Sermon details
- Scripture
- 2 Corinthians 5:21
- Speaker
- Various Speakers
- Date
- 15 April 2022
- Length
- 23 minutes
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The full weight of the gospel message
Good evening. It was in 1812 that the Baptist missionary Adoniram Judson set sail along with several of his friends from the shores of England to go to Burma as they sought to take the gospel to a foreign land. And they would be some of the first foreign missionaries to hail from the Americas. And this was not going to be an easy process. It would be long and arduous. And they knew that from the beginning and, uh, at an Ironman, his fellow missionaries had to convince, uh, many churches, many Christian organizations that it was worth giving their money to them so that they could go and take the gospel to this foreign land. Because at this time in America, the concept of foreign missions had fallen out of Vogue. And so. It just took a lot of work simply to reach the point that they would actually board a ship and actually go across the ocean. And that work would give most people pause to put in so much effort to go overseas. And they had to beg various governments of foreign lands just to let them sail safely through passages. Storms tossed them to and fro across the ocean, making them wonder if they would ever actually complete their voyage or if they would just board this ship and die right here. And even so, as they sailed and they discussed things like scripture and theologies, some of the missions crew even began to have doubts about what they believed, particularly as it pertained to baptism. And so, as they were in India, still waiting to get to the country of Burma, Judson and his crew had a rift, and so much so that Adoniram Judson and his wife, Nancy Judson, had decided to part ways with their closest friends, Sam and Harriet Newell, who was traveling with them. They felt it best to preach the gospel in Burma, but separately. So, in spite of their theological differences, they continued forward and they both sailed separately on different ships to the golden shores of Burma. And after several more months at sea, the Jetsons finally had arrived in the deltas of Burma, and the Nules, Sam and Harriet, had arrived before them. And they looked forward to seeing them, in spite of the fact that they now had these theological differences, that they might receive some mutual encouragement from each other before they began their journey. However, as the Jetsons' ship anchored at the edge of the country, very quickly from the shores came the news that Harriet Newell was dead. She had traveled and put in more than a year's worth of work to get to Burma just to die at its gates. And this story of tragedy with her was simply a prologue of the many tragedies and sufferings that would come at the ministry of Adoniram Judson. And by the time he had finished his Christian mission 38 years later there, he had lost two wives and more than half of his children. And I think of Adoniram Judson, when I think of the sufferings of Christ, because I wonder to myself, why go through such pain? Why wouldn't anyone just be justified after so much trouble, just to hang up their hats and say enough is enough? And yet, for men like Judson, or for men like Paul who wrote our scripture tonight, 2 Corinthians 521, there is never enough suffering. that can surpass the suffering of Christ on the cross. And there is no such thing as enough suffering when we contemplate our scripture this evening, because the Savior that they served suffered much. And so 2 Corinthians 5.21 says this, my friends. He became sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. And in 2 Corinthians 5, Paul here is declaring that Christ, God, was reconciling the world back to himself. And how was he doing that? He became sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Paul is telling here in chapter 5 to the Corinthians that as believers, we are God's ambassadors to the world. And we are to be taking the ministry of reconciliation out to the rest of the world. And just as Paul had suffered to spread this message of reconciliation and of God's work on our behalf, so to a man like Judson also and his companions also suffered for the important but most heavenly work of taking the gospel and telling people what Christ did on their behalf. And friends, brothers and sisters, visitors, church members tonight, there is no message more important that you could hear today than 2 Corinthians 5.21.
He became sin, who know no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
In this verse, brothers and sisters, we see the full weight of the gospel message. And we sang the full weight of the gospel message just recently. On the cross, Jesus clothed himself with what we are, which is sinfulness. And he clothed us with a very important part of who he is, which is righteousness. Friends, there has been since the fall of humanity, the very big separation between God and man because of our sinfulness. and you know this as you read scripture, and you know this from your experience, that we have a gap and a gulf between us and God. And God in his holiness, God in his perfect justice, he has demanded a remedy for this problem. He has demanded a punishment for disobeying him. He has demanded that his glory be defended No good and just God would allow sinfulness and a lack of justice to go unchecked. And it is the full consequences of our sin. In the full consequence of our sin, God required a penalty, brothers and sisters, but here is the good Friday. He also provided the penalty for our sinfulness in Jesus Christ. In the verses prior to verse 21, Paul focuses on the why of salvation. You are separated in sin from God, and you must be reconciled to him. And he says, don't delay, don't put it off, don't wait another moment. But here in 521, we see the how of salvation. And so there's two clauses here that I just want to focus on very briefly in this. And the first clause is,
he became sin who knew no sin.
And when I read this, I contemplate the question, is it really saying that he became sin? And I think the answer is pretty simple. If that were the case, then this clause and this verse in and of itself would contradict both itself and the rest of scripture that claims that Christ was in his very nature without sin, and was in his very nature sinless. 1 Peter 2.22 says,
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he committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in his mouth.
And 1 John 3.5 says,
you know that he appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.
I think, better put, this verse informs us of Christ's sinlessness, brothers and sisters. Christ lived a representative life on our behalf. He was obedient for you. He could keep the law for you where you could not. And as a human, please understand, he committed no sin. As a child, He wasn't disobedient to his parents. He wasn't naughty. As a teen, he wasn't brooding. As an adult, he wasn't sarcastic or untoward towards other people. He was born holy, and he was willingly obedient to the Father on your behalf. If at any point in Jesus' life he had failed to live up to the law or to the righteous decrees of the Father, friends, he would not have been able to save you on the cross. But instead, he lived a sinless life, even as he hung on the cross. So I think really what Paul is saying here in this first clause is not that Jesus became a sinner, But here with the fullest of rhetorical force, he's trying to help us understand that the massive weight of your sin and my sin and the sin of the world was laid so fully upon Jesus Christ in this moment that he could say confidently, he became sin. And in that moment, the full weight and wrath of God laid upon the Son. He took upon himself the penalty of our sin so that God the Father could be satisfied. Paul was showing us that the act of God of laying upon the sin of us all upon Jesus was so full that we could say confidently he became sin. And brothers and sisters, we cannot miss this on this Good Friday. that the curse of sin had to be poured out on Jesus. Otherwise, it would have been poured out on you. This is Good Friday. For those who put their hope in Christ, their sin which separates them from God is imputed onto Christ and his righteousness is given to us. I often think as a father, I feel like my failings and my sinfulness bear themselves out best upon my children. And that I think a lot of us can feel the same way that if we have children who whine, it's because we whine. If we have children who lash out in anger, it's because we lash out in anger. If we have children who lack trust, it's because we have broken many promises. So many times our sinfulness washes over those around us, especially people like our children. But now, brothers and sisters, take the full weight of your imperfections and lay them upon Christ. The consequence of our unrighteousness truly isn't in the ways in which we may harm the people around us, but we see it on the cross. The true and penultimate consequence of our sinfulness was the death of Christ for us. And so we get to clause two, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. So we have the dreadfulness of our sin being laid upon Christ, but we have the great hope of his righteousness being laid upon us. And in this in this clause, I see both a promise and an invitation. Why did Christ take the full weight and measure of our sin? Why did Christ allow himself to be humiliated on the cross? As he hung there and felt the separation from the father and he yelled,
Why have you forsaken me?
It was so that in him, brothers and sisters, we might become the righteousness of God. On the cross, your sin was imputed to Christ, but at the cross, his righteousness was given over to those who would believe and move towards him in acts of faith upon what he did on the cross. But please understand, brothers and sisters, that this wasn't merely an act that covers your sinfulness. He didn't merely clothe you with righteousness. It's not as though we are clothed in Christ's righteousness, but underneath we are still dirty and filthy. 2 Corinthians 5.17, just before this, says,
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come.
When your sinfulness is put upon Christ at the cross and his righteousness is laid upon you, you must understand that you became something else. You became something new. You became as the righteousness of God. And when he transforms you into something new, what he gives you is more than a perfect yourself. You could not work for a thousand years and achieve the perfection upon which Christ bestows upon you when you trust and believe in his death on the cross. He gives you something better, more perfect. And that's a wonderful promise, brothers and sisters. To be reconciled to God is for the believer the perfect promise that you will be given his righteousness. And that should cause you to live with thankfulness, with gratitude, with humility. So I see a promise in this clause, but I also see an invitation. It says,
so that we might become the righteousness of God.
If you're here today and you're not a Christian, there's an invitation in this verse for you. Because right now, as you sit here, you carry the full weight of corruption in your body and in your soul. And you are sinful down to your very core. And as you sit here today, you also bear the burden of answering for that corruption to a perfectly just and holy God. The wrath that was poured out upon Jesus at the cross will answer for those who believe and move in faith towards him. But right now, if you are not a Christian, the wrath of God will one day bear down upon you. At the cross, you can trade your sinfulness for his righteousness. And so I see today good news. and an invitation. And as we saying earlier, stricken, smitten and afflicted,
ye who think of sin but lightly nor suppose your evil great here may view its nature rightly. Here your guilt may estimate.
If you are not a believer, your guilt is very deep and very weighty. And so receive the righteousness of God today. So I have just two applications, one for the non-Christian and one for the believer before we finish here. And first is for those of you who are not Christians, and that is that you must understand that the world that you live in, it wants you to make atonement for your sins. It wants to grind you into a powder and make you pay for every wrong thing you've ever done to yourself or to anyone else around you. And sometimes the world wants you to pay for the mistakes of others. You must now realize that Christ has already offered the solution for your sinfulness on the cross. As Jesus, or as Paul says in the prior verse to this,
we implore you on behalf of Christ Be reconciled to God.
But also know that the same God who requires your sinfulness to be handled also is providing you with the solution. You bring nothing to your salvation, but the very thing upon which you need to be saved from, which is your sinfulness. So today, if you are not a Christian, be reconciled to God. And then for those of you who are believers, Just as Paul was maligned for preaching the gospel, just as Christ was nailed to a cross for proclaiming the hope of salvation through him, you too, friends, will be reproached for your citizenship in Christ's kingdom. Easter is coming on Sunday with its springtime dresses, its Easter egg hunts. It's celebrations of he has risen indeed. But we must not be blinded to the reality, friends, that Christ's death was a sobering moment for those who would follow him. And that moment should sober each of us today. You are playing the long game here, Christian. You are forfeiting your citizenship in this world. with all of its proposed benefits for a greater, more heavenly citizenship in Christ's kingdom, a place of promised blessing. And so I implore you today in light of Christ dying on the cross and in light of the scripture today, prepare yourself always for the sufferings that comes along with being reproached for your associations with Christ. Preach boldly as Paul did in your workplaces, in your families, out in public amongst your friends that Christ has come to save them. Because this is part of what it is to be a follower of Jesus Christ. Just as Jesus was reproached as he hung on the cross, brothers and sisters, you will be reproached for your faith in him as you proclaim the good news that he has died for their sins. It was 1819, seven years after arriving on the shores of Burma, before the first person came to Christ under the ministry of Adoniram Judson. And if you think that conversion was the first of many joyous, filled occasions, you need to think again, because Judson was shortly afterwards thrown in prison for many years, accused of being a foreign spy, In fact, in his 38 years of mission in Burma, there was one five-year period, 1834 to 1839, that he considered his peaceful years. The rest of those years were filled with torture, victimization from the local governments, and numerous personal tragedies, but all of that was worth it. so he could plead with the people there. And as I plead with you here today, be reconciled to God. How?
He became sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Let's pray. Father, we come to you now thankful and full of gratitude for the act that you did for us upon the cross. Jesus, you bore our sins. Father, you provided your son as a sacrifice so that we would not have to bear the weight of our sins on our own. And so today, Father, we plead through your spirit that you would move those who do not yet believe into your house. Father, we pray that as we approach this Easter Sunday, that we would not simply dwell on the death of Jesus, but we would also find hope in his resurrection. And so we praise you now and forevermore for your gracious and eternal act on our behalf. It's in Jesus' name that we pray, amen. Please rise and stand as we sing our final song, And Can It Be. you
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