In 1 Corinthians 11, I'm going
to actually speak for a few minutes out of 2 Corinthians, but in
1 Corinthians 11, we often go to this passage of Scripture
when we are to take of the Lord's table, remembering Him. Just read a couple of verses
after we thank the Lord for this evening. Let's pray together
first. Our Father, we indeed thank You that You've once again
given us the opportunity to come together and to meet. We pray
that You'd bless this service. Bless, we pray, our hearing. the preaching, bless our understanding,
cause us to behold Him who is altogether wonderful, marvelous,
matchless. We ask these things in Christ's
name. Amen. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11
verse 23, For I have received of the Lord that which also I
delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in
which he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks,
he broke it and said, Take, eat. This is my body, which is broken
for you. This do in remembrance of me." had commanded through the Apostle
Paul to write, pen those words. The Lord had said, when you eat,
when you drink, as often as you do it, you do show, you do remember
the Lord's death. This evening I'd like for us
to just consider for a few minutes before we remember our Lord in
the taking of the elements that He has set forth. I'd like for
us to remember Him who is our surety. Hebrews 7.22 says, By
so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament. That word
made, that word has come under great scrutiny lately, especially
out of the Lord being made sin, which I'm going to deal with,
Lord willing, in a few moments. And Lord willing, deal with it
in such a way that it hopefully leaves no doubt in our minds
what the Scripture means when it says that the Lord was made
sin. The depth of the truth that the
Lord Jesus Christ was the surety of His people is a subject that I am convinced
time would fail us to be adequate to explore and to discover what
the meaning, the depth of that meaning truly is. Assurity. But let's just consider for a
minute, he said, this do in remembrance, this is my body which was broken
for you. We first of all needed assurity. We needed assurity. We need assurity. Romans 5.12 says, Wherefore, as by one man
sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed
upon all men, for that all have sinned. Now, there are two words
that are in that verse of Scripture. Sin and sinned. The first word,
sin, and if you'd like to, I'd encourage you, get you a concordance
and look these words up and find out what the concordance explains
these words to be. For by one man, sin entered into
the world. Sin. Hamartia. That's the Greek
word. Like I said, I've told you before,
I don't speak Greek. I can look it up. I can tell
you. But it doesn't make me any smarter to be able to pronounce
the Greek word. Let me just tell you what that
word means. For by one man, sin, hamartia,
meaning the principle or the source or the action the very
body, the personification, this body, this thing, this sin, the
very source of sin. For by one man, the very source
of sin entered into the world, and death by sin, by the very
source. having passed upon all men, for
that all have sinned." Now, there's a different word. That word right
there means the actions that are produced by the very source. Adam sinned. He had action because
the source of it entered into him. You understand what I'm
saying? Two things. The very source,
the very embodiment of sin produces something. Mankind was from that
point completely and totally dead spiritually to be able to
do or to think or to will anything that was good. Why? Because the
very nature of sin, that which produces transgressions, and
sins and manifestations, the branches of sins, the actions
are produced because of what we are by nature. Psalm 14.3
says, They are all gone aside, they are all together become
filthy, there is none that doeth good, no, not one. But because God Almighty had
chosen to show mercy and have compassion upon an elect people,
a people that he had everlastingly loved, a people having everlastingly
loved them, and knowing that the Lord says, I love righteousness,
those people have always been considered righteous in the person
of their surety because He was slain before the foundation of
the world. They've always been righteous
in Christ. Now, God Almighty chose them, considered them,
looked upon them, considered them totally in their surety. and looked to the surety to pay
what they owed because of the source or the nature of sin. Surety is speaking of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, if you're talking about
me being a surety down at the bank, what I can pay is only
what I have. I can only pay what I've got. I can pay something. But the
surety of the Lord Jesus Christ does not mean merely the one
who pays the debt, which He surely does, but the one who is the
payment itself. I can pay something, but I'm
not the money. See it? I can pay it, but I'm
not the gold, or I'm not the stuff. He is the payer. And He is the payee. He is the payment. He is all
of it. Now, the question is this. What
is the debt that is owed? If He's going to be the surety,
and He is, what is the debt? Romans 6.23 says, "...for the
wages of sin." That word, sin, there is the source. The very
source of sin, the body of sin, that which causes the transgressions,
the wages of sin is death. The wages of hamartia, the source
of sin, is death. Where sin be found, death will
be found too. But the gift of God is eternal
life through Jesus Christ our Lord. David said, in sin, in
hamartia, in the very source, did my mother conceive me. This
sin will produce acts, but the hamartia, the source, is what's
got to be dealt with. The source, the body of sin must
be dealt with. How then can God deal with me
in justice? and still be merciful to me in
salvation." Well, 2 Corinthians 5.21 says, "...he hath made him
to be sin." 2 Corinthians, we've read this before. Look, just
turn there. 2 Corinthians 5.21, "...for he
that is God, hath made him to be seen." That
word, made, there, hath made him, it actually means to do
something, to actually produce, to construct, to form, or to
fashion. He hath made him on the mount
of transfiguration. when Peter, James, and John went
up with the Lord. And there Moses and Elijah appeared. And the Lord Jesus spoke with
them, spoke with Moses and Elijah. And Peter said, Lord, let us
make three altars here. Let's construct. Let us make. That's the same words right here.
Let us make. Let's actually do it. That is,
to do is what it means. To make, to produce. He hath
made him, and to be, if you look at there, is in italics. It's not really there in the
original. He hath made him sin. That word sin, right there, is
hamartia. It means the source. It means
the embodiment. It means the nature. He hath
made him sin for us who knew no sin, the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Holy Son of God, the spotless Lamb of Almighty God, who knew
no sin. There was no sin found in him
by nature. spotless Lamb of God that we
might be made, that word made there means to become. He hath
actually made Him constructed, produced, formed, fashioned. He hath made Him. He did it when
the Lord Jesus Christ came. And there was a blind man. And
he took and he said, and he spit upon the ground and made spittle. He made it. It was actually,
what is that? That's spittle. That's what it
is. It's mud. It's spit and mud. Spittle. That's what it was.
He made spittle. Same word. Here, right here.
He did it. He constructed it. He produced
it. He was formed, constructed, made
to be. He was made the governing principle,
the source or the inward element that produces the open acts of
rebellion that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. The Word is not a sin offering. It does not mean that He was
on the cross and that all of the acts or the branches of all
of His people were placed upon Him, and that God dealt with
all of the branches. The word there means he actually
was produced, he was made sin. He was made the embodiment of
sin itself. The one who was peace himself. The one who never knew sin, who
never knew the beginning of a thought. The one whose holiness was manifested
in all forms of human life. The spotless Lamb of God Almighty,
when Moses was told, when the Lord says, I'm going to pass
through Egypt, you take, you set aside a lamb. And He said,
you make sure it's a spotless lamb. Set it aside and you watch
it, you look at it. No spots, no blemishes. That
was going to be the Lamb that was going to be sacrificed, and
that blood was going to be placed on the lintel of the doorpost.
Spotless Lamb. When the Lord Jesus Christ was
on that cross, there was the spotless Lamb of Almighty God. Holy. Holy. The Holy One of God. The very essence of deity itself. And upon made, produced in the
very spotless, holy Lamb of God, the very source of guiltiness
was made. All that His people are. Almighty God was going to deal
with the source of his people's guilt. He was going to deal with
the source of it. Not merely the manifestations
of it, the very body of it. The source, the hamartia of it. And he dealt with it in the Lord
Jesus Christ, the surety. And he took what they are, the
source, the sin that they are. And Christ was made that. He was made the guiltiness where
His elect deserved to be. The spot that they should have
occupied, Paul said, I was crucified with Him, the very source. of
sin. I was crucified with Him. When
He was made sin, He was made what His people are. What His
people are, Mitch, all of it, the guilt of it, the stench of
it, the guiltiness is what that word means. The guiltiness. What
His people are in their very being. sin, the source entered
into the world through one man's disobedience. And all of the
guiltiness, like I said, don't think just the branches, the
manifestation, the lies, the connivance, the little innuendos. Not merely that. I'm talking
about the source of it. The word that I don't even know
how to describe. There, our blessed Savior, was
made the source. Who was found upon the cross? You say the Son of God. That's
right. The Holy Lamb of God. That's right. The spotless, blessed,
pure Lamb of Almighty God. That's right. And that lamb,
that spotless lamb was made sin. What was found upon the cross?
What was upon the cross? Sin. Sin was upon the cross. He hath made him sin. And God dealt with sin in the
person of our blessed Savior. He dealt with sin. He made him
sin. Sin was upon that cross in the
person. You look upon him. Who is that? That's my surety. What has he
done? God, He hath made him sin. Who knew no sin? that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. He took what His
people are by nature. And Christ was constructed, was
produced, was made to do, to make it. He made it. And God
Almighty put away our guilt in assurity. He dealt with it. He dealt with the very source
of it. He would either deal with it
in me, Neal, or he's going to deal with it in a substitute,
Brother Scott. But he's going to deal with it. He's going to
deal with the source of it. Now, you think about this. I've
said before, I've heard men say, and I agree, I never want to
be disrespectful. I've thought on these. I've talked
to Brother Scott about this message before I ever preached it. I
told him, I said, I'm going to run something by you. I'm thinking
about preaching tonight. There's a lot of controversy
about what this actually means. This is what this means. He was
either going to deal with it, or you can say, well, he dealt
with the manifestations of it. When is he going to deal with
the source of it? You see what I'm saying? I tell you this,
when my children are disobedient, I can deal with the manifestations
of their disobedience, but I don't have the ability to deal with
the source of it. I don't have the ability to change
their heart. Almighty God is going to deal
with the source. And He's going to deal with it,
as I said, either in me or He's going to deal with it in a substitute.
And He took the source of it. And Christ was made sin. Sin was upon that cross and all
for whom God would everlastingly show mercy. God dealt with in
Christ. Never forget, He that was made sin, He knew
no sin. The spotless Lamb of God. In
us, Holiness is induced in a new creation. In Him it was inherent. Christ was made sin that we might
be made or that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. To be reconciled to God, we must
have a surety. One who is cast in His lot with
ours. To produce or to be what we are
in nature, He had to be made what we are. In Adam, this is
what I am. He was made to be what I am. And all of His people, He's made
to be what they are. I'm born In Adam, in sin, I was
conceived. In sin, I came forth. In sin,
I practiced. And I practiced what I am by
nature. He was made my nature and put
it away. And we have been engrafted by
the eternal grace and mercy of Almighty God into Him. And in time, we'll know it. But justified, God has always
justified His people freely by His grace. Justified them by
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, the payment. Justified them in
the revealing of that justification in faith. And they manifest that
justification. By works and by words, He hath
made him to be sin. He hath made him to be the hamartia,
the source of. And I'm telling you, when I think
upon that, and I think, you mean to tell me that God has dealt
with the source of my sin. What I am by nature, not merely
my manifestations of it, If he paid merely for my manifestations
and the source of it is not put away, I don't have any peace. But if he has put away the source
of it, if God has dealt with him the source of sin, if he
has made him hamartia, the embodiment, if the embodiment of sin is found
there on Calvary and God deals with it, David said, I've never seen the
righteous forsaken. Never seen the righteous forsaken. When our blessed Savior, in that
moment, on that tree, when He was made
sin, He cried out, He said, My God,
My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why? He was made sin and God would
not look upon it. And he died. The wages of sin,
the wages of the source of sin is death. Either his or mine. He said, as often as you eat,
this is my body which was broken for you. This do in remembrance
of me. Let's remember the Lord tonight.
Okay, if the men would come.