ACCEPT THAT YOU ARE ACCEPTED

“To the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.”  (Ephesians 1:6-7 NKJV)

Paul Tillich writes, “You are accepted. You are accepted, accepted by that which is greater than you… Do not try to do anything now; do not perform anything; do not intend anything. Simply accept the fact that you are accepted!”

Accept that you are accepted. In the moment that grace strikes, grace conquers sin. Lingering guilt that has grown tumor-like for years in the dark recesses of a person's soul can lose its deathly power. Grace helps us face the truth about ourselves, to embrace it rather than run from it; and by embracing this truth and offering it to God, we discover that God will shape us from this day forward anew. God's been waiting for us, desiring us to let Him in. Can we accept that we are accepted? 

-- Robert Schnase in “Five Practices of Fruitful Living”

#6459

GRACE THAT STILL AMAZES

“Amazing grace! how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me…”  (John Newton, 1772)

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.”  (Galatians 5:1)

Two hundred and fifty years ago, a nation took its first breath. America’s story began with a longing for liberty -- a conviction that people should live free, speak free, worship free, and hope free. That longing ignited courage. That courage demanded sacrifice. And that sacrifice wrote the early chapters of our national story in blood.

Around the same time, on the other side of the ocean, another kind of freedom was being born -- not in a nation, but in a soul. John Newton, once a slave trader, encountered the transforming mercy of Christ. His life was turned upside down by grace so powerful it broke chains no government could touch. Out of that encounter came a hymn that has outlived empires, comforted generations, and become a soundtrack for redemption: “Amazing grace! how sweet the sound…”

As America celebrates 250 years, it’s striking to remember that both our national freedom and Newton’s hymn emerged in the same era -- one declaring political liberty, the other proclaiming spiritual liberty. One was secured by the blood of patriots. The other was secured by the blood of Christ. Both freedoms matter. Both freedoms cost something. But only one freedom lasts forever.

The founders fought for a nation where people could live unshackled from tyranny. Jesus died for a Kingdom where people could live unshackled from sin. The Revolution opened the door to earthly liberty. The Cross opened the door to eternal liberty.

Newton’s hymn reminds us that the deepest freedom is not found in documents, declarations, or anniversaries -- but in God’s grace. Grace that rescues. Grace that restores. Grace that rewrites stories. Grace that still amazes.

So as we celebrate America’s 250th birthday, we give thanks for the gift of living in a land shaped by courage. And we give even greater thanks for the grace that shapes our souls -- the grace that found us, saved us, and set us free. 

Lord, thank You for the freedoms we enjoy in this country. And thank You for the grace that gives us a freedom in Christ that no nation can grant and no enemy can steal. As America marks 250 years, we pray that grace -- not fear, anger, or division – would define how we live. Help us live as people amazed by grace and committed to sharing it. Amen. 

-- SOUND BITES Ministry™

#6405

“HE GETS US”

I’m used to commercials for beer and pickup trucks during football games. Another product has entered the advertising lineup: Jesus. The tagline is, “He gets us.” Jesus invited everyone to His table, we are told. Jesus was misunderstood. Jesus could handle disagreement. Jesus was a refugee. None of these claims is untrue on its face. The problem here is what these commercials leave out…

Misunderstood by his family, accused of demonic sorcery, betrayed by one of His closest followers, hung upon a Roman cross…. Yes, Jesus gets us all right. He gets that we are sinful, willful creatures bent on our own destruction. He gets that, left to our own devices, we will rebel against our created nature and, hence, against God. He gets us, and He loves us anyway. That is why He came to save us…

To reach people for Christ is a noble task, but who is this Christ? Most will agree that He was a wise teacher, a friend to sinners, a misunderstood prophet, a refugee. But He is also God-made-flesh, the embodiment of perfect humanity, the bearer of new life, and, yes, a judge. He gets us. After all, He became one of us, though not for free hugs and vague sentimentality, but to save us. Sin and death abound. The devil is loose in the land. What Western culture needs is not another bearer of its common values with a bit of religious window dressing, but a savior.

“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.”  (Ephesians 1:7 NIV)

-- Excerpted from an article entitled “He Gets Us” by David F. Watson, Lead Editor of Firebrand Online Magazine

#6194

FROM YAHWEH TO FATHER

“In You, O Lord, I put my trust; let me never be ashamed; deliver me in Your righteousness. Bow down Your ear to me, deliver me speedily; be my rock of refuge, a fortress of defense to save me. For You are my rock and my fortress; therefore, for Your name’s sake, lead me and guide me. Pull me out of the net which they have secretly laid for me, for You are my strength. Into Your hand I commit my spirit; You have redeemed me, O Lord God of truth.”  (Psalm 31:1-5 NKJV)

Psalm 31 holds a special place in Christian history because it is one of only two psalms that are explicitly quoted by Jesus on the cross. The other, Psalm 22, is frequently cited in our sacred remembrance of the passion, but it is here in Psalm 31 where we find the last spoken words of Jesus according to the Gospel of Luke: “Into Your hands I commit My spirit” (v. 5; Luke 23:46 NKJV). However, there is a little detail that you should notice when comparing the two passages. Psalm 31 addresses Yahweh [Lord], the sacred covenantal name of God. It is a name so exalted and holy that the Jews would not even pronounce the name. It is rendered in the Hebrew Bible with only four consonants: YHWH. However, Jesus precedes these words from Psalm 31 with the most intimate term imaginable when He says, “Father, into Your hands, I commit My spirit.” The movement from YHWH to Father is, in seed form, one of the greatest summaries of the gospel message and is why Jesus came to earth. Before the coming of Christ, God was distant and unapproachable. His name could not be spoken. Now, through the intercession of Christ and His redemptive work, we who were once “far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ” (Ephesians 2:13).

Indeed, it is fitting that at the very moment Jesus was, quite literally, shedding His blood for us, He addressed God as Father, thereby modeling for us the new and living way that was being opened to all of us through the gospel. Now, we can all cry, “Father” for, as Paul declares, “you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by Him we cry, ‘Abba, Father’” (Romans 8:15). This is the good news that is ours through the work of Jesus Christ! 

-- Timothy and Julie Tennent in “A Meditative Journey Through the Psalms” 

#6095

NOTHING BUT THE BLOOD OF JESUS

"This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of His blood -- to be received by faith.” (Romans 3:22-25a)

The gospel of grace is underwritten by the most precious commodity in the universe -- the blood of Jesus.

Some have lost sight of an important truth, possibly the most important truth, which is this: no blood means no salvation. And no redemption, no forgiveness, no sanctification, and no future.

Without the blood, the gospel is no gospel and the cross is nothing more than two beams of wood. As the song-writer Robert Lowry wrote, our cleansing, our wholeness, our pardon, our hope, our peace, our righteousness, our overcoming, are all based on “nothing but the blood of Jesus.”

On the night before He died, Jesus said: “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is poured out for you.” (Luke 22:20) 

-- Paul Ellis 

#5934

THE GOSPEL OF GRACE

"After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: ‘Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.’” (Revelation 7:9-10 NIV)

Because salvation is by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9), I believe that among the countless number of people standing in front of the throne and in front of the Lamb, dressed in white robes and holding palms in their hands (Revelation 7:9), I shall see the prostitute from the Kit-Kat Ranch in Carson City, Nevada, who tearfully told me she could find no other employment to support her two-year-old son.  I shall see the woman who had an abortion and is haunted by guilt and remorse but did the best she could faced with grueling alternatives; the businessman besieged with debt who sold his integrity in a series of desperate transactions; the insecure clergyman addicted to being liked, who never challenged his people from the pulpit and longed for unconditional love; the sexually-abused teen molested by his father and now selling his body on the street, who, as he falls asleep each night after his last "trick" whispers the name of the unknown God he learned about in Sunday school; the deathbed convert who for decades had his cake and ate it, broke every law of God and man, wallowed in lust and raped the earth.

"But how?" we ask.  Then the voice says, "They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."

There they are.  There we are -- the multitude who so wanted to be faithful, who at times got defeated, soiled by life, and bested by trials, wearing the bloodied garments of life's tribulations, but through it all clung to the faith.

My friends, if this is not good news to you, you have never understood the gospel of grace. 

-- Brennan Manning in “The Ragamuffin Gospel” 

#5933

CHRIST IS OUR PEACE

“But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to Him through the blood of Christ. For Christ Himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in His own body on the cross, He broke down the wall of hostility that separated us.”  (Ephesians 2:13-14 NLT)

In French you say it "paix."

In Spanish you say it "paz."

In Norwegian you say it "fred."

In Hungarian you say it "beke."

At work you say it in a job well done.

At home you say it with smiles and affection.

At church you say it in the words of the tax collector, "God, be merciful to me a sinner" (Luke 18:13, NKJV).

With enemies you say it in forgiveness.

With loved ones you also say it in forgiveness.

In your heart, you say it by surrender of all to Jesus Christ.

-- Mike and Amy Nappa in “A Heart Like His”

#5756

A HOPE THAT IS SOLID

Jesus said, “Everyone then who hears these words of Mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.”  (Matthew 7:24-25 NIV)

Nineteenth-century hymn writer Edward Mote (1797-1874) wrote the following: "My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness… On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand." If we understand little else on our Advent journey toward Christmas, let's understand that.

There is nothing else that solid, and there is nothing else that real… Through Jesus Christ, we can have a hope that means something. 

-- Derek Maul in “In My Heart I Carry a Star: Stories of Advent”

#5486

HUMBLE RECOGNITION

"But He gives us more grace. This is why it says: ‘God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’”  (James 4:6 BSB)

In his Guildhall Address in London on June 12, 1945 Dwight David Eisenhower remarked, "Humility must always be the portion of any man who receives acclaim earned in the blood of his followers and sacrifices of his friends." I think the same could be said of the believer who receives eternal life earned in the blood of his Leader and the sacrifice of his Friend... Jesus Christ. In both cases, the recipient is humbled in the recognition that he did not earn it for himself. 

-- Rev. David T. Wilkinson

#5117

A NEW COVENANT

“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah -- not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”  (Jeremiah 31:31-34 NKJV)

“Then Jesus took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.’”  (Matthew 26:27-28 NKJV)

The Hebrew religion was an unfinished religion.  That is one of the best proofs of its divine inspiration.  The prophets had the forward look [and] great things were yet to come.  As one of the most daring expressed it, the old and hallowed covenant, made by God at the Exodus, would be superseded by a new and higher relation; God would write His law into the hearts of the people; the old drill in outward statutes would disappear, for all… would know God by an inward experience of forgiveness and love.  

-- Walter Rauschenbusch in “The Social Principles of Jesus” [1916]

#4899

STOP DOUBTING AND BELIEVE

“Then Jesus said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here; see My hands. Reach out your hand and put it into My side. Stop doubting and believe.’"  (John 20:27 NIV)

As they were looking on, so we too gaze on His wounds as He hangs. We see His blood as He dies. We see the price offered by the Redeemer, touch the scars of His resurrection. He bows His head, as if to kiss you. His heart is made bare open, as it were, in love to you. His arms are extended that He may embrace you. His whole body is displayed for your redemption. Ponder how great these things are. Let all this be rightly weighed in your mind: as He was once fixed to the cross in every part of His body for you, so He may now be fixed in every part of your soul.

-- Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD)


#4820

THE FULLNESS OF THE CROSS

“For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in [Christ], and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His blood, shed on the cross.”  (Colossians 1:19-20 NIV)

In the Cross is salvation; in the Cross is life; in the Cross is protection against our enemies; in the Cross is infusion of heavenly sweetness; in the Cross is strength of mind; in the Cross is joy of spirit; in the Cross is excellence of virtue; in the Cross is perfection of holiness. There is no salvation of soul, nor hope of eternal life, save in the Cross.

-- Thomas à Kempis in “The Inner Life”

#4075

GOSPEL TO THE LOST

"In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope. But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to Him through the blood of Christ."  (Ephesians 2:12-13 NLT)


It is a Gospel to [people] who are without God, sinful, bewildered, anxious, discouraged, self-sufficient and proud yet destroying themselves and others, caught in a desperate plight from which they cannot extricate themselves.  The Bible characterizes [people] in such a state as "lost", and as being "without hope in the world"...  And let no one suppose that such a term as "lost" is merely a bit of conventional theological jargon.  It stands for a terrible reality, a reality which modern man in his modern predicament knows only too well from his own bitter experience.  It gives rise to the voices of despair which haunt our radios, our newspapers, our fiction and poetry, our stage and screen, our doctors' offices, our hospital wards, our grisly nightmare of atomic war, and the conversation of common people who no sooner meet than they begin to bemoan the fate that has overtaken the world.


-- Lewis J. Sherrill in Lift Up Your Eyes [1949]




#3839

THE MARKS OF THE CROSS

I have seen the marks of the cross upon Him, and by His grace the marks of the cross have been put upon me and I am no longer my own; I am bought with a price, redeemed by His precious blood. Yes, I have seen Him - not in the outward physical sense only, but in the inward sense of a deep spiritual reality. I have had a clear view of Jesus and my life will never be the same again.

-- Alan Redpath

#3756

WHAT CAN WASH AWAY MY SINS?

One night in a church service a young woman felt the tug of God at her heart. She responded to God's call and accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior. The young woman had a very rough past, involving alcohol, drugs, and prostitution. But, the change in her was evident. As time went on she became a faithful member of the church. She eventually became involved in the ministry, teaching young children. It was not very long until this faithful young woman had caught the eye and heart of the pastor's son. The relationship grew and they began to make wedding plans. This is when the problems began.

You see, about one half of the church did not think that a woman with a past such as hers was suitable for a pastor's son. The church began to argue and fight about the matter. So they decided to have a meeting. As the people made their arguments and tensions increased, the meeting was getting completely out of hand.  The young woman became very upset about all the things being brought up about her past. As she began to cry the pastor's son stood to speak. He could not bear the pain it was causing his wife-to-be. He began to speak and his statement was this: " My fiancée's past is not what is on trial here. What you are questioning is the ability of the blood of Jesus to wash away sin. Today you have put the blood of Jesus on trial. So, does it wash away sin or not?" The whole church began to weep as they realized that they had been slandering the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Too often, even as Christians, we bring up the past and use it as a weapon against our brothers and sisters. Forgiveness is a very foundational part of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. If the blood of Jesus does not cleanse the other person completely then it cannot cleanse us completely. If that is the case, then we are all in a lot of trouble.

What can wash away my sins, nothing but the blood of Jesus... end of case!!!

-- Author Unknown


#3487

ALL HAVE SINNED

There are only two kinds of people in this world: sinners who believe themselves to be sinners and in need of a righteous savior; and the rest, sinners who believe themselves to be "not so bad" and in no need of a savior.

The Apostle Paul wrote, "For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, who God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by His blood, effective through faith." (Romans 3:22b-25a)

The sacrifice of atonement, then, is a gracious gift we must receive through faith.

-- Rev. David T. Wilkinson


#3414

THE BLOOD OF CHRIST

When Jesus Christ shed His blood on the cross, it was not the blood of a martyr; or the blood of one man for another; it was the life of God poured out to redeem the world.  

-- Oswald Chambers


#3185

NOTHING BUT THE BLOOD OF JESUS

The gospel of grace is underwritten by the most precious commodity in the universe – the blood of Jesus.

Some have lost sight of an important truth, possibly the most important truth, which is this: no blood means no salvation. And no redemption, no forgiveness, no sanctification, and no future.

Without the blood, the gospel is no gospel and the cross is nothing more than two beams of wood. As the song-writer [Robert Lowry] wrote, our cleansing, our wholeness, our pardon, our hope, our peace, our righteousness, our overcoming, are all based on nothing but the blood of Jesus.

On the night before he died, Jesus said: “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.” (Luke 22:20) 

-- Paul Ellis

#2979

THE SECRET OF OUR SALVATION

The blood of Jesus Christ has great power! There is perhaps not a phrase in the Bible that is so full of secret truth as is "The blood of Jesus." It is the secret of His incarnation, when Jesus took on flesh and blood; the secret of His obedience unto death, when He gave His life at the cross of Calvary; the secret of His love that went beyond all understanding when He bought us with His blood; the secret of the enemy and the secret of our eternal salvation.  

-- Corrie Ten Boom

#2978

THE VALUE OF THE BLOOD

"For you know that God paid a ransom to save you… He paid for you with the precious lifeblood of Christ, the sinless Lamb of God. God chose Him for this purpose before the world began, but now in these final days, He was sent to the earth for all to see. And He did this for you." (1 Peter 1: 18-20 NLT)

If we give soft names to sin we depreciate the value of the blood which was shed to save us from sin.

-- Unknown


#2976