"Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah." (Psalm 46:10-11)
WE MEET TO WORSHIP TUNE: "This Is My Father’s World" SM/DOUBLE Words by JIM BYRD
1. Lord now Thy people meet, To praise and worship Thee; We bow ourselves before Thy feet, And homage raise to Thee. For Thou art God alone, Eternal, Lord of all; On bended knee before Thy throne, Upon Thy name we call.
2. Though far from Thee we strayed, "Show mercy," is our cry; Without Thy sovereign grace and aid, We must forever die. O grant that we would live, To praise and honor Thee; All laud and glory we will give, Now and eternally.
3. Exalt Thy Son O Lord, Who hung upon the tree; ‘Twas by His death we were restored, And justified by Thee. He is our Righteousness, His death upon the cross; Saved us from our great sinfulness, From endless pain and loss. **********************************************************************
"HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON" Before the foundation of the world, God chose a people in Christ and purposed to be gracious to them (2 Thessalonians 2:13). Those ordained to salvation were "predestinated to be conformed to the image of Christ" (Romans 8:29). Here is the question I want you to consider: what will God sacrifice in order to save the objects of His love from their sins? What was He willing to surrender so that a multitude of rebels would be justified in His sight? I will first tell you what He did not sacrifice.He did not part with His holy character by compromising His justice because "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23). He did not give up His honor by lessening the standard for acceptance: "it shall be perfect to be accepted" (Leviticus 22:21). And, He did not abandon His Law which says, "the soul that sinneth shall die" (Ezekiel 18:20). I will tell you the sacrifice God gave to save His people from their sins - His own Son. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son..." (John 3:16). "God spared not His own Son..." (Romans 8:32). Why did God "not spare His own Son"? There was no other way He could be just and justify the ungodly. The sins of His people were imputed to Christ and as their Substitute He died and thereby satisfied the claims of justice against us. It is written, "But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons" (Galatians 4:4-5). In order to make us righteous, God would not and could not surrender His holiness, His honor or His Law, but He did give His Son over to the sword of vengeance (Zechariah 13:7). The blessed Redeemer, God’s Offering for sin and our Substitute, suffered the agonizing death of the cross in order to "save His people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21). "The LORD hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53:6). When Christ died, the sins of God’s children were condemned, and therefore, those for whom He laid down His life shall never be condemned (Romans 8:1-3).
THE GIFT OF GIFTS "For God so loved the world, (which He was, in Christ, reconciling to Himself) that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). "He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is He that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us" (Romans 8:32-34). "In this was manifested the love of God towards us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins" (1 John 4:9-10). Paul’s soul being directed into this love of the Father, as it shines forth in the gift of His Son, joyfully exclaimed, "Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable Gift" (2 Corinthians 9:15). Its greatness is such that no tongue can describe it nor thought conceive it. The Father, speaking of this Gift, says, I will "give Thee for a covenant of the people" (Isaiah 42:6); and when the Father gave Christ in covenant, He did not give Him at random, but gave Him to be the Surety of His chosen people. For this people the Lord Jesus Christ gave His bond, the blood of the everlasting covenant. So He would open the way through which the love and mercy of the Father’s heart could flow to guilty sinners such as we, in a way consistent with all His divine attributes, that He might be a just God and yet save His people in Christ. –John Kershaw, October, 1834
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