The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"So Much Given, So Great the Cost"
"The wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23).
Yes is it.
"Christ died for our sins" (I Corinthians 15:3).
The human race incurred a debt to God the Lord Jesus Christ was willing to pay for us. As has been said, "We did the crime. He did the time." Indeed, we committed the sins. He bore them for us on the cross of Calvary, and was even "made… to be sin for us" (I Peter 2:24; II Corinthians 5:21). Such truth comprises the very heart of the Gospel, made possible by the love of our Savior's heart for us.
To the degree the Lord Jesus died for our sins, born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ now live by and in His righteousness. "Made the righteousness of God in Him" declared the Apostle Paul (II Corinthians 5:21). Our Heavenly Father sees us in His Son because on the cross, He saw His Son as our sin. Do we see ourselves accordingly? Do we view ourselves in the light of the cross, the empty tomb, the ascended Christ, and His presence in us, made possible by His being forsaken at Calvary for us? We must. Too much was sacrificed and too many wages paid by the Lamb of God for believers to ignore or disbelieve the vibrant life of God given as a free gift to all who believe. "They which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:17).
We can make our past failures and our present sense of weakness our primary focus. Certainly, these are realities for which we rightly repent, and necessarily acknowledge and confront. However, the God who saw His Son as sin on the cross, and judged Him accordingly, now sees us as enrobed in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus. "Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us… righteousness" (I Corinthians 1:30). The debit ledger of our sin debt bears no entries because our Lord bore them all for us. "Paid in full" reads the record. Or, "It is finished!" (John 19:30). The credit ledger, conversely, is full, written with the blood of the Lord Jesus, and imprinted with His "unsearchable riches" freely attributed to all who believe (Ephesians 3:8). Wages? Never again. Rather, "He that spared not His own Son, but delivered up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" (Romans 8:32).
Too much of blood, sorrow, pain, loneliness, agony, and death flowed at Calvary for born again believers to not avail ourselves of the grace that flows freely unto and within us through Christ. Yes, He paid the wages. We receive and rejoice in the gift. Even more, we seek to honor the sacrifice our Lord made, by availing ourselves of the grace it purchased.
So much given, so great the cost,
so terrible the sorrow, so vast the loss.
When on that day at Calvary,
the Father smote His Son,
when for us He forsook Him
to bleed and die alone…
So much given, so great the cost.
So much given, so much forgiven.
So great the mercy shining in His face
when on that day we first believed,
and in this day as we receive
the grace to live in faithfulness,
the beauty of His holiness…
So much given, so great the cost.
So much given, of glorious supply,
grace that cost Him all, His holy, precious life.
For on that day when we believed,
His Spirit entered in.
And in this day when we believe,
He lives in us, we live through Him…
So much given, so great the cost.
"I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."
(John 10:10)
"The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
(Romans 6:23)
Weekly Memory Verse
But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man.
(Hebrews 2:9)
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