CHRIST EXEMPTS US FROM OUR SINS, BUT NOT FROM SORROW!

Our Lord had been up all night in agony, He had spent the early morning at the hall of Caiaphas, He had been hurried from Caiaphas to Pilate, from Pilate to Herod, and from Herod back again to Pilate; He had, therefore, but little strength left, and yet neither refreshment nor rest were permitted Him. They were eager for His blood, and therefore led Him out to die, loaded with the cross. O dolorous procession! Well may Salem’s daughters weep! My soul, do thou weep for my Lord.

Beloved, can you feel assured that He carried your sin? As you look at the cross upon His shoulders, does it represent your sin? There is one way by which you can tell whether He carried your sin or not. Have you laid your hand upon His head, confessed your sin, and trusted in Him? Then your sin lies not on you; it has all been transferred by blessed imputation to Christ, and He bears it on His shoulder as a load heavier then the cross.

Let not the picture of Christ on the cross vanishes till you have rejoiced in your own deliverance, and adored the loving Redeemer upon whom your iniquities were laid.

Our Lord Jesus Christ did not suffer and die on the cross so as to exclude our suffering, He bears a cross not that we may escape it, but that we may endure it. Christ exempts us from sin, but not from sorrow. Remember that and expect to suffer!

But let us comfort ourselves with the thought, that in our case, it is not our cross, but Christ’s cross we carry. So then, when we are molested for our piety; when our belief brings the trial of cruel mocking upon us, remember, it is not our cross, but it is Christ’s cross, and how delightful is it to carry the cross of our Lord Jesus.

When we carry the cross after Him, we have blessed company; our path is marked with the footprints of our Lord. The mark of Christ’s blood-red shoulder is upon our burden. It is His cross and He goes before us as a shepherd goes before his sheep. We must take up His cross daily, and follow Him.

Sheriff G Ali