Th Kite, by John Newton

Once upon a time a paper kite 

mounted to a wondrous height,

Where, giddy with its elevation, 

it thus expressed self admiration:

“See how yon crowds of gazing people 

admire my flight above the steeple;

How they would wonder if they knew 

all that a kite like me could do!

Were I but free, I’d take a flight 

and pierce the clouds beyond their sight;

But, ah, like a poor prisoner bound,

 my string confines me to the ground.

I’d brave the eagle’s towering wing 

might I but fly without a string.”

It tugged and pulled, while thus it spoke, 

to snap the string.

At last it broke.

Deprived at once of all its stay, 

in vain it tried to soar away.

Unable its own weight to bear, 

it fluttered downward through the air.

Unable its own course to guide, 

the winds soon plunged it in the tide.

Ah, foolish kite, thou hadst no wing, 

how couldst thou fly without a string?

Oh, Lord, I see

 how much this kite resembles me!

Forgetful that by Thee I stand, 

impatient of Thy ruling hand;

How oft I’ve wished to break the lines 

Thy wisdom for my lot assigns.

How oft indulged a vain desire

 for something more, or something higher.

But for Thy grace and love divine ,

a fall thus dreadful had been mine!

****

Gospel Truth

Speaking of JESUS, the Bible says ... 

Isaiah 53[6]

We all, like sheep, have gone astray,

each of us has turned to his own way; 

and the LORD has laid on him 

the iniquity of us all.

[10] Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer,

and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering,

he will see his offspring and prolong his days, 

and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.

[6] We all, like sheep, have gone astray,

each of us has turned to his own way; 

Sheep really are dumb creatures. The first thing you notice about them is that they all follow each other, even though none of them knows where they are going. Another thing you notice about sheep is they are vulnerable. They are not good at defending themselves.

Nowadays shepherds pen them in to keep them safe. In the olden days the shepherd really was that, a Sheep-herder. The shepherd would herd the sheep and lead them to good grazing ground and keep them safe. Without a shepherd the sheep would certainly stray and that would mean real trouble.

The Bible says that we are like sheep without a shepherd, that is sheep that have gone astray. 

If we are honest, we cannot deny this is true. The truth is we pretty much totally ignore God and do our own thing. Just like sheep we have gone our own way, like sheep we have followed the crowd. The crowd of lost humanity. We have joined them, thrown our lot in with them, believed what they believed, desired what they desire, valued what they have valued, behaved like they behave and have had little or no regard for our maker. Every single one of us has turned our back on God.

In turning away from God we have all made ourselves filthy with sin. This is what 'iniquity' is, sin.

Another metaphor the Bible speaks of is 'robes of righteousness, pure and white' but we have stained ours with sin. Every wrong deed we have done is a stain. Every wrong thought, word, attitude of heart is a stain on your robe and mine. That is why JESUS said ...

Matthew 12 [36] 

But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. [37] For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”

I cannot imagine how many careless words I have spoken, I cannot remember a fraction of them. But each one is a stain and I will have to account for every one of them - not a single one will be forgotten on that day.

 That is also why Jesus warns us ... 

Luke 12 [2] 

There is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be made known. [3] What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.

and ... 

1 Corinthians 4 [5] 

Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts. 

and ... 

Hebrews 4 [12] 

For the word of God is living and active. ... it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. [13] Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

We are like a piece of rotten fruit that looks scrumptious on the outside, but when you bite into it is it black with rot, crawling with maggots - yuk, you spew it straight out. 

1 Samuel 16

[7] But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”

In other words, we look at a person and think, "They're ok" but God sees right through a person, God sees what is on the inside. He sees the whole person. He sees you and He sees me.

Adam and Eve 

Adam and Eve sinned and when they did the Bible tells us they did two things. They hid and they tried to cover up their nakedness.

We do the same, we try to hide the truth about ourselves and we try to cover up our nakedness, or to put it another way, we don't want anyone to see our shame. But the very fact they wanted to hide things exposed their shame, and it is the same for us. 

"Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account."

When I was a little boy, about 7 years old, there was a skanky family that lived across the road. I went into their house a few times. Every time the wall of smell hit me as their front door would open. It was overpowering. On one occasion I came out of their home, and as I walked my hand brushed my jacket and I felt something wet - it was poo! Yuk! It was on my jacket and on my hand, their poo! It made me sick! I was really angry, disgusted and upset. Our robes are unimaginably worse. That is just the sad truth.

We, like sheep have followed the crowd and wandered so far from God we are lost. We hide most of our wickedness in our thoughts. We have all committed crimes against God and humanity in our minds and hearts. We thought 'no-one knows', but the truth about us is not hidden from God. But ...

The Lord has laid on Him [Jesus], the iniquity of us all.

Good News!

Here is the good news for us, the amazing news.

The Lord, who sees every stain on our robes, takes the robes off us and lays them on Jesus! Think about that. The God who sees everything and to whom we must give an account is the one who takes away all our sin and has laid it upon Jesus. Not some of it but absolutely ALL of it. 

But it goes further than that. It tells us that Jesus' life was made 'A guilt offering'. All the filth we are stained with means we are all carrying a heavy load of guilt. For us it is normal to live life weighed down with a load of guilt. But we are a million miles from how God intends us to be - guilt free! Imagine how different we would be if we had never, ever sinned at all. We would know nothing at all of guilt or shame. We would have no regrets - not a single one. God does not erase the stain on guilt from our memory, but he has dealt with it so that it never comes up in our relationship with Him. So far as He is concerned, it is as though we have never sinned.

Psalm 103

[11] For as high as the heavens are above the earth, 

so great is his love for those who fear him;

[12] as far as the east is from the west, 

so far has he removed our transgressions [sins] from us.

God did this because He loves us. Consider how much He loves us to do that for us. 

Consider JESUS kindness to us. For JESUS, to have to put on our filthy robes was awful. It was bad enough me getting someone else's poo on my jacket and on myself. JESUS took upon Himself the sin of the whole world and experienced all of our guilt. He did it so that we could know the joy and freedom and lightness of spirit that comes with being completely forgiven by God.

But as we close these thoughts we must remember the most important thing of all, that is the reason for all our mess in the first place.

[6] We all, like sheep, have gone astray,

each of us has turned to his own way; 

God has dealt with all our sin so that we can stop going astray, turn back to Him, stop following the crowd and instead follow Him. That is where sin begins, turning our backs on God. Turning back to Him is what the Bible calls repentance. It means acknowledging the truth. That we have ignored God, that we have sinned, that we do need forgiveness and that rather than turning our backs on Him, we are now coming back to Him, acknowledging He is God and He alone, through JESUS death on the cross can save us from the ultimate consequences of our sin.

What will you do? Continue to turn your back on God or turn back to God?

If you choose to turn your back on God, then you turn your back on the only one who can deal with the problem of your sin. You turn your back on the one who loves you and offers you salvation.

If you turn back to Him, you can experience forgiveness and the joy of knowing JESUS as your great Shepherd.

Psalm 23

The LORD is my shepherd,* I shall not be in want.*

[2] He makes me lie down in green pastures, 

he leads me beside quiet waters,*

[3] he restores my soul.* 

He guides me* in paths of righteousness* 

for his name's sake.*

[4] Even though I walk 

through the valley of the shadow of death,** 

I will fear no evil,* 

for you are with me;* 

your rod and your staff, 

they comfort me.

[5] You prepare a table* before me 

in the presence of my enemies. 

You anoint my head with oil;* 

my cup* overflows.

[6] Surely goodness and love* will follow me 

all the days of my life, 

and I will dwell in the house of the LORD 

forever.

Want to know more, come to church. St Georges Hall, Sunday @ 10.30am.

Are you too proud to acknowledge JESUS?

Psalm 91[2] I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress, 

my God, in whom I trust.”

In 1992 I did a mission at Glastonbury festival. I will never forget speaking to one spaced out couple. They said to me, "Christian people are weak, that is why they are Christians, their faith is a crutch to help them through because they cannot make it alone". 

They were quite right, I cannot imagine life without Jesus. I am very proud to say of Him, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust".

But here is the truth: EVERYONE is weak! My newfound friends at Glastonbury soon found out they were weak. Weak and vulnerable, far more vulnerable than me.

As we talked it became clear that their lives, their joy and happiness, meaning and purpose was all bound up in each other. As we talked it became clear to them and to me that they were a crutch to each other. If anything happened to any one of them they would be utterly devastated.  But something will happen. Even if they are faithful all their days and grow in love, death will eventually come and mercilessly rip them apart, killing one and devastating the other - and that is the very best they can hope for!

In the end that is true for everyone. No-one is self sufficient. No-one is strong. Those who think they are, are deluded. Everybody needs somebody otherwise life becomes almost unbearable. But we will all find that if, ultimately we rely on ourselves or other people, then when faced with the ultimate challenges of life THEY WILL FAIL US. Our fitness and health may give us the edge over a cancer, our loved ones may give us strength to fight another day, doctors and nurses may be able to "save us", but not ultimately. Ultimately they will all come to the end of them selves and will be powerless against the relentless enemy of life and relationships - DEATH!

Ultimately JESUS does not fail! He alone is ULTIMATELY sufficient, trustworthy, reliable, dependable and able to save - even from death because He alone has conquered death.

Christians have the same kind of people everyone else has, the difference is they know that none of those people will help an iota when confronted with the ultimate realities of death and the judgement that will follow. Only JESUS will stand, and as a follower, I and every believer will stand in Him!

So Christian, be proud to be a follower of Jesus. Be proud and unashamed to confess Him! Do not believe the propaganda that would make you feel embarrassed. Of course it is easier to dutifully follow the crowd like everyone else, gullibly believing what everyone else believes, and why do they believe what they believe?  Because what they believe is true? No! But just because they are told to believe by the PC police, or the biased Atheist Scientists or the school teacher or the politicians or "everyone else" or others from the so-called "establishment" who know nothing about God and Jesus.  They are the ignorant ones, they have never found out about God and Jesus, believing them is the easy option. 

But remember Jesus said ...

Matthew 10:[32] “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. [33] But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.

On that great and glorious day, nothing else will matter to us except that JESUS acknowledges us as His own. Everything will depend upon Him acknowledging us and there can be nothing more terrifying than the utter hopelessness of being disowned forever by JESUS. I don't want that for myself, for you or anyone.

Hold your head high and proudly say of HIM,  “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”