Our Great Need

Recently I have had a partial quote of a sermon rolling around in my mind. I had heard the sermon a few years ago and remembered the preacher, but could not remember which sermon of his the quote had come from. Well, yesterday I found it and I thought I would share it here. The quote is by Pastor Alistair Begg.

"What was the great need of the sacrifice of Jesus? What was the problem? Not our predicament, but God's wrath. God's wrath. Because if God had been complacent in relationship to sin there would have been no need of a sacrifice. But because God was so holy that He could not even look on sin, and because all of His wrath had been revealed against all of the unrighteousness and the wickedness of men, the great need was for the wrath of God to be propitiated. So that in the dying of the Son the Father's wrath is propitiated. Christ takes the burden of our sin and our rebellion and our guilt on Him. And we as a byproduct discover the wonderful provision of forgiveness, and freedom, and hope. Because in the death of Christ, He has done all in relationship to sin, He has done all in relationship to God, and He has done all in relationship to Satan." (emphasis mine)

For me, this quote brings a shift in my mind from a God who is loving, and He is, to a Holy God who demands justice. My focus seems at times to be to much upon God as the forgiving God, and that He is, but at what cost? At the cost of His full wrath and anger for my sins being poured out upon His son. May I keep my eyes on the Cross and see in a new and fresh way the glories of Calvary.