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Jesus Christ is your Righteous Advocate {No Matter What Monday}

December 11, 2017 by Marissa Leave a Comment

In an episode from the first season of The West Wing, White House Deputy Communications Director Sam Seaborn is on his way out of the office for a weekend away when he runs back to his desk to answer one last phone call. It’s an old high school acquaintance, now a defense attorney, calling to plead the case of a federal death row inmate seeking a stay of execution.

The defense attorney needs someone with the ear of the President, so he calls Sam. The condemned man doesn’t just need an advocate, he needs an advocate with power and influence to present persuasive arguments to the one man who can grant a reprieve.

We need an advocate, too. We are condemned by our sin, and the punishment we deserve is death (Romans 6:23). But the Lamb of God who was the redeeming sacrifice for us and reconciled us to God is now seated at the right hand of the Father. What is He doing as He sits there? He’s advocating for us.

“My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” (1 John 2:1)

Jesus has the evidence needed for our forgiveness. John describes our advocate as “Jesus Christ the righteous.” Jesus is not only our redeeming sacrifice, He covers us with His righteousness. He advocates for us to the Father based on the perfect life He lived for us, not any good that we have done.

Jesus has the ear of the Father. Romans 8:34 tells us that Jesus Christ is at the right hand of the Father, interceding for us. The Father has given the Son the exalted place at His right hand, and we benefit from it. We have a Savior who has the ear of the Creator and Judge, saying, “She’s mine. She’s covered.”

Because of our righteous advocate, “when we enter into the presence of God, we go not to hear his justice prosecute us but to hear his love plead for us” (William Barclay, The Letter to the Hebrews, p. 19).

No matter what you face this week, Jesus Christ is your Righteous Advocate.

Your Debt is Fully Paid {No Matter What Monday}

June 12, 2017 by Marissa Leave a Comment

It’s happened to me twice now, and each time was surprising and impactful.

I’ve pulled up to the Starbucks window and found out that my (grande, non-fat, one-pump-caramel) latte was paid for by the driver in front of me. It feels strange to receive my drink without giving anything to the cashier. I accept the gift of a free latte because someone I don’t know paid the debt I owed.

It’s a beautiful picture of the Gospel. Romans 8:1 tells us, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

Condemnation is not a word we like to discuss. But God’s Word is clear that we are all sinners, and our sin deserves God’s punishment.

So how can Romans 8:1 say there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus? Has God decided to look the other way? Did He change His mind about sin? Is He just being nice?

There is now no condemnation because Someone else paid for our sin.

On the cross, Jesus took the punishment our sin deserved. God is fully satisfied with Jesus’s sacrifice and will not demand payment from those who are in Christ. Our debt has been paid. We freely receive the gift of God’s grace.

As we drink deeply of His grace, we are set free from trying to convince God and others that we’re good enough. We don’t have to keep looking around, hoping to be a little better than the next guy. We don’t have to keep striving, hoping the good works will outnumber the bad.

When Jesus took your punishment, He gave you His perfect, sinless record. If you are in Christ, when God looks at your life, He sees what Christ has done. You can walk in the joy and freedom of God’s grace.

No matter what you face this week, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Why the Cross Matters

April 13, 2017 by Marissa 1 Comment

This week, we turn our thoughts to the cross and the empty tomb as Easter approaches. I love plastic eggs filled with candy, but Christ didn’t die and rise again to give us a holiday. He endured a shameful death because there was no other way to rescue us. There was no other way to reverse the separation from God caused by our sin.

Does it matter that over 2,000 years ago, Roman soldiers carried out a routine death sentence for a convicted criminal named Jesus of Nazareth?

It only matters if that criminal was actually guiltless. It only matters if He was fully human and fully divine. It only matters if His death satisfied God’s just demands on behalf of guilty sinners. If none of these things are true, it was just another day in the Roman Empire.

But if the man who hung on the cross that Friday afternoon was truly the Son of God, then when He uttered the words, “It is finished,” everything changed. Consider this list of the ways Christ’s cross impacts us:

Christ was betrayed so you could be reconciled to God. (Romans 5:10)

Christ was taken captive so you could be set free. (Matthew 26:50, Galatians 5:1)

Christ poured out His blood so you could be filled with the Holy Spirit (Matthew 26:28, Romans 8:11)

Christ was falsely accused so you could be free from the accusations of the evil one. (Matthew 26:59-60)

Christ was sacrificed so you could be rescued. (I Peter 1:18-19)

Christ was taken outside the city gates so you could be brought into God’s kingdom. (Matthew 27:33)

Christ was forsaken so you could be accepted. (Matthew 27:46)

Christ was disrobed so you could be clothed in His righteousness. (Isaiah 61:10, Matthew 27:35)

Christ became sin so you could be made righteous. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

Christ was wounded so you could be healed. (I Peter 2:24)

Christ was mocked so you could be welcomed. (Matthew 27:39-44)

Christ suffered so you could be sanctified. (Hebrews 13:11-13)

Christ was condemned so you could know no condemnation. (Romans 8:1)

Christ became like the guilty so your guilt could be removed. (Matthew 27:37-38, Psalm 103:12)

Christ was separated from the Father so you never will be. (Romans 8:38-39)

Christ died in the darkness so you could walk in the light. (Matthew 27:45, John 8:12)

Christ became cursed so you could be free from the curse. (Deuteronomy 21:22-23)

Christ was humiliated so you could be glorified with Him. (Romans 8:17)

Christ was rejected so you could be adopted. (Romans 8:15-16)

Christ felt the sting of death so you could be freed from its power. (I Corinthians 15:55-57, Matthew 27:50)

Christ was punished so you could be pardoned. (Micah 7:18)

Christ wore a crown of thorns so you could receive the crown of life. (Matthew 27:29, James 1:12)

Christ experienced God’s wrath so you could be spared from it. (Romans 3:25)

Christ was the perfect Passover Lamb so you could pass from death to life. (John 1:29, Colossians 1:13)

The cross of Christ matters. It’s good news for sinners like you and me, because the One who proved His love for us will never fail to keep His promises. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1)!

This list of benefits of Christ’s cross originally appeared on this blog in April 2014.

You Have Been Rescued {No Matter What Monday}

April 10, 2017 by Marissa Leave a Comment

At my son’s 4-year-old checkup, the pediatrician asked if he had any chores. He replied that he didn’t have any chores, but he had a job and a problem. That got the attention of all of us in the room! He explained that his job was to keep his baby sister awake in the car. (Yep!) His problem was that his grandpa had offered him some pickled beets, and they smelled sour.

In the mind of a 4-year-old boy, stinky vegetables are a serious problem.

We often think our greatest problems are the circumstances we can’t control, the behavior of those around us, our inability to reach our goals, or this fallen world we live in. But God’s Word tells us our most serious problem is our sin. This problem is universal (Romans 3:23), and it ranks at the top of the Problem List because our sin separates us from our holy God.

If your greatest problem is your troubled childhood, your boss, or your spouse, then your ultimate solution is a therapist, a polished resume, or a campaign to change your spouse’s habits.

If your greatest problem is your sin, you need a Savior.

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. (1 Peter 2:24)

Your sin was nailed to the cross with Jesus. He was sinless, but He took the punishment your sin deserved. He dressed you in His sinlessness—His righteousness. When you stand before a holy God, you stand dressed in the perfect record of Christ. By His wounds, you have been healed of your greatest problem—you have been set free from the curse of your own sin.

No matter what you face this week, you have been rescued from your greatest problem by Christ’s death on the cross.

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