Tag: Sacrifice

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Daily Devotion August 8th

John 10:1-18

NIV (v11) – ‘I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.’

ESV (v11) – ‘I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.’

In today’s Scripture we come to the fourth of the ‘I am’ statements, ‘I am the good shepherd.’ It is only a few weeks ago that I highlighted the Scriptures that show us that Jesus is the ‘good, chief and great’ shepherd in our Sunday video.

Good as in our text for today.

Great in Hebrews 13:20

Chief in 1 Peter 5:4

Today we will consider the second part of the text ‘The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.’

This is what Jesus came to do, he was born to die, he was born to become the sacrifice for the sins of the world, he was born to be both the shepherd and the lamb. As a result of his sacrifice, through him becoming the Passover Lamb, we can become a part of his flock, in the safety of his fold and know him as our Shepherd.

Back in our earlier devotions from John’s gospel we recalled what John the Baptist proclaimed when he saw Jesus coming toward him, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’, (John 1:29) But before he could take the sin away he had to go to Calvary, which was God’s appointed place for the sacrificial lamb to be slain. In 1 John 4:10 we read ‘In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sin.’

Lets remind ourselves that God loved us and so he sent his Son to be our sacrificial Lamb so that as a result of our coming to believe in him, we will have life which is abundant (John 10:10) and eternal (John 10:27) and at the same time we will come to know the Lamb as the Lord our Shepherd.

This is all good news, but there is further good news in this same chapter that reminds us that the one who came to be the sacrificial Lamb so that we can come to know him as our Shepherd has power over death, verse 17-18 says, ‘For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it upon again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from  my Father.’

He went to the cross, knowing that he was going to suffer, he knew the awfulness beforehand of everything that was going to happen, the scourging, the beating, the taunting, the thorns, the nails, the taking upon himself our sin and the punishment he would bear on our behalf for it, but he was willing, first because he loved us, second because he wanted to redeem us, and we could give a number of other reasons but my third will be because he knew that in laying down his life he had the power to take it up again, and fourthly because he had the power to lay down his life and to take it up again, he would have the power to grant eternal life to all who would believe and fifthly, he knew he was going to have a sheep-fold full of sheep, taken from among the nations and tribes of the world, men and women who will be washed in the his blood, the blood of the Lamb who was slain. (Revelation 5) The Hebrew writer reminds us in Hebrews 12:2 ‘. . . who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross . . .’

Today as we contemplate what Christ has done for us, give thanks from a grateful heart, and should it happen to be that you are reading this and you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Shepherd, then come to know him, as your Saviour, as your Shepherd. Come to the one who gave his life to redeem you, to reconcile you back to God, come into the safety of his sheepfold.

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Daily Devotion July 15th

WEDNESDAY 15th

John 1:29, 35-36

NIV – ‘The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! . . .  The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, Look, the Lamb of God!’

ESV – ‘The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! . . . The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, Behold, the Lamb of God!’

I am not what you would call an avid sports fan, but I do like motor sport and snooker, and in regard to football I would say I am a Southampton and England supporter, in Rugby, England of course! One of the features of a snooker match is when at the beginning the MC gets to do the big introductions. ‘Ladies and gentlemen, we have xxx xxx from xxx the 5 times world champion etc. and then to the cheering of the crowd in comes the player he has just introduced.

In our verses today, we find that the Baptist, has the great opportunity of introducing the Lord Jesus Christ to the crowd! What a job to have! And yet, we all have this opportunity, of finding some way of introducing Jesus to people!

Up to this point in the chapter it is as if the two Johns have been describing the one who is the Word, the light that was coming into the world, and he himself has been standing behind the scenes, and suddenly he comes and John declares ‘Behold, or look, the Lamb of God’, and then announces what he is going to do, not become a world champion in some major sporting arena but the One who is going take away the sin of the world. This is a loaded statement for within it is the theme of being a champion, for in taking away the sin of the world, this Lamb presented to them in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ was going to triumph. He was going to take head on the devil, sin, death, the grave and he was going to come out as the Conqueror. The Lamb was going to prevail and become the Lion of Judah.

The announcement that the Baptist made, was the news that the world needed to hear, because it meant that the greatest need of mankind was going to be met, the need of salvation and reconciliation to God.

The subject of a lamb and sin was not new to those who heard the Baptist talking, they would have been used to the regular practise of finding an unblemished lamb to sacrifice based on the OT law, but the problem was that this would have to be done regularly because sin was not taken away but only covered. This Lamb, who John was introducing to them was going to offer himself as a permanent sacrifice which would not cover the sin temporarily like a sticking plaster but would take it completely away. That must be good news! It is news on a par with the news that the angel gave to the shepherds on the night that the Word had become flesh and began to dwell among us, ‘For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.’ The baby that they would find wrapped in swaddling clothes, was the Lamb who would be slain, and the Lion who would conquer.

The ‘Word’ in verse 1, is creator in verse 2, life and light in verse 4, becomes flesh (v14), full of grace and truth (v14) Jesus Christ (v17) and the Lamb of God in verse 29.

Behold the Lamb of God . . .! In the Old Testament the people would go out and select from the flock the lamb that was to be chosen and used for the sacrifice (see for an example Leviticus 1) it needed to be without blemish.

Not anymore, we cannot choose our own lamb to bring about redemption, God has already made the choice, the lamb to be used for the sacrifice was to be the lamb that God has given and that God had sent, that is the Lamb of God. This is important in our presentation of the gospel, when we come across those who are seeking to earn salvation, or who are seeking to reach salvation through effort, or foreign gods, there is only one way, the appointed way, which is through the shed blood of the Lamb of God. This is the way of the Cross, for that is the place where the sacrifice which was a once for all sacrifice took place and it was the sacrifice that takes away the sin of the world. By faith we must come to the cross, relying not on our own effort but upon what Christ has done for us, we come for cleansing we come for pardon, we come for salvation. 1 Peter 1:18-21 ’ . . . knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.’

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Daily Devotion June 9th

TUESDAY 9th

Genesis 3:1-21

Continuing from where we left off yesterday, the question could be asked, ‘how could Cain have acted differently, perhaps he didn’t know any different?’

I think it would be fair to say that both his parents, Adam and Eve would have shared with their children something of their history or story. We know what it was, how the fall came about and the banishment from the garden of Eden.

Adam and Eve had learned a hard lesson and any good parent would want to retell their story to save their children from making the same mistakes. I really do not think that in retelling what happened that they would have missed out telling the boys something of the wonder of God’s provision for them, remember after they had sinned, they attempted to cover themselves by taking fig leaves to make an apron, they attempted to deal with the sin problem by their own works, their own effort. (v7) Later we read in Genesis 3:21 ‘And the Lord God made for Adam and his wife garments of skins and clothed them.’ This provision would have spoken to them of the shedding of blood in the killing of the animal that provided the covering they needed after they had sinned. Here was God showing what needed to be done, and what would be acceptable before him and although we have a few words in our Scriptures describing this incident I am sure that Adam and Eve knew exactly what God was doing and in what it foreshadowed and would have told the boys all the details. The action of Abel later shows that he had understood something of this and yet Cain had refused the way of faith and obedience by preferring the way of a work-based religion. We learn later in Scripture that without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. (Leviticus 17:11, Hebrews 9:22)

Abel – I will do it God’s way, Cain – I will do it my way!

Although it is important to stress the importance of salvation by faith alone and in Christ alone it should also be stressed that although works cannot lead to salvation, works should be an evidence that we have come to salvation. This is the whole purpose of why James wrote his epistle. not to contradict Paul and the other apostles on what they taught, that salvation is by faith alone but to show that once saved, works should complement our faith. James 2:18 ‘But someone will say, ‘You have faith and I have works.’ Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.’

Hebrews 11:4 ‘By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks’

A final thought that really links back to Cain and his fruit. I think we can learn even more from this by taking from verse 4 the word ‘acceptable’, (ESV) and I believe that we should be ensuring that as we live out our life of faith we need to ensure that what we do, what we say, where we go, how we express ourselves is acceptable in the eyes of God. We personally do not need to come before God as Abel did with a blood sacrifice – Christ has offered himself on our behalf and he became the acceptable sacrifice, we in turn in our response need to live in an acceptable way.

Psalm 19:14 ‘Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.’

Proverbs 10:32 ‘The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable, but the mouth of the wicked, what is perverse.’

Paul sums it up for us in Romans 12:1-2 ‘I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.’

May we be approved and acceptable to the Lord our God as we seek to live by faith.

I’ll Walk with God from this day on

His helping hand I’ll lean upon

This is my prayer, my humble plea

May the Lord be ever with me

There is no death, tho’ eyes grow dim

There is no fear when I’m near to Him

I’ll lean on Him forever

And He’ll forsake me never

He will not fail me

As long as my faith is strong

Whatever road I may walk along

I’ll Walk with God, I’ll take His hand

I’ll talk with God, He’ll understand

I’ll pray to Him, each day to Him

And He’ll hear the words that I say

His hand will guide my throne and rod

And I’ll never walk alone

While I walk with God

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