HOW
CAN I GET IN ON IT?
PART
4
Here
we are again! Let us now put this critical puzzle piece in place.
A REMEDY FOR THE
DIAGNOSIS
Last time we saw that Jesus Christ was called, “the Lamb of God.”
We also saw, that all the sacrifices in the Old Testament spoke of
Him. Before that, we saw that all God's rules, including the ten
commandments, could only show us
that we are sinful, just as a mirror does. We concluded that there
was no hope in and of ourselves. We saw that we needed a deliver to
save us! Then, we received the news that Jesus had arrived to, “take
away our sin.” Yet, how would He do this? Well, just like the lambs
had to die, so Jesus would die. Just like the person in the Old
Testament would lay their hand on the head of the sacrificial animal,
showing that all their sins were transferred to the animal, so all
your sin and my sin was heaped on Jesus. Then, just as the animal had
to die for the sins of that person as their substitute, so Jesus died
to pay for all your sin that was heaped upon Him. For it is written,
“And the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah
53:6b) Look! Jesus Christ took your place, your sin, and your death!
In this way the wages for your sin was paid in full – past and
future too! We know what the Scriptures say, “The wages of sin is
death,” and “Without shedding of blood [death], is no
forgiveness.” (Romans 6:23, Hebrews 9:22) That is why
Jesus died – there
was no other remedy!
IT'S
PERSONAL
Now,
if Jesus paid the penalty for everyone's sin, including yours, why
isn't everyone saved? Well, this is were it really gets to be a
personal thing – trust. So we must see that the Bible speaks of
three words that have essentially the same meaning: trust, believe,
and faith. Let me now give you an example of how this plays out.
Let's say, the government could decide to pay for everyone's debt in
all its land. It could write out cheques for everyone. However,
unless you cashed that cheque, it would do you no good, would it? No
debt would be paid. The bank could still cause you to foreclose.
Those you owed, could still sue you. See then, that it works the same
way with God. He paid your debt, but unless you actually trust Jesus
the Saviour as your own Saviour,
it will do you no good. God will still hold you to account for your
sin and you'll have to pay in Hell forever! This is why the Bible
says, “For by grace you have been saved through
faith.” (Ephesians
2:8) Again, we read, “Whoever believes in
him [Jesus] is not condemned, but whoever does not
believe is condemned
already, because he has not believed in
the name of the only Son of God.” (John 3:18) So, have you “cashed
your cheque”?
WILL I ACCEPT GOD'S
GIFT?
So,
it really all “boils down” to this, who or what are you
trusting, if anyone or
anything at all? Are you trusting your good works? In that case, you
see yourself as your own saviour, and are saying that God the Father
sent His Son to die on the cross for no reason. Do you really think
you know better than God? God said, “For by works of the law no
human being will be justified [made right with Him] in his sight,
since through the law comes knowledge of sin.” Further, it says,
“For all have
sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” And still further, we
read, “For we hold that one is justified [made right with God]
apart from works of the law.”
(Romans 3:20, 23, 28) Instead, we read that we, “Are justified by
his grace as a gift,
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward
as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by
faith.” (Romans
3:24-25) Simply said, God sent His Son Jesus to pay for you by His
death, in order for you to be pardoned and walk away free! We could
simply say, do you think that Jesus is a
sufficient Saviour for you? God tells us about those who “rebelled” against
Him, that, “They were unable to enter because of
unbelief.” (Hebrews
3:19)
What
is your decision?
“And
as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
so
must the Son of Man be lifted up,
that
whoever
believes
in
him
may
have eternal
life.
For
God so loved the world [you],
that
he gave
his
only Son,
that
whoever believes [you?]
should
not perish
but
have
eternal
life.”
John
3:14-16
Victor
J. Reimer
*All
scripture taken from the ESV.
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