When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.
'Since we have been acquitted and made right through faith, we are able
to experience true and lasting peace with God through our Lord Jesus,
the Anointed One, the Liberating King. Jesus leads us into a place of
radical grace where we are able to celebrate the hope of experiencing
God’s glory. And that’s not all. We also celebrate in seasons of
suffering because we know that when we suffer we develop endurance,
which shapes our characters. When our characters are refined, we learn
what it means to hope and anticipate God’s goodness. And hope will never
fail to satisfy our deepest need because the Holy Spirit that was given
to us has flooded our hearts with God’s love.
When the time was right, the Anointed One died for all of us who were far from God, powerless, and weak. Now it is rare to find someone willing to die for an upright person, although it’s possible that someone may give up his life for one who is truly good. But think about this: while we were wasting our lives in sin, God revealed His powerful love to us in a tangible display—the Anointed One died for us. As a result, the blood of Jesus has made us right with God now, and certainly we will be rescued by Him from God’s wrath in the future. If we were in the heat of combat with God when His Son reconciled us by laying down His life, then how much more will we be saved by Jesus’ resurrection life? In fact, we stand now reconciled and at peace with God. That’s why we celebrate in God through our Lord Jesus, the Anointed.
Consider this: sin entered our world through one man, Adam; and through sin, death followed in hot pursuit. Death spread rapidly to infect all people on the earth as they engaged in sin.
Before God gave the law, sin existed, but there was no way to account for it. Outside the law, how could anyone be charged and found guilty of sin? Still, death plagued all humanity from Adam to Moses, even those whose sin was of a different sort than Adam’s. You see, in God’s plan, Adam was a prototype of the One who comes to usher in a new day. But the free gift of grace bears no resemblance to Adam’s crime that brings a death sentence to all of humanity; in fact, it is quite the opposite. For if the one man’s sin brings death to so many, how much more does the gift of God’s radical grace extend to humanity since Jesus the Anointed offered His generous gift. His free gift is nothing like the scourge of the first man’s sin. The judgment that fell because of one false step brought condemnation, but the free gift following countless offenses results in a favorable verdict—not guilty. If one man’s sin brought a reign of death—that’s Adam’s legacy—how much more will those who receive grace in abundance and the free gift of redeeming justice reign in life by means of one other man—Jesus the Anointed.
So here is the result: as one man’s sin brought about condemnation and punishment for all people, so one man’s act of faithfulness makes all of us right with God and brings us to new life. Just as through one man’s defiant disobedience every one of us were made sinners, so through the willing obedience of the one man many of us will be made right.
When the law came into the picture, sin grew and grew; but wherever sin grew and spread, God’s grace was there in fuller, greater measure. No matter how much sin crept in, there was always more grace. In the same way that sin reigned in the sphere of death, now grace reigns through God’s restorative justice, eclipsing death and leading to eternal life through the Anointed One, Jesus our Lord, the Liberating King.' Romans 5 (VOICE)
God's gift of grace and salvation is so amazing! Paul's way of describing it is also a beautiful gift to us all. When I believe and receive Christ as my savior my name is written in the Lamb's Book of life and I am sealed with Him for all eternity. Hallelujah! Not by my works but by His grace alone I am saved through faith. It's a gift I must choose to receive! Even when we stray He leaves the ninety-nine to go after the one for I believe we are just that precious to Him. Hope in Him will never disappoint. I deserved the contempt that God poured out on Jesus that day, but He bore it. Christ suffered and died for my pride. The blood He shed for me covers me and all of my sins. No boasting. His generosity. How liberating! I am covered and I cannot boast for something that I had no part in and He has done for me in a complete and entirely overwhelmingly generous act of love. The love act in which I can never repay, but could only make my simple love offering, my body as a living sacrifice to You, my Savior the King. "When I survey the wondrous cross, on which the Prince of glory died, my richest gain I count but loss, and pour contempt on all my pride.” Isaac Watts, 'When I Survey the Wondrous Cross', 1707.
When the time was right, the Anointed One died for all of us who were far from God, powerless, and weak. Now it is rare to find someone willing to die for an upright person, although it’s possible that someone may give up his life for one who is truly good. But think about this: while we were wasting our lives in sin, God revealed His powerful love to us in a tangible display—the Anointed One died for us. As a result, the blood of Jesus has made us right with God now, and certainly we will be rescued by Him from God’s wrath in the future. If we were in the heat of combat with God when His Son reconciled us by laying down His life, then how much more will we be saved by Jesus’ resurrection life? In fact, we stand now reconciled and at peace with God. That’s why we celebrate in God through our Lord Jesus, the Anointed.
Consider this: sin entered our world through one man, Adam; and through sin, death followed in hot pursuit. Death spread rapidly to infect all people on the earth as they engaged in sin.
Before God gave the law, sin existed, but there was no way to account for it. Outside the law, how could anyone be charged and found guilty of sin? Still, death plagued all humanity from Adam to Moses, even those whose sin was of a different sort than Adam’s. You see, in God’s plan, Adam was a prototype of the One who comes to usher in a new day. But the free gift of grace bears no resemblance to Adam’s crime that brings a death sentence to all of humanity; in fact, it is quite the opposite. For if the one man’s sin brings death to so many, how much more does the gift of God’s radical grace extend to humanity since Jesus the Anointed offered His generous gift. His free gift is nothing like the scourge of the first man’s sin. The judgment that fell because of one false step brought condemnation, but the free gift following countless offenses results in a favorable verdict—not guilty. If one man’s sin brought a reign of death—that’s Adam’s legacy—how much more will those who receive grace in abundance and the free gift of redeeming justice reign in life by means of one other man—Jesus the Anointed.
So here is the result: as one man’s sin brought about condemnation and punishment for all people, so one man’s act of faithfulness makes all of us right with God and brings us to new life. Just as through one man’s defiant disobedience every one of us were made sinners, so through the willing obedience of the one man many of us will be made right.
When the law came into the picture, sin grew and grew; but wherever sin grew and spread, God’s grace was there in fuller, greater measure. No matter how much sin crept in, there was always more grace. In the same way that sin reigned in the sphere of death, now grace reigns through God’s restorative justice, eclipsing death and leading to eternal life through the Anointed One, Jesus our Lord, the Liberating King.' Romans 5 (VOICE)
God's gift of grace and salvation is so amazing! Paul's way of describing it is also a beautiful gift to us all. When I believe and receive Christ as my savior my name is written in the Lamb's Book of life and I am sealed with Him for all eternity. Hallelujah! Not by my works but by His grace alone I am saved through faith. It's a gift I must choose to receive! Even when we stray He leaves the ninety-nine to go after the one for I believe we are just that precious to Him. Hope in Him will never disappoint. I deserved the contempt that God poured out on Jesus that day, but He bore it. Christ suffered and died for my pride. The blood He shed for me covers me and all of my sins. No boasting. His generosity. How liberating! I am covered and I cannot boast for something that I had no part in and He has done for me in a complete and entirely overwhelmingly generous act of love. The love act in which I can never repay, but could only make my simple love offering, my body as a living sacrifice to You, my Savior the King. "When I survey the wondrous cross, on which the Prince of glory died, my richest gain I count but loss, and pour contempt on all my pride.” Isaac Watts, 'When I Survey the Wondrous Cross', 1707.
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