October 6
Jer 6:16-8:7 | PS 78:1-31 | Prov 24:26 | Col 2:8-23
When we spar on politics, whether one wants to admit it or not, pride is often at the root of the argument. Each side often fails to listen as we lift up our own side, and point out the "stupidity" of the other side. Often little gets accomplished as minds are not open, and intents are often not pure. When discussing Jesus Christ, I often explain that this is very different. The motive is love. There is no scorecard kept as to how many are convinced or not. It is an offer, an invitation, plain and simple. Religion is often the main blinding force that prevents one from accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Jesus, Himself, said in John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.", so and all roads approach simply makes no logical sense. But even within the Christian faith, many get puffed up with denominations, or specific pastors or congregations. Though I truly love my congregation at Calvary Chapel Old Bridge, simply attending does not guarantee one's salvation. Being born into a religion, following the specific rotes and rituals outlined also does nothing to engage in an honest relationship with the Savior. Religion actually blinds. Concerning the high holy day, Yom Kippur, in the Jewish faith, according to the Talmud in Yoma (39b), it states approximately 40 years before the destruction of the temple (around 30 AD), mysterious omens began occurring around the temple: the western candle (which was supposed to burn all night) burned out; the lot of the name of God (the lot by which the sacrificial goat for Yom Kippur was selected) came up on the left hand and not the right, as it should, and the doors of the temple opened on their own. This along with the "strip pf crimson wool" which was attached to the "Scapegoat" and a portion attached to the Temple door, no longer turned white, The turning white had happened in all previous years signifying that the sins of the people were atoned for, as the sacrifice was accepted. All of this signified that God had deserted the temple. He deserted the Temple, because the sacrifice for their sins now rested upon the blood of Jesus, not the blood of a goat. What happened as a result? A turning to Jesus? No. Though the Written Law does not explicitly command a fast for this day, it became the rule. Once the Temple was gone, and the sacrificial system was rendered impossible, acts of kindness was the religious response, especially in the week leading up to the fast.
Religion is not a new problem. The people of Judah, before being carried into exile, were still very religious, as the sacrifices were still taking place, etc. We read God's words through the prophet in Jeremiah 6:20, "For what purpose to Me Comes frankincense from Sheba, And sweet cane from a far country? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, Nor your sacrifices sweet to Me.”" When confronted by the prophet, they claimed their hope in their religion, as we read in 7:4, "Do not trust in these lying words, saying, ‘The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are these.’" He confronts the heart of the problem in 7:23-26, "But this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.’ Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but followed the counsels and the dictates of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward. Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have even sent to you all My servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them. Yet they did not obey Me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did worse than their fathers."
Paul wrote in Colossians 2:16-17, "So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ." It doesn't matter if you have a wing of a building named after you in your place of worship. In the past, they would affix a family's name on a small plaque to a pew. This also means nothing. It doesn't matter if your father was Billy Graham. And it certainly doesn't matter what denomination you define yourself by. It doesn't matter how closely you adhere to specific observances, as mentioned above, even the fast was not part of the Written Law. What matters is only one thing, are you or are you not in a true relationship with Jesus Christ, our only hope, the only Savior of the world. Again this is not a matter of pride, or joining a "club". Salvation rests in Him and no other. You either submit to His Lordship or you don't. Once you do so freedom is yours, as we get back to that "Crimson strip" above, and read in Isaiah 1:18, "“Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool." Forgiveness of sins, under the blood of Jesus, the only way!
Messages from Pastor Lloyd Pulley: