Category grace

May 15 2008

God’s master plan in one verse


“For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified” (Hebrews 10:14

One sacrifice for sin all time. The offerings for sins carried out by the priests were unable to “perfect” those for whom the sacrifices were offered. The daily offerings of the priests and the annual offerings in the holy of holies could “never take away sin” but only cover it for a while. Christ offered his own body, (prepared for him specifically for this purpose ) “once for all time and sat down at the right hand of God. His work was finished. The sacrificial system was but a shadow of the true sacrifice who would come and offer himself on the cross as final and complete payment for the sins of undeserving people.

Our eternal standing is secure. “He has perfected for all time” those who are his own. All of our sins, past, present, and future have been judged. “The wages of sin is death” Paul said in Romans 6:23. God, because He is holy and just, can not overlook sin, it must be paid for and the payment is death. Jesus died that death. All of God’s wrath against sin was poured out on Christ on the cross and the shameful events that led up to the death of the Lamb of God. The shame, the humiliation, the mocking, the spitting upon him, the beating, and finally the blood poured out, completely satisfied the justice of a holy God who hates sin and must by his very nature punish it. By this one offering of this perfect sacrifice sin is forever paid for and no other sacrifice is ever needed. We are “perfect” in Him.

God is at work in us so that we will better reflect our perfect standing with him. We are “being sanctified” Salvation is in reality a process. We have been saved from the penalty of sin, (There is therefore no condemnation..) we are being saved from the power of sin ( He who began a good work in you will complete it – sanctification), and at the resurrection we will be saved from even the presence of sin. (and so shall we ever be with the Lord ). Every benefit of salvation rests solely upon the person and work of Jesus. “God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself.” The reconciliation is complete. The sin offerings complete. Salvation is complete.

What is our response to this grace? This verse, and this rich book of Hebrews, are only one of scores that clearly teach human effort, religious activity, and all good works are futile in gaining God’s favor. Paul said to the believers of the churches of Galatia “Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified”. In spite of this crystal clear teaching many of us live as modern day Pharisees going about trying to establish our own righteousness expecting God to grant us added favor because of what we do. Paul called depending on what you do or “works” for salvation “another gospel, which is not another“. It is a lie presented as the “good news” but it is not the “good news” for the only true “good news” is that by the offering by Christ of himself, once for all for “whosoever will” is all God will accept.

Our correct response to God’s amazing grace is to surrender all that we are to His glory and eternal purposes and to give ourselves wholly to His pleasure. In sickness and in health, in poverty and wealth, we are married to another and even death will not separate us. It is this goodness of God toward sinners that teaches us to say NO to unrighteousness and YES to what is pure and holy.

“Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:19-23 )

His peace,
Royce Ogle

 

Apr 21 2008

It is finished. Really it is!


From the gospel of John we learn that from the cross, just before Jesus would finally die, He said “It is finished”. What was finished? The righteous demands of a Holy God had been fully met and the wrath of a Holy God against sin had been exhausted. The sin problem common to every human was eternally solved. “It is finished.”

“When He (Jesus) had by himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high..” (Hebrews 1:3) Having referenced several versions of the Bible, each of them agree on what this awesome verse says. First Jesus “purged” our sins. Some versions use the word “cleansed”, some ‘purified”, but each offers the same meaning. HE fixed our sin problem. And each of the versions I referred to correctly translated the tense of the verb to be the “past tense”. There is no process involved, it is a finished work. “Purged”, “cleansed”, or “purified” all happened in the past and are done.

The writer to the Hebrews again and again affirms this glorious truth.

  • “Once for all when He offered up Himself” (Hebrews 7:26,27)
  • “Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption” (Hebrews 9:12)
  • “Once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. (Hebrews 9:26)
  • “So Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many” (Hebrews 9:28 )
  • ” We have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all”  (Hebrews 10:10)
  • “But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God” (Hebrews 10:12)

And if that were not enough to convince anyone who reads the text, the final, convincing truth is found in Hebrews 10:14. ” For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.

Jesus Himself by living a perfect life and presenting a perfect sacrifice to God on behalf of estranged sinners has “once for all” fixed the sin problem for everyone who puts their trust in Him. There is no righteous act, no penance, no sacrifice, no reform, no personal proof, no suffering, that can add to what Jesus has already accomplished on your behalf.

When God looks at one of those dear ones, who are together the bride of Christ, He sees that one perfect. Perfect until you mess up? No way! In simple terms your perfection is “eternal”. Thus Paul could say with confidence in Ephesians 1:4 “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.”

Take a deep breath and relax child of God, you have a lot of living to do! What you don’t have to sweat is your sins. They are gone! It is finished! Yes, of course we still sin, but our sins are not counted against us any longer. (Romans 4:7,8 ) It is because of this grace knowledge, this abundance of mercy, that we learn to say no to sin. We are no longer slaves to sin, we have been set free.

The penalty of sin is death. Jesus died in your place. God is satisfied.
The power of sin is the law. It was nailed to the cross.
The presence of sin will one day be only history not to be remembered again when Jesus comes for us.

This is the good news about Jesus. “It is finished!” Amen, and amen.

His peace,
Royce Ogle

 

 

 

 

 

Apr 17 2008

Acts 2:38, a second look


I just read a post at http://keithbrenton.blogspot.com/ that prompted this post. You should visit Keith’s blog and read some of his stuff, especially the latest post. He poses the question “Is an imperative always a command?” He then takes a look at Acts 2:38. His take is interesting to say the least. All of his posts are excellent reading.

Acts 2:38. Is there any church of Christ/Christian church member who has not heard scores of sermons on this foundational verse? Perhaps you can answer some questions.

  • In the verse there are two imperatives “repent” and “be baptised”. Since “repent”, “repentance”, etc. are mentioned far, far more than baptism, why is the emphasis of perhaps 99% of all lessons on this verse focused on baptism rather than “repent”?
  • In my view, an improper empasis on baptism can result in a person trusting an event rather than a person, the Lord Jesus. Isn’t baptism meaningless unless one has truely “changed his or her mind” (repented) about the course of their life?
  • Is it possible that we might have misunderstood the meaning of Acts 2:38? The gift of the Holy Spirit is a promised result of obeying these two imperatives, or commands. In Peter’s own words later, he connected the gift of the Holy Spirit, not to baptism but to “belief”, which is the flip side of repentance. ““Can anyone forbid water, that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” 48 And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord” (Acts 10:47) In the next chapter Peter defends his action of baptizing Gentiles. His clear answer was “Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how He said, ‘John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17 If therefore God gave them the same gift as He gave us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God?” (Acts 11:15,17)

Is it possible that many of us have put the gospel cart before the horse?

His peace,
Royce Ogle

 

 

 

Apr 11 2008

Christian Unity?


Last evening I was reading some articles on the web and came across one by one of our “traditional” brothers whose subject was the danger of “Denominationalism”. His thesis is that denominations and denominational churches are unscriptural because they violate passages in the Bible that call for the unity of believers. How can denominational churches claim unity when their very existence is based on their differences? Up to this point the author was making a logical case. Then he disengaged his brain and exposed either his ignorance, (he is a bright, well educated man) or his bias.

After excoriating all denominational churches, and as a result all their people, he then made the case that the churchs of Christ alone are the undenominaitonal churches and are thus the only biblical ones. Any casual observer must admit that churches of Christ have their share of divisions. Here I will only consider the fractions of the churches of Christ, not the Restoration Movement churches as a whole which is a greater problem for anyone who subscribes to the notion that only the church of Christ has unity as discussed in the Bible.

Hmmm, church of Christ unity. In the very same paper by the very same author, there was a piece thrashing North Richland Hills church of Christ for having musical instruments in their worship services. Not only did the author disagree, not only does he not intend to fellowship with such people, he declares that they are not even saved. Some unity huh?

Lets see just how unified the beloved coC is. Institutional vs. non-institutional, once cuppers vs. multiple cuppers, Sunday school vs. non Sunday school, paid preacher, vs. mutual edification, just to name a few. I think you get my point. Then there are those who flagrantly lift their hands in worship, clap along in time with songs, sing during the Lord’s Supper, have a kitchen in the church, have women actually speak in an assembly, consider others outside of churches of Christ Christians, etc., etc.

Christian unity? I believe the denominational churches might have more unity than the coC. I have never heard a Baptist pastor brand a Methodist unsaved because they have different ideas about church government. I have never heard a Calvinist write off those in the “free will” camp as lost because they don’t agree with him on all 5 points of Calvinism. I admit that there is a sprinkling of those whose particular pet doctrine or myth defines in their mind who is saved and unsaved, but largely most denominations work fairly well together. Not so for our beloved churches of Christ.

I am glad to report that things are changing. There is a grace awakening happening across the Restoration Movement churches in spite of the viscous attacks of the most strict traditionalists and zealots. There will always be those few of every stripe who demand that everyone agree with them on every point or be damned to hell.

The sad truth is not obvious to most people but it is true none the less. Without exception those folks who believe someone else is lost because of what they either do or do not do on a given Lord’s day are also wrong on the doctrine of salvation. They put man in the drivers seat with God at his disposal in opposition to the biblical position of God being in control. Every person I have ever had communications with who teaches either a works based salvation or a supposed mixture of works and grace, to the last one, vehemently denies what he clearly teaches. Only one time in my 40 years of being a Christian have I had anyone admit that he believed we are saved by works.

There is only one unifying point that should bond believers of all brands, our common faith in Jesus Christ for salvation. All of the other practices and beliefs that divide God’s people pale in comparison to what we believe about Jesus Christ the son of God. We must first agree about who He is and what He has accomplished for sinners, and then how we receive the gracious gift He offers, which is eternal life. (Romans 6:23)

His peace,
Royce