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Tag: Jesus paid it all

Someone pays …

Genesis 12:17 reads “And the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai Abram’s wife.” Abram had asked Sarai to lie to the Egyptians that she was his sister and not his wife, since he feared that his life would have been in danger, if the Egyptians knew that she was his wife. Though Abram sinned (by lying), the Lord plagued Sarai’s house so that she would not be defiled and the promised seed (Galatians 3:16) corrupted by any means. Abram sinned and Pharaoh paid for it.

Points to ponder: When we sin, particularly when there is falsehood (lies) in us, we pay for it or someone always pays. Let us be careful to not consider any sin as if it was trivial, for if it is not you, someone will always pay.

For all the sins of the world, Jesus had to pay with his life, on the Cross of Calvary and he paid it in full (John 19:30).

Genesis 12:17 (KJV) 17 And the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai Abram’s wife.

No more, Nothing more :: It is finished

Jesus’ sixth saying from the Cross is recorded in the gospel according to apostle John in chapter 19 verse 30. It reads, “When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.

Jesus said, “It is finished” to not only imply but also affirm that, that which was needed was indeed completed. The price that was necessary to redeem mankind from the power of sin and its wages, which is death, was paid in full. There is no more debt remaining. This also meant that there is nothing more necessary to save one’s soul because Jesus’ willing sacrifice was pleasing to God and was accepted by God, once and for all (Hebrews 10:12).

Points to ponder:
It is finished means there is no more debt; it means there is nothing more needed. In other words, it means it is all grace and no works that is necessary to save mankind (Ephesians 2:8-9). All works and no grace will keep the state of man’s soul unredeemed. All grace and no works will redeem the soul of man. We can confidently sing “Jesus paid it all” because he victoriously declared “It is finished.”

John 19:30 (KJV)
30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.

Ephesians 2:8-9 (KJV)
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Not of works, lest any man should boast.

The CROSS Examination :: Place of Settlement

The CROSS on which Jesus Christ was nailed is the place of divine settlement. When one is born into the world, they are born into a world that is sinful and subject to its power.  They are born into a world with the overarching arm of the law that aims to penalize those who are guilty of breaking it.

Sin aims to gain mastery and rule over the residents of this world but the Bible prescribes that we must rule over it (Genesis 4:7). Yet we sin and become guilty according to the law. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). The law obligates that the wages of our sin be paid. The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). But thanks be to God, that on the Cross, the sin-debt was paid in full (John 19:30) and nailed to it (Colossians 2:14). When Jesus said from the Cross, “Tetelastai”, it is rendered as “It is finished”, but this word is used in business transactions to mean “Paid in Full”. In other words, Jesus Christ took the letter of the law; the obligations that were imposed on each of us, and nailed it to the cross, blotting it (settling the sin-debt) once and for all.

The lyrics of one of the stanzas of the song, “Before the throne of God Above” beautifully accentuates this fact that our sin-debt has been nailed to the Cross and blotted out in its entirety. The lyrics go as “Because a sinless Savior died, my guilty soul is counted free. For God the just is satisfied. To look on Him (Jesus Christ) and pardon me.

The Cross is the place of divine settlement. Our sin-debt was paid for in full. So when the Just God and Holy Father, looks at me, He does not see in my sinful state or my past sins, but instead as one that is pardoned and set free from the ordinances of the condemning law.

Has you sin-debt be dealt with? In other words, have you believed in Jesus Christ, who settled our score paying the wages of our sin with his life, dying on the Cross, wherein He nailed our sin-debt. Let us cross examine ourselves and settle with Him, who settled for us, so that we may be able to settle with God eternally.

Colossians 2:13-14 (KJV)
13
And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
14
Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;

Can a leopard change his spots?

The prophet Jeremiah asks two possibly rhetorical questions, to illustrate that it is impossible for sinners (those accustomed to do evil), which is you and I, to be saved by our own accord.
The questions recorded in Jeremiah 12:23 are 1. Can the Ethipioan change his skin and 2. Can the leopard change his spots?

Think about this, can a leopard change his spot? Likewise, we cannot rid ourselves of our sinful habits (sins’ dark spots), except by the grace and mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus can make you spotless clean.
For a tow truck to be able to pull a defunct vehicle, it’s engine needs to be more powerful to pull the weight of the vehicle. There is power in Jesus and no matter how heavy our sins and situations are, He can pull you through.

So ask God today to be THE Strength, to overcome sinful habits that hold us in bondage. We cannot do it on our own, save by Jesus alone, for He paid it all.

Lord, now indeed I find. Thy pow’r, and Thine alone,
Can change the leopard’s spots And melt the heart of stone.

Jesus paid it all, All to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.

Jeremiah 12:23
      Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? the may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.

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