Changed. ( Romans 8 v 29 )

If you are a Christian I wonder have you asked yourself , what is Gods ultimate goal or purpose for those who are His?.Well the answer is simple ,we read of it in Romans 8 v 29 ,''For  those God fore- knew ,he also predestined to be conformed to likeness of  his Son''. While here on earth we are being changed by the grace of God,it is a process called sanctification ,it is not instant,but it is ongoing. God uses many means to accomplish this,Job 23 v 10 ',which reads, 'But He knows the way I take; when he has tested me , I will come forth as gold'.When we reach heaven that process will be instantly completed,and we shall be like Christ,conformed to His image.Our minds and characters will reflect Christ,our personality will have no flaws, we will be holy,and wholly committed to our God and Saviour. It is hard to appreciate such a change but it will happen. A  man asked a sculpture  what could he possible see in an  old piece of marble he was working on?, he replied,''I see an angel ''.We sinners may ask the same question,what can God possible see in us,He sees the finished article, He sees us conformed to the image of His Son Jesus.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             We will be like Him.                                                                                                                                        ( 1 John 3 v 2 )

Father. ( John 3 v 1 - 7 )

When I was very young my mother left my father,in those days it was a challenging thing to do in many ways ,for there was very little financial support, given to single mothers.I had two older brothers and one older sister,I do not have any bad memories as regards my father,but none of us ever bothered with him.So I may as well not have had a father,it must have had an affect on me,but I remember as a young child,praying to God, and saying ,'your my Father'. I do not know if I had trusted Jesus as my Saviour.   I was not into theology then, it was a little child reaching out to God the father. Again early in life as a little boy I did trust Jesus,and then my relationship with God was put on a firm biblical bases. What is a firm biblical bases as regards knowing God as ones Father?.Well we turn to the gospel of  John 1 v  12 -13, 'To those who receive Him ( Jesus ) to those who believed in His name,He gave the right  to become children of God''.In other words if one has never received Christ as ones Saviour, then we have no right to call God our Father.As v 13 tells us that they,who are children of God, ''They are reborn , not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.''

The cross ( Galatians 6 v 12 - 16 )

Fanny .J, Grosby that blind hymn writer ,wrote  many  wonderful hymns,one of my favourites is ,'Jesus keep me the cross'.                                                                                                                                                                            Jesus keep me near the cross;                                                                                                                     There a precious fountain,                                                                                                                          Free to all - a healing stream-                                                                                                                    Flows from Calvary's mountain.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Near the cross,a trembling soul,                                                                                                                Love and mercy found me;                                                                                                                        There the bright and Morning Star                                                                                                            Shed its beams around me.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             Near the cross, O Lamb of God                                                                                                                 Bring its scenes before me;                                                                                                                       Help me walk from day to day                                                                                                                   With its shadow o'er me.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Near the cross, I'll watch and wait,                                                                                                           Hoping, trusting ever,                                                                                                                                 Till I reach the golden strand                                                                                                                     Just beyond the river.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Chorus                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 In the cross, in the cross,                                                                                                                           Be my glory ever;                                                                                                                                       Till my raptured soul shall find                                                                                                                 Rest beyond the river.                                                                                                                                                                                       

Wine and Vinegar. (Ruth chapter one)

Raymond Brown on Moses said the following,''Israel's leader  must have faced many a day with a heavy heart. These Biblical characters did not belong to a make- believe world where , because they loved God, everything automatically went well for them. Their experience hardly supports the optimistic euphoria of the' prosperity theology' people,with their assurance of wealth and health. The Bible is more honest. When we have, as the Puritan Richard Baxter says,'wine and vinegar in the same cup'.Well many of us while not holding to the prosperity theology teaching,need to take to heart, what Richard Baxter said,my personal life experience as a Christian would agree .Yes it is hard when painful things happen in the Christians life, after all the Christian reads the Psalms, and the wonderful promises there,yet the man who wrote most of those Psalms experienced a great deal of trouble in his life.Right throughout  the Bible we read of godly people yes experiencing blessing.but I think of Naomi a godly lady,whose husband ,and two sons died,and who was left destitute,They  had  gone to the land of Moab,to escape a famine in their own country,but then she and her daughter -in-law returned to Israel.When she returned her neighbours said,''Can this be Naomi?'',Her reply was this ,''don't call me Naomi which means pleasant,call me Mara'', which means bitter. Yes Richard Baxter was so right in what he said,that the Christian life is a wine and vinegar experience.

Atonement. ( Psalm 103 )

I see in modern translations the word atonement is changed to reconciliation ,which is fair enough,for it has that meaning to it.We must realise that as we are born we have a fallen nature,which leads to sin,that makes us enemies to God,( Romans 5 v 10),this means everyone ,yes everyone.for everyone without exception has sinned and come short of the glory of God.  (Romans 3 v 23 ).God loves us all without exception ,but sin separates us from Him,so He worked it out,He would send Jesus who would die an atoning death that we may be reconciled ,to Him.( Romans 5 v 11). His death was an atoning death,through which the enmity could be removed,the result sin is forgiven. It is Raymond Brown who point out that the term atonement means to 'wipe off'.In other words when we embrace Christ as our Saviour,our sins are wiped off,R B,writes that the offence ,that is our sin, is decisively wiped away from the mind of God. There is no record of our sinned, in Jeremiah 31 v 34, we read,' For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sin no more'.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Gone,gone,gone,gone,                                                                                                                               yes my sins are gone,                                                                                                                                 now my soul is free                                                                                                                                   and in my heart a song,                                                                                                                             buried in the deepest sea                                                                                                                           yes that's good enough                                                                                                                               for me,I shall live eternally                                                                                                                       praise God my sins are gone.

Sin. ( James 2 v 10 )

Yesterday we considered the sacrifice of Christ,and how  that one sacrifice effectively deals with sin, it is a strange thing that there are those who deny this. They believe that somehow Christ is sacrificed over and over again ,the book of Hebrews teaches clearly that this is not so, 'Nor did He enter heaven to offer Himself again and again, the way the  high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year........Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world ......so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the  sins of many people ( Hebrews 9 v 25 - 28 ).This one times sacrifice effectively deals with all sins, again let me say there are not two classes  of sin, called Mortal and Venial ,many people look at sin this way,mortal is more serious than  venial, people do not see any problem with so called white lies ,but see murder as very wrong which it is.The Westminster Shorter Catechism declares,''Sin is any lack of conformity unto,or transgression of the law of God''. Eating a forbidden fruit may appear to be a very trifling offence; yet the consequence were fatal, not only for Adam and Eve but for the entire human race''  (L. Boettner )                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

No more sacrifice ( John 20 v 30 )

In Numbers 5 v 5 - 8, we have intentional sins mentioned, and in 15 v 22 ff we have those who sin unintentionally ,sin whither it is intentional or unintentional is sin.The law does not make exceptions,yes there are no exceptions to the rule,each country has laws ,take the law of speeding,even if I break the speed limit unintentionally,I have broke the law,the same applies to Gods law.Many people are doing things that society says is ok, but God says it is a sin,we have broke His Law, and will be held accountable, one day  judgement will be passed by Him who is the righteous Judge even Jesus ( John 5 v 22 ).In Numbers sacrifice of an animal had to be made,for both types of sin in order that the sin could be forgiven, the animal sacrifice pointed to a human sacrifice, to Jesus,who would pay the price for our sins.The animal sacrifice was temporary, it could not effectively deal with sin ,the fact that it was repeated again and again shows this.We read what God provided,He declared ,''Sacrifice and offerings you did not desire,but a body you prepared for me,with burnt offerings and sin offerings, you were not pleased.Then I said, Here I am - it is written about me ,in the scroll- I have come to do Thy will''.  ( Psalm 40 v  6 -8 / Hebrews 10 v 5 - 7 ) This is speaking of Jesus the one who would effectively deal with the sin of those who trust Him as their Saviour.