In Jesus Holy Name October 21, 2018 Series: Luther’s Small Catechism Redeemer
Text I John 1:8-9
“Thinking the Things of God”
Confession: Facing the Truth about Yourself
Are you willing to face your past?
The hardest truth you’ll ever face is the truth about yourself. Most of us do whatever we can to keep from facing hard truth about ourselves. It’s always easier to pretend and play games. It’s never easy to come to grips with your failures.
The hardest truth you’ll ever face is the truth about yourself.
Truth rightly told ultimately leads me to God who is Truth. God does not lie, and no liar can stay in his presence (Revelation 21:8).
After being in the ministry for almost 40 years, I have concluded that the first step in solving personal problems is having the courage to tell the truth. The people who dare to tell the truth about themselves are the people who begin to get better.
Is it painful? You bet!
Is it scary? Of course!
Is it easy? No way!
But those people who swallow their fear, endure the pain, and decide to take the hard road of truth are the ones who get better.
Jesus in John 8:32, said: “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” One counselor who reflected on this verse added a phrase:
"The truth will make you free . . . but it will hurt you first.”
Our human conscience is an odd thing.
It’s the moral barometer of the heart that senses when we’ve done wrong.
Everyone has one. (Thoughts from Keep on Believing)
It’s not a matter of religion or education or geography or ethnic origin.
If you’re a member of the human family, you were born with a conscience.
It’s part of God’s original design.
You get a conscience by virtue of being born on planet earth. Conscience is like a street light that flashes green, yellow and red. You can still run the red light if you wish, but you know you’ve done something wrong
John wrote: If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
Nobody, not you, not me not nobody likes to be told they have been wrong and need to repent.
You see the problem is simple. A person who needs to repent is a person who has done something to repent of. Now the world like to soften these repent able acts by renaming them. By calling them: errors, mistakes, lapse in judgment. The Bible refuses to play that game of euphemisms and labels these acts for what they are… sin
Sin is upsetting to God. Sin drives a wedge between the Creator and His disobedient children. Broken ethics, broken commandments destroy relationships. Sin which when left untreated calls for condemnation and leads to diminution. Sounds pretty harsh, doesn’t it. Of course it does.
Unfortunately in our culture our ears have become accustomed to the
phrase: “God is a God of love. He would never send any one to hell.” But people who make that statement believe that God has no right to judge their behavior.
Because the average person’s aversion to repenting, many Christian pulpits have now decided it’s in their best interest to avoid talking about sin, repentance, and damnation. Pastors have found that people in their parish and pews like them better if they preach a message which refrains from accusation and allegation.
Many years ago I heard a story of a church that had a new pastor. He was a straight shooting pastor who believed in condemning sin, broken commandments and calling for repentance. Forgiveness which comes only through faith in the crucified and risen Jesus was offered. He did a good job. But even so there were some of his people, including some of his church officers, who wer upset with his directness.
On day a delegation made an appointment to see him. They entered his office, shut the door…which is always a bad sign. And they began: “Pastor, you are a great guy, but we would very much appreciate it if you could find a way to tone down your messages just a bit. With all this talk about sin and hell, repentance and remorse, contrition and confession you’re scaring people. We don’t think it is anyone best interest to be sacred this way.”
The pastor listened carefully to the people and then, when they had run down, he asked if they would excuse him for just a minute. When that minute was given, he made a bee line for the custodian’s closet and came back with a gallon bottle of bleach, a gallon bottle identified with the typical skull and cross bones.
As the children know, the symbol means POISON. Setting the jug down on his desk the past replied: “Ladies and Gentlemen, I will be glad to do what you suggest if you will do me a favor. Almost all of you have a bottle like this one in your homes. What I would like you to do is go home and soak off the labels and the warnings. Soak them off, and in their stead slap on another label which reads: Apple Juice. Oh, and make sure your label has a photograph of some flawless red apple. What do you think? Do we have a deal?
The visitors were shocked. “Pastor how can you ask us to do such a thing? Our children and grandchildren might not check out the bottle’s contents. They might just believe the pretty picture… read the words, and take a drink. It could kill them.” “I agree.” Replied the Pastor.
And what you are asking me to do…to put a different label on the broken commandments which I preach about, that God has condemned in the Bible.
You want me to say, “God prefers you not to do these things, but when all is said and done…God is not going to get all that upset if you do what you want.” “Folks, the Pastor continued, “In the same way, I cannot relabel sin so it goes down easier.” And he didn’t
In all the gospels, and in each of John’s letters he quotes the words of Jesus. Jesus said: “If you love me keep my commandments.” I Peter 1:15 “But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do…for it is written “Be holy because (God) I am holy.”
You and I already know that is impossible for us. Most of us can hardly go through a day without a thought of gossip in our mind. A curse word slipping from our lips. Wishing or seeking to get what belongs to “Johnson’s” across the street. Even choosing to “skip” Sunday worship. What about the “sins of omission”? or maybe you tend to “stretch the truth a bit.” Which of course is a lie.
God know this is our problem. God knows that human nature does not want to admit our acts of disobedience. Look at Adam and Eve who first broke one commandment in the Garden of Eden. God did not wink at one little act of disobedience. He brought their broken commandment to their attention. He delivered the punishment that sin incurred. And then in an act of love and grace God promised a Savior.
When the sins of the world had grown beyond unbearable. God selected Noah to speak to any who would listen. For many years Noah called people to repentance. When they refused to repent the Lord destroyed the world with a great flood.
Throughout the O.T. God sent His prophets like Amos, Hosea, Jeremiah and others to call His wandering people to repentance for their worship of false gods. God called King David to repentance for his adulterous affair and murder of Bathsheba’s husband.
When John the Baptizer arrived upon the scene in the 1st century, Matthew writes: “In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” John told the people to “bear fruit….live lives that show you are keeping with repentance.”
Preaching repentance has never been a popular thing to do. John found that out. When his call to repentance included King Herod, the prophet was thrown into prison. There, after a while, he would lose his life for refusing to compromise his commitment to the Word of God.
Jesus wants you and me, his people to leave old habits that do not honor God. Leave old habits that break the Ten Commandments. He calls us to admit our mistakes and repent. The Bible is quite clear: “The wages of sin is death.”
Jesus promised that He would send the Holy Spirit after He rose from the dead and ascended into heaven. One of the responsibilities of the Holy Spirit is to convict our hearts of sin. In the Gospel of John Jesus said: “When I go away, the Counselor, the Holy Spirit will come. When He comes He will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment…”
How does a worm get inside an apple? Perhaps you think the worm burrows in from the outside. No, scientists have discovered that the worm comes from inside. But how does he get in there? Simple! An insect lays an egg in the apple blossom. Sometime later, the worm hatches in the heart of the apple, then eats his way out. Sin, like the worn, begins in the heart and works out through a person’s thoughts, words, and actions.
No I don’t know your sin nor your regrets. Our human nature is a slave to sin. Paul wrote: “the good I want to do I don’t…the evil I don’t want to do I end up doing? Who will save me from this human condition? (Romans 7) But I do know that Jesus can erase both. The reason Jesus came into the world was to “save sinners” from the wrath of God’s judgment. Jesus carried our sins, our broken commandments to the cross and left them there. Erased. Forgotten, by God through faith in Jesus.
