Sermon Transcript — April 1, 2006
I would like to tell you about another Los Angeles citizen to introduce my sermon today — his name is Peter Stump. Peter Stump is a member of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. He plays the cello; he plays very well. He is such a fine cellist that the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra gave him, on loan, a three and a half million dollar Stradivarius cello to practice with and to play with during concerts.
On the evening of April 25, 2004 the orchestra was returning home from a performance at Santa Barbara, and Peter, late that night, went from the orchestra bus downtown Los Angeles to his home in Los Feliz, in West Los Angeles. He fumbled with his keys as he entered his door of his house; he went in and he slept hard that night. He woke up the next morning and as he went around the house, drinking his first cup of coffee of the morning, he discovered that his cello (or the cello that had been loaned to him) was gone. His heart sank (as yours might) — he was very disturbed. He instantly called the Philharmonic Officials and reported that his cello had been stolen. The police came, they investigated, they found no signs of breaking and entering. The officials from the orchestra made a public announcement that a reward of $50,000 was offered for the safe return of the cello — no questions asked — just return it.
Over the next couple of days, and I was watching the story (it's a true story) unfold in the Los Angeles Times. The police had discovered that a neighbor across the street had a video, a security camera on, and they had captured the theft. What happened was, that Peter Stump had returned from the concert, and when he entered his house he left the cello on the front steps; closed the door, went in, the lights went off, he went to sleep — He left the cello on his front steps.
Within a half an hour a young man came by on a bicycle (it's all being recorded on video) and he picked up the cello, (being a crime of opportunity). He started to go off on his bicycle and he fell into the bushes. Carrying this big cello case on a bicycle, you might imagine. He got up, he put the cello case under one arm, and with the other arm he rode off into the darkness; this is all recorded on video tape.
What really amazed me, is over the next few days in the Los Angeles Times an article was written (it was an interesting sidelight that I saw) that captured my attention. The L.A. Times was trying to figure out why in the world would somebody leave a three and a half million dollar cello on their front door steps and forget about it, and walk inside and go to sleep. Well, Dale Silverman, it was reported in the Times, (principle violinist for the Los Philharmonic), excused his actions by explaining it this way: He said, "It's like your purse, it's easy not to think about it because you are so used to it — who has never lost her purse?"
It's happened to others. Violinist Guidon Kremer left his three million dollar Guarnieri del Gesu on an Amtrak train once. It was discovered and returned to him.
In 1999 New York police helped Yo—Yo Mah recover his two and a half million dollar Stradivarius cello that he'd left in a cab. How do you leave something as big as a cello in a cab when you exit it? I don't know. Two years later cellist Lynn Harrell also left his Stradivarius in a taxi when he got out at his New York apartment. It, too, was discovered and returned to him.
I thought about this interesting phenomenon and had to ask myself a question: "Have any of us ever left or lost something that was so familiar to us, perhaps even a valuable item? Have any of us left or lost this item because it was so familiar to us?" I remember my grandmother used to walk around the house looking for her glasses, only to look in a mirror and find them perched on her head. Perhaps you too! It's like a wallet, a purse, car keys — on more that one occasion I have asked my wife, "Where are my car keys, have you seen them?" It's because we grow so familiar with things, some of which are very important and precious to us, that we inadvertently leave them. I think we can understand the carelessness of Peter Stump.
Let's turn to Hebrews twelve. I would like to challenge us to think about this concept of growing careless, from the Scriptures today, with God's word and God's truth. Especially at this time of the year when God asks us to be introspective, to perform a self examination before we take of these symbols of the Passover that we heard of in the Sermonette. There's an interesting part of Scripture here in Hebrews 12, beginning to read in Verse 12:
Hebrews 12:12 (The author here, whom I believe to be Paul, admonishes the Hebrews) Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees,
It's a time of the year for spiritual rejuvenation, spiritual recommitment. This would fit into the theme that the author addresses here.
Verse 13 : and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.
Verse 14 : Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord:
Pursue holiness. This all, I think, involves the rededication that we're asking ourselves about this time of the year as we, if you will, "re—up" the contract, the blood contract, the New Covenant contract that Christ asks of us this time of the year.
Pursue with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.
Verse 15 : Looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled;
Verse 16 : Lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright.
Verse 17 : For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears.
And we find a description of the false repentance, the false tears that Esau had. I think it's interesting the example of Esau that's listed here. I was looking this section of Scripture up in several translations and I found a very interesting one in the Living Bible. It says that Esau was careless about God; Careless about God. It says: "Be warned and not be careless about God, as Esau was." Or, I might add, like Peter Stump was about something very precious to him.
We have, of course, the precious truth of God. We have the Sabbath, the Holy Days, the law of God, the Ten Commandments; the truth that God has given us as a very precious commodity. And I hope we all recognize and appreciate.
The Old Testament is rich with examples of spiritual principles that are illustrated in the history of ancient Israel. They would grow careless, and we see this cycle, where they would grow careless with God's truth, then they would go through a period of spiritual revival and their relationship with God would improve. It was a cycle that sometimes is called "Historical drift". I gave a sermon here, actually a couple of years ago, about Historical drift. I talked about how the cycle lasts between forty and a hundred and twenty years where Israel would have a spiritual revival; they'd have a strong leader, and then it would go into decline after a certain period of time, like I said — but sometimes between as short as forty, or as long as a hundred and twenty years. They would fall in decline for several decades until they finally reach rock—bottom, and they would reach out and cry to God; God would send them a prophet and a strong leader, and they'd come out of that valley and they would revive again — another spiritual revival.
I thought this would be interesting to look at in the context of the Passover. And what I discovered is, in the Old Testament there are five historical Passovers listed. It may surprise you — it surprised me at first, that onlyfive historical Passovers are listed in the entire Old Testament. Today what I would like to do is explore the accounts of the five historical Old Testament Passovers and see what we can learn for our spiritual edification in these days of examination before the Passover this year. Of course, we would begin in Exodus 12 where we find the first historical Passover mentioned in the scriptures. As we all know, this Passover is brought to Israel's attention by God through Moses and Aaron; it was the whole cause of Moses and Aaron approaching the Pharaoh and saying, "Let my people go so that we might go into the desert and keep a Feast to the Lord." And his refusal, of course, led to a whole string of events and calamities, including the ten plagues, that eventually culminated in the destruction of Egypt and the release of the Israelites from captivity. In this case, for centuries they had been slaves: they had lost their identity, they had lost the Ten Commandments, they had certainly lost any idea that there may actually be Holy Days that pointed to God. I know we get into an area of speculation, but I happen to believe they understood the cycle of agriculture. When you go back to Genesis 4 you see that term in the process of days — that is at the end of a period of time Cain and Abel came before God and made a sacrifice, an indication that they understood there was an agricultural cycle and that was in tune with what God was trying to teach them, on an annual basis.
We find here the official codification of this, the beginning of God's Holy Days: Exodus 12. I'd like to read just a few verses; in Verse 11, talks about the Passover:
Exodus 12:11:"And thus you shall eat it: with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, your staff in your hand. So you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord's Passover.
Like I said, something that was now introduced that had been lost for centuries. Forever, after this time, the Passover would be associated with spiritual renewal and revival.
Verse 12 : "For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and I will strike the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beasts; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord.
Verse 13 : "Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.
Verse 14 : "So this day shall be to you as a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance.
An everlasting ordinance. As I said, after this time the Passover would always be seen as a time of spiritual renewal, and in many cases, of spiritual revival.
Let's go forward to the next example, since we are familiar with this one, and that's in Joshua 5. And this is only forty years later. I think we can understand this because the mentality of the people was a slave mentality; they'd been in slavery for generations. So it's very difficult for them to stay focused on this, what they probably considered the new law of God, on this the new plan of God outlined through His Holy Days. It was rather new to them. We know that these people were obstinate against God — all the rebellions that took place. We're reminded of that even in the New Testament (we'll turn to Corinthians later). But we see here that through the leadership of Joshua that God is once again causing a renewal to take place. Josh 5:6, that's where I'd like to begin:
Joshua 5:6 The children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, (forty years from the time of that introduction of the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread) till all the people who were men of war, who came out of Egypt were consumed, because they did not obey the voice of the Lord — So all those that were mature when they came out of Egypt eventually died, we know that. They were consumed because they did not obey the voice of the Lord — to whom the Lord swore that He would not show them the land which the Lord had sworn to their fathers that He would give us, "a land flowing with milk and honey."
Verse 7 : Then Joshua circumcised their sons whom He raised up in their place; for they were uncircumcised, because they had not been circumcised along the way.
Verse 8 : So it was, when they had finished circumcising all the people, that they stayed in their places in the camp till they were healed.
Verse 9 : Then the Lord said to Joshua, "This day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you." Therefore the name of the place shall be called Gilgal to this day. (Reproach is taken away.)
Verse 10 : And now the children of Israel camped in Gilgal, and kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight on the plains of Jericho.
Notice the timing. Notice that it's mentioned that when Israel goes through this spiritual renewal, spiritual revival (if I can use that word), they finally once again are coming into the land of promise, into the favor of God, that it happens just before the Passover — the Passover signifying that it was time for God to renew His relationship with His people.
In my study of this subject I was very interested to find that it's not only Ancient Israel that this cycle takes place; it takes place throughout the history of the Church. For after a certain amount of time, usually like I said, about a hundred years on average, eighty to a hundred years on average, the people of God drift away from the original laws and intent that God has established. I found an interesting quote in Eusebius, talking about the First Century Church, and this is regarding the Church just after the first century into the second century. Eusebius' book Ecclesiastical History, the particular volume that I had, on page 209 it says this: "The bishops, however, of Asia, persevering and observing the custom handed down to them from their fathers were headed by Polycrates, a disciple of Polycarp. He, indeed, had also set forth the tradition handed down to them in a letter which he addressed to Victor of the Church at Rome: "We,' he said, "therefore observe the genuine day, neither adding thereto, nor taking there—from. All these, (speaking of the apostles and bishops of the early Church), observe the fourteenth day of the Passover, according to the Gospel, deviating in no respect, but following the rule of faith. Moreover, I, Polycrates, am the least of you, according to the tradition of my relatives, (some of whom I have followed), for there were seven, my relatives, who were bishops and I am the eighth. And my relatives always observed the day when the people, that is the Jews, threw away the leaven. I, therefore brethren, am now sixty—five years in the Lord, who having conferred with the brethren throughout the world, and having studied the whole sacred Scriptures, am not at all alarmed at those things with which I am threatened to intimidate me, for they who are greater than I have said: "We ought to obey God rather than men." And after this he also proceeds to write concerning all the Bishops that were present, and thought the same with himself. Upon this, Victor, the Bishop of the Church of Rome, forthwith endeavored to cut off the churches of Asia, together with the neighboring churches, as heretics from the common unity of the Western Church. And he publishes abroad by letters and proclamation, that all the brethren from Asia were Holy excommunicated by the Church."
Once again, you find a pocket of people — in this case in the Eastern Church, who said, and took a defense, against those who would do away with the Holy Days, and it happened just before the Passover. And they made a strong defense and as a result they were excommunicated from the Western Church, and thus began a path of two different churches that branches out over the last two millennia, that are distinct from one another.
Reminds us of the Scripture in Jude, the third verse; it says:
Jude 3 We must earnestly contend for the faith once delivered — And oftentimes it would seem that faith is tested in or around the time of the Passover.
Let's go back to the chronology of the Old Testament once again. Go to the third historical Passover, II Chronicles 30. This is during the time of Hezekiah. It's right after the Assyrian occupation, at the bottom of one of these cycles I was describing earlier, and now there's a spiritual revival — God brings up a strong leader — the King Hezekiah. Let's read this account, at least in part:
II Chronicles 30:1 And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and also wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, and keep the Passover of the Lord, the God of Israel.
Verse 2 : For the King and his leaders and all the assembly of Jerusalem agreed to keep the Passover in the second month. (They were a month late.) It tells us in Verse 3 because the Priests had not consecrated themselves yet.
Verse 4 : The matter pleased the King, and all the assembly.
and so they resolved in II Chronicles 30:5 to make a proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, from the South to the North, that they should come and keep the Passover to the Lord God of Israel at Jerusalem, since they had not done it for a long time in the prescribed manner.
Once again, we see that it's after a lull, it's after they've even lost the purpose and identity of the Holy Days — sometimes it's after a discovery of the law of God, which we're going to read in the next account.
Verse 6 : Then runners went throughout all Israel and Judah with the letters from the king and his leaders and spoke according to the command of the king: "Children of Israel, return to the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (or Israel); then he will return to the remnant of you who have escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria.
Let's drop down to:
Verse 13 : Now many people, a very great assembly, gathered at Jerusalem to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread in the second month.
Verse 14 : They arose and took away the altars that were in Jerusalem, and they took away all the incense altars and cast them into the Brook Kidron.
You see, it's a time of the year that God expects us to be introspective, and to look at our spiritual condition, and to re—align our thinking to God's thinking; to re—align our attitudes to God's attitude, to re—align our relationship to God's law. That's what this process in the days preceding Passover is for — it's for our personal spiritual development. And these are the lessons, the positive lessons — you know, there's so many negative examples of what Israel did. But there are these positive ones that we're rehearsing today; spiritual revival that takes place in and around the Passover.
Verse 15 : Then they slaughtered the Passover lambs on the fourteenth day of the second month. The Priests and the Levites were ashamed, (it's like all of us when we compare ourselves to the standard that God sets — we find ourselves ashamed, and needful of the symbols of the Passover — needful of the blood of Christ, needful of His broken body, needful of the reminder to serve with the love of Jesus Christ, that we heard about in the Sermonette, one another), And they sanctified themselves, and they brought the burnt offerings to the house of the Lord.
Going over to:
Verse 23 : Then the whole assembly agreed to keep the Feast another seven days, and they kept it another seven days with gladness.
Verse 26 : And so there was great joy in Jerusalem, (It was such a spiritual revival, it was so joyful of a time for them to be reunited, if you will, with God, that they held an extra seven days, in the Spring Feast) — There was such great joy in Jerusalem, for since the time of Solomon, the son of David — Have you ever heard the expression, "Let's have the best Feast ever?" — well, in this case, it was the best Feast since Solomon's day — nobody could remember even anything that had been written since the days of Solomon about such a great Feast. What made it so great? The religious revival; the religious renewal that took place! There had been nothing like this in Jerusalem.
Verse 27 : Then the Priests, the Levites, arose and blessed the people, and their voice was heard; (Notice this, when a spiritual renewal takes place, God listens. When spiritual renewal takes place in our lives, God listens.) And their prayer came up to His holy dwelling place, to heaven.
You know, many of the Prophets said, "God will not listen to you" — Jeremiah, Isaiah — many of the other Prophets said, "It's too late, your relenting will not do now; God has cut you off, because you've drifted too far from Me." God respects the fact that every year, (at least every year), He establishes a time when He wants us to look at ourselves and to see how inadequate we are in comparison to Christ, and the standard that God set, and how much we need to recommit ourselves to God — God listens.
Let me tell you about a time that I remember quite vividly in Canada. I was just beginning in the Ministry; I was the Associate Pastor in one of our largest churches in Western Canada, right near the Home Office up in Canada. And I remember, we went in on Fridays and we met with the Director — every Friday, and we talked about what had gone on during the week and what was ahead for the next week, or month. The Director at that time was Mr. Dean Wilson, who is now dead. Many of you know (or knew) Mr. Wilson and his wife and their family. For many, many years he served in Western Canada, and I really enjoyed those meetings where he would kind of open up, just explain what was going on in his head.
And I remember one particular morning, not too long before the Passover, about two or three weeks before the Passover, (not unlike the time period now), and he said, "You know something?" He says, "The work in Canada's stalled — stalled out." And he said, "The income is down." He said, "It's almost like somebody was stealing money from the Church." Of course, that sent a shiver up my spine; stealing money, oh no. And he said, "I think I'm going to call a Church—wide fast, across Canada." And he produced a letter and he sent it across Canada and he asked all the Church members to fast, so that we could gain a closeness to God, that God would hear us. Within about three days of that letter going out from the office, one of the members in the Local Church there called the Home Office in Canada (at the time), and he said, "You know, I found a wad of bills in my pocket; it's my tithe (it's the same amount as my tithe) and I was wondering." He said, "I usually send cash in to the Home Office, my tithe in my envelope (it's got my address on it)", and he says, "but I didn't get a receipt for this amount, and I'm just wondering, is this money that I inadvertently didn't put in the tithe to send in?" And so they checked his record and they said, "Well, according to our records you haven't tithed for the last two years." And he said, "Well that's not possible; I tithe every week." So they began to check some of the records and they realized that there were apparently many people who had sent in cash tithe that had not been recorded on the official records, and yet they were able to produce type—written receipts.
Well, to make a long story, and a terrible story short, it turned out that one of the members of the Canadian Home Office staff was stealing the tithes. It was the man who was responsible for going to the Post Office and picking up the mail and he was looking at the envelopes through lights, and those envelopes that had cash in it he was opening, taking out the money, and sending receipts to the people. For at least three years he did this.
Well, of course, we immediately called the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police), and they began an investigation, and this man and his family disappeared overnight — took nothing with them out of the country, except the shirts on their back; disappeared — left. What was most remarkable to me was the fact that we had this brief meeting, a letter was sent out, the Church fasted, just before Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread, and the thief was discovered. I'll never forget that example. And so, when we entered that Passover that year, it was without that fellow worker, and the congregations that year were renewed. I think in the presence of God, God heard our prayers, and answered, quite immediately and quite quickly — quite immediately and quite quickly. We heard, a couple of years later, that that man and his family were killed in an automobile accident in the country of his birth.
Let's go to II Chronicles 35. A few pages further we find that Israel, through this cycle again, they had lost contact with God — they had drifted away from Him, and a young king by the name of Josiah, that God raised up — once again, we find it's just before the Passover. II Chronicles 35:1-6.
II Chronicles 35:1 Now Josiah kept a Passover to the Lord in Jerusalem, and they slaughtered the Passover lambs on the fourteenth day of the first month.
Now, if you read over in Chapter 34, (about verse 14), you find that in the process of cleaning up around the walls of Jerusalem they discovered a book of the law, and they discovered about the ten commandments, and they discovered about the Holy Days, and so they once again began a spiritual renewal, under this young king.
Verse 2 : And he set the priests and their duties and encouraged them for the service for the house of the Lord.
Verse 3 : Then he said to the Levites, who taught all Israel, who were holy to the Lord: "Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, built. It shall no longer be a burden on your shoulders. Now serve the Lord your God and His people Israel.
Verse 4 : "Prepare yourselves according to your fathers' houses, (And once again they kept the Passover — all this occurs just before the Passover, this big renewal). Look over in Verse 17.
II Chronicles 35:17 And the children of Israel who were present kept the Passover at that time, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days. (And what a wonderful Feast it must have been!) Notice the next comment, in:
Verse 18 : There had been no Passover kept in Israel like that since the days of Samuel the Prophet;
So, this was even a greater Passover and Feast than the one we read about earlier, which was compared to the Feasts of Solomon — you can only imagine the splendor and excitement of those Feasts. This one goes all the way back to Samuel the Prophet, before the kings, back to the last Judge. What was so great about it? The number of people involved? The number of parties they had? The joy of the people? Well, partly, in that it was a spiritual renewal. That's the comparison, it was a time of great spiritual renewal where people got back close to God.
There had been no Passover kept in Israel like that since the days of Samuel the Prophet: and none of the kings of Israel had kept such a Passover as Josiah kept, and the Priests and the Levites , and all Judah and all of Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
Let's go back to II Kings 23 — This is another account of that spiritual renewal led by Josiah, the king of Judah. (II Kings 23 — I'd like to read just a couple of verses here):
II Kings 23:21 Then the king commanded all the people, saying, "Keep the Passover to the Lord your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant."
Verse 22 : Such a Passover, surely, never had been since the days of the judges who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, and the kings of Judah, — Why was it so special? Because of the spiritual renewal of the people of God.
Verse 23 : But in the eighteenth year of king Josiah this Passover was held before the Lord in Jerusalem.
Verse 24 : Moreover, Josiah put away those who consulted mediums and spiritists, the household Gods and idols, all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might perform the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the Lord.
A spiritual revival is always connected to the discovery, or rediscovery, of God's law and His Holy Days, and their purpose and reason in our lives. Those of us that have been around the Church for a long time, I believe, oftentimes take the truth that we have — the precious truth — for granted, and we become careless; not unlike Peter Stump. And we sometimes lay these aside to seek our own will.
This is that time of the year when we need to examine that — particularly our motives, and not take the truth of God for granted so that we treat it carelessly.
Let's go to the fifth, and final, Passover mentioned (it's mentioned in Ezra — Ezra 6:14). This is at a time when, as we know now, the temple of Solomon has long since been destroyed; the Jews that remain come out of captivity, and they began to build the wall, and they began to rebuild the temple at the direction of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes — I'd like to pick this up in:
Ezra 6:14 And so the elders of the Jews built, and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zachariah, the son of Iddo. And they built and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the commandment of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes, king of Persia.
Verse 15 : And now the temple was finished on the third day of the month of Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.
Verse 16 : Then the children of Israel, the priests and the Levites and the rest of the descendants of the captivity, celebrated the dedication of this house of God with joy.
Verse 17 : And they offered sacrifices at the dedication of this house of God, — (they went on to describe the sacrifices) —
Verse 18 : They assigned priests to their divisions — (restored the priesthood again).
I'd like us to notice:
Verse 19 : And the descendants of the captivity kept the Passover on the fourteenth day ofthe first month.
In the context of the spiritual renewal, once again we find this particular Holy Day Season mentioned: the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread.
Verse 20 : For the priests and the Levites had purified themselves; all of them were ritually clean. And they slaughtered the Passover lambs for all the descendants of the captivity, for their brethren the priests, and for themselves.
Verse 21 : Then the children of Israel who had returned from the captivity ate together with all who had separated themselves from the filth of the nations of the land in order to seek the Lord God of Israel.
Verse 22 : And they kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with joy; for the Lord made them joyful, and turned the heart of the king of Assyria toward them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.
Through this examination process we may find ourselves, (and I hope we do), wanting and needing the sacrifice of Christ. I don't know if you like Paul Harvey, but I do, and I particularly like his "Rest of the story" tales.
I would like to tell you the "rest of the story" about Peter Stump's cello. Three days after the Stradivarius was stolen, a twenty—nine year old nurse, named Melanie Stephens, was driving home from work, and as she passed Griffith Park, in West L.A., she noticed a cello case leaning up against the dumpster, and she stopped her SUV and was a little interested in this unusual piece of garbage. She went over to the cello case and opened it up and inside she discovered a cello. All the strings were broken; the neck was scratched and the back was broken — the back of the cello was broken. She thought someone had left their worn—out and old cello for the garbage. She had an idea, so she put the old cello in its case in the back of her SUV, with the help of a homeless man, and drove back to her home in West Los Angeles. When she arrived at home she called her boyfriend who was a carpenter, and said she had found this old cello and had an idea. She had always wanted to have a unique conversation piece in her living room in which she could store her CDs. So she asked him if he could build her a CD case out of this old cello she had discovered. He said, "Sure, I think I can do that." He said, "I'm busy right now but I can get to it in a few days."
A couple of days later they were invited over to a friend's house, so they went to their friend's house, and during their visit the TV came on and the news came on, and once again there was a plea from the Philharmonic people, and they said, "We're looking for this cello; we're offering a $50,000 reward. If you could bring this forward (no questions asked)" — Well, you might imagine, Melanie looked at her boyfriend and they thought, "Could this be the cello?" They went home after dinner and they excitedly opened the case and they looked carefully inside the cello, and against the back wall of the cello they saw the name "Stradivari", etched in the back of the cello, and next to it the date 1684. And they realized, this must be it.
Quickly the next morning she called her lawyer and said, "I think I've found some stolen property", and her lawyer contacted the Los Angeles police, (the Philharmonic Officials). They were delighted — it was, in fact, Peter Stump's and the Philharmonic's missing Stradivarius. They got it back; they paid Melanie the $50,000, which she donated to a musical charity in Los Angeles.
You might be wondering, "Is that the end of the story?" Well, no, if you're like me you wondered, "Could that cello be repaired — could that three and a half million dollar cello be repaired?" They took it to a restoration expert — there was a series or articles — I kept watching this with some amusement as it went through the Los Angeles Times. And they found a restoration expert who was able to restore the cello completely for less than $3,000 — for less than $3,000!
Let's turn to Ezekiel 18:
Some of us as we examine ourselves in this Pre—Passover period may discover that our relationship with God has been broken, and damaged, through sin, through misbehavior; perhaps, just through carelessness and neglect, almost absentmindedly shuttling aside the truth of God — it can happen, even in a years time.
Ezekiel 18:21 (We find here one of the most encouraging Scriptures in the Bible) —
"If a wicked man turns from all of his sins which he has committed, keeps all My statues, (see, the repentance is conditional) — and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. More than that:
Verse 22 : "None of his transgressions which he has committed shall be remembered against him; because of the righteousness which he has done, he shall live.
A wonderful thing about our relationship with God, (and I hope we've understood this from the five historical Passovers), can be restored when it's broken. Even though we may have carelessly shuttled it aside, and the laws of God and our relationship with God through neglect, through lack of prayer, lack of study, perhaps even law—breaking — our relationship with God can be restored. And hopefully that's one of the things that we discover as we become introspective in these weeks and days before Passover, and see how much we need the sacrifice of Christ and the forgiveness of God, to be restored in our relationship with God. God says:
Verse 23 : "Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?" says the Lord God, "and not that he should turn from his ways and live?
God wants to have a relationship with us; that's why He called us. He wants us to have a good relationship with Him that's marked by a spiritual relationship, producing the fruit of the spirit of God.
In conclusion, let's go back to I Corinthians 10. I'd like to read this section of I Corinthians 10:1-11, because it points us back towards the Old Testament. It says, "Take a look back; learn something from the example of Israel" — it's what I call "OPE": Other peoples' experience. We can learn something from other peoples' experience, we don't have to learn all these lessons anew ourselves.
I Corinthians 10:1 Moreover, brethren, I do not want you all to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea. (That was symbolic, in verse 2 as it says):
Verse 2 : of a baptism into Moses in the cloud and in the sea,
Verse 3 : All ate the same spiritual food,
Verse 4 : All drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.
Verse 5 : But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness, (we read about that)
Verse 6 : Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted.
We can learn from the examples we read about — the negative things that Israel did that separated them from God — we can learn from those things.
Verse 7 : And do not become idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, "The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play."
Verse 8 : Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty—three thousand fell;
Verse 9 : nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents;
Verse 10 : nor complained, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer.
Verse 11 : Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.
The Greek word here for admonition is very interesting — it's nouthesia. It means, "take notice", or "to be mildly rebuked; take warning." We can look back at the example of Israel and see the negative things that we should avoid, but I think we can also see some positive things, as we have seen today, about the association of Passover, the Days of Unleavened Bread, and spiritual renewal. God wants us to notice and be warned by the example of Ancient Israel. Surely we can learn from their mistakes, but we can also learn from their good example during those times when they got back right with God, and were spiritually renewed.
Brethren, let's use these days before Passover to make our own spiritual resolutions for rededication and spiritual renewal, and let's learn not to be careless with the "trues" of God, so we do not easily lay them aside or forget about them. Let's use this time of the year for spiritual renewal.