I Corinthians 10:12-13

12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. 13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.

It seems to me that we have an attitude towards sin and temptation in this country which is almost exactly the opposite of what it should be.

Jesus had nothing but mercy and compassion for repentant sinners. The tax collectors and prostitutes loved Him for precisely that reason - because He showed them greater kindness and acceptance than anyone else they had ever encountered - especially religious people. Certainly they sensed that He did not approve of their actions (see for example, Jesus' admonition to the woman caught in adultery in John 8), but there was no rejection of them as people; no self-righteous "horror" at their sin; no spillover from the hatred of sin into hatred of people.

But with unrepentant, Jesus was brutal. He told the self-righteous religious leaders: "Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell?" (Matthew 23:33)

This much is well-known, and talked about fairly often in the church, but I think there may be an implication of this that we miss. Certainly, self-righteousness and spiritual pride are abhorrent evils, the most diabolical of all sins, far more so than greed and sexual immorality, especially when the latter are engaged in by desperate people with few options. But it's worth looking at the implications of Jesus' attitude for an individual struggling to be holy.

Our culture doesn't have much patience for people who are struggling with temptation. There is a sense that we ought not to be "legalistic", that we ought to "relax," or give ourselves some "slack." In other words, we really shouldn't try too hard to be holy. We can pay lip service to holiness if we want to, but "nobody's perfect", as long as we keep our sinning to a more or less respectable level.

But on the other side, our culture is brutally unforgiving to sinners, especially if your sin happens to be politically incorrect (such as being a church leader who falls into sexual sin). There is a sense that whatever condemnation and abuse such a person gets, they deserve it. Unfortunately, this seems to be pretty much just as true of the American church as the rest of the culture. (look at the reaction to the Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky episode, for instance).

In this, we are imitating the god of this world. The devil's approach to the issue of holiness is to convince us that it's no big deal when we're tempted, and then weigh in on us with accusation and condemnation after we yield to him.

We need to imitate Jesus in our approach to holiness. The time for toughness, harshness, and extreme measures is before we fall into sin. After we have fallen, then it is time for complete gentleness, acceptance, and forgiveness. Jesus told His disciples to forgive a repentant brother over and over and over again - even if he repeated the sin seven times in one day. If this is true in our treatment of each other, then how much more true is it of God's treatment of us in our failings? We need to learn to love and accept each other - and ourselves - in precisely the way our Father accepts us in our weakness. (Romans 15:7)

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Ephesians 1:15-17

Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.

We talk a lot in church about the wonderful sacrifice of Good Friday, and the glory of Easter Sunday, but we do not often talk about Holy Saturday. Holy Saturday was perhaps the blackest day in the history of the universe. Holy Saturday was a day of final despair. Everything had gone wrong. Everything had fallen apart. The world was in free-fall, and all hope was gone. Listen to some of the testimonies of that day:

Matthew 26:73-75

And a little later those who stood by came up and said to Peter, "Surely you also are one of them, for your speech betrays you."

Then he began to curse and swear, saying, "I do not know the Man!"

Immediately a rooster crowed. And Peter remembered the word of Jesus who had said to him, "Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times." So he went out and wept bitterly.

Matthew 27:3-5

Then Judas, His betrayer, seeing that He had been condemned, was remorseful and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, "I have sinned by betraying innocent blood."

And they said, "What is that to us? You see to it!"

Then he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed, and went and hanged himself.

Luke 24:17-21

And He said to them, "What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad?"

Then the one whose name was Cleopas answered and said to Him, "Are You the only stranger in Jerusalem, and have You not known the things which happened there in these days?"

And He said to them, "What things?"

So they said to Him, "The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him. But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel...

God was dead. The Messiah was gone. The hope of Israel, the salvation for the people of God, the promise of deliverance, had all failed. All the promises rang hollow, and the words about the victory of God seemed to be nothing more than "idle tales."

Everyone knows that people don't come back from the dead. Everyone knows that the grave is final. Every rational person knows that you have to let go of hopes and dreams when someone dies.

Except that this time it wasn't true.

I Corinthians 15:55-57

"O Death, where is your sting?

O Hades, where is your victory?"

The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Why does it matter so much? Because if we do not understand the utter despair and hopelessness of Holy Saturday, we will never understand the power of the Resurrection. We will not believe in the power of the Resurrection of Jesus to bring life into our mortal lives, to transform our churches, to heal the nations, to restore broken relationships, or to break our addictions to sin. We will believe that our problems are too big and too hard; that we are too broken, too hurt, too lost to be healed.

It's not true. Everyone knows that people don't come back from the dead. But one Man did. And the mighty power which brought Him back from the dead is available to us, and not one of the works of the world, or the flesh, or the devil will ultimately stand in His way, no matter how big it is, no matter how hopeless it seems. May the Church of Jesus Christ have a spirit of wisdom and of revelation that we would understand the surpassing greatness of His power towards us who believe!

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