You keep track of all my sorrows.
You have collected all my tears in your bottle.
You have recorded each one in your book.
Psalm 56:8 (NLT)
The Betrothed
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.
Romans 8:1,2
“I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.”
John 5:24
…Thus, then, is it evident that both sin and the law are utterly powerless to condemn a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.
…No legal obedience – no personal merit or worthiness of the sinner whatever – is taken into the account of his discharge from condemnation.
…God will pardon sin, and justify the sinner, but it must be by a process supremely glorifying to himself.
…the case, strange and difficult though it is, is met, fully, adequately met, by the satisfaction of Jesus. The Son of God became the Son of Man. He presents himself to the Father in the character of the church’s substitute.
… It is the simple belief of this fact that brings instant peace to the bosom. A present discharge from condemnation must produce a present joy.
“Christ has made atonement, and with it God is satisfied; and if so, well may you be satisfied – delighting yourselves greatly in the abundance of peace, and going forth even now in the light and liberty of your present enlargement.”…
As all the nations of the world were federally and mystically in Adam when he fell: so the “holy nation,” the Church of God, was federally and mystically in the Second Adam, ” the Lord of heaven,”…
In Christ they were chosen – to Christ they were betrothed – with Christ they were united –
by Christ they are saved , – and, sitting with Christ on his throne, they shall reign with him for ever and ever.
From No Condemnation In Christ by Octavius Winslow (1808-1878) pp 6 -9 First Published 1853 First Banner of Truth Edition 1991
The Christ
While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them,
“Peace be with you.”
They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds?
Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”
When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet.
And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it in their presence.
He said to them,”This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets and the Psalms.”
Then he opened their minds so they could understand the scriptures. He told them,”This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.”
Luke 24: 36-48
Two Sons
“What do you think? There was a man who had two sons.
He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’ ” ‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.
” Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go.
“Which of the two did what his father wanted?” “The first,” they answered.
Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did.
And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.
Matthew 21: 28-32
Palm Sunday
As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, ” Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, tell him that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.”
This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:
“Say to the Daughter of Zion, ‘See, your king comes to you, gentle
and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’ ” The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. Matthew 21:1-6
The next day the great crowd that had come for the Feast heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. John 12:12
They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Blessed is the king of Israel!” John 12:13
Listen Carefully
He said, “If you listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes,
if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees,
I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord who heals you.”
Exodus 15:26
“We, too, pass through the Red Sea,
through the desert,
across the Jordan into the promised land.
With Israel we fall into doubt and unbelief and through punishment and repentance experience again God’s help and faithfulness.
All this is not mere reverie but holy, godly reality.
We are torn out of our own existence and set down in the midst of the holy history of our God on earth. There God dealt with us, and there He still deals with us, our needs and our sins, in judgment and grace.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), Life Together, p 53 Harper & Row 1954
Now Make Confession
“And the leaders and officials have led the way in this unfaithfulness.” Ezra 9:2b
When I heard this, I tore my tunic and cloak, pulled hair from my head and beard and sat down appalled.
Ezra 9:3
Then,…I rose from my self-abasement, with my tunic and cloak torn, and fell on my knees with my hands spread out to the Lord my God and prayed:
“O my God, I am too ashamed and disgraced to lift up my face to you, my God, because our sins are higher than our heads and our guilt has reached to the heavens.”
Ezra 9: 5,6
“But now, for a brief moment, the Lord our God has been gracious in leaving us a remnant and giving us a firm place in his sanctuary, and so our God gives light to our eyes and a little relief in our bondage.”
Ezra 9:8
“But now, O our God, what can we say after this? For we have disregarded the commands you gave…”
Ezra 9:10,11
“What has happened to us is a result of our evil deeds and our great guilt, and yet, our God, you have punished us less than our sins have deserved and have given us a remnant like this. “
Ezra 9:13
“Now make confession to the Lord, the God of your fathers, and do his will.’
Ezra 10:11a
They Do Not Even Know How To Blush
“My people have committed two sins:
They have forsaken me, the spring of living water,
and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that
cannot hold water.
Jeremiah 2:13
Have you not brought this on yourselves by forsaking
the Lord your God when he led you in the way?
Jeremiah 2:17
Your wickedness will punish you; your backsliding will
rebuke you. Consider then and realize how evil and bitter
it is for you when you forsake the Lord your God and have
no awe of me,” declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty.
Jeremiah 2:19
They say to wood, ‘You are my father,’ and to stone, ‘You
gave me birth.’ They have turned their backs to me and not
their faces; yet when they are in trouble, they say, ‘Come
and save us !’
Jeremiah 2:27
Where then are the gods you made for yourselves?
Jeremiah 2:28a
Let them come if they can save you when you are in trouble!
Jeremiah 2:28b
… ” ‘Return… ‘I will frown on you no longer, for I am merciful,’ declares the Lord, ‘I will not be angry forever.
Jeremiah 3:12
Only acknowledge your guilt- you have rebelled against the Lord your God, you have scattered your favors to foreign gods under every spreading tree, and have not obeyed me,’ ” declares the Lord.
Jeremiah 3:13
Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will lead you with knowledge and understanding.
Jeremiah 3: 15
O Lord, do not your eyes look for truth?
“You struck them, but they felt no pain; you crushed them, but they refused correction. They made their faces harder than stone and refused to repent.”
Jeremiah 5:3
“So I will go to the leaders and speak to them; surely they know the way of the Lord, the requirements of their God.”
But with one accord they too had broken off the yolk and torn off the bonds.
Jeremiah 5:5
“Should I not punish them for this?” declares the Lord. Should I not avenge myself on such a nation as this?
Jeremiah 5:9
” From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit. They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. ‘Peace, peace,’ they say, when there is no peace.
Jeremiah 6:13,14
Are they ashamed of their loathsome conduct? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even no how to blush.
So they will fall among the fallen; they will be brought down when I punish them,” says the Lord.
Jeremiah 6:15
Hear, O earth: I am bringing disaster on this people, the fruit of their schemes, because they have not listened to my words and have rejected my law.
Jeremiah 6: 19
“Say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says: ” ‘When men fall down, do they not get up? When a man turns away, does he not return?
Jeremiah 8:4
Why then have these people turned away?
Jeremiah 5:5a
I have listened attentively, but they do not say what is right.
No one repents of his wickedness, saying, “What have I done?”
Each pursues his own course like a horse charging into battle.
Jeremiah 8:6
Even the stork in the sky knows her appointed seasons,
and the dove, the swift and the thrush observe the time of their migration.
But my people do not know the requirements of the Lord.
Jeremiah 8:7
” ‘How can you say, “We are wise, for we have the law of the Lord,”
when actually the lying pen of the scribes has handled it falsely?
Jeremiah 8:8
The wise will be put to shame; they will be dismayed and trapped. Since they have rejected the word of the Lord, what kind of wisdom do they have?
Jeremiah 8:9
No one is like you, O Lord; you are great, and your name is mighty in power.
Jeremiah 10:6
Who should not revere you, O King of the nations? This is your due. Among all the wise men of the nations and in all their kingdoms, there is no one like you.
Jeremiah 10:7
They are all senseless and foolish; they are taught by worthless wooden idols.
Jeremiah 10:8
But the Lord is the true God; he is the living God, the eternal King.
When he is angry, the earth trembles; the nations cannot endure his wrath.
Jeremiah 10:10