en as
the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to
give His life a ransom for many" (Matt. 20:28). "Behold the Lamb of God,
which taketh away the sin of the world" (Jno. 1129). "Whom God hath set
forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood" (Rom. 3:25). "But
God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we
shall be saved from wrath through Him" (Rom. 5:8, 9). "For He hath made
Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the
righteousness of God in Him" (II Cor. 5:21). "Who gave himself for our
sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world, according
to the will of God and our Father" (Gal. 1:4). "And every priest
standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices,
which can never take away sins: but this man, after He had offered one
sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God; from
henceforth expecting till His enemies be made His footstool. For by one
offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified" (Heb.
10:11-14). "Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree,
that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose
stripes ye were healed" (I Pet. 2:24). "For Christ also hath once
suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to
God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit" (I
Pet. 3:18). "And He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours
only, but also for the sins of the whole world" (I Jno. 2:2).

From the foregoing passages it may be seen that, according to the
Scriptures, the stupendous transformation of regeneration is not only
the greatest Divine undertaking, but is directly accomplished by the
sacrificial death and shed blood of Christ, and is sealed in security by
the Holy Spirit of promise.

The sacrificial death of Christ presents the only gateway for fallen man
from the power and final doom of Satan to the glory and transcendent
light of God; and there is nothing strange in the Satan-inspired
"offence of the Cross" which is often garnished with culture, worldly
wisdom, and religious forms. Even in Paul's time there were those who
were enemies of the Cross of Christ: "For many walk, of whom I have told
you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of
the cross of Christ" (Phil. 3:18). These were evi