Journal,

I enjoy reading Billy Graham’s column in our local paper. Someone wrote him asking, “How can I know if God has really forgiven me? I did something several years ago that was very wrong … Maybe I have committed the unforgivable sin. I worry about this all the time.”

Dr. Graham’s response really caught my eye. I’ll shorten his response to the key issue of what he had so share:

“Do not be consumed by the fear that you have somehow committed a sin that God can never forgive. The only sin God cannot forgive is the sin of rejecting his forgiveness.”

Then Dr. Graham gave the two-part Biblical antidote for the sin issue.

(1) “The key is to realize why God is willing to forgive our sins. God is willing to forgive our sins first of all because He loves us. Sin is a terrible thing; it cuts us off from God, and it makes us his enemies … But God doesn’t want us to be his enemies! He loves  us and wants us to know him and be his friends and live with him forever in heaven.”

(2) “The second reason God is willing to forgive us is because He sent his only Son into the world to take away our sins. Jesus Christ was without sin — but on the cross every sin we have ever committed (including the sin that haunts you) was placed on him, and he died in our place.”

Dr. Graham went on to tell this lady that all she needed to do was confess her sin to Christ and ask Him to cleanse her — and he will.

And this brings me to what Jesus taught about sin and forgiveness. Some time ago I provided a study that had to do with prostitutes and tax collectors. Here is the study with a bit of rearrangement:

Did you know that the prostitutes will enter the kingdom of God before many others…

In my last two morning devotions my eyes have remained on the same scene. In fact it keeps appearing throughout the gospels. So once again it catches my eye. Take note of Luke 15:1,2:

“Now all the tax collectors and the sinners were coming near Him to listen to Him. Both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, ‘This man receives sinners and eats with them.’”

Notice who it was that wanted to listen to Jesus. It has always amazed me how the common people felt so at home with Jesus.

They loved to listen to Him teach about the kingdom of God. He made them feel like they were valuable and that they were truly loved of God.

But I’ve been equally amazed at how the religious authorities took such an exception at the Lord’s willingness to accomodate sinners. To the religious minded leaders, the unlearned common people were to be ignored. What did they know?

Here is a glimpse of how the religious leaders looked at the common people. Jesus had healed a blind man. The authorities became infuriated with the blind man’s insistence that Jesus had to be from God. Finally they said to the blind man, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you teaching us?”  (John 9:34)

Let’s take a closer look at these two issues, the sinner and the person whose world is wrapped up in religion.

Don’t think that the same problem hasn’t plagued the Church throughout the age.

Jesus gave a parable to the hardened religious leaders. He spoke of two sons who were told to work in the vineyard. One said he would not go, but he did. The other said he would go, but he did not. “Which did the will of the father,” Jesus asked. They said, “The first.”

The Lord then responded, “The tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you.”

Isn’t this interesting that Jesus would speak of prostitutes entering the kingdom of God, ahead of those of a religious mind set? The Lord was speaking to the chief priests and elders. He was standing in the temple, and talking to the recognized leaders of world Judaism.

Not only is this a wonderful truth, but this truth is actually laid out in Biblical form. In the genealogy of Jesus Christ are four women. All four are Gentile in ancestry. Two of the women had prostitution written in their lives. Another was an adulteress. And one has an interesting story. Yet all four of these women helped to preserve the lineage of Jesus Christ, and they are the only women recorded in the genealogy of Jesus in the gospels.

Here is a brief rundown. Tamar dressed herself as a temple prostitute in order to deceive Judah. Through her the lineage of Judah was preserved. Through Judah would come King David, and eventually the Messiah, the one we Christians love, the Lord Jesus Christ. (Story in Genesis 38)

Next you have Rahab. As much as folk like to whitewash Rahab’s role, she was simply not an inn keeper. The Bible says she was a ‘harlot.’ [Hebrew is 'zanah' which means to be a harlot or commit fornication.] The two spies were at Rahab’s place for a reason. (Cf. Joshua 2)]

Yet it was Rahab who saw something with her heart. Because of her, when Israel overflowed the land, her household was spared, and she also became part of the lineage of the Messiah.

How about Ruth? Ruth’s story is one of the most beautiful in all the Bible. She was a Moabitess. Her mother-in-law said to Ruth,

“Wash yourself therefore, and anoint yourself and put on our best clothes, and go down to the threshing floor; but do not make yourself know to the man until he has finished eating and drinking.”

The Hebrew allows us to understand what happened. No need to bring this out. (Book of Ruth.)

Behind the story of Ruth was the levirate marriage, which, by the way, wasn’t really a marriage. The issue was to receive the seed of someone of close kinship to a dead husband, by which no child had been born, so that the dead husband’s line would not disappear. Once again we have a non-Israelite woman preserving the seed of Messiah.

Finally we have Bathsheba. You know her story well. From this woman came the lineage of Messiah. (Cf. 2 Samuel 11)

Why were these women placed in the genealogy of Jesus?

Certainly it was not an issue of condoning improper sexual behavior.

These women were placed in the genealogy of Jesus to tell the story of a great Savior for all of mankind, and that Jesus had truly taken on the flesh of sinful humanity, yet without sin on His part. And perhaps it was written to give a shock treatment to those who took their boast in being blood descendants of Abraham, and gave great importance to their twisted religion.  

Now back to prostitutes entering the kingdom of God first. What does this tell us? Does it not say that religion in some instances can become a great hinderance to true faith that we are called to live in. Did not Jesus show loving kindness to the prostitutes and the tax-collectors? Is not the Church to do the same?

When certain religious minded men wished to stone a woman caught in adultery, what did Jesus do? He diverted the attention of the men to their own sins. He spoke nothing but kindness to the frightened woman. But he did tell her to free herself from the sinning business.

When Jesus met the woman at the well, who by the way had had five husbands, and was presently just living with a guy, what did Jesus do? He began helping her process her life from where she was to where He wanted her to be. Jesus spoke to her heart. He awakened life in her.

But again came the issue of religion. She said, “Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” There it is? All she knew was religion. It was like a pain in her heart, that she couldn’t do anything about.

But the Lord did what we must also learn to do. He took it out of the hands of religion. He said,

“Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.”

He goes on to say,

“God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

But what the Lord was saying was that there aren’t going to be any more special mountains you need to go to. There are no special anointed places you need to seek out. No special religions that can take to themselves as being the true religion. There are no great religious figures you need to bless you. True worship will be of the heart. There is no true religion. There is only a true relationship with Jesus Christ.

Paul later expounded on this, in saying,

“Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision; for we are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.” (Phil3:2,3)

This brings us full circle back to the high priests, the elders, the prostitutes, and the tax collectors. We need to stop looking at the religious world for the answer. This includes all the hype you see on the television tube.

Jesus is present with every one of His people. He is in their hearts. He is in their mouths. He is in their lives. You see, religion stopped at the cross. It was nailed there in the body of Christ.

What does all this mean? It means that Jesus loves people.

It means the door to heaven has been flung open. The curtain has been ripped. No one can ever again stand between you and the Lord God. There is no prophet in the land that you need to go to.

Just listen with your heart. Jesus said, “I have other sheep also, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one Shepherd.” (John 10:16)

Does this do away with the Church? By no means. Actually it establishes the true Church. The Church has never been a building, or a denomination, or a religious institution. All those things we have managed to do for ourselves.

Christ Himself builds His Church, and He flocks His people as He wills. He calls us one, by one, by one. And as for our flock of gathering, we just need to find out where the Lord would have us to be. Every believer will have his or her own proper flock.

My greatest joy…

I have been a pastor for a long time. I can assure you that my greatest joy is to look at those who have been entrusted to my care, and say, “Thank you Lord. Thank you for all these beautiful people. They were once sickened in sin, but you have glorified Yourself in them. Thank you Jesus.”

Yes, I do get emails from folk who want to know if they have committed an unforgivable sin. What can I tell them that would differ from what Billy Graham said. He said it well enough.

– Do not be consumed by the fear that you have somehow committed a sin that God can never forgive. The only sin God cannot forgive is the sin of rejecting his forgiveness. –

Much love coming your way,

Buddy