Getting Tested

I want to talk for a moment about from the subject I’ve entitled “The Witness of the Spirit.

The apostle Paul writes in Romans 8:16 that, “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him that we may also be glorified together.

In other words Paul says the Holy Spirit testifies that a radical transformation took place in our lives. First we have a change of status before God when we accepted Christ Jesus as our Lord and Savior.

But If God calls us his children but we don’t feel and act Godlike then we will be most miserable and feel like misfits in the kingdom of God

So, then the Spirit of God creates within us a change of experience on the inside of our hearts that proves and verifies for us that we are God’s children.

Right now society seeks for a way to identify all those infected by this Corona Virus

And, they are still looking for a cure, or a vaccine or an antidote

And then various world governments want to find who to blame and judge for releasing this plague on humanity

Now, I have not been tested for Covid 19.

Most likely you haven’t either.

I have no symptoms and, to my knowledge, I have I not been associated with anyone who has Covid 19 or shows any symptoms.

That means I have not had any high fever, or coughing or difficulty breathing, sore throats, muscle pains or chills,

But that doesn’t mean I don’t have the virus. Neither does the absence of symptoms mean any of you don’t have the virus.

In a very real sense all of us need to get tested because all of us might have been exposed to the virus and yet we don’t know it.

And we need a way to be convicted one way or another of infection or of freedom from infection.

But I’ve been told we don’t have enough test kits available.

And to be clear we have need for two kinds of testing.

The first test determines whether or not the virus actively lives and replicates within your body causing disease.

The other test determines whether or not you’ve been exposed to the virus and have developed some antibodies that enabled you to overcome the disease and be saved from the horrendous, lonely, brutal death it causes.

The medical profession believes that true overcomers of the virus can live free and safe from the disease that yet may rage all around them on the outside and also be free from the impact of any manifestation of the virus living or lurking on the inside of them.

In other words no matter where the virus lurks and lingers they’ve got some viral antibody cells living on the inside more powerful than the virus.

In fact these cells are so effective and potent they literally knock the virus out.

And they tell me that if this virus operates like most other viruses then, by a remote possibility, the antibodies of one person who has been exposed to Covid 19 and overcome the virus could be transferred into another human being via a blood transfusion and make that person immune from the virus whether they have been exposed or not.

But I know another virus called sin that’s more deadly than Covid 19

And, in a very real sense all of us have been exposed and infected with this virus called sin. And we are hopeless and dead unless we can find somebody who has overcome the virus of sin and can give us a blood transfusion.

And just like the corona virus, for centuries...

The world sought for an accurate test to find those infected with the virus called sin

Humanity searched for a cure, or vaccine or an antidote to sin

And everybody wanted to find the one culprit to blame and judge for releasing this plague of sin on humanity

Just look at what this sin virus has done...

It has ravished and destroyed communities.

It has decimated families, disrupted our relationships, corrupted intimacy, violated our innocence, distorted every aspect of God’s creation, ruined lives, polluted our environment, inflamed our bodies, deteriorated our joints, infected nations and reduced populations

And furthermore this virus… carries a very high contagious rate.

You don’t have to wait for somebody to cough on you or sneeze on you to get exposed.

King David said it…you get exposed by being born in sin and shapen in iniquity.

Psalm 51:5 “Behold I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.”

Therefore I know I got the virus of sin and you got it too. We were born infected with virus and all of us have the disease.

Henceforth Paul confirms in Romans 3:23 “ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

And this sin virus always leads to death for it represents rebellion against God who himself who alone is love and life.

From the very beginning after Adam and Eve sinned God killed a Lamb

The sin virus always leads to death

Adam passed that sin nature down to his son who brought the wrong sacrifice to the alter

I hear Cain in Genesis 4:3 saying “I’ve got some fresh, ripe, delicious, colorful, juicy fruit for a sin offering and sacrifice to God”

But God did not accept that offering and said brother Cain you got to do right brother Cain...

The scriptures record God’s conversation with Cain in Genesis 4:7

Genesis 4:7 KJV 1900

If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.

I can almost hear Cain’s response… Okay God so you didn’t accept my sacrifice of fruits and vegetables so maybe you’ll accept the blood of my brother Able

And the Bible says, “Cain rose up and killed his brother”

The sin virus always leads to death...

In Genesis 5 we read about this ongoing, unending litany of death

When you get a chance just read Genesis 5 for a moment and you will see that everybody is dying.

You will read, and I summarize...all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died.

And all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years and he died.

And all the days of Enos were nine hundred and five years: and he died.

And all the days of Cainan were nine hundred and ten years and he died.

And all the days of Mahalaleel were eight hundred ninety and five years; and he died.

And all the days of Jared were nine hundred sixty and two years: and he died.

And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him. Hallelujah

Yes indeed the sin virus always leads to death but I’m so glad God interrupts humanities worse death plague with life.

Aren’t you glad today?

You see Enoch in verse 24 interrupts this ongoing, unending cycle and litany of death.

What a radical transformation and shift from the old pattern and legacy of death into life everlasting?

This passage teaches us that once again a man can walk with God and walking with God makes the new life we have in Christ Jesus effective, powerful and impacting.

And the same Spirit that enables you to walk with God empowers your immunity from the treacherous power of the virus called sin

In Romans 8:1,2 we read, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.”

God has always longed to walk with his children again and grant them this freedom and immunity from the power of sin and death.

We read in Genesis 3:8 Adam and Eve heard God’s voice as he walked in the garden in the cool of the day. Sadly they hid themselves from a searching God and a cruel world

From the very beginning God has always wanted to walk with his children and give this new life

Jesus says to members of the church in Sardis, (Read Revelation 3:4) You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy… He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the book of Life;

Revelation 3:4 KJV 1900

Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy.

And then at the end of the book in Revelation 21:23-24 we read, “The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light...”

So this becomes the context into which the gospel of Jesus Christ comes.

Jesus comes to a world where the virus of sin reigned and ruled in every heart

Beginning with Adam and Eve all struggled with this infection

Humanity, banished from their garden home,

quarantined on planet earth,

socially distanced from the heavenly realm and compelled to wear the proverbial masks of pretense and lies,

a society forever on edge and on the lookout for outbreaks of sin here and rebounding crime resurgence there. Unending war and no peace.

A humanity economically impacted and impoverished by the sin virus.

Men and women dis-empowered, disinherited and disinterested in Godliness

Everybody afraid and sheltered in place

God comes into this sick, sinful human condition and walked with the human family once again.

God in Christ comes exposing himself to the virus of sin but Christ overcame sin and did no sin

God is not quarantined, He’s not shielded in his divine PPE

He’s not separated, He’s not keeping His distance, He’s not scared and protected in some safe house harbor somewhere

He’s not hanging out in no underground bunker, away from the bombs and missiles of war, awaiting peace talks to take place and treatise to be signed

He’s not shielded in some bullet proof bubble and barricaded behind the Milky Way galaxy away from the piercing darts of sin and evil

He’s not wrapped up and cloaked in a white poison proof suit, His eyes sealed by protective goggles, and breathing through a gas mask so that He’s unexposed to the virus of sin

He’s not secreted, secluded and sequestered from the horrible, horror and hobbled hogtied ugliness of human deformity

He’s not sick to His stomach from the putrefying stench and the miasmic misery of man’s cesspool of sickness

He’s not plugging His ears from evil’s noise

He’s not filtering His nostrils from evil’s smell

He’s not shading His eyes from evil’s sight

Yet He is not immune from our sickness, pain and suffering

In Christ He chose to die from the sickness of Human sin because of his great love…Yet he did no sin and instead he overcame sin’s power

And on the cross he offers the antidote… His own precious blood

The prophet Isaiah said it… surely:

He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows,

He was wounded for our transgressions,

He was bruised for our iniquities

The chastisement of our peace was upon Him and with His stripes we are healed

So the blood of Jesus changes our standing before God so that in God’s eyes when we are covered in the blood, we stand fully justified, whole and healed.

But how does God change our personal subjective life so that we ourselves experience that power, that wholeness and healing from sin.

Ah… He promises the Holy Spirit to each believer

You see Jesus was an overcomer… He overcome sin and so his blood was overcomers blood.

Jesus shed his precious blood on the cross to satisfy the debt and penalty of sin.

And His blood has power to give every human being viral immunity from the virus of sin

But we need a helper operating within our hearts to apply that blood and empower us to live like this blood sacrifice is effective

The Holy Spirit operates within our hearts convincing us that the blood sacrifice is enough

That helper is the Holy Spirit

He continues working within to free us from sin’s power

Look at what John records Jesus saying in John 16:7-11

John 16:7–11 KJV 1900

Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on me; Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.

Just look at the tasks assigned to the Holy Spirit...

He will convict the world of

sin - that’s the virus,

of righteousness - that’s the cure, the vaccine, the antidote

and of judgment - on Satan the culprit who let this plague of sin lose on the world

of sin because not believing in Jesus is the primary basic sin plaguing us.

of righteousness because Jesus is with the Father and he alone is righteous.. We have no righteousness on our own

of judgment because Satan, our enemy, stands trial and has been convicted for letting this plague of sin loose on the world

But how does the Holy Spirit show up in our lives?

The same way the Holy Spirit showed up in the early church

Luke records Jesus saying in Acts 1:4 “Wait for the promise of the Father, which saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.

You see brothers and sisters we cannot do anything without the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

And then in Acts 1:8 Jesus says But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

And finally in Acts 2:2-4 it happened. The scripture says “And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

And Acts 2:38 makes it clear for us that this same power of the Holy Spirit comes on all of us who repent and are baptized.

Look at the text, Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

The power of the Holy Spirit comes into the life of believers who have repented and are baptized.

And this mighty power operates within you to fight against the virus of sin and empower us to live for God, and heal us from our addictions and restore us as children of God.

Through the Holy Spirit at work in your life God produces an incredible change in every human heart.

The Christian life is not a modification or improvement of the old, but a total transformation of the human nature.

There is a death to self and sin, and a new life altogether emerges.

This change can be brought about only by the effectual working of the Holy Spirit.

The scriptures testify that in 2 Corinthians 5:17 “If anyone be in Christ he is a new creation. Old things are passed away and all things are become new.

Oh I’ve got to quit now… but...

In John Masefield Trial of Jesus, a woman named Procula asked the centurion who carried out the crucifixion, “Where is Jesus now?” To which the centurion said, “Let loose in the world, lady, where no one can stop his truth.”

And I just stopped by to tell you that through the power of the Holy Spirit Jesus Christ is loose in every heart today.

When you surrender to the death of the cross your old nature dies

When you surrender to the burial of his tomb your sins are buried

When you surrender to the resurrection of Sunday morning the New Life surges within you

And when you say Lord Jesus through the indwelling power of your Holy Spirit take control of my life today His power gets released in you and no one can stop it.

That’s right my friedns nobody can stop him.

You can’t stop his power

You can’t stop his love

You can’t stop his mercy or his grace or his goodness and kindness

He is loose in the world and in every heart and no one can stop his truth.

You see in every sense of the world the blood of Jesus cleanses us from every sin so that we can be virus free.

So that now the test the Holy Spirit administers for us determines daily if we are still virus free

You see if you don’t believe on Jesus you have the sin virus.

Jesus said when the Holy Spirit comes He will convict the world of sin because they don’t believe on him…That’s the viral test we must all take daily…

And of righteousness…Because we have no righteousness of our own.

Christ Jesus Himself is the only one righteous…And the radical transformative new life he offers gives us the cure, the vaccine, the antidote and the mighty power to live daily as overcomers from the sin virus.

And of Judgment because Satan, the prince of this world who released this deadly plague on humanity has been placed on trial, judged and found guilty

Once we get that truth we can stop pointing fingers at one another and start loving each other…

For the same power of the Holy Spirit that lives in you and operates within your life, lives and works in your brothers and sisters who have accepted Jesus Christ too.

I invite you to live today and always like this is true.

Live like Jesus Christ is loose in the world and in your life through the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit and no one can stop his truth.

Let us pray.