This years Lenten Midweek sermons are prepared by Pastor Brent Kuhlman from Murdock NE. They are examining the 2nd Article of the Creed. This is the sermon for Ash Wednesday.
Joel 2:12-19
The Lord has created you. Given you your body and soul. Eyes and ears and all your members. Your reason and all your senses. And He still takes care of them. He’s the Creator. You’re His creation. Everything that you have comes from God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth. He defends you against all danger. Guards and protects you from all evil. Why? Because of His fatherly mercy and goodness. That’s right! ONLY because of His fatherly divine mercy and goodness! Incredible!
And what do you do? You’re not satisfied being the human being He’s created. You insist on being in control. Self-made men/women! In control of your own destiny! You fear, love, and trust in yourself above all things. Curved in on yourself! A god unto yourself! Yes, that’s right I said it: A GOD UNTO YOURSELF! And so like Adam and Eve we wannabe deities end up running away and hiding! Don’t want to the Lord to find us. Because if He does … well … it all might end sulfurically and hellaciously!
So the Lord sends a pastor. Joel. Pastor Joel comes to you with the Lord’s words. So when you hear Joel – you’re hearing the Lord Himself through His words. You’re squared up to the Lord as Joel speaks the Lord’s words to you.
Joel doesn’t mess around. No chit chat. No talk about the weather today. He goes right to the heart of the matter. And what’s that? Your relationship with the Lord. Or – the Lord’s relationship with you! And that just might surprise you. Shock you!
“Return to me,” says the Lord. In other words, “repent!” Turn from your sin. From your idolatries. From your wicked ways. From your self-centeredness. That’s the way you were going: the road to damnation. Now it’s time to go a different direction. A new course -- the path of salvation. And that’s the turn back to the Lord. “Return to me with all your heart.” That’s a new heart. A heart that confesses: “I’m a filthy rancid sinner. Rotten to the core. I have sinned against you Lord. I have done what is evil in your sight. I have lived only for myself. I have not loved you Lord, or my neighbor. I only love myself. I’m so, so self-absorbed. I deserve nothing but your temporal and eternal punishment.”
That’s so true. Finally, the truth comes out. It’s about time. The Lord has shined the lamp of His Word into the light of our darkness. We are sinners. And what we deserve from the Lord frightens the your know what out of us. We’re scared …
But now we come to the biggest question, the biggest issue in your life, both now and forever. It’s the eternal life or death question. What will God do with you? His creature that has rebelled? His creature that runs away and hides? Will He damn you as you deserve?
Only if YOU insist on it.
But the Lord’s cup of tea is “mercy.” He is very bullish on NOT giving you what you deserve. Pastor Propet Joel categorically proclaims to you this day: “Return to the LORD your God.” God the Father Almighty the maker of heaven and earth! God the Father Almighty who created you! “Return! Repent!” Why? Because … (newsflash everyone!) … the Lord, “is gracious and compassionate. Slow to anger. Abounding in steadfast love.”
WHAT A SHOCKER! A MAGNIFICENT SURPRISE! The Lord isn’t who you thought He was! All along you believe falsely about Him. You feared that He was only out to get you. That He couldn’t wait to get in your face and give you a piece of His mind. And then give you precisely what you deserve. But none of that with the Lord! He’s overflowing with love for you! The very person He created.
He sticks with you – His creature -- through thick and thin. He’s in this relationship with you for the long haul. He remains faithful. Ever faithful. Forever faithful. Just as He’s promised. Genesis 3:15. The covenant He made with Abraham. And with Israel at Mount Sinai.
But what about God’s anger? What about God’s judgment? Where did all that go? If you’re not on the receiving end of damnation for your sin, who got stuck with it?
The answer is: JESUS. Who took on our human flesh. Conceived and born without sin, of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary. Jesus: Your suffering Servant. Who willingly endured all of God’s damning wrath. Where? As he hung suspended between heaven and earth! Stapled to the Tree of Calvary!
What? Jesus damned? Jesus condemned? Yes. Absolutely. Because He who knew no sin was made to be sin as He was numbered with the transgressors. There at Calvary -- He carried all your sin. The world’s sin. In His body. He made satisfaction and answered for all of it. He left none out. Laid on Him was the entire load of your filthy, rotten iniquities! And when all your sin was heaped on Him the Law came and said: “You must die! You are cursed – damned!”
What joy! The Father damns Jesus as the “greatest thief, murderer, adulterer, robber, desecrator, blasphemer, ect. there has ever been anywhere in the world.” Jesus clothed and wrapped Himself in your sin on the Cross. It all belongs to Him. Your sin is His. He took it away from you so that the Law attacks and kills Him.
And since all your sin is laid on Him -- it is no longer on you! Jesus dies – He is damned -- as the guilty one – with all your sin! And so, for Jesus’ sake, you are forgiven. Absolved from all your sin and set free from all its damnation.
Jesus has done the salvation job! All for you.
So, “return to the LORD your God.” Why? “Because He is gracious and compassionate. He is slow to anger. And He abounds (overflows) with love.” That’s Jesus. The Good Friday Jesus who dies for you. The Good Friday Jesus who sheds His sacrificial Blood on the Cross in order to answer for all your sin and its damnation. The Good Friday Jesus who says tonight: “Eat and drink. Do you see that bread? It’s my Body. Do you see that cup? It’s my Blood. The Good Friday Body and Blood that answered for all your sin.”
What a God! The complete opposite of what you would expect. Mercy! Forgiveness! Life! Salvation! For sinners! For you! Given in and through His Son Jesus!
“Return to the LORD your God for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding is in love.”
In the Name of Jesus.
