Dennis Williams

A baseball pitcher pitches 8 innings and his team is losing momentum, the game is going to be lost unless the coach substitutes a new pitcher. The new pitcher comes in at the bottom of the 9th and pitches 3 up and 3 down. At the end of the game when the stats are compiled the substitute pitcher is credited with a "save". In contrast to my life, I was the first pitcher. Struggling and working by own power and abilities, and despite by best effort I was losing. God knew that if He did not put someone in my place, the game was lost. Christ comes in at the bottom of the 9th inning of my life, I deserve to lose but He strikes out the enemy, the power of sin, the penalty of sin, the defeat by sin, 1,2, 3 strikes their out. He gets the save, I escape the agony of defeat. I deserve to suffer the consequences of my sin. But God loved me and you so much that He sent and allowed His Son to suffer the punishment that was rightfully due me. When Christ went to the cross, it was for me that He went. Only two scripture verses needed here, John 3:16 and Rom. 5:8. Just as if the first pitcher would have stayed in the game he would have been "separated" from a victory that could never be recovered, it would forever be counted as a loss. It is the same sense with my life, the penalty for my lost soul would have been "separation" from God forever. My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?, takes on a whole new meaning when you consider that Christ suffered/experienced that separation judgement on the Cross, so that when I came to the Cross I came into victory by merit of His sufferings. Now that's Love. That one would substitute himself for anothers eternity.

Rom. 5:8, But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. In the since that Christ laid down his own life, it was not taken, for me before I even knew Him. God chose Jesus for me, so that when I came before the altar of repentence for my sins God had already provided, received, and accepted the sacrifice for them. The debt I could not pay was paid for me and I have been crucified with Christ. I was not there physically when the time was right and God sent His only Son to be the propitiation for all our sins, so Christ was substituted for me. Judgement was what I deserved, but forgiveness was what I needed. God provided that need by delivering my judgement on Christ. So by grace was I saved and not of myself, lest I could boast. Praise God for His love and His marvelous grace. : : I may not fully understand it but it sure makes a lost boy saved.

Since there is no other name, under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. That only leaves the possibility that anyone not yet "convinced" must yet, be lost. Therefore, I am convinced that Christ was not only convinced, He was convicted deep within. To me, just a few of the verses that confirm this are, Matt. 9:36, 11:29, 12:18, 16:21-23, 26:63, Luke 2:49, John 10:14, 10:25-30, & 10:34-38. Then there are all the Scriptures of the last few hours leading up to the crucifixion and beyond that to me are clearly fulfillments of scripture. Praise God its settled, I'm saved. And here is one last thought. How about Mary's silence at the cross. What kind of Mother would hold her peace for a lie if it involved the death of her son.

According to 52:15 it is many nations, and according to 53:12 it is many people. To catch the full implication we must look at John 3:16, whosoever, this implies it is universal in scope and nature of the sacrifice. I think it is clear from this that Jesus' sacrifice itself is never wasted in any sense of the word, but that many people have already and many people will in the future waste their opportunity to be covered by Christ sacrifice.

Grace, Grace, Gods Grace. I think it very expressive of Gods deep love for us in that while we were not ready at that time in our history for God to send the Christ, He graciously provided the substitute for our sins in a manner that caused us to realize the high cost of sin. It is obvious that animal blood was not sufficient, else they would not have to have been repeated over and over again. Praise God for His mercy and love. P.S. Did anybody else just realize that not only was the blood of animals not sufficient, they were not created in the image of God. However, Christ the Lamb was not only sufficient, He was the image of God.

We live in a society today that is bombarded with animal rights activists from all walks of life, movie stars, politicians, local SPCA groups, and the list goes on and on. Couple that with the fact that the vast majority of our population live in cities and urban areas that have no concept what so ever of what it means to provide for themselves from the land. Now add to that the teaching of pro-choice, abortion rights, legalized abortion, being promoted by many of the same ones that are so concerned about animal rights, and you have the society that we live in today. They think nothing of approving of the systematic murder of thousands of unborn children every year, but at the same time they cannot tolerate harming a defenseless, furry little animal. Now you place that same society in todays Church Age where sin is not preached against, but tolerance is preached vehemently. Now you have a generation that sees through worldly eyes, animals are people too, people have the right to choose for themselves what is right and what is wrong, God has become like us and no longer cares about our sin so long as we are accepting and tolerate of everybody and everything that comes along. Psalm 50:21.

Be ye angry and sin not. I think this at least allows for the possibility of a righteous anger directed not at the sinner but at the sin. I know as a Pastor I have dealt with christians who willfully sin and just don't seem to get the big picture that our lives need to be lived as an example before the unbeleiving world. I know that in those instances I was able to be very angry at thier actions but at the same time I was able to demonstrate toward them a loving disposition, and maintain a genuine desire to see them not only reconciled to God, but also restored to fellowship. Anger that is directed toward the sinner seems to create a hardened heart or defensiveness in them that makes it harder to minister to them in a manner that they will respond positively to.

John was a man well versed in the Jewish laws and traditions, I don't believe he would have "proclaimed" this without a God given understanding of the implications. He was taught by God in the wilderness and prepared for his mission, to prepare the way, so it stands to reason that he was aware of the claim that he was making. The people on the other hand would have a problem with this statement, as proven by the fact that they eventually rejected Christ and demanded a murderer instead be freed. They had the scriptures as proof, John had the Spirit as proof. They were disobedient to the scriptures and thus failed to recognize the fulfillment of those scriptures in the person of Jesus. John both knew the scriptures and was obedient to them and the teaching of the Spirit. We need more Johns today.

Hello Everyone, My name is Dennis. I am the Pastor of a small Baptist Church in Kentucky, it is my first pastorate, and I am very thankful to God for the opportunity to serve him. This is also my first online study and my first experience with Joyful Heart. I am looking forward to the study and sharing with you all. May God Bless you all, Dennis