Turning your Bibles this morning
with you, if you will, to Luke's Gospel, Chapter 23. Our text will be taken from 2
Corinthians, Chapter 5, but I'd like to introduce the message
from reading a few verses here in Luke's Gospel, Chapter 23. The title of my message this
morning is The Great Transaction. And you probably know where my
text will be taken from, 2 Corinthians 5 and 21. The Great Transaction. In Luke chapter 23, let's begin
reading at verse 13. Our Lord was first taken to the
Sanhedrin, to the high priest. Then he was taken to Pilate.
Pilate sent him to Herod, and then Herod sends him back to
Pilate. This is where we begin our reading
in Luke 23, verse 13. And Pilate, when he had called
together the chief priests and the rulers and the people, said
unto them, Ye have brought this man unto me as one that perverteth
the people, and behold, I have examined him before you, hath
found no fault in this man touching those things whereof ye accuse
him, no, nor ye inherit. For I sent you to him, and lo,
nothing worthy of death is done unto him. I will therefore chastise
him and release him, for of necessity he must release one unto them
at the feast, that is, the Passover. And they cried all out at once,
saying, Away with this man, and release unto us Barabbas, who
for a certain sedition made in the city, and for murder was
cast into prison. Pilate, therefore willing to
release Jesus, spake again to them, but they cried, saying,
Crucify him, crucify him. And he said unto them the third
time, Why, what evil hath he done? I have found no cause of
death in him. I will therefore chastise him,
and let him go. And they were instant with loud
voices requiring that he might be crucified. Nothing less than
that would satisfy him. And the voices of them and of
the chief priests prevailed. And Pilate gave sentence that
it should be as they required. And He released unto them him
that for sedition and murder was cast into prison, whom they
had desired. But He delivered Jesus to their
will." He delivered Jesus to their will. And we know what
their will was concerning the Son of Man. The religious leader
says there's no place for Him. There is just no place for Him.
crucifying away with Him, will not have this man rule over us. He delivered Jesus to their will. And we see what man's will did
concerning the Son of God. They murdered Him. Peter in preaching
on the day of Pentecost said, you have crucified the Lord of
glory. That was their will. Oh, but
that cry of crucify Him was repeated beyond the clouds. Way before
they said it, God Himself said it concerning His Son, because
He was called the Lamb slain from before the foundation of
the world. They required His death. Oh, but there was someone greater
than they who found the death of Jesus Christ absolutely necessary
for the satisfaction of His justice. He required, that is God Almighty,
God the Father long before this, required the death of his son. And the sentence of death, passed
upon our Redeemer by Pilate, is also long before pronounced
by the Almighty God against his son. Let me read you a familiar
verse of scripture. It's in Zechariah chapter 13. You need not turn there, but
just let me read it to you. This is a passage of scripture
concerning the Son of God, concerning the deliverance by the Father
of the Son. Zechariah 13, verse 7. The prophet says, Awake, O sword,
against my shepherd. against my shepherd. Our Lord
said the very night he was betrayed, it is written, I shall smite
the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered. The sheep go astray,
but God has laid upon him, the shepherd, the iniquity of us
all." God's speaking and he says, Awake, O sword! The sword of
divine justice. The sword of a sin-hating God. The sword of divine wrath. Awake
against who? Against who? Who is the sword
of God's justice going to spite? Who is it going to fall upon?
Into whose heart will that sword be thrust? Not the sinners, all
but Christ Himself, the Great Shepherd. You remember, when
they came for Him in the garden, He steps forward as our Faithful
Shepherd and says, Who do you seek? Who do you want? Being
led by Judas the traitor. And they said, Jesus of Nazareth.
And He said, You found Him. I'm He. And they fell to the
ground. The second time he said, whom
do you seek? Jesus of Nazareth, they said.
And our great shepherd says, I told you, I am he. If it's me you seek, let these
go their way. Oh, this is what we read of in
Zechariah, a Waco sword against my shepherd, against the man
that is my fellow, my fellow, my companion, one with me. Christ said, I and my Father
are one. This is what the word means,
companion. Awake, O sword, against my shepherd,
against the man that is my fellow. Sayeth the Lord of hosts, smite
the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered. Now, if you will,
with those thoughts in mind, turn to 2 Corinthians 5. I know you know this verse by
heart, so do I. We could quote it, but let's
look at it and read it together. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21. The great transaction, the great
transaction, trading places, He took my place before God the
Father and was made sin. I take His place before God the
Father, made absolutely righteous, the demands of His law being
satisfied." Verse 21 of 2 Corinthians 5. For He had made Him to be
sin for us who knew no sin. That could only be said of the
God-man. who knew no sin. The sacrifice
had to be without spot or blemish. It only could be satisfied and
met by the Son of God, who knew no sin, that we might be made
the righteousness of God in Him." Now let's read the verse again.
Not using the pronouns, but the proper names. For God hath made
Jesus Christ to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Christ. There's three parties mentioned
in this verse of scripture. Let's consider what each of them
did and why they did it. First of all, there's God. God had made him to be seen. What did God do and why did He
do it? We're told God made Christ to
be sin. Man can take Him by God's permission
and they can mock Him. They can set Him at naught like
Herod and his soldiers did. That means they looked up on
Him with absolute content. He wasn't worthy of their notice. They set him at naught. Oh, they
can mock him. They can plant a crown of thorns
on his head. They can scourge him. They can
beat him. They can spit up on him. They
can put a reed in his hand and bow to knee and say, Hail, King
of the Jews, in mockery. They can do all those things.
And man did all those things. We read in Luke 23, Pilate delivered
Christ to their will, and we saw what their will was concerning
the Son of Man. They did all those things to
Him, but this one thing they could not do. They could not
do. They could not make Him to be
sin. They couldn't do that. Oh no,
only God Himself, the Holy Lord God, could make Jesus Christ
to be sin. Men could do all those other
things, but only the God of glory, Only the God who is high and
lifted up, only the just God that declares the soul that sinneth,
it must die. And that's not been taken off
the books, folks. That's still true. God declares
the soul that sinneth, it must die. God's justice has to be
satisfied. Has to be. There will be no mercy
at the expense of justice. People think that when you speak
of grace, that some way or other, God's law was set aside. Man
could not attain to the demands of the law, so God set it aside
and grace somewhat lowers the standard and thereby forgives
man. Oh, not so. Not so. No. Jesus Christ, although we
couldn't do it, He did it for us as our glorious substitute. In His life, in His death, He
did everything. That's my comfort, Lester. That's
my hope. That's my foundation. That my
substitute did everything necessary to satisfy a holy God for me. That's what the text says. God
alone could make him sin. He was on the cross, treated
by God, not only as a sinner. That's not what the text says.
Someone said he was treated by God as the greatest sinner who
ever lived, and that may well be true, but that's not what
the text says. It says God made him to be sin,
sin itself. Think, I don't know how to explain
that. God made him sin itself. As if he had been that God hating,
that soul damning thing called sin. God made him that, he became
that. And as such, as such, God can
have no pity on him. No pity on him. God cannot touch
him. He can't dwell with him. He told
the disciples that night, it's written, as we quoted a moment
ago, the shepherd shall be smitten and the sheep will be scattered.
All of you will forsake me this night and leave me alone, he
said, and yet I'm not alone. I'm not alone. The Father is
with me. That's what he said. And yet
on the cross, he cries concerning his father, that one of whom
he was his fellow, that one of whom he was very God of very
God, that one who was God and never ceased to be God and yet
became man. He cries out. after being made
sin, and the darkness that covered the land portrayed the darkness
in the soul of the Son of Man, when He cried out, My God, wisest
thou, forsaken man!" Who can understand that? Martin Luther
sat pondering over that verse for hours. My God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me? And he closed his Bible and stood
and said, who can understand that? Who can understand that? God was forsaken by God. I don't understand that, Jeff.
I can't explain that. Oh, but He was made sin, and
God Almighty has no pity upon Him, no mercy whatsoever. God is holy, and He, the Son
of God, has now been made sin. The hymn writer expressed it
this way, many hands were raised to wound him, none would interpose
to save, but the awful stroke that found him was the stroke
that justice gave. Why did God act thus? Why did God forsake His Son? Why was it necessary for the
Son to be made sin? That's an important question.
It makes no sense whatsoever if God is, as he's described
by most men today, simply and only a God of love. Men are told,
God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. God loves
everybody. If that's so, if that's so, why
was the death of Jesus Christ necessary? If it was only a matter
of love, why could not God simply say, I love you? I love you. Therefore, I forgive you. Hmm? Oh, no. No, there was justice. There was my sin. And there was
the sword of God's holy wrath calling for satisfaction upon
me. The sword hung over my head. Justice called for repayment,
and I couldn't meet it. But it wasn't set aside. It wasn't
made void. God didn't wink at it. Oh, no. In divine justice, He made His
Son to be sin. Because God is absolutely just. The death of Christ was necessary
in the behalf of His people, for the behalf of His people.
The old debate. used to be, could God have devised
another way to forgive sin? And the answer is absolutely
not. There's no other way. The soul
that sinneth, God declares, must die. The judge of all the earth,
God himself, must do right. And it would not be right for
God Almighty to forgive the sinner at the expense of his justice.
He's never done that, and He never will. Mercy always comes
to us on the wings of satisfied justice. And I find comfort in
that, don't you? Oh yes, God loved us with an
everlasting love. and gave His Son for us. Oh,
but He gave His Son because His justice required that sacrifice. The love provided it. Like Abraham
said to Isaac, God will provide Himself a sacrifice, and He did. Oh, God commended His love toward
us, and while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. but it was
justice that made the death of Christ necessary. And now, in
view of that, God is not only faithful, but He's just to forgive
us of all our sins. Justice is not an argument against
us now. Justice is an argument why God
is able and just to forgive the sins of His people. All the divine
attributes are manifest at the cross. Every divine attribute. We stand before the cross and
see the Son of God made sin. And we sit down and declare,
my soul, God must be holy. How holy God must be, that when
He found sin on His Son, He didn't spare Him. He didn't spare Him. Oh, no. How holy God must be. How just God Almighty must be. We see that in the death of Christ. It shows the justice and the
holiness of God Almighty, more than the flood of Noah's day.
more than the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in Lot's day. Oh, but we see mercy thereto,
do we not? We see God's willingness to save,
do we not? He spared not His own Son. Oh, the love that drew salvation's
plan. Oh, the grace that brought it
down to man. Oh, the mighty gulf that God
did span, the God-man at Calvary. Oh, thank God, as the psalmist
said, Justice and peace have kissed one another. Righteousness
and truth are satisfied in the work of the adorable, the unique,
the one and only God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. Justice satisfied. That's why God acted as He did. because he's holy, he's just,
he deserted his son in the room instead of his people so that
we'll never be deserted. will never be forsaken, will
never be cast off. My acceptance before a holy God
is not determined. Now people hear this, religious
folks hear this and they run out and say, oh my, that gives
people a license to sin. Have you ever met anybody that
needed a license to sin? Have you ever met anybody that
required a license to sin? Oh no. Oh no. When I'm told that
the foundation of my acceptance before a holy God is not determined
by anything I do, have done or ever will do, whether it's good
or whether it's bad. It doesn't affect one iota my
standing before a holy God, because my standing before God is determined
by Him who loved me and gave Himself for me. As Paul said,
we're accepted by God, but we're accepted in to be loved. In to be loved. wrapped up in
Him. God made Him to be sin for us. Now secondly, the second party
in the verse is Jesus Christ Himself. What did Christ do and
why? We're told that He was made sin. The Scriptures tell us concerning
Christ, that He did no sin, in Him was no sin, never. From the time He entered this
world through the womb of the Virgin, drawing His first breath,
for thirty-three years, until He bows His head upon the cross,
And with His last breath says, Father, into Thy hands I commend
my spirit. He did no sin. No sin. In Him was no sin. There was no sinful nature. Our text tells us He knew no
sin. I can't imagine that, Lord. Can
you? I mean, I'm nothing but sin. But in him was no sin. Sin was a stranger to him personally. Oh, he saw sin in others. He
knew the damning effect of sin. He knew what God's holy justice
required of man's sin. But of him personally, personally,
he knew nothing about sin. It was a stranger to him. Because
of his holy nature, that holy thing conceived in Mary, We're
told was of the Holy Ghost. In Him was no sin. And our text tells us that He
who knew no sin, who did no sin, in whom was no sin, He was our
substitute. That's the heart of the Gospel.
That's the good news. That's the sure and certain foundation. He was my substitute. He died
for me. He took my place. He traded places
before a holy God in my room instead, and he endured the wrath
of God. He satisfied divine justice. until he could exclaim as only
he could, thank God it is finished. Sin is put away. Everlasting
righteousness has been brought in. He accomplished the eternal
redemption of his people forever. Forever. Hallelujah. What a Savior. No wonder they
throw their crowns at His feet in glory and cry out, worthy
is the Lamb that was slain. He hath redeemed us to God by
His blood. By His blood. Oh, what did Christ
do and why? He became sin. He was made sin
rather. He became what He never was. sin, that we might become what
He is, absolute, perfect righteousness before a holy God. Everything that the Holy God
required, demanded, and could be satisfied with nothing less,
He finds in the person of His dear Son. And with the righteousness
of His Son, I'm as accepted before that God as Jesus Christ Himself. Isn't that glorious? Isn't that
glorious? Isn't that good news? Oh, I can never be cast off. I can never be disowned. Once
I'm His, I'm His forever. Nothing from His love can sever. Is this not what Paul said in
Romans 8? Oh, how shall He not freely with
Him also give us all things? He spared not His own Son. but delivered him up for us all."
Oh, he said, what shall separate us from the love of God which
is in Christ Jesus? And he concluded, nothing. Nothing
present, nothing past, nothing to come shall separate us from
the love of God which is in Christ Jesus the Lord. Oh, our glorious
substitute took the cup of God's wrath and he drank it dry. He drank it dry. In Old Testament times, there
was a servant in the king's house who was the cup bearer. That
was his duty, to bring the cup to the king. The cup of wine,
whatever it was, he would bring it to the king. But before he
brought it to the king, as he approached the king, he would
stop. And he would pour a little in his hand and drink it to make
sure it wasn't poison. And then he would give it to
the king. The king and captain of our salvation
took the cup of God's wrath God's unmitigated wrath. And He put it to His lips. And
He drank it all. He drank it to where there was
nothing left. And now He says to you and I,
take this cup and drink. Not a cup of wrath, all but a
cup of ever-flowing mercy and grace. David said, my cup runneth
over. He drank damnation dry on the
behalf of his people. That's what he did in this great
transaction. Turn, if you will, to Romans
chapter 4. What's the result of all that?
What does that mean? What's the outcome of all that?
This great transaction that took place between the Father and
the Son on the behalf of His people. This smiting of the shepherd
for the sheep. What's the fruit of that? Oh,
look, if you will, at verse 25 of Romans chapter 4. Paul says concerning Christ,
who, that is Christ, was delivered forth because who was delivered
because of our offenses and was raised again because of our justification. He's raised from the dead. When
He uttered that blessed word of victory on the cross, it is
finished. Three days later, God demonstrated
His satisfaction in the death and the work of His Son by raising
Him from the dead. It was God's eternal amen to
what Christ did on the behalf of His people. He was raised
again because, because we're justified and we're raised in
Him. Turn if you will to Ephesians
chapter 2. So many places and so many verses. Oh, but we'll just look at a
couple. In Ephesians chapter 2, what's the result of Christ
being made sin on the behalf of His people? Look what He says
in verse 13 of Ephesians 2. But now, now, I've got that circled
in my Bible. Oh, what a sweet word. But now. But I don't feel like it. It
doesn't matter, believer. But now. Oh, but I'm a wretched
man. Oh, but now. But now. In Christ Jesus, you who sometimes
were far off are made nigh have. By my works? By my faithfulness? By my repentance? No. I've been
brought nigh by the blood of Jesus Christ. nigh, near to God,
as near as Christ himself is. For he is our peace, that is
Christ, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle
wall of partition between us, having abolished in his flesh
the enmity, even the law of commandments containing ordinances, for to
make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace. and that he might reconcile both
unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby."
Turn, if you will, to Hebrews chapter 1. Hebrews chapter 1. Another verse that we could quote.
Oh, but let's look at it. Let's look at this blessed passage
again. Verse 1 of Hebrews 1, God, who
at Son retires, and in diverse manners, spake in times past
to the fathers by the prophets, have in these last days spoken
to us by His Son, whom He had appointed heir of all things,
by whom also He made the worlds, who, being the brightness of
His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding
all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself
Oh, I like that. When He had by Himself purged
our sins, put them away, sat down on the right hand of the
Majesty on high. Oh, no wonder He declared, it
is finished. There's nothing left to do concerning
the redemption of His people. Their sin was affectionately,
and completely, and eternally put away. Mr. Spurgeon said that
the blood of Jesus Christ will so affectionately cleanse us
from all sin that in that day, when we stand before the omniscient,
all-seeing, all-knowing God, that He'll look at us and be
perfectly satisfied. There will be no trace, no evidence
of sin in us whatsoever. My soul, what a Savior, Lord. What a Savior. Oh, we're great
sinners. Indeed we are. Oh, but He's a
great sinner. And bless God, He did not die
in vain. I heard that all my life. Oh
yeah, God's done all He can. Jesus died, but it's all for
nothing if you don't accept, if you don't do your part, if
you don't make it effectual. What did we just read? When He
had by Himself purged our sins. He was successful, the evangelical
prophet. Henry has a work entitled, The
Gospel of Isaiah. Isaiah 53, he shall see of the
veil of his soul and be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many. Except a corn of wheat fall into
the ground and die, it abideth alone, he told his disciples
that night, just before he was arrested. But if it die, it bringeth
forth much fruit. Oh, the captain of our salvation
was the firstborn among many brethren. John, who are these? Who is this multitude before
the throne? I don't know. These are those
who came out of great tribulation and have washed their robes in
the blood of the Lamb. Look what he did, John. Look
what the Son of God did! Look what our Substitute did! My soul, isn't He glorious? Isn't He something? Oh, God give
us grace to always and continually look to Him. Last of all, looking
back at our text in 2 Corinthians 5 and 21, there's a third part
He mentioned, and we can't say too much about them. Can we, Jeff? Can't say anything
good about them. No, the us in the text, God had
made Him to be sin for us. They were sinners. They were
the guilty party. Only sinners and none else. Sinners
only and nothing else. And what did we do in this great
transaction? Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Bless God. Jesus paid
it all. All to Him I owe. Sin had left
a crimson stain, but He washed it white as snow. In Mark chapter
1, a leper came to our Lord on one occasion and bowed down before
Him. This cankerous, dying man. And he said, if you will, you
can make me clean. And he said, I will, be thou
clean. And he said, now go show yourself
to the priest and offer unto him that offering that Moses
commanded in the law. You know what that offering was?
You can read about it in Leviticus chapter 14. That leopard that
had been cleansed would go to the priest, and the priest would
examine him and pronounce him clean. The same one that pronounced
him unclean. Oh, God's law is satisfied with
the believer in our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, but then he would
take two birds, and one of the birds, he would take two living
birds, and he would kill it over an earthen vessel. And he would
catch the blood of that sacrificed bird in that earthen vessel,
and then he would take the yet living bird, and he would dip
it, the living bird, into the blood of that sacrificed bird. And then he would take that bird,
after having been dipped in the blood of the dead bird, out into
the open field, and he would let him go. What a picture of redemption!
As that bird flew through the air, with the blood of that sacrificed
bird dripping from his wings, can't you just hear him sing,
redeemed, how I love to proclaim it, redeemed by the blood of
the Lamb, redeemed through his infinite mercy, his child and
forever. Forever I am." Paul says in 1
Corinthians 6, you're bought with a price. Oh, what a price. What a price. Therefore, glorify
God in your body and your spirits, which are God's. The greatest
fact in all our history, brothers and sisters in Christ, we may
be parents, Have children? Oh, what a blessed fact that
is in our history, in our life. And grandchildren? Hmm. Just
spoil them rotten and then send them home. That's so good about
being a grandparent. Oh, and what a blessed fact that
is. But there's nothing to compare to this, is there? There's nothing
that compares to this, that one time, One time in my wild rebellion
on the road to hell, Jesus Christ stepped in front of me and said,
You're mine. I shed my blood for you. I bought
you. You're mine. And He called me
by His grace. Oh my soul, that is one fact
in our history that we'll never get over. That's what we'll sing
about in eternity, unto Him that loved us and washed us from our
sins by His own blood. One stanza of that good old hymn
that we sing, How Great Thou Art, says this, and when I think
that God His Son not sparing sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in that
on the cross my sins He gladly bearing, He bled and died to
take away my sin. Thank God for such a glorious
Savior as we have, our blessed substitute. God bless you. Thank you for your attention.