The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"The Only Answer For Sin"
The Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ offers the only answer for sin that maintains God's integrity, while offering freely given forgiveness to all who believe.
"Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God, to declare, I say, at this time His righteousness: that He might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus" (Romans 3:24-26).
"He delighteth in mercy" (Micah 7:18).
"Justice and judgment are the habitation of Thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before Thy face" (Psalm 89:14).
God's great desire to forgive coexists with His absolute necessity to exercise justice in providing pardon from sin. His own character and nature dictates He cannot simply overlook or absolve unrighteousness as a mere decree. There must be execution of justice against sin, administered to the guilty. "The soul that sinneth, it shall die" (Ezekiel 18:4). This includes the entirety of Adam's race - "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). Justice must be served upon us all for God to Himself remain just, a dark prospect that would seem to leave humanity without hope.
Amid his great suffering, Job asked the most pertinent of questions: "how shall man be just with God?" (Job 9:2). An even greater question must be raised: how shall God be just with Himself, while not condemning man to a deserved execution of justice against his sin? The answer lies in the truth that such an execution has occurred.
"He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew not sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him" (II Corinthians 5:21).
"Christ… bore our sins in His own body on the tree" (I Peter 2:21; 24).
"There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (I Timothy 2:5).
We must either answer for our own sins, or cast ourselves upon the mercy of God whereby they Lord Jesus has already appeared before the Divine judgment bar to answer for us. Moreover, having borne our sins, and even made "to be sin for us," our Savior has suffered the consequences of justice as meted out by the hand of His Father. "We did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him" (Isaiah 53:4-5). Thereby, God maintains the perfection of His nature of justice, while bestowing the mercy in which He so delights. In Christ and in Christ alone, "mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other" (Psalm 85:10).
No other means of forgiveness can be offered by the God of whom the Psalmist declares, "Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; Thy judgments are a great deep" (Psalm 36:6). He must remain true to Himself in order be merciful to us. The Person and work of the Lord Jesus made this possible by His atoning work on the cross. He makes this actual in all those who receive by faith the freely given grace of His fulfilling the justice requirement and merciful intentions of God. "Thereby being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:1). No other concept or possibility of forgiveness exists. Human beings will either one day face God in our sins, or we will face Him in the Savior. Thus, the Gospel of the Lord Jesus alone provides the only answer for sin, namely, the mercy of salvation and the maintaining of God's integrity as being "just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus."
"But this man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God, from henceforth expecting till His enemies be made His footstool. For by one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified."
(Hebrews 10:12-14)
Weekly Memory Verses
His greatness is unsearchable.
(Psalm 145:3).
His understanding is infinite.
(Psalm 147:5)
6764
No comments:
Post a Comment