Holiness and Grace

I re-read this today in Jesus, Keep Me Near The Cross. It's in the chapter called "The Most Important Word in the Universe" by Raymond C. Ortlund Jr.

At the cross of Christ, God put something forward. He declared something to the whole world. He presented, he displayed, the clearest statement about himself he has ever made. What was he saying? Two things.

One, he detests our evil with all the intensity of the divine personality. If you want to know what your sin deserves from God, don't look within yourself, don't look at your own emotions. Look at that man on the cross - tormented, gasping, bleeding. Take a long, thoughtful look. God was presenting something to you there. God was saying something about his perfect emotions toward your sin. He was displaying his wrath.

Two - here is the other thing God was presenting at the cross - the God you have offended doesn't demand your blood; he gives his own in Christ Jesus. He knows what you deserve, but he wants to give you what you don't deserve. He himself has opened the way. He took the initiative. How could it be otherwise? We can't avert the wrath of God. We're the problem, not the answer. We're helpless before God. But "God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son..." (John 3:16). At the cross, his love satisfied his own wrath. That's the second thing God was setting forth in the death of Christ.

What we couldn't do, God has done.

I have been reminded of R.C. Sproul's book titled The Holiness of God recently, and the above quote is one of the reminders. Sola read this together a few years ago. That book was one of the most helpful books I've ever read. I really would like to reread it sometime, but it's hard for me to reread books because it takes me a while to read, and there are so many books I have not read yet.

This also stood out to me in my reading today:

...if your conscience knows that you deserve the wrath of God and your only hope is God's mercy in Christ, then he longs for you to know something. He longs for you to know that he is happy over you, because he sees you through the death of Christ. God is not angry at you any more; he rejoices over you. You've got to know that He longs for you to know that your sins have been nailed to the cross, and you bear them no more.

This is why I can be happy, because He is happy over me. This is why I can caste my cares on Him, because He has taken all my sin. Oh how I need to grow in knowing the joy of my salvation.

Also because of this, I can be "happy over" other Christians. I can choose to see them as my Father sees them, through the death of Christ. I want to grow in viewing everything and everyone through the lens of God's grace. There are so many evidences of grace around me all the time and everywhere. My prayer is often that God would open my eyes to see it.

One evidence of his grace to me even today is how I can enjoy time at home. There is so much life in this home. I have many things I want to accomplish; I always seem to. But he has given me a contentment as I go along, not a spirit of striving but of enjoyment in the moment. My Father is very kind to me.

photo: Venice, Italy 2007