Free Of Sin

Scripture:
Isaiah 53:4-9 (NIV)

Surely he took up our pain
    and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
    stricken by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
    and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
    each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed and afflicted,
    yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
    and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
    so he did not open his mouth.
By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
    Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
    for the transgression of my people he was punished.
He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
    and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
    nor was any deceit in his mouth.

Devotional:

In the movie A Green Mile one of the characters was sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit.  In fact he tried to save a life but couldn’t.  Even in jail the man did what he could to help others.  There is someone who was born a long time ago.  This man was falsely accused, wrongly beaten, and died a very painful death.  All for sins He did not commit.

Jesus lived the perfect life with no sin what so ever.  Yet in the end He allowed Himself to be wrongfully tried and crucified.  When Jesus hung on the cross the sin laid upon Him was not His own.  He took up all the sins of the world, all people from the past, in the present, and those yet to come.  Because He willingly took upon our sin in death we gain life.  In His death and resurrection we find salvation.  Our redemption is paid in full by what Christ did for us. 

When judgment comes we will stand before God guilty.  Romains 3:23-24 (NIV), “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” My question to you is simple.  Who will be the one to pay the price of your sins?  Will the words come from Jesus that state “I paid the price for their sins; they are no longer guilty but have been cleansed.”  Through Jesus we are made righteous.  Through Him we are purified and can come before God free of sin…