Unity # 38: My Savior

Unity # 38: My Savior

Dear Father,

    You have made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become Your righteousness in Him. For He Himself bore our sins on His own body on the tree that we, having died to sin, might live for righteousness. By His stripes we are healed and born again. You have crushed Your own Son for my sake. He was abandoned and forsaken for all of my rebellion against You. You are God, Jesus, the God of the universe. No one can forgive my sin but You alone. And You have surely forgiven and pardoned all of my offenses that I may walk before You in the land of the living. You have qualified us to share in the inheritance of Your saints by Your blood.

In Jesus Christ’s Name,

Amen

Dear Beloved,

    This unity series will be finished at Unity # 40, so there are two more after this one. This letter is about Christ as my Savior, not just the Savior of all His people, but my personal Savior who has borne my very own guilt and shame and has resolved me completely of all sin. For if we walk in the light as He is in the light we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7).

     It is of utmost important that each of us who call ourselves as His children ponder upon the sacrifice for salvation that Christ has made for each one of us personally. Indeed the transformation of grace only comes with one’s own personal acknowledgement of the imputation of our sin onto Christ as He poured out His life on the cross and the imputation of His righteousness on His own people, yes, even on my own soul. It is specifically our hearts’ belief in the atonement of Christ for personal sin that results in the cleansing of our consciences from dead works to serve the living God (Heb 9:14), and the purification of ourselves for Him as people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds (Tit 2:14), that we may love because He first loved us (1 John 4:19), that we may be rescued from the dominion of darkness (Col 1:13), that we may no longer live for ourselves but for Him who died and rose for us (2 Cor 5:15), that we may live with Christ according to the Spirit (Rom 8:4), that we may consider ourselves to be dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus (Rom 8:11), that we may be controlled by His love (2 Cor 5:14), and that we may no longer be slaves to sin (Rom 8:6).

     When one has truly believed, by the gift of regeneration, resulting in true saving faith, in the sacrifice that Christ has made for him personally, there is great power over sin, great joy, and great love for God and men. You must believe that He died for you. You must believe that He poured out His life for you. You must believe that His blood was shed for you. You must believe that He was raised for you. He was delivered over because of my transgressions, and was raised because of my justification (Rom 4:25).

     All of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death. Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus (Rom 6:5-11).

     When Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (Heb 9:11-14)

     Christ gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds (Tit 2:14). Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set us free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Rom 8:1-4). For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins (Col 1:13-14).

     What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? (Rom 8:31-35) Thus, the love of Christ controls us, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. (2 Cor 5:14-15) We love, because He first loved us (1 John 4:19). May we look for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus (Tit 2:13). Jesus Christ is the faithful Witness, the Firstborn of the dead, and the Ruler of the kings of the earth. He loves us and released us from our sins by His blood! (Rev 1:5)

Love in Christ,

Preethi

From Wilbur Teale's Biography:

Earl 22 & lost was dying & at his bedside Earl's mother (who he never saw pray) was praying for God to save her son. Earl said, "mother, get out of my room. Go pray for yourself". Turning to [Wilbur's] father, he said, "You are the only one who knows how to pray for a dying man, uncle Will. Pray for me just as loudly as you can, I'm slipping into the flames". Father & the pastor prayed earnestly for Earl. However, the last words he ever spoke were: "It's too late. I'm slipping into the flames"! and our cousin was gone. Oh what a sad funeral ...a warning to our precious young people and prayerless parents. - Wilbur Teale