“Redemption is Not Pretty!” It comes with a great cost. In fact redemption is a bloody mess. The innocent dies for the guilty. It should have been you or I but there was a substitute willing to die in order that we may live. We should shout for this Old Testament concept: The sacrificial system brought hope to the human tragedy. The animal sacrifice intercepted death on behalf of sinful humanity. It stood as a substitute between the wrath of God and the sin of man.
Judgment without sacrifice leaves man paying for his own sin. How do you think that is going to work out?
The need for redemption is the result of the sinfulness of the human heart. The choice of Adam in the Garden of Eden, rejecting God, the person of God and the provision of God caused separation from God, unrepairable by human effort. It is the love of God and the grace of God that reveals the redemptive plan of God seen throughout human history. Redemption by God was established in the eternal. Before the foundation of the world there was a Lamb that was slain.
The heart of the gospel is redemption, and the essence of redemption is the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon stated that, “the sum and substance of the gospel is defined in that one word Substitution- Christ standing in the stead of man. He goes on to say, If I understand the gospel, it is this: I deserve to be lost forever; the only reason why I should not be damned is this, that Christ was punished in my stead, and there is no need to execute a sentence twice for sin.”
Here is our dilemma. It is possible to fall in love with the form and the ritual and not with the object of the ritual. Many are religious but have no relationship. We want to come to God on our own terms. Mankind thinks he should be able to tell God how we should be saved and when. Herein lays the problem. We have a form of godliness but deny the power thereof. The masses are looking for God in all the wrong places.
There is no pomp or pageantry in sound doctrinal preaching. Emotionalism and entertainment has replaced solid biblical exposition and people see the church as boring. This is a condition of the heart. It (the heart) has not been gripped by grace and has not experienced the love of God. For only God can cause a stony heart to live.
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was nailed to the accursed tree. He who knew no sin was made sin. Sin was laid upon Him. We were guilty and deserved death. He is innocent but gave His life. This is the mystery and the ministry of transference. Our sin was imputed to Him and His righteousness is imputed to us.
This is substitutionary atonement! He took our place on the cross. He died in our place.
Never forget the cost of Calvary. Never forget the blood shed from the Cross. It is not pretty, but it is absolutely necessary.