GOD GENUINELY SURPRISES US!
Several years ago my sister-in-law threw a surprise birthday party for her husband. It was a good one. I have to admit my brother was completely caught off guard. He never saw it coming. The best part was knowing that my brother was genuinely surprised.
To be surprised means that you expect one thing to happen, but then you experience the complete opposite. Today, God proclaims a message that catches us off guard. GOD GENUINELY SURPRISES US! 1) With Unbroken Promises and 2) With Unfailing Forgiveness.
1) With Unbroken Promises
If anybody knew about surprises it was the people of Israel. God had pleasantly surprised them time-and-again. The Lord promised to make them his people. He promised to protect them. He promised to provide for all their needs. God had proven that he was faithful to his promises. He graciously took Israel by the hand, the way a father would, and led them out of slavery in Egypt. He served as their faithful husband. He led them to the foot of Mount Sinai and said, "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery." (Exodus 20:2)
After doing all this for his people, God established a covenant, or agreement, with them. It was a covenant between God and the nation of Israel. It was a covenant based on a certain understanding. God called Israel to be different – to be a light to the other nations, a magnet to attract their neighbors to the Lord. Every detail of an Israelite’s life was prescribed under law given at Mt. Sinai. This covenant was two sided. God would be their God if they would be and act like His people. This covenant was sealed, or ratified, with the blood of a sacrifice by Moses. He even sprinkled the people with the blood of the sacrifice signifying that they were bound to this promise. But, even before the ink was dry, Israel went back on their word. As Moses came down from Mt. Sinai with the 10 Commandments, the people were bowing down to a hunk of gold in the shape of a calf. This was their “baal”, the very word God chose to describe himself. Baal basically means, “Husband.” The Israelites chose to make that idol their “baal”. It was their leader, their provider, and their protector; in short, they wanted this idol to be God. Well, what happened to that old covenant? It was destroyed, broken. The people rejected the Lord.
What kind of people did Jeremiah find in 600 B.C.? He found the same people. There was no surprise. Israel’s kings were weak and corrupt. Its priests were cheats and drunkards. They were still worshipping Baals; following the sleazy fertility cults of the nations around them. They had temple prostitutes, practiced black magic, and even sacrificed their own babies to these idols. There was no surprise for Jeremiah. When you think about it, much of the Old Testament is a record of how Israel destroyed the covenant God established with them. He was faithful, but they were faithless.
Still, there were those who tried to fix it. Many of the religious leaders of Israel knew there was something wrong in their relationship with God. And so they tried to repair this broken relationship with God by attempting to mend the people’s hearts. Very soon man-made laws were established which were meant to take the place of God’s broken laws. People soon got the notion that they could win God’s favor in this way. What’s so sad is that this is not something mere humans can accomplish.
We cannot fix what is broken. The Israelites couldn’t and we can’t. Yet, there’s something in us that has this desire. We want to fix things. Quite often, we’re tempted to repair things that we shouldn’t touch in the first place. We all know amateur plumbers, carpenter, or electricians, and we’ve all heard the horror stories. Talk about surprising! There’s nothing more surprising than trying to fix something you have no understanding of.
That’s the point the Israelites failed to see. God handed down his law with all it’s regulations and rules. The covenant God made with Israel affected every aspect of their lives, from the food they ate to how they dressed. This old covenant required endless animal sacrifices, day after day, year after year. All of this regiment --the regulations and the sacrifices --pointed to two things: 1) there is a high price for sin, and 2) no amount of sacrifice on our part could pay that price.
There’s no surprise that we are sinners. We break God’s law everyday. No surprise there. We all have greedy, selfish, adulterous hearts and minds. Quite often our sinful hearts and minds compel our hands and mouths to carry out their deception. The fact is that we are sinful in thought, word, and deed. We break every single one of God’s commandments everyday.
Now, what’s surprising is that we think – as the Israelites did—that we can somehow fix all of this on our own! Well, the real surprise is that WE CAN’T! We can’t do anything to earn God’s love. We can’t do anything to fix our broken relationship with him. Imagine the surprise of sinful hearts when we hear our Lord proclaim: “I will be their God and they will be my people.” That’s a promise. And God is determined to be faithful to it. What a genuine surprise! God comes to us, and in the midst or all our broken promises, failed intentions, and botched efforts, he says, “I still love you because I choose to.” This was the surprising message Jeremiah had to proclaim to unfaithful Israel. It’s the very same promise God speaks to us.
The Lord demonstrates his own faithfulness in his Son. All the failures of Israel -- every sacrifice offered with less than pure hearts – have been made pure. Not that those sacrifices could atone for a single sin. Instead they pointed ahead to Christ, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. God’s promises remain unbroken. God promises in Romans: “the wages of sin is death.” Sin has a price, and that price is blood. We all have sinned. Blood must be shed. God keeps his promises. The surprise is that he did not punish us for our sins. He did not shed our blood. He sent his own Son in our place to be sin for us.
2) With Unfailing Forgiveness
Forgiveness in Christ – that’s the unbreakable promise we have from God. What can you find in this world that comes with the promise that it is unbreakable? Nothing in this world is unbreakable. The best you can find is a guarantee that if something breaks, the manufacturer will replace the broken item for free. Your God gives you a new covenant, which is unfailing. This covenant will never wear out or expire. That’s because this new covenant is one of full and free forgiveness. God didn’t break his covenant, he fulfilled it. On the night Jesus was betrayed, He took the cup, and said, "This is my blood of the new covenant which is poured out for you for the forgiveness of sins." In the new covenant God "daily and fully forgives all sins to me and all believers." Note how he forgives. He forgives and forgets. Jeremiah records these surprising words: “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” Because Christ’s blood atones for your sin, pays for it, there is nothing for God to remember. The debt has been canceled by Christ. The new covenant is a covenant of forgiveness of sins that rests on Christ’s redemption.
This covenant is unfailing. It won’t let us down. That’s a surprising bit of news. We’re so used to being let down and disappointed. This world is full of disappointment. We’re good at letting one another down all of the time. Our families let us down. Children often show zero respect to their parents. Parents have little time for their children. Husbands and wives often hurt each other by fighting and arguing. Our friends disappoint us by promising to help and lend a hand only to never show up. We disappoint ourselves. We promise to change for the better. We fight to overcome our pet sins, only to have them rise up and tackle us in a moment of weakness. We often surprise ourselves because we think we’ve got what it takes to master the sinful flesh. The surprise comes when we realize just how weak we are. We need a Savior.
Then God surprises us. Every time we look into the mirror and see hopeless, weak sinners, yet, God reminds us of his unfailing forgiveness. He takes away the disappointment. He removes the guilt. He takes us to the cross of our Savior and shows us the extent of his love. And he still loves us everyday. And surprise! This is for all people.
Unfailing forgiveness is a genuine surprise because we truly deserve the very least from God. The surprise is that he gives us the most – his very best! Now, the calendar tells us that the holidays are fast approaching. That means its time to think about all of that holiday shopping. With that come crowded stores, busy schedules, and tired feet. Now, wouldn’t it be easier to just find some old things lying around the house, wrap them up, and give them away as gifts? I don’t think we’d agree. Part of the fun of giving a gift is that you give something new; something that hasn’t been seen, touched, or experienced before. God’s forgiveness and mercy are just like that. God didn’t take the easy way out. He didn’t kick around the closets of heaven in search of some old tarnished trinket to hand to us. He gave the very best. He offered a gift that had never been handled, never been seen, never been experienced before, namely, he gave himself.
So, whenever you feel disappointed, disheartened, worn out, or abused, the Lord will come to you and say, “Surprise! I’ve carried all of that pain for you.” Whenever you feel despised or alone, your Savior will come and say, “Surprise! I’ve been hated and disowned for you!” Whenever you feel filthy dirty, as if you are the worst sinner on earth, you will feel the tender love of Christ as he embraces you. But don’t be surprised when he does. Amen.
