Focus on Jesus JESUS, OUR SUBSTITUTE
What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. Rom. 6:15.
One day when I was a pastor in Oregon I was detained at an appointment, which put me behind schedule for a funeral service. I was going through a back road, spraying gravel and dust all over, trying to get to the place of the funeral on time, when a second cloud of dust arose behind me. It turned out to be the cloud of a law-enforcement officer who was trying to catch me. When he finally stopped me he was angry. He said, "Who are you, anyway? I thought I was following a stolen car!"
I told him who I was and where I was going. He suddenly calmed down and said, "I don't know what to do with you. If I give you a citation, it will come out in the newspaper tomorrow, and your parishioners will know all about it. Besides, I don't think a citation is the answer anyway."
And I said, "No, I don't either!"
After he had shifted from foot to foot for a little while, he said, "I'm going to let you go. Go on. You're on your own."
I thought as I started down the road that this was the greatest motivation I'd ever had to obey the law. But the reason I was motivated to obey the law was because of the other times when I didn't get that kind of treatment. I knew what justice was, and that's why mercy meant something to me.
The illustration is very feeble. If we were going to make it more like the atonement, the officer would not simply have permitted me to go free. God Himself doesn't do that. God has never been able to forgive sin. He forgives sinners. The reason we know He cannot forgive sin is because Jesus died. So the officer, to fit the analogy rightly, should have pulled out his wallet and handed be the money for the fine. Or he would have gone to court for me. That's what Jesus has done for us--He has paid the penalty in our behalf.
It is because God is a God of love that He is a God of justice. But because of His love, He is also a God of mercy. Satan didn't understand that. When he caused man to sin, he exulted. He thought that this would prove that God's law could not be kept, and that if a loophole were found for man, he would be able to get back into heaven again himself. But Jesus came as our Substitute, to make a way of escape for us. Thus God's justice and mercy could both be revealed.
What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. Rom. 6:15.
One day when I was a pastor in Oregon I was detained at an appointment, which put me behind schedule for a funeral service. I was going through a back road, spraying gravel and dust all over, trying to get to the place of the funeral on time, when a second cloud of dust arose behind me. It turned out to be the cloud of a law-enforcement officer who was trying to catch me. When he finally stopped me he was angry. He said, "Who are you, anyway? I thought I was following a stolen car!"
I told him who I was and where I was going. He suddenly calmed down and said, "I don't know what to do with you. If I give you a citation, it will come out in the newspaper tomorrow, and your parishioners will know all about it. Besides, I don't think a citation is the answer anyway."
And I said, "No, I don't either!"
After he had shifted from foot to foot for a little while, he said, "I'm going to let you go. Go on. You're on your own."
I thought as I started down the road that this was the greatest motivation I'd ever had to obey the law. But the reason I was motivated to obey the law was because of the other times when I didn't get that kind of treatment. I knew what justice was, and that's why mercy meant something to me.
The illustration is very feeble. If we were going to make it more like the atonement, the officer would not simply have permitted me to go free. God Himself doesn't do that. God has never been able to forgive sin. He forgives sinners. The reason we know He cannot forgive sin is because Jesus died. So the officer, to fit the analogy rightly, should have pulled out his wallet and handed be the money for the fine. Or he would have gone to court for me. That's what Jesus has done for us--He has paid the penalty in our behalf.
It is because God is a God of love that He is a God of justice. But because of His love, He is also a God of mercy. Satan didn't understand that. When he caused man to sin, he exulted. He thought that this would prove that God's law could not be kept, and that if a loophole were found for man, he would be able to get back into heaven again himself. But Jesus came as our Substitute, to make a way of escape for us. Thus God's justice and mercy could both be revealed.
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