Month: February 2024

GOD’S WORD FOR FEBRUARY 29 ~ ~ Isaiah 53:5 ~ ~ “Upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His stripes we are healed.”

Matthew 8:16-17

“(He) healed all who were sick.  This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah, “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.”

Day 18 of the fifty reasons that Christ suffered and Died  in John Piper’s book, “The Passion of Jesus Christ.”

Christ Suffered and Died ….

TO HEAL US FROM MORAL AND PHYSICAL SICKNESS

Christ suffered and died so that disease would one day be utterly destroyed.  Disease and death were not part of God’s original way with the world.  They came in with sin as part of God’s judgment on creation.  The Bible says, “the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope”  (Romans 8:20).  God subjected the world to the futility of physical pain to show the horror of moral evil.

This futility included death.  “Sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin” (Romans 5:12).  It included all the groaning of disease.  And Christians are not excluded:  “Not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit (that is, those who trust Christ as Savior and Lord), groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies (Romans 8:23)

But all this misery of disease is temporary.  We look forward to a time when bodily pain will be no more.  The subjection of creation to futility was not permanent.  From the very beginning of His judgment, the Bible says God aimed at hope.  His final purpose was this:  “that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God:  (Romans 8:21)

When Christ came into the world, He was on a mission to accomplish this global redemption.  He signaled His purposes by healing many people during His lifetime.  There were occasions when the crowds gathered and He “healed all who were sick” (Matthew 8:16; Luke 6:19).  This was a preview of what was coming at the end of history when “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore.”  (Revelation 21:4).

The way Christ defeated death and disease was by taking them on Himself and carrying them with Him to the grave.  God’s judgment on the sin that brought disease was endured by Jesus when He suffered and died.  The prophet Isaiah explained the death of Christ with these words:  “He was wounded for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and WITH HIS STRIPES WE ARE HEALED.” (Isaiah 53:5).  The horrible blows to the back of Jesus bought a world without disease.

One day all disease will be banished from God’s redeemed creation.  There will be a new earth.  We will have new bodies.  Death will be swallowed up by everlasting life (1 Corinthians 15:54; 2 Corinthians 5:4). 

“the wolf and the lamb shall graze together; the lion shall eat straw like the ox”  (Isaiah 65;25).  And all who love Christ will sing songs of thanks to the Lamb who was slain to redeem us from sin, death and disease.

GOD’S WORD FOR FEBRUARY 28 ~ ~ Romans 8:32 ~ ~ “He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?”

In the book, “The Passion of Jesus Christ” by John Piper, we’re in day 17

Christ Suffered and Died …TO OBTAIN FOR US ALL THINGS THAT ARE GOOD FOR US

I love the logic of this verse.  Not because I love logic, but because I love having my real needs met.  The two halves of Roman 8:32 have a stupendously important logical connection.  We may not see it, since the second half is a question:  “How will He not also with Him give us all things?”  But if we change the question into the statement that it implies, we will see it:

“He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all WILL THEREFORE SURELY also with Him graciously give us all things.”

In other words, the connection between the two halves is meant to make the second half absolutely certain.  If God did the hardest thing of all—namely, give up His own Son to suffering and death – then it is certain that He will do the comparatively easy thing, namely, give us all things with Him.  God’s total commitment to give us all things is more sure than the sacrifice of His Son.  He gave His Son “for us all.”  That done, could He stop being for us?  It would be unthinkable.

But what does “give us all things” mean?  Not an easy life of comfort.  Not even safety from our enemies.  We know this from what the Bible says four verses later:  “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” (Romans 8:36).  Many Christians, even today, suffer this kind of persecution.  When the Bible asks, “Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness or danger, or sword” separate us from the love of Christ (Romans 8:35), the answer is no.  Not because these things don’t happen to Christians, but because “in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”  (Romans 8:37)

What then does it mean that because of Christ’s death for us God will certainly with Him graciously give us “all things”?  it means that He will give us all things that are good for us.  All things that we really need in order to be conformed to the image of His son (Romans 8:29).  All things we need in order to attain everlasting joy.

It’s the same as the other Biblical promise:  “My God will supply EVERY NEED of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus”  (Philippians 4:19).  This promise is clarified in the preceding words:  “In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and HUNGER, abundance and NEED.  I can do ALL THINGS through Him who strengthens me.”  (Philippians 4:12-13).

It says we can do “all things” through Christ.  But notice “all things” includes “hungering” and “needing”.  God will meet every real need, including the ability to rejoice in suffering when many felt needs do not get met.  God will meet every real need, including the need for grace in the face of hunger when the felt need for food is not met.  The suffering and death of Christ guarantee that God will give us all things that we need to do His will, to give Him glory, and to attain everlasting joy.

GOD’S WORD FOR FEBRUARY 27 ~ ~ Hebrews 9:14 ~ ~ “How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.”

From John Piper’s book, “The Passion of Jesus Christ

Christ Suffered and Died…..TO GIVE US A CLEAR CONSCIENCE

Some things never change.  The problem of a dirty conscience is as old as Adam and Eve.  As soon as they sinned, their conscience was defiled.  Their sense of guilt was ruinous.  It ruined their relationship with God. –– they hid from Him.   It ruined their relation to each other —they blamed.   It ruined their peace with themselves — for the first time they saw themselves and felt shame.

All through the Old Testament, conscience was an issue.  But the animal sacrifices themselves could not cleanse the conscience.  “Gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper,  but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation.” (Hebrews 9:9-10). 

As a foreshadowing of Christ, God counted the blood of animals as sufficient for cleansing the flesh – the ceremonial uncleanness, but not the conscience.   No animal blood could cleanse the conscience.  They knew it (see Isaiah chapter 53 and Psalm 51).

And we know it.  So a new high priest comes – Jesus the Son of God – with a better sacrifice: Himself.  “How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.” (Hebrews 9:14).

The animal sacrifices foreshadowed the final sacrifice of God’s Son, and the death of the Son reaches back to cover all the sins of God’s people in the old time period, and forward to cover all the sins of God’s people in the new time period.

So here we are in the modern age – the age of science, internet, organ transplants, instant messaging, cell phones – our problem is fundamentally the same as always:  Our conscience condemns us.  We don’t feel good enough to come to God.  And no matter how distorted our consciences are, this much is true:  We are NOT good enough to come to Him.

We can cut ourselves, or throw our children in the sacred river, or give a million dollars to the United Way,  serve in a soup kitchen on Thanksgiving, or perform a hundred forms of penance and self-injury, and the result will be the same:  the stain remains, and death terrifies.  We know that our conscience is defiled – not with external things like touching a corpse or eating a piece of pork.  Jesus said it is what comes out of a person that defiles, not what goes in (Mark 7:15-23).  We are defiled by pride and self-pity  bitterness  lust, envy, jealousy, covetousness, apathy and fear – and the actions they breed.  These are all “dead works.”  They have no spiritual life in them.  They don’t come from new life;  they come from death, and they lead to death.  That is why they make us feel hopeless in our consciences.

The only answer in these modern times, as in all other times, is the blood of Christ.  When our conscience rises up and condemns us, where will we turn?  We turn to Christ.  We turn to the suffering and death of Christ – the blood of Christ.  This is the only cleansing agent in the universe that can give the conscience relief in life and peace in death.

(But it is not “automatic”.   Some people believe that Christ will just “magically” forgive us because we’re “pretty good people”.  This is far from the truth, and when these people die, sadly, they will find out forever.   We need to believe in His death and resurrection, and repent of our sins, knowing that His sacrifice is our only hope for real life after death, instead of eternal suffering.   THEN….the “cleansing agent” will do it’s job, and you will have a wonderful relationship with Jesus forever…no matter what happens in this life.  He’ll be there with you.)

GOD’S WORD FOR FEBRUARY 26 ~ ~ Psalms 27:1-5 ~ ~ One thing I have desired of the Lord,

That will I seek:  That I may dwell in the house of the Lord  All the days of my life,

To behold the beauty of the Lord,  and to inquire in His temple.  For in the time of trouble

He shall hide me in His pavilion;  In the secret place of His tabernacle  He shall hide me;

He shall set me high upon a rock.”

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Our gifted teacher, Charles Spurgeon on these verses:

“After conversion our God is our joy, comfort, guide, teacher, and in every sense our light;  He is light within, light around, light reflected from us, and light to be revealed to us.  Note:  it is not said merely that the Lord gives light, but that He is light; nor that He gives salvation, but that He is salvation……Under David’s painful circumstances we might have expected him to desire rest, safety, and a thousand other good things; but no, he has set his heart on the pearl, and leaves the rest.”

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From John Piper’s book, Day 15, of why Christ Suffered and Died:

TO MAKE US HOLY, BLAMELESS, AND PERFECT

Hebrews 10:14

“for by a single offering He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.”

Colossians 1:22

“He has now reconciled (you) in His body of flesh by His death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before Him.”

1 Corinthians 5:7

“Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened.  For Christ, our Passover lab, has been sacrificed.”

One of the greatest heartaches in the Christian life is the slowness of our change.  We hear the summons of God to love Him with all our heart and soul and mind and strength (Mark 12:30).  But do we ever rise to that totality of affection and devotion?  We cry out regularly with the apostle Paul, “Wretched man that I am!  Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24).  We groan even as we take fresh resolves:  “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me His own.”  (Philippians 3;12).

That very statement is the key to endurance and joy.  “Christ Jesus has made me His own.”  All my reaching and yearning and striving is not to belong to Christ – which has already happened if I have made the decision to believe and live for Him – but to complete what is lacking in my likeness to Him.

One of the greatest sources of joy and endurance for the Christian is knowing that in the imperfection of our progress we have already been perfected – and that this is owing to the suffering and death of Christ.  “For by a single offering (namely, Himself!) He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified” (Hebrews 10:14).  This is amazing!  In the same sentence He says we are “being sanctified” and we are already “perfected.”

Being sanctified means that we are imperfect and in process.  We are becoming holy – but are not yet fully holy.  And it is precisely these – and only these – who are already perfected.  The joyful encouragement here is that the evidence of our perfection before God is not our experienced PERFECTION, but our experienced PROGRESS.  The good news is that being on the way is proof that we have arrived!

The Bible pictures this again in the old language of dough and leaven (yeast).  In the picture, leaven is evil. (and it takes over and controls the dough as evil takes over and controls us if we’re not saved, and not on guard against it after we are saved)  We are the lump of dough.  It says, “Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened.  For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed” (1 Corinthians 5:7).  Christians are “unleavened.”  There is no leaven – no evil.   We are perfected.  For this reason we are to “cleanse out the old leaven.”  We have been made unleavened in Christ.  So we should become what we are.

The basis of all this?  “for Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.”  The suffering of Christ secures our perfection so firmly that it is already now a reality.  Therefore, we fight against our sin not simply to BECOME perfect, but because we ARE.  The death of Jesus is the key to battling our imperfections on the firm foundation of our perfection.

GOD’S WORD FOR FEBRUARY 25 ~ ~ Mark 14:24 ~ ~”This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.”

Jeremiah 32:40

“I will make with them an everlasting covenant … and I will put the fear of Me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me.”

Christ Suffered and died……TO BRING US TO FAITH AND KEEP US FAITHFUL

The Bible speaks of an “old covenant” and a “new covenant.”   The term “covenant” refers to a solemn, binding agreement between two parties carrying obligations for both sides and enforced by an oath.  In the Bible the covenants God makes with man are initiated by Himself.  He sets the terms.  His obligations are determined by His own purposes.

The “old covenant” refers to the arrangement God established with Israel in the law of Moses.  Its weakness was that it was not accompanied by spiritual transformation.  Therefore it was not obeyed and did not bring life. (It’s purpose was to show the sinfulness of man and man’s inability to obey God)  It was written with letters on stone, not with the Spirit on the heart.  The prophets promised a “new covenant” that would be different.  It would be “not of the letter but of the Spirit.  For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life”  (2 Corinthians 3:6).

The new covenant is radically more effective than the old.  It is enacted on the foundation of Jesus’ suffering and death.  “He is the mediator of the new covenant”  (Hebrews 9:15).  Jesus said that His blood was the “blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many” (Mark 14:24).  This means that the blood of Jesus purchased the power and the promises of the new covenant.  It is supremely effective because Christ died to make it so.

What then are the terms of the covenant that He infallibly secured by His blood?  The prophet Jeremiah describes some of them: 

“I will make a new covenant … this is the covenant that I will make … I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts … For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more”  (Jeremiah 31: 31-34).  The suffering and death of Christ guarantees the inner change of His people — the law written on their hearts — and the forgiveness of their sins.

To guarantee that this covenant will not fail, Christ takes the initiative to create the faith and secure the faithfulness of His people.  He brings a new-covenant people into being by writing the law not just on stone, but on the heart.

In contrast with the “letter” on stone, he says, “the Spirit gives life” (2 Corinthians 3:6).  “When we were dead in our trespasses, God made us alive together with Christ”  (Ephesians 2;5).  This is the spiritual life that enables us to see and believe in the glory of Christ.  This miracle creates the new-covenant people.  It is sure and certain because Christ bought it with His own blood.

And the miracle is not only the creation of our faith, but the securing of our faithfulness. “I will make with them an everlasting covenant … I will put the fear of Me in their hearts, that they may not turn from Me. (Jeremiah 32:40).  When Christ died, he secured for His people not only new hearts but new security.  He will not let them turn from Him.  He will keep them.  They will persevere.  The blood of the covenant guarantees it.

( Speaking of the guarantee of salvation after we receive Jesus into our hearts and lives, Jesus said in John 10:28-29:

 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.   My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.”)

GOD’S WORD FOR FEBRUARY 24 ~ ~ Galatians 5:11 ~ ~ “But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision …the offense of the cross has been removed.”

Galatians 6:12

“It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh who would force you to be circumcised, and only in order that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ.”

Day 13 in John Piper’s, “The Passion of Jesus Christ”…… Christ suffered and died…..TO ABOLISH ALL RITUALS AS THE BASIS OF SALVATION

 (This is  speaking of rituals, and legalism in some church denominations.  This is satan’s deception of making people think that salvation consists of something we ourselves do, so he takes the works of Christ, and makes them into sacraments and rituals to feed our pride and think WE are bringing about our own salvation,—or “helping with it”– when the Word says clearly that it is ALL of Christ, and not of ourselves.  This happened in the newly organized Church, with the Jewish ritual of circumcision.  Now it is the sacraments that mimic salvation through Christ. Man-made pictures of what Jesus Christ actually did in reality. Those useless rituals  are worthless in the Father’s eyes, and a great insult to the salvation that was accomplished through the Trinity for our justification and for the Glory of the Trinity.     This is the same deception from the same devil, who always wants to drag down those who Love the Lord, and if possible, keep many from truly acknowledging the finished and singular work of Christ on the cross.)

The place of circumcision was a huge controversy in the early church.  It had a long, respected, Biblical place ever since God commanded it in Genesis 17:10.  Christ was a Jew.  All His twelve apostles were Jews.  Almost all the first converts to Christianity were Jews.  The Jewish Scriptures were (and are) part of the Bible of the Christian church.  It is not surprising that Jewish rituals would come over into the Christian church.

They came.  And with them came controversy.  The message of Christ was spreading to non-Jewish cities like Antioch of Syria.  Gentiles were believing on Christ.  The question became urgent.  How did the central truth of the gospel relate to rituals like circumcision?  How did rituals relate to the gospel of Christ – the news that, if you believe on Him your sins are forgiven, and you are justified before God?  God is for you.  You have eternal life.

Throughout the Gentile world the apostles were preaching forgiveness and justification by faith alone.  Peter preached:  “To (Christ) all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in Him receives FORGIVENESS OF SINS THROUGH HIS NAME.” (Acts 10:43)

……by Him everyone who believes is JUSTIFIED from everything from which you could not be JUSTIFIED by the law of Moses” (Acts 13:38-39 – author’s translation).

But what about circumcision?  Some in Jerusalem thought it was essential.  Antioch became the flash point for the controversy.  “Men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers.  ‘Unless you are circumcised …you cannot be saved’” (acts 15:1).  A council was called, and the matter debated.

This is described in ACTS 15:5-12:

 “But some … rose up, saying, ‘It is necessary to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.’……Peter rose up and said to them: ‘Men and brethren, you know that… God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe… why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?  But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they.’ Then all the multitude kept silent and listened to Barnabas and Paul declaring how many miracles and wonders God had worked through them among the Gentiles.”

Nobody saw to the bottom of the issue more clearly than the apostle Paul.  The very meaning of the suffering and death of Christ was at stake.  Was faith in Christ enough to put us right with God?  Or was circumcision necessary too?

The answer was clear.  If Paul preached circumcision, “the offense of the cross has been removed”  (Galatians 5:11).  The cross means freedom from the enslavement of ritual.  “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”  (Galatians 5:1).

GOD’S WORD FOR FEBRUARY 23 ~ ~ Romans 8:34 ~ ~ “who is to condemn?  Christ Jesus is the one who died – more than that, who was raised – who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.”

This is day 12 of the fifty reasons Christ died for us  from John Piper’s book, The Passion of Jesus Christ”

The great conclusion to the suffering and death of Christ is this:  “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”  (Romans 8:1).  To be “in Christ” means to be in relationship to Him by faith.  Faith in Christ unites us to Christ so that His death becomes our death and His perfection becomes our perfection.  Christ becomes our punishment — which we don’t have to bear– and our perfection – which we cannot perform.

Faith is not the ground of our acceptance with God.  Christ alone is.  Faith unites us to Christ so that His righteousness is counted as ours.  “We know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified (Galatians 2:16).  Being “justified by faith” and being “justified….in Christ” (Galatians 2:17) are parallel terms.  We are in Christ by faith, and therefore justified.

When the question is asked, “Who is to condemn?”  the answer is assumed.  No one!  Then the basis is declared:  “Christ Jesus is the one who died!”  the death of Christ secures our freedom from condemnation.  It is as sure that we cannot be condemned as it is sure that Christ died.  There is no double jeopardy in God’s court.  We will not be condemned twice for the same offenses.  Christ has died once for our sins.  We will not be condemned for them.  Condemnation is gone not because there isn’t any, but because it has already happened.

But what about condemnation by the world?  Is that not an answer to the question, “Who is to condemn?”  Aren’t Christians condemned by the world?  There have been many martyrs.  The answer is that no one can condemn us SUCCESSFULLY.  Charges can be brought, but none will stick in the end.  “Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect?  It is God who justified” (Romans 8:33).

  It’s the same as when the Bible asks, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? (Romans 8:35).  The answer is not that these don’t happen to Christians.  The answer is:  “In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” (Romans 8:37).

The world will bring its condemnation.  They may even put their sword behind it.  But we know that the highest court has already ruled in our favor.  “If God is for us, who can be against us?”  (Romans 8:31).  No one successfully.  If they reject us, He accepts us.  If they hate us, He loves us.   If they imprison us, He sets our spirits free.  If they afflict us, He refines us by the fire.  If they kill us, He makes it a passage to paradise. 

They cannot defeat us.  Christ has died.  Christ is risen.  We are alive in Him.  And in Him there is no condemnation.  We are forgiven, and we are righteous. 

Proverbs 28:1 tells us this:

“And the righteous are bold as a lion.”

GOD’S WORD FOR FEBRUARY 22 ~ ~ Romans 5:19 ~ ~ “For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners,(Adam) so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous (Jesus Christ).”

Philippians 2:8

“Being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross.”

2 Corinthians 5:21

“For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Philippians 3:9

“…not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ.”

Reading in John Piper’s book, The Passion of Jesus Christ.

Day 11, and the second reason that justifying our sins is not an abomination:

Justification is not merely the cancellation of my unrighteousness.  It is also the imputation of Christ’s righteousness to me.  I do not have a righteousness that commends me to God.  My claim before God is this:  “not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ.”  (Phil. 3:9).

This is Christ’s righteousness that is imputed to me.  That means Christ fulfilled all righteousness perfectly; and then that righteousness was reckoned to be mine, when I trusted in Him.  I was counted righteous.  God looked on Christ’s perfect righteousness, and He declared me to be righteous with the righteousness of Christ.

(look at it like this:   We have a filthy, ragged coat of sin.    Jesus has a gloriously perfect and brilliantly white coat.   He takes off His beautiful coat (His glory in heaven) and  takes on our filthy, ragged coat of humanity……….dripping with sin.   AND……..this is the best part……..He gives US HIS perfectly white coat.   THEN He goes to the cross, and pays the awful eternal price for our sins, and gives us eternity in heaven with Him instead of eternity in the lake of fire, which we deserve.)

So there are two reasons why it is not abominable for God to justify the ungodly (Romans 4:5).   FIRST, THE DEATH OF CHRIST PAID THE DEBT OF OUR UNRIGHTEOUSNESS (like we saw yesterday),

SECOND, THE OBEDIENCE OF CHRIST PROVIDED THE RIGHTEOUSNESS WE NEEDED TO BE JUSTIFIED IN GOD’S COURT.  The demands of God for entrance into eternal life are not merely that our unrighteousness be canceled, but that our perfect righteousness be established.

The suffering and death of Christ is the basis of both.  His suffering is the suffering that our unrighteousness deserved.

“He was wounded for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities”  (Isaiah 53:5)

But His suffering and death were also the climax and completion of the obedience that became the basis of our justification.  He was “obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross”  (Philippians 2:8).  His death was the pinnacle of His obedience.  This is what the Bible refers to when it says, “by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.”  (Romans 5:19).

Therefore, Christ’s death became the basis of our pardon and our perfection.  “for our sake God made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21).  

What does it mean that God made the sinless Christ to be sin?  It means our sin was imputed to Him, and thus He became our pardon.  And what does it mean that we  — who ARE sinners — become the righteousness of God in Christ?  It means, similarly, that Christ’s righteousness is imputed to us, and thus He became our perfection.   (like the switching of the coats).

May Christ be honored for His whole achievement in suffering and dying!  Both work of pardoning our sin, and the work of providing our righteousness.  Let us admire Him and treasure Him and trust Him for this great achievement.

GOD’S WORD FOR FEBRUARY 21 ~ ~ Romans 3:28 ~ ~ “We hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.”

Romans 3:24

“We are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”

Romans 5:9

“We have now been justified by His blood.”

Day 10 in John Piper’s book relaying the 50 reasons that Christ died for us.

Christ Suffered and Died……..

TO PROVIDE THE BASIS FOR OUR JUSTIFICATION

Being justified before God and being forgiven by God are not identical.  To be justified in a courtroom is not the same as being forgiven.  Being forgiven implies that I am guilty and my crime is not counted.  Being justified implies that I have been tried and found innocent.   My claim is just.  I am vindicated. The JUDGE says, “NOT GUILTY.”

Justifying is a legal act.  It means declaring someone to be just.  It is a verdict.  The verdict of justification does not MAKE a person just.  It DECLARES a person just.   It is based on someone actually being just.  We can see this most clearly when the Bible tells us that, in response to Jesus’ teaching, the people “justified” God (Luke 7:29).  This does not mean they MADE God just, since He already was.  It means they DECLARED God to be just.

The moral change we undergo when we trust Christ is not justification.  The Bible usually calls that sanctification – the process of becoming good.  Justification is not that process.  It is not a process at all.  It is a declaration that happens in a moment.  A verdict:  Just!  Righteous!

The ordinary way to be justified in a human court is to keep the law.  In that case the jury and the judge simply declare what is true of you.  You kept the law.  They justify you.  But in the courtroom of God, we have NOT kept the law.  Therefore, justification, on ordinary terms, is hopeless.  The Bible even says:

“He who justifies the wicked is an abomination to the Lord.” (Proverbs 17:15).

And yet, amazingly, because of Christ, it also says God “Justifies the ungodly” who trust in His grace (Romans 4:5).  God does what looks abominable!

Why then is it not abominable?   Or, as the Bible puts it, how can God “be just AND the justifier of the one who simply has faith in Jesus?” (Romans 3:26)?  It is not abominable for God to justify the ungodly who trust Him for two reasons:

One is that CHRIST SHED HIS BLOOD TO CANCEL THE GUILTY OF OUR CRIME.  So it says, “We have now been justified BY HIS BLOOD. (Romans 5:9).  

But that is only the removal of guilt.  That does not declare us righteous.  Canceling our failures to keep the law is not the same as declaring us to be a law-keeper.  When a teacher cancels from the record an exam that got an F, it’s not the same as declaring it an A.  

If the bank were to forgive me the debts on my account, that would not be the same as declaring me rich.   So, also, canceling our sins is not the same as declaring us righteous.  The cancellation must happen.  That is essential to justification.  But there is more.  There is another reason why it is not abominable for God to justify the ungodly by faith.  (For that we’ll have to wait until tomorrow.)

GOD’S WORD FOR FEBRUARY 20 ~ ~ Ephesians 1:7 ~ ~ “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses.”

Matthew 26:28 ~ ~”This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”

Day 9 of fifty reasons why Christ suffered and died.   “The Passion of Jesus Christ” by John Piper.

When we forgive a debt, offense or injury, we don’t require a payment for settlement.  That would be the opposite of forgiveness.  If repayment is made to us, for what we lost, there is no need for forgiveness.  We have our due.

Forgiveness assumes grace.  If I am injured by you, grace lets it go.  I don’t sue you.  I forgive you.  Grace gives what someone doesn’t deserve.  That’s why FORGIVENESS has the word  GIVE in it.  Forgiveness is not ‘getting” even.  It is “giving” away the right to get even.

That is what God does to us when we trust Christ:  “everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His name.”  (Acts 10:43).  If we believe in Christ, God no longer holds our sins against us.  This is God’s own testimony in the Bible.  “I, I am He who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake” (Isaiah 43:25), “As far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:12).

But this raises a problem.  We all know that forgiveness is not enough.  We may only see it clearly when the injury is great – like murder or rape.  Neither society nor the universe can hold together if judges (or God) simply say to every murderer and rapist, “Are you sorry?  Okay.  The state forgives you.  You may go.”  In cases like these we see that while a victim may have a forgiving spirit, the state cannot forsake justice.

So it is with God’s justice.  All sin is serious, because it is against God.  He is the one whose glory is injured when we ignore or disobey or blaspheme Him.  His justice will no more allow him simply to set us free than a human judge can cancel all the debts that criminals owe to society.  The injury done to God’s glory by our sin must be repaired so that in justice his glory shines more brightly.  And if we criminals are to go free and be forgiven, there must be some dramatic demonstration that the honor of God is upheld even though former blasphemers are being set free.

That is why Christ suffered and died.  “In Him we have redemption THROUGH HIS BLOOD, the forgiveness of our trespasses” (Ephesians 1:7).

Forgiveness costs us nothing.  All our costly obedience is the fruit, not the root, of being forgiven.  That’s why we call it grace.  But it cost Jesus His life.  That is why we call it just.

(In other words, God didn’t simply forgive us, because of what Christ did.   The debt was actually paid — the sentence carried out – the blood spilled, satisfying  Hebrews 9:22: “…without shedding of blood is no remission.” (forgiveness).   God didn’t just say, “forget it”.   He said “PAID” or, as Christ said on the cross, “IT IS FINISHED”  (John 19:30).)

OH!  How precious is the news that God does not hold our sins against us!  And how beautiful is Christ, whose blood made it right for God to do this.