Worship Devotional LXX
Originally posted to the Facebook group on 4/24/2021.
Worship Devotional for 4/25/21
Last week we sang about the cross in light of the resurrection, and how God turned the suffering and death of His Son into victory and life for all who believe in Him. This week we continue to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ by praising God for the forgiveness of our sins that we have through Jesus' blood, and for the life that we have in His name as a result.
As believers who are born again into the family of God, our salvation and redemption and freedom and joy and every good thing that we have in Christ is not because of our own doing or desire. It is only by the grace of God, which we receive through faith in Jesus. It is by His work and by His will that we have this great salvation for eternal life. We could never earn any of it by our own merits.
This is why God's forgiveness and mercy are so astounding and wonderful: we don't deserve it at all. In fact, we deserve the opposite — death and condemnation to hell forever. It would have been perfectly just for God to have destroyed us all for our sinful wickedness and rebellion toward Him. And yet, He chose instead to save us and give us life! He made a way for justice to be satisfied by punishing His Son in our place, so that He might forgive us of all our trespasses and sins, and raise us from our state of death along with His Son into new and eternal life. In Jesus, we are now dead to sin and alive to God forever! Therefore let's praise Him with all that we are and with all that we have. May everything in our lives be to the glory of our great and merciful God and Savior, Jesus Christ!
Here are the songs:
Christ died for all of the sins of humanity, including yours and mine. I may not have literally been one of the Roman soldiers who drove the nails into Jesus' hands two thousand years ago, but I may as well have been, since it happened on account of my sins too. The imagery and references in this song are meant to show that we are all guilty of the sins against God which Jesus had to suffer and die for. But because He did, we can fall to our knees in faith and repentance and receive the forgiveness He freely offers to any and all who believe. Those who come to Him for forgiveness and life can now say goodbye to every sin, because they are both justified and sanctified in Him.
1 John 3:4-5:
"Everyone who commits sin also breaks the law; sin is the breaking of law. You know that He was revealed so that He might take away sins, and there is no sin in Him."
2) Resurrecting by Elevation Worship
Romans 5:18-6:5:
"So then, as through one trespass there is condemnation for everyone, so also through one righteous act there is life-giving justification for everyone. For just as through one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so also through the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. The law came along to multiply the trespass. But where sin multiplied, grace multiplied even more so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace will reign through righteousness, resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
What should we say then? Should we continue in sin so that grace may multiply? Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Or are you unaware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in a new way of life. For if we have been joined with Him in the likeness of His death, we will certainly also be in the likeness of His resurrection."
Jesus, who was crucified on the cross for our sins, is now risen and alive and seated at the right hand of God's throne, where He reigns over all things with all authority in heaven and on earth. His name is victory, and He alone is worthy of all praise. By the Spirit of God, who raised Him from the dead, we also will be raised with Him into eternal life. May we be awakened now to live completely for the glory of God, with our hearts and minds set on His kingdom, and not on the things of this world which are fading away. We have been raised with and are daily being renewed by the resurrected King, Jesus Christ our Lord!
The Son of God, who knew no sin and lived a blameless life in perfect obedience to the Father, was condemned to die like a criminal on a cross. This happened so that we — the ones who actually are guilty of the sins for which Jesus died — could be set free from the wrath and condemnation which we deserve. How can it be just for God to allow the innocent to be judged guilty while the guilty walk free, or for death to be Jesus' portion and liberty be ours? We know that this is the only way that we can be free, and that God loved us so much that He would send His Son to die for us. The Son of God cannot stay in the grave! Justice is fulfilled and completed by Jesus' death on the cross in our place because God raised Him from the dead! We are free from our guilt and condemnation because the price was paid and yet Jesus lives! Our chains are gone, our debt is paid, we are forgiven, and Jesus is alive! If He had stayed in the grave, then death would still reign and we could not really live, which would mean His death was for nothing. But because He is risen and alive, His death on the cross means death to sin and even death itself, and life for us!
4) Because He Lives (Amen) by Matt Maher
2 Corinthians 1:18-22:
"As God is faithful, our message to you is not 'Yes and no.' For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you...did not become 'Yes and no'; on the contrary, a final 'Yes' has come in Him. For every one of God's promises is 'Yes' in Him. Therefore, the 'Amen' is also spoken through Him by us for God's glory. Now it is God who strengthens us, with you, in Christ and has anointed us. He has also sealed us and given us the Spirit as a down payment in our hearts."
Is Jesus alive? Yes! And are we alive with Him because He is alive? Yes! God's word has been fulfilled and the result is eternal life for those who put their faith in Christ! We can face whatever may come with confidence and hope, because our lives are hidden now in Him. He holds the future. Amen!
Ephesians 1:3-2:10:
"Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens. For He chose us in Him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us to be adopted through Jesus Christ for Himself, according to His favor and will, to the praise of His glorious grace that He favored us with in the Beloved.
We have redemption in Him through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure that He planned in Him for the administration of the days of fulfillment — to bring everything together in the Messiah, both things in heaven and things on earth in Him.
We have also received an inheritance in Him, predestined according to the purpose of the One who works out everything in agreement with the decision of His will, so that we who had already put our hope in the Messiah might bring praise to His glory.
When you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed in Him, you were also sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. He is the down payment of our inheritance, for the redemption of the possession, to the praise of His glory.
This is why, since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I never stop giving thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, would give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. I pray that the perception of your mind may be enlightened so you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the glorious riches of His inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power to us who believe, according to the working of His vast strength.
He demonstrated this power in the Messiah by raising Him from the dead and seating Him at His right hand in the heavens — far above every ruler and authority, power and dominion, and every title given, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And 'He put everything under His feet' and appointed Him as head over everything for the church, which is His body, the fullness of the One who fills all things in every way.
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you previously walked according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler who exercises authority over the lower heavens, the spirit now working in the disobedient. We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath as the others were also. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love that He had for us, made us alive with the Messiah even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace! Together with Christ Jesus He also raised us up and seated us in the heavens, so that in the coming ages He might display the immeasurable riches of His grace through His kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God's gift — not from works, so that no one can boast. For we are His creation, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them."
Theme(s): Forgiveness, Resurrection, Alive in Christ
Scripture references:
Psalms 16, 25, 32, 34, 69, 103, 115, 116
Luke 24:36-39
Romans 3-8
1 Corinthians 15
2 Corinthians 1:15-22
Ephesians 1-2
Colossians 1:9-23, 2:6-15, 3:1-17
1 John 1:7-2:2, 3