FREEDOM FROM SIN THROUGH CHRIST

FREEDOM FROM SIN THROUGH CHRIST
The Rev. John Donnelly,  Christ Church Quaker Farms, March 3, 2012

 Christ Church’s Experience the Bible” series is going to surprise many of you.  You will be surprised to learn that the all the scriptures are inspiring, including the Old Testament & Hebrew Scriptures, written before the birth of Christ.  Unfortunately, too many “doom” & “gloom” preachers & evangelists have used the bible like a club to instill guilt and fear in the hearts of the unknowing.    God has been totally misrepresented as being vindictive or frightening and harsh.  If God was truly like that, then he would not be worthy of worship, much less worthy of our trust & admiration.

 

The Bible calls upon us to be washed clean by God’s Word. During the next month, if watch, listen and participate, you will find your hearts and minds washed clean of the misconceptions and downright lies about God.  And in that place, you will know the truth—and the truth of God will set you free.

 

So, today we are going to begin our adventure into God’s Word to learn the rich heritage and history of pour faith, which goes back 4000 years ago.   It has been said that if you want to understand Jesus Christ and the Christian scriptures of the New Testament, then you have to know something about our spiritual forefathers and mothers, the Israelites, described in the Old Testament.

·       You see, the Old Testament chronicles the emergence of monotheism.  Our spiritual forebears rejected the worship of trees, the sun, and the moon.  They rejected the worship of statues made of stone and wood; they rejected the whole pantheon of different “”so called gods” being worshipped by everyone else.

·       In the Old Testament scriptures, we begin to learn of God’s character and purposes, as He revealed it overtime. From 2000 BC up until the birth of Christ, God initially adopted just one small nation of people, the Israelites.  During that time he taught them to know, trust, and to love Him.  That was the foundation.  With the birth of Jesus 2000 years ago, God has continued this work, but this time He is sharing His love with all peoples and nations.

Now this mighty work of God’s work began with   the patriarch, Abraham.  Just as our nation reveres George Washington our founding father, so the Israelites revere Abraham as the founder of their people.

 The Middle East, during the time of Abraham, 4000 years ago, was so very  primitive, comprised of  many  different nomadic ethnic  groups and tribes, who  were all  hunters, gatherers, shepherds, farmers, warriors and thieves.  Everyone lived in fear of rival tribes, and most people lived in fear of their gods.  All the things that they could not explain—the weather, times of draught, the causes of disease, and sudden attacks by animal and rival tribes –all this left them in a perpetual state confusion and terror.   Now going back as far as 50,000 years ago, ancient people sought to make peace with their gods by making sacrifices---burnt offerings of agricultural produce, and blood offerings of animals and humans. 

 

So, it was into this chaos of ancient man, that God, the creator of the universe, imitated a new and special relationship with Abraham and his wife Sarah. God began to teach Brahman and his tribe that He was a benevolent God, a God who desired relationship with his people.  God taught Abraham that God loved the children that he made. However, He hated the sinful actions that they committed.  So, it was within this context that God taught an eternal truth---that sacrifice nullifies sin.  Please repeat that after me—Sacrifice nullifies sin. So, over the course of thousands of years, the descendents of Abraham made sacrifices for the forgiveness of sin. But the one difference from the other religions is that they understood that God did not want the sacrifice of humans.

 

 Now, this may seem strange in light of today’s reading about Abraham and Isaac.  Abraham is commanded to murder his own son as a sin offering to placate God? ! ? How can this be??  Just imagine the horror felt by both Abraham and his son. 

·       And, how could Abraham have consented to do this?  On the surface, this story sounds like a horror story from the TV show “Criminal Minds.”

 However, when we view  this story in the lens of history, we can learn two things:

1.     The end result  of this event was the public affirmation and pronouncement  to the Jews and to their neighbors, that God does not require human sacrifice  for the forgiveness of sins.     Most scholars believe that this story was intended as  a clear statement opposing all human sacrifice in a world where such senseless bloodshed was all too normal.  While you and I may be repulsed by this story, the fact remains that in the end, God’s mercy countermanded the blood sacrifice.

You see, Abraham and his descendents were just beginning to learn about the love and forgiveness of God.  God partially revealed his personality and identity throughout the Old Testament.  But all their knowledge about God remained incomplete  and illusive for 2000 years.   But at the time appointed, God chose to make the perfect revelation of His identity, His purposes, and His compassion.

So God chose to come to earth as a human being. Then, in the person of Jesus Christ,  we can see God face to face.  Jesus summarizes this truth in the Gospel of John,  when Jesus said “ Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.  Believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.”  Now Jesus repeated this over and over again, in many different ways, and in through all 4 of the Gospels. Now at the time, many people did not understand Him, including his  own disciples.  Jesus’ enemies heard this  message all too clearly, and that’s the reason that they crucified Him, to shut him up.  But then, He rose from the dead and his disciples finally understood.

 

2.    So, God does not want human blood sacrifices.   But the fact still remains, that sacrifice nullifies sin.  So, with that in mind, Jesus voluntarily sacrificed himself to nullify sin, to bring forgiveness for all who turn to Him. In a mysterious way that it beyond human comprehension, Jesus  unleashed the power of God’s mercy, thereby making it possible for all people to know of God’s unlimited love and forgiveness.

 So the followers of Jesus said it this way in the Bible--- please repeat after  me : Christ was the perfect sacrifice    not only for our own sins,    but for the sin of the world.      

So, what does this mean for us?  Whether they realize it consciously or not, too many people are weighed down by the burdens  of their own sinfulness.  Sometimes this manifests itself in guilt and self condemnation; other times it makes us withdraw from church; other times it is like some emotional diseases, which weighs upon us; and still other times it makes people hostile to Jesus and his followers. 

 

Jesus’ greatest, hardest work,  His masterpiece, His crowning achievement, was His sacrifice on the cross to bring forgiveness of sin.  We show him that we appreciate and value that work, by not just confessing out sins, but by immediately accepting the reality that we are forgiven.  So, when I first became a Christian, I was taught that for every time I told God that I was sorry, I immediately had to follow up thanking him for my forgiveness, which he grants automatically to all who sincerely seek his mercy.  As I said earlier, in my opinion, too many churches have discouraged people by talking about sin, without immediately talking about  the guarantee of immediately forgiveness for those who seek it.  You see, if most of us were truly honest with ourselves, and you gave it some honest thought, you would come to realize how you have let yourself down, how you have let down the people you love, and how you have let God down. I am fully aware of my failures and sins.  But I am not courageous enough to deal with that mess of sin,  unless I am confident that God ‘s going to forgive me, and then help me forgive myself, and then help to change my actions

So,  today you can all experience the Bible –right here—right now. How?   When you confess your sins,  you choose to claim the truth that you are forgiven and loved, and that with God, there is no problem too big that the 2 of you cannot handle together.  That t my friends, is the one truth around with all the Bible revolves.  Jesus Christ’s sacrifice was made to free us from sin, to live a renewed life in Him, now and forever.  Amen.

 Lord Jesus Christ, Master Carpenter of Nazareth, who on your cross of wood and nails wrought our whole salvation: wield well your tools in this your workshop, that we who come to You rough-hewn, may by your hand be fashioned into a greater beauty and truer usefulness, to the honor of your name.