The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"Grace - Appreciated and Feared"
"Why will God not impute our sin to us? Because He imputed it to the Lord Jesus."
So long as we do not see the prints of nails on our hands and feet, suffered on the cross of Calvary, and while we have not innocently suffered the wrath of God for the sins of the guilty, we will have no basis for any sense of pride or self importance. Moreover, if a perfectly innocent One has suffered and died for our sins, then we must find a place within our hearts to fall before God in prayerful pleas that our lives will glorify only the Lord Jesus Christ.
"But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption, that, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord" (I Corinthians 10:31).
The Lord Jesus Christ died for the sins we committed before we believed, iniquities that occurred when we were "servants of sin." He also died, however, for the sins we commit after the new birth, that is, after we become "servants of righteousness" (Romans 6:17-18).
"Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord will not impute sin" (Romans 4:8).
God "will not" place sin on the account of any believer in the Lord Jesus. Regardless of the mode or the measure of sins we commit, our Heavenly Father sees us as so spiritually enrobed in Christ's righteousness that to hold us accountable for our sins in a manner that jeopardizes our relationship with Him would be a perverse distortion of justice. Perhaps even more to the solemn point, our Father so enrobed His beloved Son with our sin that…
"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).
Why will God not impute our sin to us? Because He imputed it to the Lord Jesus. He "bore our sins," and in a mystery far beyond explanation both now and forever, the Son of God's love become the sin of His wrath: "made… to be sin for us" (I Peter 2:24). Such a consideration must bring a profound stillness to our hearts. How do we think about such a wonder? How do we comprehend such grace and mercy? How can it be that God sees us as immersed in Christ's righteousness because he so immersed Christ in our sin? The hymnwriter Isaac Watts beautifully considered the immeasurable glory of such blessedness, made possible by such sorrow, pain, and loss:
"And lest the shadow of a spot should on my soul be found, He took the robe my Savior wrought, and cast it all around!" (From "Awake My Heart, Arise My Tongue," by Isaac Watts).
A loving Father will not impute sin to His righteousness-enrobed sons and daughters. He will, however, act toward us as "a loving Father" if we require His chastening and scourging. Recall that it was to and of believers that the writer of Hebrews warned, "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Hebrews 12:6; 10:31). Indeed, because our salvation is so free and irrevocable, God must act toward us in a manner that maintains His integrity and honor. He will not impute sin to us in any manner that jeopardizes our relationship with Him. Let us rejoice in such grace. Let us also, however, fear such grace. Because if we fall, we fall into His hands faithfully active not only with tender embrace, but when necessary, as the wielder of a painful rod. The writer of Hebrews again spoke to this love of God to be so appreciated - and so feared…
"Let us have grace, that we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear" (Hebrews 12:28).
The hands and feet of the redeemed bear no wounds suffered for our sins. Our hearts are redeemed and indwelt by the freest gift ever given, purchased by the highest cost ever remitted. Little wonder then that our Father will not impute sin to us, based on the truth that He imputed all our sins to the Lord Jesus. We rejoice in so great a Savior, who provides so great a salvation. We also realize how seriously our Father takes the matter of our lives. We bear His Name, and we bear His righteousness, freely given and freely maintained by the Lord Jesus. In such holy and solemn light, surely we join our Father in taking our lives with utmost seriousness. Let us indeed have grace, grace that assures our hearts, empowers our hands and feet, and instills in us reverence and godly fear.
"Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet 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; and with His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all."
(Isaiah 53:4-6)
Weekly Memory Verse
I have loved thee with an everlasting love.
(Jeremiah 31:3)
7170
No comments:
Post a Comment