their problems are their husbands,
but I'm not anybody's problem these days. I'm not anybody's
problem. I want you to turn back to our
text that we're looking at in these days, and that is in 2
Corinthians chapter 5, and I've been talking about three
things I know about Christ. And I know them from this verse,
and I know them from all the scriptures. He says, 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. One thing we knew, know, is that
Christ knew no sin. And so we come today to the second
thing, and that is what in the light of Scripture does it mean
that He was made sin for us? If you notice, the two words
that are in our version, to be, they are added by the translator,
so it actually says, or is translated, He was made sin for us. Now the very first thing that
I want us to notice, to be sure that we notice, is that Paul's
subject in this chapter is reconciliation. I know if we would remember that
we would have less errors about regeneration, using these verses
here as proof texts of regeneration. He's not talking about regeneration. He is talking about reconciliation. If you look back, beginning in
verse 14, I believe it is, He says in verse 14, For the love of Christ constraineth
us, because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then we're
all dead. and that he died for all, that
they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto
him which died for them and rose again. Wherefore, henceforth
know we no man after the flesh, yea, though we have known Christ
after the flesh, yet now henceforth we know him no more. That is,
our relationship and our standing is not based on what we know
of Christ in the flesh, but what takes place in this death that
he dies for us. He says, therefore, if any man
be in Christ, He is a new creature, or a new creation. Old things
are passed away, and behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who
hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given
to us the ministry of reconciliation. He's talking about how that men
are reconciled to God and he's talking especially here to believers
that they might be reconciled to all that he and his providence
brings them because they are already reconciled to God. So what is the basis of reconciliation? When it says here that he knew
no sin, but yet that he was made sin for us, it cannot mean that
he became a sinner, that he took a nature of sin, or was the embodiment
of sin, or became unrighteous in any way. Because the principle
of substitution, and for that matter, the principle of reconciliation,
does not require him to become what I am to save me. That may be logical to some,
but it's not biblical. It requires that he suffer my
responsibility for my sins in my place. The surety of God's
people, because he took all the responsibility of reconciling
us to God, had to pay the price of reconciliation. I often think about people talking
so much about sin, describing sin. But really, what can we,
who have never known anything but sin, what can we know about
the sinlessness of Christ and what is meant here by Him being
made sin except what the Bible tells us? I thought about it
yesterday, that maybe a good definition of sin is simply this,
everything but Christ. And most especially, everything
but Christ crucified. You know, the Bible says that
which you do not in faith is sin. Well, that's also a principle. And that principle is everything
that we trust in, everything that we rely on, everything that
we really understand from God, we understand by His God-given
faith and is revealed in His Word. Turn back to that passage
that Tim read. In Romans chapter 5, he read
this passage and Paul in this passage tells us something vitally
important about reconciliation. He says in verse 8, but God commended
his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. Much more than being justified
by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. And notice
this 10th verse. For if when we were enemies or
were acting as enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death
of his son. So there is no way that He could
tell us this in one place, that we were reconciled to God by
the death of His Son, and then later, in 2 Corinthians 5.21,
speaking of reconciliation, be talking about something else. We were reconciled to God by
the death of His Son. So we know if he's talking about
reconciliation here, and he is, he has to be talking about the
death of Jesus Christ. In about the third century, A
translation of the Old Testament scriptures, of the Pentateuch
especially, was done translating the Hebrew into the Greek. And it's called the Septuagint. You know about it? You know about
it? Many of you know about it. And the word there, or the Hebrew
word, for sin and also for sin offering, which is the word Kata'a,
it is absolutely translated in that version, the Hebrew is translated
by the Greek word Hamartia. And that's the word that we find
here, harmadia, harmadia. But it is translated, in that
translation, in the third century, it is translated, that Hebrew
word is translated into the Greek by that word as sin offering. sin offering. And it is translated
as sin offering in Exodus and Leviticus and the book of Numbers
in almost a hundred places. A hundred places. Now I don't know about you, But
I trust a Greek translation that was done in about the third century
a whole lot more than I trust modern translations, especially
by non-Greek scholars in our day. It was translated sin offering. And likewise, the King James
translators in other places, in almost every other places
where that meaning is made, they translated its sin offering except
right here. So if they had followed the course
that they took everywhere else, We wouldn't have a problem with
what it means for Christ to be made sin in this verse. It does not mean something contrary
to what we find everywhere else in the Scriptures. The problem
is that men have confused sin with the punishment of sin. They have confused it by saying
something like this. If the word means sin here, it
has to mean the same exact thing everywhere else, especially if
it's in the same verse. We have the word hamartia two
times in this verse. Oh, it has to mean the same thing. in that verse and everywhere
else. Not so. Not so. And I'll give you one example.
translate or see how the word cosmos or world is translated. If it means the same thing here,
that it means the same thing there and some seven different
ways that it's translated in the New Testament. We always know that to be true. But the truth is, The truth is Christ was made
our sin offering. He who knew no sin was made our
sin offering. This is the teaching overall
of the whole Bible. He was made our sin offering. And when you go to versions like
the Jewish Bible, the Orthodox Jewish Bible, or the complete
Jewish Bible, where we ought to know something about the Hebrew
and the Greek translated together there, by those persons translating
it, it's translated sin offering. Sin offering. Some 132 times in this book does
sin offering and sin sacrifice go together 132 times. Christ was made to be and was
our sin offering. Now turn over to the book of
Hebrews in chapter 10, in Hebrews chapter 10. In chapter 10, Paul begins by
comparing and contrasting. That's what the book of Hebrews
is about. Comparing the things under the
law to the things of Jesus Christ and contrasting both those things
over and again. He says, for the law, having
a shadow of good things to come, I always like to read that because
I know that for there to be a shadow, there already had to be a substance. For the law having a shadow of
good things to come and not the very image of those things can
never, with those sacrifices which they offered year by year,
continually make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they
not have ceased to be offered? If there were some work, some
sacrifice that was done that satisfied God in the matter of
their sin, wouldn't they have stopped offering it? Because
that the worshippers, once purged, should have had no more conscience
of sins. But in those sacrifices there
is a remembrance again made of sins every year. It wasn't a
reconciliation, it was a reminder. He says, for it is not possible
that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. That's absolutely not possible. All those sin offerings And heaven
knows how much it was. It's a bloody, spattered worship,
just like you said last night, all through the Bible. He says,
wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he saith, sacrifice an offering thou wouldest
not but a body hast thou prepared me. We're going from that which was
under the law to that which is in Christ. It's not the blood
of bulls and goats, it's not animals, it's not sacrifices
of those kind, but it has to do with that perfect sinless
body. He says, in burnt offerings and
sacrifices for sin, thou hast had no pleasure, no satisfaction. Then said I, lo, I come in the
volume of the book it is written of me, in the book of God's decrees,
in the book of God's promises. He says, to do thy will, O God. And I've often said that the
doing of the will of God by Jesus Christ is all our salvation. The doing of God's will. What is it? He said, above when
he said sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering
for sin, thou wouldest not, neither had pleasure therein which are
offered by the law. Then said he, lo, I come to do
thy will, O God. He taketh away the first that
he may establish the second. By the which will. We are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. We are set apart, set apart unto
God in the offering of Christ. And every priest standeth daily
ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can
never take away sin. But this man, this is the good news, but this
man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, one sacrifice for sins forever,
he 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. Wherefore
the Holy Ghost whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us,
for after that he had said before, this is the covenant that I will
make with them after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my
laws into their hearts and in their minds will I write them,
and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. And look at that next verse. Now where the remission of these
is, there is no more offering for sin. Christ was the last, the final,
the ultimate, the God-satisfying sin offering. He was given of God, made of
God to be the sin offering for his people. Listen to Paul in Ephesians 5. And walk in love, as Christ also
hath loved us, and given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice
to God for a sweet smelling savor. What does that mean? It means that what he did on
behalf of his people in being this sin offering It is totally
satisfying, pleasing to God. It's a sweet smelling savor to
God. Daniel, he records this. And after three score and two
weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself. Philippians chapter 2, and being
found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross. The only thing that has ever
satisfied God in the matter of the sins of His people. The only
thing that has ever reconciled them to God, in a sense, the
only thing that has ever saved them from their sins is the death
of Jesus Christ. Everything is about the death
of Jesus Christ. If he gave himself a ransom for
our sins, if he paid the price of redemption for our sins, if
he became the one sacrificed for sins forever, What is the
price of sin? He said the wages of sin is death. He said the soul that sinned
shall surely die. In other words, divine justice
held him accountable as our surety for our sins. And he died in our place as this
sacrifice for sin. Wherever Christ is talked about,
it's always his suffering, his death, his blood. The most emphasized
thing in this Bible is his cross death. Now why would Paul, in all that he's saying here,
leave that subject? Nobody ever said it better. Nobody
ever said it more often. Nobody ever preached it more
often. The death of Jesus Christ. He who knew no sin was made to
be our sin offering. That is, God imputed all our
sins upon Him and He held Him accountable for them. He hath made all our sins, he
has laid on him the iniquity of us all." Now some people say
that he didn't impute the sins of God, that he didn't impute
our sins to Christ. That sure sounds like it to me.
He hath laid on him, made to meet on his head, which means
held him responsible for our sins. Somebody wrote me one time and
asked me, they said, do you believe in imputed guilt? And I've learned
I've learned a little bit. I've learned you don't just say
what comes off the top of your head. You better know what people
are talking about. So I went and looked at the definition
for guilt. Doesn't have anything to do really
with feeling. You can be guilty and not feel
guilty. I think that's what most people
are. But what guilt has to do with is responsibility. Responsibility. So I wrote that fellow a letter
back, and I said, if we base our definition on what Strong's
and other dictionaries say guilt is, which is responsibility,
yes, I do believe in it. Because all the responsibility
for all the sins, of all God's elect, for all the ages, they've
always been the responsibility of Christ. They've always been
His responsibility. Tim read it last night in Isaiah
53. He says, surely He hath borne
our griefs. Surely He has carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem Him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted. Men naturally think that Christ
died because He was the problem. No. He was wounded for our transgressions. I don't know anywhere in the
Bible where It gets any plainer than this. It's always about
the death and dying of Jesus Christ. He was wounded for our
transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon Him. With His stripes we are healed. Oh, we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his
own way. And the Lord hath laid on him
the iniquity of us all. Even when we turn our own way.
Even when we took that way always that we do naturally, that way
that seems right to a man, but the end thereof is the ways of
death. But the Lord Jesus Christ The Lord laid on him the iniquity
of us all. I say it goes on. Yet it pleased
the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief, when
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. He's not just dying
there for to be a good example, or a martyr, or laying down his
life for a friend, nothing like that. He's made an offering for
sin. He shall see his seed, he shall
prolong his day, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in
his hand. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and shall be satisfied by his knowledge. My righteous
servant shall justify many. Not everybody, but many. I'd rather have God's many than
man's universal all any day. I'd rather have Christ's death
rather than being something available to all to be efficient for many. That he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a
portion with the great And he shall divide the spoiled with
the strong, because he hath poured out his soul unto death, and
he was numbered with the transgressors, and he bare the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors." He's reconciling us to God. In other words, Paul is saying
in 2 Corinthians 5, If we're in Christ, we're no longer in
Adam. We have passed from death unto
life. If any man be in Christ, he's
new creature or in the new creation, he's in Christ Jesus and old
things, old sins, old connections with Adam, All connections with
the law, all things are passed away and all things are become
new. That's not what happens in regeneration. I'm sorry. You may use that as
a proof text for regeneration, but he's not talking about regeneration.
And if that's regeneration, you've all missed it. Because all those
old things haven't passed away and all things have not become
new in that sense spiritually, but they have in Christ. Because He's reconciled us to
God. And I challenge you to go back
and look at every one of those sacrifices. If you've got the
time, just start in Genesis, and go all the way to the Book
of Malachi and look at it. And you see, if any of those
sacrifices, in any of those rituals or procedures or things that
were under the law that were done to a sacrifice that ever
there is a suggestion of defilement. It looks like, in the view that
some had, in what is meant here, it looks like somewhere we've
seen them take some tar and rub on the sacrifice, or throw some
dirt on it. No. They're all perfect, clean,
until they actually become the sin offering. And they become
the sin offering when the knife or whatever was used was plunged
into them. They were perfect until that
point. And when they had that life taken from them, that blood
shed, they became the sin offering, burn offering, whatever kind
of offering. It's all characterized, all fulfilled
in the death of the victim. You won't ever see, in all of
the Word, anything in any way that suggests that Christ was anything but
perfect and that the thing that He accomplished our salvation
by is His death. I tell you this, if he had lived
a perfect life, and he did, if he had lived a perfect life right
down to the hour of the cross and just went back to heaven, we'd all perish. Because the wages of sin is death. Because everywhere in the Bible
it teaches us that. Every example shows us the death
of Christ. He who knew no sin, I know this,
he was made the sin offering. The sin offering for his people.
And to use words, to use words like mysteriously or unexplainable
and such, when it comes to the death of Christ, That's just steps toward mysticism. It's just steps toward abandoning
the one thing that is absolutely essential. Without shedding of
blood, there is no remission. This is what we know. It is Christ that died. Call His death a redemption,
call it a ransom, call it by all the biblical names that show
it like a many-faceted jewel, but it's always this. It is Christ
that died. And I'm going to tell you why.
That just is not enough for some people. They got to delve into
what he felt. I don't know what he felt. I
never felt anything but sin. The secret is, if there be a
secret, is knowing the one who died. That's the glory here. All this
business of what he failed, that's just a bunch of speculation. But I tell you what, knowing
that he was the perfect son of God, knowing he's God manifest
in the flesh, knowing and appreciating and glorying in who died, that's
the whole of it all. Christ died, Paul said, for our
sins according to the Scriptures. An offering, a sacrifice, that's
what all those Old Testament Scriptures say. Ain't any speculation
in them. There's a price paid. They say
they don't like a mercantile or a legal salvation. I do. I do. That's what I find in the
Bible. When you talk about redemption and paying a price and a ransom
and all, that's all legal to them. Justice is legal. But turn in Galatians chapter
3 and close it. In verse 13, Paul says, Christ
hath redeemed us from the curse of the law. That's all the law
can ever do to a sinner, is curse him. Can't save him, can't sanctify
him, can't do anything but curse him. Christ hath redeemed us
from the curse of the law being made a curse for us. I believe that's just about the
same thing that Paul is saying in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21. He's made sin for us. Here he
says, made a curse for us. What is he talking about? I wonder
what he felt. I wonder what that involves.
I'm getting a little light on this, and you may not understand
it, but when you see it, you'll like it. No. That's hogwash. He said, Cursed, for it is written,
Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. That's what Christ
is for. The curse for our sin. He hung
on a tree. He died a death. He suffered
the just for the unjust. And he brought us to God. He
brought us to God. And we didn't see any change
in him till his death. He probably, in the dying moments,
he must have spouted a long list of curse words. He must have took a drink of
liquor or something in his death. No. Right down to the end, he's
living sinlessly. He's looking out for his earthly
mother. He's saying, Father, forgive them. And then he yields up the ghost.
And he dies. The sin offering. And where the remission of these sins are,
really are, there's no more sacrifice. There's no more sacrifice. I'm telling you, we keep getting
away from the death, the doing, and the dying of Jesus Christ. Paul said, I determined to know
nothing among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I'm not going to spend hours
of sermons. I can't preach anyway, but I'm
not going to spend hours of sermons speculating on what he felt or
what this means. I know this. I know this. that
he died the sin offering for his people, and their sins are
no more. No more. I know he knew no sin,
and I know that he died a death for sin.