Audio Sermon

Good News

“For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:7-8)

Our time with quadriplegics in the past few years has been both a joy and an ache of the heart.  They are so vulnerable and yet so filled with courage.  The relationship of their care givers to their needs is so close and is necessarily built on trust.  The need of the one (the quadriplegic) is great, and the other (the one who cares for them) must TRULY care, in order for the relationship to work.

I have become very troubled, though, at the way the “needy” in this world are often treated.  Wheelchairs are stolen, money is taken, and their needs are all too often not met by the very persons who should be caring for them.  You might wonder: Why isn’t God doing something about this problem?  Actually, He is doing something.  He has accomplished it from the beginning, and He is acting on your behalf right now.

So many times people have ideas about the way they think that God should do things.  “Why doesn't He do it the way I want?” is the cry of many hearts.  Actually, God has done everything we could ever have wanted and more.  Here are some of the things He has done and one more (item 8) will soon be accomplished:

1. He made it possible to merely believe in God, as He did with Abraham.

2. He created a religion in which relatively simple rules could be followed.

3. God sent innumerable prophets who told us what He wants.

4. God sent His Son to die in our place for the sins we have committed.

5. He made it possible to simply trust in the Son in order to satisfy God.

6. He has given His Holy Spirit, enabling us to understand His Word.

7. We have His written Word, which directs us to His Son.

8. Jesus Christ will visibly come to this world in power as the King.

God cares for those who are in need more than you and I could ever know.  We ALL are needy, each in our own way, and he loves you and me.  Don’t get me wrong.  He does Judge and He will Judge those who harm other people, but His judgment has been executed in a way that you would not expect.

God is Holy (set apart) from all that is sin.  We are not like that, for each one of us is a sinner from the time we came into existence.  Many do not understand, but the Lord has revealed that “ALL have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).  And yet He loves us and proved it by coming to die for you and me.  The Cross of Jesus Christ reaches back in time to save those like Abraham, who simply trusted in God.  It reaches back to encompass the ones who kept the Jewish religion in faith and not merely in works.  It reaches forward to save those who receive the Son, filling them who trust in Him with the Holy Spirit of God.

How could God, who is holy, be able to love and forgive someone who would harm a vulnerable innocent person, such as the care giver who ostensibly helps (but actually robs) someone in need?  The answer is that God does not forgive sin.  “I will deal with them according to their conduct, and by their own standards I will judge them” (Ezekiel 7:27).  The penalty for sin must be paid just like any debt, and “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6: 23).  A death sentence is over us.  The good news (the Gospel) is this: “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

The world simply does not understand that Christ in His love has saved us by dying in our place.  As Martin Luther said, “I have preached justification by faith so often, and I feel sometimes that you are so slow to receive it, that I could almost take the Bible and bang it about your heads.”  The fact is that every act against the innocent will be judged, but those terrible deeds have already been judged on the Cross of Christ.  The reality that He had to die is a great statement that God hates sin, and He will judge you for your every sin; except there is a pardon with your name on it, written in the Blood of Jesus Christ.

Forgiveness is extended to those who acknowledge their sin and trust in Christ, the One who died for you and me.  God forgives the sinner, not the sin.  When you reach out to God and pray, “Forgive us our debts (sins) as we forgive our debtors” (Matthew 6:12), you are acknowledging that 1) You are a sinner, 2) You believe that God cares enough to provide a way of forgiveness, and 3) He can change you and enable you to reach out and love others.  Indeed He has provided a way: “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).  Your debt is real, but Christ has paid it.  You are to simply TRUST Him for what He has done.

As a child, shortly before I was struck down by rheumatic fever and spent five years in a wheelchair, I was standing with a group of boys in an alley, pointing upward at a deaf boy on a second floor landing.  We were laughing at him because he was “different.”  By ridiculing him, we harmed him and sinned against God.  The damage done would have been lasting and was all too real.  He suffered because of what we did.

God cares for that boy, who, if he is still alive, has long since become a man.  The sin, the rejection, the scar in his soul is real, and a price must be paid for what has been done.  I am guilty, but what I did not understand for a long time is that Someone Else has died for my sin.  ALL of my sins were judged on the cross of Jesus Christ.  I cannot go back and change what was done, but the punishment I deserve has been dealt with by the Son of God.  He died in my place.  The price was paid and faith in Him brings both freedom and life.

The boy on the landing and those of us who stood in that alley have the same opportunity: We can trust in the Lord who died in our place - “He (Jesus Christ) was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed” Isaiah 53:5).  He extends this offer to – you.

Father, we know that you continually save and protect the “needy” of this world and we thank You.  We are all needy, Lord.  We are sinners, in need of Your forgiveness.  Thank You that Jesus Christ has died to save us.  We believe in Him, in what He has done, and we receive Him now.  Thank You, Lord, that in Him, we can be forgiven.  Send us Your Sprit and let us love one another.  In Jesus Name.  Amen.