JESUS IS GOD'S SACRIFICE FOR OUR SINS

Dr. W. A. Criswell

04-11-95

1 Corinthians 15:3

The message today is: God's Atoning Sacrifice for Our Sins. Our background text will be the first part and the last part of the fifteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians:

Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, and in which you stand.

And by which also you are saved… .

For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;

And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures;

Then, the last part:

So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immorality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory… .

The sting of death is sin; and the strength of the sin is the law.

But thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Do you notice how he phrased that? “For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received.” Paul avows he's not an innovator. He's not an originator. He's not an inventor. He's a messenger. He received the gospel message.

And, that's the one that he says: “I delivered to you.”

I remember: In the Second World War the King of England addressed America. I sat there and listened to it: a wonderful address. And, the next day, in the paper, I read where the cable carrying that message to America broke just as the king began to speak. And, a dedicated workman seized one end of a broken cable and the other end of a broken cable and the entire message passed through his body. That's exactly what Paul is referring to here: “I received this message from God,” the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ.

And, do you notice that he calls it “the gospel?” That's an old English medieval word for “the good news.” God's word. It's also the translation of the Greek word euangelion, which means exactly the same thing: “the good news.”

When you send out a missionary to preach the gospel, that's what he preaches: the good news. And, when a man stands in a sacred pulpit like this, and if he's true to the faith, that's what he'll preach: the good news.

“Jesus died for our sins according to the scriptures.” He was buried and the third day He was raised for our justification.

The gospel. Do you know? Do you see? It's called the good news, the most marvelous word that even God from heaven could bestow upon us. When you go to church and it's dead and dull and dry and dreary, and you go out and forget it, how opposite that it is the purpose of God, for the message from heaven, it's the good news and ought to bring indescribable, infinite joy and happiness to us as we listen to it and, then, as we go out and share it with the world.

I, again, so well remember, in the days of that last great War, the death march to Bataan. When the Japanese overwhelmed our army in the Philippines, MacArthur had to flee with the soldiers that he could gather around him for escape. But, some of them were imprisoned there in the Philippines and marched in death to Bataan.

Well, as the days passed, those men died one after another by exposure, by tragic treatment from the Japanese. It was one of the saddest things that I could imagine.

The chaplain who was with the group in Bataan, there imprisoned in a barbed wire area--I visited with him here several times. And, he said, “Upon a darkening night, we heard snippers cutting that barbed wire. And, then, we saw, in the shadow of the night, men coming toward us. We thought it was the Japanese, coming to slay us. And, when they approached, we couldn't help but exclaim.” And, he said, “Those American soldiers, when they came close, said, ‘Steady there, boy--steady there. General MacArthur has come. And, the Yanks are here. And, you're saved.’” That is the good news. That is the gospel: The finest, sweetest, dearest announcement that ever fell upon human ears.

In the first part of this century was the tremendously glorious Welsh Revival. And, here is a song that they sang:

The Lord was slain on Calvary

That's the news.

That set a world of sinners free.

That's the news.

'Twas there His precious

Blood was shed.

Twas there He

Bowed His sacred head.

But now He's risen

From the dead.

That's the news.

His work's reviving all around.

That's the news.

And many have salvation found.

That's the news.

And since these souls

Have caught the flame

They shout hosannas

To His name.

And all around

They spread His fame.

That's the news.

Where'er we meet,

You always say

What's the news?

Pray what's the order of the day?

What's the news?

Oh, I've got good news to tell

My Savior has done

All things well.

And triumphed over

Death and hell.

That's the news.

There's nothing in human speech that compares with the glory of the triumph of the gospel of Jesus Christ over sin and death and the grave. So, let's speak of it for this moment. What's the news? God in Christ has done away with our sin. As the one hundred third Psalm says: “As far as the East is from the West, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” That's the news.

I sometimes think of the gospel message and its marvelous effect in us. As you read in the prophet Zechariah, chapter 3, he sees Joshua, the high priest in that day, standing before the altar of God. And, he's dressed in dirty garments and filthy. And, by his side stands Satan, to condemn him. And, then, the prophet says: “I saw an angel. And, God placed in the hands of that angel beautiful, precious, glorious, white garments.” And, God said to the angel: “Go to the priest. And, take off those dirty, filthy robes and clothe him with these glorious garments, pure and white from heaven.”

That is exactly what Jesus has done for us: Our filthy, dirty garments, stained with every thought and kind of sin, God in Christ has taken away and clothed us in the white pure, righteousness of Jesus our Lord.

What's the news? That He has triumphed over death and the grave. There are two things that characterize the death of the Christian. Number one: He exchanges this old body, aging and decaying--He exchanges it for the new body, the one like Christ, glorified, transfigured, raised from the dead.

And, number two: For the Christian, death is our entrance into heaven and into glory. Never could I forget being with my father the last time, just before he died. He loved to sing. And, he sang me a song:

I'll meet you in the morning

By the bright riverside

When all sorrow

Has thus fled away

I'll be standing at the portals

When the gates open wide.

At the close of life's long

Dreary day.

And, after I left to come back here, my father died. That's death to the Christian. I'll meet you in the morning. It's the way and the entrance into heaven.

What's the news? That the terrible judgment has passed for the Christian. You know, when I read that text, “the sting of death,” what could that apply to but to the lost? “There's no sting of death,” he says, “to the Christian. It's just our triumph in Christ over the grave.”

The sting of death is that ultimate confrontation that the lost man faces in the judgment day of Almighty God. O Lord, the infinite, indescribably tragic death of one who goes into that other world without Jesus. But, for the Christian, that judgment has already passed. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus died for us and accepted that judgment upon our sins. He did it on the Cross. And, now, we are free. The judgment for us has already passed.

Out there in West Texas, where I grew up, once in a while would be an indescribably vast prairie fire from horizon to horizon--a devastating thing. And, I think of one of those ranchers. There's his home. And, there's all of the accruements of his ranching life. And, that terrible storm is coming.

And, what does he do? Around his house and around his barns and around his cattle, he burns. He burns. He burns. He burns. And, his house now stands in a great area already burned, already fired. And, when that terrible West Texas prairie fire comes, it touches him not at all. It's already burned.

That's exactly what Jesus has done for us. The great judgment has already passed. Jesus faced it for us on the Cross. And, we're free. We're alive.

One other: The good news is the blessing of our salvation and our entrance into heaven and our eternal life is for anyone, everyone. Do you notice when I read here, the plural, the plural pronouns, that he uses. He says: “Thanks be to God, who gives us”--plural, us—“the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” God's arms are outstretched as wide as the world is wide. And, like the angels said in the Book of Luke: “The good news is addressed to all mankind, to all men everywhere.”

You know, thinking about that, the greatest text in the Bible has a “whosoever” in it: “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever”--anybody. And, then, I remembered again. The last, last concluding invitation of God in the Bible is the same way:

And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will

--Anybody. Me. You. Them—

let him come and take the water of life freely.

--Let him come. Anybody.

Simon Peter, who cursed and swore that he never knew the Lord, if he'll come, Jesus will forgive him. Thomas, who doubted that the Lord could even be raised from the dead, if he'll come, he'll be forgiven. The high priest who presided over the Sanhedrin that condemned Jesus to die, if he'd come, he'd be forgiven. That awful critter, whoever he was that beat our Lord with many, many stripes, if he'd come, he'd be forgiven. Those contemptible, contemptuous men who spit on Him and plucked out His beard and mocked Him, if they'd come, they'd be forgiven.

I often think of that man who drove those nails in His hand. Great God! But, if he'd come, he'd be forgiven. And, that soldier who thrust that spear into His side and heart, if he'd come, he'd be forgiven. It's anybody--you. It's anybody--me. It's anybody--us. Welcome!

As some of you know, last Friday night I delivered the closing address at the State Sunday School Convention in Alabama. In a beautiful and expansive sanctuary, it was crowded with 3,000 people. And, when my address was done, the presiding officer, the president of the convention, said that I was going to be down there at the front, seated at a table. And, anybody wanted to bring a Bible, I'd sign it for them.

So, I set me down. And, among those that came forward with a Bible was a big fine-looking man. And, as he stood there, I never heard a testimony so full and complete in so brief a moment.

He said to me, “When I was a young fellow, I murdered a man. And, when I was tried, I was sentenced to life in the penitentiary. With the codicil, I had to be there for at least 15 years before I was a candidate for a parole.”

Then, he said, “Confined to a jail, before they had prepared for me to be removed to the state penitentiary, a beautiful young woman led me to Jesus.”

Then, he said, "For 15 years, I fell in love with her. And, she wrote and came to see me.”

And, he said, "She waited for me for 15 years. And, at the end of the 15 years, I was paroled. And, we married. And, God called me to preach.”

And, he said, “I am now pastor of a God-blessed, Christ-honoring, Spirit-filled Baptist church here in Alabama.”

Oh, I don't think I had seen anything like that or heard it before. And, as these days have passed, I've turned that over and over in my mind, that murderer, that murderer, now the pastor of a Baptist church in Alabama.

And, you know what? I've kind of had an experience since then. He, a murderer, and, now, pastor of a church. And, then I got to thinking about me.

I cried so when I was converted as a little boy. I cried. Why did I cry? Then, when I stood up on a Wednesday night to testify of the love of God and His grace toward me, I broke down and cried. And, for thousands of times since then, I have prayed before God: “O Lord, forgive me my sins, dear God, and strengthen me by Thy love and grace.”

I guess I've prayed that several times every day of my Christian pilgrimage. And, then, I thought of that murderer and me. Anybody can come and be saved and be welcomed and be redeemed and be forgiven. Anybody can, no matter who he is. And, that includes us all. All of us sin, come short of the glory of God. He, a murderer. Yes. I, a sinner. Yes. And, that is the good news.

O God, O God

Saved by the blood

Of the crucified One.

All glory to the Father

All praise to the Son

All love to the Spirit

The great three in one.

Saved by the blood

Of the crucified One.

He and me and you praise His name forever. Now, in His presence, may we stand.