What Jesus Accomplished on the Cross: Salvation

Welcome to Lent

This is our first week of Lent. Throughout the next six weeks, I will share with you many of the things accomplished when He died for you on the cross. Many of us think He died just for our salvation and eternal life. He did, but He accomplished so much more. I hope you will keep coming back throughout Lent. Want to go even further? Grab this journal and see where the Lord might lead you.

He Bore Our Sins – The Gift Of Salvation

Nearly thirty years ago, I found myself sitting at a round table, my hands wrapped around a styrofoam cup of coffee, more for something to hold than to drink. The chatter of women conversing swirled around me. I felt like an outsider, trying to disappear into the crowd. I had rushed from teaching my fitness classes, my mind still going in all directions, yet beneath it all was something deeper, something I searched for yet couldn’t name.

Just four months earlier, my life had been unrecognizable. I had just broken up with a boyfriend, had just started going to church, and had a heart full of questions with no answers in sight. And then, life suddenly shifted into fast-forward. I met the man who would become my husband, a pastor, no less. Me, a pastor’s wife? The thought felt foreign. Surely, God could have chosen someone better prepared, someone with more experience. And yet, here I was.

As I sat in that familiar place, the very church where I had celebrated Christmases and Easters, the surrounding women all knew me, but I knew very few of them. I felt strangely exposed to them and as if God Himself was watching, waiting.

Jesus Suddenly Became Real

Then the lights dimmed. The music began. Something stirred deep inside me. Many of the questions I had carried for so long, the ones that had kept me up at night, began to unravel. Not like someone explaining the answers to me, but in a quiet certainty I couldn’t explain. The emptiness I had grown used to started to fade. The Jesus I had known in my head suddenly became real, and very much present.

I Didn’t Know I Needed Rescuing

I hadn’t known I needed rescuing. I hadn’t even realized I was lost. But God knew. He had seen every hidden part of me, every unspoken question, and on that night, He met me there.

That November night, Jesus made Himself real to me. In ways I will never understand, I realized how loved I was. The knowledge of His death on the cross became a reality, it became personal. I realized it wasn’t just something He did, but He did it out of unconditional love for me and for you.

When God came in and opened my eyes, I could see in a way I never had before that Jesus died for that sin I could not believe I had done. And He died for every other sin I had committed, and for everyone else as well. No words could explain the feelings that overwhelmed me.

“He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.”

-1 Peter 2:24 NIV

Can We Fully Comprehend Grace?

Many of us struggle to fully grasp Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. I believe we lack the capacity as humans to fully comprehend grace. Our understanding of unconditional love pales compared to God’s incomprehensible grace and love, which we’ll only fully grasp in eternity.

Imagine with me for a moment. When Jesus hung on the cross, every sin you ever committed was placed upon Him. Think of the heaviness you feel when you have sinned. He took that off you and placed it upon Himself. But not just yours, He took mine to. He took your neighbors, and He even took the sin of the worst person you can imagine. He placed the heaviness we all have felt upon Himself.

The Sins Were So Great Upon Him

The sins were so great upon Him that God could no longer even look upon Him. That is when, at noon, the sky went dark for three hours. At the end of those three hours, ‘Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”)’ -Mark 15:33-34 NIV

At the moment of His death, He dealt with all our sins. The only way they can affect us now is if we do not forgive ourselves. Jesus said in His dying breath, ‘It is finished.’ Never would a sin need to be dealt with again.

Grace

He did it because of grace. There is nothing we ever need to do or could do that would gain us salvation, only through what Jesus did on the cross can we receive salvation. Only through His grace can we receive salvation. Some people try to say accepting Jesus plus works (doing things for Him) is what gets us salvation. When we say that, we are denying grace. We are saying what He did on the cross was not enough, that we need to help Him out. Grace is a gift that we do not deserve and when we try to add to it, it’s no longer a gift.

That heaviness I mentioned we get from sin, we do not have to carry it anymore. When Jesus died, He took it. We can let it go. It’s no longer a burden for us to carry. Anytime you feel like the weight of sin is holding you down, remember, He already dealt with it. You can say ‘Thank you Jesus’ and shake it off. If you have accepted Jesus as your Savior, you are free.

Forgive Yourself

Spend time reflecting this Lenten season on things you can let go of. If you have not forgiven yourself for something, hand it over to God. If you are struggling with this and want help in this, I go deeper in my ‘30 Day Prayer Journey,’ and I help you walk through some of these things we hold on tight to that we need to release.

Jesus already dealt with it. We need to let go of it and live in the freedom that He died for. Spend some time in prayer this week. Thank God for all He has done for you. Thank Him you are free because He died for you.

Salvation Prayer…

If all of this is new to you or you have never accepted Jesus as your Savior, I invite you to click here and pray with me.