The Great Exchange

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed. (Romans 1:16–17)

We need righteousness to be acceptable to God. But we don’t have it. What we have is sin.

So, God has what we need and don’t deserve — righteousness; and we have what God hates and rejects — sin. What is God’s answer to this situation?

His answer is Jesus Christ, the Son of God who died in our place and bore our condemnation. “By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he [God] condemned sin in the flesh” (Romans 8:3). Whose flesh bore the condemnation? His. Whose sins were being condemned? Ours. This is the great exchange. Here it is again in 2 Corinthians 5:21: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

God lays our sins on Christ and punishes them in him. And in Christ’s obedient death, God fulfills and vindicates his righteousness and imputes (credits) it to us. Our sin on Christ; his righteousness on us.

We can hardly stress too much that Christ is God’s answer to our greatest problem. It is all owing to Christ.

You can’t love Christ too much. You can’t think about him too much, or thank him too much, or depend upon him too much. All our forgiveness, all our justification, all our righteousness is in Christ.

This is the gospel — the good news that our sins are laid on Christ and his righteousness is laid on us, and that this great exchange becomes ours not by works but by faith alone. “By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8–9).

Here is the good news that lifts burdens and gives joy and makes strong.

John Piper 

Sin-Sorrow-Death The Sin Caused Things

It seems we spend half our lives asking why these things happen. 

Are we really so out of touch with the Bible and its teaching that we don't have a clue? 

The downward spiral started in the garden of Eden where sin began. 

That downward spiral will continue until Christ burst forth in the eastern sky to claim His bride, the church.

Praise be to God that these three sin caused things are not the end!!

Christ came to reconcile these sin caused things on the cross.

God gave Him the power to redeem sinners and conquer sin, sorrow and death.

If you are in Christ, you are a new creature. 

You become a sojourner here on Earth waiting to go back home.

These sin caused things will come, but Christ is your Redeemer!

The battle us won!

We are victorious in Christ alone!

Will you surrender to the only One who is able?

Confess!

Repent!

Claim your blood bought pardon! 

Let Your eternity be secure through the blood of Christ that cleanses all unrighteousness!

17 For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. - 1 Corinthians 1:17-18

16 For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

17 For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,"

18 we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain.

19 And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts,

20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation.

21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. - 2 Peter 1:16-21

1 And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom.

2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. - 1 Corinthians 2:1-2

7 But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory.

8 None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

9 But, as it is written, "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him"- 

10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.

11 For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.

13 And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.

14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

15 The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one.

16 "For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ. - 1 Corinthians 2:7-16

22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom,

23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles,

24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. - 1 Corinthians 1:22-24

But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God. - 1 Corinthians 11:3

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities-all things were created through him and for him.

17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.

19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,

20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds,

22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,

23 if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister. - Colossians 1:15-23

Bible Study

37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.

38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'" - John 7:37-38

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. - 1 Corinthians 1:18

36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?

37 For what can a man give in return for his soul?

38 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels." - Mark 8:36-38

9 I have told the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation; behold, I have not restrained my lips, as you know, O LORD. 

10 I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart; I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation; I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness from the great congregation.  - Psalm 40:9-10

Have You Opened His Door?

BIBLE MEDITATION

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me” Revelation 3:20

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT

A man once told me, “Back in the depression, we had three meals a day. We had oatmeal for breakfast, corn meal for dinner, and no meal for supper.”

You may feel like that. You may not feel as if you have much now. But I don’t care what is set on your table today, Friend, listen—when you become a Christian, whether or not you have a freezer full of filet mignon, it makes no difference. There’s Someone else who prepares a table before you in the presence of your enemies, and He is the Lord Jesus Christ. As a Christian, you eat at the King’s table.

ACTION POINT

If you have opened the door to Him, you feast in Him. You are in the Lord’s fellowship. You sit at His table! And no matter how poor you are, you eat with the King! Open your heart’s door to the Lord Jesus Christ.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Children of a Singing God

And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. (Mark 14:26)

Can you hear Jesus singing?

Was he a bass or a tenor? Was there a down-home twang to his voice? Or was there an unwavering crystal pitch?

Did he close his eyes and sing to his Father? Or did he look into his disciples’ eyes and smile at their deep camaraderie?

Did he usually start the song? Or did Peter or James, or maybe Matthew, do it?

Oh, I can hardly wait to hear Jesus sing! I think the planets would be jolted out of orbit if he lifted his native voice in our universe. But we have a kingdom that cannot be shaken; so, Lord, go ahead, do it! Sing!

It could not be otherwise but that Christianity be a singing faith. The founder sang. He learned to sing from his Father. Surely they have been singing together from all eternity. Don’t you think so? Would not infinite eternal happiness in the fellowship of the Trinity sing?

The Bible says the aim of our singing is “to raise sounds of joy” (1 Chronicles 15:16). No one in the universe has more joy than God. He is infinitely joyful. He has rejoiced from eternity in the panorama of his own perfections reflected perfectly in the deity of his Son.

God’s joy is unimaginably powerful. He is God. When he speaks, galaxies come into being. And when he sings for joy, more energy is released than exists in all the matter and motion of the universe.

If he appointed song for us to release our heart’s delight in him, is this not because he also knows the joy of releasing his own heart’s delight in his own image in his Son by his Spirit in song? We are a singing people because we are the children of a singing God.

John Piper 

Bible Study

15 May you be blessed by the LORD, who made heaven and earth! 

16 The heavens are the LORD's heavens, but the earth he has given to the children of man. 

17 The dead do not praise the LORD, nor do any who go down into silence. 

18 But we will bless the LORD from this time forth and forevermore. Praise the LORD!  - Psalm 115:15-18

1 Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness! 

2 Why should the nations say, "Where is their God?" 

3 Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases. 

4 Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. 

5 They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see. 

6 They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell. 

7 They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do not make a sound in their throat. 

8 Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them.  - Psalm 115:1-8

Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.  - Psalm 124:8

1 I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? 

2 My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth. 

3 He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. 

4 Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 

5 The LORD is your keeper; the LORD is your shade on your right hand. 

6 The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. 

7 The LORD will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. 

8 The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.  - Psalms 121

You Have 3 Problems

BIBLE MEDITATION

“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God” 1 Corinthians 1:18

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT

I once met a lawyer on an airplane. We began to talk about what we like to read. I said, “I read newspapers, books, journals, devotional studies, but primarily the Bible.”

He said, “If you don’t read any further than that, how do you know what to talk about when you speak to people?”

I said, “Sir, man only has three problems: sin, sorrow, and death.”

He answered, “There are more than that.”

I replied, “No, only three.”

“Oh,” he said, “there are other problems.”

I said, “All right, tell me another.”

He thought for a long time, came back, and said, “Man only has three problems.”

That’s true. And the cross of Jesus Christ is the only answer to those three problems. You give me all of the wisdom of this world—but there is no other answer apart from the cross.

ACTION POINT

The Jews look for a sign; it is the Cross. The Greeks want wisdom; it is the Cross. To this world it is foolishness, but to God, it is not foolishness. Now, thank God for the message of the Cross. If mankind really has only three problems, when you think of yours, what category do they fall into? Jot down a list of what you consider right now your top ten problems. In prayer bring that list before the Lord. Surrender them to Him, ask Him to speak to you, and listen for His direction.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers