Now, we're turning for our message
this morning to the book of 2 Corinthians, chapter 5, verse 20 and 21. I'm speaking on this subject,
The Gospel Made Plain. I started to entitle this message,
Do You Really Want to Know the Gospel? But let's just call it
this, The Gospel Made Plain. Now, we're not selling anything. We're not giving anything away.
We're not raising money for any special causes. I have really
a threefold purpose today. I want to encourage you, you
who know Christ, you who love the Savior, I want to encourage
you in the gospel. And then I'd like to inspire
you. To love Christ, I'd like to inspire
you to walk in the will of God, to study the word of God, but
I believe it's a minister's place also to instruct the people. to instruct you in the things
of God, and that's what I plan to do. In dealing with this subject,
the gospel made plain. Now here's a searching question,
and I want you to prayerfully and carefully deal with it in
your own heart. Do you really want to know the
gospel? Do you really care? Paul said
the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. I can answer
for myself. I want to know the gospel. I
don't want to perish depending on a false hope and building
on a false foundation. I'd like to know the gospel.
And I'd like to know the gospel, not a gospel or some gospel or
any gospel. I'd sure like to know the gospel,
wouldn't you? The apostle said, if we or even
an angel from heaven preach any other gospel than that which
I preached unto you, let him be accursed. There is but one
gospel. Do you really? want to know the
gospel. Are you willing? Are you willing
to give up your own wisdom and learning and lie at the feet
of Christ as Mary and learn of him? Are you willing to quit
following men? Are you willing to lay down your
traditions? Are you willing to lay down all
your customs and your forms and your ceremonies and, yea, even
your own thoughts and let God be God? And let God speak for
himself, and say with the prophet of old, Lord speak, thy servant
hear it. Just tell me, and I'll listen. I'll listen. Now look at the
text. Turn to 2 Corinthians, chapter
5, verse 20. And it begins this way, and I'm
glad it begins this way, because I need to make this clear. Now
we are ambassadors for Christ. Now, my friends, I don't claim
any special powers. I don't claim any healing power
in my hand. I don't claim any special powers
in my benedictions and blessings. I don't claim any special powers
in my word. I say with the Apostle Paul in
1 Timothy 4, 16, to Timothy, he said, take heed to yourself
and to your doctrine. continue in them, for in so doing
you shall save yourself and them that hear you." Now, that's my
concern. I want to be saved myself, and
I want those who hear me to be saved. I don't claim any special
power. I can't help myself, let alone
help you. I'm dependent upon God. God must
save both of us. So I don't claim any special
powers, and you won't receive any special blessing by me conferring
some sort of blessing upon you. You've got to look to Christ.
I point you to him who can save you. And then I claim no special
privileges. No special privileges. Paul said,
I keep my body, my ambitions, and my pride. I keep these things
and bring them into subjection, lest when I preach to others,
I myself become a castaway. Don't follow me. Follow Christ. Don't follow any man. Because
that man may wind up a castaway. It's possible for him to present
to you the way of life and never enter therein himself. So I don't
claim any special privileges. I don't claim there's a special
door for me down at the end of the hall. I've got to come through
Christ. Christ is the way for you and
he's the way for me. The way of repentance and faith
is the way for all men. Black and white, rich and poor,
old and young, learned or ignorant, religious or not religious. And
I don't claim any special position. And foolish is the preacher who
does. You know, Paul said in 1 Corinthians
3, neither is he that planteth anything, neither is he that
watereth anything, but God that giveth the increase. Paul said,
I'm less than the least of all the saints. I'm not one whit,
he said, behind the chief apostle, but I'm nothing. I'm nothing. I'm the chief of centers. I don't
claim any special position in the kingdom of God. And I don't
claim any special holiness. In 2 Corinthians 4, 7, Paul said,
we have this treasure in earthen vessels. That's what it's in. If I bring anything to you, I
bring it in an earthen vessel. I don't bring it in a silver
cup or a gold cup. I bring it in an earthen vessel.
That the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. Who's sufficient for these things?
No man. But our sufficiency, thank God,
is not ourselves. Our sufficiency is Christ. The
only claim I make, I claim no special power, position, authority,
but I do make one claim. The only claim that I make is
a call to the gospel ministry. I'm preaching as one who may
never preach again. I'm preaching as a dying man
to dying men. I believe that the Word of God,
I believe that the Word of God is the infallible, inerrant,
inspired, verbally inspired, God-breathed Word of the Living
King, and that he has called me to preach it to you. I do
make that claim. I do believe that I'm an ambassador
of Jesus Christ in human flesh, and as Paul said, we call on
you in Christ's stead. As though God did beseech you
by us, be ye reconciled to God. That's the only claim that any
human being can make. I believe God called me to tell
you the truth, to preach to you the gospel. That's what he said,
as though God did beseech you by us. We know that God speaks
to men through men. Listen to these scriptures. There
was a man sent from God whose name was John. And God told the
people to hear him. And then the scripture says,
Paul talking, he says, commit this gospel to faithful men. You commit it to faithful men
that they may teach others. And then he says, God has entrusted
us with the gospel. Therefore, if you really want
to know the gospel, You're going to have to listen to somebody.
You're going to have to listen to somebody who knows it himself,
who has been taught of God. Paul said, I wasn't taught this
gospel by men, I was taught this gospel by God. God revealed it
unto me. If you care how God can be just
and justifier, if you're interested in God's divine purpose in redemption,
are you willing to listen to the word of God? and the one
who believes that God called him and sent him to deliver that
gospel to you. Well, here it is. Here is the
gospel. Here is the message made plain.
Here is the message of redemption. Here is the gospel without fine
words or eloquent phrases. Here it is in verse 21. Paul
said, I am an ambassador of Jesus Christ. As though God did beseech
you by me, be you reconciled to God. I speak in Christ's stead.
For, now look at this next verse, for, here it is, he who knew
no sin was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. God hath made him who knew no
sin to be sin for us that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. Now, in order to learn from this
verse, we need to camp a little bit on each word. And I see three
words here which introduce three persons. Listen to it again. For he hath made him to be sin
for us. who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him." There are three
words that introduce us to three persons. He hath made him to
be sin for us. He, God the Father. Him, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Us, the sinners. Now let's look
at them all. First of all, he. He hath made. All things begin with God. There's
nothing that doesn't begin with God. Everything has to start
there. Creation started with God. Time
started with God. Light started with God. Life
started with God. So redemption starts with God. Everything has God as its beginning
and God as its source. So if we're going to study the
gospel, we don't start with man. We don't even start with a blessing.
Anybody who knows anything about the gospel has to start at the
beginning, and that's to start with God. That's where Paul starts. He says, he hath made him to
be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. Everything starts with God. Eternal
life's to know God. Salvation's to be reconciled
to God. To be redeemed is to be redeemed
by God. Not a God, not some God, not
any God, but the living God. That's what Christ said, eternal
life is to know Thee, the living God. So everything begins with
God, the God of heaven and the universe, the God of creation,
the God of holy scriptures, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and David. It all begins with God. And if
a man is going to know the living God, he's going to have to hear
of the living God. So we start with God. He hath
made him to be saved. You know, Paul wrote in Romans
10, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved. But how shall they call on him
in whom they've not believed? And how shall they believe in
him of whom they've not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? So that's where I start. I start
with God. If I'm going to teach the gospel
to any man, I start with God. Sin is in relation to God. Sin
is against God. Mercy comes from God. Everything
starts with God. And there are three attributes
of God given in this text. We know these three things about
God. The first thing we know about God is this. He is a sovereign
God. What does the word sovereign
mean? Almighty, omnipotent, all-powerful. that God does as he pleases,
when he pleases, with whom he pleases. He's answerable to no
one. He's sovereign, independent. He hath all power. That's what
the word said. They said, David, where is your
God? He said, our God's in the heaven. He hath done whatsoever
he pleased in the heavens and the earth and the seas and all
deep places. That's Psalm 115 and Psalm 135. God says, can I not do with my
own what I will? Can I not do with my own what
I will? I will have mercy upon whom I
will have mercy. God is sovereign. That's what
this verse is saying. He, God, hath made him to be
sin for us. God did it because God could
do it, and because God would do it, and because God was pleased
to do it. God's sovereign. The next thing
we find out about God, the next attribute that we learn about
God in this verse of scripture is that God is infinitely, unchangeably
just. Now this is so important, this
is so vital to learning the gospel. He hath made him to be seen for
us. That he is a sovereign God is
seen in his power to make Christ to be sin for us. Only God could
do that. An angel couldn't do it, a man
couldn't do it, all the forces of hell couldn't do it. But God
can make Christ to be sin for us. The fact that he did, the
fact that he did it reveals his power and the fact that he was
willing to do it and had to do it. in order to satisfy his justice,
reveals his righteousness and his holiness. That's right. Now
you think about that a moment. That he is a sovereign God is
seen in his power to make Christ to be sin for us. That he is
a just God is seen in the fact that he spared not his own son,
but made his son to be an offering, a sin offering for us. His law
must be honored. His justice must be satisfied.
Even his divine sovereignty cannot overlook his divine mercy. The
law says we're guilty, and God won't clear the guilty, not without
satisfaction. See, the God of justice cannot
wink at sin. The God of righteousness must
punish sin. The God of justice cannot compromise
his holiness, shall not the judge of the earth do right? So we
see this in this verse of Scripture, that God's a sovereign God. He
hath made him to be sin. He's the only one who could.
He has the power. He has the right. He orders all
things according to his will. He hath made him to be sin for
us reveals the justice of God because God must have a sin offering. God will in no wise clear the
guilty. The justice of God must be satisfied. In order for God's love to be
expressed to the creature, God's justice and righteousness have
got to be honored. So the very fact that he sent
his son into this world to be the propitiation for our sins
reveals his justice, his righteousness, and his holiness. Now here's
the third attribute. He's a God of mercy. He's a God
of grace. He could have left us in our
sin. God is not obligated to us. He is plenteous in mercy,
he delights to show mercy, and as a judge he must punish sin,
but as a father he must pardon sin. I heard somebody say one
time that God could have damned everybody or God could have saved
everybody. I'm not so sure about either
one of those. I would go along with the fact
that God could have saved everybody. That's in God's secret purpose
and pleasure and wisdom, I don't know. But I do know this is not
right. God cannot damn everybody. Nothing
be God, because God's love. I know God's justice and righteousness
and holiness, but God's love demands to be expressed just
as much as his holiness, just as much as his righteousness.
God is good. You know, when Moses said, Lord,
show me your glory, what did the Lord show him? Did he show
him the power of his might? Did he show him some miracle?
Did he show him some wisdom? Did he show him some accomplishment?
No, sir. He showed him his goodness. That's
God's glory, his goodness. God is love. I've heard people
say God's a God of love. I beg your pardon. God is love. God is righteous, God is holy,
God is sovereign, God is love. And God must not only show his
justice, but he must, love must be expressed. God is not obligated
to men, but he is obligated to himself. God owes men nothing,
but he's bound by his love and his mercy to be gracious, for
God so loved the world. that he gave his only begotten
son. It was because he loved. Christ didn't come down here
to get God in the good humor toward us. He came because God
was in a good humor. Christ didn't come down here
to get God to love us. He came because God did love
us. You see that? For God so loved
the world that he gave his son. You see what I'm saying? This
verse shows me a lot of things. We need to study the Bible. You
can't read the Bible like you read a novel or a newspaper,
because it's the Word of God. And God can say in two words
what it takes men volumes to say in their rambling phrases. And it shows me, as I look at
he and him and us, these three persons, I look at he first,
God, and he's sovereign. He hath made him to be sin for
us. And I see His justice and righteousness,
the fact that He made Christ to be sin for us, shows that
His justice, there's no other way. If there'd been another
way to save sinners, He would have taken that way. But there
is no other way but the death of His Son, the infinite, everlasting,
eternal Son of God dying for sinners. And then God's mercy,
God's love. God must be merciful because
He is merciful. God must manifest His love because
He is love. His love elected a people, His
justice demanded a sacrifice, and His grace provided that sacrifice. It all began with God. Salvations
of the Lord. That's the reason Jonah cried
in the depths of the fish's belly, salvations of the Lord, because
it is. That's the reason our Lord Jesus
said to his disciples, with me and it's impossible, with God
all things are possible. That's the reason David repeated
again and again, the salvation of the righteous is of God and
of him only. Now let's look at the hymn. He
hath made him. Him. Who is the him? Well, first
of all, it's the second person of the Blessed Trinity. It's
the Son of God. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
only begotten of the Father. Not made, begotten. You know, when Isaiah announced
his coming, he said, unto us a child is born, unto us a son
is given. As a child, Jesus Christ was
born into the world. That body, God prepared for him,
the dwelling place of his son on earth. But a son is given. He wasn't born. The Son of God
wasn't born. He's the begotten, the only begotten
of the Father. Begotten, not made. Begotten,
not born. Being of the same substance as
the Father. As the Father co-equal, co-eternal,
co-existent. As the Father is eternal, so
is the Son. As the Father is almighty, so
is the Son. As the Father is infinite, so
is the Son. As the Father is omnipresent,
so is the Son. As the Father is omniscient,
so is the Son. He said, I and my Father are
one. He is the Son of God. Who is
Jesus Christ? He's the Son of God. Whom do
you say that I am? Thou art the Son of God. Without
stuttering or stammering or apology, He is God, very God of very God. He's the brightness of His glory
and the express image of His person. Not only is He the Son
of God, He's the Son of Man. That's right, very God of very
God, very man of very man, bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh,
one with us, numbered with the transgressors. The Word was made
flesh and dwelt among us. That's the incarnation. I suppose
the three greatest miracles that this world will ever experience
are incarnation, regeneration, resurrection, or glorification. And the first one is the incarnation
that God could come down here and dwell on this earth. He's
the second Adam. As in Adam we die, so in Christ
we're made alive. By the disobedience of one, we
were made sinners. By the obedience of one, we were
made righteous. Jesus Christ is God Almighty. He is the Son of Man. He, God,
hath made Him the Son of God and the Son of Man. What else
does it say? He is the sinless substitute. It says He knew no
sin. Now notice, my friends, it doesn't
say he did no sin, though he didn't. It doesn't say he performed
no sin, though he didn't. It says he knew no sin. He knew
no sin. There was no sin in him. The
virgin birth is absolutely, unconditionally, absolutely necessary. If Jesus
Christ had been born of a human father, he would have known sin.
He'd have been born with a sinful nature, with a fallen nature,
with an Adamic nature. But he was born, that son of
Mary was conceived and begotten and born of the Holy Spirit. That's right. He knew no sin. He was tempted in all points
as we are and yet without sinning. He knew no sin. But he bore our
sin. He was made sin for us. Our sins
were laid on him, our transgressions were laid on him. Here's the
third person, listen. For he hath made him the son
of God, the son of man, the sinless substitute, the sacrificed Jesus
Christ. God hath made him actually to
be sin for us, for you and me, for sons of Adam, for rebellious
creatures, We were created in the image of God, and now we're
dead in trespasses and sin. We once walked with God, and
now we walk according to the course of this world, with the
prince of the fire there. We once were children of grace
and love, and now we're children of wrath. We once communed with
the living God, and now we cry, crucify him, crucify him. We
once were the friend of God, and now we're the natural enemies
of God. That's what the natural mind
is, enmity. We once were created upright and holy, but we sought
out many inventions, and in our flesh dwelleth no good thing.
We once knew God, and now Christ said, you neither know me nor
my Father. We once were higher than the angels, and now lower
than the beast. We once were the kings of creation,
and now the servants of sin. We once had freedom of will and
now we're prisoners of our own fallen nature. We once were filled
with love and now we're filled with nothing but hatred and malice.
Oh, the exceeding sinfulness of sin. What the law saith, it
saith to everyone under the law that every mouth may be stopped,
speechless before the holy law of God, condemned with nothing
to say, and all the world become guilty. Here's the good news
and here's the gospel. But for us in that condition,
for us in that helplessness, for us in that depravity and
darkness, for us upon that dunghill of corruption, he, God, hath
made him, his blessed, only begotten, well-beloved son, to be sin for
us, to come down here in the dunghill and in the pit of depravity
and to take literally upon his body our guilt and shame and
filth and sin and to go to that cross and under the wrath and
judgment of a holy God to die for us. He wore my crown of thorns
that I might wear his crown of glory. He took my nakedness that
I might wear his robe of holiness. He bore my shame that I might
share his honor. He endured my suffering that
I might have his joy. He died my death that I might
live his life. He went into the grave that I
might come forth. He ascended to glory that I might
one day, in his likeness, ascend to the presence of the Heavenly
Father. That's the gospel. that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. We have no righteousness
of our own. This is what Paul, the charge
that Paul brought against those beloved friends of his in Romans
10. He says, I have great heaviness of heart and continual sorrow
for my brethren according to the flesh. I want to see them
saved. I bear them record. They have
a zeal for God. They're religious. But not according
to knowledge, for they're ignorant of God's righteousness. And they're
going about to establish their own righteousness. What is God's
righteousness? It's Christ. It's not my works.
It's not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according
to his mercy he has saved us. My righteousnesses are filthy
rags in God's sight. They may look beautiful to me.
I may treasure them and hold them close and take great pride
in them and they may even look good to you. Anything I do is
sinful in the sight of God. Even the plowing of the wicked
is a shame and sin in God's sight. And even our righteousnesses,
our works, our good thoughts, even our prayers, even our tears
need to be wept over and repented of. Because they're so full of
sin themselves, so imperfect, all of sin, and come short of
the glory of God. But he, God, hath made him, Christ,
to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of
God. I don't have any of my own, and you don't either. And don't
bring it to God. Don't talk to God about what
you deserve. Talk to God about what he in
mercy is pleased to give through Christ. For in Christ we have
a perfect righteousness. He, for the sins of all the elect,
hath a complete atonement made, and justice can never expect
that the same debt should twice be paid.