We trample the blood of the Son of God underfoot if we think we are
forgiven because we are sorry for our sins. The only reason for the
forgiveness of our sins by God, and the infinite depth of His promise to
forget them, is the death of Jesus Christ. Our repentance is merely the
result of our personal realization of the atonement by the Cross of
Christ, which He has provided for us. “. . . Christ Jesus . . . became
for us wisdom from God–and righteousness and sanctification and
redemption . . .” (1 Corinthians 1:30).
Once we realize that Christ has become all this for us, the limitless
joy of God begins in us. And wherever the joy of God is not present, the
death sentence is still in effect.
No matter who or what we are, God restores us to right standing with
Himself only by means of the death of Jesus Christ. God does this, not
because Jesus pleads with Him to do so but because He died. It cannot be
earned, just accepted. All the pleading for salvation which
deliberately ignores the Cross of Christ is useless. It is knocking at a
door other than the one which Jesus has already opened. We protest by
saying, “But I don’t want to come that way. It is too humiliating to be
received as a sinner.” God’s response, through Peter, is, “. . . there
is no other name . . . by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
What at first appears to be heartlessness on God’s part is actually the
true expression of His heart. There is unlimited entrance His way. “In
Him we have redemption through His blood . . .” (Ephesians 1:7). To identify with the death of Jesus Christ means that we must die to everything that was never a part of Him.
God is just in saving bad people only as He makes them good. Our Lord
does not pretend we are all right when we are all wrong. The atonement
by the Cross of Christ is the propitiation God uses to make unholy
people holy.
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