The Story of the Gospel: Jesus and Your Response
Last week we looked at how the story of the gospel begins with the broken relationship between God and man. How can man get back to God? We looked at how this brokenness is due to sin which separates us from God and needs to be judged by God.
So here we are, deserving judgement for our sins like a felon deserves punishment for his crime. The beauty of the gospel however, is that Jesus steps in and takes the punishment, the judgement for us. When did he do this? On the cross, when Jesus died, he took the judgement for our sin. It was much like the Old Testament sacrifices. A sinless animal takes on the person's sin and is slain for it; of course these sacrifices are nothing compared to the sacrifice of Jesus. The animals were merely symbolic, but Jesus' death literally frees us from sin, not just forgives us.
The thing is, to receive this gift of lifted judgement, of pardon for our sin, we must respond to Christ with faith. We must believe that he did what the Bible says he did and that it alone is sufficient for forgiveness of sins.
In tonight's passage is Hosea we see God telling Israel that he will one day take her back, he will forgive her. Just as Jesus does for mankind. But the chapter closes by saying something very important. "I will say to those called 'Not my People' 'you are my people', and they will say, 'You are my God'. You see, God, through Jesus has said, you are my people, but only if we submit and say, you are my God, can we find eternal life and freedom in Jesus Christ.
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