Jesus—DIED FOR OUR SINS & Was Raised For Our Justification

Romans 4:25 is a very appropriate verse for us to consider as we approach Easter. In this verse Paul is making a clear declarative statement about Christ's death and resurrection. With the help of Pastor John Piper, let's look at this verse in more depth. This week we'll look at Christ's death and next week his resurrection. As you read and meditate on this verse, consider this question "whom or what should we trust in order to be justified (made right with God)?"

A DESIGNED DEATH

"Notice the first half of verse 25: 'He who was delivered over because of our transgressions.' The main thing to see here is that the death of the one God raised is a death by design. God did not simply want to demonstrate his inconceivable power and so find some murdered person to raise from the dead. God himself designed this death and designed it for a purpose.

"You can see this in the two key phrases of verse 25a: '(1) He who was delivered over (2) because of our transgressions.' Jesus 'was delivered over' - by whom? By soldiers? By Pilate? By Herod? By the Jewish mob? Not, finally, by any of them because it says he was delivered over 'for our transgressions.' Soldiers and Pilate and Herod and Jews did not hand Jesus over 'for our transgressions.'

"Acts 2:23 gives a clear and forthright answer: 'This Man [was] delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God.' God delivered him over to death. Romans 8:3 says, 'God [sent] His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin.' Romans 8:32 says, 'He . . . did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all.' So the death of Jesus Christ was by the design of God. God planned his death. He did not just die. He was delivered over to death by God.

A DESIGN WITH A PURPOSE

"And the design had a purpose (verse 25a): 'Because of our transgressions.' God's design was to deal with our transgressions. He wanted to do something about our transgressions. What? He wanted to provide a substitute death so that we would not have to die for our own transgressions. And the only death that could do that was the death of his Son. So Romans 8:3 says, 'God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.' So our transgressions are not swept under the rug. They are not overlooked. They are condemned. They bring about an execution. But not ours. Christ's.

A MERCIFUL REDEMPTION

"In this way we are redeemed by the death of Christ. That is, we are saved from our sins. We are rescued from the penalty of hell. We are ransomed from the judgment of God. And all of this redemption we did not deserve. We deserve to die and go to hell and endure the judgment of God. But this is a merciful redemption. This is the God we trust in order to be justified—the God who performs a merciful redemption. He designed to save us from our transgressions through the death of his Son."

This excerpt was used with permission. By John Piper. ©2012 Desiring God Foundation. Website: desiringGod.org

Christ in his passion was mocked on several occasions and each time the mockery occupied a unique place in his experience. First he was mocked by Israel, next he was mocked by the pagan world, then by a descendant of Edom, a false brother, and finally by all these together. He was mocked by the Sanhedrin, by Pilate's soldiers, by Herod and then by them all as they stood before the cross....

In the midst of this gruesome abuse our Lord stood unflinchingly, leaving himself at the mercy of his enemies, he who by a word could have destroyed them. But he maintained the omnipotence of his silence.... In his bearing in the midst of vile abuse, the Saviour left us an example that we should follow in his steps. We cannot be faithful to Christ in this world and avoid reproach and contempt, and in this our bearing should correspond in some measure to that of the master when he was so defamed.

-- Frederick S. Leahy, The Cross He Bore (pp. 58-59)

Some Christians prepare for Easter by celebrating Lent, which begins on Ash Wednesday (February 22, 2012.) This year, we would like to suggest a book for you to read: Jesus, Keep Me Near The Cross edited by Nancy Guthrie. There is no better way to prepare for Easter (April 8) than to remind ourself of the passion and power of the foundation of the Gospel; and this little book will assist you in doing just that. Since the chapters are short, we recommend that you try reading one chapter a day, beginning on Ash Wednesday. Right now the book is 50% off at the Westminster book store. You can also order it through Amazon (a Kindle version is not available). There will also be a few copies that can be purchased in the church foyer.

God continues to remind me that there are only two responses to Christ on a cross—most who are perishing consider it folly, but for the few who are being saved it is the power of God. Those who consider it foolish that God on a cross would save people usually stumble over the idea. Like the Jews who lived with Jesus, they continue to seek a sign, evidence, or proof that Jesus was really God. Or they think it complete and utter foolishness to claim that God would give himself as a sacrifice to save the human race from destruction—none of the Greek gods would ever act in such a way, for we don’t want God to be weak. For most people this is foolishness, this is weakness and certainly not a display of power. But for the few who believe such “folly,” to those who are called by God, it is both the power and wisdom of God to die on a cross to save them.

I think most people struggle with Christ on a cross because the idea is so foolish, so counterintuitive, without evidence of power. It is so difficult to believe in a power that is unseen and unrealized. So what about you? When you hear the “word of the cross,” is it folly or is it the power of God (1 Cor. 1:18)?

Most comparative religion classes overlook that the Christian community celebrates in more ways and more often than any other religious community. No other religion sings like Christianity. We sing as humble sinners, yet we sing boldly as forgiven sinners! We sing in response to the loving initiative of the Cross—we sing songs of praise and worship, using musical instruments to help us articulate our joy and thanksgiving. Singing is unique to Christianity. A Buddhist temple never resounds with a cry of praise, worshipers of Allah do not sing. They are never jubilant with the songs of the forgiven.

The Christian community is a community of celebration. Whenever true Christians come together as people forgiven by Christ it should be impossible to stop them from singing. Christians should be marked by their declarations of praise and thanksgiving for the work of Christ on the cross on their behalf.

The problem of pain is a very difficult issue for me. After reading extensively on the subject, it is obvious that my struggle is not unique. To be honest, the more I read those who try to reconcile pain with God, the less convincing they become to me.

I do not think there is a satisfactory explanation for the existence of pain that fits within our human understanding. The Bible supplies no thorough solution to the problem of pain, whether in the form of suffering or of sin. Its purpose is more practical than philosophical.

While at the grocery store this week I walked past a Muslim man and his wife clothed from head to toe in traditional dress—complete with a full face hijab. I was taken aback—then the Holy Spirit began working on me. I was bothered by my reaction. Do I love them as Jesus would love them?

My daughters have taught me the most about how to love people and cultures that are far different from mine in America. They are surrounded by more internationals than Americans at their high school and they have loved them—so much so that Laura’s Muslim friend, who wears the hijab, invited her to her 16th birthday party!

George Barna has been tracking the rise of spirituality among Americans for the past 20 years. However, the brand of spirituality being worn is marked more by being on a spiritual journey than on finding God. New spiritual seekers are more interested in the experience of the journey, not in the purpose of reaching a destination.

While some might compare these seekers to John Bunyan’s Pilgrim, they are in fact far different. The Pilgrim’s journey did not begin until the burden of sin had been deposited at the Cross of Christ. Our spiritual journey, as a pilgrim through life, is intended to be about the destination, not about the experience of wandering or of being a spiritual seeker. For the Christian who has deposited their sin at the Cross, their spiritual journey is about the certain knowledge of a “better country” to which they are traveling as pilgrims, learning how to conduct themselves in preparation for the One whom they are traveling towards.

Many Christians who read the Bible find themselves caught between two views regarding the power of Satan over them. Some insist that we are born of God, secured in Christ so that the evil one does not and cannot touch us (1 John 5:8) and although Satan is a strongman, he is bound by Christ (Mark 3:27) because of His cross (Col. 2:13-15)—they are triumphalists. Others see Satan as not yet eliminated and he continues to wield great power. They see the fearsome evil of Satan and his spiritual forces set against us—they are defeatists.

In The Cross of Christ John Stott helps us understand that we live in a tension between the “already” and “not yet.” Christ has “already” defeated Satan and his powers (Col. 2:13-15; Eph. 1:18-2:5) but Satan has “not yet” been destroyed (Rev. 19). “Already” the Kingdom of God has been inaugurated and is advancing, but it is “not yet” consummated. “Already” we are God’s sons and daughters, and no longer slaves to sin and Satan, but we have “not yet” entered the “glorious freedom of the Children of God” (Rom. 8).

I have noticed that there is a subtle change in how many Christians view Jesus these days. For many, the power of the cross lies not in any objective, sin-bearing transaction but in its subjective inspiration. The cross and God’s sacrifice of His Son in our place is missing more and more from our vocabulary. We have replaced the cross of Jesus with the life of Jesus. We talk little about our change of status before God because of Jesus’ death and more about changing our attitudes and actions by living Jesus’ life. We describe Jesus as having been primarily our teacher and example, rather than being our substitute and sacrifice.

It is true that the self-sacrifice of Jesus in His life and His death should move us to grateful love in response and so to contrition and repentance for not living a life of sacrifice and love as Jesus lived. However, teaching us how to love was not the primary purpose of Christ’s death. The primary purpose of Christ’s death was to be a sacrifice for our sin—justifying us by our faith in the sacrifice of Christ for us. Our love is a response and by product of receiving justification of Christ and the Spirit from Christ, but it has no moral value to influence God to forgive us or declare us justified in His eyes because of our love for God or the world. In the end, it is merely moralistic love which divorces God’s justice from God’s love—without God’s justice being satisfied, our love for God or the world has no value.

On Easter, we often stop and remember the historical events of Jesus’ resurrection from death. However, we often don’t consider why God the Father put His Son, Jesus, on the cross or why he had to raise Jesus from the dead. Buried in the Scripture among the many reasons why God raised Jesus is one that is seldom unearthed—“Jesus was raised for our justification” (Romans 4:25).

Jesus is the one who was delivered up to death. Isaiah the prophet foretold that the messianic Servant would “pour out his life unto death” (Isa 53:12). Yet he was “raised to life for our justification.” God’s entire redemptive plan is summarized in Romans 4:25. Christ died for our sins and was raised again for our justification. The two are inseparably bound together. Robert Mounce in his commentary on Romans said it best, “Without his death there would be no basis for acquittal. Without his resurrection there would be no proof of the redemptive reality of his death.” Jesus Christ, crucified and raised to life, is God the Father’s gracious provision for our sins. The simplicity of the message makes it clear for all who will hear. The power of the message is experienced by those who receive it in faith.

Jesus often spoke of forgiveness using the metaphor of a monetary debt that was canceled. This is precisely His point in one of His parables where He compares our great debt to God as being “forgiven” which should compel us to forgive the much lesser debt owed to us by our neighbor. Because our modern language of forgiveness seldom compares forgiveness to debt, we misunderstand just how costly forgiveness really is to the one who forgives. Humans can choose to forgive a debt without payment. God cannot. Because of God’s holiness, He cannot forgive our debt freely until the price of our sin debt has been satisfied. The price that was paid was the blood of God in Christ on the cross. Many old preachers, theologians and hymn writers understood this—they spoke of the “satisfaction” of the sin debt as paid by Christ on the cross as the reason why we should worship and celebrate the cross. As Keith Getty and Stuart Townsend wrote, “Til’ on that cross/ As Jesus died/ the wrath of God/ Was satisfied/ Here in the love of Christ I stand.”

One of the stumbling blocks to postmodern America is the idea that a person must be forgiven of their sins by God and the insistence that the cross of Christ is the only ground on which God forgives sins. The assertion by Jesus that repentance for sin and the forgiveness of sin only comes by the cross bewilders many and infuriates the rest. After all, some say, “we don’t require a blood sacrifice to forgive sin, so why does God?”

The answer is our sin is not just against another created being, it is against the Creator OF our being, and that Creator is perfect and holy—wholly without sin! In contrast we are wholly full of sin. As Archbishop Anselm wrote in the eleventh century, “we have not yet considered the seriousness of sin or what a heavy weight sin is nor have we considered the majesty of God.”

One of the growing trends in the American Church is to speak about the life of Christ as a model for living the Christian life. If you were raised in the more liberal church, that is not a surprise to you—your church has been emphasizing the life of Christ for several decades. But what is a surprise is that now the evangelical and even conservative American Churches have joined them in their preaching.

While I would never say that we shouldn’t study, read about and adopt the life of Christ as a model for living, however, it wasn’t the life of Christ that saved us from death; it was the death of Christ that saved us and gave us life. My fear is that by emphasizing the life of Christ we have forgotten that it is the death and resurrection of Christ that is the source of living the life of Christ.