Introduction:
Our theme for today’s sermon is “prepare to meet the Lord”. No person goes into an important meeting late and without preparation. The first thing to do is to find out all there is to know about the person and about his personal views and expectations. Our most important meetings are those with the Lord and yet we often come late without any preparation when we come at all. It appears as if our meetings at work and with friends are more important than our meetings with the Lord. The truth, however, is that our meetings with the Lord are more important than meetings with kings, presidents and heads of state. These meetings are valuable and affect our eternal destiny. The Lord loves us and values the times He meets with us. He is always present at the scheduled place and at the appointed time. This Sunday we have a scheduled meeting with the Lord here but many of us have come late and without preparation. Do we really value our meeting with the Lord or have we come here for other reasons? Our only reason for coming here today should be to be in His presence, to worship and fellowship with Him, listen to His life-giving words and know Him more intimately.
Step One: Know the Lord
a) God is love
We all need to know the Lord. Today many people make God to be who He is not and that is idolatry. “God is love” and His love for us is unconditional. “He loved us and chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world”. (Eph. 1:4) Did He not create us in His own image and likeness and give us authority over His Creation? Why do we find it so difficult to believe that God loves us?
b) God is righteous
We need to know that God is righteous and that only the righteous are allowed into His presence. We need to know that the righteousness of God is a righteousness that has never known sin before.
c) God is just
We also need to know that God is just. A just God cannot overlook sin and must punish the guilty.
Illustration:
God loves us and has provided a way of escape from destruction without compromising His righteousness and justice. Yet we often have doubts about His love. Ironically, Satan knows how much God loves us. In his attempt to “make himself like the Most High” (Is. 14:14) he sought to use God’s love for man to achieve this purpose. According to the Scriptures “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne and steadfast love and faithfulness go before Him”. (Psalm 89:14) What he could not know was that God through His Son would demonstrate His love without compromising His righteousness and justice. God has never compromised His righteousness and justice. When God heard the cry of His people Israel in captivity He reached out to them in love and through the shedding of the innocent blood of the Passover lamb justified their deliverance. At Mount Sinai God gave them the Law and since no one could keep the Law, He instituted the sacrificial system where the blood of animals was shed to deal with sin. This was to point them to the perfect sacrifice of the Lamb of God when Jesus Christ took our place and bore the full judgement of God on sin so that we could be made righteous. Whereas the sacrifice of animals had to be repeated over and over again because the judgement of God on sin was far greater than the animal sacrifice, the sacrifice of Christ was once and for all time. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross exhausted all the judgement of God on sin since His sacrifice was far greater than the judgement.
Application:
There is therefore no longer any need for a sacrifice. Let us value what Christ did for us and accept His precious gift of the grace of God.
Step Two: Accept His grace
a) God’s gift of forgiveness
The gospel is the good news of the grace of God. It is good news because it is a gift we did not deserve. “All of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23) but we are forgiven because of the grace of God. Our forgiveness does not depend on anything we have done but on what Christ has done for “By grace are we saved through faith, and that not of ourselves, it is the gift of God”. (Eph. 2:8)
b) God’s gift of righteousness
The grace of God does not only lead to the forgiveness of sin but also to the gift of the righteousness of Christ. God gives us a new, holy, and perfect spirit. The presence of the Holy Spirit in the believer confirms that the spirit of the believer is holy and perfect since the Holy Spirit will not live in any other place. Since God is Spirit, our new spirit can commune and fellowship with Him.
c) God’s gift of eternal life
The grace of God gives us the gift of eternal life as God’s beloved children. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, became the Son of man that sons of men may become sons of God.
Illustration:
The grace of God gives us access to His presence where we can meet and fellowship with Him. We need to treasure these meetings through daily devotions and constant praise, worship, and thanksgiving. The Scriptures are heralding the soon return of Christ and it is these meetings that prepare us to be ready to meet Him. No one knows the day or hour of His return but the signs of His imminent return are evident all around us. Israel is often referred to in Scripture as a fig tree and the changes that occur before it bears fruit can be likened to the signs before the return of Christ. The greatest sign pointing to Christ’s return is the birth of the state of Israel on 14th May, 1948. A nation that was destroyed and ceased to exist in AD 70 became a nation again under miraculous conditions 2000 years later. The Hebrew language that had been lost and had not been spoken for 2000 years became the language of the State of Israel. In 1967 Jerusalem was reunited under Israel’s control. We are seeing many other signs. The migration problem with African migrants being sold into slavery, wars, genocides, earthquakes, flooding, starvation, erupting volcanos and effects of climate change are all pointing to the imminent return of Christ.
Application:
Christ came into the world to show us a better way of living. The grace of God works in us, changes us and enables us to live the life of Christ.
Step Three: Live His life
a) A life of rest
The grace of God assures us of a life of rest. After the Creation of the world in 6 days God rested on the 7th day. He rested from creating because the work of Creation was finished. This did not mean that God had no other work to do since he had to sustain His Creation. When man, who had been given authority and dominion over God’s creation failed through sin, a loving God came out of His rest to make a New Creation. When God finished His New Creation, Christ cried out “It is finished”. His work on our behalf secured our rest and this time there was no possibility of failure since the authority was no longer vested in man but in Jesus Christ. We are to rest from the work that Christ has finished but we still have to work out what Christ has worked in us.
b) A life of righteous living
Christ was made sin to make us righteous to enable us live a righteous life. We cannot work to become righteous but we have to work out the righteousness that has been worked in us through righteous living. Many people, including believers, after being made righteous by grace turn back to works in an attempt to attain righteousness instead of working out the righteousness they had freely received through righteous living.
c) A life of a son
The work of Christ has made us sons and daughters of God. We cannot work to become sons and daughters of God but as sons and daughters we can work to please our Father through a life of love and compassion.
Illustration:
Grace is God’s gift to us; our new life is our gift to God. Our new life is a life of rest from the finished work of Christ. Our new life is also a life that should manifest what the grace of God has worked in us. The grace of God has made us righteous. We are to rest assured we have received God’s righteousness but we have to work out our righteousness through righteous living. We are to work to keep ourselves from all unrighteous acts. We are to work at telling the truth rather than lies, being honest rather than cheating, living lives that are pure and not sinful. The grace of God impacts every area of our lives. It secures our prosperity “for He became poor that we might be rich” but we have to work out what God has worked in us. We do this when we lead a simple life and avoid an extravagant lifestyle, pay our tithes, give offerings, budget wisely and save. The grace of God has secured our health for “with His stripes we were healed” but we have to work out what God has worked in. We have to work at it by exercising, taking enough time to sleep, eating right and avoiding harmful substances such as alcohol, cigarettes, and drugs. The grace of God has secured our acceptance by the Father and made all things available to us but we have work to do to deal with and eliminate all harmful habits.
Application:
God does what we cannot do but expects us to do what we can do. We cannot work for what the grace of God has freely made available to us, but it is our responsibility to work till we become like our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Conclusion:
We are in the season of Advent and preparations have already begun to celebrate the day the Word became flesh. God is love and He so loved us that He sent His Beloved Son on a most difficult mission to save us from destruction. The Creator of the World, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, could not find a place in an inn and was born in a manger. When He was born very few people took any notice. The religious leaders who knew the prophecies concerning the place of His birth and were told the time of His birth made no effort to make the short journey from Jerusalem to Bethlehem to see and worship Him. Herod showed more interest than they did even though his reason was to kill Him. The preparations being made this advent is sadly no different. For many people there is no place in their hearts for Christ and their focus is not to worship Him but on buying, feasting and making merry. Are you preparing for His return this same way?
Personal Response:
God is love and His grace provides all that we need to make us ready for His return. Let us continue to work out what God has worked in us as we prepare to meet Him to the praise and glory of Almighty God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen!
