Saturday, April 15, 2006

All We Like Sheep

Isaiah 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

As I continue to define the foundation stones of my faith, it seems especially appropriate at this Passover season to look at two things: 1) our/my sinfulness and the "wages" we/I deserve as a result, and 2) God's mercy towards us/me in providing a sacrifice for our/my sins in His Son, Yeshua/Jesus the Messiah, Who is our/my Passover Lamb.

Romans 3:10-18 (Amplified) As it is written, None is righteous, just and truthful and upright and conscientious, no, not one. [Ps. 14:3.] No one understands [no one intelligently discerns or comprehends]; no one seeks out God. [Ps. 14:2.] All have turned aside; together they have gone wrong and have become unprofitable and worthless; no one does right, not even one! Their throat is a yawning grave; they use their tongues to deceive (to mislead and to deal treacherously). The venom of asps is beneath their lips. [Ps. 5:9; 140:3.] Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. [Ps. 10:7.] Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction [as it dashes them to pieces] and misery mark their ways. And they have no experience of the way of peace [they know nothing about peace, for a peaceful way they do not even recognize]. [Isa. 59:7, 8.] There is no [reverential] fear of God before their eyes. [Ps. 36:1.]

Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

Isaiah 64:6 (Amplified) For we have all become like one who is unclean [ceremonially, like a leper], and all our righteousness (our best deeds of rightness and justice) is like filthy rags or a polluted garment; we all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away [far from God's favor, hurrying us toward destruction]. [Lev. 13:45, 46.]

1John 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death.

Yep, all that describes me pretty well. I have definitely sinned and fallen short of the grace of God. I know all too well that in me, in my flesh, dwells no good thing, as Paul said in Romans 7:18. Romans 7:14 says I am sold under sin, a slave to sin, and I know that's true, too. Scriptures are clear that unless we are redeemed, we will all surely die in our sins, for the wages that sin pays is death.

Hebrews 9:22 (Amplified) [In fact] under the Law almost everything is purified by means of blood, and without the shedding of blood there is neither release from sin and its guilt nor the remission of the due and merited punishment for sins.

Ah, but I have hope! God loved me, and everyone else, so much that He made a way for us to be redeemed; He sent His only begotton Son, Yeshua/Jesus the Messiah, to die in our place, to shed His blood for us, to carry in His own flesh our sins and the penalty for them, so that whoever believes in Him will not perish but will have everlasting life. Hallelujah!

Matthew 20:28 (Amplified) Just as the Son of Man came not to be waited on but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many [the price paid to set them free]. (also Mark 10:45)

1Peter 2:24 (Amplified) He personally bore our sins in His [own] body on the tree [as on an altar and offered Himself on it], that we might die (cease to exist) to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed.

1Peter 3:18 (Amplified) For Christ [the Messiah Himself] died for sins once for all, the Righteous for the unrighteous (the Just for the unjust, the Innocent for the guilty), that He might bring us to God.

1John 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

Ephesians 5:2 ...and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor.

John 1:29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming to him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world.

Romans 5:9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.

Colossians 1:20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things to himself; by him, I say, whether they are things on earth, or things in heaven.

Hebrews 9:12 Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood; he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

What more can I say? I was a sinner, lost in my sins, bound for death, helpless to save myself. But because of the great love that God my Creator has for me, He took my place; He bore my sins on the cross, shedding His blood that I might go free. I have been "bought with a price" (1 Cor 6:20, 7:23), redeemed not with silver and gold but with the precious blood of the Messiah (1 Peter 1:18-19), so that now I should glorify God in my body and in my spirit which are His.

O SACRED HEAD, NOW WOUNDED

O sacred Head, now wounded,
With grief and shame weighed down,
Now scornfully surrounded
With thorns, Thine only crown;
How pale Thou art with anguish,
With sore abuse and scorn!
How does that visage languish
Which once was bright as morn!

What Thou, my Lord, hast suffered
Was all for sinners' gain:
Mine, mine was the transgression,
But Thine the deadly pain;
Lo, here I fall, my Savior!
'Tis I deserve Thy place;
Look on me with Thy favor,
Vouchsafe to me Thy grace.

What language shall I borrow
To thank Thee, dearest Friend,
For this Thy dying sorrow,
Thy pity without end?
O make me Thine forever,
And should I fainting be,
Lord, let me never, never
Outlive my love to Thee.

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