Aug 17 2009
August 17, 2009
Reading for today: Judges 19:1-21 and 2 Thess. 2:1-2
“He took for himself a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah.” Judges 19:1b
A concubine was an accepted part of Israelite society, but was not God’s perfect will for marriage (Genesis 2:24). We need to let our King, Jesus, lead us into obedience of His word. When we rationalize circumstances to our benefit, we set standards far below God’s and sin against our Savior. When this happens, we may shock even ourselves at what we are capable of doing.
> “All of us have become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away like the wind!” Isaiah 64:6
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> Holy Father, Almighty God,
> We feel our weakness, our ignorance, our deep corruptions. We meekly knock at mercy’s gate. Regard us in tender love–for Jesus’ sake. Bend down Your ear–and grant Your smile.
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> We are blind–be our light.
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> We are ignorant–be our wisdom.
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> We are steeped in selfishness–pluck all SELF out of us.
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> In the deep sense of our guilt–we fly for refuge into the wounded side of Jesus! Be merciful, be merciful unto us–whose only hope is in Your unfailing mercy.
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> Our sins rise higher than the heavens–but Your merits in our behalf surpass the very heaven of heavens!
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> Our unrighteousness would weigh us down to hell–but Your glorious righteousness exalts us to Your heavenly throne!
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> All things in us call for our damnation–but all things in You demand our forgiveness.
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> We appeal, then, from Your throne of perfect justice–to Your throne of boundless grace!
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> Blessed Jesus, we hide ourselves in the sure covert of Your wrath-appeasing wounds!
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> Grant us to hear Your voice assuring us: that by Your stripes we are healed; that You have been bruised for our iniquities; that You have been made sin for us–that we might have Your divine righteousness; and that all our vile and grievous iniquities, are forgiven and buried in the ocean of Your sin-concealing blood!
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> We are guilty–yet pardoned!
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> We are lost in ourselves–yet fully saved in You!
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> Enable us to cling firmly to Your cross–even as we now seek safety and repose beneath its sin-atoning shelter!
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> Let floods of sustaining grace from Your inexhaustible treasury, enrich our poor and weary souls.
Sin
“There is no soundness in my flesh because of Your indignation; there is no health in my bones because of my sin.”
Psalm 38:3
“For my iniquities are gone over my head; as a heavy burden they weigh too much for me.”
Psalm 38:4
“Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.”
“Against You, You only, I have sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You are justified when You speak and blameless when You judge.”
Psalm 51:2-4
“‘Come now, and let us reason together,’ says the LORD, ‘Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool.’”
Isaiah 1:18
“Behold, the LORD’s hand is not so short that it cannot save; nor is His ear so dull that it cannot hear.”
Isaiah 59:1
“For this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.”
Matthew 26:28
“God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”
Romans 5:8-10
“Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, and He will divide the booty with the strong; because He poured out Himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet He Himself bore the sin of many, and interceded for the transgressors.”
Isaiah 53:12
“Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
Galatians 5:19-21
They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,’ declares the LORD, ‘for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.’”
Jeremiah 31:34
“Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.”
Galatians 6:7-9
“If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.”
1 John 1:8-10
“My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.”
1 John 2:1-2
“The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!’”
John 1:29
“Jesus answered them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.’”
John 8:34
“Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account.”
Romans 4:8
“Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts.”
Romans 6:12
“He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
2 Corinthians 5:21
“Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger.”
Ephesians 4:26
“Do not lay hands upon anyone too hastily and thereby share responsibility for the sins of others; keep yourself free from sin.”
1 Timothy 5:22
“All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not leading to death.”
1 John 5:17
“Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”
Hebrews 12:1
“If we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.”
1 John 1:7
“By sinning against the brethren and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.”
1 Corinthians 8:12
“Encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called ‘Today,’ so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”
Hebrews 3:13
No man ever loved like Jesus. He taught the blind to see and the dumb
to speak. He died on the cross to save us. He bore our sins. And now
God says, ”Because He did, I can forgive you.”
Billy Graham