OPEN: There’s been a story in the news recently about the US Dept. of Housing and Urban Development, otherwise known as HUD. Apparently HUD has had a problem balancing their books. It seems their books were off about (PAUSE) $516 BILLION dollars. Now that’s not an error of a few 100,000 dollars… or a few 100 million dollars. That’s an accounting error of several HUNDRED BILLION dollars!!!
Now, the question is… how did this happen? How does a government agency misplace $516 billion? Well, the article I read on this said: “Some of the errors were caused by HUD rounding dollar amounts to the nearest ‘billion,’ when financial guidance calls for rounding to the nearest ‘million.’”
Well that explains everything!!! If they’d just rounded to the nearest MILLION rather than the nearest BILLION, everything would have been OK! What I find more disturbing – that the government misplaced $516 billion… or that they are comfortable rounding things off to the nearest million. You know, if I could round to the nearest million I could afford all kinds of things… at least for a while.
APPLY: Now you might ask: "Jeff why are you talking about accounting on Easter?" (I wait until someone asks me that question). Well I’m glad you asked that question. I’m talking about accounting today, because Easter is all about accounting.
Romans 14:12 says “… every one of us shall give ACCOUNT of himself to God.”
And Hebrews 4:13 declares “Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give ACCOUNT.”
In other words – the day will come when you and I will stand before the judgment seat of God and God will open up the books and we’ll have to account for how we’ve lived on earth.
ILLUS: When I was younger, I went to Purdue University for a couple of years, and while I was there, I took a semester of accounting. I learned just enough about accounting to know that you don’t want me balancing your checkbook. I think I maybe got a "C" - because I never could master the concepts well enough to do any better. But I do remember that accounting is merely the art of “counting”. That’s why it’s called “AC-COUNTING”.
The idea is that you count your INCOME on one side of the ledger, and you count the money you SPEND and the money you HAVE LEFT OVER on the other. If both sides of the ledger are equal… they say your books “BALANCE”, because there’s as much money on one side as on the other.
Now, what’s that have to do with Easter? Well, when people think about standing before God, they tend to think in terms of balancing their books. They realize they’ve done so many bad things in life - and so they try to balance the books by doing as many “good things” as they can.
ILLUS: Years ago, there was a CEO of General Electric by the name of Jack Welch. Dan Rather had him on 60 Minutes (TV News magazine) and asked Welch, “What’s the toughest question you have ever been asked?”
Welch thought for a moment and then responded, “The toughest question I’ve ever been asked is ‘Do you think you’ll go to heaven?’”
“How did you answer that question?” Rather asked.
Welch replied, “It’s a long answer, but I said that if caring about people, if giving it your all, if being a great friend counts – despite the fact that I’ve been divorced a couple of times, and no one’s proud of that. I haven’t done everything right all the time. I think I got a shot. But I’m in no hurry to get there and to find out any time soon.”
Welch acknowledged that he’d messed up many times in his life. But let me repeat what he said: “If caring about people, if giving it your all, if being a great friend COUNTS… I think I got a shot.”
Do you see what he’s saying? He’s keeping score. On one side of the ledger he acknowledges he’s messed up in life. But on the other side of the ledger he’s hoping he’s done enough that will COUNT and balance out his books before the eyes of Him to whom he’ll have to give an ACCOUNT.”
Now that’s a nice thought… but there’s a couple of problems with that kind of thinking. 1st – (did you notice?) he’s not sure he’ll go to heaven. Most people – when you ask if they think they’re going to heaven say “I HOPE SO”. What they mean by that is that they don’t know if they’ve DONE enough to get into heaven. And apparently, neither did Welch: “I’m in no hurry to get there and to find out any time soon.”
Why isn’t he in a hurry? Because he DOESN’T KNOW if his books balance, and he has this really bad feeling… that maybe they don’t.
And the Bible agrees with Welch. It tells us NONE of our books balance. “… All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
ILLUS: Does that mean I have sinned fall short of the glory of God? Does that mean the Elders have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God? Does that mean all the Sunday School teachers have sinned and fall short of the glory of God? Does that mean that ALL of you have sinned and fall short of the glory of God?
That’s exactly what it means. We ALL have sinned and FALL SHORT of God’s glory.
In other words: if you think you’ll get into heaven because you’ve done good deeds … you’re in for a rude awakening. You’re not going to make it based on how many good deeds you’ve done, or how good your good deeds have been. Because ALL of us have sinned and we’ve ALL fallen short.
Now, just in case you don’t believe that just imagine what would happen if God were to come down into this worship service right now and were to recite all the bad things you’ve DONE, and all the bad things you’ve SAID, and all the bad things you’ve THOUGHT. If were to do that today and aired all your dirty laundry in front of everyone… do you REALLY think that all your good deeds could wipe away all the shame, and all the guilt and all the disgust you’d feel? Me neither.
ILLUS: The frank truth… is this: Our books don’t balance. I heard about a man who asked his wife to balance the checkbook. He came home that night to find she had four neatly typed pages, detailing all the expenses of the past months- the milkman, the cleaners, the grocery store, and many others. One entry read, "E.S.P. $24.21." "What does E.S.P. mean?" he asked. "It means an ‘Error Some Place’” she replied.
That’s what the Bible says that’s what’s wrong in our lives. There’s an error someplace … and the error is our sin.
Now a lot of people – when faced with that reality – are really uncomfortable with that so they want to try to make themselves look better than they are. Do you know what it’s called in the financial world when someone wants to make the books look better than they actually are? It’s called COOKING THE BOOKS! They fudge on the facts - they cheat with the charts - they hide what they’ve done wrong in the hopes no one will find out. And with financial book cooking… that works for a while. But then one day somebody looks at the books - who knows what they’re looking at. And then the jig is up.
Essentially, that’s what happens with our sins. People will hide their sins in the somewhere in the background. They often do this in one of two ways.
One way is to try to divert your attention from their sins. It’s kind of like a magician. Have you ever seen a magician? What they do is called "sleight of hand" - which means they do one thing with this hand (wave your right hand high in the air) to distract you while they’re actually doing what they intend to with their other hand (put your left hand down by your side and wave it wildly). They whole idea is to get you so focused on the one hand (wave the right up high) that they don’t see what you’re doing with your other hand (wave the left down low).
That’s what people will sometimes do with their sins. They’ll say “Look at this” (wave your right hand up high) so you don’t see what you’re doing in their own life (left hand low). “Look at Uncle Fred and how he lives (right hand). I would never behave like that (left hand).” They’ll do the same with the people they work with, or their neighbors, or some religious or supposedly highly moral person. As long as they can keep your focus off THEIR sins, they keep that part of the ledger hidden from you.
ILLUS: Another way to try and hide their sins is to “MINIMIZE” their sins so their sin doesn’t look so bad. They’re kind of like the guy who was filling out a job application, and he got to the question about whether he’d ever been arrested for anything. He wrote: “Well, I once stole a pig… but it was a really SMALL pig.”
It seems that everybody does it. It seems that everybody minimizes the size of their pig. They try to make their sin seems small so that you and I think of ourselves as pretty nice people. Why? Because we all want to be seen as the heroes of our own stories. None of us want to walk around with a big “L” on our foreheads (Loser).
And so we cook the books… just a little. Just enough to make others THINK we’re pretty nice people.
But the problem is - WE know what we’ve got hidden just beneath the covers of our book. And WE know that one day we’ll have to stand before God and give an account of things we’ve said, done, or thought. And we’re not real comfortable with that.
ILLUS: I remember, years ago, I’d done something I shouldn’t have done. I don’t remember what it was that bothered me so, but I do remember - for just a fleeting moment - being tempted to not ask forgiveness because I thought to myself:
“If I confess this sin to God, He might hold it against me in the judgment. But if I DON’T confess it … He might not know I did it. Maybe I could just hide this sin from God.”
(Pause) Now, how dumb is that??? Hebrews 4:13 tells us “EVERYTHING is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” You can’t hide your sins from God… He knows everything about you. And He knows everything about ME!!!
So, in a sense… I’m trapped. I’ve sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. There’s no way God’s gonna want me up there in heaven with all dirty baggage I know I’ve got in my life. I can’t be good enough to be good enough to earn my way into heaven.
And that’s what Paul wrote about in Romans 7 “… I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do NOT want is what I keep on doing.” Romans 7:19
Now, Paul was a pretty decent guy. In fact, he’s the model of what Christians want to be like. But even he admits to fact that he’s sinned. Even he says he’s not good enough to be good enough to earn heaven.
And he writes: “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” Romans 7:24
(PAUSE) Well, WHO would be able to deliver from his body of death? That’s right – Jesus! Romans 8:1 tells us “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
How did that happen? Well that’s what Easter is all about. Easter is all about God loving us so much that He balanced our books. Romans 5:8 says “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Easter declares that you and I don’t DESERVE to go to heaven but God loves us SO MUCH that He paid the price for our sins
ILLUS: Dying on the cross was a terrible experience for Jesus. When people died on the crosses of that day, they died essentially of asphyxiation. In order to take a breath, Jesus would have had to pull himself up, straining against the nails. Thus breathing and talking were very difficult. But we’re told that, while on the cross, Jesus said 7 different things. Everything Jesus said there was important, but we’re only going to focus one of His statements: “IT IS FINISHED!”
ILLUS: What was finished? One scholar I read said that that “Archaeologists have repeatedly found the Latin phrase consummatum est (which means: "it is finished") scrawled across tax receipts used in those days, indicating that the tax amount had been ENTIRELY PAID.”
Now, what was yesterday (April 15th)? And what is April 15th known for? That’s right – it’s tax day. That when the government expects all of our taxes to be paid. Wouldn’t be great if someone came to you and was willing to write out a check to cover ALL your taxes for ALL time? Wouldn’t you like that? Wouldn’t you like to have your entire tax bill PAID IN FULL!!!
That’s what Jesus’ death on the cross did for us. He paid for our sins IN FULL. They don’t exist anymore. Essentially all of your past DEBTS have been KILLED OFF. That’s why Romans 6 says you can: “… COUNT yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. (Romans 6:11 - NIV)
(See Footnote at end of sermon)
Do you remember I said that accounting is simply a matter of how you COUNT things? God is telling us that once we are baptized into Christ we can COUNT our past as gone. We can COUNT our old way of life as dead. Everything that we’ve been ashamed of and everything that has ever humiliated or embarrassed us - it’s all been buried in that water… and forgotten.
It’s as if God took our ledger and tore out all the pages that had anything to do with our debts – our sins. When we were baptized into Christ all our past remained in that watery grave, and we arose a new creature – remade in the image of Christ. Our books are balanced… our debts are PAID IN FULL.
CLOSE: A man spoke of a dream he’d had.
He said: “After living a decent life, my time on earth came to an end. The first thing I remember is sitting on a bench in the waiting room of what I thought to be a court house. The doors opened and I was instructed to come in and have a seat by the defense table. As I looked around I saw the "prosecutor." He was a vile looking man who seemed to be staring at me as if he completely despised me.
I sat down and looked to my left and there sat my lawyer - a kind and gentle looking man whose appearance seemed familiar to me.
Just then, the corner door flew open and there appeared the judge in full flowing robes. He commanded an awesome presence as he moved across the room. I couldn't take my eyes off of him. As he took his seat behind the bench, he said, "Let us begin."
The prosecutor rose and said, "My name is Satan and I am here to show you why this man belongs in hell." And he proceeded to tell of lies that I told, things that I stole, and I’d cheated others in the past. He told of horrible perversions that were once in my life, and the more he spoke, the further down in my seat I sank. I was so embarrassed that I couldn't look at anyone, even my own lawyer as the Devil told of sins that even I had completely forgotten about.
As upset as I was at Satan for telling all these things about me, I was equally upset at my representative who sat there silently not offering any form of defense at all. I know I had been guilty of those things, but I had done some good in my life. Couldn't my attorney at least have pointed those things out?
Satan closed by saying, "This man belongs in hell, he is guilty of all that I have charged and there is not a person here who can prove otherwise.”
When it was his turn, my lawyer first asked if he might approach the bench. The judge allowed this over the strong objection of Satan, and beckoned him to come forward. As he got up and started walking, I was able to see him in his full splendor and majesty. I realized why he seemed so familiar. This was Jesus representing me, my Lord and my Savior.
He stopped at the bench and softly said to the judge, "Hi Dad," and then he turned to address the court.
"Satan was correct in saying that this man had sinned, I won't deny any of these allegations. And yes - the wages of sin is death, and this man deserves to be punished. However, I died on the cross so that this person might have eternal life and he has accepted me as his Savior, so he is mine, his name is written in the book of life and no one can snatch him from me. This man is not to be given justice, but rather mercy.”
As Jesus sat down, He looked toward the bench and said, "There is nothing else that needs to be done. I've done it all."
The judge lifted his mighty hand and slammed the gavel down. The following words bellowed from his lips: "This man is free. The penalty for him has already been paid in full. Case dismissed."
I turned to Jesus and asked "Have you ever lost a case?" Christ smiled and said, "Everyone that has come to me – and has believed, repented of their sins, confessed Me as their Lord and Savior, and been baptized for the forgiveness of their sins, has received the same verdict as you.
“Paid in Full."
Now, here’s the deal. If you haven’t given yourself over to Jesus, you are still under judgment. Your books still don’t balance and you have no hope of going to heaven. Today you have a choice set before – a choice of life or death. I suggest you take ‘life’. I suggest you lean on God’s mercy. I suggest you give your life to Jesus Christ.
INVITATION
Footnote on Romans 6:11. Since this sermon series deals with the "Math of God" - we're focusing on how God "counts". As my main text I used Romans 6:11 where all other versions say "Consider" or "reckon" rather than "Count" in this verse. But the Greek word "logizomai" can legitimately be rendered "count" as presented in the NIV.
