~ Three Great Blessings
from the Gospel of Jesus Christ ~
There are
three major blessings associated with the work of Christ on the Cross. These
are part of the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Each was obtained by
Christ on your behalf at the Cross and each is part of the Gospel.
Remission of Sins by God the Son (a judicial term) ~ “Then Peter opened his mouth and said: ‘In truth I perceive
that God shows no partiality. But in every nation whoever fears Him and works
righteousness is accepted by Him. The word which God sent to the children of
Israel, preaching peace through Jesus
Christ—He is Lord of all—that word you know, which was proclaimed
throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee after the baptism which John
preached: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with
power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the
devil, for God was with Him. And we are witnesses of all things which He did
both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they killed by hanging on a tree. Him God raised up on the third day,
and showed Him openly, not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen before by
God, even to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead. And He commanded us to preach to the people,
and to testify that it is He who was ordained by God to be Judge of the living
and the dead. To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive
remission of sins’” (Acts 10:34-43).
“And
every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same
sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this Man, after He had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that
time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. For by one offering He
has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. But the Holy Spirit also
witnesses to us; for after He had said before, ‘This is the covenant that I
will make with them after those days, says the Lord:
I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,’ then He adds, ‘Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.’ Now where there is remission of these,
there is no longer an offering for sin” (Hebrews 10:11-18).
Reconciliation with God the Father (an accounting term) ~ “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation;
old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has
reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the
ministry of reconciliation, that is,
that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their
trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now
then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be
reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that
we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:17-21).
“For
when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man
someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in
that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having
now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For
if when we were enemies we were
reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been
reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus
Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation” (Romans 5:6-11).
Regeneration by the Spirit of God (a spiritual term) ~ “But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward
man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according
to His mercy He saved us, through the
washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out
on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by
His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:4-7).
“You have purified your souls in obeying the truth through
the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren,
love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of
corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the Word of God which lives and
abides forever” (1 Peter 1:22-23).
The penalty
attached to the judgment of your sins has been paid by Jesus Christ. The ledger
has been cleared in the books of God the Father. A totally new kind of life has
been planted within through the work of God the Spirit. These three great
blessings were procured at the Cross of Calvary by Jesus Christ. They are
critical parts of the proclamation of the Gospel in our day.
~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW
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