Tag Archives: the Gospel

Feb 13 – And He Will Be Forgiven

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Leviticus 1-4

The priests were given specific instructions for sacrifices for sins. And the instructions varied according to the sin a person was confessing, and on the animal they brought to be sacrificed. Every one of the million or so Jews in the desert required an animal sacrifice for the sins they committed. And, if they were like me, they probably needed to visit the priest every day.

Next time I complain about being too busy, I’m going to remember what a day in the life of Aaron and his sons must have looked like.

“The priest shall make atonement for him, and he will be forgiven.” Those words are repeated several times in the chapters we read today. Of course they pertain to the work of the Old Testament priests who stood over the altar and shed the blood of thousands of animals so that the children of God could be forgiven for their sins.

But we live after the cross. Jesus, the Lamb of God, the Perfect Sacrifice, fulfilled all the requirements handed down to Aaron for atonement for sin, for forgiving us. He died once and for all.

It’s not that what we read today isn’t still required for forgiveness. “Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” still applies today. But praise God, Jesus’ blood covers it all!

Every detail has been perfectly fulfilled by Jesus. And because He offered Himself to be sacrificed, I can go to Him and know forgiveness is mine for the asking.

My Priest, Jesus, has made atonement for me, and I am forgiven.

Jan 28 – I Belong

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Genesis 46-47

I was thinking about the famine again today as I read these chapters in Genesis. Joseph, who is sort of a picture of Jesus, held control of the only food in the land. Anyone who wanted to survive had to go to Joseph. He really was the only means of salvation.

But Joseph was accountable to Pharaoh. Every dime Joseph collected went into Pharaoh’s purse. Every animal surrendered went into Pharaoh’s pens. Every person who sold themselves became Pharaoh’s slave. In the end, all the money, livestock, land, and people belonged to Pharaoh. And everything Pharaoh gained came through Joseph.

Once again we see that God has provided salvation. We saw it in the Garden, in the flood, with Lot’s escape from Sodom, and here during the famine. And each time we see God providing one way of salvation. Not many ways. One.

Over and over in the Old Testament God will prepare us to meet Jesus. And each time we read an example of God’s saving grace toward His people, we will see He offers one plan. One escape route. One ark.

God wants all of us with Him. He loves the whole world. And He has provided one plan of salvation for us today. It’s a beautiful plan. It’s a simple plan. Like the people we read about today who had to go through Joseph, we have to go through Jesus. Joseph was their salvation from the famine. Jesus is ours from the consequences of sin.

And here’s what jumped out at me today. The people in Joseph’s day surrendered everything to Pharaoh. Money, all their worldly possessions, even themselves. When the people did that, they belonged to Pharaoh. They were his slaves. Pharaoh, through Joseph, provide food, and seed to plant food, protection, and life.

When I give myself to God, through the blood of His Son, I belong to Him. I am His servant for whom He provides all I need for this life and the life to come. But I, like the people we read about today, have to give Him everything. E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G.

And when I do, He forgives me, lavishes me with Himself, protects me from Satan, and prepares a place for me where I will live with Him forever. I belong to Him.

And I like it.

Jan 23 – Good Old Boys

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Genesis 32-34

I went on a Gospel Music cruise last week. (That’s why I’m playing catch-up with my posts today) We had a great time listening to great music and seeing a little bit of the world I’ve never seen before. Our hearts were blessed by the groups who sang throughout the week.

One group, the Dixie Melody Boys (I think) sang a song entitled “Good Old Boys”. Good old boys don’t get to heaven because they are good old boys. Living according to what someone thinks is right isn’t enough.

Simeon and Levi got revenge on Hamar and the whole city because Shechem had raped their sister. He needed to be punished according to what the brothers believed, so they gave what they thought was their right to give – death to every man, looting, stealing, kidnapping.

But their dad, Jacob, was not happy when he heard what his sons had done. Jacob didn’t shake his head and say, boys will be boys. He told his sons they had made a bad situation worse by their actions.

We humans tend to adopt our own standards of right and wrong. There are some people who refuse Jesus, yet are really nice folk. And some believe that should be enough to get them into heaven.

A verse ran through my head as I thought about this passage today. It tells us that there is a way that seems right by human standards, but in the end it leads to destruction.

The Bible is clear that there is only one way to the Father, one way to heaven. That is through the blood of Jesus. Only. It is by grace we are saved. Not of works so that no one can brag they’ve earned it on their own.

No, good old boys need Jesus just as much as the bad ones. All have sinned.

Yep. Even the good old boys.

Jan 10 – What is fair?

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Job 24-28

Doesn’t it seem that in this life, good people should be rewarded with health, happiness, and prosperity, while bad people should suffer the consequences for their evil? Does it seem to you like God ignores wrongdoing in some people? It’s not fair.

Job seems to be feeling this way. 24:12 says:

From the city men groan, and the souls of the wounded cry out; yet God does not pay attention to folly.

This chapter is full of examples of people getting away with murder. (and adultery, and dishonesty, …) God’s answer to the question comes later in the book and I hope you read it for yourself.

Let me remind you of something in the mean time. You are not God. But if you spend time getting to know God through the study of His written Word, you will see a God who loves every man, woman, and child. And He is zealously working in every life to draw each individual to Himself.

You can’t know how that is happening. You can only be sure it is happening. We only see a fraction of what is going on in anyone’s life. Even ours.

Being rich or successful or healthy doesn’t guarantee happiness or contentment, any more than struggles indicate sin. There are tortured souls at every level of society. I think of Robin Williams.

But there are blessed souls at every level of society, too. I think of a blogger friend of mine who suffers from ALS, and who continues to express his love for God from inside his paralyzed body. I think of my sister who continues to serve God while mourning the loss of her 22 year old son. I think of people in the Middle East who are being murdered with praise on their lips because they love the Lord.

I think what God would want us to know from Job’s example is to let it go. Quit looking around and comparing your life with anyone else’s. God wants you to look toward Him.

Do you want to talk about “fair”? Here’s one for you. You are a sinner. You’ve offended, disobeyed, disgusted God more than once. If God was “fair” according to our standards, you’d be broke, with painful sores, and alone with no hope.

Instead of questioning God about your idea of what is fair, you should be thanking Jesus for going to the cross. He was sinless. He never earned God’s wrath or deserved any consequence for anything. Yet He took on your sin. He died on a cross so you wouldn’t have to pay for what you’ve done.

Is that fair? No. But it is grace. And it’s your’s for the asking. Everything that has happened in your life up to this moment happened to bring you to the Savior. Don’t let this chance pass you by without falling on your knees in repentance, or in gratitude if you’ve already accepted Jesus as your Savior.

Then keep your eyes on Jesus. He is more than fair.

The Belt

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This post is a bit different from the ones you are used to seeing from me. It’s not based on any scripture I read today. It is, however, a lesson from God’s Word in action.

I went to the funeral yesterday of a man who lived his life according to the Bible. He was a godly, prayerful, joyful man who demonstrated God’s love in every aspect of his life.

His adult daughter wrote a letter to her dad and asked the pastor to read it at the service. It was a beautiful tribute to her father. In that letter, she shared an experience with her dad that changed her life.

She admitted that, as a teenager, she did things that concerned her parents. She went to places she should not have gone. And it was at one of those places that her father came to get her. He took her home, and sat with her in her bedroom. He said something like this:

“I’m at my wits end. I’ve tried to punish you, ground you, scold you, for the things you are doing. I see the road you’re traveling is heading to disaster and I don’t know what else I can do to stop you from going there. I love you, and you are breaking my heart. Right now what I need you to do is put yourself in my place. I want you to feel what I feel when I have to punish you for your choices.”

At this point, he took off his belt and handed it to her. “You deserve to be punished for disobeying me. So I want you to hit me with this belt. I want to take your punishment, so you know what it does to me every time I have to punish you.”

The daughter said she could not do it. She could not inflict pain on her dad for something she had done. And it was then she gave her life to the Lord.

This young woman saw Jesus in the face of her father.

You know, don’t you, that Jesus did much more for you than offering to be whipped with a belt. He suffered. He died a painful death on the cross. He was rejected by his own Father, so you wouldn’t have to be. Consider that for a minute.

I pray that you will thank Jesus for taking your punishment, by accepting Him as your Savior. I pray that you will think twice before you commit that sin that cost Him so much.

And, parents. I hope you’ll take something from this father’s example. I think it’s parenting at its finest.

I’m praying for you.

__________________

I am adding to this post a few days after I initially published it. I had lunch with this man’s widow yesterday and she shared the rest of the story which I think is really important.

What the daughter did not share in her letter was that on that night when she had this encounter with her dad, he ended up whipping her with his belt. He had offered to take the punishment for her, but just because she refused to allow him to, it didn’t mean the punishment didn’t have to be paid.

Friend, that is is something you need to understand. Your sins and mine WILL be paid for. There will be punishment for every sin we’ve ever committed. Jesus is offering to take that punishment. In fact, he already has. Now it’s up to you to allow him to cover your sins with his blood. Or you can refuse the offer and take the punishment yourself.

Someone is going to get the belt. It’s either going to be Jesus or you. Your choice.

I Remember

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I remember. I remember times I lied to my parents when I was a kid. I remember things I did in college I’m ashamed of. I remember the awful things I’ve done as an adult, things I’d rather not talk about. I am a sinner. And I remember.

But God doesn’t. When I confessed my sins He forgave and forgot them. He buried their memory in the deepest sea and promises never to remember them ever again. Ezekiel 20:42-44 says when we remember our ways, our doings which have defiled us, we will loathe ourselves because of the evil we’ve committed.

Then, he says, we’ll know God is the Lord when he deals with us, “not according to (our) wicked ways nor according to (our) corrupt doings.”

That’s Jesus for you. He paid for every one of the sins I’ve committed so I don’t have to. Hebrews 10 says He offered Himself as a sacrifice once and for all of us:

For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.

He goes on to say, “Their sins and lawless deeds I will remember no more.”

I don’t deserve this. But I am overwhelmed with gratitude and love for the One who has lavished me with grace. I want only to bring joy to my Savior.

Because I remember.

Renewed Days

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I read Lamentations this morning. God was unresponsive to the cries of the disobedient nation of Israel. There was a famine in the land and the Jews were not spared. In fact, the actions of some to survive are unimaginable. How desperate they were! Why did God reject his people?

Woe to us, for we have sinned. (5:16)

The last two verses of this sad book caused me to pause. Here’s what they say:

Renew our days of old, unless You have utterly rejected us, and are very angry with us.

The truth of the matter is God was angry, and they were rejected because of their disobedience.

Psalm 119 reminds me how important is God’s Word, how necessary it is that we obey it. God’s not playing around. He’s serious about sin. And so should we be. He has spelled out His demands, His Law, and has demonstrated the severe consequences for disobedience. This psalm challenges me to love Scripture and obey it. There is evidence of God’s holiness, power, and love on every page.

Then I read the beautiful letter Paul wrote to Philemon, and I am reminded what Jesus did for me. I sinned against God, like Onesimus sinned against Philemon. Philemon had owned Onesimus, but Onesimus walked away from him, may have stolen from him. God created me to be His, but I, too, walked away when I sinned. Onesimus owed a debt he could not pay. There’s no way I could pay my sin debt, either.

But Onesimus repented. He became a follower of Jesus, a helper to Paul. So Paul asked Philemon to forgive Onesimus, to accept him as a brother, to place any debt of Onesimus’ on Paul’s account. And Jesus did the same for me. He paid my enormous debt, asked the Father to forgive me, and accepted me as His child when I repented, too .

My days are renewed and I am not rejected, thanks to Jesus. I pray you can say the same.

Imbedded Truth

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My Bible reading plan for 2015 had me in the first two chapters of Lamentations this morning. I realize that this book, like all the Old Testament, tells us what happened or was going to happen to the flesh and blood people of that day. I know the buildings were brick and mortar, the wars resulted in bloodshed, the famines were severe. Real people suffering real hardships in real time.

Then I turned to the third chapter of Titus where Paul says something I hadn’t seen before. He said to avoid genealogies because they are “unprofitable and useless.” (Titus 3:9 NKJV) I had to stop and think about that. I myself have researched our family tree. And I know, for a Jew at that time, tracing their ancestry was everything to them. Why would Paul say genealogy is useless?

First of all, I thank God for that truth! Many people still today want to give importance to the genealogy of the Jewish nation, and can point to verses to back them up. Others can point to verses that proclaim there is no difference between Jews, Greeks, men, women. I’m not here to dispute or agree with either belief. Because I think God would have us see a bigger truth.

Psalm 119:137 says:

Righteous are You, O Lord, and upright are your judgments.

I believe God would have us see Him and our world from His vantage point when we read His written Word. “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world. But that the world, through Him, might be saved.” (John 3:16-17)

Yes, the Bible is made up of the accounts of individual people, nations, and events. But the purpose of recording all of that is to show us Who God is, what He demands, the result of disobedience, and the love of God for each of us, a love that sent Him to Calvary. As we read the Old Testament we see over and over a God who is Holy, Almighty, Just, a God who demands obedience and punishes disobedience. In the New Testament we see the same God, and One who loves each of us so completely He paid what we could not pay, the debt of our sin. We need to see that today. And that’s why God inspired men to record the events we read here.

If we read the Bible as an historical account, or a mystery novel trying to figure out the end from the clues, we miss the big, most important picture. I think that’s why Paul said genealogy is unprofitable. It’s just not important in the light of eternity.

Dear God, thank you for your written Word. Thank you for the men and women whose lives we read about, people who followed you, people who didn’t, people who were blessed, and people who suffered the consequences of sin. Because through those lives you have painted a picture of my own life and relationship with You. Thank you for the accounts of the life of Jesus, for revealing the fact that He is the one and only Savior of all of mankind, and that His forgiveness is available to anyone who believes. I pray that none of us will miss the relevant Truth imbedded in each book of the Bible. And may we apply that Truth to our lives today.

Inspired

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I love to read the Bible. When I do I am often reminded of a Truth that cements my belief in the Author. Or I might read something as though for the first time. When that happens I am often challenged, or convicted, or blessed. When I ask God to teach me, He does. When I ask Him to reveal Himself, He does.

Paul tells us:

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

The Bible was not given to us with the intent it sit on our shelves, waiting for that day when we take it down, open it to some random page, and expect God to give us a sign of some sort. The Bible was given by God to be our map, our owners manual, our text book, our iPhone, our love letter written by the One who loves us more than anybody else can.

When I started this blog in January of 2013, I wasn’t sure where it would go. But as time has passed I realize my burning desire is to encourage you to read and re-read the Bible, to study this precious Book every day, to think about it and talk about it, to pray that God will give you understanding.

Why? Because in its pages are the instructions for all of us to be the people God deserves, people who are holy, who love God and each other, and who are equipped to share the Gospel with a lost world.

Dearest Author, thank you for inspiring men to write down the things you wanted us – me – to know. Thank you that this Bible that I have in front of me is true, it’s understandable, it’s vital and relevant. Thank you that you loved us so much you wanted to put it in writing. May we cherish the pages, may we be faithful to read it every day, to commit it to memory, to think on it, and use it to be people eager to accomplish every good work, the work of sharing the Gospel. You deserve no less.

I Know Whom I’ve Believed

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I know not why God’s wondrous grace to me He has made known. Nor why, when I was so unworthy, Christ, in love, redeemed me for His own. “But I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I’ve committed unto Him against that day.”

If you went to church before the “contemporary” movement decided the old hymns are irrelevant, I bet you have a tune running through your head about now. I find myself singing Daniel W. Whittle’s hymn every time I read 2 Timothy 1:12. If you get a chance I hope you take the time to read all five verses. It is a wonderful hymn of complete confidence in God.

That’s what Paul was talking about to Timothy in his second letter to the young preacher. Paul was in jail, had suffered quite a bit for Jesus’ sake, and he was encouraging Timothy to see Jesus ONLY in every circumstance of life. Paul says, I’ve had a tough time sharing the Gospel, but I’m not ashamed of any of it.

The Apostle wanted Timothy – and me – to have the same attitude. Don’t ever be ashamed of standing up for the Truth of Scripture, of wearing the name Christian according to God’s Word. It might not be a popular or comfortable stand, but knowing Jesus makes everything else dim in comparison.

And God promises to stand with us until we see Him face to face in our eternal home.

I know not when my Lord may come, at night or noonday fair. Or if I walk the vale with Him or meet Him in the air. But I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I’ve committed unto Him against that day!