All tagged redemption
We don’t enter into heaven to live an eternal life because we deserve it. That kind of thinking is based upon our own vanity and arrogance. Our salvation and everlasting life is sealed by covenant, and that covenant comes by God’s acceptance of the death of Jesus Christ as our blood sacrifice. Only through Him can we be redeemed, perfected, and sanctified. Only through Him can we claim the covenant of grace.
Jesus didn’t come to earth to redeem us because He felt sympathetic love for us, He came at His Father’s request to do a job, and that job was to defeat sin, overcome death, and to glorify God Himself. His task was to mend the rift that had occurred in the Garden of Eden between God the creator, Eve the woman, and Adam the man, whom He had created. He would do this by the only way possible... offering the blood sacrifice of His only begotten Son, Jesus.
Do you see God the Father as a gentle old grey haired man who forgives you regardless of what you do and without regard or memory of what, or who, you are? Well that isn’t so. Without the horrific and yet wonderful sacrifice of His Son Jesus Christ we would be lost, because God’s very nature would prohibit His overlooking our sins. Our forgiveness is a supernatural event without precedent, which cleanses us of the once permanent stain of sin.
Have we placed Jesus first and foremost as our teacher? What is the danger in this? Why is it more important that we put Jesus the redeemer before Jesus the teacher?
Am I a sinner? Am I attempting to lead a life of innocence, or seeking to be pure? Will God forgive me when I sin against Him? These are the questions we should be asking ourselves as we contemplate sin in our lives, and the world around us.
In the day of Jesus, like today, a person could argue against Jesus, and that sin would be forgiven him if he repented, believed, and asked for forgiveness. Saul was certainly guilty of speaking out against Christ in those days when he persecuted the Christians, but later, after having met Jesus on the road to Damascus, he was converted, and his sin of having spoken and acted out against Jesus the Christ was forgiven. For those among us today who have spoken out against Christ there is also hope, forgiveness, and redemption. No matter how bitter your words, or actions, might have been, the hand of Christ remains extended to you. Forgiveness and eternity are just a prayer away.
When Jesus was asked why He ate with sinners and tax collectors he wasted no time in responding that He came to heal the sick, not those who are well, and He said it again in a different way so that He wouldn’t be misunderstood by saying that it was His intention to call sinners to repentance… not the righteous. If we step back from the trees so that we can see the forest we will realize that the first coming was indeed meant to destroy sin, and deal with death, but then we will find too that in His second coming He is returning to claim the righteous… those He has already healed. So if you are a sinner then repent, and if you are a believer then prepare yourself for the day He will return for you.
In the book of Acts we read Peter’s sermon, and he makes it clear who Jesus was, and who the people had put to death on Calvary by shouting “Crucify Him!”. What fear they must have felt when they finally realized what they had done, because they were people who lived under a law that called for retribution… an eye demanded an eye in return. So, was there any wonder why they didn’t want to acknowledge who Jesus truly was? Why they resisted the truth of the Messiah? Do you fear Him today for the same reason? Do your sins cause you to quake, and to call His gospel a myth? Well, let your fear be stilled because if you will only believe, then your sins will be forgiven by His blood, and you will be made pure before God.
Paul tells the Galatians that Jesus redeemed them by becoming a curse for them. This is strong language and we prefer to say that He took on our sins so that we might be redeemed and forgiven. This milder expression is true, but by using the gentler language we are sidestepping the harsher reality of what happened to Him here... He not only took on the legality of having sinned, but He assumed the horror, flagrant filthiness, terror, and terrible evil of sin as well... He became the fullness of sin... He became the curse for us.
Is redemption simply a matter of spouting off a few words? Is contrition no more than asking for forgiveness, or does the sorrow we feel in having sinned, and the absolute longing of our soul for forgiveness reach deep within us, and bring us to the verge of heartbreak and beneath the lentel of death’s door to the promise of forgiveness?