Our reading today of the second London Baptist confession comes again from chapter 11 of justification. Today is paragraph 3. Christ by his obedience and death did fully discharge the debt of all those that are justified, and did by the sacrifice of himself in the blood of his cross, undergoing in their stead the penalty due unto them, yet make a proper, real, and full satisfaction of God's justice in their behalf, yet in as much as he was given by the Father for them, in his obedience and satisfaction accepted in their stead, and both freely, not for anything in them. Their justification is only a free grace, that both the exact justice and rich grace of God might be glorified in the justification of sinners. We continue today in our study of the doctrine of justification.

Again, why is the doctrine of justification a big deal? It points us to the question, how can I be right with God? How can I, a sinner, be just before a holy God? Because of our sinfulness, we deserve the wages of sin, which is death. When one is guilty, there's nothing more important to understand than how to remove that guilt.

In our first week, we looked at the difference between the infusion and imputation of Christ's righteousness. Last week, we spoke of faith as the sole instrument of justification, and that we are justified by faith alone, but not a faith that is alone. If we truly have faith, our works will be visible. This week we'll primarily focus on the beginning of our paragraph, Christ by his obedience and death did fully discharge the debt of all those that are justified. Okay, what is meant by discharge the debt?

We just read more specifically what is a debt? What is a debt that needs to discharge or pay? A debt is something we owe. We have an obligation to pay. It can be financial, it can be moral.

Say you go to the grocery store and fill up your cart. You're building up a debt that you owe when you check out. You have to give money to the store for the goods that you've selected. You pay that debt with money in all its good. If however you decide to race out of the store without paying, the store will call the police and you'll be charged with theft.

You will owe a debt, a debt, a moral debt for breaking the law, but you will also still owe a debt of money for the goods you took. Someone described these as principal debts and penalty debts. A principal debt would be obedience following the law. It is the natural and rightful duty of a created being to obey our faithful creator. It is a debt we owe to him to obey him.

A penalty debt, a penalty debt occurs when we don't obey God. If you commit a crime, the police go to get you and you're punished. Sometimes you pay a fine, sometimes you spend time in jail, sometimes you only go on probation. That crime you committed was against the law of our society. So when you have served your jail time or probation or paid your fine, we say that you have paid your debt to society.

But if we look at this with respect to God, when someone sins, they've broken one of the laws of God and there comes with it a consequence, a penalty, and this penalty is death and eternal torment in hell even for just one tiny small transgression. And perhaps that seems unfair but we have to remember our sin is against a holy infinite God, which means our punishment would be eternal wrath. A devotional from Ligonier states, the history of the world religions is the history of human beings trying to come up with the methods that will pay the debt we incur to God. Various forms of penance, pilgrimages, fasting, and so forth are commonly found in the religions of the world as means to pay the debt of sin and atone for falling short of the Creator's law. The problem with all of these attempts is they do not take the difference between creator and creature into serious consideration.

We can pay the debts we owe to other people for breaking human laws, but how can a finite individual pay the debt owed to an infinite God? We have transgressed the standards of our infinitely holy creator, which means that the debt we owe is infinite, and we cannot hope to pay this debt by ourselves. Without Christ, we'll spend an eternity in hell as payment for our sins. Paul tells us in his letter to the Romans, it is through Christ that our debt is paid, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us in Romans 5-8. But how is this done?

Why is it that it is only Christ that can discharge this debt we owe for our sin. First, since man's sin is necessary that the punishment for those sins must be paid by a man. The justice of God requires this. However, only a righteous man without sin can make satisfaction for others. Thus, he must not only be truly man, but also be perfectly sinless.

Second, he must be true God in order to bear the infinite weight of God's wrath against sin of all those justified. A human would be crushed by the infinite weight of God's wrath. Remember our sin is against a holy infinite God, which again means our punishment is eternal wrath. Only our incarnate Lord meets these requirements and can discharge the debt of sin that we owe. We spoke about debt, we spoke about Christ paying our debt.

But another question is, how does he really do this? What must he do to accomplish this to accomplish our redemption is through his obedience and death We also speak of this as Christ active and passive obedience Christ active obedience is described as his perfect keeping of God's law. He is without sin, 1 Peter 2 22. He is perfectly righteous. And Christ's passive obedience is described as his taking on the punishment do our sins of those who will be justified.

Christ did not die on the cross for anything that he did, but for our sins imputed to him. Peter tells us He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed." 1 Peter 2, 24. Paul affirms this, God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." 2 Corinthians 521. A table talk devotion gives an explanation for this idea of substitutionary atonement.

When we look at the biblical depiction of sin as a crime, we see that Jesus acts as a substitute, taking our place at the bar of God's justice. For this reason, we sometimes speak of Jesus's work on the cross as the substitutionary atonement of Christ, which means that when he offered an atonement, it was not to satisfy God's justice for his own sins, for he had none, but for the sins of others. He stepped into the role of the substitute representing his people. He didn't lay down his life for himself. He laid it down for his sheep.

In Romans 519, scripture tells us, for as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners. So by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. We also read in Isaiah 53 11, he shall see the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many for he shall bear their iniquities Not only did Christ accomplish the redemption of his people, but his work was accepted by the father His sacrifice His substitutionary atonement was accepted and he fully discharged the debt of all those who are justified. God's justice was perfectly and completely satisfied.

But how do we know this? How do we know that God's justice was really satisfied? That that debt of sin was properly, really, and fully satisfied? When our sins were imputed to Christ and as he was hanging on the cross, Jesus cried out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? In Matthew 27, 46.

This was not just an emotional outcry from his sufferings. Dr. Sproul explains, Jesus experienced actual separation from the face-to-face fellowship of the Father as he took on the sins of humanity. He was truly and legally abandoned by the Father to bear the full weight of divine wrath for human sin. But this sin wasn't permanent.

Jesus died on the cross, fully discharging the debt of sin. He rose from the dead and he was exalted to the right hand of the throne of God, Acts 2.33. His bodily presence with God proves, proves his victory over sin and death. It proves that the debt of sin was properly, really and fully satisfied. Our justification comes freely from God to those whom he has chosen.

It is not from any works that we can do ourselves. We cannot believe. We cannot have faith. We cannot be even inclined towards God at all until he first does a work in us. For by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves.

It is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast." Ephesians 2, 8 and 9. As a man, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, endured the judgment of a holy and infinite God for the sins of those who are united to Him by faith alone. We should not fear that God would ever remove the light of His countenance from us if we are in Christ. God's sacrifice of his Son proves the justice and the infinite degree to which he loves us. These are encouraging words.

Yes, God loves us, and God will not forsake those whom he has justified. We know we fall short and we know we still disobey and sin. But we must live our lives knowing that we were ransomed. Not with perishable things such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ. We were ransomed because of his great love for us.

We just sang a song with the words, highest heights or darkest deeps, be there pain or poverty, there's nothing that can keep my Redeemer's love from me. All alone, though I may feel all the world my enemy, still there's no one that can steal my Redeemer's love for me. Although burdened by the weight of great trial or tragedy, None of these can separate me from my Redeemer's love for me. Oh the love of my Redeemer, he has purchased my forgiveness and has washed my sins away. Rest in the fact that your debt has been paid, paid at great cost by a loving Savior.

Rest in Him, rest in Christ, and know that your eternal standing is secure. Amen. You you you