We Do Not Repay Debts to Jesus -- For Jesus Paid Every Debt

I was sharing about the wonderful Gospel of our Lord Jesus.

We receive all things from God the Father through His Son Jesus!

Then the man I was talking to told me: "Every day, I wake up with a sense of debt. I owe God so much for everything that He has given me."

I uickly responded: "We cannot repay any debt to God. We never had anything to begin with, and everything we receive now is a gift from Him!"

Nothing we have is based on works we have done, but the Work which Jesus did!

"1What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? 2For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. 3For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. 4Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. 5But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. 6Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works. "(Romans 4:1-6)

David explained how fruitless it is for anyone of us to claim that we are giving God anything:

"But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee." (1 Chronicles 29:14)

and also in the Psalms, God speaks to us:

"I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings, to have been continually before me.

9I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he goats out of thy folds.

10For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.

11I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine." (Psalm 50: 8-11)

Everything belongs to Him!

Let us not think that we did not owe God something.

We all had the debt of sin, through Adam.

But Jesus not only paid for our sin debt, he overpaid, and continues to cleanse us from all sins because of His blood!

"[Jesus is] 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;" (Hebrews 1:3)

and

"And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; 14Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; 15And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it." (Colossians 2:13-15)

Instead of thinking of our life as a response of debt to God's goodness, let us keep receiving His twin gifts of righteousness and grace (Romans 5:17), that we may reign in His lie, and bring glory to Him. just as His Son brought glory to God the Father in dying for us, rising for us, and living as our perfect standard at God's right hand!

We Don't Give Our Lives to Christ. He Gives us Life--HIS!

I hear this phrase a lot in churches:

"I just shared the Gospel with this man. He gave his life to Christ."

At the end of services, the pastor will often say to the audience:

"If anyone of you does not know Jesus, I am inviting you to come down today and give your life to Christ."

These statements are well-intentioned.

But the truth is--we do not give our lives to Christ.

We do not have a life to give.

We need life!

"And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;" (Ephesians 2:1)

I get such a tingle, such a sense of joy every time I realize that He is my life, and Jesus, the Way the Truth and the Life--is committed to caring for me every step of the way.

We need to wake up every day with a sense of true joy and peace in our lives.

Why would we not? Jesus is our life! He is infusing our day with Himself!

"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. 21I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." (Galatians 2:20-21)

"Yet I live .. yet not I."

What is growing in grace all about? It's about letting His life flow through us!

"12Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. 13For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." (Philippians 2:12-13)

Fear and trembling does not mean that we should live every day with a sense of dread and foreboding, but rather excitement and great joy!

Why would we not? For He is working within us!

I can't express my joy about this enough. We are not called to give our lives to Christ.

We don't have any, because of sin.

We receive His Life, because we believe on His sacrifice!

It's More Than Knowing Him--You Need to Know that He Knows You!

In many church circles, we are taught that we need to strive and struggle to know the Lord.

Yet under the  New Covenant, He causes us know to know Him!

"10For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:

"11And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.

"12For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more" (Hebrews 8: 10-12)

"They shall all know me."

We do not have to strive to know Him. 

We really need to start understanding how much He knows us!

"O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me.

2Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.

3Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.

4For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether.

5Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.

6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it." (Psalm 139: 1-6)

Indeed, it is too wonderful!

And yet, we need to take in, to meditate on how much our loving Father loves us and cares for us!

Notice what Paul prayed for the Ephesians, who already had a large vision of God's love for them!

"And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God." (Ephesians 3: 19)

Notice also how Paul deliberately corrects himself when addressing the Galatians, who had started going back under law:

"But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? 10Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. 11I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain." (Galatians 4: 9-11)

We need to stop seeing our growing knowledge of God's love for us from the perspective of works, of striving, of a searching effort.

God has been in the goodness, blessing, and loving business of caring for us since the very beginning. Even before God created the heavens and the earth, He prepared His Son to be our redeeming sacrifice!

"18Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 19But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: 20Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, 21Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God." (1 Peter 1: 18-21)

Who can forget the blessed affirmation of love and protection which God gave to the prophet Jeremiah--and remember, this was under the Old Covenant of bulls and goats:

"Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations." (Jeremiah 1:5)

Can you and I even begin to comprehend how great He is? Before Jeremiah was formed in his mother's womb, the LORD knew him!

How much more, then, do you think He knows and cares for us, having given His Son to die for us, to live for us, and to be one with us?!

Why Jesus Asked the Healed Man to Stay in the Gadarenes

Jesus had just rescued His disciples from a fearsome storm.

Yet they still feared Him, wondering "What manner of man is this! for he commandeth even the winds and water, and they obey him!" (Luke 8: 25)

They saw Jesus as a man, not a Savior.

They did not see Him as someone who keep them safe, either.

Then Jesus healed a demon-possessed man:

"34When they that fed them saw what was done, they fled, and went and told it in the city and in the country. 35Then they went out to see what was done; and came to Jesus, and found the man, out of whom the devils were departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid." Luke 8:34-35)

Now, the disciples started to see Jesus as having great power, and power to do good for us!

They trusted him, but those who did not see what good things Jesus was doing, would still be afraid.

Notice that the people of the Gadarenes were very fearful of Jesus.

This man beat out the demons inside of that possessed man. Who knows what else he would do?

They had no knowledge, no relationship with Jesus, to see that His heart is nothing but love and grace for us.

They then asked him to depart from their city!

Can you imagine that?!

Then the healed man asked to go with Jesus. What did He tell him to do?

"Return to thine own house, and shew how great things God hath done unto thee. And he went his way, and published throughout the whole city how great things Jesus had done unto him." (Luke 8:39)

The inhabitants of the Gadarenes needed to hear the good news from the person who has healed. They needed to see the heart of Jesus, that He cares for us, that He is interesting in saving us, and to continue saving us!

Most of us still believe that Jesus will heal a part of broken condition, but He will not take care of every part. He will not condemn us ever!

"For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. (Isaiah 54:9)

and

"No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD." (Isaiah 54:17)

and also

"There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus," (Romans 8:1)

Jesus asked the healed man, who had been possessed with devils, to stay and share what Jesus had done for him. so that everyone could see that Jesus not only had power, but that His power was to heal, forgive, and save!

What Healed the Woman with the Blood Flow: Assurance of Whole Salvation

"43And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any, 44Came behind him, and touched the border of his garment: and immediately her issue of blood stanched. 45And Jesus said, Who touched me? When all denied, Peter and they that were with him said, Master, the multitude throng thee and press thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me? 46And Jesus said, Somebody hath touched me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me. 47And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, and falling down before him, she declared unto him before all the people for what cause she had touched him, and how she was healed immediately. 48And he said unto her, Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace." (Luke 8: 43-48)

In two scenes before this magnificent healing, we read about Jesus who stopped a terrifying storm, then cast a demon out of a possessed man.

The reaction from all those who were delivered, including Jesus' disciples and the residents of the Gadarenes?

Fear!

Even though Jesus had this incredible power to stop destructive nature and cast out destroying demons, they did not trust Him to do good for them.

They feared Him!

"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love." (1 John 4:18)

None of us are perfected in His love until we receive the full sacrifice of what Jesus did for us--and still does for us.

Most importantly, we have to know that there is no judgement for us.

And that was a big problem facing this woman.

She had a blood flow for twelve years!

Such a state made her unclean!

"And if a woman have an issue, and her issue in her flesh be blood, she shall be put apart seven days: and whosoever toucheth her shall be unclean until the even." (Leviticus 15:19)

But the extent of the uncleanness spreads further than the person that she touched:

"'Everything also on which she lies during her menstrual impurity shall be unclean, and everything on which she sits shall be unclean." (Leviticus 15:20)

This woman was taking on an incredible risk!

Still, she not only believed that Jesus could heal her, but she needed to believe that she would not make others unclean!

And that assurance was exactly what Jesus gave her!

"48And he said unto her, Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace." (Luke 8:48)

Jesus did not just heal the flow of blood. She was pronounced "whole",  or that her faith had "sozo"ed her.

What does that mean? That Greek word "sozo" means  more than physical healing:

4982 sṓzō (from sōs, "safe, rescued") – properly, deliver out of danger and into safety; used principally of God rescuing believers from the penalty and power of sin – and into His provisions (safety).

Jesus assured this woman of complete salvation, not just from her disease, but also protection from an angry crowd, perhaps insensed that an "unclean woman" had pressed into the throng and potentially made everyone else unclean.

Most importantly, she was delivered from sin and condemnation! Notice that Jesus is our Savior, taking away our sin, not just atoning for it.

Jesus granted the woman with the blood flow full assurance that in receiving her healing, she would receive no condemnation for violating the strictures laid out in the Mosaic Law.

For he would fulfill the law (Matthew 5:17) and bring us into the New Covenant! (Hebrews 8:6-13)

What Healed the Woman with Blood Flow: The Spirit of Adoption

"43And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any, 44Came behind him, and touched the border of his garment: and immediately her issue of blood stanched. 45And Jesus said, Who touched me? When all denied, Peter and they that were with him said, Master, the multitude throng thee and press thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me? 46And Jesus said, Somebody hath touched me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me. 47And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, and falling down before him, she declared unto him before all the people for what cause she had touched him, and how she was healed immediately. 48And he said unto her, Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace." (Luke 8: 43-48)

This account should be read and reread as much as possible.

We see the heart of our Loving Father in heaven.

How much he cares for us.

How much he wants us to be well, healthy and able.

He revealed His heart through the Apostle John at the end of the Beloved Disciple's life:

"Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth." (3 John 2)

Evidently, the woman with a non-stop flow of blood was not prospering.

What was going on?

She had gone to doctors of all kinds, had spent all she had, and was still sick, still unclean.

Then she heard about Jesus, and she knew that just touching the hem of his garment would heal her.

Jesus knew that virtue--literally power--had gone out of her.

She was healed but not made whole, since she was still trembling.

Then Jesus called her "Daughter".

When Jesus died on the Cross, He did not just die for us, He did not just die as us, but He brought us into Himself and granted us a new identity in Himself!!

"For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." (2 Corinthians 5:21)

And also

"For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." (Romans 8:15)

and also

"And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." (Galatians 4:6)

Because He is our Daddy, and we are His children, we can know that He is caring for us and wants us well. We should not have to wonder if He will care for us, or have to strive for His love and attention.

Jesus Remembers Us and Blesses Us

On September 11, 2001 the United States endured four Islamic terrorist attacks on native soil.

Two planes crashed into the World Trade Center.

Another plane crashed into the Pentagon.

A fourth plane was grounded in the fields of Shankville, PA, destined for the White House.

Let us never forget that the price for liberty requires eternal vigilance.

Yet let us also never forget that our Heavenly Father is watching over us.

For those who believe on Jesus, who trust in Him, they can rest assured that they are protected.

God our Father is in the Remembering business.

He remembers us in our times of great hurt:

"And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob." (Exodus 2:24)

He remembers us!

"Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown." (Jeremiah 2:2)

We just need to stop thinking that we can fight,win, and protect ourselves.

We have no life apart from Him!

"The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." (John 10:10)

and

"When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." (Colossians 3:4)

"The LORD hath been mindful of us: he will bless us; he will bless the house of Israel; he will bless the house of Aaron." (Psalm 115:12)

And remember, in Hebrew, there is no future tense. God is actively blessing us!

He remembers you, Beloved, and He blesses us!