Nickerson – March 26th, 2021
Man has sinned, rebelled against God, and so sin entered the world. (Genesis 2:16-17)…..“And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; “but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
Because of man’s sin he is separated from God. (Isaiah 59:1-2)…..“Behold, the LORD’S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; Nor his ear heavy, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear.”
The reality of it is that all have sinned. (Romans 3:23)…..For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
(Romans 5:12)…..Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.
(1 John 1:8-10)…..If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.
All are deserving of death, (Romans 6:23)…..For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(James 1:15)…..Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin when it is full grown, brings forth death.
Mankind is in trouble! Man needs needs to be redeemed from his fallen (sinful) state. But we cannot find redemption through riches. (Psalm 49:6-7)…..Those who trust in their wealth and boast in the multitude of their riches, none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him.
We cannot find redemption through the blood of animal sacrifices. (Hebrews 10:4)…..For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats could take away sins.
We cannot find redemption through our own works. (Ephesians 2:9)…..Not of works, lest anyone should boast.
Of course we cannot find redemption by our own devising and cleverness. (Jeremiah 10:20)…..O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps.
c. Christ came to redeem man with His own blood, in which he offered up at the cross of calvary. Redemption is in Christ! (Hebrews 9:12)…..Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.
(1 Peter 1:18-19)…..knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as a lamb without blemish and without spot.
(Romans 3:24)…..Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
(Titus 2:14)…..who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.
Salvation is only in the name of Christ. (Acts 4:12)…..Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
(John 14:6)…..Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
(2 Timothy 2:10)…..Therefore I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.
We have Christ! We have a sure salvation! We have a Savior that we can hold on to as an anchor in a fallen world. Jesus is the Rock of your salvation if your faith is firmly in Him. I think of men like Horatio Spafford who was found by his Lord, saved by his Lord, and relied on his Lord, and held onto his Lord with his might when everything seemed dark
In 1871, tragedy struck Chicago as fire ravaged the city. When it was finally extinguished, the fire had taken over 300 lives and had left some 100,000 homeless. A man by the name of Horatio Gates Spafford was one of those who tried to help the people of the city get back on their feet. Spafford, a Chicago lawyer, who had invested heavily into the downtown area, lost everything as a result of that fire. More tragically, Spafford had also suffered the loss his only son just a year earlier. Still, for two years Spafford assisted the homeless, impoverished, grief-stricken and others ruined by the fire. After about two years of such work, Spafford and his family decided to take a vacation. They were to go to England to join Moody and Ira Sankey on one of their evangelistic crusades, then travel in Europe. Horatio Spafford was delayed by some business, but sent his family on ahead. He would catch up to them on the other side of the Atlantic. Their ship, the Ville de Havre, never made it. Off Newfoundland, it collided with an English sailing ship, the Loch Earn, and sank within 20 minutes. Though Horatio’s wife, Anna, was able to cling to a piece of floating wreckage (one of only 47 survivors among hundreds), their four daughters Maggie, Tanetta, Annie, and Bessie were killed. Horatio received a horrible telegram from his wife, only two words long: “Saved alone.” Spafford boarded the next available ship to be near his grieving wife. When the ship passed near the spot where his daughters died, Spafford penned these precious words:
When peace, like a river attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll. Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, It is well, it is well, with my soul. Tho Satan should buffet, tho trials should come, Let this blest assurance control, That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate, And hath shed His own blood for my soul!
Spafford would never have penned the words of the hymn we love so well if Jesus had not stood at his side and given him strength.