God -- Sermons; Jesus Christ -- Sermons; Sermons, English -- 20th century
Perhaps you wonder, how can the death of One atone for the sin of the
many? A lad once asked his father this question. The father made no reply
but took him into the garden. Then he dug up a spadeful of earth with a
number of worms in it, and turning to the boy he asked him, "Now which is
of most value, your life or that of one worm, or even a thousand worms?"
"Mine," said the boy. "Now" said the father, "you can see how the life and
death of the Divine Saviour is _sufficient satisfaction to God_ for the
sins of the whole world."
Oh! the wonder of it all. We see God, the Holy God, the just God, the
righteous God--we see man, guilty, condemned, sinful. Then we see the Son
of God Who knew no sin, _made_ sin for us, [Footnote: 2 Cor. v. 21.] so
that all the requirements of God's holiness and justice are fully met.
It was on the Cross, in that hour of darkness and agony when He cried, "My
God, My God, _why_ hast Thou forsaken Me," that He was _made_ sin for us.
Now we see the meaning of the wounded Hands, the broken Heart of God.
"If I were God," the cynic said, "this sinning, suffering world would
break my heart." But what if God's heart _was_ broken? Do we not read in
the 69th Psalm, "Reproach hath broken my heart? [Footnote: Ps. lxix. 20.]"
The last night before He died He went to the garden of Gethsemane. Only
three of His disciples followed Him into the place where He knelt down to
pray, and even these three fell asleep. He was left alone. He says, "I
looked for some to take pity, but there was none, and for comforters, but
I found none." It was then the agony began which ended on the
Cross in a broken heart.
It was then He prayed saying, "Father, if Thou be willing, remove this cup
from Me, and there appeared an angel unto Him from heaven, strengthening
Him." [Footnote: St. Luke xxii. 42, 43.]
His prayer was heard and the victory was won over the adversary, for it
must be on the Cross and in no other way that the Atonement could be made.
"Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for
us, for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree."
[Footnote: Gal. iii. 13.] "Who His own self bare our sins in His own body
on the tree." [Footnote: I Pet. ii. 24.]
It was there on the Cross that He said, "It is finished; and He bowed His
Head and died." We should not have known that He died of a broken heart if
one little circumstance had not taken place. The Holy Spirit has shown us
that this circumstance was foretold in the Scriptures and was all part of
God's purpose in our redemption. The soldiers had orders to break the legs
of those who had been crucified, so as to hasten their death, and remove
their bodies without delay; but when they came to Jesus and saw that He
was dead already, they brake not His legs; but one of the soldiers pierced
His side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. "This was a proof
that He had died of a broken heart." [Footnote: John xix. 34.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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