"His excellency is over Israel, and His strength is in the clouds. O God, Thou art terrible out of Thy holy places: the God of Israel is He that giveth strength and power unto His people. Blessed be God." (Psalm 68:34-35) ------------------------------------------------------------------- SAFE IN CHRIST MY LORD Tune: "MY FAITH HAS FOUND" CM/DOUBLE Words by JIM BYRD
1. Where shall my sinful, wretched soul, A beauty ever find? The Lord commands that I must have, One of a perfect kind. Works could not take away my sin, No tear could wash my shame; No earthly pow’r could cleanse my guilt, Or take away my blame.
2. The righteousness of Christ alone, Must clothe my guilty soul; His blood which washes sin away, Must cleanse and make me whole. So to the Savior I will flee, No merit will I bring; I trust His blood and righteousness, And of His glories sing.
3. Robed in the Savior’s purity, His blood, my only plea; Clothed in His perfect righteousness, I am as pure as He! Dressed in His holy comeliness, From sin and guilt set free; My soul is safe, secure in Him, Now and eternally.
WITHOUT BLEMISH The apostle Peter proclaimed that the people of God were redeemed with "the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot" (1Peter 1:19). Forty-three times in the Old Testament we read that every sacrifice offered to the Lord had to be "without blemish," or, as the Lord commanded in Leviticus 22:21, "it shall be perfect to be accepted." Any imperfection, even the slightest blemish, rendered an animal unfit to be an offering to God because every sacrifice prefigured and pointed to the perfect Lamb of God and was designed for the honor of that One who is infinitely holy.
When our Savior laid down His life in the stead of His people, He died "the Just for the unjust to bring us to God" (1 Peter 3:18). Even when He was suffering the wrath of God and rendering full payment for the debt of our sins, He remained "the Just One," (Acts 7:52), the innocent and perfect Sacrifice,"without blemish and without spot." Hebrews 9:14 tells us that Christ "offered Himself without spot unto God." "Christ...hath given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour" (Ephesians 5:2). "Sweetsmelling"means an offering of delightful fragrance to God (read Genesis 8:20-21). The Father was well pleased with the justice-satisfying sacrifice of His Son. If our Substitute had been contaminated by guilt and sin, His sacrifice would have been anything but "a sweetsmelling savour" unto the Lord.
Fix your mind and heart upon the Lamb of God and His glorious work of redemption. The sins of God’s elect were charged to the spotless Savior Whose deity and sinless Humanity qualified Him to die as our Substitute. "He is the propitiation for our sins" (1 John 2:2). Christ’s sacrificial death met the demands of divine justice and put our sins away. Our Redeemer was that suitable and successful sacrifice for sin which God would not have accepted or been satisfied with had Christ not been "without blemish and without spot." O what a delightful truth for the children of the Lord to dwell upon. Herein lies our hope and confidence. God accepted the one perfect Sacrifice for sins and all those in whose stead He died and arose are, and always have been, "accepted in the Beloved" (Ephesians 1:6). –Pastor Jim Byrd
"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me." (John 14:6)
THE THRONE OF GRACE "Let us come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need" (Hebrews 4:16). Children of God, behold "the throne of grace." Was a resting place ever so sacred and so sweet? Could God Himself invest it with richer or greater attraction? At this throne are dispensed all the blessings of sovereign grace – grace to guide, support, comfort and help in time of need. There sits the God of grace, proclaiming Himself "the LORD God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth; keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and sin" (Exodus 34:6-7). There stands Jesus the High Priest and Mediator, "full of grace and truth," waving His golden censer from which pours forth the fragrant incense of His atoning merits which encircles the name, the needs and the prayer of the lowly worshiper as it ascends. And there, too, the Spirit of grace is breathing in the soul, discovering the needs, forming the petition, and making full intercession for the saints according to the will of God. Behold, then, "the throne of grace" and draw near - you are welcome. –Octavius Winslow (edited)
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