"A Man on a Mission" • Luke 9:51-55 (Community Lenten Message)
This is the message from the Community Lenten Service on March 27, 2012.
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This is the message from the Community Lenten Service on March 27, 2012.
In The Letters of Francis Schaeffer, he writes to a woman named Sharon:
"Christianity is not a religion for the mentally healthy. Rather, ever since the Fall, none of us are totally mentally healthy, any more than any of us are totally physically well... Christianity is for weak people just as we are... We must honor Christ and his finished work by bringing our failure [and weakness] under the work of Christ and leaving them there. When we do less than this, we are dishonoring Christ and his finished work—as though his finished work is enough for some things, but not enough for my weakness and sin."
I find this helpful. May we take our sin and brokenness to the cross and leave it there, going on with a heart full of praise and thanksgiving for the Savior, knowing that his atonement as our substitute is full and complete—more than enough for every aspect of weakness and sin.
In 1875, Philip Bliss wrote this timeless hymn, Hallelujah, What a Savior, to remember and celebrate the gospel. It is the perfect theme for gathering together on a Sunday, being reminded that "in my place condemned he stood."
Man of Sorrows! What a name, for the Son of God, who came; Ruined sinners to reclaim. Hallelujah! What a Savior!
Bearing shame and scoffing rude; In my place condemned He stood; Sealed my pardon with His blood. Hallelujah! What a Savior!Guilty, vile, and helpless we; Spotless Lamb of God was He; “Full atonement!” can it be? Hallelujah! What a Savior!
"The doctrine of the atonement is very simple. It just consists in the substitution of Christ in the place of the sinner; Christ being treated as if he were the sinner and then the transgressor being treated as if he were the righteous one. It is a change of persons. Christ becomes the sinner. He stands in the sinner's place the sinner becomes righteous. He stands in Christ's place and is numbered with the righteous ones. Christ has no sin of His own, but he takes human guilt and is punished for human folly. We have no righteousness of our own, but we take the Divine righteousness; we are rewarded for it and stand accepted before God as though that righteousness had been worked out by ourselves.""
Charles Spurgeon, The King's Highway
HT: Tom Wood @ Graced Again
I am re-reading a wonderful biography of Charles Spurgeon by Arnold Dallimore. In it, he quotes from Spurgeon's Autobiography:
“Too many people think lightly of sin, and therefore think lightly of the Savior. He who has stood before his God, convicted and condemned, with the rope about his neck, is the man to weep for joy when he is pardoned...” Charles Spurgeon, c. 1890 from his Autobiography (Cited in Arnold Dallimore, Spurgeon: A New Biography, p. 14).
I'm thinking of this because tomorrow night I am teaching on Acts 3:1-10, where a lame man from birth is healed, and begins leaping and praising God for his remarkable, miraculous healing. It is far more than he expected to receive while begging at one of the Temple gates. He was asking for pennies, and received an unthinkable blessing of complete healing.
In the gospel, I get none of what I deserve, and far more than I could ever expect. I am the convicted and condemned sinner. But on the cross, Jesus allows the rope of my condemnation to be placed around his own neck. He is convicted and condemned in my place. I am released. Completely forgiven. Justified. I am Barabbas.
