Preparing To Rejoice In Him // June 16th, 2019

Reflection

“Jesus tilted His head back, pulled up one last time to draw breath and cried, “Tetelestai!” It’s meaning…”paid in full.” With Jesus’ last breath on the cross, He declared the debt of sin cancelled, completely satisfied. Nothing else required. Not good deeds. Not generous donations. Not penance or confession or baptism or…or…or…nothing. The penalty for sin is death, and we were all born hopelessly in debt. He paid our debt in full by giving His life so that we might live forever.” ~Swindoll Charles R.

 

“People sometimes say, indeed, that it makes little difference what theory of the atonement we may hold. Ah, my friends, it makes all the difference in the world. When you contemplate the cross of Christ, do you say merely, with modern theorists, ‘What a noble example of self-sacrifice; I am going to attain favour with God by sacrificing myself as well as He.’ Or do you say with the Bible, ‘He loved me and gave Himself for me; He took my place; He bore my curse; He bought me with His own most precious blood.’ That is the most momentous question that can come to any human soul.” ~J. Gresham Machen

 

God Calls Us To Worship :: Romans 5:6-11

[6] For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. [7] For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—[8] but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. [9] Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. [10] For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. [11] More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. (ESV) 

 

Worship :: Come Behold The Wondrous Mystery

Come behold the wondrous myst’ry
In the dawning of the King
He the theme of heaven’s praises
Robed in frail humanity 

In our longing, in our darkness
Now the light of life has come
Look to Christ who condescended
Took on flesh to ransom us 

 

Come behold the wondrous myst’ry
He the perfect Son of Man
In His living in His suff’ring
Never trace, nor stain of sin 

See the true and better Adam
Come to save the hell-bound man
Christ the great and sure fulfillment
Of the law in Him we stand 

 

Come behold the wondrous myst’ry
Christ the Lord upon the tree
In the stead of ruined sinners
Hangs the Lamb in victory 

See the price of our redemption
See the Father’s plan unfold
Bringing many sons to glory Grace un
measured love untold 

 

Come behold the wondrous myst’ry
Slain by death, the God of life
But no grave could e’er restrain Him
Praise the Lord, He is alive 

What a foretaste of deliv’rance
How unwavering our hope
Christ in power resurrected
As we will be when He comes 

 

Confession Of Faith :: New City Catechism 18,19,20

Q. 18 Will God allow our disobedience and idolatry to go unpunished?
No, every sin is against the sovereignty, holiness, and goodness of God, and against his righteous law, and God is righteously angry with our sins and will punish them in his just judgment both in this life, and in the life to come.

Q. 19 Is there any way to escape punishment and be brought back into God’s favor?
Yes, to satisfy his justice, God himself, out of mere mercy, reconciles us to himself and delivers us from sin and from the punishment for sin, by a Redeemer.

Q. 20 Who is the Redeemer?
The only Redeemer is the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, in whom God became man and bore the penalty for sin himself.

 

God’s Word Preached :: Matthew 27:27-55

Jesus Is Mocked

[27] Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor’s headquarters, and they gathered the whole battalion before him. [28] And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, [29] and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” [30] And they spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head. [31] And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him.

The Crucifixion

[32] As they went out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. They compelled this man to carry his cross. [33] And when they came to a place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull), [34] they offered him wine to drink, mixed with gall, but when he tasted it, he would not drink it. [35] And when they had crucified him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots. [36] Then they sat down and kept watch over him there. [37] And over his head they put the charge against him, which read, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.” [38] Then two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left. [39] And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads [40] and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” [41] So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, [42] “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. [43] He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” [44] And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way.

The Death of Jesus

[45] Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. [46] And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” [47] And some of the bystanders, hearing it, said, “This man is calling Elijah.” [48] And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine, and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink. [49] But the others said, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.” [50] And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.

[51] And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. [52] The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, [53] and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. [54] When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!”

[55] There were also many women there, looking on from a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him, [56] among whom were Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joseph and the mother of the sons of Zebedee. (ESV)

Related Posts