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People need hope more than ever. As followers of Jesus, we have this promise in Colossians 1:27.....CLICK HERE

Saturday-One Hit Wonders

 

so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

 

Hebrews 9:28

 

In the movie, That Thing You Do![1], a 1960’s band called the Oneders (pronounced as wonders) stumble onto a hit rock and roll song, “That Thing You Do[2].” After a fast elevator ride up to fame and fortune, the group suddenly falls apart.

 

As the four guys in the band head in four very different directions, Tom Hanks talks to the drummer about what he calls “one hit wonders[3].” It’s a very common tale in the music industry where someone has one popular song only to never to be heard from again. If you’re interested, check out Rolling Stone’s semi-official list of the top ten one-hit songs of all time[4].

 

The writer of this letter wants to tell the Hebrews about God’s one hit wonder. That’s right, God himself has a one hit wonder. And that one hit wonder, never to be repeated again, is Jesus’ sacrifice. His death on the cross paid for all sins. Period. His once-and-for-all sacrifice was enough to cover my sin. Your sin. The sin of the whole world.

 

No more coming and going into and out of the tabernacle. No more daily sacrificing sheep, cattle, and goats. And think about this; when King Solomon dedicated the temple, he offered twenty-two thousand cattle and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep and goats[5].

 

And guess what happened the very next day. Priests came out and offered more sacrifices. And they did the same thing the day after that. And the day after that. On special occasions and holidays, guess what they did. You guessed it, they offered more cattle, sheep, and goats.

 

There was never a time when they didn’t have to offer more and more sacrifices. No matter how many days they did it, there was more to do. No matter how many animals they sacrificed, it wasn’t enough. More and more sacrifices of more and more animals were always needed.

 

Some Christians get angry at people who follow other faiths. Other convictions. Other religions. I know that I’m strange (no surprise there) but I really feel sorry for them. They have absolutely no peace when it comes to God. They are never free of the guilt and shame of sin. They are forever trying to do more and more to please God.

 

And to top it all off, they have absolutely no confidence that they’ll spend eternity with God. Because their forgiveness is always based on their own actions and sacrifices, they can really never know if or when they’ve done enough.

 

God absolutely doesn’t want you or me to be worried about this. Think about it, what could be more important than knowing that we were going to heaven for the rest of eternity? Jesus himself pointed to himself and told his disciples that eternal life is guaranteed in and through him[6].

 

But it doesn’t end there. God is so interested and dedicated to us having this question answered once and for all, that he keeps hammering on it throughout the pages of the Bible. This question keeps coming up and God keeps answering it.

 

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.

 

1 John 5:13

 

Did you catch those words at the end? That we might know that we have eternal life. Not that we hope that we might. Not depending if we do all the right things. Not depending if we avoid doing all the wrong things. But it’s even better than that.

 

It’s not dependent on us thinking all the right things all the time. This is the one that really blows me away. You see, we can look, act, and sound like a follower of Jesus on the outside. But on the inside, we look and smell like dead and rotting bodies[7].

 

With Jesus, it’s not the good people that get to heaven. It’s the people that mess up and fail. It’s not our good works that get us into heaven but admitting that we’re failures. We’re humble enough to confess that they have fallen short of what God rightfully expects from us[8].

 

God’s one hit wonder brings us into an eternal relationship with God that can’t be broken. Jesus death and resurrection calls us back into the relationship God made us for. The relationship he intended with Adam and Eve. Why? Because it’s not about us and what we do. It’s all about who God is and all that he’s already done. That take off all the pressure. No more wondering if we’ve done enough. In Jesus Christ, everything we’ve ever done is taken care of on the cross.

 

Noodling Questions

 

  • How is God’s one hit wonder different from ours? Explain.

  • Why does God want us to “know” that our sins are forgiven?

  • List three differences that “knowing” will make in our daily lives.


[5] 2 Chronicles 7:5

[6] John 17:3

[7] Matthew 23:27

[8] Romans 3:23

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