Twenty-six hundred years ago, God’s people were deported to Babylon because sin was so common [...]]]> “I searched for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the gap before Me for the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one” (Eze. 22:30).

Twenty-six hundred years ago, God’s people were deported to Babylon because sin was so common and accepted that sin became nationalized.  Sin was made cultural rather than counter-cultural.  It had become the normal as opposed to the abnormal, for the lusts turned their world upside down.

Sin increases in direct proportion to the increase of man’s interest in himself.  Man’s individualistic attraction to himself has become ravenous, his narcissistic covetousness is rampant and the godless cadence of his life is so quickened that it crushes any occasion to entertain God’s mind in the commerce of life.

Are you willing to bend your heart’s knee in order to discern what God wants you to receive from this verse? Are you willing to humble yourself and pray and seek God’s face and turn from your wicked ways so you can hear God speak from heaven, experience the forgiveness of national sin and watch Him heal your land? (II Chron. 7:14).

God scours the earth calling to His work those men who more closely resemble Jesus than the world (Eph. 2:10).  Alas, God frequently only witnesses a sea of sameness.  Man’s desire for acceptance by his peers is nothing more than a tacit acknowledgment of the icy fetus of peer-dependency rather than the living womb of God-dependency.

Jesus’ command is for the sons and daughters of the living God to be different: “You are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt. 5:48).  Yet, are you pursuing likeness to the world?  He who pursues resembling everyone else has shackled himself to a dying breed and he will certainly limp through life.

You have heard the excusing phrases: “I’m only human;” “Boys will be boys;” or “That’s just the way girls are.”  God did not call you to be merely human or to be just like the other boys and girls – God called you to be a Christian, a saint, an imitator of Christ (I Cor. 11:1).  Christians take on the persona of Christ.

Christians compose that remnant genus of mankind that embraces the need to walk with God “in the garden in the cool of the day” (Gen. 3:8). The most manly man, the most womanly woman, the most humanly human is the one most closely resembling Jesus Christ, the 2nd Adam, the perfect man, the God-man.

God searches for just the one who has the courage to live like Jesus.  Though every Christian bears Jesus’ image and inscription, not all images and inscriptions are easily distinguishable.  Why?  Sin disfigures Jesus’ image and inscription.

The degree of your deviation from bearing God’s image “in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world,” is the precise degree whereby you prostitute your own humanity (Phil. 2:15).  Are you willing to only “render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s?” (Lk. 20:25).

God has two writings: the world and the Word.  These two volumes display their Author’s character, and His works in nature never conflict with His Word.  The discoveries of scientists [...]]]> “The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands” (Ps. 19:1).

God has two writings: the world and the Word.  These two volumes display their Author’s character, and His works in nature never conflict with His Word.  The discoveries of scientists and archeologists only always confirm the God of the world, the truth of the Bible and the Christ of the Cross.

Though God is most often credited with creating the world (and He did!), God advises us that it was Jesus “through whom also He made the world” (Heb. 1:2).  By Christ “all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible….  And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together” (Col. 1:16f.).

God’s world is known as His general revelation whereas His Scripture is known as His special revelation.  Every man is without excuse in regard to knowing God because “since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse” (Ro. 1:20).   Your world reveals God’s providential majesty for even the heavens are a visual hymn of His glory.

All of God’s creation inexhaustibly instructs mankind on the splendor of God.  Creation, God’s first Bible, is purposed to declare God’s glory.  The unfallen Adam and Eve had no problem interpreting this creation-Bible as referring exclusively to God, but fallen man argues with God’s creation concerning its maker and purpose.

Regardless of man’s stubbornness, the heavens actually proclaim the impressiveness and influence of their Creator.  They are God’s divine handiwork with their beauty, orderliness and design giving testimony to God’s wisdom, power and reality.

Man rejects God’s creation-gospel because as man peers into the heavens he sees his finiteness and the infinity of God.  Fallen man does not appreciate anything that makes him smaller than he perceives himself.  Man desires to be the center of the universe ever forgetting that the universe is God’s universe, not man’s.  All of creation shouts of God’s greatness and man’s smallness therefore man re-interprets the message of the cosmos and makes the receiver of the message the final determiner rather than the Sender/Writer of the message.  Nonetheless, God’s universe always witnesses to His glory (Acts 14:16f.)

Mr. C. H. Spurgeon reports: “During the French revolution Jean Bon St. Andre, the Vendean revolutionist, said to a peasant, ‘I will have all your steeples pulled down, that you may no longer have any object by which you may be reminded of your old superstitions.’  ‘But,’ replied the peasant, ‘you cannot help leaving us the stars.’”

A spiritually blind man cannot see the declaration of the heavens just as a spiritually deaf man cannot hear the most trumpeting pronouncement of creation.  God says, “Day to day pours forth speech.”  The regularity and punctuality of the movement of the sun, moon and stars roars an unforgiving witness to unbelievers.  Silence every preacher on every continent and these celestial preachers continue God’s preaching.

The fool says there is no God, but God’s own irrepressible skyscapes tell of His glory.  These heavenly preachers never vacate their pulpits for they know no intermission in their testimony to their Creator-God.  Their witness to the Maker of heaven and earth is unrestricted by language for it transcends all human communication.  You do not hear the created universe as you do a man’s voice, yet they express God’s divine hand.  Your universe is a multilingual universal apostle confirming Christians and condemning non-Christians.

The teaching of Christ’s created cosmos is a pictorial suited for the eye.  It is boundless in its witness for it experiences no geographical boundaries in its communicative skills.  You can escape going to church and hearing a Mordecai warn a Haman of his pride, or a John the Baptist warn a Herod of his adultery, but you cannot escape the church of the created order.  It articulates an unavoidable sign language read and understood by all men.

“O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Thy name in all the earth!” (Ps. 8:9).

If any son of Abraham had a reason for taking pride in who he was, it would have been Paul. In Phil. 3:5-7, he catalogues seven of his distinguishing peculiarities. Most [...]]]> “Whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ” (Phil. 3:7).

If any son of Abraham had a reason for taking pride in who he was, it would have been Paul. In Phil. 3:5-7, he catalogues seven of his distinguishing peculiarities. Most of his kinsmen trusted in one or more of these seven for salvation. Nevertheless, Paul calls for saints to rejoice in their relationship with Christ, not in their earthly traditions, accomplishments or possessions.

We find it easy “to put confidence in the flesh” (Phil. 3:4). Therefore, Paul says, “For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel … it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants” (Ro. 9:6, 8). Never place your trust in what you can see, the flesh. Yet, Paul counsels against allowing trust to be determined by the eye: “For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation” (Gal. 6:15).

Your best works and your most splendid possessions are corruptible and will go the way of the flesh. They are “wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked” (Rev. 3:17). How do you know this truth? Jesus says, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (Jn. 3:6).

Without Jesus, man’s best blazes with barrenness. Paul counted his lifetime gains. The imprisoned apostle knew what he had achieved through that moment – no security exits in the work of a man’s hands. Now Paul knows that all value comes from Christ.

Jesus said, “Which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? So therefore, no one of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions” (Lk. 14:28, 33). Sober appreciation for the value of your Christianity is transforming.

Paul sets an example for you. You should inventory what your society has unceasingly taught you to count as gain. Then, compare the value that society places on that item or trait against the value Scripture places upon it. Scripture’s value is bona fide.

Most people are working hard for the things God regards as valueless. They want the good life instead of the good Lord. A relationship with Jesus is the good life!

Fallen man has a hardwired fear of not having. Do you?

“But may it never be that I should boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Gal. 6:14).

What does a Christian mean when he says he is free to live his life as he desires because he is not under law [...]]]> “For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another” (Gal. 5:13).

What does a Christian mean when he says he is free to live his life as he desires because he is not under law but under grace? What does a Christian intend when he says he is free from the law?

The book of Galatians is an assault upon the belief that you can do enough good works to get into heaven. Good works (keeping the law) will not get anyone into heaven: “…for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly…. The righteous man shall live by faith” (Gal. 2:21; 3:11).

The law does not save anyone, but it does tutor you to Christ, and teaches you how to live a godly life (Gal. 3:24; Ro. 7:7, 12). The Christian is saved by grace through faith. Once he is saved, he is enabled to keep the law more consistently, and you can know a saved man by his desire to fulfill God’s law. God expects His children to abide by the law consistently.

Jesus came to fulfill the law and He did just that (Mt. 5:17). He said that no portion of the law would be repealed until God’s purpose for that law was completed (Mt. 5:18). He also exhorted you to fulfill the law in your life, and teach others to do the same (Mt. 5:19; 28:20).

So, what does it mean to be “called to freedom?” It means that you now have the ability to do what you have been called to do. You have the freedom to enjoy keeping God’s law out of a spirit of love. You are no longer plagued by sin’s guilt and power (Ro. 6:18).

You are empowered by the indwelling Holy Spirit to deny any “opportunity for the flesh” to control your life. You have been commanded to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts” (Ro. 13:14).

You can increase your awareness of the freedom you have in Christ by practicing abstinence. Abstain from any activity, entering into any engagement or rewarding any desire for which you cannot thank God with a full heart (I Ti. 4:4). If Scripture and prayer fail to confirm the goodness of the activity, engagement or desire, do not do it (I Ti. 4:5).

Why not review certain territories of your life to determine their appropriateness:
t The way you dress
t How and where you spend your money
t Your observance of the Lord’s Day
t The books you read
t The movies you attend
t The extracurricular activities you endorse

Before Jesus ever came into [...]]]> “He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and His kingdom will have no end” (Lk. 1:32f.).

Before Jesus ever came into our world, His mother was made familiar with the extent of the significance of His life. God sent His angel-messenger to Mary so she would know what her Son would do and be. He was the fulfillment of all of the Old Testament prophecies of the Messiah.

Jesus’ greatness was witnessed in the way He lived His life, and the manner wherein He fulfilled His office of Son of the Most High. Greatness was the consequence of His excellence, majesty and virtue. All He set out to do, He brought about just as God designed. He was tireless in His pursuit of excellence, and the methods He deployed to satisfy His Father’s delights were without parallel in the history of man.

Just as David was the king after God’s own heart, this Descendent of King David would assume His ancestor’s throne with a glory and magnificence that ancient Israel’s kingdoms could never imagine. Yet, the similarities are striking: David was of the tribe of Judah, the son of Jesse, born and anointed for kingship in Bethlehem, reigned and was buried in Jerusalem. He was a shepherd, musician, poet, warrior and king – an accomplished man of God.

God commissioned the prophet Nathan to familiarize David with this Jesus who would follow him: “I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever… And your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever” (II Sam. 7:12, 13, 16).

Jesus fulfilled and is fulfilling His office. The scorn, scourging and crucifixion have not ended His reign! Isaiah was right when he prophesied “There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over his kingdom” (Isa. 9:7). The One who “has been born King of the Jews” (Mt. 2:2) still is.

The kings and queens of Great Britain for many generations have been crowned in Westminster Abbey. Above the chancel where the coronations are consummated there is written the truth of those heavenly voices who declared, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever” (Rev. 11:15).

Jesus is all that Gabriel promised Mary He would be. He is “great…Son of the Most High…[occupies] the throne of His father David…reign(s) over the house of Jacob…His kingdom will have no end.”

How great is He in your day-to-day life? What is the strength of your embrace of Jesus as the Son of the Most High, and the occupier of the throne of your life? Does Christ reign over your house? Are you nurturing His kingdom that will have no end?

Though the clarion of war has sounded, the cannon of sin has disemboweled man’s hearing. Every parent, every wage earner and every person desiring to make a life rather than merely existing is placed in the front of the [...]]]> “If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (Ps. 11:3).

Though the clarion of war has sounded, the cannon of sin has disemboweled man’s hearing. Every parent, every wage earner and every person desiring to make a life rather than merely existing is placed in the front of the battle. Yet, have you dressed yourself with the helmet of war, have your converted your ploughshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears?

The psalmist’s call to arms alerts Christians to their present danger because the veneer of America’s Christian culture is being pealed away. The foundations are being gutted:

• Ecclesiastical, governmental and institutional selling of indulgences is unbridled
• Biblically forbidden fruits are no longer forbidden
• Men are being feminized and females are being masculinized
• Historical revisionists are emasculating truth with false substitutions
• Economics, cultural correctness and surrender to untenable tolerations have supplanted righteousness, respect for commonsensical authority and the wisdom of the ages

What can the righteous do? Be righteous! Scores of Christians are of the opinion that they can only speak of Scriptural righteousness on their church campuses – wrong! There must be such a sacred way about you that when you cease your silence and you speak with urgency about the concerns of your culture, your society hears the roar of God’s holy thunder through you.

Scores of churchmen are watching with sadness the closing struggles of a once-Christian nation, a once-Christian church, a once-Christian family and a once-Christian mindset. They do not know that God in Christ is calling upon them to bring the righteousness of Christ in them to bear on their society. They stand should-to-shoulder with Pilate who delivered the Truth over to crucifixion though he perceived himself innocent of Jesus’ blood (Mt. 27:24). They have surrendered all authority to the senseless horde who receive much pleasure in the death of righteousness.

The foundation of God’s America is “in the beginning God” (Gen. 1:1). The sons of freedom must commence architecting a present reformation to bring a people to the place where God is honored in their individual and corporate lives. This is not a simple or easy process, but biblicists are ever mindful that conflict accompanies truth.

What are the righteous to do? Perhaps Rev. J. C. Ryle, the English divine, has most succinctly set forth the appropriate course of action: “It was doctrine which awoke Christendom from its slumbers in the time of the Reformation… It is doctrine which gives power to every successful mission.”

Jesus said, “I chose you, an appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain” (Jn. [...]]]> “A certain man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it, and did not find any” (Luke 13:6).

Jesus said, “I chose you, an appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain” (Jn. 15:16). Intentions are no substitute for production. God expects all those He has chosen – everyone planted in His vineyard – to produce lasting fruit. Are you a Christian? Are you a planting of the Lord?

The Lord saves you for Himself, for His church, for His created world and for your own well-being. He expects you to be an impact player for Christ. He provisions your life to influence your culture so that your culture will never be the same. God is calling you to bear fruit at work and at play; in the home and in the marketplace; at social events and at church.

God calls you away from yourself because you are naturally turned upon yourself. He wants you to exodus the therapeutic culture of self-awareness, self-discovery, self-expression and self-worth. He wants you to bear the fruit of the Spirit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Gal. 5:22f.). You have been freed from men pleasing, unbiblical expectations and the fears that plague a graceless person.

You are not of those who merely breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide. God has not called you to a mediocre life. Everlasting fruit bearing requires significant contacts with your fruitless society. You must not be associated with that tribe of Christians who are fearful of becoming so fruitful in their Christianity that they become visibly Christian.

What do you believe the Lord’s will is for your life? Think of yourself with no hindrances or lackings. Place yourself in a safe space where you can articulate the Lord’s vision for you. How would you verbally express your life as you desire it to be in your remaining days?

Fuel the life God has for you where every day matters. Embrace the disciplines that trigger holy thoughts and practices. Give yourself permission to think large by pursuing eternal ambitions.

“You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bring forth fruits in keeping with repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father,’ for I say to you that god is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham” (Lk. 3:7f.).

Some well-intentioned Christian evangelists portray Christianity as a sanctuary from the battles of the world – it is not. God’s saving grace frees you from the world’s captivating allure so you will [...]]]> “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith” (II Ti. 4:7).

Some well-intentioned Christian evangelists portray Christianity as a sanctuary from the battles of the world – it is not. God’s saving grace frees you from the world’s captivating allure so you will engage in effective combat. Hell-bound souls refuse to battle for righteousness in this world, and only when life’s shadows are too long shall they discover that their hell is an intense battle without cessation, without peace and without victory. The Christian alone is provisioned to battle effectively against shrinking back from his commitment to his Christ (Heb. 10:32-39).

Christlike perseverance is the most challenging obligation God imposes upon His heirs. God commands you to bear up consistently and courageously under the press of this life. No Christian virtue, no Scriptural command, no Divine imperative can be fulfilled without perseverance. Perseverance is an essential personal constitutional temperament for saints. You cannot resist the pressures of the world unless you are committed to persevering (Ro. 6:11-13).

You do not desire a partial occasional faith, but a universal, influential, effective faith (I Ti. 1:19). You began your journey with the Lord without any effort on your part (Eph. 2:8f.; Jon. 2:9). Now your charge is to persevere in the strength of the Lord to do His good pleasure.

Why does God allow a fallen world to test you? So that you might evangelize and edify your culture by proving you are different from the world surrounding you. So that you might example the Holy Spirit of perseverance dwelling within you.

God says, “Now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (I Pe. 1:6f.) Trials persuade you not to think of this world as heaven thereby strengthening your separation from temporal attractions.

Difficult times are the sanctified occasions for the garnering of perseverance. You cannot learn perseverance unless you are subject to the world’s troubles (Ro. 5:3). You cannot mature in Christlikeness without the strength of the Holy Spirit.

Perhaps in the power of the Holy Spirit you can adopt the disciplines that strengthen the Christian’s resolve:

• A Thoroughly God-centered Life
• Dependence Upon Truth
• Exact Awareness of Self-deception
• Cultivation of a Transformed Mind
• Anticipating Encounters

Jesus says, “I have overcome the world” (Jn. 16:33). May this also be your mantra!

Christians are saved in Christ through His blood according to the riches of His grace. No Christian can take any credit or receive any [...]]]> “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us” (Eph. 1:7f.).

Christians are saved in Christ through His blood according to the riches of His grace. No Christian can take any credit or receive any glory for any facet of his salvation because it is authored by Christ and completed in Christ. He caused your salvation by means of His sacrificial surrender to the hate of man and holiness of God. Christ offered Himself because He loved you even to the extent death on a cross and He alone possessed the riches of grace to release you from the hell of this life and the next.

The Greek word for “redemption” (apolytrosis) means to be emancipated from servitude or slavery. Redemption not only references the abolition of an unwelcomed condition, it alerts its possessor to his restoration in true liberty through Christ: “If therefore the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (Jn. 8:36, 32, respectively). Paul advises the church in Galatia, “It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery” (Gal. 5:1).

Many churchgoers object to overt references to the blood of Christ. They perceive such talk to lack in spiritual import and to evoke inappropriate emotions. They would never write in their Bible the phrase “through His blood.” The Hebrews understood “blood” to be both literal as well as somewhat of a metaphor to alert others to the extent of the sacrifice.

Blood implies substitution. It makes you mindful of the Old Testament sacrifices. Nonetheless, blood of goats and calves would not cleanse eternally and these animals did not enter into their sacrifices willingly or knowingly (Heb. 9:12-22). Never distance the blood of Christ from the voluntariness of the sacrifice, the totality of the sacrifice and the effectiveness of the sacrifice. The expansiveness of Jesus’ sacrifice was the impetus for the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders to fall down before the Lamb singing, “Worthy art Thou to take the book, and to break its seals; for Thou wast slain, and didst purchase for God with Thy blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation” (Rev. 5:9).

The nature of God will not allow Him to forgive a sin that has not been paid for via the precious blood of the Lamb. A payment must be made for each and every sin of each and every converted person. Only Christ and His blood are accepted in eternity as appropriate payment (Col. 1:14). The blood of Christ licenses God’s forgiveness. The payment made by Christ for you allows God to loose you from your relationship with sin. God’s forgiveness is comprehensive and perfect:

• As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us (Ps. 103:12).
• I have wiped out your transgressions like a thick cloud, and your sins like a heavy mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you (Isa. 44:22).
• I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more (Jer. 31:34).
• If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (I Jn. 1:9).

Forgiveness is the underpinning of all blessings from God because it remedies alienation.

Everything God commands, He performs “according to the riches of His grace.” Your Christian benefits are not according to anything in you or about you. God’s character throbbed for your release from servitude to hellishness so He issued and effectuated an exhaustive pardon. God’s grace is large so He gave largely to you for you. His grace is always lavished upon His beloved in Christ.

A paralyzed man is brought to Christ by his friends. He wanted his paralysis removed, but Jesus’ initial address to him brings to his attention his sins rather than his felt need. Nonetheless, Jesus knew his friends were men of faith and had [...]]]> “Friend, your sins are forgiven you” (Lk. 5:20).

A paralyzed man is brought to Christ by his friends. He wanted his paralysis removed, but Jesus’ initial address to him brings to his attention his sins rather than his felt need. Nonetheless, Jesus knew his friends were men of faith and had every confidence concerning the true need rather than the apparent need of this sinner.

Scores of those entering the ransomed Church of Christ have not been ransomed from their sin nature or their sins. They want God to address their paralysis and most have little interest in the theology of sin. They see no connection between sin and their present condition, and if most were asked, they would experience significant difficulty acknowledging their sinfulness. They do not know that sin is their present and eternal paralyses.

Jesus embraces a Greek form of the word “forgiven” (apheontai) that confirms a relationship between God and the person trusting in Christ. His sins have been sent so far away from him that he is loosed from their binding. His liberty in Christ remedies his alienation from God.

Scores of churchmen do not know the burdensome shackling of sin. But then, dead men are not aware of any burdens. Sin crushes true life and a person under the conviction of sin cannot escape its enslavement regardless of how fervently he pursues pleasure, power, financial enhancements or prohibited relationships.

Forgiven people have their sins and fears crucified at Calvary and buried in the belly of the earth so they rise no more. The saved person quickly acknowledges his transgression of God’s Law, God’s gospel and God’s holiness. The value of God’s forgiveness in Christ cannot be valued by way of earthly measurements. In this passage, Jesus lays the axe at the root of the sin-tree.

Every sickness should serve as a reminder of your sins and must bring you to ask the Lord for pardon of unconfessed sins. You want all barriers to unbroken communion with God broken. You know the promise of God to Moses that He is “compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin” (Ex. 34:6f.).

Sin is an unholy failure. Your heart is to fail no more. This day Jesus says to you, “Rise, and take up your stretcher and go home” (Lk. 5:24).

“Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool. See, I have taken your iniquity away from you and will clothe you with festal robes” (Isa. 1:18; Zech. 3:4).