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From Hyena to Human

Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.  The venom of asps is under their lips.  Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.  Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.  There is no fear of God before their eyes.  (Rm 3:14-18) Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.  He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.  (Rev 21:3) Lord, we praise you for the…

Freeing the Slaves

Truly, truly I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. (Jn 8:34-6) We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. (Rm 6:6) You have freed me, O Lord! Hallelujah! I am free! Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves, and in doing so, he changed the course of…

A Crazy Marriage

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”  This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.  (Eph 5:31-2) Lord Jesus … I do. When a rich man marries a poor woman, the two become one.   They share one home, one life, one bed, one estate, and one purpose. As far as the law is concerned, everything the husband has belongs to the wife. His riches are hers. She may have come out of the slums, but now she…

Dealing With Objections to the Atonement

Christ died for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring us to God (I Pet 3:18). For our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (II Cor 5:21). These Scriptures give a picture of the great transaction that lies at the heart of the gospel. Remove the substitutionary atonement of Christ, and there is no gospel. God died for us. The death of Christ paid the penalty for our sins. Now we are free in the eyes of the law. But not everyone likes…

The Cross: Tying Things Together

. . . and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Rm 3:24) In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our sins, according to the riches of his grace. (Eph 1:7) . . . it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. (Gal 2:20) Father, I thank you for the Cross, for through it I have riches that this world cannot touch.   Sometimes the Bible uses fancy words to describe what God has done. Justification, redemption, reconciliation, and regeneration are some of…