Power of Christ's Sacrifice

"Therefore doth my Father love me ...."John 10: 17&18.      What is this secret of the father's love ? Why is it that the heart of the Father rejoices in the Son ? Is it because of the pain of the Sons sacrifice ? Is it because His Father beheld in Him a victim on the altar of death ? Nay , it is because on the altar of death He beholds in Him an offering that is no victim . The Father's heart rejoices not that the Son is compelled to die , but that the Son can die without compulsion , that He has power to lay down His life . All other sacrifices had been types of impotence , but this was a type of power . Never had the strength of will been manifested so gloriously . There had been conquerors and mighty warriors , who had paved their own way through the hearts of others ;here was a life that could pave a way for others through its own heart . O strength perfected in weakness , O self -surrendering power of love , we , like the Father , yield our hearts to thee . If it had been mere resignation to death , we could have admired thee ; if it had been mere distaste for life , we could have pitied Thee ; but since it is the choice of love , we love Thee . We magnify the power that could relinguish power , the might that could abandon might , the will that could resign will . Thou art most crowned to us in the valley of Thy humiliation . Tho u  art most glorious to us in the shades of Thy Gethsemane . We feel that Thou art no victim , that Thy love hast chosen the burden , that Thou wouldst not have it otherwise for twelve legions of angels . Therefore Thy cross is not a weakness to us but a power ; we are not ashamed of it , we glory in it , we long to be like it . We pant to be made conformable unto Thy death , to have our wills set free from their own burning. We gaze on Thee till we shall catch Thine impress, till we shall be transformed into Thine image from glory to glory, till we shall say , not with resignation , but with acquiesence , "Thy will be done."We shall get back our joy the moment we have ceased to seek it ; when we shall have power  to lay down our life we shall have power to take it again .

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Muckle Kate Not a very ordinary name! But then, Muckle Kate, or Big Kate, or Kate-Mhor, or Kate of Lochcarron was not a very ordinary woman! The actual day of her salvation is difficult to trace to its sunrising, but being such a glorious day as it was, we simply wish to relate something of what shone forth in the redeemed life of that "ill-looking woman without any beauty in the sight of God or man." Muckle Kate was born and lived in Lochcarron in the county of Ross-shire. By the time she had lived her life to its eighty-fifth year she had well-earned the reputation of having committed every known sin against the Law of God with the exception murder. Speaking after the manner of men, if it took "Grace Abounding" to save a hardened sinner like John Bunyan, it was going to take "Grace Much More Abounding" to save Muckle Kate. However, Grace is Sovereign and cannot be thwarted when God sends it on the errand of salvation, and even the method used in bri
Read more
  Severance from Christ is death   to the Church. A Christless Church is a headless trunk. We may retain the doctrine and ethic of the New Testament, but, nevertheless, amputation of the Head means death. Even a partial severance of connection involves paraylsis - loss of spiritual power and loss of spiritual feeling. II.  INTERNALLY, THE CHURCH IS THE FULLNESS OF CHRIST. It is filled with Christ. He is not only the Head above it; he is the life within it. He does not only teach, bless, command, and lead from without; he inspires his people and lives in his Church. Christ fills " all  in all;"  i.e.  the Spirit that was in Jesus of Nazareth is in the whole universe, inspiring all creation and all providence with wisdom and goodness, purity and grace. The same Spirit is in the Church. As yet, unhappily, the Church is not filled with Christ. Though Christ is received into the heart of Christians, every door within is not yet flung open to the gracious Guest. But in the perfect
Read more

Church discipline

Once from the pulpit, at an ordination of elders, the late Rev. M. M'Cheyne made the following declaration. "When I first entered upon the work of the ministry among you, I was exceedingly ignorant of the vast importance of church discipline. I thought that my great, and almost only, work was to pray and preach. I saw your souls to be so precious, and the time so short, that I devoted all my time and care and strength to labour in word and doctrine. When cases of discipline were brought before me and the elders, I regarded them with something like abhorrence. It was a duty I shrank from; and I may truly say it nearly drove me from the work of the ministry among you altogether. But it pleased God, who teaches His servants in another way than man teaches, to bless some of the cases of discipline to the manifest and undeniable conversion of the souls of those under our care; and from that hour a new light broke in upon my mind, and I saw that if preaching be an ordinance of Chri
Read more