Remission of sins, just the beginning

When my pastor asked me to preach for him on December 1, we talked about that being the beginning of Advent. I asked him what his theme was going to be and he said that he had not yet decided. I thought about it and offered a couple of suggestions. The first one was to go through Luke 1 & 2. He decided to go in a different direction. Well, I’ve been sorta thinking about Luke 1 & 2 ever since. 

And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying,

Blessed [be] the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people,
And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David;
As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began:
That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us;
To perform the mercy [promised] to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant;
The oath which he sware to our father Abraham,
That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear,
In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life.
And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways;
To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins,
Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us,
To give light to them that sit in darkness and [in] the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Amen. What a wonderful prophecy! I was struck by one particular verse:
To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins

Remission or forgiveness of sins. What a sweet word! Christ came, He died on the cross, so that our sins could be forgiven. As a person who has a history of sin, I find this glorious!

I have ceased from my wand’ring and going astray,

Since Jesus came into my heart!

And my sins, which were many, are all washed away,

Since Jesus came into my heart!

Ah, but notice, To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins. The forgiveness of sins is the doorway to salvation. So often we have reduced salvation to forgiveness. Yet, the Holy Spirit says remission of sins leads to the knowledge of salvation. In other words, there is so much more to salvation than just being forgiven. And Zacharias provides an amazing description of salvation.

Forgiveness of our sins is not salvation, it is the grace of God that opens the door to salvation. It is like buying a house. You sign all the papers and the house is yours. But you don’t stop there. You bought the house to move into it! Forgiveness of my sins is awesome! Thank you, Lord, that you forgave my sins and restored me to You that, being delivered out of the hand of my enemies, I might serve You without fear, in holiness and righteousness, all the days of my life, and then enjoy eternal life with You! Amen.

Remission of sins is awesome beyond description, but it’s only the beginning. That’s what I thought about when I meditated on this prophecy.

To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins