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On this week's Christ in Prophecy television program, Dr. David Reagan, Dennis Pollock of Spirit of Grace Ministries and I discuss why you should be looking forward to the future with great hope. Here's why!
The Source of Hope
Dr. Reagan: A great Christian hymn has these words, "My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness."
Dennis Pollock: That statement gets right to the heart of Evangelical Christianity. Evangelical Christianity stands on the fact that we just take the Bible seriously. We read the New Testament and we believe what it says. At the heart of that is the fact that we can only be acceptable in God's eyes through faith in who Christ is and what He has done for us by sacrificing Himself on our behalf on the cross.
Man's natural inclination is to try to find acceptance before God by his own works, his own deeds, and by being a good guy. We'll compare, "I'm not as bad as my neighbor. I'm a lot better than these people I see in the news. And, those Hollywood people, oh my, I'm so much superior to them, so surely God will accept me." But, the Bible says regardless of whether you are a pristine little PTA President, an old lady who wears a white bun in her hair, or whether you are a motorcycle gang member that's done horrific things like shoot drugs into your veins, we are all sinners and we all need Christ.
The only hope we have is in Jesus Christ by putting our faith in Christ, His death, and the shedding of His own blood for us.
The Bible says so much about blood, and that without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins. The Bible also says so much about faith. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ through faith. It's through faith in Christ alone. Because of the power of Jesus' shed blood, and by receiving Christ through belief in that His death and His resurrection were for our sins, we are then received in God's sight. We are accepted. It's an amazing thing!
We are made as if we had never sinned. The Bible says, "He made Him who knew no sin" (that is Christ) "to become sin for us." He was hanging on that cross becoming sin for everyone of us. And, the Bible goes on to say, "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." So, there's a tremendous transfer of our sins to Christ, but His righteousness is transferred back to us.
Getting Life Right
Dennis Pollock: We've got to get life right, but that's only possible through faith in Christ, and not faith in Christ plus being a good guy or doing lots of good deeds; but simply faith in Christ. Once we have that faith and we are born again, we will want to do good works. We live a good life as best as we can, but only before the Father are we justified by faith in Christ.
What Human History is All About
Nathan Jones: It reminds me of that very Christianese word "atonement." Dictionary.com defines atonement as: "satisfaction, or reprobation for a wrong or injury." Basically, in Christianity this word means "being reconciled back to God."
And, what does reconciliation mean? Back in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve walked with God and talked with God and there was intimate fellowship between them all. But sin came, a rebellion against God that separated man from God, and ever since then God has worked all of history through Christ's death on the cross to bring us back in Heaven one day to that total reconciliation and relationship with God again. That's what human history is all about. It's about getting us back to where we can walk with God and talk with God and have fellowship with God once more, looking at Him face to face again. We can only achieve that by accepting Jesus Christ as our Savior.
Becoming an Heir of Hope
Dennis Pollock: I'd like to extend to you an invitation to become an heir of the hopeful promises of God.
You may feel like you have no hope, but there is hope for you in Jesus Christ. You can do that by reaching out to God in prayer, accepting His Son Jesus as your Lord and Savior, and repenting of your sins.
The Bible says the only reason Jesus has not yet returned is because God does not wish any to perish, but that all should come to repentance.
The Creator of this universe is a God of love, grace and mercy. He is also a God of hope. He wants you to have hope. You cannot find that hope in politicians or in wealth. The only true hope comes as a gift of God through faith in Jesus Christ. Put your faith in Jesus today as your Lord and Savior and your heart will be flooded with hope.
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