Yes, as your pastor, I desperately need your help. I’m not asking for something which is unimportant or optional, but something which is essential to the spiritual well-being of ourselves, our children and all who frequent this assembly. Nor am I asking for something which can be done by anyone and everyone, but is a privilege exclusive to you, the saints of God.

What are we to understand by His being made sin? We have partly anticipated the meaning of the words:—“Made Him to be sin.” [Reader,] if Christ takes the sinner’s place, He must bear the sinner’s sins and punishment which the sinner ought to have borne for his disobedience to, and transgression of the law of God. Christ is made sin by imputation. He was not a sinner by nature, but sin was charged upon Him, as He stood in the stead of His people. My own [thought] is, that the doctrine of imputation arises out of union. To illustrate what I mean, take the following words: “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous” (Romans 5:19).

Union with Adam makes us sinners with him. Union with Christ makes us righteous with Him.

It is somewhat singular, to hear the apostle, whose constant poverty was almost proverbial, undertaking the payment of Onesimus’s debts, if he owed his master any thing. But in what he adds of Philemon’s owing even himself, to Paul, as having been instrumental in the Lord’s hand, for his conversion; we enter upon the apostle’s meaning.

Justification by faith is, that when I come to stand before God, though conscience says I am guilty of a thousand sins, yet I may go boldly and plead my pardon, which will acquit me as if I had never sinned at any time.

In [considering] this momentous truth, let us begin where God himself began, namely, with election. To whom are we indebted for that first of all spiritual blessings? Pride says, “To me;” self-righteousness says, “To me;” man’s unconverted will says, “To me.” But faith joins with God’s word in saying, “Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name” be the whole glory of thy electing love ascribed. Thou didst not choose us on supposition of our first choosing thee, but through the victorious operation of thy mighty Spirit, we choose thee for our Portion and our God, in consequence of thy having first and freely chosen us to be thy people.

Reader, how can this be? To justify the wicked is an abomination?! [Proverbs 17:15] Well then, what of the believing sinner? Does not God’s word set forth that a wicked sinner like you and a wicked sinner like me is justified by His blood? How then is that not an abominable and immoral thing for God to do? Because beloved, our Heavenly Father has made His just sinless Son to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.

Beloved, [God] saw our souls dead in sin, dead under His law, dead to Himself. Did He leave us? No; He loved us with great love, therefore, in rich mercy He quickened us.

Vile religion is rampant in the earth. The followers of jiving, jumping, idiotic “preachers” are swept up in the euphoria of “Thank you Jesus.” As the elect people of the sovereign Lord view all this, the stomach has a tendency to feel uneasy and want to throw off its contents.

Isn’t it a good thing to know beyond a doubt what a person believes about God, Christ, and salvation? There are many preachers today, who, if you listened to them for ten years, you still would not be certain what they are saying. Paul said to the young preacher Timothy, you cannot mistake what I have taught you. Many are but preachers [in name only, that believe and teach that] ‘God does what He wants to do, but He cannot infringe on man’s free will.’ Well now, if you were listening to [someone like that], would you fully know his doctrine? You would fully know that [so called preacher] is totally confused, for these are contrary to one another.

All false religions are under the delusion that salvation is granted through something a person does; nothing could be further from the truth!