Last week’s sermon, Pt.1, “Saved from what?” was hard to listen to. It was a 100% true, but it was a difficult topic to explore. There is nothing easy or attractive about hell and the doctrine of conscious, eternal punishment. But hopefully, the desperateness of the situation, the hopelessness and impossibility to do anything to avoid the wrath of God and the judgment of hell was taken as the warning it was intended to be, for that is how Scripture presents it.
Near the end of that sermon, I spoke of the only way of escape, the only way of salvation, which was to be found in Christ Jesus alone.
Today, I want to explore the salvation that is ours by answering the question, “Saved by what?” As we consider the work of Christ, we need to consider not only His death but also His life. Both are needed for our redemption. There are two requirements necessary for obtaining salvation. The first is removing the guilt and punishment due our sin that alienates us from God and keeps us out of heaven.
The second is to gain the reward of heaven through perfect obedience and reconciliation to God.
The first involves Christ’s death, the second, His life.
Let’s consider the first, the removal of guilt and punishment which involves death.
All sin must be punished. That punishment is death and condemnation. But if God immediately passed sentence on everyone who sinned, “who could stand?” there would be no one left on earth. But God had already determined a way to exact punishment, without executing every single person. That way involved a SUBSTITUTE. Right from the beginning when Adam, as the representative of all humanity, sinned and broke the covenant of works, which required obedience, there was the shedding of blood in that God provided animal skins to Adam and Eve to cover them. Symbolically that covered their sin. Then throughout the Old Testament we have the whole system of animal sacrifices to cover the sins of the person and the nation. Those sacrifices stayed the hand of God. But all those sacrifices were temporary in their effect and duration. That’s why they needed to be repeated again and again. As it clearly states in Heb.10:1-4;
“The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. 2 Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. 3 But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins. 4 It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”
Those animal sacrifices, while they temporarily covered sin, they could not make the people perfect. Last week I pointed out that we are called to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect. That perfection means sinless perfection, as in keeping the commandments without fault and no one is able to, or wants to, so no one can meet that criteria of perfection. Rom.3:23 states;
“ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”
We are all guilty of sinning. And all sin, all failure, all imperfection must be punished. That simply means everyone deserves judgment and condemnation before a holy God. And no one will escape judgment as 2 Cor.5:10 states;
““For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ,”
If we continued to read the Heb.10 passage in v.11-14, we find;
“Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. 14 For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.”
That Old Testament theme of substitutionary sacrifice carries over to the New As Paul notes in Eph.5:2;
“… Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”
So, without Christ, we all sit on death row, guilty and awaiting final judgment. As we sit, every time we hear the outer lock open, we know they have come for someone. The date of execution has come. But this time two people are walking down the corridor. They pass by many cells but stop at yours. The jailer, whose name is Grace, opens your cell and says, “You are free to go.” “What?” you surprisingly ask. She nods to the person behind her. This man has taken your place and will be your substitute and has agreed to accept your punishment. You are free to go.” As you step out and pass close to that man, he smiles at you and He says; “You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you to love and die in your place. Go in peace.” And you walk out as a free person into the light and life that awaits.
Friends, that man’s name is Jesus! And that is what it is like when we speak of His atoning work on the cross.
The first part of our verse today reads;
“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us,…”
Substitution is a consistent theme throughout the Bible. It found in the Old Testament in such passages as;
Isa.53: “But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all…for the transgression of my people he was punished…For he bore the sin of many,”
The theme is front and center in the New Testament as well. 1 Pet.2:24 reads;
““He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross,…”
And Jesus himself declared in Mk.10
“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
As A.W. Pink writes;
“In taking the place of offending sinners, Christ became obligated to discharge all their liabilities, and this involved bearing their sins, being charged with their guilt, suffering their punishment. Accordingly, God dealt with Him as the Representative of His criminal people, inflicting upon Him all that their sins merited. As the sin-bearing Substitute of His people, Christ was justly exposed to all the dreadful consequences of God’s manifested displeasure.”
In this act of vicarious substitution not only is the Holiness and justice of God satisfied, by His love is also demonstrated.
Rom.5:8, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
John Stott said;
“Moved by the perfection of His holy love, God in Christ substituted Himself for sinners. That is the heart of the cross of Christ.”
Christ dying as the substitute for the sinner removes the obstacle of sin as a barrier to heaven. Rom.8:1 tells us;
“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,…”
Because Christ has completely satisfied God’s justice by being the substitute for our sins, therefore God forgives us and “remembers our sins no more!” Ps.103:12;
“as far as the East is from the West, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”
Yet, while we can no longer be condemned, neither can we be rewarded with heaven for we still cannot meet the required absolute sinless perfection criteria. While Christ has paid the penalty, and we cannot be punished, we keep on sinning and cannot establish a perfect righteousness before God. How did God deal with this aspect of our salvation?
The second part of our verse reads;
“so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
This has to do with the sinless life Christ lived, conforming to the commands of God so that all righteousness was fulfilled in Him. He alone fulfilled the requriement of obedience the Covenant of Works demanded. Again, Pink writes;
“The active obedience of Christ to the law was required as the meritorious condition upon which the Divine favor and the promise of the reward of the covenant might come upon all whose Surety He was.”
Think of it this way. How did Christ attain the reward of eternal life? Christ alone attained the reward by works! By His living a sinless, perfect life of obedience and adherence to the Law Christ fulfilled the covenants demand, “Do this and live.” With this in view we can now see the double exchange, the double imputation or divine transference that God brought to pass through Christ. First, God imputes to Christ our sins and rescues us from condemnation. But secondly, God then imputes Christ’s righteousness, His perfect obedience to us, that we “become the righteousness of God” and can claim the reward of heaven! As one author pointed out;
““But it’s not just the forgiveness of sins that came on the cross. Because Christ Jesus lived a perfectly obedient life, God the Father imputes (that is, credits) Christ’s perfect righteousness to his people by faith in Christ alone. Martin Luther called this “the great exchange,” where our sin is credited to Jesus and the earned righteousness of Jesus is credited to all who call upon the name of the Lord (Rom. 10:9, 13; 2 Cor. 5:21; Eph. 2:8-9; 2 Tim. 1:9). Where Adam brought death through his rebellion, Christ earned eternal life for all believers.”
This explains why we often read that at the last judgment we will be judge by “what we have done” or by our “works.” Remember last week when I read Rev.20:12;
“And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.”
The unbeliever will be judged by their works. Those endlessly failed attempts to be sinlessly perfect. Their impossible efforts to do enough “good works” to out weigh their bad will prove empty and in their guilt they will be judged and condemned to the lake of fire. Paul writes in Rom.3:20;
“Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.”
But for the believer, the book of life will be opened. And because of their faith and union with Christ, His perfect works, His righteousness has been put to our account. So God sees Christ’s works not ours. We are covered by His righteousness, the righteousness of God. Paul continues in Rom.3:21-22;
“But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.”
Listen! The righteousness of Christ, all His sinless perfection, is given to the believer! Such wonderful grace! This is the blessing of the Covenant of grace. Christ alone fulfilled the requirements of the Covenant of works, but under the New Covenant, the covenant of grace, Christ works, his life and death, are now applied to every believer through faith!
This should cause us to rejoice as in the Isa.61:10;
“I will rejoice greatly in the Lord, My soul will be joyful in my God; For He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness, As a groom puts on a turban, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.”
By grace through faith, the gates of heaven swing wide open to the believer in Christ!
Author, Derick Bingham wrote,
“I gave Him a crown of thorns, He gave me a crown of righteousness.
I gave Him a cross to carry, He gave me His yoke which is easy, His burden which is light.
I gave Him nails through His hands, He gave me safely into His Father’s hands from which no power can pluck me.
I gave Him a mock title, ‘This is the King of the Jews.’ He gave me a new name and made me a king and a priest to God.
I gave Him no covering, stripping His clothes from Him, He gave me a garment of salvation.
I gave Him mockery, casting the same in His teeth, He gave me Paradise.
I gave Him vinegar to drink, He gave me Living Water.
I crucified and slew Him on a tree, He gave me eternal life.
It was my sinfulness that put Him there. It is His sinlessness that puts me here.”
And “here” is being reconciled to God through Christ! Now, God the Father has run out to welcome the returning prodigal, saying;
“ ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’
Saved by what? The Life and death of Christ Jesus!
Saved FOR what? I’ll address next week
