September 2022 Newsletter

                                                      SEPTEMBER 2022 NEWSLETTER

Robert Lindenberger

3325 3^rd  AVENUE

Mims, Florida 32754

321-368-7184

expas65@yahoo.com

 

At the Cross, at the Cross
Where I first saw the light,
And the burden of my heart rolled away,
It was there by faith I received my sight,
And now I am happy all the day!

 

      To grasp what happened at the Cross, we must first understand that the Lord is righteous and just.  He does what is right and never contradicts His Word.  On the other hand, mankind is sinful and deserving of punishment.  God couldn’t simply forgive us because He would then cease to be just – and justice requires a penalty for sin.  Either the Lord had to condemn us all to suffer His wrath, or He needed a plan that would satisfy His justice and allow His mercy.

       Before the foundation of the world, the Lord had such a plan in place (Rev. 13:8).  Jesus came to earth to be our sin-bearer, and the Father placed our guilt and punishment on Him.  Because the Savior’s payment satisfied justice, sinful man could be declared righteous.

       When we trust in Christ and acknowledge that His payment was made on our behalf, we are forgiven of our sins and blessed with salvation.  God’s perfect Son was the only One who qualified to be our substitute, and Jesus did it all willfully.  Through an act that appeared cruel and hateful, God’s goodness and love was revealed to this world.

 THE OBEDIENT CHRIST.

       “And being found in fashion as a man, He (JESUS) humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”(Philippians 2:8).

       The only begotten Son of God substituted Himself for all humanity to save them from the righteous judgment of a thrice-holy Creator.

       Jesus found himself.  “In a fashion of a man,” which therefore made it possible for Him to humble Himself and to become obedient to the death that had been ordained for Him.  Prior to the very foundation of the world  (1 Peter 1:20).

      Perhaps it is too much to suggest that Jesus “woke up” when He  found Himself in Mary’s womb, but it is certain that He “increased in  wisdom” (Luke 2:52).  As he grew in “stature.”  Basically, because He “became” human, He expressed the normal increase in awareness and experience that all of us do.

       The difference was, obviously, that He “humbled” Himself, even though He “was in all parts tempted like we are, yet without sin”  (Hebrews 4:15).  Christ’s sinless behavior could have easily “Exalted” as His wisdom in miracles became known throughout Israel.  Indeed, many tried to make Him Isaiah prophetically records the mindset of the Lord many years before He actually entered Jerusalem: “I set my face like a flint” (Isaiah 50:7).  Nature, Jesus told His disciples, “I have a baptism to me back ties with; and now I am straitened till it be accomplished!”  (Luke 12:50).

       Finally, the obedience of our Lord Jesus, understood fully and deeply at Gethsemane, was fully accomplished, “even to the death of the cross.”  May our hearts never forget or tire of these great truths that will keep us on until we see Christ face-to-face in His heavenly home.

       I am going to continue my life story from the August newsletter.  I was scheduled for back surgery in August.  The doctor called and asked me to have a CAT scan before I would see him.  I had the test and met with the doctor.  He showed me the results of the CAT scan.  I not only have cirrhosis in the lower lumbar, but I have three discs that are completely missing, so I have two vertebrae that are bone on bone.  Evidently, the cirrhosis is on the nerve that would cause pain.  So, I canceled the operation altogether. 

     Going through this, along with losing my roommate and my book, caused me to look up from all my problems and look to the Cross.  It is there, as we gaze upon our suffering Savior that we see the Father’s heart – a loving Father who “did not spare even his own Son, but gave him up for us all.”  (Romans 8:32).  As we gaze upon the Cross and the enormous suffering.  It represents on our behalf that we recognize that God not only understands our suffering, but he CHOSE to suffer so that He might draw us to Himself.  “Christ also suffered when he died for our sins once for all time.  He never sinned, but he died for sinners, that he might bring us safely home to God.”  (1 Peter 3:18).

I am free and forgiven and love this song:

Through it all, through it all

I’ve learned to trust in Jesus, and I’ve learned to trust in God

Through it all, through it all, I’ve learned to depend upon His Word.