John Newton wrote these words
many years ago. In evil long I took delight,
unawed by shame or fear, till a new object struck my sight
and stopped my wild career. I saw one hanging on a tree in
agonies and blood, He fixed his languid eyes on me as near his
cross I stood. Sure never till my latest breath
can I forget that look. It seemed to charge me with his
death, though not a word he spoke. My conscience felt and owned
the guilt and plunged me in despair. My sins his blood had spilt and
helped to nail him there. A second look he gave, which
said, I freely all forgive. This blood is for thy ransom
paid. I die that thou must live. I pray that before this night's
over, God will call you to see him who hanged on the tree in
our stead and calls you to hear him speak to your heart. This
blood is for thy ransom paid. I die that thou mayst live. To that end, I want to pick up
right where I left off this morning in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 18. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 18. The title of my message is Christ,
Our Substitute. Paul has just declared that if
any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things are passed
away, and behold, all things have become new. And all things
are of God. Now, you can take that just as
far as you want to take it. You won't get near far enough.
But in this particular context, it's speaking specifically about
God's salvation. This whole business of making
sinners new creatures in Christ is all of God. And just in case
you can't quite get a handle on that, that means you don't
have anything to do with it. Nothing is contributed by you.
No part of it depends on you. Nothing can be added by you.
Nothing can be taken away by you. All this reconciliation
of men's souls to the living God is God's work. All things
are of God, who hath, notice the word, who hath, it's finished,
reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ. Preachers went all over
the country, all over the world, hollering for men and women to
repent. And what they mean by repent
is not believe on the Lord Jesus, not just trust in Christ as their
savior. What they mean by repent is that
you've got to somehow jerk yourself up by your bootstraps with the
help of God and turn from your evil ways and turn from your
evil doing and make yourself good and come to trust God. Our
Lord Jesus didn't send his servants out to preach to men they ought
to repent. But rather, he said, go proclaim
repentance, preach repentance and the forgiveness of sins.
We don't come preaching the possibility of me and being reconciled to
God. We come proclaiming the message that God has reconciled
somebody to himself by the death of his son. It is already done,
not something yet to be done. But Brother Don, don't you think
people ought to turn from their sins? Yes. But you're not going
to turn until you're turned. And this is what he says. Go
tell my people I have done the turning. I have reconciled somebody
to God. God was in Christ reconciling
the world to himself. Let's pick up here in verse 18
before I get ahead of myself. He hath reconciled us, us being
a specific people. His elect, us who now believe
God did this by Christ Jesus and hath given to us the ministry,
the service of reconciliation. God has reconciled men to himself
by the doing and dying of the Son of God. God who has a just
war against man because of sin. has put away the sins of some
people and thus reconciled us to himself and is given to us,
to you and me, to this preacher and to this congregation, to
you and me, sinners saved by his grace, the ministry of reconciliation. That is the blessed, blessed
message of reconciliation. Paul said we have this treasure. this treasure. God has put the
treasure of heaven in our hands, in earthen vessels. He's put
it in earthen vessels. He's given us the blessed gospel
of His grace that the excellency and the power may be of God and
not of us. We have this ministry, this treasure
in earthen vessels. He's given us this ministry of
reconciliation. What is it? To wit, that is,
this is what it is, that God was in Christ, reconciling the
world. No, not everybody in the world.
That was never his desire, never his intention, never something
he tried to do, but rather all his people scattered throughout
the world. the world, speaking of that place
in which God's elect reside. God was in Christ, reconciling
sinners out of every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue, a
people loved and chosen of him from eternity, scattered among
the nations, where he scattered them that he might from the world
gather them unto himself. He was reconciling the world
of his elect. You say, was it alright to write
that in the margin of my Bible? I'd write it in if I were you.
That's what he's talking about, the world of his elect. unto
himself. How did he do that? Not charging
them with sin, not imputing their trespasses unto them. Because God Almighty, before
the world was, chose a people Accepted us in the beloved through
the sacrifice of the lamb slain from the foundation of the world
and declared us justified and sanctified and glorified in his
son He refused ever to impute sins to his chosen He was in
Christ and the reason Christ came was because God refused
to impute sin to you But sin's got to be imputed somewhere.
And sin's got to be charged somewhere. And sin has got to be punished
somewhere else. God is not, as you just sang,
holy. The holy Lord God must and shall
punish sin. God was in Christ, reconciling
the world of his elect to himself, refusing to impute our sins unto
us, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and that committed
to us the word, the message of reconciliation. Now, they now. Since God's given us this ministry
of reconciliation, since God has committed to us this word
of reconciliation, we are ambassadors for God. Ambassadors for Christ. ambassadors, ambassadors of the
King, men specifically chosen and ordained of God, gifted and
sent of God to carry a message, not to develop a message, not
to get their heads together and decide what we ought to believe,
Not to get together with for creeds, making creeds and and
confessions of faith with committees and organizations and denominations
and deacons and elders and all that nonsense. No, no. He's given
us a message. An ambassador has got he's got
a letter in his hand. He's got a message in his hand
and he is to deliver the message. That's all. That's all. Ambassadors
don't speak for themselves. They don't speak with their own
authority. They don't speak by their own name. They speak for
the king they represent. They carry the king's message.
They're not allowed to negotiate. They're not allowed to alter
terms. They're ambassadors. We're ambassadors
for Christ. If God has sent me here tonight,
and in spite of the one who's talking to you, I believe he
has. If God's given me a message for you tonight, and I believe
he has, what I have to say, Allen Kidby, is not something for you
to decide what you're going to do with. You bow to it. Just that simple. Well, how dare
you speak to us like that? I'm the ambassador of the king
of glory. And you'll either bow to it or
you go to hell. Just that simple. I'm not going to argue about
it. I'm not going to debate it. I'm not going to I'm not going
to sit down and wrangle terms with folks. Ambassadors. Ambassadors for Christ. Now,
listen to what that means. As though God himself were standing
up here talking. And Bobby, that's either exactly
what that means, or I don't have a clue what that means. As though
God did beseech you by us. As though God's the one you're
hearing. As though the voice you hear is not the voice of
a mortal, sinful, frail, fickle man, but the voice of God speaking
through that man. Ambassadors for Christ. As though
God did beseech you by us. We pray you, standing right here
before you in the room instead of Jesus Christ the King. We
pray you in Christ's stead, quit fighting God. Be ye reconciled to God. Reconciled to God. You see, for
you, who are yet without life and faith in Christ. For you
who yet do not believe the Son of God, your problem is one thing. You keep fighting God. You've declared war on the Almighty. You've decided that you should
decide everything. You've decided that you should
control everything. That you should rule your life. You should dictate what you do
and how you behave. And so you pull out your little
pop gun that you bought at the local dime store and you take
aim at God as if somehow with your little pop gun you're going
to shove God off his throne. Be reconciled to God. Throw down
your weapons. Stack arms. Surrender. That's
what faith is. It is surrender to Jesus Christ,
the King, trusting him through his blood and righteousness alone
as your Lord and Savior, bowing to him. I've told you many times
about my first visit to Appomattox, Virginia. I just had to go over
Appomattox Courthouse, not a pleasant place for a Southern boy to visit.
There, General Lee, signed terms of surrender to General Grant,
and the Civil War was ended. And you have a picture of Lee
and Grant sitting at the table where the surrender papers are
signed by General Lee and by General Grant. And another picture,
you have the Confederate armies under Lee's command lining both
sides of the road, that dirt road leading up to Appomattox
Courthouse, and they've taken their rifles, and their pistols,
and their sabers, and their swords, and their patter horns, and laid
everything down in front of them, and stand at attention, bowing
to the Union troop that rides by in utter surrender, in utter
surrender, be reconciled to God. Lay down your weapons. You can't
win this battle. You're going to hell as long
as you fight God with the enmity of your heart, be reconciled
to God. Now, look at the next slide. Four. You want a reason to bow down? You want a reason to surrender? to Jesus Christ as Lord. You
want a reason to believe on the Son of God. You want a reason
to give up the rule of your life to Jesus Christ the King. You
want a reason to live for God and not for yourself. For He,
God Almighty, the God of glory. He, the only true and living
God, hath by a single act. He hath at one time in the past. He hath by a single act made,
or caused Him, or ordained Him, the Lord Jesus Christ, His infinite,
well-beloved, only begotten Son, the Immaculate Lamb of God, He hath caused Him to be sin. made him sin in holy, infinite justice, in
marvelous, wondrous grace. By an act of wisdom, justice,
and grace, righteousness, truth, and mercy that no man can rightly
comprehend, he hath caused him to be. He hath made him sin. The Lamb of God. He made him
sin. The Holy Lord Jesus Christ. God's darling. He's made him to be a horrid
mass of sin. Made him sin for us. Who? Us, who are reconciled to
God by him. Us, to whom he would not impute
sin. Us, the objects of his love. Us, Chosen by Him, us, those
people for whom His Son died. He made Him to be sin for us.
Who is that? Every sinner who believes on
the Lamb of God. How can I know Christ died for
me? Can you believe Him? James, do you believe Him? He
died for you. Is that simple? Is that simple?
Do you trust Him? He died for you. He made him
sin for us, helpless, condemned, sinful rebels. That we, this same us, might be made, not might possibly
be made, not might hopefully be made, not might perhaps be
made. No, no, no, no. That we might
now in justice, righteousness, and truth. Because there was
no other way whereby this could happen. God made his son to be
sin for us. Because there's no other way
that we who are the objects of his love could be made the righteousness
of God. He made him sin for us that he
might cause us to be the righteousness of God. The righteousness of God. The
theologians divide up God's attributes, or they like to think they can,
and they divide them up into essential attributes communicable
and non-communicable. That is, some attributes God
can communicate to man and others he cannot communicate to man.
They would say his omniscience is not communicable, his omnipotence
is not communicable, his omnipresence is not communicable, but he communicates
his holiness, his righteousness, and so on. Well, when it speaks
of the righteousness of God and us being made the righteousness
of God in him, it speaks of us having that holiness without
which no man shall see the Lord. The scriptures are not talking
about God's attributes. They're talking about God's son.
You understand the difference? The righteousness of God which
we are made is the very righteousness that Jesus Christ is who lived
and died in our room instead. That holiness which comes into
us, created in us when we make new creatures in Christ is Christ
in you, the hope of glory. This is not something that somehow
God comes down and makes us little gods. but rather we are made
to possess and to be all that Jesus Christ the Lamb of God
is and was because he was made to be all that we are by nature. That we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. Now, let's look at this blessed,
blessed text one more time. Spirit of God, speak to your
people. When Christ Jesus made sin for
us, God poured out the vials of all
his anger, fury, wrath, and justice on his darling son. He emptied vengeance upon him. He emptied fury upon him. He slew his son who has made
sin for us. And he now pours out on us all
the fullness of grace and glory and multiplied mercy and peace
because he daily loatheth us with the benefits flowing from
the sacrifice of his darling son as our substitute. Substitute. Substitution is the very heart
of the gospel. It is the very essence of divine
revelation. And that's what this text declares.
Christ Jesus took our place upon the cursed tree and gives us
his place before the God of glory. Imagine that. Imagine that. Now, I don't have any idea how
many hundreds of times I've preached from 2 Corinthians 5, 21, but
I haven't got it preached yet. It's been a good while since
I've tried to deal with this text before you, and I want to
deal with it tonight as simply as I possibly can. When I say
simply, I'm not speaking condescendingly. I'm talking about with clarity.
with such simplicity that you can't possibly misunderstand
what the apostle is teaching us here by the spirit of inspiration.
I want to raise and answer several questions. Number one, who is this one who has made
sin for us? Here, the spirit of God describes
our great surety with one word of description. This is that
one, the only human being ever to walk on God's earth who knew
no sin. He knew no sin. He's the virgin born son of God.
The son of God given to us through the womb of the virgin without
the aid of a man. That holy humanity that was nailed
to the tree, that holy humanity that walked on this earth for
33 years, knew no sin. He had no fluctuating passions,
anger and wrath and hatred and vengeance in his heart. He never
thought an evil thing. Ron, I can't even imagine that,
can you? Never once did a corrupt thing pass through his mind.
He had no sinful nature, no inclination towards sin, no bias towards
sin. He knew no sin. He knew what
sin is. He knew how God looks on sin,
for he is God. He knew how God hates sin, for
he is God. But he knew no sin. He never once left anything undone
that ought to have been done. Not once. Never, never once spoke
the wrong word. He never once did something that
he should not have done. He never once had to take anything
back or wish that he could. He knew no sin. Why is this so
important? Had he known sin, he could never
have atoned for sin. Had he known sin, he could not
have put away our sins. Had there been any evil about
him, were it possible to even consider the blasphemous thought
that he really was a man with an earthly father? that he is
no redeemer and no savior. And he's not a good prophet.
He's an imposter and a liar. No, no. We're talking about him
who is the virgin born Christ, him whose holy humanity was conceived
in the womb of a virgin by the overshadowing power of God, the
Holy Spirit, who walked on this earth from the day he was conceived
in the world to the day he died at Calvary, having never done
evil. Because he owed nothing to God's
law. He owed nothing to divine justice. Had he owed any debt of his own,
he couldn't have paid your debt. He knew no sin. Number two, who made him sin? He. God the Father made him sin. Oh, what love God must have for
Lindsay Campbell. He took his darling son and made
him to be what he most despises that he might have you. Oh, what love possesses the heart
of the Almighty. For Don Fortner, he took his
darling son, that one you read about, Merle, who was his delight
before the world was, and made him to be that which is obnoxious
to him that he might have made. He ordained him to be made sin. And He laid our sins upon His
well-beloved Son, making Him to bear all our guilt before
His holy law. All we like sheep have gone astray.
We've turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord hath laid
on him the iniquity of us all. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. Whenever we try to preach the
gospel, whether privately or publicly, you run across babbling
well-worshippers who will want to fight with you. Brother Adam
was talking about meeting somebody over at the VA the other day. You start
talking about God's election, his distinguishing love, God
has no pleasure in the death of the wicked. No, he doesn't. No, he doesn't. That's the reason
hell's forever. You can't satisfy God's wrath.
What hell is, I do not know. And honestly, I have no interest
in knowing. But whatever hell is, The fires cannot be quenched
because a finite man can never satisfy infinite justice. God has no pleasure in the death
of the wicked. But here is one in whose death
God has pleasure. Not pleasure in the sense of
delight, no, though certainly that's true. not pleasure in
the sense of rejoicing, but pleasure in the sense of satisfaction.
God sacrificed his son for us. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him, because him once bruised, justice is satisfied. It pleased
the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief, when
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. If you read the commentaries
on 2 Corinthians 5, 21, you will find many say the word sin there
should be an offering for sin. And they imagine that somehow
that lessens the force of Paul's doctrine in the passage. But
if you look up in the Old Testament right here in Isaiah 53, verse
10, for example, where thou hast made his soul an offering for
sin, do you know what the word sin offering is? All the way
through the Old Testament. It's sin. When thou shalt make
his soul sin, he shall see his seed. He shall prolong his days,
and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. God
the Father gave up his son to die in the place of sinners. For God so loved the world, the world of his elect, I'm not
bashful about saying that, not bashful about it at all. To suggest that he loves everybody
in the world in any sense whatsoever is to declare that his love is
meaningless. To suggest that Christ died for everybody in
the world in any sense whatsoever is to declare blasphemy. It is to declare that Christ's
death is meaningless. Oh no, God so loved the world
of his elect that he gave his only son that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish but have everlasting life. All right,
here's the third thing. Turn back to Isaiah 53 for a
moment. When did God make his dear son
sin for us? Isaiah 53, verse 6. Anybody in here have any question?
This was written at least a few years, at least two or three
years before Christ came into the world. Anybody have any questions? This was written hundreds of
years before Christ came. If memory serves me, 750 years
before Christ came into the world. All we like sheep have gone astray,
verse 6. We have turned everyone to his
own way. And the Lord hath past tense at one time already done
in the past laid on him the iniquity of us all." Well, Brother Don,
is that telling us that this was done in eternity? Isn't it
amazing how the book reads easy when you understand it? Done
in eternity. when he was the lamb slain from
the foundation of the world, when we were justified, sanctified,
glorified in him before the world began, when we were accepted
and blessed in him because he hath laid on him the iniquity
of us all. Well, if that's the case, then
you have to deny that it was done in time. I actually had
a fellow a few years ago got upset with the teaching of scripture
with regard to eternal justification, eternal redemption. And I was
getting ready to go out to California. The fool actually wrote to my
friend Gene Harmon out there and said, you know, Brother Don
doesn't believe the death of Christ was necessary for our
salvation. How come? Well, he says it was done in
eternity. That doesn't mean it's not done in time. That guarantees
it'll be done in time. This is what the book teaches.
God laid our sins on his son as our covenant surety before
the world began. And then in the fullness of time,
when God sent forth his son made of a woman made under the law
to redeem them that were under the law, Christ bear our sins
in his own body on the tree. He would made sin in time. First
Peter 2, 24, when our Lord Jesus knelt in Gethsemane on his way
to Calvary, and his heart broke within him, and his sweat was
turned to blood as he cried, oh, my father, if it be possible,
let this cup pass from me. He was not praying that the father
would keep him from dying. He came here to die. He was speaking
and crying unto God in that he feared. Hebrews 5, 7. He feared. Can you imagine that? He feared. He feared. He, who is the only human being
ever to walk on this earth, who knows what sin is, but knew no
sin. is about to be made sin. And
His Holy Being quakes until His heart broke in the
anticipation of being made sin. Oh, my Father, if it be possible,
let this come pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will, Thy
will be done. And I'll tell you something else. Christ has made sin in the experience of every heaven-born
soul in conversion with the gift of faith. The very first thing
God teaches the heaven-born soul, the very first thing taught by
the Spirit of God in what's called Holy Spirit conviction is sin. and righteousness and judgment. Sin, because you believe not
on me. Righteousness, because I finished the work I came to
do. I'm going to my father. Judgment finished, because the
prince of this world is judged. When the Lord God reveals Christ
in you, sprinkles your conscience with the blood of Christ. Hebrews
9 verse 14, and purges your conscience from dead works, causing you
now to be at peace with God when you're made to see that Christ
was made sin. I keep repeating this because
I don't know a better way to describe it. When Christ was revealed in me
with this horrid heavy, oppressive load of guilt that was crushing
my soul to hell. And I could not believe. And I could not repent. And I could not trust God. I could not. I couldn't. It wasn't within the realm of
possibility until one day I saw one hanging on the tree. And
God calls me to see him. whom he made sin. And my conscience
said exactly what God said concerning him. That's enough. That's enough. And I quit trying
to do something to please God. I quit trying to make up for
my sin. I quit trying to atone for my
sin. I quit trying to make myself
acceptable with God. I quit arguing with God and promising
him all the reforming I would do. And I simply saw him whom
God said, that's enough. And my conscience said, that's
enough. And as often as Satan raises
his ugly head, and would accuse me of sin and guilt before God
and would torment my conscience in the teeth of all my sin. That's still enough. That's still
enough. God himself can require no more
than the sacrifice of his son. He made him to be sin. for us. All right, one more thing. What's the result? This whole world, religious and
otherwise, has got the foolish, blasphemous notion that there's
some possibility somehow that the reason for Christ coming
into this world might be in jeopardy, that somehow his blood might
not really effect that which he came to accomplish, that somehow
he might not really have that which he desires, that somehow
he might have died in vain. I was driving out of town one
Sunday evening. I was going somewhere to preach, listening to the pastor
of the First Baptist Church years ago here in Danville when Al
Giesler was there. I don't mind calling him by name,
he said it. He got done with the Sunday evening service. If
you want to, if I want to stay awake or get woke up, all I got
to do is turn the preacher on. I turn on the radio and he's
closing off the Sunday evening service. And he's trying to get
folks to walk down the aisle and pretty please let Jesus be
their savior. And he's kind of talking like
he really cried and sincere and he's, oh, won't it be a shame? Jesus died for so many who go
to hell in spite of the fact that he died for them. Won't
it be a shame? I actually stopped and told you,
write that down. I don't want to forget it. Write
it down. Shame? Absolutely. If Christ Jesus shed his blood
for anybody who goes to hell, it'll be a shame. not to the
lost sinner, but to him who died for nothing. To him whose blood
is meaningless. What's the result of Christ being
made sin for us? Every sinner for whom he died
is now made caused to be The righteousness of God in him. The righteousness of God in him. Holy. As God's old son. I never will forget the first
time Brother Mahan had me to preach at Ashland. I was, what
was I, 25, 26 years old? Somewhere in there. Went down
one Wednesday night, and one of the charter members of the
church, he and his wife, Ann and Ruth Adkins, were the first
ones there. I got there early like I usually do. I walked in,
and she introduced herself. She was my soul. She had me 70
years old or more then. I was just a pup. And she talked
for a little bit, and she said to me, said, Brother Don, how
good do you have to be to get to heaven? Well, I'd never been
asked that question before. How good do you have to be to
get to heaven? And I paused for just a second,
and I said, as good as God. And man, her eyes sparkled. You'd
have thought she'd been kissed by the first time in her life.
She just beamed from ear to ear. Oh, that's it. And there's only
one way. He hath made him sin for us,
who knew no sin. that we who are nothing but sin
might be made the righteousness of God in him. Oh God give you faith in his
son through this blessed word of reconciliation. Amen.