The principles on which the death of Christ proceeded. In them we shall find a standard by which to form our principles, and shall be able to judge whether they be of God.

1. The death of Christ presupposes that we deserved to die. A sense of this truth is at the foundation of all true religion; it requires, therefore, that we be made conformable to it. God, in the gift of his Son to die, judged us to have been worthy of death; Christ, in giving himself to die, evinced himself to be of the same mind; and such must be our mind, or we can have no interest in the glorious results. Until we see and feel that God is in the right, that we are in the wrong, and that if he had cast us off for ever it had been no more than we deserved, we shall be strangers to repentance, and as incapable of believing in Christ for salvation as he that is whole is of appreciating the value of a physician.

2. The death of Christ presupposes that sin is exceedingly sinful. If it were a matter of small account, it may be presumed that the Father would not have made so much of it as to give his Son to be made a sacrifice to atone for it; and that the Son of God would not have laid down his life for that purpose. The curses of the law, and the judgments inflicted at different times on sinners, furnished strong proof of the malignant nature of sin; especially when the native goodness of God is taken into consideration; but the blood of the cross furnishes much stronger. It was a great thing for the Creator to destroy the work of his hands, and it is so represented: “The Lord said, I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the earth.” But to smite his beloved Son was greater. To be made conformable to this principle, we must not conceive of sin as the weakness, or frailty, of human nature, a mere imperfection which a good God must needs overlook. Neither must we give heed to those systems of religion which are founded upon these depreciating notions, which, however they may flatter us for the present, will, in the end, assuredly deceive us.

3. The death of Christ presupposes that there was nothing, in all our doings or sufferings, that could furnish a ground of salvation, or a single consideration for which we might be forgiven. Had it been otherwise, Christ would not have died. Men have ever been busily employed in endeavours to propitiate the Deity; some by ceremonial observances, and some by moral; but instead of accomplishing the object, they have only made the case worse. Even those services which were of Divine appointment became, in their hands, offensive; God was weary of their offerings. Christ is represented as taking the work out of their hands: “Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt-offering and sin-offering hast thou not required. Then said I, Lo, I come!” They were, indeed, required as duties for the time, but not for the purpose of making atonement. Not tears, nor prayers, nor alms, nor any other of our doings, will avail as terms of acceptance with God. If we are conformed to the death of Christ, we shall know and feel this to be the case, and shall seek salvation by grace only, through the Mediator. If we are not conformed to the death of Christ in this respect, we have no reason to expect any interest in it.

4. The death of Christ presupposes that, for mercy to be exercised in a way consistent with the honour of God, it required to be through a sacrifice of infinite value. When the apostle declares that “it was not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins,” he plainly intimates that the inherent value of the sacrifice was of essential importance as to its effect. If it were impossible for animal sacrifices to atone for sin, it must be on account of their insufficiency to demonstrate either the hatred of God to sin or his love to sinners; but the same reason would apply to the sacrifice of Christ, if he were merely a creature. Hence those who deny his Divinity, with perfect consistency deny also his atonement. But, on the principles of his Divinity, his sufferings were of infinite value; and to this the Scriptures ascribe their efficacy. A careful reader of the New Testament will perceive that, in exhibiting the value and efficacy of his death, it connects it with the inherent dignity of his person: “Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.”—“We have a great High Priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God.”—“The blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin.”

The result is, that, to be made conformable to the death of Christ, we must think highly of it, and not reduce it to the death of a mere martyr. It is a serious thing to make light of the Saviour, and of the work of salvation: “He that despised Moses’s law died without mercy under two or three witnesses; of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy (or common) thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, the Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God!”

Fuller, A. G. (1988). “Conformity to the Death of Christ,” Sermon XXII. The Complete Works of Andrew Fuller: Memoirs, Sermons, Etc. (J. Belcher, Ed.; Vol. 1, pp. 312–313). Sprinkle Publications.