Christ, in one word, has lived for the true Christian. Christ has died for him. Christ has gone to the grave for him. Christ has risen again for him. Christ has ascended on high for him and gone into heaven to intercede for his soul. Christ has done all, paid all, suffered all that was needful for his redemption. … In himself, there is nothing; but in Christ he has all things that his soul can require (Col 2:3; 3:11). Who can tell the blessedness of the exchange that takes place between the true Christian and the Lord Jesus Christ! Christ’s righteousness is placed upon him, and his sins are placed upon Christ. Christ has been reckoned a sinner for his sake, and now he is reckoned innocent for Christ’s sake. Christ has been condemned for his sake though there was no fault in Him, and now he is acquitted for Christ’s sake… Here is wisdom indeed! God can now be just and yet pardon the ungodly. Man can feel that he is a sinner, and yet have a good hope of heaven and feel peace within. Who among men could have imagined such a thing? Who ought not to admire it when he hears it? (2 Cor 5:21).
We read in gospel history of a display of love…We read of Jesus, the Son of God, coming down to a world of sinners, who neither cared for Him before He came nor honoured Him when He appeared. … We read of Him becoming obedient to death… that we the unworthy children of Adam might have a door opened to life everlasting. We read of Him being content to bear our sins… that we might wear His righteousness and walk in the light and liberty of the sons of God (Phil 2:8, 15). … In no way could free grace ever have shone so brightly as in the way of justification by Christ (Eph 3:19). This is the old way by which alone the children of Adam who have been justified from the beginning of the world have found their peace. From Abel downwards, no person has ever had one drop of mercy except through Christ. To Him every altar that was raised before the time of Moses was intended to point. To Him every sacrifice and ordinance of the Jewish law was meant to direct the children of Israel. Of Him all the prophets testified. In a word, if you lose sight of justification by Christ, a large part of the Old Testament Scripture will become an unmeaning, tangled maze.
This is the way of justification that exactly meets the wants and requirements of human nature. There is a conscience left in man, although he is a fallen being. … So long as his conscience is not hungry, any religious toy will satisfy a man’s soul and keep him quiet. But once let his conscience become hungry, and nothing will quiet him… but Christ.
There is something within a man when his conscience is really awake, which whispers, “There must be a price paid for my soul, or no peace.” At once, the gospel meets him with Christ. Christ has already paid a ransom for his redemption. … Christ has redeemed him from the curse of the law, being made a curse for him (Gal 2:20; 3:13).
There is something within a man when his conscience is really awake, which whispers, “I must have some righteousness or title to heaven, or no peace.” At once, the gospel meets him with Christ. He has brought in an “everlasting righteousness” (Dan 9:24). … His name is called “THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS” (Jer 23:6). God has “made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Cor 5:21).

There is something within a man when his conscience is really awake, which whispers, “There must be punishment and suffering because of my sins, or no peace.” At once, the gospel meets him with Christ. He bore our sins in His own body on the tree. By His stripes we are healed (1 Pet 2:24). Christ hath suffered to bring him to God (1 Pet 3:18).
There is something within a man when his conscience is really awake, which whispers, “I must have a priest for my soul, or no peace.” At once, the gospel meets him with Christ. Christ is sealed and appointed by God the Father to be the Mediator between Himself and man. He is the ordained Advocate for sinners. … He is the great High Priest, the Almighty Absolver, the Gracious Confessor of heavy-laden sinners (1 Timothy 2:5; Hebrews 8:1).
I know there are thousands of professing Christians who see no peculiar beauty in this doctrine of justification by Christ. … Their consciences are paralyzed, benumbed, and speechless. But whenever a man’s conscience begins really to feel and speak, he will see something in Christ’s atonement and priestly office that he never saw before. … Hundreds can testify that the experience of a converted heathen in a certain island in the South Pacific Ocean has been exactly their own. “I saw,” he said, “an immense mountain, with precipitous sides, up which I endeavored to climb, but when I had attained a considerable height, I lost my hold and fell to the bottom. Exhausted with perplexity and fatigue, I went to a distance and sat down to weep; and while weeping, I saw a drop of blood fall upon that mountain, and in a moment, it was dissolved.” He was asked to explain what all this meant. “That mountain,” he said, “was my sins; and that drop which fell upon it was one drop of the precious blood of Jesus, by which the mountain of my guilt was melted away.”
This is the one true way of peace: justification by Christ. Beware lest any turn you out of this way and lead you into any of the false doctrines of the Church of Rome. … Hold fast the truth of God… and be not deceived. Listen not to anything you may hear about other mediators and helpers to peace. Remember there is no mediator but one—Jesus Christ; no purgatory for sinners but one—the blood of Christ; no sacrifice for sin but one—the sacrifice once made on the cross; no works that can merit anything but the work of Christ; no priest that can truly absolve but Christ. … Give not the glory due to Christ to another.
What do you know of Christ?… You are acquainted perhaps with the story of His life and death. But what experiential knowledge do you have of Him? What practical use do you make of Him? What dealings and transactions have there been between your soul and Him?
Oh, believe me, there is no peace with God except through Christ! Peace is His peculiar gift. Peace is the legacy that He alone had power to leave behind Him when He left the world. All other peace beside this is a mockery and a delusion. …
Now, is this peace your own? Bought by Christ with His own blood, offered by Christ freely to all who are willing to receive it—is this peace your own? Oh, rest not! Rest not until you can give a satisfactory answer to my question: HAVE YOU PEACE?

More Lively Hope

© Hope Bible-Presbyterian Church
14 Bedford Square, Colonel Light Gardens, South Australia 5041