Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the historic one-year lectionary.
The apostle Paul, preaching in Antioch, said something extremely timely for us as well as for those in Antioch. In Acts 13:27 he observed that the people who heard the Scripture read every Sabbath in Jerusalem still didn't recognize Jesus as the Messiah. Because they didn't understand the Scriptures, they condemned Jesus to death.
Our world as a whole is living in darkness. They don't recognize that Jesus is the Messiah. They don't understand the Scriptures or take them into account in their thinking. For this reason, when confronted with ideas which are plainly present in Scripture, such as the reality and gravity of sin, the need for a substitute for sin, and the exclusivity of salvation by grace through faith in Christ, our world takes offense or scoffs at the simple Christian truth.
We miss what is revealed plainly. Our minds are darkened. We are not willing to see the truth.
However, to all who do see the truth, to all who receive the grace of God by faith in Jesus, He gives eternal life and salvation.
Salvation in Christ, as Paul describes it in Acts, is not based on our feelings. It is not a shot in the dark. It is something which God has described in detail through the Law and the Prophets, and which he brings to pass through the historical events surrounding Christ's death and resurrection.
We don't have to guess. Jesus has done what is needed for our salvation. Rather than guessing or hoping, we trust in the true events of Jesus' death and resurrection. They are for you and for me, just as they are for the saints in Antioch.
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