HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON
Before the foundation of the world, God chose to save a multitude of people (II Thessalonians 2:13). Those who were 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 would God sacrifice in order to save the objects of His everlasting 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).
The reason God spared not His Son was because there was no other way He could be just and justify the ungodly. The sins of His people were imputed (-charged) to Christ and as our 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 surrender His Son to the sword of divine 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).
-preacher Jim Byrd of Thirteenth Street Baptist church, located in Ashland, Kentucky USA
Sermon Audio site: https://www.sermonaudio.com/source_detail.asp?sourceid=13thstbaptist
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