TAKE THE GOD SHOWER
7/26/09
Those of us who are in the Whitecap Kayak ministry
-have been fairly busy this time of the year
Sometimes, the guides are out for a day
-sometimes, out for 5-6 days camping & kayaking
-then, they get back & need to put everything away & clean up
What I always uniformly hear, sometime soon after the guides get back
-especially after the overnight camping trips
“Ah, I really want to take a shower!”
Why are the kayak guides so eager to take a shower?
Well, after being out there for a few days - you just feel sort of dirty
-you look dirty & greasy,
(though, I think I look worse than anyone else that I’ve seen)
-you smell bad
-there’s the old campfire smell
-that campfire may have smelled good at the time
-but it just doesn’t smell that good a few days later in town
-mixed with maybe, the smell of old DEET mosquito repellant
& sun-screen
-not to mention, certain natural body skin gland secretion smells
-so, you look dirty & greasy, you feel dirty & greasy
& you smell dirty & greasy
It’s time to take a shower!
Showers, feel good - you get clean & you feel better, look better & smell better
-a good shower really feels good, after being gone on a kayak-camping trip
This morning & this afternoon, we want to consider a different kind of clean up
It’s the clean up of the soul & spirit
It’s a clean up - that we should be hungry & desperate for
We should be eager for it & want more of it
It’s God’s clean up of our lives - as He changes us to be like Jesus
Hebrews.10:22
Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.
“Let us draw near to God!”
Do you want to be near to God or far from God?
-I suppose it depends on your status with God
-if you’re in trouble with God - if you are an enemy of God
-you might want to be as far away as possible
Didn’t that happen with Adam & Eve?
-having sinned, they were trying to hide from God
-& that’s what our sin & rebellion does in our relationship to God
-it causes us to be enemies with God & in trouble with God
-so, naturally, in our sin, we’re far separated from God
-our sin causes us to abuse the relationship that we’re suppose to have
-& like someone who has been abusing you
-you get as far away as possible
-we can’t approach God due to our sin
-sin is rebellion & abuse of our relationship to God
Wouldn’t that be sad & tragic - to know there’s a God
-but have Him un-approachable? So far away, you’d have no contact?
Wouldn’t that be so sad to have God so high & mighty
-you couldn’t ever get close?
Well, God is high & mighty,
-but has taken the necessary steps that allow us to come close to Him
Jesus died for us - He served as the sacrifice for us
-so we can approach God - through faith
-this was not always the case - it wasn’t permissible for people to come to God
-other than with sacrifices & through a priest - at certain times
-but Jesus changed all that!
vv.19-22
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith
Realize we’re very privileged people to be able to approach God
-to draw near to God
But are you sincere about your desire to be close to God?
Are you here this a.m. with a sincere heart?
What would an insincere heart be?
-a heart that’s hardened - maybe as we talked about last week
-when we considered the needs of cultivation in the harvest of souls
-the process of God using our ministering love of people
-to soft their hearts?
-a soul that’s not believing, or not trusting
-a soul that’s negative about God & God’s people
-full of jealousy, & discord, & negativism
-a soul that, just doesn’t care! There’s no motivation to seek after God
-to draw near to Him
-& sometimes, we have insincere hearts even as we sit in church
Are you here this morning with a sincere heart?
Do you really want to come to God?
Do you really want God to clean your life up? And make you like Jesus?
e.g. When our Guides come off a long trip
-feeling, looking & smelling dirty & greasy - they want to take a shower
-but now, add the element of needing to go somewhere & see others
-that quickly elevates the urgency of needing that shower
-like this Wed. we got back into town around 5:30 & youth group was at 6:30
-wow, we needed to get through those showers
-because the teens weren’t about to see all their friends that way
-so, we want to approach God - shouldn’t we clean up?
-& God of course, makes all that possible
-He’s the one who cleanses us
v.22
Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.
In the Old Testament times - the priests who were allowed to approach God
-had to go through a cleansing process - before they went to God
-& then, they could come close to God
Exodus 29:1-4
"This is what you are to do to consecrate them, so they may serve me as priests: Take a young bull and two rams without defect. 2 And from fine wheat flour, without yeast, make bread, and cakes mixed with oil, and wafers spread with oil. 3 Put them in a basket and present them in it — along with the bull and the two rams. 4 Then bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting and wash them with water.
Exodus 29:15-16
"Take one of the rams, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on its head. 16 Slaughter it and take the blood and sprinkle it against the altar on all sides.
Exodus 30:17-21
Then the Lord said to Moses, 18 "Make a bronze basin, with its bronze stand, for washing. Place it between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and put water in it. 19 Aaron and his sons are to wash their hands and feet with water from it. 20 Whenever they enter the Tent of Meeting, they shall wash with water so that they will not die. Also, when they approach the altar to minister by presenting an offering made to the Lord by fire, 21 they shall wash their hands and feet so that they will not die. This is to be a lasting ordinance for Aaron and his descendants for the generations to come."
The Jewish believers who would have read this Book of Hebrews
-would understand all this
-much of this book - Hebrews has to do with showing how these O.T. ways
-are now fulfilled in the N.T. times, through Jesus
-all the O.T. sacrifices & priestly offerings were foreshadowings Jesus
-through the blood of Jesus - our hearts have been sprinkled & washed
-our consciences have been cleansed of guilt
-so we can approach God
-our souls have been like washed by the sacrifice of Jesus
-& the power of the Holy Spirit coming over us
-we now have a new life in Christ
-& baptism wonderfully shows this & celebrates this new life in Christ
God cleanses us & changes us - so we’re able to come close to Him
-& have a blessed & wonderfully confident relationship with Him
-we don’t have to worry about smelling bad in God’s presence
-Jesus has cleansed us of our sin
-we’re new in Christ
Hebrews 10:19-25
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another — and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
We’re able to now come near to God - that’s great
-we don’t have to try to hid
-we don’t have a restraining order - that makes us stay away
-because we’ve been so abusive to God
-we don’t have to worry about being dirty before God
-Jesus has cleansed us
And, we can come near to God’s people
The Lord washes us up & works to change our lives through Jesus
-through the power of the Holy Spirit
-through the washing of His Word
-& we’re able to have fellowship with each other
-which helps so much in this whole process of living for God
But notice the importance of Faith
-our hearts need to be sincere & we draw near with a full assurance of faith
Hebrews 11:6
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Baptism is for those who’ve put their faith in Jesus
-& this whole cleansing of the soul & spirit has started from within
-it’s an on-going process
-but there’s been a relationship started with God
-& it all begins when we put our faith in Jesus
-it’s about faith
Acts 18:7-8
Then Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the house of Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. 8 Crispus, the synagogue ruler, and his entire household believed in the Lord; and many of the Corinthians who heard him believed and were baptized.
What a horrible mistake many churches have made in “baptizing” babies
-as if we can enforce our faith on a new-born child
-think of the millions/billions of babies that have been baptized
-& the small percentage who really go on to believe in Jesus
-it only confuses the matter
-giving people a false sense that their Christians - when they’re not
-each & every person, needs to make the eternal choice to believe
-in Jesus as the Savior
-when we sincerely open our hearts to trust in Jesus
-He becomes our Savior
-& the whole process of this wonderful, blessed life of drawing close
-to God begins
-& God asks us to be baptized - to show what has happened
-or is happening in our lives
-to celebrate what God has done for us!
Believe & be Baptized!
v.22
Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.
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