Psalms 88:13-18

There is a great degree of earnestness in the sorrows, again repeated, through these verses. Jesus, from the moment of his birth to the cross, sanctified and set apart as he was, a Nazarite from the womb, in the eye of the law, stood forth the Surety and the burden-bearer both of the sins and sorrows of his people: and it is a blessed thought for the believer, in the heart-felt knowledge and conviction of it, that though such rich, free, sovereign grace is shown to a poor sinner, in the providing of such a substitute as Jesus to take away sin by the sacrifice of himself, yet, in the accomplishment of this great undertaking, there was no favor nor forbearance shown to Christ. If he will be a Surety, he shall smart for it: never will the law relax a single claim, nor justice forgive an iota of what is due. Thou shalt not come out thence, from the prison of the sinner's dreadful bondage, until thou hast paid the uttermost farthing; Matthew 5:26. Reader, do not hastily pass over this sweet view of Jesus. In the thorough conviction that the Lord Christ, in all his sufferings, personated his people, bore their sins, expiated their transgressions, and died, the just for the unjust, to bring them unto God; here lieth the whole assurance of salvation. It is this which alone gives confidence in every true believer's soul, against sin and Satan, the terrors of God's law and justice. Here alone are founded the triumphs of faith, in believing the record, which God hath given of his Son.