God so loved the world that He gave His One and Only Son that whosoever believes in Him will have eternal life (John 3:16). Christ made the ultimate once and for all sacrifice on the cross for our sins. He laid down His life for us, but we must believe to be found in Him.
“He [John the Baptist] saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”(John 1:29 ESV). “For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed” (1 Cor 5:7 ESV). Do you believe?
Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day.(Matt 16:21 NASB). Do you believe?
“But I will make a new covenant …For I will forgive their sin and will no longer call to mind the wrong they have done” (Jer 31:32-34 NET). “Then He took the cup, and after He gave thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matt 26:27-28 MEV). “He [Christ] is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance” (Heb 9:15 NASB). Do you believe?
Jesus willing went to the cross. “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me. Yet not my will but yours be done.” [Then an angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. And in his anguish he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground]” (Luke 22:42-44 NET). Do you believe?
Everything had to happen according to Scripture. “Do you think that I [Jesus] cannot call on my Father, and that he would send me more than twelve legions of angels right now? How then would the scriptures that say it must happen this way be fulfilled?” (Matt 26:53-54 NET). Do you believe?
“But Jesus cried out with a loud voice and breathed his last. And the temple curtain was torn in two, from top to bottom” (Mark 15:37-38 NET). And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus.By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water” (Heb 10:19-22 NLT). Do you believe?
“On the first day of the week, at early dawn, they [Mary Magdalene and the women] came to the tomb…They found the stone rolled away from the tomb,but when they went in, they did not find the body…two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the mensaid to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen” (Luke 24:1-5 NRSV). Do you believe?
“Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve” (1 Cor 15:3-4 NRSV). Do you believe?
“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed;for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Rom 3:23-26 NASB). Do you believe?
“For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit” (1 Pet 3:18 NASB). “And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Heb 10:10 NIV). Do you believe?
“But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isa 53:5-6 NIV). “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death” (Rom 8:1-2 NIV). Do you believe?
“We were therefore buried with him [Christ] through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life…we have been united with him…our old self was crucified with him …Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him…The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Rom 6:4-11 NIV). Do you believe?
“We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by a mere human being” (Heb 8:1-2 NIV). Do you believe?
Know in Whom you believe and go make disciples (Matt 28:19-20). Entrust to others everything that has been entrusted to you (2 Tim 2:2). To God be the glory!! Amen.
