[The following is a full manuscript of my sermon delivered on Sunday morning, the 3rd of April, 2016. Look for the video on our Vimeo channel, http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]
[This message references the song, “East to West”, by Casting Crowns.]
Around two years ago, when I was still a candidate to be your pastor, your search committee listened to a recording of one of my sermons. A month or so back, one of the members of that committee told me that they would really like for me to give that message here, for my Pilgrim family. And I thought this would be an appropriate time to do so, even if a slightly abbreviated version, for that message is all about being worthy.
Over the last two weeks we’ve looked at the sacrifice Jesus made for us on the cross, and how God resurrected Him from the grave. Jesus took the punishment we deserved, defeated death just so we would not have to suffer death for eternity. We have done nothing, we could never do anything, worthy of that sacrifice. Fortunately for us, God has a plan.
Listen and follow along as I read to you from the Contemporary English Version of our Bible, from the Book of Hebrews, chapter 10, verses 10 through 18…
Around two years ago, when I was still a candidate to be your pastor, your search committee listened to a recording of one of my sermons. A month or so back, one of the members of that committee told me that they would really like for me to give that message here, for my Pilgrim family. And I thought this would be an appropriate time to do so, even if a slightly abbreviated version, for that message is all about being worthy.
Over the last two weeks we’ve looked at the sacrifice Jesus made for us on the cross, and how God resurrected Him from the grave. Jesus took the punishment we deserved, defeated death just so we would not have to suffer death for eternity. We have done nothing, we could never do anything, worthy of that sacrifice. Fortunately for us, God has a plan.
Listen and follow along as I read to you from the Contemporary English Version of our Bible, from the Book of Hebrews, chapter 10, verses 10 through 18…
10 So we are made holy because Christ obeyed God and offered himself once for all.
11 The priests do their work each day, and they keep on offering sacrifices that can never take away sins. 12 But Christ offered himself as a sacrifice that is good forever. Now he is sitting at God’s right side, 13 and he will stay there until his enemies are put under his power. 14 By his one sacrifice he has forever set free from sin the people he brings to God.
15 The Holy Spirit also speaks of this by telling us that the Lord said,
16 “When the time comes,
I will make an agreement
with them.
I will write my laws
on their minds and hearts.
17 Then I will forget
about their sins
and no longer remember
their evil deeds.”
18 When sins are forgiven, there is no more need to offer sacrifices.
--Hebrews 10:10-18 (CEV)
Let us pray… Father God, I am but Your servant, trying to provide a voice for Your words. Please speak through me, Lord, the message You want Your children to hear. Lessen me, please Father, that we all might better see Your Son Jesus. In the blessed name of Jesus we pray. Amen.
How many of you remember Wayne and Garth? They were characters played by Mike Myers and Dana Carvey in Saturday Night Live skits and in the movie “Wayne’s World”. Whenever they’d meet a celebrity, such as Alice Cooper in the movie, they’d bow down and chant over and over, “We’re not worthy! We’re not worthy!” Well, when it comes to God and His magnificent grace, we certainly aren’t worthy.
“Worthy” is defined as “having sufficient or great merit, character, or value; being deserving”. Are we deserving of God’s grace? Is there some great merit or character or value about us that makes us deserving of His great love?
The prophet Isaiah certainly didn’t consider himself worthy. Listen to what he says in the 6th chapter of his book, verses 1 through 7…
How many of you remember Wayne and Garth? They were characters played by Mike Myers and Dana Carvey in Saturday Night Live skits and in the movie “Wayne’s World”. Whenever they’d meet a celebrity, such as Alice Cooper in the movie, they’d bow down and chant over and over, “We’re not worthy! We’re not worthy!” Well, when it comes to God and His magnificent grace, we certainly aren’t worthy.
“Worthy” is defined as “having sufficient or great merit, character, or value; being deserving”. Are we deserving of God’s grace? Is there some great merit or character or value about us that makes us deserving of His great love?
The prophet Isaiah certainly didn’t consider himself worthy. Listen to what he says in the 6th chapter of his book, verses 1 through 7…
1 It was in the year King Uzziah died that I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of His robe filled the Temple. 2 Attending Him were mighty seraphim, each having six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. 3 They were calling out to each other,
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies!
The whole earth is filled with His glory!”
4 Their voices shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire building was filled with smoke.
5 Then I said, “It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. 7 He touched my lips with it and said, “See, this coal has touched your lips. Now your guilt is removed, and your sins are forgiven.”
--Isaiah 6:1-7 (NLT)
Do you remember how the Apostle John often describes himself in his Gospel account? He refers to himself as the one whom Jesus loved. Surely he is worthy, right? Listen to what he says when Jesus first revealed Himself in the Book of Revelation, chapter 1, verses 17 and 18…
17 When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as if I were dead. But He laid His right hand on me and said, “Don’t be afraid! I am the First and the Last. 18 I am the living one. I died, but look — I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and the grave.
--Revelation 1:17-18 (NLT)
So just who might be worthy? Are any of us? Can any mortal man be worthy? Listen to what John recorded a little further on in Revelation, in chapter 5 verses 4, 5, and 9…
4 Then I began to weep bitterly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll and read it. 5 But one of the twenty-four elders said to me, “Stop weeping! Look, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the heir to David’s throne, has won the victory. He is worthy to open the scroll and its seven seals.”
9 And they sang a new song with these words:
“You are worthy to take the scroll
and break its seals and open it.
For you were slaughtered, and your blood has
ransomed people for God
from every tribe and language and people
and nation."
--Revelation 5:4-5, 9 (NLT)
If only Jesus is worthy to open the sealed book, to stand before God, then we mere humans are all doomed, right!?! Ah, but remember what the angel, the winged seraphim, told Isaiah. “Now your guilt is removed, and your sins are forgiven.”
Our sins are forgiven. King David put it like this, in verses 11 through 13 of his 103rd Psalm…
Our sins are forgiven. King David put it like this, in verses 11 through 13 of his 103rd Psalm…
11 For His unfailing love toward those who fear Him
is as great as the height of the heavens above
the earth.
12 He has removed our sins as far from us
as the east is from the west.
13 The Lord is like a father to his children,
tender and compassionate to those who fear Him.
--Psalm 103:11-13 (NLT)
If you listened to the song I had the guys play before the start of our service, those words of David will sound familiar. We are speaking to God in that song and we say: “I know You’ve cast my sin as far as the east is from the west, and I stand before You now as though I’ve never sinned.” But then Satan pokes us and doubt starts creeping in and we fear it all might change: “But today I feel like I’m just one step away from You leaving me this way.” God speaks to us through the prophet Jeremiah to calm those fears, in chapter 31 verses 31 through 34…
31 “The day is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. 32 This covenant will not be like the one I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant, though I loved them as a husband loves his wife,” says the Lord.
33 “But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel after those days,” says the Lord. “I will put My instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be My people. 34 And they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their relatives, saying, ‘You should know the Lord.’ For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will know Me already,” says the Lord. “And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.”
--Jeremiah 31:31-34 (NLT)
The author of the Book of Hebrews quoted part of this in our reading this morning. The new covenant Jeremiah speaks of is Jesus, a covenant sealed by His blood shed for us. A covenant written upon the cross, from one scarred hand to the other.
God makes two promises here, to not only forgive our sins but to forget they ever happened. He will forget on purpose. He has decided not to remember how badly we acted against Him.
But with that promise and that covenant comes a responsibility on our part. We make a promise of our own, and we do it each time we pray as Jesus taught us: “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” If we are to be forgiven, we must be willing to forgive. And really, forgiving is for our benefit. It takes away the burden of anger and resentment and bitterness that we carry around when we continue to hold a grudge.
Oh, and this includes being ready and willing to forgive ourselves. When we’ve done something truly terrible, it’s easy to believe no one could ever forgive us, especially not God. We think we’re not worthy of His forgiveness.
Well, family, I hate to say it, but… we are NOT! Only Jesus is worthy. We’re not worthy and we can never be worthy, not on our own!
But the Good News - the Gospel - is that we don’t have to be worthy! By God’s great love and grace and the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross, we are washed clean of our sin. We are justified and made worthy by the blood of Jesus, shed for us! Our sin is forgiven AND forgotten!
No matter what we’ve done, when we repent, seek God’s forgiveness, and follow His Son Jesus, He will wash us clean and turn our darkness into Light. This is how much Jesus does for us, how much He loves us. As far as the east is from the west. From one scarred hand to the other.
We will be sharing Holy Communion with our Lord in a few moments. The Apostle Paul cautions us not to come to the Lord’s table if our heart is not right with God. If we just believe in Jesus, accept Him as our one true Lord and Master, promise to follow His commands, and repent of our sin against God, He will forgive and forget those sins. And we will be made right with Him. For He loves us just as far as the east is from the west. From one scarred hand to the other.
Amen.
Let us pray… Father God, we are not worthy. We’re not worthy of Your love. We’re not worthy of Your Son’s sacrifice. But by Your great grace and by that selfless act of Jesus, You not only forgive us of our sins, but You forget they ever happened! We are washed clean of our sin by the blood of our Savior!
Hear us now, Father, as we come before You with bowed heads and humbled hearts, repenting of our sinful ways and dedicating ourselves to our Lord Jesus…
Christ Jesus, You took our punishment. You bore our stripes. You died so that we might never experience eternal death. We’re not worthy, Lord. Thank You for loving us anyway, for loving us as far as the east is from the west, from one scarred hand to the other. In Your precious name, dear Jesus, we pray. Amen.
[Holy Communion with our Lord followed in the service.]
God makes two promises here, to not only forgive our sins but to forget they ever happened. He will forget on purpose. He has decided not to remember how badly we acted against Him.
But with that promise and that covenant comes a responsibility on our part. We make a promise of our own, and we do it each time we pray as Jesus taught us: “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” If we are to be forgiven, we must be willing to forgive. And really, forgiving is for our benefit. It takes away the burden of anger and resentment and bitterness that we carry around when we continue to hold a grudge.
Oh, and this includes being ready and willing to forgive ourselves. When we’ve done something truly terrible, it’s easy to believe no one could ever forgive us, especially not God. We think we’re not worthy of His forgiveness.
Well, family, I hate to say it, but… we are NOT! Only Jesus is worthy. We’re not worthy and we can never be worthy, not on our own!
But the Good News - the Gospel - is that we don’t have to be worthy! By God’s great love and grace and the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross, we are washed clean of our sin. We are justified and made worthy by the blood of Jesus, shed for us! Our sin is forgiven AND forgotten!
No matter what we’ve done, when we repent, seek God’s forgiveness, and follow His Son Jesus, He will wash us clean and turn our darkness into Light. This is how much Jesus does for us, how much He loves us. As far as the east is from the west. From one scarred hand to the other.
We will be sharing Holy Communion with our Lord in a few moments. The Apostle Paul cautions us not to come to the Lord’s table if our heart is not right with God. If we just believe in Jesus, accept Him as our one true Lord and Master, promise to follow His commands, and repent of our sin against God, He will forgive and forget those sins. And we will be made right with Him. For He loves us just as far as the east is from the west. From one scarred hand to the other.
Amen.
Let us pray… Father God, we are not worthy. We’re not worthy of Your love. We’re not worthy of Your Son’s sacrifice. But by Your great grace and by that selfless act of Jesus, You not only forgive us of our sins, but You forget they ever happened! We are washed clean of our sin by the blood of our Savior!
Hear us now, Father, as we come before You with bowed heads and humbled hearts, repenting of our sinful ways and dedicating ourselves to our Lord Jesus…
Christ Jesus, You took our punishment. You bore our stripes. You died so that we might never experience eternal death. We’re not worthy, Lord. Thank You for loving us anyway, for loving us as far as the east is from the west, from one scarred hand to the other. In Your precious name, dear Jesus, we pray. Amen.
[Holy Communion with our Lord followed in the service.]
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