📖 God promises forgiveness

I. In Leviticus 4-6, we see two of the five major offerings and sacrifices spelled out: the purification offering and the reparation offering, also known as the sin and guilt offerings.

These offerings are for sins that have been committed, as well as how to make proper reparations when you take something that belongs to God or when you take something that belongs to someone else.

Here is what is fascinating: nine times in this section we are told that the one offering the sacrifice will be forgiven.

In other words, God promises that when his people recognize their guilt and respond in the way he has prescribed, offering the appropriate sacrifice, they will be forgiven.

And because God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, this is why we get this same promise with the coming of Jesus. Jesus was the perfect and final sacrifice that fulfilled the entire sacrificial system in Leviticus. Meaning, just like the Israelites were guaranteed forgiveness should they repent of their sins properly, so are we.

All throughout the Scriptures, we see the amazing promise that God always responds to repentance with grace.

Have sin in your life? Confess it to the Lord, whose kindness leads us to repentance.

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II. You cannot earn your salvation because you cannot put God in your debt as if he owes you something.

Romans 4:3-5 states:

“For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness. Now to the one who works, pay is not credited as a gift, but as something owed. But to the one who does not work, but believes on him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited for righteousness.”

Our actions matter, but they do not save us. In fact, they cannot save us because we still need forgiveness if we are to draw near to a perfect and holy God.

God does not need us, nor can we give him anything he lacks. The Creator is under no obligation to his creation.

And yet, we are told in Romans 5:8 that “God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Christ offers us salvation through his perfect sacrifice; we don’t offer our deeds as payment to God.

We are saved by God’s grace, and it is that grace that propels us to live a life that honors the One who has given us the gift of salvation.

J. I. Packer on the love of God:"

“There is tremendous relief in knowing that His love to me is utterly realistic, based at every point on prior knowledge of the worst about me, so that no discovery now can disillusion Him about me, in the way I am so often disillusioned about myself, and quench His determination to bless me.”

You are not better at sinning than Jesus is at saving.

Nothing you produce is more powerful than God. Not your wisdom, not your talents, and not your sin.

We don’t get to tell God what he can and cannot do. And God’s Word tells us that if we confess our sins, “he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

And we don’t get to tell God that our sin is the exception to his rule.

Captain's Dinner by Adam Cohen

The subtitle sums it up perfectly: a shipwreck, an act of cannibalism, and a murder trial that changed legal history.

Set in the late 1800s, this book tells the story of four men shipwrecked at sea and what happened when it appeared they would not be rescued anytime soon.

The story is interesting. At times, I found myself not quite as engaged with the book, however. I do think there are moments when the author takes unnecessarily large detours to give context to things that didn't need such lengthy explanations.

Because of that, the book moved a little slowly for me at times. Although the beginning of the book lays out much of what is going to happen, many of the details, and the outcome of their murder trial, are not revealed until you read the book.

If you're interested in sailing or shipwrecks, this is a fun read. I did like the book, but it wasn't quite as captivating as I thought it might be.

7/10

This week on Thinking Biblically, I discuss the question: Are Tattoos Sinful? The answer may be a little more nuanced than you might assume.

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P.S. Wait, that’s a good question though…