Dear Christian,

This world, as you well enough know, is filled with temptations as numerous as every grain of sand upon every beach. There are means and manners by which we can give into our sins, in ways that tantalize the very senses they appeal to. We can even indulge in our favorite sins from the privacy of our own homes. We have the entire breadth of human depravity, at our literal fingertips, and can delve as deeply as our sinful nature is able to convince us to hold our breath. Can you, oh weary one, take in as much air as your lungs can fit, so as to better descend into the depths of sin, out of the sight of those people you have surrounded yourself with, who will hold you accountable to the standard of Scripture? Will your dearest friend know that you gave in? Will your Pastor know that you fell? Will your wife, will your husband, will those men and women at your Church whom you smile at and pray for, know the depths you have dove to, to meet the desires of your sin nature? Can you keep it secret? Can you keep it safe? Can you coddle and comfort your sin, in all those ways you have spent a lifetime learning how to, to keep it from rising to the surface?

For that is where good Christians keep their sin, right? They keep it below the well-buffed and shining surface they present to the Church and to the World. They keep it hidden below layers of self-righteousness and good deeds. Far below the number of zeros they write on the Offering Check every Sunday. A good Christian is one who hides their favorite sins below their vocabulary, behind their doctrinal intellect, and underneath their Bible that they are sure they carry with them everywhere they go. 

I pray you can taste the sarcasm.

Nevertheless, we as sons and daughters of the Most High God, whose sins have had their day in court, found guilty in light of the perfection of the Thrice Holy King of the Cosmos, and punished to the fullest extent of His perfect justice onto the body and blood of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, who is blessed forever, amen…still sin. 

We still engage in actions and thoughts and behaviors that are contrary to our new heart. We give in to sins that our new heart hates, with as much fervor as our old heart hated God.

And then what? Do we sit back, relax, and bask in the afterglow of our wickedness? Do we let it linger, its black tar sinking deep into the cuts of our heart that we intentionally drew into its beating flesh? Do we plot and plan and work out how we can sin again, out of sight of those who love us?

Do we have others who love us?

Others who will say to us “what you are doing, my friend, my brother, my sister, is sinful. You must repent.”

Do we surround ourselves with people who love God more than us?

Do we, who did nothing to earn our salvation, think that now, here, in this life that we have built, for ourselves, that we are able to go through the various trials of this life…alone? Can we, can anyone, stand upon the field of battle, the gathered forces of a multitude of sins and temptations standing before us, swords drawn, and the blood of a thousand saints still dripping in streams from their blades, rely on our own feebly mustered strength to gird us in our hour of need? How many times oh sinner, oh saint, have you relied upon your strength to overcome the sins which your strength failed in keeping you from? Will the next time be different? Will the next time those arrows of lust and anger, launched from the war engines of our enemies and aimed at the parts of you they know are vulnerable, sink deep within the wounds they left the last time they flew?

In your hour of need, when the breath of your temptation arrests the very air from your lungs, and the scent of sin dances before your nostrils, what will you do? When giving in seems to be the only respite from the weight that has been placed upon you, how will you soldier on? How can you? How can one who has fallen so many times before, given in so often, and given up just as much, stand upon untrustworthy feet to look into the yellowed eyes of that which threatens to keep him from God?

Take heart, tired one. Take heart, you lost, you weary, you stepped over and forgotten. Take heart because the God of all Creation, Him of whom angels sing, and the glorious melodies their empyrean tongues create still fail to give him the glory that is His due; has already seen, and has already conquered, every sin in your life. When you repented of your sins and believed in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, at that very moment of your belief, when the God who created you, saved you according to His will and purposes, the punishment that every sin you would ever commit was accounted to Christ.

No longer can the bleak and grim refuse of our self-willed sins keep us from looking to the sky; from looking to Christ, the author and perfecter of our faith. No longer are we His enemies, the deepest and darkest sins of our life, whose very mention earns all who engage an eternity of weeping, have had their day in His court. They have stood trial, been found guilty by an all-knowing Judge who never sleeps nor grows weary, and the punishment of hell they rightly deserved, was accounted to Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Son of Man, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. 

When God looks upon you my brothers and sisters, if you have repented of your sins and believed upon Him who made you, then He sees not your sins. He sees not your lust, your anger, your adultery, drug abuse, your selfishness, your sexual deviancy, your pride, arrogance, lies, gluttony, or sloth. He sees not these things, because when He accounted the punishment you have earned because of them, to His Son, He also accounted the righteousness of His Son…to you.

You, lost, tender footed, wary and weary Saint, afraid of indulging in the sins you hate, and forever looking skyward for strength against them, have the very righteousness of Him to whom you look to for strength: Jesus Christ. 

Be bold against your sins! Stand your ground, no matter how unsure the terrain may be, for the battle has already been won! Give not an inch to your lust, give no quarter to your anger, draw the mighty sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God, and wet its blade with the blood of your forgiven sins. Never stop doing unspeakable violence against that which is already dead, having been nailed to the Cross with Christ, descending into the grave, and remaining beneath the ruddy soil He rose from. 

Surround yourself with others, whose love for God overflows into a love for you. Who will hold you to the standard of Scripture, not because they are perfect and have never fallen, but because they have. Enlist in the company of such men that know the depth of their sin, and the price Christ paid to free them from it. Hear their words as they call you to rise up and be counted. Feel their prayers as they beckon for you to stand on the solid rock. Trust them to point you nowhere but the glowing Throne of Jesus Christ. 

And should the time come, which it will, when the glistening fangs of temptation, born behind black lips that do nothing to keep hidden the viscous tongue that slanders your good Christian name, beckoning you to enjoy the fruit you used to…smile as you plunge the sword of the Spirit deep into his disgusting flesh, taking glory in the death spray of your blood bought victory, and in turn give every ounce of that glory to the One who paid the price of your freedom, Jesus Christ, the undying architect of eternity.

Soli Deo Gloria

Rev. Jacob Marchitell

09/08/2023