Christ
Died for Me
Salvation is entirely apart from any self-help. We are not
saved by imitation of the crucifixion or by Christ’s example, but as Luther
concluded, “that high crucifying whereby sin, the devil, and death, are
crucified in Christ and not in me.”
The Bible says, “The soul that sins will surely die.”
Christ died that we may live. He paid our debt to the righteousness of God. Two thousand
years ago Christ paid a moral debt that belonged to you and me. His death secured our
freedom from the debt and stamped the receipt “paid in full.” His death released
us from all obligation to pay our spiritual debt.
The death of Christ is a historical fact at a time and place, but
Christ crucified is also an eternal fact touching all time with equal nearness. The
crucifixion of Christ is an ever-present reality in the mind and heart of God. Our
reconciliation to God depends entirely upon that central fact of the ages.
By faith we lay our hands upon the head of the Lamb of God who was
slain for our sins. In the sacrificial system of the Jewish tabernacle, the person offering
the sacrifice laid his hands upon the head of the offering and declared by identification
his sins upon that offering. The confessing Christian by faith lays his hand upon the head
of God’s perfect sacrifice on his behalf. There is a solemn unity in the suffering of
Christ and the believer. Christ made full atonement for the believing sinner. His death
for the believer is intensely personal.
There is such an identification that the apostle Paul can say in
Romans 6:6, “knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of
sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.”
Not only did Christ die that we might live, but in a very real sense
He died that we might die. “In one death for all, then all die.”
This is all true of us and we accept it by faith.
Christ died for us. He bore our sins and paid our penalty. Because of
our identity with Him through faith, we have been “crucified with
Christ.” My soul says let me hear that Christ died in the stead of sinners, of whom I am
chief; that He was forsaken of God, during these fearful agonies, because He had taken my
place. On His cross He paid the penalty of my guilt. Let me hear the
message that His blood
cleanses from all sin, and that I may now appear before the bar of God, not only pardoned,
but declared acquitted. I was in effect crucified on Calvary, and He will in effect stand
before the throne in my person.
Because of my vital union with Christ, I can
declare: His the penalty, mine the salvation; His the shame, mine the
glory; His the thorns, mine the crown; His the merit, mine the reward.
Selah!
Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2006
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