Tag: jesus paid it all

"Thy power … can change the leper's spots …"

“Lord, now indeed I find, Thy pow’r, and Thine alone, Can change the leper’s spots And melt the heart of stone. Jesus paid it all, All to Him I owe; Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.” Elvina Hall, 1800’s hymn.
“Lord, …” means, master, or, captain of my ship. “Lord, now …,” means, this moment, the one I take orders from, or the one I choose to obey.
“Lord, now indeed I find, …” brings me to a place where I’m searching for what You have to say, NOW.
“I hear the Savior say, ‘Thy strength indeed is small; child of weakness watch and pray, find in Me, thine all in all.”
“ Even before he, (God), made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.  God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, …
and it gave him great pleasure.” (1) The Bible is said to be true. Ask God to show you if these words are trustworthy. Ask God, Himself. He will answer you. 
“But, I’m full of fault, Lord! Now what do I do? I fail, everyday. I am far from being holy. Sin has left a crimson stain, tell me again, the Gospel Story.”
“Long ago, even before he made the world, God chose us to be his very own, …”(2) – don’t you remember, “His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into His … family.” (3) His desire is to bring us back home.
The Father sent His only Son, Jesus Christ to die for us. He paid the debt we couldn’t pay, He laid down His life in sacrifice. So “we stand before him covered in his love.” (4) We are perfect, we are washed, we have hope of heaven. We have peace in this life.
“For nothing good have I Whereby Thy grace to claim; I’ll wash my garments white in the blood of Calv’ry’s Lamb. Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe; Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.”
“He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son, …” (5), this is the Good News found in Ephesians 1.
 “He forgave our sins.  He has showered his kindness on us, … along with all wisdom and understanding …” God now reveals to us, all that regards Christ – all that’s mysterious!
God reveals, He will fulfill His own good plan. “And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ – everything in heaven and on earth.” (6) He was, He is, He is coming again.
The Gospel Story is that He saves you. He saves me. We can’t save ourselves – we all desperately need help.  But we are surrounded by voices, we are deceived by lies. But God reminds and instructs each one of us: Look up. “I will guide you with My eyes.”(7)
” … when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised, …”(8) He has purchased us with His blood on the cross, this is how Jesus proves that He – loves – us.
“Lord, now indeed I find Thy pow’r, and Thine alone, Can change the leper’s spots, and melt the heart of stone. Jesus paid it all. All to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.”
We’ve been bought with a price. He knows our weakness. He knows our strife.  Yes, in receiving Christ, we become His Bride. “I am my lover’s, and my lover is mine. He browses among the lilies. (8) He is the rose of Sharon, the lily of the valleys” (9) I am my Beloved’s and He is mine. 
For now, for tomorrow, for all of time.
“And when before the throne, I stand in Him complete, I’ll lay my trophies down, All down at Jesus’ feet. Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe; Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.”
He washed it white as snow. My past – I let it go. In the present, I choose to go:
“And now complete in Him, My robe, His righteousness, Close sheltered ‘neath His side,  – I am  – divinely – blest. Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe; Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.”

  1. Ephesians 1:4, New Living Translation
  2. Ephesians 1:4, Living Translation
  3. Ephesians 1:4, Living Translation
  4. Ephesians 1:4, Living Translation.
  5. Ephesians 1:5, Living Translation.
  6. Ephesians 1:7, New Living Translation.
  7. Ephesians 1:10, New Living Translation.
  8. Psalm 32:8, New Living Translation.
  9. Song of Solomon 6:31.

 

Jesus died for sinners.

Jesus died for the guilty. This is a fact.

I’m guilty, is another fact.

Every living human being on this planet is guilty. Go ahead and blame Adam and Eve, but we would have done the same thing if we were them.

We’re naturally rebellious. We all struggle with temptation and curiosity. Doesn’t the wisdom of the world always sound like it makes more sense than God’s Word?

Science and scholars convince themselves (and everyone else) that the Bible is only mythology and fables.

But, what we believe doesn’t change who God is, His story, or His Word.

The Bible tells us that Jesus died for liars.

He died for haters.

He died for adulterers and murderers.

Jesus faced nails hammered into His hands, the agony, ridicule, and shame of the cross for the hopeless.

I wonder if our denying Him hurts more than all His scars put together? The spit, the tearing out of His beard. The harsh words, the cruel behavior, the flogging, the whipping.

He didn’t say, “Forget it Father, these people aren’t worth dying for.”

Instead, when it was all said and done, moments before dying, Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing . . . ” Luke 23:34.

Who can do this?

Jesus.

The human race is born spiritually blind and mute. Faith is the eye opener.

Do you know Jesus? Let an old hymn unlock Faith’s door:

I hear the Savior say,
Thy strength indeed is small,
child of weakness
Watch and Pray-
find in Me – thine all in all.

Jesus paid it all,
all to Him I owe.
Sin had left a crimson stain
He washed it white as snow!

He washed our stain of sin, white as snow. That’s why we make a big deal about Jesus. His power changes us when we ask forgiveness and believe in His name.

Lord, now indeed I find
Thy pow’r and Thine alone,
Can change the leper’s spots
And melt the heart of stone.

A heart of stone made soft? Change from the inside out?

That’s what Jesus does. And He humbles us of pride:

For nothing good have I
Where-by Thy grace to claim;
I’ll wash my garments white
In the blood of Calv’ry’s Lamb.

Nothing good on my part, save believing on all He has done.

Jesus paid it all. He suffers long and waits. And when we receive Him, life everlasting is ours for the taking:

And when, before the throne,
I stand in Him complete,
“Jesus died my soul to save,”
My lips shall still repeat. 

“Sin had left a crimson stain,

He washed it white as snow.”