ChosenRebel's Blog

Transferring guilt to another so that the guilty can go free is at the heart of our faith.

J. Sidlow Baxter, (1903-1999), an Australian pastor and theologian, and a valiant and trustworthy expositor of God’s word from a previous generation reminds us of the central truth of our faith. It is good for us to remind ourselves of basic things, foundational things. And it is good for us to reflect and meditate on the greatness of our freedom from guilt so that we might live lives worthy of the One who died and rose for our salvation. Our souls leak and we need to constantly reengage with the greatness of the Gospel. (Recommendation: Read the quote below, slowly and out loud. It will aid your reflection)

That word, ”guilt”, is a legal term. The Bible teaches that as sinners we are ”guilty” before God. Besides having inherited a sinful nature as members of Adam’s fallen race, we have committed sins of our own–sins too many to count and too deadly to assess. We have to admit, as did Joseph’s brothers, ”We are verily guilty.” Guilt brings condemnation. We are ”under condemnation”, says God’s Word. But this tragic plight of ours is counter-matched by the glorious Gospel doctrine of ”justification”, or imputed righteousness. The Romans epistle teaches that when Jesus voluntarily became our Sinbearer on the Cross, our guilt was imputed, or reckoned, to Him, and that now His righteousness may be imputed, or reckoned, or reckoned to us. Because of this, Romans 5:1 assures us, ”Therefore, being justified (reckoned righteous before God) by faith (which accepts Jesus as Saviour) we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Oh, it is a blessed, soul-saving thing to have this new standing of “justification”, before God, and to wear the garland of Christ’s imputed righteousness instead of the ashes of our soul-condemning guilt!

Awake My Heart: Daily Devotional and Expository Studies-in-brief Based
on a Variety of Bible Truths, and Covering One Complete Year,
(Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1960), 314.

Colossians 1:9-10

⁹ And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you,
asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will
in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 
¹⁰ as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him:
bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;