The Cross: A Debt Paid in Full

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Wednesday, April 13th. God's standard is perfection, and the good news is that He has provided the way for you to be acceptable to Him. A debt is an obligation, and probably most people have been in debt at some point in their life or the other. Nobody likes debt because it's a pressure that seemingly increases over a period of time.

And usually people will try to pay off their debts, but some people have no intention of paying off their debts. And so somebody else has to suffer as a result of their being unable or unwilling to pay their debt. Well, it's one thing to owe something to someone financially and to be able to pay it back, but there is a debt that you and I cannot pay back. There is a debt that all of us have incurred in our life.

It began way back yonder very early in our life. And some people try to pay it off, but they really can't. And so I'm not talking about a material debt, but I'm talking about a spiritual debt. Because you see, the truth is that all of us who have sinned against God have a debt of sin. And people will try to pay that debt off one way or the other, but the truth is you cannot because you see, the only way you could pay off a sin debt is by righteous living. And no one can live a righteous life apart from Jesus Christ. And when Jesus Christ comes into a person's life, you don't have to pay it off. God has already taken care of it. And so the issue is how do we deal with this sin debt that we have?

And that's what this message is all about. And the title of it is The Cross, a Debt Paid in Full. And I want you to turn, if you will, to the book of Colossians. I'd like for us to read just a couple of verses in this second chapter of Colossians. Paul is talking about what God has done for us. And this is a wonderful book because it magnifies the Lord Jesus Christ from beginning to end.

In the second chapter, here's what he says beginning in verse 13. And when you are dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he made you alive together with him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, not some of them, all of them, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us and which was hostile to us. And he has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Now, when he says he nailed it to the cross, what he was simply referring to is this.

That is exactly what God has done in your life and my life for all of us who have received Jesus Christ as our personal Savior. What has he done? He has absolutely wiped out our debt, separated us from it, freed us from it, destroyed it. It's no longer there.

We're absolutely free. And what did he do? He nailed it to the cross in the person of Jesus Christ. Now, with that picture in mind, I want us to see what the Apostle Paul is saying here because I do not believe there is a subject anywhere to be found in all the Bible, not a single subject anywhere as important as what we're going to talk about. Because if you don't understand this, you'll never understand what God was up to in the very beginning. If you don't understand this, you'll never understand why and how God has done what he's done. You won't understand why people still try to do their best to be saved and to be forgiven of their sin to no avail. And so I want you to listen carefully, remembering that God offers forgiveness to every single one who is willing and ready to receive it.

And what I want you to notice here is simply this. That is that the cross is God's answer to our sin debt. All of us have incurred that debt the moment we sinned against God.

Therefore, a penalty was resting upon us because we couldn't pay it back. And so what Paul is simply saying is this. The cross is God's way of dealing with a sin debt not a single person, not a single one of us could possibly deal with because we are incapable of doing it. Now, the question comes, what was God's ultimate motive for sending the Lord Jesus Christ in the first place? Well, he had two motives in mind. And if I should ask you, what do you think the first motive or not necessarily in this order, but what's one of those motives that Jesus had that is what motivated Jesus to come and the Father to send him into the world to down the cross?

What would be the first thing that would come to your mind? What was the motive? Come on. What was it? Love.

All right. One of his motives certainly was love because the scripture says in John three sixteen, for God so loved the world. Listen, he so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. So we understand that mode is very clear. But there's a second motive.

Listen, equally as important, equally as important. God is not simply a God of love, though he is a God of unconditional love, but he is also a God of justice as well as a God of love. You can't have the one true God without having a God of justice and of love, because when you think about who God is and what he says in his word, then what we have to ask is, who is this God? He is a God of love and he is also a God of justice. God was required by his very nature to find a way to justify, declare not guilty, wipe out your sin debt and my sin debt, declare us no longer guilty, make us clean and righteous in his eyes and at the same time be the righteous God that he is.

So how would he do it? Well, in this passage of Scripture, he certainly gives us a hint to how he's going to do it. God chose the only thing he could do.

And what is that? He chose himself to send the Lord Jesus Christ, his only begotten son, into this world. Sinless, perfect and righteous and holy.

For the primary purpose of taking the debt of your sin and my sin upon himself, paying that sin debt in full, therefore in that way and only in that way could God, who is holy and righteous, declare guilty sinners, no longer guilty, and at the same time remain righteous. I want you to turn, if you will, to Romans chapter 3. Romans chapter 3 is an extremely important passage of Scripture. For here Paul explains this very truth.

Listen to what he says. Chapter 3 and verse 23. Paul says, For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. We have all have a debt problem with sin.

Look at verse 24. Being justified, which means declared no longer guilty, therefore forgiven. Being justified as a what? As a gift by his grace, goodness and love and mercy in spite of what we deserve, through the redemption, through the purchase that Jesus Christ did at Calvary, which is in Christ Jesus.

Look at that. He says we have been justified, declared no longer guilty, as a gift. Therefore it's not something we can do. There's not enough works, not enough giving, not enough praying. He says we've been justified as a gift. This is something God gives us. He says, by his grace, that it's motivated by his love, through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross, that's his redemption. Listen.

Watch this. Whom God displayed publicly on the cross. Stretched him out. As a propitiation or as a sacrifice in his blood through faith. This was for what purpose? To demonstrate the righteousness of God. Because in the long suffering, the forbearance of God, he passed over the sins previously committed. What does he mean by that? For the demonstration, I say, of his righteousness at this present time, that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. And here's what he's saying.

How can a person who's guilty be declared not guilty? He says this is the way. It is through the shedding of the blood of Jesus Christ, his crucifixion. He says in that way, God demonstrates his righteousness. That does not mean that God overlooks all of our sins. Listen, before we were saved and from that moment on, it's a different story. God cannot ignore sin.

When he says he passed over them, what does that mean? Here's what it means. For example, in the Old Testament when a person sinned, they were required to bring a lamb and the throat was cut and the blood was shed. Well, did that mean that the shedding of that blood, of that animal, brought them forgiveness of sin? No, it did not.

That was a foreshadowing. That was the picture that God, listen, he etched in the mind of those Hebrews because that blood didn't do anything for the person. Were they forgiven of their sin?

Yes, but on the basis of what? Here's what happened. Now watch this so you will not misunderstand what I'm saying. God forgave every one of those Old Testament saints who came to him. He forgave them of their sins on credit. Well, how can God forgive on credit? Because in those thousands of years before, God was forgiving them on the basis of not what they did, but on the basis of what the Son of God would do in the future. So because God sees all time just like this.

Therefore, God isn't limited back here or over here, but God sees beginning to end. Therefore, when he saw all the Old Testament saints sitting against him, what was he doing? He knew that here's the cross, and the cross was there always in the mind of God. So what God did in forgiving their sin as they obeyed him in the sacrifice of an animal, that forgiveness was not based on that act. That forgiveness was based on what Jesus Christ would do in the future.

Now that's very important because when we come to the crucifixion of Jesus in a few moments, you understand why that's so very important. Therefore, he said, God passed over. What did he mean by that? He didn't ignore their sins. He didn't just wipe them out. Just say, well, you know, that's past, but rather all the punishment and all the sinfulness he held in abeyance until Jesus Christ came. So that's what he's saying. Now, he says to demonstrate his righteousness in the forbearance of God, he passed over the sins of previously committed for the demonstration, I say, of his righteousness at this present time, in all of that, he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Christ.

Listen carefully. The only way, the only possible way, and nobody can answer this question the other way, how could God, who is absolutely perfect and holy and righteous, justify, declare not guilty, wipe away sin of one who is sinful, wicked, and vile, when the law of God says the soul that sinner that shall death. How can he do that and still remain a righteous God? The apostle Paul says there is only one way, and that is through the crucifixion, the atoning death. That means the payment death of Jesus Christ. He paid for your sin and my sin at the cross at Calvary in one eventful act.

Your sin debt, my sin debt was wiped away for all of us who are willing to accept that as payment and receive the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Savior. Now I want you to turn, if you will, to 1 Peter for a moment, and look at this passage in 1 Peter. Notice what he says in light of that first picture that Paul gave us of the certificate of death. In 1 Peter chapter 2, and if you'll look in verse 24 for a moment, listen to what he said. Speaking of Jesus, he said, And he himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, that we might die to sin that is no longer living and under its power, and live to righteousness. For by his wounds we are healed. God the Father placed them all on him. Now go back, if you will, to 2 Corinthians chapter 5 for a moment, and I want you to notice what he says here.

Chapter 5. In order for God to accomplish his purpose, Jesus had to bear our sins. And so here's what he says in verse chapter 5 verse 21. That is God the Father now made him, that is Jesus, who knew no sin, to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. When he says he made him to be sin, that doesn't mean he made him a sinner. It doesn't mean that Jesus became a sinner. It doesn't mean that Jesus committed any sin. It means that when God viewed him, he viewed him as bearing all of our sin, not becoming a sinner.

He made him who knew no sin to be sinned. Therefore, you and I have become righteous in the eyes of God, because Jesus Christ, who was righteous and who is righteous, died on the cross for your sins and mine. When we trusted him as our personal Savior, not only did he justify us and declare us no longer guilty, he made us righteous. He clothed us, he cloaked us in his righteousness. Therefore, it is right, natural and normal for a child of God to live a holy life, an obedient life, a righteous life, because he has provided that for us in the person of Jesus Christ who lives on the inside of the believer in the presence of the Holy Spirit. That's what the cross is all about. That's why Jesus Christ had to come. He came to be sin for us in order that you and I, listen, who could not pay our sin debt because we're sinners, could not pay our debt, would be eternally lost.

He who had no sin debt took upon himself our sin debt, paid the penalty in his own life, therefore setting free every single person that's willing to believe in him and making it possible for us to spend eternity with God and not to be eternally separated from him. Now, when you say, well, now one of these days when I die and go to heaven, here's what I'm going to say. No, you're not. You're not going to say anything. Because, my friend, listen to me carefully, with all of my heart, you will stand as the apostle Paul said when he said, wherefore, old man, thou art inexcusable. Having heard the gospel of Jesus Christ, there will be no excuse. Having known that the Son of God died for your sins and suffered on your behalf, there will be no excuse. Remember who you will stand before in the judgment, the same Christ who laid down his life at the cross, who suffered physically, emotionally, in every fashion, bearing the sin of mankind abandoned by even God the Father for those hours and suffering the wrath of God, you will stand before him an offering excuse?

No, you will not. And if you die without him, there will be no hope on the other side of the grave. That's why week after week I plead with you, plead with you to ask the Lord Jesus Christ to forgive you of your sins. You say, well, how do I apply all this to my life?

Here's what you do. You acknowledge your sinfulness and you acknowledge the fact you don't have any other way. The cross of Christ is the only way. And therefore, you say to the Father, Father, I know that I've sinned against you and the worst thing I've done is I listen to this message to realize I've ignored the Son of God. I've rejected the Son of God. I do believe what the Bible says that you sinned to the cross and he paid my sin debt in full. I'm asking you with all the sincerity of my heart to forgive me of my sins.

I do here and now accept, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. I do believe he's your eternal son and I'm asking you to forgive me of my sin based not on anything within me that's found good, but based on the fact that he died for me and you said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you will be saved, forgiven, redeemed, reconciled back to God, made one with him. And so, Lord Jesus, Heavenly Father, Jesus, you died for me. Heavenly Father, I'm thanking you, praising you for the forgiveness of my sin. Now, you don't have to say all those words.

You don't have to say it the way I've said it, but there are certain things that are important. You acknowledge your sinfulness and then when he went to the cross, he paid your sin debt in full. Listen carefully. Paid your sin debt in full. Ask him to forgive you. Accept his forgiveness. Surrender your life to him as your Savior.

Now, listen carefully. Is there any other way for God to be a just God and pay our sin debt in full except to the cross? The answer is no. That's why the cross stands at the center of the Word of God, at the center of the universe, the center of all time, past, present, and future. Herein lies man's only hope in the person of Jesus Christ. Thank you for listening To the Cross, a Debt Paid in Full. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or In Touch Ministries, stop by intouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.