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First Church of God
Pastor John R. Wiuff
"Start Fresh, Stay Clean"
January 8, 2012
Medford, Oregon
www.fcog.us
Mark 1:1-12
Pastor John R. Wiuff
"Start Fresh, Stay Clean"
January 8, 2012
Medford, Oregon
www.fcog.us
Mark 1:1-12
There are many people who would like a fresh start, to start at the beginning again with no baggage or obligations hoping for a different outcome. You don't have to be very old to have a strong feeling of remorse and regret for making fateful decisions.
Trying to start over is what many people are doing with a brand new year. Many are making new resolutions, developing new habits and resolving to be different, even better than last year all in hopes that a different outcome will happen in their lives.
The terrible truth is that little will change in their lives despite the effort that is made. Most will not follow through on the resolutions and those who do will find that the desire result is not what they had hoped to attain. The few that actually reach their goals will find that the achieving the mark does not produce the inner peace, and purpose they were seeking.
All of this wasted time and energy is because we start in the wrong place in the wrong fashion. We all have a vague sense of what is wrong and what is right. We want peace, prosperity and love for everyone but we know that it's not possible. We hope but we are prepared for disappointment. Even while we sabotage our own plans we hope that something will change and a new solution will be found.
What if we could find a way that does not fail but succeeds every time? What if we could really begin again, fresh and new with none of the regrets of the past? Would that be something you would raise your hand for and say, "Sign me up!"
That is the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it is so unlike any other change message we often don't realize we are missing the greatest opportunity of our lives when we walk away from the Lordship of Jesus Christ. To understand what this fresh start is all about we need to go back to the start of the Gospel and see how it all begins.
1. The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
2. It is written in Isaiah the prophet:
"I will send my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way"-
3. "a voice of one calling in the desert,
'Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.'"
Trying to start over is what many people are doing with a brand new year. Many are making new resolutions, developing new habits and resolving to be different, even better than last year all in hopes that a different outcome will happen in their lives.
The terrible truth is that little will change in their lives despite the effort that is made. Most will not follow through on the resolutions and those who do will find that the desire result is not what they had hoped to attain. The few that actually reach their goals will find that the achieving the mark does not produce the inner peace, and purpose they were seeking.
All of this wasted time and energy is because we start in the wrong place in the wrong fashion. We all have a vague sense of what is wrong and what is right. We want peace, prosperity and love for everyone but we know that it's not possible. We hope but we are prepared for disappointment. Even while we sabotage our own plans we hope that something will change and a new solution will be found.
What if we could find a way that does not fail but succeeds every time? What if we could really begin again, fresh and new with none of the regrets of the past? Would that be something you would raise your hand for and say, "Sign me up!"
That is the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it is so unlike any other change message we often don't realize we are missing the greatest opportunity of our lives when we walk away from the Lordship of Jesus Christ. To understand what this fresh start is all about we need to go back to the start of the Gospel and see how it all begins.
1. The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
2. It is written in Isaiah the prophet:
"I will send my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way"-
3. "a voice of one calling in the desert,
'Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.'"
Mark 1:1-12
The beginning of the gospel, according to Mark, goes all the way back to the prophet Isaiah that lived long before the first Christmas. The prophet Isaiah predicted that another prophet would come along to prepare the way for the coming of Jesus Christ. The coming of these men preparing the way for Jesus Christ is the beginning of the Gospel. This beginning can't be skipped or ignored. This is a necessary part of the journey to God. If we skip the preparation to receive the Gospel of Christ we will not be able to understand it or be ready to receive it when it comes.
One of the greatest errors of our day is that we don't want to prepare to receive something, we just want it now.
This time of year people are realizing that maybe they should have read the instructions on the gifts they received this year as they stand in line to return Christmas gifts. Skipping the first three chapters of a book will cause you to be confused all through the story while you are trying to figure out who the characters are and what they are attempting to do in their adventure.
The Gospel is the most important event in any person's life and it begins with a preparation of the heart. So how do we prepare to receive the Gospel?
4. And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5. The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. 6. John wore clothing made of camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7. And this was his message: "After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."
One of the greatest errors of our day is that we don't want to prepare to receive something, we just want it now.
This time of year people are realizing that maybe they should have read the instructions on the gifts they received this year as they stand in line to return Christmas gifts. Skipping the first three chapters of a book will cause you to be confused all through the story while you are trying to figure out who the characters are and what they are attempting to do in their adventure.
The Gospel is the most important event in any person's life and it begins with a preparation of the heart. So how do we prepare to receive the Gospel?
4. And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5. The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. 6. John wore clothing made of camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7. And this was his message: "After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."
Mark 1:1-12
Before we can understand the Gospel of Jesus Christ or receive the power of the Holy Spirit we must prepare our hearts by HEARING preaching for repentance, and then we must CONFESS our sins. After the confession a public demonstration of our repentance by baptism in water is required.
This is where the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been short circuited today, sparking out with little or no real power to change lives. A short circuit (sometimes abbreviated to short or s/c) in an electrical circuit that allows a current to travel along an unintended path, often where essentially no (or a very low) electrical impedance is encountered. For example, if a tree limb rests on a live power line it will 'short circuit' the flow of the current directing it down through the tree into the ground while providing a shower of sparks and maybe even start a fire. The power will not flow through the wires and accomplish what it was meant to do and what others are depending on to survive.
When we don't want to hear the message that John brought regarding repentance from sin then we will not be able to confess our sins and turn from them. This short circuits the Gospel of Christ because there is no real understanding how we are responsible personally for His death on the Cross or why we need to make radical changes in our lives.
Today, the preparation for the Gospel has all but disappeared in America as being intolerant and judgmental. To preach against sin, to say that there is anything like sin in this world is to be called preachy, fundamentalist, radical, and prejudice. To prepare for the Gospel of Christ is even being raised to the level of 'Hate Crime' and banned from public broadcasting. We just don't want to hear it and we are passing laws to keep people like John the Baptist from bothering us with his message of public repentance, confession and forgiveness of sins.
Christians will tell you that they don't need to come to church to hear messages about repentance from sin, confession, and public demonstration of their repentance. The theological argument can be made that God through the Holy Spirit can convict anyone anywhere. This is true and that is why no one is without guilt because that is exactly what the Holy Spirit is doing, but He is finding resistance to His work like never before! For those of us who are not humble, sensitive and responsive to the conviction of the Holy Spirit, we need John the Baptist, a Billy Sunday, or a Billy Graham. We need a good 'Hell, fire and brimstone' message to break through our resistance. We need to be told what sin is because we have forgotten, ignored, and dismissed its deadly influence in our lives.
There is a simple way of telling whether someone has started at the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They have not skipped or left behind the repentance of sin and its confession despite how many years they have walked with Christ. In fact they will be quick to admit that they are sinners and struggle with sin every day of their lives. Our awareness of how far from God's will we have strayed grows with a life with Christ. We are quicker to repent and obey Christ and more open about sin and temptation than we are before repentance.
Why are there not more people preparing people for the Gospel of Christ? Why do we fear going to that place where we preach against sin, call on people to repent and confess their sins in a public way? The reason we don't want to do it is for the same reason people did not want to be associated with this preparation in the days of John the Baptist. In those days this message was already being preached by the priests at the temple courts. John the Baptist was not the only person preaching against sin, encouraging confession and the public demonstration of repentance for forgiveness of sins. This is what the priests at the temple in Jerusalem had been doing for a very long time. The difference is that the priests at the temple made it clear that they believed that they were clean already and that everyone else needed to repent. They also insisted that they come to God through them and the ritual of sacrifice.
The temple and the priests only existed because of the resistance of our hearts to the Gospel of Christ. The temple, the priests, the rituals were all meant to teach but they became resistors to the Gospel blocked by the arrogant and unrepentant hearts of the religious who thought they could earn there way into favor with God.
Nothing has changed. We don't want to hear the message of sin, repentance, and public confession either because we sense that the persons who have brought that message have not dealt with their own sin, repented and publicly confessed. John the Baptist came saying he was not worthy to even tie the shoe of Christ. That was a servant's job and he knew his own unworthy status before God and the wonder of Christ. We need to hear the message of repentance again from a repentant heart.
The power of the Gospel begins in repentance and confession. Holiness is marked by repentance and confession. The closer one draws to the Holy Spirit the greater the contrast between His perfection and fallen nature becomes. The only way anyone can draw closer is be repentance and confession and not of any work of our own.
9. At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10. As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11. And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased."
12. At once the Spirit sent him out into the desert,
This is where the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been short circuited today, sparking out with little or no real power to change lives. A short circuit (sometimes abbreviated to short or s/c) in an electrical circuit that allows a current to travel along an unintended path, often where essentially no (or a very low) electrical impedance is encountered. For example, if a tree limb rests on a live power line it will 'short circuit' the flow of the current directing it down through the tree into the ground while providing a shower of sparks and maybe even start a fire. The power will not flow through the wires and accomplish what it was meant to do and what others are depending on to survive.
When we don't want to hear the message that John brought regarding repentance from sin then we will not be able to confess our sins and turn from them. This short circuits the Gospel of Christ because there is no real understanding how we are responsible personally for His death on the Cross or why we need to make radical changes in our lives.
Today, the preparation for the Gospel has all but disappeared in America as being intolerant and judgmental. To preach against sin, to say that there is anything like sin in this world is to be called preachy, fundamentalist, radical, and prejudice. To prepare for the Gospel of Christ is even being raised to the level of 'Hate Crime' and banned from public broadcasting. We just don't want to hear it and we are passing laws to keep people like John the Baptist from bothering us with his message of public repentance, confession and forgiveness of sins.
Christians will tell you that they don't need to come to church to hear messages about repentance from sin, confession, and public demonstration of their repentance. The theological argument can be made that God through the Holy Spirit can convict anyone anywhere. This is true and that is why no one is without guilt because that is exactly what the Holy Spirit is doing, but He is finding resistance to His work like never before! For those of us who are not humble, sensitive and responsive to the conviction of the Holy Spirit, we need John the Baptist, a Billy Sunday, or a Billy Graham. We need a good 'Hell, fire and brimstone' message to break through our resistance. We need to be told what sin is because we have forgotten, ignored, and dismissed its deadly influence in our lives.
There is a simple way of telling whether someone has started at the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They have not skipped or left behind the repentance of sin and its confession despite how many years they have walked with Christ. In fact they will be quick to admit that they are sinners and struggle with sin every day of their lives. Our awareness of how far from God's will we have strayed grows with a life with Christ. We are quicker to repent and obey Christ and more open about sin and temptation than we are before repentance.
Why are there not more people preparing people for the Gospel of Christ? Why do we fear going to that place where we preach against sin, call on people to repent and confess their sins in a public way? The reason we don't want to do it is for the same reason people did not want to be associated with this preparation in the days of John the Baptist. In those days this message was already being preached by the priests at the temple courts. John the Baptist was not the only person preaching against sin, encouraging confession and the public demonstration of repentance for forgiveness of sins. This is what the priests at the temple in Jerusalem had been doing for a very long time. The difference is that the priests at the temple made it clear that they believed that they were clean already and that everyone else needed to repent. They also insisted that they come to God through them and the ritual of sacrifice.
The temple and the priests only existed because of the resistance of our hearts to the Gospel of Christ. The temple, the priests, the rituals were all meant to teach but they became resistors to the Gospel blocked by the arrogant and unrepentant hearts of the religious who thought they could earn there way into favor with God.
Nothing has changed. We don't want to hear the message of sin, repentance, and public confession either because we sense that the persons who have brought that message have not dealt with their own sin, repented and publicly confessed. John the Baptist came saying he was not worthy to even tie the shoe of Christ. That was a servant's job and he knew his own unworthy status before God and the wonder of Christ. We need to hear the message of repentance again from a repentant heart.
The power of the Gospel begins in repentance and confession. Holiness is marked by repentance and confession. The closer one draws to the Holy Spirit the greater the contrast between His perfection and fallen nature becomes. The only way anyone can draw closer is be repentance and confession and not of any work of our own.
9. At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10. As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11. And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased."
12. At once the Spirit sent him out into the desert,
Mark 1:1-12
Starting fresh means to start with repentance and confession but to be clean…that is a gift of God spoken to those who follow in obedience and they are sweetest words on earth or in heaven: "You are my child, whom I love; with you I am well pleased."
Jesus was without sin and did not need to repent of any sins or confess because He had nothing to confess. Yet Jesus insisted that before He begins His ministry that He should be baptized by John for the repentance of sin. This is troubling point for some theologians and students of the Bible. Why does the sinless Christ receive baptism as the outward repentance and confession of sin? He was sinless but his actions would confuse that message. Most scholars will argue that He modeled for us what we should do even though it was not necessary for Himself.
But I believe His baptism was necessary. Jesus was about to be led by the Holy Spirit out into the desert for a time of temptation in which He would have to resist Satan. Jesus was clean, but he needed to stay clean. This act of repentance and confession was not just to start fresh. This is what it means to prepare for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But it is also to stay clean and to walk in the perfect will of Father God. A repentant attitude and a confessing heart is the key to staying in the will of the Father. This is not just for starting fresh again.
Sin is not simply doing something wrong; it is wanting your way instead of God's will. That is why the Bible says in Romans 14:23: "Whatever is not from faith is sin." All the enemy of your souls needs to do is get you into the habit of doing what you want instead of what God wants. Once you are there you are under the control of sin. Eating an apple from a tree can be open rebellion to God just as much as murder. Once we give in to putting ourselves first we have surrendered sacred ground to the enemy.
There is then only one obvious way to keep ourselves from this rebellion. We must continually choose to give our choice and our will to God the Father's will freely and constantly. We must teach our souls to be complaint to God and resistant to all others especially to ourselves. We must develop the heart that continually repents from self direction and turns toward God directed steps. We must confess that unless we yield to the Father we will yield to evil. This baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins is the beginning of the Gospel, but it is also the attitude of faith that will also us to keep the Gospel and stay clean in the dirty desert places of life where we are tempted by the enemy.
You can find many churches today where the members feel like they have repented and confessed enough. They know of nothing they have done wrong. For the most part it is denial and minimizing. There are still sins to be confessed in the church more numerous than may be imagined. The trouble is not un-confessed sins that we repent and turn away from but the attitude that we are not in need of a repentant and confessing heart. Jesus knew that His will was not always in-line with Father God. In the Garden of Gethsemane He struggled with a repentant and confessing heart to line up His will with the Fathers. If He were not able to turn away from temptation and confess his struggle with God, He would not have been able to remain without sin. He would not have stayed clean.
He showed us at the beginning of His three year ministry, and at the end what it takes to start fresh and stay clean. The only question that remains is this: are you willing to do the same? At the end of this preaching for repentance will you walk forward to these altars and recommit yourself to repentance and confession so you can stay within the will of Father God. Some of you need to come so you can start fresh because your sin is obvious to you. Take this moment and start fresh. Others us need repentance to stay clean because the day of our testing is just around the corner and the un-repentance heart that does not confess their need for God in their lives will fail in rebellion and self absorption.
Now is our chance to start fresh and to stay clean by following the example of our Lord.
Jesus was without sin and did not need to repent of any sins or confess because He had nothing to confess. Yet Jesus insisted that before He begins His ministry that He should be baptized by John for the repentance of sin. This is troubling point for some theologians and students of the Bible. Why does the sinless Christ receive baptism as the outward repentance and confession of sin? He was sinless but his actions would confuse that message. Most scholars will argue that He modeled for us what we should do even though it was not necessary for Himself.
But I believe His baptism was necessary. Jesus was about to be led by the Holy Spirit out into the desert for a time of temptation in which He would have to resist Satan. Jesus was clean, but he needed to stay clean. This act of repentance and confession was not just to start fresh. This is what it means to prepare for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But it is also to stay clean and to walk in the perfect will of Father God. A repentant attitude and a confessing heart is the key to staying in the will of the Father. This is not just for starting fresh again.
Sin is not simply doing something wrong; it is wanting your way instead of God's will. That is why the Bible says in Romans 14:23: "Whatever is not from faith is sin." All the enemy of your souls needs to do is get you into the habit of doing what you want instead of what God wants. Once you are there you are under the control of sin. Eating an apple from a tree can be open rebellion to God just as much as murder. Once we give in to putting ourselves first we have surrendered sacred ground to the enemy.
There is then only one obvious way to keep ourselves from this rebellion. We must continually choose to give our choice and our will to God the Father's will freely and constantly. We must teach our souls to be complaint to God and resistant to all others especially to ourselves. We must develop the heart that continually repents from self direction and turns toward God directed steps. We must confess that unless we yield to the Father we will yield to evil. This baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins is the beginning of the Gospel, but it is also the attitude of faith that will also us to keep the Gospel and stay clean in the dirty desert places of life where we are tempted by the enemy.
You can find many churches today where the members feel like they have repented and confessed enough. They know of nothing they have done wrong. For the most part it is denial and minimizing. There are still sins to be confessed in the church more numerous than may be imagined. The trouble is not un-confessed sins that we repent and turn away from but the attitude that we are not in need of a repentant and confessing heart. Jesus knew that His will was not always in-line with Father God. In the Garden of Gethsemane He struggled with a repentant and confessing heart to line up His will with the Fathers. If He were not able to turn away from temptation and confess his struggle with God, He would not have been able to remain without sin. He would not have stayed clean.
He showed us at the beginning of His three year ministry, and at the end what it takes to start fresh and stay clean. The only question that remains is this: are you willing to do the same? At the end of this preaching for repentance will you walk forward to these altars and recommit yourself to repentance and confession so you can stay within the will of Father God. Some of you need to come so you can start fresh because your sin is obvious to you. Take this moment and start fresh. Others us need repentance to stay clean because the day of our testing is just around the corner and the un-repentance heart that does not confess their need for God in their lives will fail in rebellion and self absorption.
Now is our chance to start fresh and to stay clean by following the example of our Lord.
