THREE STEPPING STONES

DO YOU ENJOY a ramble? The hills, streams, flora and fauna can excite us and fill us with awe.  But  rambles are not always easy.

A stream or river may block the way.  Stepping stones could help.   They do on the Wallington estate in Northumberland. There you can find a set in the River Wansbeck.  They provide a safe route across when the water level is not too high.

Many have found themselves in need of guidance.  Once made aware of their plight, questions flow.  Is there anyone to show me the way?  How can I get from where I am to where I ought to be?

Happy for us, there are some sure stepping stones upon which we can safely tread.  But, before I tell you what they are, I will tell you why we need them.

Put simply, there is a gulf between us and God.  Though created in his image and able to enjoy intimate fellowship with God, we no longer do.  Adam, the first man, ruined it for himself and us.  How?  He did not obey God’s command.  He thought he knew better.  Better that is than the One who made him from the dust of ground.

Adam imagined that he would not be judged by God.  He made the wrong choice.  He chose to listen to the deceit and lies of Satan, the one who leads rebel angels.

He did not help his wife, Eve.  He failed to encourage her to stay faithful to God.  He did nothing to stop her from doing wrong.  And then he made things worse, by also blatantly defying God and his Word.

Adam’s sin did not just affect him.  In the plan of God Adam stood in the place of all who would descend from him.  So what he did affects us.  He was free to choose good or evil.  Sadly he chose evil.  At that moment the free will of Adam was corrupted.  It continued to exist but self-will was joined to it.

Since the day on which Adam rebelled mankind, like Adam, has had a will that is bound.  We are free to choose what we want to do but our choice is marred by pride and self-will.  A desire to sin; that is to do what God did not make us to do; clings to us.  As a result even our best choices are far from perfect.  That is why a gulf exists  between God and ourselves.

God desires perfection.  He is perfect (Leviticus 32.4; 2 Samuel 22.31).  He made us to be like him.  That is why Jesus says that we are to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect (Matthew 5.48).   So we can say that God does not just desire that we be perfect; he also demands that we be perfect.

That which is imperfect cannot live with God.  Most of us forget that fact.  Instead we jump to the conclusion that because God is love; which he most certainly is; God must accept us; which he is not bound to do.

We need to know that God who is love is also holy and just.  He is pure and perfect.  Nothing imperfect can enter into and remain in his presence.  Because of our sin; we have a sinful nature and we commit sins; we are not able to enter God’s presence.  We are barred from it.  We are separated from him by a vast tide of unbelief and sin.  The waters of that tide run fast and deep.  It is impossible for us to cross them.  There is no way that any person could ever swim across.

Does that mean there is no hope?  Not at all.  There is hope.  And it is a glorious hope.  It has to be because it is centred on Jesus Christ.  The just, holy and perfect God, with whom no man deserves to dwell, has provided the only way by which we can live with God.  He has done so in Jesus Christ.  How?

The eternal Word of God became a man.  He was born of Mary.  He is fully God and fully man.  But he is one person, Jesus Christ.  Because he is fully God he is sinless.  Because he is fully man whatever he did he did for the people he represented.  He is the second man who represents many people.  Adam was the first man.  He represented all mankind.  Jesus Christ is the second.  That is why he is also called the second Adam (1 Corinthians 15.20-22 and Romans 5.12-17).  He represents all those for whom he lived and died.

We say lived and died because Christ came to live the perfect life no person can ever live; and he came to die the death we deserve to die.  Both are of vital importance.

God imputes, or reckons, the perfection of Christ to each and every person who believes that only Jesus Christ can make them acceptable to God.  And God says that the punishment we deserve for our sins was borne in full by Christ when he suffered and died on a cross.  The sins of the people he represented were reckoned as his.  He remained pure and perfect.  Had he not, he could never have satisfied the justice of God.  But satisfy it he did.  That is why all who have faith in Christ, who believe that he died to save them from their sins, enjoy eternal life.And so we come to our three stepping stones.  How can we connect with the God who has provided such a wonderful Saviour?  How can we come to know him as our Father?  How can we enjoy the benefits of Christ’s perfect life and sacrificial death?

There is only one way.  It is through faith.  We are to entrust ourselves to Christ.  We are to rest on him alone for acceptance with God.  But, you ask, how can I come to do that?  Surely the answer has to be by discovering who Jesus is.  And by listening with care to the exceedingly great and precious promises God gives to us.

Here are three.

Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous person his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon (Isaiah 55.7).

He does not retain his anger for ever, because he delights in steadfast love (Micah 7.18).

Let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price (Revelation 21.6 and 22.17)

These three texts are precious promises.  Any and all weighed down by their sinfulness; any and all who feel lost and bewildered need to hear these words.  The tide of unbelief swells and surges.  The waves drive in and drag many under.  Though they roar and thunder there is a safe way through.

The gulf between God and man-kind is safely crossed by those who step out and place their feet on the secure and sure foundation of God’s precious promises.  They are an infallible resource.  They never fail all who know their need and use them as they call on God to save them.

Fix them in your minds.  Plead them before God’s throne.  Tell others of them often.  They are indeed precious.  That is what all who entrust themselves to Christ find.

George Curry  25 June 2017