DIG for Monday the 29th of July……what is the gospel; simply the grace of Christ…..Galatians 1 v 6

I often here people in the church talking about the gospel, and then go on to talk about law, legalism and religion.

This is nothing new; it was something that Paul was aware of and warned the church in Galatia about.

The words gospel and grace are interchangeable in the Word.

And grace is all about Jesus; I once heard a friend on our fellowship say that “Jesus was grace on legs”.

What a wonderful description of Jesus; grace on legs.

In the gospel of John we read that the law was given by Moses but grace and truth came in the form of a man, Jesus Christ (John 1 v 17).

Jesus is truth and He is grace.

The true gospel is simply truth and grace, in other words Jesus.

Anything in addition to Jesus is not the true gospel and should be avoided, as we see the Galatians being told by Paul.

Anything other than Jesus is a perversion of the true gospel (Galatians 1 v 7).

Paul went so far as to say that religion and the law was slavery and bondage while the true gospel (the truth and grace of JEsus) was freedom (Galatians 5 v 1).

Jesus is the truth and He is grace, and this is the true gospel.

Do not let yourself be moved from this; do not let religion preach another gospel to you.

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord that Jesus is the truth and He is grace”.

Galatians 1 v 6…..I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel

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DIG for Sunday the 28th of July…..He is finished; He is now sitting down…..Hebrews 1 v 2 and 3

I don’t know about you, but if I’ve done some work I like to sit down when I have finished.

It is nice to recognise a job well done and sit down when complete.

Jesus came to the earth with a mission, He had a job to do.

Jesus came on a mission from the Father to fulfil the law (Matthew 5 v 17) and to bring His people into salvation (John 3 v 16).

He came to free us from bondage and to bring us into relationship with the Father.

Jesus brought His mission to a successful conclusion with His death on the cross and His subsequent resurrection.

Jesus removed the barrier of sin (this was the blockage between God and man) and then His work was complete.

So, after He was done, He sat down.

This is what the writer to the Hebrews wrote in verse 3; Jesus sat down at the right hand of the Father.

After His work was finished Jesus ascended to the Father, where He is now seated at His right hand.

Jesus has no more work to do with regards to sin; He has done it all, and His mission is complete.

He has dealt with the sin of the whole world (1 John 2 v 2).

He has dealt with all your sin.

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord that Jesus’ work is finished and that He has dealt with all my sin”.

Hebrews 1 v 2 and 3…..Whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds. Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high

DIG for Saturday the 27th of July…..do you know that your sins have already been dealt with…..Hebrews 1 v 2 and 3

I hope these verses are exciting you as much as they are exciting me; there really are some wonderful truths about Jesus here.

The next truth we will deal with is very personal to all of us.

Every single person was been born into sin and was unable to deal with this sin themselves; sin separated us from God.

Jesus however has paid for all of our sin (1 John 2 v 2) and we can now boldly approach Father God on His throne of grace (Hebrews 4 v 16).

The writer to the Hebrews says He purged our sins.

Firstly notice this is in the past tense; our sin has ALREADY been dealt with.

Purged in the Greek means cleansing, purification, ritual purgation or washing.

We have been cleansed and purified through the finished work of Jesus Christ.

We have been redeemed and forgiven through the blood of Jesus (Colossians 1 v 14 and Ephesians 1 v 7).

Our sin is no longer an issue for God; in fact because of Jesus’ work He has chosen not to remember them at all (Hebrews 10 v 17).

We have been purged or sanctified because of His work (1 Corinthians 1 v 2 and 6 v 11).

Our sins (even those in the future that we have not done yet) HAVE ALREADY been dealt with through Jesus’ work; we need to accept that truth and live as a forgiven people, free from guilt, condemnation, fear and worry.

Speak this out today…..”Than you Lord that through the finished work of Jesus Christ I have been purged from all my sin”.

Hebrews 1 v 2 and 3…..Whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds. Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high

DIG for Friday the 26th of July…..all held together by Him; not by a Higgs boson…..Hebrews 1 v 2 and 3

Jesus was the agent of creation, He is also the power behind holding all creation staying together.

The writer to the Hebrews says He upholds all things by the word of his power.

Paul also writes about this in Colossians, saying that by Him all things consist (Colossians 1 v 17).

Science tells us that the universe and all in it is tending towards chaos; this is the second law of thermodynamics.

Yet it is still being held together.

I once saw a video from Louie Giglio talking about laminin; this is the protein within the body that holds things together, it is a cell adhesion molecule.

When it is looked at through an electron microscope it can be seen that it is in the shape of a cross.

Now, this is not proof that Christ is holding all things together, however it is a marvellous picture of the power of Christ.

It is the power of Christ that created this world and also the power of Christ that keeps it going.

The amazing thing is that this power is His Word.

Jesus spoke the universe into being, His Word holds it up today.

Words are creative and powerful, and it is the same for you.

Scripture tells us that our words are powerful, indeed they are life or death (Proverbs 18 v 21).

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord for Jesus, and thank you for the Word of His power”.

Hebrews 1 v 2 and 3…..Whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds. Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high

DIG for Thursday the 25th of July…..brightness of His glory, image of His person; of course He was God…..Hebrews 1 v 2 and 3

Here we have more confirmation that Jesus was and is God (see DIG from yesterday for more of the same).

He is the brightness of the glory of God.

He is the express image of the person of God.

The Greek word brightness means effulgence (yes, I had to go and look up a dictionary as well).

It means to shine brilliantly, to be superbly radiant.

That reminds me of the transfiguration of Jesus when He shone radiantly on the mount.

The Word says His face did shine like the sun that day; the power of the sun is so much more than we can ever imagine so what must the radiance of the Lord be like?

He is awesome; that is all I can simple say!

The greek word image has a number of meanings, however I believe it to be talking about the character or nature of God.

Jesus has the same character and nature of God; the same as His Father.

This is of great assurance to us, as if we look at Jesus in the Gospels we can see the character and nature of Father God.

Jesus never put illness on anyone and Jesus healed everyone that came to Him, so God does the same.

Jesus was filled with love and compassion for men, so God is the same.

Jesus is indeed awesome.

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord for Jesus, and than you that we can look to Him to learn about you”.

Hebrews 1 v 2 and 3…..Whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds. Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high

DIG for Wednesday the 24th of July…..by whom also he made the worlds; the Agent of Creation…..Hebrews 1 v 2 and 3

People sometimes get upset when I preach that Jesus is God; yes, He was a man but at the same time He also is God.

God was the Creator, we all believe that.

The Word is clear that Jesus was the agent of Creation; therefore Jesus has to be God.

(Please do not ask me to try and explain why God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are Three yet One, and all God; far too deep for this time in the evening).

The writer of the Hebrews says that Jesus made all the worlds (Hebrews 1 v 2).

Paul writes to the Colossians that Jesus was the power behind Creation; all things were created by Him (Colossians 1 v 16).

Jesus has been and always will be; He was here before Creation (John 1 v 1).

In The Shack, Paul Young writes this about Jesus: “the centre of all Creation, the man who is God and the God who is man”.

But Jesus never claimed that He was God I’ve been told.

But He did!

Jesus told us He was God; “verily, verily I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am” (John 8 v 58).

This is a clear reminder of what God said in Exodus 3 v 14 and is Jesus saying “I am God”.

Jesus was and is God, and was and is man; what an awesome truth.

The good news is that we can have relationship with Him, and Father God and Holy Spirit, because of His finished work.

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord for Jesus, and thank you for His amazing finished work”.

Hebrews 1 v 2 and 3…..Whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds. Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high

DIG for Tuesday the 23rd of July…..son and heir; and so are you…….Hebrews 1 v 2 and 3

Hebrews 1 v 2 and 3 is a wonderful description of Jesus, full of simple truths about His power and divinity.

He is firstly described as the Son of the Father and also heir of all things.

This talks of power and authority; Jesus has all the power and all the authority of the Father invested in Him.

Jesus said a number of times in the Gospels that He had the power and authority of His Father.

The wonderful news is that because of the finished work of Jesus Christ we share in that power and authority also.

We are told that as Jesus is so are we in the world today (1 John 4 v 17).

We are told that we are sons of God and therefore joint heirs along with Christ (Romans 8 v 14 to 17).

What an awesome truth.

Faith and trust in Jesus and His finished work makes us sons of God, and makes us heirs of all that He has for us.

The even better news is that we do not have to wait for the inheritance due as heirs, we have that now!

God has blessed us now (Ephesians 1 v 3).

He wants us healed and prosperous now (3 John 1 v 2).

We have the inheritance now, thanks to the gift of grace through faith.

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord that in your eyes I am your son and joint heir with Christ”.

Hebrews 1 v 2 and 3…..Whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds. Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high

DIG for Monday the 22nd of July…..what a wonderful description of Jesus; yet simple at the same time…..Hebrews 1 v 2 and 3

I could preach (and indeed write) about these verses for hours and hours.

My favourite description of Jesus has always been from Colossians 1 and 2, however this verse is now coming close in terms of my liking for it.

The whole of scripture sets out to tell us about Jesus and His finished work; the old testament giving us a picture telling us what He would do and the new testament is a wonderful description of what He has done.

But there are verses and passages of scripture that specifically, accurately and succinctly describe Jesus and His finished work.

Hebrews 1 v 2 and 3 is one such passage.

Jesus is the Lord of all and the Creator of all.

Jesus is an exact likeness of Father God; indeed He is God.

Jesus holds this world and all worlds together by His Word.

Jesus dealt with the sin of every man that has ever or will ever live.

Jesus’ work is now finished and He is seated at the right hand of the Father.

Jesus is simply quite awesome!

He is wonderful!

These verses describe Him clearly and simply; yet, at the same time they are quite profound.

I hope to explore these couple of verses over the next few DIGs.

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord for your scriptures about Jesus, thank you that He is wonderful and awesome”.

Hebrews 1 v 2 and 3…..Whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds. Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high

DIG for Sunday the 21st of July…..your works are of no use; His work is more than enough…..Genesis 3 v 21

When mankind fell they saw that they were naked and realised that they needed to be covered up.

They made their own coverings in the form of an apron of fig leaves (Genesis 3 v 7).

This was not good enough so God made them clothes from the skins of dead animals and His works then covered them.

This is a picture of our own self righteousness through works and the gift of His righteousness through faith.

Our own efforts can never be enough to cover or remove our sin nature that we were all born with.

We can do nothing of ourselves to become righteous in the eyes of God.

We can however become righteous, as a gift of grace, through our faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ.

Faith in Jesus and His finished work means we are made righteous (2 Corinthians 5 v 17 to 21).

Our self efforts towards righteousness are worthless, indeed they are like dung or filthy rags (Philippians 3 v 8 and Isaiah 64 v 6) to the Lord.

It is only faith in Jesus and His works or performance that means we can be made righteous.

God shed blood in order provide a covering for Adam and Eve; Jesus shed His own blood so that we could be reconciled, forgiven and made righteous.

It is His effort and work that God appreciates and looks to, not our own.

Do not be fooled into striving and working to try and be right before God; accept that you are already right in His eyes through your faith in the finished work of His Son.

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord that I am already righteous in your sight, because of my faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ”.

Genesis 3 v 21…..Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skin, and clothed them

DIG for Saturday the 20th of July…..He does not hide because of our errors and mistakes…..Genesis 3 v 8 and 9

Early on in the bible we see how much God loved mankind and how He always wanted relationship with them.

Even when Adam and Eve fell, and brought sin and death into the world, He came looking for them.

God had taken to coming into the garden to spend time with mankind; He had after all created man for relationship with Him.

When man fell, when they did the worst thing imaginable, God did not hide from them.

Man hid from God.

God still came into the garden and said “where art thou”.

Even in the worst of times God was looking for relationship with man.

The same is true today, and is actually even better today.

All our sin, errors and mistakes have been dealt with through the finished work of Jesus Christ.

Sin is no longer a barrier for God, we need to learn to stop it being a barrier for us.

When we sin, we can be filled with guilt and condemnation, and similar to Adam and Eve, we can hide from God.

God does not want us to hide, He wants relationship with us, even when we have sinned.

God in fact does not remember our sin anymore (Hebrews 10 v 17) because of the finished work of Jesus Christ.

Could your sin have been any worse than that of Adam and Eve? No!

If you are hiding from God because of your sin He is saying this to you tonight; “where art thou”.

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord that you want relationship with me and my performance can do nothing to alter that truth”.

Genesis 3 v 8 and 9…..And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?