THE RECEPTION OF SALVATION’S HOPE

“And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest; For you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways, To give knowledge of salvation to His people By the remission of their sins”  (Luke 1:76-77)  

Hope has been offered, but must be taken.  If I were a billionaire and wrote you a check for a million dollars, you would be potentially rich, but not actually rich, until you reached out with a hand of faith, possessed it and cashed it!

The hope of salvation comes when TRUTH IS RECEIVED “To give knowledge of salvation to His people.” We may know we need to be saved; we can even know Jesus is the Savior; what we need to know is how to be saved.  The Philippian jailer asked Paul and Silas, “What must I do to be saved?”  The truth of the Gospel lights the way to God.  No one is saved apart from this.

Receiving the hope of salvation also means TRUST IS REQUIRED “By the remission of their sins.”   That is a wonderful hope!  But, how can it be ours?  Paul and Silas answered the jailer, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.”  This is how our sins are remitted—how they are sent away as far as east from west.  It isn’t the amount of faith you have, but it is the object of faith that saves—trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.

For you to trust me to make you a rich person isn’t faith—it’s folly!  But to trust Jesus to give you the riches of His grace is faith that will not fail.  His work is finished and His Word is faithful.

Come to Him and Christ will receive you.  Here is the Gospel appeal:
 

Ye dwellers in darkness
With sin blinded eyes,
The Light of the world is Jesus!
Go, wash, at His bidding,
And light will arise.
The Light of the world is Jesus!

Come to the light, ’tis shining for thee;
Sweetly the light has dawned upon me.
Once I was blind, but now I can see:
The Light of the world is Jesus!  (P.P. Bliss)