Sunday 1 September, 2013. Jeremiah 2:4-13; Psalm 81:1, 10-16; Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16; Luke 14:1, 7-14 Jeremiah 2:13 reveals the true nature of sin and the true misery of sin. ‘My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water." Sin consists not so much in the naughty, hurtful, selfish things that we do or think, but in the attitude of heart that rejects God, that resists his grace, that refuses his life and blessing in order to make a life for ourselves. Sadly this attitude leads inevitably to the real misery of sin. Having forsaken God, the spring of living water that brings us life, we have gone and dug our own cisterns. A cistern is not a well. A well is a vertical shaft from the surface of the ground down to a spring or subterranean source of water. A cistern is a hole in the ground that is water proof, but is not connected to an underground spring. It only collects the rain that falls into it or the water that is collected from elsewhere and put into it. We have rejected God, the spring of living water, and have dug our own holes in the ground, but the holes are broken. They leak. They do not supply water and they cannot hold the water put into it. In other words, having rejected God, having rejected life, we have embraced a living death that cannot support life and simply awaits not only the first death, but the second death of judgment as well. Hebrews 13 "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever." (Heb 13:8) Jesus Christ is for us today precisely what he was for us "in the days of his flesh." As he offered himself as both the priest and the sacrifice on his cross, so he continues today his priestly ministry on our behalf. If we sin, we have an advocate with the Father. He always lives to make intercession for us. He has entered the most Holy place and he will return to bring eternal salvation. He is the crucified Lord. He is the risen Saviour. The events of Easter, his death and resurrection, have removed the barrier between his time and our time. He is the Lord of all times, the only name under heaven given to men of all ages, of all times, of all epochs, by which we must be saved. The grace of God revealed in him "there and then" is for us in all our "here and now"s. That he lives and continues this priestly ministry is the final nail in the coffin for any attempt to save ourselves or to find some other saviour, another lord, however high and mighty. For we are lost and damned without the crucified and risen Son of God, the only Saviour of sinners who was crucified between the thieves and who gave himself up for our sins, the only living mediator between humanity and God.
Posted on: Mon, 26 Aug 2013 05:59:01 +0000
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