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Archive for the tag “Sin Debt”

18 Apr 2019

The Sacrifice

Throughout centuries, words were written down for eternal purpose. These words were complete when it was put together and called God’s Word – the Bible. It’s interesting to see how each author had a message to share. Scholars point out stories which depict Jesus Christ from one book to the next. The books are intertwined to relay God’s message – we all need a savior to save us from our sins. In the first book of the Bible, we see our need for a Savior.

Genesis 3:13-15 tells the story of sin entering the world for the first time. The woman ate the fruit that was forbidden because of the serpent – God’s enemy (and ours) Satan. God said because of this act of defiance, there will be “enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” From this account, we know the why of the story. But the Bible continues as it answers the how, where, and when this will come about.

Scholars point to passages throughout the Bible giving foreshadow of Jesus. Abraham’s sacrifice on Mount Moriah was one of the passages foreshadows Jesus’ sacrifice. Genesis 22: 2 begins the story of God’s call to Abraham concerning his promised son. Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.” On the third day of traveling, God showed Abraham the place where the sacrifice needed to be made.

The story continues in Genesis 22:6-8. Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”

“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.

“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.

God did provide the sacrifice for Abraham’s offering after God saw Abraham’s willingness to obey. But the real sacrifice still needed to be displayed in other ways. We jump a few centuries later to a captive people in the land of Egypt. At the right time, God made a way for His people to be delivered from their bondage. It took four hundred years to come to the point of sacrificed lamb’s blood to be poured out for the sake of the people.

This event was called Passover because of the sacrificed lamb’s blood was put on their door posts so that the angel of death would pass over that house. Everyone in the house would be saved if the blood of the lamb was poured out for them. After the Jews were delivered, they celebrated this event year after year. It was the first of the seven major festivals they celebrated each and every year.

It seems pretty cruel to sacrifice animals, but God said it must be done in order to cover sins. Leviticus 17:11 stated: For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.

It seems harsh to sacrifice animals, but sin was the reason. Sins of the people had to be resolved. Year after year, a lamb had to be sacrificed until Jesus. The perfect Lamb needed to be sacrificed for all sins – past, present and future. A one-time act of sacrifice will wipe away every sin. It was God’s plan from the beginning.

John the Baptist was the first one to recognize Jesus as the perfect Lamb. In John 1:29, John said of Jesus, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” When Jesus was baptized, God spoke this word about Him in Matthew 3:16-17. As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” Only a perfect Lamb was able to take away the sins of the people.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him (John 3:16-17). God’s plan was coming together perfectly.

At the right time, Jesus fulfilled the prophecy Abraham spoke about to Isaac when God would provide the Lamb for sacrifice on the very mountain God showed Abraham thousands of years before. At just the right time, Jesus’ fulfillment was made on the celebration of Passover – the time of recognition of Israel’s deliverance from death.

God’s plan is still at work. The world is still being redeemed by the blood of His perfect Lamb, Jesus. He fulfills everything as He states in His Word at the right time. He did everything for us; all we have to do is believe. Something I heard not long ago – sin doesn’t keep you out of heaven, unbelief does.

Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends (John 15:13).

With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died, he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!” Mark 15:37-38

“The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.” John 10:17-18

Do you believe Jesus is who He said He is? Do you believe Jesus did what He said He would do? Believe in the one who was sent to take away your sins. This is the season to recognize Jesus’ sacrifice. Remember what He did for you today.

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12 Apr 2019

The Underlying Issue

A couple of weeks ago, I posted about some of the deception that has crept into the church body. It generated a few comments on my Facebook page. I don’t claim to know all the answers to the questions that have been raised concerning church issues. It’s an imperfect world that is ruled by our sin nature.

We don’t like to talk much about our sin nature or our sins in general. I have things I deal with on a daily basis that I don’t really like talking (or write) about. It’s only by God’s grace that I survived my past and live to confess I am saved by the grace of God, not by my works or by my “good” nature. Nothing in me is worth saving, but Jesus sought me and caught me and transformed my thinking.

I couldn’t change my nature on my own. It goes against who I am as a human being. I have proclivities that are natural to me and my nature doesn’t want to change. Yet, I changed. Not because of who I am, but because of whose I am. Jesus bought me at a huge price. It was a very slow process to change the way I think and the way I act. It’s because of Jesus that I live differently today. I’m not perfect. I still fail to live as I should as His follower. When I wake up in the morning, I am given a new day. The old has passed away and a new day has dawned. I can start over with a clean slate. That’s God’s mercy at work.

We have a big problem in this world today. We are all sinful people. The things that hinder my relationship with Jesus are probably different from the ones that hinder you. But we all suffer from our sin nature. In God’s mercy, He sent Jesus – not to condemn the world, but to save us (John 3:16-17).

God could not and will not look upon sin. Sin was introduced to the perfect world and the world has been forever changed. We are condemned to live a life less than what God intended. Sin does that. God cannot overlook our sins. Our sin nature condemns us to live without a relationship with God. Today, the world is going further away from God. It’s like a vortex pulling us down into the abyss. But we don’t have to go as the world goes. Jesus breaks the pull of the abyss and sets us free. Jesus loved us enough to pull us out by His death and resurrection – death was defeated by the blood of Jesus!

If you remember from my previous post, my friend thought God changed with the times. I countered with I didn’t believe God changes with culture. First God is love. True – He is but He also does not love sin. He never has and He never will. Second, sin has always been sin. Sin never changes. Culture just changes what we call sin; it deceives us into thinking we are right when God says it’s wrong.

Jesus loved everyone He met. But He did not tolerate their sin. He told the adulteress woman, to go and sin no more. He told the rich young man to sell all his possessions and come follow me. After spending the day with Jesus, the tax collector recognized his sins and changed the way he conducted business. Jesus told the Pharisees to repent. He cried over Jerusalem because of their unbelief. Jesus grieved over those who were hard-hearted and would not repent.

Some of the folks listened to His teaching and chose to walk with Him; but many turned away because His teaching was hard to live out. His teaching goes against our nature. Jesus’ teaching still tells us to live differently. He calls us to repentance – to turn away from the life of sin and to walk with Him. When we walk with Him, we change. It’s a transforming life, a process to become more like Him.

God does not change and His love endures forever. That knowledge is the foundation of my hope. If He changed, how firm would be my foundation? He doesn’t change like shifting sand. We are told to build our lives upon a rock – one that is unmovable – a sure foundation.

Culture is constantly changing. What’s good today will be old and outdated tomorrow. I can’t live that way. I need something more secure. I have found the answer in Jesus. For this I am truly grateful. My sins of the past have been removed and I have been redeemed for the new life in Jesus. Everyone has the opportunity to follow Him, but not everyone will. My prayer is that you are walking with Him today. If not, then I hope you will be one of the few who find Him today and let Him transform you too.

Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God. John 3:18-21

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06 Aug 2014

It’s Free!

When I do mundane chores like mowing the grass, my mind tends to wander. Usually, I will start to think about spiritual things. Okay, most of the time it’s just meaningless stuff. One time while I was mowing, I started thinking about my perfect yard. Well, my dream of a perfect yard. As I was mowing, I was looking at mostly weeds with a little grass mixed in. When I first moved into my house fifteen years ago, I really worked to maintain the grass and keep the flower beds weed free. But I got sick and couldn’t maintain my yard as I should have done. I just didn’t have the desire to keep it up. Now that I am feeling good, the weeds are just too overwhelming. It would cost big bucks to get the yard looking good again. Now, I am just not willing to pay the price of a beautiful yard.

While I was pushing the mower – no riding mower for me – I was thinking about the cost to live these days. We like free stuff, don’t we. But everything has a price; nothing is really free. Except the freedom we find in Jesus. Jesus said He came to set the prisoners free (Luke 4:18). Our sins keep us bound and unable to live free. Jesus sets us free from our sin nature – our prison; our bodies of death and decay. Jesus paid the price for everyone. The cost of our freedom came through Jesus’ death and resurrection. Nothing we can do in ourselves will pay the price. The price has to be a perfect sacrifice. God says a lamb of perfection must be slaughtered in order to pay the price of sin.

God gave His people the of sacrifice thousands of years ago. But they had to do it annually. There was no way the sacrifice could do the work once and keep them from sinning. It was impossible. With Jesus all things are possible! He fulfilled the role of the perfect Lamb for once and for all. Nothing else has to be done. Jesus said on the cross with His last breath – “It is finished!” So with those words, I received a free gift when I said I believe Jesus died for my sins. He took the payment that was due for me and paid the price by His blood. But not just that, He defeated death by walking out of the grave. He didn’t stay dead! So not only do I have payment for my sins, I have the free gift of living with Jesus in heaven for eternity. It just keeps getting better. We live with the expectation that there is something more after we die. We have a hope that comes by the way of Jesus and His sacrifice.

My grass will wither and die – especially if it’s not raining. We too can be seen as grass to eternal beings. We too will wither and die one day. But with the promise that Jesus gives us, death for us who believe is just another transition to eternity with Jesus. One breath expelled here and a new breath taken in heaven. It’s not the end of us, but the true beginning. What a blessing to understand that Jesus sets us free from death, and it didn’t cost us anything to receive this gift. It’s free for anyone who will believe in His life and resurrection!

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Then he (Jesus) rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” Luke 4:18-21

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