SAVED BY CHRIST
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
—Romans 6:23
WHAT A BEAUTIFUL and comforting truth. Yes, the wages of sin is death, but, for the believer, those wages have been removed through the cross of Christ and His perfect obedience as our covenant Head. Therefore, we must never boast in our works but must always say with the Apostle Paul that salvation is an absolutely free gift from God. “It is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God that shows mercy” (Romans 9:16). Even as we must depend upon God for every breath of life, so we must depend upon Him for every aspect of our salvation.
EPHESIANS 2:8 TELLS us that “we are saved by grace, and that not of ourselves; it is the gift of God.” This truth was clearly displayed while Jesus was being crucified between two thieves who ridiculed Him (Matthew 27:44). But later, according to Luke 23:42, one of them said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” Jesus promised him paradise that very day. What a wondrous change was wrought in the thief that very hour. Clearly, he had been granted true faith in the last moments of his earthly life to trust in Christ.
MOMENTS BEFORE HE revealed hatred against Jesus, but now he believes Jesus is Lord and Savior. This demonstrates that salvation is by grace, apart from our works. Christ alone earns salvation for His people and His Spirit implants faith into the soul enabling sinners to desire Christ and the redemption from sin that He freely bestows. Are you looking to Christ alone for the salvation of your soul? If so, then God’s grace is alive in you. Praise Him this day and always for such wondrous salvation. Let this truth comfort, encourage, and establish your heart in this season of life as we struggle living in a fallen world.
Tuesday Encouragement: April 28, 2026
In Christ's service,
Pastor S. Henry
… See MoreSee Less
A CHRISTIAN'S SUNDAY MORNING PRAYER
My Father and My God,
As one whom You have regenerated and redeemed, I believe, through the teaching of Scripture, that You: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are the sovereign Creator, Ruler, Sustainer, and Governor of all things that You have created in heaven and on earth. It's in You that I, and all creatures, live and move and have our being. It's You, O LORD, who gives life, breath, health, sickness, riches, poverty, and everything else in this world for Your glory and the good of Your church. As one whom You have redeemed, I, and all believers, are your purchased possessions; we belong to You, we are not our own. You alone are God. I am finite and ignorant of so many things; You alone are infinite in wisdom and You know ALL things.
Help me, Father, to trust You in times of adversity, confusion, temptation, and depression. I know nothing happens by chance but all things come by Your Fatherly hand. Therefore, by the help of the Holy Spirit, I can be patient in adversity, even though I struggle to be calm; I can be thankful in prosperity as You richly bless me, even though I often fail to give You thanks as I ought; and for the things that are future, I can have comfort, confidence, and courage that nothing will or can separate me from Your love, since all things are so in Your hand that without Your will they cannot even move. But even in this, I get fearful, anxious, discouraged, angry, confused, and depressed. Help me, Father! Help all your redeemed; help us trust Your hand of Providence; help us have great confidence in Your wisdom in all things, especially the things we don't understand. Help us remain steadfast in the faith through difficult days. Strengthen us to faithfully walk in the way of Your Word. Fill us, Holy Spirit, with Your holy presence and Your inspired, infallible, inerrant Word. Rule and control our minds to serve You with joy, gladness, and resolve.
Forgive me, Lord Jesus, forgive all Your people when we sin in our thoughts, words, and deeds, which is daily! Redirect and recalibrate our minds continually to the ethic of Scripture. Cause us to keep short accounts with You and confess our sins moment by moment. I fall so utterly short of glorifying You. Lord, I hate my sin! I hate the daily struggle against sin! I hate what sin has done to humanity! I hate that sin, my sin, eclipses Your glory and exalts man! I hate that sin, my sin, distorts Your glorious image! I hate that my sin caused You, Lord Jesus, to suffer on the cross! O Lord, forgive me, forgive all Your sheep in our daily struggle. Forgive me for not rightly, diligently, and daily reflecting Your glory! As the Apostle Paul declared in Romans 7:24-25, "O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin."
Thank You, dear Father, for sending Your Son, Jesus, to redeem me and a multitude of sinners from every tribe, tongue, and nation, and making us saints in Christ. Thank You, Lord Jesus, for fulfilling all the demands of the Law of God in my place, in the place of all that were given to You by the Father. Thank You for absorbing the wrath of God against all my sins, and against all the sins of all Your sheep; thank You for satisfying the justice of God on my behalf and on behalf of all Your people by Your inexpressible anguish, pains, and terrors on the cross. Thank You that Your perfect passive and active obedience merited my salvation and forgiveness! Your perfect work, Lord Jesus, merited my entrance into the holy of holies, so that I come boldly into the throne of grace covered in Your righteous robes! Thank You, Holy Spirit, for applying all the benefits of Christ to my account; thank you for regenerating my soul and creating faith in my heart; thank You for breaking the power of sin in my life; thank You for Your intercession and assurance as You speak to me in and through Your Word. Thank You for illuminating my mind to Your Word of Truth! Thank You, Holy Spirit, for engrafting me into Jesus' spiritual body, the church! Thank You for the blessed virtue of forgiveness and the comforting assurance that I am and forever will remain a child of God!
O my God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, O how I love You! I want to love You more! I want to serve You well! I want to live for You! I want to be with You! Help me, O God; help me persevere; keep me on the straight and narrow path; never let me go; forgive me when I sin, comfort me in trials, strengthen me in temptation, uphold me in tribulation, encourage me when discouraged for You are my Good Shepherd Who cares eternally for Your sheep. I am one of Your sheep! Tend me and "Guide me, O my great Jehovah, pilgrim through this barren land; I am weak, but You are mighty; hold me with Your powerful hand. Bread of heaven, bread of heaven, feed me now and evermore, feed me now and evermore."
I ask all this in Jesus' Name, Righteousness, and Authority!
Amen!
… See MoreSee Less
CHRIST OUR DELIVERER
“Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father.”
—Galatians 1:3-4
OUR GREATEST NEED is the salvation of our body and soul. We need to be cleansed from sin and restored to a right relationship with God. But the wickedness of our heart always leads us to seek our own remedy for sin or even deny that we need a remedy. This only demonstrates the depth of our depravity and our desperate need for the saving grace of God. And God’s grace is the only reason anyone is saved from the penalty of sin. Because God is gracious, loving, kind, and merciful toward sinners, Jesus Christ, who is fully God, took upon Himself the nature of man and came into this world and “gave himself for our sins.” He was pleased to lay down His life in order to redeem sinners given to Him by His Father and “deliver them from this present evil world.” As the Apostle Paul wrote in Titus 2:14, “that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.”
THIS GOSPEL IS SOMETHING the world stumbles over and considers foolishness. “For we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness” (1 Corinthians 1:23). But the Good News taught in our text is that Jesus Christ gave Himself to save sinners from the penalty and slavery of sin and the dominion of Satan; Jesus came to save His sheep from the wrath of God. Are you trusting Jesus Christ as the only sacrifice for your sins? Are you resting in Him as the only Mediator between God and man (1 Tim. 2:5), the One who knew no sin but became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him? (2 Cor. 5:21) Are you resting in Jesus, the only One who can cover and clothe sinners in His righteous robes, cleanse us from the defilement of sin with His precious blood, and cause us to be accepted by the Father? Look to Jesus today! He alone can pardon!
As the hymn writer declared:
What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Oh! precious is the flow, That makes me white as snow;
No other fount I know, Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Friday Devotional: April 24, 2026
In Christ,
Pastor S. Henry
… See MoreSee Less
HEALING REVEALS JESUS’ IDENTITY
“Which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Rise up and walk'? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins"—He said to the man who was paralyzed, "I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house." Immediately he rose up before them, took up what he had been lying on, and departed to his own house, glorifying God.”
—Luke 5:23-25
The healing Jesus performed in Luke 5:17-26 was designed to authenticate Jesus' message and to point people back to the Old Testament prophecy concerning the coming Messiah. When John the baptizer was in prison, he sent two of his disciples to Jesus to ask if He was the coming One or should they look for another. Jesus responded by saying, "Go and tell John the things you have seen and heard: that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached to them" (Luke 7:22). Jesus simply quotes from the Old Testament book of Isaiah.
In other words, Jesus is saying that His works demonstrate exactly who He is –God come in the flesh to save His people from their sins. Only God can heal a paralytic man and only God can declare people to be forgiven of all their sins, and Jesus demonstrates He is God incarnate when He heals the paralytic man, and by so doing demonstrates He has power on earth to forgive sins.
Are you trusting Jesus? Have you come to Jesus that you might be forgiven and cleansed of all your sins? Christ is the only hope of forgiveness and reconciliation with God. Trust Christ and you will be saved (Acts 16:31).
Tuesday Encouragement: April 21, 2026
In Christ,
Pastor S. Henry
… See MoreSee Less
