MEMORY VERSE: ‘The LORD is well pleased for His righteousness' sake; He will magnify the law, and make it honourable.’ Isaiah 42:21.
LESSON AIM: To show that, when our suffering Lord and Saviour went to the cross to pay the penalty for the sins of each one, He was upholding the divine law.
‘Voluntarily our divine Substitute bared His soul to the sword of justice, that we might not perish but have everlasting life. Said Christ, “I lay down My life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again” (John 10:17, 18). No man of earth or angel of heaven could have paid the penalty for sin. Jesus was the only one who could save rebellious man. In Him divinity and humanity were combined, and this was what gave efficiency to the offering on Calvary’s cross. At the cross, mercy and truth met together, righteousness and peace kissed each other. As the sinner looks upon the Saviour dying on Calvary, and realises that the Sufferer is divine, he asks why this great sacrifice was made, and the cross points to the holy law of God which has been transgressed. The death of Christ is an unanswerable argument as to the immutability and righteousness of the law.’ Selected Messages, book 1, page 322.
1. How many have sinned? Romans 3:23.
NOTE: ‘The Word of God declares, “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God”, Romans 3:23. “There is none that doeth good, no, not one”, Romans 3:12. Many are deceived concerning the condition of their hearts. They do not realise that the natural heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. They wrap themselves about with their own righteousness, and are satisfied in reaching their own human standard of character; but how fatally they fail when they do not reach the divine standard, and of themselves they cannot meet the requirements of God. We may measure ourselves by ourselves, we may compare ourselves among ourselves, we may say we do as well as this one or that one, but the question to which the judgement will call for an answer is, Do we meet the claims of high heaven? Do we reach the divine standard? Are our hearts in harmony with the God of heaven?’ Selected Messages, book 1, page 321.
2. How does the Bible define sin? 1 John 3:4.
NOTE: ‘The commandments of God are comprehensive and far reaching; in a few words they unfold the whole duty of man. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength.... Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself”, Mark 12:30, 31. In these words the length and breadth, the depth and height, of the law of God is comprehended; for Paul declares, “Love is the fulfilling of the law”, Romans 13:10. The only definition we find in the Bible for sin is that “sin is the transgression of the law”, 1 John 3:4.’ Selected Messages, book 1, page 321.