The Sum And Substance of Christ Dying For Us
Therefore, if when Christ died was the time this was to be done, and if Christ was ordained to do it, if Christ was mighty to save, if Christ took flesh to do this work, if it was the will of God that he should do it, if Christ came on purpose to do it, if our sins were laid upon Christ and He suffered the punishment the curse of them, if He has redeemed us, if it was prophesied of Him that He should justify many and that His work should prosper, if Christ did answer His types, if He has exceeded all the Priests and sacrifices under the Law; if there needs no more offerings for sin; if Christ has done all the Law required, if Christ has done what He came to do, if we are justified by His blood, if He has made us holy, and presented us without spot, if we are free from all sin, if Christ has done all that can be done to make us just and righteous, if Christ did wash away our sins in His own blood, if Christ has said, “It is finished;” then it’s done, it’s done, it’s done, perfectly and completely done. Then what I have said is fully proved namely, that Jesus Christ, by once offering, the sacrifice of Himself, when He was on the Cross, put an end to sin and so destroyed all the sins of His people for ever and presented them just, righteous, and holy, without spot, etc. before God, Col. 1:13,14,21; Col. 2:13,14.
Here Is A Fountain of Consolation
Oh, what a fountain of consolation here! What marrow and fatness is here. What sweetness if like to this, to all who believe? Who now may say, once sin was mine, then it was laid upon Christ and now they are neither mine nor His because they are not at all: For by His blood He washed them all away; and now they are all gone, blotted out, and shall be remembered no more, no more, no more. Now Christ’s righteousness is mine, as well as His, for I was “made the righteousness of God in him,” 2 Cor. 5:21. And I did nothing at all to procure these things to me.
The Appearance of Free Grace
In this appears free grace. Here is Christ, and Christ alone, and nothing but Christ. All things else pass away, because they are “under the Sun,” Eccl. 1:2. They are full of mutation and change. Faith may be obscured and the soul greatly deserted, so as to see no light, Isa. 50:11, yet when at the worst, they need not be comfortless, John 14:18, for still God is their God, and their lives are hid with Christ in God, Col. 3:3, “Who is the same today, yesterday, and for ever:” Heb. 13:5. We change oft, but he “never changeth,” Mal. 3:6. In this is our happiness, comfort, and glory. Even then when we cannot apprehend Him, yet were we in Him, Eph. 1:4. So we are, and ever shall be in Him and one with Him, and are comprehended of Him: 1 John 5:20. “Because I live,” saith Christ, “ye shall live also,” John 14:19. What Doctrine in Religion is more sweet and comfortable, more necessary or profitable, yea, or more honorable to the Lord Jesus Christ? This is that which holds forth the love of God, that sets the Crown upon His head, and will not give His glory to another, Isa. 42:8; Jer. 4:2. This will have Christ to be our life, Col. 3:4; peace, Eph. 1:14; glory, Isa. 45:25. This is that which thrusts us out of our selves, our life, our righteousness, Rom. 10:3; Tit. 3:5, to His, to live in Him, and caused us to say, “O Lord thou art our righteousness,” Ezra 9:15, “The Lord our righteousness”, which life is most sweet and serviceable because this is sure, and more spiritual. In a word, this makes Christ all in all, Col. 3:11, and exalts Him above all, which is His place, Psal. 89:19.
The Life Of Our Souls Is Christ In Us
Surely that which is the life of our souls, upon which the eternal happiness of our souls depends, is not in any thing in us, but is Christ in him, 2 Cor. 5:21; 1 Cor. 1:10. It lies in Him, so that it may be kept safe for us. So that we might not live upon any thing within us, faith is given that by it we may live out of our selves in another, even the Lord Jesus where our life is, Col. 3:3, 4.
Samuel Richardson
God Loves... Himself 
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