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The Bible Says
They nailed my Savior to the cross, The cross on Calvary; ‘Twas there in agony He died For sinful souls like me. They placed upon His brow a crown, A cruel crown of thorn; Placed it upon that gentle brow, In bitter hate and scorn. Despised, rejected, loving still, My dear Lord suffered there; “Forgive, they know not what they do,” His tender dying prayer. How can I show my love to Him Who suffered thus for me? All that I have---a humble gift His evermore shall be.
Could my tears forever flow, Could my zeal no languor know, These for sin could not atone; Thou must save, and Thou alone: In My Hand No Price I Bring. Simply to Thy Cross I Cling. --- Augustus M. Toplady “The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear My words.” Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was making something at the wheel. And the vessel that he made was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make. Then the word of the LORD came to me saying: “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?” says the LORD. “Look, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel!” (Jer. 18:1-6 NKJB).
Not only Israel, but the entire human race has been “marred by sin.” The prophet Isaiah declared: “All we, like sheep, have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him (Jesus) the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6).
The Bible says, “You know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect” (1 Peter 1:18-19,NIV). The word redeem means to buy back, to recover by paying a price. On the cross Jesus paid the price for our deliverance, a price unthinkably greater than our true value, He did this because He loves us. We were redeemed, recovered restored not with corruptible things of silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ. A loving mother once saved her little girl from a burning house but suffered severe burns on her hands and arms. When the girl grew up, not knowing how her mother’s arms had become so disfigured, the girl was ashamed of the scarred, gnarled hands and always insisted that her mother wear long gloves to cover up that ugliness. But one day the daughter asked her mother how her hands had become so scarred. For the first time the mother told her the story of how she had saved her life. The daughter wept and said, “Oh, Mother, those are beautiful hands --- the most beautiful in the world. Don’t ever hide them again.” The blood of Christ may seem to be a grim and repulsive subject to those who do not realize its true significance, but to those who have accepted His redemption and have been set free from the slavery of sin, the blood transfusion? The blood is precious, life-giving, certainly not repulsive. The blood of Christ was shed for all. When Jesus served the Last Supper to His disciples, He took the cup of wine and said, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins”(Matthew 26:28 NIV). Speaking of His crucifixion, Jesus Himself said, “I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself” (John 12L32,NIV). By “all men” He did not mean all people without exception, for there are many who refuse to be drawn to Him. He meant rather all people without distinction, whether it be of class of color or anything else. The appeal of the Cross of Christ is universal. I have met people of every race who have trusted in the merits of Jesus Christ and His shed blood for their salvation. The power of the Cross reached into opium dens, salvaging and redeeming people from a living hell. It touches the hearts of slum dwellers and penthouse owners. It penetrates into the mansions of the elite where men and women live in luxury, bringing them peace and joy that money cannot buy. It changes the headhunter into a soul-saver. It gives people of every nation dynamic and purposeful living. The power of sin has been broken by the all-sufficient sacrifice of Christ on Calvary; the power of sin was completely overcome by His victorious resurrection of the Sunday morning that we call the first Easter. That is why we can sing with the hymn writer: ”In the Cross of Christ I glory!” -- Billy Graham Abridged, Decision Magazine (April 2006) p. 2-5 |