“Recycling Souls”
“Look at those charred stones they are pulling out of the rubbish and using again!” Nehemiah 4:2
Intro: There is no such thing as a “standard testimony of salvation.” A testimony is your words that tell others about how you became a Christian. You tell the experiences you have had. You share how you overcame sin, and how you made the decision to accept and believe in Christ. It is simply you saying how you feel about God changing your life.
For some of you here today this could be your testimony. It could go as far back as your early childhood. That there has always been a presence, an awareness that God had a calling upon your life. Over the years you followed that calling through the hills and valleys, through the joys and struggles until you became mature enough to “claim the name of Jesus Christ” for yourself and through Confirmation affirm Him as your Lord and Saviour.
For others here today this might be your testimony. It could be the life story of how you were mean as a rattle snake. “There wasn’t nothin’you hadn’t tried or done.” No party was ever wild enough and no woman ever fast enough. But somehow, somewhere you hit rock bottom. At the bottom of the miry, slimy, disgusting pit of sin you realized that instead of making a fist with your hand it was time to open that hand and reach up and take the outstretched hand of Jesus. From that day forward your life has never been the same it has turned around for the better.
There is a true story of a man who had reached the darkest depths of depression in his life. He took out a six shot revolver. But he only had five bullets. He put all five bullets in the revolver. He sat on the side of his bed and cried for hours before making the decision to end his life. He put the gun to his head and pulled the trigger but nothing happened. He thought to himself. Only he could be so foolish, only he could be so stupid, only he could fail so miserably as to not line up the shell with the chamber.
So now more angry and more determined than ever before he put the gun to his head a second time and pulled the trigger. But once again nothing happened. His testimony is that it wasn’t two misfired bullets…, but one Saviour who died on a cross to take his place. His testimony is that it wasn’t two misfired bullets but one Son of God who took his place in death to provide life and forgiveness of his sin.
Today we are going to talk about “Recycling Souls.”
I. God Does Not Make Junk.
This is one of my favorite sayings and the bible gives us proof. God created the water, God created the sky "God called the dry land; and the waters He called the Seas: and God saw that it was good." Genesis 1:10
"And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, and herb yielding seed, and the fruit yielding trees of every kind, "And the earth brought forth grass, and herbs, and trees yielding fruit, and God saw that it was good." Genesis 1:12
God made the light, and NOTICE God made the darkness…, (there is significance in God created both the light and the darkness, and notice God divided or separated the two.) but God divided the light from the day and from the night "And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good." Genesis 1:18
And God created every moving creature, and the birds that fly And God created great whales, and fish in the sea and every living creature that moveth, every winged bird that flies, (and except for the mosquito’s) God saw that it was good." Genesis 1:21
"And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creatures cattle, and creeping things, and beast of all kinds in the fields, and it was so." Genesis 1:24 and God saw that it was good." Genesis 1:25 (KJV)
And then God created His best creation yet, "God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them." Genesis 1:27 "And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.”And God blessed them, and God said unto them, be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. (The word replenish is left out of some translations which I think is a lapse of the correct translation.) The word replenish means: to fill, to stock, to refill and restock, to use and use over again, to recycle. I don’t think God was just talking about recycling newspaper, plastic and aluminum cans. But God was talking about recycling everything good that He had created.
I am convinced the same principle to “replenish” is the same principle to fill the human soul with good, to stock the human heart with grace, to refill the broken spirit with wholeness, to restock the empty self with purpose, to redeem, renew, revive, rescue, recycle the human souls.
I have been recycled. I was created for good. God told the prophet Jeremiah 1:5"I knew you before I formed you in your mother's womb.”
When you were born your baby mind and infant heart was innocent and pure. As a toddler and a child your conscious was clean and uncorrupted. But then you began to eat from the tree of knowledge…, You began to learn and know the difference between good and evil. And as a creature of free will your choices were not always God-like. You began to try to hide your mistakes. You began to feel embarrassed and ashamed of your bad decisions. THEN, You became accountable for your choices. You were dirty, you were used, you were filthy, you were spoiled, you were polluted, you were defiled, you were stained, you were broken, you were foul, you were cast out, you were abandoned, you were lost, you were sinful.
“Like You...,” Me in My disgrace and in My dishonor…, My conscience, my heart, my spirit, my soul was chastised, found guilty and convicted by my sin. Out of the fires hell God reached down and “pulled me from the rubbish” I sought forgiveness of my sin and God recycled me!
Have you let God recycle you?
God didn’t make me junk…, But I became junk…, I became worthless…, I was “charred and burned” I deserved to be “tossed out with the trash.” But God pulled me “out of the rubbish” and began to use me again!
Nehemiah knew that God wanted him to motivate the Jews to rebuild the wall around the Holy Temple and the City of Jerusalem. But they did not use all new brick. God allowed them to use the same old brick. Brick made for the Citadel by the hands of the people who followed King David. Brick made for the original wall around Jerusalem by the hands of those who followed Hezekiah King of Judea. Brick made from boulders from the hill of Mt. Zion. Brick made from the bedrock near the Jordan River. Mud and clay and rock and stone that generation after generation of their ancestors had made and handled through tears, sweat, labor and blood. Every brick they picked up out of the rubbish was a brick recycled.
Recycled from a battle against the Philistines. Recycled from a battle against the Babylonians. Recycled from a war with the Assyrians. And now Nehemiah was struggling against Tobiah and Sanballat who did not want to see God’s temple protected or the walls of Jerusalem rebuilt.
When you are under attack there is nothing like song to lift your spirits. In Nehemiah’s day they would have known and remember the songs of David. Psalms 85:6 Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee? David sung a hymn. Along the way on the pilgrimage to the temple they had to pass through the “Valley of Weeping.” It was a symbolic place that represented the times of struggles and tears through which people must pass to meet God. Psalm 85:1 “restore the fortunes of Israel.” Psalm 85:4 “turn to us again, O God of our salvation.” Psalm 85:6 “revive us again.” Recycle us to your blessings. Recycle us to your salvation! Recycle us to rejoice again! Do you know any old brick that need to be recycled?
I’m not just talking about the least, the last, the lost, the unchurched, the abandoned by the church. But also those who once attended church but have been hurt, mistreated, offended, neglected, wounded.
I sometimes carry my feelings on my shoulder. Sometimes I carry my feelings on both shoulders and it is easy to offend me. But way to many people have been left out, left off, neglected by the church they once called their church home, their church community, their church fellowship, their church family. Do you know anyone who needs to be recycled and revisited and re-invited and re-welcomed back to this church?
Psalms 138:7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me: thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and thy right hand shall save me.
II. God does Care about your Past. (People often say God does not care about our past but He does) He cares so much he wants to forgive you of your mistake.
You cannot undo the past. But God doesn’t want us to go around living a defeated life because of our mistakes. With forgiveness comes the power to change! He wants to heal you of your brokenness! “You can either get bitter or you can get better.” God cares so much about your past that he wants to not only forgive your sin…, but God will help you forget about the sin of your past!
Psalms 103:12 “He has removed our sinful acts as far away from us as the east is from the west.” The East and the West can never meet. When God forgives a sin…, God separates it from us! God helps us to forget…, God helps us to not remember the pain of those mistakes anymore. AMEN! God wipes our record clean. AMEN! If you will follow God he will truly heal you and make you whole again.
III. God Cares about you Now (He is always with you.)
Hebrews 13:5 “For God has said, "I will never fail you. I will never forsake you."
God will recycle You.
1 Corinthians 6:11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.
There are three that happen when God recycles us.
1. Our sins are washed away
2. We are set apart by God for something special
3. We are made right with God by the Lord Jesus and by the Holy Spirit
In the summer of 1961 at a Bible Conference in Montrose, Pennsylvania, John W. Peterson says: “During one of the sessions an opportunity for a time of personal testimonies was given in the audience was a person known as “Old Jim.” Jim rose to his feet and told of his testimony and conversion experience of salvation. In describing that night when he met Christ, he used the phrase ‘It seemed like Heaven came down and glory filled my soul.’
Right then and there John W. Peterson found the title for a song which he I wrote down and completed later that week. John W. Peterson has written more than one thousand songs and fifteen cantatas that have sold more than three million copies. But this song is one of my favorite Christian hymns:
O what a wonderful, wonderful day - day I will never forget;
After I'd wandered in darkness away, Jesus my Saviour I met.
O what a tender, compassionate friend - He met the need of my heart;
Shadows dispelling, With joy I am telling, He made all the darkness depart.
Chorus:
Heaven came down and glory filled my soul,
When at the cross the Saviour made me whole;
My sins were washed away -
And my night was turned to day -
Heaven came down and glory filled my soul!
Closing: “Look at those charred stones they are pulling out of the rubbish and using again!” Nehemiah 4:2 God wants to reuse you. God wants to rescue you. God wants to refill your soul with joy and grace and glory. God wants to reuse this baptistery and refill it with water and wash away your sin. Do you need to be forgiven? Do you need to be saved? Do you need to rededicate your life to God? Do you know anyone who God needs to recycle?
