Monday, April 25, 2011

“The Man in the Middle”

Luke 23:39-43

A man knocked on my door last week and introduced himself as a member of a local church called the Jehovah Witnesses. He invited me to his church for their Easter Service this weekend. He told me that some people think that they don’t believe in Jesus Christ, but he assured me that they do believe in Him. The service would be a memorial to His life and ministry on the occasion of His death.

I told him that I wouldn’t be able to attend, as I would be attending another Easter Service for which I was already obligated. We wouldn’t be holding a memorial service for Jesus but a celebration of His resurrection from the grave and in our hearts. That’s why here this morning. How about you?

All over the world people are gathering for memorials and celebrations. Some are doing both and between these different expressions of faith is a world of confusion about exactly who Jesus Christ really was.

When Easter comes I like to remember and read in the Bible once again the events of what we call Holy week or the Passion of Christ. I have watched films and attended large passion plays in out door theaters to remember all the details of that event. The meaning flows from the story and can be very hard to miss. Yet many will miss the meaning again this Easter and I don’t want us to be among them.

Sometimes on Easter morning I address the believers as I look at the disciples as they follow Christ to the Cross and beyond. Sometimes I consider the crowd that shout His praise and then demand his death just a short time later. We can be an angry mob and deny Christ and the foot of the cross.

Today I want us to consider the three crosses and the men that hung upon them, especially the man in the middle. He hangs between two men who don’t understand who He really is and in a crisis they all share. These are three desperate men, criminals but the man in the middle is about to change history.

39. One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”
Luke 23:39-43

This man was a criminal who wanted to survive the sentence of death. He was a desperate man and who can blame him? Who here would not fight for your life when it is threaten? We all want to live and die. Whether we are guilty of our crimes or not, no one in their right mind wants to die. I really believe all three men on the crosses that day were desperate to live.

Some people won’t even talk to God until they are in the desperate place where it is a life and death situation. Most people will start talking to God before they are at death’s door but almost all of us won’t come until we are desperate. What will it take to get you to talk to God? How bad do things have to get before you will start a conversation with Him and cry out to Him?

I so identify with this criminal. I don’t know what his crime was but it was bad enough that he was sentenced to death on the cross. When he shouts at Christ he doesn’t deny the charges and claim to be innocent. He just wants to live.

We are all criminal in God’s eyes when we first come to Him. We have stolen from Father God what is most precious to Him. We have murdered His only Son. We have broken all His laws and defied His good and perfect will in our lives despite many warnings. If God were to judge us guilty today He would be well within the right and the verdict is death, first spiritual, then physical and finally eternal.

The first criminal is like you and me when we shout at God and blame Him for all the evil in this world and for all the harm that comes our way. We don’t hurl insults when things are good but only when things turn bad for us in particular because that is the way criminals think. They are only interested in the law when it affects them in a negative way then they become bias experts.

A desperate criminal will confess to anything and do anything to avoid the punishment of death. They will want to make deals, but if they find nothing is working they will work the angles to find what will motivate those who stand in judgment over them. In the Easter story we have a criminal appealing to fellow criminal and not to the judge. He hurled insults trying to motivate Him to save Himself and make a break from the judgment of death. He may have heard that the man in the middle was innocent but then don’t all criminals claim to be innocent? They only think he was interested was whether Jesus had the power for a jail break or not. He wanted Christ to answer the scoffing of those who dared Jesus to come off the cross. The sign above the head of Jesus said, ‘King of the Jews’, and the soldiers yelled at the man with the crown of thorns, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.” (Luke 23:37).

Jesus did not answer the soldiers or the first criminal. The criminal was desperate and willing to do anything to save Himself, but Christ would not respond to his desperate plea for salivation any more than He would acknowledge the mocks of the Roman Guards.

All were under the sentence of death that day but these who called on Christ to save Himself were in the greatest danger. Have you ever appealed to God believing that you could find leverage with the God of the Universe by making a bargain? I find it the height of foolishness to think that we would have any bargaining position with the creator of the Universe. The Lord God saw us getting ourselves into a desperate situation long before we became aware of what we were doing. He even tries to stop us but we ignored our conscience and went right into law breaking until the law caught up to us.

Should we be surprised if Christ is not interested in the desperate calls of guilty people who are only interested in avoiding punishment and in making prison deals? I am afraid that there are many desperate people in the world today who are like this criminal and they pleas, bargains, and threats are a waste of time. No deal will be made for them.

There was another criminal who was very different than the first one. He hung on the cross on the other side of Christ.

40. But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? 41. We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”
42. Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
Luke 23:39-43

This second criminal is desperate as well, but his desperation is different than the first criminal. He knows that there is no way out of the sentence or off the cross. His thoughts turn towards what will happen he dies and the second court case he must face and the second verdict upon his life. If men can judge him and get it right what hope does he stand before the Holy God of the Universe to be judged. He is going to the court of Heaven with a criminal record and plenty of evidence of his guilt. His desperation is born from the fear of standing before a just God and be found guilty of all his sins against God.

In his fear of God He has even given up rationalization, saying ‘that his crimes aren’t so bad because everyone breaks the law at some point in their lives.’ Dealing honestly with his condition he knows when someone is lying and when someone is telling the truth. He knows just by looking at Christ that Jesus was not a career criminal. He was not guilty like them. If there could be still one good man who was innocent then he could not longer appeal to being no worse than anyone else. The final excuse he had before God was removed by the innocent man in the middle.

So many people who I talk to are desperate like the first criminal and I can’t really help them, nor can God. If we allowed them to escape or gave them one more chance they would just do more harm to other and continue to break the Law of God. There is no heart change, only the cries of a desperate person trying to avoid the consequences of their own lives.

Few people are like the second criminal who fears the judgment of God more than any court or prison here on earth. He feels the weight and conviction of his conscience upon his soul and no longer rationalizes or justifies his actions. Scoffing and mocking have been dropped for the desperate reality of confession. So far under conviction he knows God would be right in sending him to an eternity in hell. He knows that to let loose criminals in heaven would only ruin the place with sin and rebellion of the lawless.

This desperate man is a person who I can relate to and I hope you can as well. If you can’t I pray that someday you will relate to this criminal and know the desperate place that the conviction of a guilty conscience can bring you if you will face the truth.

As this second criminal faced the truth the most he could ask for and the best he could hope for was to be remembered. He wanted to matter to someone after he had died. All three men on the crosses that day were facing the same death and all were desperate. One was desperate to escape, one desperate to be remembered and the third desperate from something very different.

The second criminal was asking for a memorial service in heaven but the man in the middle had something very different in mind.

43. Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
Luke 23:39-43

Jesus was a desperate man but not to escape what was coming and not to be remembered at a memorial service. He was desperate to do the will of His Heavenly Father. In the ultimate act of faith he would face not only death for the first time but taste the bitterness of sin as He took the sins of the world upon himself. Physical death was not as bitter as those sins. I know this because some of those sins were mine. They were so vile as to cut Jesus Christ off from Father God for the first and only time in infinity. That’s when Jesus cried out from the cross “My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?” Then he followed this was a statement: “It is done!” Christ had accomplished what Father God had requested and bore the guilt of my sin upon that cross. Your sins was on Him that day.

What we are desperate for is revealed in where we look. Have you ever heard that old country song “Looking for Love in all the wrong places?” We look for what we desperately want. The first criminal was desperately looking for an escape. The second criminal looked to be remembered after he had died. What was the man in the middle desperate for? We can tell by where he looked.

Jesus final words were to Father God, “Father, into your hands I commend my Spirit.” With those words He died.

With those words he lived. Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, looked to the Father and for a resurrection by the Father’s hand on the other side of the grave. When He looked to Father God, he placed his whole life into His hands and trusted Him to take Him through to the other side…to paradise.

Paradise is not an island, or a golf course. It is not the happy hunting grounds or some version of Los-Vegas. Paradise that Christ looked to was to be by the Father’s side. He was leaving this world having accomplished on the cross what the Father requested because Jesus was desperate to do Father God’s will. When he got ready to leave he offered to take the second criminal with Him, to give Him more than a memorial service. He would reward the second desperate criminal with an introduction to the creator of the universe, His Father God.

In three days, on a Sunday God raised Him from the dead and know He lives in Heaven and in the hearts of those who are desperate for Him in their lives.

We are all facing death each and every day of our lives. Someday we will be told this is our last day. For others it will come sudden and without warning. Some of us will look for cures, for a way out…a way to cheat death like the first criminal. He wasn’t ready to die and face the judgment that is to come and he knew it in his heart.

Some of us will accept death when it comes and hope that we are remembered by those who loved us and that we made a difference in this world. We are looking for a nice memorial service and loving words on our tombstones. We are like the second criminal hoping the few acts of kindness and faith at the end of our lives is enough to wipe out the harm we have done.

How many of us will be like the man in the middle? How many of us will look to Father God and say, “I trust you even in death.” How many will believe like Christ did that we will be raised and that even the grave can not hold us down when God calls our name. Our way of escape is through the grave. We don’t need to be remembered when Christ Himself will embrace us in His arms.

The second criminal stumbled into those arms and found paradise in the presence of Father God. He asked to be remembered but did all that was necessary to be forgiven and redeemed. He had Godly sorrow for his sin and confessed his guilt to Jesus Christ and the world. He believed that Jesus was the Son of God and lived on this earth without any sin in His life. He asked Jesus to remember Him well in heaven despite his crimes. The only way Jesus could do that was to forgive those sins and that is exactly what Jesus did and without asking for paradise He stumbled into the arms of Christ.

Today you could stumble into the arms of Christ. Today you could do the same. Stop looking for an escape, there is none. Stop trying wipe out the memory of your sins by a few good works. Look to the man in the middle, to Jesus Christ. Confess, repent and be born again. Be desperate for God’s will in your life. No grave will hold you down.

Friday, April 15, 2011

A Biblical Faith: “The Heart of Jesus”

Pastor John R. Wiuff
Hebrews 10:18-25

Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day!

Seventy five percent of chocolate purchases are made by women all year long, BUT the week before Valentine’s Day, that statistic is reversed with 75% of chocolate purchases made by men. Over $1 billion Dollars worth of chocolate will be purchased for Valentine’s Day this year alone.

If the chocolates don’t work then maybe you should try flowers, my favorite way of saying ‘I love you.’ By tomorrow about $1.5 billion Dollars were spent saying ‘I love you.’

But it you really want to express your love to your valentine, nothing says it like jewelry at a tune of $1.4 billion dollars in 2011.

Wow, can you feel the love? Here are some suggestions on how to say “I love you” so that your love for one another goes on forever.

• Make sure you say "I Love You" at least once each day to your spouse.
• Write unexpected love notes.
• Give your mate an unexpected hug.
• Be spontaneous and surprising.
• Share memories and talk about memories you share together.
• Schedule a day to just rest together.
• Listen.
• Share why you love your spouse.
• Give the gift of your time.
• Smile.
• Say I love you in a different language.

Tomorrow is the day that people will want to express to another what is in their heart with hopes that there love will be returned. In many cases this will be an effort to preserve and cultivate the love they already share.

Despite all the advice and efforts we make it really does seem like the words “I Love You” is a desperate offer in a bargain for mutual benefits. How do you say “I love you…” without sounding desperate? There is a love that says, “I love what you can do for me.” There is a love that says, “I love qualities about you that I think are important.”

So, in the end, when we reveal what is in our hearts for another…it comes down to “I love you because I think you are worthy.”

What is in the heart of Jesus? If He were to tell us what is in His heart how would He express His love for us? Would he love us for how we make Him feel, or endearing qualities we display, or for what we can do for Him? Is His love a desperate bargain of mutual benefit?

We know what is in the heart of Jesus and like most things He ever did or said, His expression of love to us is unlike any human love. His love is greater and more amazing than all the valentines rolled together.

You see what is in the heart of Jesus is a desire to cure what is in your heart. He doesn’t want to give you a paper, chocolate, or gold heart this valentine. He wants to change the heart you have. He wants to transform your in most being with His very blood.

A Biblical faith is based on the belief that Jesus’ shed blood is the only remission for sins.

18. And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary.
19. Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20. by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21. and since we have a great priest over the house of God,
Hebrews 10:18-25

Remission is a word that theologians used all the time but most of us know the term not in relationship to Valentines Day but in connection to the terrible plaque of our day: Cancer. If you have ever walked with a person through the terrible threat of cancer you know that the word you want to hear from a doctor more than any other is: Remission.

When a doctor tells you that your cancer is in remission that does not mean that a cancer is cured. Complete remission refers to the situation where the disease disappears completely with the treatment. Partial remission refers to the situation where the disease shrinks but does not disappear completely with the treatment.

So when the doctor tells us that our cancer is in remission that means we are getting better and winning the battle with hopes of beating the disease. When the cancer is in complete remission we have won by beating the cancer back to the point we can’t detect it any more.

The reason the doctor uses the word “remission” is because they know that cancer is never really gone. Doctors now believe we all carry cancer in our bodies but healthy people don’t experience any outbreaks while those who get sick are taken over by the disease. In other words, cancer is in remission in us this morning if we are healthy and no signs of cancer can be found by the doctor.

I can’t think of a better illustration of how Christ says He loves us. He came to tell us that with treatment of His blood our cancerous sin can also be in remission. We have been doing so many things as humans to fight the terrible affects of sin in our lives. We have tried following rules, diets, and self discipline only to find sin flaring up like a tumor or lesion on our vital organs. We have under gone deadly attempts to kill sin and cut it out of our lives and even making tremendous sacrifices to find freedom from sin. Yet for most of us who can never seem to beat it back, denial and acceptance seem to be the only way we have learned to live with the spreading cancerous sin in our lives.

With Christ’s blood, no more treatments or sacrifice are necessary. All we need is an injection of His blood into our veins. It will change our heart and our minds. It will send cancerous sin into remission.

Cure from cancer means complete freedom from the cancer. To render someone cured of cancer, one has to wait and see if the cancer will ever come back. So, time is the crucial factor. If a patient remains in remission for a few years, the cancer might be cured. Certain cancers can reoccur after many years of remission.

The same is true for sin in our lives. The cure of sin, even though it may be dormant in our lives is to be free from sin. With a regular treatment of the blood of Christ we watch to seen if it will come back. Time and treatments are the crucial factors. If we sin continues to be in remission for a few years, the sin may be cured although it can reoccur. That is why we never stop in the treatment because sin lingers waiting to find a moment of weakness to make its come back.

The status of remission is determined by a series of tests and examinations to determine whether a cancer has responded to treatment or not. When we go through hard times and temptations these are tests to see if the cancer of sin is really in full remission.

The Bible tells us that when we begin treatment with the blood of Christ, we too can be confident to come to Christ on a regular basis, to have a change of heart, a new life and a new body. We present ourselves to Him for examination on a regular basis.

Did you know that the priest at the temple was responsible for controlling communicable diseases in the time of Christ? When Jesus cured the ten lepers of their disease he sent them to a priest to be inspected. He knew that they would not be accepted back into the community until the priest declared them cured, that their disease was in full remission. Can you imagine what it is like to be tested and waiting for the verdict before you find out if your disease is in remission, or complete remission?

The word of God says you can come with complete confidence to Jesus Christ knowing that His blood treatment in your veins can put sin in full remission in your life, but only as we continue to have His blood flowing through our veins, pumped by a changed heart.

So how do you begin the treatment and keep it going in your life so you can know not just a partial remission of sin, but the full remission?

22. let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.
Hebrews 10:18-25

There are many ways that the Bible tells us what is in the Heart of Jesus and how it flows to us with healing power. Blood flows through our hearts and the Bible tells us about the blood of Christ and its power. This same healing power that causes sin to go into partial and full remission is also described as water in this passage and in other places as wind.

From Genesis to Revelation these symbols of blood, water, and wind tell us the same truth about what is in the heart of Christ. Love for Father God and the Love of Father God lives in the heart of Christ and it is this Love that makes the one. Yet that Love is not like any human love. It is not a feeling or a romantic interest.

The Bible tells us very clearly that God is Spirit and that God is Love. We are also told that Holy Spirit is the very Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit of God feels, desires, and acts on our behalf. It flows like wind, water, and blood through Father God, Jesus Christ and to any who will open their heart to Jesus Christ through the repentance of sin.

(John 4:24-“God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” 1 John 4:16-“And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. John 3:8-“The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”)

20. “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21. that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— 23. I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
John 17:20-23


Angels marvel this can happen.

10. Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, 11. trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow. 12. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.
1 Peter 1:10-12

And they rejoice when the Holy Spirit enters a new believer at salvation. (Luke 15-“10 In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” )

If this is amazing and marvelous for angels to understand we as limited human being can’t understand this with our minds or emotions. Although we can’t understand it, we can experience this amazing event in our own lives. We can have flow into our hearts what is in the Heart of Christ. We can receive the very Love of God, His Holy Presence, through the Holy Spirit into our hearts this very day.

This gift of the Holy Spirit symbolized by blood, water and wind…can change our hearts for the remission of sin. The bent and temptation to sin will always be in us while we are on this earth but regular dozes of the Holy Spirit will force that sin nature into remission. Often it happens partially and when enough exposure to the Holy Spirit we can experience a complete remission of sin.

24. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25. not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Hebrews 10:18-25

The secret to the remission of sin, partial or complete is to have the Holy Spirit pumping through your heart on a regular basis. When the Holy Spirit flows through us it changes our hearts and that flow is dependant on our hearts beating for Christ.

What gets your heart racing? Winning a big game or jumping out of an airplane? Does the love of a person you thought you could never have send your heart bounding to the point of making you dizzy? Some of us are just dizzy because are hearts have grown weak from lack of use.

You can have the best blood in the world but if your heart is not beating, it isn’t going to do you any good. You can have a deep love for a girl or guy but if you can’t get their heart to beat for you then your love will not be realized. We need a changed heart, and a beating heart to experience God’s love, but we also need keep each other passionate for the Love of God so it does not grow cold in our hearts.

The key is to keep the Holy Spirit pumping and flowing through you. What is in the Heart of Jesus flows to you as soon as you believe and receive salvation through repentance? When that happens the flow is great because we were empty, but soon we are filled and take the fullness of God for granted. If we remain full and stagnate that Spirit can not transform us, or cause sin to go into remission. The Spirit of God, The Love of God is to great for you to contain the fullness. For us to know more of God’s love we must let it flow into us and out again to others. The love of God is meant to be moving and flowing through our lives into the lives of other people. This flow through our beating hearts is the secret behind the complete remission of sin.

How does the heart of the believer pump the Holy Spirit through their lives? We follow the advice in this passage.
-spur one another on toward love and good deeds
-not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing,
-encouraging one another
-remember the Day of Christ’s return is approaching.

The cancer of sin comes from self preoccupation. It is a deadly disease that infected a third of the angels of heaven and all of humanity. It lingers in our very nature but it can be placed into a partial and then a full remission when we get our hearts pumping for God and His Love for other people. Sin is defeated every time and this is how Christ being Human kept himself from sin. His heart beat only for the Love of God.

Take the words advice and discover by experience what beats in the Heart of Christ. Repent and be saved. Let it beat in your heart as well. If you have a clog in your veins, repent of that sin and get the Holy Spirit flowing again. Let the Spirit flowing through your lives beat sin into remission. Give your changed heart to God.

Valentine is tomorrow and some hearts will beat fast when one young person purposes marriage to another. Tomorrow could be the day we stand before God. Will we know Him now in our hearts and enter before His presence with full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.”? Now is the time to have your heart changed with a fresh infusion of the Holy Spirit. Christ promised it to you and it is yours to have if you will come and repent of your sins. Don’t let anything get in your way.



Category 2011 (millions) 2010 (millions) YoY % Chg
Dining Out $ 8,831.20 $ 8,508.30 3.8%
Candy $ 2,593.20 $ 2,466.80 5.1%
Romantic Getaway $ 2,164.30 $ 2,047.00 5.7%
Flowers $ 1,582.50 $ 1,355.20 16.8%
Jewelry $ 1,456.30 $ 1,308.70 11.3%
Clothing & Lingerie $ 1,165.30 $ 1,126.30 3.4%
Greeting Cards $ 822.80 $ 784.30 4.9%
Total $ 18,615.60 $ 17,597.10 5.8%
source: IBISWorld 2011 Valentine’s Day spending forecast

26. For this is my blood of the new covenant that is being poured out for many people for the forgiveness of sins.
Matthew 26:28

77. and to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins.
Luke 1:77

5. Because of his love he had already decided to adopt us through Jesus Christ. He freely chose to do this 6. so that the kindness he had given us in his dear Son would be praised and given glory. 7. Through the blood of his Son, we are set free from our sins. God forgives our failures because of his overflowing kindness.
Ephesians 1:5-7

22. In fact, under the law almost everything is cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of the blood there is no forgiveness.
Hebrews 9:22

Monday, April 4, 2011

A Biblical Faith: “Jesus Provides the only Way to be Saved”

Pastor John R. Wiuff
John 6:35-51

People cannot come to me unless the Father who sent me brings them to me. I will bring these people back to life on the last day.
John 6:44

No one else can save us. Indeed, we can be saved only by the power of the one named Jesus and not by any other person."
Act 4:12

Options, I love them. I want to have many choices and styles to choose from. If I have many choices then I will be able to make the best choice that fits who I am. Since we are all so different, no one choice can fit everyone. Right?

We in America really believe that diversity and freedom to choose from the many based on personal preference of the individual is a universal truth and even a divine right.

We could say choice is our “cup of tea.” There are more teas in this world than just Lipton. In fact many Americans are discovering how diverse and wonderful the choices the world offers us in exotic teas. Not only that, we are slowly realizing what ancient people knew for millennium, that they are actually healthy for us as well as tasty.

I have brought several teas this morning and I have several different teas for us to choose from. Which is your cup of tea? Some are dark black breakfast teas, while others are light herbal, and one a very exotic ancient tea with healing powers. If I were to ask you which is your cup of tea, which would you choose. You would most likely want to smell the leaves and maybe have a taste test, while comparing which appeals to your senses the most.

The choice we make and how we make it is very much the way we approach the various claims of religions. Some religions talk about following rules, and others your bliss, while yet others say the whole thing is an illusion. The world provides us with many ways it claims that we can find our way to heaven. Many even tell us we can determine for ourselves what “heaven” will mean if we just choose their ‘cup of tea.’

In our series on a Biblical Faith we have to face a very difficult fact. The Bible tells us in all the different cups that are being offered, there is only one that will allows us to enter into the only Heaven there is, and all the other cups are poisoned. That might not be the news you want to hear, but if the Bible is right, it could be the most important hint you will receive in your life. If you knew that of all these teas I brought today were actually poisonous and one could cure all your health problems, which one would be your “cup of tea?”

The mood in America that like choices is offended by the idea that I would suggest that not only is their one way to a real Heaven, but that all other paths are poison and lead to death. One commentator on American Culture said…

"These are the days when the Christian is expected to praise every creed except his own."
- ILN 8-11-28 (G. K. Chesterton)

What he means is that I should stand before you and tell you that every tea here is just as good as the next, even though I know they will all get you killed except one. This isn’t about taste or preference. This is about life and death.

Despite the choices that are before us this morning and everything we have been told over the years we still are confused about the decision we need to make today. Barna Research shows us in their research.

More than four out of five Americans claim to be Christian and half as many can be classified as born again Christians. Nine out of ten adults own a Bible. Most adults read the Bible during the year and a huge majority claims they know all of the basic teachings of the Bible. How, then, can most people say Satan does not exist, that the Holy Spirit is merely a symbol, that eternal peace with God can be earned through good works, and that truth can only be understood through the lens of reason and experience? How can a plurality of our citizens contend that Jesus committed sins and that the Bible, Koran and Book of Mormon all teach the same truths?
Barna Identifies Seven Paradoxes
Regarding America’s Faith
December 17, 2002

What this means is that despite what the Bible tells us, we choose to believe that any choice we make is good one, because we just want it that way. This belief that we can decide whatever we want despite what the Bible says has persisted in what American’s believe for decades now. There is a very good chance that someone reading this message or listening to me right now, are among those who believe one cup of tea is as good as another.

Recently a woman expressed what most Americans experience. She grew up church hoping and although her parents thought religion was important she didn’t really understand why they felt that way. Now that she is an mother herself she has come to this conclusion…

No matter what Church I went too the message was still the same. To live life loving yourself, loving and caring for the people around you and to make choices in life that would make Christ proud. We can’t be perfect. No one is, but the secret is to do your best. Failure only exists in the ones who choose to give up. The ones who try never fail. No matter what the outcome.
In my opinion, all roads lead to one God. There isn't any wrong or right religion. If it works for you and it gives you the strength, wisdom and serenity to live in happiness and the will to do good then so be it. 1.
Stacey Chillemi
Published Author
(See foot note…)

Somehow this dear lady grew up in church, attends church now with her children, and still thinks that the Bible says, “Chose any cup of tea you want as long as it helps you find happiness and peace.”

Yet the Bible that most of us owns warns us that not just any cup will save. All will kill and only one has life. Which cup is it?

35. Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36. But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. 37. All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. 38. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. 39. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. 40. For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”

The Bible tells us that Jesus has come to the end of His three year ministry and all that is left to do is to die for the sins of the world upon the cross. Jesus has the same problem I have today and every other pastor who holds out the true and trusted words of God. The problem is that people do not believe the Word of God when it declares that there is only one cup the gives life, and all the others kill.

Jesus came so we would choose the right cup, and live. God is not cruel because He does not give us enough choices. God is good because He is doing everything He can right now to get you to make the right choice and live. God is not narrowed minded, but desperate that we live. He is not pushy but urgent that we understand the danger we are in at this very moment if we choose wrong.

The choice we are given today is Christ or nothing. We must believe that God provides in Jesus the only way to be saved from our just judgment in hell or loose out forever. The only way we are going to see a resurrection is if we make the right choice.

A better analogy is to go back to our teas. What if I told you that you are dying from a fatal disease? Then what if I told you that only one of these teas could save you and all the rest wouldn’t hurt you, but they couldn’t save you from what’s wrong in your body? The Bible tells me that I have fatal disease and it is sin. I want to ignore God and go against my conscience. That nature, that sinful bent is what makes us terminal. Yet on the table is a cure, but only if you chose to believe what the Word says and drink from the right cup.

If you ask a doctor: "Have you ever had to tell someone that they were going to die soon?" He would most likely tell you that it was the hardest thing he did as a physician. But in most cases, he would detect a problem and give them a course of action that, if followed, would save their life.

That doctor isn’t being cruel or harsh. He is being deadly honest and giving hope. Yet even this clear choice is not enough to believe.

41. At this the Jews there began to grumble about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42. They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?”
43. “Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Jesus answered. 44. “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day. 45. It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me. 46. No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. 47. Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life. 48. I am the bread of life. 49. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. 50. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. 51. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”
John 6:35-51

The trouble with making a good choice today about what cup we will drink is that we consider how we are doing right now and see no need to change. We getting along and life is not perfect, but good enough. Unless we are desperate why would we give up our options and commit to only one path? Why get married when you can still have fun with several partners? Why get tied down with kids when you can travel and enjoy life? Why buy a home and be stuck with a job and a mortgage when you can travel the world? In other words, why give up freedom of choice for the commitment of a demanding relationship?

When this part of Christ’s short life on earth takes place time is running short. If Christ wore a watch, He would be looking at it and tapping it with His finger. Soon He would be arrested, stand trial, and be crucified on the cross. Time was running out and those who liked Him but were not committed needed to make a choice. They would not make it through the test that was coming if they did not decide to give up their choices and commit to Him as their only hope.

For our choices to narrow and believe that Jesus Christ is the only way to be saved from an eternity in hell and enter heaven, we need a divine intervention from God. The Bible calls this a conviction. This is an inner sensation of God in our hearts telling us that we need to make this choice or miss our chance to be saved from this world and it’s many choices. This conviction is a deep sense of knowing, a conviction that the Bible is right and all other voices are wrong. We know in our conscience this is the only real choice we have if we are going to live. God narrows the choice for us by this spirit of conviction and without it no one will commit to Christ alone as their only hope of salvation.

Has God placed that conviction in you? Have you made the choice? If you think you still have options, as most American’s do, then you have not experienced the benefits of believing the convicting Spirit of God. When we really believe God’s word, there are no other choices left. Our entire hope is on the Lord Jesus Christ, His death and His resurrection.

53. Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.
66. From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
67. “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.
68. Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”
John 6:53;66;67-69

If you lack that God given conviction, all you have to do is ask for it. Just say a prayer to God and ask Him to give you the gift of a convicted spirit. King David in the Old Testament did this when he prayed,

23. Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24. See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
Psalm 139:23-24

If you ask Father God, He will send the Holy Spirit and convict you what you must chose and narrow your focus to Jesus Christ. He may have already accomplished this in your life because someone else asked Him to bring conviction into your life. But that gift is wasted if we don’t commit to Christ as our only hope.

Jesus made His disciples choose. Peter said, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”

Today I am asking you to make the choice. Now is the time to commit. To accept Jesus and declare Him as your only hope of salvation is the decision we must make today. There are only two possible answers today and that is ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ We must choose.

On the communion table this morning we have a cup for you to drink. This cup represents Christ Himself. His blood is represented by the grape juice and His body by the bread. The only way drinking this juice and eating this bread will make any difference in eternity is if you commit to Christ and reject all other options of salvation. He must be Lord of all in your life, or Lord of nothing. This is no time to hold back because we are going to need this single minded focus in the days, months and maybe years ahead. Just like the disciples before Easter we must be all in and trust on Christ for everything. No other religion or philosophy will save you. They can not cure what is wrong with your heart. They can not remove the cancerous sin from our lives. Only this one cup, the cup of Christ can save us now.

Will you say yes be coming and receiving the Cup of Christ or will you say no and keep your options open? Decide now. Heed the conviction you asked for earlier and make your choice. Now is the day of salvation.


1. Stacey Chillemi is the managing editor for the magazine UZURI. She is the author of Epilepsy You're Not Alone; Live, Learn, and Be Happy with Epilepsy; Epilepsy and Pregnancy: What Every Women Should Know; the children’s book My Mommy Has Epilepsy and My Daddy Has Epilepsy ; and two collections of poetry, Keep the Faith and Eternal Love. She has recently been featured in Woman’s World Magazine and the New Jersey Star Ledger.

Friday, April 1, 2011

A Biblical Faith: “Jesus’ Finished Work”

Pastor John R. Wiuff
Hebrews 7:23-28

It is finished!

That is what I long to say one day about the book I am writing. I will call up all my friends and share the news and tell everyone I am looking forward to their comments. The only trouble is that I know what they will say. My good friends will tell me the truth and say, you’re not sending it off to a publisher like that are you? I’ll say, “Whatever do you mean?” In some nice and gentle way they will point our spelling and grammar error’s along with some missing pieces of the plot.

Embarrassed I will go back to work make the fixes and then announce: It is finished! This time I won’t let my friends have another look at it but post it right away to several publishing houses waiting for wonderful comments and a big fat signing bonus.

The trouble is I know that the publishers will write back and some might say they enjoyed the book and see some possibilities, but with more changes and extensive editing. Embarrassed I will take those suggestions to heart in the hopes of gaining their approval. After passing through several committees, editors, and re-writes I will announced to the world that “It is finished!”

That’s when the literary critics will review the book and offer their suggestions how it could have been so much better. Taking into consideration their comments I may make changes hoping for a second print where they could be inserted. Then the public will start commenting and contradict everything that the critics. Not sure on whom to please I will just give up changing the book and go on to another project.

Isn’t that the way it is with everything in our lives. What we do is never really done but always the “work in progress.” Homes are never really finished or raising children. We never really finish a job we just go home. For us humans “finishing” is when we give up and call it good enough. We run out of time, money, patience, and passion long before any work we are doing is really finished.

I want us to remember how we call something ‘finished’ because we can’t really understand what Christ has done for us and is doing for us if we confuse our way of thinking with His. The finished work of Christ is remarkably different than any work any human being has every attempted.

When it comes to our relationships the last words we want to hear is “I’m finished with you.” We never want people to be finished with us, but not to over stress by our neediness either. I have met many people, even after they become Christians who are anxious about whether Christ is finished with them yet and what that might mean.

You see Jesus did finish a work that He took on for us but He is not finished with any of us yet. It was on the cross where He died that he announced that the work he took on for us was finished.

When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
John 19:30

I would love to say with absolute conviction “It is finished…” but when Christ said it, he meant that He had paid for my and your sins and there was no price left to be paid. He paid it all and no one can say that anything was left owing.

Sometimes when we pay the price of a wrong done to us, in other words, forgive something with out expecting compensation; we are also finished with the person we forgive. Many people forgive to be done with someone, to get free of them so they never have to see them again. Forgiveness for us is often the last act of a dead relationship. Our forgiveness usually sounds like this: “I forgive you and I never want to see you again.”

People who have a problem with God often say He is cruel and unjust, but our actions are often far more harsh in standing and if we had the power that God has, it would indeed be very terrible.

Consider how incredibly different Jesus Christ is when He pays the price for our forgiveness.

23. Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; 24. but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. 25. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.
26. Such a high priest truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. 27. Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. 28. For the law appoints as high priests men in all their weakness; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever.
Hebrews 7:23-28

Jesus does not walk away when He pays the price for the wrongs we have done against the Father. Instead He places Himself in a position where He can serve us and God to make sure the peace he bought is kept.

The trouble with the work that Jesus does is not that it is imperfect, but that we are always getting into trouble. Christ can perfectly save me, forgive me, and intercede on my behalf before God, but after having come to Him I will mess up again and need more help in the future.

Jesus shows us what real love and forgiveness is in that His finished work is not just complete but permanent. He maintains my position of forgiveness before God no matter how many times I might mess up.

That is hard for us to understand someone who can be that consistent in their love and forgiveness towards a person who seems like a perpetual looser. Yet that is just how different the finished and permanent work of Christ is in the courts of heaven. He will never give up on us if we will never give up on Him.

Jesus has the ability to intercede because of His death on the cross and resurrection that placed Him at the right hand of Father God. But it is His unfailing love that helps us when we fail. Paul said it this way…

That is why he is always able to save those who come to God through him. He can do this because he always lives and intercedes for them.
Hebrews 7:25

If you wonder how this works, you are not alone. Ever since Jesus took up this finished and permanent work believers and seekers have wondered what they have to do to be right with Christ. You begin by repenting of your sins and asking Jesus to forgive you and to come into your life to make a heart change.

To begin is the first step but the second step is to persist. When we begin we share in the cross of Christ, when we persist we enter into the courts of heaven where His everlasting love is revealed.

Now, since the dawn of the Christian faith, believers have wondered can I do whatever I want and Christ will keep interceding for me before Father God?

20. …But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, 21. so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
1. What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means!
Romans 5:21, 22; 6:1

We can be sure that Christ will persist in His office of intersession if we honor so great a love of Father God. On the other hand we should be careful not to go on sinning thinking we have a free pass to do what we want now because our Lord will pay the bill. Such an attitude would dishonor the grace and love of Father God. John warns us that anyone who treats such a grace cheaply is in danger…

6. No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.
1 John 3:6

Make no mistake that our salvation in Jesus Christ depends on our relationship with Him. This is not governed by a law but there are some basics about relationships we must understand if we are going to confident in Christ rather than legalities. Some have tried to turn Grace into a legal relationship with God that is binding on Him. The truth is that our salvation is dependent on the attitude that Christ, the great and permanent intercessor before God has towards us.

If He were to deny us we would be in trouble. If He acknowledges us and welcomes us into the Kingdom then Father God will follow His lead. Unlike us His attitude towards those He cares about is not affected by the imperfections of our character, or even the pain we cause Him from time to time. But there is one thing that can’t change His attitude towards us even if we had at one time entered into a relationship with Him. Jesus stated this very clearly in Matthew:

32. “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. 33. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.
Matthew 10:32-33

Peter, the Apostle of Jesus Christ was such a man. He was the first to acknowledge before others that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, the promised Messiah. He did this by the power of the Holy Spirit. He believed with His heart and was committed to Christ.

Peter was also the first to deny Christ after acknowledging Christ. In fact he did it three times at the trial of Jesus Christ, before the crucifixion. Not only that, but Jesus predicted that he would do it despite the objections made by Peter. Now this is how amazing the Love of Christ is towards us. He promises Peter that he will restore him once he falls.

31. “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. 32 But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”

33. But he replied, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.”
34. Jesus answered, “I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me.”
Luke 22:31-34

The faith of Peter did fail just as Christ predicted. Christ warned Peter if he denied Him before other men, then Christ would deny Peter before the father. The denial of Peter was the words “I don’t know Him.” The denial of most modern believers is often, “I just don’t know.” In the story of Peter and in our own denials the following affect is shame. If we are ashamed of Christ He will be ashamed of us. If we boast of Christ with joy and pride then Christ will boast about us with joy and pride.

You see, this is how relationships work. They are not contracts that are binding upon both parties, but a living dynamic that requires us to believe and confess Christ before others if we want Christ to believe in us and acknowledge us before Father God.

We are a small church here in Medford and I have noticed that some have been ashamed to be apart of this congregation. We are not as big, fancy or offering as many programs as other congregations. It would be terrible if we think that is how relationships work in the courts of heaven where Christ is accomplishing His permanent office before Father God. I don’t believe that Christ is ashamed of the First Church of God, as long we keep acknowledging the amazing love of God in Jesus Christ before the world. In fact, I know that this congregation has been the subject of praise and thanksgiving before the throne of God.

Where are you this morning? Is your faith marked by shame or by faith? Do you acknowledge that amazing love of Christ before others or are the words, “…I don’t know” often on your lips?

Do you want to know? Do you want to believe? Then we can be restored even as Peter was after denying Christ three times. Christ just asks us a simple question: “Do you love me?” Is there anyone here who is not ashamed of Christ who would like to stand and declare before us today that they love Jesus Christ for His perfect and finished work? If you would do that today Christ will do the same before Father God. Will you do that right now? Jesus is watching and waiting upon what you do in the next few minutes.

10. With one sacrifice he accomplished the work of setting them apart for God forever.
Hebrew 10:14

20. Through him he also reconciled all things to himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, thus making peace through the blood of his cross.
Colossians 1:20