Jesus the Light 17 So Great Salvation
How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? –Heb.2:2
In the fullness of time, when we were without strength, God demonstrated His love towards us and sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to save sinful men.
The Lord Jesus Christ is God’s solution to the Problem of man. He has satisfied the wrath of God against sinful men and delivers from the punishment of hell. Everything outstanding against man that hindered his being accepted by God has been cleared away by the Lord Jesus.
The Solution is not in religious ceremonies and systems, or by external practices and techniques to improve one’s behavior. No, Christ Himself provides all that we could never do and is to us all that we could never be. Christ has solved every aspect of man’s Problem before God.
He is the justifier of the condemned and guilty. His fullness of resurrection life cleanses the corrupt and relieves the miserable. Slaves to sin are set free from their bondage by the redemption of Christ.
Those without power are strengthened by His Spirit in the inner man. His life replaces sin’s death. Enemies are reconciled and transformed into friends and servants.
The Light of Christ scatters the darkness of sin while the captives of Satan are delivered and transferred to the kingdom of God’s beloved Son.
Righteousness, once hated and feared, now is the portion and delight of all who receive Him. Hell’s horrors no more await to swallow in its ruin and destruction. Instead, the bright joys of heaven have been secured and opened as an eternal hope.
Yes, it is Christ Himself that we need, not religious codes and practices. Jn.3:16: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”
This is a glad Gospel indeed. Let us now consider the most important ways in which Christ is our Solution to the Problem of sinful men before the holy God.
Substitution means in the place of/in behalf of. The Lord Jesus suffered in our place the judgment that we all deserve: 1 Pet.2:24: “He bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.” Christ was treated as sin on the cross that we might become the righteousness of God in Him [2 Cor.5:21].
Propitiation is to appease/to satisfy. The Lord Jesus satisfied every righteous demand of the holy God against sinful man [Rom.3:25].
This is the bedrock of our salvation. If God Himself was not satisfied with what the Lord Jesus did in paying the price of our sins, then no one will ever be accepted into God’s presence.
Redemption is to set free by paying a ransom. The death of the Lord Jesus has fully paid the price to purchase us for God and to cancel our sin, guilt, and judgment.
Redemption is to buy back or remove from a slave market: 1 Cor.6:20: “You have been bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.” It effects a complete release: Eph.1:7: “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses.”
We have been redeemed by God, the price paid for our release being the blood of Christ which satisfied the claims of Divine justice. Man chose to revolt against God in the Garden of Eden and has been held captive by the devil ever since.
But Jesus Christ bought us back by His blood. Dear Listener, are you God’s possession and set free from sin?
Deliverance. Col.1:13,14 says: “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in Whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.” No curse, no ancestral sin, no juju can afflict you there if truly you are in Christ. 1 Jn.4:4: “Greater is He [Christ] that is in you than he [Satan] that is in the world.” Are you delivered from the power of darkness?
Reconciliation: to restore friendship between people who were enemies. God has taken the initiative to make His enemies into servants and friends through the death of Christ. Fellowship with man has thereby been restored: 2 Cor.5:19: “God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself.”
Rom.5:10 says: “We were reconciled to God through the death of His Son.” Reconciliation restores fellowship and transforms enemies into friends. Are you God’s friend and in fellowship with Him?
Justification. God declares righteous all who put their trust in Christ and His righteousness. Justification is a once and for all act by which God declares a man righteous on the basis of faith alone. God, the righteous Judge, declares a man “not guilty/ righteous” because of Christ’s payment for our sin [Rom.3:20-30]. Are you right with God?
Regeneration. God imparts His life by His Spirit through being spiritually born again. Regeneration comes by the Holy Spirit through the receiving of the Word of God. Tit.3:5: “He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior.”
1 Pet.1:23: “You have been born again through the living and abiding Word of God.” Do you have the life of Christ within you? Are you born again?
Intercession. Christ Jesus Himself now represents us forever before the throne of God as the one Mediator between God and man. 1 Tim.2:5: “There is one God and one mediator between God and man, the Man, Christ Jesus.”
Heb.7:25 says: “He is able to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.” Who is representing you before the throne of God? Is Jesus your mediator and Him alone?
Sanctification. Christ has completely set us apart unto His Father with an everlasting acceptance [1 Cor.1:30]. Sanctification is also the transforming process whereby we become outwardly in our lives what we are inwardly by God’s grace in Christ. By it we develop conformity to the moral and spiritual excellence of Christ, becoming like Him in every respect. 2 Thess.2:13: “God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.” Are you becoming more and more like Christ?
Glorification. The ultimate purpose of God is to conform every believer to the moral excellence of Christ’s character with each one having a glorious resurrected body. Rom.8:30: “Those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son.” 2 Thess.2:14: “For this He called you through our gospel, that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Are you showing forth the excellence of Christ?
Dear Listener, the Lord Jesus alone is our salvation. No one and nothing else can save. And His salvation is sufficient and complete, lacking nothing. You cannot be saved any other way: not by attending church, being baptized or taking communion. Reciting memorized prayers will not save you; only Jesus can save.
Have you come to Him? 1 Tim.1:15: “It is a faithful saying worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” Have you accepted Him and the great salvation He brings? “Behold, now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation” -2 Cor.6:2. How shall you escape if you neglect so great a salvation?
Copyright Steve Phillips 2020