I enjoy reading Mikey’s Funnies at times. It is a humorous, daily, blog post from Mike Atkinson. Some time ago, he posted this:
If you can start the day without caffeine; if you can get going without pep pills; if you can always be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains; if you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles; if you can eat the same food every day and be grateful for it; if you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you any time; if you can overlook it when those you love take it out on you when through no fault of yours something goes wrong; if you can take criticism and blame without resentment; if you can ignore a friend's limited education and never correct him; if you can resist treating a rich friend better than a poor friend; if you can face the world without lies and deceit; if you can conquer tension without medical help; if you can relax without liquor; if you can sleep without the aid of drugs; if you can say honestly that deep in your heart you have no prejudice against creed, color, religion, or politics; then, my friend, you are almost as good as your dog. (Mike Atkinson, Mikey's Funnies, 6-26-02, www.mikeysfunnies.com)
It’s pretty bad when you realize that your dog has more decency than you. So many people strive for goodness, but never seem to find it. So many people struggle to live free from guilt and sin, but realize they aren’t half as good as their dog.
Does that describe some of you? Would you like to live truly free from guilt and sin? Then don’t make the mistake that some people do. Don’t depend on a restrictive religion, which is limited in its procedures, place, people, and power. We saw that a couple of weeks ago. Trying to live by a set of rules and rituals only enslaves you. No!
If you want to live a life truly free from sin and guilt, there is a better way. And if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Hebrews 9, Hebrews 9, which shows us that better way.
Hebrews 9:11-12 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. (ESV)
After Jesus died on a cross, shedding His blood as a sacrifice for our sins, He entered into heaven itself. He did not go into any earthly sanctuary. Instead, He entered into the presence of God Himself; and there, He secured for those who trust Him an eternal redemption. That is to say, He purchased their forever freedom with His own blood!
So, if you want to live truly free from sin and guilt, then don’t depend on a restrictive religion. Instead, enter into a redemptive relationship with Jesus Christ. Get close to Jesus. Trust Him with your life. Live your life in dependence upon Christ, and…
LET HIM SET YOU FREE FOREVER!
Let Him deliver you unceasingly. Let Him rescue you for all eternity.
Four years ago (2014), the Ebola virus was spreading all over West Africa, leading to a horrible, bloody death in most of its victims. Though urged to leave, Dr. Kent Brantly with Samaritan’s Purse stayed in Monrovia, Liberia, to care for sick Ebola patients. Then in July of that year (2014), he caught the Ebola virus himself. As his condition grew worse, he was flown to the United States in an air ambulance. However, before he left Liberia, one of his former patients, a 14-year-old Ebola survivor, gave him “a unit of blood” for a transfusion.
After his recovery in August 2014, Brantly donated his plasma to Samaritan's Purse colleague Dr. Rick Sacra and freelance cameraman Ashoka Mukpo, both of whom were receiving treatment for Ebola. Brantly also donated some blood to another American Ebola patient, Dallas nurse Nina Pham.
You see, doctors believe that when confronted with a virus, the immune system creates antibodies to specifically target that virus, kill it, and keep it from coming back. Once a person has antibodies, they stay in their blood for life. If the Ebola antibodies found in an Ebola survivor's blood can be imported into a struggling Ebola patient's body, those antibodies can theoretically help the patient's immune system fight off the deadly virus. Doctors say that even though the sick person's body is trying to make antibodies, an infection can be so overwhelming that the sick person's immune system might not be able to keep up with the invading virus. As a result, the sooner someone gets a plasma transfusion, the more likely it is to help that person recover. (Sydney Lupkin, “Why Blood Transfusions from Ebola Survivor Dr. Ken Brantly Could Help Survivors,” ABC News, 10-14-14; www.PreachingToday.com)
In a much more potent and effective way, the blood of Christ cures the believer from a much more deadly virus, the virus of sin and guilt. Brantly’’s blood was effective in curing some patients with Ebola, but those patients will eventually end up dying of some other condition. On the other hand, Christ’s blood is 100 percent effective in providing eternal life to everyone who is dying without hope. His blood doesn’t just save people for this life. It saves people for all eternity!
All you have to do is accept Jesus’ blood payment on the cross for your sin. All you have to do is welcome Him into your life and trust His blood to save you forever. Please, if you haven’t done it already, trust Christ with your life and let Him set you free forever! More than that, trust Christ with your life, and…
LET HIM SET YOU FREE FROM GUILT.
Let Him deliver you from the bondage of condemnation. Let Him rescue you from the restriction of regret.
Hebrews 9:13-14 For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. (ESV)
Religious ritual can only make a person clean on the outside. Christ’s blood cleans a person on the inside!
Since the author of Hebrews is speaking to a Jewish audience, he reminds them of a couple of Jewish rituals. One involved killing goats or bulls and sprinkling their blood on those considered “unclean.” The other involved, killing a red heifer, burning its carcass to ashes, and sprinkling those ashes on someone who had touched a dead body (Numbers 19). This made them ceremonially clean. It purified their flesh, i.e., it cleaned the outward body. On the other hand, Christ’s blood cleans the conscience! It purifies a person on the inside!
There are too many people trying to assuage a guilty conscience through religious ritual, through good deeds, or through some act of penitence. Now, these things can make you look good on the outside. But they are ineffective to clean your conscience on the inside. Verse 14 calls them “dead works.” I.e., no matter what you do, you can’t get rid of the regrets through those kinds of works.
It reminds me of an old Ziggy cartoon where Ziggy spots water dripping from the ceiling and says to himself, “I should fix the roof.” Then he notices how dirty the floor is and adds, “I should give the floor a good scrub, too.”
On a tour of his house, he also noted that he should fix the cracked plaster; he should clean out the closet; and he should use his time better.
In the end, Ziggy is sacked out in an easy chair telling himself, “I should stop should-ing myself.” (Fritz Ridenour, How to Be a Christian without Being Perfect, p.167)
The conscience can nag you with all kinds of should’s and shouldn’t’s; and usually, they are all good things. Things like you should pray more; you should witness more; you should go to church more; you should do this or that. But if you’re not careful, those should’s create such a burden of guilt, they incapacitate you!
A relationship with Christ, on the other hand, sets you free from all the should’s and shouldnt’s of life. It sets you free from all the regrets and the bondage of self-condemnation.
Years ago (2004), Maylo Aames shared her testimony in Billy Graham’s Decision magazine. Her life was as bad as it could get. Bud, her mother's boyfriend, raped and beat her for years. Maylo's mother ignored the abuse her daughter suffered. Even her father refused to listen to her cry for help. Maylo says, “The older I got, the more I fought with Bud – and the more violent the rapes became. He told me if anyone ever found out what was going on, he would kill me.”
Maylo eventually escaped to Hollywood and a life of drugs and alcohol. She began an acting career and put an end to her destructive behavior.
Then a visit to the doctor brought news of internal damage created by the years of abuse. Maylo would also have to undergo an operation for cervical cancer. This increased her rage for the man whose abuse made it unlikely she would ever have children.
Maylo described the operation as a turning point.
“Even though I didn't know God,” she said, “He began to heal me. Before I fell asleep in the operating room, my doctor leaned over and said, ‘When you wake up, there won't be one spot in you that that man has touched. You will be clean.’” Then when she woke up, she said, “My body was my own. My doctor will never know what a gift he gave me that day.” (Maylo Aames, "I Will Not Forget You," Decision, June 2004; www.PreachingToday.com)
Later, Maylo came to faith in Christ and found an even greater cleansing! The doctor could only clean her body. Jesus cleaned her conscience from all the regrets of her past. Jesus purified her completely on the inside.
Please, let Jesus do it for you. Stop trusting in the “dead works” of religious ritual, and start living your life in dependence upon Christ. Trust Christ with your life, and let Him set you free forever; let Him set you free from guilt. And finally…
LET HIM SET YOU FREE FROM SIN.
Let Him deliver you from bondage to ungodly influences. Let Him rescue you from slavery to the power of evil in your life.
Hebrews 9:15 Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. (ESV)
Christ’s death sets you free from sin!
The Old Covenant said, “Obey and you will be blessed; disobey and you will be cursed.” None of us could obey, so Jesus negotiated a New Covenant between us and God. It’s a covenant with unconditional blessings for all who are “called” verse 15 says.
So who are “the called”? It is those who hear and accept God’s offer of eternal life. It is those who trust Christ with their lives. They, and they alone, receive the promised eternal inheritance.
Under the Old Covenant that inheritance was conditioned upon our obedience. But under the New Covenant, That inheritance is no longer dependent on our obedience. It is no longer dependent on our ability to keep all the rules. It is no longer dependent on our faithfulness to God, but only on His faithfulness to us. That’s because Jesus’ death purchased our freedom from sin!
The movie Les Misérables, is based on the novel by Victor Hugo with the same name. It opens with a homeless man curled up on a stone bench in a French City. The townspeople are afraid of him, but eventually a stranger points to a place where he can find some refuge.
The homeless man goes to the door and knocks. The homeowner, the town's bishop, is startled by the late-night visitor but attentively listens to his story. His name is Jean Valjean, and he tells the bishop that he is a recently released convict and marked by the authorities as dangerous. Even so, the bishop welcomes him into his home and serves him dinner.
Later, in the middle of the night, despite the bishop's kindness, Valjean double-crosses him. Take a look… (show video: Les Miserables Stolen Silver)
Valjean remembers the sparkling silver spoon he used to eat his soup at dinner and sneaks to the dining room to steal the bishop's valuable silverware. The clanking of metal arouses the bishop, who rises to inspect the clattering below. When they meet face to face, Valjean strikes the bishop, leaving him unconscious, and escapes with a heavy knapsack of silver.
The following morning the bishop's domestic servant laments the loss of her silver, but the bishop seems unperturbed, telling his domestic servant, "So we'll use wooden spoons. I don't want to hear anything more about it." Moments later, authorities appear at the bishop's manor with the stolen silver and Valjean handcuffed.
Looking deeply into the thief's eyes, the bishop says, "I'm very angry with you, Jean Valjean." Turning toward the authorities, he asks, "Didn't he tell you he was our guest?"
"Oh, yes," replies the chief authority, "after we searched his knapsack and found all this silver. He claimed that you gave it to him."
Stooping in shame, Valjean expects the bishop to indict him. A new prison sentence awaits him. But the bishop says, "Yes. Of course I gave him the silverware." Then, looking intently at Valjean he asks, "But why didn't you take the candlesticks? That was very foolish. They're worth at least 2,000 francs. Why did you leave them? Did you forget to take them?"
The bishop orders his domestic servant to hurry and fetch the candlesticks, while the authorities stand dumbfounded. They ask, "Are you saying he told us the truth?"
The bishop replies, "Of course. Thank you for bringing him back. I'm very relieved."
The authorities immediately release Valjean, who is shocked by the turn of events, and the bishop thrusts the retrieved candlesticks into Valjean's knapsack.
Once the authorities leave, the bishop drops the heavy bag of silver at Valjean's feet. After peeling away Valjean's hood, which was cloaking his guilty face, the bishop sternly looks him in the eyes and orders Valjean, "Don't forget?don't ever forget you've promised to become a new man."
Valjean, trembling, makes the promise and with utter humility asks, "Why are you doing this?"
The bishop places his hands on Valjean's shoulders, as an act of blessing, and declares, "Jean Valjean, my brother, you no longer belong to evil. With this silver, I've bought your soul. I've ransomed you from fear and hatred. Now I give you back to God." (Les Misérables, released 1998, based on the novel by Victor Hugo; written by Rafael Yglesias, directed by Bille August; www.PreachingToday.com)
With His blood, Jesus bought your soul. He ransomed you from fear and hatred. He redeemed you from sin, and now He gives you back to God. That’s the condition of every believer in Christ. You are now free from sin and its power over your life, and you are now free to live the life God called you to live.
Religion can’t give you that kind of freedom, but a relationship with Christ can! So stop trusting in the “dead works” of religious ritual, and Start living your life in dependence upon Christ. Trust Christ with your life, and let Him set you free forever from guilt and sin.
George Whitefield, an 18th Century evangelist, explained it this way: “I have put my soul, as a blank, into the hands of Jesus Christ my Redeemer, and desired him to write upon it what he pleases. I know it will be his own image.” (George Whitefield. Christian History, Issue 38; www.PreachingToday.com)
You do the same. Put your soul as a blank piece of paper in Jesus’ hands, and let Him write His own beautiful image there.
