In daily life, we will be confronted with things that will not go the way we wanted them to do, and we have a choice – we can respond in our flesh in anger, or we can look to Christ.  God does not want our outward obedience merely – he desires our hearts to be His.  How do we fight for a heart that is soft and loving, as a result of the gospel?

James 1:19-21 – “Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; ²⁰ for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. ²¹ Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

Often times we consider what it means to be “doers of the word” and what it is to be “a good Christian” and think about specific things – like don’t lie, don’t cheat, don’t steal, etc.  These are all true of course, we ought not to do those things, but God here talks about a condition of the heart, anger, immediately before talking about being “doers of the word”.  Why is that?  Why choose anger?  Whether or not our heart is prone to anger is a good barometer of where our heart is with God.  Consider that God saved his harshest rebukes for the self-righteous pharisees who probably lived a better life than any of us outwardly, but Jesus called them “whitewashed tombs” (Matt 23:27).  They looked good on the outside, but were dead on the inside.

What is required for someone to be angry?  Two things:  Unmet expectations and a lack of faith in God’s sovereign goodness.  We have the hope of Heaven and eternity with Christ, secured by Jesus’s death, burial, and resurrection.  With this in view, how does that change our perspective?  What loss have we actually incurred by an unmet expectation?  Further, God has promised to use all things for good, for those who love God and have been called according to His purpose.  Do you believe that?  Do you believe that God wants to use our trials to allow us to love others sacrificially and supernaturally to display the gospel?  Do you believe that God wants to use you and your trials to grow your own faith, and strength for ministry?  Sustained anger is a  heart denies these truths and focuses in on self rather than God.  Put another way, sustained anger is evidence of idolatry and unbelief.

We’re told plainly that anger does not produce the righteousness of God – so what does? Meekly receiving the implanted word of God.  What does that look like?  For one to be meek, they must acknowledge their own weakness.  For us as Christians, this looks like our coming to God daily, continually, and acknowledging that in our flesh we have no hope, and so we look to Christ, and desire for our lives to be transformed by Him through receiving and submitting to His Word.

Sustained meekness before God, produces a soft heart, that is able to forgive and love in ways the world cannot understand.  A heart that has received the implanted Word of God, finds in God Himself joy, and is therefore freed from expectations of anything beyond Himself.  To illustrate, if someone told you, you would receive $50,000,000 dollars later today – would you care if you lost a penny on the way to receive it?  Of course not, but that is essentially what anger in our heart reveals.  Jesus is our treasure – greater than we can possibly imagine, and we have the Holy Spirit in us by faith, a guarantee of our inheritance for eternity.  Our battleground as Christians is to find in Jesus our heart’s satisfaction.  This is what we strive for when we go to God in His Word.  This is what God promises us when we seek Him there.

I hope this finds each of you well, and God richly blesses His time with you in His Word.  Taste and see that the Lord is good, and He is greater than anything else the world could offer.

Grace and Peace,

Adam

James 1:2-4 – “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

If you have heard this verse preached before, you no doubt have struggled with it as much as I have.  God doesn’t tell us merely to endure trials and hard times, he tells us to count it all joy.  How are we to look at circumstances and pain with a heart of joy?  It isn’t easy.  If it is a struggle for you, you are not alone.  I would go so far as to say if you do not have the hope of the gospel in your heart, it is impossible.

We live in a world stained by sin; others’ sin, my sin, and your sin.  It is because of this that we are not surprised at all when trials come.  When they do, as Christians we are able to look beyond what is seen to what is unseen and find hope.  We know that Jesus is the answer for the things we see that are wrong.  We see others as broken, and in need of prayer and encouragement rather than an object of our anger.  We see disease and death as evidence of what is wrong in the world and remember that once and for all Jesus has made things right on the cross – this is not our home – our home is with God, where there will be no more sickness, no more pain, and no tears.  This is how we find joy amidst any circumstance.  If not immediately, then soon through prayer and refreshment from God’s Word to us – because the mercies of God are new each morning, reminding us that we are His, and our future is secure in Him.

2 Corinthians 4:6-11  “For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.  ⁷ But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. ⁸ We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; ⁹ persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; ¹⁰ always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. ¹¹ For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.”

Christian, be encouraged.  You will always be in a hard time, coming out of a hard time, or about to be in a hard time.  That is a constant in life.  What we have, that the world does not understand, and what can be a powerful means of declaring the hope that is within us, is peace and joy in Jesus amidst any trial.  We eagerly forgive others, we bless those who persecute us, we pray for those who sin against us, we endure difficulties knowing that Jesus endured as we have, and these 70, 80, 90 years we have on Earth are a blink of an eye in comparison to eternity, in a fullness of joy with God in Heaven.  Every hard time is an opportunity to grow your faith in Jesus, to build a steadfast immovable faith that makes the world ask, who is your God?  Keep running strong, and know that every saint before you has walked a similar path.

Grace and Peace,

Adam

Hebrews 12: 1-3 – “Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, ² looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.  ³ Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.”

Hebrews 11 lays out a list of Christians who trusted God, and obeyed His calling on their lives.  These people were no different than you or I, and God used them in amazing ways simply because they trusted and followed Him.

It with that in sight, God in the passage above calls us individually to live our lives with the same purpose.  What is weighing you down?  Keeping you from pursuing and serving God as you ought to?  Maybe it is something from your past that you are holding on to.  Maybe it’s your current life circumstances.  Maybe it is sin you are currently struggling with, and you’re trying to clean up your life before you come to God.  The gospel, the good news of Jesus, is that your past has been paid for, your sin has been defeated, and the righteousness of God has been given to you by the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.  Jesus died for your past and your sin.

We often feel such a burden to “do” something, when all we’re called to do is look to Jesus and trust in what he has done.

A life lived by faith will not look pretty.  You can look at the people listed in Hebrews 11 and find that the people included were broken, flawed people.  Likewise, they encountered struggles and trials from the world and even those they cared about.  David alone was an adulterer, murderer, liar, and guilty of unbelief in God’s ability to save multiple times in his life.  Even in his sin, David was unrepentant, until finally being confronted by the prophet Nathan – yet he was called a “man after God’s own heart”.  David also encountered family members who rose up against him, and sought to kill him.  So David was acquainted of the sorrows and trials of this life well.

How can we live our life with endurance?  By looking to Christ and the joy that awaits us in Him for eternity.  In Numbers 21, the people of Israel prayed that God would take away the serpents that were killing them.  What did God do?  He did not remove the serpents – people were still bitten.  Numbers 21:8 – “the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.”  God does not promise us an easy life, but He has shown us the Way of life in Jesus.  Taste and see that the Lord Jesus is good, that in Him we have redemption from sin and righteousness in Christ, and that in knowing Him intimately and His love for you are pleasures forevermore.  Like a runner who is running a race to win – cast off those things that weigh you down and keep you from Christ, continually entrusting yourself to the founder and perfecter of your faith.

Grace and Peace,

Adam

Brothers and Sisters in Christ, the road we walk with Christ is a long one.  It is not straight, you will not always be moving forward, and there will be times when all you can do is let the Lord carry you through.  Each of us apart from abiding in Christ are prone to our flesh, to walk away from the God we love.  In my own life, I have been hurt by others, I have hurt others, I have had periods of life where I was running well with the Lord, and periods where I would question whether I was even a Christian.  In the end, each of us is called to find our rest in the gospel of Jesus.  In the noise of life, we have to sit still and let God refresh our soul with the pure gospel of Jesus.

Jesus humbled Himself, to die the death for sin that we all deserve.  He rose in victory, His righteous love being greater than all our sin.  We were not chosen of God because of our merit.  We were not chosen of God because he looked ahead and saw that we would be “good people”.  We were chosen of God by his grace, His unmerited favor.  Each of us has a calling on our lives, every bit of sin God is redeeming us from, every bit of hurt we have endured, will be used by God in ministry of the gospel to others.  So then, as we look forward, we are not the sum total of our experiences to date good and bad, we are more.  2 Corinthians 5:16-18 – “From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer.  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.  All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation” 

You are a minister of reconciliation.  Your past becomes your ministry, and your future is open to pursue God, pursue loving others well, and pursuing greater holiness in your own life.  As you go, you may encounter those who want to drag you down.  They will remind you of your failings, and there will always be failings on this side of eternity where our flesh still wages war within us.  I want you to be exhorted and encouraged as I have:

1 Peter 3:8-17 – “Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. ⁹ Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. ¹⁰ For

¹³ Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good?¹⁴ But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, ¹⁵ but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, ¹⁶ having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.” 

Brothers and Sisters, none of us are righteous except in Jesus.  When we are called to such humility and love to those who revile us, it is only possible through Christ in us.  Knowing how great our own sin is, and what it means for Jesus to love us when we were enemies of Christ, our hearts should not respond in anger, but in brokenness when we see someone’s heart apart from Christ.  We should see ourselves in them, and remember that we are all broken, in need of the grace of God daily.  In the end, as we entrust ourselves to our Creator, we entrust them to the same Creator, praying for grace and peace for all people through Jesus.  There is no other path for us.  In our living each day, in our suffering, and in our dying, we have one hope in this life, and that is Jesus.  We find our rest in Him alone, and He is faithful.  All other things in this life may pass away, but our hope in Christ is a hope that endures to the end.

To close, let us all have this mind in view:  Philippians 3:12-14 – “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. ¹³ Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

Grace and Peace,

Adam

1 Timothy 1:12 – “I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me.”

When we read our Bibles, when we hear a preacher speak, when we hear encouragement and loving rebuke from a brother and sister in Christ – what do you see? Is Christ there?  Words heard mean nothing.  Doctrine understood and known means nothing.  Actions performed mean nothing.  Faithful gospel preaching is good, right doctrine is good, and walking in holiness and service is good, but these are only a means to the One who matters, our Lord, Jesus Christ.  Do you know Him?  Not just things about Him, but do you know Him?  This isn’t a question of judgment, but encouragement.  The is peace in resting in Jesus, because you know Him, and are known by Him.  Look above at Paul’s writing in 1 Timothy – his hope doesn’t merely rest in a saving knowledge of right doctrine about Christ and His death and resurrection, His hope is Christ Himself.  Do you have that kind of relationship with Jesus?

I can tell you that there will be times when you have struggles.  There will be times when the greatest comfort you can have is to know Jesus.  He has made an end of your sin, and remembers all your sin, past, present, and future – no more.  He is perfect righteousness for you, He is perfect love towards you, His desire is for your fullness of joy.  His rebuke is always in love. He will never leave or forsake you, but does whatever is necessary to safeguard the faith He has entrusted to you.  Do you know Him?  My hope is that you do know Him, and go to Him daily to know more.

Grace and Peace,

Adam

The core of the gospel of Jesus is that God has done what we could not, the righteous has redeemed the unrighteous, to bring us to God in holiness.  It is from that, that we have our confidence – not in ourselves, because we bring nothing to the table with God, but in Jesus who has made a full payment for our sins, past, present, and future.  He has paid the debt we owed in full.  So as we run this race of life, how are we to consider our fellow brothers and sisters who sin against us, even as we know we are sinners ourselves?  In Matthew 18, immediately following guidance on how to pursue reconciliation with your Christian brothers and sisters, we are given guidance through a parable on what it means if we do not.

“Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” ²² Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.”

Jesus here is not saying to forgive only 490 times, but he is saying that if we are Christians, believing in the hope of the gospel, that we are sinners that have been saved by grace, we should be patient, understanding, and exhibiting a heart of love and reconciliation towards others.  Jesus gives the following parable in Matthew 18:23-35 –

““Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’ So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt.  When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place.  Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me.  And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’  And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt.  So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”

It’s helpful to know that a denarii was equal then to about a days wage.  A talent was 6,000 danarii.  So it would have taken about 16 years to pay off one talent.  The first debtor owed 10,000 talents, which would have taken 160,000 years to pay off.  This corresponds to our sins against God.  God is infinitely holy, and we were created in His image to glorify Him.  Therefore when we sin, our first sin is against our Creator and it is infinitely offensive.  As Christians, we have felt the weight of our sin before our Holy God, and have plead for His mercy.  Every one of us that is saved through Jesus, have been forgiven a debt we cannot fathom – the closest we get is when we look at the cross and see the infinite wrath of God poured out on our sin on Jesus.

When someone sins against us, it is still offensive.  The second debtor, although only 100 denarii, realized His debt against the first, and likewise plead for mercy.  The first, however, did not forgive the debt, and instead poured out anger against the debtor.  What is the King’s response to this?  His judgment is based on His own forgiveness and the lack of forgiveness in the heart of the first debtor in response.  He commands that the first debtor be put in jail until he should pay all his debt – corresponding to eternity in hell.  The second debtor may be in jail for a 100 days, but he would be free again, but the first, who did not forgive, would never be free again.

What does this mean for us?  First, that we should continually remind ourselves of how great a salvation and redemption we have in Jesus.  Every morning, every day – thank you God for saving me a sinner, help me to make much of the time you’ve given me today.  Second, it gives us a guidepost to ascertain how deeply the gospel has rooted itself in our own heart.  Only forgiven people are free to forgive – if you are not desiring to forgive, to point people to the One that has forgiven us in Jesus, then our hearts are being hardened to the gospel.  In times when we struggle with this, remember that we have God with us, to ask – help us forgive as we have been forgiven.  Let our hearts lead out with the gospel towards others.  The language of how Matthew 18 ends is key – forgiveness is more than mere words.  It is not saying you forgive while still harboring resentment and speaking negatively about a person behind their back – forgiveness is rooted in the gospel, remembering that all of us are sinners, and forgiving a person as we have been forgiven in Christ in love.

My exhortation, is that if there is someone, especially a fellow brother or sister in Christ, that you have not forgiven – ask God into your heart and into that relationship as to what He would have you do.  Let God encourage you and bring peace to your soul, and free you from any anger or bitterness that would harden your heart against the gospel.

Grace and Peace,

Adam

I love the Psalms.  Sometimes we can think only of God as distant, above our emotions and circumstances, but the Psalms destroy that idea.  The Psalms cover every type of emotional circumstance that can plague our hearts and reaching out to God as a compassionate helper and friend.

Psalm 88 is unique in that while most Psalms offer encouragement at the end, Psalm 88 does not.  Psalm 88 is just a Psalm of lament – crying out to God amidst horrible circumstances, confident that God hears.  At the same time the Psalmist appeals to God’s sovereignty, acknowledging that nothing good or bad happens apart from God’s design, and so He is crying out in despair to the God who is in control of all things.  Some would see this Psalm as depressing, but it is comforting to me.  It’s comforting to know that sometimes we don’t have to put on a facade of being happy Christians, as if that is what God requires of you.  Sometimes there’s a healthy amount of just being honest with God, that you don’t understand “why”, even while you hold onto the knowledge that God is good and hears your prayers.  It’s ok just to be sad and know that God is with you in the sadness.  Even Jesus wept when he saw the crowd of people lamenting over the death of Lazarus.

Psalm 88 ends in this way – ¹³ But I, O Lord, cry to you; in the morning my prayer comes before you.  ¹⁴ O Lord, why do you cast my soul away?  Why do you hide your face from me?  ¹⁵ Afflicted and close to death from my youth up, I suffer your terrors; I am helpless.  ¹⁶ Your wrath has swept over me; your dreadful assaults destroy me.  ¹⁷ They surround me like a flood all day long;  they close in on me together.  ¹⁸ You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me; my companions have become darkness.“

This is a person who has encountered great suffering.  Afflictions and the loss of all those close to him – to the point of despair.  Yet, the psalmist crys out to God every morning.  He knows God is in control of all things, and is helpless before Him.  Psalm 88 doesn’t give an answer from God, or even an answer from within the Psalmist’s own rememberance of God’s promises, but because it’s Friday, I can’t leave you all without this encouragement.

We may never know all the “whys” of life.  Deuteronomy 29:29 tells us – “The secret things belong to the Lord our God”  God is in control of everything.  He is in control of every good and bad thing that will ever happen – yet He is good, and His delight is in you as His Son or Daughter in Jesus.

Lamentations 3:31-32 – “the Lord will not cast off forever, ³² but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love;”

Grace and Peace,

Adam

 1 John 4:10-12 – “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. ¹¹ Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹² No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

When you consider the love of God towards you, that He would willingly look upon your helpless state – in bondage to a sinful nature and an enemy of God – and instead of God pouring out righteous holy wrath on you, instead takes your place in death to bear the just wrath of God in your place.  Are those words on a page only to you, or do you feel the weight of the love of God in them?

If you put a 400 pound weight on a dead person, they will feel nothing, but if you do the same to someone alive, it would be a very different experience.  So it is with the love of God in the hearts of Christians.  If you are spiritually alive – that is, if by faith in the gospel of Jesus, the Holy Spirit of God is in you – the love of God is transformative.  It changes your own heart and understanding of life around you, and it informs you as to how you ought to love others.

My exhortation today is to take 5 minutes and truly meditate on the love of God towards you in Jesus.  How has that transformed your own life?  How are you exhibiting that love towards others?  Be encouraged, as we walk our walk of faith daily, God is with us and for us – as we follow Him, His love is being perfected in us for our good and His glory.

Grace and Peace,

Adam

1 Peter 2:1-3 – “So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. ² Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— ³ if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.”

No one desires God for God, apart from the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives.  R.C. Sproul told a story a while back about a man who came to him asking if he was saved.  He asked the man a series of questions.  He said first – do you love God as you ought to love Him?  The man said no.  He then asked him if he loved God perfectly.  The man again said no, not even close.  So RC then asked Him, does He love God at all?  The man said, yes, and had his answer.

You see, people come to God for all sorts of reasons.  They come to God during times of hardship because they don’t want to be in hardship anymore.  They come to God in times of need because they don’t want to be needy anymore.  They come to God to ask for a great many things, but they never come to God simply asking God for more of Himself.  That is because they don’t love God, they love comfort and the things of the world.  If they call themselves Christian, they deceive themselves because they neither know God rightly, nor love Him for who He is.

Do you know God?  What do you know about Him?  Do you come to God ascribing to Him traits based on what seems right to you, or do you sit under His Word, and allow Him to reveal Himself to you rightly?  Do you love Him?  How do you love Him?  When you have to choose between God and comfort, who wins?  Christian, these are daily battles in the fight for faith that we all encounter.  We all would answer like the man above that none of us loves God rightly or perfectly, but my hope is that you do know Him and you do love Him, even imperfectly.

If you have come to know God and love Him; if you have tasted that the Lord is good – He is for you in every circumstance good and bad, then we are exhorted to cast off those things which draw us away from Him.  Put away anger – instead pursue peace and reconciliation.  Put away lies – and instead pursue honesty and integrity.  Put away self-righteousness – and instead be humble knowing that Jesus died for your sin, and the sin of the brother or sister you have conflict with.  Put away envy – and instead call to remembrance that this is not our home, our Treasure is in heaven, eternity with God in infinite joy in relationship with Him.  Put away slander and gossip – and instead seek to daily build up and encourage those around you.

We walk daily in repentance – quick to turn from our sin and to our God who died to make an end of sin and reconcile us to God.  None of this is possible though unless you have tasted that the Lord is good.  So look to Christ.  Who is He for you?  He has done more than save us from our sins, He has saved us to God, and He is very good.  He loves you.  He is for you, and He has plans for you.  What do you believe about God today?  Not from your head, but from your heart.  Do you want more of Him in your life, knowing that it means that He is calling you away from sin and towards Himself?  Stay encouraged and keep moving forward, knowing that in Christ you have a treasure that will never perish, and is greater than anything we can imagine.

Grace and Peace,

Adam

I’m sandwiching the last message that is rightly mean to inflict a healthy amount of respect and fear in us, before God, with two messages that remind us that we are not alone in our daily battles.  This is intentional, and ordained, as it also follows the writing in Hebrews.

Hebrews 4:14-16 – “Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. ¹⁵ For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. ¹⁶ Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

Each of us struggles in life.  We struggle with circumstances outside of our control, and we struggle with indwelling sin in our own hearts.  The most tragic thinking of a Christian is that they can sin their way apart from God, or that they feel like they cannot come to God because of present sin in their life.  You’re missing the whole point of Christianity and the gospel.  I say this as a reminder, because I have to remind myself of these gospel truths as much as anyone.

Jesus came to save sinners.  Not righteous people, but jacked up sinners just like you and just like me.  As you run this race with God, there are going to be times where you are running better than others, times where you are walking in greater freedom and joy in your relationship with God, and times where you are not.  In every circumstance we have an advocate in Jesus.  He is our hope, our salvation, and He intercedes with us not as sinners, but as those who He has redeemed by His blood.  If you believe on Christ – if you love Him and want to follow His will, He is your grace and mercy daily.  What sin in your life can compare to the blood of Christ?  What sin in your life did Jesus not overcome on the cross.  The grave is empty, the battle has been won, and Jesus sits, reigning in victory as we speak.

My exhortation is the same as Hebrews 4 states plainly above.  Let us with confidence, strong confidence in the finished work of Jesus, draw near to God seeking His grace and mercy, knowing that in Christ, we will always hear an answer of “Yes”.  Don’t allow yesterday to dictate the terms of today, but look to Jesus, run to Him, and find in Him all you need.

Grace and Peace,

Adam