Whiter Than Snow (part 2) - [Hebrews 1:4]

It seems like every tribe and tongue of people know that they're sinful.

And so they have a variety of different ways to try to alleviate that sin, to remove that sin, to have that sin purified from them.

I was studying this week a little bit about sweat lodges. Sometimes they just call them sweat.

And it's a purification ceremony that indigenous Americans would do,

Indians would do, Native Americans. And you'd get kind of a beehive -looking structure, oblong structure, maybe dome -shaped, and then you would have folks that would go inside of that.

There would be some fire -hot rocks, and the water would be poured onto those hot rocks, and it would be steaming, and the picture would be this.

As the toxins and as the impurities are coming out of my body, i .e. sweat, there's also a symbolic kind of penitence where now

I'm being purified, my soul is being cleansed. Sweat lodges.

I did not know that you had to be trained to lead a sweat lodge.

You could not be self -designated. You had to learn the language to control this thing.

You have to put the sweat lodge's door at the right orientation so it's facing the proper direction.

Sometimes when they would construct a sweat lodge, there would be drum players there. Other times, the people, the construction workers would have to fast.

You have to wear the right clothing. And sometimes when you are getting purified, everything has to be quiet and dark.

Problem is with sweat lodges, people die in them. Many causes of death would include overexposure to heat, dehydration, smoke inhalation, and suffocation.

And what I did not know is if you get rocks from rivers that have holes in them and get those rocks very hot and pour water on the rocks, some of those rocks explode and have shards of rocks flying toward those in the sweat lodge.

Since 1996, there have been several deaths in sweat lodges.

One particular, if I had to ask you, if you thought of New Age and then word association, where would that New Age place be?

You probably would say Santa Cruz just to kind of get after me. But I would probably think Sedona.

And actually in Sedona, several people died because they were in sweat lodges.

October 2009, New Age retreat organized by James Arthur Ray. Three people died, 21 became ill because it was improperly ventilated.

You know, they did not have to die. How sad, they did not even get their sins removed and yet they died and they did not have to.

But what we are going to learn this morning, and I know you know this already, but to have your sins really purged, really cleansed, to be really purified, someone had to die because the wages of sin is death.

So let us turn our Bibles this morning to Hebrews chapter 1 to celebrate again and to look one more time at Jesus who makes purification for sins.

Not in a sweat lodge, but while he was sweating great, great drops of blood in the garden, he then moves to the place where he does bear sins and that is at Calvary's cross.

Jesus Christ, the one who cleanses sin, who purifies sinners.

Long ago, Hebrews 1 .1, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets.

But in these last days, he has spoken to us by the quality of his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.

He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature.

And he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.

What the writer of Hebrews is doing, as you know, is giving you the list of credentials on why

Jesus is more important than the prophets. Why you should heed him more, why you should pay attention to him more than the prophets.

What's his resume? What's his CV? Is he really that great? I mean, the prophets,

Moses, Elijah, Zechariah, these were big hitters.

Isaiah, why listen to Jesus above all these other prophets? And because Jesus has this resume that no one else has.

And as Jesus is upholding the universe, it must include dealing with sin. And in fact, he deals with sin and he makes purification.

King James translates it this way, when he had by himself purged our sins.

And isn't it fascinating in the book of Hebrews, where 1 Corinthians 1 .18

and following would say, that, you know, the cross is what to a

Jewish person? It's a stumbling block. It makes you trip.

The Messiah, our Messiah, on a cross, like a criminal.

But interestingly, the writer of Hebrews, knowing he's writing to Jewish people, he doesn't make any apologies for this discussion.

He didn't say, well, I know, you know, it's kind of offensive to you. And I know you want signs. I know you want a political savior.

So we'll talk about the cross and purification and cleansing of sins a little bit later, kind of once you're warmed up some.

Right from the very beginning, Jesus himself makes purification for our sins.

He puts the pedal on the gas and makes it go faster. You know, if you're driving down the street and even if you're not speeding and you see a police car, what's the first reaction you have?

For me, guilty conscience, ebendroth, I'm like, slow way down. It's just natural.

And for the writer of Hebrews, it was natural for him to think, you know what, your Jewish sensibilities and what you want and what you prefer and how you want me to talk to you, that's fine and dandy.

And I'd like to be nice to you, but I'm the shepherd. I'm the preacher. I'm the proclaimer. I'm the inspired writer.

And here's what you need. It needs to be starting with Jesus Christ, who he is, what he's done.

And the pinnacle is death for sinners. Now, as you know, ideas have consequences.

Truth has implications. If we're not careful, we'll hear this truth.

Jesus makes purification for sins. And then we're off to the next thing. So today,

I want us to just settle down for one more Sunday and ask and answer things like, what are the implications that Jesus makes purification?

This would be a good home Bible study. This would be a good time to sit around the dinner table and say, what can we learn from these simple words?

Jesus himself makes purification for our sins. So the outline today is implications that stem from this excellent work by Jesus.

The pinnacle of his work, he dies for sinners. Implications from this truth.

Ideas have consequences. Consequence one from the idea that Jesus purges sins are implication number one is that purification is practical.

The purification of sin is relevant. Say, what do you mean?

Uh, I'm having a hard time on my marriage this week, or I'm having a hard time at my work this week, and I'd much rather come to church and hear a sermon that's more relevant than Jesus dying on the cross for sinners.

Do you hear yourself when you say that? Now let's think about life from a

Jewish perspective. Cleansing. If you think of Moses one,

Moses two, Moses three, Moses four, and Moses five, which books am I referring to? Any German speakers here?

Deuteronomy, Numbers, Leviticus, Exodus, and Genesis. When you think Pentateuch, when you think first five books of the

Bible, it influences the way you read Hebrews. And so you say to yourself, cleansing, all the purification, all the cleansing like with lepers.

It's everywhere. I just saw even in Leviticus 14 alone, the clean language, the cleansing language.

It's everywhere. It's like when I used to walk into an operating room suite, and this is a sterile field here.

Everything's got to be clean. And if it's not clean and you drop something on the ground, you've got to take that.

First of all, you have to eat crow. And then you have to take it over and you have to put it in the autoclave.

Who knows what an autoclave is? And they're hot to cleanse it. Every Jew would think cleansing, not just for sins, but just ceremonial cleansing.

The priest shall command them to take for him who is to be cleansed, two live clean birds.

Leviticus 14, sprinkle seven times on him who is to be cleansed of the leprous disease.

Then he shall pronounce him clean. Leviticus 14, and he is to be cleansed, shall wash his clothes and shave off all his hair and bathe himself in water, and he shall be clean.

We're not talking about cleaning regular dirt. We're talking ceremonial cleansing.

And so for the writer of Hebrews, he knows they're living in this world. They're breathing this kind of atmosphere.

I mean, how relevant is that to us? I mean, really, purification, cleansing. But if you're a sinner, if you've ever sinned, if you still sin, how much more relevant could you get than the cross of Christ?

And he wants them to know right at the get -go just how relevant this is.

Let's do something interesting. Let's go to Galatians chapter 5. We're going to look at several lists in the

Bible. When I was growing up, we loved the Guinness Book of World Records paperback. Seemed to come out every year.

New people would win the contest. And we also had something called the Book of Lists. Just all kinds of random lists.

There are some lists in the New Testament. And I want to know if you can find yourself in these lists.

So let's finally, once and for all, with good conscience, play Where's Waldo. Most of the time, we don't like to play that game because it's bad hermeneutics.

But once in a while, with my ex cathedra statements, you may. How relevant is the purification of sins?

We will find ourselves in every one of these lists called vice lists.

Jesus's death for you, on behalf of you, in your place, Christian, is very, very relevant.

Galatians 5, 19 to 21. Now the works of the flesh are evident.

I mean, just think about your past before you were saved. I wonder how many of these would apply to you.

Pretty much everyone applies to me. Sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality.

And by the way, as I read these, any people that do these things or have done these things, do you think they need to be cleansed before they're brought to God's holy heaven?

If you had a box that said sin, and you were in that box, and you had another box that said holiness, and you wanted to move from the sin box to the holiness box, from earth to heaven, how would you do that?

I'll tell you, if you just sauntered on in, still sinful, into the holiness box, there would be a nuclear winter.

There would be destruction. Because God is so holy, so something has to be done for those in the sin box to get into the holiness box.

What must be done? Cleansing, purification, washing.

Take a look at the passage. Idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.

I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Turn to Revelation 21, please, for another list. This is also called a vice list.

What we're doing here is we're remembering. We used to be like that. There's another vice list.

1 Corinthians chapter 6 isn't there. And such were what? Some of you. But you've been what?

You've been justified, and you've been washed. We love the death of Christ on our behalf.

Of course, confirmed by the resurrection. But we love it because He cleansed us. He washed us, though our sins are like scarlet.

Revelation 21, 8. How can these people in the sin box, as it were, get to the holiness box, heaven?

But as for the cowardly, Revelation 21, 8, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.

Let's look up one more, Ephesians chapter 5. I wonder if you can find yourself in this vice list.

I can. I can find you, and I can find me right in this very list. These kind of people need to be cleansed.

And so what the writer of Hebrews does is he says right at the very beginning, he is so worthy of being listened to because he cleanses filthy sinners.

Not kind of okay sinners, but the worst of the worst. That's why if you're here today and you're not a

Christian and you think to yourself, the sins that I've committed could never be forgiven.

Well, every one of these sins in these lists have been forgiven, and Christ's death is sufficient for someone like you.

Ephesians chapter 5, verse 3, just reminding ourselves who we used to be and now we're cleansed.

These are not held to our account anymore because Jesus paid for them all. But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you as is proper among saints.

Let there be no filthiness, nor foolish talk, nor crude joking, which are out of place. But instead, let there be thanksgiving.

For you may be sure of this. Boy, that's pointed language, isn't it? That everyone who is sexually immoral or impure or who is covetous, that is an idolater, has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

Let no one deceive you with empty words because they're going to try. You'll try yourself. For because of these things, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.

The writers of Scripture are not reticent to talk about their past sin because they realize when that kind of sin is forgiven, then it magnifies who

Jesus is. The writers of the New Testament are not skittish. Well, we better not talk about sin.

It might hurt people's self -esteem. I mean, when you realize how sinful sin is, then you more appreciate

God cleansed me. He washed me. He purified. Yes, that sin. Yes, that sin.

Sexual immorality, cleansed. Idolatry, cleansed. I mean, just think about the ferocious antagonism

God has against idolatry. No, no, there's not just one God. There's a few. But God cleanses.

He purifies. There's a man a couple hundred years ago right down the street, as it were, in Northampton who wrote these words.

I've had a vastly greater sense of my own wickedness and the badness of my heart than ever I had before my conversion.

It has often appeared to me that if God should mark iniquity against me, I should appear the very worst of all mankind.

Of all that have been since the beginning of the world to this time, I should have the farthest, lowest place in hell.

I do not know how to express better what my sins appear to me to be then by heaping infinite upon infinite, multiplying infinite by infinite.

When I look into my heart and take a view of my wickedness, it looks like an abyss infinitely deeper than hell.

Who said that? It could have been David, but it was

Jonathan Edwards. To imagine how sinful we are, we don't stop there in Romans 7.

Oh, wretched man that I am. We keep going to chapter 8 and say, what? Because Jesus purifies all your sin, past, present, and future, their friends is no condemnation for you because you're in Christ Jesus.

Aren't you glad? I mean, the Damocles sword over the person, just here we go.

It's getting closer and closer. It is normal.

It is right for the Christian to say, I still am a wicked sinner, but I have a

Savior who's purified me for all those. Number two, implication number two, purification.

The first implication is relevant. It cannot be overstated. It affects the way we live.

Number two, purification is what the second Adam must do as he undoes the work of the first Adam.

When I think of purification and the implications around it, I say to myself, thank you that Jesus could do and undo would be a better way to put it.

What Adam did. Go back to Hebrews chapter one, please. We believe in federal representation because Romans five and other passages teach it.

Adam is a federal head representing you, me and everyone else except the Lord. And Jesus is a federal head.

And Adam so messed things up that when I think of purification, I think, you know what?

Adam made everything sullied and Jesus has to come along and purify it. We're talking big picture here.

Take a look at Hebrews. And when I read what Jesus did, there's not a one to one correspondence, but it makes me think of the opposite of Adam.

So can you imagine if Jesus chapter one verse two is appointed heir of all things to a much lesser degree?

I understand. But wasn't Adam the heir? Wasn't he supposed to take care of the earth?

Wasn't all this given for Adam and his wife to just enjoy? And what does Adam do with it because of his sin?

He just destroys it. I don't care what you give me, God. When I see, although Adam didn't create the world, he was to take care of the created world.

And instead, I'll do what I want. You've given me everything except to eat from that one tree and I'll do it anyway.

When it says upholds the universe in verse three by the word of his power. By Adam's own hands, what does he do instead of upholds all things and bears all things at the very end?

Adam says, I don't care what you say, God, I'm going to destroy all things. And if my arms were long enough to get to heaven,

I'd pull you out and destroy you as well. A complete destruction in the garden.

God had entered into a covenant with Adam, covenant of life, a covenant of works.

And by Adam's own works, we would stand with Adam or we would fail with Adam. And instead of upholding the universe, taking care of the universe, instead of being the image bearer that he was to be and represent

God as his agent on earth, instead of perpetually obeying, instead of personally obeying, he eats of the fruit of the tree.

G .I. Packer notes, the story that forms this backbone of the Bible has to do with man's covenant relationship with God, first ruined and then restored.

The original covenantal arrangement, usually called the covenant of works, was one whereby God undertook to prolong and augment for all subsequent humanity, the happy state in which he had made the first human pair.

Provided that man observed as part of the humble obedience that was then natural to him, one prohibition specified in the narrative as not eating the forbidden fruit, the devil presented as serpent, seduced

Adam and Eve into disobeying so that they fell under the penal sanctions of the covenant of works.

They, Hosea 6, 7, like Adam have transgressed the covenant.

And so when I think of Jesus making purification for sins, I say

Adam, the first federal head, destroys everything. And we've got to have Jesus come along to undo and to rescue

Jesus, the new head of the new people, the elect, fulfilling the righteous covenantal requirements of the law and also dying for the consequences of people's disobedience.

And the free gift is not like the trespass for if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man,

Jesus Christ, abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin for the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation.

But the free gift following many trespasses brought justification for if because of one man's trespass death reign through all that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man,

Jesus Christ. Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men.

So one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.

For as many, excuse me, for as by the one man's disobedience, the many were made sinners. So by the one man's obedience, the many will be made righteous.

I think the death of Christ is more glorious than providence as it purges our sin, as it takes care of the defilement of sin.

But I also think, you know what? No wonder why Paul said it's of first importance.

I deliver to you as of first importance. What? Christ died for our what? Sins. It's at the top of the list because otherwise it seems like of first importance is

Adam and his sin. Christ dies for our sins, was buried and was raised the third day.

When I think of Jesus, I think about him undoing the first Adam's work. Number three, number three,

Jesus purges sins. Is it relevant? Yes. Does it undo the work of the first Adam?

Yes. Are there other considerations? Yes. Number three, third implication, purification of sins can only be done by Jesus.

The exclusivity of Christ. We live in an inclusive world with ideas and thoughts in the marketplace or an exclusive world.

Which one do we live in? Inclusive. Jesus is the only way to get to heaven.

Now, looking back at Hebrews chapter one, what does the text say? Having purification, making purification for sins, he sat down.

Two interesting groups got together to do a survey. Lifeway, Southern Baptist and Ligonier, Presbyterian.

And they got together for a survey and they asked people, do you think there are many ways to get to heaven?

A typical American. Are there many ways to get to heaven? That's inclusivity, not exclusivity.

What percentage? 5%, 10%, 20%, 45%, or 50 % said there are many ways to get to heaven.

And the answer is, according to this survey, 45 % of Americans think there are many ways to get to heaven.

Nothing to do with inclusivity, exclusivity. But it lends us into the thinking and psyche of a works righteousness based world.

71 % of people agree with this. An individual must contribute to his or her own effort for personal salvation.

71%. Friends, Jesus makes purification. He doesn't say, does the writer say in Hebrews one,

Aaron made purification. Jesus makes purification is what the text says. Not Moses, not anyone else.

No wonder when Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, the life, no one comes to the

Father but through me. There must be belief, self -belief, willful belief, conscious belief in Jesus as Lord for eternal life.

Now, the fun thing about grammar, I know we have some, what do you call them, grammaticians, grammaticians, gramophobes, grammatrons, robotrons.

One of the great things about language, especially Greek, is it's precise.

God in his upholding great power, I mean, Jesus himself as the agent, takes

Alexander the Great down into the Palestinian Israel area and he brings with him the

Greek culture. And so instead of Hebrew, which is wonderful and poetic and it paints a picture, to have precision and with precise language, there's hardly a language outside of the

Greek New Testament language that is more precise. And here, having made purification, making purification for sins, the

ESV says, it's a middle voice. You say, that's not really that thrilling to me, middle voices.

Well, it's one step up from active voices. No, middle voice just means he himself, by himself.

Would this be reflexive? I think it would be. Jesus does, by himself, make purification for sins.

By himself, acting for himself, acting on our behalf, Jesus makes purification.

So the writer is basically saying this. All you Jewish people, you want to go worship in an

Old Testament kind of system? Jesus alone can purify sins. Contra, Rob Bell's book,

Love Wins, talks about hopeful universalism. Many years ago, Brian McLaren, a generous orthodoxy, says, quote,

I don't believe making disciples must equal making adherents to the Christian religion. January 18, 2009,

Bishop, so -called, Episcopal Bishop, so -called, Gene Robinson, New Hampshire, back in those days, steps to a podium near the

Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D .C. for President Barack Obama's invocation, inauguration festivities, and he prays this prayer.

Here's how it started. You tell me if it's inclusive or exclusive. Oh, God of our many understandings, but even as I read this, if you'd like to have your sins cleansed, if you have a friend that needs to have their sins cleansed,

Mohammed can't cleanse their sins. Buddha can't cleanse their sins. There's one person who can cleanse sins, and his name is

Christ Jesus. Lillian Montague, God, Allah, Yahweh, the

Creator, the One, the Energies, goes by many names in this country as ever. I do believe that God is in everyone, though by what name

He resides, there seems to me to be up to the person. It seems to me to be up to the person in question.

So now I can self -identify as a man, or self -identify as a woman, or like the lady in Europe, I self -identify as a cat, and now

I have a God who self -identifies to me as the Energies. Yet the text says emphatically,

He Himself makes purification. If you want controversy, this will lead you into controversy in evangelicalism.

I don't often quote Page Patterson, but I'll quote him now, president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

This doctrine is the most hated doctrine in all the world today. Jesus is the only way.

Just to let you know, every religion leads directly to God.

I meant what I said. Every religion leads directly to God. There's some people getting up now.

Please hear my last statement. It leads directly to His throne of judgment, friends, because without a mediator,

Jesus Christ, you're going to be judged. You need an advocate. You need someone to make propitiation. You need someone to cleanse you.

All religions do lead straight to God and His judgment. Well, to me, it's this way.

Friend, I didn't ask you, to you, what does the text say? By the sacrifice of His own self as a high priest, as fully man so He can be our representative, and as fully

God as He can have an infinite amount of righteousness to give to everybody who believes. How would you like to have righteousness?

How would you like to have God see you as righteous? It's only found in Jesus, not angels, not

Judaism. Purification, catharizo, cleansing is found only in Christ Jesus.

Are you morally contaminated? Are you spiritually polluted? Have you sinned against God?

Friends, we have a remedy for you. Well, I'd like it better if there'd be three remedies. Friends, here is the remedy.

Acts 20, be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which

He purchased with His own blood. He makes cleansing.

He takes away sins. 1 John 1, 7 echoes this truth.

The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sins.

Since it's impossible for bulls and goats and goat blood to take away sin, we need a sin bearer.

Yes, but that doesn't sound very tolerant now, does it? That's not relativistic.

People I've been reading, they want to be a world religion accessibilist.

Never knew that word. All the world religions give you access to God. Jesus said, for God did not send

His Son. John in John 3, 17 says, God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.

Whoever believes in Him is not condemned. Exclusive. But whoever does not believe is condemned already.

The condemnation is inclusive if you're outside of Christ. He's written some good things, but even the so -called

Christian scholar Alistair McGrath from the UK, quote,

We are assured that those who respond in faith to the explicit preaching of the gospel will be saved.

I wish you would have just stopped right there. We cannot draw the conclusion from this, however, that only those who thus respond will be saved.

God's revelation is not limited to the explicit preaching of the good news, but extends beyond it. We must be prepared to be surprised at those whom we will meet in the kingdom of God.

We will be surprised when we meet people, but we won't be surprised by saying some people who believed in another way and never heard preaching.

Oh, they're there, too, because faith comes by hearing a message about Christ. The implication in this truth is if you want your friends and loved ones to go to heaven, guess what?

They have to hear the gospel. You have a savior to offer them, to present before them, to challenge them with, to preach to them.

The glories of Christ Jesus. Peter, quote,

There is salvation in no one else, for there is no one other name under heaven given among men by which we must be what?

Saved. He had to come do the work. That's why we call him savior. People say, you know what?

But if you say Jesus is the only way that people must use acts 20 language, turn to God in repentance and have faith in our

Lord Jesus Christ, then you are dampering their human flourishing. They won't flourish.

Well, friends, let's just be honest. Maybe on earth they won't flourish. But in heaven, I mean, it's exponential flourishing.

This is this is making people feel bad. This is what's already here in America, and it's coming even faster.

There is one God and there is one mediator between God and men, the man

Christ Jesus. That's first Timothy two, first John five. This is the testimony that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his son.

Romans 10. If you confess with your mouth that there's lots of different ways to have God is

Lord and believe in your heart that human flourishing. And, you know, that's all a lie. Implication number four.

Implication number four. Jesus dies on behalf of sinners. He makes purification.

There are implications of that truth. It is very relevant. It undoes what the first Adam does.

It can only be done by Jesus. And fourth implication, purification happened at the cross.

This purification happened at the cross, and I'll tell you where it doesn't happen. I'll tell you where it never can happen.

And that's in a made up place called purgatory. Same root language purgatory purging.

But where did it happen? When Jesus said on the cross, it is what? Halfway done.

You burn for a while, too. I'm not joking when I say that. But if you believe in purgatory, you don't believe in the sufficiency of Jesus cleansing for sin.

I want you to have satisfaction in and joy in Jesus's full atonement, because I'll talk about purgatory in a second.

Maybe you come from a background like I did. Let's let's go after Protestants for a couple minutes.

My background is Lutheranism. And so here's what I'm thinking when I'm going to bed at night.

I was taught that if I don't have all my sins confessed before I put my head down on that pillow, if I wake up the next morning, great.

If I don't, I was going to go to hell. And this kind of system where you've got to confess all those sins.

I didn't know half of my sins, because if the two greatest commandments are the two greatest sins, love

God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, love your neighbor as yourself. How often did I not do those two things? I remember once I got my tonsils out.

Well, I only got them out once, but I remember that. Tonsils and adenoids, sinuses.

And I had a really bad cold. And the nurses said, listen, you've got to cough from your stomach, because if you cough from your throat, you're going to get a bleeder.

And some people have died. Now, my wife knows I'm not a hypochondriac at all. I never struggle with such things.

I woke up in the middle of the night. And when you're sleeping, you can't tell yourself cough this way, not this way.

Just doesn't work. And I was bleeding. There's blood all over. No internet, no

WebMDs, things that make myself even more scared. Got the yellow pages out.

Call Emanuel Hospital. Should I or shouldn't I? It's like back in the old days, you know, seven digits for a phone number and you're going to call some girl on a date.

You could dial the first six, but you weren't man enough to do the seventh one. So you just hang up. God's going to have to bring me my wife to my door.

I can't go do this. So the next thing

I remember is waking up with my head on the yellow pages, kind of dried blood in my mouth.

And I lived, made it stating the obvious.

But I'm thinking that night in 1981, I could die.

And there was enough sense in me, even like people who go to sweat lodges for purification. I know

I'm sinful. I have a guilty conscience and I'm going to meet God. And I know God's different because if he made everything like this, he's transcendent, he's other.

And to stand in the presence of God, I'm in the sin box. I need to be in the holiness box. Something has to happen.

But see what happens when you believe in a Lutheran system or a sacerdotal system, a sacramental system, a purgatory system.

You don't say to yourself, you know what? Jesus' death on the cross was once and done. It was finished.

It was sufficient. It must not be and cannot be repeated because he made purification for sins.

Was the job done? Does he have to keep going? What does the text go on to say in Hebrews chapter 1 verse 3?

Having sat down. Everybody gave President Bush a hard time for standing on that aircraft carrier and saying what years ago?

Mission accomplished. Not to argue politics. But some didn't think it was accomplished.

Those people who say you've got to now go have your sins purged out in purgatory, which doesn't exist.

They don't think what Jesus did was enough. Everything I read is from an official

Catholic catechism. Our official Catholic writings, quote, all who die in God's grace and friendship because still imperfectly purified are indeed assured of their eternal salvation.

But after death, they undergo purification. So as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.

The Catholic Church says, quote, the church gives the name purgatory to this final purification of the elect.

And I'll tell you, this really affects the way you live and you die. And when my mom's dying of cancer and I say, you know what, mom, we've got to turn off the machines.

You're a Christian. I know God has saved you. And we don't have to prolong this anymore.

If she wasn't a Christian, we would have prolonged it as long as we could, giving her an opportunity from the human perspective to repent.

Mom, we know where you're going. Jesus has purified all your sins. It's been done for you.

It is finished. And so, mom, I had two verses I wanted to tell her. I said, mom, we can turn everything off.

You get to go see God in heaven face to face. No more faith. You get to go. And then

I said, absent from the body. And if I had this theology,

I would say present in purgatory and burn for a while. You might finally get there.

I didn't say that, though. Nor did I say, mom, to live is

Christ and to die is purgatory.

I said, to live is Christ and to die is what? Because Jesus has cleansed it all.

Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe. Sin has left a crimson stain, but he washed it.

It's white as snow. Something called the

Macbeth effect. Remember Lady Macbeth in the Shakespeare play? She saw some bloody stains and her conscience was so condemning.

The Macbeth effect basically says this. Let's tell people to relive an experience where they did something wrong.

They told a lie. They were somehow immoral and they cheated. Remember that.

And then after they've recalled that event, finish spelling this word.

And there's a W blank blank H. And those who think of a bad situation in their life that they were guilty, they don't write

I S in the middle. Wish. Nor do they write any other letters. Guess which one they typically write?

W blank blank H. W A S H.

Wash. It's just a reflex. It's just a knee jerk. It's got to be washed.

With these same people in this Macbeth effect, S blank blank

P. Those with the guilty consciences don't say

S H I P. They most often say S O A P.

I need to be washed. I need to be cleansed. And Jesus himself makes purification for your sins.

Aren't you glad? I'm super glad. Let's pray. Father, thank you. We don't have to suffer someplace that's made up.

Jesus did the suffering. And for Jesus, it was suffering and then the crown.

Father, we want the crown now and don't really want to suffer. But we know better. So help us.

Give us wisdom. Help us to love our friends and neighbors who are caught up in a Protestant -like

Lutherism or a Roman Catholicism that says Jesus didn't pay it all. What an insult to Jesus.

But Father, how practical it is to us that when we lay there on our dying bed, our sins, because the

Word of God teaches it, are remitted. Our sins are expiated.

Our sins have been propitiated. And we now are friends of God.

We're your friends. Jesus did the work. Our prayers for the dead cannot work.

Our indulgences cannot work. Our penance cannot work. Our absolution cannot work.

Our masses cannot work. Because the text says, after making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.

And Father, while we won't be sitting there, we won't be in the sin box anymore.

We'll be in the holiness box in heaven, in your presence, where there is fullness of joy.