By Pastor Greg ...
A couple is planning a party for
their 40th Wedding Anniversary. The wife
turns to her husband and says, "I think I'll wear silver shoes," and he quips, "To match your
hair?"
Lovingly, his wife replies,
"Yes, dear -- so I suppose you'll be barefoot..."
Now that’s an honest conversation.
Have you ever had one of those
honest conversations with yourself … the kind where you truly examine who you are?
They are not fun, are they? I
mean, when we are honest enough to stop lying to ourselves, we stand face to
face with someone we don’t want to be.
And we can either deal with who we are, ignore who we are, or deny who
we are.
Avoiding or denying the Truth
doesn’t change a thing, and I believe most people know this if they would be honest with themselves. Deep in their heart, most people realize something
is horribly wrong, but they have no idea
how to fix it.
For thousands of years, humanity has been plagued by this
haunting feeling that there is some universal
standard of living that is beyond its reach.
Most reasonable people realize
this. They instinctively recognize what
is right and good, and are also aware of what is wrong and evil. Knowing this, they become discouraged by
those moments in their life when they do what they know is wrong. And, according to the Apostle Paul, even
people who have no knowledge of the Bible realize this. In Romans 2:14-15 he says, 14 “Even Gentiles, who
do not have God’s written law, show that they know his law when they
instinctively obey it, even without having heard it. 15 They
demonstrate that God’s law is written in their hearts, for their own conscience
and thoughts either accuse them or tell them they are doing right.”
Oh, I know many ignore what their conscience is saying. They
look for ways to drown out these stinging convictions. So instead of preaching to the deniers, I
want to talk with those who are willing
to be honest. For those who know
something isn’t right, let’s talk about what God has planned.
In your Bible, you will read some
very troubling statements. You’ll learn things like:
·
“No one is righteous—
not even one.
·
No one is truly wise; no one is seeking God.
·
All have turned away;
all have become useless. No one does good, not a single one.”
·
“Their talk is foul,
like the stench from an open grave. Their
tongues are filled with lies.” “Snake venom drips from their lips.”
·
“Their mouths are full
of cursing and bitterness.”
·
“They rush to commit
murder.
·
Destruction and misery
always follow them.
·
They don’t know where to
find peace.”
·
“They have no fear of
God at all.”
(Romans 3:10-18).
·
For everyone has sinned;
we all fall short of God’s glorious standard (Romans 3:23).
What hope is there for wicked
people like this? Even the person who
instinctively follows God’s Law falls short of His glorious standard … including those who believe in God and who try
to do what is good. Everyone fails to be
good all the time, and their sins have cut them off from God (compare Isaiah
59:2). To be honest, reading these
things in the Bible can be a bit depressing, especially for those who know they
sin. What hope is there for people like
us?
Did you know that God has a plan
for those who will admit their sin? Did
you know that God has been covering the sin of humanity even from the very
beginning? Consider the sin of Adam and
Eve. They disobeyed God only days after
the creation of the world. The moment
they sinned, they had the same guilt feelings you
and I have, and they hid from God (Genesis 3:10). When God confronted them, He relented from
doing as He warned. Remember what God
told Adam? “From the tree of the knowledge of good and evil
you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from
it you will surely die” (Genesis
2:17). But what happened? Did Adam and Eve die that very day? Of course not. But something
died. Something died in their
place. In Genesis 3:21 we read, “And the Lord God
made clothing from animal skins for Adam and his wife.” God sacrificed an animal to cover the sin of
Adam and Eve.
Jewish tradition says a lamb or
two were slain to cover their sin.[1] And I can’t image how Adam and Eve felt as
they watched this innocent creature die because of their disobedience. But it happened. A lamb died so a man and a woman would not.
Please don’t miss the significance
of this first sacrifice. God recognized
Adam and Eve’s sin, but God is the
one who took the initiative to address that sin. He
covered it with a sacrifice. As Adam and
Eve began to process the sick feeling in their gut, God reaches down, takes the
life of a lamb, and wraps this man and woman in its skin, effectively covering their sin.
God still does this today.
Oh, I know He isn’t sacrificing
the same kind of lamb, but He did make another sacrifice so you and I might
find the forgiveness we need. When we
examine ourselves and discover our sin –
when we get that sick feeling in our gut – God offers to cover that sin. He offers to, “clothe [us] with garments of salvation; to wrap
[us] with a robe of righteousness” (Isaiah 61:10).
Even though everyone has sinned,
Paul reminds us that, “God freely and graciously declares that we are righteous. He
did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. 25 For
God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God
when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood”
(Romans 3:24-25).
This is the heart of the Gospel
Message. When we honestly examine our lives, we realize we deserve punishment. We do not live up to God’s glorious
standard. But rather than punish us, God sent Jesus to offer His life as
a sacrifice. Jesus became the Lamb who
covers our sin. His blood was shed
instead of ours. And when we believe
this, our sins are forgiven.
You will not find forgiveness in
any other way. You cannot deny it and be
forgiven, nor can you ignore it but still find forgiveness. Only those who are honest about themselves
will be freed from their sin. God does
this by providing the one and only Lamb who takes away the sin of the world
(John 1:29).
