New City Catechism XXV
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What do you do to life your spirits?
I wonder what helps motivate you?
In our society today people are encouraged to go and engage in some retail therapy.
Often doing something or buying something new can bring joy where otherwise there is sadness, despair or just simply being down in the dumps.
Some think that getting a new Prime Minister will turn things around - but as we can see, that isn’t often the case - is it!
What motivates you? Turn to those around you and discuss that with one another...
Over the past few weeks we have been thinking about Jesus our Redeemer.
Hopefully, more than just teasing out what the bible says about the twofold nature of Jesus, why as the Redeemer he had to die - , these biblical truths have served to motivate us in the way we live in relationship with him, in faith everyday.
The fact that Jesus had to be fully God and fully human, the fact that he had to die to fulfil God’s plans to reconcile the world to himself, aren’t just facts to occupy our minds, they are building blocks that should motivate us to grow in faith and trust in God our creator and his plans and purposes for us as His people, as His children.
Paul is motivated not only with the urgency of his mission, but also by his conviction to serve the people of God by urging them to build confidence in the truth of the gospel and to see the importance of understanding the fullness of what God is doing in Christ.
As is often the case, underlying Paul’s letter is a need to correct false teaching.
You’ll need to read further to get a sense of the dynamics going on - Paul’s writing in chapters 10 onwards deals directly with some of that and we don’t need to dwell on it today.
But it is another motivating factor in writing this letter that we are delving into, as we seek to tackle the question before us this morning:
Does Christ’s death mean all our sins can be forgiven?
How would you answer that question and why? Discuss.
So let’s just quickly set the scene before we explore what Paul says that may help us with question 25 of our new city catechism.
In what is really a defence of his apostleship, Paul wants to re-orientate his readers minds back to what really matters:
That is, What God has done and is doing - not on what these other so called Super Apostles are doing or saying.
6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.
18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
7 We live by faith, not by sight.
What Paul is so keen to stress is that ultimately, this is not about him, his preaching, what he says or does or how he says or does it - it is about God and it is about our future with Him.
People can say what they like about Paul - he will not be swayed from the core message he has been given.
His whole passion is wrapped up in what Christ has done, what God in Christ is doing.
All the talk of showy, dazzling teachers with their public followings, they esctatic demonstations and talk about the glories of the here and now are a distraction Paul says from the core of what Jesus was about.
What we have now is only a deposit on what is to come.
What is to come is a guanteed and unchangeable truth that is comletely wrapped up in a living faith in Jesus Christ and his redeeming death and resurrection.
And what we do now, how we live our lives, whether we live as those who are the new creations we have become by faith, is a demonstration of whether we fully grasp that or not.
Whether we accept that or not, as Christians we are no longer condemned by sin, but we are still accountable for how we live.
10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due to him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
Paul is of course motivated by that truth. However, even though a healthy fear and awe to live faithfully shapes Paul, it is the ‘love of Christ’ that compels him to keep going.
14 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.
The word ‘compels’ carries with it the sense of being constrained, like when a large body of water comes to a narrowing point and is forced through and out the other side - all the focus and energy is concentrated in the one area.
It is his love and awe of God and what he is doing in the world, God’s reconciling the world to himself in Christ, that spurs Paul on to persuade all that will listen to the good news Paul proclaims.
11 Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience.
And what Good news that is.
Christ, fully human, was teh only one who could perfectly obey the law and reverse what Adam had started by taking upoin himself the necessary punishment for sin.
Christ, with all the authority of God, perfectly and effectively gained victory over sin and death when he died on the cross.
And in doing so - it changed everything.
We will be considering how it changed the future of the world, the cosmos another day, but it also changes those who through faith are reconciled to God in Christ.
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
And then Paul says some pretty amazing things about the here and now.
Did you notice them?
19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
Christ died for sinners, Christ’s death means victory over sin and death, Christ’s death brings with it forgiveness.
But all my sin ever done and committed in the future - are you sure?
YES, says Paul. And he is not the only one to say so...
8 The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.
9 He will not always accuse, nor will he harbour his anger for ever;
10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
1 Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.
4 We write this to make our joy complete.
5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.
6 If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
Faith in Christ, his death and resurrection, changes everything and sets us free to live for him, confident in the knowledge that ALL our sins, past, present and future will not be counted against us.
Still accountable for how we live; but salvation, eternal life, no more suffering, pain or tears - guaranteed!
How?
Imputed Righteousness
Just as Adam’s sin was imputed ‘or counted’ towards us, so our sin was imputed or counted on Jesus on the cross. He bore the sins of the world - completely.
And at that moment a great exchange happened for those who are in Christ - those who are by faith united in Christ and with Christ.
His righteousness was counted as ours.
His righteousness isn’t taken from him and given to us. But the merits of His righteousness are accounted or credited to us - if you like, as a perfect and sufficient credit to our account which is otherwise in deficit - for those who like an accounting metaphor.
We see the same language used in Genesis when Abraham by faith followed God - the bible says:
6 Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
3 What does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
Friends, what motivates you?
Things you can see, touch, experience in the here and now?
Or, if you are a Christian, a follower of Jesus, one who has surrendered your life and eternal future into His hands on the basis of his saving death,
are you motivated by the truth of God’s word says about who you are and what God has stored up for you?:
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
That in Christ, you are a new creation, living not based on what was, but what is and what will be?
Is your life compelled, constrained and directed by Christ’s love?
because God’s word assures us that when we turn to Christ, and give him a life surrended through faith, we are united in him.
He took all our debt and gave us all his riches.
He took all our sin and gave us his perfect righteousness.
He took our death and judgement and gave us freely his eternal life and salvation.
That’s what happens when you flee to Christ -
Christ wears our crown of thorns, we wear his crown of glory when we trust him
He wears the filthy rags of our sin and we wear his royal robes.
He bears our shame, death and judgement, we bear his honour and life.
1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,
And now as Paul writes in Romans chapter 8, we cannot be condemned for Christ has been condemned for us. This is the good news we freely offer to all.
Two things are certain friends - The first, that a day is coming when everyone will stand before the judgement seat of God and give an account.
The second - those who are found IN CHRIST will be clothed in his righteousness, no longer condemned and found NOT Guilty of all charges that would otherwise be laid upon them.
And so Paul comes to what he has been leading to and speaks to the Corinthians and also to us:
For some it is an appeal to flee to Christ. Please speak to me today if you would like to explore this further.
For those who have already done so, it is an appeal to live as if that is true, that our salvation is secure and that we understand the times we are living in as we seek to persuade others to flee to Christ also.
1 As God’s fellow-workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain.
2 For he says, “In the time of my favour I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” I tell you, now is the time of God’s favour, now is the day of salvation.
Now is the day to live as the new creation that we are by faith in Jesus. Let us not be found having received the grace of God in vain.
Let us pray...