“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” Jeremiah 17:9

The human heart (not the muscle which pumps blood throughout our body, but the center of our being, our mind) — as it is after the fall of mankind in the Garden of Eden (Gen. 3) — is deceitful above all things, so deceitful, in fact, that we don’t really know and understand it. Even though it is our own heart, it deceives us and seeks to hide and cover up our sins because of sin’s corruption.

It is also “desperately sick” — and incurably so (from the Hebrew word “anash”). We can’t fix it and make it good and wholesome or righteous. Sin and sinful longings and desires flow from it.

Jesus describes it by saying, “Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person” (Matthew 15:19-20). And don’t these things come from your heart — if not in actions, in thoughts and sometimes words?

We may not like to hear of the deceitfulness and wickedness of our hearts, but God’s Word is true. Out of our hearts “come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.” We are all guilty and defiled before God. We are infected by sin and evil. It permeates all we think and say and do.

“If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8).

And it is an incurable evil. Try as we may, we cannot cleanse our hearts and minds of sin. If we think we can, our hearts have deceived us once again. God’s Word is true when it describes our hearts by saying: “The intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth” (Gen. 8:21).

The plain and simple truth is that we are a mess. Our hearts are sick. We are sinful and unclean, and we can’t cure ourselves!

In the confession and absolution in Sunday’s service (Divine Service, Setting Four, in the Lutheran Service Book, Page 203), we are admonished with these words: “Let us first consider our unworthiness and confess before God and one another that we have sinned in thought, word, and deed, and that we cannot free ourselves from our sinful condition” (emphasis mine).

What is the solution? How can our incurably sinful hearts be cleansed? As the (above mentioned) Divine Service liturgy states, “Together as His people let us take refuge in the infinite mercy of God, our heavenly Father, seeking His grace for the sake of Christ, and saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner.’”

The Apostle John writes: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness … we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 1:9; 2:1,2).

We flee to the throne of God’s grace and fall upon our knees begging God to have mercy upon us for Jesus’ sake! And, because Christ Jesus lived a holy and sinless life in our stead and suffered and died upon the cross to bear our punishment and then rose again on the third day, we can be assured that God’s wrath against our sins has been satisfied. He offers and gives to us through faith in Christ forgiveness for all our sins and a place in His everlasting kingdom!

My heart is sick with sin, O God, and I cannot cure it. Have mercy upon me, forgive my sins and cleanse my heart in the blood of Christ Jesus, shed for me upon the cross. In His name, I pray. Amen.

[Scripture quotations are from The ESV® (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.]

“But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:21-23

Where would we be without the steadfast love and mercy of the Lord God? The Bible makes it pretty clear: Because of our sinfulness and rebellion against God and His ways, we would be consumed by His wrath and suffer forever the torments of hell!

But, because God’s loving-kindness and His mercies are not ended but continue to be new every morning, we live on in this world and are blessed of Him with life, food, clothing, shelter, family and loved ones.

Even more importantly, we are blessed with the Word of God and His longsuffering, giving us time to heed God’s Word, repent of our sinful ways and receive through faith His mercy and forgiveness in the crucified and risen-again Messiah Jesus.

The Bible says of Christ’s second coming and His judgment upon this evil world: “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

That means that this world and our lives continue on a little longer because God is being patient and merciful toward us, not desiring that any should perish and be condemned to hell but that all of us should come to repentance and place our faith and hope in the Lord Jesus and His holy life and innocent sufferings and death in our stead. God is giving us more time to repent and come to faith in Jesus.

And so it is true: “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

All of us — and that certainly includes me — are deserving of the cessation of God’s love and mercy because of our sinfulness, but His love for us continues and His mercies are not ended. He continues to reach out to us in steadfast love and with forgiveness, calling upon us to repent and look to Him for mercy and forgiveness for the sake of Christ Jesus and His atoning sacrifice upon the cross.

And, when we look to the crucified and risen Christ Jesus in faith, we are not condemned but have everlasting life! Cf. John 3:14ff.

O gracious and merciful Lord God, thank You for Your love and mercy on me. Thank You for not giving up on me and condemning me. Grant me forgiveness and life for the sake of the Son, Christ Jesus, my Savior. In His name, I hope. Amen.

[Devotion by Randy Moll. Scripture quotations are from The ESV® (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.]

There is much confusion about the Lord’s Supper in churches today. Human explanations and interpretations have crept in because it is difficult for people to understand what the Lord’s Supper is all about and what really takes place, and few actually believe and teach what the Bible teaches on this important and faith-strengthening means of grace.

What does the Bible teach?

In Matthew 26:26-28, we read: “And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.”

On the night Jesus was betrayed, He instituted His Supper as a testament and means to offer, give and assure to His disciples the forgiveness of sins and life eternal He was about to obtain for them by His death upon the cross. As they partook of the bread and wine He gave them, they also – in a way we cannot fully grasp and understand by our natural reason – partook of His body given into death for them, and of His blood shed for the remission of all their sins.

As God’s people in Egypt partook of the Passover Lamb which was sacrificed that the angel of death might see the blood upon the door posts and lintels of their houses and pass over them, so Jesus’ disciples were and still are given to partake of the sacrifice of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29) that God might pass over them in judgment and grant them forgiveness of sins and life everlasting for the sake of Jesus and His innocent sufferings and death upon the cross for the sins of the world.

Jesus’ institution of this Supper is recorded in three of the four Gospels: Matthew 26:26-28; Mark 14:22-24; Luke 22:19-20. The apostle Paul also wrote to the believers in Corinth (1 Corinthians 11:23-29): “For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come. Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.”

In each account, Jesus says of the bread, “This is My body,” and of the wine, “This is My blood.” Paul’s account also makes clear that those who partake of the bread and wine unworthily are guilty of the body and blood of the Lord and fail to recognize and discern that they are partaking of the body of Christ given into death for them and of the blood of Christ shed for the remission of all their sins.

Paul also wrote to the believers in Corinth: “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?” (1 Corinthians 10:16).

Thus, Bible-believing Christians believe and teach that, when the Lord’s Supper is observed according to Christ’s institution – bread and wine are consecrated with God’s Word and distributed to believers in accord with Jesus’ command – Jesus offers and gives to those who partake of the bread and the cup in His Supper not just bread and wine, but His body and blood which were given and shed upon the cross for the remission of all sins.

Those who partake of Christ’s Supper with a penitent heart and faith in Christ’s words receive assurance of the forgiveness of sins and the eternal salvation won for them by Christ’s atoning sacrifice, but those who partake of Christ’s Supper in impenitence and without faith in Christ and His words partake of the Supper to their own condemnation, not discerning the Lord’s body and treating the blood of the covenant by which they were redeemed as an unholy thing (Matthew 26:26-28; Luke 22:19-20; 1 Corinthians 11:23-32; Hebrews 10:29).

It is for this reason that faithful Christian churches receive at the Lord’s Table only those who profess the true Christian and Biblical doctrine and are able to examine themselves and exclude others who have not yet been instructed in the true Christian faith or continue to live in open disobedience to God’s Word (1 Corinthians 10:16-17; 11:28; 2 Corinthians 13:5; Romans 16:17; Ephesians 5:11).

We are to observe the Lord’s Supper regularly today because Jesus commanded us to do so in remembrance of Him and to proclaim His death as a sacrifice for sin until He comes again to receive all believers to Himself in heaven (cf. 1 Corinthians 11:23ff.; Luke 22:19f.). Though the Bible does not demand that Christians observe the Lord’s Supper at every service, certainly Jesus’ words telling us “this do in remembrance of me” will encourage churches to observe His supper often for the benefit of believers.

Since the Scriptures are clear that Jesus used bread and wine (unleavened bread and the cup of blessing or fruit of the vine in the Passover meal), Christians (in faithfulness to Christ’s testament) continue to use unleavened bread and grape wine in their observance of Christ’s Supper today.

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” Luke 18:9-14

How do we come to God in worship and prayer? At times we feel that God should hear and answer our prayers because of all our efforts to obey Him and faithfully serve Him. We look around us and see so many who call themselves “Christians” but disobey God and disregard His Word. They are unfaithful! They have sinned and compromised their faith!

In contrast, we feel that God should certainly hear our prayers and accept our worship since we have been faithful to God’s Word and have given up much to follow Christ. We are not unfaithful as others are!

The Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican was told by Jesus to those who “who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt.”

When we feel that God will hear and answer our prayers or accept our worship because we have been faithful Christians and are not unfaithful as are so many others, we are praying in a similar fashion as the Pharisee in Jesus’ parable. Rather, we should come to God as did the humble tax collector who knew of his own sinfulness and unworthiness before God, for “this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

When we come to God in worship and prayer, we should come humbly, acknowledging our sin and unworthiness before God. With the publican, we join in praying: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!”

Since Christ has died for our sins and is risen again, we can also come before God with the assurance that He forgives our sins and hears and answers all our proper prayers (cf. 1 John 5:11-15). One might even say that we come to the LORD God in humble boldness — humble because we are unworthy sinners, but in boldness because Christ died for us and has redeemed us (cf. Heb. 10:19ff.).

Before Thee, God, who knowest all, with grief and shame I prostrate fall. I see my sins against Thee, Lord, the sins of thought, of deed, and word. They press me sore; I cry to Thee: O God, be merciful to me! O Jesus, let Thy precious blood be to my soul a cleansing flood. Turn not, O Lord, Thy guest away, but grant that justified I may go to my house at peace with Thee. O God, be merciful to me! Amen. (“Before Thee, God, Who Knowest All,” The Lutheran Hymnal, Hymn # 318, Verses 1,3)

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles,
a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.