My pardon cost Him that!

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(Archibald Brown, "Who is a Pardoning God Like Thee?" Stepney Green Tabernacle)

"Who is a God like You, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance? You do not stay angry forever, but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us. You will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea!" Micah 7:18-19

Before God could forgive a sinner in accordance with His infinite holiness and perfect justice--think what had to be done, sacrificed, and suffered! Measure God's pardon, by the obstacles His pardoning love overcame--and then you can form some idea of its intensity.

God has fathomed His love and pity in one text, "God SO loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son." That little word "so" contains more than Heaven or earth can describe. In it, is the heart of God; in it, is the depth of pardoning love. O think for a minute what that pardon cost, which now makes your soul sing for joy. You received it freely enough, because Another paid the price; but what was that price?

It cost Jesus a price no lip can tell--and no heart conceive! See Him tied to yonder pillar--mark that awful scourge as it falls again and again upon His quivering flesh; note how deep the thongs cut, drawing blood at every stroke! Your pardon cost that! "By His stripes we are healed." Isaiah 53:5

Follow Him in that weary walk to Calvary--linger by Him as fever courses through His veins, while head and hands and feet all drip with gore! Stay by Him until His sacred head falls upon the bosom, and His great heart breaks with anguish. And then looking up into that ashen countenance, say "My pardon cost Him that!" Yes, no pardon could ever have come to guilty man--if an atonement had not been made that . . .
satisfied divine justice,
honored the law, and
magnified the holiness of God.

It is sweet work to trace the ruby stream of forgiving love; and mark how it would flow on until it reached the sinner, yes, even though it flowed along the channel of a Savior's wounds!

Who is a pardoning God like Thee?
Who has grace so rich and free?

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