Sunday... May we keep this in mind. Yes, may we be reminded of this.
Psalm 99:7 & 8 (NLT) says, "He spoke to Israel from the pillar of cloud, and they followed the laws and decrees he gave them. O Lord our God, you answered them, but you punished them." The MESSAGE puts it this way, "And they did what he said; they kept the law he gave them. And then God, our God answered them (But you were never soft on their sins). And we need to be reminded of that today.
The Corinthian church over in the New Testament was having some trouble in living as God wanted them to live and Paul sent them a letter. In 1 Corinthians 6:9 (NLT) he said, "Don't you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the kingdom of God?" That was so important for them to be reminded of as it is to us. But he doesn't stop there.
He listed some sins and then said in verse 11 something they also needed to keep in mind. It says (NLT), "Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed, you were made holy, you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God."
The Amplified Bible says, "And such were some of you [before you believed]. But you were washed [by the atoning sacrifice of Christ], you were sanctified [set apart for God, and made holy], you were justified [declared free of guilt] in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the [Holy] Spirit of our God [the source of the believer's new life and changed behavior]."
Yes, He has never been soft on sin. But through the death and resurrection of Jesus and His supreme sacrifice, we can be declared free of the guilt and consequences of our sins by believing in Him, confessing our sins and asking for His forgiveness of them and thus having a new life and a change in our behavior by through His Holy Spirit.
And we need to be reminded of that, don't we? Yes, yes! #todaysbeginning
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