The Cross Reconciled Us to God

PRAY OVER THIS

“For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”

Romans 5:10

 

PONDER THIS

Christ has suffered for sin, the just for the unjust. Why? That He might bring us to God! What does sin do? Sin separates us from a holy God. What does the cross do? On that cross, Jesus reconciled God and Man. He’s made peace by the blood of His cross that He might bring us to God. The word reconciled in Greek is prosago. It means to take an individual and present him to a king or a dignitary.

That’s what Jesus has done. He has taken us by the hand and has presented us to God the Father. He’s saying, “Father, these are mine. I purchased them with my blood on that cross.” Does that excite you? That is a life-changing message! You and I were separated and far from God but now we get to be in His presence and live for and with Him forevermore!

How does it affect you to remember you have been reconciled to God? How has your life changed as a result?

How easy or difficult is it for you to remember the weight of your separation from God?

PRACTICE THIS

Praise and thank God for reconciliation with Him. Pray for someone you know who still needs that hope.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

What Binds the Hands of Love?

We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. (Colossians 1:3–5)

The problem with the church today is not that there are too many people who are passionately in love with heaven. The problem is not that professing Christians are retreating from the world, spending half their days reading Scripture and the other half singing about their pleasures in God all the while indifferent to the needs of the world. That’s not happening! The people of God are not so full of love to God that they spend half their days in his word.

The problem is that professing Christians are spending ten minutes reading Scripture and then half their day making money and the other half loving and repairing what they spend it on.

It’s not heavenly-mindedness that hinders love for the lost and hurting of this world. It is worldly-mindedness that hinders love, even when it is disguised by a religious routine on the weekend.

Where is the person whose heart is so passionately in love with the promised glory of heaven that he feels like an exile and a sojourner on the earth? Where is the person who has so tasted the beauty of the age to come that the diamonds of the world look like marbles from the dollar store, and the entertainment of the world feels empty, and the moral causes of the world are too small because they have no view to eternity? Where is this person?

To be sure, he is not in bondage to the Internet or eating or sleeping or drinking or partying or fishing or sailing or putzing around. He is a free man in a foreign land. And his one question is this: How can I maximize my enjoyment of God for all eternity while I am an exile on this earth? And his answer is always the same: by doing the labors of love. By expanding my joy in God, no matter the cost, if by any means possible I might include others in it.

Only one thing satisfies the heart whose treasure is in heaven: doing the works of heaven. And heaven is a world of love!

It is not the cords of heaven that bind the hands of love and make them ineffective. It is the love of money and leisure and comfort and praise — these are the cords of selfishness that bind the hands of love. And the power to sever these cords is Christian hope. “We heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven” (Colossians 1:4–5).

I say it again with all the conviction that lies within me: it is not heavenly-mindedness that hinders love on this earth. It is worldly-mindedness. And therefore the great fountain of love is the powerful, freeing confidence of Christian hope.

John Piper 

Bible Study

Luke 24:34

[34] saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!”

Mark 16:5-6

[5] And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. [6] And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him.

2 Timothy 2:8

[8] Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel,

2 Timothy 2:10-13

[10] Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. [11] The saying is trustworthy, for: 

    If we have died with him, we will also live with him; 

    [12] if we endure, we will also reign with him;

    if we deny him, he also will deny us; 

    [13] if we are faithless, he remains faithful—

    for he cannot deny himself.

Tetelestai

Greek word

Tetelestai

It is finished!

It is completed!

Paid in full!

John 19:30

[30] When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

This shout of victory from Christ on the cross as He was dying and returning to the Father.

He had accomplished His Father's work.

God raised Him from the dead.

He is risen indeed.

Our Redeemer lives!

He will return!

If you are a Christ follower, this word, Tetelestai, has a great hope attached to it.

Our hope is in Christ Alone and His ability to pay our debt.

Someday Christ will return, He will repay all evil. 

Only His blood will cover your sin.

That blood is a free gift you receive by faith. 

You must know that there is not one thing you can do to be justified before Holy God.

It is mercy!

Acts 13:29-30

[29] And when they had carried out all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. [30] But God raised him from the dead,

John 17:4-5

[4] I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. [5] And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

Matthew 27:50-54

[50] And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.

[51] And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. [52] The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, [53] and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. [54] When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!”

Romans 9:16

[16] So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.

Do You Try to Earn God’s Forgiveness?

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 

If He Calls, He Keeps

[The Lord] will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. (1 Corinthians 1:8–9)

What are you depending on to ensure that your faith will last until Jesus comes?

The question is not, Do you believe in eternal security? The question is, How are we kept secure?

Does the perseverance of our faith rest decisively on the reliability of our own resolve? Or does it rest decisively on the work of God to “keep us trusting”?

It is a great and wonderful truth of Scripture that God is faithful and will keep forever those whom he has called. Our confidence that we are eternally secure is a confidence that God will do whatever is necessary to “keep us trusting!”

The certainty of eternity is no greater than the certainty God will keep us trusting now. But that certainty is very great for all whom God has called.

At least three passages put the call of God and the keeping of God together in this way.

“[The Lord] will sustain you (keep you) to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:8–9).

“May the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it” (1 Thessalonians 5:23–24).

“Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ: May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you” (Jude 1–2). (See the same reality in Romans 8:30, Philippians 1:6, 1 Peter 1:5, and Jude 24.)

The “faithfulness” of God guarantees that he will keep safe forever all whom he has called.

John Piper 

Bible Study

Hebrews 9:27-28

[27] And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, [28] so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

Colossians 1:19-23

[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.

1 Peter 4:5-8

[5] but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. [6] For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does.

[7] The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. [8] Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.

Romans 5:2

[2] Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.