Wednesday, October 8, 2014
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When I get sick it's a rare event in our family. I've been blessed with a pretty healthy life. But there was a time a while back when I got hit with the flu. I mean, "hit" with the flu. And it's enough to say I wasn't moving. I was too weak to talk. I honestly think I was too weak to even turn over for about 24 hours. And then I gradually started to improve. When I began to feel better, man, I tell you what I wanted most. I wanted a shower. It was my first physical triumph after the battle with the flu. I very happily piled in a corner what was the symbol of that long, dark day I had just had; those blue flannel pajamas. I'd been wearing them the whole time. They'd been sweated out several times, and they didn't smell very nice. I could give you more details, but you don't want them. They probably should have been burned, but we couldn't afford that. So, here I was showered with fresh, clean clothes on. I could tell you one thing I wasn't about to do. I wasn't about to put those rotten, old pajamas back on for anything.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Goodbye Sick Stuff."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from John 11, beginning in verse 38. Here we find Jesus facing a great challenge of His ministry. His good friend, Lazarus, has died. There are weeping friends and family all around Lazarus' tomb. And the Bible says this: "Jesus, deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 'Take away the stone' He said. They did, although Martha objected. 'By this time there was a bad odor, for he has been there four days.'"
Verse 43 says, "Jesus called in a loud voice, 'Lazarus, come out!' And the dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, cloth around his face. And Jesus said to them, 'Take off the grave clothes and let him go.'" Now, can you imagine Lazarus going back a little later after this resurrection, looking for his old grave clothes, going, "Now, where are those things? I want to put those back on!" That would be like me going back to my flu pajamas. I'm sure he would not return to the stuff that was wrapped around him while he was dead.
But, you know, we do that. See, we're all Lazarus, because we've all been raised from the living death of trying to make it without Christ. According to 2 Corinthians 5:17, "We are a new creation in Christ. The old is gone; a new life has begun." And there are old grave clothes to leave once and for all.
Could it be that maybe you've drifted back to some of the old you? That habit you had beaten, but now you're flirting with it again? That compromising relationship you finally put behind you, but now you're running around the edges of that relationship again? That dark temper that Jesus had started to take control of, but is it coming back, rearing its head again? You letting it take control again?
Maybe it's that tendency to use people, to hurt people, or to walk over people. Or there could be a side of you that takes matters into your own hands. You're a self-reliant person. I know how that is. And instead of trusting God to do it, you're taking over again. All of us have these empty, corrupt ways of living. And Christ comes and He says, "Let him go! Let her go! Take off the grave clothes!" And we can be free of that forever.
Yeah, we battle it one day at a time, but we can be free because of Jesus. Have you taken back your grave clothes? Would you just remember what dead felt like? You turn to that cross where you were freed in the first place and let Jesus say it again, "Let him go! Let her go!"
Maybe you've never experienced the freedom, the release, the clean inside that comes when you go to Jesus and begin a relationship with Him as your Savior from your sin. Not just a Savior of the world. But to say, "Jesus, some of the sin You died for on that cross was mine." And you pin all your hopes on Him to forgive you and change you, and make you what the Bible promises you will be – a new creation in Christ.
If you're ready for new; you're tired of dirty and you're ready for clean, make this your Jesus day. You say, "Ron, I don't know how." I hope you'll go to our website and let me help you begin that relationship. It's ANewStory.com so you can have a new story.
And if you're finally getting well, there's just no reason in the world to go back to that sick stuff.