And they sung a new song, saying,
Thou art worthy to take the book,
and to open the seals thereof:
for Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed
us to God by thy blood out of every
kindred, and tongue, and people,
and nation; and hast made us unto
our God kings and priests:
and we shall reign on the earth.
Revelation 5:9-10
Salvation is the basis of salvation and this due to the redeeming work of Jesus Christ. The Greek word translated "redeemed" means to purchase, to go to the market place to buy and sell so here Jesus Christ is figuratively spoken of as having bought all who have come to faith in Him, that is Authentic Christian Faith, not just to have some shallow faith. Why would anyone buy that which is not seen as purchasable? The fact that Jesus bought you and I, we are His property. The price He paid was His crucifixion on the cross, the pouring out of His blood. It was His blood shed for sin that makes it possible for salvation. Here is this fact: You cannot be good enough, you cannot be Authentic enough, you cannot cause yourself to be chosen, not by yourself. The One buying is the One who chooses whom He buys. It is Jesus Christ that determines how His blood will be used to purchase anyone. Let us not forget: we are blemish! We are sinners! We have no "real" good in us so that we are so desirable that Jesus must choose us! Redemption is not yours due to anything you have done. Oh! So I have nothing to do with being chosen? YES! You have nothing to do with the atonement for how do you understand the vicarious atonement that the New Testament speaks about. Why would God have Jesus choose you? Oh, it is out of His love! Well, that is true but God did not choose you out of His love for God hates sin! You are a sinner therefore God hates you! You are so blemished as not to be considered good enough to be chosen. This is a mystery! Yet, this mystery can be understood even by the young. This mystery rests upon the One whom God sent to earth to die for this debt you owe to Him. We see the One sent forth and we see that He revealed to us God, and the fulfillment of the promise of God to send a Redeemer, in fact: Jesus revealed to us that He is God and that He is worthy to be the purchaser. How does Jesus then purchase you? God gives to you a free gift: that gift is faith (Ephesians 2:8). Not just any faith, no, but faith that Jesus is the Redeemer, and that He is worthy to redeem, so this free gift of faith is yours: that is, if you choose to receive this gift. Just because you say that you have received this free gift of faith does not save you. Whew....... I believe so why am I not saved? You are but not because you just have faith, no, the fact remains: you are blemished, you, even with your Authentic Christian faith, you are unworthy to be chosen. God cannot look upon sin and give approval to a sinner. Whew......... this mystery of redemption, of salvation seems hard: but it is not! God sees the one who have received His free gift of faith through the work of Jesus on the cross. God sees Jesus and if you have put your faith, that is, Authentic Christian Faith in Jesus and Jesus has bought the one who has presented themselves to be purchases: then you are redeemed. Now God sees you through Jesus and by His purchase of you. It is all God that saves and this through Jesus Christ. Now, here is great hope: Jesus does not turn you around and around looking for blemishes ensuring that He has bought correctly, you are not some fruit that just might be discarded due to your blemishes. No! You, when bought by Jesus are bought to be more than some blemished fruit: you are bought and the dowry is His blood, and by His shed blood you are never going to not be His bride, His purchase. Jesus does not choose or buy wrongfully. praise God for how would we know how good we should be, how much good should I have and is it different for other people. We would be living a lie, a fatalistic life never knowing if we are really redeemed. You can know: Jesus came, lived, shown us that He is God, that He is the redeemer promised from the beginning of man's fall from grace. Jesus gave us miracles, teachings, living innocently and it was Him who was falsely accused and then nailed to a stake, buried for three days, (as was foretold), rose from the grave and lived for some 50 days on the earth and then by some 500 viewers He ascended into heaven to make His propitiation presented to the Father and then to make intercession, to give this free gift of faith, this free gift of eternal life to whomever would believe in Him.
Here is where liberal Christianity goes awry: The cross is not preached, it has been stripped of its importance: oh, they do speak at times of the atonement but their hearts are not at the foot of the cross. The death of Jesus Christ is conceived in some subtle way, hearers of this preaching are not led to the foot of the cross and believe that by doing, by some experience that seems godly they will be seen as true believers, true in their faith. But this is not so: they have not come to Authentic Christian Faith and this by coming to the foot of the cross repenting for their sinfulness, for the fact that they have sinned against a holy God. Then by hearing the word of God rightly preached, that is by adding nothing to the word of God and by this allowing the Holy Spirit to draw you to the cross, to repentance and then to acceptance of this free gift you will come to Authentic Christian Faith.
REDEMPTION: SALVATION: HAS NOT COST YOU ANYTHING! IT HAS COST GOD ALL, HIS SON JESUS CHRIST. THIS IS A MYSTERIOUS ASPECT OF GOD AND HIS LOVE THAT HE WHO HATES SIN HAS PROVIDED A WAY FOR YOU TO BE A REDEEMED CHILD. PRAISE GOD! EXCEPT NOW THAT FREE GIFT.
Hear me, O LORD; for thy lovingkindness
is good: turn unto me according to the
multitude of Thy mercies. and hide not Thy
face from Thy servant; for I am in trouble:
hear me speedily. Draw nigh unto my soul,
and redeem it: deliver me because of my
enemies. Thou has known my reproach, and my
shame, and my dishonor: mine adversaries
are all before Thee.
Psalm 69:16-19
Come to the cross of Jesus Christ
Richard L. Crumb
No comments:
Post a Comment