Yesterday my wife was at a friend’s house and containers with two gallons of milk fell on the floor. Oh what a mess! They were able to quickly clean it up. But there are some messes that are worse than that. There are some messes that we cannot clean up ourselves.
A large portion of the Bible tells about ancient rulers who made a mess of things. They made bad choices that resulted in much suffering. These were not accidental messes. They were moral choices. Choices that were made to do the wrong thing. Even most of the “good” kings made bad choices that made a mess. For instance, David committed adultery with Bathsheba and then had her husband killed to “save his reputation”. (2 Samuel 11) The resulting son, Solomon, went after the false gods of his foreign wives that God had warned him not to marry. (1 Kings 11:4) Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, oppressed his people so severely that it caused the nation to split in two. (2 Chron 10:14-19) Another king, Ahaz worshipped Baal and sacrificed his children in the fire. He went to war and lost a hundred and twenty thousand valiant men in battle in one day. (2 Chron 28:1-6) What an awful mess. The failures of leadership are made plain in the Bible. I have listed a few, but there were dozens and dozens like this. Failure was pervasive.
No matter what your political views, we can all agree that we have the same messes in our day. We have rulers who are making moral choices to do the wrong things, often resulting in thousands and thousands of people dying just as they did in Bible times. You don’t need me to recount those things. You hear about them every day on the news.
The Bible tells us that one day in the future, Jesus Christ will come to rule over the entire earth. (Rev 19:11-21) In the time before He arrives the entire earth will be a horrific mess. Much of the population will have died. (Rev 9:14,15, 9:18) Natural disasters will have decimated everything all over the earth. The earth will be reeling as a result of the devastation: wars, oppression, and destruction brought on by the worst ruler of all time, Satan’s ruler, the Beast. (Rev 13:1) But Jesus Christ will not be like other rulers that we have known. He will not be like Satan’s ruler. Jesus will rule firmly and strongly, yet in kindness. Those who are needy and oppressed will be cared for. (Ps 68:4-6) Those who are scoundrels will be dealt with. (Ps 92:9) He will rule in truth and justice. (Ps 89:14) Every decision of Christ will be right. There will be no corruption because no one will be able to corrupt him. (Ps 96:10) There will be no wars. (Micah 4:3) Creation will be restored, and mankind will live in harmony with nature. (Ps 96:11-13). Jesus is God. (Ps 95:3) He can do what no other ruler could do. In contrast to every way the Bible shows us that leaders have failed; and in contrast to every way we witness today’s leadership failing; Christ will be the opposite and will succeed. He is the glorious One for He will deal with it all and bring beauty and harmony out of the mess. He is a truly majestic King. (Ps 93:1, 96:6, 2 Peter 1:16)
But what about you? Is your life a mess as a result of choices you have made? What about your heart? Are your thoughts what God would consider clean, or are they a mess? So often it seems we fail. So often we don’t love our God and others as we should. Truly, we are all a mess and no more capable of ruling our own hearts well than the leaders in the Bible ruled their nations. None of us can rule our heart well. We all sin. (Romans 3:23) We will all encounter eternal death and suffering without the work of Jesus. But Jesus is the best, most capable ruler of all. He can clean up your heart and make you into a beautiful person. He took all our sin upon Himself and died a painful death on the cross.
Matthew 27:46 says, “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’”
He had been on the cross for six hours at this point, and for three hours it had been dark. There was nothing to see. He could only observe his physical pain and His thoughts. Now His Father was forsaking Him. He had been one with the Father for all eternity past, but now that relationship was cut-off. There has never been nor will there ever be anyone who was more alone. Forsaken by the Father.
Unlike and beyond any other mess, all the wretched filth of mankind’s sin past, present, and future was dumped out cascading down the halls of history. Its massive weight poured out on His head in a heaving torrent. (I Peter 2:24) What a terror! The punishment of every evil great and small pressed down on Him. The holy One became sin and took the punishment for us all. He gave His life in love for you, so that you could be cleansed.
God the Father accepted Jesus’s sacrifice and Jesus rose again victorious from the grave. (Mattew 28:5) Now Jesus can cleanse us and give us life.
What would happen if you were to ask Jesus to rule in your heart and clean up the mess? What if you acknowledged Him as King of your life? We certainly can’t deal with the mess. Only Jesus can. Call upon Him to save you from the mess of sin in your life. Trust that He will do it. He is capable of cleaning up the mess of the whole world. Don’t you think He can clean up whatever mess is in you? Trust in Christ alone.
If you have done this, or if you have questions and need more explanation, people at Faith Baptist Church in Sterling will be happy to talk to you and help you find the answers you need.
Faith Baptist Church
2005 Freeport Road
Sterling, IL
(815) 625-7690.
Sunday school 9:30,
Morning service 10:30.
All are welcome.
