Faith Well Grounded

Part two in the e-dogg questions:

What follows is a second response to honest inquiries into the gospel. It has been "built" more than written- hopefully "led" more than built. Unfortunately, I fear that the heady subject and the "building" of the response may make it seem a bit choppy and disjointed, since I've gone from point to point to point within the overall subject. There is a lot to fit in here, and much more left out for the sake of brevity.

So, forgive the style, marinade on what is here, and please ask for further clarification where needed or desired. I pray the gospel as the power unto salvation into your heart. Further, as Paul does in Ephesians 3, I pray that Christ makes His home in your heart through faith. In short, I pray that the reader's heart is softened to the love of God in their lives.

Question 2: How was this sacrifice of any value or worth to us? Even if it was a sacrifice, how could it be accredited to us?

This is a natural extension from question 1 (What could an infinite God give up as sacrifice anyway?). First, we need to establish the need of redemption. Second, we need to establish God's justice, and then maybe the need for Christ will have a viable context. Romans 3 makes these points succinctly.

21But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.22This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference,
23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
24and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.25God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished-26he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

Combine this with Romans 6:23:

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Hebrews 9:22:

In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

Why? Deuteronomy 12:23:

But be sure you do not eat the blood, because the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the meat.

Everyone has sinned (Romans 3:11-18, 23), and Romans 6:23 states that the wages of sin is death. So everyone deserves death. It's not only a matter of what we deserve, but what can and can't happen. We can't be near God with the problem of sin on us, and to be absent from the source of life is to experience eternal death. So, God needed to uphold His justice by judging sin while not burning us up in the process; He needed to take care of our sin problem and provide an escape from sin (and to Him).

Now, who can take care of the problem? If each of us has been soiled already, then who can stand in the gap for us? If each of us is a slave to sin, then who can defeat sin? If we are all guilty on our own accounts, then who is worthy? If we are all bankrupt, then who will pay the ransom?

These are several of the parallels that Paul makes by way of explanation in his various epistles. The basic fact is that we are all guilty of our own transgressions with no ability to make restitution. So, it takes something outside of us to do it. It takes one not enslaved to defeat sin (an innocent, a perfect life). It takes something attributed to our accounts to pay the ransom, etc…

Blood must be shed for the remediation of sin, and our blood will not suffice. It is infected with the problem it would seek to solve. The shedding of our blood will only lead to the death since we are slaves to the sin that kills us. It's a catch-22. Life is no longer in our blood- only the curse of sin. It took the shedding of the blood of Christ on our behalf to make remediation. Where it once took the blood of rams and goats for temporary access to God, Christ made more perfect access through His perfect Blood (Hebrews 9), and this more perfect access is eternal, not temporary.

Jesus was the worthy sacrifice. He lived the perfect life, which was the only place besides ourselves that sin could be applied and judged. He paid the ransom that freed us from our slavery to sin. His perfect life is attributed to us through our faith, in that we are disinfected from the scourge of sin and thus have access to God. This was the plan all along.

Let's revisit Isaiah 53, written about Jesus well before His physical appearance.

4 Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 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.
6 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.

Here we see that Christ became our proxy in judgment.

7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.

It was a willing sacrifice on his part, else it could not have been a just judgment.

8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was punished.

The wages of sin is death, and Christ paid those wages so that we wouldn't have to.

9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.

This is speaking to more than His death, but more so to His resurrection. In vs. 9 He dies, but in vs. 10 His days are prolonged after His sin offering, and He sees His offspring. In other words, He dies and resurrects, and so does His "offspring". This is explicitly stated in verses:

11 After he has suffered,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors

Christ was made sin on the cross. Our evil, guilty, selfish deeds were placed on Him and judged in His death. His Blood was atonement for sin. His resurrection was the power of God in victory over sin and the curse that comes with it. Faith in Him is acceptance of that act. Rejection of the act is a rejection of the testimony of the Spirit of God concerning what has been performed for us. Rejection is literally calling God a liar (see 1 John 1:10-12), and this is the only thing that can and will put you in hell.

The sacrifice was a free act of love and grace.

John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

God is, has, and will always love you with the greatest of loves. Christ as God loved you so much that He left His place to become as you are, to experience what you experience, to be tempted as you are tempted. He loved you so much that He stooped to your place to purchase you back into His bosom, because you could not reach His place. God the Father loved you enough to send Him. But that is as far as His choice will intrude. You can either accept the relationship provided and respond to the most perfect love ever to be offered, or you can cast it aside and live forever the life of the prodigal son- in the filth and degradation, even as the Father wishes your return.

Blessings…

custom-pager custom-pager-1 custom-pager-blog