far as Shebarim, and struck them down on the descent; therefore the hearts of the people melted and became like water.

Joshua is upset, he demands from God to know what happened. Look at God’s response:

Joshua 7:10-12 (NKJV)
7:10 So the Lord said to Joshua: "Get up! Why do you lie thus on your face? 11 Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. For they have even taken some of the accursed things, and have both stolen and deceived; and they have also put it among their own stuff. 12 Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they have become doomed to destruction. Neither will I be with you anymore, unless you destroy the accursed from among you.

Israel sinned? I thought it was only Achan who sinned, but all of Israel is held accountable. What does that mean for a congregation? We as a church will be held accountable for the sin of individuals if that sin isn’t judged. A congregation will be unable to stand against its enemies. Who are our enemies: The forces of hell and Satan himself? We won’t be able to stand against him. We won’t be able to stand against sin. We will always be defeated by the devil if we don’t judge sin in our midst. I don’t know about you, but I need victory.

Judgment is Tempered with Love

So what does all this mean? Do we need to kick everyone who sins out of the church? I think most churches would have a pretty small congregation if we did that. Judgment doesn’t always include banning people, but it does mean that we have to confront sin in each other’s lives. Prayerfully, Biblically, lovingly confront the sin. Tell them what the sin is. Show them in the Bible that it is sin. Then show the mercy of God to forgive when we repent.

In revelations Chapter Two, Jesus is speaking to the church in Thyatira. There is a woman there named Jezebel. She’s teaching false doctrine, seducing the saints to fornication and sin. But she isn’t immediately judged; God doesn’t immediately strike her dead with a lightning bolt. Instead, God looks patiently for repentance.

Revelation 2:20-22 (NKJV)
2:20 Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. 21 And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent. 22 Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds.

God gives her time to repent but she doesn’t repent, so He will judge her. This is mercy, because the Word of God says this:

1 John 1:8-9 (NKJV)
1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

This is our example. We need to allow opportunity to repent. We’re not allowed to judge and condemn those who are outside the church. God is their judge and that scripture tells me He will give them time and opportunity to repent. God will send a watchman to them to bring a warning, that’s our role. People involved in sin will tell you that you’re judging when you bring the warning, but actually you are acting as the instrument of God to give them opportunity to repent. As I close this, I want to show you the difference:

On one side, there is a website called http://www.raptureready.com/index.php On this website they preach about the coming of Jesus and his calling of the saints in the rapture. They preach on sin and salvation. But they also have an extensive collection of documents that tells what to do if the rapture happens and you are left behind. Their focus is the salvation of mankind. They are trying to help people to prepare for judgment and give them time to repent.

On the other side, there is a church that protests at the funerals of killed American Soldiers and hold up banners and signs that say, “God hates fags.” This is untrue. God loves people and hates sin. In God’s eyes there is no difference between the sin of lying and the sin of homosexuality. There is no real call to repentance, only a call to judgment.

If the things you’re saying while witnessing only demonstrate the wrath and judgment of God then you’re not only bringing condemnation, you’re not judging Biblically. Biblical judgment is confrontation of sin and opportunity for repentance and a demonstration of the mercy and love of God. It is God’s place to judge and condemn it is our place to confront and show mercy. Be an instrument of repentance rather than an executioner of judgment.