Once and For All

    Jesus died for every sin once and for all.  He was and is the all-sufficient sacrifice. You can forgive anything and anyone because every sin, every debt and trespass has been covered by the blood of Christ, and has been nailed to the cross at Calvary, paid for by Jesus Christ- once and for all.

     God loves us with a love so deep He died a criminal's death to save us. We who were once enemies of God, can now be called His sons and daughters through this sacrifice.  We were a people that were damned by our own sinfulness and destined for eternal torment apart from God, but can now live with Him forever in heaven!  Our God made a way for us. This is the ultimate greatest miracle of all time!  This is a miracle so great that we will praise God forever for it, and never grow tired of worshiping and thanking Him for it. This is only through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  Jesus is our God. He's our God in the flesh who came into the world to save us.

John 3:16

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."

     

     The only way we even know real love is when we receive it from God. Before we know God we don't know love, because God is love.  Before we know God we know a shallow type of love because we are made in His image, but we don't know the deep unfathomable love of God that is so far reaching it fills the very recesses of our souls.  Until we know God, we do not know real love.  The love of God is transforming, redeeming, restoring.  It brings us back to life. His love makes all things new.

Revelation 21:5

Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.”

     God will forgive us of our sins when we repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.  We have a priceless gift of forgiveness waiting for us, but we have to accept it.  Sadly, many people reject it.  I understand that; I rejected it myself for many years.   My eyes were blinded to spiritual things until God opened my eyes to see my sinfulness and need for Jesus.  God is so patient.  He's long-suffering in His love, giving people time to come to Him and ask for forgiveness.  He's amazingly merciful.  We have been given the greatest gift we can possibly ever have and to not accept it is pure foolishness. 

Romans 5:8

"But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

  

     The love of God is an all-consuming fire.  Once we receive the love of God we are then able to love Him back with our whole being.  

1 John 4:19 

"We love Him because He first loved us."

     When we are filled with the love of God, we can then love others the way they should be loved.  We can forgive others the way God forgives us and love others the way God loves us. We have to forgive others because their every sin against us has been covered by the blood of Jesus. He paid the price so now we can forgive anything and everything because of the gift of God, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Romans 6:10

"For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God."

     God's love is at its most beautiful display on the cross. This is how we know what love is. Jesus' love consumed Him.  The love that filled His heart completely consumed His entire being.  His love was a violent all-consuming fire burning in Him.  It was the type of love that said YES to sacrifice and YES to death, even death on a cross.  

Philippians 2:8-11

"And being found in appearance as a man, He (Jesus) humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name,  that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth,  and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

     Jesus cried out with truth and love in His every word and action.  His entire being radiated deep compassion and caring for humanity, even as they beat Him, mocked Him, betrayed and killed Him. As He hung on the cross, He cried out, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." His love consumed Him.  He willingly gave it all for us. 

John 15:13

"Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends."

     I once had a vision of the face of Jesus on the cross.  His face was bloody and with a pained expression He looked at me. His eyes said it all. His eyes and facial expression painstakingly said, "I did this for you."  I will never forget that look.  One look from Jesus can forever change a life. Jesus gave the best He had to offer on the cross. He gave Himself.  He held nothing back, but offered it all for us.  What less can we possibly do than give Him our whole selves back in thanks and adoration? He died for us.  Our destiny was eternal torment apart from God because of our sin, but He paid the price so we can rejoice forever with Him in eternal paradise. He paid the price for every sinner, even those who will never accept Him or love Him back.  

1 Peter 3:18

"For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit,"

     The day of Yom Kippur was and is the day of atonement for the Jews.  It ushers in the Jewish new year of Rosh Hashanah.  Jesus came to be the final and ultimate sacrifice, so now on Yom Kippur we can recall the sacrifice made by Jesus. We can celebrate the New Year, knowing that our salvation has come in Jesus Christ.  We no longer need to offer animal sacrifices as they did in the Old Testament, because Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice.  In the Old Testament, God's idea of justice was a life for a life.  The only way to spare a life was to take a life.  Animals were the temporary sacrifices before the final and ultimate sacrifice of the perfect Son of God. God in the flesh bore the sins of the world upon His body on the cross.  Jesus didn't need to offer a sacrifice for Himself because He was perfect.  

Hebrews 7:27

"who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people’s, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself."

    When He offered Himself as a sacrifice it was the only acceptable payment for the guilty.  He didn't just take the sins of one person on His body, He took on the sins of every person who ever lived. 

 Hebrews 10:10

"By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all."

   This was an agony so horrific we will never understand the magnitude of what exactly Jesus experienced before and on the cross.  The physical pain from the crucifixion was only one aspect of the pain experienced. He also felt the physical and mental agony of the consequences of sin and the full wrath of God upon His body.  

      I experienced the wrath of God once after He repeatedly told me not to do a certain thing and I went ahead and did it anyway. It was a horrible, terrifying experience.  At first I thought it was an attack from the enemy, but then I realized it was God's wrath. I was afraid and wondered how God could be so terrifying.  He is love, as well as moral perfection. He probably holds back 99% of His wrath, but even that 1% was terrifying.

Romans 6:23

"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

     Jesus is coming back a second time to establish His kingdom on earth. When He comes we will receive our full salvation and eternal life spent with God in His kingdom.  

Hebrews 9:28

"so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation."

     We can be forgiven for our sin, but we must repent and change our ways.  We must renounce sin.  We must understand that sin is not just a small problem.  It's the wedge that separates us from God.  When we sin, we are first and foremost sinning against God and hurting Him.  He sent His son to die for us so we could be forgiven and stop doing the evil things that hurt ourselves, others and God.  Sin is a poison.  It deeply hurts and divides people.  Once we see truth about sin and the evil that it is, and how much it hurts us, others and God we have to stop doing it. Sin is hurtful, and it's not worth the pain it causes.  God has to deal with the false beliefs that are at the root of our sin.  Sin is a distortion, a perversion, a crooked perception, an error, a mistake. There is more evil in us than we are ever aware of, even after being born again.

  

    Thank you Jesus for your love and sacrifice that is our redemption and salvation.  Bless Your holy Name forever!  

1 John 1:9

"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."