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God’s people can never by any possibility be punished for their sins. God has punished them already in the person of Christ, Christ, their substitute, has endured the full penalty for all their guilt, and neither the justice nor the love of God can ever exact again that which Christ has paid. Punishment can never happen to a child of God in the judicial sense”
C H Spurgeon
oh i love this!
i love this about God!
i love this about grace!
this is my reality! i am innocent and free from sin and free from the penalty and punishment for sin because Jesus paid it all for me and redeemed me and set me free and now i am holy, innocent, new, clean and acceptable to God!
But his Son became a human and died. So God made peace with you, and now he lets you stand in his presence as people who are holy and faultless and innocent. Colossians 1:22
Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him;
He has put Him to grief.
When You make His soul an offering for sin, Isaiah 53:10 NKJV
Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, Isaiah 53:10 NIV
But the LORD was pleased
To crush Him, putting Him to grief;
If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, Isaiah 53:10 NASB
Jesus was the sacrifice and sin offering that takes away the sins of the world, the lamb of God that pays the price and brings forgiveness.
Jesus paid the price for MY sin when he died on the cross.
He paid the price for YOUR sin.
For our sin.
Those that have faith in Jesus, who are born again, who are washed clean by his sacrifice, who have exchanged our guilt for his righteousness – need not fear the judgement of God. when we pass from this life into the next through death we will find ourselves opening our eyes, to see God, and hear him say “welcome, you belong here with me.” beuatiful, amazing, wonderous. we belong forever with God because we are now his children by faith in Jesus Christ who gave his life to make this so.
this morning i had the privaledge of leading communion and sharing the communion message at our morning service.
often when God speaks to me through His Word it is the small words that jump out – like ALL or WILL or CAN – and in the following passage the words MY and IT jumped out to me.
Jesus picked up a cup of wine and gave thanks to God. He then gave it to his disciples and said, “Take this and drink it. 28This is my blood, and with it God makes his agreement with you. It will be poured out, so that many people will have their sins forgiven. Matthew 26:27-28
Jesus said it is by MY blood and with IT God makes his agreement with us.
The word MY is very personal. My.
It is with the blood of Jesus that we have forgiveness of sins, that we can be new and clean and holy and be called friends of God.
The agreement brings peace with God.
By faith we have been made acceptable to God. And now, because of our Lord Jesus Christ, we live at peace with God. Christ has also introduced us to God’s undeserved kindness on which we take our stand. So we are happy, as we look forward to sharing in the glory of God. Romans 5:1-2
Christ died for us at a time when we were helpless and sinful. No one is really willing to die for an honest person, though someone might be willing to die for a truly good person. But God showed how much he loved us by having Christ die for us, even though we were sinful. Romans 5:6-8
And God was pleased
for him to make peace
by sacrificing his blood
on the cross,
so that all beings in heaven
and on earth
would be brought back to God.
You used to be far from God. Your thoughts made you his enemies, and you did evil things.
But his Son became a human and died. So God made peace with you, and now he lets you stand in his presence as people who are holy and faultless and innocent. Colossians 1:20-22
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23
Christ sacrificed his life’s blood to set us free, which means that our sins are now forgiven. Christ did this because God was so kind to us. Ephesians 1:7
But God was merciful! We were dead because of our sins, but God loved us so much that he made us alive with Christ, and God’s wonderful kindness is what saves you. Ephesians 2:4
God’s Son has all the brightness of God’s own glory and is like him in every way. By his own mighty word, he holds the universe together. After the Son had washed away our sins, he sat down at the right side of the glorious God in heaven. hebrews 1:3
in the style of facebook updates…. I really like zechariah 3 and the picture it is for all of us – once dirty and guilty – now clean and clothed and innocent by the grace and love of God! God’s love is everlasting – do you know he is real and that he has made a way and will accept you?
I was given another vision. This time Joshua the high priest was standing in front of the LORD’s angel. And there was Satan, standing at Joshua’s right side, ready to accuse him. But the LORD said, “Satan, you are wrong. Jerusalem is my chosen city, and this man was rescued like a stick from a flaming fire.”
Joshua’s clothes were filthy. So the angel told some of the people to remove Joshua’s filthy clothes. Then he said to Joshua, “This means you are forgiven. Now I will dress you in priestly clothes.”
I spoke up and said, “Also put a clean priestly turban on his head.” Then they dressed him in priestly clothes and put the turban on him, while the LORD’s angel stood there watching.
After this, the angel encouraged Joshua by telling him that the LORD All-Powerful had promised:
If you truly obey me, I will put you in charge of my temple, including the courtyard around it, and you will be allowed to speak at any time with the angels standing beside me. Listen carefully, High Priest Joshua and all of you other priests. You are a sign of things to come, because I am going to bring back my servant, the Chosen King. Joshua, I have placed in front of you a stone with seven sides. I will engrave something on that stone, and in a single day I will forgive this guilty country. Then each of you will live at peace and entertain your friends in your own vineyard and under your own fig trees.
Zechariah 3
- i read this last night and whenever i read it i am so mightily encouraged. and so i thought i would share it with you…
a spade is still a spade. sin is still sin.
often we want to dumb sin down. we dont want to call it as it is. we call it a mistake. or a comprimise.
in the awesome book i am reading Precious Remedies by Thomas Brooks, the author breaks down all the devices and schemes of our enemy – so that we can a) know our enemy and b) know also our great God and submit to him and resist the devil.
Satan decieves us By painting sin with virtue’s colors: For remedies, consider that
1) sin is never the less vile by being so painted
2) the more sin is so painted the more dangerous it is
3) we ought to look on sin with that eye with which within a few hours we shall see it
4) sin cost the life-blood of the Lord Jesus
(from Precious Remedies by Thomas Brooks)
if we saw sin as sin, as God saw it, as the foul and detestible action it is, that seperates us from our everlasting Father, and makes us guilty before him, destroying us from teh inside out – we might resist more. its all about perspective.
is our own fleshly desire and tempory pleasure more important than our relationship with God?
i am so glad that Jesus is the one who takes away our sin and washes us clean and makes the way for us to be acceptable to God. i dont want to take for granted his grace. i dont want to walk away from him and be distant – i want to have first love, and peace and true friendship.
by his grace i walk. by his grace i want to be led. by his grace i want my heart to be perceptive to the choices before me.
you know, we can trust God with our hearts. we can trust that he is God and mighty. we can trust that he sees and he knows.
we can trust that he is with us.
God makes all things new. he forgives and makes us holy. he transforms us from what and who we are into the beautiful character of his son.
he is the God of new beginnings, who makes a way where there seems no way, who brings comfort and hope to those drowning in hopelessness.
God is with us. he was with us in the most powerful way – he came, Jesus, and dwelt with humanity.
do you know that Romans 8 says that because God so freely gave his son, to die on the cross, to be crushed for our sin, that we can be confident and assured that he will do more than we can imagine, that he is for us, not against us, that his love is everlasting. we can turst God.
do we worry if God loves us? do we worry if he hears us? do we worry if he is far away? these are things we DONT need to worry about – because his bible says that he loves us so much that he sent his son as hte perfect sacrifice so we can now be acceptable, and that we now can come boldly into his real presence and that he lives within us and will never leave us.
this is why i worship God.
even in the darkness and darkest times – he is with us and for us and all i need. even in the hard places when i hurt, he is all i need.
because i trust Him and he is all i trust him to be.
he is all i need.
“I want you to open their eyes, so that they will turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God. Then their sins will be forgiven, and by faith in me they will become part of God’s holy people.” Jesus in Acts 26:18
Now you may think it is totally odd to have the lyrics by an (obviously?) not christian rock band here… but apart from the fact i really like their music (when i catch snips of it) i get it. and it speaks.
i think they often capture the heart of a genteration. music can do this. every now and then comes a band or a song that is the unspoken heartbeat of a generation…
and i am sure God is saying ARE YOU LISTENING? music is relevant. it is emotional and emotive. its not just music it is substance.
this song has some weight and a heart cry. what do people want – a clean slate. a new start. to be forgiven. to forgive themselves. righteousness.
have a listen and let your heart be moved by the heart… moved to pray for this generation, your generation, my generation, the generatino to come. and moved to pray for these guys who are obviously i think asking some questions….
” So let mercy come
And wash away
What I’ve done
I’ve faced myself
To cross out what I’ve become
Erase myself
And let go of what I’ve done”
the chorus reads powerfully…. So let mercy come
And wash away What I’ve done I’ve faced myself To cross out what I’ve become Erase myself And let go of what I’ve done
Jesus with certain hands washes away what we’ve done. His mercy and his sacrifice earases all our sin, so we can let go and move on clean and new. Jesus paid the price for forgiveness. We can be forgiven and have acceptance with God.
Last night in our housegroup we talked about forgiveness and how God makes us new. totally new.
Colossians 3:1-4 You have been raised to life with Christ. Now set your heart on what is in heaven, where Christ rules at God’s right side. Think about what is up there, not about what is here on earth. You died, which means that your life is hidden with Christ, who sits beside God. Christ gives meaning to your life…
Colossians 3:10 Each of you is now a new person. You are becoming more and more like your Creator, and you will understand him better.
God does not hold our past against us. what we’ve done is part of who we WERE not of who we ARE now. because of the grace of God and the sacrifice of Jesus we can be new and clean and forgiven and holy.
Colossians 1:21-22 You used to be far from God. Your thoughts made you his enemies, and you did evil things. But his Son became a human and died. So God made peace with you, and now he lets you stand in his presence as people who are holy and faultless and innocent.
Jesus is calling. Speaking. Will we stand up and speak for him and with him so that these generations know the hope we have, the reality we have of forgiveness and love and life?
ps i really like linkin park and this is a great video!
When Jesus says, “Come to me,” he doesn’t say come to religion, come to a system, or come to a certain doctrine. This is a very personal invitation to a God, and invitation to a Savior.
Our God is not aloof—he’s not so far above us that he can’t see and understand our problems. Jesus isn’t a God who stayed on the mountaintop—he’s a Savior who came down and lived and worked with the people. Everywhere he went, the crowds followed, drawn together by the magnet that was—and is—the Savior.
The life of Jesus Christ is a message of hope, a message of mercy, a message of life in a dark world.
There is nothing standing in the way of us coming to God… except ourselves. We are the only obstacle we face. Jesus has made the way for us to come to God. His death can make us new and forgiven and clean and holy. When Jesus died the veil between the Holy of Holies, the most holy place of hte Jewish temple where the presence of God dwelled, was torn. The veil was torn from top to bottom to show us all that there was now a way to God.
Jesus says come.
Come to me.
and we who are christians can come to him and find all we need. peace. hope. rest. comfort. encoruagement. courage. faith. healing. strength. security. love. though life is not easy we can be confident that Jesus walks with us, is with us always, even to the end of the world.
there is nothing that stands between us and Jesus, except ourselves. Again we ourselves put the obstacles there. Hebrews 4 says that we now can with boldness come to God’s throne and find grace at our time of need. We are God’s children and he does not turn us away.
There is nothing that seperates us from teh love of God. Jesus gave his all that we might know God.
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