The
Termites of Sin
In the following, I’d like to talk to you
about termites. Termites had been eating up a wooden fence that runs along the side
of my house in sunny Queensland. So, we got the guy to come out to
install a new fence (a colour-bond, i.e., an aluminium one). These little
creatures are also known as white ants. They sneak in. They are subterranean.
Inside your house, you could be leaning on a doorpost and your hand will go
right through it if the termites have been at work.
We’re talking about corruption, decay, and
the things that cause decay[1].
In the verge of the coronavirus pandemic,
the coronavirus is a hidden little creature.[2] The virus is shaped like
little crowns which gets into your system, causing havoc and decay. And many
people sadly die from this.
I want to address something that is
relevant, to do with the day between when Jesus died on the cross and the day
when Jesus was raised from the tomb, raised from the dead. We are going to look
at Jesus. What was He doing between His death and His resurrection?
We have already looked at the fact that
the Ten Commandments show you up as a sinner. We all break God’s Law.[3] That’s why God is going to
judge you. Because you’re rebelling against Him. How do you know you’re
rebelling? You’re breaking His Commandments in thought, word, and in deed.
There’re still Ten Commandments and they still apply to human beings today.[4]
The wonderful thing is that God sent a
Saviour of sinners, i.e., a people that realise they are sinful by nature.[5] We need a new nature. We
need a new heart. We need a new record. God gives us all of those things
through Jesus Christ.[6]
We’re going to look at a couple of verses
from Acts 2 that speak of Jesus. Peter, when he was giving his sermon before
the men of Israel, said:
“Men of Israel,
hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles,
wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves
also know-- Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of
God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death … Men
and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is
both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Therefore, being a
prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit
of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his
throne, he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ,
that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption.” Acts
2:22-23; 29-31.
There’s that word corruption or decay.
It’s what happened to my wooden fence. It has been corrupted. Something has got
in there and has eaten it from the inside out, leaving only the form of a
fence. It looks like a fence until a gust of wind comes along and it
disappears. Then you wonder what’s wrong. That’s what is wrong with us.
We’ve talked about wheelie bins, where I
compared us to wheelie bins. We need to be wheeled out to the street for God to
pick up our sin, load it onto the back of Jesus Christ on the cross, and
incinerate it, cleansing us of all our iniquities, all our sins.[7] So that’s what Jesus is
doing on the cross. Now we want to know what He is doing in the grave.
His body, His flesh did not see corruption
is what the Scripture says.[8] It did not get decayed.
It’s not like when you put me in the grave when I’m dead and the worms and
everything will eat me,[9] and I’ll just dissolve
into bones. Corruption. Putrefaction!
In the Apostles’ Creed it says, “I believe
in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth … Born of the Virgin Mary … was crucified, dead,
and buried, He descended into hell, the third day He rose again…” “He descended
into hell.” We already read the verse of Scripture that says the same thing. “His
soul was not left in…” If you read ye old King James Version instead of the New
Kings James Version, it would say, “His soul was not left in hell…” Here, in the
New King James Version it says, “hades”, which is the Greek word left
untranslated. If the Apostles’ Creed is saying that He descended into the
grave, and the New King James Version is saying the same thing, then that is
exactly what happened.
What was He doing in the grave? Well, some
argue the He was preaching to these sinners in Hell, about which there is a big
dispute among theologians.[10] But, remember Jesus on
the cross? What did He say to the repentant thief that was hanging there next
to Him, i.e., the one that was repenting? The other thief didn’t. He was still
hurling insults. What did He say to the repentant thief? “Assuredly, I say to
you, today [i.e., that day] you shall be with Me in Paradise.”[11]
So, as His body lay in the tomb, Jesus went to Paradise. If you were to
look though the Book of Hebrews you would see that He went through the Holy of
Holies.[12] Remember the curtain, the
veil in the Temple was rent?[13] It was torn top to bottom
to show that it was a supernatural event. Well, Jesus went in there as the great
High Priest after the order of Melchizedek[14] and sprinkled His blood,
the blood of atonement, to atone, to cover our sins.[15]
Now when God looks at us, He sees the
blood of Christ and leaves us alone. Just like the blood on the doorposts at
the Passover,[16]
the blood on the cross.[17] God sees that blood on the
Mercy Seat or Seat of Atonement in the Holy of Holies, and He leaves us alone on
account of Christ. So, we’re covered by the blood of Christ. That’s what that
means, we’re cleansed by the blood of Christ.[18]
When Christ is in the tomb it says His
body did not see corruption, His body did not see decay. We’ll be in our
graves, but there will come a day, just as He was resurrected, we are going to
be resurrected, because he was resurrected.[19] This is why we look after
graves.[20] Someone asked me what I
thought about cremation. In the Bible, when people were burned (i.e.,
cremated), it was usually a sign of God’s displeasure.[21]
Look at Joseph in Egypt. He wanted them to
cart his bones off with them when they were being set free by God, delivered
from the Egyptians.[22] It was the same with Abraham.
He was buried next to his wife Sarah.[23] That’s what you see all
the way through the Bible. Jesus didn’t say, “Oh, that’s great. I’m finished
with My body now. Just throw it on the scrapheap. I’m done with it.” No! They
looked after His body. They put in a tomb. Why? Because He was going to be
raised again. And because He was raised again. We are going to be raised again.
So, Jesus said to the thief upon the
cross, “Today, you will be with Me in Paradise.” So the thief and Jesus went to
Paradise. And then there’s going to come a day when Jesus is going to come back
again. Let’s read about that and see what will happen with us. Watch out for
the word corruption, decay.
“Behold, I tell
you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— in a
moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will
sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For
this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on
immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal
has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is
written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”
“O Death, where is
your sting?
O Hades, where is your
victory?”
The sting of death
is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us
the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Corinthians 15:51-57.
To summarise: What sin has done to your
heart is what termites have done to my fence. Sin has eaten you up in the
inside. And, as to the things of God, you have become your own God. You don’t
want to trust in God for everything, maybe for this and maybe for that. Or you
could be like Richard Dawkins or someone and say, “There is no God!”[24] But sin has eaten away
your insides.
So, what God does with you through Jesus
Christ is that He gives you a new heart. He spiritually revives you. He
enlivens you, just like the guy came and give me a new fence, so
God has given you a new heart. He has replaced your heart with a fleshly
tablet. He has written His Commandments anew on your heart. You still sin against
Him. But you want to be obedient to God. He gives you a new record. It’s as if
you’ve never sinned on account of Jesus Christ. And He gives you a new nature.
[1]
Matthew 6:19.
[2]
Psalm 91:3.
[3] Romans
3:23.
[4] Matthew
5:17-19; Romans 7:12.
[5]
Matthew 9:13.
[6]
Ezekiel 36:25-27.
[7]
Isaiah 53:6.
[8]
Acts 2:31.
[9]
Mark 9:44-48.
[10] 1
Peter 3:18-20.
[11]
Luke 23:43; cf., Revelation 2:7.
[12]
Hebrew 9:12.
[13]
Luke 23:44.
[14]
Hebrews 5:6, 10, 6:20.
[15]
Hebrews 9:12.
[16]
Hebrews 11:28.
[17]
Colossians 1:20.
[18] 1
Peter 1:19.
[19] 1
Corinthians 15:23.
[20] Matthew
23:27.
[21]
Joshua 7:25.
[22]
Genesis 50:25.
[23]
Genesis 25:10.
[24]
Psalm 14:1a.
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