I don’t normally write about politics. There are several reasons. One, I am not a fan of politics in general. Two, it usually starts more arguments than useful conversation. Third, I have better things to write about. But, as I was sitting in my office and thinking about the upcoming election I realized something. Continue reading “5 Reasons the Next President will Disappoint You”
Tag: Jesus
1 John 1:8 | We are Fundamentally Broken
8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
The greatest form of deception is self-deception. When we make a conscious decision not to take heed of the knowledge, wisdom, and experiences of those we trust we have set our course toward self-destruction. Continue reading “1 John 1:8 | We are Fundamentally Broken”
The Foundational Purpose of Discipleship: Looking at One of Jesus’ Most Astonishing Claims about Discipleship
Over ten thousand, seven hundred words and I am only scratching the surface. I am writing this short introduction to let you know that this is not a short essay! I am also writing this introduction to ask you to take the time to read this entire essay and consider (or maybe reconsider) what you think you know about discipleship.
Introduction
Over ten thousand, seven hundred words and I am only scratching the surface. I am writing this short introduction to let you know that this is not a short essay! I am also writing this introduction to ask you to take the time to read this entire essay and consider (or maybe reconsider) what you think you know about discipleship. I am not pretending that I have all, many, or any answers on the subject of discipleship. As a matter of fact, I may have raised more questions, and that may be a good thing. What I hope to do through this essay is to share how God has been challenging me to rethink how I have understood and undertaken discipleship in my own life. As a pastor, I feel the weight of this constantly. But, more importantly, as a disciple of Christ, this has become a passion that I cannot dismiss as someone else’s responsibility. Jesus has called me and you to make disciples. I hope this essay will help you understand some of the “what” and even more of the “why” of discipleship. Continue reading “The Foundational Purpose of Discipleship: Looking at One of Jesus’ Most Astonishing Claims about Discipleship”
Blake Shelton | Savior’s Shadow
As a fan of country music, it’s always good to hear songs that have unmistakable Christian themes. Continue reading “Blake Shelton | Savior’s Shadow”
Sermon Sketch | “Talk Like Jesus”
This sermon looks at the way that Jesus talked. This is taken from the comments made by the people that heard Jesus preach the Sermon on the Mount. After hearing Jesus talk, the people were amazed. Continue reading “Sermon Sketch | “Talk Like Jesus””
Sermon Sketch | “Marks of Pure Worship”
I preached this sermon on a couple of occasions, but this particular version I preached at Merrywood Baptist Church in Statesboro, Georgia.
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Marks of Pure Worship
Luke 7:36-50
36 Then one of the Pharisees asked Him to eat with him. And He went to the Pharisee’s house and sat down to eat. 37 And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, 38 and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil. 39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he spoke to himself, saying, “This Man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner.”
Pure Worship is…
I. PRECIOUS: [the alabaster box] (of such great value that a suitable price is hard to estimate ); costly – the idea of costly.
a. Luke gives us that information that the price of the alabaster ointment was three hundred denarius.
b. In other places in scripture we find that a denarius was equal to about one days wage.
i. If she did not eat for a 300 days she would have the money to buy it – unlikely.
ii. If she saved half of what she made in a day, half of a denarius it would have taken 600 days – this is becoming very valuable perfume.
iii. She is described as a sinner by the Pharisee implying that she was a woman that made her living by less than honorable means. As a sore in the sight of society will she be paid in a normal way? I don’t think so.
c. Pure worship is precious. The alabaster box is a representation that what we bring to God should be something “of such great value” that its price is hard to estimate, it is priceless to us, but it can serve as an appropriate symbol of our love for God.
II. POWERFUL: [the forgiveness of sins] – it changes our lives
a. The woman’s worship created an opportunity for Jesus to demonstrate that faith is what brings forgiveness.
b. That woman had to believe that there was a possibility that Jesus could do something for her.
c. You don’t do something if you don’t believe it.
III. PECULIAR: [the woman’s presence] – some won’t understand what it is; why we do it
a. What an odd scene. Here is this woman walking through the crowd…she probably got access to the house because the Pharisee that had invited Jesus was trying to show off.
b. But there was something that probably caught the attention more than just her presence there in that gathering. Paul tells us about the glory of a woman
…but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For her hair is given to her for a covering. (1 Corinthians 11:15, ESV)
c. Allow me just a moment to touch on this. It was common practice for women of that time to cover their hair in public if they were married. They were only to show their hair to their husbands.
i. The fact that this woman exposed her hair reveals to us that she was indeed a sinner, but more to the heart of the matter this woman was taking that which was her glory, the symbol of her womanhood and using it to wash the filth off Jesus’ feet.
ii. The only thing that the Pharisee could see was the woman. Jesus, on the other hand, looked beyond the sin, beyond the cultural rule, beyond the decorum of the day and saw the sincerity of her worship.
d. It is only when I recognize the depth of my sin that the miracle of God’s grace comes to cover the sin of my life.
e. Pure worship is peculiar because when the moment comes we have to be ready to let our hair done.
IV. PENETRATING: [the weeping] – it moves us to the core
a. The weeping was like that of a rain storm. When we come into the presence of God are we moved to tears because of the wrong our sin had done to his holiness.
b. No one could deny that this woman knew who she was. She was honest enough with herself not to argue with the charge that she was a sinner.
i. There was not need to fight back. That was not why she had come. There was no longer a reason to hide.
ii. Any effort to hide would not conceal the truth of here condition from the world because the world already knew. We so often times hide from ourselves because we can face the truth.
V. PASSIONATE: [holding on for dear life] – we do it with all of our being
a. The touch…we do worship because is it something that we should do. Worship is done is such a way that when others look at us they would think that our lives depended on it if we didn’t.
b. The Pharisee lived by a strict set of rules that kept him separate from everyone and everything in his world. He would guard against touching something or being touched because he could afford to be contaminated.
c. This woman was passionate about what she was doing. The text does not do justice to what was happening. This woman was not just touching Jesus she was literally hanging on for dear life to his feet. She just couldn’t make herself let go. There was something different about this man.
VI. PERSONAL: [we are responsible] – we have to do it
a. This is the final point mark of pure worship. Only you can offer it to God.
Sermon | “The Means of Salvation: The Cross”
This sermon was preached at Ambassadors of Christ Fellowship on May 1, 2016.
8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. 11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He [Jesus] disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him [-self, on the cross]. Colossians 2:8-15 (ESV)
Introduction
Today we will be looking at the means that God chose in order to bring about the salvation of this fallen world.
When we talk about our salvation, we are talking about an idea that encompasses other terms and ideas such as atonement, redemption, and reconciliation with God. The reality of salvation is a deeply theological one. What this means is that we are trying to get at the truth that supports what we see enacted in the world. This redemptive drama was played out on the stage of the Judean countryside and culminated at the cross of Calvary.
Last week we saw that one of the reasons that sin is applied to all, that all humanity is under the weight, burden, and condemnation of sin is because it reveals that we have made the same mistake as the Devil. We have robbed God of his glory and have taken for granted God’s kindness and grace. This is the offense. Now, it may not sound like much. However, when we consider that the one offended by our sin is perfect, pure, and incapable of sin we can begin to understand a little bit of why sin is such problem. Because of sin, a means for salvation had to be created and used to allow a fallen and sinful humanity to have a relationship with a holy God.
As I mentioned a moment ago, the subject that we will address this morning has to do with a theological topic that many times, in my mind, is vaguely understood. We will be talking about the means of salvation. Now, before we go any further, it is important to make sure that we understand what we are saying when we say that God has a means to salvation. The word “means,” in this context, is pointing to a method, manner, or process that is used to bring about the salvation of sinners. Because, in the end, that is what we need to know. We need to understand how God was able to accomplish what he says he has done for those who were destined for eternal separation and damnation from him and now are not.
When we talk about a means we should be trying to understand what has to be true about the parts in order for the result to make sense. In other words, we have to understand all, or at the very least, the primary elements of this thing we call salvation if we are going to respond to the Gospel’s call to repent and be saved. To begin with we have to come to a couple of important realizations. The first realization is that we do not and we cannot fathom what the true cost of salvation is. As hard as we may try, what it cost God to save just one sinner, let alone all sinners, is beyond any form of human communication to formulate.
And second, and this in my estimation is the more important realization, when we can begin to glimpse at the extent, breadth, and depth of our salvation we will be compelled to worship because of things that we never considered before. I hope to establish the first by pointing to several realities that Paul tucks into the scripture we read this morning and I pray that I might be able to get us to better see the reason for the second.
Among the writers of the New Testament, Paul is one of the best at packing in an incredible amount of information into a small space. In this paragraph of Colossians, he does that once again.
Because of our time limitations, I would like to point out four realities that we must grasp and do our best to understand if we are going to make sense of why God used the cross as the means of accomplishing his redemptive purpose.
If we are going to understand the means of salvation that God has used we have to take a short trip down theology lane. When we look at the scripture we will see that from beginning to end, redemptive history has been moving steadily toward a particular and specific climax. That point was found in the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. In Jesus, from his birth to his death and resurrection, the purposes of God found their final and perfect expression. When Jesus walked upon the earth, he was, literally, the embodiment of everything God is. This is the first reality that I would like to draw your attention to.
Reality #1: In Jesus we see everything that God is.
For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily (v. 9)
Allow me to summarize what I am about to say over the next few minutes. The mystery of the incarnation is what makes the whole of salvation possible.
I do not remember when it happened, but several years ago I was struck by the reality that Jesus is the complete and perfect expression of God in the flesh on the earth. In theological terms, we call this “incarnation”. When Jesus, the second person of the trinity stepped out of eternity and into the temporal reality of this world, he did so by joining spirit and flesh.
In the first Adam, God established the process by which a living spirit would be joined to a corporeal body. When we talk about the means of salvation, we must keep our focus on what it took for God to establish a way of accomplishing the redemption we enjoy. Therefore, the first incarnation was not Jesus. It was Adam. For the first time in the history of all things, a spirit had found expression in time and in a physical body. However, without the first, we would not be able to make sense of the second.
The second incarnation was not an act of creation like the first was. It was an act of submission. The first Adam was trying to become like God. But in the second Adam, God became like us. When we look at the Advent story of Jesus’ coming we must never lose sight of what it took Jesus to enter into the world.
In the book of Philippians, we find that early hymn of the church that tells us that Jesus, who is God, did not count equality with God something to be grasped but humbled himself and became like a servant. Have you ever heard of a humble God? The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The God of David. The God of Bible is the only God in the history of the world that has humbled himself for the sake of those who walk upon the earth.
When we want to understand what God is like, what God is thinking, what God wants for us to do, we have to look to Jesus. When we look at Jesus we are seeing God in the flesh. When we think about Jesus’ love we are contemplating the love of God. When we hear the words of Jesus as we read the scriptures we are hearing the very words of God on the lips the Nazarene carpenter.
Therefore, Paul’s declaration here in Colossians 2:9 is a stark and startling reminder that God has invested a great deal of himself in the salvation of sinners. God is not distant or dispassionate. God is intimately involved in the events and consequences of our salvation. That is reality #1. In Jesus, we see everything that God is.
Reality #2: With Jesus we become everything he is.
God made [us] alive together with him (v. 13b)
There are many in this world that talk about not being religious, but that they are spiritual. I would like to make a clarifying statement about this notion. To say that you are a spiritual person is like saying that you exist. That the ground is down or that the sky is up.
What tends to happen, what people are really saying, is that they no longer want to submit themselves to a structured way of organizing their lives. You see, we are not just spirits wrapped in bodies or bodies with spirits. We are an intentionally integrated whole. This is one of the primary reasons that a resurrection is needed. The union of the spirit with the flesh is an indivisible one. There is no separating the two once they are joined. This again reminds us and points to the true cost of Jesus’ incarnation, but it also points to the promise of what God is going to do to us because of what Jesus has done for us.
Jesus was raised from the grave and so too will we be. Paul tells us that God has made us alive with him. The structure of the statement reminds us that although we have not experienced this reality it is a completed and undeniable one. For those who have accepted the gift of eternal life through faith in Jesus, there is no need to fear or be dismayed. We have been made alive WITH Jesus. So, we must ask ourselves: Where is Jesus? Right now? Is he not seated at the Father’s right hand? Is he not waiting for the appointed time that he will return and bring to a final and conclusive end the tyranny of sin and suffering, of disease and death, of sadness and sorrow that plagues the whole of creation?
Yes, this is what we have to look forward to when we recognize that not only do we see the fullness of God in Jesus, we experience the fullness of Jesus’ life in our very lives when we surrender our assumptions and preoccupations to the will of God.
One of my favorite promises related to what we have to look forward to when Jesus returns is found in John’s first pastoral letter. In chapter 3 we find these remarkable words.
2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. 3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. 1 John 3:2-3 (ESV)
This is the second reality that Paul points to in our text: With Jesus, we become everything he is.
Reality #3: The record of our sin has been canceled and transferred so that we no longer are responsible for paying it.
by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands (v. 14a)
The third reality that I would like to point out to you today is that our debt has been canceled. Now, what the text does not say is that it was canceled on our account, but it was still outstanding. That means that someone had to pay it. I could not, therefore, Jesus stepped in and paid it for me.
In other words, a substitution took place. Jesus for me. His righteousness for my sin. His death for my life. His perfection for my imperfection.
Now, there is a curious clause in this part of the verse. It is the “legal demands” part of the verse. When you are reading the bible, it is important to make a note of things like this. Paul is pointing out that there is a real and legitimate reason for the debt of sin to be paid. There is a legal demand. We have to ask ourselves, what transaction took place that placed a lien on my soul.
The legal definition of a lien, according to Merriam-Webster is:
a charge or encumbrance upon property for the satisfaction of a debt or other duty that is created by agreement of the parties or esp. by operation of law; specifically : a security interest created esp. by a mortgage
Let’s walk through this. When I bought my house I did not have the funds to buy the property outright. That means that I entered into a legal and binding agreement with a lender to put up the money for the house. And, I made a promise to pay back the loan with interest until I could finally take hold of the deed. That deed is the document that says that I am now the rightful owner of the property. That mortgage is a lien. It says that if I should default on my payments the property, which I do not own, would go back to the one who paid the complete price for it.
What does this mean for us? It means that when we were born into this world we were born with a mortgage debt of sin that we did not choose for ourselves. It means that when I became aware of my debt I could make one of three choices. I could acknowledge that I had a debt that I needed to pay and try to pay it. Or, I could ignore the problem and live like a wanted until the owner came to evict me. Or, I could find a benevolent benefactor who would pay the debt for me and let me live in the house for free because I do not have the means of paying the bills of my own accord.
This is the predicament that we find here. When Jesus stepped into this world his ability to pay the debt of sin was infinite. In theological terms, we say that Jesus was “rolling in it.” Let’s look at another passage where Paul gives us a glimpse into the treasure trove of God’s abounding mercy and grace. In Ephesians 2 we find these words:
1And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:1-7 (ESV)
The treasury of heaven is not filled with gold and silver, diamonds and diadems. What we consider to be precious and of great worth here on earth are the building materials of a far grander city. The vaults of God’s repository are filled with grace and mercy, peace and joy, truth and love. These are the treasures that fill the halls of the kingdom. These are the substances that we must walk in and walk through to get from our heavenly house to the throne of God.
When Paul proclaims that our debt has been canceled he is not saying that we are left bankrupt. No, a great transfer has taken place. The riches of God have been deposited into our accounts. The immeasurable riches of his grace are being poured out. This is why we worship. This is why we serve. This is why we sing. This is why we go into the world. This is why we give.
Annie Flint, a hymnist from a century ago, famously wrote these words.
1. He giveth more grace as our burdens grow greater,
He sendeth more strength as our labors increase;
To added afflictions He addeth His mercy,
To multiplied trials He multiplies peace.
2. When we have exhausted our store of endurance,
When our strength has failed ere the day is half done,
When we reach the end of our hoarded resources
Our Father’s full giving is only begun.
3. Fear not that thy need shall exceed His provision,
Our God ever yearns His resources to share;
Lean hard on the arm everlasting, availing;
The Father both thee and thy load will upbear.
4. His love has no limits, His grace has no measure,
His power no boundary known unto men;
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus
He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again.
But, we have one final reality to consider. Not only do we have the full expression of God in the person of Jesus; not only do we become everything that he is; not only do we have our debt canceled and receive the riches of God’s grace and love; we also have the confidence that what God has done will never fade and our sin will never come back to haunt us again.
The fourth reality is …
Reality #4: The debt of our sin was transferred to Jesus and he paid it in full with his own life on the cross.
Look at what Paul says at the end of verse 14.
This he set aside, nailing it to the cross (v. 14b)
The cross is the instrument that God used to accomplish his purpose of salvation. In order for the cross to serve as the tool of our redemption, God needed a man who could stand in the place of fallen humanity. He needed a sacrifice that would choose to die and not merely be dragged to its death. He needed a sacrifice that would satisfy the debt that had been incurred by sin.
Jesus is the Lamb of God. He is the perfect sacrifice because no one take his life. He lays it down of his own accord. And because Jesus is also God, because of the shedding of his innocent blood, that selfless and sacrificial act gives him the right to cover any and every debt that we as debtors bring to him.
This is the majesty of our savior. He has laid down his life for those who did not and do not deserve it. This is the very definition of grace. We did not deserve to be adopted into the family of the King of kings and yet we are. We do not deserve to be given the fruit or the gifts of the Holy Spirit and yet we are.
The reason we deserve to suffer under the weight of our sin is not because God doesn’t want to forgive. It’s because we do not want to be indebted to God. We have gotten so used to having our sin hang over our heads that we do not understand that God will never do that to us. He purchases our debt with the blood of his Son, and then he gifts our lives back to us.
Listen one final time to what Paul says in Galatians 5:
For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Galatian 5:1 ESV
Jesus owns the deed on our lives and instead of demanding payment he tells us that we can enjoy the house he has bought. The proper response to this gift is gratefulness and worship. We should not feel restricted by the idea that we no longer belong to ourselves but to Christ. We should not feel that we have been cheated by the exchange of a life we did not own for a life that we know we have been given to enjoy.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I would offer you this question. When you think about your salvation do you want to worship God for making it possible? Or are you thinking about the next thing you have to do to keep God happy? Or just yourself happy?
If our thoughts about Jesus’ sacrifice do not pull our hearts and minds and spirits to worship, we may need to reconsider what we claim to have.
The 7 Last Words of Christ | “Hands”
44 It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, 45 while the sun’s light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46 Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last. 47 Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, “Certainly this man was innocent!” 48 And all the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts. 49 And all his acquaintances and the women who had followed him from Galilee stood at a distance watching these things.
Meditation on the Seventh Word
Death, the final enemy, no longer has the power to terrorize or torment us. The only power death has over us is the power we give it. Those who have placed their trust in Christ can follow His lead into the presence of God. These are words of comfort; words of peace; words of instruction. The journey that Jesus has traveled has been long and, at times, difficult. But we see here in the final moments that the reward is worth the cost. “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” Jesus is dead. The hope of Glory seems to have been lost. We are left now with the heavy charge to contemplate these things.
Song of Contemplation
Were You There When They Crucified My Lord
Jesus suffered so that I could Live
There are few films that evoke the kind of emotions in the viewer that may have been felt by those who witnessed the final hours of Jesus’ life like The Passion of the Christ.
We watched the movie as a church this evening. It is the first time that I have watched since it was released in 2004. And for good reason. I just couldn’t watch it again but I made myself tonight.
While I know that it is a movie, I could not distance myself emotionally from what was depicted. And I guess I should not be able to. There is something so disturbingly horrifying to what Jesus endured. While the movie attempts to capture the physical realities, and I think the movie does a good job of pulling you into the emotional turmoil, it is the spiritual weight of what was happening that left me staggering yet again.
There is simply or human no way of touching this. And yet, this is what I find myself, as a believer in the one who was crucified, sensing most poignantly. The freedom I feel because of my faith in Jesus is rooted in the sacrifice of the Son of God. The hope that I have that my soul has been redeemed has been purchased by the shed blood of the Lamb of God. The peace that I have experienced in times of difficulty has been released unto me because of the promises of the Prince of Peace.
The reality of Easter is that in and through the death of Jesus life awaits for those who place their trust in Him. If we are to recapture the power of the Gospel, if we are to see the body of Christ infused with zeal, if we are to return, as a people, to our first love, we must not run from the sacrifice of the King of Kings. As a matter of fact, we must run to it. We must embrace our own death to this world. First, spiritually by faith. But second, actually through our own deaths when we breathe our last breath and step into eternity. Death by crucifixion is the price Jesus paid to provide for us the way of salvation. Death, as a result of sin, is the price we pay to bring about the consummation of our faith.
I remember listening to a message given my Dr. John Piper about missions. As I listened, a phrase struck me to the quick. He was describing the excitement and enthusiasm of the missionaries he was with even as they prayed for those who were in harms way. Dr. Piper described the experience and admonished his listens to consider what it meant to go into the mission field. He was trying to provide a context for the kind of focus and passion we are to have when we consider our journey of faith and calling to go into the world to make disciples. Listen to what he said.
Golgotha is not a suburb of Jerusalem. “Let us go with him outside the gat and suffer with him and bear reproach” (Hebrews 13:13).[Source]
How many times have I been dismissive of Jesus’ sacrifice and of the call to follow him, even to the cross? I say “dismissive” because whenever my resolve wanes, whenever my focus is blurred, whenever my fear causes me to falter, I have forgotten what it cost for me to be adopted into the family of God. It takes intentionality to keep the reality of Jesus’ death in proper perspective. Many, including me, forget how persistent a fight it is to keep the faith.
As I watched the movie tonight I was reminded of how much I have yet to learn. How much I have yet to surrender. And, maybe worse of all, how little I have really given up for the cause of Christ. I pray my surrender would only deepen as we approach another Resurrection Sunday.
The 7 Last Words of Christ | “Forsaken”
33 And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. 34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:33-34)
Meditation on the Fourth Word
Jesus thirty-three years on earth were the most turbulent years in the existence of God. For the first time in the span of eternity, the perfect communion of the Godhead was impeded by flesh and blood. In these words, we hear the ultimate suffering of God. Anyone who believes that God has not paid a price in our redemption has missed the impact of the Cross on the Godhead. For it is here that we see Jesus sympathizing with our distress.
For the first time in God’s existence, God experienced what it was like to be separated from God in the person of Jesus. When you cry out to God because He feels so distant, and you will, never forget that God himself knows what you are going through. Therefore, “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” (Hebrews 4:16).
Hymn of Hope
“Tis So Sweet To Trust In Jesus” by Trinity Worship
