In meditations 24 and 25 we saw that ‘repentance’, as the Bible describes it, is the pre-condition for humbly approaching God to receive his forgiveness and salvation.
But how will I actually pacify God’s anger against me? How do I receive God’s forgiveness for my rebellion and my pride? How will our relationship be restored? In other words: how will I find peace with God?
The letter to the Hebrews gives us the first (obvious) clue: “It is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that there is a God and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him” (Hebrews 11:6).
The Bible says that finding God’s forgiveness starts with hearing and believing the message concerning his only Son, Jesus Christ [the Messiah].
The apostle Paul declares: “Faith comes from listening to this message of good news -- the Good News about Christ.”
(Romans 10:17)
What then is this Good News [the Gospel] about Jesus Christ? The apostle Paul explains: “God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people's sins against them. This is the wonderful message he has given us to tell others.”
(2 Corinthians 5:19)
In his letter to the christians in Rome, Paul clarifies that message as follows: “Yet now God in his gracious kindness declares us not guilty. He has done this through Christ Jesus, who has freed us by taking away our sins. For God sent Jesus to take the punishment for our sins and to satisfy God's anger against us. We are made right with God when we believe that Jesus shed his blood, sacrificing his life for us” (Romans 3:24-25).
So, if we trust God for sending his Son into our world and if we believe that Jesus came to take the punishment for our rebellion and all its sinful consequences, God forgives us and saves us from his righteous anger.
The apostle John writes: “This is real love. It is not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins” (1 John 4:10).
The apostle Paul puts the Good News of Jesus's sacrificial death for us in a nutshell by calling it “the message of the cross”.
He says to the followers of Jesus in Corinth: “I know very well how foolish the message of the cross sounds to those who are on the road to destruction. But we who are being saved recognize this message as the very power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18).
Finally, the apostle Paul begs us to accept and believe this message which he received from God: “For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people's sins against them. This is the wonderful message he has given us to tell others. We are Christ's ambassadors, and God is using us to speak to you. We urge you, as though Christ himself were here pleading with you, ‘Be reconciled to God!’ For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:19-21).
So, when Paul and his co-worker Silas were asked: “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”, they simply answered: “Believe on the Lord Jesus and you will be saved...” (Acts 16:30-31)
Do you believe in the Lord Jesus for forgiveness and salvation?
All Bible verses are quoted from the ‘New Living Translation’.
For further study of ‘the message of the cross’, see meditations 5, 11, 22 and 23.
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