{"id":4334,"date":"2021-01-27T15:35:45","date_gmt":"2021-01-27T15:35:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/?p=4334"},"modified":"2021-01-27T15:35:45","modified_gmt":"2021-01-27T15:35:45","slug":"why-our-hearts-ought-not-be-troubled-or-afraid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/why-our-hearts-ought-not-be-troubled-or-afraid\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Our Hearts Ought Not Be Troubled or Afraid"},"content":{"rendered":"

25\u00a0<\/sup>\u201cThese things I have spoken to you while I am still with you.<\/span><\/span>\u00a026\u00a0<\/sup>But the\u00a0Helper, the Holy Spirit,\u00a0whom the Father will send in my name,\u00a0he will teach you all things and\u00a0bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.<\/span><\/span>\u00a027\u00a0<\/sup>Peace I leave with you;\u00a0my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you.\u00a0Let not your hearts be troubled, neither\u00a0let them be afraid.<\/span><\/span>\u00a028\u00a0<\/sup>You heard me say to you,\u00a0\u2018I am going away, and I will come to you.\u2019 If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I\u00a0am going to the Father, for\u00a0the Father is greater than I.<\/span><\/span>\u00a029\u00a0<\/sup>And\u00a0now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe.<\/span><\/span>\u00a030\u00a0<\/sup>I will no longer talk much with you, for\u00a0the ruler of this world is coming.\u00a0He has no claim on me,<\/span><\/span>\u00a031\u00a0<\/sup>but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here. (John 14:25-31)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Introduction<\/b><\/p>\n

As we come to the close of chapter 14 the disciples are again told to not let their hearts be troubled, just Jesus told them in verse 1 of chapter 14. In verse 1, \u201clet not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.\u201d In verse 27, \u201cLet not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.\u201d Of course everything in chapter 14 is all one discourse as Jesus spoke to His disciples, nevertheless as we move a few verses at a time, we are again confronted with this command. As such I have titled this message today, Why Our Hearts Ought Not to be Troubled or Afraid, as each point we will look at is a reason within our text as to why we ought not let our hearts be troubled or afraid.<\/span><\/p>\n

Even though I just preached on this same subject not too many weeks ago when we were in verse 1, I do not hesitate to make this same emphasis again today. Number one is simply because it has come up in the text again. But secondly, we need these words reminded to us, most often in our lives, to let not our hearts be troubled. I imagine that most all of us have probably allowed our hearts to be troubled and afraid since I last preached on this phrase just a few weeks ago. Indeed, I myself have allowed my hearts to be occupied with troubles of the world since we were in verse 1. How quickly our hearts are prone to drop into worry and fear! There is enough trouble in this world to make ourselves sick and take us to our graves. This command is not without good reason. Maybe this is just me, but it seems to me, that above any other command, this command to let not your hearts be troubled, is a command that many Christians strangely find great comfort in. Usually it is the promises of God where we find comfort, not His commands. Yet, it seems to be that many find great comfort in this command, because in the command to let not your hearts be troubled, there is implicit confidence in a sovereign Lord who is near to us in Jesus Christ. Indeed it is words from the very lips of our Lord whom, if we love if we are Christians, and anything that comes from Him is precious to us. Indeed there are even seemingly promises contained within this command.<\/span><\/p>\n

Again, by way of reminder, the disciples had every worldly reason to let their hearts be troubled. Their master and Lord had announced His quickly approaching departure to where they could not follow. They would soon see their Lord betrayed unexpectedly by one of their own trusted twelve, and would witness his beating, scorn, and crucifixion, and could so easily have been driven to despair and confusion. But Jesus, as He has over the years spent with His disciples, seeks to prepare them, that their faith would not fail, but indeed that their faith would be strengthened in the approaching hour. Even though their troubled hearts would be completely understandable, Jesus does not want them to be troubled.<\/span><\/p>\n

How many things does your heart find to be troubled over each and every day? And as understandable as it might be to be troubled over the things that you are troubled over, our Lord does not want your heart to be troubled.<\/span><\/p>\n

You see, God not only commands our actions, he commands our hearts, emotions, feelings, etc. We are not only to act a certain way, we are to feel a certain way. What we feel needs to be trained to feel the right way, and brought into submission to Jesus Christ. Just because we feel a certain way about something does not mean it is okay to feel that way, nor does it mean that it is a neutral reaction. We can sin by feeling or not feeling a certain way.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Emotions are not neutral. They were created by God, to be used for God, and when done so, it is for our good. Certainly we can all admit this by experience. We can become physically ill when we are given over to worry and anxiety, we can lose hair and sleep. Proverbs 17:22, \u201cA joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.\u201d So let us consider together why our hearts ought not be troubled or afraid.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Father Will Send the Holy Spirit, <\/b>v. 26<\/b><\/p>\n

The first reason why our hearts ought not be troubled or afraid is because the Father is sending the Holy Spirit. We talked a lot about this last week as Jesus Himself would intercede for us, asking the Father to send the Spirit. Just because Jesus is soon departing, does not mean the disciples will be left alone to fend for themselves. They will have another Helper, just as all believers do today, the Holy Spirit. But as Jesus has discussed this in previous verses, He here in verse 26 expands further as to how the Holy Spirit will help them when He comes.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Holy Spirit will teach and bring to remembrance all Jesus has taught, v. 26<\/b><\/p>\n

As we read, Jesus says that the Holy Spirit will teach them all things and bring to remembrance all that Jesus taught them.<\/span><\/p>\n

In that the Holy Spirit brings to remembrance all that Jesus taught, we again see that the Holy Spirit comes to continue the work of Jesus, as we talked about last week.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now with this work of the Holy Spirit bringing to remembrance all that Jesus told them, I believe there is an initial specific application to the apostles here as they would record Scripture years later, including this very text before us, and they would do so years later by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and indeed it was the Holy Spirit bringing to remembrance all that Jesus taught them. But after this initial application to the apostles, I do see a general application to be made here to all Christians, not in the same revelatory way of course, but simply that the Holy Spirit, that every believer has, helps us to remember God\u2019s Word. I think of the example of the apostles, not only in their writing of Scripture, but as we see them throughout the book of Acts, for example. Many of them brought before kings, and trials and mobs, and how they boldly proclaimed the truth of Christ and the resurrection, and all that Jesus taught. The apostles in the book of Acts are almost unrecognizable as the same apostles we see in the gospels who were so timid and weak and fearful, full of doubt, who ran and deserted Jesus, and even Peter denying Christ three times. But then you get to the book of Acts and you see the apostles being incredibly bold and courageous men, fearlessly standing down mobs and kings, being beaten and thrown in prison, taking the gospel all over the world, preaching some of the most powerful sermons recorded, many of them being persecuted and dying a martyr\u2019s death. What happened to these guys? Well for one they were given the Holy Spirit. They were indwelt by the Holy Spirit that Jesus promised He would ask the Father to send and that the Father would indeed send to help them, and bring to remembrance all that Jesus told them. Not only apostles, but we have numerous examples of faithful Christians throughout history who acted with the same courage and strength, being fed to lions, burned at the stake, beaten, thrown in prison, brought before trials, and yet spoke as no human would speak. Many of them with testimonies of the Spirit reminding them of Scriptures they needed in the moment. This is one of the ways the Holy Spirit helps us. He gives us the remembrance of Christ and His Word that we need for the moment we are in. Many of us may think about how we would respond in such a moment of trial, whether we stand or cower in fear, and many of us may be afraid that we would shrink away in the moment. But let me encourage you that we do not need the courage to speak before it is time to speak, or the courage to die before it is time to die. We only need the courage to die when it is time to die. And how many testimonies of saints there are who, not until the moment of death, had the courage to die. We don\u2019t need dying graces, when it isn\u2019t time to die. This is one of the ways the Spirit helps us, He gives us remembrance of things, in moments when we need them.<\/span><\/p>\n

In this we see that the Holy Spirit makes use of the brains and memories that God created us with, as we have put them to use. It isn\u2019t a magical information dump, of information and verses we never learned, read, or memorized. The Holy Spirit uses our remembrance.<\/span><\/p>\n

One application we can make from this is that it would behoove us to commit as much Scripture as we can to memory.<\/span><\/p>\n

I will be the first to admit that I do not memorize Scripture as much as I ought. But we ought to commit to it. For it is the memory God has given us that the Spirit uses to encourage us. This verse does not teach that we have no need of study or memorization because the Spirit will magically download everything we need in our brains. No, it is our memory the Spirit uses to help us. So this should actually encourage us to commit more and more Scripture to memory. The Spirit cannot bring to<\/span> remembrance<\/span><\/i> something that we haven\u2019t learned.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jesus gives us peace, v. 27<\/b><\/p>\n

So another reason why our hearts ought not to be troubled or afraid is because Jesus gives us peace. If Jesus has given us peace then we should have no room in our hearts for trouble and fear. Jesus gives us something other than the world gives us to occupy our hearts.<\/span><\/p>\n

Peace is one of the great messianic themes promised in the Old Testament. Jesus is the Prince of Peace as the prophet Isaiah tells us. Peace is one of the chief benefits Jesus comes to impart to us. It is not just an extra blessing that some believers get to have and others do not. It is something that belongs to every believer, that we ought to avail ourselves of.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is interesting that the peace that Jesus leaves with his disciples is spoken of in the sending of the Holy Spirit, being that peace is a fruit of the Spirit. Indeed part of Jesus giving peace, is His giving of the Holy Spirit.<\/span><\/p>\n

So what is peace? Peace is that which comes only from Christ. Peace is the absence of hostility, strive, or disturbance, and it is the positive possessing of wholeness and completeness. Christian peace is not something that is dependent on the circumstances in the world around us, but something that can be had despite unrest and difficulties in the world raging around us.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are two kinds of peace that we have as believers. There is an objective peace that we have with God which Christ procured for us in the gospel, and there is a subjective experience of peace we can have in our hearts and lives.<\/span><\/p>\n

For the objective peace with God that every believer has possession of by virtue of Christ\u2019s work and ministry, take Romans 5:1 for example, where the apostle writes, \u201cTherefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.\u201d This is an immediate benefit that every Christian has upon conversion, by virtue of being justified by faith. And every Christian is justified by faith or he is not a Christian. Every Christian has, in their possession, at all times, without revocation, peace with God, thanks be to our Lord Jesus Christ. For we were all once enemies of God and haters of Him, hostile to Him. But the work of Jesus Christ was to come and make peace. He came to make peace, not through compromise, but through total submission on God\u2019s terms. Seeing that we were unable and unfit to satisfy the necessary terms of peace with God, Jesus Christ came to accomplish it without our help. He came as the conquering Prince of Peace, submitting to death on a cross, where He took the sins of people upon Himself, and endured the just wrath of God on Himself, for our rebellion. Jesus Christ is the propitiation and satisfaction of God\u2019s wrath toward sin and sinners, and makes us acceptable to God, only in Him. This is the blessed objective reality that every believer always has possession of – that God is not angry anymore at you. That His bow is no longer set with its sights toward you, and not only the absence of His wrath, but there is the presence of His satisfaction with you, of His pleasure and happiness with you, in Christ. This objective gospel reality does not change no matter how we feel about it, provided we are truly Christ\u2019s. How God objectively feels toward us does not change with our subjective feelings.<\/span><\/p>\n

But as I have implied, just because this is the objective reality for every believer, does not mean that we always experience perpetual peacefulness in our hearts. There is also a subjective experience of peace that we can have. This is the type of peace that I believe is talked of in Philippians 4:7 where we are told that there is a peace of God which surpasses all understanding that guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. This is the experience of peace that we can have in our hearts regardless of the tumultuous circumstances we may endure. It is a peace that doesn\u2019t make sense to the world. How could someone lose their child or spouse and have such a peace about them? Or how could someone be diagnosed with some kind of terminal illness and yet be at total peace? It is a peace that passes all understanding that comes from knowing Christ and His promises to us. And this subjective experience of peace comes from possessing the objective peace that we can have with God through Jesus Christ. If someone does not have this objective peace with God through Jesus Christ, then they can not experience the peace that surpasses all understanding, because the reason we can have the experience of a peace that passes understanding is because we have objective peace, rest, and wholeness with God through Jesus Christ. We know, for example, that no matter how much disease and death may ravage our loved ones or our own bodies, we will one day rise again to new resurrected bodies that will live forever.<\/span> If you want peace, that\u2019s how you can have peace. A peace that says, no matter how the world despises and rejects us, we are accepted and beloved by almighty God through His Son Jesus Christ. Or no matter how much we are betrayed by those who were supposed to be the closest to us and life, we have a friend in Jesus that sticks closer to a brother and our God in Heaven will always remain faithful to His covenant promises. There is no trouble in this world that cannot be cured by the objective peace that we have with God, and from such a faith we can truly experience that peace flooding our hearts when the world sees no reason to be at peace.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now to be sure, the peace Jesus gives isn\u2019t to make us stick our heads in the sand or live under a rock. It\u2019s a peace that ought to give us strength to face our troubles and face the fears of the world with peace, without fear…<\/span><\/p>\n

Jesus does not give like the world, v. 27<\/b><\/p>\n

Another reason our hearts ought not to be troubled or afraid is because Jesus does not give like the world. Now there are a lot of ways we could think of, in terms of how the world gives that Jesus does not give like. But I would like to stay as close to the text and context here for such considerations, for our purposes this afternoon.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here in the text we see that peace is contrasted with trouble and fear\u2026 one is from Jesus, the others are from the world\u2026 the world gives only trouble and fear, it cannot give what Jesus gives – only Jesus gives peace – the world cannot give that. The only peace the world can give is a superficial peace without any real experiential power. It is a peace that does not pass understanding, that will not last, and is not based on any objective realities with God. The world cannot give the peace that Jesus gives, instead it only gives trouble and fear. Even when the world tries to give peace by its own means, such as trying to find peace in material riches or military might, those things cannot actually bring peace. As the Psalm tells us, some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God, they collapse and fall, but we rise and stand upright.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now it is interesting to note that at this time the world was under the \u201cPax Romana\u201d – the peace of Rome – there was a great peace in the world at this time, but it was won by a sword as Rome conquered the world and forced peace, and of course it did not last. We can potentially see a contrast here between the way Jesus gives peace and the way the world.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jesus is going to the Father (and is there now) v. 28<\/b><\/p>\n

Another reason the disciples were not to let their hearts be troubled or afraid, is because Jesus was going to the Father. Now this may not make sense at first. Isn\u2019t that a reason to be troubled, since Jesus will no longer be with them? I think it is at least two-fold, reasons we have discussed last week or today. One, Jesus\u2019 departure to be with the Father is necessary for the sending of the Spirit. Second, as Jesus goes to be with the Father, it is mission success. It is His ascension to the right hand of God where He sits down enthroned above. And as He sits enthroned He rules all of heaven and authority with the authority given to Him. And when Jesus is on the throne we have no reason to fret or fear in the slightest, for nothing happens outside of His authority, nothing threatens His kingdom, nothing endangers His purposes and plans, and there is no throne higher than His. The enthronement of Jesus Christ is reason enough to let not our hearts be troubled or afraid. When we see chaos and trouble, and evil seeming to succeed in this world, and persecution closing in, we better not sweat for one second as if Jesus Christ our Lord were not seated on His throne with all authority in Heaven and on earth actively putting all things and all enemies under His feet. Let us not fear for the Lord reigns over all.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jesus told His Disciples Beforehand, for the encouragement of their faith, v. 29<\/b><\/p>\n

The disciples were also not to let their hearts be afraid for Jesus told His disciples beforehand what would happen, for the encouragement of their faith. If Jesus said trouble would happen, and then it happens, that is no reason for fear, it is reason to rejoice and take comfort and take heart. In fact, if Jesus said that trouble would come, and then it didn\u2019t come, that would in fact be reason to be troubled and be afraid. But Jesus said that it would happen, so that when it did, they and we, would have every reason to not be troubled, but to take heart.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jesus gives the disciples His words for the encouragement of their faith. So the Word is the main source wherein our faith is strengthened.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Words of Jesus are to be our chief comfort and hope.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Ruler of the world has no claim on Jesus, v. 30<\/b><\/p>\n

We also ought not to let our hearts be troubled, for the ruler of this world has no hold, or claim on Jesus. Jesus is above all other rulers, and even above Satan himself. There is no threat even from him, or from any other in authority that would oppose Christ and His disciples. And if we are Christ\u2019s, he also has no claim on us. He has nothing on us. No claim, no hold, no guilt Christ hasn\u2019t removed, no sin that Christ hasn\u2019t paid for, no accusation Jesus doesn\u2019t put to rest, and no power Jesus does not overcome.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Jesus does as the Father commanded Him, v. 31<\/b><\/p>\n

Finally we are not to let our hearts be troubled, for Jesus does just as the Father has commanded Him. This means that when Jesus is crucified and buried, and then when Jesus leaves them for heaven, He is doing all that the Father has commanded Him, and that means that everything is going according to plan. None of it is failure, not of it is loss or weakness, none of it is defeat. It is all success.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jesus tells his disciples that He will be going away not because the ruler of this world has compelled Him to do so, but out of obedience to the Father.<\/span><\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/b><\/p>\n

Last night in family worship we read 2 Chronicles chapter 20. In 2 Chronicles 20 there are multiple enemy armies of the people of Judah who have entirely surrounded the people and King Jehoshaphat. Everything from a worldly perspective looks like they are about to be defeated and destroyed. So King Jehoshaphat stands up in front of the assembly of the people and he prays to God in Heaven. And He prays according to God\u2019s promises and faithfulness and past help and instruction. And then he closes his prayer saying, \u201c<\/span>O our God, will you not execute judgment on them? For we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

And then the Spirit of God comes upon one of the Levites and he stands and tells the people to not be afraid or dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours, but the Lord\u2019s. He tells them that they will not even need to fight, but just to stand and hold their position and God will give them victory, saying, <\/span>\u00a0Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, and the Lord will be with you.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

So the next morning they go out to battle and stand before their enemies and they simply begin to pray and sing praises to Yahweh God, and lo and behold, God had set an ambush against the enemies of Judah, and their enemies began to fight against one another and destroyed one another, without the people of Judah lifting a sword, and there was not one who escaped.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And I cannot help but make this connection to our passage today. The people of Judah had every reason to be afraid and let their hearts be troubled for they were entirely surrounded by their enemies ready to be utterly destroyed. But even though it looked like sure defeat, all was going exactly according to plan. They couldn\u2019t see that God had set an ambush against their enemies and that they would turn to fight and destroy one another.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So Church, no matter what reasons it may look like we have to let our hearts be troubled and afraid, let us not do so. Let us remember that the battle is the Lord\u2019s, and there is more going on than we can see. Though enemy hordes may totally surround us, we are just to trust and pray and sing Psalms. For our God will fight for us and can cause the enemy to turn in on itself and we will be rescued.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Let us always remember these words of Jesus: <\/span>\u00a0<\/b>Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.<\/span><\/p>\n

Click here for the sermon audio<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

25\u00a0\u201cThese things I have spoken to you while I am still with you.\u00a026\u00a0But the\u00a0Helper, the Holy Spirit,\u00a0whom the Father will send in my name,\u00a0he will teach you all things and\u00a0bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.\u00a027\u00a0Peace I leave with you;\u00a0my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":685,"featured_media":4335,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,25,27,30,32],"tags":[1485,205,274,382,433,485,557,562,563,596,1414,678,679,687,699,765,1105,1114,1172,1484,1458],"class_list":{"0":"post-4334","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-commentary","8":"category-faith","9":"category-gospel","10":"category-preaching","11":"category-theology","12":"tag-afraid","13":"tag-bible","14":"tag-christ","15":"tag-disciples","16":"tag-encouragement","17":"tag-fear","18":"tag-god","19":"tag-gospel","20":"tag-gospels","21":"tag-heart","22":"tag-hearts","23":"tag-jenkins","24":"tag-jesus","25":"tag-john","26":"tag-joshua","27":"tag-lord","28":"tag-scripture","29":"tag-sermon","30":"tag-spirit","31":"tag-trouble","32":"tag-troubled","33":"entry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/01\/waters.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4293,"url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/misguided-desires-for-heaven\/","url_meta":{"origin":4334,"position":0},"title":"Misguided Desires for Heaven","author":"Joshua Jenkins","date":"December 28, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"36\u00a0Simon Peter said to him, \u201cLord, where are you going?\u201d\u00a0Jesus answered him,\u00a0\u201cWhere I am going\u00a0you cannot follow me now,\u00a0but you will follow afterward.\u201d\u00a037\u00a0Peter said to him, \u201cLord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.\u201d\u00a038\u00a0Jesus answered,\u00a0\u201cWill you lay down your life for me?\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Faith"","block_context":{"text":"Faith","link":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/category\/faith\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2020\/12\/heavens.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2020\/12\/heavens.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2020\/12\/heavens.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2020\/12\/heavens.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2020\/12\/heavens.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2020\/12\/heavens.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3468,"url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/crazy-good-news\/","url_meta":{"origin":4334,"position":1},"title":"Crazy Good News","author":"Joshua Jenkins","date":"January 4, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The gospel of Jesus Christ is the good news that guilty sinners are reconciled to a holy and just God through the perfect life, sacrificial death, bodily resurrection and ascension of Jesus to the right hand of God where he sits even now interceding for his people. 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