“And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.” Ephesians 2:17-18
In the Gospel, Christ Jesus promises forgiveness, pardon, and peace to all who despair of their own righteousness under the Law and look in faith to Him — to His holy life and His atoning sacrifice on the cross for the sins of the world. This peace is preached to both Jews and Gentiles because it is through Spirit-wrought faith in Christ that both have access to God the Father.
Grant to me, O Holy Spirit, through the preaching of the Gospel, the peace of sins forgiven through faith in Christ Jesus and His blood, shed on the cross for the sins of the world. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.
“For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.” Ephesians 2:14-16
Jesus Christ, by His holy life and innocent sufferings and death on the cross, has made full atonement for the sins of all, having fulfilled the demands of God’s Law and paid the just penalty for all our sins, that both Jew and Gentile might look to Christ in faith and be reconciled with God the Father. Through faith in Jesus Christ, both Jew and Gentile have peace with God and are one in Christ!
O Christ, You have, by Your atoning sacrifice, won for us forgiveness of sins and peace with God. Grant that we look to You in faith and so be reconciled to God through Your innocent sufferings and death in our stead. Amen.
“For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. For each one shall bear his own load.” Galatians 6:3-5
We often think of ourselves as good and are quick to point out the shortcomings of others. But to do so is foolishness and self-deception. Rather, we should examine our own lives and works against the standard of God’s Word so that we might repent of the sin and evil in our own lives and rejoice in the good that God has graciously worked in us by His Holy Spirit, for each of us will be accountable for his own burden.
“Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” (Ps. 139:23-24). Amen.
“But then, indeed, when you did not know God, you served those which by nature are not gods. But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage? You observe days and months and seasons and years. I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain.” Galatians 4:8-11
Before hearing and believing the gospel of forgiveness and life eternal through faith in Christ Jesus, people served false gods of their own imagination through earthly rituals and rites, such as observing certain days, certain seasons, certain foods, and other man-made religious practices. Why would we, after receiving, through faith in Christ and His cross, pardon and forgiveness and the promise of eternal life, go back to trying to serve God with such weak and elemental practices? To do so is to lose the true faith and God’s blessings in Christ.
Grant that I trust in You alone, O Christ, and not trust in man-made religious works and rites for my salvation. Amen.
“O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?” Galatians 3:1-3
Sadly, many people are also deceived today. They hear the Word of God, and the Spirit leads them to trust in Christ Jesus and His cross for pardon and eternal salvation; however, they foolishly turn back to the law and traditions, relying on their own works to be acceptable in God’s sight.
Graciously keep me in the true and saving faith, O Lord, and grant that I not rely on my own works under the law but on the perfect sacrifice of Christ Jesus, my Savior. In His name, I pray. Amen.
[Scripture is quoted from the King James Version of the Bible.]
