Think about it! You tell a lie one day and nothing happens. The next day that sin is still upon your conscience. Does God forget about it because you promise to do better next time? No. It is still on the books.

Many people assume that their good deeds will be weighed against their bad deeds when God meets them at the judgment, and whichever is the greater, that will be the final result for them. They hope it will turn out all right, but they do not know if it will. That is the way works-based theology concludes.

Paul wrote of the function of the law in Romans 3:20:

“Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.”

The problem is even worse than that, however, for he later writes, in Romans 5:12-14:

“Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—(For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam….”  

But you say, “There are the sacrifices in the Old Testament—what about them; don’t they provide forgiveness?” Yes, they do—or did, but not to remove sins. It is interesting how Jesus made a point of priority in the commandments:

“Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets’” (Matthew 22:37-40).

These two commandments summarize the law and forgiveness is not mentioned in them. So the law stands as a stark, immoveable tower of threatening resistance. It even gangs up on us, the inevitable victims of its relentless presence, for James 2:9-10 says this:

“But if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.”   

(The first part of that passage particularly directs the application to judges who show partiality, like “removing the blindfold from the eyes of Lady Justice.”)

So where do we find forgiveness? The moral law of right and wrong is embedded within our consciences, that of all mankind. Those outside the Judeo-Christian influence, as well as those within its reach have the same problem—they cannot find forgiveness in any of their pursuits that insists that “there are more ways to God and heaven than just Jesus Christ.”

The biblical truth is that mercy is the answer to the justice demanded by the law. The tax collector who came to pray in the temple could not even lift his eyes to heaven, but beat himself upon his breast, crying out, “God, be merciful to me a sinner!” Jesus remarked, “I tell you, this man went down to his house justified…” (Luke 18:10-14). It is also a truth that there is only one God of the universe, and it is before Him that we all must appear.

It is the unmerited favor of God—grace—that opens the door to forgiveness, yet mercy precedes grace, as is aligned in Hebrews 4:16:

“Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

(We will come back later to discover what precedes that verse to be referenced with its “therefore” connection.)

When Adam and Eve disobeyed in the Garden of Eden and covered themselves with fig leaves and hid from God, He had mercy on them and made a covering of blood-stained animal skins so that they would be acceptable in His presence. That was later codified in the law’s regulations, as such, in Leviticus 17:11:

“For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.”

Those sacrifices under the law during the time of the Old Testament had to be repeated every year because they pointed to One that was eternal, that was to be once for all. Those who obeyed with faith toward God received His mercy and His forgiveness. Hebrews 10:1-4 and 11-14 tells of the fulfillment of that promised complete sacrifice:

“For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.  

“And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.”

Those sacrifices administered year after year did not remove sins of the people, but this one sacrifice forever does so, forever, as the Psalmist said:

“For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:11-12)

He took our sins, past, present, and future, once we came to Him for mercy, in repentance, wadded them up in a ball and flung them into the east with a mighty force! And, the ball of sin with our name on it is still going into the east, away from the west, forever and forever.

Many, many new believers have exclaimed, verbally or within themselves, “Wow, I feel clean and new inside!” That is because the sacrifice of Jesus does, in fact, remove our sins from us. 1 John 1:7 tells it plainly:

“But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”

Earlier I mentioned that I would return to the context where Hebrews 4:16 was located and add some thoughts and references to the background of that verse.  As verse 16 says, we have access to that throne of grace, and it’s because of this:

“Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4:14-15).

While the law, the famous and often referred to Ten Commandments, do not have forgiveness in them—they, in themselves, stop short with “thou shalt not…”—God has made every  provision He could possibly make to give us access to that forgiveness we need. The law of God, as summarized in the quote from Matthew 22:37-40 on the first page above, is fixed, unchangeable and eternal. But God, in the person of Jesus Christ,  stepped out of His judgment seat and came down in front of us to stand there facing God, the father, and took upon Himself the guilt and punishment for our failure to keep the law.

Without any viable contradiction, that is unquestionably the greatest gift that could ever be offered to mankind. Just as John wrote, in John 1:12, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.”

                                                                    

Contact email:  andwegetmercy@gmail.com

The problem in prayer—asking God—is not an attempt to overcome His reluctance; it is believing in, and connecting with His willingness to answer the request. It is my understanding from the Scriptures that a life relationship with God is not a “catch me if you can” situation. The wording of Psalm 139 says, in every circumstance of our lives, He is “right there!”

That passage in Psalm 139 says this:

“O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up. You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, O Lord, You know it altogether. You have hedged me behind and before and laid Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it” (vv 1-6).

Many years ago I heard the testimony of a sailor who had submarine duty in the Pacific area during World War II. He told of how the enemy ships were on the surface above, dropping depth charges—containers filled with explosives that would detonate on contact. Their submarine dropped to the bottom and shut down all activity to avoid the sonar searches and sat quietly in the darkness, waiting until it was safe to move out. He said this following portion of Psalm 139 (verses 9-10) was never more meaningful than during those moments:

“If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me.”

Another reference even says this:

“It shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer, and while they are still speaking, I will hear” (Isaiah 65:24).

Do you see what I am talking about?

God isn’t reluctant at all to give a positive answer to our prayers—we just have to “get our ducks in a row” first, and that verse just quoted may imply that we could be miles ahead if we are walking in preparedness, as we should be. James writes, “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much” (James 5:16b). J.B. Phillips paraphrases it this way: “Tremendous power is made available through a good man’s earnest prayer.”

Some people have looked at Matthew 6:7-8 and decided that if God knows our needs already, why ask Him for them.  Here is what it says:

“And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.

“Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.”

No such implication is in the verse but only that you do not need to be “wordy and long-winded” in making your requests. In Philippians 4:19, Paul assures us that “my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”

But we must ask. James, again, writes, “Yet you do not have because you do not ask.” For anything? No, of course not. He goes on to say, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures” (James 4:3). It does not say, “Don’t ask at all because you might have the wrong motive for the request.”  Also, it does not imply that God will punish you for asking wrongly, He just says “no” to the request. And God is not against our enjoying pleasures—those with righteous qualities. Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.”

And this brings us to the issue of the will of God that should be our concern and our desire, for a request that is not in the will of God is a failure even before it leaves our lips. The passage that gives consideration to that in our prayers is 1 John 5:14-15, but in the context that includes verses 11-13 is the foundation for the confidence claimed in the two later verses:

“And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.

^“Now, this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.”

Yes, I know that the last part of verse 13 is not in many of the versions. The truth, though, is that when our faith is fixed with a “know so” certainty of our eternal salvation in Christ and not a “hope so” uncertainty, our faith reaches a level of confidence that connects with the will of God in our prayers. Much of our difficulties in prayer, in my opinion, stems from the basic problem that we are still trying to maintain our salvation by our good works and not resting in the many, many promises of His unfailing and unchanging integrity to keep that which He paid the full price for on that cross at Calvary. We are not our own for we have been bought with the price of His blood, so says 1 Corinthians 6:19-20.

For some, however, there seems to be a problem of asking at all. One man in Isaiah’s time found out what the Lord thought about that:

“Moreover the Lord spoke again to Ahaz, saying, ‘Ask a sign for yourself from the Lord your God; ask it either in the depth or in the height above.’

^“But Ahaz said, ‘I will not ask, nor will I test the Lord!’

^“Then he said, ‘Hear now, O house of David! Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel’” (Isaiah 7:10-14).

So Ahaz wearied the Lord with his disobedience when he could have been directly told of the coming of the Messiah.

When the Lord says, “Ask of Me,” He means for us to ask. And, let Him sort out the proper answer.

Jesus said, “Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full” (John 16:24), and likewise in other places.

But Matthew 7:7-11 makes a simple comparison that makes sense:

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

^“Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!”

Note that the acronym for this format is ASK—Ask, Seek, Knock. The point being made here is that our Father in heaven is better able and even more willing than any human father to respond to our asking. It also implies expectation and stepping out to seek and look for open doors.

On the one hand we have Psalm 65:2, “O You who hear prayer, to You all flesh will come,” ‘and on the other, Romans 8:32,  “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?”

And why does He do it? Jesus tells us that in John 14:13: “And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” In all cases it is for His glory that our prayers are answered, whether Yes, No, or Not yet.

 

Contact email:  andwegetmercy@gmail.com