This gift of love and righteousness, scorned by the ones He came to save,
Til on that cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied,
For every sin on Him was laid, Here in the death of Christ I live."
God is a holy, just, righteous God. He cannot be infringed upon and He cannot look upon sin. He cannot be cast aside, and He cannot be taken lightly. When man sins against this holy God, the wrath of God must be poured out upon the individual. There is no other way for God to remain just and right and not punish sin. He must punish those that have transgressed against His law. We can use an illustration to try to help us understand God's position with the sinner.
Imagine the worst possible, the most immoral person you can think of. Whether that be a child rapist, a terrorist, a mass murderer, a shooter of innocent children. Now imagine that person had committed this crime against his fellow men. He was guilty. All evidence was against him and there was no way he could try to say he was innocent. Guilt was admitted by the offender as he stood before the judge. Now imagine the judge looked upon the guilty man and told him he was free to go. All the crimes he had committed against innocent people were forgiven. He had chosen to allow him to be declared innocent.
If this took place, there would be something wrong. There would be an uproar. The judge must have been bribed. That judge would not be a just judge and would not deserve to be a judge or leader of anyone.
We are that guilty party. There is no way one can stand before a holy God and try to claim his innocence. We are transgressors in every point of the law. "For our trangressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us: for our trangressions are with us; and as for our iniquities, we know them;" God's wrath is upon us. For God to remain just, holy, and righteous, the penalty of our iniquities must be carried out!
Romans 3:11-19
"There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: Their feet are swift to shed blood: Destruction and misery are in their ways: And the way of peace have they not known: There is no fear of God before their eyes. Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God."
We don't like to think of ourselves as full of bitterness, cursing, and deceit. We don't like to think our feet are swift to shed blood and we are full of destruction and misery, but that is who we are without Christ. It doesn't matter what we try to claim. For God to be pleased or satisfied the price must be paid. Even if we try to claim our righteousnesses, they are simply filthy rags in the sight of God. It would be like the guilty man before the judge trying to claim his donations to charity or his involvement in church work as grounds for him to be declared innocent. Any "good" we seem to do does nothing to remove the debt we owe for our sin. This puts us in a predicament. We have sinned against God. We are guilty and God cannot just let our sin pass.
This is where Jesus Christ, the literal Saviour of the world comes in!!! Christ was the perfect sacrifice, the only one who could satisfy the wrath of God upon the world. Isaiah 53 paints a very vivid picture of the suffering endured by Jesus, but often overlooked is a very key part of the passage. Verses 10-12 tell us of God's relationship with Christ as he bore our sins.
"Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief; when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied; by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefor will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors."
God was pleased to bruise His only begotten Son that we might be free from His wrath. He was satisfied to carry out His wrath upon the Lamb of God that we might have eternal life. He was content to impart His righteousness unto us through the finished work of Jesus on the cross!
II Corinthians 5:21
"For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."
Christ literally became sin for us who knew no sin that we might just as literally be made the righteousness of God. WOW!!! What an amazing, mind-blowing, crippling truth! We are made the righteousness of God through Christ and God is satisfied. It is settled. In the words of Christ, "It is finished!" Do not ever forget the truth of the gospel!!!
Written by:
Joel McCarty
Teacher and Staff at Madison Baptist Church
@mccartyjoel on Twitter
Check us out Times2 Ministries on the web at x2ministries.com
See the video about our ministry at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKn41p8OC-Q
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