Through the Deep Waters -- March 9th

Hebrews 10:1-18

God sent Christ to put an end to sin once and for all on behalf of his people. The true sacrifice, Christ the Just, laid his life down for us, the unjust. The innocent Lamb of God dies in the place of God's chosen but guilty people. The Savior dies in the place of Sinners. This presents both the ugly and the beauty of the human experience and the call to bow to Christ. It shows us the difficulty and the delight of Gospel Theology.

THE DIFFICULTY: We are sinners who cannot save ourselves. Someone else will get all the Glory for our salvation. That's the hard part, at my core I would rather be glorious than to give glory to another. I would rather be independent and self-reliant then to have to depend and rely on another. I would rather lead than follow. Being a sinner implies that in the economy of God I am bankrupt, lacking, unable, rebellious, fallen, an enemy and under the just judgment of a holy God who has sovereign rights over my life. Yes, ultimately we are his and not our own. See it's hard to swallow, the fact that someone else has the final say over my life and how it’s to be lived. But it’s true.

THE DELIGHT: Inspite of what I am, a sinner. And inspite of what I'm not, a perfectly obedient child of God, who has always loved God more than anything else. God has acted in Christ to make things right between us. Without anything from me he has gone ahead of me and accomplished a way that a sinner can be saved that the wrath the he so rightly deserves. This is the theme of scripture and this is the purpose of Christ. He ushered in the new and living way, sinners saved not by doing something but by trusting in something. We are saved not by offering a sacrifice but by trusting in the SACRIFICE, Christ the Savior who was offered for us. Now this tastes good…The fact that God has the final say in my journey. I am so grateful that He brought me to know Christ.

PRAYER: Father may we taste and see that Lord is Good. Teach us to delight in and treasure the work of Christ on our behalf. Our redemption was costly. The price of the ransom to deliver our wayward souls was costly. But Jesus paid it all. Helps us to surrender to him and honor him with words and deeds. Amen...