The Heart of the Gospel by Spurgeon Charles H

Author:Spurgeon, Charles H. [Spurgeon, Charles H.]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: Gospel, Salvation
ISBN: 9781304989222
Publisher: Lulu.com
Published: 2014-03-27T16:00:00+00:00

C. Who Did It?

So I pass on to notice in the third place, who did it? The text saith, “He hath made him to be sin for us” ; that is, God Himself it was Who appointed His dear Son to be made sin for guilty men. The wise ones tell us that this substitution cannot be just. Who made them judges of what is right and just? I ask them whether they believe that Jesus suffered and died at all? If they believe that He did, how do they account for the fact? Do they say that He died as an example? Then I ask, is it just for God to allow a sinless being to die as an example? The fact of our Lord’s death is sure, and it has to be accounted for. Ours is the fullest and truest explanation.

In the appointment of the Lord Jesus Christ to be made sin for us, there was first of all a display of the divine sovereignty. God here did what none but He could have done. It would not have been possible for all of us together to have laid sin upon Christ; but it was possible for the great Judge of all, Who giveth no account of His matters, to determine that so it should be. He is the fountain of rectitude,[12] and the exercise of His divine prerogative[13] is always unquestionable righteousness. That the Lord Jesus, Who offered Himself as a willing surety and substitute, should be accepted as Surety and Substitute for guilty man was in the power of the great Supreme. In His divine sovereignty He accepted Him, and before that sovereignty we bow. If any question it, our only answer is, “Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God?” (Rom 9:20).

The death of our Lord also displayed divine justice. It pleased God as the Judge of all, that sin should not be forgiven without the exaction of the punishment which had been so righteously threatened to it, or such other display of justice as might vindicate the Law. They say that this is not the God of love. I answer, it is the God of love, pre-eminently so. If you had upon the bench today a judge whose nature was kindness itself, it would behoove[14] him as a judge to execute justice, and if he did not, he would make his kindness ridiculous; indeed, his kindness to the criminal would be unkindness to society at large. Whatever the judge may be personally, he is officially compelled to do justice. And “shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Gen 18:25). You speak of the Fatherhood of God. Enlarge as you please upon that theme, even till you make a heresy of it; but still God is the great moral Governor of the universe, and it behooves Him to deal with sin in such a way that it is seen to be an evil and a bitter thing. God cannot wink at wickedness.

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