blood

The Amazing Grace of the Righteous God

/ Bob

God is righteous. He is perfect in every way and His justice is perfect. He does not need to submit to the laws of man, because He alone is the law-giver.

People are sinful – unrighteous. While God is the perfect law-giver, humans are the imperfect law-breakers. Every one has sinned and fallen short of the perfection of the perfect law-givver.

Just as in physics, no two objects can occupy the same space at the same time, neither can righteousness and unrighteousness occupy the same space. Therefore we, the imperfect, are separated from the perfect God.

God loves us. Even in our deplorable condition as sinful law-breakers God loved us and offered us a way to return to Him – to live with Him and occupy the same space as Him for all eternity.

As a just judge, He had no choice to pronounce judgment on the sinful actions of humans. However, Jesus lived a sinless life and offered Himself up in our place to take our judgment. The precious gift of salvation was purchased with the blood of Christ Himself on our behalf.

The righteous God pronounced judgment on sinful man and gave him the death penalty.

The penalty of death was paid by Jesus on the Cross.

The gift of salvation from God’s wrath and the penalty of sin is offered to all.

And now the gift must be accepted by trusting the One Who paid the price and offers the gift.

May we accept the gift and lead others to know the truth of this gift, so that they, too, may be saved by God’s Amazing Grace.

Next week we will look at the beginning of the book of James to see the proof in pudding.

This Bible study was presented to the Agape Life Bible Study Class of the First Baptist Church in Brenham, Texas, on Sunday, May 8, 2022. It is part of a series of Bible study sessions from The Gospel Project – a Bible study curriculum developed by Lifeway Christian Resources. Handouts with slide content can be requested at: fromthebackporchintexas@gmail.com

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Jesus Is Tried and Crucified

/ Bob

In the Old Testament we find God’s Law which provides a way for God’s people to be reconciled to Him. And even though that Law provided for blood sacrifices as a necessary part of that reconciliation (Leviticus 17:11) it was the heart and faith behind the sacrifice that God was most interested in. “For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.” (Hosea 6:6)

Jesus fulfilled the Law on both counts. His blood, shed on the cross – as the spotless, perfect Lamb of God – met the requirement for the shedding of sacrificial blood and His heart, acting in perfect obedience to the Father, met the requirement for the heart behind the sacrifice. He paid the price for our sin and reconciled us to our holy Father. In so doing, He turned what was a ghastly, horrible means of execution – the cross – into a beautiful, glorious symbol of God’s love for us.

That is why, when we survey the wondrous cross, we sing:
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.

Next week we will see and glory in the resurrection of our Lord.

This Bible study was presented to the Agape Life Bible Study Class of the First Baptist Church in Brenham, Texas, on Sunday, January 30, 2022. It is part of a series of Bible study sessions from The Gospel Project – a Bible study curriculum developed by Lifeway Christian Resources. Handouts with slide content can be requested at: fromthebackporchintexas@gmail.com

Website – FromTheBackPorch.org
Twitter – From the Back Porch @ nationalfast
Facebook – From the Back Porch in Texas

Inconvenient Truths

/ Bob

During this time of Thanksgiving let us above all else be grateful for a path of restoration between sinful humanity and the Holy God – through Jesus. There is only one way, but HALLELUJAH – there is a way! In our study of the 6th Chapter of John we find Jesus referring to Himself as the Bread of Life. He goes on to assert that the eating of this bread is necessary for salvation as is the drinking of his blood. It wasn’t the most pleasant of images and actually caused many to turn away from Him. However, the inconvenient truths were truths nonetheless and continue to be so today.

While the culture today worships inclusiveness as the ultimate test of morality, the words of Jesus Himself testify to the exclusivity of Christ as Savior:

“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. – John 14:6

“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. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” – John 3:16-18

“The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” John 3:35-36

Peter and Paul reinforced Jesus’ claim of being the only way to eternal life.

This is the “stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.” Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. – Peter in Acts 4:11-12

For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus. Paul in 1 Timothy 2:5

Jesus Is the Only Way!

This Bible study was presented to the Agape Life Bible Study Class of the First Baptist Church in Brenham, Texas, on Sunday, November 21, 2021. Handouts with slide content can be requested at: fromthebackporchintexas@gmail.com


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