Poured Out For Us

Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was poured out as an offering, a sacrifice for our sins. His crucifixion fixed the claims against us and gave us His righteousness, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Christus Jesu has washed us in the Blood, He has sanctified and justified us on for all time, “Therefore, since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from wrath through Him!” (Romans 5:9), “For that which He died, He died to sin once for all; but that which He lives, He lives to God,” (Romans 6:10), “And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified, ” (Hebrews 10:11-13), “Otherwise, He would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But now He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself, And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment, so also Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many; and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who eagerly await Him,” (Hebrews 9:26-28), and “Therefore, since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from wrath through Him!” (1 Peter 3:18 NLT). There is no more sacrifices to made, Jesus’ offering of His blood is all sufficient, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace.” (Ephesians 1:7). 

Our faith in Iesus Christus (Jesus Christ) and His sacrifice is enough to give us eternal life and to cover all our sins (Ephesians 1:7, 1 John 2:1-2). Do not put trust in your own merit or be pressured into thinking you must do good deeds to get God’s favor, its called grace not works, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:8-10). Stand firm on the promise that Iesous (Jesus) has saved you and only His sacrifice on the cross is able to make propitiation for sins. Do not be deceived by the devil’s cunning who would lead you from a pure and simple devotion to Christ, “I am afraid, however, that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may be led astray from your simple and pure devotion to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 11:3). Resist anyone and any teaching that adds to the blood of Christ and tries to convince you that you must do pious acts and deeds to gain eternal life: “How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?” (Hebrews 10:29), “I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose,” (Galatians 2:21), “For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God's grace,” (Galatians 5:4). Instead put your trust in Jesus, and let His propitiation be enough! Refuse the trap of penance  which nullifies grace, for St. Peter said with the support of Paul the Apostle and Barnabas, “While Paul and Barnabas were at Antioch of Syria, some men from Judea arrived and began to teach the believers: “Unless you are circumcised as required by the law of Moses, you cannot be saved.” Paul and Barnabas disagreed with them, arguing vehemently. Finally, the church decided to send Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem, accompanied by some local believers, to talk to the apostles and elders about this question. The church sent the delegates to Jerusalem, and they stopped along the way in Phoenicia and Samaria to visit the believers. They told them—much to everyone’s joy—that the Gentiles, too, were being converted. So the apostles and elders met together to resolve this issue. At the meeting, after a long discussion, Peter stood and addressed them as follows: “Brothers, you all know that God chose me from among you some time ago to preach to the Gentiles so that they could hear the Good News and believe. God knows people’s hearts, and he confirmed that he accepts Gentiles by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us. He made no distinction between us and them, for he cleansed their hearts through faith. 10 So why are you now challenging God by burdening the Gentile believers with a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors were able to bear? We believe that we are all saved the same way, by the undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus.” (Acts 15:1-2, 6-11). The Apostle John, the Beloved agrees with Peter and Paul, “Anyone who confesses Jesus is Son of God, God lives in them and they live in God.” (1 John 4:15), and Jesus Christ Himself agrees, “For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day,” (John 6:40), and “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” (John 3:16-18). The consensus is no penance and no adding to the grace of God! Faith in Jesus Christ and His all sufficient sacrifice (Hebrews, Chapter 9 and 10) is what saves us; Christ and His work on the cross alone saves us. The Holy Trinity has made us clean at Calvary and as long as we keep trusting, believing, and confessing Christ tell our last breath we shall find ourselves on Judgement Day with a “Not Guilty” sentence and the Blood of Christ being our defense evidence and our Mediator Christ Himself (1 John 2:1-4).  

Behold the mercy of God is poured out for us sinners and has transformed us into saints. The crimson flow from Christ’s brow, side, hands, and feet washes us “white as snow.” (Isaiah 1:18). There is no other sacrifice that can make us whole and perfect before our God except the Sacrifice of Jesus!  Anyone who adds to the blood of Jesus is accursed and preaching another gospel, “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! 9 As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!” (Galatians 1:8-9) and “ But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it too easy!.” (2 Corinthians 11:3-4). The evil one is ever at work to seduce you from pure and simple devotion and trust in Christ. He will even attempt to use deeper mysteries to deceive you, “But I also have a message for the rest of you in Thyatira who have not followed this false teaching ('deeper truths,' as they call them--depths of Satan, actually). I will ask nothing more of you,” (Revelation 2:24). Beware the devil works hard to make us Christians nullify the grace of God (Galatians 2:21) by turning back to the Law of Moses or chasing after  “asceticism and man made religion,” (Colossians 2:23). Christ Jesus has already guaranteed us eternal life and that nothing can snatch us from His hand (John 10:27-29). The danger lies in you go back to the law and false gospels of working to get saved by doing acts of penance and good deeds (Galatians 5:4, Hebrews 6:4-6, Galatians 5:2, Galatians 2:21, Galatians 3:3, Hebrews 10:29, Ephesians 2:8-10, Acts 15:1-11). Keep your trust and faith in Jesus and His work on the cross alone to save you and make you right with the Godhead. He came to liberate us from sin and death (Hebrews, Chapters 1 -10 NLT). Trust in Jesus Christ, The Son of God of The Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.