Jesus Paid For Us

[The following is a manuscript of my brief devotional delivered on Sunday morning, the 29th of April, 2018.  This Sunday we welcomed "Paid For Gospel", who shared with us their ministry of beautiful music.  Look for the video on our Vimeo channel:  http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]

Before we bring “Paid For Gospel” back up, I’d like to share with you a brief passage from the 1st letter that the Apostle Peter wrote to the early church as it began spreading throughout the land.

You may recall from last week’s announcements when I mentioned that “Paid For Gospel” would be with us this morning, I said how their group name brings to mind the price Jesus paid for us.  Listen and follow along to what Peter tells us in the 1st chapter of that 1st letter, verses 13 through 21, reading from the Living Bible…

13 So now you can look forward soberly and intelligently to more of God’s kindness to you when Jesus Christ returns.

14 Obey God because you are His children; don’t slip back into your old ways — doing evil because you knew no better. 15 But be holy now in everything you do, just as the Lord is holy, who invited you to be His child. 16 He Himself has said, “You must be holy, for I am holy.”

17 And remember that your heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites when He judges. He will judge you with perfect justice for everything you do; so act in reverent fear of Him from now on until you get to heaven. 18 God paid a ransom to save you from the impossible road to heaven which your fathers tried to take, and the ransom He paid was not mere gold or silver as you very well know. 19 But He paid for you with the precious lifeblood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. 20 God chose Him for this purpose long before the world began, but only recently was He brought into public view, in these last days, as a blessing to you.

21 Because of this, your trust can be in God who raised Christ from the dead and gave Him great glory. Now your faith and hope can rest in Him alone.

--1 Peter 1:13-21 (TLB)

God paid a ransom for us, and that payment was not made with gold or silver or anything else that can tarnish and fade and become worthless over time.  No, He paid with the precious lifeblood of His only Son, His Christ for mankind, the spotless Lamb of God.

He had to pay that ransom for us, for there is no other way we can be saved.  Redemption is impossible by any other means.  God knew this would be necessary before He even brought the world into existence.  He knew He would have to sacrifice His own Son.  But God didn’t leave Jesus to rot in the grave.  He raised Him from the dead, and they can both be glorified.


The cost of admittance to heaven is steep.  There’s no way we can afford to pay.  But that’s OK, because Jesus paid it for us.  Jesus paid for our salvation.  He paid for us, He bought us with His own blood.  And now we are His!  Let’s start acting like it!

Love sacrificially, unconditionally.  Share your own story, be a witness, and help make disciples for Jesus.  Share the Gospel, the Good News of salvation through Jesus with all the world!  All in the name of Jesus, our Lord and Savior.  Amen.