THE LORD GOD PROTECTS HIS PEOPLE

Proclamation:

“And when your children ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’ then tell them, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to The Lord, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when He struck down the Egyptians.’”  Exodus 12:26-27 (NIV)

Explanation:

These are the words of God which were written by Moses under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God.  The Lord God told Moses what to say to Pharaoh in order for him to let the people of Israel go free to worship Him. (Exodus 7:1-2)  He also told Moses that He would harden Pharaoh’s heart and he would not let the people go. (Exodus 7:3-5)  The Lord God brought ten separate plagues on the land of Egypt and after each plague Pharaoh’s heart was hardened.  There was the plague of blood, (Exodus 7:14-24) frogs, (Exodus 8:1-15) gnats, (Exodus 8:16-19) flies, (Exodus 8:20-32) death of livestock, (Exodus 9:1-7) boils, (Exodus 9:8-12) hail, (Exodus 9:13-35) locusts, (Exodus 10:1-20) darkness, (Exodus 10:21-29) and the death of the first born. (Exodus 11:1-12:30)  Only after the tenth and final plague, the death of the first born, did Pharaoh let the people of Israel go. (Exodus 12:31-32)  The Lord God protected His own people and the Israelites were not affected by the plagues. (Exodus 8:22, 9:4, 9:26, 10:23 and 12:12-13)  On the night when all of the first born of Egypt died, The Lord God passed over the homes of the Israelites.  Even unto this day they still celebrate “The Passover” and explain it to their children. (Exodus 12:25-27)

Application:

The Lord God protects His own people and that includes all believers.  He said that He would never leave us nor forsake us. (Hebrews 13:5)  There may be danger all around us but The Lord God protects believers from dangers seen, and unseen.  That upsetting delay that occurred may have kept us from being involved in an accident.  Sometimes we are involved in accidents but walk away unharmed.  We are blessed in more ways than we can count, and by things that we take for granted.  We may not be in an ideal situation but things could be a lot worse.  We need to acknowledge God’s presence in our lives (Proverbs 3:6) and thank Him for blessing us and keeping us.  Death has passed us by a number of times and we should be grateful for the protective covering of the blood of Christ over our lives. (Exodus 12:23)

BELIEVERS ARE FORGIVEN OF EVERY SIN THROUGH JESUS THE CHRIST

Proclamation:

“Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you.  Through Him everyone who believes is set free from every sin, a justification you were not able to obtain under the Law of Moses.”  Acts 13:38-39 (NIV)

Explanation:

These words were written by Luke, the physician, under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God.  Luke records that The Holy Spirit directed Barnabas and Saul, who is also called Paul, to leave Antioch and go to Pisidian Antioch by way of Cyprus. (Acts 13:1-13)  There on the Sabbath they went to the synagogue and sat.  After the reading of the law the leaders of the synagogue asked them to speak. (Acts 13:14-15)  Paul stood up and preached the gospel, and he ended with the above two versus. (Acts 13:16-39)  Afterwards, he was asked to speak again the next Sabbath and Jews got jealous when almost everyone in the city gathered to hear him. (Acts 13:42-47)

Application:

Those of us who believe in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, The Christ, are forgiven of all of our sins.  We are no longer under the Law of Moses, we are under the God’s grace.  This applies not only the Jewish believers, but to the Gentile believers also. (Acts 13:46-48)  The Law of Moses cannot save anyone, only those of us who are covered by the blood of Jesus can be saved and have our sins forgiven. (1 John 1:7)

WE ARE BLESSED TO HAVE OUR SINS FORGIVEN

Proclamation:

“Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sin is covered.  Blessed is the one whose sin The Lord does not count against them and in whose spirit is not deceit.”  Psalm 32:1-2 (NIV)

Explanation:

This psalm is a song which was written by King David under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God.  In this psalm David acknowledges and confesses his sin, probably his sin with Bathsheba, and asks for forgiveness and deliverance. (Psalm 32:5)  Then he encouraged the people of God to also confess their sins. (Psalm 32:6)  David knew that the weight of his unconfessed sin was heavy upon him and had caused him to suffer. (Psalm 32:3-4)  He knew that the people whose sins are forgiven are blessed.

Application:

The only way to be truly happy is to be blessed by The Lord.  The best blessing that we can receive is having our sins forgiven and not counted against us by The Lord God.  When we pray and ask to be forgiven for a particular sin, we should also ask The Lord to cleanse us of all of our sins, known and unknown, as well as the sins of omission. (1 John 1:9)  We have probably committed sins which we were unaware of because all unrighteousness is sin. (1 John 5:17)  If whatever we did, said, or thought, did not give God glory, it was probably a sin.  We want all of our sins to be covered and washed away by the blood of Jesus, The Christ.

THE BLOOD OF CHRIST STILL WORKS

Proclamation:

"In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.  It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.  For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; He entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God's presence.  Nor did He enter heaven to offer Himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own.  Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world.  But now He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself.  Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him."  Hebrews 9:22-28 (NIV)

Explanation:

The unknown human author of The Bible Book of Hebrews wrote these words under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God.  Without the shedding of blood there can be no forgiveness of sin. (Hebrews 9:22)  The author wanted the people of God to know that The Old Testament ritual of annual animal sacrifices by the High Priest for the atonement of human sin was no longer necessary. (Leviticus 14:19)  The blood shed by Jesus, The Christ, on that cross at Calvary as He sacrificed Himself, as The Lamb of God once and for all, was all that was needed to take away the sins of the world. (John 1:29)

Application:

The blood that Christ shed, as He sacrificed Himself in our place, cleansed us from all of our sins.  God, The Father, sees us only through the blood of Jesus.  His blood covers all of our sins.  Our salvation is only possible because Christ paid the price for us with His blood. (Ephesians 1:7)  Jesus, who was without sin, shed His blood for us and for the remission of our sins.  He did for us something that we could not do for ourselves and we should be eternally grateful.

WE ARE BLESSED CHOSEN PREDESTINED AND SPECIAL

Proclamation:

"Praise be to The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.  For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight.  In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will; to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in The One He loves.  In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.  And He made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment ..." Ephesians 1:3-10 (NIV)

Explanation:

Under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God, the Apostle Paul wrote these words in a letter to the believers in Ephesus.  Although he had never met them, he had heard of the demonstrations of their faith.  Paul wrote them to tell them that they were saints of God and very special.  They were blessed, chosen, and predestined by God, according to His will, to receive His glorious grace through Jesus, The Christ.

Application:
As believers in Christ we are also special.  We are blessed in more ways than we can count.  Before the beginning of time, we were chosen by God to be holy and blameless in His sight through the blood of Jesus.  We have been redeemed, our sins have been forgiven, and we have been given wisdom, knowledge, and understanding.  Our heavenly Father knew that we would be believers before we were born.  He knows all about us and still loves us. (Acts 15:8)  He has blessed us in the past, He is blessing us now, and He has even more good things are in store for us when the fullness of time has come.

Blessed And Forgiven

"Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.  Blessed is the man whose sin The LORD does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit."  Psalms 32:1-2 (NIV)

In this psalm King David clearly states that believers are forgiven of their sins and they are blessed. 

Because the sins of believers are covered by the blood of Jesus, they are not counted against us.  Being forgiven of our sins is probably the most important blessing that a believer can receive.  The Bible says that all of us have sinned. (Romans 3:23)  If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us of all of our unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)  This, however, only applies to those who believe and follow Jesus, The Christ.