One of my favorite current preachers is Alistair Begg, a pastor in Cleveland, Ohio. I listen to him through his “Truth For Life” app.
Alistair also has written a helpful commentary for the 25th question and answer in The New City Catechism, which reads: “Does Christ’s death mean all our sins can be forgiven? Answer: Yes, because Christ’s death on the cross fully paid the penalty for our sin, God graciously imputes Christ’s righteousness to us as if it were our own and will remember our sins no more.”
Here are his comments:[1]
Some years ago when I
was diagnosed with cancer, my great concern was that the surgeon would get it
all. I wasn’t really interested in a cure that was only partial. And when we
think about Jesus bearing our sins, the mystery and the wonder of the gospel is
that he deals with all of them. He who was absolutely perfect died in the place
of sinners, identifying with us in our guilt and becoming liable to our
punishment. When Paul writes to the Corinthians, he tells them that God was not
counting their sins against them. And the reason for that is because he was
counting them against him. Jesus died not as a martyr, but as a substitute. The
invitation of the gospel is given to all, but the assurance of forgiveness is
only for those who are in Christ, whose sins have been counted to him.
Augustus Toplady
captured the security of this when he wrote:
“Rock of ages cleft
for me,
let me hide myself in
Thee;
let the water and the
blood,
from thy riven side
which flowed,
be of sin the double
cure;
cleanse me from its
guilt and power.”
Peter tells us that
the angels, actually, long to look into this (1 Pet. 1:12). And what they have
observed from a distance, the believer knows perfectly.
The wonder of it all is that our disobedience is completely covered by the obedience of the Lord Jesus—all of our sins dealt with forever.
Delighting in Christ’s Full Cure With You,
Tom
[1] This can
be found either in the app for The New City Catechism or the devotional book for the catechism.
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