Yesterday when I was talking about what Jesus did for us when He died on the crossed I spoke about two biblical concepts. And I would like to give you some further insight so that you can really understand what it is that Jesus did for us.
The first being justification. Sometimes I wonder if we don’t take the penalty for sin very seriously. Or if maybe we think that God just arbitrarily decided that there needed to be a price for sin. We need to know that there really is a price or a penalty for sin that must be served. Because if there in not then Jesus’ death was nothing more than some kind of game that God has played with us. I can assure you that Jesus didn’t suffer the excruciating pain of the cross just to placate God. He did it because there really is a cost to sin that must be paid for. So in order to find set us free from sin, we must be made innocent. That’s what Jesus death on the cross does; it makes us not guilty because Jesus took our guilt with Him to the cross. As He hung on the cross He bore are shame and guilt, in effect removing it from us. So we can stand before God justified – Just as if I never sinned.
The second concept I spoke about was propitiation. What this means is that the wrath of God is pointed at sin. God hates sin and yes he also hates those who sin, that is why they cannot be with Him. That is why He hates those things. So when we sin we become the object of God’s wrath…therefore Jesus became that object or propitiation. He substitutes Himself in our place so that when He died on the cross He was the object of the wrath of God.
For these reasons it should break our hearts when we sin. Because in our sin we are not justified and we are the object of God’s wrath. We need to learn to hate having sin in our lives. Because that sin cost Jesus His life.
We love God because He first loved us!
