“And when I passed by you and saw you wallowing in your blood, I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’ I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’
If you don't understand the allusion, read verse 5. Israel is compared to aborted infants left on the side of the road to be exposed, tossed out like common trash. Unwanted by the world and unloved, that is until the LORD passed by.
He saw us kicking about, freshly born infants still covered in blood, crying and helpless, and he said to us, "Live!" No longer unwanted, no longer a mistake, no longer dying, but now commanded to live. This life that would have gone to waste has been given new hope, new meaning, and new life. No longer must we die, but we must live! It is a command.
So even when the world doesn't want you, even if your own mother and father forsake you, and even if the everyone turns against you, know that God wants you to live. God values your life. You are being taken care of even as you lay kicking and screaming in your own blood, tossed out and trampled on, defiled and broken down. You are loved so "Live!"
Showing posts with label blood. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blood. Show all posts
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Friday, July 1, 2011
Acts 10:15
"Again a voice came to him a second time, "What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy.""
Are you holy? Have you been washed by the blood of Jesus Christ? Has the cross taken away all of your sins?
Truly if you are in Christ by faith in his blood then you are holy. God has pardoned you. Because you believed God has done what he has promised, it has been credited to you as righteousness.(Gen 15:6) So what God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy. You are a new creation (2Cor 5:17) not because of anything you did, but because God cleansed you. You are holy because God is holy and is the one who makes you holy. (Lev 21:7,15,23;22:9,16,32)
So do not blaspheme God by calling what is holy unholy. If you have believed in Christ, do not dare to deny what Christ has done through confessing your sinful nature. You are no longer sinners, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (1Cor 6:11) You have died to it,(Rom 6:2) how can you still confess to be in it? Profess that "Though I was once a sinner, Christ took away my sin, and by his Power I am kept holy, pure, and blameless" lest you deny the reality of that which justifies you, Christ Jesus and him crucified.
Or do you not believe the gospel of grace so generously poured out on your behalf?
Are you holy? Have you been washed by the blood of Jesus Christ? Has the cross taken away all of your sins?
Truly if you are in Christ by faith in his blood then you are holy. God has pardoned you. Because you believed God has done what he has promised, it has been credited to you as righteousness.(Gen 15:6) So what God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy. You are a new creation (2Cor 5:17) not because of anything you did, but because God cleansed you. You are holy because God is holy and is the one who makes you holy. (Lev 21:7,15,23;22:9,16,32)
So do not blaspheme God by calling what is holy unholy. If you have believed in Christ, do not dare to deny what Christ has done through confessing your sinful nature. You are no longer sinners, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (1Cor 6:11) You have died to it,(Rom 6:2) how can you still confess to be in it? Profess that "Though I was once a sinner, Christ took away my sin, and by his Power I am kept holy, pure, and blameless" lest you deny the reality of that which justifies you, Christ Jesus and him crucified.
Or do you not believe the gospel of grace so generously poured out on your behalf?
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Romans 3:25
"God displayed [Jesus Christ] publicly as a Mercy Seat through faith in His blood. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed;"
We have a public mercy seat for the forgiveness of sins, but not everyone realizes what it is. They see it clearly, but they do not understand it because it is not of this world, but now that this mercy seat has been revealed, there is no excuse not to come to it other than a failure to recognize it for what it is, that is a failure to recognize the goodness of the revealed Christ because it is foolishness to the wise and incomprehensibly foreign sinful man.
This is why we Christians must lead others to the mercy seat and testify to it's goodness. The grace is publicly available to all and is not resisted but simply not understood as grace. God's sovereign work is not recognized and is his basis for judgment because now that there is no condemnation in Christ, there is no justification for remaining condemned. The world must be brought to recognize Christ and confess that He is Lord and He is for them. They only need to come to the mercy seat empty-handed.
This is the good news that we take part in sharing: That God has elected himself for suffering and damnation and that God has elected us for salvation through Christ. Salvation has come to all men, so come to salvation!
We have a public mercy seat for the forgiveness of sins, but not everyone realizes what it is. They see it clearly, but they do not understand it because it is not of this world, but now that this mercy seat has been revealed, there is no excuse not to come to it other than a failure to recognize it for what it is, that is a failure to recognize the goodness of the revealed Christ because it is foolishness to the wise and incomprehensibly foreign sinful man.
This is why we Christians must lead others to the mercy seat and testify to it's goodness. The grace is publicly available to all and is not resisted but simply not understood as grace. God's sovereign work is not recognized and is his basis for judgment because now that there is no condemnation in Christ, there is no justification for remaining condemned. The world must be brought to recognize Christ and confess that He is Lord and He is for them. They only need to come to the mercy seat empty-handed.
This is the good news that we take part in sharing: That God has elected himself for suffering and damnation and that God has elected us for salvation through Christ. Salvation has come to all men, so come to salvation!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)