Wesley Corpus

2.) So we read, God “raised him from the dead; who was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification: Because our Surety’s being discharged by the will and act of the Judge himself, is a full proof that he has paid our whole debt. “(2.) Nor is there any more sure way to the imitation of Christ, than faith in Christ crucified, in Him ‘who suffered for us, leaving us an example,’ that we might tread in his steps; who ‘died for us, while we were yet enemies,” that we might be ‘justified by his blood.’ (Rom. v. 9.) Yet it is true, this doctrine finds no place in those who are proud of heart, who love their own reasonings, and have notaste for ‘the sincere milk of the word. But it is precious to them who feel the weight of their sins, who know they ‘are by nature children of wrath,’ and, at the same time, utterly incapable either of paying the debt, of rising from the death of sin, of conquering themselves, the world, and the devil, or of meriting eternal life. “(3.) The origin and cause of our redemption is, the ineffable love of God the Father, who willed to redeem us by the blood of his own Son;--the grace of the Son, who freely took our curse upon him, and imparts his blessing and merits to us;-- and the Holy Spirit, who communicates the love of the Father and the grace of the Son to our hearts. “When we speak of this, and of the satisfaction of Christ, we speak of the inmost mystery of the Christian faith. There ore all the inventions of men ought now to be kept at the utmost distance; nor can anything certain be established, with out the express authority of Scripture. And herein is offered first to our consideration, the only-begotten Son of God, as the Head of the redeemed, the righteous Servant of God, who by the knowledge of himself “shall justify many. (Isaiah liii. 11.) Him God hath constituted the ‘surety of that better covenant,’ (Heb. vii.22,)--the covenant of grace. And how clearly is his execution of this office described in the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah ! where the Prophet describes him as ‘bearing our griefs, or sins, ‘and carrying our sorrows.