Love’s Plan: (The Solution)

“You can never overstate the efficaciousness of the atonement.       You can never exaggerate the power of the cross”

- A.W. Tozier: The Attributes of God

A Pastor Sacrifices Son to Save A Non-believer

        After a few of the usual Sunday evening hymns, the church's pastor slowly stood up, walked over to the pulpit and, before he gave his sermon for the evening, he briefly
introduced a guest minister who was in the service that evening.

        In the introduction, the pastor told the congregation that the guest minister was   one of his dearest childhood friends and that he wanted him to have a few moments to greet the church and share whatever he felt would be appropriate for the service. With that, an elderly man stepped up to the pulpit and began to speak. “A father, his son, and a friend of his son were sailing off the pacific coast”, he began, “when a fast approaching               storm blocked an attempt to get back to the shore. The waves were so high, that even though the father was an experienced sailor, he could not keep the boat upright and the three were swept into the ocean as the boat capsized.”

        The old man hesitated for a moment making eye contact with two teenagers who were, for the first time since the service began, looking somewhat interested in his story. The aged minister continued with his story, “Grabbing a rescue line, the father had to make the most excruciating decision of his life: to which boy would he throw the other end of the life line. He only had seconds to make the decision. The father knew that his son was a Christian and he, also, knew that his son's friend was not. The agony of his decision could not be matched by the torrent of waves.” As the father yelled out, “I love you, son!” he threw out the life line to his son's friend. By the time the father had pulled the friend back to the capsized boat, his son had disappeared beneath the raging swells into the black of night. his body was never recovered.

             By this time, the two teenagers were sitting up straight in the pew, anxiously waiting for the next words to come out of the old minister's mouth. “The father”, he continued, “knew his son would step into eternity with Jesus and he could not bear the thought of his son's friend stepping into an eternity without Jesus. Therefore, he sacrificed his son to save the son's friend. How great is the love of god that he should do the same for us. Our heavenly Father sacrificed His only begotten Son that we could be saved. I urge you to accept his offer to rescue you and take a hold of the life line he is throwing out to you in this service.”

       With that, the old man turned and sat back down in his chair as silence filled the room. The pastor again walked slowly to the pulpit and delivered an invitation at the end. However, no one responded to the appeal to be saved. Within minutes after the service ended, the two teenagers were at the old man's side. “That was a nice story,” politely stated one of them, “But I don't think it was very realistic for a father to give up his only son's life in hopes that the other boy would become a Christian.”

          “Well, you've got a point there,” the old man replied, glancing down at his worn Bible. Abig smile broadened his narrow face. He once again looked up at the boys and said, “It sure isn't very realistic, is it?  But, I'm standing here today to tell you that story gives me a glimpse of what it must have been like for God to give up his Son for me.

You see, I was that father in the story who sacrificed his son in the ocean and your pastor was my son's friend. I was pure agony seeing me son die, but it was much worse thinking of his friend, your pastor, going to hell because he did not know Christ then.”

            “That’s right the old man was the father in story who couldn’t bear to see this young man suffer eternity in hell separated from God’s love. He knew firsthand what it meant to give his one and only son to save someone else?” He then challenged the boys with a question, “How about you? Have you accepted his offer to rescue you? Have you taken hold of the life line he is throwing out to you in this service?” ¹ Now I ask some of you reading this book have you taken the life line, the free gift of salvation which is Jesus? Just trust in Jesus.

        You see Christ took out punishment so we would never have to be punished by God, Christ was separated from God so that we (once we accept Jesus as Savior) will never have to be separated from God, Christ took all of our judgment so that we could think of God as our Papa instead of our judge. Romans 8:15 says that the moment we trusted Jesus to save us that The Holy Spirit came in and gave us a new spirit of sonship. It says, “We have been given a spirit that cries Abba, Father.” The word “Abba” is the Hebrew word for daddy or papa. Again I did not write this, I am not making this up. These are the very words of God for His redeemed people. Look at Psalm 130:3-4. It says clearly that those who trust in The Lord God does not act like a record keeping judge, “If you, Lord, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand?  But with you there is forgiveness so that we can, with reverence, serve you.” That is the Word of God straight from His mouth.

        A friend of mine, Robert Leahey, wrote a song called jail breaker. It is a great song that tells a great story. Imagine that you are in court and you receive the death sentence. The judge pounds his gavel and says, “Guilty, you are to be executed.” All of a sudden to everyone’s astonishment the judge’s son, a righteous and innocent man, stands up and says, “Father I will take his place. I will die in his place. Let him go free and I will take his death sentence.” You and I would be a fool to turn down such a great offer, and that is exactly what Jesus did when He died in our place on the cross. ¹

 

The Gospel - It Means GOOD NEWS!

        I want to focus in on a couple of verses today. But first let me start off my asking a question. If man severed himself from God (when Adam and Eve decided to be "independent" of God and try to be "gods", rather than abiding in God Who IS Life and Who is Love, Joy, Rest, and Peace), then how did the Gospel happen? Did man go and ask God to come and redeem Him? NO! Every other world religion says "try as hard as you can, thru good works, and maybe you'll make god love you."

        Only Christianity (that is true Christianity NOT the perverted religious counterpart), says "God loves you and has provided a way back to Him." The world for Gospel, (euangelion) in Greek, means "good news." It brings joy and peace! It means this: The Gospel was initiated by God and not man. Why did God pursue man after man rejected God? The answer: God loves man unconditionally! God is love! Read the following verses again from the NIV translation.

"1 John 4:8 God is love.
1Jn 4:9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.
1Jn 4:10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
1Jn 4:11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
1Jn 4:12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us." And also, "1Jn 4:16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him."
Notice is says twice "God is love."

        He doesn't just have love or give love. He IS love!! That means He loves the vilest sinner. He loves the drug addict, the prostitute, and He loves even the rapist and child molester. How can He do this? Because He is love! Love also transforms people.

        How can He accept sinners without being unjust? The Answer lies in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Yes, God does have to punish sin, but yet He loves man. He has to love man but He does this while maintaining justice, for He cannot be unjust. God is Holy and His standard is perfection. He cannot compromise His holiness. So how is this solved?

        The answer - Jesus took the punishment for the sins of the whole world. He makes us brand new so that we are not the same person anymore! The Apostle Paul was a terrorist who hated and killed Christians but He was changed to a brand new person that loved Jesus Christ and who loved other Christians. But I am getting ahead of myself. Let’s look deeper into the problem of love.

The Solution

        As we learned in the previous chapter, God’s purpose for mankind (which is for us to know His love and be in relationship with Him) encountered a “problem.” I hate to use that word because God is sovereign and knew man would reject Him. The Bible clearly says that God had already planned to redeem man before He even created the earth. With that in mind the “problem” is that man rejected God and sin infected the whole human race. The result was that man was separated from God and the relationship was breeched, damaged, fractured.

        As stated above though, God in His love and sovereignty already had a plan in mind. The Bible says that Jesus is God’s sacrificial “Lamb slain before the foundation of the world” – Revelation 13:8. God loves mankind and is merciful and willing to forgive sin. But at the same time He is just and cannot compromise His Holy Justice. The Bible states that “the wages of sin is death.” A wage is something you earn. All mankind (that means you and me too) has sinned against a Holy God and therefore earned (deserves) death and eternal separation from God (hell). But there is Good News (that is what Gospel means GOOD News)!

       

        Man can only escape His sentence if there is a substitute, someone willing to take His place, someone to take His punishment. That is where Jesus comes in. He is perfectly innocent and holy. He is both man and God. Since He took on human flesh then He can die for our sins. Since He is God, perfect and holy, then His sacrifice is powerful enough to pay for all sins. God is eternal and therefore Jesus’ sacrifice has eternal value. Now if you are a Christian already, do not say, “I know this already”, because many Christians are going to Heaven but do not understand the full, complete Gospel.

        In the Book of Hebrews God compares the Old Testament Sacrifices to Jesus’ one sacrifice, “^{Heb 9:14} How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!” When He died on the cross His blood that was shed had eternal value and worth. Because He is so Holy, one single drop of His blood is enough to wash away a thousand lifetime of sins. His blood in powerful enough to wash away all the sins, of all mankind; every person, everywhere. Hebrews 13:20 calls it “the blood of the eternal covenant.” His payment on the cross is an eternal payment; a payment enough for an eternity of sins. Not only past sins, but present sins, and even FUTURE SINS!! Because Jesus is God’s Son, He is perfectly pleasing to God and

His sacrifice satisfies God’s wrath; it placates His Holy wrath; it appeases God’s anger against sin. Ephesians 5:1 says sacrifice on the cross was “pleasing” (it took away God’s anger against sin.)However only those who believe, who put their faith in Jesus as Savior receive the effect of Jesus sacrifice. Those who trust Jesus as Savior are reconciled to God, forgiven all their sins, and accepted as a child of God, “^{Ro 3:25} God presented Him (Jesus) as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.”

        

        He died and after three days rose again, proving Himself to be God (The Son) and also showing that God the Father found His sacrifice pleasing. Let’s take a look at what the Scripture says, “^{Ro 4:24} God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. ^{Ro 4:25} He (Jesus) was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.” Another verse in 1 Peter says, “^{1Pe 3:18} For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit.”

         But that isn’t all, it gets even better. Not only does Jesus take our punishment and completely wash away all of our sins (past, present, and future) by His blood, He goes a step further. When we believe in Jesus He places His righteousness on us. That is called “Imputation.” It’s the great exchange. He takes our filth and sin and gives us His perfect, holy righteousness. Who wouldn’t want to take Him up on a deal like that? 2 Corinthians chapter 5 states, “^{2Co 5:19} God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them” and then in verse 21, “^{2Co 5:21} God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

         So Jesus takes our death, washes away our sins, pays our debt (justification), and then clothes us with His own righteousness (imputation). We become 100% righteous and free FOREVER from condemnation. So when God sees us, He sees us as righteous and holy because of what Jesus has done. Not to get too technical but there are two terms you need to know, Justification and Imputation. Don’t worry we’re gonna make this simple to understand.

         The moment we trust Jesus and accept the free gift of forgiveness God justifies us. The term “Justify” is a Bible word that means to declare righteous. When we place our faith in Christ God declares us, “righteous, just, and holy.” He calls us justified. Another way of seeing it is like someone putting their money into someone else’s bank account. Imagine if you were very poor and Donald Trump transferred all his billions of dollars to your bank account; that would be great!! The bankers would look at your account and say “You’re rich.” It’s someone else’s money that was given to you as a gift. You were not rich at all but poor. However the banker sees Trump’s wealth. Well it’s the same with God. Jesus transfers His Righteousness and Justice into our sinful “account.” The moment we believe in Jesus for salvation God looks at our “account” and sees Christ’s righteousness and declares we are right then “Justified.” God credits Jesus’ righteousness to our account.

         Look what Romans chapter 4 says, “^{Ro 4:3} What does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” ^{Ro 4:4} Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation.

^{Ro 4:5} However, to the man who does not work (i.e. trust in his obedience) but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.”  Notice God “justifies the wicked.” He changes a sinner into a saint. But this happens only through faith alone.

        Once you trust Jesus for salvation you become a Christian. And that means God’s not mad at you!  God’s anger is placated. You will never go to hell when you die, you will most certainly go to Heaven. Also you get an experience a relationship with Him in this life. God is satisfied. He is at peace with you. Chuck Swindoll has a great deal of wisdom in this matter when he says, “Where did we pick up the idea that God is mad or irritated? Knowing that all (my emphasis) of God’s wrath was poured out on His Son at His death at the cross, how can we think like that? As a matter of fact, the reason He brought back Jesus from the grave is that He was satisfied with His Son. Ponder this: If The Father is satisfied with His Son’s full payment for sin, and we are in His Son, by grace through faith, then He is satisfied with you and me” ¹ Ref The Grace Awakening p. 61-62.

        I want Quote Chuck Swindoll from the Grace Awakening, his definition of justification. “Justification is the sovereign act of God whereby He declares righteous, the believing sinner – while he is still in a sinning state.” ² Ref The Grace Awakening p.24 Remember I did not make this up and neither did Chuck. God said it in The Bible, “But to the one who does not work (i.e. for righteous standing), but believes in Him Who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned (or credited) as righteousness.” (Romans 4:4-5 New American Standard Bible).

        Listen here religious man, you may even call yourself Christian. If you are then you cannot argue with God. Ephesians clearly says, “8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.” Eph. 2:8-9. Who are you to argue with God? Who is anyone to argue with God about how man is saved? God saves us the moment we take, by faith, the free gift of salvation. We have not done good works yet, we have not given money to the church, and most of us probably have not been baptized until after we believed. We have not done anything but believe God and take the free gift that He is handing to us. So that’s justification. Now let’s talk about imputation.

        Look at these radical verses that talk about Jesus clothing us with His own righteousness. Hebrews 10:10 says, “we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” For once and for all time Jesus has made us holy in God’s eyes. Hebrews 10:14 says, “^{Heb 10:14} because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.” Because we are hidden, clothed with Christ, God sees us as “perfect.” Not only does He see us as perfect (and remember I did not say this God did), He sees us as “perfect FOREVER!” You are 100% righteous in God’s eyes. Yes, you are 100% righteous in God’s eyes. Now when I say that I don’t mean we become perfect; not in the sense of we’re “perfect” as in we never make a mistake again, or have perfect behavior. I hate most bumper stickers because they take great truths and change them into cheesy sayings. However here is a good one that is true “Christians are not perfect, just forgiven.” I’m not perfect, no Christian is perfect. I sin and blow it constantly. I might lose my temper with my family, have greedy thoughts, lust, etc. There is only ONE perfect Person that ever walked the earth and His Name is Jesus. When it says we are made “perfect forever” that means that Jesus has washed our sins away perfectly. In addition He has covered us with His perfect righteousness, the “righteousness of God” Because Jesus us God He is “perfect” and us holy, holy, holy and righteous.

        He clothes us IN His righteousness. This is called being in Christ. That phrase is used 150-160 times in the New Testament. Now we cannot undue what Christ has done or else we would be greater than Him, and that is blasphemy to say such a thing. How ridiculous to think we are stronger than God. Are you going to argue with what GOD says. He says, “By one sacrifice (on the cross) He has made perfect forever those who are being made perfect.” Perfect, and yet perfect FOREVER!!! That means every time God looks at us He will see Jesus who is perfect. Jesus is perfect forever and that means God will see us in Christ PERFECT FOREVER!!

        Let’s look at  2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “God made Him (Jesus) Who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” Jesus is God. He has the very righteousness of God. He covers us with His perfect holiness so that when God sees us “in Him we become the righteousness of God.” God sees, not our sinfulness, but He sees “the righteousness of God.” He sees Jesus. We are clothed with Jesus and wrapped up in His righteousness. There is a great picture of this in the Old Testament. In the Ark of The Covenant was the Ten Commandments, and we all break the Ten Commandments every day; we deserve God’s wrath. But God would only appear when the priests applied the blood of a slain lamb on the top of the Ark which was called “the mercy seat.”

         Notice the blood sacrifice covered up the Ten Commandments which we break. It is a symbol of God covering our sins with the blood of Jesus. Jesus’ blood covers all the sins that we commit, all of God’s laws that we break. But Jesus’ blood is infinitely greater than the blood of the lamb in the Old Testament. Because He is The Eternal God, His sacrifice brings eternal forgiveness and mercy. If in the Old Testament God would appear to the Jews and show mercy because of a lamb that was sacrificed for their sins; then how much more will Jesus’ blood bring mercy?

        Once we grasp that, by faith in God’s Word, we experience peace and freedom from fear. Once we are filled with the peace of God, we are motivated by love to serve Him. We learn to fall in love with Jesus because of His sacrifice for us. We become so grateful that, as The Bible says, “The love of Christ compels us.” (2 Corinthians 5:14) Now in the next chapter we will learn how to walk in true holiness and still have freedom from guilt, be filled with peace, and motivated by God’s love.

        Now once we are saved, good works will follow. But the source of our works is Jesus living inside of us by His Holy Spirit. Remember we talked about the branch who broke off from the tree and tried to produce fruit on his own. His efforts were fruitless (pun intended). I will quote from that story again, “He (the branch) grunted and strained but no apples appeared. He sweated, grunted, strained, moaned, and strained some more but still no apples. He tried his hardest. He even said, “I will use my will power and determination and I WILL grow apples.” But things got worse. Not only did he not grow apples. His lush, green leaves started turning brown and frail. As they leaves got more and more brittle they cracked and big chunks of leaf would blow away in the wind. The leaves withered up and the branch started to look dry, dull and brittle himself.”

        If you remember I also said this is a Biblical analogy, but instead of a tree and a branch  (which is more common in America), in the Bible, it was a grapevine and a branch (which is very common in Israel). In John Chapter 15 Jesus says, “^{Jn 15:5} “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” That is the bad news, BUT WAIT!! It doesn’t end there. There is good news, a happy ending if you will. Jesus also said, “If a man remains (abides, stays connected) in me and in him, he will bear much fruit.” (John 15:5a) Did you get that? You will be a beautiful branch full of luscious, delicious grapes when you simply abide in Jesus. In the New Testament there is another encouraging verse, “I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13) 

          So it is not grunting, straining, or trying on our own. It is letting Jesus lives through you. That sounds much more simple, peaceful, and life – giving doesn’t it? Just in case you have heard bad Bible teachers say this is talking about “staying saved”, notice what Jesus said in John 15, “You are already clean because of The Word I have spoken to you.” (John 15:3). This is not talking about salvation. Once we trust Jesus as Savior we are already forever clean in God’s sight because Jesus washed away our sins (through His blood and death on the cross). This is not talking about salvation, this is talking about sanctification. Sanctification is a big theological word that means “to grow in Christ” or “to start behaving like a Christian” or “to start acting more holy.” But again it is NOT self effort. We do it by abiding in Christ.

        How do we abide in Christ and become more holy in our daily lives. The Bible has an answer, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20.  It all comes back to faith. Trusting Jesus to guide us and grow us. In Colossians 1:27 Paul talks says, “In the same way you received Christ (i.e. by faith) so walk in Him.” We walk by “faith and not by sight.” (2 Corinthians 5:7).

Trust and know in your heart that Jesus will cause that divine “sap” (using the tree/vine analogy) of His life to flow to you. He will produce good fruit in you. Remember to keep focusing on Him and His love for you. That will compel you to become more Christlike. “For the love of Christ compels us.”  (2 Corinthians 5:14). Amen!

¹ Source of Story Unknown.

²Leahey, Robert, writer. Jailbreaker. Souled Out. Robert Leahey, 1992, CD.

³The Grace Awakening p. 61-62. Swindoll, Charles R. Word Publishing.

⁴ The Grace Awakening p.24. Swindoll, Charles R. Word Publishing.