PRAY OVER THIS
“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit.”
(1 Peter 3:18
PONDER THIS
There’s a word I don’t want you to miss in this passage: once. That does not mean once upon a time: it means once for all. When Jesus said, “It is finished!” (see John 19:30), He meant the debt had been paid for sin—absolutely and completely. In Rome, when a man would be put in prison, they would write out a certificate of debt. This was his debt to society for his crime, and the document would be placed on his prison door. After he had done his time and paid the penalty, they would write across that certificate of debt.
Do you know the word they would write? Tetalesti. Do you know what that means? It is finished; it is paid in full. That man won’t have to go back to prison again. If they arrest him for that crime again, he can say, “Yes, but I have paid. It is done. You can’t bring me in twice for the same crime.” Jesus has once suffer
ed for sin. That means you cannot pay for it yourself through your good works or by beating yourself up with shame. It has already been done. Your debt is paid, and you are free to go and live for God.
How have you tried to earn God’s favor through good works? Why won’t this ever work?
How does the fact that your sin has been paid in full change your daily life?
PRACTICE THIS
Be an encourager. Remind a fellow Christian today that his or her sin has been paid in full.
LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers
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