Sixty years ago, I knew a little boy. He was just like every other child in the neighborhood. An average little kid. He played outside from after breakfast until the street lights came on in the evening. The only thing making him slightly different from others was his allergy to mosquitos and their venomous bites. When the boy was bitten, the site would immediately turn into a dime-sized red spot, with the point-of-entry forming a little head. When it began to itch, he would scratched it, and immediately that red spot would grow and begin to swell. Then, of course, the scratching would tear the head off, and the itch would intensify. Apparently his mother didn’t know about, or couldn’t afford, Benadryl (licenced in 1946), so the treatment her son would get was an application of Calamine Lotion – whenever he needed it – which was constantly. By the end of the mosquito season he looked like some sort of spotted leopard – or simply a leper. I don’t know how many times that little boy heard his mother say, “Don’t scratch your mosquito bites.” But of course he did – often times without thinking about it. He just scratched and scratched until it bled.
Well, the little boy grew into manhood, and eventually two things took place. First, his body chemistry changed somehow, and the mosquitos didn’t seem to relish him quite as earnestly. And second, he learned how important it was to listen to his mother. “Don’t touch that mosquito bite. Try to ignore it. Think about something other than the itch.” To this day, if he begins to scratch that bite, he’ll be scratching for several days. And of course, now there is Benadryl.
This morning I’d like to make a comparison: mosquitos and their bites to sinful temptations. Some people seem to be more plagued with temptations than others, but mosquitos aren’t really that choosy when it comes to their victims. They’ll bite anyone. Some people sin by scratching each and every temptation, but others scratch only once in a while. That scratching illustrates the sin. Scratching is disobedience against Father’s orders: Jesus said, “Go and sin no more.” Paul said, “Awake unto righteousness and sin not,” later adding, Timothy, “flee also youthful lusts.” We have the exhortations, but I will admit, sometimes it is hard to avoid a really good itch. Quite often, it is pleasurable to scratch; sometimes scratching until the pain and blood arrive. In that scratching, not only do we sin against our own bodies, but we sin against the will of God.
Even Christians scratch their temptations, despite the fact they know they shouldn’t. When that temptation comes, they could apply the lotion of those scriptures which speak about that itch. When the itch attacks, they should turn to the Benadryl of prayer and fellowship with the Lord. But as every saint knows, Christians don’t always do what they could to be protected. So they scratch, becoming infected, and sometimes creating ugly spots quite visible to others.
Even more sadly, some of those Christians become so upset with themselves that they even begin to question whether or not they are children of God. They know they shouldn’t sin against their Saviour, but they do. They may think: “Jesus said, ‘My sheep hear my voice,’ and I have heard him, but why can’t I heed? Maybe I’m not one of the Lord’s sheep. Maybe I am deceiving myself by thinking that I am saved.” Are you one of those Christians who sometimes doubt your sheepness – your place in God’s flock? Have you sinned again, causing you to question your faith and whether you truly repented before God?
I’d like to take you on a little walk through a mosquito-infested forest, but to a place of peace and assurance. First we’ll go down a common, well-worn trail. And then we’ll take a different route to the same place. The second is a path less traveled, but it is one with some beautiful scenery and comfort.
When God saves a sinner from sin and its judgment, He does so COMPLETELY and PERMANENTLY.
Please keep in mind – never forget – you and I as sinners contribute nothing to our salvation – our forgiveness. Salvation is entirely by God’s grace. And since there is nothing which we contribute to the fact, there is no way we can mess it up. That doesn’t mean we don’t have responsibilities flowing out of God’s salvation, but there is nothing which we can add to that salvation, and there is nothing which we can remove.
In that regard, what did Christ Jesus say in our text about the kind of salvation and life He gives to His sheep? He said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them ETERNAL life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” This is the well-worn path, reiterated over and over again by God’s faithful ministers. The Bible is full of this kind of message. About a dozen times the Apostle John uses the words “eternal” or “everlasting” when speaking about the spiritual life which flows out of faith in Christ and the salvation which Christ gives. One of the best known and most loved of all scriptures declares that believers have eternal life. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have EVERLASTING life.” The words “eternal” or “everlasting” refer to something which never ends, and it doesn’t matter if those words are coming from Greek, English, Swahili or even French or Spanish. Early in my ministry, I had a highly confused professed Greek-expert try to tell me that “eternal” speaks of a very, very, VERY long time. No it doesn’t, it speaks of “ever and ever.” In fact, Jesus said in John 6:51 – “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live FOR EVER…” The context teaches us that this “eating” refers to ingesting by faith, not my mouth or by osmosis.
As I said, besides John’s use of “for ever,” he says “eternal” and “everlasting” ten or twelve other times. Most of the time they are quotes from the lips of the Lord Jesus. Among them are John 3:36 – “He that believeth on the Son hath EVERLASTING life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” Then there is John 5:24 – “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath EVERLASTING life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” “And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have EVERLASTING life: and I will raise him up at the last day” – John 6:40.
In I John 2:25, John says in his own words, “This is the promise that (God) hath promised us, even ETERNAL life.” And in chapter 5 – “This is the record, that God hath given to us ETERNAL life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have ETERNAL life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”
Not to be outdone by John, the Apostle Paul, uses the same terms and language. Romans 5:21 – “As sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto ETERNAL life by Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:23 – “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is ETERNAL life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” And in his letter to Timothy Paul unequivocally declared, “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life EVERLASTING.” And by the way, in the next verse, the word Paul used to describe the eternal life of the child of God, he used to describe the eternal life of Christ Himself. “Now unto the King ETERNAL, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.”
Are you one of those Christians who has been deceived by God’s enemy into thinking that your eternal life can end? That you can somehow do something to bring death to eternal life? Are you scratching on the head of that mosquito bite of unbelief? Are you one who thinks that despite God’s promise, the life He has given can be revoked or withdrawn? Do you think that God is so unjust as to make a promise and then withdraw it, because of something you have done? It is not true.
Your salvation from sin – the forgiveness you have been given – came from the grace of the omnipotent and sovereign God. There is nothing Satan can do, and there is nothing you might do, to undo the Lord’s gift of salvation. The eternal life which you have received has been guaranteed by the God who cannot lie – Titus 1:2. Every Christian has opportunity it live “in hope of ETERNAL life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began.” II Corinthians 1:20 – “For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us. Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.” Every child of God has been sealed to God with the eternal Holy Spirit Himself.
This is the most common path faithful pastors take with the people who question the salvation of God. It is perfect. It is irrefutable. It is indestructible. That should settle the matter in any and every believing heart. But now, let’s go down another path to the same destination, but which may be a little more colorful.
When God redeems and saves a humble soul, He OBLITERATES all that sinner’s TRANSGRESSIONS.
The Bible uses a number of terms to state and illustrate what the grace of God has done to our sins. I just used the word “obliterate.” That is not a Bible term, but it is appropriate. To “obliterate” is to “wipe out;” to “erase” so thoroughly that there isn’t any chalk left on the black board. The other day I also heard that Christ “annihilated” our sins and the judgment against them. Again that isn’t a Biblical word, but again, it isn’t inappropriate. To “annihilate” is to “destroy utterly.” It is safe to say – that which God annihilates ceases to exist.
Perhaps those aren’t Bible words, but to “blot out” is a Biblical phrase. After Peter and John were used of the Lord to miraculously heal a man, Peter was given an opportunity to preach and to glorify Christ before a large crowd of sinful Jews. He pointed out that those people had, through their leaders, taken the Saviour and crucified Him. Then in Acts 3 he said, “And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers. But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled. Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your SINS may be BLOTTED OUT, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.” It is possible through the blood of Christ to have your sins blotted out like the miraculous washing away of an otherwise indelible stain. Perhaps Peter was given this thought from his reading of Isaiah 44 – “Remember these, O Jacob and Israel; for thou art my servant: I have formed thee; thou art my servant: O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me. I have blotted out, as (with) a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee.” That scripture gives me the opportunity to stress that the Lord saves, forgives, and blots out our transgressions – not in order to make us feel good about ourselves. He saves our souls that in our lives and bodies we might return to Him to praise, serve and glorify Him. He blots out transgressions giving us reason to strive to live sin free from then on. Finishing Peter’s thought in Acts 3, just before the officials arrested him, he said, “Unto you… God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.” No sinner has ever blotted out his own sins, but the Lord in blotting them for us has done so – that we should turn from our iniquities.
How can I be sure of my deliverance from the penalty of sin? I can be sure because God has used the blood of Christ to wipe them all away. And remember, God is not bound or confined to time. What the Lord has done has been done for eternity, including, along with our past sins, the sins we might commit tomorrow and the day before eternity. So have you sinned again, Christian? Are you enslaved by some habit which you consider wretched and wicked? Are you still scratching? Grieve over it as the Holy Spirit convicts you, but don’t think for a moment those sins can mysteriously reappear before the judgment throne, when the Lord has blotted them out.
Jeremiah shares with us a concept which is first uttered in regard to Israel. But the principle applies to God’s forgiveness to us in this latter day. Jeremiah 50:17 begins with the background, but by verse 20 a universal principle is clearly seen. “Israel is a scattered sheep; the lions have driven him away: first the king of Assyria hath devoured him; and last this Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath broken his bones. Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king of Assyria. And I will bring Israel again to his habitation, and he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied upon mount Ephraim and Gilead. In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I WILL PARDON them whom I reserve.” Perhaps in a few years, certainly within the possibility of our lifetime, Israel will be living once again in peace and prosperity in the land Jehovah gave to them so many centuries ago. And at that time, by the grace of God, all the sins of that nation will be forgiven and wiped away. All their acts of theft will be gone. All their Jewish pride. And even their part in the murder of Christ – gone. I don’t know if anyone will look from them, but at that point there shall be none left; they shall not be found. And why? Because the sinners God pardons will be utterly and completely delivered. And that principle applies to New Testament, gentile sinners as much as it will to the Jews after the Tribulation.
Daniel 9:24 talks about the same period of time when the nation of Israel will be restored to her former glory. For the moment, let’s table the promises of the national prophecy, considering only the principle: “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to FINISH the transgression, and to make an END of sins, and to make RECONCILIATION for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.” What takes place in the application of God’s salvation? The complete end of sin and all transgressions. I am not saying that you and I will never sin, but in the sight of God those sins will all be under the blood of the Redeemer, and they will not come up before the Lord again for judgment. The price was paid by Christ. When the Lord Jesus delivers and forgives, sins cannot be found, they are blotted out, they are finished, they come to an end in God’s sight.
Micah 7:18-19 presents a wonderful illustration of what happens to the sins of those whom Christ forgives. “Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.” “Gone, gone, gone, gone, yes, my sins are gone. Now my soul is free and in my heart’s a song; Buried in the deepest sea. Yes, that’s good enough for me – I shall live eternally. Praise God! My sins are G-O-N-E gone!” Of course, Micah is just giving us an illustration – an anthropomorphism. It is an attempt to express in human terms what is perhaps beyond human expression. But to the ancient Israelite, like Micah, nothing was deeper than the ocean. And even today, what lays at the bottom of Mariana trench is essentially not recoverable. Not only does Micah say that our sins are at the bottom of the sea, he adds, they are SUBDUED. They are beaten down and put into bondage unto God; they are jailed; incarcerated with the key thrown away. In God’s saving grace our iniquities are pardoned, and the Lord passes them by as if they didn’t exist. “Gone, gone, gone, gone, yes my sins are gone.”
As vivid and beautiful as that picture is, there is one I like even more. Turn to Psalm 103:8 – “The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever. He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.” How far is the east from the west? The question is not about the east coast from the west coast. The question is not about the differences from eastern cultures from western cultures. The question is: how far is the east from the west?
If you started flying your little Cesna airplane towards the north, you’d enter Canadian air space. You might fly over Calgary, then Edmonton and even Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. You might fly over the North pole and then on into Siberia, and by that time you’d no longer be flying north. Without turning around, you’d find yourself flying south. North automatically turns into south. But if you started flying west, you might fly over Japan and China, eventually over Europe and back to America. You could circle the world twelve times, always flying west, because the distance between east and west is, at least in one sense, infinite. God’s salvation is infinite; it is eternal. It is complete. It is as Jesus’ said on the cross: “Finished.”
Perhaps making a small step backward, let me add to the illustrations already given, Isaiah 38. This is in the context of Isaiah’s ministry to King Hezekiah. Notice verse 11 – “I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave: I am deprived of the residue of my years. I said, I shall not see the LORD, even the LORD, in the land of the living: I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world. Mine age is departed, and is removed from me as a shepherd’s tent: I have cut off like a weaver my life: he will cut me off with pining sickness: from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me. I reckoned till morning, that, as a lion, so will he break all my bones: from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me. Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter: I did mourn as a dove: mine eyes fail with looking upward: O LORD, I am oppressed; undertake for me. What shall I say? he hath both spoken unto me, and himself hath done it: I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of my soul. O Lord, by these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit: so wilt thou recover me, and make me to live. Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.”
I saved this scripture for last, because it ties together several important truths. We see a man here who was absolutely broken – he had everything religious and spiritual sucked out of him. He felt that the holy and just God was out to destroy him, and in that he was correct. Nevertheless he could also see the grace of God. “O Lord, by THESE things men live, and in all these things is the LIFE of my SPIRIT: so wilt thou recover me, and make me to live.” In himself, Hezekiah, a relatively good human being, had nothing but bitterness for peace because of sin. He began scratching that itch of unbelief – but then he pulled back. He said, “But thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.”
The repentant sinner hasn’t had his sins cast behind him; they are cast behind God’s own back, never to be seen or remembered again. Isn’t this what you need? Isn’t this what your soul longs for? Salvation and permanent deliverance from the judgment of your sins are available in Jesus Christ. Cast your sins on the Saviour by faith. Cast your soul upon Christ Jesus to deliver and rescue you. You don’t need to do anything to be saved except to surrender and trust him. You can do that where you sit. You don’t need a human priest. You don’t need a cathedral or temple. You need Christ. Trust HIM to deliver you from your sins and the pain of eternal judgment. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.”