Made him to be sin for us

Q: What does the Bible say about reconciliation with God?

The Bible teaches that reconciliation with God is achieved through Jesus Christ, who bore our sins and made a way for us to be righteous before God. Reconciliation with God is a foundational theme in Scripture, particularly emphasized in 2 Corinthians 5:21, where it states that God made Christ to be sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. This act of reconciliation indicates that God is satisfied with the payment made by Christ on the cross, thus bridging the gap between a holy God and sinful humanity. It is essential to understand that reconciliation is not an independent act by humans but is initiated by God through Christ’s sacrificial work at Calvary, leading to a restored relationship for those who believe.

Q: How do we know that Jesus was sinless?

The Bible affirms Jesus' sinlessness by stating He knew no sin and was without blemish, making Him the perfect sacrifice for our sins. Jesus' sinlessness is affirmed throughout the New Testament, most notably in passages like 2 Corinthians 5:21, which highlights His unique nature of knowing no sin. This sinlessness was necessary for Him to be the perfect sacrificial Lamb, untainted by sin, enabling Him to bear the sins of others. His life exemplified complete obedience to God's commands, never falling into sin in thought, word, or deed. This unique qualification is crucial because it underlines the justice of God in accepting Christ's sacrifice for our sins, ensuring that the penalty due to us was fully satisfied without any injustice done to the law of God.

Q: Why is the concept of imputed righteousness important for Christians?

Imputed righteousness is vital because it signifies that believers are accepted before God based on Christ's righteousness rather than their merit. The doctrine of imputed righteousness holds that when a believer has faith in Christ, God credits Christ's pure righteousness to their account. This is crucial for salvation because, as Romans 10:3 outlines, humans often attempt to establish their own righteousness, which is insufficient to meet God's standards. The gift of Christ's righteousness allows believers to stand justified before God, not based on their works but solely His grace. This understanding brings immense comfort and assurance to Christians, as it emphasizes that their acceptance before God is secured through Christ's merit and not their own failures, thereby encouraging faith and dependence on God rather than self.

Seeking for the help of the Lord, I direct your prayerful attention to the portion that we read, 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 21, the last verse. 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. Paul's second epistle to the Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 21.

Our text is the foundation of the reconciliation of man with God and God with man. And it begins with a four and it links that which is gone before, where the apostle is speaking of the reconciliation. All things are of God, verse 18, who has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation. And so, in the work of our Lord upon the cross, the people of God, God is satisfied with that payment. God is, as it were, reconciled to us, who has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ. The debt is paid, the debt is settled.

But before a work of grace is begun, that sinner is not reconciled to God. He is at enmity, he hates God, he is contrary to God. And yet it is through the ministry, through the ministry of reconciliation, that then that barrier is broken down, God's work in a sinner, and the work is there because of what he has already done at Calvary. To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world, that is the world of his people, unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us, that is the ministers of the word, 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. That is the effect and work of the preaching and the effect in sinners' hearts through the gospel, bringing those that were at enmity will not have this man to rule, to reign over us, to be made willing to serve him, obey him, to part with their own righteousness, and to cleave unto his.

This chapter begins with a blessed word, but also a very solemn word, because we are reminded that our bodies are a house. They're an earthly house, an earthly tabernacle, and one day it will be dissolved. But this body is not ourselves on its own. We have a soul, and that soul is in our bodies. It's not right just to discard our bodies. It's right that even when dead, we should honor those mortal remains.

It often has struck me with the record of when Jacob died in Egypt and how it is said that they buried Jacob. Joseph, he fell on his father's neck and kissed him. They treated the body still as Jacob. They didn't say they buried Jacob's mortal remains. They buried Jacob.

And yet we know that the soul is parted from the body, it's with Christ, and that body shall return to the dust. but we also know that it shall be resurrected and raised again. And as Job says, that though after my skin, worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.

And this is why we hold fast that the scripture pattern the right way is that we bury our dead, we don't cremate them because we honour the scripture pattern and the belief that that dust shall be resurrected again. Make it plain, of course, that cremation cannot frustrate that for God's people, those that are cremated, the Lord can raise those ashes as well. but we want to do that which reinforces our belief in the resurrection of the body and that the body is just as much part of us as what our soul is. It is our earthly house of this tabernacle and yes it is going to be dissolved but what a beautiful word is put here We have a building of God, and house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

The apostle in another place, he says we grow, not that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon. Not that we'd just be a naked soul without a body, but we'd be looking past to the resurrection day. when we shall be body and soul. We must remember it is both that have been redeemed by Christ. The Lord has saved us body and soul.

And so the chapter begins in that way with a people longing for that immortality and to be with Christ And Paul says, wherefore we labor, that whether present or absent, he may be accepted of him. But the great question is, are we truly reconciled unto God? And do we understand that the way that we are reconciled is by what Christ already has done at Calvary? and that what he is doing and will do for everyone for whom he has died in the day of grace, making them willing in the day of his power. That really is summed up in the words of our text.

For he, that is God the Father, hath made him, that is Jesus Christ, to be sinned for us He's God's people who knew no sin, that is the Lord Jesus Christ knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him, that we might be fitted to be with Him in heaven and be spotless there.

So I want to look at three points briefly this evening. Firstly, to consider he who knew no sin. And then secondly, made him to be sin for us. And then lastly, the reason for this, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. But firstly we have our Lord Jesus Christ set forth here. God the Father making him to be sin who knew no sin.

It's one of the most vital things to realize and sometimes it's easy to overlook that. since man came upon the earth, formed in Adam, that every one that is born, every one of that natural generation, has been a sinner and will be a sinner. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. It's highlighted in Genesis chapter 5, where we read of the genealogy leading from Adam right through to Noah, and though they live, several of them, over 900 years, all the time, except for Enoch, we read, and he died, that death has passed upon all men, and that all have sinned, and sin and death is joined together. Sin entered into the world, and death by sin.

And it is then an amazing thing to be presented with a truth, a doctrine, a teaching, the Word of God, that born into this world, born of Mary, was a man, a real man, of which the Jews looked upon him, and they could see no difference in him than his brethren, than his father, his mother, His father, his mother we know, his brethren, they are all with us.

It's not this Jesus, the son of Joseph. And to view him as a real man, but to believe and to understand this man is different than any other man that has ever walked the face of this world. This man is sinless, he is spotless, He's not tainted with sin in any way at all. He comes through the bloodline of Mary, but because through the male line, it was through the Holy Ghost overshadowing Mary, that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

God manifests in the flesh. Having been brought up with these truths, we can easily pass over and not realize what the Jews in their day, and those in the early church, were having to believe and understand. The Old Testament saints, they looked forward to this. They believed Emmanuel, God with us, would come. God would be manifest in the flesh. Job knew that his Redeemer lived and that he would stand the latter day upon the earth.

But how he came, how he came so different than that expected and so outwardly looking, exactly like the first Adam. But this second Adam has this great difference that he knew no sin. not born in sin, nor shapen in iniquity, and therefore no cause of death in him at all. It would have been an unjust thing of God to put Jesus Christ to death, or to require him to die. because there was no cause of death in him. Pilate had to declare that because Pilate could only look at the outward appearance. But God here declares through Paul, he knew no sin. If our Lord was to be the Redeemer, If he was to stand in the place of another, then he must not have to stand in his own place. That's why we cannot redeem a brother, because our own souls need redeeming.

If we were to say, I'm going to die in the place of another, someone would quickly remind us, but you must die anyway. That is required for you anyway. You have not that to lay down for another. You've already got a debt to pay. If someone had a lot of money in the bank and they had a friend that was in debt, and they said, we are going to bail you out. We're going to pay your debt. And we're going to take this money that I've got in the bank and put it to your account. reminded you, well actually you owe all that money to someone else. You can't do that because that money is already not yours. It's not yours to give to another. Tell our Lord Jesus Christ, he cannot have that sentence of death over him, himself.

He knew no sin. He is the The second Adam is not through Adam's line, and yet the line through Mary does trace right back through Adam. The apostle says, great is the mystery of godliness, God manifest in the flesh. And this is one aspect of that mystery, and yet a vital aspect for us. that he knew no sin. Yes, the sinless infirmities of weariness, of sorrow, our Lord wept, of hunger, our Lord hungered, he thirsted. Those things are not sinful things. He was tempted. But it's not a sin to be tempted. But it is when we take up with that temptation and go along with it, then it becomes ours.

Never ever in thought, word or deed in all his life did he break any of the commandments of God. He who in his teaching said for us that he who is angry with his brother without a cause hath committed murder in his heart who so looketh after woman and lusteth in his heart same as committed adultery that men shall give an account of every word that they speak even the thought of foolishness is sin and all of these aspects of sin The Lord did not know as being a sinner himself. Absolutely spotless. And this then is fitting him for the work that he had to do and for the redemption that he had to work out. And the amazing thing is that the very fact that he knew no sin In his work of redemption, he was to be made sin.

This is our second point. Made him to be sin for us. In Isaiah, we have it put in a slightly different way. He hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. We have the idea of sin being laid as a burden upon him. Here it is that he is himself made not a sinner, but to be sin for us.

So that all that sin demanded, all of the evil of it, the horribleness of it, how the God is angry with the wicked every day, he hates sin, cannot look upon it without utter abhorrence. The Lord was made this, put in a sinner's place, so that what a sinner experiences or endures because of sin, he endures. So the demand for a sinner to die then fell upon the Lord.

But this he willingly took up. He says, I lay down my life for the sheep. No man taketh my life from me, I lay it down. The scriptures are very clear that the offerings had to be a freewill offering. This is The Lord being made a freewill offering as a sacrifice for sin. It's like in the Old Testament when the priest was to slay a lamb or one was to take a ram for the sin offering, he laid his hand on the head or identified with that offering. So that which was offered and that which suffered was linked with the one that was offering.

And here the link is between our Lord Jesus Christ and sinners. God hath made him, Jesus Christ, to be sin. And then there's those two words added, for us. for us what if those were taken out and it was just he made him to be sin and that's it but it's not it's joined together two sinners i lay down my life for the sheep particular redemption a justice paying of a debt that others owned not a Potential payment or payment that may be potentially put to someone's account as long as they respond and obey, but a complete putting away of that debt. And so when we read here, made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that then encompasses the need for that sin to be put away. and the wrath of God to be upon him.

This transaction was made at Gethsemane in the garden, and their Lord was pressed down, and he prayed three times, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Not the cup of the nails and the scourge, the cross. But the cup of the wrath of God poured out upon him. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

Yes, he endured those terrible sufferings, same sufferings as what, or nearly the same as what the dying thieves. But what they did not suffer, what he suffered, was that which his people should have suffered for eternity. It's impossible for us to realize what it could be in those hours upon the cross for our Lord to endure an eternity of the wrath of God that was due upon his people.

But this is what is bound up here. What was said of Abraham, Because thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me, in blessing I will bless thee, and in thee, and in thy seed, and Paul says that seed is Christ, shall all nations be blessed. It is a greatest gift or a gift that God gave his son as that his son was willing to be made sin and to offer himself. The whole of the Godhead is bound up in this gift and in this work that was done at Calvary. The foundation laid for the work of the gospel that then imputes righteousness to those that believe on him.

There's always two parts in salvation, and both parts the Lord works out. One is at Calvary, and the other is in a sinner's heart and life. And one cannot happen without the other. The two must go together. Christ cannot suffer and not have the reward of his sufferings. Those that he's purchased and redeemed he must have. And those cannot be redeemed and set free and brought to heaven except that Christ must suffer and bleed and die. The two must go together.

And so it is as Paul says here, of an ambassador, or the work of the ministers of the gospel. In proclaiming Christ, or as he says, I determined to know nothing among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified. Or as our Lord says, I, if I be lifted up above the earth, will draw all men unto me. It is Christ as preached, like Philip preached to the Eunuch, that draws sinners to him, that brings them to believe in him, that the blessings then of Christ flow to that sinner and is made known that they are those for whom Christ died.

So the reason then why this was done, why he first knew no sin and then made him to be sin for us, Enduring that wrath of God was in our third point, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. God cannot bestow his own righteousness on a sinner. If he could do that, then there would be no need of Christ's coming and suffering. But we read, he that hath two coats, let him give to him that hath none.

Our Lord is God and man. He had the robe of righteousness and his divinity, but he also wrought out a righteousness that belonged to his humanity, a righteousness that he could impart and give to another This is beautifully set forth in Jeremiah 23 and 33.

This is the name wherewith he shall be called the Lord our righteousness. That is the Lord Jesus Christ. The same sermon name. This is the name wherewith she, the Church of God, shall be called the Lord our righteousness our righteousness is of him this is what paul was so desirous of his own countrymen to know in romans 10 that they being ignorant of god's righteousness going about to establish their own righteousness have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of god But how is it then that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him?

It is by being reconciled and by believing in Him, by being brought nigh by the blood of Christ, by being blessed with that life that He has to give. I give unto them eternal life. They shall never perish, neither shall any man. pluck them out of my hand.

How shall we appear before God? If our debt is paid, how shall we then still give an account to God? What a blessing if God was to say, when he requires of us righteousness to stand before him, I will accept the righteousness of my son in your place. If we were to picture our lives, and all that we've done may be some of the things good in our own eyes, but we're told all our righteousness is filthy rags. But the whole picture of our lives And on one option we were to say, this you must present when you come before the throne, of the things that you have done. This is going to be made known to all. This is your righteousness. This is you. This is how you're going to appear in the presence of God. And we tremble at it. We shake it. We say, how can I ever stand? How can I ever lift up my head? before God.

If someone said, well, don't worry, your sins are blotted out and put away. You say, they may be, but I have no righteousness of my own. I'm so ashamed of my life. So the Lord said, well, then there's the other option, the other way. You can have my life. You can take my life's record. my sinless life, my spotless life. And you can take that record and put your name over the top, as if that was your life. That's imputed to you.

And you say, but that wouldn't be fair, that wouldn't be true. But God would say, but that is my provision. As much as my dying and shedding my blood to redeem you, I have also given you a robe of righteousness. I've given you a wedding garment. I've given you that to appear in the presence of God with.

How was it that Adam knew that he was naked in Eve? Why did they feel their need of a covering? Why does any poor sinner feel the need of a covering? A need of that to stand before God with? Because our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. You cannot go with those, we cannot stand in those. But what the Lord did, was that we might be made the righteousness of God in him, not in ourselves, but in Christ, united with Christ. The hymn writer says, "'Tis he instead of me is seen when I approach to God." Another way it's put, is accepted in the beloved.

Another picture, perhaps, is when Elisha went to help Jehoshaphat, and he'd gone along with Joram. Joram was the house of Ahab, an ungodly king. And Elisha says to Joram, if it were not for the presence of Jehoshaphat, I would not look toward thee. But Joram, that wicked king, he got the benefit of having godly Jehoshaphat with him.

And by nature, we are wicked and we are sinless, sinful, but being with the Lord Jesus Christ, then God can look upon us in his beloved Son and we be accepted in him. not for deeds of righteousness which we have done, but that which he has done. So again, we think of this morning in Psalm 29, the voice of the Lord, the effect of the gospel and the word of the Lord, and the apostle here speaking of himself and his ministers being ambassadors for Christ and pointing sinners that they might be reconciled unto God.

How can we be reconciled unto God? Is it not having the same view of ourselves as God views us? We think of the publican, God be merciful to me a sinner. He had the same view of himself as God viewed him, in need of mercy. Whereas the Pharisee had a different view of himself, a wrong view of himself, viewing himself as righteous.

But when we are reconciled, reconciled to receiving Eternal life is a free, sovereign gift. Receiving redemption with nothing from us. Receiving a righteousness that is not our own. Receiving everything as a gift I give unto them eternal life. By grace, everything by grace, by grace you are saved through faith, that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. been reconciled to still, even when being saved, even when being a believer, not being perfect, still being a sinner, still transgressing, still walking in a path which we know that we sin every day. No man that doeth good and sinneth not. We are not made like our Lord who knew no sin. Through our lives we will know sin again and again. But to be reconciled to that, that God's salvation and provision, he is able to save unto the uttermost all that come unto God by him.

We all the time want to change God's rules, God's way, so that we're not so bad, not such a sinner, not having to receive everything so freely and to be indebted to God. But if we're reconciled to God's way, to be really summed up in the Lord's words, nevertheless not my will, but thy will be done. Thinking, walking, the same way as the Lord would have us to go. How can two walk together except they are agreed? May we be agreed then that it is the way that the Lord has chosen to save.

He has made our Lord Jesus Christ to be sin for me, and yet he knew no sin. that I might be made the righteousness of God in him. And the soul says, Amen, that is my salvation. This is all my salvation and all my desire, though he make it not to grow. David knew the worth of that covenant of what the Lord had done for him or would do for him.

May we know it as well. And this is why when we come soon with the Lord's Supper, that the church is never to forget that they are redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. And it is through his broken body and shed blood that our peace is made with God. We show forth his death in the past, We do it in the present, and we do it with the expectation, till he come. When he comes, this earthly house, this tabernacle be dissolved.

We then have a building of God and house, not made with hands, but eternal. in the heavens. May the Lord bless this word to us and that we truly be reconciled and be blessed with that peace of God that follows that imputed righteousness. Go to say with the spouse in the Song of Solomon, I am black, but come thee. Black and sinners in myself, but in Christ I'm spotless and faultless before the throne. Amen.

Made him to be sin for us

What does the Bible say about reconciliation with God?

How do we know that Jesus was sinless?

Why is the concept of imputed righteousness important for Christians?

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About Rowland Wheatley

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Made him to be sin for us

What does the Bible say about reconciliation with God?

How do we know that Jesus was sinless?

Why is the concept of imputed righteousness important for Christians?

Sermon Transcript

About Rowland Wheatley

Comments

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