The well known Christian writer, C.S. Lewis, defined
hope as "a continual looking forward to the eternal world." (Mere Christianity p. 104)
Our terrible condition in sin would be hopeless were it not for the great love God has for us. The good news is that God overcame all our guilt and sin. This is called "the gospel." Paul said of it:
"I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is
the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew,
then for the Gentile." (Romans 1:16)
The things God has given for man's escape and his
forgiveness are all found in this good news. It is expressed in these beautiful
words:
"For God so loved the world, that he
gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but
have eternal life." (John 3:16)
"But God demonstrates his own love for us in
this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we now have been
justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath
through him!" (Romans 5:8,9)
Read also
The animal sacrifices offered by the Jews under the Old
Covenant were the promise of something better. The blood of those animal
sacrifices could not take away sins (Read Hebrews 10:4). However, the only
blood having power to deliver man from sins is that of His own Son. His life
was sinless and therefore His death - His sacrifice of Himself became the means
of our forgiveness. Read carefully the following references: Hebrews 4:15; 5:8,
9; I Peter
Jesus Christ is the center of the New Covenant and His
death is the theme of the gospel. Therefore, it is easy to understand why Paul
(the apostle) summed up his work of preaching by declaring, "For I
resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him
crucified" (I Corinthians 2:2). His death on the cross would have been in vain
if He had not won over death by His resurrection. (Read I
Corinthians 15:14, 20; Romans 4:25). The
power of the gospel involves his resurrection – as well as his
crucifixion. Read 1 Corinthians 15:1-4.
We shall now consider different pictures of the escape
Jesus offers us from our sins.
1. Salvation: Man is lost in sin and needs to be
rescued. Jesus has done this for us.
"Salvation is found in no one else, for there is
no other name under heaven given to men by which we
must be saved." (Acts
"She will give birth to a son, and you are to
give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."
(
"For the Son of Man came to seek and save what
was lost." (Luke 19:10)
"But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower
than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so
that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. In bringing many
sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything
exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through
suffering." (Hebrews 2:9, 10)
Read Hebrews 7:25; I Peter 2:25; I Timothy 1:15;
Romans 8:1.
2. Redemption (to ransom or buy back): We have sold ourselves to sin and Satan.
Jesus came to buy us back. There is nothing we can do
to effect this redemption. Jesus did it for us. The
price was his precious blood. "In whom we have redemption, the forgiveness
of sins" (Colossians
3. Justification: We appear before God "just-as-if" we had
never sinned. We are justified or declared "not guilty" because of
the redemption we have in God's Son Jesus. Please read Acts 13:38, 39; Romans
5:1, 9; Titus 3:5-7.
4. Reconciliation: This word means "to restore friendship after
separation." When we first sin we
separate ourselves from God. But when we are saved, redeemed and justified, we
are brought back into fellowship with God.
"Once you were alienated from God and were
enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled
you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight,
without blemish and free from accusation." (Colossians 1:21, 22)
"All this is from God, who reconciled us to
himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was
reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against
them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation." (2
Corinthians 5:18, 19)
Read Ephesians 2:14-18 also.
5. Forgiveness: In order to stand before God without sin our sins
must be forgiven. This happens when we accept His Son's death in our place. It
is through the blood of Christ that God forgives and forgets all our sins. Read this powerful verse: "In him we have redemption through his
blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's
grace." (Ephesians 1:7)
Read Acts
Having the same meaning as "forgiveness" is
the word remission." Read
6. Cleansing: Our sin makes our hearts dirty - even as dirt and
grime do to our bodies. We use soap and water to cleanse our bodies. Just so,
when we are immersed in water into His death (Romans 6:4), we reach the blood
of Jesus that cleanses our hearts from all the filth of sin.
What a meaningful verse this is! "
. . . and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin" (I
John 1:7). Read also I Corinthians 6:11; Revelation 7:14; Romans 6:1-6.
To consider the wonderful fact that we are saved,
redeemed, justified, reconciled, forgiven, and clean makes us aware of God's
love, and grace. How meaningful is this passage of scripture:
"But because of his great love for us, God, who
is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in
transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with
Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order
that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace,
expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus." (Ephesians 2:4-7)
Read also Acts 20:32; Romans 3:24; Titus 2:11; 3:7;
Hebrews 2:9. The word "grace"
means that God has given us His kindness and mercy, that
we did not deserve. This is
unmerited favor from
our Father. Not one of us deserves to be forgiven or
saved. Indeed, we all deserve to be sent to hell (Romans
We
do indeed believe that we shall be saved through the grace of our Lord Jesus
(Acts
JESUS CHRIST IS THE HOPE OF THE WORLD! If we desire escape from our sins and a place in the
everlasting
"We must pay more careful attention, therefore,
to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. For if the message spoken
by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just
punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? This
salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those
who heard him." (Hebrews 2:1-3)