Skip to main content

 Christ Took Our Punishment

Romans 3:21-25; 4:20-25

“But now God has shown us a way to be made right with Him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in His grace, freely makes us right in His sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when He freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed His life, shedding His blood. “

A relationship with God is not some kind of pagan-like “quid-pro-quo” religious arrangement where God becomes obligated to “bless” me because I’ve ticked all the boxes in moralistic rule-keeping. The truth is, there is only One human being that has ever kept the whole of the Law of Moses perfectly, always. That Person was Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word of God. He alone kept the Law of God perfectly as a man in perfect fellowship with God the Father, empowered by the Holy Spirit. His utter obedience took Him to lay down His life in obedience  as THE sacrifice for the sin of the whole world. His death was singular, unique, and the only sacrifice that could take away sin, not just cover it. By His death, He destroyed death and by rising again gives eternal life to all who will believe Him, turn from self-reliance and religious moralism to be forgiven and by the Power of the Holy Spirit, be born again into a new Life, eternal Life. Those who believe, receive a new heart, a new spirit, a new nature and the indwelling Holy Spirit giving the believer the power to really LIVE that new Life, united to Jesus Christ.

Romans 4:13-17

“Clearly, God’s promise to give the whole earth to Abraham and his descendants was based not on his obedience to God’s law, but on a right relationship with God that comes by faith. If God’s promise is only for those who obey the law, then faith is not necessary and the promise is pointless. For the law always brings punishment on those who try to obey it. (The only way to avoid breaking the law is to have no law to break!) So the promise of God is received by faith. It is given as a free gift. And we are all certain to receive it, whether or not we live according to the law of Moses, if we have faith like Abraham’s. For Abraham is the father of all who believe. That is what the Scriptures mean when God told him, “I have made you the father of many nations.” This happened because Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who creates new things out of nothing.”

In Jesus Christ, God make those who were dead in their sin and rebellion alive again. It’s not some kind of refurbished “old me”, but a new creation, new things where new things never existed. God fulfilled His promises to Abraham, to the whole human race through Jesus Christ. For, no matter how many promises God has made to mankind, they are all fulfilled in Jesus Christ. That is why we can say, “YES, and THANK YOU!!!” to God. Abraham believed God when there was no way, humanly speaking, for what God had promised to come about.

Romans 4:20-25

“Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God. He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever He promises. And because of Abraham’s faith, God counted him as righteous. And when God counted him as righteous, it wasn’t just for Abraham’s benefit. It was recorded for our benefit, too, assuring us that God will also count us as righteous if we believe in Him, the One who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was handed over to die because of our sins, and He was raised to life to make us right with God.”

God is able to implement His own promises. That means that He can redeem your life, bring you out of essential and spiritual death and by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, give you a new Life, an eternal Life, a living relationship with Himself. He is calling; will you answer?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

 James 1:5-8 " If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and He will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.   But when you ask Him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind.   Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.   Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do." We must remember that God is never upset that we don't know or understand how to live out the New Life He has given to us. That Life is now being lived out in us by the Holy Spirit. This Life of the Kingdom is radically different that the life we are accustomed to living in concert with the world. One of the main marks of a true follower of Jesus Christ is that there is change and ongoing change in us by the Holy Spirit. We do not remain as we once were. The Holy Spirit is conforming us to the Image o...
Post a Comment
Read more
 HEBREWS 10:1-2, 10-18 "The sacrifices under that system ( the Old Covenant) were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship.   If they could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped, for the worshipers would have been purified once for all time, and their feelings of guilt would have disappeared.   For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time.  Under the Old Covenant, the priest stands and ministers before the altar day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins.   But our High Priest offered Himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then He sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand.   There He waits until His enemies are humbled and made a footstool under His feet.   For by that one offering He forever m...
Post a Comment
Read more
 WORRY AND PRIDE Tim Keller said that it takes pride to worry. If we have made a mental or emotional determination about how our lives should run, what should happen and how things will play out and then things do not go as planned, we get upset. We decide what life should look like, trusting our own perspective and understanding, our own pride. We become worried due to the fact that our calculations have not proved to be accurate. Now what!? King Solomon, the world's wisest man stated, "Trust in the LORD with ALL your heart and don't rely or lean on your own understanding. In ALL your ways acknowledge that Him ( that He is the Lord of life, that He is in control and will lead those who believe, trust and rely on Him for all of life's details) and He will direct your path." Humility says, "Well, that's not what I expected, but then I don't see as God sees. I believe He has my life in hand, and He is directing things even if I can't understand them...
Post a Comment
Read more