The 7 Sayings on the Cross (2)

"Today thou shalt be with me in paradise"

Naturally I have paired this with that direct request of the thief on the cross to the Lord Jesus:

Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom"

This is indeed a lovely scene in the midst of all the pain and suffering there at Golgotha. It is lovely to see amidst all the mocking, scorn and the flagrant wickedness of man at the cross, that we also see a glimpse of repentance and faith from a single individual.

Here we see dialogue between a thief and the Saviour. It is interesting to note that the thief was someone who took from others that which wasn't his to take, but the Lord Jesus was one who freely gave to others that which only he could give!

The repentant thief is rewarded with the sure promise of eternal life in response to his faith. It is lovely to see the dramatic context of this conversion - that at the last opportunity that life afforded him, this man's eternal destiny was changed forever!

And so the cross changes our destiny too. It is easy to forget that we too met the Saviour at the cross and as a result of that meeting we also are bound for heaven and have eternal life in Him. Our conversions may well have been less dramatic in terms of their situations and circumstances, but the end result was the same - a sinner was saved by grace! Saved from judgement and wrath, and won for heaven!

We praise the Saviour for showing a care and interest in us, that ever he should come and give himself so that we might be saved.

Yours in Christ, Mark

The 7 Sayings on the Cross

I have been enjoying some thoughts recently on the 7 sayings of the Lord Jesus from the cross (as we like to call them). In particular I have been contrasting and comparing them with things that were said either to the Lord or about the Lord by those at the foot of the cross at that time. It is interesting when you consider this as it tells us so much about the character of our Lord Jesus, and I hope you too find them beneficial. We will look at one each day so it is in nice bite-size daily amounts!

"Father forgive them for they know not what they do"

It is true that the first and last statements from the cross both address the Father, but how interesting that this very first saying, should be in grace and mercy on behalf of those who were putting him to death and treating him so shamefully! I have 'paired' this first saying of our Lord Jesus with the mocking accusation from the foot of the cross:

"Thou that destroyest the temple and rebuildest it in 3 days, save thyself and come down from the cross"

I realise that this first saying was possibly directed at and in response to the actions of those cruel Roman soldiers, but for the purposes of this small study I have put it alongside this statement for comparative purposes. Their statement shows just how much they had misunderstood the teaching of the Lord Jesus, and in particular the temple analogy. Remember that 'threatening to destroy the temple' was one of the things they had accused him of before Pilate, in an attempt to add some sort of credence to the trial. It only showed how little they understood of him, for the scripture says "but he spake of the temple of his body". They didn't appreciate what they were doing in terms of eternity and God's plan of salvation, they thought they were putting an end to this man who said he was the Son of God, but in reality they were fulfilling God's will in relation to His Son. They were fulfilling the original meaning of his teaching regarding the temple of his body! He would die and rise again on the third day. How tremendous to remind ourselves once again that they could do nothing that had not been permitted by the Father, they would only fulfil the scriptures concerning him and his death! He would not and could not come down from the cross, for he had humbled himself in coming into the world and had become obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. He would complete the work that the Father had given him to do, and would not turn aside from that pathway. Remember that it was this pathway that made a way of salvation for you and me, and we praise God for that today!

Tomorrow we will look at the second saying from the cross...

Yours in Christ, Mark

Impossible!

I've been enjoying 2 scriptures from Hebrews that tell us about 2 things which are IMPOSSIBLE.

"For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins" (Heb 10:4)

How wonderful it is for believers to appreciate once again that our sin has been fully dealt with once and for all by the Lord Jesus Christ at the cross of Calvary! Hebrews tells us all about this better sacrifice, and it should warm our hearts as we refresh our souls and consider it once again.

The writer to the Hebrews tells us that the Lord Jesus gave himself as "one sacrifice for sins forever" and again that he "put away sins by the sacrifice of himself". Amazing words, especially when we consider that our verse here tells us that no amount of sacrifices of bulls, goats or any beasts would take away sin or deal with its penalty or power. This was an impossibility! Nothing we could ever offer to God would deal with sin and make us right with God once and for all, nothing would fully satisfy the claims of a righteous and holy God against sin. The blood of sacrificed beasts would only cover sins for a season, this was never a permanent solution.

We thank God that there was a better and perfect sacrifice in the person of his beloved Son and Hebrews tells us that he "offered himself without spot to God". This was the difference, here was a perfect spotless sacrifice! The Lord Jesus was the Lamb of God, which was sent to take away the sins of the world (as John the Baptist correctly identified). The scriptures tell us that his precious blood cleanses us from all sin, so we can have every confidence that this once and for all sacrifice has fully dealt with our sins, as he has paid the price with his precious blood and we are saved, forgiven and redeemed!

"but without faith it is impossible to please him (God)" (Heb 11:6)

We realise as believers in Christ that we were (and still are) sinners, and as such we could never offer anything to God, and we have seen this already as Hebrews makes this very clear. Hebrews also illustrates the importance of faith, and this is the response God looks for in men and women today. To respond to that perfect sacrifice by repenting of that sin that took his Son to Calvary to bear it away and to turn to him putting faith and trust in Him!

We thank God for the day we realised we were sinners and that Christ had died for our sin and put faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and his finished work at Calvary.

Day by day let us remind ourselves of these things and offer thanks and praise to God!

Yours in Christ, Mark.

 

Three things found in David's youth... (part 1)

[caption id="attachment_67" align="alignright" width="300" caption="The hill country around Bethlehem"][/caption]

I first thought about this mini study a couple of years ago for a Friday night youth work, but I honestly believe there are some practical lessons for us all here in this study and I share them with you now for our mutual benefit. As there are three things this will divide neatly into a three part post over the next few days, so keep hitting the site for the next instalment!

1. Sheep

Of course we remember that it is as a young shepherd that we are introduced to David, and we find him caring for his father Jesse's flocks (1 Sam 16:11). It is here that David learns a lot of the skills and characteristics hat will prepare him for service. He is caring, feeding and protecting the sheep, engaged in profitable activities that will serve him well throughout his life in relation to being a leader for God in Israel. This is a challenge to us - those of us who are young or not long on the Christian pathway, what habits and traits are we learning and picking up as young people? What activities are we engaged in and how are we spending our time? I challenge myself with this as I myself struggle with managing my time and often find myself being distracted by frivolous and worthless things!

Of course sheep were to come back into David's life at other stages and I thought of Nathan's parable in 2 Samuel 12. The prophet paints a vivid picture and chooses something that David will understand, a picture of a lamb. Of course we remember that the purpose of the parable was to rebuke David for his sin with Bathsheba and this gross sin would cost him greatly. But recovery and forgiveness was possible and David would repent of his sin and be restored once again. The lesson for us is that we should strive to live holy lives well-pleasing to God - "be ye holy". However there may be times when we fail, yet we have the promise of the Word of God; "if any man sin he has an advocate with the father" There is always forgiveness and restoration with the father, we can never be cut off from him! However we should keep short accounts with God, repent when we fail and ask God to forgive us. Our failure should be the exception rather than the rule however, and it should not be so that are lives are constantly marked by repetitive sin and failure.

I would consider one last mention of sheep in David's life, this time in his old age at the inauguration of his son Solomon as king in 1 Chron 29:21. David sacrifices 1000 rams and 1000 lambs on this auspicious occasion. Here we see the sheer extravagance of David's praise and worship and this is something that marked David's life, his abundance in worship and thanksgiving to God. Remember when the ark was brought back, he danced and praised God! Of course this too should mark us as believers, both when we gather together publicly and in our own lives we should be ready and abundant worshippers! The father seeks for worshippers, (John 4:23) he deserves our praise and like David, we should be happy and willing to offer it.

I trust these simple thoughts will have been a challenge and encouragement to us. Later we will look at the second of the three things found in David's youth that influenced and characterised the life of this great man.

Yours in Christ,

Mark