It's That Simple.

[king'sbloomingrose]

I was preparing for my lesson that I was going to teach the children tomorrow at church. We have a special service for the very young folk, as the regular worship service is too long for them to quietly sit thru without being a distraction. My text was from Luke 15:4-6.

“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!' I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance."

I got out white and black construction paper and thought...so, the sheep did not obey the shepherd. He sinned and wandered away. His fur is black. I could tell the children that the sheep did good deeds to atone for his mistake. And that makes his fur white and clean. But no, I never ever tried washing mud out of my dirty clothes by trying to make more clean clothes in hopes of getting the dirt out of the old clothes. That still doesn't make the mud in the old clothes disappear. You simply go get some water to wash out the mud. And so it is with us. We sinned. We did not obey God when He said don't lie, don't steal, don't hate your brother which is the beginning of murder, and don't lust after someone who is not your husband/wife which is the beginning of adultery. God says in Isaiah 53:6:

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

We simply can't make clean clothes to replace dirty ones! So, God sent His Son, Jesus to bear the sin of us all. He shed His blood for us. His blood is the water that can wash our dirty clothes and make them clean. He makes our souls as white as snow. Honestly, it's just that simple!

"But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin."

There is a fountain filled with blood,
Drawn from Immanuel's veins,
And sinners plunged beneath that flood,
Lose all their guilty stains.

Honestly, that blows my mind away! So simple that a child could accept it. Yet so simple that all the wise stumble upon it, thinking that there must be more to it that that.

[mattfivefour]

"So simple that a child could accept it. Yet so simple that all the wise stumble upon it" Absolutely right on, little sister. That is it in a nutshell. Matthew 11:25; Luke 10:21

[livin_in_the_Son]

Very well said KBR! I know that sometimes I think that something so simple can't be right, it must be more complicated than that. Shoot, just watch a game show that gives multiple choice answers, all the contestants assume the simple answer is a trick. As a mother I have come to understand that children can accept the truth because they don't assume someone is trying to trick them. I think that a lot of adults could learn a lot from children.