The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"Satisfied"
"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" (Isaiah 53:11).
God is perfectly satisfied with the travail of the Lord Jesus Christ, whereby He made possible our justification by bearing our iniquities on the cross of Calvary. Do we share His satisfaction?
"For we which have believed do enter into rest" (Hebrews 4:3).
The Lord Jesus so perfectly fulfilled the righteousness of God in His atoning work on the cross that all who receive His grace can - and must - join our Heavenly Father in His assessment of a finished work of redemption. Indeed, "blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin" exulted the Apostle Paul - because God so completely imputed our sins to the Lamb of God at Calvary (Romans 4:8). Paul even declares that Christ was "made to be sin for us," a mystery doubtless never to be solved in our understanding, but which can have profound effect on our hearts (II Corinthians 5:21). Is it possible that our Heavenly Father could ever view believers as unjustified when He looked upon His beloved Son as sin and poured out the fullness of His wrath against Him for our sake? "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" cried out the Savior on the cross (Matthew 27:46). Scripture plainly answers. Again…
"He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him" (II Corinthians 5:21).
The Apostle John taught that believers can and do still sin (I John 1:8). God, however, does not impute our sins to us. He does not place them on our account because He so fully placed them on the debit ledger of the sinless Lord Jesus at Calvary. Certainly, He deals with us as a loving and righteous Father when and as necessary. "Whom the Lord loveth, He chastenteth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth" (Hebrews 12:6). It was to believers the writer of Hebrews warned, "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Hebrews 10:31). Never, however, are our sins accounted to us in any jeopardizing debit that would render us as unrighteous in God's sight. The travail of Christ's soul satisfied our Father in this sense, and it must satisfy us as well. As the hymnwriter beautifully penned, "And lest the shadow of a spot should on my soul be found, He took the robe the Savior wrought, and cast it all around!" (Isaac Watts, "Awake My Heart, Arise My Tongue!").
To live a life whereby we are "filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ," we must see the Savior bearing on our behalf - and being on our behalf - our sin (Philippians 1:11). We must rest in His freely given righteousness if we are to arise in the power of His freely given presence and power. We live the Christian life from satisfaction, both God's and ours, satisfaction in the Person and work of the Lord Jesus perfectly executed to fulfill our Father's righteousness and our redemption. Yes, we live for God by living from Christ, that is, who He is to God, and who He is to us. Only thereby will our motivation be genuine, our faith Biblical, and our life empowered by a resting spirit that results in hands and feet ever restless to "do the will of God from the heart" (Ephesians 6:6).
"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)
"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God."
(Romans 5:1-2)
Weekly Memory Verse
"Unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen."
(Ephesians 3:21)
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