Restoration

 "Behold, I am making all things new." Revelation 21:5....."He came to restore every single thing that sin has broken." Paul Tripp...."He comes to make His blessings flow. Far as the curse is found, far as the curse is found, far as, far as the curse is found." Isaac Watts

Secular humanism denies many things concerning the Christian faith, but two of the foremost would have to be the reality of sin and its enslavement of the human race, and the reality of Jesus Christ and His work of atonement for the human race through His death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead. Sin entered the humanity through the disobedience of Adam and Eve. Ever since we have been held captive by our sin nature. Those who would deny this are legion, but somehow, in their denial, they can never account for the presence of evil in this world and how it works in and through the hearts of men and women. They can't account for why and how we have been powerless to "evolve" past murder, genocide, the traffiking of women and children as sex slaves, and the overall growing disdain for the sanctity of a human life. All these and many more. It is obvious that we humans are powerless to free ourselves from the reality of sin no matter how much we may deny its existence. Hence our need for a Savior, and that Savior is Jesus Christ, He who is both perfect God and perfect man. He paid the price for our sin on the cross and through His death and resurrection offers life in place of death, hope in place of despair, joy instead of mourning, and peace instead of chaos.

Milton wrote of "Paradise Lost." Humanity lost what it was created for by the entrance of sin into all of creation, starting with us. We have been trying to regain paradise ever since and falling further from it all the time. Only one Person could do that and has done it....Jesus Christ.

I watched the powerful movie "The Passion Of The Christ," for the first time in a number of years the night before Easter Sunday. I was moved once more by the scene where Jesus, beaten and bloody, has His mother Mary come to Him as He crawls up the steps in Jerusalem, carrying His cross. She cries in great anguish, but He whispers to her, "Watch, as I make all things new." In His death and resurrection, that is exactly what He did. Through His sacrifice, He invited us into His work of restoration. The restoration of what sin has cost us and the restoration of the life we were created for. I can testify to this personally, as can millions more. My own sin and the sinful actions of others have cost me greatly. Great was my loss. Greater still is the restoration He has accomplished in my life in spite of it. Starting with my heart and extending ever outward, He has made all things new. He continues to make all things new.

Isaac Watts' beautiful hymn, "Joy To The World," contains that powerful lyric,  "He comes to make His blessings flow. Far as the curse is found, far as the curse is found." Whatever sin has cost you in this life, no matter how deep the loss and the consequences, know that the saving blood of Jesus Christ redeems and restores both it and you. His healing grace extends to the furthest reaches of the effects of all sin. Nothing is beyond the reach of His redemption. Believe that. Receive that. He has made all things new. That is the greatest reality. Let Him do so in you....today. Now. Why delay and longer? The King has come. Receive Him.

Blessings,
Pastor O