Mining Grace

Church Planting - Al Mohler expresses some of his encouragement and concern about the current Evangelical movement towards church planting in North America.

Vaccinations and Abortion - My dear wife chronicles our horrific discovery of the link between some vaccines and embryonic stem cells from aborted children.

I just returned from vacation.  I usually put a little bit of thought into what book I’m going to bring on vacation.  This time I was trying to decide between finishing up Sin and Temptation by John Owen (ed. Taylor and Kapic) and beginning The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment by Jeremiah Burroughs.  I figured that Sin and Temptation would be pretty heavy reading for vacation and I would rather have something more light and encouraging.  Boy was I wrong.

I should have learned my lesson in college.  I was a Chemistry major.  When picking classes I learned early to take as few classes as possible that had required laboratory hours.  For those English nerds majors out there, the lab work was in addition to the class work and usually entailed three to four hours in a lab followed by five to ten hours of producing a lab report.  I hated labs almost as much as producing lab reports.  That is probably one of the reasons I’m a pastor now and not a Chemist.

Imagine my surprise when I discovered on vacation that in the divine course registry of God, right beside The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment, stood the words laboratory hours required.  From the minute I read Burrough’s first page, I found myself in the school of Christ, the laboratory of God.  I would close the book and immediately I was thrust into some new situation to test whether or not I was finding my contentment in Christ.

How did I do in this course?  I failed miserably.  I discovered, to my horror, that I am one of the least content people I know.  This really was a significant shock.  I mean, I read the Puritans, listen to John Piper sermons, and love the first question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism.  I’m a minister!  Of course I’m content in Christ.  Nope, nope, and double nope.

What I am content with is my sin, my circumstances when they are comfortable, worldly joys, earthly pleasures, a Saturday when UVA wins a football game, and krispy kreme donuts.

Enter the gracious and sovereign hand of God into my vacation.

At each turn I found God ordained frustrations.  I was frustrated at the long drive.  I was frustrated when my children didn’t do what I wanted them to do.  I was frustrated with bug bites.  I was frustrated with sleeping in a bed that was not my own.  I was frustrated when I the mini-van I was driving was rear-ended on my last day of vacation.

Each of those frustrations was a lesson in the school of Christ.  Each of those frustrations challenged me to consider where I found my joy.  Though I detested them at the moment, I now count each of those frustrations precious.

The reason I count them precious is because they brought my wife and me to the realization that we were living a life that staked its hope on future pleasant circumstances.  We’d be happy when we arrived.  We’d be happy when the major driving was done.  We’d be happy when our boys adjusted to the new environment.  We’d be happy when we got home.  At each of those moments what I was really saying to God was, “God, what you’ve given me right now really isn’t that great but I have high hopes you’ll get it right in the near future.  I’m not content with what I have but I might be content if you give me better.”

What a bratty child I am to my heavenly Father.  What a denier of God’s sovereign grace I am.  What a snubber of God’s love I am.  What a rebellious son I am to my ring bearing, fattened calf killing God.

After this sweet prick of the heart, what my wife and I began to say to each other way, “This is as good as it gets.”  It wasn’t a phrase stolen from a movie.  It wasn’t even a resignation to difficult circumstances.  It was our honest attempt to see whatever we were immediately experiencing as the exact blessing that we needed at that moment directly delivered from the infinitely loving hands of God.  This was the first lesson that I learned about Christian contentment.  Contentment is not found in favorable circumstances.  Rather contentment is knowing that in any circumstance, God is most favorable toward me through his precious Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.  This only makes sense at the Cross.  The doors of God’s ultimate, infinite, and immutable love were opened wide upon me, of all people.  And every minute of my life, every experience, every motor vehicle collision, is the very sweetest gift from precious savior and exactly what I need.

So, at all costs, don’t read Burroughs’s book.  Unless you’re one of those people who actually believes that the rare jewel is worth finding.  God was pleased to shine some of its radiant facets on my soul last week.  I remain forever grateful, humbled, and longing for more.

Father, make me content in Christ alone.

More of the Same - Al Mohler chronicles the death rattle of the American Episcopal church.  Having grown up as an unbelieving Episcopalian, I have a heavy heart over the events of New Orleans this past week.

Encouragement - Mark Lauterbach writes about how a pastor should follow Paul’s example and encourage a congregation concerning Christ’s work in them.

While we were on vacation my three year old son asked a poignant question. Poignant questions from a three year old are few and far between so I figured I would chronicle it here.

After finishing up a bath, he turned to my wife and said with his questioning voice, “Mama, does bad plus funny equal good?” My wife and I looked at each other with puzzled expressions expecting to have to translate some silly version of toddler math until we realized what he was asking. Does bad plus funny equal good? That is a good question. We both answered “No” and proceeded to talk about how we sometimes use humor to mask right and wrong but that doesn’t make the bad into good.

I admit that I am part the culprit. There are times when one of my sons does something blatantly wrong yet outlandishly funny sending me into facial gesticulations trying to hold a firm brow without bursting out laughing. And I know you other parents have done the same thing. You walk into your bathroom only to find junior thoroughly covered in “mama’s libstish.” Or you find the art box scissors on the floor with swatches of toddler hair scattered about. Bad can be funny though not good. I certainly am not advocating a parenting model of a laughter no fly zone. But how would you answer my son, “Does funny plus bad equal good?”

The reason the question is so good is because it lays bare a common tendency to use humor to cover up sin. There is an unwritten code of social interaction that says, “if I can laugh at something it cannot be bad.” That statement taken a little bit further can come to be, “if I can laugh at something it must be good.” There is something about humor and laughter that makes us comfortable and more at ease. There are times when humor can be especially good for the soul. But there are also times that humor can be used inappropriately to make us more comfortable with topics that should be revolting.

This ability to use humor as a means of softening sin is most evident in film and television. I used to enjoy Saturday Night Live and a good slapstick movie. I can no longer find either without deviant sexuality or crude expletives wrapped in cheap laughs. Adultery apparently is funny. Homosexuality is apparently quite comedic. That iconic expletive covering bleep apparently is a side splitting riot. Gross disrespect to parents apparently is the modern equivalent of Who is on First. Funny plus bad may not be good but it does sell airtime and movie tickets.

I am reminded that any form of media can be used as a way to make us more comfortable with our sins. A moral philosopher can write a manifesto on libertine transcendentalism. Weeknight programming can portray inattentive and lazy fathers as objects of innocuous humor. Both are attempting to make people more comfortable with their sin. As the old adage goes, everyone is selling something. There is no such thing as meaningless humor. Comedic writers are not idiots. They know what they are doing. And we are buying.

But the appropriate reaction to the dangers of humor is not a call to empty moralism. Both are enemies to the cross. Anything that has the ability to make sin look good, whether it is the facade of good works or slide splitting laughter, should be held out as the arch weapon of Satan. Bad is not turned to good through humor. Sin covering humor is a false gospel. It is the empty promise of soul comfort to those enslaved by the brutality of sin. A man who laughs at mortal danger is not most brave but rather most foolish. Funny plus bad does not equal good. Jesus plus bad equals good. Jesus’s atoning death for sin makes sinners righteous. That is Christianity. Jesus didn’t come as a court jester. He came to take our filth and to offer his purity in return. He who knew no sin became sin that we might become the righteousness of God.

Jesus plus bad equals good.

I’m back from vacation and catching up on some blog reading.  Here is the first installment of some things you should note well (nota bene).

Reading - Challies gives his own and Richard Baxter’s hints on reading well.

Led Zeppelin - Carl Trueman responds to a Ref21 reader’s question about Trueman’s love of Led Zeppelin.  As a Led Zepplin fan, I especially appreciated his response.

Blogging? - Michael Haykin  briefly tries to answer what blogs are should be for.

I’m heading on a much needed vacation.  Posting will be sparse until my return.

2 Corinthians 2:15-16 - For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life.

Paul has just finished giving an abbreviated version of his most recent travels. You can imagine that Paul, former conservative Jew turned Christian evangelist and missionary, received varying responses from people in the places to which he traveled. Christ still receives varied responses from those who consider him. Some people love Christ with a deep affection. Some people are relatively uninterested in Jesus. Some people are rather offended by what Jesus said and claimed to be. Others hate Jesus with intense hatred and labor to see his name blotted out wherever they can. How do we account for these differing responses?

Paul accounted for it this way. He smelled like Jesus. He had the fragrance of the King about him. He couldn’t get it off and everywhere he went it made people respond to him. Those responses were varied but people had to respond to the gospel he preached. This is a significant truth about the gospel of Jesus. People must respond to it. Someone cannot hear the gospel and leave unchanged. Hearing the message of salvation no matter what the response is a significant event in the life of any human being.

This truth was brought home to my heart reading one Puritan author’s reflections on the power of preaching. I confess I don’t remember who it was but his premise was that no one leaves any sermon unchanged. Rather everyone leaves the preaching of God’s Word either better fitted for heaven or better fitted for Hell. There are no apathetic listeners. There is no instance where the Word preached is ineffectual. It always does what the Lord intends of it in either softening or hardening the hearts of the hearers.

It is this that Paul is speaking on. Though the responses to his messages were varied, Paul narrowed them down to two.

To some, the spiritual aroma of Paul’s preaching smelled like life. Life is a hard scent to define. It is the smell of spring. It is the smell of the ocean after a thunderstrom. It is the smell of a new born baby after a bath. Life smells invigorating. That is what Paul says it is like for a believer to hear the gospel of Jesus. Even if they have heard it a thousand times, it is, after all, life. It is by definition invigorating.

To others though, the spiritual aroma of Paul’s preaching smelled like death. Everyone knows the smell of dead things. Whether it is the carcass of a dead animal or a trash heap, people know what death smells like. For someone without Christ, the gospel smells like death. It is repulsive and offensive. The smell of death drives people away.

What can we account for this very different response in humans? It is the work of the Holy Spirit. In God’s work of redemption, the Holy Spirit not only opens a man’s eyes to see the truth of Scripture but also opens a man’s nose to smell life when he smells Jesus.

This is a spiritual litmus test. How do you respond to the word preached? How do you respond to the gospel of Jesus Christ? There is no middle ground. Either it is life leading to life or death leading to death. Does the gospel make you want to run to Jesus or from Jesus?

Reading - Al Mohler, well known for his avid reading, offers a few hints on how to read well.

Stratagems of Satan - Sam Storms offers some thoughts on the stratagems of Satan.

Noisy Swans - David has finished the Swans Are Not Silent series by Piper and offers some reflection.

2 Samuel 7:16 - And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me.  Your throne shall be established forever.

We find here a further unravelling of the covenant of grace.  This is God’s elaboration of the Davidic covenant.  Different stages of the unveiling of the covenant of grace display different facets of its beauty.  The beauty of God’s sure promise to David highlights the kingly rule of the King of the covenant, Jesus Christ.

For this covenant did not just extend to Solomon.  Solomon would be the one to whom God gave the singular blessing and charge to build for him a house, a temple.  It would be Solomon who would receive the greatest amount of wisdom ever bestowed upon any man past, present, or future.  But Solomon did not reign forever.  He very clearly died.  Not only that, following Solomon’s death, the throne of David fell into a disrepair that would not be recovered until a son of David was born in David’s city to a virgin long after both David and Solomon had laid down their scepters.

What we see in this covenant with David is what we see throughout the whole Old Testament.  Redemption and divine reign is promised to the people of God.  But it is more than simply a God establish salavtion.  It converges on a single person.  From the heel-promise of Genesis 3:15 through Noah, Moses, David, and the Messianic Savior of the prophets we find two themes ever hightened as they approach the Bethlehem stable: God will bring about salvation and he will do it through a single, inidividual Messiah.

Even in saying Messiah or Christ we are alluding to 2 Samuel 7:16, for Messiah and Christ both mean annointed king. It is no wonder then that we find 2 Samuel 7:16 readily and truely applied to Jesus of Nazareth.  There is not enough space here to chronicle all the times that Jesus takes to himself the name “Son of David” or alludes to the fufilment of the Davidic covenant in himself (Luke 1:32; 20:41-44; Matthew 1:1, 21; John 7:42).  It is enough to say that Jesus is the Davidic king, the King of the covenant of grace.  God has been true to his promise to David and he has been true in a most marvelous and unexpected way.

In concluding this brief thought on 2 Samuel 7:16 we will borrow heavily from the Westminster Shorter Catechism on the kingly office of Jesus the Christ.

Because Jesus is the King of the Covenant, he is able to subdue us to himself.  What enmity toward God is in the soul of the unbeliever!  What rage against God is there in the heart of the enemies to Jesus!  There is no such thing a spiritual Switzerland.  There is no neutral ground in matters of sin and service to God.  Either one is a servant of the living God or he is God’s sworn and arch-enemy.  This was the case for all of God’s children.  All of them had to be conquered and subdued.  All of them had to be worn down by the blessed bludgeoning of the gospel of grace.  All of them had to be bound with chains of love and brought into the blessed camp of the King of the Covenant.  It is then that enemies and rebels are made to be sons and daughters, servants and soldiers of Jesus.  But they had to be subdued first, having their sin conquered by the cross.  This is the work of the King of the Covenant.

Because Jesus is the King of the Covenant, he is able to rule and reign all his people.  Echoing through the halls of history, with the hints of Scottish dialect, we hear, “Jesus is the only King of the Church.”  It is he who orders her worship.  It is he who elects her officers.  It is he who bestows upon her the spoils of his conquest, gifts for ministry.  It is he who wields his Word.  It is he who protects and sustains his kingdom on its advance through enemy territory.  Jesus governs and governs well all his people.  He will see them grown up as citizens of heaven.  This is the work of the King of the Covenant.

Because Jesus is the King of the Covenant, he is able to restrain and conquer all his and our enemies.  There are still enemies to the throne.  The taunts of Nabal fill the mouths of a million sons of Adam.  Yet the Lord is faithul to place all thrones, dominions, and authorities under the feet of king of Jesus.  For a time there is battle and strife.  For a time the victory feast is delayed.  For a time the blood of the saints is spilled upon the earth.  For a time the cursings and fightings of the children of wrath are allowed to endure.  Yet there is coming a day when all will be finished, when all will be humbled.  There is coming a day when every knee will bow to King Jesus and proclaim him to be the Davidic King.  There is coming a day when the last of the enemies of God and of his Church will be vanquished forever.  This is the work of the King of the Covenant.

Lastly, we simply note that this throne is forever.  Forever is a word we use for something we cannot grasp.  Forever is to big for us to comprehend.  How can the finite understand infinity?  We have only to use words like “forever” to express that the concept of eternity is wonderfullly beyond all that we can think or imagine.  So is the rule of Jesus, it will endure forever.  Jesus is the eternal Covenant King, blessed be his holy name!

And to the end, that this point, wherein lies and consists the whole mystery of our holy faith, may be understood the better, let us put the case, that some good and holy king should cause a proclamation to be made through his whole kingdom by the sound of a trumpet, that all rebels and banished men shall safely return home to their houses; because that, at the suit and desert of some dear friend of theirs, it had pleased the king to pardon them; certainly, none of these rebels ought to doubt, but that he shall obtain true pardon for his rebellion; and so return home, and live under the shadow of that gracious king.  Even so, our good King, the Lord of heaven and earth, has, for the obedience and desert of our good Brother Jesus Christ, pardoned all our sins, and made a proclamation throughout the whole world, that every one of us may safely return to God in Jesus Christ: wherefore, I beseech you, make no doubt of it, but “draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith.” - Edward Fisher, The Marrow of Modern Divinity

Three 9/11’s - John Piper pens about three 9/11’s  you need to know about.

ETS Papers - Reclaiming the Mind, a great resource for theological essays, has just put ETS papers online.

Driscoll Books - Pastor Mark provides some teasers for some upcoming books he is authoring under a new Crossway line called Re-lit.

Jesus and the Emmys -  Kathy Griffin gets censored for denying Jesus’s sovereignty over Emmy bestowals.

1 Corinthians 16:8-9 - But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.

Two things stand out in this text.

First, Paul saw special significance in the day of Pentecost. Pentecost, τῆς πεντηκοστῆς in Greek, was the fiftieth day after Passover.  But more than that it was the birthday of the NT Church.  As recorded in Acts 2, it was on Pentecost that the Holy Spirit was poured out in converting power upon those listening to the preaching of the apostles.  It seems in this passage that Pentecost serves merely as a universal designation of date yet it is interesting to note that, at least for Paul, the birth of the New Testament Church was of such great significance as to be a measure of the passing of time.

Secondly, note that effective gospel work and many adversaries exist side by side.  I’ll be honest, the amount of adversaries definitely factors into to how I judge what is and isn’t effective ministry.  Yet Paul says that a wide door had been opened for him.  It wasn’t a cracked door.  It wasn’t a narrow door.  It was a wide door!  Sure there were those who opposed the work standing in the door, but that didn’t matter to Paul.  God had opened a wide door and he was going to walk through it.

Though it is somewhat stretching the text (Spurgeon-esque?),  I would say that a good judge of God opening wide door for gospel ministry is whether or not there are enemies opposed to the work.  I still remember vividly the lectures of Dr. Doug Kelly on the prologue of John.  He would remind us over and over again that Jesus was the light.  Then he would warn us that those who did not follow Jesus also did not like the light.  In fact they wanted to put the light out, which is exactly what happened at the cross and is exactly what has and is happening wherever Christians suffer for bearing the name of Jesus.  Where the light shines there will be those who want the light put out.  Where there is a wide door there will be those who want to stand in it to block the way.

Let us together learn to discern where God wants us to go not by the lack of adversaries but by there presence.

Robert Morrison - John Piper commemorates September 7th by reflecting on the history of the missionary endeavor in China.

Martha Syndrome - Colin summarizes his thoughts on Luke 10:38-43 and how ministry can often crowd out intimacy with Jesus.

Violin and a Turn Table - I don’t know which of these guys is more talented.

1 Corinthians 15:19-20 - If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

There are tremendous blessings to be had for the Christian in this life. To walk the earth the Lord has created and at the same time to know that you are at peace with him is a humbling joy. To meet together Lord’s Day after Lord’s Day with your brothers and sisters in Christ is sweet fellowship. To have real needs, physical and spiritual, met through the gracious providential hand of the Lord is real contentment. Surely we need not underestimate Paul’s glorious statement in Ephesians that all of the riches of the heavenly realms are ours in Christ right now. Yet Paul says something startling in this text. If your Christianity exists entirely of the earthly blessings you receive from your birth to your death and no more than that, you are to be a man most pitied. If there is nothing beyond the day you close your eyes for the last time then all of your Christianity is empty. Why is this? It is because the value and focus of Christianity is centered on the resurrection of the dead and on Jesus Christ as the firstfruits of the resurrection of the dead.

Paul is addressing a heretical teaching in the Corinthian church that said there was no resurrection of the dead. Paul knew this was not simply a question about how many angels can stand on the head of a pin. He knew the question of the resurrection of the dead struck at the very heart of Christian religion.

There must be a resurrection of the dead for Jesus to be who he said he was. Jesus was finally murdered for being labelled the king of the Jews. One of the more repugnant things he had said, in the opinion of the scribes and Pharisees, was that he could tear down the temple and raise it up again in three days. The gospel writers were clear that he was talking specifically about his bodily resurrection. Jesus said he was going to bind the strong man. Jesus said he would conquer death. Jesus said he was going to be with his father. Jesus told a poor dying criminal that he would be with him in paradise. Jesus said he was inaugurating the new covenant in his blood. Jesus said he would come again. None of these things are true if he did not rise from the grave. The resurrection of Jesus is the proof and proclamation of his triumph over sin and death. It is the visible declaration that he is the second Adam. The resurrection of Jesus is the foundation of all the gospel promises. If that foundation is taken away, the entire house falls. Jesus’s resurrection must be true. What glorious words then are 1 Corinthians 15:20, “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead.”

There must be a resurrection of the dead for us to be who Jesus said we are. Did Jesus satisfy the demands of the Covenant of Works? Did he satisfy the law’s loud thunder? Did he quench Mount Sinai’s flame? Did he actually purchase redemption for his people? Was it enough? Did our sin swallow him up like a stone thrown in the ocean? Was the torn veil a way really opened for us and for our spiritual progeny into the throne room of God? The resurrection of Jesus is the foundation of our redemption. If that foundation is taken away, the entire house falls. Jesus’s resurrection must be true. What glorious words then are 1 Corinthians 15:20, “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead.”

There must be a resurrection of the dead for the glory of God to truly be eternal. We await the glory of God. We long for it. Our Triune Lord has so intrinsically linked his glory and our good that we cannot find happiness outside of worship. Worship of God is satisfaction for the Christian. If we are to hold firm to the promise that God has held out to us of life eternal, of worship eternal, then we must hold out that he will be eternally glorified through the Lord Jesus Christ. If the body of Jesus is still in the sands of Israel then his glory is tarnished. His mission is incomplete. He is vanquished, conquered by death and sin. The resurrection seals for us all of the eternal value promised in the covenant of grace. Jesus’s resurrection from the grave proves his eternal worth. It proves that his atonement was enough. It proves that he has a right to sit down at the right hand of his Father until all things are made a footstool under his feet. The resurrection proves his right to receive eternal worship. That is what we long for and what we are waiting for. There will come a day when we and this world pass away. There will come a day when we will stand before the throne of the lamb that was slain but yet stands and worship him into all eternity. That eternal worship will make our few years on earth seem like a fleeting dream before the dawn of eternal joy. If there is no resurrection then this passing world is all we have. If there is no resurrection then there is no eternal worship of an eternal Lord. If there is no resurrection then there is no eternal joy and happiness held out for the child of God. If there is no resurrection then there is no eternal glory of God. The resurrection of Jesus is the foundation of God’s eternal glory. If that foundation is taken away, the entire house falls. Jesus’s resurrection must be true. What glorious words then are 1 Corinthians 15:20, “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead.”

Psalm 51:2-3 - Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.

After receiving Nathan’s rebuke for his sin with Bathsheba, David pens this hymn of contrition and confession. Ever since it was written it has served the church as an example and pattern for godly repentance. There is a wealth of grace to be mined from Psalm 51 but for today, let us consider these two verses found at the beginning of the psalm. In reflecting on these verses we need to answer the question, “What is the motivation for godly repentance?”

David begins this psalm pleading for mercy, washing, and cleansing. He wants God to restore him to right fellowship. He longs for the favor of God to fall afresh upon him. This is the longing of every soul and that longing often leads to pleading with God for mercy.

Often, however, we plead to God for mercy like the child in the grocery store check out line pleading for a candy bar. A well taught Christian knows that their relationship with God is founded upon the mercy of God. All good things come to us not out of placing God in our debt and demanding payment but rather by placing ourselves at his mercy and receiving unmerited blessings. And so the Christian is one who knows that good things come through asking for God’s blessings. This is a foundational truth of the gospel but it does not exist by itself. Or to say it another way, Psalm 51:2 must go with Psalm 51:3.

Too often we want the forgiveness of God without the contemplation of our sins. We want to go to the cross but not as the guilty but as the tourist. We want to be moved by the scene of tremendous suffering but not as one who caused the suffering. And that is the opposite of what David is singing about here.

He knows his transgressions and his sin is ever before him. It plagues him. It breaks his bones and makes him feel sick. He cannot escape it. It replays in his mind like the trailer of a horror movie. It weighs him down. It takes away his desire for food and the company of his friends. His sin is killing his soul. And so he must turn to God he must plead for washing and cleansing. He visits the cross as a murderer of the Lord and not as a curious tourist. He knows his transgressions and his sin is ever before him.

That is why John Owen gives the curious advice of going first to the cross to consider your sin rather than to apply the promises of the gospel. Go to cross, he says, to see there what it took to atone for your failures and sins. Go to the cross and see there the Son of God, crucified for your sin, having taken the weight of the law upon him. Go to the cross and see there the wrath of God poured out to its full. Go to the cross and there know your transgressions and see your sin ever before you. Go to the cross and there alone rightly estimate the weight of your sin.

It is at that point, that deep knowledge of sin and guilt that you are ready to be washed and cleansed. It is there that the cleansing blood of Jesus is poured out upon the needy and penitent. Do not short circuit repentance by downplaying your sin. Do not make the the blood of Christ out to be a gaudy carnival toy by refusing to admit your fault. Go deep within the veil. Be confronted by the mirror of God’s terrible holiness. Be honest with what you see there. Then plead for mercy. Then plead for grace. Then plead for all the promises that Jesus freely offers to the wretched and sinful. Know your sin, but more than that, know the power of redemption found in the love of Christ for sinners. Know that the motivation for godly repentance is a clear view of your sin, seen clearest at the cross of Christ.