In remembrance of HIM!

(Revelation 22:13) “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”

When looking for a certain destination and then to lose our way can be rather frustrating, it is a waste of time especially if there is a deadline. It seems so fruitless, but if we think about all the times we have as Christians been lost in the Wilderness, what then is our conclusion to so many wayward detours? Have they all been a waste of time? Let us think carefully about it; something as simple as losing our way to a holiday destination has in the past shown me other places in South Africa I would never have seen, but now I have! Was it planned? No! Sin can have the same effect on all our lives. I address the Christian, the one who has found grace in the Lord Jesus as God called them by name and opened their eyes to respond through repentance and in Him has found life, true life. Eternal life! Unto Him be the glory now and forever more.

We must remember that opinions can never supersede the Word of God, even when they tenaciously fight to have their way. How I hate myself when I do what I shouldn’t do as a Christian. I am ashamed to say that if all my detours where recorded and placed before me the list would be a long one. I can look at this in one of two ways; I could focus on how useless I am in my own ability as a man to do the right thing, which I am, or I could flip the coin. Flip the coin you say! How one may ask? When I look at all my apparent failure as a Christian I see a lot of disappointment and I find myself trapped and this keeps me in the vortex of my sin. I keep doing what comes naturally and I dig a deeper hole. But as soon as I flip the coin and although I understand the severity on my sin, when I view it through a different set of eyes, what do I see and understand? HOW EPIC JESUS’ SACRIFICE WAS! I am just one man out of billions that have lived and breathed. The Lord Jesus died for all who through time have called upon His name. This is a phenomenal feat! When I look to remind myself how useless I actually am all it really does or should do is show me how great my Saviour is. Praise His glorious name! Through my failure I see His brilliance, as He never failed, even though He sweated drops of blood.

It was such an epic event that God the Holy Spirit impelled the Apostle Paul to pen these words about His death and by so doing getting us as Christians throughout the ages to remember His sacrifice; “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.” (1Corinthians 11:26)

It took God almost 4000 years to teach mankind that even through the law is good; it is a reflection of Himself, it is impossible as a man in the flesh to attain to His glorious heights. And yet when he created man, it was in His image; Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness… (Genesis 1:26) - What then was the purpose of the law, what is it meant to achieve for sinful man? Much could be said about this but I believe that the most important role the law has is to teach us about ourselves in reflection to who God is and that we needed a Saviour to save us from ourselves. The law was instituted to teach us about our sin; “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.” (Romans 3:20)

Once we understand this we will then look to call out for help, we will look for a Saviour, praise the name of Jesus! This obviously happens at salvation, but it does not end there, it is a daily on-going process that needs to captivate our lives. It seems that when we begin to take Christ’s achievements on Calvary for granted that we end up needing to be reminded of where and what we have been saved from. It is often our own sin that reminds us of His sacrifice. We get lost and then find ourselves on our knees calling out for help; this in itself is a good place to be for the child of God. Nevertheless, there is a danger with perpetual sin in our lives, our conscience could become seared. Paul puts it like this; “through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared.” (1Timothy 4:2) – May God help us to at the very least be honest with ourselves when it comes to the own sin in our lives.

  

With that said, let us remember that God is the mastermind behind the Salvation of mankind, for all those that receive Christ’s Spirit, this then is the encouragement, especially when we slip and fall into sin; “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28) – This is not merely a suggestion or a consideration; it is a fact, no matter what the other voices in your head may be propagating: “By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written, "That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged." (Romans 3:4)

This then is what Christ achieved for every true believer; everyone who receives His Spirit has this hope in them that one day we shall be like Him. But never let us forget what it cost our glorious Saviour to ignite this hope in us. For this very reason God through Paul teaches us to “break bread” in remembrance of Him. Let us not shy away from this practice as I did on Sunday, but rather embrace this ordinance remembering our Saviour. It is ultimately not about own success for if it was we would never have needed a Saviour and how we need our Saviour, praise His name!

Finally it was a once and for all time sacrifice; “He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself.” (Hebrews 7:27) - What this means is the Lord Jesus conquered sin once and for all. We will struggle with these bodies of death until we die (or fall asleep), but it is not about what we accomplish but rather what our glorious Saviour accomplished on Calvary. When we lose our way let us go back to the instruction God has left us and that is to fall to our knees and to seek out His forgiveness in and through His glorious Son, our majestic Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ. IT IS ALL ABOUT HIM! He is the beginning and the end.

Signing off

Tyrone