Notes on the Book of LeviticusMackintosh, Charles Henry
Religion
Notes on the Book of Leviticus
Mackintosh, Charles Henry
Bible. Leviticus -- Commentaries
And now, ere turning from this fundamental point which has been
occupying us, I would desire to make an earnest and a most solemn
appeal to my reader's heart and conscience. Let me ask you, dear
friend, have you been led to repose on this holy and happy foundation?
Do you know that the question of your sin has been forever disposed
of? Have you laid your hand, by faith, on the head of the
Sin-offering? Have you seen the atoning blood of Jesus rolling away
all your guilt, and carrying it into the mighty waters of God's
forgetfulness? Has Divine Justice any thing against you? Are you free
from the unutterable horrors of a guilty conscience? Do not, I pray
you, rest satisfied until you can give a joyous answer to these
inquiries. Be assured of it, it is the happy privilege of the feeblest
babe in Christ to rejoice in a full and everlasting remission of sins,
on the ground of a finished atonement; and hence, for any to teach
otherwise, is to lower the sacrifice of Christ to the level of "goats
and calves." If we cannot know that our sins are forgiven, then where
are the glad tidings of the gospel? Is a Christian in no wise better
off, in the matter of a sin-offering, than a Jew? The latter was
privileged to know that his matters were set straight for a year, by
the blood of an annual sacrifice. Can the former not have any
certainty at all? Unquestionably. Well, then, if there is any
certainty, it must be eternal, inasmuch as it rests on an eternal
sacrifice.
This, and this alone, is the basis of worship. The full assurance of
sin put away ministers, not to a spirit of self-confidence, but to a
spirit of praise, thankfulness, and worship. It produces, not a spirit
of self-complacency, but of Christ-complacency, which, blessed be God,
is the spirit which shall characterize the redeemed throughout
eternity. It does not lead one to think little of sin, but to think
much of the grace which has perfectly pardoned it, and of the blood
which has perfectly canceled it. It is impossible that any one can
gaze on the cross--can see the place which Christ took--can meditate
upon the sufferings which He endured--can ponder on those three
terrible hours of darkness, and at the same time think lightly of
sin. When all these things are entered into, in the power of the Holy
Ghost, there are two results which must follow, namely, an abhorrence
of sin in all its forms, and a genuine love to Christ, His people, and
His cause.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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