Knowing Where You Stand with God

Notice how God dealt with sin in the Old Testament. The priest took a lamb, shed its blood and offered it on the altar. As the sacrificial smoke went up, the person’s sin was atoned for and their guilt removed. What a beautiful picture of your salvation! At Calvary, the fires of God’s wrath were fully expended on Christ. In that moment, He was both your High Priest and your sacrificial lamb. When He cried, ‘It is finished,’ (John 19:30 NIV), your sins were paid for—from your birth to your grave. And the minute you trust in Christ as your Saviour, your standing before God is altered; you are made righteous (2 Corinthians 5:21). In the early days of the American West one of the greatest fears the wagon train masters had was prairie (grass) fires. The hot sun could start them, and before you knew it you were surrounded in flames. But a wise wagon train master would immediately give the order to back up the horses and wagons on to the ground that had already been burned. Why? Because the fire could not come where the fire had already been! Augustus Toplady wrote, ‘Payment God will not twice demand; first at my bleeding Surety’s hand, and then again at mine.’ Jesus ‘took the heat’ for every one of us. ‘He… bore our sins in His body on the tree...’ (1 Peter 2:24 NIV) So today, if the devil is beating you up because of your faults and failures, tell him: ‘I may not be perfect, but I’m redeemed, loved and accepted by God!’