Salvation in Jesus Christ

3. OUR SINS PURCHASED

Christ “gave Himself for our sins.” Galatians 1:4. That is to say, He bought them, and paid the price for them. This is a simple statement of fact. When we hear a man say that he gave so much for a certain thing, we know that that thing belongs to him, because he has bought it. So when the Holy Spirit tells us that Christ gave Himself for our sins, we should be equally sure that they belong to Him, and not to us. They are ours no longer, and we have no right to them. SAJC 5.1

Not only has Christ paid the price for our sins, but He has accepted the goods. He has taken the sins all on Himself. He “bare our sins in His own body on the tree.” 1 Peter 2:24. He bears the sins of the world. John 1:29, margin. “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” 1 John 2:2. He “gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us,” and since He did not die in vain, He has delivered us. He has wrought deliverance for every soul. SAJC 5.2

Jesus comes proclaiming “liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound.” Isaiah 61:1. His commission was, to “say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Show yourselves.” Isaiah 49:9. Herein is the comfort of the Gospel of salvation: The Lord has taken all our sin upon Himself, having purchased it, so that we do not need to bear it. SAJC 5.3

Christ gave Himself for our sins, “that He might deliver us from this present evil world.” This present evil world is composed of “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.” 1 John 2:15, 16. Christ said to the Father: “I pray not that Thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldst keep them from the evil.” John 17:15. Men and women have gone into cloisters and convents, and have lived in deserts and in caves as hermits, in order to he separate from the world, that is, from “this present evil world;” but every one has found that the world went along. It was present, always present; they could not get rid of it, because it was within them. It is not our associates that cause us to sin, but the evil that is within us. No man can escape from this present evil world, until he escapes from himself, and every soul can say, if he will, “O Lord, truly I am Thy servant; I am Thy servant, and the son of Thine handmaid; Thou hast loosed my bonds.” Psalm 116:16. SAJC 5.4

But our sins are part of ourselves; nay, they are the whole of us, for our natural lives are nothing but sin. Therefore Christ could not buy our sins without buying us also. Of this fact we have many plain statements. He “gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity.” Titus 2:14. “Ye are not your own; for ye are bought with a price.” 1 Corinthians 6:19. “Ye were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver and gold, from your vain manner of life received by tradition from your fathers; but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, even the blood of Christ.” 1 Peter 1:15, 19, R.V. SAJC 6.1

The fact that Christ has bought us, together with our sins, and has paid the price. Therefore there is no room for the question, “Will He accept us?” He has already accepted you. Why does a man buy an article at the store?-Because he wants it. If he has paid the price for it, having examined it so as to know what he was buying, does the merchant worry lest he will not accept it?-Not at all; the merchant knows that it is his business to get the goods to the purchaser as soon as possible. SAJC 6.2

There is no chance for any one to object, “But I am so sinful and unworthy.” That makes no difference; a man will accept what he deliberately purchases, especially if he has paid a great price for it; and Christ “gave Himself for our sins.” There is nothing in the whole universe that God desires so much as us and all the sins we have. We have only to praise “the glory of His grace, wherein He has made us accepted in the Beloved.” Ephesians 1:6. SAJC 6.3