Title: Getting Real Redemption


It’s a cottage industry of conspiracy theorist thanks to Dan Brown after writing the Di Vinci Code. The Knights of the Templar were suppose to have been hiding a mysterious secret in the 1300’s when they were tortured and burned at the stake to try to get the secret out of them, but it was never discovered. The Di Vinci Code was all a conspiracy by the Roman Catholic Church to find and destroy the real story about Jesus and the mystery of true redemption. That's a pretty intriguing idea - were they trying to hide something from us and what is the secret that's been hidden and all the centuries? The idea of a conspiracy by the organized church to hide the truth about Jesus has spawned countless take-off books and TV specials. The take is all the way from the Holy Grail to the Knights of the Templar theme and tell their own tales of innuendo and guesswork. I'm Charles Morris and this is Haven today a program telling The Great Story, the true story, that's all about Jesus. This is a program called Getting Real Redemption.

Song: Your Name Is Holy

We are worshiping the Lord and we are talking about Jesus as we do every day on Haven Today. Take a good story or movie; it always comes down to the need to be redeemed. It strikes a chord in all our hearts, we all have that sense that our lives need to be delivered. The Di Vinci Code taps into this desire and offers a way for this to happen. It offers a seductive alternative to the attitude that most of us know by the term pharisaical in fact it tells us that the real redemption is a free and liberating spirituality that the Pharisee types have been trying to keep hidden for centuries. Christianity is often painted as promoting the pharisaical attitude legalism condemning people for the wrong actions they have taken. Pointing the finger at others; calling them immoral and pulling back from anyone who doesn't measure up. The only redemption this approach has to offer is to change yourself, clean up your act live right and you can become like us. Now Dan Brown comes along with the Di Vinci Code to the same person in need of redemption he would say something else, something like; there is a secret the pharisee types don't want you to know. Don't feel guilty because you're not guilty, you have been lied too. They tried to impress you with all their moral rules and standards. In fact Dan Brown takes it one insidious step further and he says that the very things the Pharisees have told you are wrong are the very things that God wants for you. At one point in his book the heroine Sophie accidentally discovers her grandfather engaging in a secret sexual ritual. The Pharisees would recoil at that and say this is disgusting and shameful. I can say I feel the same way about that and I don't like to think of myself as a pharisee but to the great delight of millions of readers Dan Brown recasts the whole scenario and presents this kind of free love as a redeeming experience - even as a holy and spiritual duty. The deep dark secret the church has hidden from you he tells us is that Jesus had this relationship with Mary Magdalene, which redemption comes from liberating your passions and desires and rising to a new spiritual plane through sex. Well those are two radical different ways of redemption aren’t they and of those two ways it's no wonder the Dan Brown version is having such a wide appeal in the world we live in today. But listen closely to me, there is a third way to find redemption and it doesn't originate with the Pharisees. It certainly doesn't originate with Dan Brown. It comes from Jesus and you see it boldly played out at a dinner party thrown by a Pharisee when a simple women shows up. This is Haven Today, where it’s all about Jesus.

Song: Break These Chains

This is Haven Today and the program is called Getting Real Redemption. I'm Charles Morris, we all want to go with either of the two versions of redemption that I shared a moment ago. It's human to do one or the other - either that of the moral self righteous Pharisee or the Dan Brown approach where anything goes and redemption comes from being free and do what you want to do. People are always trying to put Jesus in one of those two roles; they presented Jesus who condemns sinners and takes a stand for morality or a loving Jesus who never judges anyone and just wants everyone to feel loved and feel good about themselves. Dan Brown takes that Jesus and adds a twist he says that Jesus was a very human man who found redemption through having sex with Mary Magdalene. But the real Jesus found in the Bible offers a third way, the true way for our lives to be redeemed. The true Jesus would strongly disagree with Dan Brown. He taught that there is sexual immorality and that it is enslaving and degrading. He said anyone who sins is a slave to sin, but if the Son set you free you will be free indeed. The real Jesus would've exposed Dan Brown's version of redemption as a deceptive trap, but in the story that I want to share from the Gospel of Luke, Jesus certainly doesn't come down on the other side of the Pharisees either - in fact he takes their version of reality head-on in a confrontation with a real-life Pharisee named Simon. Let me read it to you from Luke 7 starting in verse 36; When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is – that she is a sinner.” Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.” “Tell me, teacher,” he said. “Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?” Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.” “You have judged correctly,” Jesus said. Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven – as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.” The Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” Now think about this story in context, it didn't feel so good to be the sinful woman living in an environment where the Pharisees had all the cards, every day she felt the contempt from her neighbors and Pharisees and everyone else. She no doubt felt contempt for herself and she had been taught that God felt contempt for her as well. She was an outsider separated from the moral elements of society and then from God himself, but one day this woman heard Jesus offer her redemption and forgiveness and that's the third way, the true way. What a light of hope this message must've been. It must've seemed like the end of a nightmare when Jesus proclaimed that her sins were forgiven - removed as far as the east is from the west. To hear Jesus say that God didn't despise her but that he loved her and welcomed her. She must have been overwhelmed with joy so she sought him out and showed her love with shameless extravagance. The real redemption is this; God sent the Messiah to save sinners like this woman and sinners received him and still do today. But people who believed they were righteous like Simon, were offended by Jesus. They rejected his offer of forgiveness because it insulted them they wanted to be accepted by God because they thought of themselves as good people. They were blind to their need for forgiveness - their sense of self approval and lack of compassion for others was deeply offensive to God. On the other hand, coming to God as a sinner because of his forgiveness delights God. Jesus was delighted by the sinful woman; she had the courage of a forgiven person certainly. She was deeply aware of her sins but the forgiveness of Jesus was what filled her heart. She believed in that forgiveness with such a radical faith that the disapproval of Simon the Pharisee and everybody else at his dinner table was of absolutely no concern to her. She believed in the forgiveness of Jesus so much that she expected him to receive her bold display of love, and he did! He claimed her as his own. Then Jesus proceeded to explain to Simon the Pharisee that this prostitute had out done him. She loves much because she has been forgiven much. Forgiveness transforms the heart that's the second half of the redemption that Jesus offers to us. It makes us brave radical lovers of God who focus on him and don't care about what anybody else thinks. Jesus created a role reversal that day in Simon's dining room. He gave his loving approval to the sinful woman and he let Simon the Pharisee know that he had the problem. The Son of Man came for one reason to bring redemption to sinners. He has nothing to offer to people who are righteous in their own eyes. The trouble with the Pharisees is that they missed the very heart of God. This is Haven Today where we get to talk about Jesus and thank you for sharing this time with me. One last thing, if you have come to Jesus as a sinner for the forgiveness of your sins, he has received you in the same way that he received the sinful woman. You see, you don't obey for the same reasons the Pharisees obeyed, the issue of righteousness has already been settled for you. Condemnation and sin have been washed away and Jesus has dressed you in his own righteousness. So let your obedience be a way of washing his feet with your tears of joy. Let your life be the way that you showed your extravagant love for him because you have been forgiven much. Lee Strobel was with us on this program last week for a couple of days talking about the Di Vinci Code. The movie is coming out soon; the book is already out and has sold millions. Lee Strobel would you close us in prayer? Yes, absolutely. Father I do pray that your truth would go out with all its convicting power and that those who are spiritual seekers who are looking for truth and will have found it today, and in repentance and faith, they will bend the knee to you. I pray that they will make today the day that they receive your Son Jesus Christ and what he did on the cross. I pray that they will apply that personally to their lives they would receive him as their forgiver and as their leader that they would do that in repentance and faith and therefore come face-to-face with you and have confidence that for eternity they will be in heaven with you forever. We pray this in Jesus name, Amen. And Amen, thank you my brother in Jesus Lee Strobel for closing us in prayer. Getting Real Redemption, that's the name of this Haven Today. Lee Strobel has written an amazing little book, it doesn't take long to read and it's called Exploring the Di Vinci Code. He explores the error behind the fiction and he also leads us to the truth that is found only in Jesus Christ. We have that book available in single copies and also six packs as well so that you can share with others; maybe in a small group, Bible study or at your church or church library. We also have the kit that includes the DVD were Lee went to the settings were The Di Vinci Code movie was made in Europe, Great Britain and France. The kit is available to you as well all as a thank you for your financial support of this ministry so that we can keep telling The Great Story. If you share that great story we would like to send you Lee Strobel’s resources to help you share it with others. You can go online at haventoday.org and also get the materials that we have available and catch a preview of the video. You can also hear the two programs from last week when Lee Strobel was on our program. When you get in touch please let us know the station you're listening too and you can even send us a prayer request. We are in the business of praying for people and we all need prayer. I'm Charles Morris and thank you for being with me we're going to have the step-son of CS Lewis with us on the program tomorrow because this week The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe is being released on DVD and we want to talk about what the meaning has on our faith in Jesus Christ. Join me tomorrow as we lift up Jesus here on Haven Today.