Author: Daryl Pint

Revelation 19:16    “On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: King of kings and Lord of lords.”

Psalm 141:2     “Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.” 

Romans 5:8    “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

The sacrifice of Jesus, reminding us of the cost of our salvation. It’s humbling to think about what He endured for us, and it calls us to live in a way that honors His sacrifice. Following Jesus isn’t always easy; it requires us to step out of our comfort zones, deny ourselves, and love others even when it’s hard. But embracing His sacrifice means living with gratitude and sharing His love with the world.

Worship isn’t just something we do on Sundays or during quiet prayer times—it’s a lifestyle. Jesus isn’t looking for empty rituals; He wants our hearts. Worshiping Him means bringing our prayers, praise, and even our struggles to Him in sincerity. Through Jesus, we have direct access to God, and that’s something worth celebrating every day.

Recognize Jesus as the ultimate King over your life. Think about it—are we giving Him our best, or are we holding back? Honoring Jesus as King means letting Him lead, prioritizing His plans over our own, and offering Him of our time, talents, and resources. It’s about saying, “You’re in charge, Lord,” and trusting Him to guide us every step of the way.

The cross shows the seriousness of our sin—but it also shows us the immeasurable love of God.

Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.

Trust God to protect your family by dedicating each member to Him for His glory.

Micah 7:19     He will again have compassion on us; He will tread our iniquities under foot. Yes, You will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.

Perhaps you made the decision to trust in Christ a long time ago, but since that time, you’ve strayed from God. Maybe your straying was due to a sudden, dramatic event in your life, such as a divorce, an affair, bankruptcy, or the death of a loved one. Or maybe your spiritual life has just been slowly eroding. And you wonder, What is God’s attitude toward me, a Christian who has wandered away from Him? How can I be forgiven?

In Colossians 2:13–14, Paul explained the extent of our forgiveness: “He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.” Notice that Paul said God has “forgiven us all our transgressions” (emphasis mine). If you have a hard time accepting this truth, I encourage you to write down the sins you have difficulty believing God could forgive you of. One by one, draw a line through each sin and write the word “forgiven.” That’s what God says: He has forgiven you of all your transgressions–not just the little sins but the big sins.

But Paul was referring not only to the kind of sins God has forgiven but also to the timing of those sins. In our minds, we see our lives as a timeline. One point on that timeline is the moment we trusted in Christ as Savior and received God’s forgiveness. So we wonder, What about all the sins I committed after that point? Let me remind you that when Jesus Christ died for your sins two thousand years ago, all your sins were still future. He died for all your sins. They have been forgiven forever.

I’m reminded of the story about a couple who went out to celebrate their wedding anniversary. As the husband drove them to the restaurant, his wife complained, “When we were first dating, we used to sit so close together and cuddle with each other in the car, and now look at us–you’re way over there, and I’m over here.” The husband replied, “I haven’t moved.”

No matter how far you’ve wandered away from God, He hasn’t moved. He’s right where He’s always been, and His attitude toward you hasn’t changed. He’s still waiting, working, and longing for your return home. Will you come? (Jeffress)

1Peter 2:24    He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

Isaiah 53:5   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.

By whose stripes –   The word rendered “stripes”  means, properly, the livid and swollen mark of a blow; the mark designated by us when we use the expression “black and blue.” It is not properly a bloody wound, but that made by pinching, beating, scourging. The idea seems to be that the Saviour was scourged or whipped; and that the effect on us is the same in producing spiritual healing, or in recovering us from our faults, as if we had been scourged ourselves. By faith we see the bruises inflicted on him, the black and blue spots made by beating; we remember that they were on account of our sins, and not for his; and the effect in reclaiming us is the same as if they had been inflicted on us.

Ye were healed – Sin is often spoken of as a disease, and redemption from it as a restoration from a deadly malady. (Barnes)

1Peter 2:24    He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

Romans 6:2-8   By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?  Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.  For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin — because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.

Romans 6:11   In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Galatians 2:20   I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

That we, being dead to sins – In virtue of his having thus been suspended on a cross; that is, his being put to death as an atoning sacrifice was the means by which we become dead to sin, and live to God. The phrase “being dead to sins” is, in the original, ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις ἀπογενόμενοι tais hamartiais apogenomenoi – literally, “to be absent from sins.” The Greek word was probably used (by an euphemism) to denote to die, that is, to be absent from the world. This is a milder and less repulsive word than to say to die. It is not elsewhere used in the New Testament. The meaning is, that we being effectually separated from sin – that is, being so that it no longer influences us – should live unto God. We are to be, in regard to sin, as if we were dead; and it is to have no more influence over us than if we were in our graves. The means by which this is brought about is the death of Christ for as he died literally on the cross on account of our sins, the effect has been to lead us to see the evil of transgression, and to lead new, and holy lives.

Should live unto righteousness – Though dead in respect to sin, yet we have real life in another respect. We are made alive unto God to righteousness, to true holiness.  (Barnes)

1Peter 2:24    He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

Acts 5:30   The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead —whom you killed by hanging him on a cross.

Acts 10:39   “We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a cross,

Acts 13:29    When they had carried out all that was written about him, they took him down from the cross and laid him in a tomb.

Galatians 3:13    Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.”

In his own body – This alludes undoubtedly to his sufferings. The sufferings which he endured on the cross were such as if he had been guilty; that is, he was treated as he would have been if he had been a sinner. He was treated as a criminal; crucified as those most guilty were; endured the same kind of physical pain that the guilty do who are punished for their own sins; and passed through mental sorrows strongly resembling – as much so as the case admitted of – what the guilty themselves experience when they are left to distressing anguish of mind, and are abandoned by God. The sufferings of the Saviour were in all respects made as nearly like the sufferings of the most guilty, as the sufferings of a perfectly innocent being could be.

On the tree – The meaning is rather, as in the text, that while himself on the cross, he bore the sorrows which our sins deserved. It does not mean that he conveyed our sorrows there, but that while there he suffered under the intolerable burden, and was by that burden crushed in death. The phrase “on the tree,” literally “on the wood,” means the cross.  (Barnes)

1Peter 2:24    He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

Hebrews 1:3     The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.

Isaiah 53:4    Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted.

Isaiah 53:12   Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

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

Romans 4:7-8    “Blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord will never count against them.”

Romans 5:6-11    You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.  Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die.  But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!  For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!  Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Galatians 3:13    Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.”

Who his own self – on the phrase “when he had by himself purged our sins.” The meaning is, that he did it in his own proper person; he did not make expiation by offering a bloody victim, but was himself the sacrifice.

Bare our sins – There is an allusion here undoubtedly to Isaiah 53:4, Isaiah 53:12. See the meaning of the phrase “to bear sins” fully considered in the notes at those places. As this cannot mean that Christ so took upon himself the sins of people as to become himself a sinner, it must mean that he put himself in the place of sinners, and bore that which those sins deserved; that is, that he endured in his own person that which, if it had been inflicted on the sinner himself, would have been a proper expression of the divine displeasure against sin, or would have been a proper punishment for sin.  He was treated as if he had been a sinner, in order that we might be treated as if we had not sinned; that is, as if we were righteous. There is no other way in which we can conceive that one bears the sins of another. They cannot be literally transferred to another; and all that can be meant is, that he should take the consequences on himself, and suffer as if he had committed the transgressions himself.  (Barnes)

Psalm 73:16-17    When I thought how to understand this, it was too painful for me—until I went into the sanctuary of God.

The writer of Psalm 73 knew in his head that God was good (verse 1). But this writer, Asaph, was troubled in his heart by what he saw around him. The wicked were thriving (verses 3-9). They scoffed at the notion of God (verses 10-11), yet they were growing richer (verse 12). Asaph, who tried to live a godly life, wondered why he had more problems than the arrogant (verses 13-14).

What did Asaph do? He expressed his questions to God. He went into the Lord’s presence like entering a sanctuary, and he gained new insights about the brevity of life for the wicked compared to the eternal glory afforded him by his faith (verses 15-24).

There’s a temptation when faced with spiritual questions to withdraw from God in frustration when we should withdraw to God in faith. We may not always understand our situations, but we’ll draw closer to the One who does understand.

Do you have spiritual questions? Go to God with them!

Faith does not eliminate questions. But faith knows where to take them.

Hebrews 12:7,10    God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? . . . He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness.

–

God brings hardship into our lives to bring us back to Him when we have wandered away. God’s reproofs are impartial. No Christian is exempt from God’s discipline. Second, God’s reproofs are helpful. Proverbs 3:12 says, “Whom the Lord loves He reproves, even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights.” Notice it doesn’t say, “Whom the Lord loves He condemns.” Instead, God reproves; He disciplines.

What’s the difference? When a murderer is condemned to death, the sentence carries no hope of restoration. That’s our situation before we become Christians. Romans 6:23 says, “The wages of sin is death.” Because of adultery, lust, greed, idolatry, or any other sin we commit, we’re all guilty before God, and we all deserve the death penalty. But God, in His mercy, has pardoned us from our sin. If we have trusted in Christ as Savior, we don’t have a death sentence hanging over us. We’re no longer condemned.

But that doesn’t change the fact that we’re going to be recipients of God’s discipline–not for our condemnation but for our restoration. God disciplines us because He loves us. Hebrews 12:7, 10 says, “It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? . . . He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness.” The fact that God doesn’t allow us to get away with sin is proof that He loves us. His reproofs are for our good.

When I was a child, I never believed my parents when they were disciplining me and they said, “This is going to hurt me worse than it hurts you.” When I became a parent myself, I finally understood how difficult it is to discipline your children. It would be much easier to let their transgressions slide than to go through the pain of disciplining them. The reason we discipline our kids is that we love them. We want the best for them. We don’t want them to continue on a path that’s going to lead to destruction.

God feels the same way about His children. Hebrews 12:8 says, “If you are without discipline, . . . then you are illegitimate children and not sons.” God’s reproofs are for our good.

Luke 2:18   And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds.

Imagine you are a shepherd in ancient Israel: Your job is mundane, dirty, and maybe even a little frightening. You’re out in the wilderness, away from town, and the only light you see at night comes from the fire around which you are huddled and the moon hanging overhead. With that small field of vision, you’re supposed to not only keep track of your sheep, but also protect them from attack.

Suddenly, a supernatural brightness—“the glory of the Lord”—blinds your eyes, and there’s somebody there, unlike anything you’ve seen before. Perhaps you immediately realize that it’s the angel of the Lord, or maybe you are so consumed with confusion that it takes a minute to sink in that this being is from the heavenly realm. Either way, you’re so awestruck that the angel’s first words are, “Do not be afraid.”

“Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”

I wonder if the shepherds collapsed to the ground during this overwhelming experience. We know they felt fear, of course, but imagine the flood of emotions as they begin to realize that the angel of the Lord is proclaiming the news of the arrival of the Messiah!

What is the Messiah? The One promised since Genesis 3, who would come and rescue all of mankind. For the Jewish people, this is the One they had been longing for. And the shepherds are some of the first to hear of His arrival.

If the knees of the shepherds hadn’t buckled by that point, you can be sure that they did when suddenly the skies lit up and one angel became “a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying: ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!’”

It’s no surprise that they immediately ran to find the Child in the manger, and returned passionately glorifying and praising God!

Fear, confusion, awe, joy—the shepherds experienced the gamut of emotions that historic night.

How about you? As you read this passage, are you still filled with awe? Do you empathize with the confusion and fear? Can you feel their joy? If not, reread Luke 2 and try to envision it from the shepherd’s perspective once again, and pray that the Holy Spirit will fill you with His joy this Christmas season. (Graham)

Sin is a disease, a natural and hereditary one, an epidemic distemper, that reaches to all men, and to all the powers and faculties of their souls, and members of their bodies; and which is nauseous and loathsome, and in itself mortal and incurable; nor can it be healed by any creature, or anything that a creature can do. Christ is the only physician, and his blood the balm and sovereign medicine; this cleanses from all sin; through it is the remission of sin, which is meant by healing; for healing of diseases, and forgiving iniquities, is one and the same thing

Who his own self bare our sins ,…. As was typified by the high priest bearing the sins of the holy things of the people of Israel, when he went into the most holy place, and by the scape goat bearing the iniquities of all the people unto a land not inhabited, and as was foretold by the Prophet Isaiah. The apostle here explains the nature and end of Christ’s sufferings, which were to make atonement for sins, and which was done by bearing them. What Christ bore were “sins”, even all sorts of sin, original and actual, and every act of sin of his people; and all that is in sin, all that belongs to it, arises from it, and is the demerit of it, as both filth, guilt, and punishment; and a multitude of sins did he bear, even all the iniquities of all the elect; and a prodigious load and weight it was; and than which nothing could be more nauseous and disagreeable to him, who loves righteousness, and hates iniquity: and these sins he bore were not his own, nor the sins of angels, but of men; and not of all men, yet of many, even as many as were ordained to eternal life, for whom Christ gave his life a ransom, whom he justifies and brings to glory; our sins, not the sins of the Jews only, for Peter was a Jew, and so were those to whom he writes, but of the Gentiles also, even the sins of all his people, for them he saves from their sins, being stricken for them. His “bearing” them was in this manner: he becoming the surety and substitute of his people, their sins were laid upon him by his Father, that is, they were imputed to him, they were reckoned as his, and placed to his account; and Christ voluntarily took them upon himself; he took them to himself, as one may take the debt of another, and make himself answerable for it; or as a man takes up a burden, and lays it on his shoulders; so Christ took up our sins, and “carried” them “up”, as the word here used signifies, alluding to the priests carrying up the sacrifice to the altar, and referring to the lifting up of Christ upon the cross; whither he carried the sins of his people, and bore them, and did not sink under the weight of them, being the mighty God, and the man of God’s right hand, made strong for himself; and so made entire satisfaction for them, by enduring the wrath of God, the curse of the law, and all that punishment which was due unto them; and thereby bore them away, both from his people, and out of the sight of God, and his vindictive justice; and removed them as far as the east is from the west, and made a full end of them; and this he himself did, and not another, nor by another, or with the help of another; not by the means of a goat, as the high priest, but by himself; though he was assisted in bearing his cross, yet he had no help in bearing our sins; angels could not help him; his Father stood at a distance from him; there was none to help. (Gill)