September 15 –Blood Shed For Us

“Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.” – Romans 5:9  (NASB)

In the fifth chapter of the book of Romans, the Apostle Paul wrote to faith believers in the city of Rome, confirming promises we have: 

1. The promise of a relationship of peace with God. 
2. The promise of grace, providing standing before God. 
3. The promise of hope that will never cause us to be disappointed. What He has said He will indeed do. 
4. The promise of God’s perfect love as it is poured out and into our lives. God’s love for us is eternal and permanent. 

Today in the ninth verse, a fifth promise. We are saved from the wrath of God as described for in Romans 1:18 is not an impulsive outburst of anger aimed capriciously at people whom God does not like. It is the settled, determined response of a righteous and just God against sin. Faith believers have been, are being, and will be saved from God’s wrath through Christ’s violent, substitutionary death. References to the blood of the Savior include the reality that He bled in His death. The term “blood” is used as a graphic way to describe violent death in our place.

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January 12 – No Fear!

“Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.” – Hebrews 2:14-15 (ESV)

What do we fear the most in our lives? There is no need because there really is for us a state of NO Fear!  However most people have a certain level of fear of death. Maybe for no other reason than the fact that we don’t know exactly what’s next. We who by faith believe because of the gift of God can rest with assurance that God will fulfill the promises regarding our life with Him after we die. But that doesn’t always come without questions and even doubts. For the believer, “death is swallowed up in victory,” (1 Corinthians 15:54). What Jesus Christ did as the Founder of Salvation, was to bring an end to the fear of death and its spiritual bondage. That’s a promise we can trust and which can change our lives. This is the ultimate purpose of the incarnation: Jesus came to earth to die. By dying, He was able to conquer death in His resurrection (John 14:19). By conquering death, He rendered Satan powerless against all who are saved. Are you saved by grace through faith that God has given to you? Your death holds no mysteries that cause you to fear.

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June 6 – Absolutely Truthful

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.” – Romans 5:8-9 (NASB)

Truth has always been absolute – even when mixed in with untruthful statements, the part that is true is absolutely true. Today we hear that there is “my truth” and “your truth” even when they contradict one another. This leaves “truth” that cannot really be trusted, doesn’t it?  It’s relative truth which isn’t truth. A politician’s promises are spoken and we understand that there is little if anything to trust in those false promises. We learn to distrust because of the pattern of untruthfulness. God has a different way His truth is absolute and based on His character. We can trust Him because of His pattern of truthfulness. When God says He loves us, we can know it is the truth. He demonstrated and proved His love before we were redeemed by Him, when we were still separated from Him by our sin. Doing nothing for it, God demonstrated His love toward us. We have been justified by Christ’s shedding His blood His death and resurrection. The promise He gave us is that we will be saved from the wrath of God’s judgment through believing in Christ Jesus. We’re secure in His Absolute Truthful Word.  

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October 10 – Redeemed for Real

“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us.”  Ephesians 1:7-8a   (NASB)

The words ‘in Him’ are used by the Apostle Paul six times in the first chapter of this letter. Considering that promise of all spiritual blessings in heavenly places given to us, we do well to realize that all this happens within the sphere of God’s election. In that sphere we have redemption. Such a powerful truth is in that word for us. It has been trivialized a great deal in our use and most acts of redemption that we take part in require us to provide some worthless slip of paper, a coupon or a letter or maybe a saved image on our smart phone. Turn that in for a few pennies off the products we purchase. But the redemption which we are promised to have in our verse today was purchased through the precious blood of Jesus (1 Peter 1:17-19). What we receive in that redemptive act is forgiveness of our trespasses, our sins.  That’s no small thing since it is the only way to be forgiven by God and possess salvation. That means that precious blood purchased for us, eternal life. Think deeply about that and let it overwhelm your thoughts today.  

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April 6 – Brought Near

“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” Ephesians 2:13 (ESV)

Just a week has passed since we were thinking especially of the death of Jesus on the cross. It is a theme that carries throughout the New Testament and we are reminded often of the importance of that event and sacrificial act by Jesus. We know that Jesus came and He died because God loved us and because He wanted us to be drawn close to Him. When we accept what Jesus did for us on the cross we are brought into the family of God.  The experience of being brought near to God begins when we believe in Jesus but it continues on through our lives.  We can experience the blessing of nearness to God every day. When we sense that nearness today lets thank God again for what Jesus had done and is doing and let us thank Him for making the way possible for us to become members of God's eternal family. 

March 13 - Drawn Us Near

“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” Ephesians 2:13 (NIV)

We have in our verse today words which remind us of the great desire of God for His creatures to be near to him. God has made us because he wants us to have a close relationship with Him. Sin separated us and drove us far away from God. He sent His Son to this world because He loved the human race – His creation and wanted to bring them to Himself. Our verse reminds us that in Christ we have been brought near to our loving creator because Christ shed His blood for us. We need to remember that we are not living by ourselves apart from God. He has drawn us close to Himself. Just as the Ephesians who first received these words, we were once far away but God drew them to Himself, He has drawn us near to Him through the work of Christ on the Cross and His resurrection. 

December 17

“Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.” Hebrews 2:14-15 (NIV)

Behind all the interesting stories of the coming of Jesus as a babe in Bethlehem is a very important truth. It was all a part of God’s plan to reach out to us in our need. That baby born in Bethlehem was the Son of God taking human form to set us free from the fear of death. Now we can think of the death of our bodies as opening the gate for us in a glorious future – an unending future. And this is true because Jesus lived as a human being and died as a human being and he was raised in his transformed body to a new life. And this process was set in motion by the virgin birth of Jesus!