The Heart of the Gospel Message Part 2

Pastor Mike will be speaking on The Heart of the Gospel Message Part 2. He will be reading out of 2nd Corinthians 5:21.

You can experience the bliss of God, the joy of God, the blessings of God, the salvation of God, or you can endure and experience the wrath of God, the judgment of God, the condemnation of God in hell.

Hello this is Pastor Mike Sanders and I want to welcome you to Hope Worth Having. We’re excited about the opportunity to minister to you in the Gospel and this week we’re going to be in 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 verse 21, a very classic passage of Scripture that many are familiar with.

But today I want to talk to you about the heart of the Gospel message. We’re going to continue our study from last week on this text and really understand what it means to have Jesus Christ die for our sins and how His righteousness is imparted to us.

So let’s grab our Bibles and let’s get into our study. And the beautiful thing in this story of this lady who was sharing her testimony was how she was able to reconcile with her family, how she was able to reunite with her family.

And that’s what I want you to understand is that that is the picture of the sinner. It is a beautiful picture that God reconciles us to Him that through Christ God reconciles us. And how does He do that?

How does God make reconciliation possible in our life? Go back to the verse, verse 21, He has made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin. The Bible tells us in the Gospel of Mark that even the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give His life.

ransom for many. Jesus gave his life for you. Jesus became sin for us. He took upon our sinful nature. He took on our sinfulness. He took on our guilt. He took on our shame. He took on our penalty. He took on our punishment.

And the Bible says that he gave his life as a ransom. Now the ransom was not paid to the devil. The ransom was not paid to the world. The ransom was not paid to people. The ransom was not paid to you, but the ransom was paid to God.

That’s what you got to understand is that the righteousness, the holiness, the justice of God demanded that sin be dealt with in your life and my life and the Bible says the wages of sin is what it’s death Christ paid the ransom for many all those who would believe in him he paid the ransom for those who would trust in him and he paid it to God’s justice and God’s holiness and God’s righteousness how did he do that by becoming the believers substitute you could not pay the ransom you could not pay the price Jesus took upon your sin it’s not that Jesus was a sinner but he took upon your sin your punishment your penalty and he took it on so that you could have eternal life and the Bible says that he made him to be sin for us who knew no sin the prophet Isaiah said he was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him with his stripes we are healed Christ takes our place bearing our punishment the Bible says through his stripes we are healed now so many have misinterpreted I’m sorry that they have but this is not about your physical healing this is about your spiritual healing and you got to understand that many times the prophets Jesus the apostles used metaphors to help us understand a spiritual truth just like you are physically healed you can be spiritually healed and Jesus he took upon himself the punishment of sin so that you could be spiritually healed heal.

He bore the brunt of the wrath of God for you, the sinless Son of God. Remember, who knew no sin? Jesus knew no sin. The sinless Son of God was made sin so that sinful people might be made righteous before God.

Jesus Christ was sinless. He knew no sin. He was not sinless just in the aspect of man’s expectations. He was not sinless just in the aspect of religious expectations and standards, but He was sinless.

and the standards, expectations, and holiness and righteousness of God. You might say, well, I would expect Christ to do A, B, and C to be sinless. But your standard would not even be near of what God’s expectation is.

And Jesus came on to this earth and He lived a sinless life. And as a matter of fact, in the Gospel of John, Jesus said to the religious elite, which of you convicts me of sin? Nobody could find fault.

The political elite Pilate said, I find no fault in Him. The apostles who walked with Him for three and a half years declared that He was righteous, that He was sinless. They knew that He was the holy Son of God.

He truly was sinless. And what I want you to see is that Jesus Christ was sinless, not only from the world standards, but from God’s standards and specifically relating to the law. The Bible tells us that Jesus claimed that He did not come to do away with the law, but He came to fulfill it.

Every aspect of the law, all the different things that the law required, Jesus fulfilled it. As a matter of fact, when Jesus was brought eight days after His birth to the temple dedicated to God by Mary and Joseph, it makes an interesting statement.

The Scripture says, fulfilling the law. We see this over and over again. One might ask, why would the Son of God… need to be dedicated to God when he came from heaven to this earth. Why? To fulfill the law.

Jesus was baptized. Why would Jesus need to be baptized? He is the righteous Son of God. Why would Jesus need to be baptized? Not only as an scriptures would teach to fulfill the law. To fulfill the law.

God the Father said, this is my son and whom I am well pleased. The testimony of the world, the testimony of the religious, the testimony of politicians, the testimony of the Apostles and the disciples, and the testimony of the Father was that Jesus Christ.

was the sinless Son of God, and that He obeyed every aspect of what the Father required and also of what the law that was given to Moses by God the Father. This is important because you might say, well, I might be able to take care of my own sin.

You might be able to take care of your own sin is a very arrogant statement, but let’s just give you that hypothetical thought. You could never, you could never take care of the sins of the world. Only Jesus who knew no sin, who fulfilled every aspect of the law, was qualified to die for the sin of the world.

Do you understand that? Do you really grasp that? Through the sinless life of Jesus, and through the death of Christ, God has pardoned your sin. The Bible teaches us in the Gospel of John that when John the Baptist saw Jesus, he said, behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

Jesus was the only one from the beginning, all the way to the ascension, the death and the resurrection and ascension of his life, was the only one qualified to die for my sin. He was the Lamb of God.

Why is it that we don’t offer sacrifices today? Because the… the final lamb has been offered to God for the sins of mankind. Our sins are not commuted, they are not rolled ahead, they are not, hey, this will pacify for another year till we come back for the Passover and we come back for the ritual of offering a lamb without spot or blemish, it is finished, it is complete.

And the Bible says that Jesus, when he hung on the cross, suspended between heaven and earth, he said, it is what church? Finish the work of paying for your sins and my sin is completed in Jesus Christ alone.

First Peter two, verse 24, he, referring to Christ, bore our sins in his body on the tree that we might die to sin. and live to righteousness by His wounds you have been healed.” Again, referring to our spiritual healing.

But I want you to get this, He bore our sins in His body. He bore all of our past sins, our present sins, our future sins. Christ paid for it all. You are under the blood of Jesus Christ. Christ, this was the cost of our reconciliation to God.

This was the cost of our redemption and our forgiveness in Jesus Christ that the sinless Son of God would offer Himself up as a substitute for you and for me. He would take our place on the cross. We were worthy of death.

We are worthy to be punished of our sin. We are worthy of the wrath of God to be poured out upon us. But Jesus Christ took that penalty on the cross. Now listen, the atoning work of Jesus Christ is sufficient to save all of mankind, all of humanity, but it is only applied to those who believe.

And so, if there was a cure for cancer, we would say, hey, if you want to experience the benefits, then you must take this medicine to cure cancer. But if someone said, I won’t take it, then the benefit is not applied to them.

And so, that’s why we say that Christ is sufficient, His atoning work is sufficient for all people to be saved, but it is only efficient or effective to those who believe in Christ, for those who trust in Him.

It is only applied to them. And so those who will not embrace that this sinless Son of God took their place on the cross, that they are cast into outer darkness, into the eternal lake of fire to be separated from God and they experience the wrath of God throughout all eternity.

Here’s your choice, my friends. You can experience the bliss of God, the joy of God, the blessings of God, the salvation of God, or you can endure and experience the wrath of God, the judgment of God, the condemnation of God in hell.

But you don’t have to, right? You don’t have to. Because Jesus already took the judgment of God on the cross for you. Jesus already took the wrath. He already took the condemnation. He already took the punishment for you so that you could have eternal life.

So when you believe in Jesus Christ, my friends, you are covered in the blood of Christ. So this concept of substitution lies at the heart of both sin and salvation. It is to be understood that Christ substituting Himself for us is at the essence of God saving us.

Now, when we think about what sin is, sin is man substituting Himself for God. Man saying, I’m gonna do what I wanna do. Nobody’s gonna tell me what to do. I’ll rule my own life. I’ll be the boss of my own life.

And it’s man substituting Himself for God. And I wanna tell you that path leads to hell. And I don’t say that gleefully. I don’t say that joyfully. I’m not excited about that. But I say it with sincerity to warn you.

You did note, I don’t know, but I was driving down 11 the other day. And my wife said to me, Mike, did you see the sign? This was 11 South, okay? And of course, I’m oblivious and clueless, amen? That’s why guys need directions.

She said, Mike, the sign says the bridge is out. I said, are you kidding me? Thank God, my wife tells me how to drive, amen? Now, don’t, she’s not here this morning. I don’t tell her that. She might start telling me more.

But I think God, somebody told me the bridge was out. And I’m telling you, telling you the bridge is out, the bridge is out. And if you don’t believe in Jesus Christ, the bridge is out, and it’s gonna lead to your demise and your destruction and your separation, but I’d rather you take the detour, and the detour is Jesus Christ.

It’s the pathway to heaven. Jesus is the answer for our sinfulness. Now I’m getting too excited, but I want you to note my last point, not my last thought, but my last point, the provision of the gospel.

We’re back in verse 21. 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. Now, what has God provided for those who believe in him? Righteousness.

That’s what God has provided for you. It’s called the divine transaction that Jesus who lived righteously on this earth, Jesus who was sinless, who was perfect, this divine transaction by faith is given, that righteous life is given to me.

I didn’t earn it, I just believed it. I didn’t achieve it, but God gave it to me by faith. And Jesus took on my unrighteousness. 1 Peter 3, 18, Christ also suffered once for sin, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God being put to death in the flesh, but made alive by the Spirit.

His life is my life by faith. The righteousness of Christ. You say, man, my life is a mess. I’ve made a lot of bad choices. I’ve made a lot of bad decisions. Listen to me, by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, His righteousness, His perfection, His godliness, His sinlessness has been attached to you by faith in Christ.

Don’t misunderstand me. When I say His life is my life, I mean in the realms of positionally before God, that when God sees me, He doesn’t see all of the mistakes and sins of my life, but He sees the righteousness of Christ in my life.

It doesn’t mean I still don’t wrestle with the flesh. It doesn’t mean I still don’t have to deal with temptation. It doesn’t mean that I still don’t fail God miserably, but what it does mean is that I am under the righteousness of Jesus.

And I’m no longer condemned. I’m no longer condemned of God. So when God looks on a Christian, he sees his son’s righteousness when a person trusts in Christ. Christ, His unrighteousness is exchange for Christ’s righteousness.

Again the Bible says, being found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. So the righteousness that God requires of me, the righteousness that God demands of me, remember the Bible tells us that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the Pharisees, you cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

My righteousness is as filthy rats, the righteousness that He demands of me, here’s the beautiful thing is the righteousness He provides for me. What He demands, He provides. What He demands, He provides.

Even the righteousness of God, the Bible says, which is my faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe. Here is God in His amazing grace treating Christ as a sinner so that the sinner may be treated as a righteous person.

For you today, what God has provided its benefit is that God has taken away your guilt. And here’s the beautiful story. He has wrapped you in His robe of righteousness. He has wrapped you in His robe of righteousness.

So what my response should be is faith. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. I should be expressing gratitude to Him today for what He has done for me. I should go forward and serve Him. Now let me just, before we close, address this particular issue.

And that is this. One might ask, if my sins are under the blood of Christ, why do I have to keep confessing my sins? If my past sins and my present sins and my future sins are all under the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Why do I need to confess my sins to God every day? Confession is about living in clear conscience before God and man. When I go through this world as a believer, the world stains us. And the world causes us to go in directions that are not honorable and godly.

And I have to realign my heart with God. And I have to once again wash that sin away that I have committed in this sense. Not that I’m not forgiven, but the effects of it upon my life in that I am not living in sweetness.

fellowship with Jesus has to be cleaned up. And so that’s why every day we say, forgive us of our trespasses, as we forgive those who have trespassed against us. That’s why the Bible teaches us, if we confess our sins, he’s faithful and just, to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all of our unrighteousness.

God is doing a cleansing work within my heart that I might live in a clear conscience before God and before man. Now, why is it that Christians no longer confess their sins to God? Because they do not have a healthy fear of God.

For if they feared God, as they ought to, they would bring their sins daily to God. And not only does the Bible teach us to confess our sins to God, but the Bible teaches us to confess our sins one to another.

We are to confess our faults one to another. And you wanna know why relationships go south? Is because of pride and an unwillingness to confess our faults. And you cannot live in clear conscience before God and before man without a willingness to humble yourself before God and say, God, I want to ask for your forgiveness and to come before others and say, look, I was wrong and I wanna ask for your forgiveness.

And as you live in that clear conscience before God, then you can maximize the righteousness that has been given to you in Jesus Christ. But yet some haven’t and some don’t. They hold on to grudges. They hold on to guilt.

They hold on to all kinds of… of stuff in their hearts, and it messes them up. Unresolved issues. And as a result, the righteousness that they have in Christ is never lived out because they’re holding on.

And they think by being hateful and angry and full of bitterness that somehow they’re going to win when they only are destroying their life. You and I have the blessing of the righteousness of God because of Jesus.

But the question is, are we living that out? Are we letting it hold us back? In the sense that we are not applying it to our life, are we walking in faith and gratitude? I pray today that God would move your heart to confess whatever you need to Him, to make whatever right you need to make right with someone else, and to walk away joyful and full of thanksgiving, serving the Lord Jesus Christ this week.

Father, we pray that in our hearts you would do a work that is important and effective. And I pray, God, that you would transform us to live out the righteousness that we have in you. And that as we live this out, help us to share it with others.

And I pray, God, that as people see our life and its difference and the righteousness that you have given us, that it would compel them to hear the gospel, believe the gospel, and to live the gospel.

I pray, Father, that you would restore and reconcile whatever relationships we need to make right, and that you would give us a heart that desires to please you and to honor you. We pray all this in the name of Jesus Christ.

Amen. Well, when we think about the fact that His righteousness becomes our righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ, it’s really hard to wrap your mind around it. comprehend all that that means to us.

The bottom line is that you and I are accepted into the family of God because of the righteousness of Jesus Christ and that is the heart of the gospel. There is nothing that I can do to merit salvation.

There’s nothing I can do to earn salvation and so Christ has done all the work that is necessary and because his work was perfect and complete there’s nothing I add to it. I just come to the Lord believing in him and what he has accomplished and he imparts to me true salvation and righteousness that comes from our Savior Jesus Christ.

So I want to encourage you to make sure you reach out and make contact with us and you go to our website hopeworthhaving .com and so we want to thank you for standing with us praying for us and I want you to know that in Christ there is hope worth having.