The Cost of Not Following Christ — Paul Washer

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Media used by permission of HeartCry Missionary Society. Visit us online at heartcrymissionary .com. Well, as always, it's a tremendous privilege for me to be here. And this morning I have a great, great amount of joy in my heart.

Conviction, Repentance, and the Joy of Forgiveness

I feel like I'm going to explode. Not for what you would think this morning about 4 .30. The Lord, I believe, woke me up and dealt with me over several tiny foxes that were ruining the Lord's vineyard.

Several tiny sins that are not tiny at all. And gave me a marvelous time to see my need of grace. To ask for forgiveness and to delight in pardon. And what's amazing, I've been walking with the Lord for 26 years.

After the prayer time and after then getting up and studying and things like that. I was overwhelmed at the joy that was in my heart. After 26 years, I should have realized it's because things were right.

Things were right. I just praise God for who he is. That he is so kind. That he is always working to sanctify us, to change us, to mold us. There are no great men of God. There are only pitiful, weak, sinful men of a great and a merciful God.

We should always remember that. We're talking about following Christ at any cost. But this morning I am going to preach on Christ. I'll always start everything I do with him. Because it's nonsensical to go anyplace else until you've dealt with him.

But some of the things that we're going to think about possibly this week will be. Well, the cost of following Christ. But have you ever thought of the cost of not following Christ? Have you ever thought how much you have already lost in this life?

Because you've given yourself to the vanities of this world and not given yourself to following Christ. Other things that we will consider is this. That the Christian life and missions is supernatural.

The songs that we sang today, I agreed with every one of them. And they were wonderful. And they were seeking to move you to reach out to people. I'm sorry, that's not enough. It won't happen. A song won't do it.

You must be filled with the Holy Spirit. Filled with the Holy Spirit. And then witnessing will not be a work. It will be an outflow of that great power moving within you. I will tell you this. I will say certain things.

And until I give the explanation, you will think I'm charismatic. But I will tell you this. Just because there is every kind of heresy out there with regard to the person of the Holy Spirit. It does not mean that I'm going to allow them to take the ministry of the Holy Spirit away from me.

I know this. You cannot breathe apart from the fullness of the Holy Spirit. You cannot serve Christ apart from the fullness of the Holy Spirit. And there are thousands of songs that seeks to move your heart to do the right thing.

You will not and cannot do the right thing unless you be filled with the Holy Spirit. That's all there is to it. But this morning, we're going to speak much about Christ. About Christ. Let's open up our Bibles to 2nd Corinthians.

Christ’s Substitution and the Righteousness of God

Chapter 5, 2nd Corinthians, chapter 5, verse 21. He made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. Some of the greatest theologians down through the ages of the church have been afraid to touch this passage.

What does it mean that the one Isaiah saw in the temple, the one of whom the angels cried out, Holy, holy, holy on that tree, he who knew no sin was made sin on our behalf. This is a thing that you must understand.

You must understand it. Even to begin a text like that, let me say this. If your mind is wandering, you ought to fall down on your face right now and just weep. That a passage like that can be read about the Christ who redeemed you and you are still apathetic.

If you think after a while that I have gone on too long on this issue, know that your heart is wrong. And you should repent. There is no greater message, no greater thought than what Christ has done for us on the cross.

And if that doesn't move you, it is because your heart is dead. You may have religion. You may be evangelical. You may have prayed that sinner's prayer a thousand times. But I can assure you, you know, not God.

So we will speak about Christ and the cross because that is the primary motivation for everything. If you have any motivation in the Christian life other than Jesus Christ, you are an idolater. If you seek to do things because they're right, because they're moral, because they honor this person or that person, it's idolatry.

Everything we do, we do for him. And so the more we know about him, the more we will be pushed, moved, strengthened to follow him. Another reason why I'm dealing with this issue is because we have missionaries here and guests and ministers.

My dear friend, this country is not gospel hardened. It's gospel ignorant. And it's gospel ignorant because most of its ministers are. We have taken the gospel of Jesus Christ and reduced it down to four spiritual laws or five things God wants you to know.

We tell people Jesus died without being able or willing to explain it. Then we call them to say some little silly little prayer after us. And then we boast about their redemption. And yet they do not grow in sanctification.

We need to hear the gospel again and again and again. It needs to be expounded and explained. It needs to be believed in by the preacher, knowing that he does not need another tool. The gospel is enough.

The gospel is the only message that can save. He needs to know how to expound it. And then he needs to know how to call men to Christ, not by asking them to repeat a prayer, but by commanding with the authority of God that they repent and believe the gospel.

So we always must start a mission organization, a mission organization and a mission conference on the message of the gospel. I'm amazed at how many conferences I go to. I hear about how we ought to preach to the lost, and that is true.

How the world needs a savior, and that is true. I hear about statistics and methodologies, but most of it is right. What we need is to understand the message, the only message that has the power to save.

Now let's look at our text. God made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. And I want you to think about this and think deeply. He knew no sin.

Do you see the miracle in that? I want you to think about it this way. There has never been, and for those preachers who believe that they arrive to sinless perfection, or those Christians who believe they never sin, just tell them this.

There has never been one moment in your life as a pagan or as a Christian. There has never been one moment in your life that you loved God as he ought to be loved. One time someone asked me, what's the greatest sin?

I said, well, I never thought about it that way. I guess I have to think about it. And I thought about it for a moment and I said, well, I suppose the greatest sin would be to break the greatest command.

And the greatest command is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. I'm here to tell you today, you've never done that. Never once. And yet, now listen to me, there was never one moment that Christ did not love the Lord his God with all his heart, soul, mind and strength.

That takes obedience to a whole new level, doesn't it? That takes sinless perfection to a whole new level. There was never one time, never one thought, never one deed in which he did not love the Lord his God with every fiber of his being.

So when it says he knew no sin, wow. There has never been one moment or one deed in your life where you did it all, thought it all, said it all for the glory of God. Yet there was never one moment in the life of the captain of your salvation.

That he did not do everything he did for the glory, the miraculous nature of the life of Christ. From the moment he was born to the moment of his death, he loved the Lord his God with all his heart, soul, mind and strength.

And everything he did, whether eating or drinking, he did it unto the glory of his father. There's enough right now to do nothing but sit here for the next seven days and ponder what I've already said.

There is enough truth and majesty in what we have just heard to drive us around the world doing missions a million times. The greatness, the supremacy, the excellency of the man, Christ Jesus. But now it says here he made him who knew no sin to be sin.

To be sin. Now, what does that mean? What does it mean? You can say a lot of things. Can you explain? What does it mean that Christ became sin? Does it mean that when he was on that tree, he became defiled, that he became corrupted, that he became in his nature, in his person, something vile, something loathsome, something sinful?

What does it mean that he was made sin? Well, the answer is found for us in the same text. Look in verse 21. He made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

How did Christ become sin? How was he made to be sin? Well, how are we or how do we become righteous when we believe in the gospel? So there's your answer. The moment a person believes in the gospel, they do not become a righteous being.

That is to say, the moment they believe their nature, their entire person is not so transformed that they become perfectly righteous as a being and never again sin. It's not what the Bible teaches. We are not infused with some special grace that makes us above sin.

So the moment you believed in Christ, you did not become a righteous being. And I can prove it. You still sin. What happened was the moment you believed Christ, you were forensically or legally declared righteous before the throne of God.

It was a legal declaration before the throne of God. You are righteous, not based upon your own virtue, not based upon your own merit, but based upon the virtue and the merit of another Jesus Christ, the Lord.

So on believing in Christ, we become legally declared righteous before the throne of God. And here's the important word. God treats us as righteous, as perfectly righteous in Christ. So now we understand how he was made to be sin.

When Jesus Christ was on that cross, his nature did not become polluted. He did not become some corrupt, vile being, but our sins were imputed to him. And before the throne of God, he was considered declared guilty and he was treated by God as guilty.

He always was and is and will be the spotless lamb of God. But on that tree, the sins of his people were imputed to him from the Latin phrase imputare, which means to think or consider. He was legally declared guilty and then God treated him as a righteous God should treat the wicked.

And that is terrifying. So that's what it means. I want you to think about something. And it is a common, it is a vulgar illustration, but it is the best one I can find. Just think about this for a moment.

It is it is one thing for a sinner. Who hates God. To stand before the throne of God as guilty and to be treated as guilty. It is terrifying beyond words. But it is quite another thing for the precious.

The Curse Bearing Work of Christ

And holy son of the living God. To hang before his father. And to have his father declare him guilty and to have his father treat him as the infidel. As the lawbreaker, as the criminal. You see this rubbish about God made people because he was lonely.

God did not make people because of some need. He made people out of the overflow of his abundance, not his lack. And he was not lonely because within the Trinity. We have this eternal, glorious relationship between the father and the son.

The son always being the father's delight. They needing absolutely nothing from anything or anyone outside of themselves. They needed no heaven. They needed no earth. And they needed no angel or man. But this perfect unity.

And then on that tree. For that to be broken. For that to be broken. Think about it for a moment. Let's say that two of the ladies here were very evangelistic and very godly and care about souls. They go out to somewhere in Detroit or Chicago or some metropolitan area.

They decide that they are going to share the gospel with prostitutes. And so as they are sharing the gospel with a group of hardened, seasoned prostitutes. The police come by with a paddy wagon and round up all the prostitutes and throw them in the paddy wagon.

And because of association, these two dear sisters are thrown in the wagon with them. Now, the hardened prostitutes, they will be laughing, chuckling, telling jokes. They're in the paddy wagon. They've been through this a million times.

This is not a problem for them. The two dear sisters are sitting there almost to the point of being nauseous to vomit. Terrified. Feeling horrid. Wanting to die. Wanting to hide. Wanting to escape. They get to the police headquarters and they're all booked and fingerprinted and roughly treated.

The girls are all sitting there in a cell laughing and talking to one another about how quickly they will get out. But the two Christian ladies are sitting there again. Beyond almost the ability to breathe.

So full of shame. So full of guilt. So full of association with evil. It's something they do not know. It is not common to them. Now, as I said, that's a pitiful illustration. But you and I were born as creatures who drink down iniquity like it was water.

Revel in sin and boast in it. We can no more understand the wickedness, the evil of our sin than a fish can understand he is wet. But Christ, who knew no sin, became sin. We, prior to coming to know Christ, lived under the wrath of God to such a degree that the Apostle Paul called us children of wrath.

Christ never knew anything but the favor of his father. Never knew anything. But this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. And yet on that tree, it all changed. It all changed. Now, I want us to look at several things.

I've actually brought notes today because there's so this is an intricate thing. I want you to see it. It's very important. Christ bore our sin and Christ became a curse. And you say, yes, for the part.

I've heard some of your sermons. You preach on that. No, we're going to go much deeper. I think two years ago when I was here, I spoke something of this. But we're going to go farther now. Christ became a curse on that tree.

As the scriptures say, curse it is everyone who does not abide by all the things written in the book of the law to perform them. You are under a curse to be redeemed from the curse. Christ had to suffer the curse in your place.

He had to become a curse. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law being made, having become a curse in our place. Now, what is a curse? It's the complete opposite of blessing. And what I want to do today is I want to go through both blessings and turn them on their head, show you the opposite of blessing.

And I want to go through curses and show you that every covenant curse in the entire Bible fell upon the head of the son of God when he was on that tree. Every curse that should fall upon and crush the covenant breaker, which is you and me.

In order to spare us had to fall upon him. First of all, if you want to know something about a curse, then think of something about a blessing. One of the greatest passages on blessing that we have in the entire scriptures is the Beatitudes in Matthew chapter five.

But I want to switch them around. You know them. Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted. So on and so forth. When I were going to turn those around and I want you to realize that this is what fell upon Christ.

According to Matthew five, the blessed are granted the kingdom of heaven. But the cursed are refused entrance. The blessed are recipients of divine comfort. Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted.

But the cursed are objects of divine wrath. And so was Christ. The cursed are satisfied, but the blessed are satisfied. But the cursed die miserable and wretched. The blessed receive mercy. The cursed are condemned without pity.

The blessed shall see God. The cursed are cut off from his presence. The blessed are sons and daughters of God. And the cursed are disowned in disgrace. This is what fell upon Christ. Listen to me. You listen carefully.

If you can learn only one truth from everything said this week, then learn these words. The only way you could ever be blessed in anything is because he died cursed in everything. It adds a whole new meaning when someone asks you, how are you doing?

And you go, blessed. But while you think blessed, then let your lip tremble for a moment because you are blessed. Only because he died cursed. How we can so quickly learn to play in this superficial age of ours, learn to play marbles with the diamonds of God.

That blessing of yours that you so boast of and rightly so. Think of the cost every time it rolls off your lips. Think of the cost. There was a transaction. You are now blessed, but only because he was cursed.

Now, there is an illustration of what it means to be cursed that I have used for years. I can't find another that would be better. But it is this. To say that someone is under the curse of the law, the curse of God because of their sin.

It's to say this. That the last thing the accursed person will hear when they take their first step into hell. Is all of creation standing to its feet and applauding God because God has rid the earth of them.

See, that's why there's not much power in gospel preaching anymore. Because we're too afraid to say things like that. Under the band. Away with them to eternal destruction. Yet Christ redeemed us from that curse.

By having that pronounced upon him, thus he suffered outside the gates of the city. Now, I want to do something. I have gone into all the old covenant, the mosaic law and the curses and pulled them out.

Because what you have to understand is these curses were to fall upon the head of the covenant breaker. And that is you. And I want to show you now how these covenant curses, instead of falling upon you, fell upon the only covenant keeper there has ever been.

And that is Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, in the book of the law, we discover that Moses is told to divide up the people of God. And they are to stand on two different mountains. Those that stand on Mount Ebal are to pronounce all the curses of God upon the covenant breakers.

Those who are disobedient to the law. And those who stand on Mount Gerasim are to pronounce all the blessings that should fall upon the head of the covenant keeper. Let's look at these curses. But as they apply to Jesus Christ, when he was our sin bearer on that tree, he's on the cross.

And he cries out such an important statement that it is transliterated for us. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And the answer from heaven, from the Father's throne, is this. The Lord, the Lord God Almighty, damns you.

The Christ looks up to heaven and cries out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? No answer of consolation, but only this. The Lord, your God, damns you. And then he goes on. Now these are all the curses verbatim.

Divine judgment looked down upon the Christ while he was hanging on that tree. And says, the Lord sends upon you curses, confusion, rebuke until you are destroyed. And until you perish quickly. The Lord smites you with madness and with blindness and with bewilderment of heart.

And you will grope at noon. Is it any wonder to you why it became so dark at that time? You will grope at noon as a blind man gropes in darkness with none to save you. The Lord delights over you to make you perish and destroy you.

And you will be torn from the land. Cursed shall you be in the city and cursed shall you be in the field. Cursed shall you be when you come in and cursed shall you be when you go out. The heaven which is over your head shall be bronze.

And the earth which is under you iron. You shall be a proverb and a taunt among the people. Let all these curses come upon you and pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed. Because you would not obey the Lord, your God, by keeping his commandments and his statutes as he commanded you.

Think about this. The only covenant keeper, Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, when he took our sin upon himself, he was treated as the one guilty. And the only covenant keeper is now treated as the single covenant breaker.

And all the curses of the law from the throne of God are cast down upon his head. Let me keep going with the curses of the law. As Christ bore our sin upon Calvary, he was cursed as a man who makes an idol and sets it up in secret.

That's the way the Father treated him. He was cursed as one who dishonors his father or mother, who moves his neighbor's boundary mark or misleads a blind person on the road. He was cursed as one who distorts the justice to an alien orphan and widow.

He was cursed as one who is guilty of every manner of immorality and perversion, who wounds his neighbor in secret or accepts a bribe to strike down the innocent. He was cursed as one who does not confirm the words of the law by doing them.

Do you want to talk about the sufferings of Christ? Get all romantic about talking about the crown of thorns and the whip on his back. You don't understand the cross. That's not the pain of the cross.

The pain of the cross is not what puny men did to the mighty Christ. The pain of the cross is what God the Father did to his only begotten son. Some of you have never even heard such preaching. And yet you claim to be preachers of the gospel.

Conservative, fundamental, all those other terms. This is the true cross. There's a passage in Proverbs that says, Like a sparrow in its flitting, like a swallow in its flying. So a curse without cause does not alight.

So how do all these curses alight upon the Christ? The one Isaiah calls the branch. There was no cause in him. Even his enemies could not find reason to condemn him. It was because he stood. As the old Baptist preachers used to say, He stood in your law place.

He bore your guilt. He was condemned by a holy God, as you ought to be. In order to satisfy justice, appease the wrath of God. And make it possible for a holy, righteous God to forgive wicked men. And yet still be holy and righteous.

The Imputation of Sin and the Covenant Curse

Now, I want to go on for a moment. Skip through some notes. Psalms 32. Let me read it to you. How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. How blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity.

And in whose spirit there is no deceit. Get on the cross. Let's just turn this text around. Sin was imputed to Christ. How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. To whom the Lord does not impute iniquity.

But on the cross, sin was imputed to Christ. He was exposed before God and the host of heaven. He was placarded before men. The iniquity of you that he carried was not forgiven him. But he was crushed under the wrath of almighty God.

That's what happened in the renewal of the Mosaic Covenant. In Moab. There is a very, very important passage. That explains what will happen. To the one who does not obey all the words written in the book of the law.

So as to perform them. And this is what it says. I want you to listen. The anger of the Lord and his jealousy will burn against that man. And every curse which is written in this book will rest on him.

And the Lord will blot out his name from under heaven. Now listen to this. Then the Lord will single him out for adversity. From all the tribes of Israel. According to all the curses of the covenant. Which are written in the book of the law.

The covenant breaker was to be singled out. And upon his head all the curses were to fall. But the covenant breakers are now saved. Because. The only covenant keeper who ever walked this planet. Was singled out in their place.

And all of the fierce hatred of God. Against evil. Fell upon the son of God who stood in the place of his people. Do you remember? I hope you do. In number six. There's the priestly blessing. Let's just read it for a moment.

Turn with me to number six. For a second. Verse 24. The Lord bless you. And keep you. The Lord make his face shine on you. And be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance on you. And give you peace.

One of the greatest theological and philosophical questions. In all of scripture is this. If God is good. He can't do that. If God is just. He can't do that. Why? Because we're wicked. And a just God.

Should act justly with us. Sometimes when I'm speaking at a university. I know the cards are stacked against me. And I know that they think I'm going to get on the platform. And I'm going to start speaking about righteousness and holiness and wrath.

And all these things. And they're waiting there to debate and yell and scream and holler. So I stand before the university audience. And I say this. You have a great problem. And I know what they're all thinking.

Yes, we have this great problem. Because of your Puritan view of God. No, you have a great problem. A terrifying problem. And it is this. God is good. And I can just see their eyes. Well, what's the problem?

With that? Well, the problem with that is this. He's good. And you're evil. And because he is good. And loving. He must deal with loveless, evil people like you. You see. So how can God pronounce a blessing like that upon the head of the people of Israel?

How could he pronounce a blessing like that upon you? This is how. Because the Lord looked at his only begotten son on that tree that day. And said this. The Lord curse you. And give you over to destruction.

The Lord take the light of his presence from you. And condemn you. The Lord turn his face from you. And fill you. With misery. Now. Talk for a moment about the wrath of God. Preacher. I have heard a thousand Easter sermons.

And most of them make me sick. Because they will talk at length. Go on and on and on. About the crown of thorns. And the whipping on the back. And the nails in the hand. And the spear in the side. And just on and on and on.

About the physical sufferings of Jesus Christ. Christ did suffer physically. That was a part of our redemption. It was necessary. We had to be saved by a bloody sacrifice. But if you leave it there. You have not taught the people anything about the cross.

Nothing. Because as I have said a million times. The pain of the cross. Is not just what men did to Christ. Is what God did to his son. He is in a garden and he cries out three times. Let this cup pass from me.

Let this cup pass from me. Let this cup pass from me. I have heard preachers say. That is the Roman cross. That is the cat of nine tails. That is this and that. And every other thing. Let me ask you a question.

Have you read church history? Well if you have. Then you understand. For the next several centuries. After the death of the Messiah. And his resurrection. That there were countless Christians. Who died on crosses.

Even crucified upside down. Covered in kerosene. And pitch and tar. And set on fire. To provide lights for the streets of Rome. And history tells us. That the great majority of those Christians. Went to that crucifixion of theirs.

Singing hymns. Joyfully and rejoicing. That they could suffer the same fate. As their Lord. Now are you going to tell me. That a group of tiny little mortal Christians. Are bolder and braver. Than the captain of their salvation.

Are you going to tell me. Christ trembled. At a Roman whip. He laughs. At the Roman legions. What was in the cup? I'll never forget one day. Teaching at a. A wonderful classic. Reformed school. And I told him.

I said. I'm going to teach on propitiation today. They asked me. They said. To teach to the entire student body. I said. Well I'm going to teach on propitiation. Who's going to be in there? They said.

Kindergarten to twelfth grade. Okay. And then the headmaster looked at me. And said. Won't be a problem. So I got in there. And started teaching. And I finally said. Students. What was in the cup? What was in the cup?

I'll never forget. A little eight or nine year old girl. Raised her hand. I said. Yes dear. She stood up. Put her hand on the desk. And she said. Sir. The wrath. Of almighty God. Was in the cup. Out of the mouth of babes.

What most evangelical preachers. If they know it. They never teach it. But she knew it clearly. Listen to this. I just want to read. From the prophets. A cup is in the hand of the Lord. And the wine foams.

It is well mixed. And he pours out of this. Surely all the wicked of the earth. Must drain. And drink down its dregs. What was in the cup? The wrath of God. For thus. The Lord. The God of Israel. Says to me.

Take this cup. Of the wine of wrath. From my hand. And cause all the nations. To whom I send you. To drink it. They will drink. And stagger. And go mad. Because of the sword. That I will send. Among them.

But it was Christ. On that tree. Who reached up. And took. The cup. Of the wrath. Of God. Out of the hand. Of God. And drank it. In the place. Of his people. That's the gospel. Imagine for a moment. That you're standing.

An eighth. Of a mile. Away. From a dam. That is ten thousand. Miles high. And ten thousand. Miles wide. And filled to the brim. With water. You and your little village. And all of a sudden. In one. Moment's time.

The wall of that dam. Is torn. Away. And here comes. This massive. Flood. Of water. A deluge. It doesn't matter. How strong you are. Swimming. It doesn't matter. The length. Or degree. Of your endurance.

There is no hope. The fleetest of foot. Cannot run away. You are going. To be crushed. Every one. Of you. And right before. The water. Reaches. The town. The earth. Itself. Opens up. And drinks down. The mighty deluge.

To the point. That not even one. Drop. Of water. Touches. Your. Shoe. So is the wrath. Of God. Coming. Against you. And so. Did. Christ. Open. Himself. Up. And drink it. Down. So that not one. Drop. Is left for you.

Imagine a millstone. Ten thousand. Pound millstone. With another. Ten thousand. Pound millstone. Pounder on top of it. One. Turning. Each. In a direction. Countering the other. And all of a sudden. You take a.

Single. Grain of wheat. You. Stick. It in there between the two. That even a. Moment. Or fraction. Of a moment. Goes. By. Into the pressure. The weight. Explodes it. Comes. Around. There's nothing. Left of it.

The Father’s Provision of the Son

Unless. A grain of wheat. Falls to the ground and dies, it abideth alone. But if it dies under the wrath of God, it bringeth forth much fruit. Now, I want to quote a passage and I'm also going to give the interpretation of it from my favorite author of all time and my favorite work of all time outside of Scripture.

And it's John Flavel talking about the essential glories of Christ. Please read that. I can't read it without weeping. I can't even think about it without dancing it. I've never seen such an exaltation outside of Scripture.

What I call this is the father's bargain. John Flavel, what he does is set up for us in eternity, the father and the son are speaking about man and the fall of men. This is their conversation here, you may suppose, John Flavel says, the father to say when driving his bargain with Christ for you, the father speaks, my son, here is a company of poor, miserable souls.