Recently, Tim Challies quoted R. C. Sproul, who reminds us that we are debtors, enemies and criminals.
Tim wrote, that Sproul shows how
it is always the Father who has been offended and the Son who intercedes. We have committed crimes against God and are, thus, justly termed criminals. The Father stands as Judge, passing the just sentence of death. But Christ stands between us and the Father, acting as substitute. Our sin puts us in debt to God so that we are debtors to Him. God is the creditor who demands repayment, but Christ stands in as surety. And sin puts us at enmity with God, making us His enemies. He has been violated by our sin, but Christ intercedes as mediator, opening the way between man and God.
Sproul breaks this down into the following simple table:
| Sin As… | Man | God | Christ |
| Debt | Debtor | Creditor | Surety |
| Enmity | Enemy | Violated One | Mediator |
| Crime | Criminal | Judge | Substitute |
Christ, by His work on the cross, satisfied the demands of God’s justice with regard to our debt, our state of enmity, and our crime.
NO wonder we needed a Saviour.
And what a Saviour. Linda was thinking of this the other day. She wrote about it on her blog, Treasured Wretch.
She was thinking of the great crime of shedding THE MOST INNOCENT BLOOD of Christ. Who had to pay for that crime?
Why, Jesus!
The injustice of His death was laid upon His own shoulders!
Amazing grace! What a Saviour! He is the Prophet, Priest and King, and so much more. He is our Mediator, our Surety, our Substitute. He stands before the Judge, pleading our case...and He wins, every time! We stand there, undone, without hope, because we know we are guilty of the WORST CRIME - shedding the innocent, pure blood of the King of kings and Lord of lords. In awe we watch Him step forward and say, "I paid this one's debt!" And we are free. Free from debt - the debt that we owed. Free from crime - the life of a criminal that we lived. Free from being the Enemy of God - although we deserved His enmity.
Free to worship, free to serve, free to bow down, free to live a life in awe of the ONE TRUE GOD.
We're free, because of Christ. He paid the price. He paid it all.
Amazing grace! What a Saviour! He is the Prophet, Priest and King, and so much more. He is our Mediator, our Surety, our Substitute. He stands before the Judge, pleading our case...and He wins, every time! We stand there, undone, without hope, because we know we are guilty of the WORST CRIME - shedding the innocent, pure blood of the King of kings and Lord of lords. In awe we watch Him step forward and say, "I paid this one's debt!" And we are free. Free from debt - the debt that we owed. Free from crime - the life of a criminal that we lived. Free from being the Enemy of God - although we deserved His enmity.
Free to worship, free to serve, free to bow down, free to live a life in awe of the ONE TRUE GOD.
We're free, because of Christ. He paid the price. He paid it all.
This was fantastic! I love how Sproul broke it down like that.......it's a good tool for evangelism.
ReplyDeleteGod bless!
I kept looking, and finally, a post (bad syntax, but you get the gist)!
ReplyDeleteGreat theology, and I absolutely love the chart.
This is a marvelous quote along the same line:
"On the one hand, God does a negative thing: He takes away our sin. On the other hand, He does a positive thing: He adds righteousness to our accounts in the bookkeeping system of heaven. Thus, every accusation Satan brings against us in court, the Lord throws out. Satan's prosecuting efforts are futile. He has not won even one case against God's elect and never will." George Meisinger
Cathy
http://www.declarehisgreatness.com
PS I had so much trouble commenting. The error message said that my OpenId couldn't be confirmed. I even went back to see how I'd commented the last time. I REALLY wanted to comment, so I created a Google account...now, I'll probably forget it!
As I said in a comment on your blog, Cathy, I've been busy camping. Of course, the rain hasn't let up much, so camping has been hit-and-miss. When I'm not camping, I'm gardening. It looks as though our efforts are paying off. We've already eaten radishes, beets and lettuce from the garden.
ReplyDeleteSo, forgive me for being a "lazy blogger", like our friend who is not pregnant. :D