Our Redemption

January 7

“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, (12) teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, (13) looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, (14) who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works. (15) Speak these things, exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no one despise you,” Titus 2:11-15.

No matter what false doctrine of men an individual or a culture may espouse, it is rooted in essentially the same error; that being the belief that salvation is not by God’s grace alone but by a man’s works.

When a mere mortal thinks he can earn the approval of the Holy One, that individual is possessed of a grievous error that will prove a stumbling block to him throughout his sojourn in this Vale of Tears as well as a great wall of separation that will stand eternally between him and the God he is striving to please.

If a man were to adhere to the entirety of the premise of this scripture—deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, live soberly, righteously and godly in this present age, keep his eyes fastened on the eastern sky in his search for the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, yet believe his redemption to be contingent upon his own work rather than upon the One who gave Himself for us, his compliance would be in vain.

Our redemption from every lawless deed, our purification, our transformation from godlessness to purity before God is achieved only because we have appropriated to ourselves the “unspeakable GIFT” of II Corinthians 9:15, because we have embraced to our heart the precious treasure of eternity that only the sacrifice of the Holy One upon the altar of grace can accomplish for us.

May we, His special people, indeed be zealous for good works. May we speak these things, exhorting and rebuking the lost souls around us with all authority, no matter how we may be despised for our effort. May we, according to Revelation 2:10, “be faithful unto death,” so He may certainly fulfill His promise to, “give us a crown of life.”

If we will be true to His calling, we will not only receive the blessing of eternal life but we will be privileged to share that amazing treasure with everyone who will receive it from our outstretched hand, with everyone who will receive the fruit of our lips, spoken to share the wonder of Christ’s unspeakable gift of eternal redemption, of our salvation through His shed blood at Calvary.