Gerry van der Wende: The Cleansing Flood

The Cleansing Flood
May 6, 2012
Ephesians 1:7

Introduction

Have you ever done something and wondered how this could ever be set straight again?

You did something and it seemed so bad or vile, that we could not imagine it ever being removed from our life
Yet we know that as Dennis told us last week, when we confess our sins, he is faithful to forgive
We are on a journey through the Old Testament tabernacle, entering into the presence of God
Sin separates us from God
So God first of all gave us a means to be cleansed from our sins. For the Israelites, this was through the altar
It was on the altar that a sacrifice was laid, and was then offered up to God. Forgiveness was given to the person who had come to take care of sin in his or her life
Today we are going to look at the process of forgiveness, how God set in motion a means to roll back the clock, on our sins

The tabernacle is a picture of what is in heaven

Some may wonder, why is pastor teaching us old testament material?
Rom 15:4 The OT was written for our learning
Heb 8:5 The tabernacle was built as a copy of what is in heaven
So there is new testament relevance to the old testament tabernacle and temple
A person who had sinned and wanted to be forgiven, would bring an animal presecribed by the law, his sins would be transferred to the animal by his laying his hands on the animal’s head, and then the animal would be sacrificed on the altar. The person was now cleansed from sin.

Example of David

David was chosen by God to reign as king over Israel
David had not had a lot of training
He was a shepherd boy, being the youngest of his brothers
How could that prepare him to be king?
As a shepherd, he had few distractions and a lot of time to spend with God
I think this was the best training he could receive for being a leader, one whom people would respect and follow
David wrote most of the psalms. Some were written while shepherding the sheep, others while he was on the run from Saul, and some were written during his time as king.
As a king, there is a lot of pressure on you.
Pressure not only relating to your job and responsibilities, but also because Satan wants you to fall

David’s sin

As I talk about David, we need to be thinking about our own life
These things were written for our learning
2 Sam 11:1-12:14
David was taking t5hings easy
Normally he would have been with his troops, doing battle.
But the troops were out doing the dirty work, and David was at home
One evening he couldn’t sleep, so he got up and started walking around on the patio on his roof
He looked over the edged, and he saw the woman next door bathing.
This may have been out in the open, but more likely David was looking through her window
She was close enough that David could see she was very beautiful
Why was David looking in that direction – I am sure he must have seen her before, and a lustful thought had come up in his mind.
The enemy works this way, he plants a thought, if we let him
James 1:13-15 the process of sin, it starts in the mind, we entertain it, we act on it and it kills us
David fell into a trap
You may think, how could this godly man fall into this trap
But he did, and so could we, oh so easily
Bathsheba becomes pregnant after this one night stand
David tries to cover their sin up, by making it look as thought the baby is Uriah’s
But Uriah doesn’t cooperate with David’s coverup scheme, and David arranges his death, in order to keep up his hypocrisy
I don’t think David was very close to God during this time

His sin is uncovered

David thought nobody knew, but God knew
God sent Nathan the prophet to David with a message
The game is up.
Suddenly David sees the enormity of his actions
And he repents before God
He writes a song expressing his repentance
Psalm 51
This psalm is a classic description of repentance
I'm sure David felt dirty after all that had happened
V10 - He asks God to change his heart, to clean him up
V 2 - He asks God to wash away all his iniquity and to cleanse him from his sin
V 7 – Cleanse me with hyssop and I will be clean, wash me and I will be whiter than snow

God’s solution

God knew man would sin, he knew it all ahead of time
So before man was even created he had already agreed with the Son that he would come and die, so that our sins could be forgiven.
Jesus would die, not an easy death in his sleep, but as the object of a bloodthirsty crowd, that beat him to a pulp, and then crucified him, hanging from a cross, his lifeblood flowing out, running down the cross, and flooding our to cover our sins
The sacrifices of the old testament pointed forward to the Lamb who was slain from the foundation of the world
Victory over sin was achieved by this precious flood, Jesus blood poured out for us so that our sins could be forgiven
We are reminded of the enormity of what Jesus did for us each month as we take communion

Communion

Gerry van der Wende