By
one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified —Hebrews 10:14
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.
(Taken from Oswald Chambers – “My Utmost
for His Highest” December 8)