Go ahead and be turning to 2nd
Corinthians chapter 5. 2nd Corinthians chapter 5. Be looking at the last two verses,
two very familiar passages of scripture. Verse 20. Now then, We are ambassadors for Christ. Not just the preacher, that includes
you. Ambassadors for Christ. As though
God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead be
reconciled to God. Now, God made reconciliation
to chosen sinners through Christ. God gave them to Christ before
the foundation of the world. These are basic doctrinal truths
that we've been taught for a long time. God gave to Christ his
elect to be their only substitute for sin. There is no way to be
saved or reconciled to God apart from Jesus Christ. Paul says
this ministry, and it's important, no, this ministry is nothing
more than service. It's the service of reconciliation,
reconciling sinners back to God whom they've offended and whom
have been alienated from God because of their sin. And God
has committed unto us, who are reconciled to God, this ministry
of reconciliation. Paul says, as God did beseech
you by us, meaning that God, through our preaching, through
our sharing the gospel with others, called sinners by His grace and
taught sinners that salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is
God's doing. And I know we hear that so often
and we say, I know, I know, but I tell you, the majority of folks
don't know as Christ's servant, representing Him as if He was
here standing before you Himself. I beseech you, I encourage and
pray that you be reconciled to God. Why? Verse 21. 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. That's why. That's why God has
made a way in Christ where sinners can be justified and God can
remain just. Where God can be both just and
justifier. Where God can be both a just
God and a savior. There's only one way to be saved
and reconciled to God and Christ being made sin is that way. I want to hammer that home as
long as the Lord give me breath. That's the encouragement that
I want to try to encourage you with. Your sin, if you belong
to Christ, your sin has been put away. And if you're a sinner
like I am, my, that's the best news you've ever heard. You know,
God said, and he still says to the wicked, you thought that
I was altogether one such as thyself. Men still think that
they're all together like God. They're wrong. It's wrong and
detrimental to substitute ourself in God's place. But it's right
and it's profitable for God to substitute himself in our place.
It's called substitution. Substitution. How blind and ignorant
we are by nature. The nature of fallen men and
women have deformed thoughts concerning God and His redemption.
Men think that we can merit the favor of God by a work of righteousness
that we do. And Romans chapter 10 tells us
very plainly that we're ignorant of God's righteousness. How so? Because we go about to establish
our own righteousness and we will not submit ourselves unto
the righteousness of God unless God divinely intervenes. How many folks do you know right
now that are going about to establish their own righteousness? It don't
take long in hearing them talk to know that's the case, because
they're always talking about what they're doing for God, and
never talking about what God has done, past tense, finished,
d-o-n-e, done, for sinners. You know, if we think that God
is altogether such a one as us, one or two things is going on.
First, we either have way, way too high an opinion of ourself,
or we have way, way too low an opinion of God. Truth of the
matter is, by nature, we're nothing like God. Pretty much the opposite
of God. He's holy, we're unholy. He's
righteous, we're unrighteous. He's just, we're unjust. And
our fallen and corrupt nature, we're nothing like God. Can we
agree on that? In this text of divine substitution,
we see at least three characteristics of the true God of heaven. And
I don't know until I begin looking at this earlier this week, if
I have ever really considered these three great attributes
of God from this text. Now this text we all know is
the gospel. It's been preached on probably
by every preacher. And it's been preached on very
well by many of the preachers that we know. First, we see that
our God is sovereign. He's omnipotent. He's all powerful,
especially in salvation. For He, God, hath made Him Christ
to be sin for us. In other words, God had the right
to make Christ sin. God had the power to make Him
sin. God had the authority to make
Christ sin. None can stay God's hand. Isn't
that what the scripture says? None can stay God's hand. None
can say unto Him, what doest thou? He's in control of all
things, and we are in control of nothing. Have we figured that
out yet? Hold your place here in 2 Corinthians
and turn to Psalm 135 with me. I'll give you a moment to get
there, Psalm 135. Look at verse five. David said, Psalm 135 verse five,
for I know that the Lord is great and that our Lord is above all
gods. Now, there are no other gods
besides the God of the Bible. This speaks, I believe, of the
gods that men and women make out of their own imagination.
People have some strange ideas about God. They didn't get them
from this book. Where'd they get them from? Their
own imagination. This is how I think God is. It
doesn't matter how you think God is. How does this book declare
God to be? We refer to Him as the God of
the Bible because this book tells us who and how He is. Verse six, whatsoever, that means
anything and everything that the Lord pleased, that did he
in heaven and in earth, in the seas and all deep places. Well,
he calls it the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth. He
maketh lightnings for the rain. He bringeth the wind out of his
treasure. As I watched the coverage of
that hurricane that's been seen and heard about so much this
last week, don't you doubt for a second that God sent that hurricane
and He directed the path of it and all that happens in the process
of it, He ordained. It says, who smoked the firstborn
of Egypt, both man and beast? Now when the angel of the Lord
came on that first Passover, it was God that smoked the firstborn
of Egypt, both man and beast who were not covered by the blood. It was God. He's the first cause
of all things. Everything else is secondary
cause. He's the first cause of all things. It's the God of the
Bible, Hannah said, that kills and makes alive. The child of
God is made to know that. All things are naked and open
unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do." This is the God.
The God of the Bible is the God with whom we have to do. One
day we're going to stand, not before God of our imagination,
not the God that we've imagined Him to be, but the God of the
Bible. Look at verse nine, who sent
tokens and wonders into the midst of thee, O Egypt, upon Pharaoh
and upon all his servants. It was God that sent those plagues
to Egypt. It was God who hardened Pharaoh's
heart. It was God who raised Pharaoh
up so that he might bring him down even for this same purpose. That's what Paul said in Romans,
that God's name might be declared throughout all the earth and
that the world might see God's power and authority as the sovereign
one. Verse 10, who smote great nations
and slew mighty kings? Do you know the answer to that?
God did. God did. The same sovereign that
spoke all things into existence. The God of scriptures has absolute,
unchangeable, infinite, total power and authority. He knows
no rule, but his own will. And the God of the Bible knows
no purpose, but his own purpose. He knows no glory, but his own
glory. And he says, Can I not do what
I will with mine own? He works all things after the
counsel of his own will, and he works all things together
as he sees fit. So, do we dare liken ourselves
unto God? Do we dare claim that we're altogether
such a one as he is? Secondly, the God of heaven is
a God of infinite justice. This is seen in the fact that
He spared not His own Son, but made Him to be sin for us, and
it was the only way that He could save those whom He chose. His
justice must be satisfied. Even God's divine sovereignty
cannot act contrary to His divine justice. God doesn't wink at
sin. God doesn't sweep sin under a
rug. Why do men think that? They don't
know anything about His infinite justice. The God of the Bible,
contrary to modern day popular belief, is not a God who's all
love and no wrath. The God of Scripture is a God
whose holiness cannot be compromised. He says, shall not the judge
of all the earth do right? God doesn't do something because
it's right. It's right because God does it.
He's incapable of doing wrong, not like we're incapable of doing
right. He's holy, He's just, He's totally
righteous. He can only do what is right. His divine justice is so inflexible
that He will by no means clear the guilty. Under no circumstances
can He clear the guilty. His justice won't permit it.
That's my message every week. And the child of God never grows
tired of hearing how God substituted Himself in the person of the
Lord Jesus Christ to pay our debt, to fulfill God's law, to
satisfy God's justice. And He now sits at the right
of hand of God making intercession for us. I died for that sinner. He's mine. She's mine. The God of the Scriptures is
a sovereign God. The God of the Scriptures is
a God of infinite justice. He cannot change. His justice,
His righteousness, His holiness is as important as His sovereignty
or His love. And then the third attribute
seen in this glorious verse is that God is a God of mercy. God delights to show mercy. First, God is sovereign and that
he made Christ to be sin. Secondly, God has infinite justice
for he spared not his own son when sin was found on him. You
wanna see something about the inflexible justice of God? Look to Christ at Calvary. And
thirdly, God is a God of mercy. He made His Son sin. He put our
sin upon His Son so that He could justly deal with our sin, pay
for sin's wages, and put away our sin forever. And all the
while, making us His elect, the very righteousness of God in
Him, in Christ. That's who that's talking about.
Depth of mercy, can there be? Mercy still reserved for me?
Absolutely. In Christ there is infinite mercy. These are three of the attributes
of God seen in divine substitution. The sovereignty of God, the infinite
justice of God, and the mercy and the grace of God. Now, did
you ever notice, too, that there are three characters found in
this glorious verse of salvation by substitution? Salvation includes
three persons, when you get right down to it. First, God. God, who by sovereign decree,
according to his divine will and purpose, made Christ to be
sin. Secondly, Christ, who knew no
sin. but was made to be sin for those
whom God gave Him before the foundations of the world. And
then the third, the sinner, who is made the righteousness of
God in Christ. Friends, there's one mediator
between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. If God had not
come into this world and the person of the Lord Jesus Christ
made flesh and blood, there would be no mediator. There would be
no intercessor. There would be no savior, no
redeemer, no sacrifice for sin. No substitute for the sinner.
No salvation for anyone. Those who think that they're
altogether such a one as God must think that they can save
themselves, and why not? They've made themselves God in
their own sight. They think that God can't save
them apart from their will. They think that God cannot save
them apart from their decision. They think that God cannot create
within them a new heart. They must give him their heart
in order to be saved. Not so, not so. All unregenerate men and women
are blind and ignorant as to what this book teaches. Sadly
it's so, and sadly so once was I. Didn't know. Didn't have any interest in knowing.
For years, I believed what a man told me. I never checked out
in this book to see if he was right. Just believed it. And I don't suppose there's a
greater or plainer verse in all the Bible for the doctrine, the
teaching of substitution than here. God made Christ, who knew
no sin, to be made sin for us. And we're made the righteousness
of God in Him and the Lord Jesus Christ. What is that but substitution? God substituted our sin for Christ's
righteousness. Christ substituted His righteousness
for our sin. God is sovereign. Christ satisfied
infinite justice, and the sinner was made righteous. How merciful
and gracious is God Almighty. You know what that means? The
righteousness of God in Him? That means not just righteous,
but the righteousness of God is what we're saying. That means
that we're as just and as holy and as righteous as God Himself. Substitution, all by the act
of substitution. God substituted skins for Adam
and Eve's fig leaf righteousness. They, with their own hands, took
fig leaves and cut them up and covered their nakedness. Tried to hide their sin. But
friends, blood must be shed. Without it, there is no remission
for sin. That's what those skins picture.
The righteousness of God. That's what Abel's sacrifice
is all about. Cain and Abel brought their sacrifices
before the Lord. They both built an altar. They
both came to worship God. What was the difference? Cain
brought the fruit of his own labor, the things that he had
worked, provided, and offered unto the Lord. And Abel brought
a sacrifice. He brought a lamb. He slew the
lamb and put the blood on the altar. And the scripture says
that God had respect to Abel's offering, but he rejected Cain's
offering. God's not going to accept a work
of your hands, no matter how good it might be. Abel brought
a substitute. He brought one in his place.
Another died and shed its blood in his place. That's what substitution
is. And is this not what God taught
Abraham when he went up to the top of Mount Moriah to sacrifice
Isaac? God told Abraham to take his
son, and his only son, to Mount Moriah and sacrifice him there
as an offering unto the Lord. He bound Isaac. He put him on
the altar, and he would have slain his son. He raised the
knife, and God said, touch not the lead. And Abraham looked
over, and there was a ram caught in the thicket by his horns.
And God told him, take that ram and put it on the altar in the
place of his son. That's substitution. So he substituted
the ram for Isaac. The ram died, and Isaac lived.
It's not hard, is it? It's substitution. And that's
exactly what the Passover was all about down in the land of
Egypt. God would deliver Israel out
of Egypt. God told Moses to take a lamb
without spot or blemish, the firstling of the flock. Slay
that lamb and roast it with fire. Put its blood on the doorpost
and on the lentil. And God said, when I see the
blood, I'll pass over you. In other words, the lamb died
and the firstborn son lived. That lamb was a substitute. Who
does this picture? Well, we know who it pictures.
It pictures the lamb of God that was slain before the foundation
of the world. Is this not what Isaiah is saying
when he wrote, he was wounded for our transgressions. He was
bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him. And by his stripes, we are healed. That's substitution. All we like a sheep have gone
astray, we've turned everyone to his own way. The Lord hath
laid on him, the Lord hath laid on Christ the iniquity of us
all. That's what we see in our text.
Christ being made sin and the chosen sinner being made righteous. It's the substituting of the
just for the unjust. Is this not what Peter writes
in 1 Peter 3, 18? For Christ also hath once suffered
for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.
Christ suffered the just for the unjust, or in the stead of,
or in the place of, or as the substitute for, however you want
to say it, that he might, what? Bring us
to God. You're not gonna get there any
other way. No one as sinful as you and I
can stand before a thrice holy God. In other words, all that God
commands and all that the law requires of us and all that justice
demands of us was met and fulfilled by our Redeemer that he might
bring us to God. Now if one would learn the Gospel,
he must learn the meaning of substitution. And if one would
faithfully preach the Gospel, he must preach substitution. And we preach the same message
from everywhere in this book. It's all about Him and what He's
done for those whom God gave to Christ. When you learn the gospel of
substitution, you learn how God can manifest all these attributes. His sovereignty, His holiness,
His justice, His righteousness, His love, and His grace. Let me try to give you an example
of that. How can God be just and at the same time show love
to sinners? How can He punish sin and still
forgive the sinner? How can God unchangeably holy
and righteous and yet at the same time show mercy to the guilty? God doesn't change His character
to save our souls. He can't. God doesn't change
His character to redeem us from sin. That's why it took the blood
of God to redeem us. Christ was the only man who could
pay the debt and satisfy it. And how wonderful are the words
paid in full. I was cleaning my desk out last
week and I found an old bank note that said paid in full. And I looked at that. I looked
at how much I had once owed. And I remembered all those years
of payments. and then stamped on top in red
letters, it said, paid in full. How much more precious is the
thought that the debt I couldn't pay, couldn't pay it, didn't have
the ability to pay it, didn't have the funds to pay it, that
Christ himself paid it in full. It was because he knew no sin.
Christ was no sinner. Folks won't argue about that.
So you believe Christ was a sinner? No, it says right here, he knew
no sin. He was made to be sin. We were
made to be righteous. We talked, we looked about that,
looked at that, excuse me, in the first hour this morning.
That word made means to make and to purpose something or someone
to be what it was not. Christ knew no sin. He was made
to be what he was not. We have no righteousness. We
were made to be what we were not. You know what that is? Substitution. Now listen to me closely and
I'll finish. Christ is the friend of sinners. Do you need such
a friend as Him? Do you see that you need a friend
like Him? Well, you do whether you know
it or not. Christ came into the world to
save sinners. Do you see that you're a sinner?
Well, you're a sinner whether you know it or not. Do you know
that it's not your sin that will keep you from Christ? Your righteousness will. That's
right. Your righteousness will. Christ
said, I didn't come to call the righteous. I came to call sinners
to repentance. He died for sinners. He gave
His life for sinners. It was sinners that He came to
seek and to save. He, the Father, hath made Him,
the Son, to be sin for us. He didn't know any sin. He didn't
have any sin. Therefore, He could be a righteous
substitute for you and me. And that's the truth of substitution.
God made Him, our substitute, Christ Jesus, to be sin for us. That we might be made in Him,
through Him, by Him, because of Him, the righteousness of
God, only in Him. How can a man be righteous with
God? How can a man be just with God? How can he be clean that is born
of a woman? David once asked this question,
who can stand in God's presence and who can ascend into his holy
hill? The answer is he that hath clean
hands and a pure heart, one who has never lifted up his soul
to vanity, who has never sworn deceitfully. Now let me ask you,
are you altogether such a one as that? Do you have clean hands,
a pure heart, a humble soul? Well, that's not you and that's
not me, nor is it any son of Adam. That's speaking of Christ. And that's who God made to be
sin for us. Who knew no sin. He never sinned. He never swore deceitfully. He
never lifted up His hands in deceit. That's what He came to
do. He came to do for us what we
couldn't do for ourselves. He came to do what the law demanded. He came to do what God commanded,
and what the law expected, and what justice demanded. That was
the purpose of His life, and that was the purpose of His death. He fulfilled God's law. He satisfied
God's justice. He gave us God's righteousness
and holiness. And He did this in our place
and in our stead. And what's it called? Substitution. Divine substitution. See, not
just anybody could substitute themselves for us. It had to
be a perfect man. It had to be the God man. I'm crying out to you this morning
as God's ambassador. My message is, be ye reconciled
to God. Don't leave this place, much
less this world, without Him. Don't. I beseech you in Christ's
stead, be ye reconciled to God.