For as long as I can remember, my mom has always been excited about the holidays. Almost too excited. She would start getting revved up weeks before the holiday arrived. She would plan and scheme and focus all of her considerable might on the execution of her holiday plans. Decorations would begin to appear early. Music would be played well in advance. If there was a movie that applied to the particular holiday in question, we would watch it again and again (claymation was the preferred form of entertainment). Once the holiday passed, the decorations would stubbornly sit and protest the end of the holiday. At times, weeks could go by before their sit-in would end. The holidays elicit different emotions in different people. For some of us there is sweet anticipation and excitement. For others there is apathy. For many of us there is grief and a deep sadness. The Easter Holiday (or Resurrection Day) has a message for all of us. A message of a hope that will never fail.

Many people place their hope in something or someone for something. For example, they might place their hope in their money for their security and happiness. They might place their hope in the success of their children for their sense of personal satisfaction. In every case, such objects of hope eventually fail. Money disappears. Children fail. Many people have given up hoping in anything which eventually leads to a sense of hopelessness and sadness. On Easter Sunday, Pastor Kenny discussed John 11: 17-44 and focused on the death and resurrection of Lazarus. He explained that we as believers place our hope in the God-man Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins, the freedom from the punishment we deserve, an eternal relationship with the God of the universe, and the resurrection from the dead unto eternal life with Him (free from sin, death, and all evil). What a great hope we as Christians have in Him! Sadly, we do not often think richly and meditate deeply on what all this hope means.

In the section of verses from that we heard preached, there were was a particular phrase and a particular verse that seemed to be especially encouraging. In verses 33 and 38, we read that Jesus was "deeply moved." The word originally used portrays a sense of deep sadness and anger. As Pastor Kenny pointed out, Jesus was angry at the effects of sin, death, and evil in His world. He was saddened because of the grief of His friends and perhaps even over the death of his friend Lazarus (even though He knew that He was going to soon resurrect him). Death was not a part of the initial creation. Death entered into creation because of the sin of Adam and Eve. That is also why we grieve at the loss of those we love. That is why some of us are so sad during certain (or sometimes all) of the holidays. We miss them. It is not right that they are not here with us. In verse 35, we read that "Jesus wept" or cried softly. At this point you might be asking, "how is reading about Jesus' sadness, anger, and tears a message of hope?" I will endeavor to explain.

Our God is not a god who is far off. He is not a god who does not know what it means to be human. He is not a god who is apathetic to our plight, our suffering, and our emotions. No, God the Son put on humanity. He lived for 30 plus years and endured everything that we endure. He was tempted, tired, hungry, and thirsty. He suffered pain, loss, and grief. He experienced every emotion we have. He was different than us in only one way. He was without sin. Easter is a celebration of The God who is close to His people (Joshua 1:9; Isaiah 41:10; Matthew 28; 20; Hebrews 13:5). It is a celebration of The God who was not content merely to become one of us but to also save us from sin, death, the devil, and the punishment due to sinners. Our God was not only "deeply moved." He did not only weep. No. He acted. He brought Lazarus back from the dead. He did not stop there. He went to the cross for His people. On that cross, He traded His royal robes of majesty for the soiled cloak of our sin. He absorbed our hell by taking our place. He died and was buried. And on the third day, He rose from the dead beating sin, death, and the devil.

His is The Message of Hope. To those who celebrate, His message is to celebrate Him (who He is and what He did). To those who are indifferent, His message is that there is One who is worthy of being trusted with their hope. To those who are sad beyond measure, His message is that there is One who is the source of comfort and hope even in grief. To those who do not know The One True God of the bible through Jesus Christ, turn from your unbelief. Repent of your sins and place your faith and trust in Jesus Christ. He is a Savior of sinners and the only hope that will never fail. To my brothers and sisters in Christ, let us hope in Him and Him alone. Let us tear our hope away from people and things that will all ultimately fail us and once again place it on the mighty shoulders of our steadfast Savior. Let us rejoice in Him. Let us stoke the fire of our indifferent hearts with the good news of His resurrection. Let us grieve, but not as those who are without hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13). Our hope is found in nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. Happy Easter!

Is God near and tenderhearted, or Holy and unapproachable? Yes.

For some reason, we tend to think of those aspects of the character of God to be opposed to each other. We tend to focus on either the big, glorious, and just nature of God, or His kind, loving, gracious side. We have trouble reconciling these seemingly paradoxical natures. However, Scripture is clear that although God is a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29), He is also "gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love" (Psalm 145:8).

By the way, did you notice that I used a New Testament reference to His Holiness and then an Old Testament reference to His love? Somehow we have also gotten this false idea that the God of the Old Testament is angry, vengeful, and scary, while the God of the New Testament is all grace and no justice. That could not be farther from the way He reveals Himself in His Word.

You don't have to look any further than the cross of Jesus Christ to see God's love and justice in perfect harmony on display for all to see. Jesus Christ endured the wrath of God on our behalf in an act of unconditional, unparalleled love and grace. Besides, no matter how much we think we would want it to be true, we wouldn't want to serve a God who was loving, but not just and righteous. How could God be called loving if He did not justly deal with the evil in the world He created and eventually gave His own life to redeem?

Don't shy away from passages that emphasize a God who "dwells in unapproachable light" (1 Timothy 6:16), because it is that part of God's nature that should put us in even more awe of His love and acceptance of those who were His enemies. The fact that a perfectly righteous and just God would choose to become sin for us so that we might be made righteous (2 Corinthians 5:21) should drive us to our knees in reverence and gratitude for a God so great and so loving.

Dwelling on one of His attributes more than the others is like asking Baskin Robins to only serve vanilla ice-cream because you love it so much. But I love ice-cream too much to limit myself to one flavor; I want all 32 flavors and more! I want all of God, not just the parts of Him that make me comfortable. It's precisely in the moments that He is exceeding my understanding that I am led to deeper worship and admiration of a God so glorious.

We need a full view of God in order to have a full life of worship to Him.

Most of us have witnessed the same scene play out as we were running errands. I have participated in this same scenario more than once. When my sons were younger, I would always exit a store with them in the same way. Once we were about to walk out of the doors, I would lean down and grab their hand in mine and hold it fast. Only then would we move toward the end of the curb to wait until it was safe enough to head toward our car. Suddenly, something (usually a penny) would catch their attention and they would lunge into the street oblivious to the cargo van moving too quickly through the parking lot. My hold on them was the only thing that kept them from a horrific fate.

What was their reaction to my obvious care for them? Did they quickly turn and say, "sorry daddy, thanks for saving me?" Not even close. Most of the time, they would react with violence. They would either attack me or begin to throw themselves in every possible direction in an attempt to break free. They would exhaust all of the words they did know trying to tell me what they thought of me and my keeping them from their desired goal. They risked their lives for a dirty penny when they had a turtle bank at home with much more than that in it and a father who delighted in giving them good gifts. Instead of good gifts from their father, punishment was coming.

I wish I could say that I no longer act at all as my sons did years ago. But, I cannot. I was reminded of the hard truth of the sinfulness of my own heart today while listening to Pastor Kenny preach on Psalm 73. I was reminded that I can and do act like they did against God when I sin. Asaph, the author of this particular psalm, recounted a time when he committed the sins of complaining, envy, and unbelief. Though he began his lament by stating truth in verse 1, he quickly took his eyes off of God and began to speak with exaggeration mixing truth with untruth (v. 4 - 15). In his complaints to God regarding his feelings about his suffering, he alleged that the wealthy and unbelieving people around him were not suffering as he did. Asaph had put his eyes only on himself. He was throwing a pity part with a guest list of one. He substituted his feelings as his source of truth instead of God and His word. It was not until he went to worship with God's people (verse 17) that he began to turn his eyes back on God and gain an eternal perspective.

Asaph then wrote the two verses that cut me to the core. In verse 22, as a result of looking at himself in the light of who God is, he stated, "I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you (ESV)." When he realized how he had sinned against God he saw himself as he was, an ignorant beast. He quickly turned from his complaining, envy, and unbelief and broke out into praise and worship (verses 23-28). In verse 23 he went on to state, "Nevertheless I am continually with you; you hold my right hand." Asaph noted that, despite his sin, his Heavenly Father was still with him. It was certainly not due to Asaph's efforts or anything he had done. In fact, his Father should have let go of him. Instead, He maintained His hold and stayed near.

Like Asaph, I still sin. I complain (which is a lack of thankfulness) and covet what others have. My lack of thankfulness and my envy demonstrate a lack of belief in God's goodness (which I, like Asaph did in verse 1, would affirm). God commands me to always give thanks to Him (Ephesians 5:20; Philippians 4:6), not to be envious or covet (Exodus 20:17; Ephesians 5:5), and to trust Him (Proverbs 3:5-6). Yet, I lunge this way and that striving for shiny trinkets (idols) that are worthless. I act like a brutish and ignorant beast. For sinning against a good and eternal God, I deserve punishment (called hell) forever. Nevertheless, He is with me. What a thought! In addition to saving me (by paying for all of my sins) and causing me to be born again through the life, death, and resurrection of His only Son Jesus; He keeps me with Him until the day I go to be with Him. If He left my safekeeping to me, all would be lost. Let us react the same way Asaph did in verses 23-28 and praise God for He is so good! Let us remember that when we sin, He will hold us fast. Let us remember that when we suffer, He will hold us fast. For our Savior loves us so, He will hold us fast.

Lastly, let us not forget those who do not know Christ. Asaph remembered them in verse 27. They will pay for the sins that they have committed for eternity and there will be no forgiveness for them without Christ. Let us respond by telling them "of all of your (God's) works." Let us share the good news of Jesus Christ with them (1 Corinthians 15: 2-6) and pray that God grant them repentance of their sins (2 Timothy 2:25) and faith in Him (Ephesians 2: 8-9) through Jesus. Let us, like Asaph, share the goodness of God.

**Resources - He Will Hold Me Fast (https://youtu.be/TNi3ejUCYrY) **

Have you ever had someone angry at you but you have no idea why? Those of us who are married have had this happen on more than one occasion I'm sure. It can be frustrating trying to mend a relationship when you aren't even sure what you did to break it in the first place. Oftentimes, the offended party will stew in their anger until you figure out what it is that you did wrong. Or we meet someone for the first time and they do something that annoys or offends us but since we don't know them that well we let it slide. Over time, they continue to do that very same thing because they have no idea how we feel about it and the anger continues to grow.

Is God like that? Does He wait for us to figure out every single sin we've ever committed and then confess each one individually before He forgives us? Are we supposed to have the self-awareness and spiritual sensitivity to be able to notice right away every single time we sin and confess it on the spot? What if we have a sin in our lives that we continue to commit without realizing it? Can we have true fellowship with God in that case?

David asked this question in Psalm 19:12 - "Who perceives his unintentional sins?" In other words - who is able to know every single sin they have ever or will ever commit? How can we possibly keep track of every evil action, word, or thought? We can't, and the good news is, we don't have to. In the second part of that same verse David says, "Cleanse me from my hidden faults." God doesn't expect you to always be able to specifically lay out each wrong; His desire is that you have a heart bent toward repentance.

Sure, if you pray that prayer as a way to 'get you off the hook' for all those sins you couldn't care less about, then God probably isn't going to honor that prayer. But if you approach Him with humility, understanding your sinful heart and inability to walk in holiness apart from Him, He will forgive - completely.

As a matter of fact, when we do confess specific sins (which we should regularly do), God takes our prayer for forgiveness a step further, cleansing us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9 - "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

I am in no way suggesting confessing specific sins isn't important and that all you need to do is pick one sin per day to confess in order to stay pure before God. My point is that "God looks at the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7), so we need to be sure that our hearts have a posture of repentance and humility. That's why David says elsewhere, "The sacrifice pleasing to God is a broken spirit. You will not despise a broken and humbled heart, God" (Psalm 51:17).

Understand and rejoice in the truth that our God is "...compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love" (Psalm 103:8). Every single day, confess your sins to Him; known and unknown because He will be quick and faithful to forgive.

There is a Puritan prayer that says: "Teach me that if I do not live a life that satisfies Thee, I shall not have a life that satisfies myself."  That means that our joy, pleasure, and satisfaction are directly tied to our worship. In other words, we cannot be truly happy unless we are living lives of worship to God. We spend so much time trying to see how close we can get to sin without actually sinning because we want Jesus and our vices. But it is Jesus alone who can bring the satisfaction we are looking for.

This is why we should not ask questions like: "how far can I go before it is a sin?" Instead we should be asking "how close can I get to Jesus?" I know you've probably heard something like that before, but maybe you haven't heard why that's true and so important to understand. It's not about behavior modification or legalism, it's actually about your joy - your joy is found in holiness and worship, not mindless obedience to rules.

You see, it's not truly worship to obey God out of duty. This is why Jesus said, "If you love me, you will keep my commands" (John 14:15). Our love for Jesus drives us to obey and worship Him and that is where we find joy that lasts. You won't increase your joy by following the rules better, but by loving Jesus more - which actually will help you follow the rules better as well.

At the very same time, it is the very duty of worship that will often drive us to delight in our Savior. I am not in any way suggesting that we should only worship and obey God when we feel the emotion of love for Him. I'm saying that love is a choice and action that will in fact fuel our emotions and ignite our joy in Him; which can only lead to more worship and obedience. This almost exactly how a biblical marriage should work (I guess Paul was on to something when he said marriage is a picture of Christ and the Church).

Tim Keller said, "The sin beneath all other sins is a lack of joy in Christ." I believe He is right. Consider even the original sin of Adam and Eve. They decided they wanted more than God and what He had given them. At some point, they decided that they would find more joy apart from God Himself. In order to find that joy however, they had to step outside of His Law. So the very first sin was, at least in part, driven by a lack of joy in God and a desire to find it elsewhere.

The Psalmist said rightly: "You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore" (Psalm 16:11). It's all because true joy can only be found in abandoning our pursuit of joy for the pursuit of God. In the end we find exactly what we have been looking for the whole time. Joy is not simply a by-product of worship, but the result and reward of it.