"A Day of Reckoning"

Pastor Dan's sermon from 2/25/2007

Scripture Reference: Leviticus 16:1-22

Click here to listen.

That Great Day of Reckoning

Christianese...We hear it all the time. Some of us are well-learned in this strange language. Some of us pretend to be well-learned and can espouse it with the best of theologians. I may say something like this, "I have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ who is the propitiation and expiation for my sins through His atoning work and I have been reconciled as He paid the ransom for me at Calvary. I am justified, sanctified and will certainly be glorified at His second advent. Praise the Lord, Hallelujah, Alleluia, Amen!" Now you may not know what the theological essence and import of those words are, but you know, way down deep, that there is something holy about what I just said. And so you respond, "Amen!" I could write an entire article about Christianese, but that’s for another time. Actually, I want to focus on two of these strange words as you prepare to hear God’s revealed Word this Lord’s Day. Propitiation and Expiation.

These two words are central to another theological word… Atonement. What does it mean that Jesus is our atone-ment? How is atonement even possible? Understanding atonement is central to understanding the depth to which Christ went in His humiliation in order to provide salvation for His people. Understanding atonement brings fuller meaning to the words Christ cried on the cross, "My God! My God! Why hast thou forsaken me?" It may even bring us to tears of joy when we hear those words, "Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing." At Calvary, Jesus atoned for our sins. "He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins." He is the propitiation and expiation for us so that we can "know Him who is true."

So what is propitiation? To answer this question we must look to the book of Leviticus. Yes! Leviticus has much to do with our lives today. In fact, take a look at Leviticus 16 and give it a read. This is the basis for what the Jews continue to call Yom Kippur, meaning, The Day of Atonement. To summa-rize quickly, on one day a year, the high priest, and only the high priest, was instructed to enter the Holy of Holies where the Ark of the Covenant resided. God’s presence conde-scended upon this place above the atonement cover or what Martin Luther called, "the mercy seat." This mercy seat covered the Ark of the Covenant which contained Aaron’s priestly staff, the tablets of the Law and manna from heaven.

The high priest was only to enter one day each year and was instructed to make atonement for his sins and the sins of the people. This passage foreshadows Jesus Christ and His aton-ing work in so many ways. In fact, Hebrews is a great book to read about how Jesus Christ is the Supreme High Priest who has ended all sacrifices of this type in that He was the final sacrifice of atonement. To summarize, the high priest would sacrifice a bull for his own sins and a goat for the sins of the people. The blood of these animals was to be sprinkled upon the mercy seat to represent the atoning work of the substitu-tionary sacrifice.

This is where propitiation comes in. Propitiation is the cover-ing of our sins. By placing the blood of the goat on the mercy seat, the blood covers the sin of the people from the holiness of God. If one thing is clear from Leviticus, it is that God cannot stand sin. That is the reason for all of these laws that may seem so meaningless to us today but actually reveal a deep truth about man’s sinful condition and God’s holiness. Romans 3:10 tells us, ―there is no one righteous—not even one.‖ Many are familiar with Romans 5:12 which declares that ―sin entered the world through one man and death through sin and in this way death came to all men be-cause all men sinned.‖ There is no escape from the justice of God! Man needs mediation in order to even approach His presence.

God reveals the perfection of His holiness in His wrath against sin. That is why Christ went to the cross. Jesus went there in our place, the way the goat took Israel’s place on the Day of Atonement, in order that, "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteous-ness of God." Jesus covered our sins by His substitutionary blood. It should have been us on the cross yet He agreed to give Himself.

But atonement has this second part to it that many often forget. Once the sacrifices were over (and you can imagine that the high priest was a bloody mess) the high priest would place his hands on a second goat, the scapegoat, say a prayer of confession and finally send this goat off into the wil-derness. Jewish tradition records that the scapegoat did not make it to the wilderness unscathed. It became a tradition to mock and curse the scapegoat. Many would abuse the goat, plucking its fur and screaming at it. Finally, the goat would be taken to a cliff by a designated person and consequently pushed over the cliff so that it might never return to the Israel camp.

What a picture. This is what is meant by expiation. Not only does the atoning work of the cross cover our sins, but Christ’s work excises our transgressions. Our guilt is literally removed. Psalm 103:12 tells us that our sin is displaced as far as the “east is from the west.” We often forget that our sin has been completely taken care of. Removed! Do you know what that means?

Christ has covered us over by His substitutionary death and sacrifice. God sees the work of Christ rather than our faulty works. Don’t cheapen the work of Christ by believing there is something we can do on our own to gain God’s favor. You were not saved by works! No! We were saved by the grace of God! Further, God has removed our sins so that we are declared to be “joint heirs with Christ.”

Space limits me from going into a full exposition. I plan on getting into some of the finer points over the next two weeks. The first week we will take an in depth look at Leviticus 16 and propitiation and expiation and what it means to our lives and our Christian walk. The next week we will take a look at the definite atoning work of Christ on the cross. More on that later. For now, read Romans 3:23-28 and Leviticus 16:1-22 to prepare yourself for worship on Sun-day. Until then, may the God of hope fill you with joy and peace.

So Very Busy

It has been a while since I posted. I have been studying hard and getting ready for the final stretch of the ordination road. I have been meeting with some local pastors in the area from our presbytery who have been instrumental in caring for me and bringing me along. In many ways it is like that example that Dr. Betters always talks about. These men have me by the hand and are pulling me towards ordination while I am pulling other men along. It is the whole idea of Hebrews 10:22-24. Spurring one another on toward love and good deeds. It has been very encouraging and sharpending for me as I continue to prepare for my future ministry opportunities. Thank you for all of your prayers.

I am finishing up my Master Thesis on a theology of the Lord's Day. I am looking forward to posting the final draft here soon and would love to converse with anyone about my conclusions. It is interesting, I set off to accomplish one thing based on my own understanding of Sabbath Theology and after all of the research, Bible Study, and reading, I have been challenged in a real way to reconsider much of what I thought at the outset. I will talk more about that in the coming weeks.

This journey has been long. It has been hard at times. But it has given me the ability to study God's Word. I wish that everyone could go through it in many ways or at some level. In our men's leadership training class, several of the men have asked to get a hold of the ordination study guides so that they can begin to have a better grasp of God's Word. How awesome is that!

Even though the journey has been hard the Lord has helped me to keep things in perspective. Most of our lives are incredibly blessed with temporal blessings. Most of us have it easy even when we think we have it hard. What is the first response that you get from someone when you ask how their week was? "So busy, I am busy, busy busy! So very busy. Yeah, pray for me. I am busy." Busy doing what? Are we just busy for business sake? Even in all of our busyness, we have it good.

I think of some of the situations that many of our brothers and sisters are going through right now in our church. Young people are facing eternity at any moment. Little children are sick and parents have to make tough decisions. There is heartbreak, loneliness, financial troubles, children burying their parents. My position gives me an advantage in life. I am forced to keep things in perspective. When I think I am busy or am sick of studying notecards or have to deal with an upset member or walk-in and I want to wallow in any amount of self pity, I am forced to confront the relativity of the situation as I think about others in the church.

Instead of continuing in my own selfish world I need to get on my knees and pray (literally!). We all need to pray more. We don't need a prayer life, we need a life of prayer. A life that is saturated with conversation unto our God. If your answer is always, "Busy", then you need to slow down--A LOT--and get before the Lord and be still. Don't make time for prayer, make time for all the other stuff in your life and let prayer saturate you. Our Church needs to pray.

I am getting ready to go on a much needed vacation. Not so much for myself but for my famliy. I miss them in many ways and they miss me. We can't wait to serve in a much bigger capacity at GRPC in the coming months and years. We love this body of believers that the Lord has blessed us with. I am looking forward to getting back into the pulpit in the coming weeks. I am planning on a series entitled, "Journey WITH Jesus" as we take a look at his "I am" teachings. I hope it will encourage and sharpen all of us as God speaks to us through His Word.

A Sabbath Sabbatical

My dad, Dr. Betters, recently offered me the opportunity to take a break from preaching every week. He offered it because I am trying to tie up the loose ends I have with the ordination process and my master thesis. It was a struggle for me, but after some prayer and godly advice I took the offer. Besides, when all of this is over (ordination etc), I will have my entire life to preach! Praise the Lord! In the mean time I will miss it!

This morning, I had a rare opportunity to just be still and know. It came as a surprise. My wife, Laura, was singing on worship team this morning. We decided that I would take the kids to church since she had to be in early. Well, after I prepared the kids, I began to walk out the door and realized that my wife had taken our family car with the child seats and that I would be unable to get to GRPC. I immediatly made a few phone calls and before I knew it, my son and I were sitting together in my home office worshipping live with GRPC! I think I sang louder than I normally do! I was by myself...but with everyone in spirit. Be still and know...

I listened intently to Dr. Betters' message and was just blown away in the Word. I needed this. I needed to Be still and Know. I needed to be fed and re-energized...I need to hear God's Word preached and proclaimed without distraction. I am finding that Pastors need to look hard for these kinds of experiences. We need a Sabbath too! Sunday's are usually work for most men and women in the ministry. We end up going a long time before we realize that we need to have the tank filled again. This morning, my tank was filled up to overflowing.

Am I advocating staying home and watching the broadcast on the internet rather than being among the "assembly of ourselves"? Absolutely not. The only thing that would have been better is if I could have been in the pews, in the building, resting in God's Word. God had other plans and worked just as mightily through them. Brothers and sisters, we have a great Church. God has blessed us. Let's take what we heard this morning, those seven principles and apply them to our lives immediately. Let's not just listen to God's Word, let's DO God's Word. "In the same way, faith by itself if not accompanied by action is dead." Let your faith move you into action this week.

I can't wait to get back to preaching. In the mean time I will enjoy this mini-sabbatical from preaching as I find rest on the Lord's Day each week. Keep your eyes fixed on Him!

Grace and Peace.

Journey to Jesus V - The Son of God

Pastor Dan's sermon from 12/31/06

Scripture Reference: John 20:30-31

Click here to listen.

Well, the Journey to Jesus series is over. However, I can't help but think that our journey to Jesus never really does end until we have been fully glorified when we meet our King in eternity. And until that time, that either God sees fit to call us home or Jesus returns to take us to that place that he has prepared for us, we will always struggle on this journey to Jesus. We will fall, we will sin, we will disappoint, we will hurt, and we will suffer. However, we will also be sanctified by the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives--a true continued work of grace.

I am looking forward to this next series called "Journey with Jesus". We are going to take a look at some of the claims that Jesus made about himself. He called himself the "way, truth and life", the "bread of life", the "resurrection and the life", the "vine", the "good shepherd...I can't wait to dive in as we, the disciples of Jesus continue this journey with our Savior through His Living Word.

Can't wait to be with you all this Lord's Day!

What's In A Name?

It's Saturday, New Years Eve-Eve. We are on the brink of another man-made landmark of time. Many people are making New Years Resolutions to change, lose weight, get in shape, make more money, spend less money, be a better person all around, go to church, change their church and so on. I have just finished my sermon notes (I usually do a few touch ups on Saturday to get refreshed and prepared for Sunday) and I am excited about sharing with you what God has laid on my heart.

To be perfectly honest we will be looking at some doctrines tomorrow that could launch 50 new sermon series. But we will only have a few minutes to get into them tomorrow. But if you are reading this tonight, befor the Lord's Day, I want to ask a question. What is in a name? More specifically, what is in Jesus Christ's name or names? What do they mean? Do they challenge us? Do they change us? Do they "wreck" us? Have you ever looked into what Jesus' names mean?

Names meant so much more to people in biblical times. When we choose names today it is usually from a baby book or internet page full of baby names. We try to match them with our last name and in some cases with our other children's names. Why did your parents give you your name? Have you ever asked them? My parents gave me "Daniel" which is from the Hebrew name which means "God is my judge". Boy, isn't that the truth. My son's name is Caleb Mark. We gave him the middle name to remember my younger brother, Mark, who was killed in a car accident in 1993. The funny thing is that Caleb and Mark are both the same name. Mark is the Greek name for Caleb meaning literally, "Mighty Warrior, Mighty Warrior". Think about Caleb's role in Israel's history. He and Joshua were certainly mighty warriors.

I say all of that to say this, think about Jesus Christ. Literally his name means, "Yahweh saves, the Annointed One". We often think of these names as a first and last name. But Jesus was probablly known as "Joshua". Jesus is a late adaption. "Christ" was a confession about Jesus. It was an announcement more than a name. To say "Jesus Christ" is to say, that the Son of God is the Messiah of God, the one who saves us from our sins.

Many say that they believe in Jesus or that they are a Christian. But unless we really believe this about Jesus, than we are using his name in vain. If we say we believe but have not a life that shows it, we use his name in vain. What do you believe about Jesus' name?