The Great Transaction (2 Corinthians 5)

Welcome back to Coffee with a Calvinist. My name is Keith Foskey, and I am a Calvinist. Today we are going to be in 2 Corinthians chapter 5. I've been very excited to get to this part because 2 Corinthians chapter 5 has two of my favorite Bible verses in the same chapter.

New Creation in Christ

So if you'll open up your Bible with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 5, I want to mention these two verses and tell you why I think one of them should be on your memory list. Your Bible memory list. The first one is verse 17.

It says, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. Now, this is how it reads in the ESV, and sometimes the ESV is great. Sometimes it doesn't read as well as maybe we remember it from the King James Bible.

And in the King James Bible, which I'm going to pull up really quickly here, we have a little different reading in verse 17 and one that we're a little bit more familiar with. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.

Old things are passed away. Behold, all things become new. All things become new. That is a wonderful promise and a wonderful blessing of what happens to a person when they become a believer in Jesus Christ.

When the Holy Spirit comes and changes the heart, their life changes. And I've said this for years and I'll continue to say it. If you have come to Jesus Christ in faith and your life has not changed, then I would seriously ask what makes you think that you have truly come to Jesus in faith?

Now, I'm not saying that you'll be perfect. I'm not saying that you won't battle with sin. I'm not saying that you won't struggle with some of the same things that you've struggled with in the past. But the reality is, when we come to Christ, our lives change.

And as one of my old professors, Dr. Jerry Powers, used to say, God gave me a new wanna because prior to coming to Christ, all the things I wanted to do, I no longer want to do. And even though I still struggle in the flesh with some of those things, my heart's disposition towards those things has changed.

All things have become new because my heart has been changed to those things. So that's verse 17. I think it's a very important verse. But the verse I really want to focus on attention today is verse 21.

The Great Transaction of 2 Corinthians 5:21

In the ESV, it says, For our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. King James says it a little differently. He says, For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

Still pretty much the same thing. But what I want to point out with this particular text is the transactional nature of what is being spoken of here. God made him who knew no sin, that's Jesus, to become sin.

That is to become the sin bearer for us. That we could become the righteousness of God in him. There is so much theology crammed into one short verse, 2 Corinthians 5 21. And this is the one I was talking about when I said you should memorize this verse.

Especially if you sometimes have trouble sharing the gospel with people. Because this is the gospel. You are a sinner and God made him who knew no sin to become sin for us. Why is that important? Because on judgment day, all sin is going to be judged.

And your sin is either going to be laid at your feet, and you are going to pay the penalty, or it's going to be having been laid at the feet of Christ on the cross and he paid the penalty. And so the question is who is going to bear the burden of your sin?

Are you going to bear it? Or is Christ going to bear it? I remember one time years ago, I was here at the church, and a man came to get food and I took him into the kitchen. I was giving him food from our pantry and I was telling him about Jesus.

And I said, I cannot bear the weight of my own guilt. Christ bears the weight of my guilt. And the man looked at me and he said, Pastor, you can't think like that. You've got to pull yourself up by your own bootstraps.

And I remember thinking how ironic that was for a man to say who had come because he needed food, because he was unable to provide for himself. And yet, I understand the sentiment. People want to feel like they've contributed to their salvation.

But I looked at that man and I said, Sir, when it comes to my salvation, I don't have any boots and I don't have any straps. I can't do anything to contribute to my salvation. All I can do is trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.

God made him who knew no sin to become sin for me. That I could become the righteousness of God in him. You see, even if Christ had taken my sin and I was totally forgiven, I still wouldn't be fit for heaven because I still wouldn't be righteous.

But Christ, who is perfectly righteous, gives me his righteousness. He fulfilled the law for me. And therefore, when God sees me, he doesn't see me as the sinner, Keith Foskey, but he sees me as the righteousness of God in Christ, covered in the righteousness of Christ.

This is a beautiful passage. It is one that I would encourage you to memorize. And again, I've memorized it in a little different way than even the ESV or the King James says. I think the way that I've memorized it is more akin to the NIV of all things.

But it's simply this. God made him who knew no sin to become sin for us, that we would become the righteousness of God in him. I would encourage you to memorize that and use that when you're sharing the gospel with people out in the world.

Evangelism, Calvinism, and the Righteousness of Christ

Don't ever let anyone tell you that Calvinists are not evangelists. Some of the greatest heroes of the faith, some of the greatest evangelists in history, men who were instrumentally used by God in bringing about great awakenings, like Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield, held to the doctrines of grace, the doctrines that are typically called Calvinisms.

Charles Spurgeon, one of the greatest evangelistic preachers in all of history, was himself a Calvinist. So, yes, we believe in sharing the gospel. And one of the greatest passages that we can remind people is 2 Corinthians 5 and 21.

So I encourage you to memorize it. I encourage you to use it. I encourage you to share your faith. This has been Coffee with a Calvinist. My name is Keith Foskey, and I am a Calvinist. Thank you for tuning in to Coffee with a Calvinist.

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