We might read more, but let's
just read one verse, and then we will look at the context.
2 Corinthians 5, verse 21, for our third sermon on the subject
of the impeccability of Christ and the Son. For He hath made
Him sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. We'll be dealing with that part
that said, made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin. And then in 1 John 3 and verse
5, we know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in
Him is no sin. Let us cast a quick glance back
over the things that we have studied last week. We had two
studies, one from Luke 1.35, that holy thing born of thee
shall be called the Son of God, that by the birth of our Lord,
by the miraculous conception of the Holy Spirit, our Lord
had impeccable humanity. That is, our Lord not only had
impeccable humanity, that is humanity that was free from sin,
but also unionized together with the divine nature of our Lord. And then we looked in Hebrews
at some of those verses that others might use to say that
Jesus might possibly have sin. So, our premise was this, that
Christ is impeccable, And though he possessed true humanity and
was a man, yet without sin, and he owed his impeccability of
his humanity to its being divinely conceived in the womb of the
Virgin, not by a man, but by the Holy Spirit of God. He had
no human father, and therefore he had no depravity in His nature. He is called, in fact, that holy
thing or being, that holy One that is born of Mary. Now, in the Incarnation, the
divine, eternal Son of the Almighty God did assume an impeccable
human nature. As Hebrews puts it, because the
ones that he wanted to save, the ones that he came to save,
were partakers of flesh and of blood. He also, likewise, took
part of the same, that by means of death he might deliver them. He partook of flesh and of blood,
that is of human nature, He had a body that was prepared for
him by God, Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 5, or the margin, as
it, that was fitted for me in which he would live, but in also
which he would suffer and which he would die. The death of the
cross, and thus death, was in behalf of others. He did not
die for himself or for any sins in himself, but he died in behalf
of others. He was very God. He was very
man. That makes him the God-man, Christ
Jesus our Lord. Now, that is a preview of our
earlier two studies. But now, we continue our study
beginning with the two texts that we have read for our consideration
this morning. Both of them say that he knew
no sin, and the other that he had no sin or did no sin. Now in order to lay the foundation
and dig it deep and dig it wide, let us consider the types and
the shadows which foreshadow the Lord in both His priesthood
and as the sacrifice for sin. Now these types and shadows were
given by God and they were under the Levitical law. And they foreshadowed
not only the office and the work of our Lord, but also the impeccability
of our Lord. We learn from the types that
the type must be of a certain definite quality in order that
it might be offered upon the altar. First of all, let's look
at the type and the shadows of the priest. the priests of old,
Aaron first the high priest, and then his sons that served
the altars, those priests," and have you realized this, they
were to be without any outward physical blemish. They were to
be without an external or an outward blemish. And I'm going
to turn to Leviticus chapter 21. And read us a passage there
from verse 16 through verse 24 with regard to the priest that
served at the altar. That's Leviticus chapter 21. In case you're turning, we begin
with verse 16 and read through verse 14. Here we go. And the Lord spake unto Moses,
saying, Speak unto Aaron, saying, Whosoever he be of thy seed in
their generation that hath any blemish, let him not approach
to offer the bread of his God. For whatsoever he be that hath
a blemish, he shall not approach. He names him a blind man or a
lame, he that hath a flat nose, or anything superfluous, or a
man that is broken-footed, or broken-handed, or crooked-backed,
or a dwarf, he that hath a blemish in his eye, or be scurvy, or
scabbed, or hath his stones broken, no man that hath a blemish of
the seed of Aaron the priest shall come nigh to offer the
offerings of God made by fire." He hath a blemish. He shall not come nigh to offer
the bread of his God. Only he shall not go into the
veil, nor come nigh unto the altar, because he has a blemish,
that he profane not the sanctuaries, for I the Lord do sanctify them. And Moses told it unto Aaron,
and to his sons, and unto all of Israel." Notice one thing
before we move on, and that is in this passage of Scripture,
five times God or Moses mentions a fact or the fact of those that
had a blemish. And the most unusual or usual
meaning of the Hebrew word is one that has a stain or one that
has a blot upon him physically or a spot. Now secondly, there
were the beasts that were offered for sacrifices. If we go back
to Leviticus again, this time chapter 22, we see that the beast
also must be of a certain quality to qualify as a sacrifice for
the sins of the people and to be slain upon the altar. In Leviticus chapter 22, This
time, beginning with verse 17, concerning those that were the
sacrificial beasts. Verse 17, And the Lord spoke
unto Moses, saying, Speak unto Aaron, and to his sons, and to
all the children of Israel, and say unto them, Whatsoever he
be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers in Israel, that
will offer his oblation for all of his vows and for all his freewill
offerings, which they will offer unto the Lord for a burnt offering. Ye shall offer at your own will
a male without blemish of the bees, of the sheep, or of the
goats, but whatsoever hath a blemish, that shall ye not offer, for
it shall not be acceptable for you. And whosoever offereth a
sacrifice of peace offering unto the Lord, to accomplish his vow,
or a free will offering in beeves or sheep, it shall be perfect
to be accepted, there shall be no blemish therein. Blind, or broken, or maimed,
or having a scurry, a wind, or scabbed, ye shall not make offer
these unto the Lord, nor make an offering by fire of them unto
the altar of the Lord, either a bullock or a lamb, that hath
any superfluous or lacking in his part, that mayest thou offer
for a freewill offering, but for a vow it shall not be accepted. Ye shall not offer unto the Lord
that which is bruised, or crushed, or broken, or cut, neither shall
ye make any offering thereof in your land." Now, why is this
significant? The lamb was to be without spot
and without blemish. You'll find that again in Exodus
29 and verse 1, and in Malachi 1 and verse 8. where the prophet chides the
people for bringing the sick and the lame as their sacrifices. Now why is this significant? What has this to do with Christ,
our great High Priest? Just this, that there are some
of the very same expressions that we have just read that are
used to describe the impeccability and the purity and the sinlessness
of our Lord. For example, listen to 1 Peter
1, verse 19. He calls Christ a lamb without
spot or blemish, or without blemish and spot. Again in Hebrews 9,
verse 14, writing of the Lord, He said, He offered Himself without
spot to God. That's an Old Testament terminology. And how often is Christ called
the Lamb, the Lamb of God. Even the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. Revelation 13 and verse 8. I agree with the Puritan John
Owen in his commentary on Hebrew. The illusion and respect is unto
the legal institution and is evident and manifest." Both as
a priest and a sacrifice they were to be without spot and without
blemish in the flesh. For he was without sin in nature
and life, our Lord was. For he without sin is therefore
prefigured by those that were without a blemish. Now the authors
of the New Testament picking up on that, use these terms,
without blemish and without spot. And they apply that to Christ,
meaning that He was a sinless high priest, He had no deformity
in Him as a great high priest, and that our Lord met every single
qualification to be also a sacrifice for our sins. There was in our
Lord, number one, nothing in Him or about Him that made Him
unfit or unsuited to offer Himself to God. Secondly, there was nothing
lacking to disqualify Him from being accepted by God as the
perfect sacrifice, the expiatory sacrifice for the sin of His
elect. to some New Testament, declaring
the impeccable person of Christ. We read 2 Corinthians 5 and 21,
who knew no sin. We read in 1 John 3 and 5, in
Him is no sin. We read in 1 Peter 2 and 22,
who did no sin, neither was any guile found in his mouth. We read in
Hebrews 6 and verse 26, he is holy, harmless, undefiled, and
separate from sinners. Now if you remember, in study
number one, we spoke of some who confessed that Jesus did
not sin. There are lots of people in Christendom
who will confess that Jesus did not sin. But the sane people,
on the other hand, are adamant that He might have sinned while
He were in our flesh. That it was possible that our
Lord might have been drawn into sin. No one can hold such a view
who understands the theanthropic person of the Lord Jesus Christ. That He is not only man, but
that He is God. that He is the God-man. That
He is very God and true man. One person He is with two natures. And we do understand that the
Lord ascended up in that resurrected body, for He went out of sight
in that body. But concerning the 21st verse
of 2 Corinthians 5, and the part that said, and let's dwell on
it, He has made Him to be sin. Our Lord Jesus Christ, He made
Him to be sin. Now there are some men who have
begun to teach that Jesus actually, literally, really was made and
became sin upon the cross. That He became, literally, became
sin. And this has caused a great rift
across the southeast that he became sin among some brethren
and some churches. Some have broken fellowship over
this matter, saying that Jesus was literally and actually made
sin. Now, if that doesn't make any
sense, pardon, if you will, a digression. And if I may, this might put
one in remembrance of some who are in the Pentecostal and the
deeper life, or the so-called full gospel movement, who taught
something peculiar. They taught that healing, bodily,
physical healing for sicknesses, was in the atonement of our Lord. Who taught that healing is in
the atonement. that not only did Jesus die for
our sin to save our soul, but that He also died for the diseases
of the body. By the same atonement, He became
sin and He also took on all of these physical infirmities. Now, as soon as they adopted
this teaching, that healing is in the atonement, they began
to teach that on the cross, Christ actually became cancer, TB, leprosy,
and many more. Don't hear much of this now,
as the emphasis now is all upon the prosperity gospel, but we
heard a lot of it in days gone by. So maybe that will illustrate
the first part. Coming to the passage in 2 Corinthians
5 and verse 21. And there are two phrases here. Number one, He has made Him to
be sin for us. And number two, He knew no sin. So put them together. He hath
made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin. And then let us
consider the larger context in which this is found. The overall
context. What is Paul doing here? Well,
Paul is opening that wonderful way by which God has reconciled
sinners unto Himself by Jesus Christ. In verse 17, look at
that. If any man be in Christ, he is
a new creature or literally a new creation. I think this is one
verse that has been more wrongly applied than anything else, perhaps,
except John chapter 3 and verse 16. If any man be in Christ,
he is a new creation. I agree with Pete and with Gil
that this could describe those who are in Christ as being with
Him in the new covenant. The old has passed away. All of the ceremonial laws have
passed away. And for the saved Jew, he is
in Christ. And for called Gentiles, the
pagan worship of idols and false altars are passed away. And a
new and living way is established by the blood and death of Christ
our Lord. is in Christ, He is a part of
the new creation. And we know Him no more after
the flesh. Verse 16. But then look at verse
18. These things are of God, who
hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ. Look at verse
19. To wit, that God was in Christ,
reconciling the world unto Himself not imputing their trespasses
unto them. Now, along with this, Paul carries
the thought that he and others in the gospel ministry are entrusted
with what he calls the ministry of reconciliation. He calls himself
and others an ambassador of Christ to preach the word of reconciliation. to announce that God has been
propitiated in the suffering and the death of God. That the
enemies of God, or former enemies of God, may come unto God by
Jesus Christ and be received through the offering of Christ
without fear of the wrath of God. That by the death of Christ
upon the cross, We have a propitiated deity. And that is a wonderful
thing for us to remember. The Lord Jesus Christ has given
us a propitiated deity. For in 1 John 2 and 2, Jesus
is the propitiation for our sin because Romans 3 and verse 5
God set him forth or ordained him a propitiation. Now, some questions to bring
into our text of the morning. Number one, upon what ground
are we part of the new creation? Upon what ground are we part
of and in that new creation? Secondly, upon what ground is
God propitiated are propitious toward former sinners. Why is He propitiated? How can He have been propitiated
to the extent that He will not impute sin unto them? Now, to propitiate is to cover
over or to expiate or to take away by covering our sin. Thirdly,
how will God and man who formerly were such enemies be reconciled? How is it that the enmity can
be removed and God and man, the sinner, become friends and actually
be reconciled again? Fourthly, upon what account is
there non-imputation of sin unto the elect? Why? Will a just,
holy, righteous God not put our sin to our account? We have committed them. We are
guilty of them. They are ours. Fifthly, by what
authority can ministers of the gospel preach that God is propitiated
and is approachable? What right have ministers to
exhort sinners to lay aside their enmity and be reconciled to God? Wherein consists the gospel proclamation
that God will receive sinners unto Himself?" Now, the answer
to all of these questions is right here in verse 21, where
there is a summation of the whole scheme of the justification and
reconciliation of sinners unto God. Here is why sinners are
reconciled, and why their sins are not imputed unto them, and
why they stand righteous in the sight of God. The blessed secret,
you ask? What is the secret? Christ has
been substituted in the place of His people. Christ has taken
their place and been punished the just desert of our sin. Christ has been our biker. He has taken our sins. God has laid them upon Him. And He has given to us a justifying
righteousness that saves us. It is no big deal. But several
commentators point out that the word far, that you see at the
first of verse 21, is not in some of the older manuscripts
of the Scripture. But it does not change or take
away from the meaning we want to examine in the first half
of verse 21. And consider that verse as two
parts, if we might. He, that is God, made Him, that
is Christ, sin for us. God made Christ sin for us. And B, He knew no sin. He that was made sin knew no
sin. Now, He made Him sin for us,
that is on behalf of us, He was made sin. How then are we to
take this statement from the Apostle Paul? How was Christ
made sin? Can we understand and explain
it? Was it that He became sin or
that He was a sin offering in behalf of His people? Or was
He made sinful or a sinner? as some have been saying. In
what way and to what degree was our Lord made sin by God upon
the cross? Then we cannot disconnect from
the saying, He knew no sin. He was made sin. Who knew no
sin? So what we have is this, He that
knew no sin was made sin for us. Now how in the world Can
such a thing as that come to pass? How can one be made sin
who knew no sin or had no sin? And if he knew no sin, then how
can he be made sin? And if he knew no sin and was
then made sin, has he lost his impeccability by that divine
act of God? In other words, Has he been corrupted? He hath made him to be sin. Does that speak of any corruption? And if it does, can he then regain
his impeccability at some time in the future? Will his holiness
and his sinlessness return unto him again, if indeed, as some
say, he literally was made sin? Now, as to how Jesus was made
sin, we are greatly helped by that wonderful, outstanding and
famous prophecy from Isaiah in chapter 53. In Isaiah chapter
53 and verse 6, the prophet wrote this, We all were as sheep going
astray, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. Get it all. We were as sheep
going astray, and the Lord has laid upon Him, that is, Christ
Messiah, the Anointed One, the sin of us all. To this John refers
in the Gospel of John chapter 1 and verse 29. Remember that great statement
that he made that great witness that He gave of Christ. He calls
Christ the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. The Lamb of God that bears away
the sin of the world. It takes its rise, Lamb, in the
typical sacrifices of the Old Covenant and the Old Testament.
And the question is then how and in what way How did God make
Christ to be sin for us? Did God put sin in Him by an
infusion or upon Him by imputation? Did He infuse sin into the Holy
One or did He put it upon Him by imputation in the types It
is always the innocent one dying for the guilty. And punishment
due the guilty is then endured by the substitute that is put
in their place. One without sin dies for the
sins of the sinners. And not only so, but the guilty
is spared the death of sin by this great transaction. Now, does this raise a question
in the mind of any here? Wherein is the justice? How can this be a good and a
just thing to do in requiring an innocent one, one without
any sin whatsoever to die for the guilty? Wherein is the righteousness
of such an arrangement as this? to take an absolutely sinless
one and substitute him in the place of a sinner so that the
guilty sinner is spared while the innocent one dies. How is it that one who knows
no sin dies for another? And how is it that one who dies
for another who knows no sin be a benefit unto those that
he has died for? This is the ordination of God. To send His Son, I want you to
hear me now, to hear His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh,
Romans chapter 8 and verse 3, the likeness of sinful flesh,
to lay all of the elect's sins upon Christ and exact of Him
the debt of all of those that are to be saved, all the seed
of Abraham He took a hold of. Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 16. It is the prerogative, the sovereign
prerogative of God to lay sin upon His blessed Son. No one else has that prerogative. It is the prerogative of God
to lay sin upon His blessed Son. None else can do it. Not the
devil, not the sinner himself, nor even the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, you often hear preachers
tell people, just roll your sins off on Christ. Just roll them
away and roll them on Christ. Only God can do that. And God
has done that in behalf of His elect. He hath made them to light
upon the Lord. Jesus Christ. Now, don't get
the idea that the Son is forced against His will to bear the
sins of many. He agreed in the eternal covenant
of grace before the world ever began, Thou shalt be a priest
forever after the order of Melchizedek. Now, I think that hardly any
can fully understand why Jesus died for the sins of others until
they understand some other things as well. How can we understand
how Jesus, the sinless One, died for the sins of others until
they understand some things? Understand, A, and this is so
important, you never hear it preached on today, A, Jesus is
the surety of the New Testament or covenant. Hebrews 7 and verse
22, By so much is Jesus' surety of the new covenant. What is
a surety? Well, I don't have time to get
into that now, but you see it throughout the Scripture. It's
something Solomon warns against. Don't do it. Don't be a surety
for another because you could lose much. But Jesus is the surety
of the new covenant. And then, B, what is required
of a surety? Well, he is to underwrite the
debts of others and to pay those debts upon their default. He has made him to be sin for
us as surety God required of him the debt of our sin. Our surety answered And our surety
paid off all the debt that was against us. How can God make
him sin? Again, maybe we could raise the
question, how close a kinship did Christ take unto us? How close an affinity or relationship
did our Savior assume unto us that He might bear our sin, and
that we might have the benefit of Him bearing our sin. That He might indeed be made
sin on behalf of us. That our sin might be made to
light upon Him. That as in 1 Peter 2 and verse
28 puts it, He bear our sin in His own body on the tree. The margin says, to the tree
He bare our sin. We remember Deuteronomy 21 and
verse 23, Galatians 3 and verse 13, Cursed is everyone that hangs
upon a tree. And the Jews in complicity with
the Romans, Acts 5 and 30, slew Jesus and hanged Him upon a tree. We are sinful. Must He become
sinful to save us? Now that's the question. How
close did our Lord come? How close an affinity? How close did He come to our
situation and to our state? And the question is this, must
He become sinful to bear our sins and save us? Must He come
this close to our condition to rescue us out of our sin. We say He need not become sinful
to save us, but He must bear our sin in their entirety, so
that He was made sin, but not sinful. Our Lord was made sin,
but not sinful. Sin was laid upon Him, but it
was not put in Him. He died for our sins, but was
not sinful. He was made sin by imputation,
not infusion. He was made sin, but not sinful
when our Lord died upon the cross. He was not depraved in being
born of a woman. That did not cause His depravity. He was made a curse, but He was
not accursed of God. He saw no corruption. those three
days in the grave, for He was that Holy One. He died for sin,
but not in sin. He had no sin in Him. So let's
look at the short statement that says, Who knew no sin? Which of course is said of Christ
our Lord. As a contrast to, He made Him
to be sin for us who knew no sin. He that knew no sin was
still made sin for us." And why does the apostle throw in these
words, who knew no sin? Because a great truth is expressed
even without these words. It would be a true statement
in verse 21. If we read verse 21 this way,
He made Him sin to be sin for us that we might be made the
righteousness of God in Him. This is a full and complete statement
and declaration of the Gospel. Christ took away our sin. He
gave us His righteousness. But the Apostle is inspired to
put in a very powerful phrase. who knew no sin." That is, one
who was without sin and had no sin. In Him was no sin, who did
no sin. Now this may put us in mind,
for closeness I mean, how close Christ came, of that passage
in Romans 8, verse 3, where Paul declares God sent His Son in
a way that brought Him as close to sinful humanity as was possible
and necessary to save us, while himself remaining absolutely
free of sin. Even in the likeness of sinful
flesh, Paul has written there, Murray said, the word likeness
guards the truth of his impeccability. Not sinful flesh, but the likeness
of sinful flesh. But for that word, many would
rush off into heresy. The likeness of sinful flesh,
but not sinful flesh. But the question, how is it that
Christ knew no sin? It cannot mean that He was ignorant
of sin, or what it is, or what it does. or of its nature, it
could not mean that he didn't know anything about sin. In fact,
it was all around him, and he saw it all of the time. He cannot
be counted without the knowledge of how sin entered the world
through the first man, the effects that it had in passing upon all. He knows the original sin, what
sins are in the heart, of every person. He knows the end of those
who live and die in their sin. As Thomas Manton wrote on a sermon
on this very text and verse, quote, he knew what sin was in
its nature and what it will be in its effect and fruits, unquote. But he knew no sin. And that expresses the fact that
he was sinless. He was sinless. and so holy and
undefiled. He was that Holy One or that
Holy Thing. He was free from any and all
defilements that are in His people. John Gill put it this way, quote,
He never was conscious of any sin in Himself, nor did He ever
commit any, nor was any found in Him by men or by devils, That
he knew no sin, and yet was made sin for us, declares the perfection
of his sacrifice. That he can bear away our sin,
for he has none of his own, is what makes his sacrifice so valuable. That he can bear our sins without
being crushed and destroyed and corrupted. He is a fit offering. Only as our sins are upon Him
will God smite His beloved and only begotten Son. Only when
our sins are upon Him, Zechariah 13 and 7, will God give command
to the sword, Arise, smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall
be scattered. Draw out the sword of justice
against him, against our sin when they are upon our Lord. Not to be lost in this transaction
is what is to be accomplished. He has made sin to a certain
end. And what is that end? In the
last of the verse, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. He has bore our sins. He has taken them. He has suffered
and died for them. that we might have the righteousness
of God. And how do we have that righteousness?
By infusion or by imputation. That this is imputed righteousness. It is not infused. What an exchange
has the Lord made with us. He takes away the condemnation
of our sin and imputes unto us the righteousness of God. The righteousness of the law,
which had never been, except Christ put away our sin by the
sacrifice of Himself, and had never put away our sin, except
He Himself had been sinless and without sin. So that God smites
not Him for His sin, but Him for our sins. Oh, what a wonderful thing. Made
sin for us. who knew no sin, that we in the
end might have the righteousness of God imputed unto us." Wonderful,
wonderful gospel. Thank you for your attention.
If we might stand, please, for a word of prayer.