Ye shall be free indeed

This came from my daily devotional from Adrian Rogers (http://www.lwf.org/)

BIBLE MEDITATION: “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” John 8:36

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT: Living a pure life means surrendering to Jesus Christ. But some people don’t want to surrender because they say they want to be free. What if a train said, “I don’t want to run on these tracks, I want to be free.”? Then off through the meadow it would go. What if the kite said, “I want to be free. I don’t want to be tied to a string.”? The string breaks and down it goes. What if a tree said, “I don’t want to be planted in the earth. I want to be free.”? And it is jerked up from the earth and dies. Everything that is truly free functions best when it functions as God made it. God made you to know Him and to love Him.

ACTION POINT: Write James 4:8 on a piece of paper. Memorize and apply it truth to your life.

(James 4:8 Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, sinners; and purify your hearts, double-minded ones.)

Got Propitiation?

Propitiation is one of the basic foundations of Christianity. Below is an outline of Christian thought regarding propitiation and its importance.

But first, it might help there was a basic explanation of what propitiation is. Following are some definitions of propitiation:

propitiation

\Pro*pi`ti*a"tion\, n. [L. propitiatio: cf. F. propitiation.]
1. The act of appeasing the wrath and conciliating the favor of an offended person; the act of making propitious.
2. (Theol.) That which propitiates; atonement or atoning sacrifice; specifically, the influence or effects of the death of Christ in appeasing the divine justice, and conciliating the divine favor.
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The Christian basis of propitiation can be found in the following new testament verses (there are others, but I’m not going to list them all here):

1 John 2:1-2
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.

Hebrews 2:17
Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

1 John 4:10
In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
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Why do we need propitiation?

We all have sin (even “nice” people):

Ecclesiastes 7:20 - Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins.

Sin separates us from God

Psalms 1:5 - Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

How do we “erase” the sin from our lives?

Leviticus 17:11 - For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.

God set up the system of sacrifices in the Old Testament. Unfortunately, only a perfect sacrifice would be able to atone for our sins (erase) permanently and for all time. There is only one perfect sacrifice that erases sin for all time, and that is Jesus Christ:

Hebrews 10:11-12 - Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; but He (Jesus), having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God.

Jesus Christ is the propitiation for our sins. This is a free gift of grace from God. There is nothing we can do to “earn” it:

Romans 11:6 - But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace.

There is, however, one thing we do need to do. We have to accept this gift from God:

John 3:16 - For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.