Forever Grateful for Being Set Free
God Demonstrates His Love for Me
There are so many ways that God demonstrates his love for us. I remember that before I was a Christian, I had a small plaque that read, “I believe in God because of rainbows.” I didn’t know God, but I knew he must exist because of creation. But God also placed within me the desire to know him. Through a series of events, he allowed me to know and believe and understand John 3:16.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
I came to understand that Jesus suffered and died for me, so that I might have life in him. Jesus demonstrates his love for me in that while I was still a sinner, he died for me.
Romans 5:6-8
6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
The only righteousness I have comes from Christ. Jesus died for me while I was a sinner.
Ephesians 2:1-2,4-5
1And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked… 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ…
Jesus made me alive with him.
I am a New Creation
God can make all things new.
Isaiah 43:18-19
18 Remember not the former things,
nor consider the things of old.
19 Behold, I am doing a new thing;
now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
and rivers in the desert.
He made me new. He gave me a new heart to love and serve him.
Ezekiel 36:26
26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
God has made me completely new.
2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
In Jesus, I am a new creation.
Jesus Carried the Weight of Our Sins
1 Peter 4:24
He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
Jesus Christ carried the weight of my sins, of the world’s sins, on the cross. Jesus was innocent of any sin or crime, yet he paid the price so that all of us could be reconciled with God. It says in 1 Peter 4:24, that he, “bore our sins in his body on the tree.”
Isaiah 53:4-5
Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
In Isaiah 53:4, it says Jesus, “carried our sorrows.”
The Blood of Jesus Makes Us Clean
The blood of Jesus makes us clean. God cleanses us from all our sin.
1 John 1:7-10
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
We are forgiven and made clean.
Isaiah 1:18
Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.
I am forgiven and made clean.
Psalm 51:7-12
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have broken rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
11 Cast me not away from your presence,
and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and uphold me with a willing spirit.
He removes our sin from us.
God, in his awesomeness, created a clean heart within me and restored to me the joy of my salvation. He removed my sin from me.
Psalm 103:11-12
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
How far is the east from the west? Infinitely far. He took my sin away. And what does he want from me? To forgive others the same way.
Forgiving Others
Ephesians 4:32
Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
This isn’t optional. If I want to be forgiven be the Father, I need to forgive those who sin against me.
Matthew 6:14-15
For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
This is a serious and difficult command. I am to forgive and extend grace to someone who hurt me, who doesn’t deserve to have grace extended to him or her. I am being asked to be Christ-like. God forgave me, and extended grace and mercy to me, not because I deserved it, but because of his great love for me.
Being Set Free
Jesus came to set us free. First, he set me free from my own sin, and then he set me free from the sin of others that still held me captive. I needed to pray and ask for God’s help to forgive those who hurt me. And God gave me what I needed and enabled me to forgive. In so doing, God has set me free from the chains that bound me to my past.
When Jesus began his ministry, he read Isaiah 61 from a scroll in the synagogue.
Luke 4:16-22
16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. 17 And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
20 And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” 22 And all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth.
Jesus came to set us free. And he has set me free. Free from the sin that bound me. And forgiveness is the key. My sins are forgiven because of what Jesus did for me. When I live for my Savior, in God’s Word and by Spirit, I am heart is slowly transformed to be more like his. With his help, he enabled me to forgive those who sinned against me. He set me free.
God is Good
God is good, always good, and only good. Great is God’s grace and mercy. Great is his steadfast love and faithfulness.
Psalm 86:15
But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.
God is good and his mercies are new for me every morning.
Lamentations 3:21-23
21 But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope:
22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
23 they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
God never disappoints me. He is always good, always and perfectly loving, always and perfectly himself never changing. And I gratefully rest in his love, delight in his love, share his love. I have been set free to love and serve my Savior.