Off The Hook

“OFF THE HOOK AND GLAD OF IT”

Ezekiel 17:22 (KJV)

22 Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will also take of the highest branch of the high cedar, and will set it; I will crop off from the top of his young twigs a tender one, and will plant it upon an high mountain and eminent:

Revelation 7:17 (KJV)

17 For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

As a teenager I had a summer job working with a house painter. I was given a five gallon bucket of grey stain and instructed to spray the outside of the home. When I finished I realized that the wind had carried the stain right over to the owners beautiful red car which was now, a not so beautiful grey car, windows and all. No one was at home at the time and many thoughts ran through my mind, do I run away, do I try to fix the problem myself, do I just ignore it and hope no one will notice. None of these were the right answer, so I just prayed and called the boss.

When my boss got there and saw what had happened, instead of firing me, he just carefully cleaned the fresh stain from the car and when the owner arrived he explained that it was all his fault. He completely took all of the blame for the offence that I had committed. He never condemned me or even chastised me, he just said that he had been there but he did warn me, “Don’t let it happen again.” What a relief it was to know that I was off the hook. I had been redeemed and I was very glad of it.

In God’s Word we see many examples of Christ doing the exact same thing. From the story of the scapegoat in Leviticus to the parables in the Gospels, Jesus Christ takes the punishment for the sins that stain our lives so that we can go free. When God gave His only begotten Son to be our Scapegoat to atone for our sins, He made it possible for us to be redeemed. With Jesus, we can be off the hook and glad of it.

As we go through life we will ultimately make mistakes. In some circumstances we may even commit sin on purpose out of rebellion. But the Bible is very clear about what to do in these times of trouble, we call on God. The Bible says, “ If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9. As we look at our reading for today, the Bible says, “Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord GOD. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.” Ezekiel 18:30. The key to all of our problems is repentance. It is imperative to our redemption.

We must simply be honest and repent and our wonderful Lord and Savior will quickly forgive you and take full responsibility for your sin and you can be free. You see, when I painted that car, even though it was very careless on my part, it could have turned into a very costly mistake. As a teenager, I certainly could not afford to pay to have that car repainted. The owner could have demanded that I be held accountable for the damages done. Maybe that is why my boss never told the owner that I was responsible for the damages. He didn’t allow for any repercussions on my part. He didn’t allow the owners to try to collect restitution from me. In the same way, God deletes all of our sin from His memory “ For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.” Hebrews 8:12

My boss not only took the blame but he fixed the problem, he spent hours getting the stain off without damaging the factory paint underneath. I still, to this day, don’t know how he did it. But I do know how God washes us clean. He uses the blood of Jesus.

Hebrews 9:12 says, “ Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.”

That red car was stained grey but when the boss got finished with it, it was as good as new. And so, when we are covered with the red blood of Jesus Christ, we too become new creatures and redeemed not guilty. Jesus did the work, paid the price and we go free.