“Who will lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, or rather who is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.” Romans 8:33-34 (Read verses 18-39)

Have you ever been afraid that you would come short on Judgment Day – that instead of being welcomed into heaven, you would be condemned to eternal suffering in hell because of your sins and shortcomings?

Those who continue on in their sinful ways and do not repent and look to Christ Jesus for pardon and forgiveness should be afraid because, apart from repentance and faith in Christ, they stand condemned to the eternal torments of hell. The Bible plainly says that “he who does not believe shall be condemned” (Mark 16:16; cf. John 3:18, 36).

But, to be honest, I think all Christians are troubled by such fears. After all, we know that “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). We’ve read: “If you, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?” (Psalm 130:3). And the obvious answer is no one, not a single one of us!

But need we as believers in Christ be afraid of God’s judgment? Need we fear that we will be found wanting and condemned to the torments of hell? What does God’s Word say?

“Who will lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, or rather who is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us” (Rom. 8:33-34).

Who is going to charge us with sin and condemn us? God chose us and all true believers to be His own from before the foundation of the world and, after bringing us to faith through the hearing of His life-giving Word, declared us just and righteous through faith in the sinless life and innocent sufferings and death of His only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, in our stead.

Who will be our judge on the Last Day? It is Christ Jesus, who died for our sins and rose again and is even now interceding for us with His blood at the right hand of God the Father in heaven. Will He condemn those who look to Him in faith for mercy and forgiveness? Certainly not! He died to redeem us and save us from eternal death and damnation. He now pleads for us with His blood, which was shed to atone for the sins of the world.

Need we then be afraid of God’s judgment? Not at all! Through faith in Christ we have been “justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation, through faith in his blood” (Rom. 3:24-25). Or, as Psalm 130:4 says of God: “There is forgiveness with you so that you may be feared.”

Jesus, Himself, said: “For this is how God loved the world: he gave his only-begotten Son, so that whoever believes in him, should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16); and, “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes in him who sent me has everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation, but has passed from death to life” (John 5:24).

When we look to Jesus and His cross in faith, we need not be afraid!

O gracious and merciful Savior, thank You for dying in my stead and rising again, for choosing me to be Your own and bringing me to trust in the Gospel promises, for granting me pardon and forgiveness through faith in Your shed blood, and for interceding for Me before the Father’s throne. Grant that I hold fast to You in faith for life everlasting. Amen.

[Scripture is quoted from the Revised Common Version of the Bible.]

We read in Isaiah 6:1-7: In the year that king Uzziah died I also saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and elevated, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim. Each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another and said, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory.” And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him who cried, and the house was filled with smoke. Then I said, “Woe is me! For I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.” Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar. And he laid it upon my mouth and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips, and your iniquity is taken away and your sin purged.”

Wouldn’t we also, if we found ourselves standing in the presence of the Lord God, like Isaiah, say, “Woe is me! For I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts”?

The truth is, though we may not see Him with our earthly eyes, we do stand in the presence of the LORD of hosts – He is everywhere and the whole earth is filled with His glory! His angels are around us, not only watching over us and all believers but also uttering the praises of the Almighty.

And in our humble church building, the crucified, risen and exalted Christ comes to us offering us His Word of forgiveness, as well as giving us to eat and to drink of His body and blood shed for the remission of all our sins. And, of course, lest we forget, our bodies are His temple. He dwells in us by His Holy Spirit (cf. 1 Cor. 3:16; 6:19).

The words translated from the ancient Greek text by Gerard Moultrie say it so well:

Let all mortal flesh keep silence, and with fear and trembling stand;
Ponder nothing earthly-minded, for with blessing in His hand,
Christ our God to earth descending, comes with homage to demand.

King of kings, yet born of Mary, as of old on earth He stood,
Lord of lords, in human vesture, in the body and the blood,
He will give to all the faithful His own self for heavenly food.

Rank on rank the host of heaven spreads its vanguard on the way
As the Light of light descending from the realms of endless day,
Comes the powers of hell to vanquish as the darkness clears away.

At His feet the six-winged seraph, cherubim with sleepless eye,
Veil their faces to the presence, as with ceaseless voice they cry:
Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Lord Most High!

The theme of this ancient hymn is based on the words of Habakkuk 2:20: “But the LORD is in his holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before him.” It is echoed in Zechariah 2:13: “Be silent, all flesh, before the LORD, for he is raised up out of his holy habitation.”

As we ponder God’s majesty and holiness, the words of Isaiah come to our lips as well: “Woe is me! For I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts”

How unworthy we are – and deserving of God’s wrath and judgment – to stand in His very presence! In fact, the more we see His glory, majesty and holiness from His revelation of Himself in the pages of our Bibles, the more we are struck with our unworthiness to stand in His presence. Even our best worship of Him is from unclean lips and comes so far short – it is filthiness in His eyes (cf. Isaiah 64:6). And the people around us – even in our congregation – have unclean lips too!

But, as one of the seraphim took a live coal from the altar – where sacrifices were offered up that sinners trusting in God’s promise of a better Sacrifice for all sin might be forgiven and walk in God’s presence – so Christ Himself, the almighty and everlasting God in human flesh, our redeeming Sacrifice, comes to us with His word of forgiveness and His body and blood given and shed for us on the cross for the remission of all sins. He touches our lips and our hearts, cleanses away all our sins, and opens our mouths to worship Him and sing His praises.

“If you, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with you so that you may be feared” (Psalm 130:3-4). In Christ Jesus and His cross, God has redeemed us from all our “iniquities” and provided for us “plenteous redemption” (Psalm 130:7,8). Look to Him in faith!

Alleluia, Alleluia
Alleluia, Lord Most High!

[Scripture is quoted from the Revised Common Version of the Bible.]

“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, so that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For this is how God loved the world: he gave his only-begotten Son, so that whoever believes in him, should not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him may be saved. He who believes in him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God.” John 3:14-18

Why is it that some will be saved and have everlasting life in heaven and others will be condemned to everlasting torment in hell?

Those who are saved have forgiveness for their sins and everlasting life entirely because of God’s love and mercy in Christ Jesus.

Jesus said, “For this is how God loved the world: he gave his only-begotten Son, so that whoever believes in him, should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16). And, as Jesus said, God’s only begotten Son was “lifted up” for us on the cross and paid in full the punishment for the sins of the whole world (cf. John 3:14-15; cf. 1 John 2:1-2).

Therefore, as Jesus said, whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.

It is as John writes, “He who believes in him [Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son, who died for our sins and rose again] is not condemned.” The one who, by the grace and mercy of God, hears God’s Word and believes and trusts that in Jesus atonement has been made and his sins are paid for in full – is not condemned but is forgiven and has everlasting life.

But, the one who does not believe and place his trust and confidence in the atoning sacrifice of God the Son “is condemned already”! And why? Not because his sins are worse than another’s and not because Christ Jesus did not pay in full for his sins when He suffered and died on the cross for the sins of the world; rather, it is “because he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God.” It is because he has rejected the only way of salvation – the way God provided for lost sinners when He sent His only-begotten Son into the world (cf. Acts 4:12; John 14:6).

It is just that simple. “This is how God loved the world” [all lost and condemned sinners]: “He gave his only-begotten Son” as a true man, born of the Virgin Mary, to suffer and die for the sins of all. Those who, by the grace of God, look to Jesus and rely on Him for forgiveness are not condemned but have everlasting life! Those who do not look to Jesus and trust in His atoning sacrifice for their forgiveness are condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s only-begotten Son, the only Savior of lost sinners!

In his first epistle, John says it this way: “God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life, and he who does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1 John 5:11-12).

So, if by the grace of God, you look to Jesus for forgiveness and trust that He has paid in full for all your sins, you are not condemned but have everlasting life.

If, on the other hand, you do not look to Jesus and His blood shed on the cross for the forgiveness of all your sins, you are condemned already, not because your sins are too great or because Christ did not pay in full the just punishment for your sins, but because you have not believed and placed your trust in the only-begotten Son of God, who is the only Savior of the world!

Dear Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God and Son of man, grant that I repent of my sinful ways and trust in You alone for the forgiveness of all my sins and for life everlasting, and so be saved. Amen.

[Scripture is quoted from the Revised Common Version of the Bible.]

Remember, O LORD, your tender mercies and your loving kindnesses, for they have always been from of old. Do not remember the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions. According to your mercy remember me for your goodness’ sake, O LORD. Psalm 25:6-7

Ad Te Levavi is the traditional name for the first Sunday in Advent. It is the Latin title for the introit of the day, from Psalm 25:1: “To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul.”

Advent is still months away, but our preparations for Christ’s second coming – His second advent – are ongoing year-round.

As we prepare for Christ’s second advent — His triumphal entry into this world as eternal King and Judge — we lift up our souls to the LORD and pray that He would remember and look upon us in His mercy and not according to our sinfulness under His law.

We pray that the LORD God (Yahweh or Jehovah God) would remember His tender mercies and His lovingkindness which He promised from of old — to Adam and Eve in the Garden, to Abraham, to David, and to all the Old Testament saints (cf. Gen. 3:15; 22:18; Ps. 51; Isa. 53; 55:1ff.).

If the LORD were to deal with us according to our sins, none of us could stand in His judgment. We would all be condemned to the everlasting torments of hell because of our sinful hearts and our sinful thoughts, desires, words and actions (cf. Psalm 130:3ff.; Matt. 15:19; Rom. 3:9ff.; Gal. 3:10).

As sinners, condemned by God’s holy law, we flee in faith to the grace and mercy of God for the sake of His Son, the Lamb of God who made atonement for the sins of the world (John. 1:29; 1 John 1:8 – 2:2; Rom. 3:19-26). We pray: “Do not remember the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions. According to your mercy remember me for your goodness’ sake, O LORD.”

And, because Jesus Christ died for all our sins and rose again on the third day, those who look in faith to Christ and His cross for mercy are pardoned, forgiven, justified, and accepted by God (cf. Rom. 3:21-26; Eph. 1:6-7; Gal. 3:13, 26-27); they have a place in His everlasting kingdom (John 3:14-16; Mark 16:16; Rom. 5:1-10,17).

Jesus Christ is coming again! Though He entered into Jerusalem, the center of the Old Testament church, humbly and riding on a donkey nearly 2,000 years ago with some hailing Him as the promised Messiah and King and others rejecting Him, He now is coming as King of kings and Lord of lords and every knee shall bow (cf. Phil 2:9-11; Rev. 19:11-16). He will judge the living and the dead.

How do you wish to be remembered on that Day? According to your sins and many transgressions, or according to His mercy for the sake of Christ’s blood, shed on the cross for the sins of all?

“To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul.”

O LORD God, our gracious Savior, do not deal with us according to our sins as we justly deserve under Your holy law but deal with us in Your mercy and lovingkindness for the sake of the holy life and innocent sufferings and death of Christ Jesus, Your dear Son and our Savior. In His name, we pray. Amen.

[Scripture is quoted from the Revised Common Version of the Bible.]

The woman says to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” Jesus says to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour comes when you shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know. We know what we worship, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour comes, and is now, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeks such to worship him. God is a Spirit. And those who worship him, must worship him in spirit and in truth.” John 4:19-24

After Jesus revealed His knowledge of this woman’s life – that she had had five husbands and was now living together with one who was not her husband – she perceived that He was a prophet and changed the subject away from herself and her own sin and need of a Savior to a more generic question which had been disputed between the Samaritans and the Jews for several centuries: Where should men worship?

As she said, the Samaritans said Mt. Gerizim in Samaria was the place to worship, even altering that portion of the Old Testament Scriptures they accepted to reflect their beliefs. The Jews, on the other hand, said, as did the Old Testament Scriptures, that people should worship at the temple in Jerusalem – that’s where they were to bring their gifts and offer up their sacrifices.

Jesus’ answer, however, is rather astonishing to both Jew and Samaritan, and to us today: “Woman, believe me, the hour comes when you shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know. We know what we worship, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour comes, and is now, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeks such to worship him. God is a Spirit. And those who worship him, must worship him in spirit and in truth.”

Though where one worshipped was an issue under the Old Covenant (cf. 1 Kings 12), the real issue under the New Covenant would not be the place of worship but the heart of the worshiper. Simply observing the prescribed feasts and festivals of the Old Covenant in accordance with God’s commands is not what God seeks. He desires worship to be genuine and sincere worship from the heart that is motivated by God’s Spirit and the knowledge and belief of the truth. The Jews had that truth and testimony in the Scriptures, but the Samaritans had altered and rejected it.

But Jesus said true worship would no longer be connected to the temple at Jerusalem which had served to point to the coming of the Messiah and His perfect sacrifice for sin for now the Messiah had come and the temple would soon be destroyed. Nor is true worship today dependent upon following certain forms or traditions. True worship is dependent upon knowing and trusting in Christ Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God made man, and the Savior of the world.

The truth is that only those who know and trust in Christ Jesus can worship the Father. It is as Jesus said in John 14:6: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father, but by me” (cf. 1 John 2:23).

Apart from Jesus, we cannot know or worship the Father (cf. John 15:5). Thus, true worshipers gain access to the Father, not by going to a certain place like Mt. Gerizim or Jerusalem, not by following certain worship forms or saying certain words, but through faith in Christ Jesus, the Savior.

In Hebrews 9:11-28, we read: “But Christ, having come as a high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctify to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”

And it is because of Christ and His atoning sacrifice on the cross that we can have “boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he has dedicated for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh, and having a high priest over the house of God,” we can “draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water” (Heb. 10:19-22). It is because God “has made us accepted in the Beloved, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace” (Eph. 1:6,7), that we can approach God with our prayers and praises and be acceptable in His sight.

Jesus, God’s own dear Son in the flesh, shed His blood on the cross and paid in full for our sins to make us acceptable in God’s eyes. Through faith in Him, we gain access to the Father and, for His sake, our worship is acceptable to God. And, it is also because of what He has done for us that we are moved to sincerely and truly worship and glorify the Father for His grace and mercy toward us in Christ Jesus.

So, it’s not where we worship, the music we sing, or even the words we speak. God desires that we worship Him in spirit and in truth. And that only happens when we repent of our sinful ways and look in faith to Jesus and His cross for pardon, forgiveness and acceptance in God’s sight. True and genuine worship only flows from the hearts of those who know and trust in Christ Jesus, their Savior!

Dear Lord Jesus, our Messiah and Savior, grant us Your Holy Spirit and faith in You and Your shed blood that we might partake of Your salvation, be assured of forgiveness for all our sins, and live in fellowship with You and the Father. Let our worship and praise of the Father be acceptable for the sake of Your innocent sufferings and death in our stead. Amen.

[Scripture is quoted from the Revised Common Version of the Bible.]