Back in January 1980, I came here to preach to you for
the first time and my text was 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse
21. Since then, at least once a year,
I've preached to you or I tried to from this text. I can't say this for certain,
but I think that everywhere I've been in the world to preach the
gospel, I have preached from this text the first or second
time I preached in that place. It is, in my opinion, the most
critical, most important, most profound thing I've ever read
in the word of God. We'll be working away to second
Corinthians chapter five and verse 21. The title of my message
is substitution. Christ made sin. That's what substitution is.
It is Christ made sin for us. Anything less is not substitution,
as is taught in this book. In this context, God the Holy
Spirit has inspired the Apostle Paul to call upon men and women
to be reconciled to God, believing on the Lord Jesus. And the basis
of his appeal is very plain. He begins by speaking of the
immortality of your soul. You are a living soul, immortal,
undying. You temporarily reside in this
body of flesh, and soon this body of flesh must go to the
dust. Die you will. That's a matter
of certainty. But when this body is dead, You
will live on forever, either in heaven or in hell. I beseech you, therefore, be
reconciled to God. You are by nature enmity against
God, God-hating, God-hating. That's the nature of humanity.
There is no other way to properly describe man's depravity, except
that man in the depths of his heart is born hating God and
lives all the days of his life hating God. That's what rebellion
and sin manifest. Man hates God. Now, all men are
religious and all men have a God they love, the God they have
made like themselves. A God that they can use like
a good luck charm. A God that comes in handy when
you need him. But man, all men, all women,
all little boys and girls, hate God. The carnal mind, the heart
of man, is enmity against God. What a statement. Not at enmity,
is enmity. Everything inside here. is enmity
against God. And then Paul appeals to us to
be reconciled to God on the basis of the fact of divine judgment.
We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. Soon
you and I will stand before God in judgment. The apostle urges
us, therefore, to be reconciled to God, to trust the Lord Jesus
Christ. And then He speaks to us plainly
about the love of Christ. Verse 14, he says, the love of
Christ constrains us. Since Christ died for all, everybody
for whom he died, died in him. He laid down his life for us
that we might not die. He died in our stead that we
might never die. Not that we might possibly never
die, but that we might with absolute certainty never die. all for
whom Christ died, all who are loved of God, loved of Christ,
for whom the Son of God shed his blood at Calvary, shall never
die. They shall never taste death
because Christ has fully satisfied the wrath and justice of God
for us in his one sacrifice for sin. Then the apostle appeals
to us to be reconciled to God on the basis of God's declaration
of grace. Look at verse 17. Therefore,
if any man be in Christ, in Christ, in Christ by God's election,
in Christ by the blessed work of the spirit giving us a union
of life in him and the new birth, in Christ by faith in him. If
right now, you're in Christ, believing him. If any man be
in Christ, he's a new creature. What a statement. A new creature. A new creature. Somebody says
new creation is a better translation. I reckon it is. But this is what
it's talking about. He's a new creature. He's a new
creature. What do you mean? Old things
are passed away. Gone. All my sins, gone. All my transgressions, gone. All my iniquities, gone. If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creature. Old things are passed away. God
Almighty has wiped the slate clean. Justice has blotted out
our sins. God has canceled our debt by
the sacrifice of his son. He's removed our sins from us
as far as the east is from the west. He's cast them behind his
back, buried them in the depths of the sea so that he declares
he will not remember our transgressions. Indeed, Balaam says God doesn't
behold iniquity in Jacob. And on that one count, Balaam
was exactly right. He hath not beheld iniquity in
Israel. Read on. Old things are passed
away, and behold, all things are become new. God's given me a new record. And the record book of God written
before the world began that book we read about earlier this morning,
earlier this morning about the book called the Lamb's Book of
Life, in which the names of God's elect were written before the
world began. There is a record given. There
is a record. Perfect righteousness. Holiness. That's my record. It's new because
I now see it and experience it. But the record was given from
eternity. The record is mine because Christ
from everlasting is the Lord my righteousness. Now God declares
to this man, this mind, heart, and conscience of mine, God declares
on the basis of what Christ has done as my substitute. that I'm
righteous, without sin, holy, and has given
me a new nature. This new creature is Christ in
you, the hope of glory. If any man be in Christ, old
things are passed away, and all things become new, and they shall
never be made old again. The old things never brought
up and the new things never marred. All things are become new. And
all things are of God. This is God's work. This is God's
work. Only God can put away sin. Only
God can make the sinful righteous. Only God can make you a new creature. Only God can give life to the
dead. Only God can raise one up from
the dead. All things are of God who hath,
what a word, who hath at one time in the past by one marvelous
deed reconciled us all of us that is all who are in Christ
all his elect God hath reconciled us to himself reconciled us the
fallen sons of men Fallen vile sinners such as we are God hath
reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ Thou shalt call his name
Jesus For he shall save his people from their sins We were reconciled
to Christ before we were ever born Reconciled to Christ before
ever we went astray from our mother's womb Reconciled to God
by Christ Jesus when God made him sin for us and punished him
for our sins. Read on. And hath given to us
the ministry of reconciliation. We come in the service of reconciliation. God sends his messengers in the
service of reconciliation. Declaring reconciliation done
by Christ. and calling on sinners to be
reconciled to God by faith. To it. To it. That is, this is
the ministry, this is the word of reconciliation. God was in
Christ, reconciling the world unto himself. Now I realize that
most people don't have a clue what this book teaches about
anything. And just as soon as you talk to them about election
and God loving us, people who are loved of God from everlasting
and loving them alone, and those who are loved of God certainly
being saved, they jump up and down and scream and start to
pull their hair out. No, no, that can't be right.
God loves everybody. He wants to save everybody. Jesus
died for everybody. See there it says he was in Christ,
reconciling the world to himself. Well, you've got two choices.
You got two choices, unless you're insane, you got two choices.
Either that means every single person in the world is reconciled
to God by the death of his son, or some people all over the world
are reconciled to God by the death of his son. Now, which
does it mean? Well, unless I'm totally mistaken,
When God speaks of Judas going to his own place and speaks of
the sons of Korah being swallowed up in hell and threatens judgment
upon the ungodly, there are some folks who are going to hell,
but none for whom Jesus Christ made reconciliation. They're
scattered through all the world. So when the scripture speaks
about God loving the world, about Christ dying for the world, about
all and being saved by Christ is not talking about any kind
of universal love or universal atonement or universal grace.
That's just that's ludicrous. That's ludicrous. Universal love
is meaningless love. Universal atonement is meaningless
atonement. Universal grace is meaningless
grace. What do you mean by that? If
I love all alike, Yet or if God loves all alike and yet some
perish under the wrath of God God's love's got nothing to do
with who saved and who's not If God is gracious to all people
alike and yet some perish under the wrath of God and others are
safe Salvation's got nothing to do with God's grace and God's
grace got nothing to do with salvation God's Grace is altogether
made effectual by something in men, if God is gracious to all
men alike. If Christ died for all men alike,
some go to hell, some go to heaven. The death of Christ doesn't make
the difference. And yet the word of God makes it clear. It is
the love of God. to which we owe and must describe
all of our salvation. The grace of God to which we
owe and must describe all our salvation. The blood of Jesus
Christ to which we owe and must describe all our salvation. All
right, God was in Christ then reconciling the world of his
elect to himself. That's exactly what the word
means. Not imputing their trespasses unto them. Not imputing their
trespasses unto them. He imputed them to his son, not
to them, and hath committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, now then, we are ambassadors
for Christ. We bring to you the message of
King Jesus. as though God did beseech you
by us. Mark, that's remarkable. As though God himself did urge
and pray and beg you by us. God condescended to speak to
sinners by the gospel, stretch out his arms all the day long,
urge and pray and beg you by us in Christ's dead, be ye reconciled
to God. Be ye reconciled to God. Four, here's the basis of it
all. The entire message of this passage,
the entire message of the Bible hinges on this. He, God the Father,
the triune Jehovah, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, hath made. At one time in the past, wondrously,
mysteriously, caused to be. At one time in the past, wondrously,
mysteriously created him sin for us. For us who cried crucify him,
crucify him. For us who hated him, for us
who esteemed him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted for us,
who would not bow to him for us, who are rebels against God. God at one time, wondrously,
in a manner that cannot be explained or compared to anything, made
him sin. Made him sin for us, who knew
no sin. who knew no sin. He had no sinful
nature. He was born of the Virgin. He was altogether free of corruption. He never had a sinful thought. Don Renier, you and I can't even
think about that. Imagine that. Imagine living
as a man on this earth for 33 years and never have an evil
thing cross your mind He knew no sin He never he never had
a corrupt passion He never he never Knew what the coldness
of and the bitterness and the hardness and the vileness of
sin is. He knew no sin. He could not
in any way enter into what sin is. Couldn't do it. He couldn't
do it. To talk to him about sin, about
corruption, inner corruption, things you wouldn't dare discuss
with anybody. You talk openly and your heart breaks. He didn't have any idea what
you were talking about by experience. He knew no sin. Do you understand
what I'm saying? He could not enter into that. He knew no sin. And yet, He is the only man who
ever lived, Adam included, who knew what sin is. For this man, Burl Hart is God
Almighty in human flesh. He knew how God looks on sin,
for he's God. He is a purer eye than to behold
iniquity. He charges his angels with folly. Behold, the heavens are not clean
in his sight. By experience, he knew no sin. By nature, he knew no sin. And
yet he's the only man who understood, who really understood. You and
I don't. We don't really have an idea. We don't really have an idea
how utterly vile, how utterly contemptible, how utterly nauseous
we are to a holy God. We don't have any idea. This man did. He who is God knew
exactly what sin is. He hath made him sin for us who knew no sin. That we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. Now the text does not say he
hath made him a sin offering, though certainly Christ is our
sin offering. Thou shalt make his soul an offering
for sin, the prophet said in Isaiah 53. But that's not what
this text says. The text does not say that he
was made a sacrifice for sin. Though most certainly He is our
only sacrifice for sin. The text does not say that sin
was imputed to Him. Though certainly sin was imputed
to Him. And yet the word impute is never
used in all the Word of God to describe Christ being made sin.
He was made sin. Made to bear in His own body
our sins on the tree, thereby made a curse for us. Now, I realize
that in the works of men, in the legal apparatus of nations,
guilt can never be transferred from one person to another. I'm
aware of that. We're not talking about men here.
We're talking about God. God Almighty didn't just transfer
our debt to him. He transferred our guilt to him. So that now the Lord Jesus made
to bear our guiltiness and our guiltiness made his is abandoned
by his God. And he cries, my God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? I don't really remember when
first I tried to preach to a group of people from this passage of
scripture. But I'm as lost in trying to
explain it now as I was the first time I read it. I don't have any idea what this
all means. I know it's much more than paying
a debt. I know it's much more than just
a legal transaction. In the anticipation of this, the God-man knelt in Gethsemane
and he cried three times, oh, my father, if it be possible,
let this cup pass from me. He wasn't begging to be released
from dying at Calvary. Not a possibility that's so.
He set his face like a flint to go up to Jerusalem. He came
here for that purpose. He was born to die. What does
he mean, then, let this cup pass from me? Oh, my holy God. If it's possible for me to finish
the work of redemption, if it's possible for me to make your people righteous,
if it's possible for me to satisfy your justice, if it's possible
for me to redeem my people without drinking iniquity like water, without taking into myself that
which is most repulsive to me. Oh, God, let this cup pass from
me. Nevertheless, not my will, thy will be done. And his heart broke within him. and his sweat as it were great
drops of blood falling to the ground. He hath made him sin for us. And when he made him sin for
us, God Almighty in absolute justice,
drew forth his holy sword, and slaughtered his son. Because
Rod, his son, deserved to be slaughtered, he's made sin. All that we are, Christ became. Nothing excepted. Now he who has made sin for us,
who died in our stead to satisfy the wrath and justice of God,
to put away our sin, has obtained eternal redemption for us by
his own blood. The Father has reconciled his
people to himself. Justice is satisfied. The sacrifice
is accepted. And the Lord Jesus, that man
seated on the throne of the universe, who has in his hands the reins
of absolute sovereignty, who controls absolutely every thought
of every man in his heart and in his mind. who controls absolutely
every deed of every man all over the world all the time. That
man, James Jordan, who is God, is touched with the feeling of
your infirmity. He who was tempted at all points
like as we are yet without sin, here wasn't just tempted. he
was made sin. And as my heart breaks before
God in repentance of what I am, the bitterness of my heart for
my own sin doesn't compare to the bitterness of his soul when
he was made sin for me. But he is moved in his soul, even with this horrid load that
I carry on this earth, that you carry through this world of guilt
and sin. And he's able to succor, to help
with feeling them that are tempted. He's able to stoop down to a woman taken in adultery, pick her up from her degradation,
hug her up to his holy breast, and say, neither do I condemn
thee. Go and sin no more. He's able to stoop to a man like
David who stole another man's wife and murdered his friend
and pick him up in his arms and declare the Lord has put away
your sin. You shall not die. He's able
to stoop to you, to me, his prodigal sons and daughters. returning
to him with a kiss of mercy and grace and smother us with
his kisses because he who knew no sin was made sin for us that
we might be made that is he was made sin for us for
this purpose that we might with absolute certainty be made. Because there was no other way
we could be made. The righteousness of God in him. But the word made here in the
last part of verse 21 is altogether different, a totally different
word than the word translated made in the first part. That
word was a word that's in the past. That word implied that he himself was active in
making him sin. He didn't just have our iniquity
laid on him. He took our iniquity to himself. The sword of justice did not
just wake against him. He drew the sword into his own
soul. But here the word made is in
the present tense. And it implies complete passivity
on our part. It's a passive verb. that we
now on the basis of justice satisfied might be made the righteousness
of God in him. Merle Hart, how righteous is
he? How righteous is he? How completely
righteous is he? How utterly perfect is he? How totally holy is he? The question defies an answer. Whatever I am by nature, he was
made for me at Calvary. and whatever he is in the totality
of his holy humanity. I am in him a new creature in
Christ Jesus. That's called grace. Free, free,
free grace. So that as he is, so are we in
this world. Read on. The chapter shouldn't
end there. Verse one, chapter six. We then,
Paul speaking of himself as God's ambassador. I'll share the term. We then,
as God's ambassador, I speak to you. as workers together with
Him. What a declaration. We who believe
God have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency,
the power may be of God and not of us, but we are workers together
with God. Workers together with Him. carrying
the gospel into all the world, calling on men everywhere to
believe on the Son of God as workers to gather with him, beseech
you, beg you, pray you also that you receive not the grace of
God in vain. I know you will. I know you will. You'll go home and flip on whatever's on television,
pick up whatever book you're reading, get the newspaper and
read it. Before you get out the door, you'll talk about something
else and you'll just forget it. You'll just forget it. Brother Don was real concerned
about something and I don't know what it was had him so So intense,
but he was, and go and forget it. Go and forget it. You received
the grace of God in vain. You will have heard the message
with no profit to your soul. Beg God he doesn't let that happen
to you. Beg God he doesn't let that happen
to you. Unless God Almighty stamps it
in your soul. you will receive it in vain.
You'll go to bed tonight and sleep easy and think nothing
about it. I pray you can't. I pray you will find no rest
for your eyes and no rest for your soul until you find rest
in Christ Jesus. Receive not the grace of our
God in vain. For he saith, I've heard thee
in a time except and in the day of salvation have I suckered
thee. He comes in the day of his grace
and suckers, helps with feeling and compassion poor sinners for
whom he was made sin. Behold now is the accepted time. Behold now is the day of salvation. I urge you then, come to Christ
and go home a new creature. Old things passed away. All things
made new by his free grace. Let's stand together and sing
that great, great hymn. just as I am. And I bid you one
and all come to Christ. As you therefore have received
Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him.