Christ’s Great Theme – by Desmond Ford

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Feb 7, 2015 1787

Look with me at a verse in Jeremiah 9:23–24:

Thus says the Lord, let not

the wise man glory in his wisdom,

let not the mighty man glory in

his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches

but let him who glories, glory in this,

that he understands and knows me,

that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love,

justice and righteousness in the earth

for in these things, I delight.

Now, we are fairly proud of what we think we know, but as we enlarge the island our knowledge, the reality is that we realize that we are more and more ignorant of the truth. The larger your little island grows, the boundaries of our ignorance also grow, the more it is in contact with the great ocean of reality and knowledge out there. You have heard of the specialist who knows more and more until he knows everything about nothing. There is a sense in which when we increase our knowledge, we increase our awareness of ignorance.

So God says don’t boast because you think you are wise and don’t boast because you have strength, don’t boast because of riches for riches take wings, strength does not last and your wisdom is a joke. But if you want to glory, glory in this, that you know who I am and that I delight in these things: punishment? No. Giving rules and regulations? No. Look at it again, “I practice steadfast love, righteousness, justice, in these thing I delight.”

When Christ came he was God incarnate and his favorite theme was the character of God. When it says that men drew near him, all the publicans and harlots sought to hear him and the Pharisees murmured saying, “This man receiveth sinners and eats with them.”

Jesus then told three beautiful stories about the love of God, God is the shepherd who goes after one lost sheep and when he finds it he does not take any risk it is going to be lost again, he carries it home over his heart. It is cold, wet and shivering, he puts it by the warmth of his own bosom. And he says God is like a woman though she has 9 coins left in her wedding jewelry, there is one missing and so until she finds it she seeks. God is like the father who loves the runaway boy and even loves the Pharisaical boy who stays at home.

This is Christ’s great theme.

– Des Ford. Rom 8:27–32 (From “Workers and Shirkers”)