Driving down the highway, I had a conversation with myself. This happens a lot, but this particular self-conversing was more noteworthy. It was an "Oh!" moment, one of those times where something so simple becomes understandable. Sometimes the simplest things give me the most trouble. These are the things about which I need the most reminding.

The conversation went something like this (I've cut out the random asides):

I haven't written a blog post in a while. I should do that.

I don't have anything to write about! Anyway, I've been busy.

Everybody's busy. I should just write about something easy - something basic.

So what is the most basic, the most fundamental part of me, for instance? What is most important to me?

My faith. Wait, no, that's not really true, is it? It's not my faith that's most important, but the object of my faith. Faith is nothing without its object. Christ is everything.

After having this "Oh, yea" thought, I got home, went on Twitter, and found these two tweets waiting for me:

C. H. Spurgeon ‏@spurgeonfix

It is what Jesus is, not what we are, that gives rest to the soul.

Tim Keller Wisdom ‏@DailyKeller

It is not the strength of your faith but the object of your faith that actually saves you.


Funny how that worked out.

Cursed

I've been thinking this week about Jesus' death and resurrection (shocker!). A couple of days ago, as I read through Deuteronomy, it struck me just how much Jesus took on for my sake. 

Deuteronomy chapters 27 and 28 list many curses at length, showing the consequences of disobedience. You can read them if you like. The Israelites are warned of what will happen - what they will do to themselves - if they turn away from God. The horror struck me sharply, mainly because I read it in close proximity to Good Friday. These curses would fall upon us just the same had Jesus not taken the curse upon Himself. 

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. (Galatians 3:13-14)

It's not just the Israelites of old, either. Paul presents, as he often does, the stark contrast between what we were and what we are: 

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6:9-11)

Jesus makes all the difference. In light of the chapters in Deuteronomy, reading Isaiah 53 seems all the more potent: 

Who has believed what he has heard from us?

And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

For he grew up before him like a young plant,

and like a root out of dry ground;

he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,

and no beauty that we should desire him.

He was despised and rejected by men;

a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;

and as one from whom men hide their faces

he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Surely he has borne our griefs

and carried our sorrows;

yet we esteemed him stricken,

smitten by God, and afflicted.

But he was pierced for our transgressions;

he was crushed for our iniquities;

upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,

and with his wounds we are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray;

we have turned—every one—to his own way;

and the LORD has laid on him

the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,

yet he opened not his mouth;

like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,

and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,

so he opened not his mouth.

By oppression and judgment he was taken away;

and as for his generation, who considered

that he was cut off out of the land of the living,

stricken for the transgression of my people?

And they made his grave with the wicked

and with a rich man in his death,

although he had done no violence,

and there was no deceit in his mouth.

Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him;

he has put him to grief;

when his soul makes an offering for guilt,

he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;

the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.

Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;

by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,

make many to be accounted righteous,

and he shall bear their iniquities.

Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,

and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,

because he poured out his soul to death

and was numbered with the transgressors;

yet he bore the sin of many,

and makes intercession for the transgressors.

(Isaiah 53:1-12)

Remember Forgiveness

GOD forgives and forgets. He casts our sins into the bottom of the ocean, and "remembers them no more". He wilfully removes the memory of our sin from His focus, which I find absolutely astounding. God, Who has all knowledge all at once at the forefront of His mind, does not hold our sin against us.

Jeremiah 31:34 - "And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more."

Hebrews 8:12 - "For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more."

He has forgiven us, and clothed us in the righteousness of Christ. That's all He sees. In His sight, we're His precious, righteous children, bought at a high price and therefore of everlasting worth and loveliness.

We sometimes think that God is just waiting for a chance to pounce and punish us for our sin, or maybe for the mere fact of being sinners. When things go "wrong" in our lives, we immediately think, maybe it's because we've done something wrong; that one sin we didn't quite confess, that one wrong turn that we didn't repent of...God points His heavy finger at us and says "I've got you now!"

But that's not how God works.

He disciplines with a purpose of reconciliation and growth; a deeper relationship.

Hebrews 12:6 "For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives."

Revelation 3:19 "Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent."

He does NOT punish us according to our sins. (Psalm 103:10)

Christ bore that punishment. (1 Corinthians 15:3) He died for our sins.

God sees us as His children, not as sinners. (John 1:12)

He has effectually forgotten that we ever sinned. (Micah 7:19)

We are on His mind in love and righteousness.

You don't have to fear that you have done something that God cannot forgive or forget.

You don't have to be afraid of God, as though He is some sort of unloving God Who deals out punishment in cruelty, striking you just because He can.

Remember that you are forgiven.

Remember that "there is nothing you can do to make God love you more; and there is nothing you can do to make God love you less".

Remember the Mercy

I wrote a post a while ago, where I wanted to highlight the "awesome" of Jesus. He's not just our Saviour, He's our Lord, our God, our Creator and Upholder...His power is beyond understanding. He organizes the galaxies by His word. He moves the storms that rage over the earth. He is the King of angels.

Now, I want to highlight another aspect of Jesus for us to remember. Not only should we realize that Jesus is the Awesome God, we should remember that He became the propitiation for our sins.

This Awesome Jesus gave up His life for YOU.

Isaiah 53:5 "But he was wounded for our transgressions;

he was crushed for our iniquities;

upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,

and with his stripes we are healed."

Jesus willingly gave His life in agony and shame so that we might become heirs of God.

Titus 3:4-7 "But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life."

By His mercy God made us alive through Christ's sacrifice.

Ephesians 2:4-5 "But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved—"

One of the definitions I found for mercy is "compassionate treatment of or attitude towards an offender or enemy who is in one's power". This, I think, is a more or less close definition to the kind of mercy God showed to us. While we were yet sinners, that is, enemies of God, Christ died for us.

However, the definition is still lacking (as are most definitions we seek to apply to God). It wasn't just "compassionate treatment", but "insane, radical, unbelievable treatment". God not only didn't give us what we deserved, He gave us what we didn't deserve. Not only did He not condemn us (justly!) for our sins and despicable acts, He adopted us as His children. Does it leave you sitting there stunned and filled with praise at His marvelous, wondrous grace?

Isaiah 30:18 "Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him."

How could God be both just and merciful? He was merciful to us, and yet His justice was preserved, because Jesus took the punishment upon Himself. Our sins are not forgiven while yet unpaid. The price was paid in full. This is the great mercy of God.

Psalm 25:6 "Remember your mercy, O Lord, and your steadfast love, for they have been from of old."

Something I want to add is that God's mercy didn't begin in the New Testament. I despise the idea that the Old Testament God was the wrathful, vengeful, punishing God, while the New Testament God is the loving, gracious, merciful God. Bah! God has never changed. His grace, mercy, and love have always been evident. God's plans of mercy and grace were decreed from before the dawn of time. He purposed in Himself that He would cause us to be born again through Christ, right from the beginning; no, from before the beginning, and all this according to His great mercy.

1 Peter 1:3 "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead..."

Sometimes, as we go through trials, times of frustration and pain, we can forget about the mercy of God. In such times I think we should proactively seek to remind ourselves of the steadfast love and mercy of God.

I'm pretty sure it was Psalm 103 which David wrote while going through some intense suffering. He wrote it specifically to force himself to dwell on thoughts of God. We should do the same, lest we fall into the hole of self-pity and misery.

Isaiah 63:7-9 is a recollection of the steadfast love of God. In the Bible version I have, the passage is titled "The Lord's Mercy Remembered". Even when we don't feel the mercy of God, we should remember it. Feelings are poor indicators of truth.

The truth is, God is merciful. As Hebrews 4:16 says,

"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."

Remember the Awesome

You know, I think most people have an idea of who Jesus was. No matter who you talk to, if you ask them "Who was Jesus?" they'll probably have some form of answer, whether or not the answer is correct.

Some would answer and say something like "oh, Jesus was a good man! A great man. He lived really well, you know, helped people...he was like the World's Best Neighbour."

Others might say "Yeah, he was a great teacher. He taught people great ethics and morals, and, you know, to love their enemies and stuff."

Still others have even gone so far as to call Jesus a husband, a father, and now dead and buried. Nothing special, if he did exist at all.

Well, all of these are sadly lacking. It might be true that Jesus was a good man (and I'd almost swear that He would have been the world's best neighbour too), and that He was a good teacher; but He was also so much more than this.

I want people to remember the awesome of Jesus. Because He is awesome.

I love reading the Bible to find out what Jesus was and is like. Look at what it says:

Hebrews 1:3-4 - "He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs."

Wow!

Sit for a moment and think of this: you are being upheld by the word of Jesus' power. Whether or not you believe in Him, whether or not you have trusted Him for salvation, doesn't matter. By HIS grace, He upholds you. You exist because of Jesus.

Jesus is more than a good man; He is the Upholder of the Universe.

John 1:1-3 - "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made."

This Word is Jesus. So, not only does Jesus uphold everything, but all things were made through Him as well! He is the Great and Wonderful Reason why any thing was made.

Jesus is more than a great teacher; He is the Word, the Creator God.

Hebrews 7:22-26 - "This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant.

The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens."

Psalm 29:10 - "The Lord sits enthroned over the flood; the Lord sits enthroned as king forever."

1 Timothy 1:17 - "To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen."

Hebrews 1:8 - "But of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom."

Revelation 11:15 - "Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.”"

Jesus is not dead; He is the Priest-King, the One Who sits on the Eternal Throne.

Acts 5:31 - "God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins."

Jude 1:25 - "to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen."

This great Jesus, the Upholder of the Universe, the Word and Creator, the Priest-King; this Jesus is also your Saviour. Imagine, if you can, the grace involved in this. Jesus, Jesus! He died for you! He died for me....this is unbelievable. This is something that makes my spirit quiet, as I feel the overwhelming wonder of God's love for me. What is this? What is this?

This is grace.

This is mercy.

This is me in all my filthiness, being loved by a God Who delights in me, a God Who humbled Himself to the point of death on a cross for me.

Jesus is not dead; He is the Saviour and Giver of Life.

What comes of this? Knowing even these small things about Jesus should fill us with such a sense of awe that we fall on our faces and worship Him. He is the Lord of Glory.

Romans 11:36 - "For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen."

Romans 16:27 - "to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen."

2 Timothy 4:18 - "The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen."

Don't settle for the knowledge that Jesus was a good man, a great teacher, or whatever. The truth is, Jesus is way more. He is far better than what we think, far more faithful than we can imagine, far more loving than we can comprehend; He is Who He is, and He always will be.

Revelation 7:12 - "...Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen."