Anchor Devotional

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Jesus Paid It All

“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
2 Corinthians 5:21

J. C. Ryle (1816-1900), an evangelical minister of the Church of England, was a prolific writer, faithful pastor, and loving husband (widowed three times). He wrote these words in a sermon titled “Are You Looking?”:

[We see] the eternal Son of God suffering, bleeding, agonizing, dying, to pay your soul’s debt and make satisfaction for your sins. … Nothing but Christ’s atonement on the cross can ever clear up these things. ... Your own ... repentance and amendment, your own morality and regularity, your own church-going and sacrament-receiving, your own Bible-reading and your prayers, your own almsgiving and your charities—what are they all but a huge mass of imperfection? ... As grounds of acceptance with God, they are worthless rubbish ... and cannot bear the weight of your sins. ... Rest on nothing but Christ crucified, and the atonement He made for you on Calvary.

The story of Jesus’ crucifixion was a hard thing for my tender heart to grasp when I was a child. It still grieves me, but the triumph on Easter morning redeems it all.

SCRIPTURE FOCUS
John 19:31-37

INSIGHT
“Jesus paid it all,/ All to Him I owe;/ Sin had left a crimson stain,/ He washed it white as snow.” (Elvina M. Hall, 1865)

THROUGH THE BIBLE IN A YEAR
Joshua 21-22
Psalm 107
Romans 7-8

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