“And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him” (Hebrews 9:27-28).
You are a sinner
There are some realities about you that the Bible does not want you to miss.
- One, you are a sinner.
- Two, if nothing is done about your sin problem, you will have to face judgment with no one helping you.
- Three, Jesus has sacrificed himself for the sins of many – including yours, if you are willing to trust him for that.
Up until the time that Jesus died on the cross, sacrifices for sin had to be made in the temple, over and over again. It never stopped because sinning went on and on and the perfect sacrifice was never made. But when Jesus came, He brought the perfect sacrifice – himself. By his atoning death, He opened the way towards real and lasting forgiveness (Hebrews 10:12-14).
Without Christ, people do all sorts of things to lessen or erase guilt. They try to live good lives, they try to compensate for the times they did wrong or they busy themselves with making merit. Or they kill their conscience and totally surrender to sin. All this is in vain; people can’t escape sin and judgment on themselves.
Forgiveness
But whoever is in Christ, has received forgiveness. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). The fear to be found guilty is then gone. In its place, an eager longing to see Christ is born into the hearts of those who trust him. Christ will not come back to point to the problem of their sin again. He took the guilt and replaced it with his own purity (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Are you waiting for Christ to appear? Or do you feel scared because of sin in your life? If that is true, ask for forgiveness and you will find that joy replaces your fear!