SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/12/2017
11:07 AM
My Worship Time Focus: God Will
Forgive Their Sin
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Acts 3:19b
Message of the
verse: “that your sins may be wiped
away”
Perhaps Peter’s words may have reminded his hearers of
what David wrote in the 51st Psalm, a Psalm he wrote in confession
to what had happened between he and Bathsheba and her husband Uriah. “Hide Your face from my sins And blot out all
my iniquities (Psalm 51:9).” The problem
with the first-century Judaism and also the works-righteousness system is that it
only tells you about your sins, but doesn’t tell you how to be forgiven of your
sins as it served only to “weight men down with burdens hard to bear” as Jesus
stated in Luke 11:46. God has provided
for mankind forgiveness of their sins which is not only found in the New
Testament, but Old Testament as well.
Isaiah 43:25 “"I, even I, am the one who wipes out your
transgressions for My own sake, And I will not remember your sins.” Isaiah 44:22 “"I have wiped out your
transgressions like a thick cloud And your sins like a heavy mist. Return to
Me, for I have redeemed you."” “Ps 103:12
As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions
from us.” (Just be thankful that the
Psalmist did not say North from the South.)
John MacArthur writes “There is only one way to receive
God’s forgiveness—through faith in His Son Jesus Christ. Peter boldly proclaimed to the Sanhedrin that
‘[Jesus] is the one whom God exalted to His right hand as a Prince and a
Savior, to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins’ (Acts
5:31). It is ‘through His name [that]
everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins’ (Acts 10:43). ‘In Him,’ Paul wrote to the Ephesians, ‘we
have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according
to the riches of His grace’ (Eph. 1:7; cf. Col. 1:14). In Ephesians 4:32 he added, ‘God in Christ…has
forgiven you.’ The sacrificial death of
Jesus Christ accomplished what the Levitical system was unable to, since ‘it is
impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins’ (Heb. 10:4)
“Exaleipho
(wiped away) pictures the wiping of ink off a document (cf. Col. 2:14). Unlike modern ink, ink in the ancient world
had no acid content. Consequently, it
did not bite into the papyrus or vellum used for documents. Instead, it remained on the surface where it
could easily be wiped away by a damp sponge.
God does far more than merely cross out believers’ sins, He wipes them
away completely. They are gone beyond the
possibility of review or recall. Even
their horrible sin of rejecting and executing their Messiah was not indelible
and could be wiped away.”
Romans 6:4-5 tells us that those who place their faith in
Christ are united with Him in His death and also resurrection: “death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with
Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead
through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For
if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we
shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection,” Because of this God “having canceled out the certificate of debt
consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it
out of the way, having nailed it to the cross (Col. 2:14).” Paul writes in Romans 8:1 “Therefore there is
now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
One of my wife’s favorite hymns “It is Well with My soul”
was written by Horatio Spafford who penned it after a part of his family died
by drowning. If I remember correctly he wrote part of it before the tragic
death of part of his family and then after that he wrote more verses to this
wonderful hymn
“My sin, O, the bliss of this glorious thought,
My sin not in part but the whole
Is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O, my soul!”
John MacArthur adds “Those words find their echo in every
redeemed heart.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: Sometimes in
the day-to-day life I forget that Christ has forgiven all of my sins, and this
is not good. It is wonderful to be
reminded of this truth.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the Holy Spirit to used my Spiritual
Diaries to bring honor and glory to my Lord, to whom I owe all too.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: Pull out the beam from thine
own eye” (Matthew 7:5).
Today’s Bible
question: “Who said, ‘I saw in my vision
by night, and, behold the four winds of the heaven stove upon the great sea’?”
Answer in our next SD.
9/12/2017 11:39 AM
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