June - the Free Presbyterian church of Scotland

48 Free Presbyterian Magazine.a sacrifice offen'u up as the Scripture saith, "\vjthull~ theshedding of blood there can be no remission of sill." Christundertook to ll\('et all the demands of justice, and, in OI"c!Clr tomeet the above demands he took unto himself a hUlIIan hudyand soul. He that was God, holy and undefiled, condesc(lndodin taking human nature so that the Eternal God becanll' l\ I·hildof days. .rt was in human uature that the head of our rn(~fell and it was to be in human nature that the demandsJustice were to be met. As the whole human race to a IlIanlay under sentence of death, groaning and sighing as those undl'l"captivity. (2) Redemption from the penalty of the law. Till'first and most obvious consequence of sin is subjection to tll('penalty of the law, "The wages of sin is death." Everysin of necessity subjects the sinner to the wrath and curse ofGod. The first step, therefore, in the salvation of sinners istheir redemption from that curse. Until this is done they areof necessity separated from God. But alienation from Himof necessity involves both misery and subjection to the powerof sin. So long as men are under the curse, they are cut offfrom the only source of holiness and life. Such is the doctrinetaught throughout the Bible, and elaborately in Romans, ch.6 and 7. In effecting the salvation of His people, Christ"redeemed them from the curse of the law," not by a mereact of sovereignty, or power; not by moral influence I'estoringthem to virtue, but by being" made a curse for them." Nolanguage can be plainer than this. The curse is the pennltyof the law. We weI'e subject to that penalty. Christ hasredeemed us from that subjection by being made a curse .corus (Gal. iii. v. xiii.) that the infinitely exalted and holy SOil ofGod should be " accursed" is so awful an idea, that the Apostlejustifies the use of such language by quoting the declaration ofScripture, "Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree."Suffering' and especially the suffering of death judicially inflictedon account of sin is penal. Those who thus suffer have thecurse of the penalty of the law. The sufferings of Christ, andespecially His death upon the cross, were neither calamities~