The Sacrifice Lamb

Sung by Joel Chernoff (Lamb)

Have A Blessed Easter!

Picture a mean bunch of guys, big rocks in their hands, hate on their faces, kicking up dust in the ancient Judean sun.

"For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God!"

With these amazing words in John 10, the Jews gave their reason for trying once again to stone Jesus.

Not yet ready to die, and certainly not by stoning, Jesus escaped Judea and crossed the Jordan River to where John the Baptist had once baptized repentant Israelites, probably Perea.  He stayed there for a while, and many believed in Him there.

When word came to Jesus that his beloved friend Lazarus was deathly sick, He didn't cross the Jordan back to Bethany near Jerusalem to visit his friend on his death bed.  No one could blame Him for staying .  After all, hadn't the Jews repeatedly tried to seize and stone Him?  So the disciples didn't blame Him, and they weren't surprised that He stayed in Perea.  It only made sense.  Lazarus would have to rely on the comfort of His immediate family, Mary and Martha.

But the disciples were surprised a couple of days later, when Jesus said, "Let us go to Judea again."  What?!

They said to Him, "Rabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone You, and are you going there again?"

And He told them He was going to raise Lazarus from the dead.  Do you think they believed Him?  I don't.  I think Thomas spoke for all the disciples when he said, "Let us also go, that we may die with Him."  They thought this was it.  The end.  Crazy, but hey, He's the Lord.  We will follow Him and we will die with Him if necessary.

But they didn't die that day.  They went to Bethany, and Jesus spoke the words that thrill our hearts, as believers in Him:

"I am the Resurrection and the Life.  He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.  And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die..."

And he raised Lazarus from the dead.

And later He died on the Cross.  They finally got Him.  They finally put an end to the One whom they said blasphemed because He said He was God.  And the brave disciples who went to Bethany with Him, willing to die, cowered behind a closed door, mourning the loss of their Rabbi, and their dreams.

We appreciate His death now.  We know that it paid for our sins.  We cringe at the horror of the Innocent One being beaten and scourged and crucified and separated from His Father as He took the fury of the Wrath of God on Himself.  We appreciate it.  But we don't exactly celebrate it.

What we celebrate is that on the third day, He rose from the dead.  He authenticated that He is Who He said He was.  He is the Anointed One, God the Son, the Christ, the Messiah!  And He is alive!  And we say Hallelujah!  He is risen!

Even as a historical event, it's noteworthy.  But He did it for a purpose.  He was "raised for our justification".  He was crucified, buried, and raised from the dead, that we might live.  He said He came that we might have life and have it more abundantly.  And in some mysterious way, when He died on the Cross, we died with Him, and when He was raised, we were raised with Him, and seated with Him in the heavenlies, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion.

We were made alive spiritually, with the promise that we will be raised physically as well, on that Great Gettin' Up Morning!  We became New Creations!  Old things have passed away, behold all things have become new!  There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus!  Hallelujah, what a Savior!

And all because He died for our sins.  He became sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Christ!

He Is Risen!

It Is Finished

by Michele Rayburn


We have died once to the penalty of sin, and so we have peace with God. (“I have been crucified with Christ...”)

We are able to die daily to the power of sin because we stand in grace. (“... it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me...”)

And someday when we are present with the Lord, we will be free from the presence of sin. (“...and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God Who died for me and gave Himself for me.” - Galatians 2:20)

Jesus died once for our sins, and shed His blood for us, so that we can rest completely in His finished work on the cross.

Sometimes we as Christians live as if it isn't "finished". We live as if our sins are not forgiven, past, present and future. And we find ourselves trying to earn God's favor each day.

But we stand in grace, in a permanent state of forgiveness, precisely because "It is finished."

Fair vs. Right

The Lottery

When I was in school, I was in a one-act play called The Lottery. It was adapted from a story written by Shirley Jackson.

The play opens in a little town somewhere, and as I remember it, the townspeople are abuzz with some exciting event to occur later in the morning.

It turns out the event is an annual lottery. And as the play unfolds, and we see children and their parents picking up rocks and getting ready for the lottery, we get this creepy feeling something is odd about this lottery.

Lottery slips are drawn and a Mr. Hutchinson gets the slip with a black spot on it. That means the "winner" will be picked from his family. So his family draws again, and Tess, who is Hutchinson's wife, draws the Black Spot, making her the final "winner".

Only as the townspeople descend on Tess to stone her do we realize the "prize" of the lottery, death by stoning.

I'll come back to reveal to you the end of the play in a moment. But first, I want to talk about socialism, fairness and what is right.

Is Socialism Fair?

My country, the United States, is clearly becoming more and more Socialistic. This necessitates a larger and larger Government, and that is exactly what is happening. With that growth of Government comes a growth in power and control, and a lessening of freedom for our citizens.

Some of you in countries that are already Socialist or Communist may laugh at me and say, "You ought to see OUR nation!" I know. I know.

But I want to deal with a specific reason why Socialism is rapidly growing in America.  I'll define "socialism" in this sense as basically "taking from those who HAVE -- usually called the 'rich' -- and giving to those who do not have -- usually called the 'poor'."

This specific reason why Socialism is advancing is loosely called "fairness". "It's only FAIR that we take from those who have and give to those who have not." "It's only fair that we 'spread the wealth around'" to quote President Obama.

Is Socialism Right?

What's wrong with this picture?

It's simply this: Socialism is STEALING, and stealing is WRONG.

What Is The Purpose of Government?

IMPORTANT SIDENOTE: The purpose for Government, both biblically, and according to the United States Constitution, is essentially the protection of the people from enemies and criminals. I won't quote all the relevant parts of the Constitution, but here is a relevant biblical passage:

"...for it [government] is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil. Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience' sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing." (Romans 13:4-6)

Socialism is not only going beyond that essential role of Government, but STEALING in order to do it.

And that is not right. If stealing is wrong for the individual, there is no warrant to make it right for the State.

By the way, that doesn't contradict the fact that it is right to pay taxes, for two reasons: 1) taxes are necessary for LEGITIMATE government work in protecting the people, and 2) paying those taxes is a sign of the submission to the God-ordained authority which the government excercises. Such submission, of course, is not above the authority of God Himself and His directives for us.

What About The "Socialism" In The Bible?

"But," you cry, "Didn't the Christians practice Socialism in the Book of Acts when they shared things in common?"

Of course not.

There were a lot of Jews from all over the then-known world who were visiting Jerusalem for the Feast of Pentecost. Upon the preaching of Peter in Acts 2, and further evangelism following, there were thousands of newly-saved Jews who stayed in Jerusalem to hear the teaching of the Apostles and to grow in Christ before going back home.

These new believers quickly ran out of food, and would either have to go home or starve. And so several in the Church VOLUNTARILY donated money and property to share with the believers who were now without provision. The Church grew by leaps and bounds and the Holy Spirit moved mightily.

But the biblical principle of "private property" (You shall not steal) was never revoked, and in fact was repeated by the Apostle Paul in case anyone had any doubt.

Socialism Always Has Two Facets:

1) Stealing (compulsion) - the "haves" are FORCED to contribute to the fund for the "have nots". We ought to voluntarily give to those who are poor and needy, especially if they cannot work. But never is there warrant for stealing from one to give to another.

2) Demotivation - This is not intended as an Economics lesson, but Socialism has proven over and over to demotivate many people to work to provide their own wages. The Bible says the laborer is worthy of his hire, but it also says that those who will not work should not eat. Socialism stands these biblical principles on their heads.

And for both of these reasons, no matter how "fair" Socialism may seem, it can never be right.

In fact, I would urge you to pick up your ears and listen carefully whenever you hear someone in your Government talking about "fairness". There is a good chance they are trying to convince you of something which is WRONG.

Back To The Lottery -- Fairness vs. Right

Back in the little town of The Lottery, poor Tess, the "winner", is being pelted by rocks thrown by her friends and neighbors.

She screams out two things. One is incorrect and one is correct.

First she cries out, "It's not FAIR!"

She was, of course, not correct. The lottery was perfectly fair. Each townsperson had an equal chance to be the "winner".

But then, as if the reality of truth hit her as hard as the thrown rocks, she cries out, "It's not RIGHT!"

And, of course, she was correct.

If you forget everything else you've just read here, please remember this:

If something is WRONG, it doesn't matter one bit whether or not it is FAIR.

Quia Amasti Me, Fecisti Me Amabilem

I took two years of Latin in High School. We're talking back in the late 60's, and since there are so few people for a Protestant to practice it on, I've forgotten at LEAST 99 per cent of it.

But I still kinda love it, at least in short pithy bursts, like E Pluribus Unum ("out of many, one").

Anyway, with all the talk in modern times of self-worth, self-esteem, and other psycho-babblic stuff, I was refreshed by a simple statement I recently read by Augustine:

Quia Amasti Me, Fecisti Me Amabilem

Now you Latin scholars are ahead of me, but it's actually a logical argument called a syllogism, though some premises are missing and merely "understood".

Here is the simple translation, as speaking to the Lord (Domine):

"Because you loved me, you made me lovable."

I love that.

Freedom Comes From Truth

This week's audio message:

Freedom Comes From Truth

Grace For Life audio archives are here.

Compromising With Legalism

This week's audio message:

Compromising With Legalism

Grace For Life audio archives are here.

Grace In The Old Testament (Transcript)

I love to point out the Grace of God in the Old Testament. And I want to do that today. But first a couple of comments about the New Covenant.

I write and speak a lot about the New Covenant. The New Covenant is that great covenant that current believers are under, in which our sins have been paid for and washed away by the blood of Christ through His death on the Cross, and we have been born again and declared righteous as a gift of God by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

It’s all by grace, and not of our works. So we can’t boast in it. God did it all through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.

Distinguishing Between Covenants

One of the most important things that a Christian should learn is the difference between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant.

Now there are several covenants throughout the Scripture.

Some examples are the Noahic Covenant, where God promised Noah that He would never destroy the earth again with water;

the Abrahamic Covenant, which first introduced the concept of being given the righteousness of God through believing Him (The Bible says that Abraham believed God and it was credited to Abraham for righteousness. We read this in Rom. 4:3 and James 2:23, but those New Testament writers are actually referring to Genesis 15:6);

and there’s the Davidic Covenant, in which it is promised that the Messiah, a descendent of David humanly speaking, would one day sit on David’s throne, so to speak.

The Old Covenant

But the dominant covenant in the Old Testament was what is called the Mosaic Covenant, or just the Old Covenant. This was the covenant that God gave to the nation Israel under Moses, and lasted all the way through until the very time that Jesus walked the earth as a man.

This Old Covenant is sometimes just referred to as The Law, or the Law of Moses, since it was a covenant that promised blessings to the Israelite who obeyed it, and curses to the Israelite who disobeyed it.

The "Constitution", we might say, of the Old Testament, was the Ten Commandments, since they sort of summed up the Old Testament Law, but there actually were over 600 laws in the total Old Covenant revelation from God.

And because of that, the Old Covenant was a serious burden to the Israelite who took it seriously.

Now some have assumed that because the Old Covenant was conditional – in other words, do this and God will bless you, do that and God will curse you – that it was a covenant for salvation. But that is not correct.

Even under the burdensome Old Covenant, salvation could never be earned by works, or obedience. The blessings of obedience were temporal, or temporary, not eternal. They could be physical blessings, like riches, cattle, land, etc., or they could be spiritual, like peace, joy, and so forth. But they were not eternal blessings of salvation, heaven, and so on.

Out With The Old...

Now we read in Hebrews Chapter 8 that when the New Covenant came to Israel, and to us Gentiles, who were “grafted in”, when the New Covenant came, the Old Covenant was made obsolete. This in itself is a great blessing, because the burden of those 600-plus laws was lifted.

But why was the Old Covenant made obsolete? Hebrews 8 gives us the answer. Because the Old Covenant showed Israel, and showed mankind, that we are incapable of following God’s laws to the perfection that He requires.

In C.S. Lewis’ classic book Mere Christianity he points out that we can’t even live up to our own standards, let alone God’s.

Have you ever made a resolution? Have you ever kept a resolution? We set our standards of what we think we should do or not do, and it’s usually not long before we violate our own standard, isn’t it? How much more difficult to perfectly follow God’s standards.

And if God’s standards didn’t seem high enough in the Old Covenant scriptures, Jesus made it clear that the standards were really even higher than they first appeared!

When He pointed out that murder in the Ten Commandments really included even hatred in it’s spiritual sense, or that adultery even included lust in the heart, we all were alerted that God’s standards simply couldn’t be kept to the perfection that God required for life.

...In With The New

And so God instituted the New Covenant in the blood of Christ, which nailed the requirements of the Law to the Cross, and Christ became sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

The Old Covenant, which man could not keep, was replaced by the New Covenant, which Christ Himself kept FOR us.

And all spiritual blessings became ours in Christ, Ephesians 1:3. And it was all by grace, the free gift of God.

Grace In The Old Testament?

But having said that, we should never get the impression that there was no Grace in the Old Testament.

The Grace that shines like an exploding supernova in the New Testament, the Grace that we see in the face of the Messiah risen from the dead, the Grace that we can taste today in the freedom of the New Covenant, is Grace from the same Gracious Lord Who ruled over the ancient nation Israel.

And shining rays of that Grace are seen over and over even in the Old Testament.

Why?

God Has Always Been Gracious

Because God has always been gracious. It’s part of His character.

It’s not all of His character, of course. He is also Just, and has executed that justice in ways that cause men to tremble. And He is Sovereign, so He exercises His justice and His Grace when He sees fit. But He has always had a remnant, those who believe in Him. Those who, like Abraham, believed God, and it was credited to them for righteousness.

The New Covenant Is Retroactive

But the second reason why shining rays of God’s Grace are seen over and over even in the Old Testament, is because the New Covenant is retroactive.

In other words, all of God’s people who were ever saved from His wrath, and who will join us in Heaven one day, from Adam and Eve, all the way to the Cross and beyond, were all saved ultimately by the New Covenant in Jesus’ blood.

Have you ever heard a furniture company advertise something like, “Come to our furniture sale, pick out your furniture, and no payments need to be made until January of next year!”?

And people flock to the furniture store, because they don’t have to pay now.

Well, that’s sorta how the New Covenant works for the Old Testament saints, except that the payment which eventually came, was paid by the Lord Jesus Christ. He paid on the cross for the sins of Adam, and Noah, and Moses, and David, and Jeremiah, and all who believed God throughout the Old Testament, long before the Cross.

What alternative is there? That they were saved by works? Of course not.

An Old Testament Sample of Grace

Well with that foundation, let’s look at just one example of Grace in the Old Testament. This is not only an example of Grace, but what’s interesting is that the writer of this passage of Scripture actually KNEW he was writing about Grace. He was resting in the Lord, basking in the Grace of the Lord, hundreds of years before the Cross.

So filled with Grace is this passage of Scripture that millions of New Covenant believers have treasured it. The passage is the 23rd Psalm.

Let’s just take a brief look at it, but try to look at it through new eyes. The eyes of Grace, the eyes of seeing the Lord’s undeserved favor toward, not just David, the author, but toward you.

Psalm 23.

The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.

You know, one of the things that broke Jesus' heart when He walked the Earth was seeing how the people were like sheep without a shepherd.

But to believers, the Lord is our Shepherd. And because of that, we shall not want. That means lack. That means He will meet all of our needs.

Why? Because we earned it? Because we deserve it? Because we worked for it?

No. You see this is an example of grace, even in the Old Testament. The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. I shall not lack anything.

In fact, if I think that I lack something, if I think that I need something, God has promised that He will meet all of my needs. And if I don't have it now, I don't need it now. I don't always know what I need. But the Lord is my Shepherd and I shall not want, I shall not lack.

He makes me lie down in green pastures.

That's where peace comes in, and peace is a fruit of the Spirit. Peace comes from knowing Him and resting in Him. And that's why I say that even David rested in the Lord, basked in the presence of the Lord.

He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside the still waters.

Can you just picture that in your mind?

He leads me beside the still waters. "Still waters" is not only a picture of serenity and peace again, and resting in the Lord, but the waters are also a picture of what we are fulfilled in when we thirst for that presence of the Lord.

As a deer pants by the waterbrook, so our souls thirst for the Lord. And we can fulfill that thirst through His presence, by His grace.

He leads me beside the still waters.

He restores my soul.

How often we need our souls restored. At the end of a long day, sometimes there's nothing we need more than to simply have our souls restored.

And I'll just make a practical suggestion:

If you haven't had your soul restored by the time you go to bed, take some time there. Just talk to the Lord, bask in His presence, and let Him restore you soul. He does it by grace.

He leads me in the paths of righteousness, for His name's sake.

You know, that starts with the free gift of righteousness that He gives us when we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

But then that righteousness, that new spirit that He gives us, is fulfilled in our actual lives. He works in us, as Paul wrote the Philippians, to will and to do for His good pleasure.

He lead us in the paths of righteousness.

Why?

For His name's sake.

He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. It honors Him when I walk with Him, when I walk in the Spirit. It honors Him. And people say...instead of people saying, "There's that hypocrite Christian," they say, "Look at what the Lord has done in that person's life."

Yea, though I walk through the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.

God takes away our fear by grace when we walk with Him, even through the valley of the shadow of death -- the most frightening situations in life, the most tenuous circumstances, the things that would most crush our soul and cause fear...we don't have to fear.

Why?

For you are with me!

Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

We should be comforted by the presence of the Lord, even as David was. And just think of how much more knowledge we have of why this is all able to be given to us. Through the Cross. Through the New Covenant.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup runs over.

All by grace.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Where is the "house of the Lord" now?

We are the house of the Lord! "Christ in you, the hope of glory". God has taken up residence in us through His Holy Spirit, and we are so near to Him that when we say to "draw near to Him", that "drawing near" is as close as the Kingdom of God within you. It's as close as "Christ in you, the hope of glory".

This presence of the Lord, this Lord Who is my Shepherd, is right here, with me and with you.

And it's all by grace.

Grace even in the Old Testament. And how much more so in the New Covenant!

"Twenty-Three" By Scott Krippayne

Grace In The Old Testament

This week's message on Grace Walk Radio:

Grace In The Old Testament

Grace For Life radio archives are here.

The Heart Of The Christian Life Is Love

By Michele Rayburn

Romantic love is so much different from 1 Corinthians 13 Biblical love, isn’t it?

About 2 years after I was saved, I recall sitting down to read my Bible and study and pray. I remember opening up to 1 Corinthians 13 and debating about whether I should just skip over those verses about love for now, because “after all, everyone knows what love is, right?” I wanted to learn about the “weightier things of God”. And then it came to me that love was the one thing that I actually knew so little about. And that if I didn’t begin learning what Biblical love was, I really wouldn’t be able to understand the “weightier things of God” with the proper perspective.

I must say that since I began making my focus understanding Biblical love and how it is supposed to be practiced by believers, the Word of God really did become more meaningful and more powerful in my life. I quickly came to see that learning to put into practice Biblical love, and knowing the God Who is Love, *were* the “weightier things of God”. And that was what I needed to know first and foremost.

Without love, we are nothing...a clanging cymbal. When the Preacher preaches, or the teacher teaches, or the Christian witnesses to the unbeliever, if it is not done in love, though the message itself may be powerful, the messenger is “nothing”, according to 1 Corinthians 13.

Romantic love is a wonderful thing, but without Biblical love it may eventually leave the heart empty. This Valentine's Day, think about God's love for you. Whatever state you are in, may you find contentment resting in His love.