O, Wonderful Exchange!

The Gospel in One Verse: 2 Corinthians 5:21

If you notice in the handout, there's roads for a mind, the Scripture right underneath it. And that's going to be our text today. And that text goes right along with our communion service as we'll be remembering and commemorating our Lord's sufferings and deaths as we look to Him.

We're going to look at this one great verse of Scripture from the Holy Bible. I think it's a great text. And the text today is 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21. So please go with me there to 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21.

Here we have the Gospel in one verse. I wish I could have thought of this, but only Pastor John MacArthur could think of it as a veteran pastor. But he spoke on this wonderful text and he called it 15 words of hope.

Now, if you count the words, it's more than 15. It's, I think, like 20 somewhere. But if you look in the original Greek, it is actually 15 words. But the Apostle Paul is speaking of the great doctrine of reconciliation here.

And this is the foundation of that great doctrine. Reconciliation. And if you notice in the text, this is exactly what Paul is speaking about. Everything he speaks in context is reconciliation. It's the Gospel of reconciliation.

That is our message. We are to trump to lost people. Be reconciled to God. And here it comes to almost like a pivotal height on the mountain as it shines forth of this great verse, the Scripture. It is foundational.

So hear the word of the living God. The Spirit of God speaks through the Apostle Paul as he writes this down. For he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

May God richly bless His words from our hearing of our ears to our perceiving of our hearts by His blessed Holy Spirit this morning. Please bow with me in prayer. Our Father in heaven, your word causes us to tremble, but with great respect.

When we come to this verse, Lord, it causes us to fall on our knees and our hearts and take off our shoes as Moses did before the burning bush and say, we are on holy ground. My prayer today, Lord, is speak, Lord, for your servant hears.

In Jesus' name, Amen. The same Apostle Paul in the book of Ephesians chapter 2, you can go with me there if you like, and I like to pull this in with the introduction, to the introduction of this message.

But we're not going to understand this text until we understand what Paul says in Ephesians chapter 2, verse 1 to 3, and I'll go a little further. I'd actually read it to verse 5. And that truth, this truth is that we must understand the bad news in order to understand the good news.

We're not going to understand the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ until we understand the thunderings of the law, that all people are condemned until Jesus, chooses to show grace. But that all people are sinners by nature and action.

This is what he says in verse 1 of Ephesians 2, notice with me. And you, it gets very personal, doesn't it? And you, who were dead in trespasses. Now, you might see a parenthesis, you were alive,.

He's made you alive.

Who were dead, in trespass tense, were dead in trespasses, but the parenthesis, if you see it in italics, I mean, he's made you alive is really not in the original. So it should read, and you, who were dead in trespasses and sins.

Were dead.

Think of that, like zombies walking around. He says, in which you were once walked, and you, which once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince and the power of the air. And notice what he says, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves, and the desires of our flesh, and lust of our flesh.

Fulfilling the desires of the flesh and the mind, the mind as well, the flesh and the mind. And he says again, and were by nature, that is past tense, were by nature, children of wrath, just as the others.

Transition, verse 4,. But God, aren't you glad for that? Where would we be today unless, but God, we would still be dead in our trespasses and our sins, like everyone else. Lost, perishing, on our way to hell.

But God, but God, but God, who is rich in mercy. Notice what he says, rich in mercy. God's rich in mercy. Rich in compassion. He's rich in pity. Loving kindness. And then he says, because of His great love, with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses.

You get that, what he's saying? Even when you were dead in trespasses. In other words, what he's saying, it's nothing that we did, in our own willpower, in our own goodness, nothing there is good in us.

There's no one good, only God. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. In other words, you were dead. How can a dead man even choose God? He can't. He's dead. He's dead. Dead, dead. This is incredible.

Even when we were dead in trespasses,.

Made us.

There it is.

Made us alive together with Christ, and then parenthesis, by grace you have been saved. In other words, God's unmerited favor,.

He chose to save us,.

And raised us up together, and made us sit together, in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, and that the ages to come. Notice the glory here. He might show the exceeding riches of His grace, in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Praise His holy name. Now, the reason I read that is, this helps us understand a little bit what Paul is saying, in 2 Corinthians 5 21. And, I would like to submit to you that, the how and what God did, and that Jesus Himself bore our sins on Calvary's cross, and He made Him, made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God, and Him is all in those two words but God.

This is the but God.

This is God demonstrating to us, how He reconciles sinful men to a holy God. You know, you think of it, the gulf is just too wide, it's too, it's impossible for a sinful man to even try to get to God, by his own merit and his own works.

That's what religion tries to do. Religion is man's attempt to get to God. Religion is man's isms, as Brother Keith has mentioned so often. It's all those isms. It's not Christianity. It's not Jesus.

Jesus said,.

I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me. But how was the way made? Well, that's 2 Corinthians 5 .21. It is the but God. This is the transition. This is how God reconciles sinful men to a holy God.

So, what we see all in this one verse, is the hope that is only in Jesus Christ and Him alone. Because salvation does not come any other way. So, this is how God demonstrates it. This is how God acts in Christ Jesus and reconciles sinners to Himself.

Let me ask you a question. How has God made reconciliation possible? How has He done it? That's a loaded question. Here's another question. How can He, being a holy, holy, holy God, receive filthy, dead, guilty, vile, wretched sinners to Himself?

How did it come to Him in repentance and faith?

How does He do it?

It's here in this one verse. If there's ever an evangelistic verse, this is it. This is the verse to use, as many others. John 3 .16 is a great one too. It's the gospel in one verse. This is another. This one here, if we can mention this and preach this word to lost sinners under the power of the Holy Spirit and point them to Jesus Christ and what Jesus has done for them and by the blessed Holy Spirit open their eyes to see in their deadness of sin.

And it's supernaturally, right? Only God can do that. But the answer is really in this all-important question and those two questions in which it's given to us in this one verse and the answer it gives to us in 2 Corinthians 5 .21.

Let me say it again. For He, who's the He? God the Father. God the Father made Him. Who's the Him?

Jesus the Son.

So God the Father made Him, Jesus the Son who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. I want you to think of this. The Lord Jesus Christ has affectionately dealt with the whole problem of our horrible sins that deserves the wrath of God and He dealt with it once and for all.

Think of this now. Once and for all. It does not need to be repeated. It was sufficient. It was effectual. Once and for all on the cross of Calvary through His crucifixion so now we can be reconciled to God.

We were once enemies with God now He makes us friends with God. We were once naked in our sins He clothes us in His perfect righteousness so now we can be reconciled to a holy God by faith alone in Jesus alone.

No, no, the other way. As I was thinking about this I was thinking even when we come to God by faith and repentance faith and repentance does not save us. Faith and repentance are the instruments in which God gives by His grace.

It's a gift.

To lay hold of Christ. He's the Savior. Think of that. Now, I know that almost sounds somewhat heretical, doesn't it?

But, some people say,.

Well, pastor, are you saying that I don't need faith and repentance to come to Christ? No, I never said that. They are necessary. They are necessary for salvation. But what I'm saying is faith and repentance in of themselves.

Do not save us.

Like the thief on the cross when he died. He looked to Jesus and he recognized that Jesus was Lord. He said, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. One thing and one thing alone. He knew Jesus was Savior.

He knew Jesus was King.

He knew Jesus was Lord and he recognized his sin. That was the Spirit of God. But what I'm saying is the one that saves is Jesus, right?

Jesus is the Savior.

So we need to be careful. And, yes, the command is repent and believe the gospel. Jesus himself preached that. And you know this, Paul the apostle constantly goes through the whole book of Romans that faith alone and Christ alone is necessary for salvation.

Absolutely. But what I'm saying is those are the instruments of grace. Those are the instruments of His grace.

That He gives to us.

In His favor to lay hold of the Savior. Praise God. Amen?

Jesus is the Savior. He's the Savior.

And He alone is the Savior. And He is a great Savior. Hallelujah, what a Savior.

And He's done this.

Through His crucifixion. That was the work in which He came to do. So now we can be reconciled to God by faith alone and in Him alone. There's no doubt without any controversy whatsoever that this text expresses the great truth, this unique truth about Jesus Christ, the person of Jesus Christ, Him crucified, that He who do no sin to be sin for us.

Now, while on one hand, let me say this, this verse states the simplicity of the gospel that a child can understand. I really believe this. And this is the mystery of it. There's such a simplicity here in Jesus, and I believe God has designed it to be that way, that Jesus in the simplicity of this truth, gospel truth, that Jesus took upon Himself the sins of all who would ever believe in Him, it also makes a somewhat of a very difficult passage to interpret it, to understand,.

And very mysterious.

And let me explain why. I want you to think about it. Let me say it again. For He, God the Father, made Him, Jesus the Son, the first person of the Trinity,.

Made Him,.

That's a key word, made Him the second person of the Trinity who knew no sin to be sin for us. Some translation says to become sin, no sin, sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

I want you to think about that. If you start trying to wrap your minds around that, it's very mysterious. It's very deep. It's deep waters. So here we see, and how did God make Jesus to be sin for us?

This is my first point.

That's a loaded question, isn't it?

That's a loaded question. Let's be honest. How did God make Jesus to be sin for us? How?

It's a mystery.

You look at the gospel record, within three hours,.

Jesus,.

God darkened the sun. Things happened.

The earth,.

There was an earthquake.

And God was shaking the earth.

I really believe that.

And there was a darkness that came on the earth. But Jesus, within those three hours,.

Folks,.

When He cried out, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Those are some of the deepest words. When the Father, and this is God the Son, in His divinity, had a oneness, a relationship that was never ending through all eternity with God the Father, and yet, as God the Son, the Son of Man, takes upon Himself, He bore the sin of the world, of those who would believe in Him, and there was a hell.

That came.

That God was separated from Him in those three hours. That is the eternal hell. That was the wrath that people suffer for all eternity for those who reject Jesus Christ.

Jesus took that. He took the full brunt,.

I guess you could say, or God exhausted His wrath upon His Son. Now, is that deep or what? We will never know this even in eternity. That this is God,.

The Creator, the Word,.

He made flesh,.

Came.

From glory, and He knew exactly why He came, because He made the covenant with the Father. He comes to the earth, and think of this, He humiliated Himself, He humbled Himself to the manger, He entered into the darkness.

Of this woeful world,.

And then 30 years, and exactly 33, He takes His humiliation all the way to the humiliation.

Of a cross.

Then He takes the wrath of God. And we know the struggle that was upon Him right before He did this in the Garden of Gethsemane. It was such a struggle that great drops of blood with His sweat was pouring out of Him.

That He knew He was about to drink the cup, the wrath of God, those dregs upon in which He was, that's the reason why He was born. Now, I want you to think of this. In this question in which I ask, how did God make Jesus to be sin for us?

Folks, I'm telling you, this is true worship, because I'd like for us to look at this by God's help this morning. And I need help by the Spirit of God, because I'm not the teacher here. The Spirit of God's the teacher.

Only the Spirit of Truth, the Spirit of Holiness, the Spirit of God can really show us. And I don't think we're going to actually come to a full understanding of this great mystery, because Paul even said, great is the mystery.

Without controversy, without any debate, great is the mystery of godliness. And he talks about redemption and Jesus Christ. So I'm dare not going to say and tread where angels fear to tread, that the secret things, Deuteronomy 29, 29, belong to the Lord, but the things that are revealed belong to us, the sons of men.

But this is a mystery.

That God has been revealed, that has been revealed to us through the precious blood of Jesus Christ on Calvary's tree over 2 ,000 years ago. And that's our focal point. Perhaps, let me say this, the best way to look at this is first of all, to understand the text.

He, Jesus Christ, how He became sin for us, is to begin with what He does not mean. I think that would help us. So I'm going to start there. First of all, what did He not mean about for He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us?

What did He not mean? I think that's a good way to look at it. As I was thinking about this text. Holy Scripture clearly presents Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, as the one in whom there is no sin, absolutely, no sin whatsoever.

We know this, don't we? Because it's all through the Word of God. It's right here. Notice what He says. Who knew no sin to be sin for us. He knew no sin.

He was sinless, totally.

1 John 3, verse 5 says,. And you know, you know, that He was manifested to take away our sins. And in Him there is no sin. That's Scripture. No sin.

1 Peter.

Peter, we look through this wonderful book. 1 Peter 2, 22. Peter says, Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth. We can't go one day without some deceit in our mouth. Or sinning some way in our word, thought, or deed.

Right?

We're talking about Jesus' entire life was a spotless, sinless life. Perfect life.

He, Jesus,.

Who is absolutely holy.

He was absolutely holy. He was absolutely blameless. He was absolutely spotless. He was absolutely pure. How do we know this? Well, I think, one of my favorite verses of Scripture is found in Mark 1, 24.

Remember, we went through the study with Sinclair Ferguson on the study of Mark. And I love this part. Speaks of an unclean spirit that's crying out before Jesus cast him out. An unclean spirit. And He says, Let us alone.

Let us alone. And I believe in Matthew, it says, Have you come to torment us before our time? You know what that tells us? Torment's coming to them. Torment's gonna come to these fallen angelic beings, which are demons now.

But I want you to notice this.

Notice in Mark 1, 24, if you're there, what this unclean spirit says. Unclean spirit. Interesting, isn't it? He asked a question. Almost like asking permission, knowing that Jesus is Lord.

What have we to do?

We. Notice, we.

There's more than one.

We to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth. Isn't it interesting the revelation that comes to us through the written Scriptures from a demon spirit? What have we to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth? And notice what He says.

Did you come to destroy us? You know the destruction's coming. And notice what He says. What these unclean spirits says. I know who you are. Almost makes me think of also in Acts. The sons of Sheba and the demon spirits there.

Paul we know and Jesus we know. Paul we know, but who are you? Someone trying to cast out demons, which had no authority. Then demon spirits cry out. But here they say, I know who you are. They know who He was.

And what did they say? You're the Holy One of God. These demon fallen angels knew exactly that Jesus was the Holy One of God. No spot, no wrinkle. The perfect Lamb of God. Even the demons know Jesus to be Lord.

They even tremble,.

Which the false teachers don't, right? And acknowledges that Jesus Christ to be the Holy One of God. Acts 3 .14. Flip over with me to Acts 3 .14. That's it. Peter is preaching, full of the Spirit of God.

He's preaching the Gospel. And this is what he says to these wicked people that took Jesus to have Him crucified. But you deny the Holy One and the just and ask for a murderer to be granted to you? What about the words of Jesus Himself?

Brother Keith went to Revelation 19. I'm going to go to Revelation 3.

Look at this.

Jesus is giving a word to the churches in Revelation. This is the glorified Christ now. He's risen. He's glorified. And He says to the angel. Now, the angel means a messenger in this text. The angels, when He speaks of angels there, it's not the angelic beings.

It's messengers, like pastors, elders. To the angel of the church of Philadelphia, right? This is Jesus speaking. These things says, He who is holy, He who is true, He's holy and true. I believe that said that in the text this morning.

Brother Keith read in Revelation 19. Jesus is holy and true. And He says, He who has the key of David and He who opens and no one shuts and shuts.

And no one opens.

For Jesus, beloved, to become sin, even for one moment, would mean that He would cease to be God. If you understand what I'm talking about there, to become sin for one moment, He would cease to be God.

But Scripture presents Jesus Christ as the same yesterday, today and forever. Hebrews 13. So He was.

Jesus is.

And Jesus always will be the second person of the Trinity, of the Godhead, no changing. John 1 .1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Well, that's one point.

The second is, how we are not to look at it is, the idea that Jesus Christ became sin for us does not mean that He became a sinner. We know this. Scripture clarifies this, that Jesus was no sinner. He was the perfect Son of God, the perfect Son of Man.

Not even for one moment did He sin. Not for one second. Some have said, and I say these some are false teachers, beloved, that Jesus Christ may be considered as the greatest of sinners. Sounds like a false teacher statement, isn't it?

Because all the sins of the world was laid on Him. He became the greatest sinner that ever lived. I've actually heard some false teachers say that. Beloved, this is blasphemy to the highest. This is absolutely blasphemy.

1 Peter 2 .24. Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree that we, having died the sins, might live for righteousness by whose stripes you were healed. He bore our sins. He's the spotless Lamb of God.

He's the Lamb of God. How dare anybody get up and pronounce that Jesus was the greatest sinner in this part on the cross that ever lived. Blasphemy. Jesus at no time became a sinner.

Zero.

Third,.

It does not mean that He was guilty of actual sin either. It does not mean He had guilt for sin. No one is truly guilty who has not transgressed the law of God, right? Did Jesus transgress the law of God?

Not one time. Jesus never did. As a matter of fact,.

Jesus actually said, I did not come to destroy the law.

I came to fulfill it.

That's a great statement.

Think of that. This is what this text is all about. Jesus fulfilled the law of God to its perfection. If Jesus were guilty of breaking the law of God, then that would mean that He deserved to die. He would be like any other person,.

Any other criminal,.

Dying on the cross. Then that would mean that He deserved to die.

And that His death.

Could have no more merit than any other guilty person. Something to think about, isn't it? Even the self-righteous Pharisees who sent Jesus to Calvary's cross, as we looked at earlier from Peter's message, knew He was guiltless.

How do we know that?

Acts 13, 28. Go to Acts 13, 28. I want you to see this. Even the self-righteous religious Pharisees knew that Jesus was without guilt. How can I say that? How can we know this? Because the Word of God tells us, and though they found in Him no guilt, get that?

They found in Him no guilt worthy of death. They asked Pilate to have Him executed. They asked Pilate, the governor, to have Him executed. So if He became sin for us, it does not mean Jesus was sin or a sinner or guilty of sin.

So the proper interpretation could only be found in one teaching from the Scripture. And if we do not understand this one teaching, this one doctrine, from the pages of Scripture, we do not understand the Gospel.

And what is that one teaching? The doctrine of imputation. Folks, it's everything. The doctrine of imputation, the doctrine of reconciliation, the doctrine of substitution. Those three are the great doctrines.

These are the foundations of the Christian faith. Our sins, in other words, and imputation were placed on Jesus. But they were not in Him. They did not come from within. Because in Him was no sin. This is where it comes in.

So how does it work out? He bore our sins. In other words, what happened is that God, the Holy God, made Him to be a sin offering. That's what Jesus meant when He said to Nicodemus, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness on that pole, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.

Now what's incredible, that melts my heart,.

Is the Creator of the ends of the earth. Chose to do this.

Before the foundation of this world. Before He even created man. And He knew man would sin. He already chose this and made a covenant with the Father, and the Father agreed to it. That He would take the sin of the world.

It's really beyond us, isn't it? Because we're creatures of the dust and creatures of the earth, and this is the Creator. He bore our sin. The sin in which we deserve, the sin that takes us to hell,.

Takes people to hell,.

That reject Him. And what happened is that God, the Holy God, made Him to be a sin offering on our behalf. He represented us.

That's the beauty of it.

Jesus represents us. Trusting in Him alone, we're reckoned righteous by God alone,.

By faith,.

As we place our faith in the person and works of Jesus Christ. Folks, if we're not doing that, we're not Christians. God Himself declares us righteous all because of Jesus' sacrifice.

Why?

Because it satisfied God. Nothing else satisfies God.

But that one sacrifice,.

That one holy sacrifice, all because Jesus paid it all. Doesn't that warm your heart? Doesn't that make you want to sit back and just worship and love Him? The claims of the law that no one could fulfill.

Jesus fulfilled it.

No one, everybody broke it. Even the greatest theologians of the day.

Were far from it.

They thought they could keep it. Even Paul the Apostle, when he was a Pharisee of Pharisees, of the tribe of Benjamin, said, I was the most religious man that ever lived. And this is why he says, all that is dung and manure that I may win Christ.

He understood imputation. He understood that Jesus took His sin and basically what He was saying is,.

I'm the chief, then. He came to the conclusion,.

I'm the chiefest of sinners. That's where we must come. To come to repentance and faith. The claims of the law have been fully satisfied by our wonderful substitute, Jesus Christ. And this is what imputation is all about.

Let's look a little bit about imputation. So that in Him, Jesus might become the righteousness of God in Him. That's the latter part of it. This is the imputation. In other words, to impute something is to ascribe or to attribute to someone.

It means to exchange. The great exchange.

Glorious.

That's why in the song, we say, Oh, wonderful exchange. His robe's for mine. And there He was, naked on the tree in shame. And yet, He dresses us in His righteousness. Just not a righteousness, but His righteousness.

Folks, I can't shout this and preach this enough. We can't preach this enough. This is why Luther said, we must remind ourselves and preach this to ourselves every single day because this is what saves us.

To impute, to exchange.

And by the way,.

Luther had a text from this great verse and he called it the great exchange. I've heard Reformed pastors and preachers talk about this a lot. And actually, Luther is the one that preached it. So they're taken from Luther.

They didn't come up with that. The Reformer did. But before the Reformer did, Paul the Apostle, the greatest missionary and the greatest theologian, penned it right here.

By the Holy Spirit.

I think we would do good to give the credit to the blessed Holy Spirit.

Amen?

Through the Apostle Paul, for He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God. This is not only imputation, this is double imputation.

You know,.

A lot of churches today, you go, I guarantee you, you will hear single imputation that Jesus forgives you of your sins, but rarely do you hear that He gives you His righteousness. And that's where the victory in Jesus Christ comes in, that He dresses us in His righteousness.

The great exchange. He had no sin in Himself. He was not a sinner. He was not guilty of sin. But our sin was imputed to Him,.

Laid on Him.

He bore it. It was attributed to Him. Or you could say it was transferred to Him. So that He suffered and took our place as our substitute. And He took the just penalty that our sin deserves. And God the Father poured out His wrath on Him because of His hatred to sin.

Doesn't that blow your mind?

But what does that show us?

It shows us God's hatred for sin. And it shows you His love for His holiness. And it shows you His love.

For the believer.

And it's glorious.

All that was imputed,.

Attributed,.

Transferred to Jesus as He suffered and took our just penalty.

That our sin deserves.

And folks, if we think about not only the physical sufferings, but what He went through and He became a curse for us and that He took that hell upon Him. He took God's wrath and He actually satisfied the justice of God.

That should bring us.

To the point on our knees. And at the same time, through faith alone and Christ alone, Christ's righteousness is imputed,.