Letter To Our Children
by Pastor Joe | January 24, 2024 | Letters To Our Children
January 24, 2024
My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.
Wash away all my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
From the beginning, Christianity was the religion of the broken heart; it is based on the conviction that there is an awful gap between people and God, which none but God can bridge.
J. Gresham Machen
Hello Friends.
Who doesn’t sin? This is not a boast; instead, it is the truth.
After Christians receive God’s forgiveness, approval, and righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21) and are given peace with God by faith in Christ (Romans 5:1-2), we should not become big-headed or condemn others, thinking we are immune from sin. We, like every Bible Character other than Jesus, will continue to sin.
If you really think about it, the Bible directly or indirectly tells us more about what God has done to graciously remove sins penalty rather than how not to sin. This is why if we imagine that somehow our Christian works or accomplishments are worth something in dealing with sin, we mistrust God.
It was a very Jewish problem and a human problem when Jesus and the Apostles walked the earth to try and earn God’s love, forgiveness, and blessing by doing good deeds.
Therefore, when we sin, do not despair. Lift the eyes of your heart where Jesus Christ intercedes for you. He is your advocate before God’s throne. He says to God, Father, for this person (if you are Christian, put your name here), I have suffered on the cross. I am looking after them. They are my friend, and I am their Savior.
That is why a passage from 1 John 2:1 should be etched in our hearts. We can even pray something like, Lord Jesus Christ, I know no advocate, comforter, and mediator other than You. I do not doubt that you are all this to me. I hold on tight to these truths, and I believe them.
Christ was born into this world for us. Christ suffered for us. He ascended into heaven for our sake, is at the right hand of God the Father, and prays for us. Why? Well, mainly because of our sin. This means the Christian’s place with God is a wonder! We are both sinful and righteous. We are sinful because we are human. We are righteous because of Jesus Christ's substitutionary death and mighty resurrection from the dead. Without Christ, none of this makes any sense.
The following prayer helps me; maybe it will help you.
God and Father, please give us more awareness by the power of the Holy Spirit to recognize my sins from the bottom of my heart. Please give me the grace to have true repentance and grief for them, grace that I would fully believe the truth that Jesus's death has taken away the penalty of my sin, has fulfilled the law for me, and given me the gift of His perfect righteousness and His power to say no to sin. Amen.
We do not come to Jesus with our strength and successes, but we come to Jesus with our weaknesses, failures, and sins. We come to Him with our brokenness, He welcomes us, and by His grace alone, we are made clean and restored. Jesus, what a wonder You are!
God bless you, dear friends, with all my love in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Pastor Joe