2 Corinthians 5:21. 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.
Now what’s the good news this new Tuesday morning eh friends? Well, let me tell you about it… It’s big, it’s wonderful, it’s exciting and everlasting! Yes my bredrin, the good news this morning is that Jesus is LOVE! Wow! He’s the One whom we can turn to for all the necessities of life! And be assured that He won’t let us down. He’s the One who can heal us, who can lead and guide us successfully through every which kind of storm or problem.
His is the power…and the glory…the joy and the promise of eternal salvation. He’ll pick you up when you fall, heal you when the world’s medics can’t, help you to hold on when you seem to be slipping, and comfort you when the cares of this evil and ungodly world get you down. Now, ONLY Jesus can do all of that my people! ONLY Jesus!
So, if this Tuesday morning, in these pandemic times you need any of that stuff, then the best advice, the best thing you can do, is turn to Jesus; surrender your life to Him, make Him the captain and pilot of your life. I promise you that you will never regret it. In fact, when you look back at your life, you will recognize that it was the best decision you ever made! And you’ll jump for joy and sing His praises loud, while giving Him much thanks for the awesome work He’s done in your life.
You’ll sit down and wonder, how you ever could have lived so long without Him, and bless His holy name that He finally came and found you and scooped you up in His wonderful comforting arms when your whole world was about ready to fall apart. Yes friends, that’s the kind of person our Jesus is! He comes to you when you are at your lowest point and picks you up both literally and figuratively and changes your whole life, brings it into alignment with His heavenly kingdom, providing hope for a brighter day, taking away the negativity that’s all this world offers.
And you know what precious people, the most important thing is, when you accept him as Lord and Saviour, when you surrender your soul to Him, He never, never, never leaves nor forsakes you! Wow! He seals you as His child, as His brother, friend and co-heir in righteousness forever! Now how could the news get any better than that eh?
But it does! In all that Jesus is and does, we find mercy, grace, forgiveness of sins, and everlasting life! And they endure forever, based on the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross of Calvary, where He shed His holy, sinless blood so that we could be forgiven, took ALL of our sin on His shoulders and gave us His righteousness. And it says so right in the Bible, the Good Book, the Word of God: ‘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.’ (2 Cor. 5:21)
Now what does that verse mean eh? The first thing we need to understand was that Jesus NEVER sinned, as several Bible verses tell us. Hear John in his first epistle. ‘And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.’ (1 John 3:5) He came to take away sin, but had no sin Himself. And Peter in his first epistle, quoting Isaiah 53:9 says of Jesus. ‘Who did no sin, neither was guile (deceit) found in his mouth.’ (1 Pet. 2:22)
Even the demons knew Him, as recorded in Mark when He cast them out of an unclean man. They said to Him: ‘Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God.’ (Mark 1:24) So that all points to Jesus as being totally sinless. And furthermore, if He had even had one spot of sin on Him, then He would have ceased being God, and would therefore would not have been able to save us, or pay for our sins, because only a sinless being could do that.
Anyway, I found this interesting explanation on the Biblical website ‘Got Question.’ It says: ‘If He became sin for us does not mean Jesus was sin, or a sinner, or guilty of sin, the proper interpretation can only be found in the doctrine of imputation. This is confirmed by the second part of 2 Corinthians 5:21: “So that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
To impute something is to ascribe or attribute it to someone. On the cross, our sin was imputed to Christ. That is how Christ paid our sin debt to God. He had no sin in Himself, but our sin was imputed (attributed) to Him so, as He suffered, He took the just penalty that our sin deserves. At the same time, through faith, Christ’s righteousness is imputed to us. Now we can stand before God sinless, just as Jesus is sinless. We are not righteous in ourselves; rather, Christ’s righteousness is applied to us.
So, “God made him . . . to be sin for us” means that Jesus, although sinless, was treated as if He were not. Although He remained holy, He was regarded as guilty of all the sin in the world. Through imputation of our sin to Him, He became our substitute and the recipient of God’s judgment against sin. Having saved those who believe, He is now “our righteousness, holiness and redemption.”
So that’s how we are saved; our sins were imputed to Jesus and now, all that He was and is, are imputed to us. ‘But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us (became for us) wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.’ (1 Cor. 1:30)
And the scholars explain: ‘Because of the Father’s work we have become intimate with Christ Jesus. Paul concludes that all of the riches of salvation exist in Christ Jesus. All that the Corinthian believers are (and consequently all believers), they owe to Him. Thus it is not in oneself, or in party alignment, or in supposed human ability that any believer ought to glory. Paul tabulates the qualities that belong to the believer in Christ. Wisdom is not merely the acquisition of intellectual skills but the gaining of spiritual discernment based on the wisdom of God as demonstrated in the cross.
Righteousness is a legal concept and has in mind the righteousness that is applied to the believer’s account the moment he believes (Rom. 5). Sanctification has already been mentioned in verse 2, “sanctified in Christ Jesus.” This contemplates the work of Christ “in” the believer, as opposed to that which he does “for” the believer in justification. Redemption underlies all the above. Christ’s redemptive work opened the way for God to extend His grace to sinful man and to pour out upon him such benefits as wisdom, righteousness, and sanctification.’
Mama Mia! What more can I say eh friends? Christ has done so much for us, that we would be very foolish not accept His selfless sacrifice, for if we don’t, we will, without a doubt, end up eternally separated from God. And that can by no means be a good thing! So, for those of us who are serious about accepting Christ, let’s go home now declaring (yeahhh!!!) our Tuesday Mantra, letting all and sundry know who and whose we are.
Altogether now: ‘In God’s eyes, I’m not what I do. I’m not what I have. I’m not what people say about me. I am the beloved of God, that’s who I am. No one can take that from me. I don’t have to worry. I don’t have to hurry. I can trust my friend Jesus and share His LOVE with the world. Amen!’
Our next step is to now go out and share that awesome LOVE and friendship of Jesus with others, so that they too can come to know him. Much LOVE!
…without Jesus’ awesome sacrifice…where would be eh…heading directly for hell…with no means of escape…
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