Our young adult classes for ages 18-30 will be this week from Monday to Wednesday beginning at 7:00 p.m. each evening.

IT PLEASED THE LORD TO BRUISE HIM – Isaiah 53:10

The death of Christ pleased every attribute of the Father. The death of Christ pleased God’s wisdom. The death of Christ enables God to be both just and justifier. The death of Christ pleased God’s justice. Christ suffered for the sin of His people until the debt was paid in full. The death of Christ pleased God’s mercy and grace. The death of Christ enables God to be merciful to His people in justice because their sin has been put away. Since Christ died God can justify the ungodly, God can forgive sin, and God can accept His people into His presence because He is pleased with them in Christ.

Pastor

Every time you insist that I am a sinner, you call me to remember the benefit of Christ my Redeemer, upon whose shoulders, and not mine, lie all my sins. So when you say I am a sinner, you do not terrify me, but comfort me immeasurably.

Martin Luther

SUBSTITUTION

“He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the LORD.” Proverbs 17:15

God detests and finds abominable (loathsome) any who would justify (clear, vindicate, excuse) the sin of the wicked. God equally detests and abhors any who would condemn one who is innocent of sin and evil doing. Let me tell you why that is so important to understand. God does not just flippantly forgive His people’s sin. “The Lord God will by no means clear the guilty.” (Exodus 34:6-7) He can’t do so and remain just. “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” (Ezekiel 18:20) The guilty soul must die because a “Just God” cannot clear the guilty soul without compromising His justice.

This is what makes “substitution” so beautiful in the eyes of a believing sinner. The sin of the elect has been put on Christ. He (the Lord Jesus) who knew no sin was MADE (to be) SIN for us. (2 Corinthians 5:21) Christ who was perfectly righteous and perfectly holy in God’s sight was made to be sin for us, and God punished Christ for that sin that was found on Him. God did not just sweep our sin under a rug and pretend it did not exist. God’s justice extracted full payment for all the sin of all God’s elect throughout all time. The holy wrath, judgment, and justice of God was exhausted on the Lord Jesus Christ and payment IN FULL was made to the justice of God. God didn’t “justify the wicked.” To do so would be an abomination. Christ became guilty with the sin of those that the Father gave Him to redeem before the foundation of the world. The sin of the elect was paid for, put away and done away with. It does not exist. (Ephesians 1:4)

At the same time, God didn’t unjustly condemn Christ the “Just One.” He really was made guilty by the taking of His people’s sin upon Himself. Our Lord was condemned because Christ truly was guilty. Therefore God was “just and righteous” in punishing Christ for sin. The sin of God’s chosen was really put upon Him, and is no longer found on the elect sinner. God is not unjust in sparing the chosen sinner. Why? They have no sin. Christ took it and in return made His people the righteousness of God in Him. Because of that God is both “Just and Justifier” of them which believe in Jesus Christ. (Romans 3:26) God is both a “just God and a Savior.” (Isaiah 45:21) Truly in Christ, God did for His people what they could not do for themselves. That is why Christ and Him crucified is our Gospel message!