READER, Friend, whoever you may be, do you know Him who gave Himself for our sins? Time is hastening us on to eternity, you and me, and with God we must have to do! And what about our sins? Is it no concern to you? In grace, in love to you, He made it His concern, for He “gave Himself for our sins.” His name —do you know it? Our Lord Jesus Christ. “The Son of God who loved and gave Himself for me,” so wrote the apostle Paul ; and my heart re-echoes with joy those precious words. Yes! He loved me, He gave Himself for me; and in His name let me speak a moment to thy heart. He “gave himself for our sins.” Yes ; He loved you too. The co-eternal, ever-blessed Son of God, who upholds all things by the word of His power—heaven, sun, moon, stars and earth. The universe is His own; for all things were made by Him and for Him, and soon He will come to reign in power and glory, whose right it is.
Yet He “gave himself for our sins”! It was not heaven, nor earth—not all the treasures of the universe, not angels. And He demands not treasures of thee. No works of righteousness, no sacrifice, no blood. No. He demands not. He gave, and it was His own self that He gave for our sins. Himself—the Father’s treasure, the light of heaven’s eternal glory for the evils of His loved creatures. And why? “He loved.” We could not save ourselves. No other sacrifice would do. No other work could glorify a Holy God. No other blood than His had power to cleanse our guilty souls, “None can by any means redeem his brother or give to God a ransom.”
The blood of bulls and goats could not avail. Nor could my own to cleanse away one spot of guilt of either mine or thine. And yet the ever-blessed Son of God, in boundless love to me and thee—He took a kinsman’s place, a man to suffer and to die, to give His life, a holy, spotless one, for our poor guilty souls. He gave Himself.
“Yes, He took the guilt culprit’s place,
And suffered in his stead.”
And God is satisfied. Oh! come then, and put your trust in Him. There is such worth, such power, such merit in that one great Sacrifice, that though your sins be of the deepest dye, though they be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow, for His blood cleanseth from all sin. But if thou art not satisfied, if you would seek some other way to merit heaven and find acceptance with thy God, then know God’s holy word declares there is no other way. No works, no merits of thine own will do. There is no other Name. “For there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:1212Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. (Acts 4:12)).