The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"One Sacrifice! No More Sacrifice!"
"This man (the Lord Jesus Christ) offered one sacrifice for sins forever" (Hebrews 10:12).
And because He did...
"There remaineth no more sacrifice for sins" (Hebrews 10:26).
"It is finished!" declared the Lord Jesus regarding His atoning work on the cross of Calvary (John 19:30). Having died so completely and effectively for our sins, and having fully borne the wrath of God for our sakes, "One sacrifice!" and "No more sacrifice!" perfectly describe and joyfully affirm the believer's complete redemption through Christ. The Son who so pleased His Heavenly Father in life also perfectly satisfied Him in death, the death that redeems all who come to God through the Person, work and merits of the risen Lord Jesus. "For through Him we have access by one Spirit unto the Father" (Ephesians 2:18).
Few truths of the New Testament more establish the basis for a life of faith and faithfulness. Believers do not live for salvation, but from salvation. Redemption in Christ so justifies us that God "will not impute sin" to us (Romans 4:8). He deals with us as a loving Father rather than a punitive judge, chastening us in love when necessary, but never condemning those deemed as forever acquitted through Christ. "God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you... He hath made us accepted in the Beloved... By one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified" (Ephesians 4:32; 1:6; Hebrews 10:14).
The increasing knowledge of "so great salvation" stokes the hearth of the believer's heart whereupon burns the love of the Lord Jesus Himself (Romans 5:5). Rather than serving God from mere duty and obligation, the remembrance of "One sacrifice!" and "No more sacrifice for sins!" motivates genuine devotion within the very depths of our being. Thereby we offer "the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His Name" (Hebrews 13:15). Moreover, we trust and obey God with the one motivation that satisfies both Him and ourselves, namely, the remembrance of His love and our desire to respond in kind (I Corinthians 13). "We love Him because He first loved us" (I John 4:19).
Believers live self sacrificial lives as the fruit of the Holy Spirit's working in us. "To do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased" (Hebrews 13:16). We also present our bodies as "a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God" (Romans 12:1). Never, however, do view the need for any sacrifice for sin other than our Lord's "one sacrifice for sins forever." The work is done. The sacrifice was made. The gift is given. The saving grace of the Lord Jesus provides the sole basis of our eternal redemption, filling us with assurance that in this moment we may "come boldly unto the throne of grace" (Hebrews 4:16). Let us therefore remember and affirm a finished salvation, provided and maintained by a faithful Savior.... "One sacrifice!... "No more sacrifice!"
"Now once in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself."
(Hebrews 9:26)
Pardoned forever, this is the gift,
provided by grace, destroying the rift
between ourselves and the Father,
our hearts now His home.
Forgiven forever, oh this we must know!
No life of devotion ensues without this,
that only through Christ our sins God remits.
He paid the full price and finished the work,
to grant free redemption
that ever endures.
Christ only, Christ always, this is our plea!
He paid the full price to make the gift free.
And from this salvation, this one sacrifice,
we live for His glory,
by the power of His life.
Pardoned forever, this is the gift....
Weekly Memory Verse
"What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee."
(Psalm 56:3)
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