-Redemption. Release. To be set free from some kind of bondage or enslavement. And to be sure, we were in bondage to both sin and death, unable to escape either on our own. We were born to die and born into sin as surely as sparks fly upward, the common destiny and shared predicament of fallen man, originally designed to live forever in paradise, but now no more than a vapor, just a few fleeting years and then back to dust. Death gradually and relentlessly consumes every man. And while he lives - unable to not sin, completely unable to avoid rebelling against his Creator, freely choosing to do so at every turn. Separated from the God Who loves him and doomed to pay the penalty for his sins - his lot is indeed hopeless. Which is why the Good News is so good! Freedom is just a heartbeat away...! Freedom from sin and death, from separation and condemnation. It was secured in that one final heartbeat of the Savior Whose blood poured out and Who in that final breath declared, ‘It is finished’. It is a heartbeat away for each one of us, who can in that very second pass from eternal death into eternal freedom simply by trusting in what Christ did on the Cross. Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty...
-Through His blood. God had a plan, a plan to expiate sin, to fully pay for it and completely remove it, this great spiritual Berlin Wall which separated man from his Maker since that fateful day in paradise many eons ago. The foundational truth about sin is that there is no forgiveness for it without the shedding of blood. That would be the great price of our freedom from the penalty and power of sin. And to prepare His people for the day when He would provide the payment for sin, He gave us pictures. Like when He killed an animal, shedding its blood, to clothe Adam and Eve after their tragic choice to commence disobedience. Or when He asked Abraham to sacrifice his only son but then provided a ram to take his place. Or when He instituted the covenant with Moses where His people every year would kill an unblemished lamb whose blood would symbolically cover their sins for one year. All just pictures, these - precursers to the Lamb of God, the perfect Son of God Who was both fully man and fully God and Whose perfect, precious blood bled out to cover all the multiplied sins of mankind. Do not rush past this monumental truth like a hurried sip of grape juice rushing past the lips on a sunday morning. Oh how amazing, that crimson flood, the blood which so freely flowed out of that beating heart for me - yes, how can it be, that You, My God, should die for me?
-Forgiveness of trespasses. Gone. Simply gone. They have been sent away as far as the east is from the west, David tells us (Ps 103.12). In other words, my sins are completely gone, never to return. Every single one of them, past present and future. That horrible thing I did? Gone. All of them. That really big thing I haven’t even done yet? It’s gone too. That is forgiveness. There is no memory of them whatsoever. They are buried in the deepest ocean, never again to surface. If they are not gone, they are not forgiven. But the God-Who-sees and Who saw all I ever would and would not do long before He ever sent His Son to shed His blood to cover my sins, now no longer sees even the faintest trace of imperfection in me. Every last one - gone. Forever. I need to let them go too... Let go of the guilt, the shame, that feeling of being dirty in God’s eyes or unworthy of His love. In truth, I deserve not one drop of Christ’s blood, and yet I was worth so much to God that He did send His only Son for me. And now I am free. Clean. Completely forgiven in Christ. Yes - mind blown once again.
-And all this, according to the riches of His grace. Just how rich is God’s grace? How much of it does He possess? How much has He put at our disposal in order to wash our sins whiter that snow and completely erase every last one of our trespasses? Vast riches, untold and unimaginable, an inexhaustible supply, neverending, overflowing and flowing freely from the veins of Calvary. Way more than enough to provide forgiveness and freedom for a few billion souls. Paul says God lavished His grace on us, He abounded and overflowed it onto us - He covered us over and slathered it on extra thick and gave us way more than we would ever need. We’re swimming in grace, and it’s way over our heads. All this grace poured out for us, and the level hasn’t even dipped a bit...! How much grace might you or I need today? There’s still an infinite supply to cover anything and everything we need, and then some...
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