Sermon Text—–1 Peter 1:18-19
For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.
Introduction:
· From late-night, insomnia-driven infomercials to risque nude shower commercials, we are bombarded with the marketing mantra of cleaners claims as they try to siphon money out of our wallet. Listen to a few examples of these messages that have been rehearsed into our memory:
o New Ultra Clorox bleach has an unbeatable whitening formula that gets even your dirtiest clothes white
o Clorox 2 removes stains and dirt on colors. . .Color safe bleach that is specially formulated to help brighten your clothes. . .to keep clothes looking like new. . .
o For real cleaning power, choose the power of Pine Sol, the smell of clean.
o Softscrub is tough on kitchen grease, bathroom soil, mildew stains, and soap scum. . .solving your toughest cleaning problems without harming your surfaces
o Tilex is specially formulated to dissolve soap scum on contact, without any scrubbing
o Palmolive . . . Tough on grease, soft on hands.
o For over 120 years, one name has meant pure, one name has meant clean. . .Pure Ivory, 99.44% pure
o Dial Soap. . .You’re not as clean as you think. . .Aren’t you glad you use dial
· VIDEO CLIPS—Sauna.mpg and HappyDog.mpg
o Crest. . .Get the clean feeling of dentist. . .it’s gentle on tooth enamel, while removing surface stains to whiten teeth
o Oxiclean, the STAIN SPECIALIST.
o Discover the Secret. Unleash the Power. Tiles and Carpets? Just like new. Kitchens and bathrooms? Smelling fresh. Windows? Crystal clear. Even the garage is free of grease. ORANGE GLO
· Do we really believe these messages? Do these hyped advertisements convince us of a products ability? Or do we know that there is some element of "trickery" when we see that infomercial demo a products "magic?
· Why don’t we hear or see advertisement which focuses on the products inability? You know, like the prescription drug commercials that tell you that this wonderful anti-depression or allergy medicine has a side effect of seizures, brain-tumors, incontinence, or it makes you incredibly fat.
· We don’t hear those advertisements, but we know they are true.
o Palmolive won’t touch that 3-day old lasagna pan that you allowed to harden like a crustacean
o Don’t tell me you, clueless husband, attempted to use an SOS pad to clean hard to remove food and paint, from your wife’s stove
o Yes the bleach took the stain off of the carpet before your wife got home to notice, unfortunately it removed the color as well
o Dial Soap’s cleansing loses its effect on the 2nd or 3rd day after use. Must be re-used daily or you’ll begin to stink.
· The idea of how clean something is, is so completely relative that everyone feels pretty good about their level of hygiene. Take for instance the plumber I saw grabbing lunch after snaking out a toilet. He grabbed and ate his sandwich without bothering to wash his hands. When I mentioned it to him, he said, “oh that just a little poopy water.”
· You get the idea. I say all of this to put in context our passage of Scripture that talks about cleansing. Let me first put it into historical and cultural context by pointing out that our current society’s fixation on clean healthy hygiene is a modern trend.
· Up to 150 years ago, it was unheard of in any society to bathe more than weekly. In fact, entire European palaces were built without one place to bathe. One European historian speculated that the King James, whom our Bible translation is named from, went from cradle to grave without taking a bath. Perfumes were used in lieu of bathing.
o So when the author of our text discusses cleansing, it must be in the context of religious, ceremonial cleansing, because his audience would be unfamiliar with the oral and physical hygiene that are common to the majority of us, with the exception of brother Ian.
· The text is demonstrating the superior cleansing power of Christ’s forgiveness over every other cleansing known to the audience. For us to understand the point being driven here, we must first know some basic Biblical truths.
· This all answers the greatest question about the death of Jesus Christ—– “WHY?”
o Why did He have to die?
o Why did He suffer such pain on the cross?
o The great love and passion He showed upon the cross, WHY was it necessary?
1. Humanity is essentially evil and not good.
a) Despite the predominance of humanistic and optimistic views the Bible asserts that man, at our core, has a proclivity toward darkness and evil.
i) Consider the depravity of sin to which men have sunk in evil historical figures like Hitler, Napolean, Stalin, Genghis Khan, and Charles Manson.
ii) The escalation of men’s sinfulness has reached unimaginable heights as these men have bathed their lives in the blood of innocent thousands and millions.
iii) Consider the darkness that overwhelms a teenagers heart as they go into their sleeping parents and dice their bodies into small pieces.
iv) Understand the horrid blackness that would fill a man’s heart to cause him to joyfully hijack a plane as he sacrifices his life, and the lives of thousands of innocent, unknown fathers, mothers and children.
v) Realize the unthinkable twisted perversions that captivate a man’s mind as forcibly rapes women and children.
vi) Consider the gross anger and violence that seize a man as he would abuse his wife and children.
vii) Consider the hate that fills a man’s heart to cause him to despise and mistreat another man because of the color of his skin or the language of his tongue.
viii) Understand the evil imaginations of men that have stirred hearts to think of weapons of mass destruction and toys of mass seduction.
ix) These are all evidences of the sinful nature that controls our depraved human race.
b) But I know what you are thinking now.
i) You are thinking, I’m pretty good. I’ve never beaten anyone, stole from anyone, or murdered anyone.
ii) Let me point you to the spiritual implications of that DIAL commercial, "You’re not as clean as you think."
(1) Jeremiah 17:9 states "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" You may not have done evil, but you have pondered it.
(2) (Matthew 5:21-22) Jesus says: "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire"
(3) (Matthew 5:27-28) Jesus also says: "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart."
(4) YOU’RE NOT AS CLEAN AS YOU THINK!
iii) Have you ever tried to be perfect?
(1) I have a friend that’s checking out Jesus Christ and he told me in a conversation recently “there’s one teaching from the Bible that I’m sold on. That thing about us all being sinners, I get that. I’ve tried to be good. I am pretty good. But I always find myself doing something wrong. I find myself stretching the truth, or something that I feel guilty for.”
(2) Paul found this and said in Romans 7 “the things I want to do, I find myself not doing. The things I don’t want to do, I end up doing.”
(3) Have you noticed that about yourself? You slip back into the same habits, the same weaknesses, the same resolutions, the same mistakes?
(a) ILLUSTRATION: Tomato plants are staked and green bean vines are wrapped around corn stalks to give them guidance.
(b) Prov 22:6 "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."
(c) Prov 23:14 "Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him."
(d) ILLUSTRATION: You don’t have to teach your child to be selfish, to lie, to cheat. They are evil by nature and correction and guidance will teach them to suppress their evil tendencies.
iv) It’s all about the point of comparison
(1) If you compare yourself to some people, you think “I’m pretty good.”
(2) If you compare yourself to others, you think “I’m pretty ornery”
(3) Compared to Martin Luther King Jr and Mother Teresa, I think “I’m a lazy, selfish bum”
(4) Compared to Saddam Hussein, I think “I’m eligible for sainthood.”
(5) But in the end, it doesn’t really matter how I think I measure up.
v) The real question then, is “Who is the judge and what standard is he using to measure my life.”
(1) If He is measuring me by the neighbor or coworker, I’m not half bad.
(2) But what if He expects more of me?
vi) The only thing God accepts for reward instead of punishment is perfection
(1) Be ye perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect
(2) Be ye holy as I am holy
(3) God is absolutely perfect and any sin is so putrid & detestable to Him that it must be cast away from His presence & reward and destroyed!
(a) Who shall ascend to the hill of the Lord and who shall stand in His holy place? He that has clean hands and a pure heart!
(4) In the eyes of God, you’re not as clean as you think!
(a) Our sin stinks to God!
(b) Our sin is detestable & nauseating to God!
(c) Our sin infuriates God
(d) To be accepted by God, our sin must be cleansed
2. Christ’s blood is the only cleansing and forgiveness from sin.
a) PASSION CHRIST VIDEO CLIP / STILL SHOTS
b) There is a cure for the blackest of hearts, the vilest of sins, the most treacherous of crimes. You need forgiveness, and Christ will forgive YOU!
i) Jesus exclaims to the all-inclusive power of his forgiveness:
ii) Whether you are in human terms “pretty good” or “pretty bad”, you must have this cleansing to be acceptable to God
iii) No matter what you have been stained by, Jesus will cleanse you!
(1) Matt 12:31 "Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men:"
(2) That’s why He died on the cross – He bore the guilt of our sin, the punishment for our sin, and was our substitute.
(3) He took on our filth so that we could take on His cleanness!
(4) And Isaiah resounds this truth ever-so-beautifully:
(a) Isaiah 1:18 "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
(5) The old hymn of the church exclaims:
(a) There is a fountain filled with blood Drawn from Immanuel’s veins;
(b) And sinners plunged beneath that flood Lose all their guilty stains;
(c) The dying thief rejoiced to see That fountain in His day;
(d) And there may I, though vile as he, Wash all my sins away;
(e) Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood Shall never lose its pow’r
(f) Till all the ransomed church of God Be saved to sin no more;
(g) E’er since by faith I saw the stream Thy flowing wounds supply,
(h) Redeeming love has been my theme, And shall be till I die;
(6) That song points to the hill called calvary where there stood three crosses:
(a) One cross that was God paying the price for salvation
(b) One cross that was a thief rejecting God’s salvation
(c) One cross that was a thief believing and receiving God’s salvation
3. It is Simple to receive Christ’s forgiveness
a) 1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."
b) Romans 10:8-11 "But what does it say? "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame."
c) Receiving Christ’s forgiveness is not about joining a church, saying a prayer, or any other thing you can do
d) It is about having faith in Him
i) If you believe, you shall be saved
ii) It is not about reciting a prayer or saying the right words.
(1) It is about believing that Jesus is God’s answer to my problem of sin.
(2) Believing that He died for me
(3) Believing that He rose from the dead.
(4) Believing that He is your Forgiver & Leader
iii) Do you believe? Then you are saved!
