That's Christianity. The benefactor is God. It's all his plan. It comes out of his love. The substitute is Jesus Christ who took your place, the perfect God-man.
The beneficiaries, all of us for whom he died, those who will believe. And the benefit, you receive the righteousness of God imputed to you as if you were equal to Jesus Christ. Welcome to Grace to You, the Bible teaching ministry of John MacArthur. I'm your host, Phil Johnson. You can read the Bible from cover to cover, all 66 books, and you should do that and keep reading through it.
But you know, there are some verses that say so much in just a few words that they really should stop you cold. and perhaps none covers more profound truth in a shorter space than the verse John MacArthur shows you to day on Grace to You. 15 Words of Hope. That's John's lesson. It's one of the most important messages in Grace to U's 56 years.
The title of our current study, John MacArthur's Most Memorable Sermon, and it's a best-of collection of John's sermons as chosen by members of the Grace to U staff. And here's John now to continue his message called 15 Words of Hope. The verse that we're going to look at is 2 Corinthians 5, 21. 2 Corinthians 5, 21. It says this.
He made him who knew no sin. to be sin on our behalf. that we might become the righteousness of God. In him.
Now as we look at this verse together, I want to point your attention to four elements. Four features of the text that unfold its significance: the benefactor, the substitute, the beneficiaries, and the benefits. That really sums up. How God can reconcile sinners. Let's start at the beginning, the benefactor.
The verse begins. He made stop there.
Now, if you're a b a Bible student, the first question you're going to ask is, To whom does he refer? The answer comes quickly, look one word back at the end of verse 20, God.
So, if there was to be reconciliation, the plan had to come from God. He had to initiate it, he had to design it, he had to execute it. Second thing you see in this text. First, the benefactor who is God, second, the substitute. And the substitute is identified.
He made Him who knew no sin. That's the identification of the substitute. Who is it? Him who knew no sin? Let me tell you something, folks.
That narrows the field. Yeah. Him who knew no sin, who's that? It's not a human being. For there is none of them who is righteous, no not one.
They've all sinned and come short of the glory of God, Romans 3, 23. There's no human being who qualifies. Who is the one who knew no sin? Who is this one? Who is the one who can bear the full wrath of God against sin?
for somebody else because he doesn't have to bear it for himself. See, no sinful person could be a substitute. No sinner could die for another sinner because he'd have to pay the penalty for his own sin. There had to be a sinless offering. And it had to be a human being because it had to be man who dies for man.
But he couldn't be a sinful human being, or he would have to die for his own sin and couldn't. provide atonement for somebody else's.
So it had to be a sinless man.
Well, the only way to have a sinless man It was to have a man who was God, because God alone is sinless.
So if you're going to have a sinless man, you have to have a man who is God. And that's exactly what God designed. that the second member of the Trinity sinless and perfect, equally holy. With the other two members of the Trinity, would come into the world. in the form of a man.
He was not to have a human father. Joseph was not the father of Jesus, and Joseph knew it. Joseph had never known his wife. in a conjugal way. He found out that she was with child, he couldn't believe it.
And then the angel said, that which was conceived in her was of the Holy Spirit.
So that Jesus had a human mother that he might be a human, but God was his father.
So that he was the God-man, the sinless human being. The Old Testament pictured that. Because when the lamb was selected, it had to be a lamb without what? Spot and without Blemish. It had to be a perfect animal without a mark.
picturing the real substitute. who would be perfect. A man to die for men. God To be sinless, so that indeed he could be a substitute. In Revelation chapter 5, there is a marvelous picture.
And it points up the fact that no one is qualified. Except Christ. In Revelation chapter 5, we go to heaven and we're in the throne room of God. And God is on the throne, and in his hand he has a scroll. Sealed with seven seals.
This is a title deed to the universe. This is looking at the future. When God gets ready to take his universe back. from Satan and sin. From the one Lucifer who fell and usurped the rulership of this Universe.
And so God is holding in his hand as it were in this vision. The title deed to the universe. Verse 2: John is watching in his vision. He sees a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, and the angel says, This: Who is worthy to open the book and to break its seals? And verse 3 says, No one in heaven.
Or on the earth. or under the earth. was able to open the book. or to look into it. And I began to weep greatly.
because no one was found worthy to open the book. or to look into it. There wasn't anybody. There was not one individual in the created universe, man or angel. Who could step forward?
and execute the contents of this book. No one. And John began to weep. No one to take back the universe. From Satan.
Verse 5, one of the elders said to me, stop weeping. Behold, the lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the root of David. Has overcome so as to open the book in its seven seals.
Somebody is worthy. Who is it? The lion from the tribe of Judah. That's a that's a man Out of the tribe of Judah? That's a Jew.
From the tribe of Judah. But he's also the root of David, not the branch. Not something that came out of David, but what produced David. That's God. And in what form is he?
Verse six: a lamb slain. There's only one who is worthy to take back the universe, and that is the one who was born a Jew, in every way human, but the one who was God, the very source from which David came. the one who was the slain lamb. God then Had to create a unique virgin-born God, man. in order to be the substitute.
Because the plan demanded a substitute. Justice had to be satisfied. The law had to be vindicated. Wrath had to consume.
So Paul says to the Galatians, when the fullness of time came, God sent forth his Son. born of a woman. Wow. Why? In order that he might redeem those who were under the law.
Galatians 4, 4, and 5. Jesus Christ, then, is the one who knew no sin. Him who knew no sin is Christ. And the testimony of Everyone historically affirms that. Jesus says in John 8, 46, which of you convicts me of sin?
Silence. And there's still silence. Hear Pilate in Luke 23. Pilate, cynical, vicious, cruel, ungodly, pagan, idolatrous. Pilate said in verse 4 of Luke 23 to the chief priests and the multitudes: I find no guilt in this man.
Verse 14. Again and again he said it. I have found no guilt in this man. Verse 22, and again the third time he said to them, Why, what evil has this man done? I have found in him no guilt.
Listen to the thief on the cross. We indeed suffer justly, he says. To the other thief, we're receiving what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong. Listen to the testimony of the centurion who watched it all in verse 47: certainly this man was innocent. And it wasn't just Unbelieving people who saw his perfection.
How about the apostles? John, who was with him day and night for three years. John, who followed his every footstep and heard his every word and saw his every act and maybe felt his every breath as he leaned on his breast as often as he could. It was John who said in his epistle, 1 John 3, verse 5: In him there is no sin. And John said, we were eyewitnesses of it.
And then there was the writer of Hebrews. Who affirms the very same reality when he says in chapter 4, verse 15, We do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are tempted, yet without sin. And in chapter 7, the writer of Hebrews says. He was wholly innocent. undefiled and separate from sinners.
And then there was Peter who preached in Acts 3. And he says of Christ. You have killed the prince of life. And he calls him a holy and just one. And then you remember it was Peter.
Especially Peter. Who said of Christ, That he was a lamb, first Peter 1:19, unblemished and spotless. Who said of him in chapter 2 of that same epistle and verse 24, he bore our sins in his own body on the cross that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. But he, verse 22, committed no sin. And then in chapter 3, And verse 18 of that same epistle.
Christ died for sins, the just. for the unjust.
Now the testimony of unbelieving men Was of his sinlessness. The testimony of those who knew him best was of his sinlessness. But there's another who gave testimony. And that testimony is indeed powerful. It was none other than God the Father himself.
At his baptism, recorded in Matthew 3:17, the Father said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am completely pleased. And at his transfiguration in Matthew 17, verse 5, this is my beloved Son, in whom I am completely pleased. They see the father. was totally Satisfied. with the sun.
There was nothing. in the son that dissatisfied the father he was perfect sinless Now had he not been man, he couldn't be the substitute. Had he not been sinless. He couldn't be the substitute.
So he had to be man and he had to be God. Notice our text again. God made him who knew no sin. Here is the remarkable statement, to be sinned. You see He had to punish sin.
But if he punished the sinner, the sinner would be destroyed in hell eternally.
So we had to take the substitute. and put him in the place of the sinner. and punish the substitute instead. He had to be sin men. That phrase is very important and I want you to grasp it.
What does it mean? That he was made sin. That's an astounding statement. What does it mean? Well, first of all, let me tell you what it doesn't mean.
And you need to understand this clearly. It does not mean that Christ became a sinner. It does not mean that he committed a sin. It does not mean that he broke God's law. He did not do that.
The scriptures I've just read to you indicate That he had no capacity to sin. That's what theologians call the impeccability of Christ. He had no possibility to sin. He could not sin. He was sinless God while fully man.
And certainly, it is unthinkable that God would turn him into a sinner. The idea of God making anybody a sinner. Is unthinkable to say nothing of making his holy son into a sinner. You say, well, what does it mean then that he was made sin? Isaiah 53 Introduces it to us.
Surely our griefs he himself bore Our sorrows he carried. Verse 5. He was pierced through for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities, and the chastening. that fell on him was because of us Verse 6, all of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way, but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him.
He didn't die for his own sins. He died for what? for our sins. What it means is, the Lord took all of the iniquity of all of us. And it fell on Christ.
What do you mean? It wasn't his sin, no. It was our sin. What is it saying? Simply this.
God treated Christ as if he were a sinner. How? By making him pay The penalty for sin. Though he was innocent. He paid the penalty.
God treated him as if he was the sinner. More than that, God treated him as if he sinned all the sins of all who would ever believe. Is that incredible? Sin, not his at all. was credited to him.
As if he had committed it. and paid the price. And he didn't. But it was credited to him as if he did. That, listen, is the only sense in which Christ was made sin.
And the word is, he was made sin by imputation. Sin was imputed to him. It wasn't his. He never sinned. But God put it to his account.
Charged it to him. and making him pay the penalty. Be like some It would be like all the sinners in all the world charging all their sin to your credit card. And you having to pay the bill. Imputation.
Listen, the guilt of of the sins of all who would ever believe. God, all who would ever be saved. Was imputed to Jesus Christ. credited to him as if he were guilty of all of it. And then just As soon as God had credited to him.
God poured out the full fury of all his wrath against all that sin and all those sinners. And Jesus experienced all of that. Is it any wonder at that moment he was alienated from God and said, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? He was treated as a sinner. He was treated as a sinner deserves to be treated.
With all the fury of just punishment. Let me go further. He was treated as every sinner. cumulatively deserve to be treated. And all the fury was poured on him.
He was personally pure. He was officially guilty. He was personally holy. He was forensically guilty. Let me say it another way.
Christ dying on the cross. Did not become Evil. Like we are. Nor do we, by virtue of the cross. Become as holy as he is.
You say, well, what happens? It's imputation. God puts sin to Christ's credit. Our sin. and puts Christ's righteousness to our credit.
It's not that we are so righteous God is satisfied. It's that because the penalty is paid and the guilt has been met. that God can Credit to us the righteousness of Christ. That's the gospel. The only sense in which you are made righteous Through justification is By imputation.
And that's the same sense in which Christ was made sin. He is made sin because God credits our sin to Him. We are made righteous because God credits His righteousness to us. Listen. I'm a Christian, you're a Christian.
I am not so righteous that as I am, I can stand before a holy God. Are you? I got a lot of sin. in my life. And I would say if I got anywhere near God, what Peter said, depart from me, O Lord, for I'm what?
I'm still sinful. But God looks at me. And does not consider me on the virtue of my human morality, he considers me on the virtue of the imputed righteousness of Christ, which covers me. This is the point. The benefactor is God, the substitute is Christ.
and by imputation receives our sins and dies for them. Taking our place. Thirdly, the beneficiaries. And these last points are brief. Thirdly, the beneficiaries.
He made him who knew no sin to be sin. Here it is, on our behalf. On our behalf. Who are you talking about, Paul? Who is our?
Well, it's the same as the we in verse 20. We are ambassadors. It's the same as the us. In verse 19. He committed to us the reconciliation ministry.
It's the same as the us in verse 18. Us who have been given this ministry. Who is this? Our We Us group.
Well, they're in verse 17 described. Any man who is what? in Christ. Who is a new creation? Old things passed away, and new things have come.
There is a transformation. There is a new creation at salvation. There is. We are transformed. We are changed.
But even with that change. we wouldn't have sufficient righteousness to satisfy a holy God. And so he has to cover us in the righteousness of Christ to make us acceptable until he can get us to glory and we'll be made righteous. And it is for us. Us who are in Christ then.
us who have been reconciled. That he died. He died in our place. The actual substitution in its efficacy was for believers. Those who would believe.
He died for our sins. He died for us. He died in our place. The final point. The benefit.
And what did he provide us? In order that, this is the purpose of it. We might become the righteousness of God in Him. See, there's that imputation. What is the benefit?
We become righteous before God. This is what justification does. And the righteousness that we are given is the very righteousness of Christ. Listen to what Paul said in Philippians 3:9. We are now found in Christ, not having a righteousness of my own, he says.
Not some righteousness derived from keeping the law, but a righteousness through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God. Wow. It's imputed to us. He's holy. God imputed sin to him.
We're sinful, God imputes holiness to us. The very righteousness which God requires to accept a sinner is the very righteousness which God provides. When God looks at you. He sees you covered by the righteousness of Jesus Christ. That's why all your sin is automatically forgiven.
in the eternal sense Because Jesus already paid the penalty, right? God can't hold you responsible for your sin. Jesus paid the full penalty for it, took the full fury for it. You say, well, what about the sins I commit after I'm a Christian?
Well, he died for those too, because you weren't even born when he died. They were all future. In fact, he is the lamb slain from before what? the foundation of the world before even the creation. The plan was for him to die for all the sins of all who will ever believe.
This is the righteousness that Romans 3 talks about. It's the righteousness of God, verse 21, apart from the law. Verse 22, it's the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe. And that's the key. How do you get in on this?
Believe. Believe what? Believe that you're a sinner. Believe you're in a desperate situation. You're desperately alienated from God.
Believe that you have no hope of reconciliation and you will in this life live godlessly, and in the next life, you will suffer eternal torment. And believe all of that. And then believe that God sent His Son into the world in the form of a man to die as your substitute and take your place, and that He took the full fury of the wrath of God upon Him. And believe that the affirmation that God's justice was satisfied was the fact that God raised Jesus. What?
From the dead. And when God raised him from the dead, he was saying, I am satisfied. And then God exalted Jesus to his right hand where he sits at the right hand of God on the throne. And God says, When that was done, when he offered himself and satisfied my justice, I gave him Philippians 2, a name which is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee in the universe must bow. And every tongue must confess that Jesus is Lord.
That's what you believe. That's the gospel. And when you believe that by faith, simply believing that, God in His mercy takes the righteousness of Jesus Christ and imputes it to you. Because your sins were imputed to Christ when he died on the cross. The Father knew you were there when the Son died.
Your name was written in the Lamb's Book of Life before the foundation of the world, and the atonement that Christ made was for you. And you come to believe. And you receive the imputed righteousness. And then you live in this life. With God in your life and in eternity in the presence of God in absolute perfection.
That's the gospel. That's Christianity. That's it. The benefactor is God. It's all his plan.
It comes out of his love. The substitute is Jesus Christ who took your place, the perfect God-man. The beneficiaries, all of us. for whom he died, those who will believe. And the benefit You receive the righteousness of God imputed to you as if you were equal to Jesus Christ.
in holiness. And someday You will be made holy. But until then You're covered. With the righteousness of God in Christ. And it becomes yours through faith.
Belief. Repent. Put your faith in Jesus Christ. You're listening to Grace to You, the Bible teaching ministry of John MacArthur. Today, John examined 15 words that sum up the glory of the gospel.
15 words of hope. That's the title of the message that you just heard. As part of our brand new study called John MacArthur's Most Memorable Sermon, every message in this study is one that one of the members of our Grace TU staff chose as his or her favorite of John's. And friend, we'd like to send you a free booklet by John MacArthur that is based on the sermon you heard today. It unpacks the profound truth of the saving gospel, showing you how God's Word sums it all up in 15 words of hope.
Request your free copy of Fifteen Words of Hope when you get in touch with us today. Our web address is gty.org and you can go there to request your free copy of the booklet 15 Words of Hope. You can also request your booklet by phone. You'll reach our customer service staff at 800 55 Grace. That number again, 800-55GRACE.
and our website gty.org. And keep in mind that at the website, you can download all of John's sermons. That's more than 3,600 messages, including those from our current study. Titled John MacArthur's Most Memorable Sermon. All of these sermons are free in MP3 and transcript format.
And remember, there are thousands of other free resources available at the website. gty.org. If you want to know what the Bible says about sovereign election or justification by faith or cultural issues like men's and women's roles, you will find a sermon or a blog article or devotional that covers the subject. Again, head to our website, gty.org.
Now for the entire Grace DU staff, I'm Phil Johnson. Be back tomorrow and see what you think about the lesson, which was picked by one of our staff members as being John MacArthur's most memorable sermon. It's another 30 minutes of unleashing God's Truth one verse at a time on Grace to You.
