Light for them that sit in darkness, or, A discourse of Jesus Christ, and that he undertook to accomplish by himself the eternal redemption of sinners also, that the Lord Jesus addressed himself to this work, with undeniable demonstrations that he performed the same : objections to the contrary answered / by John Bunyan.

Christ took upon him our Sins.

BUt Thirdly, Christ our Saviour takes upon him our Sins. This is another step to the Work of our Redemption. He hath made him to be sin for us. Strange Doctrine! a Fool would think it blasphemy, but Truth hath said it. Truth, I say, hath said, not that he was made to be sin, but that GOD made him to be sin. He bath made him to be sin for us, 1 Cor. 5. 21.

This therefore sheweth us how effectually Christ Jesus undertook the Work of our Re∣demption. He was made to be sin for us. Sin is the great block and bar to our happiness; sin is the Procurer of all miseries to men both here and for ever. Take away sin, and nothing can hurt us; for death Temporal, death Spiritual, and death Eternal is the Wages of sin, Rom. 6. 23.

Sin then, and man for Sin, is the Object of the Wrath of God. If the Object of the Wrath of God, then is his Case most dreadful; for who can bear, who can grapple with the Wrath of God! Men cannot, Angels cannot, the whole World cannot. All therefore must sink under sin, but he who is made to be sin for us; he only can bear sins, he only can bear them away; and there∣fore were they laid upon him. The Lord laid upon him the Iniquities of us all, Isa. 53.

Mark therefore, and you shall find, that the Reason why God made him to be sin for us, was, That we might be made the Righteousness of God in him. He took our Flesh, he was made under the Law, and was made to be sin for us; that the Devil might be destroyed, that the Captives might be redeemed, and made the Righteousness of God in him.

And forasmuch as he saith, that GOD hath made him to be sin, it declareth that the Design of God, and the Mistery of his Will and Grace was in it. He hath made him to be sin. God hath done it, that we might be made the Righteous∣ness of God in him: there was no other way, the Wisdom of Heaven could find no other way, we could not by other means stand just before the Justice of God.

Now what remains, but that we who are re∣conciled to God by Faith in his Blood, are quit, dis∣charged, and set free from the Law of Sin and

Death. Yea, what encouragement to trust in him, when we read That God made him to be sin for us.

Quest. But how was Jesus Christ made of God to be sin for us?

Ans. Even so as if himself had committed all our Sins; that is, they were as really charged upon him, as if himself had been the Actor and Committer of them all. He hath made him to be sin; not only as a Sinner, but as Sin it self. He was as the Sin of the World, that Day he stood before God in our steed. Some indeed will not have Jesus Christ our Lord to be made sin for us, their Wicked Reasons think this to be wrong Judgment in the Lord: it seems, supposing, that because they cannot imagine how it should be; therefore God, if he does it, must do it at his Peril, and must be charged with doing wrong Judg∣ment, and so, things that become not his Hea∣venly Majesty: But against this Duncish Sophi∣stry, we set Paul and Isaiah, the one telling us still, The Lord laid on him the Iniquities of us all; and the other, That God made him to be sin for us.

But these Men, as I suppose, think it enough for Christ to die under that Notion only, not know∣ing nor feeling the Burden of Sin, and the Wrath of God due thereto. These make him as sence∣less in his Dicing and as much without reason, as a silly Sheep or Goat who also died for Sin, but

so as in name, in shew, and shadow only. They felt not the proper Weight, Guilt, and Judgment of God for Sin.

But thou, Sinner, who art so in thine own Eyes, and, who feelest guilt in thine own Con∣science; Know then, that Jesus Christ the Son of the Living God in flesh, was made to be sin for thee, or stood sensibly guilty of all thy Sins be∣fore God, and bare them in his own Body upon the Cross.

God charged our Sins upon Christ, and that in their guilt and burden; what remaineth, but that the Charge was real or feigned: if real, then he hath either perished under them, or carried them away from before God: if they were charged but feignedly, then did he but feignedly die for them, then shall we have but feigned be∣nefit by his Death, and but a feigned Salvation at last; not to say how this Cursed Doctrine chargeth God and Christ with Hypocrisy, the one in saying He made Christ to be sin, the other in saying He bare our sin; when indeed, and in truth, our guilt and burden never was really upon him.

Quest. But might not Christ die for our Sins, but he needs must bear their Guilt or Burden?

Ans. He that can sever sin, and guilt, sin and the Burden, each from other, laying sin and no guilt, sin and no burden on the Person that dieth for Sin, must do it only in his own imaginary

Head. No Scripture, nor Reason, nor Sense, saith, understandeth, or feeleth sin when charg∣ed, without its guilt and burden.

And here we must distinguish between sin charged, and sin forgiven. Sin forgiven, may be seen without guilt or burden, though I think not without shame in this World: But sin charged, and that by the Justice of God, for so it was upon Christ; This cannot be, but guilt and the burthen, as inseparable companions, must unavoidably lye on that Person. Poor Sinner, be advised to take heed of such deluded Preachers, who with their Tongues smoother than Oil, would rob thee of that Excellent Doctrine, God hath made him to be sin for us: for such, as I said, do not only present thee with a feigned deliver∣ance and forgiveness, with a feigned Heaven and Happiness, but charge God and the Lord Jesus as meer Impostors, who while they tell us that Christ was made of God to be sin for us, affirm, that it was not so REALLY, suggesting this Sophi∣stical Reason, no wrong Judgment comes from the Lord. I say again, this Wicked Doctrine is the next way to turn the Gospel in thy thoughts, to no more than a Cunningly-devised Fable, 2 Pet. 1. and to make Jesus Christ in his dying for our Sins, as brutish as the Paschal-Lamb in Moses's Law.

Wherefore, distressed Sinner, when thou find∣est it recorded in the Word of Truth, that Christ

died for our Sins, and that God hath made him to be sin for us: Then do thou consider of sin as it is a Transgression against the Law of God, and that, as such, it procureth the Judgment of God, tor∣ments and afflicts the Mind with guilt, and bindeth over the Soul to answer it: sever not sin and guilt asunder, left thou be an Hypocrite like these wicked Men, and rob Christ of his true Sufferings. Besides, to see sin upon Christ but not its guilt, to see sin upon Christ, but not the Le∣gal Punishment; what is this but to conclude, that either there is no guilt and punishment in sin, or that Christ bare our sin, but we the Punishment? for the Punishment must be born, because the Sentence is gone out from the Mouth of God a∣gainst sin.

Do thou therefore, as I have said, consider of sin as a Transgression of the Law, 1 John 3. and a Provoker of the Justice of God, which done, turn thine Eye to the Cross, and behold those Sins, in the Guilt and Punishment of them, stick∣ing in the Flesh of Christ. God condemned sin in the Flesh of Christ. He bare our Sins IN his own Body on the Tree, Rom. 8. 3. 1 Pet. 2. 24.

I would only give thee this Caution, not sin in the Nature of sin; Sin was not so in the Flesh of Christ, but sin in the Natural Punishment of it, to wit, Guilt, and the Chastising Hand of Justice. He was wounded for our Transgressions,

he was bruised for our Iniquities: The Chastise∣ments of our Peace were upon him, and by his Stripes we are healed, Isa. 53.

Look then upon Christ crucified to be as the sin of the World, as if He only had broken the Law; which done, behold him perfectly innocent in himself, and so conclude, that for the transgres∣sions of God's People he was stricken: That when the Lord made him to be sin, He made him to be sin FOR US.