substitutionary atonement

Last night’s Christmas Eve message from 2 Cor. 8:1-9 is now on the web. You can listen to the audio here.

Here is the quote from Octavius Winslow (1808-1878) with which I closed the sermon:

And shall we not pause and bestow a thought of admiration and gratitude upon Him, who was constrained to stand in our place of degradation and woe, that we might stand in His place of righteousness and glory? What wondrous love! what stupendous grace! That He should have been willing to have taken upon Him our sin, and curse, and woe! The exchange to Him how humiliating! He could only raise us by Himself stooping. He could only emancipate us by wearing our chain. He could only deliver us from death by Himself dying. He could only invest us with the spotless robe of His pure righteousness by wrapping around Himself the leprous mantle of our sin and curse. Oh, how precious ought He to be to every believing heart! What affection, what service, what sacrifice, what devotion, He deserves at our hands! Lord, incline my heart to yield itself supremely to You!

May the Lord do a deep work in all our hearts toward the end of our sacrificial giving in all aspects of our lives because we know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

This morning’s message from John 10:11-21 in now on the web. You can listen to it here.

Here’s how I concluded things, minus the quote by Matthew Henry, which I forgot to share:

We have three more specifics regarding the sacrificial death of Christ and what makes it supremely good to come – global, voluntary, and designed. These will have to wait for next time. Jesus claims to be the good shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep. That which makes Him definitively good is that He lay down His life in a most loving, certainly substitutionary, purposefully particular death for His sheep that makes possible their abundant life. Have you believed in Jesus the Good Shepherd? He invites you to come by faith to Him. Turn from your sins, your trust in self, good works, or any false shepherd and put your trust in Him. You will know Him and He will know you even as the Father knows the Son and the Son knows the Father. If you already belong to His flock, then give thanks in light of this theological survey from the lips of Jesus in the good shepherd discourse, this commentary on the laying down of his life, that He has gifted you with so supremely good a sacrifice. As Matthew Henry put it: Jesus Christ is the best of shepherds, the best in the world to take the over-sight of souls, none so skilful, so faithful, so tender, as he, no such feeder and leader, no such protector and healer of souls as he.