Six Facts Plainly Revealed In
The Gospel
Hebrews 2:10
1. All
men and women by nature, since the fall of our father Adam, are sinners,
alienated from God. “All have sinned
and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). As sinners, we are alienated
from the life of God and have become enemies unto God. The wages of our sin and
enmity to God is death. Every transgression must receive its just recompense of
reward (Heb. 2:2). All sin must be punished, either in the sinner or in the
sinner’s Substitute. The law, being broken, accuses of sin, condemns the
sinner, and demands death. Unless satisfaction is made, the sentence of the law
must be executed. The sanction of the law is death. It can never be abrogated,
changed, altered, or abated. God will never relax his justice! “The soul that sinneth, it shall die!” (Ezek.
18:2). But…2. It is the will of God
to save sinners. “He delighteth in
mercy!” God has decreed the salvation of some. Christ came to save some.
There are some people in this world who must be saved because it is the will of
God to save them; and God’s will cannot be frustrated (John 10:16). Every
chosen sinner (2 Thess. 2:13-14), every predestined son (Rom. 8:29-30), every
heir of the covenant (Eph. 1:3-7), everyone whose name was written in the
Lamb’s Book of Life from the foundation of the world must be saved (Rev. 13:8).
There is no possibility that even one of God’s elect will perish! However…3. It is impossible for a
holy and just God to save any sinner apart from the satisfaction of justice (Heb.
9:22). He declares, “I will by no means
clear the guilty” (Ex. 34:7). I know that God is omnipotent, almighty, and
sovereign. He does what he will! But God cannot do that which is contrary to
his nature and character. We do not rob God of his sovereignty when we repeat
the declaration of Scripture and say, “God
cannot lie.” He who is the Truth cannot lie! Neither do we rob God of his
sovereignty when we assert this truth of Holy Scripture - God cannot forgive
sin without the satisfaction of justice. The just, holy, and true God must
punish sin. 4. The only way the justice
of God could ever be satisfied is by the substitutionary sacrifice of the Lord
Jesus Christ (Job 34:23; Rom. 3:24-26). God could not die, and man could
not satisfy; but the God-man both died and satisfied. Two facts demonstrate
clearly that there was no other way for justice to be satisfied. The love of God the Father for his Son
proves it. Would God almighty slay his darling Son, if there were any other
way to save his people consistent with his justice? And the prayer of Christ in Gethsemane proves it (Matt. 26:39). If the
salvation of his people could be accomplished by any means other than his death
upon the cross, would not God the Father have granted his tormented Son the desire
of his soul? 5. It is impossible for God, in his holiness, to punish any
sinner for whose sins justice has been satisfied by the blood of Christ (Isa.
53:11 Romans 7:14) - The law has no claim upon an executed felon! “Payment God
cannot twice demand, First at my bleeding Surety’s hand, And then again at
mine!” 6.
Every sinner who trusts the Lord Jesus Christ has been chosen, redeemed,
and called, and must be forever saved. It is written in the Book of God, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou
shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31).
Don Fortner