I would rather know that than possess all the world. When the Savior cried and bowed
his head and died, he did it all for me, for me. There's nothing in this world
so tormenting as guilt. I do not doubt that the very
fires of hell cannot be quenched. Our fires relentlessly fueled
by an indescribable sense of guilt, tormenting guilt. The worm that never dies in the
pit of the damned. That undying worm that forever
gnaws upon the awakened conscience of the damned is guilt. We haven't begun yet to have
any sense of what guilt can do and what guilt shall do upon
the damned forever. But even in this world, there's
nothing more tormenting to a man than a sense of guilt. Everybody
tries their best to get you not to feel guilty. You shouldn't
feel guilty about what you've done. You shouldn't blame yourself.
Yes, you should. Yes, you should. My business
is to put all guilt on you. All guilt, it's yours. Your guilt
doesn't belong to anybody else. Your transgressions aren't anybody
else's responsibility, not anybody else's fault. Your sin is not
the result of where you live and the folks who raised you
and the way you were raised and the traumatic things you've experienced.
The guilt is yours. Nobody else's. Nobody else to
blame. And in this world, there's nothing
more tormenting to a man or a woman than a sense of guilt. I'm not
talking about a mere sense of guilt with regard to men. but
a consciousness of guilt before the infinite, holy, eternal God. Oh, what guilt. Guilt. Some of you, I hope, are
struggling with that. Your screaming conscience torments
you. Night and day, it torments you. You've tried to silence
it with prayers and Bible reading. and church attendance and moral
reformation and religious duty and maybe better living. But
when you toss on your bed at night in the lonely watches of
the night, alone before God, you find that your bed is too
short, your covering is too narrow, and your conscience screams guilty,
guilty, guilty, guilty. Guilty! I'm guilty. I'm guilty. Where can I get relief
from this guilt? Your refuge of lies is swept
away in a moment before the bar of God's holiness, justice, and
truth. And in your very soul, you cry
and weep and tremble and quake with an overwhelming sense of
guilt, fear of eternal damnation, fear of everlasting hell, fear
of the wrath of God. I pray you find no relief for
that guilt until you find it in the Son of God, the crucified
Redeemer, who alone satisfies the righteousness and justice
of God in the pardon of sin. Oh, may God let you never cease
to tremble until you cease trembling before the throne of His grace.
May God constantly scream in your soul through your conscience,
guilty, until you find no guilt in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Some of you who are my brothers
and sisters in Christ continually struggle with guilt, however.
True believers, you're confident that Christ redeemed you, you're
confident that God saved you, but you still struggle with guilt.
You struggle with the weight of your sin, pressing you down
continually, and you have great difficulty in this area. You
lack peace and joy, the peace and joy of faith that you ought
to enjoy, simply because you bear still your iniquities in
your own soul. simply because you keep pulling
to yourself that which Christ bore in your stead. There's nothing
that makes the life of a poor, tender soul so painfully bitter
as this oppressive, unbearable load of sin and guilt, Satan. would raise Moses up and condemn
you. Satan would raise up Moses and
accuse you of your sin. Satan would raise up Moses and
show you something of the evil that's in you and your own flesh
says amen to Satan's accusations and you heap guilt upon yourself. I have a message from God for
you, for you who believe and for you who believe not. specifically
a message for you who carried the weight of sin and guilt in
your souls. If God, the Holy Ghost, will
give you ears to hear, eyes to see, and a heart to believe what
he declares in 2 Corinthians 5 21, you will find this one
statement of Holy Scripture of more value to your soul than
a mountain of gold. Just one brief statement. Look
at what the Lord God says here in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and
verse 21. He hath made him sin. He, the triune Jehovah, Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost, hath at one time with singularity, with
finality, made, caused to be. Together the triune Jehovah caused
him to be. to become made, mysteriously,
wondrously, in a way that no man can explain, made him. Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the
Son of God, the Lamb of God, he hath made him sin. The first message I preach to
you nearly 40 years ago, was taken from this text. My subject
was the same then as it is today. He hath made him sin. The text has not changed. My
doctrine has not changed. And by the grace of God, it shall
not change in the days ahead. He hath made him sin. No, I didn't read the text wrong.
The words to be you will notice are in italics, suggesting to
us by our translators in their honesty that there is no word
to correspond with this word in the original text. They put
the words in italics and say this, we have put these in simply
to make the text read more smoothly, to make it read more easily.
In this passage, Paul is calling us to faith in Christ. He urges
us to be reconciled to God upon the basis of reconciliation already
made at the cross. He promises righteousness, the
very righteousness of God to every sinner who believes on
the Lord Jesus Christ. This message, he urges us to
believe, to believe now. His message is both urgent and
authoritative. It comes to us from one who speaks
as the very ambassador of God. Indeed, God himself here speaks. Let's back up and read the context.
Verse 17. Therefore, if any man be in Christ,
he's a new creature. He's a new creature. Old things
are passed away. And behold, all things have become
new. Our Savior lifts his hands to heaven and says, I make all
things new. And the new creation is not something
that we anticipate out in the future. It is that, but it's
much, much more. The new creation begins with
a new creation in you. And then he comes the second
time in his glory and makes all things new. But for you who are
born of God, you who are born of God, he has created you anew. He has made you new creatures.
If any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things are
passed away. Not his old nature, not your
old heart, not your old mind. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. But
your old record, your old guilt, your old sin, passed away, passed
away. All things having to do with
that old man are passed away. Behold, all things are become
new. I've given you a new record,
a new heart, a new nature, a new will. I made you new creatures.
That new man created in you is Christ in you, the hope of glory,
created in righteousness and in true holiness. And all things
are of God. That is, this whole work is God's
work, not yours. It's not the work of the preacher,
the soul winner, not the work of the church or the evangelist,
not your work, not a man's work, not the work of your will, it's
God's work. Who hath reconciled us, not who
is reconciling, but who hath reconciled us. Who hath reconciled
us to himself by Jesus Christ. When Christ Jesus died at Calvary,
the Lord God, the triune Jehovah, took out of the way every barrier
between his people and himself. He has reconciled us to himself
and has given to us the ministry, the service of reconciliation. He's given to me this blessed
privilege. He sends me to you with this
message of grace, calling you now to be reconciled to God.
to wit that God was in Christ, reconciling the world. Obviously
not everybody in the world. Lots of folks were already in
hell when Christ died, but reconciling the world of his elect to himself. How is that? Not imputing their
trespasses unto them. Not imputing their trespasses
unto them. He made Christ suffer for our
sins. made Christ die for our sins,
laid on him the iniquity of us all, not on me, not imputing
our trespasses unto us, and hath committed to us the word, the
message of reconciliation. Now then, we, we who preach the
gospel of God's grace, God's servants, we are ambassadors
for Christ, ambassadors. Christ has sent us with a message.
as though God did beseech you by us. We pray you in Christ's
stead, be ye reconciled to God. Oh, what a word of grace. Be
ye reconciled to God. Quit fighting God. Stop your
rebellion against God. Put down your little things that
you're not gonna win. Be reconciled to God, for he
The triune Jehovah hath made, hath created Him sin for us who
knew no sin. God has made His Son what his
son could not otherwise be. God has made his daughter and
son, the apple of his eye, what his son otherwise could not be.
The triune Jehovah has made the incarnate God, Jesus Christ our
Savior. He who had no sin, did no sin
and could not sin. He made him sin. He made him sin. How come? Why'd he do that? That we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. We then as ambassadors, as workers
together with him, beseech you also that you receive not the
grace of God in vain. You are, one more time, granted
the privilege of grace under heaven. Oh, what mercy God has
given you today. One more time, you're allowed
to hear the message of God's free grace. Don't receive it
in vain. Don't go out of here and go to
hell. Receive not the grace of our God in vain, for he saith,
I have heard thee in the time accepted. And in the day of salvation
have I succored thee. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. The entire message of this passage,
indeed the entire message of Holy Scripture, is this one profoundly
glorious fact. He hath made him see it. We cannot be made new creatures
in Christ until he hath made him see. God cannot reconcile
himself to us until he hath made him see. And he cannot reconcile
us to himself until he hath made him see. We cannot be made the
righteousness of God in Christ until he hath made him sin. We cannot receive grace until
he hath made him sin. Oh, wondrous, wondrous grace. Wondrous, wondrous mystery. Wondrous,
wondrous message. He hath made him sin. The greatest transaction that
ever took place on this earth. is God Almighty, the triune Jehovah,
transferring all the guilt, all the sin of all his people at
one time from us to his son. That he might justly punish his
son. as the object of His wrath for
our sins, to put away our sins. Now, let me show you first what
this text does not say. I don't pretend to be brilliant.
I don't pretend to be anything other than what I am, just a
man sent of God to tell you what God's taught me. I've been preaching
this message of God's free grace in Christ for a long time. And
I've met with lots of folks who have lots of opposition, raised
lots of cavils. I don't pretend to be able to
explain what I'm preaching to you. I don't understand it any more
now than I did first time I preached in this passage of scripture
Oh, my soul, I was 21 years old, I reckon, preaching a conference
in my hometown in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. And when I got
done preaching, some of the old folks, some of the old preachers
were real angry, got real upset, and they still do. They still
do. I don't pretend to understand
it, but I'll tell you what this text does not say. It does not
say that he hath made him a sin offering. It does not say that. In the Old Testament scriptures,
we read about sin offerings and trespass offerings. But scripture
does not say that Christ made a sin offering. Isaiah did say,
when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. So Christ
was our offering for sin. But it does not say here, he
made him a sin offering. The text says, he hath made him
sin. The text does not say he made
him a sacrifice for sin. Thank God he is that. Our only
sacrifice for sin is Jesus Christ the Lord. We offer God nothing
as a sacrifice for sin except His own Son, except that which
He Himself has made a sacrifice for sin. And we rejoice and give
thanks to God that Christ is our sacrifice by whom, in whom,
and with whom we are accepted of God. We have no sacrifice
for sin except Him whom God made to be a sacrifice for sin. The
text says, however, he hath made him sin. The text does not say
that God reckoned him to be sin, that God looked at him and said,
all right, I'm going to now treat you as though you were a sinner. The scriptures nowhere suggest
that God reckoned him to be a sinner and thereby, therefore punished
him for sin. No, no, no. Yes, he was reckoned
with the transgressors. He was numbered with the transgressors.
Yes, he was reckoned to be sin and punished as sin for us. But
the text does not speak of him in that regard. It says he hath
made him sin for us. The text does not even say that
sin was imputed to him. Sin was indeed imputed to our
substitute, but he was not made sin by imputation. It was laid to his charge because
he hath made him sin for us. As far as the words of Holy Scripture
are concerned, nowhere in this book, nowhere in this book is
it suggested or stated that sin was imputed to Christ. Nowhere. I'm not saying that's not the
case, but multitudes say he was made sin by imputation. That
is not correct. You can't make somebody be what
they're not by imputing it to them. He had sin imputed to him,
charged to him, because he was made sin, not the other way around. Yes, his righteousness is imputed
to us. Adam's sin is imputed to us.
The scripture says so repeatedly in Romans 4 and in Romans 5.
But the book says he hath made him sin for us. The Lord Jesus was made sin. How he was made sin, I don't
pretend to know. In fact, I gave up a long time
investigating and trying to figure out how it was done. The word
made here means together made, together created, wondrously,
mysteriously. In a way that you can't explain,
made. He has made him sin, made him
sin. When our Lord God, our Savior
began to show forth his glory, you remember where that's written?
In John chapter two at the marriage feast in Cana of Galilee, the
Lord turned water into wine. And we read in John chapter two
that this beginning of miracles, here our Lord began to show forth
his glory. He began, he started out, he
put his first foot forward, David, to show his glory. The revelation
of his glory is in the sacrifice he accomplished at Jerusalem.
But he began back there by turning water into wine. There were barrels
of water, just like that. He did not come along and put
a post-it note on the front and say, this is wine. He did not make the water taste
like wine. The scripture says He made the
water wine. He made the water wine. And when God, the triune Jehovah,
made his son sin, he didn't pretend that he was sin. He didn't treat
him as though he were sin. He didn't punish him as though
he were sin. He made his son sin that he might justly, righteously,
faithfully, honestly punish him for sin. Secondly, let me show
you what the text does reveal. Now I'm aware that natural reason
opposes this. I'm aware that folks try to make
the word of God say something else. We're told plainly that
he made him sin. I fully acknowledge guilt cannot
be transferred, only its effects. Among the sons of men, a third
person may cancel my debts, but not my crimes. But I'm not talking
to you about natural things. I'm talking to you about what
God does. This is God's work. And in this great affair of salvation,
our great God stands infinitely alone. There's no parallel to this in
human experience. Who hath declared this from ancient
time? The Lord asked. Who hath told
it from that time? Have not I, the Lord, and there
is no God else beside me, a just God and a Savior? There is none
beside me. Micah asked, who is a God like
unto thee that pardoneth iniquity? The word pardoneth who is a God
like unto thee that beareth iniquity and passeth by the transgression
of the remnant of his heritage. There was none like him. Most
of you know that for nine years, first nine years, Shelburne and
Faith and I were here. We rented a house over at Junction
City from George Greider. They had their own furniture
store, Greider Furniture over there. And he was a good landlord. And we,
for the occasion, I'd go over and visit with him occasionally.
We'd go pay the bill, pay the monthly rent bill, and we'd chat
a little bit. Mr. Grider told me a story one
time. He didn't tell me who was involved,
and I'm glad I don't know. I presume he's dead. But he had been in
business a long time, and a man who he'd done business with for
many, many years came in and said to him one day, he said,
George, my son, and his wife are building a new house. And
they'd like to fill the house with new furniture, and I wondered
if you might let them do so and carry it on credit like you had
me. He said, I'll stand good for
it. And George said, well, George, son, you'll stand good for it?
Yes, I'll do that. And so they came after the house was built,
got ready to move in, and bought $10,000 worth of furniture. Now,
to most people today, that's maybe a table and a chair, I
reckon, but that was a house full of furniture in those days. $10,000 worth of furniture. And they paid on it, paid on
it, about three, four months, and the father came in again.
He said, George, how's my son doing with his bill? And George
got the ledger out, he's doing just fine. He said, every month,
right on time. He said, well, I'd like to do
something for you and his wife. He said, I'd like for you to
move their bill over to my account and put it all under my name
and I will assume responsibility for it. And George said, that's
a lot of money. He said, I won't do that. His
wife and I have talked it over. He said, just transfer it all
over to my name and I'll sign whatever you need me to. He said,
okay, so he signed it over. And George said to me, he said,
you know where he went after that? He said, the man drove directly
from here to the courthouse and filed bankruptcy. I said, what does that mean? He
said, that means I can't even ask him for the money. How come? Because he has now become the
debtor. He alone has responsibility for
the debt. And the law says, I can't even
ask him to pay the bill. That's as near an analogy as
I can find. God's darling son stepped in my place. And he became the debtor. He became the guilty one. He became the sinner. He was
made sin. Made sin. Otherwise, he could
never have been punished for our sins. Had he not been made
sin, he could not have been punished for our sins. but being made
sin, it is now a righteous and just thing for God to punish
him for our sins. The Lord God says he will not
punish the righteous with the wicked. He won't do it, he won't
do it. He will not punish the righteous
with the wicked. He will not justify a guilty
man and he will not condemn a righteous man. He says it over and over
again. Jesus Christ must be made sin
or he cannot be punished for sin. And when he made sin, the
Lord God drew forth the sword of his justice and slaughtered
his son. Our Lord's anticipation of being
made sin, we see in the Garden of Gethsemane. When he bowed before his father,
And he cried, oh, my father, if it be possible, let this cup
pass from me. I will not make any effort to
enter into things too profound for me. And this is too profound. I don't know. I don't know what
the Lord is saying there. I know some things I think were
included. He was not praying that the Lord
God would keep him from going to Calvary. Mark, he was born
to go to Calvary. He made this world to go to Calvary. He wasn't praying that God would
keep him from suffering his wrath at Calvary. That's why he came,
that he might die under the wrath of God. Perhaps he is praying
with felt pain. so that we might understand something
of the felt pain of his soul when he was made sick. Oh, my
father, if it be possible for me to suffer your wrath and redeem
my people without being made sick. It's horrible. ignominious, filthy,
vile thing that I hate. Let this cup pass for me." And
he prayed the same again. And the third time, sweet as
it were, great drops of blood, and he said, Father, nevertheless,
not my will, thy will be done. And he who knew no sin, braced
himself up and said, father, glorify thy name. And the father
spoke from heaven and said, I both glorified it and will yet glorify
it again. And the Lord Jesus went on to
Golgotha. And there he hung, nailed between
two thieves upon the curse tree, suffering the horrid wrath of
God. And there was darkness over the
earth for three hours. As though God would hide all
this from view. And he broke the silence of that
three hours darkness crying, Eli, Eli, Lamasabachthanai, my
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And as our Lord asked that question
in the 22nd Psalm, he answered it. God forsook his son. The triune
Jehovah forsook the substitutionary sacrifice because God is a purer
eyes than to look on sin. God is of purer eyes than to
look on sin. When he forsook his sword, he
turned again and cried awake, O sword against the man that
is my fellow, smite and slay the shepherd. Justice demands
it. He is sin. An awful mass of A horrid mass
of transgression. A horrid mass of sin is he. He who's made sin for us. For all the sins of all his people,
for all time, he is made to be at once. Oh, the bitter cup of
woe. that sunk into his soul when
he who knew no sin was made sin, made sin. And when he was made sin, justice
started. Why did Christ die upon the cursed
tree? Why did God awake the sword of
justice against his son? Why did God slaughter his son
in such a horrid, horrid way? Why did God make him such a mockery? Why did God pour out his wrath
upon his son? Listen to me. Skip, God slaughtered
his son because his son fully deserved to be slaughtered. He fully deserved the sword of
justice. He fully deserved the wrath of
God. Justice must be satisfied. And the only way it can be satisfied
is by death. Not the death of any man, not
the death of many men, but the death of one man, a man who is
God. A man who stands in the room
instead of all his people and suffers the wrath of God all
at once for his people. He hath made him sin. What's the result? Him having
been made sin for us, God now turns to sinners and makes sinners
the righteousness of God in him. He now turns to sinners mercy
love and grace and make sinners like you and me the righteousness
of God in him. So that God takes his people
and puts us in the room instead of his son even as he took his
son and put him in the room instead of his people. How wondrous,
how marvelous the transfer. Let me read you something I got
from Tobias Crisp and I'll be done. Mr. Crisp writing on this subject,
speaking of our savior being made sin and us being made the
righteousness of God in him, made this observation. I'll find it for you in a minute.
He said, mark it well, Christ himself is not so completely
righteous, but we are as righteous as he was. Nor are we so completely sinful,
but he became, being made sin, as completely sinful as we. Nay
more, the righteousness that Christ hath with the Father,
we are the same, for we are made the righteousness of God. and
that very sinfulness that we were, Christ is made before God. So here is a direct change. Christ takes our persons and
conditions and stands in our stead. We take his person and
condition and stand in his stead. What the Lord beheld Christ to
be, that he beholds his members to
be. What he beholds them to be in themselves, he beheld Christ
to be. So that if you would speak of
a sinner, supposing him to be a member of Christ, you must
not speak of what he manifests, but of what Christ was. if you
would speak of one completely righteous. You must speak and
know that Christ himself is not more righteous than he. Christ stood in our stead and
we made sin. That he might suffer the wrath
of God for sin. That we might forever stand in
his stand. Be made the righteousness of
God in him as he is. So that as God saw all our sin
in Christ and justly punished it in Christ. God sees all Christ's
righteousness in Jerry Sadler and justly rewards him with righteousness. That's called free grace. That's
called redemption. That's called substitution. And
now, on the basis of what he has done as our substitute, the
Lord Jesus promises that he will receive all who come to God by
him. He said, him that cometh to me,
I will in no wise cast out. Would you cease to hear the screams
of a guilty, tormenting conscience? Would you forever silence the
guilt? believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and go home not guilty. Righteous before God. Amen.