Tag Archives: Faith

Jesus Paid it All! March 8

The laws of inheritance are still in effect today.  It’s pretty amazing that the world wants to reject the Bible, yet so many of the principles laid down in the Word are still active and present in our society.  Can you even imagine what would happen to our culture, and our world if the laws and rules laid down in the Bible were not enforced in today’s world?  Murder and theft would run rampant, as would sexual lust and dishonoring parents.  In fact when I think about it, isn’t this what is happening in the world right now?  Something to think about, isn’t it? 

Joshua is chosen as the next leader and Moses is told he is going to die without entering the promised land. He did one little thing wrong, and his punishment is pretty severe, if you ask me.  And Moses knows that he is going to die once he goes up that mountain to see the land.  I don’t think I would like to know the time and place I was going to die.  I would do everything I can to avoid going to that place.  I would complain to God that I wasn’t ready to die yet.  But we see none of this with Moses.  He does what God asks humbly and meekly.  This is how we should obey, no matter what comes our way!Endless sacrifices, all without blemish.  This is the theme of our reading this morning.  I always thought of the wilderness as a desert-like ecosystem, with sparse vegetation and a lot of sand.  But how could they possibly raise this many sheep and cattle to fulfill all the sacrificial requirements. If it was that bad.  Think about it with me.  2 rams a day, first year rams without blemish.  That’s 730 a year.  For 40 years in the wilderness, that’s 29,200 rams, of the first year, without blemish.  That’s just the daily offerings.  It does not include any burnt offerings, sin offerings, or trespass offerings that might be due.  It does not include the offerings for all the feasts,  The Sabbath offerings would have totaled 4,160 lambs.  The monthly offerings totalled 960 bulls, 480 rams, 3,360 lambs and 480 goats.  The offerings for all the feasts combined, for 40 years, would be the same 2,720 bulls, 760 rams, 6,000 lambs and 400 goats.  Plus all the grain offerings to go with each sacrifice.  Can you tell I like numbers? That’s a total of 3,680 bulls, 30,740 rams, 13,520 lambs and 980 goats.  All the first year, all without blemish.  This did not include any other offerings that were due because of sins, or trespasses.

Aren’t you glad Jesus paid it all?  All these offerings and sacrifices are no longer due to the Lord.  Jesus was our perfect lamb, sacrificed without sin in His life. He took the punishment for our sin.  The stripes on His back from a whip laced with stones so that each lash sunk deep into his flesh and ripped it open.  A crown of thorns placed on his head, thorns long enough and sharp enough to pierce the skin right to the skull, and make blood flow from each embedded thorn.  The nails in His hands and feet went right through His limbs, causing intense pain.  The cross on which he hung slowly was strangling Him to death as He tried to pull himself up by the nail-pierced hands, or push His body upo using the nail-pierced feet as leverage.  He suffered the agony of a brutal death so that we would no longer have to offer all these sacrifices to make atonement for our sin, or to appease almighty God.  If we have accepted His sacrifice in place of our own offerings that would be due, He saves us from all that.  I am so glad Jesus did this for me.  I can’t even imagine the blood required for all of my sins!

Have you made a decision to make Jesus your sacrifice, and allow Him to be Lord over your life?  You have a debt to God that is enormous.  You need a sacrifice that would cover it all.  Jesus is that sacrifice.  Won’t you accept Him today?

Be An Overcomer

Leprosy was dreaded in Old Testament times.  The priest was given the task to determine whether a person had leprosy, and when that person was clean or unclean from the leprosy.  He became a doctor.These laws concerning leprosy can be very confusing, but all point to the same thing.  A person with a sore in his skin that was not healing properly had to be isolated fro everyone else.  Why?  because leprosy is extremely contagious, while a common sore is not.  We know today that leprosy has an incubation period of at least 2 years, so if a person is leprous and poasses on the disease, the other person carries that bacteria for a minimum of 2 years before they see any symptoms.  It might sit in his system up to 20 years before appearing.

And what are the results of leprosy if left untreated?  Paralysis, loss of feeling in extremities, eyelids and eyelashes falling off, shortening of fingers,and toes, disfiguring of nose or ears, pain, blindness and other things It is no wonder God desired to have the people clean from this insidious disease.  I looked up a bit of information just for fun.  Buddhists believe it is honorable to care for the sick, and leprosy does not make a person unclean, while Hindus believe leprosy is a punishment for sins in a previous life.  God never says it is any kind of punishment, andHe knows the disease is contagious so separates the leper from society until he is clean.  Once the priest pronounces him clean, there is a whole ceremony that he must go through in order to purify himself.

The stories of lerprous people in the Bible are interesting.  Naaman had to dip himself seven times in the Jordan river, and his leprosy went away completely. Uzziah, who was a king during Isaiah’s time, was struck down with leprosy when his pride got the best of him.  Moses’ hand became leprous when he put it inside his cloak as a sign to the people of Israel. When he put it in again, it was clean. Miriam was leprosy when she questioned Moses. So leprosy in the Bible is not always a sign of sin, a smany say it is.  Leprosy is something God uses to show His power, I believe.  God will use any means to show His power and His glory.

I love the story in the Bible where Jesus cleanses the 10 lepers.  First of all, He should not have been anywhere near them.  They had to dwell outside the village, on their own, as a result of the leprosy.  Jesus came to them and touched them, which was unthinkable to the regular citizen.,. I wonder what was going through the minds of the disciples at that moment!  He touched them and told them to go and show themselves to the priest so that he would pronounce them clean.  And, according to this verse in Leviticus, what was the condition of the person who was clean?  His sores were all healed and his skin was white, maybe even his whole body was white.  he may still have deformed hands, blindness, and any of the other results of leprosy.  But if he was clean, the priest would know.

Then there was one who came back to him and thanked him for his cleansing. Only one returned.  Would I have been so excited at being cleansed that I would have forgotten to thank God?  Do I always take the tie to thank God for the things He does for me?  He gives me breath each day, opens my eyes, gives me strength to walk, the ability to use my fingers, to hear, taste and smell.  All of this is His doing.  How thankful am I?  The one who comes back and gives thanks is pronounced whole, not just cleansed. I truly believe that man walked away with no white sors, no deformities, no sign he ever had leprosy in the first place.  He was whole.  Thanksgiving is a key to becoming whole in the Lord!

I know I am long today, but there is one more story of lepers.  There were 4 lepers sitting at the gate of the city.  The city was enduring a terrible famine.  People were eating their own children as a result.  All were in danger of starving to death.  The Syrian army and the city were surrounded.  There was no hope anywhere.  The four lepers made a statement that resonates even today.  “Why sit we here until we die?”  They went into the camp of the Syrians, after the Lord had sent them running in the night, and realized they could take the spoils left behind.  They told the city, and the city was free from the enemy and the famine.  There is a lot more to the story, but this is long already.  The moral, to me, is that we must go about our Fathers business, and not let anything stop us.  We are all sinners.  We should never let our sin keep us from working toward fulfilling God’s plan for our lives.  It is He, and only he, who can make us whole.  It is only he who can run the enemy out of our way.  And it is God, through Jesus Christ, who has overcome this world for us.  let us be overcomers also.

Grace Plus Faith

 It’s a simple equation all can do
 The oldest in age and the youngest too
 Anyone who can think
 Or can learn anything
 Can trust that the answer was given to you
  
 First came the Father, who out of His love
 Sent His only Son and said it was enough
 I’ll show them my grace
 When He takes their place
 The sins of the world will go down to the grave
  
 All they need to do is add their little faith
 That they would believe that He died in their place
 As they turn from there sin
 And ask Him to come in
 My grace and their faith will lead them to be saved
  
 Grace plus faith is the answer to life’s biggest tests
 Grace plus faith in the midst of your storms will bring rest
 Grace plus faith will turn your sorrow to joy
 Grace plus faith will heaven’s armies employ
 As you come to the Father, He will pour out His grace
 And you will be saved adding your little faith
  
 Don’t delay, do not wait.
 Come to Jesus today
 Learn the equation grace plus faith
 Simple and yet profound for all time
 I hope that you’ll hearken to the simple rhyme
 Trust in His grace today
 Add faith and you will be saved