The first message of the cross is forgiveness; but never let us forget that forgiveness means freedom for the forgiven one. Forgiveness without freedom would leave us in a position that would rob the forgiveness of its sweetness and of its reality. But in the New Testament God’s word for forgiveness always means deliverance from the power which has made the forgiveness necessary. The glory of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ is the fulness of the victory which he has won on Calvary, and the completeness, the perfection of the salvation which he has wrought out for us here in everyday life.

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