He did it all for you!
Each year as I have pondered upon the meanings of
the Passover week, and then allowed the Spirit of God to minister unto me, I
believe that I'm coming to a greater understanding of what our Lord and Savior
did for us some 2000 years ago, what He is yet doing for us today, and for what
He is going to be doing for us in the very near future.
Brethren, each year during the Passover season,
we must take an inventory of our relationship with our God and with one
another.
From year to year have we learned anything during
this season? Have we been encouraged,
edified, and admonished through these special days from the messages spoken and
from the fellowship acquired? Have we
gained a stronger bond of unity with each other? Have we been brought into a greater realm of
the ultimate plan of God for us and for all of mankind?
Ask yourself questions such as; has my walk with
the Lord become ever the more intimate and personal because of having a better understanding
of God's plan through the first Holy Day season of the year? Do I feel that I have heard from God during
the Passover season that I can discern His presence about me, that a sense of
seriousness seems to be hovering over my thoughts as I behold with my mind’s
eye the gravity and the magnitude of what the great God of Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob is doing?
I'm convinced that if you were the only person
living upon planet earth, He would have still come in the human flesh and die for
your sins. That makes the great
sacrifice of our Savior all the more tremendous, when we realize that not only
did He die for the sins of all mankind, billions upon billions of people, but
that He also died for my sins, He died for your sins. His sacrifice therefore becomes distinct and
particularly individual, and very personal for each one of us.
So let's just bring this thing down to a personal
level. Not to belittle the awesomeness
of the great sacrifice made by Christ as the weight of the transgressions of
the whole world was upon Him, but to make us realize that your sins and my sins
is what really did Him in.
We have all heard of little clichés like
"the straw that broke the camel's back," or "the drop of water
that bursted the dam." Now get ready, we're going to get real
personal.
All the sins of mankind were upon the shoulders
of the Messiah. The weight was so great,
the burden so colossal. Oh, but wait a
moment, we have one more person's sins to add to the sacrifice. His name is (this is where you speak and insert your name!), and my
transgressions are great, and as my sins were laid upon the Christ, I can hear
Him say, "it is finished."
My sins finished Jesus off. Your sins did Him in. It was the final straw
that broke the camel's back. It was the
weight of that last drop of water that caused the dam to burst, and it tipped
the scales against Jesus, and you know, He did it all for you.
That makes the sacrifice of Yahshua
all the more personal to each one of us.
Each one of us were as guilty as those who beat and bruised the Lord's
body that day to the point that He was an astonishment to look upon as He was
marred more than any man.
You know we could say that I was the one who
nailed His hands to that old pagan cross, you were the
one who spit upon His face. We could say
that I was the one who jammed a crown of thorns down over His head, you were the one who jabbed a spear into His
side. I was the one who took a rod and
continually hit my Savior's head, you were the one who
kept slapping Him in the face. I was the
one who scourged Him 39 times with a cat of nine tails, you were the one who
mocked and jeered at Him.
Jesus was the one who said, "Father forgive
them, for they know not what they do." You see He did it all for you and I.
Knowing this, that for our transgressions Jesus
became the eternal sacrifice, that by His death we might live unto God, being
no more a servant of sin and disobedience which leads to death, but to be
perfected through the richness of His Grace unto righteousness which leads to
life everlasting.
So where do we go from there? What can we add to that? Just what could we do that can upstage such
love that a God would come into the human flesh to die for the sins of the world,
and not only that but would die for each of our sins individually?
There is nothing that we can add
to that, nor in any way could we possibly circumvent what was done for
each of us, but to give thanks that such mercy was shed abroad among us, and from
there forward to live as it were a resurrected life, a life that honors Jesus
the living Christ.
Yes, Jesus is the living Christ, Yahshua Messiah. He
is alive forever more, the grave could not hold Him, death could not restrain
Him. He is the victor that we also might
be victorious as we walk in a newness of life, and all because of Him, for He
did it all for you.
1st Corinthians 15:12-20 "Now if Christ be preached that
he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of
the dead?.....................
There were some who did not believe in a
resurrection from the dead. The
Sadducees were of this group. It is easy
to know how they got their name, for they were so Sadd-u-cee, because they had no hope in a resurrection from the
dead.
verse 13
........But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not
risen: And if Christ be not risen, then
is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are
found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised
up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so
be that the dead rise not. For if the
dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: And if Christ be not raised, your faith is
vain; you are yet in your sins. Then
they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ,
we are of all men most miserable...........
If Christ has not risen from the dead, then we
are the most miserable human beings upon the face of this earth for centering
our whole life on him. If He didn't rise
from the dead, we are following a liar and a fraud. Meeting on the Sabbath day is all in vain if
Christ did not come forth from the tomb.
We had just as well get out of here and go find us a big party, for we
are wasting our time coming to Church each Sabbath day if it be that Christ is
not risen.
verse 20
.....But now is Christ risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of them that slept!”
Yes, Christ did come forth from the tomb, He was
victorious over death and the grave, and because He lives, as the old song
goes, "we can face tomorrow," because through Christ Jesus we too can
be victorious as well over death, the grave, and over the bondage that sin held
us in. We can face tomorrow all because
of our great High Priest, all because of the eternal Savior, all because of the
Messiah, the living Christ, who did it all for you.
Go back now to verse 17 of 1st Corinthians 15 and
let's read it again. "......if Christ be not raised, your
faith is vain; you are yet in your sins."
Yes, Jesus became our Passover, He became the
sacrifice for our sins, but in order for it to be a legal decree, it all hinged upon whether or not He came forth from that
tomb, otherwise our faith is in vain and we are still in our sins. You see Jesus not only became the sacrificial
lamb without spot or blemish, He also became the wave sheaf offering of
Leviticus 23, the firstfruits of the harvest. He had to appear before the Father to be
accepted for you and I, and brethren He could not have done that unless He came
forth out of that grave alive!
Well that brings us full circle to the question
that has been put before us. Is there
anything that we can add to what Christ has done for us? He has done it all for us.
He died for our sins, He was raised to be a High
Priest interceding on our behalf, He indwells us by
His Holy Spirit that enables us to live a righteous life, and then provides
Grace when we fall short. He's coming
back to redeem us of our corruptible bodies, give us immortality, and then to
top it all off, as the old cliché'' goes, "to put the icing on the
cake," He's going grant us the right to sit down with Him in His
throne!
Our God is an awesome God! He is rich in mercy, removing our sins as far
as the east is from the west, burying them in the depths of the sea.
Hallelujah!
Now during the days of unleavened bread, several
things always come to my attention.
Before Passover, when I am vacuuming, and I always realize
something. You know even if you have the
ultimate in a mega suction vacuum cleaner, you are still not going to get every
little crumb of leavening out of the house.
I mean there are some crumbs that are going to be so small that they are
essentially microscopic.
That pictures to me the fact that God's grace is
abundantly sufficient for our short comings.
No matter how much we attempt to put sin out of our lives, we are still
in the flesh, and until we have been changed from this corruptible body and
have put on our new spirit body which is void of all corruption, we are still
sinners being saved by the grace of God.
Not to be living a lifestyle of sin in case some may misunderstand, but
that there are times when every one of us do sin, and if we say we have no sin,
then we are liars and we make Jesus a liar as well. But if we sin, we have an advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ the righteous who can forgive us of our sin and cleanse us
from all unrighteousness.
God does expect us to examine ourselves closely in
the light of His Word, and when something is revealed, we are to repent. But all too often we may not look as close as
we should.
It seems to never fail, that sometime during the
days of unleavened bread, I will find something that has leavening in it still
within my house. Some
little thing that I had overlooked, or had fallen back behind something to
where I just missed it.
Getting the leavening out of our spiritual house
is a continual process, and just when you think that you are so spiritual, so
perfect, so on the ball with God, sure enough He will reveal sin in your
life. And you think,
where did that come from, I didn't know that I was doing that.
I was working in commercial cave one time, and
boy was I thirsty. I made my way to a
small spring nestled in the midst of many delicate stalactites and
flowstones. The little crystal spring
had been used by early explorers and tours during the late 1800's and early
1900's. There were old cups still left
behind there from those days. Anyhow, as
I had done so many times before, I stooped down there, and reached my head back
across the cool cave spring water and sucked up several big mouthfuls, and
quenched my thirst.
After getting out of the cave, I happened upon
one of the owners who seemed very excited about something. He came up and said Bob,
did you see all the salamander eggs in the Crystal spring? Well obviously there were a few less
salamander eggs after I got done with it!
But you see, I didn't examine the water close enough before getting a
drink, well actually I didn't examine the water at all! I did not even shine my light into the water,
I'm lucky that I didn't suck an adult salamander down my throat!
We are expected of God to examine ourselves very
closely, but even better how about having God Himself examine us. We may think that we know all there is to
know about ourselves, but God knows us better than we do.
Psalms 26:2
"Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; try my reins and my
heart."
We must ask the Lord through His Spirit to
examine us. Then we must trust Him to
reveal unto us that which we are in need of repentance on, then we must believe
that He can enable us to go on from there a little closer to perfection than we
were beforehand.
Psalms 139:23, 24
"Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and
lead me in the way everlasting."
We should have this same kind of attitude as did
the Psalmist. O Yahweh search me through and through. Reveal unto me any wicked way that may be
hiding within me. Don't leave any stone
unturned; show me my sins that are not yet revealed unto me that I may
repent. Enable me to use the light of
Your Word to shine into the waters of my life, that there be no wicked way in
me.
Psalms 19:12
"Who can understand his errors? Cleanse me Lord from secret faults."
O Lord cleanse me from
things that I don't know anything about.
If I have faults, if I have sins, if I have transgressions that are
secret, that are hidden from me, let me know that I might get it out of my
spiritual house. You see that is the
kind of attitude that we should have. That we would be perfect as He is perfect. Not that we can literally attain that while
in this mortal body, but it should be our objective and our intent to one day
become so.
Do you know what we should be hiding within our
hearts? Hey we don't want sin hiding
within us, so what is one of the methods by which see we can eradicate sin from
our lives?
Psalms 119:11
"Your Word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin
against you."
There is the key!
Not only are we to get the sin out of our lives, but we must replace it
with the Word of God which in turn will empower us by His Spirit to not
continue in a lifestyle of sin. Not only
were we not to eat anything with leavening in it for 7 days, but we are to be
eating unleavened bread in its place.
Put sin out, put hypocrisy out, put the works of the flesh out, put the
Word of God in, put righteousness in, and put the fruit of the Spirit in.
And it's all made possible not only through the
death of our Lord paying the penalty for our transgressions, but because it
became a legal transaction when He came forth from the dead to appear before
the Father for you and I and for all mankind.
The plan of God is pictured in the Holy Days, and
Passover and the days of unleavened bread are just the beginnings of the good
work that He has begun in you, and He Himself will perform to the finish on our
behalf, if we only accept Him at His Word.
Brethren, He did it all for you!
The Old Paths Restoration Ministry
PO Box 247
Marengo, IN 47140