2 Corinthians 5.14 For the love
of Christ constraineth us. His love for us constrains us,
not our love for Him. Because we thus judge that if
one died for all, then we're all dead, or all died with him.
And that he died for all, that they which henceforth 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, now henceforth know we him no more. Therefore
if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are
passed away, 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. To wit, and
this is the ministry now, that God was in Christ. This is our ministry. To wit,
that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself. not imputing their trespasses
unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors
for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you
in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him
to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the
righteousness of God. If you'll look back here in 2 Corinthians
5 with me. It says in verse 18, all things
are of God who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ. and this says in verse 21 how
he did it how he reconciles us how he saves
us 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 let's take a look
at substitution a look at substitution. Substitution is the heart of
the gospel. The first place you see substitution
at is in the garden. When Adam fell, and when Adam
and Eve fell, and to believe the lie of the devil, it says
that God slew an Adam, the innocent for the guilty.
the blood shedding and covered their nakedness with the skin
of that animal. Before that, all they had was
a fig leaf. People have a lot of fig leaf
religion. And they use everything they've
got as a fig leaf. Carry the Bible as a fig leaf.
Pray as a fig leaf. Trust in yourselves as a fig
leaf. But the heart of the gospel, you find nowhere Noah was saved
in an ark. Didn't save himself, God saved
him. God was in that ark and he says, come thou into the ark,
just like God was in Christ. And when the Passover, that was
perfect illustration of Christ being made sin for us. God said,
when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. And when God took Abraham
and Isaac, and Isaac went up on that mountain, God said, I'll
provide myself a lamb. And when he took Isaac up there,
and he was fixing to slay Isaac, he found a ram and put it in
his stead in the gospel. So the heart of the gospel is
substitution. And here we find how God saves
a sinner and why he saves a sinner. the word of God is full of substitution
the innocent for the guilty the just for the unjust and there's
three things or three people we need to look at in this verse
of scripture three people and you know who they are? first
is God for He God God the Bible starts with God the gospel starts
with God it doesn't start with man Arminianism says it starts
with man. You get man, you try to get him
up to God instead of God coming to where man's at. But there's
God in this verse of Scripture. And then there's Christ. God
made Him. Who's Him? The Lord Jesus Christ. Made Him to be sin. Well, who
did He make Him to be sin for? Us. Who's us? sinners like ourselves
Men that need saving I don't know about you, but I need saving
God lets me live tomorrow. I'm gonna need saving You know,
he says we have no confidence in this flesh We know that in
this flesh dwells no good thing We know that we cannot ever ever
come into the presence of God in our own selves in any way
By our own merit, by our own worth. But here's these three
people involved in this business of substitution. This glorious
gospel of substitution. And we have to know something
about God. You know, would God reveal himself
any other way than he is? Would God make himself known
any other way than he is? Would God make himself known
as one who doesn't have the ability to do anything unless you let
him? Would God reveal himself as one who wants to save you
but can't? Would God prevent himself anything
less than omnipotent? Would God reveal himself any
other way than what he really is? Do you know how he is? Do you know who he is? The scripture said in that book,
what it said there in verse 18, all things are of God. Now when
it said all things are of God, and I heard some people say that's
awful high doctrine. That's Bible doctrine. There's
nothing high about it, nothing low about it. All things are
of God. And we have, you know, we have
to remind one another of that sometimes when things go wrong.
We have to remind everybody, you know, and ourselves even,
that all things are of God. Well, things are not going my
way. All things are of God. Everything is going my way. All
things are of God. And I tell you, beloved, He is
sovereign. That's the first thing. He's
not, He said, you thought you was all together, one like myself. like you and I tell you what
when we say he's sovereign listen to me now he's absolutely sovereign
absolutely so absolutely so and when we say that he has absolute
authority absolute authority he has absolute power he has
absolute rights there's three absolutes in the scriptures see
if you don't agree with this God's absolute sovereign Christ
is an absolute Savior and man's an absolute sinner. There's nothing
gray about those three things. And if God's sovereign, Christ
is the only Savior and we're a sinner, then this is the only
way we can be saved is God made Him to be sin for us. Who knew no sin that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Christ. Now when we say
God is sovereign, what we mean is His only rule is His own free
and mighty will. His only rule in this universe
is His own free and mighty will. The only person in this universe
that has absolute free will is God Himself. He can freely will
to do what He wants to do. And He will from eternity to
do what would happen in time. Now you know I quote this all
the time. You keep this and look with me over in Psalm 135. Instead
of quoting it, let's look at it. Psalm 135. Let's look at this together.
And here's the thing, you know, he does according to his will
in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth.
And no man, no man can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest
thou? But it starts out by saying all
the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as what? Nothing,
nothing. They said they asked David one
time. I said, David? You know, I've been places where
Buddha's worshipped, Mohammed's worshipped, man's
worshipped, his free will's worshipped, but any God that you can put
in your car and take him somewhere and get him out and set him back
up is not a God. Whether he's Buddha sitting with
a bald head, it don't make no difference. But they said to
David, David, we got our gods. Do you remember when Rachel come
up out of there? She took all of her father's
gods with them and put them with them, took them with her. You
know, she took her gods. And when they found out about
that, he come after them. He wanted them back. God he said well I tell you where
mine's at he's in heaven he's in heaven and he does whatsoever
he pleases but look what it said here in Psalm 135 and verse 5 for I know that the Lord is great
and that our Lord is above all gods listen to it now whatsoever
the Lord pleased That did he in heaven, and in
earth, and in the seas, and all deep places. That sounds like
somebody does what they want to do, what they will to do,
and accomplishes what they start out to do. He explains himself
to no man or his actions. He just says, I will, and it
happens. He works all things after the
counsel of his own will. And I tell you what, he said,
let the potions of the earth strive with the potions, but
woe unto him that striketh with his master. Paul said it like
this, he said, who art thou, old man? Who art thou, old man,
that replies against God, that judges God and sets in judgment
on God? Who are you that replies against
God? Can the thing formed say to him that formed him, why did
you make me like this? And men who don't like God the
way He is, what they're doing is setting in judgment on God
and saying, if I was God, He wouldn't be the way He is. My God's not like that. But listen,
that's what they do. They set in judgment on God and
they say, God shouldn't be this way. God shouldn't do that way.
But I tell you what, He's going to do what he wills whether we
like it or not. Whether we bow to it or not.
Whether we submit to it or not. There was a famous, famous atheist. I can't think of his name. Died
a couple of years ago. He debated with people all the
time about God. He believed absolutely no God
whatsoever. And I'm going to tell you something.
When a man dies, his nature doesn't change. He died an atheist and
he'll live through eternity as an atheist. You say, that can't be right.
Yes, it is right. God, when a man dies, you know,
if we got a righteous nature and we love God and we know God,
and we're going to die the way we live. If we know God and we're
saved by the grace of God, when we pass into this world, we're
going to be with Him. Our nature ain't going to change.
Our standing with God ain't going to change. Either you know God
now or you don't. And when you go into eternity,
that's the way you're going to stay. Go as a God-hater, you'll
be a God-hater all through eternity. You go as a Christ-lover, you'll
love Christ throughout all eternity. And I tell you, He's the God
of predestination. I love that word predestination.
You know what that means? Let me show you. Isaiah 46. No, excuse me. Yeah, Isaiah 46,
I believe it is. Verses 45. I'll tell you here
in a minute. 46, verse 9. He's the God of predestination.
I love it. His will determines all. Houston
was down in McMimble the other day and he started home and his
predestination was to go home. He was predestined to go home.
But now he couldn't get there. without help. Something happened
to him. But when God predestinates something,
ain't nothing going to happen. His car's not going to break
down. His will's not going to break down. His purpose's not
going to break down. Nothing's going to change about
His will or His purpose when He starts it. Look what He said
here in verse 9. Isaiah 46, 9. Remember the former things of
old. For I am God, and there is none
else. I am God, and there's none like
Me. Listen to it now. Here's what
we talk about predestination. Declaring the end from the beginning. He said here I am the only one
in the beginning God. He said in the beginning I said
this is the way I want things to come out. He just said what's
going to be at the end from the beginning. and then look what
he says and from ancient times the things that are not yet done
he can even you know the things that are not yet done he said
this is what's going to happen the things that are not yet done
saying my counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure Oh my, that's the God we adore. We adore this God. We worship
this God. We delight in a God like that.
Not only is He sovereign, but He's just. Go back over to our
verse of scripture here, to our text. He is just, infinitely
so. His sovereignty is proved by
these words, He hath made Him to be said for us. He is just. He hath made Christ
to be sin. The judge of all the earth must
do right. The great salvation that God gave us and provided
for us in Christ is a just and a holy God. And He has justice
that is infinite. God has never changed in His
justice. He is the governor of this universe
and everything in it. And God's justice is inflexible. It's inflexible. Inflexible. I mean, He cannot possibly, possibly
clear the guilty. He said He can't do that. If
a man's guilty, well then God's got to justify the man some way
or else punish him for his guilt. And so the guilty, no, God can
by no means clear. And I tell you, God's justice
is inflexible. And the death of Christ is inflexible. I mean, God's justice is inflexible. So here's the situation then.
Well, how in the world can this God, who is perfectly, infinitely
just, be satisfied with anything that anybody does in this world?
How can He do it? I'm going to tell you how He
did. God made him to be saved. Oh, the death of Christ. Scott
used to say this all the time. God must do something for himself
before he can ever do anything for us. And I want you to understand
this, that the death of Christ primarily and first and foremost
was for God. When Abraham started up that
mountain with his son Isaac, Isaac said, Father, we got the
wood, we got the fire, we got the knife, but where's the lamb?
He said, it's my son. God will provide himself. God said he will provide himself
a lamb. And I tell you, that lamb, that
lamb that was, you know, that lamb that was slain in Egypt,
you know what it was for? For God. He said, I can't pass
over you until there's death. I can't pass over you until there's
blood shedding. I can't pass over you until the
innocent dies for you. And the death of Christ first
is for God. Our Lord Jesus Christ came into
this world and He says, Oh Father, glorify me with thyself before
the world was. Christ came in this world first
and foremost to glorify His Father. How could He glorify His Father?
By doing everything His Father gave Him to do. And that's why
when God said, when I see the blood. And our Lord Jesus entered
once into the holy place with His own blood. Now the way the
death of Christ for man, for God is a propitiation. Take away
his anger. Take away his wrath. Take away
his justice. But the death of Christ for us
was a substitution. Stood between us and God. He
stood in our place. He stood in our stead. And what
this reason, that this was, is since we can't satisfy God, there's
only one person who can satisfy God. That's one equal with God,
His blessed Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And God said, I send
the travail of His soul, and I'm satisfied. I'm satisfied. But for us, it was a substitution. And this is sad. This is so sad.
Some are deceived. by sin and sin is so deceitful
into believing that God won't punish sin. God won't punish
sin. I was watching a show the other
day and they was putting down a bunch of grass. and sod and
stuff and they sweep it around, sweep it around, sweep it around.
That guy lifted up that grass and the guy swept all the trash
up under that grass and then put the grass down on top of
it. That's not the way God does. He don't lift a thing up and
then sweep all our sins under a rug. No, no. Some think that God might
be pacified with just a few good words or a few good words in
prayer. No, no, that's not the way it's done. The God of the
Bible is as severe as if He were not merciful and as just as if
He were not gracious. And yet He is as gracious and
merciful as if He were not just. Oh, what a God. So He's a sovereign? We've got to know that. Would
God reveal himself any other way as one who rules and reigns?
Would God make himself known to you as a sovereign and make
himself known to somebody else as something else? We love this God. We adore this
God. Now He's not only the God of sovereign, sovereign God,
just God, but He's the God of grace. The God of all grace. The God of all, the Father of
mercy, God who must punish sin, must, must do it. Never pardon
sin first without punishment. And this God who must punish
sin, never pardon sin without punishment, is also a God of
unlimited, infinite, eternal love. God himself said I have
no pleasure I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked I
don't enjoy it I don't have no pleasure in that but here's the
thing about grace grace chose us in Christ before the world
began grace provided us a lamb grace
called us And grace keeps us. Now when we talk about God of
grace, we're talking about a God. The scripture says God is love. Not a God of love. Not the God
of love, as some people say. God is love. Not just a God of
love, because if you say a God of love, He meets whatever your
standard of love is. But He says God is love. And
he says he also delights in mercy. And he's full of grace and he's
full of truth. And this is the God that we worship. Sovereign, just, and gracious. And it's this God who made Christ
to be sin for us who knew no sin. That's God. He. Here's the second. Listen to
the second. We've got to know something about
these people. He hath made him sin for us, listen to this, who
knew no sin. God was in Christ. He's the only
begotten of the Father, the Son of God's love, who was in the
bosom of the Father and came into this world and declared
out God. He was the only begotten of the
Father. He wasn't created as Adam was created. And here's
some of the mysteries of the Godhead. Our Lord Jesus Christ
never was a time that He didn't exist. Before He became into
this world and became Jesus Christ, He was the Eternal God. He was
the Everlasting Father. He was the Mighty God. There
never was a time that our Lord Jesus Christ never existed. Him and God, and God the Father,
God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, all existed from eternity. They're all three eternal. Well, how in the world did this
eternal Son of God, this eternal God, this eternal Savior, how
in the world did He come into this world? How did it happen? How was He made to be sinned,
who knew no sin? That's the mystery of the Godhead.
He's same as the Father. The Father said He's Almighty,
well the Son's Almighty. Every attribute everything that
God ever did in time You can see that dear Lord Jesus Christ
did the same thing when he is on this earth. He sent his word
and heal people He sent his word and calm the creation. He sent
his word and raised the dead He everything that God is Christ
is and He's eternal as God. He's equal with God. He's existed
as long as God has. The Father is infinite, so is
the Son. He's God, very God of very God. When you look at Christ, you
see God. But oh, here's the other side
of it. He's also the Son of Mary. The Son of Mary. A man like us. Sin accepted. He was a man. God prepared him a body. And
he came into this world. No connection to Adam whatsoever. But he became a man. A man subject
to the infirmities of human nature. Huh? To the infirmities of human
nature. Here's a God who's unbounded
by space and time. come and was bounded by space
and time. Here's a God who is eternal assumed
a body and came into time could be seen, could be touched, could
be felt, could be talked to, could be worshipped and subject to the infirmities
of human nature He's a man of suffering, a man of woe. Isaiah said he was acquainted
with a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He said in the lamentations,
woe is it nothing to you that pass by? Wherewith God hath afflicted
me in the fierceness of his wrath. He knows what pain was He knew
what trouble was. He knew what temptation was. He knew what tried was. He knew
what it was to be weak when He was on the cross. He knew what
it was to die. Bone of our bone, flesh of our
flesh. Our Lord Jesus Christ, He knew
what sorrow was. He cried twice. Been a long time
since I've cried, since I've wept. But our Lord Jesus Christ
wept twice. Can you imagine the infinitely
eternal God coming down here and standing, and the scripture
said He wept. He just didn't have tears coming
down. He wept. You could hear Him groan in His
spirit. Hear Him as He wept. And that's
why the Jews said, listen, listen to that man weeping outside Lazarus
too. Oh, how he must have loved Him.
to stand and weep over him this way. God in man. He wasn't God humanized. He wasn't man deified. God, purely,
essentially, eternally God. Man, purely, purely man. and now since he's become a man
he's eternally a man sitting at God's right hand and oh man not more than a man
because of his deity God not less than God because of his
unity humanity what a sacred union God and man in one person
what a mystery and this was the one that God made to be sin of this God in Christ it says
He knew no sin He did know sin and He knew no
sin when our Lord told those men He said depart from me you
workers of iniquity I never knew That means that he knew who they
was, he knew what they did, he knew the sins that they committed.
That's why he said depart from me ye that work iniquity. I didn't
have that intimate acquaintance with you. I didn't love you. I didn't know you like I know
more. Having loved his own which were in the world. He loved them
unto the end. And when it says he knew no sin,
that he had no acquaintance with sin whatsoever. He knew no sin. He knew the effects of sin. He
knew the consequences of sin. He knew this father's hatred
for sin. He saw sin in others and rebuked
it. But he did not know sin by experience. You know when he was made to
be sin? when he went to the cross wherever God finds sin death
has to follow death has to follow and when he went to the cross that's why our Lord he said father
if it be possible let this cup pass from me if there's any other
way if there's another way no other
way But our Lord knew sin, and no
sin, and no way, and no how. He was pure. He was spotless.
He was holy, harmless, separate from sinners, higher than that.
He asked them, Pharisees, which of you convinces me of sin? Now
let's look at this other person. God. Sovereign. Just. Gracious. Christ. God. Man. Knew no sin. God made him to be sin. I can't
make anybody else to be a sinner. And I might have to face God
for you or me as far as what we do. But look what he says
here. God hath made him to be sin for
us. For us. Who is us? That the righteousness
of God that we might be made the righteousness of God. God
can only make him to be a sin and God can only be the one to
make us to be righteous. And the sinner, us, for us, who
is us? Who is he? He's us. Where is
he? Just look at yourself. Just look
at yourself. Just look within. Sinners by
birth? Born that way. You know, if this is true, that
man's got to come to the age of accountability, whatever that
age may be. Most people think it's 12, as
they say 12. But if sinners had to come to
an age of accountability, nobody would die before this 12. They
couldn't be held accountable. Is that not right? But death come into this world
because of sin. Now, infants and babies weren't
sinners, then they'd never die. Is that not right? Not only we're sinners by birth,
but we're sinners by nature. It's our nature to do it. It's
our nature to do it. Can you stop yourself from sinning?
Can you stop your mind from wondering? Can you stop your flesh from
being weak? Can you stop yourself from getting
real angry and popping off? Can you stop yourself from arguing?
Can you stop yourself from getting angry with somebody when they
cut you off in traffic? Can you? Not only with sinners
by nature, but we practice it. We practice it. Let me go home
with you for a day or two. You go home with me for a day
or two and you'll see. You'll see. We're sinners by
practice. And I tell you what, most people
are proud of it. I was going to tell somebody
something the other day and I thought, no, no, no, no, no. Don't mention
that which you did which you were ashamed of. You know, some
people brag about how sinful they were. Listen, you don't
have to brag about it because God knows, I know, and you know.
Don't go back and brag about what a bad sinner you were. The most, the most, listen, you can't turn
your hand for the difference for any member of the human race.
Can't do it. All we can see is the outside.
But once you know who God is, and once you know who Christ
is, and then you learn who you are, then you know right then and
there, you've got to have a Savior. And you've got to have a substitute,
somebody, to take your sin upon Himself. And somebody to die
for you, to put your sin away. And that's the only hope we've
got. Yeah. And this is who Christ became
sin for. Now let's go together. Let's
go together. Let's go into the presence of
an infinite, eternal, just God. If you've ever been in a courtroom,
you know, and then when the judge walks in from the back door,
and he stands, everybody says, stand up, judge coming in. One of these days the whole world
is going to stand up and God's going to be on His throne. God's
going to be at the bar of justice. Well, let's go there today. Let's
go there where God sits. And there's this great big bar
in front of Him. And the Holy Eternal God's sitting
there. Huh? And He says, come on. Come on here. I want you. Come
up here before Me. Come up here before Me. I'm going
to put you on trial. And if you're found guilty, you're
going to die. I'm going to judge you for death
or for life. Well, here's the situation. God
is gracious. God is gracious, full of grace,
full of mercy. And His heart goes out to the
sinner and desires to save him. And then here's God who also
is just and righteous and must punish sin. And when we stand there and God
sets on His throne and we're standing there before Him, the
sinner has tried. If a verdict of guilt is brought
back, How is he going to punish him and cause him to die? And
how is he going to save him and manifest his grace and manifest
his justice? How is he going to manifest his
mercy and manifest his righteousness? How is he going to do that? How
are these conflicting attributes going to come to pass? How are
they going to work together? Well, he's love. He is love. And wherever love is, it must
be expressed. It has to come out. It must be
expressed. And His love goes out. And it
must be expressed. It goes out. He loved us with
an everlasting love. But He's just. How is this love
and justice going to meet? He loves. He wants to save Him.
And yet He's just. And He must destroy. the full penalty of the law must
be brought to bear on him so how then can God justly justly
now in one stroke condemn the sinner and slay the sinner and
in the same stroke give life to the sinner how can that happen? God was in Christ back up. Oh, bless his name,
bless his name, bless his name. We stand in wonder, stand in
awe at the grace of God, at the mercy of God, at the love of
God, at Christ. The very power and wisdom of
God is put on display to show us how it can be done. So here's
justice, and here's love, here's grace, and here's mercy, here's
justice, here's law. These conflicting attributes.
How are they going to do? Wisdom stands up. Says, I know
a way. I know a way. I know a way. I tell you what,
let's send Emmanuel. Let's send Emmanuel down. Let's
send Emmanuel down there. Let's send your son down there. Let's send the son of your love
down there. And the son of the love says,
yeah, I'll go. I'll do it. I'll go down there
and I'll let you treat me in justice. I'll let you treat me
in wrath. I'll let you bear on me the full
penalty of the law. And then you can also show your
love, and show your grace, and show your mercy to sinners. Because when we stand up there,
our Lord Jesus Christ walks right up there in the sight of God. He said, Lord, my Father, my
God, take me. and put me in his place and take
my righteousness and take my obedience and give it to them
and I tell you beloved treat me as if I were the sinner
and treat the sinner as if he was me smite me as hard as you
please Turn out the lights on me and
leave me forsaken for three hours of darkness. Lay on me the iniquity of them
all. Wound me for their transgressions. Bruise me for their iniquities. And I'll bear it, I'll bear it,
I'll bear it all. Now, now, be gracious to them. Now show your love to them. Why? Because I bared their sin in
my own body. I died. Now they don't have to die. And
they died with me. Your justice will be satisfied
in me. Your law will be honored. And
you take and you give them my obedience. You give them my righteousness. And our Lord Jesus Christ, bless
His holy, holy name. He did all of this willingly,
gladly, joyfully and voluntarily. and he did it with the determined
counseling for knowledge of God Christ stood in our place that we could stand in his place and you know what he says we're
accepted in the beloved complete in Christ and we stand in his
place where it counts before God It's an absolute exchange. Christ got absolutely what we
had and we got absolutely what He had. Huh? That's substitution. That's the only way God can save
a sinner. You wonder how in the world God can save a sinner.
That's the only way He can do it. God made Him to be sin. For us, made Him to be sin who
knew no sin for us that God could turn around and make us righteous
as He is. Our Father, in the precious,
glorious, holy name of the Lord Jesus Christ, thank You for Your
Gospel. Thank You for Your Son, Thank
you for the wisdom and the power that's manifested in your blessed
son. The wisdom of how you can be
just and justifier. The power of how you can make
him to be sinned who knew no sin. The power that can make
us the righteousness of God in him. The power that enabled him
to die. The power that enabled him to
bear that sin of ours. He died not for himself, but
for us and we bless you and praise you that he bore our sin away
never ever to be found again never to stand before God without
his righteousness for eternity we stand before you in his righteousness
thank you Lord for the gospel thank you for our Lord Jesus
Christ thank you for his obedience Thank you and bless your holy
name. We praise you for grace. Praise you for Christ. Praise
you for love. Praise you for justice. Praise
you for grace. Oh Lord, blessed be your holy
name. We thank you and praise you.
Amen. Amen.