thoughts and ruminations while in exile (1 Pet. 2:11)

"Be exalted O LORD, in your strength! We will sing and praise your power (Ps. 21:13).

For those of you who don't know, Thabiti Anyabwile is pastor of First Baptist Church in Grand Caymen. He was discipled by Mark Dever as a member of his church, Capitol Hill Baptist, in Washinton D.C. I'm looking forward to hear his lecture this March at the Ligonier Conference.

I write today to say how much I appreciated his thoughts on the heavenly intercession of Christ. I hope you will also be encouraged.

This may sound like a stupid question, but do you ever confess your sins? Of course we all sense our great need to do this, but I want to encourage you to do this even more. As we confess our sins, we receive God's forgiveness. 1 John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Thabiti noted how much he appreciated the well-known confession of sin found in the Methodist Episcopal Church's book of liturgy. The prayer is identical to the one found in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer. If you have a difficult time knowing how to confess your sins, I recommend this great prayer:

I highlight those words, "the remembrance of them is grievous unto us," because, how many of us actually feel that way about our sins? After confessing the grievous nature of our sins, the Book of Common Prayer adds the wonderful words, "the burden of them is intolerable." O how I pray God would cause my residual sin to become intolerable to me!

Here come the precious words! If we were to truly meditate upon all of our sins we would be crushed under the weight of them! If there were no hope of forgiveness, we would all certainly perish in our sins. Praise God that we have the God-man as our Redeemer and Mediator (1 Tim. 2:5). As believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, our grief turns into hope. The cross, which was once a symbol of death, is now a symbol of hope. Why do we have hope? I love the way Thabiti puts it: "we don't stop with grieving, for in heaven sits enthroned our Perfect Righteousness. Our grief is turned to joy when our eyes are turned to Christ. In the gospel is the complete forgiveness of sins, but also the imputation of perfect righteousness which consoles us even when the knowledge of forgiveness can't." AMEN!!! I need the gospel everyday.

Question 1 in the Heidelberg Catechism asks: What is your only comfort in life and death? Read this beautiful answer thoughtfully and carefully:

That I am not my own, but belong with body and soul, both in life and in death, to my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with His precious blood, and has set me free from all the power of the devil. He also preserves me in such a way that without the will of my heavenly Father not a hair can fall from my head; indeed, all things must work together for my salvation. Therefore, by His Holy Spirit He also assures me of eternal life and makes me heartily willing and ready from now on to live for Him.

Brothers and sister in Christ, lift up your hearts!

"The joy can never be spoken, above all joys beside,When in Thy body broken I thus with safety hide.O Lord of Life, desiring Thy glory now to see,Beside Thy cross expiring, I’d breathe my soul to Thee"--Bernard of Clairvaux, in "O Sacred Head Now Wounded"

Concluding prayer:

O God, whose blessed Son became poor that we through His poverty might become rich: Deliver us from the inordinate love of this world, that we may serve you with singlenessof heart, and attain to the riches of the age to come; through Jesus christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.