CHRIST THE SAVIOUR
CLASS 4 ISSUES
Study Scripture: Luke 15: 3 – 7, Romans 5: 6 – 10
Background Scripture: Luke 15: 3 – 7, Romans 5: 6 – 10
Lesson 3 December 20, 2025
Key Verse
For if while 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
Romans 5:10:
INTRODUCTION
Who is Jesus? This is the most important question that must be answered. The reason for the importance of this question is that on Jesus rests the destiny of everyone alive or dead.
It is a matter of life and death. What the Lord Jesus Christ means to each and every person will determine their future existence.
It is through Him that the road to eternal life runs.
So ask yourself if you believe that you want a better and fulfilling life. Ask yourself if you know you are making mistakes and it would be good if you can get guidance on what to avoid and on whom to lean for direction and safety.
Do not be ashamed to admit that you need a Saviour who is your personal helper and who is beside you all through the day.
The prophets and the apostles all spoke about Jesus Christ and His importance for life. In addition, He made it clear in His warning that there is a broad road that leads to destruction and a narrow road which leads to life.
He was the way, the truth, and the life. The only way of safety is to be with Him.
The doctrine of salvation therefore cannot be separated from the doctrine of Christ
To ensure His disciples understand His position and role in salvation history, He Himself asked His disciples, “Who do men say that I am?” and the Apostle Peter made the clear declaration, “Thou art the Christ, the son of the living God”.
Matthew 1:21-25 affirmed that the divine but now human Son of David, the Messiah was that spoken of in Isaiah 7 where the prophet spoke of the son of the virgin who was the promised Messiah and who was also Emmanuel, God with us. The Book of John in verse 1 records that this Divine Being was the Word and that the Word was God.
He created the world but then came as a human being to bring Truth to the world for in John 1 He declared “No one has seen God, but God the only Son who is at the Father’s side has made Him known”.
We should remind ourselves of this most important matter of who Jesus was and so we note several Scriptures to bring the facts about Jesus to your attention.
The Apostle Paul in Titus 2:18 could state about what the Lord Jesus Christ would do. The activities of Jesus was such that man would be “Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour”.
In Philippians 2:5-11 the Apostle Paul has spoken of the humbled and exalted Christ, He wrote:
“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus
Who being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,
But made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.
And being in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name,
That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth
And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father”.
This is of course what the prophet Isaiah had stated in 52:13-53;9. He had prophesied about this God, the sin-bearing Servant,
“Behold My servant shall deal prudently:
He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high.
Just as many were astonished at you,
So His visage was marred more than any man,
And His form more than the sons of men.
So shall He sprinkle many ntions.
Kings shall shut their mouths at Him.
For what had not been told them they shall see,
And what they had not heard they shall consider.
Who has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant.
And as a root out of dry ground.
He has no form or comeliness;
And when we see Him
There is no beauty that we should desire Him.
He is despised and rejected of men,
A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
Surely He has borne our griefs;
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities,
The chastisement for our peace was upon him
And by His stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned every one to his own way;
And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all
He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He opened not His mouth;
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
And as a sheep before his shearers is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.
He was taken from prison and from judgment,
And who will declare His generation?
For He was cut off from the land of the living.
For the transgression of My people He was stricken
And they made His grave with the wicked
And with the rich at His death.
Because He had done no violence
Nor was any deceit in His mouth”.
In our Study Chapter we are forced to consider what is generally called “the most provocative aspect of Jesus’ ministry, His companionship with tax collectors and sinners”
The passage we will look at has a setting (verses 1-2) and so Context is most important.
So first let us be reminded that this Chapter follows closely with the parable of the Banquet where Jesus tells of the poor, the maimed, the lame and the blind who are brought in to replace the distinguished people on the original guest list (14:15-24).
The two first verses in chapter 15 are then followed by the Parable of the Lost Sheep (15:3-7), the Lost Coin (15:8-10) and the grand finale of the Lost Son (15:11-32).
So note the setting, “All the tax collectors and sinners were drawing near in order to hear him”.
We remember how the prophet Isaiah described the human Jesus and so it is logical and sensible to ask what was it about Jesus that would attract tax collectors and sinners? One writer states:
“Here we want to avoid the vain romanticism about Jesus’ winsome personality and follow Luke’s lead instead. Luke provides a mixed message. Jesus seeks to bring sinners to repentance (5:32), but not once does Jesus actually scold or correct a sinner. Instead he eats with them. Four times Luke reports (a) meal in which (b) Jesus receives criticism for (c) his relationship with sinners, but (d) never once comments on the sinners’ behaviour (5:27-32, 7:36-50; 15:1-32;, and 19:1-10.
Congregations may stumble over the term ‘sinners’. Especially if they are well educated in Christian doctrine, “Aren’t we all sinners?” some may protest. Not in Luke’s world. In Luke’s world, some people so habitually transgress the ways of God that they are sinners in need of repentance. Others do not. We must take our passages on its own terms; Jesus distinguishes between sinners who repent and the righteous who have no need of repentance (15:7). We may struggle with that distinction, but it is critical for engaging this passage on its own terms. Here lies the cutting edge of the passage: Jesus embraces the very people the rest of religious society rejects”.
We have the tendency to write off the present world and the present age as hopeless given the immortal, rebellious, shallow, superficial modern people. Many point out churches lack the moral authority to make determinations and clout to define righteous persons from sinners. Following the example of Jesus, the church’s task is to take sides with the underdog and say loudly who are the ‘sinners’ in our culture.. We like the rest of society scapegoat people as “sinners”.
We need to look closely at all of these parables and who Jesus our Saviour is.
Those of the kind Jesus loved to associate with were the kind that were rejected by those around them. So there was a group of various outcasts of the society, “The sinners here were a motley group of various outcasts from society—prostitutes, irreligious people who did not frequent the Jewish temple, thieves, gambles, etc. Our terms today for this group would be”hippies and radicals”.
So here is a crowd of loansharks and finks, hippies and radicals, all gathered around Jesus, listening to him. And the Pharisees objected. They did not object, particularly, to the fact that these people were listening to Jesus. What really bothered them was that some of this crowd was inviting Jesus home to dinner, and he was accepting! And so, with hands raised in honour, these Pharisees and scribes were saying, “This man receives these people and eats with them”.
Jesus saw the attitude of rejection of those gathering around Jesus. Each of the parables were about the lost, the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost sons.
We therefore are now looking at a Lesson about Jesus the Saviour. We see the heart of God, His attitude, and the work god undertakes to save the lost. One writer notes:
“Each of them will help us to see men as God sees them, and to understand the reasons why they are lost”.
Note that we all are ungodly, and want to be accepted with love and access to God. One writer sternly reminds us to face reality and states:
“There is not sweet little old lady, or strong virile man, or boy, or girl, who has lived a clean, moal life and is able to stand in the presence of the demands of the Law and the love of God. Therefore we are ungodly to start with”.
There is justification in God, for He restores those who believe the Gospel brought by the Son of God to those who belong to Him.
THE TEXT
Luke 15: 3 – 6
Verse 3. What initiated the parable that Christ gave was that Jesus looked into the hearts of the Pharisees and scribes and sinners that were near by. They, the Pharisees and scribes, saw people coming to Jesus to hear the word of God being spoken to the people that were around, publicans and sinners. Yes, it was sinners, but the clear contrast was that they, the people might have recognized themselves as sinners, but the Pharisees and scribe saw no sin within themselves.
As much as the Pharisees and scribes tried to separate themselves from others around them that did sin, there doesn’t seem to be an attempt to move the “sinners” away from sin. Those who supposedly knew better simply rejected who they thought were “sinners”. It was known that in those days some rabbis went to an extreme view of this and refused to teach God’s word to the ‘unclean’.
“Let not a man associate with the wicked, not even to bring him the law.” (m. Mek. Ex. 18:1, cited in Pate)
What we Christians must recognize is that this was not Jesus’ way. He came to preach the Word of God to all mankind, “sinners” or “holy persons”. As followers of Christ, it is not for us to really say that we should not deliver the Word of God to another soul. We should do like Jesus and seek out to help the rejected, and pray that God saves that soul given that we know the terror of the Lord God Almighty.
Our actions should be one of which we call people to repent. We encourage hope for a pardon upon repentance, because people today as in that time, look upon their situation as one of no hope and this will continue into tomorrow; they look upon their state as a desperate one.
Whilst the Pharisees and scribes might have only thought that Jews were the only one’s repentance should be offered to, Jesus saw and led that all of the gospel should be presented with the opportunity to hear.
They, the Pharisees and scribes also sought to disparage Christ. They did not see that His character, behaviour and way of living was not like that of those whom He was trying to save. But more importantly Jesus wanted to attach “sinners” to Him who sent Christ. They could not condemn Jesus for preaching to the people, but they could be enraged by that fact that He ate with them, which is something that came out of the tradition of the elders.
Verse 4. Jesus introduced the way of God to these rejects with the parable of the lost sheep. This parable was designed to show the care God takes for the preservation of those who came to him for forgiveness and thus became saints, as a reason why we should not offend them. Even more so here, where also it is designed to show the pleasure God takes in the conversion of sinners. This repentance was a reason why we should rejoice in it.
Jesus uses the shepherd metaphor to describe God’s care for people. See Psalm 23 psalm 28 and Ezekiel 34, this latter Chapter of considerable importance to the nation of Israel.
Jesus therefore asks the gathered men to consider what they would do if they had a flock of a hundred sheep foraging in the wilderness and taking the risk to find a missing sheep which were precious to the shepherd.
Note that this parable has peculiar elements. He refers to and challenges his hearers that there is a large flock with probably several shepherds or helpers. But obviously the rich sheep herders did not want to lose even one sheep.
The question can be asked as to why Jesus chose to use ‘sheep’ in His admonition. Shepherds know sheep unlike other animals such as pigs, goats or cows do not run away if they sense freedom; sheep just wander away, drifting without realizing it when they see a good patch of grass nearby. They will see patches of grass beyond the first patch and just head for that new patch and little by little they wander away from the flock and are lost, not seeing the flock anywhere in sight when they eventually look around them. Then they will bleat and run around not knowing where to go. They are then helpless and a target for predators.
Notice then Jesus is picturing certain people as living for the moment, not necessarily intending to get lost or wasting their life. But little by little concerned only with what is immediate they wander into something dangerous and destructive. When they wake up they find life is empty, and they have lots of burdens and guilt and are not even sure what and how this happened to them. They are not happy and do not know how to get out of their situation. They blame others, including God, for their predicament. They really are exactly like what this lost sheep typified.
It is pointed out by one pastor that there are millions around us today who are focused on making a living, feeding themselves, looking after their children, enjoying some sporting events to break the monotony of their life and that becomes all that concern them. They live to eat and eat to live.
“Some are rich and prominent. All over the country and all over the world today, I see people suffering from what someone has aptly termed destination sickness. i.e. the sickness of those who have already arrived at their destination, who have all that they set out to get in life. They have all they want, but they discover that they do not want anything they have. They have an empty life. That is destination sickness.
The Lord is talking here about people who did not mean to be empty and hollow and heartsick, but who find that they are, and do not know how it happened”.
Obviously the message is that we must be wise and know how to evangelize when we see and target people. We must understand ‘sinners’ are different but are quite like us.
When a sinner goes down the broad path, or a believer sins, they are like a lost sheep, a sheep that has gone astray. That individual is lost to God, like we all were when Adam and Eve sinned.
That communication that they once had with God is now gone, but Jesus is here to say we can have that back and something even better. We as sinners miss out on honour and service we would have from God. We lose out on a strengthening kind of communion that we can have with other saints; iron sharpens iron.
But lastly, we are in a state where we don’t even recognize who we are and what state we are. We have been blinded so much by sin, we do not know where we are. To that end, we are now at the will of predators, subject to frights and terrors, and live in lands of war and disharmony. We ourselves cannot find our way back to the fold, a fold were there is peace, love, joy and happiness, and that is in the Kingdom of God.
God cares for His creation, lost or not. He watches over the poor wandering sinners. He is not one who cannot handle the task of looking after His sheep that He has, and searching for His missing sheep. This is what separates God from any other Shepherd out there in the world. The number of sheep doesn’t matter to Him, He is interested in the quality of all that He has, and so He is not willing to lose one, so that His goal of improving the quality of their soul can be met.
“No creature strays more easily than a sheep; none is more heedless; and none so incapable of finding its way back to the flock, when once gone astray: it will bleat for the flock, and still run on in an opposite direction to the place where the flock is: this I have often noticed.” [Clarke]
Verse 5. In finding out that a sheep has gone astray, the shepherd goes out to find it. This is in contrast to the rabbis of Jesus’ day where they believed that God received the sinner who came to Him the right way. Clearly, this is a works type of mentality. But in the parable of the shepherd and the sheep, Jesus taught that God actively seeks out the lost. He does not grudgingly receive the lost; He searches after them. God finds the sinner more than the sinner does find God.
“A great Jewish scholar has admitted that this is the one absolutely new thing which Jesus taught men about God — that he actually searched for men.” [Barclay]
In bringing the lost sheep home, there are many lessons to learn about Jesus, who is the Great Shepherd, and the sheep who are the Children of God, those that are in the fold, and those that have gone astray.
When the shepherd finds the sheep, it is weary. This is to tell us that life apart from God will have a harsh effect on us, emotionally and physically. We see the shepherd instead of being upset and leaving it where it was found, recognizes the stress in the lost sheep and takes it upon “himself” to bring it home. The Scripture says the shepherd, lays it on his shoulders. This shows a great deal of tenderness and labour, in order to bring the sheep back.
This is the way in which the great work of Redemption occurs.
God’s Son was sent to redeem man, to find that lost sheep and bring it home. That was the task of the Son; that is the task of Jesus, and now it is the task of all those redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb.
Christ is said to gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, denoting his pity and tenderness towards poor sinners; here he is said to bear them upon his shoulders, denoting the power wherewith he supports and bears them up; those can never perish whom he carries upon his shoulders. [Matthew Henry]
Verse 6. The emphasis in this parable is not on the proportion, but on the joy of finding the lost. The Pharisees and scribes who complained about Jesus and who He associated with missed this point.
Are we redeeming the lost to us, or are we redeeming them to God?
The sheep cannot rescue itself, and likewise, the sinner cannot redeem or move to repentance in and of themselves, but it is Jesus’ blood and the power of the Holy Spirit moving within that sinner, that brings them to want to know the Father and repent, to be again with Him in the New Kingdom.
God takes great pleasure in the repenting of returning sinners. The joy that Christ and the Father has when one returns in even greater than that of hoping to find that sinner, because now they are redeemed.
What is also important, and already mentioned is that God the Father did not send a servant to find the lost sheep, but His own Son, the great and good Shepherd, who will find what He seeks, and will be found of those that even know that they are seeking Him.
Romans 5: 6 – 10
Verse 6. The depth of God’s love becomes the focus in this verse and those that follow (vs. 6-10). Paul shows us that the love of God is reasonable. He gives us reasons so that we can be sure that God loves us and these reasons make sense.
Four terms that are increasingly uncomplimentary describe those for whom Christ died and reminds us of our previous condition.
The first is ‘without strength’ (helpless) or ‘powerless’ morally. (Eph2:1-2; John3:3; 2 Cor.4:4; 1Cor.2:14; 3:11). The term is often used in the New Testament to refer to physical illnesses, afflictions of those in need of healing (Luke 10:9). Here the Apostle uses it to refer to spiritual sickness, our weakness when it comes to obeying the will of our Creator. The sense is that we were incapable of working out any righteousness for ourselves.
… in due time … ‘at the right time’ refers to the fullness of time, the right time from God’s perspective (3:26; 8:18; 13:11; Gal. 4:4). It was not an afterthought. Paul urges us to consider that it was the ‘right time’; it was when we were ‘helpless’ and ‘ungodly’ that Christ loved us, ‘while we were sinners,’ while we were worthy only of His eternal wrath.
…ungodly … are those who are without strength. Our spiritual weakness has brought us to contempt for God, a frightening and dangerous lack of reverence and awe for the King of the universe. The fact is everyone neglects God and rebels against Him. (Isa.55:8-9). This is ungodliness.
Yet despite our heinous disrespect, God has done something for us that only He can do: He sent His Son to die for us!
Verse 7. Paul is setting up to show God’s great love even clearer and puts out a logical and reasonable supposition.
Why is it so extraordinary for Christ to die for sinners?
Paul answers with the analogy of everyday life. It would be unusual for someone to give his or her life for another, even for a righteous man.
– Perhaps, Paul says, it is within the realm of possibility for one to sacrifice his life for an extremely good person, but everyone knows that this is a rare and unlikely occurrence.
… a righteous man…. Paul used “righteous” here in the general sense of an upright person, not in the theological sense of a person made right with God.
Verse 8. Our hope of heaven is secure because it is based on God’s love that sent Christ to die for us while we were yet sinners; His enemies!
… sinners… (wicked, 3:23), these are they for whom Christ died. Paul’s point is that they are neither righteous nor good. He contrasts the worth of the life sacrificed, Jesus Christ’s, and the unworthiness of those who benefit from His sacrifice.
Whereas people may look at one another as meriting love because they are righteous or good, God views them as sinners. Nevertheless, God loves them.
His provision of His own Son as our Savior dramatically demonstrated the depth of His love (John 3:16).
… commendeth his love … Paul describes this act as God’s commending his love toward us.
The term has a sense of ‘proving’ or ‘giving an unquestionable display’, a very strong statement!
Who can doubt God’s love when realizing that He freely gave His Son to be the sacrifice for our sins? It was a selfless, inexplicable expression of God’s love for sinners.
Verse 9. The Apostle continues to build his argument for the security of the believer’s salvation. If God demonstrates His love for us while we were yet sinners, surely God’s love for us will be even more evident to those who are His children, by faith.
If God has done what was necessary to help His enemies so that we would become His friend now and have peace with Him we can be even more certain now that we have been justified that He will care for us. In other words this argument is so structured that if the greater is true, the lesser must also be true. Because God gave His Son for us we can be sure that He will love us now to an unbelievable extend now that we are friends and have peace with Him.
The benefits of justification are spoken of now as even more certain.
… now… furthers the argument. If God did so much for us then out of love, how much more will He do for us now?
One writer notes: “So far Paul had referred to five benefits of justification. These blessings, in addition to justification itself, were
-peace with God (vs.1),
-access into a gracious realm (vs.2),
-joy in tribulation (vv.3-5a),
-and the indwelling Holy Spirit (vs.5).
Still there is “much more” (vv. 10, 15, 17, 20).”
Paul next pointed to a blessing that justified sinners will experience in the future, namely, deliverance from the outpouring of God’s wrath on the unrighteous (1:18).
…justified by his blood … Jesus Christ’s blood is a metaphor for His death and the literal expression of His life poured out as a sacrifice (3:25). Having done the harder thing, namely, justifying us when we were yet sinners (v. 8), how much more will He do the easier thing, delivering us from coming wrath.
Justification, based on the shed blood of Jesus Christ assures the Christian that God’s wrath has been satisfied, that the penalty for sin has been paid and we no longer need fear divine condemnation. Through faith in the work of Christ, we are saved from the coming wrath of God.
Verse 10. The confident assertion of verse 9 is given a rationale in this verse. We were enemies of God, yet we were reconciled to God through the death of Jesus Christ. Now, having been reconciled by His death, we are free to enjoy the benefits of His life. It is a compelling argument; if by His death we were reconciled, surely by His life we will be saved from wrath. He argues from the greater to the lesser!
The death of Christ was an event in time and history with great benefits for the believer. But the life of our Lord is endless, and the benefits of His life hold promise of even greater things in store.
The Bible promises that all will be subject to judgment after death (Acts 17:31; Hebrews 9:27). Paul promises that Christ will save us from the deserved verdict of our judgment, the wrath of God against sin. The righteous, perfect judgment of God is sure. But also assured is our salvation through the atoning death of God’s own Son, for He will come again to save us (Hebrews 9:28).
Verse 11. This is the third use of “exult” (boast) in this context. Previously it was for the hope of glory, (vs.2), in tribulation, vs.3) and here in reconciliation. Earlier he noted that people of faith should be people of hope.
Now, he concludes this section by saying that people of faith and hope will also be people of joy.
The reason is summed up in the word reconciliation. Importantly this noun translates the same basic word that Paul uses in verse 10 and translated “reconciled” (twice).
This reconciliation (atonement) word is used in the financial world of Paul’s day to refer to paying up an account, making good what is deficient. It is not far removed from today’s accounting world, where “reconciling accounts” refers to making records come out evenly. The debt for sin is paid by God’s Son. Our personal account, with all its sin debt, is paid off by the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. No wonder Paul is so thankful!
Based on the redemptive death of our Lord, Jesus Christ, this verse concludes by pointing to the exultation which the Christian has in God the Father Himself. If our sin and God’s righteousness caused us to avoid God (as Adam and Eve hid from Him in the Garden of Eden), the death of Christ took away this fear, because justification produced peace with God. The life of our Lord now causes us to delight in God and in His presence. Now we boast in Him. All this has been accomplished through the Cross of Calvary and all of this is the result of justification.
CONCLUSION
Are people out there coming to hear words from you? Or are they staying away from you?
So ask yourself if you are like Jesus your Lord and following Him in hw you ife and deal with “sinners”.
How are you evangelizing? How do you you expect people out there to want to come near to you?
What do you have to change? Are you content with being in meetings and parties with those who are your friends?
Do you really know the people out there and the needs they have, and the mistakes they have made in life?
Let us try to be serious. If we are believers let us model our life after that of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let us practice the truth of the Gospel.
The depth of Christ’s love and the Father’s love for the undeserving is beyond human comprehension.
Praise must go to the Father for His work to rescue us through the work of Christ His Son. When we look at the past work of the Father this will makes us know more certainly that the future work of God will save us from His wrath.
Safety, certainty and enjoyment are for believers, for they are not without hope. As one writer stated now that we have received the reconciliation, we will have a triumphant, abundant, joyous entrance into the presence of God, confident of a glorious future with God.
Several very important truths emerge from our Study, along with some practical implications.
The sacrifice of Jesus Christ on Calvary is the basis of all spiritual blessings.
The prerequisite and basis for all spiritual blessings is justification.
For the believer, the work of our Lord Jesus Christ is the source of all of the blessings of God.
Jesus Christ and His work are central; they are the core of all that is important. He is the Author and the Finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). For now, and in eternity, He is the source of our blessings. He should be the focus of our attention, our adoration, and our obedience. He alone should be the subject of our boasting:
By His sacrifice we are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, that, just as it is written, “Let him who boasts, boasts in the Lord”, (1 Corinthians 1:30-31).
God’s love for us is more than promises or words. He has proven His love by sending His only Son to die for us while we were hostile and disobedient. The fact that the Sinless One gave Himself for sinners means that we need never doubt His love for us. So, when we feel that life is rotten and unfair, we must remember that God has proven His love for us.
The fundamental questions that we have are therefore answered and we can be sure of the validity of those answers.
The silence has been broken.
We can rejoice and say a lot.
We can sing songs of praise, because we have hope in the glory of God for we will participate in His glory.
Note carefully in addition to what we have said before that in His grace He has given us the grace to grow. We need to sing about that and to praise for that.
There were also that because of God’s love and or justification through Jesus Christ we will in future have with the Lord a “Marriage Supper”. Isaiah 25:6-9 speaks of this done the Lord of hosts will do. Revelation 19:9 also refers to this event.
This will be a time of celebration.
It is time to appreciate the old hymns that were perfectly covering what We are speaking about when we talk about justification.
So we think it appropriate for you to look again at a song written in 1787. You might even know it.
“How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent word!
What more can He say than to you He hath said,
To you who for refuge to Jesus have fled”.
“Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed,
For I am thy God, and will still thee aid;
I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,
Upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand”.
“When through the deep waters I call thee to go,
The rivers of sorrow shall not overflow;
For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless,
And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress”.
“When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,
My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply;
The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine”.
“E’en down to old age all My people shall prove
My sovereign, eternal, unchangeable love;
And then, when gray hairs shall their temples adorn,
Like lambs they shall still in My bosom be borne.”
“The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose,
I will not, I will not desert to his foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavour to shake,
I’ll never, no, never, no, never forsake!
The sentiments expressed in this song reminds us in a perfect way the security of the person in whose hearts God has worked this work of justification and reconciliation. These persons with enter the presence of God with joy and boasting.
So we ask you, What is written on your heart?
Do you have the assurance that the Apostle speaks of?
Or are you living in fear?
Are you constantly dreading what is happening around you?
Do you know the forgiveness of sin and what that means?
Do you know what reconciliation is and what it means?
Do you know what it is to be justified?
Do you remember that Jesus Christ the Lord has died for you?
Do you know that though you were once an enemy of God, the Holy Spirit has brought you into friendship with this wonderful God through Jesus Christ?
Do you know that your case of weakness, helplessness and hopelessness can be completely changed when you flee to that God who is able to save to the uttermost?
Remember that God has made the atoning sacrifice to help you so you should come to Him and believe in Him for God has pledged:
“Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved”.
Our task is to invite you to come to Christ. So may we keep that task in front of us at all times.