Imagine a court room. Only this court room is not of earthly origin. Imagine it is heaven. God sits behind an exalted desk as the Righteous Judge. The prosecuting attorney is a slimy fellow know as the Accuser of the Brethren. The defendant is another hopeless sinner. One by one offenses are read out loud. The sinner can only hang their head in shame because every accusation is true. Guilty on all accounts. Shame and condemnation abound. The Righteous Judge listens attentively taking every trespass into account.
Suddenly the defense attorney rises and says, "Your Honor, the debt has been paid. Every offense has been atoned. Father, I died on a cross to take all the guilt on myself and bestow righteousness onto them." With those words God the Father brings down the gavel pronouncing the sinner pardoned and not guilty.
That is part of a message I preached yesterday morning. I gave the invitation for people to ask Jesus to rescue them. I exhorted people to formulate their own prayer asking Jesus for salvation. I asked people to indicate their encounter by lifting up their hand. I scanned the room, but saw no hands lifted. I did see a woman sitting to my left clapping her hands slightly in a circular motion with pure joy on her face. We dismissed the service and I glanced in her direction when I walked past her. She had tears in her eyes and clutched her daughter's hands. When she reached the back, I asked if she prayed for Jesus to save her. She smiled and told me she did. I gave her a high five.
Luke 15:7 reminds of us that God finds more joy over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous people who do not need to repent. Put another way, God delights in bringing new people into the family. He loves pardoning sinners and offering them the free gift of salvation. This young mother experienced that yesterday. Her clap of joy was the outward expression of the inward work of the Lord in her heart. We celebrate with her and look forward to her future baptism.
The saving work of God goes on and on. All over the world people are meeting Jesus. He is transforming their lives. Those people are expressing joy through tears, clapping, and baptism. It never gets old. Adding new Christian to churches is exciting. It is a work based on the love, grace, and mercy of God. No person deserves to be pardoned by God. God does not base His pardons on the merit of our deserving it. It is solely an act of God's love demonstrated by allowing Jesus to substitute in our place taking our punishment.
I hope God allows me to see those claps for joy in new converts hundreds and even thousands more times. I hope my joy cannot be suppressed and my excitement not be stifled. The angels do not hold back in celebrating. Why should we? May claps of joy abound among new members of the family of God. May the saving work of God spread further and broader as one saved sinner tells other sinners where to find pardon and salvation to the glory of God. Please do it over and over again God.
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