GODS SHOVEL IS BIGGER (Bible) Read Phil 3:4-10 -- Film producer Joseph Levine once presented actor Marcello

Mastroianni with a magnificent gold wristwatch. It could have been embarrassing because the actor was already wearing a gold watch. But seeing the gift, Mastroianni immediately threw his watch in the wastebasket and replaced it with the gift. Beloved, thats exactly what Easter is all about. Our creator has fashioned a magnificent gift of eternal life. But to receive it, we have to take our own efforts at earning Gods favor, precious tho they may be to us, and deposit them in the closest wastebasket. For Gods gift is too precious to be earned; it can only be accepted by faith in place of every human effort to earn it. Gods gift is not cheap. It cost God the death of His own Son to pay the penalty for our sin. That should be enough to tell you that your efforts are worthless. God wouldnt allow His own Son to die if we could actually make it on our own. Thats why two historical events the cross and the resurrection stand at the pinnacle of human history its where God gifts believers with that which we cannot earn. Thats why Easter is wonderful. To help us understand Gods gift, Id like us to focus this morning on 3 things God bought and paid for at the cross and the empty tomb. This is the resurrection applied to everyday life. For believers what do we have in Christ? For anyone who hasnt trusted Christ as Savior, what could you have that you are missing out on? I. There is a Bottle for our Tears (Psa 56:8)

David was a shepherd, youngest of Jesses 8 boys when Samuel anointed him king at Gods command. However, Saul is still ruling, so David does not take the throne immediately. He does, however, kill the giant Goliath when all of Israel, including King Saul, are afraid to battle him. David goes to court and becomes a mighty warrior, killing many Philistine enemies for Saul. But Saul becomes jealous and is soon trying to kill David, so David flees for his life, always just one step ahead of Saul. Eventually, in desperation, we get to I Sam 21:10, And David rose and fled that day from Saul and went to Achish the king of Gath. This is rock bottom. Remember who was from Gath? Goliath. Davids seeking refuge in Goliaths town. Predictably, he was
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not received with open arms by the Philistines; only escaped by pretending to be insane. Despite being the rightful king and having obeyed God to the letter, he is alone, fearful and desperate. Thats when he pens Psa 56:8, You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. If ever David needed to know God cared, its now. His faith is wavering. And while God did not remove the trouble, he preserved David and restored his faith. Psa 56: 11) In God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me? The key is v. 8: You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. The word tossings is better translated wanderings, nod in Hebrew. Remember Cain, after killing Abel, became a wanderer (nod) who settled in the land of Nod. Now David is wandering, but he is comforted that God knows every move. Further he asks God, put my tears in your bottle. Collecting tears in a bottle to show sympathy was a custom in ancient times. Such bottles were buried with the dead. Often professional mourners collected their tears. Perhaps David had that in mind. But the word he uses for bottle is actually a large skin used to hold wine or milk. And David is not collecting his own tears, but asking God to collect them in Gods bottle. He wants God to note every tear. The tender picture of God collecting his tears leads him back to faith. Our God is not the apathetic god of the Stoics and Deists or the wrathful God of Islam or the tempestuous, envious gods of the Greeks. Jehovah is the God who notes every heartache, shares every sorrow and collects every tear. He has a bottle for your tears. I dont know what pain you are suffering this morning, but God does. He shares the pain and is collecting your tears. Turn to Job 1. In one days time this man lost the fortune he had in camels, donkeys, oxen and sheep. Gone just like that. Then came the worst blow of all. All 10 of his children were killed by a tornado as they were partying. Total devastation! But look at Job 1:20, Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. 21 And he said, Naked I came from my mothers womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD. 22 In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong. Jobs mourning is almost majestic. No loud outcry or wild wailing. There is no, Why me? Job simply tears his robe, shaves his head and falls to the ground in mourning and worship. Did you know that mourning can be worship? Of course it can with a God who cares, has been there Himself! Satans children use razors to cut their throats devastation hits. All they lived for is gone. But Job shaves his head; the locks fall away, and as his tears fall they are all gathered into Gods bottle. ALL!
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Dr. David Seamands, Xn counselor, told of counseling a couple preparing for Xn ministry. Their marriage was solid, but the wife, Betty, began to cry uncontrollably. She was the unwanted accident of parents who had to marry because of her impending birth. Three years later another baby was born, but her father became involved in an adulterous affair which led to divorce. Betty vividly remembered the day her father walked out. She was in her crib, heard the vicious quarrel, and was terrified when he left. Seamands asked her, If you could have said something to your father from your crib, what would you have said? With sobs she replied, Oh, Daddy, please dont leave me! How many times that scenario has played out. But Seamands went on, Later, as we prayed, it dawned on me that if we were to translate Christs cry of dereliction from the cross (My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?) into a paraphrase for a child, we couldnt improve on Bettys words. Suddenly I realized that because of what Jesus experienced on that cross, He understands the cries heard so often in our day, the cries of millions of little children, Daddy, or Mommy, please dont leave me! But when they do leave, the Wounded Healer understands those cries and is touched with the feelings of those children. He collects the tears, Beloved, and He understands, because Hes been there. Whatever your pain, Hes been there. Not only that He can help. He can comfort now, and one day, for those who trust Him, He will take all those collected tears and He will wipe them all away. He can do that because He took our place on that cross, suffered the penalty for our sin and soon, He will bring a permanent end to the suffering. We know the great promise of Rev 21:4, He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. Imagine! Someone has asked, Why would there be tears in heaven in the first place? I like Irwin Lutzers take: He wants us to understand that God will give us an explanation for the sorrow we experienced on earth so that we will not have to cry anymore. If that were not so, then the tears might return after He has wiped them away. But being able to view the tearful events of earth from the perspective of heaven will dry up our tears forever. There are answers, Beloved. It reminds me of a song I used to love. One of these days were gonna understand the whole thing better. / One of these days were gonna come to see the reason why. Thats a reality, Beloved. Someday well see God never allowed a single pain that wasnt for His and our greater good.
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Tears will end forever. But meantime, He has a bottle for your tears. He knows your pain and will bring you through. II. There is a Book for our Trials (Mal 3:16-17)

Turn to Mal 3:16-17, Then those who feared the LORD spoke with one another. The LORD paid attention and heard them and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the LORD and esteemed his name. 17 They shall be mine, says the LORD of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. This isnt for everyone; but for those who fear Him, God knows every trial, every test, every pain to make right one day. He misses nothing! The backdrop here is those who doubt Gods goodness. Mal 3: 13 Your words have been hard against me, says the LORD. But you say, How have we spoken against you? 14 You have said, It is vain to serve God. What is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the LORD of hosts? 15 And now we call the arrogant blessed. Evildoers not only prosper but they put God to the test and they escape. Theyre saying, It doesnt pay to serve the Lord. Hell take your youth, your money, your ambition and leave you naked. It doesnt pay. God responds, Listen, dont you worry. Ive got every trial recorded; every sacrifice; every thing you ever thought about giving up. Worth it?! Listen youre my treasure! And thats just the beginning. Ive got it all written down. Ive got your back! You cant outgive God, Beloved. Payback is coming. God describes the judgment of believers in I Cor 3:12: Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw 13 each ones work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. 14 If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyones work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. Selfish acts will burn, but acts of faith will be immensely rewarded! His own resurrection is the ultimate proof of that! R. G. LeTourneau (1888-1969 was known as the Dean of Earthmoving. He held over 300 patents for heavy earthmoving equipment. His machines were often decades ahead of their time. 70% of the earthmoving equipment and engineering vehicles used in WWII were his. He was a devoted Christian founder of LeTourneau U. in Longview, TX, president of CBMC and Gideons. I heard him speak as a teen-ager and he told how as a young man he
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began to give the Lord 10% of his income. But with every success, he upped the amount until by that time it was 10% to LeTourneau and 90% to the Lord. When asked how he could give so generously he was famous for replying, I do not know. I just keep shoveling it out, and God keeps shoveling it in. I guess His shovel is bigger than mine. Thats true for all believers. Which doesnt mean we get it all in this life. But God gives us enough to know that His promises are true. Hes keeping a record and the payback will far exceed anything we might give of time, effort, money, blood, sweat and tears. Hes keeping the books and you can be sure it pays to serve the Lord. III. There is a Bag for our Transgressions (Job 14:16)

The Bible takes an inclusive view of sin. It tells us For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23). Despite all societys attempts to deny sin we know in our heart of hearts that we are guilty. We spend over $50 billion annually to get rid of the guilt we deny. But the only real solution is repentance. You can do that for free! Thats what Easters about. Some think they are too bad to be forgiven. Perhaps that is you. Albert Speer was the administrative genius who kept Nazi factories running at max capacity throughout WWII. Speer was the only one of 24 defendants at Nuremburg to admit his guilt a guilt he could never escape. He tried to expiate it thru books. But the spot wouldnt come out. It was like McBeths wife. The spot wouldnt come out. Ever try to clean a carpet spot. You rub on it and it looks like its gone, but when you come back later after its dried, its still there. And no matter how many times you get rid of it, it just keeps showing up agin. Thats what happened with unresolved sin. Thats where Speer was. On Good Morning, America in 1981 the interviewer asked Speer: You have said the guilt can never be forgiven or shouldnt be. Do you still feel that way? With a haunted look, Speer answered, I served a sentence of 20 years, and I could say, Im a free man, my conscience has been cleared by serving the whole time as punishment. But I cant get rid of it. I dont think it will be possible. That was his last public statement before he died. If he had only known. Paul said in I Tim 1:15, The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. And Paul wasnt kidding. Prior to his conversion Paul hunted down Christians like dogs, killed them for no reason than their faith in Christ. But God saved Paul, and He would have saved Albert Speer, too. Why? Because Paul could made restitution? Because Speer
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could expiate himself? No, no, no. It was because Jesus died to pay for those sins. Job said in Job 14: 16) For then you [God] would number my steps; you would not keep watch over my sin; 17) my transgression would be sealed up in a bag, and you would cover over my iniquity. Why do you seal trash in a bag? To eliminate any evidence or odor, right? So our sin can be sealed away. All of it! When Paul says Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners he has in mind the death and resurrection of Jesus by which he made good on Gods promise through Job. On the cross Jesus took Pauls sin and paid for it; He took Albert Speers sin and paid for it; He took your sin and paid for it, and when you ask He will seal it in a bag and cover your iniquity. So often, even as Xns, we hang on to our sin; live in our guilty past. Did you know that compounds the sin? Did you know its a sin to keep bringing up your past? Yes, there are consequences, but forgiveness is immediate the moment you repent. David was forgiven adultery and murder that he experienced as a believer. Peter was forgiven denying Christ as a believer. There is a bag for confessed sin. There is a bag for your sin! God says, I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more (Heb 10:17). When you confess the same sin again, the Father is saying, What sin? Why are you remembering what God has forgotten?! Not that He is unaware, but as something that can condemn you and destroy fellowship, it is long ago gone. He assures us in Psa 103:12, as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. Micah 7:19 tells us, He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. When the past rears its ugly head we must remember Rom 5: 20) where sin increased, grace abounded all the more. Our sin has been buried under the avalanche of the grace flowing from the cross of Jesus Christ never to be brought against us again. Easter the cross and the empty tomb mean this: there is a bag for our sin. Conc A wealthy man and his son collected rare works of art. But in the Vietnam War the son was killed while rescuing another soldier leaving a broken father. One day a young man showed up with a package: Sir, you dont know me but your son gave his life saving me. He saved many lives that day and was carrying me when he was shot through the heart. He told me of your love for art and I think he would have wanted you to have this. The grieving father opened the package to find a portrait of his son painted by the young man. It found a favored place above the mantle, and from then on, it was the first picture the father showed when people came to visit.

When the old man died there was an auction of his paintings. The first picture up was the portrait of the son. But there was no bid. Collectors were waiting for the masterpieces. Voices urged the auctioneer to skip this one, but he persisted. Angry voices insisted on getting to the Van Goghs and Monets, but the auctioneer said, The son! Who will take the son? Finally a voice from the back the longtime gardener of the estate. Ill give $10. Being a poor man it was all he could afford. The auctioneer pounded the gavel, Going once, twice, sold for $10. Then he announced the auction was over. By now the crowd of collectors were beside themselves. What do you mean over? Bring out the collection! But the auctioneer explained, This auction had a secret stipulation. The man willed that the portrait go first. Whoever bought that picture would inherit the whole estate. Whoever takes the son gets everything. And thats the way it is with Jesus, Beloved. Whoever takes the Son gets it all -- a bottle for their tears, a book for their trials and a bag for their transgressions and so much more. I hope that you have the Son and that He has you. Hes real. Hes alive. Hes ready when we are. Take the Son! Lets pray.