• "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one." (Matthew 6:13)
  
  
• "Turn to me and have mercy on me; grant your strength to your servant and save the son of your maidservant." (Psalm 86:16)
  
  
• "But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, `God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'" (Luke 18:13)

   --THE TERMS GOD USES WHEN SPEAKING OF ‘SALVATION’

  --WHO IS THE ACTIVE PARTY-- THE BELIEVER OR GOD?                                                                                                                                                                  

  --GOD’S MERCY AND FAVOR IS NOT BESTOWED UPON EVERYONE                                                                                                                                           

  --CHRISTIAN BEHAVIOR IS A RESPONSE, AN EXPRESSION OF GRATITUDE TO GOD

• "I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more." (Isaiah 43:25)
  
  
• "I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee." (KJV; Isaiah 44:22) The NIV, the translation used most frequently in this meditation, says, "I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed you." (Isaiah 44:22) (See also Jeremiah 50:20; Psalm 51:1; Acts 3:19) Who does the blotting out? You? Me? Can you ‘unring the bell’ or blot out every past sin as if it had never occurred?

• "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’" (Matthew 6:13)
  
  
• "And pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men, for not everyone has faith." (2 Thessalonians 3:2)
  
  
• The apostle Paul said, "But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom." (2 Timothy 4:17-18) Think of all the hardships and trials that the apostle went through and came out of! (2 Corinthians 11:23-28)

While we can and do pray to God for deliverance from the consequences incurred by our actions it is only because God the Father treated God the Son differently from us that we can do so. It was only because God the Father delivered him over to death for our sins that we are not treated according to our iniquities (Psalm 103:10-12; Romans 8:3) "He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification." (Romans 4:25)

• "When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, ‘Woman, you are set free from your infirmity ‘ " (Luke 13:12)
  
  .
• "Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?" (Luke 13:16)
  
  
• What did Jesus say? "So if the Son (of God) sets you free, you will be free indeed." (John 8:36)
  
  
• "But God raised him (the Christ) from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death." (Acts 2:24)
  
  
• "I have indeed seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groaning and have come down to set them free. Now come, I will send you back to Egypt.’" (Acts 7:34)
  
  
• "You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness." (Romans 6:18)
  
  
• To the believers in Rome the apostle Paul wrote in his letter (epistle): "But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life." (Romans 6:22)
  

• In the New Testament we read that "the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God." (Romans 8:21) How awesome, how unbelievable, is the change in the conditions of life that the sacrifice of Christ guaranteed! The results of Christ's sacrifice is more than we can imagine!
  
• "You see," the apostle Paul said, "at just the right time, when we (who are believers now) were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.… But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:6, 8) He did it. God did it. He didn’t wait for us to choose him.
  
  
• The apostle Paul, a believer says of himself, "because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death." (Romans 8:2)
  

• Is not the Gospel a message about what God has done? "Since the children have flesh and blood, he (the Christ) too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy 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)
  
  
• "You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love." (Galatians 5:13)

• It was not because of our worthiness or the fact that we had lived in a deserving way or made wise choices that God gave believers the gift of salvation, the gift of eternal life. The Bible says, "he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit," (Titus 3:5)
  
  
• "For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden." (Romans 9:15-16, 18)
  
  
• "But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,  made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved." (Ephesians 1:4-5)

•  "Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy." (Micah 7:18)
   
  
• In the Old Testament we read the words of God: "For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings." (Hosea 6:6)

• Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead," (1Peter 1:3)
  
  
• "But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." (Matthew 9:13)
  
  
• "His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation." (Luke 1:50)
  
  
• "But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’" (Luke 18:13)
  
  
• To the believers in all generations God says, "Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy." (1 Peter 2:10)
  

• The Bible says, "But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. "Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful." (Luke 6:35-36)
  
  
• "He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." (Micah 6:8) A similar thought is expressed in the New Testament: "Snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh." (Jude 1:23)
  

Bestowing mercy was God’s purpose and plan from the beginning. "What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory—" (Romans 9:23)

• "For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all." (Romans 11:32)
  
  
• The apostle Paul who before his meeting with Christ was an enemy (a persecutor) of believers, said, "But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life." (1 Timothy 1:16)
  
  
• "Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life." (Jude 1:21)

• "who gave himself as a ransom for all men—the testimony given in its proper time." (1 Timothy 2:6)
  
  
• "For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant." (Hebrews 9:15)
  
  
• "just as the Son of Man (a title only Jesus used; referring to himself) did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." (Matthew 20:28)
  
  
• "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." (Mark 10:45)

• In the first chapter of the Gospel according Luke we read: "Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come and has redeemed his people….74 to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear:75 in holiness and righteousness before him all our days" (Luke 1:68,74-75)
  
  
• "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree." (Galatians 3:13)
  
  
• "He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit." (Galatians 3:14)
  
  
• For what purpose did Christ die a sacrificial death on the cross? "To redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons." (Galatians 4:5)
  
  
• The Bible also describes the purpose of Christ’s sacrificial death in ‘ethical’ terms. Speaking of Christ, it says, "who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good." (Titus 2:14; see also Ephesians 1:4; 5:25-27)

An Article in Easton’s 1897 Dictionary on ‘Redemption’.

It says ‘to redeem’ means: "the purchase back of something that had been lost, by the payment of a ransom. The Greek word so rendered is apolutrosis, a word occurring nine times in Scripture, and always with the idea of a ransom or price paid, i.e., redemption by a lutron [a ransom] (see Matt. 20:28; Mark 10:45). There are instances in the LXX Version (the pre-NT Greek translation) of the Old Testament of the use of lutron in man's relation to man (Lev.19:20; 25:51; Ex. 21:30; Num. 35:31, 32; Isa. 45:13; Prov. 6:35), and in the same sense of man's relation to God (Num. 3:49; 18:15)."

• The apostle Paul in his last meeting with the elders of the church at Ephesus, says to them, "Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood." (Acts 20:28)
  
  
• "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; "you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body." (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)
  
  
• "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree." He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit." (Galatians 3:13-14)
  
  
• "But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons." (Galatians 4:4-5)
  
  
• "In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace" (Ephesians 1:7; see also Colossians 1:14)
  
  
  
  
• "For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men—the testimony given in its proper time." (1 Timothy 2:5-6)
  
  
• "who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good." (Titus 2:14)
  

• "He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption." (Hebrews 9:12)
  
  
• "For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect." (1 Peter 1:18-19)
  
  
• "And they sang a new song: "You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation." (Revelation 5:9)

"The idea running through all these texts, however various their reference, is that of payment made for our redemption. The debt against us is not viewed as simply cancelled, but is fully paid. Christ's blood or life, which he surrendered for them, is the ‘ransom’ by which the deliverance of his people from the servitude of sin and from its penal consequences is secured. It is the plain doctrine of Scripture that "Christ saves us neither by the mere exercise of power, nor by his doctrine, nor by his example, nor by the moral influence which he exerted, nor by any subjective influence on his people, whether natural or mystical, but as a satisfaction to divine justice, as an expiation for sin, and as a ransom from the curse and authority of the law, thus reconciling us to God by making it consistent with his perfection to exercise mercy toward sinners. (Hodge's Systematic Theology)." (The quote about 'redemption' from Easton’s `1897 Dictionary’ ends here.)

• "To the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding." (Ephesians 1:6-8) Is there any room for questions about who deserves the ‘thanks’?

Consider the kind of situations or the thoughts that the synonyms for redemption bring to our attention. They bring to mind many other concepts or terms that occur whenever the word of God sets forth the Gospel or the message of Christianity. Some (but not all) of these synonyms have already been considered.

Atone for -- Bail out -- Buy back – Compensate – Emancipate -- Foot the bill –free -- Satisfy -- Liberate -- make up for -- Pay off – Recompense – Propitiate -- Ransom – Retrieve – Satisfy -- Substitute for

RESCUE

Why did God the Father send his Son into the world of mankind? "to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear" (Luke 1:74) And who are our enemies? (See the meditation of 0710 "Dancing with the enemies of God"). In the period of history of which the Old Testament speaks the enemies were most often of flesh and blood. But the NT makes it clear that the enemies of Christians are not of flesh and blood. (Ephesians 6:12, 11)

• It was the Lord Jesus Christ "who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father," (Galatians 1:4)
  
  
• "For he (the Christ) has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves," (Colossians 1:13)
  
  
• It was the the Son of God "whom he (God the Father) raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath." (1 Thessalonians 1:10)
  
  
• The apostle Paul expressed himself, saying, "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?" (Romans 7:24) The apostle knew the plan of God—that one day he, like every believer, would be changed (1 Corinthians 15:51-54)
  
  
• The apostle Paul described what the mission God gave him entailed--"persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them." (2 Timothy 3:11)
  
  
• "The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen." (2 Timothy 4:18) 
  
  
• In the midst of the apostle Peter being miraculously delivered from the king Herod's prison the apostle said, "Then Peter came to himself and said, "Now I know without a doubt that the Lord sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s clutches and from everything the Jewish people were anticipating." (Acts 12:11)

He is our substitute. Who can substitute himself for himself? 

• The apostle Paul summed up the relation of God’s actions to the position of believers in his letter to Titus, saying, "he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit," (Titus 3:5)
  
  
• The Bible says, "It is because of him (the actions of God) that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God--that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord." (1 Corinthians 1:30-31; see also Jeremiah 9:24)

What part did believers play in their 1^st birth? Were they in control when they were born again, that is, at the time of their 2^nd birth when they were made citizens of heaven? (Philippians 3:20) Were they in control at the time of the 2^nd birth when they were made members of "the kingdom of the Son he loves, " and given a share "in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light"? (Colossians 1:13, 12; see also John 1:13)

• It was God’s action that preceded any action of sinners. God’s action even preceded our birth. "For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—" (Ephesians 1:4-5; see also Revelation 17:8; 13:8; 21:27)
  
  
• The believer who wrote the psalm said to God, "Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!" (Psalm 139:16-17)
  
  
• The apostle Peter describes the ‘before’ and ‘after’ state of affairs, that is, before God’s ‘intervention’ in the lives of his people. The apostle addressed the believers to whom he was writing, saying, "Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy." (1 Peter 2:10) Listen to the two phrases again in reverse order: "Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy; Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God."
  
  
• The apostle Paul pointed to the ‘doer’ in these blunt words, saying, "For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?" (1 Corinthians 4:7)
  
  
• The apostle Paul addressed the believers in the church at Corinth with these unambiguous words: "Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders  nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom God.  And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." (1 Corinthians 6:9-11)

The apostle does not exclude himself from this truth, saying later in the same letter, "But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them--yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me" (1 Corinthians 15:10)

In the book of Romans the apostle Paul quotes God’s words to Moses, saying, "For he says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.’  It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy.  For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: ‘I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.’ Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden." (Romans 9:15-18; quoting Exodus 33:19)

What 'Prisoners' Can’t Do.

—They cannot release themselves from prison,

---They cannot get out of the dark world, the world under the dominion of sin which they were born into.

---They can’t qualify themselves for heaven or make themselves into kinds of creatures they are not.

—They cannot do what only the Creator—their Creator--can do— transform them into creatures that are perfect, worthy of heaven, worthy of Gods most precious blessings, that is, being made   
     immortal citizens in the kingdom of light. (Philippians 3:20; Colossians 1:13)

Sometimes these truths seem overwhelming! Knowing what I see in my thoughts and behavior I started out this meditation posing the question, ‘Do you feel trapped, always beaten? Do you have the power to untrap yourself, to unbeat yourself? Perhaps the apostle Paul had these thoughts at one time when he said, "I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? " (Romans 7:23-24)! He came to know the answer; Jesus, the Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:10) (A earlier meditation, "The Joy of the Lord is my Strength" October 2005 (0510) also dealt with this issue)

• Nobody’s present state or past condition can be hidden or obscured. Speaking to God the psalmist says, "You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence." (Psalm 90:8)

God’s standard of ‘behavior’ is inflexible and perfect. No modifications are possible. "For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. For he who said, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ also said, ‘Do not murder.’ If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker." (James 2:10-11)

• "All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.’" (Galatians 3:10; see Deuteronomy 27:26)
  
  
  
• " 'Although you wash yourself with soda and use an abundance of soap, the stain of your guilt is still before me," declares the Sovereign Lord.'" (Jeremiah 2:22)
  
  
  
• "If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand?" (Psalm 130:3)

Even what God ‘accepted’ as the ransom for sin or external defilement--the behavior that he expressly demanded under the Old Covenant was not sufficient to earn eternal redemption for God’s people. Even what God ‘accepted’ as the ransom for sin or external defilement was not sufficient to deliver sinners from the dominion or control of sin; the sacrifices required under God’s written law was not sufficient to qualify sinners "to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light" (Colossians 1:12) as was accomplished subsequently in history by the sacrifice of Christ himself. (Hebrews 9:12-15)

This mysterious truth is set forth in the New Testament ‘book of Hebrews. There the two God-given expressions of God’s will are ‘compared’ --God’s revelation in Old Testament times–the Law, on the one hand, and God’s ‘greater’ revelation of his will in the history of mankind (on the other hand) --when God sent his own Son into the world to accomplish his purpose. This ‘greater’ revelation did not just inform people on earth of what God’s will or God’s standards really meant (e.g., Matthew 5:21-22,27-28,38-39, etc) and the actions human beings should undertake to be acceptable in God’s eyes but this greater ‘revelation’ also accomplished God’s purpose for them, namely, the salvation of everyone who believes. (John 3:16; Ephesians 1:4-5) But it is in the book of Romans that God gives the basic reason why the sacrifices offered as prescribed by God’s Law in Old Testament times were inadequate to deliver people from the power of sin. There we read, "For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit." (Romans 8:3-4) But now, let’s return to the New Testament’s summary and comment upon God’s Law and the religious practices of the Jews prior to the coming of the Jesus the Christ into time and history.

In the New Testament book of Hebrews we read about God’s revelations in Old Testament times: "Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary. A tabernacle was set up. In its first room were the lampstand, the table and the consecrated bread; this was called the Holy Place.  Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place,  which had the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. This ark contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron's staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant.  Above the ark were the cherubim of the Glory, overshadowing the atonement cover. But we cannot discuss these things in detail now.  When everything had been arranged like this, the priests entered regularly into the outer room to carry on their ministry.  But only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance. The Holy Spirit was showing by this that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still standing. This is an illustration for the present time, indicating that the gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper." (Hebrews 9:1-9)

• This profound difference between God’s revelations prior to Christ and the ‘revelation’ that consisted of the coming Christ, the obedient life of Christ, and the sacrificial death of Christ is hinted at in the words of the apostle John who wrote: "For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." (John 1:17)
  
  
• The apostle Peter addressing believers after the death and resurrection of Christ described the contrast (and the connection) between what God provided for purification in the Old Testament and what the sacrificial death of the Christ accomplished, saying, "For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect." (1 Peter 1:18-19)

"He (Jesus the Christ) did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption." (Hebrews 9:12; see also Hebrews 10:14; Romans 8:3)

• "He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit." (Galatians 3:14)
  
  
• "Through him (Jesus) everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses." (Acts 13:39)
  
  
• In the book of Galatians the contrast between what God instituted in Old Testament times and what God accomplished by sending his Son to die to redeem his people is set forth succinctly. There we read, "Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. 25 Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law." (Galatians 3:23-25)

What we read in the New Testament in the book of James is as true now as it was before the sacrifice of the Christ. "For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. For he who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not murder." If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker." (James 2:10-11) Disregard for any of God’s commands shows an implicit denial of  the sovereignty of God!

While on earth and in time believers are dependant upon God. Only when believers pass beyond history or physical death will they be perfected. "I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed--  in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality." (1 Corinthians 15:50-53; see also verses 15:44, 49; Philippians 3:21; 1 John 3:2)

"They remembered that God was their Rock, that God Most High was their Redeemer." (Psalm 78:35)

How often do I get filled up with feeling, the feeling of gratitude when I read, hear, or remember what God did for me?

• The apostle Paul prayed for the believers to whom he wrote, saying, "And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, …and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified /me/ to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued /me/ from the dominion of darkness and brought /me/ into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom /I/ have redemption, the forgiveness of sins." (Colossians 1:10-14)

• "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.’" (Galatians 3:13; see also 2 Corinthians 5:21)
  
  
• "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;" (1 Corinthians 6:19)
  
  
• "But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons." (Galatians 4:4-5)
  
  
• "In him (in Christ) we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace" (Ephesians 1:7)
  
  
• What did the Son of God do for believers? He "gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good." (Titus 2:14)
  
  
• "For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men." (1 Timothy 2:5-6)
  
  
• What God obtained for believers was permanent: "He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption." (Hebrews 9:12)
  
  
• "By one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy….Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more. And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin." (Hebrews 10:14, 17-18)
  
  
• To the hearers or readers of the apostle Peter's letter he says, "For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect." (1 Peter 1:18-19)
  

In the last book in the Bible Christ is praised in song: "And they sang a new song: ‘You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.’" (Revelation 5:9)

‘LIMITING STATEMENTS’

• "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- 9 not by works, so that no one can boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9)
  
  
• " ‘But let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,’ declares the Lord." (Jeremiah 9:24)
  
  
• God chooses upon whom he will bestow his blessings. Does this make God unjust? The Bible itself answers that thought: "Not at all! 15 For he says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.’16 It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: "I raised you up for this very purpose, that Imight display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth." 18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden." (Romans 9:14-17)
  
  
• God chooses upon whom he bestows his gift of salvation. The apostle says, "he (God) saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit," (Titus 3:5)
  
  
• In another of the apostle Paul’s letters he tells believers, "you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body." (1 Corinthians 6:20) Isn’t this a sufficient reasons to say thank you? The Bible says it is he "who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Colossians 1:12-14)
  
  
• It was God who makes the choice of upon whom he will bestow his blessing. The choice of whom God had purposed to bless occurred a long time ago, before ‘time’ began—a truth which we mortals who have only lived in a world of time cannot digest or comprehend but there it is— "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him (in Christ) before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love ⁵ he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will--" (Ephesians 1:3-5) A few verses later in the same letter we read, "In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will," (Ephesians 1:11)
  
  
• In the Gospel according to John Jesus’ words are recorded. Jesus said to his disciples, "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit--fruit that will last…. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world." (John 15:16, 19)
  

• "A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?" says the Lord Almighty. "It is you, O priests, who show contempt for my name. But you ask, ‘How have we shown contempt for your name?’" (Malachi 1:6)

• What response shows me, shows the world, and shows God that I am one of those individuals that God has shown mercy to by rescuing me "from the dominion of darkness" and qualifying me "to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light"? (Colossians 1:12, 13) The response of doing what pleases God; the response of doing what God says to do.

The word of God says, "In everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets." (Matthew 7:12) Be like him. In his ‘Sermon on the Mount’ Jesus said, "love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven…He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous... Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." (Matthew 5:44-45, 48)

Christian behavior is not a striving to be worthy of God’s mercy. Christian behavior is not a striving to be worthy of God’s undeserved favor. Nor is it a striving to remain in his mercy or favor. It is impossible to have and to demonstrate the proper response to God unless there is an already existing belief in God, that is, a belief in the God of the Bible who created this world and the beyond, who is at the same time the Father of Jesus the Christ. The Bible says so. "Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." (Hebrews 11:6)

What is the response that pleases God in general. We say it in worship. We do in our lives. We do it in our behavior. "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets." (Matthew 7:12)

Jesus' said to his disciples on the very night of his being betrayed and arrested prior to his crucifixion and sacrificial death, "My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:12-13)

The Bible records a time when the actions of an individual demonstrated how grateful she was because she realized that she had been delivered from the power of sin (‘called out of darkness’). On that occasion Jesus had been invited by a religious leader of the Jews (a Pharisee). Jesus spoke to his host of the woman who had barged in to the gathering, saying, "Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven" ---How did he know that? By her actions! Jesus’ quote goes on to explain how he knew that, saying, "for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little." (Luke 7:47) The woman’s actions on that occasion showed how grateful she felt. Jesus pointed out to the religious leader that had invited Jesus to his house that the woman though uninvited had "wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. ⁴⁵…from the time I entered, (she) has not stopped kissing my feet. ⁴⁶ …she has poured perfume on my feet." The woman’s actions showed how deeply she felt about Jesus. Ask yourself as I do, ‘Do my actions exhibit a great love and gratefulness for the forgiveness I have received from God? Is love for God and gratitude to God the emotions that move me to do what God says to do?

The apostle Peter says to the believers to whom he is writing, "So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this (heaven, the home of righteousness), make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him (with God)." (2 Peter 3:14)

It was nothing that we did (or could do) that made us worthy of being called out=delivered out of darkness. The Bible says, "he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit," (Titus 3:5; see also Isaiah 64:6;Romans 3:10-12)

The apostle Paul in his letter to the congregation at Ephesus said, "All of us (referring to everyone who is a believer now) also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were objects wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved." (Ephesians 2:3-5)

• "But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’" (Luke 18:13)

Who gets the ‘slap on the back’? Who gets the the praise for your being made a heir to an eternal inheritance? You? Ridiculous. Tell God how much gratitude you feel; show him by your obedience to his every command that you are aware of.

Are we worshipping God or, in reality, are we doing something else? Remember the biting words that God spoke to his people (the Jews of that day) through his spokesman on earth, the prophet Isaiah: "Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations— I cannot bear your evil assemblies." (Isaiah 1:13) And again, "The Lord says: ‘These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men.’" (Isaiah 29:13) Despite the hardness of our hearts it was still God’s choice to be merciful to us. How inexhaustible is his mercy!

What did God do for us (for me)? "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree." (Galatians 3:13)

What did God do for us (for me)? ^"God made him (the Christ) who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Corinthians 5:21)

How many people think about this when they gather for ‘worship’ ? What should they be thinking about? (What should I be thinking about?)

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." (Ephesians 2:8-10)

 

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