PART 2
In our last REMEMBER YOUR CREATOR article, we focused on who Jesus is, which is the first vital fact we need to believe in order to know where we will go when our journey through this life is over. It made me think of the words of a song that was written by Graham Kendrick who had discovered who Jesus is –
“Meekness and Majesty, Manhood and Deity, In perfect harmony, the Man who is God”
The second vital fact that we will focus on in this article is what Jesus accomplished by going to the cross. We have no hope of understanding why we are here nor where we are going unless we become beneficiaries of the two emboldened points above.
In the first chapter of John’s gospel, John the apostle records what John the Baptist said when he saw Jesus coming toward him, saying “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” In the 19th chapter, John the apostle records the horrific crucifixion of Jesus Christ when, as the Lamb of God, He paid for our sins and shed His blood that we might be forgiven. It is a worthy expenditure of time to take a few minutes and personally read John chapter 1 and John chapter 19 in your Bible.
Jesus was on the cross for six hours, between 9:00 am – 3:00 pm, and it is of interest that the gospels of Matthew (27:45), Mark (15:33), and Luke (23:44) spend considerable time focusing on the second three hours of the six-hour time period, between noon and 3:00 pm. The three gospels tell us that at noon, darkness fell across the whole land until 3:00 pm, and that it was during this second three-hour period that Jesus was abandoned by God, as evidenced by His recorded words, “My God, My God, why have You abandoned Me?” as God made Christ “who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:21) and He died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18).
SO WHAT ARE SOME OF THE BENEFITS TO US WHEN WE BELIEVE ‘WHO HE IS’ AND PUT OUR CONFIDENCE IN ‘WHAT HE DID FOR US WHEN HE DIED ON THAT CROSS’?
· But to all who believed and accepted Him, He gave the right to become children of God. (John 1:12)
· In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins… (Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:14)
· Therefore, there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus…(Romans 8:1)
· But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness. (Romans 4:5)
· These things have I written unto you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. (1 John 5:13)
· So, if we have received Christ as our Lord and Savior, we become children of God, we are forgiven of our sins (forgiveness means to have our debt cancelled), we are no longer under condemnation, we are now seen as righteous as God is because of the ‘cross’ and not by our own works, and we now have eternal life.
These are just some of the incomparable benefits of “trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ”.
WHAT SHOULD WE DO NOW THAT WE KNOW THIS? (IF YOU HAVE NEVER DONE SO, PLEASE DO SO TODAY)
For whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. (Romans 10:12)
If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9)
Author: Sid Osborn