1 00:00:09,120 --> 00:00:10,880 Good morning. Great to be here. 2 00:00:10,880 --> 00:00:14,040 I love coming here on Sunday mornings, especially when 3 00:00:14,040 --> 00:00:19,040 there's a lunch afterwards, OK. And there's a sort of positive 4 00:00:19,040 --> 00:00:22,320 and I don't know about that because on the one hand, you 5 00:00:22,320 --> 00:00:26,480 don't have to think about rushing home, OK, to to cook the 6 00:00:26,480 --> 00:00:28,040 lunch. You don't have to think about 7 00:00:28,040 --> 00:00:31,760 that. So, you know, about 2 1/2 hours 8 00:00:31,760 --> 00:00:32,479 out. No. 9 00:00:33,800 --> 00:00:37,480 But on the other hand, the, the waft, the smell of delicious 10 00:00:37,480 --> 00:00:40,680 food is going to get increasingly strong as I'm 11 00:00:40,680 --> 00:00:43,200 speaking this morning. You know, so I'm aware that 12 00:00:43,200 --> 00:00:47,520 there's a, there's a positive and perhaps a negative to that. 13 00:00:48,720 --> 00:00:51,120 Yeah. I'm going to bring the word this 14 00:00:51,120 --> 00:00:54,640 morning and I want to focus on one particular verse. 15 00:00:54,920 --> 00:00:58,800 And there it is, 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21. 16 00:00:59,080 --> 00:01:02,400 I've called this talk the great exchange. 17 00:01:02,840 --> 00:01:08,840 It's one of my favourite verses and one of the reasons I'm 18 00:01:08,840 --> 00:01:11,640 bringing that this morning because because I know that here 19 00:01:11,640 --> 00:01:15,560 on Sunday mornings you've been going through various passages 20 00:01:15,560 --> 00:01:19,520 from Paul's letter, the second book to the church in Corinth, 21 00:01:19,560 --> 00:01:23,760 Second Corinthians. And a couple of weeks ago, I 22 00:01:23,760 --> 00:01:27,680 know that Ben preached on quite a long passage, 2 Corinthians 23 00:01:27,960 --> 00:01:31,560 chapter 5 verse 11 to chapter 6 verse 2. 24 00:01:31,680 --> 00:01:36,280 And I listened to it the other day and I want to say it was 25 00:01:36,320 --> 00:01:41,840 excellent, one of the best preachers I've heard in recent 26 00:01:41,840 --> 00:01:45,080 times. It was it was wonderful. 27 00:01:45,120 --> 00:01:50,200 It did stirred my soul about the gospel message and the wonderful 28 00:01:50,200 --> 00:01:57,120 salvation that we have. And just as I was praying the 29 00:01:57,160 --> 00:01:59,920 other day, after listening to it, I just felt the Lord put on 30 00:01:59,920 --> 00:02:06,320 my heart to say to you guys, Christchurch, Blackpool, I hope 31 00:02:06,320 --> 00:02:13,320 you realise how blessed you are. OK, by having a young man, or 32 00:02:13,320 --> 00:02:17,720 he's young from where I stand anyway, Or said a young man who 33 00:02:17,720 --> 00:02:21,320 is such a great preacher, don't want to dress it up any more 34 00:02:21,320 --> 00:02:23,400 than that. Or shall I embarrass him some 35 00:02:23,400 --> 00:02:25,680 more? OK. 36 00:02:25,760 --> 00:02:29,600 But I hope you guys, Christchurch, Blackpool, realise 37 00:02:29,600 --> 00:02:33,920 how blessed you are. And I want to encourage you as 38 00:02:33,920 --> 00:02:38,120 you go on being part of the church here and reaching out 39 00:02:38,120 --> 00:02:44,240 into this great town of Blackpool to make sure that you 40 00:02:44,280 --> 00:02:49,280 honour Ben as he preaches and teaches. 41 00:02:50,080 --> 00:02:55,480 That's a scriptural command, OK, That we should honour those who 42 00:02:55,960 --> 00:03:01,720 teach us, who preach and teach us to honour him, to bless him 43 00:03:01,720 --> 00:03:07,760 and to bless his family, OK. It's a, it's a biblical command 44 00:03:07,760 --> 00:03:09,800 to us. Now there's lots of ways that we 45 00:03:09,800 --> 00:03:15,240 can honour him and bless him. One of those ways, there's lots 46 00:03:15,240 --> 00:03:17,720 of practical ways I'm sure you can think of. 47 00:03:18,400 --> 00:03:21,000 One of the practical ways is probably to respond to that 48 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:26,040 notice I saw put up there on the screen earlier, which is about 49 00:03:26,240 --> 00:03:29,280 there are lots of serving teams that make Sunday mornings 50 00:03:29,280 --> 00:03:33,000 happen, OK. And if there are gaps in the 51 00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:36,360 serving team, I've got a pretty good idea who fills them. 52 00:03:36,880 --> 00:03:41,280 OK, It will be 1 of the leaders and probably him, OK, So you can 53 00:03:41,280 --> 00:03:44,960 honour him and bless him and bless the family by responding 54 00:03:44,960 --> 00:03:47,720 to that and making sure you're involved on a Sunday morning. 55 00:03:47,880 --> 00:03:50,920 But another way that you can honour those who preach and 56 00:03:50,920 --> 00:03:53,440 teach, and this is a biblical thing. 57 00:03:53,440 --> 00:03:57,480 I'm not going to go into this in detail, but it's to give from 58 00:03:57,480 --> 00:04:01,080 all that God gives you into the life of the church. 59 00:04:01,360 --> 00:04:06,480 And through that, that enables the church to honour Ben and his 60 00:04:06,480 --> 00:04:11,360 family by making sure that they are well cared for. 61 00:04:12,080 --> 00:04:15,760 Now he's not going to suddenly have enough resources to go out 62 00:04:15,760 --> 00:04:20,399 and buy a new Mercedes-Benz, OK, but hopefully he would have 63 00:04:20,399 --> 00:04:22,600 enough resources to make sure the car that he just drives 64 00:04:22,600 --> 00:04:24,800 stays on the road. I'm not going to go into this in 65 00:04:24,800 --> 00:04:29,640 detail, but I hope the message is coming through to you, the 66 00:04:29,640 --> 00:04:32,520 church, you the leaders, you the trustees of the church. 67 00:04:33,360 --> 00:04:38,960 Please pray about this and make sure that you we honour Ben and 68 00:04:38,960 --> 00:04:41,840 his family. Anyway, that's for free. 69 00:04:41,840 --> 00:04:43,760 That's not what I'm preaching about this morning. 70 00:04:44,080 --> 00:04:48,040 I'm preaching on this verse, 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21. 71 00:04:48,640 --> 00:04:53,520 It's a it's a wonderful verse. And if you ever get the 72 00:04:53,520 --> 00:04:57,680 opportunity, and I hope that you do, to share the gospel, the 73 00:04:57,680 --> 00:05:00,800 good news about Jesus Christ to someone and you're not sure 74 00:05:00,800 --> 00:05:04,080 where to start or what words to use, how to say it. 75 00:05:04,360 --> 00:05:08,120 If you think about this verse and you're able to put this 76 00:05:08,120 --> 00:05:12,160 verse into your own words, you will be doing a great job of 77 00:05:12,160 --> 00:05:17,280 explaining the good news. God made him who had no sin to 78 00:05:17,280 --> 00:05:21,880 be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness 79 00:05:21,920 --> 00:05:25,960 of God. It's great to memorise and 80 00:05:25,960 --> 00:05:28,560 remember Scripture, so let's have a go. 81 00:05:28,560 --> 00:05:30,920 Let's read it out together after me. 82 00:05:31,360 --> 00:05:46,080 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we 83 00:05:46,080 --> 00:05:49,000 might become the righteousness of Gods. 84 00:05:51,920 --> 00:05:55,920 Now 2 weeks ago when Ben preached and he covered the 85 00:05:55,920 --> 00:05:59,680 verses before and after this particular verse, he referred to 86 00:05:59,680 --> 00:06:03,320 this verse and spoke about it as part of biggest preach. 87 00:06:04,160 --> 00:06:06,720 But what I want to do this morning is to go deeper. 88 00:06:07,880 --> 00:06:10,000 Are you ready to dig a bit deeper this morning? 89 00:06:11,160 --> 00:06:16,560 It might be a bit stretching, OK, but hopefully it will it 90 00:06:16,560 --> 00:06:20,600 will help you in this particular verse. 91 00:06:20,640 --> 00:06:25,200 So I'm just going to focus on this verse and we're going to 92 00:06:25,600 --> 00:06:30,880 break it down. It says God made him who had no 93 00:06:30,880 --> 00:06:35,520 sin to be sin for us so that in him we might become the 94 00:06:35,520 --> 00:06:40,760 righteousness of God. God made him. 95 00:06:40,840 --> 00:06:44,760 The hymn that is referred to, I'm sure we're all aware, is 96 00:06:44,840 --> 00:06:49,360 Jesus just just a little word? First of all, if I haven't got 97 00:06:49,360 --> 00:06:51,480 this in my notes, but I'm just thinking about it where it says 98 00:06:51,480 --> 00:06:55,800 God made him and we know what's coming up in the rest of the 99 00:06:55,800 --> 00:06:57,960 verse. What it doesn't mean, what it 100 00:06:57,960 --> 00:07:02,600 doesn't mean is that God forced Jesus to come and die on the 101 00:07:02,600 --> 00:07:06,000 cross for us, OK? It doesn't mean that God made 102 00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:09,800 him in the same way that I could make Ben stand up now by 103 00:07:09,800 --> 00:07:14,080 dragging him up, OK? It doesn't mean he made him in 104 00:07:14,080 --> 00:07:16,680 the sense of forcing him, compelling him. 105 00:07:17,320 --> 00:07:22,160 What it means in terms of made is that God set up the 106 00:07:22,160 --> 00:07:24,440 circumstances. God planned it. 107 00:07:24,720 --> 00:07:30,920 God made Jesus in the sense of this is my plan for Jesus to do 108 00:07:30,920 --> 00:07:32,920 this. God prepared it. 109 00:07:33,800 --> 00:07:37,840 We mustn't think that God forced Jesus, OK? 110 00:07:37,840 --> 00:07:41,680 That would not be biblical. That would not be scriptural. 111 00:07:42,000 --> 00:07:47,920 Everything that Jesus did, he did willingly, OK, not because 112 00:07:47,920 --> 00:07:54,680 he was made to do it, but it says God made him who had no 113 00:07:54,920 --> 00:08:00,560 sin. God made him who had no sin. 114 00:08:00,920 --> 00:08:05,320 It's important that we just pause a moment there. 115 00:08:05,320 --> 00:08:14,760 God made Jesus who had no sin. One Peter 2 verse 22 says he 116 00:08:14,760 --> 00:08:20,600 committed no sin and no deceit was found in his mouth. 117 00:08:20,600 --> 00:08:25,120 And that's actually quoting A prophecy made hundreds of years 118 00:08:25,320 --> 00:08:28,120 previously in the Old Testament. We find in the Old Testament by 119 00:08:28,120 --> 00:08:32,840 the prophet Isaiah 1 John. So this is the apostle John 120 00:08:32,840 --> 00:08:36,159 writing chapter 3 verse 5 says this. 121 00:08:36,159 --> 00:08:41,480 But you know that he, that's Jesus, He appeared so that he 122 00:08:41,480 --> 00:08:47,400 might take away our sin, but in him is no sin. 123 00:08:48,600 --> 00:08:53,680 So the Bible, the Scriptures are very clear that Jesus had no 124 00:08:53,680 --> 00:08:56,320 sin. Jesus committed no sin, there 125 00:08:56,320 --> 00:09:02,520 was no sin in him. The Scriptures make that 126 00:09:02,920 --> 00:09:06,840 perfectly clear. And the sinlessness of Jesus, 127 00:09:07,440 --> 00:09:11,880 the fact that Jesus had no sin committed, no sin, is a really 128 00:09:11,960 --> 00:09:17,320 important, crucial part actually of what the Bible teaches us 129 00:09:17,320 --> 00:09:23,240 about who he was, who he is, his identity, and the role that he 130 00:09:23,240 --> 00:09:28,400 came to play. So his sinlessness is really, 131 00:09:28,400 --> 00:09:33,080 really important. His perfection, the fact that in 132 00:09:33,120 --> 00:09:39,160 Jesus was perfection was essential for him to take on the 133 00:09:39,160 --> 00:09:45,400 role of the perfect sacrifice. And Scripture is very clear 134 00:09:45,400 --> 00:09:49,760 about that. Jesus was able to pay for the 135 00:09:49,760 --> 00:09:55,280 technical term in Scripture is to atone for our sin because of 136 00:09:55,480 --> 00:10:00,280 his sinlessness. Yeah, It's his sinlessness that 137 00:10:00,280 --> 00:10:05,920 made him able to carry out that role of the one who saves 138 00:10:05,920 --> 00:10:10,720 humanity. He would take the punishment for 139 00:10:10,720 --> 00:10:14,400 the sins of the world only because he was not guilty of any 140 00:10:14,400 --> 00:10:17,760 sin himself. And it's really important as we 141 00:10:18,160 --> 00:10:22,360 think about the build up, as, as Ben said, two, 2025. 142 00:10:22,360 --> 00:10:25,560 I mean, I'm getting it wrong now. 2025 is coming to an end. 143 00:10:25,560 --> 00:10:29,080 We're coming up to Christmas. Anybody got their decorations up 144 00:10:29,080 --> 00:10:31,560 yet? We have a guy in our church who 145 00:10:31,560 --> 00:10:34,120 starts putting his decorations up at the end of September. 146 00:10:34,880 --> 00:10:37,360 OK. I've tried to excommunicate him, 147 00:10:37,360 --> 00:10:42,560 but no, Christmas is not allowed in our house until after my 148 00:10:42,560 --> 00:10:46,720 birthday, the 1st of December. But we're coming up to Christmas 149 00:10:47,160 --> 00:10:51,640 and one of the accounts that we read of Christmas is that the 150 00:10:51,640 --> 00:10:57,240 account of the virgin birth that Joseph and Mary did not come 151 00:10:57,240 --> 00:11:00,120 together before the birth of Jesus. 152 00:11:00,960 --> 00:11:07,080 And you could say, well, do do I have to believe that is, is that 153 00:11:07,080 --> 00:11:09,800 an important part of, of, of Scripture? 154 00:11:11,360 --> 00:11:15,360 Yeah, Yeah, it is. It it, it's actually very 155 00:11:15,360 --> 00:11:20,080 important part of Scripture because the Scriptures say that 156 00:11:20,360 --> 00:11:25,840 we are all born into sin because as the Bible says, we we're 157 00:11:25,840 --> 00:11:30,320 under the line of Adam, the first man Adam, God made Adam 158 00:11:30,320 --> 00:11:33,720 and Eve. Adam fell into sin, the first 159 00:11:33,720 --> 00:11:39,240 human sin, and all of humankind fall into sin because we are in 160 00:11:39,240 --> 00:11:44,680 the line of Adam. But Jesus was not in the line of 161 00:11:44,720 --> 00:11:48,360 Adam. He had no earthly father. 162 00:11:48,840 --> 00:11:54,880 In other words, that sin line from Adam did not continue to 163 00:11:55,040 --> 00:11:58,520 Jesus. He was born of a new line, the 164 00:11:58,520 --> 00:12:01,720 line of God. He was the scripture calls the 165 00:12:01,720 --> 00:12:07,600 new Adam. So Jesus was born of an earthly 166 00:12:07,760 --> 00:12:14,120 mother, Mary, but not of directly from an earthly father. 167 00:12:15,080 --> 00:12:19,080 And it's important that we that we hold on to these doctrines 168 00:12:20,040 --> 00:12:23,040 even as we come up to Christmas. It might not be the most obvious 169 00:12:23,040 --> 00:12:26,400 point of conversation with those that you're trying to invite to 170 00:12:26,400 --> 00:12:28,880 a travel service, but sometimes it can come up. 171 00:12:29,720 --> 00:12:32,080 Yeah. And people say, well, how can 172 00:12:32,080 --> 00:12:35,080 that happen? Well, because it's God. 173 00:12:37,200 --> 00:12:41,200 And Luke, Luke clearly says, having interviewed Mary, we 174 00:12:41,200 --> 00:12:47,840 believe and eyewitness that the Holy Spirit came upon Mary and 175 00:12:47,840 --> 00:12:51,160 the baby Jesus was conceived in her room. 176 00:12:51,640 --> 00:12:53,280 What? Yeah. 177 00:12:53,360 --> 00:12:57,160 It's amazing, it's miraculous, it's supernatural. 178 00:12:57,880 --> 00:13:00,120 Yes it is. It's God. 179 00:13:00,120 --> 00:13:04,320 And that's what's so wonderful about the Christmas that we're 180 00:13:04,320 --> 00:13:06,840 going to be celebrating in a few weeks time. 181 00:13:07,520 --> 00:13:09,480 Jesus was not of the line of Adam. 182 00:13:10,240 --> 00:13:15,800 He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, so God made him. 183 00:13:15,960 --> 00:13:21,640 Jesus who had no sin. Secondly, the next bit, he made 184 00:13:21,640 --> 00:13:29,000 him to be sin for us. Yeah, God made Jesus, who had no 185 00:13:29,000 --> 00:13:33,760 sin to be sin for us. Remember, it's not made 186 00:13:33,760 --> 00:13:41,120 enforced, but the plan of God that Jesus came to fulfil was to 187 00:13:41,120 --> 00:13:48,600 be sin for us, to be sin for us. Again, Peter writes in one Peter 188 00:13:48,600 --> 00:13:54,360 2 verse 24. He himself, Jesus bore our sins 189 00:13:54,720 --> 00:14:01,640 in his body on the cross. He himself bore our sins in his 190 00:14:01,640 --> 00:14:07,400 body on the cross. Now going to go a bit deeper, 191 00:14:07,840 --> 00:14:12,840 OK? What this does not mean is that 192 00:14:12,840 --> 00:14:20,720 Jesus became a Sinner. OK, Jesus did not become a 193 00:14:20,760 --> 00:14:23,440 Sinner. And even if we read that verse 194 00:14:23,440 --> 00:14:27,160 in our English translations, some translations are are 195 00:14:27,160 --> 00:14:30,800 different and slightly better actually than the one I'm using, 196 00:14:30,800 --> 00:14:35,880 which is NIV where it says to be sin for us. 197 00:14:36,040 --> 00:14:41,480 It doesn't mean that he became full of sin, OK? 198 00:14:41,480 --> 00:14:44,440 It doesn't mean that he became a Sinner. 199 00:14:45,000 --> 00:14:49,720 It doesn't mean that he himself became guilty of sin. 200 00:14:50,280 --> 00:14:54,600 The scriptures say we've already had this one, one John 3/5. 201 00:14:55,000 --> 00:15:00,960 He appeared so that he might take away our sins, but in Him 202 00:15:01,000 --> 00:15:06,040 is no sin. So Jesus did not become a 203 00:15:06,040 --> 00:15:10,640 Sinner. He remained sinless, but on the 204 00:15:10,640 --> 00:15:19,240 cross what happens is that God looks on Jesus and treated him, 205 00:15:20,840 --> 00:15:24,280 dealt with him as if he was a Sinner. 206 00:15:24,720 --> 00:15:28,800 OK, now you may think this is a bit whatever, but it but it's 207 00:15:28,800 --> 00:15:34,120 important. Jesus did not sin, but God dealt 208 00:15:34,120 --> 00:15:38,480 with him and treated him as if he was a Sinner. 209 00:15:38,720 --> 00:15:45,600 He was treated as if he was guilty of all the sins of the 210 00:15:45,600 --> 00:15:49,240 world. Now the theological term. 211 00:15:49,640 --> 00:15:51,600 You'll probably all forget this, and I wouldn't blame you if you 212 00:15:51,600 --> 00:15:57,360 do. OK for this is imputation OK? 213 00:15:57,440 --> 00:16:00,760 Imputation. It means imputation if you look 214 00:16:00,760 --> 00:16:03,520 it up in an English Dictionary. Not a religious one, but 215 00:16:03,520 --> 00:16:08,160 imputation. It's the action of giving 216 00:16:08,160 --> 00:16:11,800 something to someone and treating them accordingly. 217 00:16:12,840 --> 00:16:17,040 It's the action of giving something to someone and 218 00:16:17,040 --> 00:16:23,160 treating them accordingly. OK, so when Paul says God made 219 00:16:23,160 --> 00:16:28,480 him who had no sin to be sin for us, he's saying that God 220 00:16:28,840 --> 00:16:35,760 ascribed to Jesus, technically imputed to Jesus, gave to Jesus. 221 00:16:35,840 --> 00:16:41,840 If you like all of our sin, he put it on Jesus. 222 00:16:42,760 --> 00:16:47,000 All our sin, all the sins of the world, God put upon Jesus the 223 00:16:47,000 --> 00:16:55,880 guilt of all our sin. OK, so let me show you very 224 00:16:55,880 --> 00:16:59,520 simply what I mean by that. Ben, would you stand up please? 225 00:16:59,520 --> 00:17:02,240 I want you to imagine I've already honoured this man this 226 00:17:02,240 --> 00:17:04,119 morning. I want you to imagine now that 227 00:17:04,119 --> 00:17:08,040 this man is Jesus. OK, bit difficult to, you know, 228 00:17:08,040 --> 00:17:14,200 stretch of the imagination, OK, and I'm just Steve, OK, a sinful 229 00:17:14,200 --> 00:17:18,359 man, OK. And I want you to just imagine 230 00:17:18,680 --> 00:17:24,599 that all of my sin, all the guilt is on me is represented by 231 00:17:24,599 --> 00:17:28,040 this this hat. OK, this is my gardening hat. 232 00:17:28,800 --> 00:17:30,800 Bit sweaty Ben, but Are you ready for this mate? 233 00:17:31,160 --> 00:17:33,800 This is this is my sinner's hat, OK? 234 00:17:33,840 --> 00:17:37,480 All my sin, everything, all the guilt, everything is represented 235 00:17:37,480 --> 00:17:40,800 in this hat. What was happening on the cross 236 00:17:41,080 --> 00:17:44,480 for all those who believe in Jesus, when I believe in Jesus 237 00:17:44,800 --> 00:17:53,120 is that God lifts all of that on me and puts it on Jesus. 238 00:17:54,000 --> 00:17:57,800 OK. So that when God looks at me, he 239 00:17:57,800 --> 00:18:01,400 doesn't see that anymore. But when he looks on Jesus, 240 00:18:01,800 --> 00:18:04,200 that's what he says. You may sit down. 241 00:18:04,200 --> 00:18:12,680 Thank You, Beautiful assistant. What happened to Jesus is on the 242 00:18:12,680 --> 00:18:18,440 cross when Jesus was crucified. It happened because of my sin 243 00:18:19,400 --> 00:18:24,640 and the sin of us all. The guilt for that was imputed, 244 00:18:24,840 --> 00:18:31,080 put upon, placed upon Jesus, and he was treated accordingly. 245 00:18:32,760 --> 00:18:37,560 Everything, all my sin, all of our sin, all the sin of the 246 00:18:37,560 --> 00:18:44,920 world in that little cap placed upon Jesus, and Jesus was 247 00:18:44,920 --> 00:18:49,720 treated accordingly according to that. 248 00:18:50,640 --> 00:18:54,800 Just just let that sink in for a moment or two. 249 00:18:55,520 --> 00:19:01,600 Just just ponder upon that. On the cross, even before he was 250 00:19:01,600 --> 00:19:04,600 crucified. Think of Jesus in the garden 251 00:19:07,200 --> 00:19:10,400 where it says that he sweated drops of blood. 252 00:19:11,920 --> 00:19:17,000 He sweated drops of blood. Now I've heard some people 253 00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:19,200 preach that that's just a a picture. 254 00:19:19,200 --> 00:19:22,120 It's just to say he was deeply traumatised. 255 00:19:22,600 --> 00:19:26,120 He was seriously affected by what was going on. 256 00:19:26,120 --> 00:19:31,000 But actually sweating blood is a known medical condition. 257 00:19:31,760 --> 00:19:34,600 It's very rare. I'm don't know if I'm going to 258 00:19:34,600 --> 00:19:39,160 be able to pronounce this. It's called hematotidrosis. 259 00:19:39,160 --> 00:19:43,320 Anyway, Hema, which is blood something or other, OK, but it's 260 00:19:43,320 --> 00:19:47,520 sweating blood. It's very rare, but it occurs 261 00:19:47,520 --> 00:19:56,760 when someone is in extreme distress, extreme awareness of 262 00:19:57,120 --> 00:20:02,200 something that is happening to them and in the garden. 263 00:20:04,280 --> 00:20:09,400 Jesus was aware of what was coming His way because He was 264 00:20:09,400 --> 00:20:14,480 feeling the weight of that, of the sin of the world, of my sin 265 00:20:15,000 --> 00:20:22,960 and your sin on His shoulders. Just let that sink in. 266 00:20:25,800 --> 00:20:34,600 Jesus on the cross paid the price for my sin, for your sin. 267 00:20:37,200 --> 00:20:44,400 Now that's not the end, OK? That is not the end. 268 00:20:44,400 --> 00:20:50,080 And often when we try to share the gospel or even when we live 269 00:20:50,080 --> 00:20:56,560 our lives as Christians, it's almost as if we stop in our 270 00:20:56,560 --> 00:21:02,320 verse right there. God made him who had no sin to 271 00:21:02,320 --> 00:21:09,200 be sin for us, which which is which is wonderful that God 272 00:21:09,200 --> 00:21:13,680 would would do that for me. But that's not the end. 273 00:21:14,000 --> 00:21:23,080 That's not the full gospel. Paul goes on to say so that so 274 00:21:23,080 --> 00:21:30,040 that there's a reason why God made, prepared, planned Jesus to 275 00:21:30,040 --> 00:21:37,440 do this, so that in him Jesus, we might become the 276 00:21:37,440 --> 00:21:40,680 righteousness of God. Now just let me pause in the 277 00:21:40,680 --> 00:21:43,240 same way as I pause for the word made. 278 00:21:43,960 --> 00:21:48,160 It doesn't mean God force Jesus to do this when it says in our 279 00:21:48,160 --> 00:21:51,960 English translation in there, so that in him we might. 280 00:21:52,480 --> 00:21:56,040 It doesn't mean we might in in the sense that well, yeah, we 281 00:21:56,040 --> 00:21:59,720 might, but we might not. You know, it's not in the sense 282 00:21:59,720 --> 00:22:03,480 that we might on a good day and not on a bad day, or it's not in 283 00:22:03,480 --> 00:22:07,960 the sense that we might if God smiles upon us or whatever it it 284 00:22:07,960 --> 00:22:11,760 doesn't mean that. It means that God made it and 285 00:22:11,760 --> 00:22:17,560 had no sin to be sin for us so that in him we can, we, we might 286 00:22:17,560 --> 00:22:21,080 in that way. It's something that is available 287 00:22:21,240 --> 00:22:23,640 to everybody who puts their trust in Jesus. 288 00:22:24,200 --> 00:22:27,000 So if you've put your trust in Jesus and you've committed your 289 00:22:27,000 --> 00:22:30,600 life to him, then it's not an A might. 290 00:22:30,960 --> 00:22:33,160 It might be the case. It's a definite case. 291 00:22:33,640 --> 00:22:35,880 Yeah. He died so that you can. 292 00:22:36,400 --> 00:22:40,080 Can what? Become the righteousness of God? 293 00:22:40,080 --> 00:22:45,120 What does that mean? Become the righteousness of God? 294 00:22:45,120 --> 00:22:52,360 Well, when we trust in Christ for our salvation, we take part 295 00:22:52,360 --> 00:22:56,440 in this wonderful exchange, what I've called there, the great 296 00:22:56,920 --> 00:23:03,800 exchange. And that exchange is my sin for 297 00:23:03,800 --> 00:23:11,960 his righteousness, my sin for his righteousness. 298 00:23:12,600 --> 00:23:16,960 Yeah. Jesus bears the punishment for 299 00:23:16,960 --> 00:23:24,080 my sin. God poured out all his wrath, 300 00:23:25,880 --> 00:23:28,560 all the punishment that was due to me. 301 00:23:28,560 --> 00:23:37,680 God pours it out on Jesus at his crucifixion on the cross, but 302 00:23:38,000 --> 00:23:44,000 God pours all his righteousness into me at my conversions. 303 00:23:45,680 --> 00:23:51,880 So on the 20th of October 1989 at 10 minutes to 10, OK, when I 304 00:23:51,880 --> 00:23:57,040 trusted in Jesus and put my faith in Jesus, when I, if you 305 00:23:57,040 --> 00:24:03,320 like, became a Christian, Yeah. It was not just that God had 306 00:24:03,920 --> 00:24:11,680 made Jesus my sacrifice for sin. At that point of conversion, God 307 00:24:12,280 --> 00:24:19,320 gave me all of Jesus's righteousness, my sin for his 308 00:24:19,920 --> 00:24:23,000 righteousness. Ben, I need you to be Jesus once 309 00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:26,760 again. This time you get your own 310 00:24:26,760 --> 00:24:27,240 heart. Mate. 311 00:24:27,720 --> 00:24:30,160 I need this one back. This is my special Tilly hat. 312 00:24:30,200 --> 00:24:35,520 OK, so stick that on. So what I showed you earlier was 313 00:24:35,520 --> 00:24:39,280 actually incomplete and only half of the story. 314 00:24:40,080 --> 00:24:45,560 You see, it's not just that all my sin is removed from me and 315 00:24:45,560 --> 00:24:53,000 placed on Jesus, but Jesus's righteousness is actually placed 316 00:24:53,000 --> 00:24:56,880 on me. It's a great exchange. 317 00:24:58,080 --> 00:25:02,160 Yeah. My sin for his righteousness. 318 00:25:02,320 --> 00:25:09,880 Thank you, Ben, My sin for his righteousness. 319 00:25:09,960 --> 00:25:16,760 This is the great exchange, the divine exchange. 320 00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:21,240 Now, some of you may be thinking, wow, we're going to go 321 00:25:21,240 --> 00:25:24,920 a little bit deeper, OK? A little bit deeper, OK. 322 00:25:24,920 --> 00:25:32,120 Because actually what I've just shown you with the hats, it's 323 00:25:32,720 --> 00:25:37,320 not the whole picture. It's not actually the whole 324 00:25:38,040 --> 00:25:41,880 picture. He took what I deserved on the 325 00:25:41,880 --> 00:25:47,120 cross, so I receive His righteousness. 326 00:25:47,960 --> 00:25:51,320 But Scripture, and I'm not going to show you all the verses, 327 00:25:51,320 --> 00:25:52,640 you're going to have to trust me on this. 328 00:25:52,640 --> 00:25:56,400 But you do a Google word search in the Bible for righteousness, 329 00:25:56,400 --> 00:26:02,600 and you see this comes out, that Scripture makes it clear that 330 00:26:03,240 --> 00:26:06,120 righteousness. Do you remember I said that my 331 00:26:06,120 --> 00:26:10,480 sin was placed upon Jesus? The technical term, the 332 00:26:10,480 --> 00:26:14,640 theological term being imputed. Yeah, placed upon. 333 00:26:15,120 --> 00:26:18,200 So it was attributed. My sin was attributed to Jesus, 334 00:26:18,200 --> 00:26:20,160 and Jesus was dealt with accordingly. 335 00:26:20,640 --> 00:26:27,840 Scripture makes it clear that his righteousness is not placed 336 00:26:27,840 --> 00:26:32,560 upon me. It's not imputed theological 337 00:26:32,560 --> 00:26:40,240 term, it's actually imparted. Now to impute something is to 338 00:26:40,320 --> 00:26:45,440 attribute something, IE my sin was attributed to Jesus and 339 00:26:45,480 --> 00:26:47,640 Jesus was dealt with accordingly. 340 00:26:47,640 --> 00:26:51,960 But if you look up imparted to impart something in the Bible, 341 00:26:52,280 --> 00:26:59,280 it's the act of giving or conveying or bestowing something 342 00:27:00,840 --> 00:27:05,200 such as information or knowledge or equality. 343 00:27:05,320 --> 00:27:09,480 In other words, what happened is that Jesus didn't just put it, 344 00:27:10,480 --> 00:27:14,520 God didn't just put Jesus's righteous on me, He changed me 345 00:27:14,520 --> 00:27:20,360 inside and he imparted righteousness to me. 346 00:27:21,080 --> 00:27:24,000 And Ben explained this a couple of weeks ago when he was 347 00:27:24,000 --> 00:27:28,680 preaching from the wider passage in Two Corinthians 5 about how 348 00:27:28,680 --> 00:27:32,480 we are born again when we become Christians. 349 00:27:32,800 --> 00:27:37,400 We are new creations. I'm changed from the inside. 350 00:27:37,600 --> 00:27:41,480 So righteousness is not just something that that God sees 351 00:27:41,480 --> 00:27:43,960 from above. Righteousness is within me. 352 00:27:45,440 --> 00:27:50,360 I'm, I'm, I'm righteous at my very core, the very core of my 353 00:27:50,360 --> 00:27:54,600 being. God has made me a righteous one 354 00:27:55,600 --> 00:27:59,920 just like Jesus. And this is going to shock you 355 00:27:59,960 --> 00:28:05,120 even more. If you are a Christian, you are 356 00:28:05,120 --> 00:28:14,560 as righteous as Jesus ever was and is it is amazing, isn't it? 357 00:28:15,560 --> 00:28:20,560 You are as righteous. This will really get you. 358 00:28:21,560 --> 00:28:24,240 If I don't get someone coming up to me and saying hang on a 359 00:28:24,240 --> 00:28:27,760 minute, I have to have a lunch, some of you have not got it. 360 00:28:28,160 --> 00:28:29,760 You are as if you're a Christian. 361 00:28:29,760 --> 00:28:37,720 You are as righteous as God because God has imparted his 362 00:28:37,720 --> 00:28:41,080 righteousness into you. He's changed your very being. 363 00:28:41,680 --> 00:28:45,120 You're not of Adam anymore. You are of Jesus. 364 00:28:46,200 --> 00:28:52,080 You are a new creation. Sometimes I think as Christians 365 00:28:52,080 --> 00:28:56,480 we live our lives as if we've got a, you know, the yeah, we're 366 00:28:56,480 --> 00:28:58,760 righteous. And it's like we've got Jesus as 367 00:28:58,880 --> 00:29:03,280 as the hat sitting down on our head. 368 00:29:03,720 --> 00:29:06,400 So God looks down on us. Yeah. 369 00:29:06,640 --> 00:29:12,600 And he sees this shield of righteousness above us so that 370 00:29:12,600 --> 00:29:14,880 we're we're safe. We're saved. 371 00:29:15,600 --> 00:29:18,600 Yeah. And we're saved because I've 372 00:29:18,600 --> 00:29:22,200 preached this at, at sometimes over the years that when God 373 00:29:22,200 --> 00:29:26,080 looks at us, he doesn't see us. He sees Jesus. 374 00:29:26,080 --> 00:29:33,120 He sees this shield of Jesus, what the Scriptures teach is he 375 00:29:33,120 --> 00:29:38,720 sees me as Jesus. He sees me as righteous. 376 00:29:39,280 --> 00:29:47,200 I'm full of God's righteousness. I meet lots of Christians and I 377 00:29:47,200 --> 00:29:51,960 say to them, oh, how you doing? How's, how's it going? 378 00:29:51,960 --> 00:29:55,360 How's your walk with God? Oh, yeah, I'm, I'm struggling. 379 00:29:55,400 --> 00:29:57,280 I'm, I'm struggling with this. I'm struggling with that. 380 00:29:57,280 --> 00:30:01,640 I'm struggling with the other and they may not use the phrase, 381 00:30:01,640 --> 00:30:04,800 but they're really saying, you know, and you may have heard 382 00:30:04,800 --> 00:30:07,520 people say this, I'm just a Sinner. 383 00:30:08,160 --> 00:30:10,360 I'm a Sinner, but I'm saved by grace. 384 00:30:11,560 --> 00:30:18,560 And, and yeah, you were a Sinner, saved by grace, but 385 00:30:18,560 --> 00:30:21,640 you're not any longer. You're the righteousness of God 386 00:30:23,000 --> 00:30:26,240 so that we might become the righteousness of God. 387 00:30:28,240 --> 00:30:30,720 Some of you are not looking very convinced about this. 388 00:30:31,240 --> 00:30:34,840 You are the righteousness of God. 389 00:30:35,080 --> 00:30:38,000 What's righteousness? It means I'm right with God. 390 00:30:38,000 --> 00:30:42,400 It means right standing. It means I can stand before God. 391 00:30:42,960 --> 00:30:46,240 I don't need to cower. I don't need to grovel on my 392 00:30:46,240 --> 00:30:49,240 knees. I don't need to, you know, sort 393 00:30:49,240 --> 00:30:52,120 of be on, you know, a face in the ground. 394 00:30:52,360 --> 00:30:55,000 Yeah, God is holy, and there's a time when we should have our 395 00:30:55,000 --> 00:30:57,760 faces on the ground. But that's not my position 396 00:30:57,760 --> 00:31:01,960 before God. I'm the righteousness of God. 397 00:31:03,280 --> 00:31:08,920 I'm made remade in his image, the very substance of God's 398 00:31:08,920 --> 00:31:11,640 righteousness. He's in me. 399 00:31:12,840 --> 00:31:15,200 We, we glory in the grace of God. 400 00:31:15,200 --> 00:31:18,880 But sometimes I'm not sure we we've got the half of it. 401 00:31:19,720 --> 00:31:24,760 God's made us righteous. You're the righteousness of God. 402 00:31:24,920 --> 00:31:29,040 He had to do that. He had to do that. 403 00:31:32,280 --> 00:31:33,840 I looked in my garage this morning. 404 00:31:34,280 --> 00:31:37,560 Here's a tin of high gloss brilliant white paint. 405 00:31:38,080 --> 00:31:41,280 OK, it's totally white. Brilliant white. 406 00:31:41,280 --> 00:31:47,440 Super white. It, it's pure perfect white. 407 00:31:48,800 --> 00:31:55,880 If I were to put a single drop, just a single drop of grey paint 408 00:31:56,200 --> 00:32:01,960 or black paint in here, this would no longer be super white, 409 00:32:01,960 --> 00:32:04,160 Brilliant white. Well, it might look the same 410 00:32:04,520 --> 00:32:08,000 when I paint it on the walls, but it wouldn't be at its very 411 00:32:08,000 --> 00:32:11,880 nature. It's not perfect white anymore, 412 00:32:13,000 --> 00:32:17,760 might look like it is, but it's not at its core and it's very 413 00:32:17,760 --> 00:32:24,680 substance. God is perfect, perfect in all, 414 00:32:24,680 --> 00:32:27,520 all of his ways, in everything that he does, his character, his 415 00:32:27,920 --> 00:32:32,720 ways, He's perfect, totally perfect. 416 00:32:34,280 --> 00:32:40,640 If I have any sin in me at all, I can't stand in the presence of 417 00:32:40,640 --> 00:32:45,240 God, because if I'm in a relationship with God as a 418 00:32:45,240 --> 00:32:50,120 Sinner, then God is tainted by my and God cannot be tainted by 419 00:32:50,120 --> 00:32:53,840 my sin. The only way that I can have a 420 00:32:53,840 --> 00:32:58,560 relationship with God to be to stand in God's presence is as if 421 00:32:58,560 --> 00:33:03,200 I am made perfect, because if I'm not perfect, then God ceases 422 00:33:03,200 --> 00:33:04,880 to be because He's in contact with me. 423 00:33:04,880 --> 00:33:11,120 He's in relationship with me. God had to make me righteous, 424 00:33:12,680 --> 00:33:17,200 and that's what our verse says. Jesus died on the cross for our 425 00:33:17,200 --> 00:33:24,280 sin, and he was treated and dealt with according to my sin 426 00:33:24,280 --> 00:33:31,440 and your sin, so that not only that you would be free of sin, 427 00:33:32,400 --> 00:33:38,080 but you would be the righteousness of God, unable to 428 00:33:38,080 --> 00:33:49,560 stand right in his presence. So you're not a Sinner saved by 429 00:33:49,560 --> 00:33:52,200 grace anymore. That's what you were. 430 00:33:52,680 --> 00:33:55,280 If you're a Christian, you're not a Sinner. 431 00:33:56,160 --> 00:34:02,080 You're a St, You're a St who's been made righteous. 432 00:34:02,240 --> 00:34:07,160 Now you may say, but Steve, you don't know me and I don't know 433 00:34:07,160 --> 00:34:12,600 most of you. And you may say, you don't know 434 00:34:12,600 --> 00:34:18,239 the things that I struggle with and that I'm still mess up and 435 00:34:18,239 --> 00:34:23,840 that I sin. And then you may be thinking, 436 00:34:23,840 --> 00:34:28,679 and I'm never going to tell you the ways that I mess up and I 437 00:34:29,000 --> 00:34:31,000 sin. But we all do. 438 00:34:32,520 --> 00:34:37,320 The thing is, before I was a Christian, I sinned because I 439 00:34:37,320 --> 00:34:39,440 was in the line of Adam and sin was in me. 440 00:34:40,440 --> 00:34:42,560 I was. I was born in into sin. 441 00:34:44,120 --> 00:34:47,840 And sin was something that that's just happened and I 442 00:34:47,840 --> 00:34:50,120 couldn't stop it. I couldn't control it. 443 00:34:51,920 --> 00:34:55,320 But now I am the righteousness of God. 444 00:34:55,320 --> 00:34:59,480 But I still sin. Yeah, but sin is now a result of 445 00:34:59,760 --> 00:35:03,960 me giving into temptation because of the world I live in. 446 00:35:03,960 --> 00:35:08,320 And the Bible tells us that Satan is a real and present 447 00:35:08,320 --> 00:35:13,120 enemy that roams the world looking to draw Christians away 448 00:35:13,120 --> 00:35:14,480 from their relationship with God. 449 00:35:18,000 --> 00:35:22,240 So yeah, I, I mess up now and I sin because I give in to 450 00:35:22,240 --> 00:35:30,240 temptation. I give in, but it doesn't change 451 00:35:30,480 --> 00:35:34,360 my righteousness. It doesn't change my 452 00:35:34,360 --> 00:35:39,000 righteousness. What God does is not only that 453 00:35:39,000 --> 00:35:43,240 he makes us righteous. He sends the power of the Holy 454 00:35:43,240 --> 00:35:49,560 Spirit to enable me increasingly as I go on through my Christian 455 00:35:49,560 --> 00:35:55,320 life, to resist temptation, to resist the the devil, and to 456 00:35:55,320 --> 00:35:57,520 start to live as a righteous one. 457 00:35:58,800 --> 00:36:00,760 That's the process of sanctification. 458 00:36:03,000 --> 00:36:07,000 So I am righteous, but I do give in to sin. 459 00:36:08,040 --> 00:36:13,400 But the Holy Spirit helps me to become more and more like a 460 00:36:13,400 --> 00:36:15,520 righteous 1 and to live like that. 461 00:36:16,960 --> 00:36:21,480 But I'm never not righteous. I'm never not righteous. 462 00:36:22,200 --> 00:36:25,480 If you're a Christian here this morning, you are the 463 00:36:25,480 --> 00:36:31,520 righteousness of God. Is that amazing? 464 00:36:33,560 --> 00:36:35,080 One or two of you think it's amazing. 465 00:36:37,680 --> 00:36:41,720 Listen, if I've left you behind somewhere this morning at level 466 00:36:41,720 --> 00:36:46,160 one or two and I've gone a bit deeper than that, don't worry 467 00:36:46,160 --> 00:36:49,000 about that. Don't worry. 468 00:36:50,720 --> 00:36:58,400 All you need to know is that Jesus died for your sin. 469 00:36:59,200 --> 00:37:03,000 He took the punishment and the guilt so that you don't need to, 470 00:37:05,120 --> 00:37:10,200 and therefore you can stand before God without that sin 471 00:37:10,840 --> 00:37:15,560 keeping you away from Him. For those of us who have been 472 00:37:15,560 --> 00:37:20,800 around in the Christian life for a few months or years or 473 00:37:20,800 --> 00:37:29,520 decades, OK, let's dig deeper and be aware of the enormity of 474 00:37:29,520 --> 00:37:37,040 His grace that he did, that he went to the cross so that we 475 00:37:37,040 --> 00:37:40,120 might become the righteousness of God. 476 00:37:41,520 --> 00:37:45,640 You're the righteousness of God. Sorry. 477 00:37:47,480 --> 00:37:50,320 It's wonderful. It's wonderful. 478 00:37:51,680 --> 00:37:54,720 And whether you're at level 1 and this is all new to you, you 479 00:37:54,720 --> 00:37:57,480 may be here this morning. You may not be a Christian or 480 00:37:57,480 --> 00:37:59,440 only become a Christian relatively recently. 481 00:37:59,880 --> 00:38:02,760 Yeah, the Scripture says, yeah, that, that that's wonderful. 482 00:38:03,120 --> 00:38:08,480 But we can never stop learning because the grace of God is 483 00:38:08,480 --> 00:38:10,640 something that we'll never get our heads around. 484 00:38:11,120 --> 00:38:13,240 Totally. It's wonderful. 485 00:38:13,920 --> 00:38:17,360 It's beyond our understanding. And there were deeper and deeper 486 00:38:17,360 --> 00:38:19,040 levels. And no matter how long you've 487 00:38:19,040 --> 00:38:22,280 been a Christian, can I encourage you to keep digging, 488 00:38:23,520 --> 00:38:28,120 keep digging into the Scripture because it transforms and 489 00:38:28,120 --> 00:38:31,880 changes us. Let's pray and then we're going 490 00:38:31,880 --> 00:38:34,080 to finish and we're going to eat. 491 00:38:34,280 --> 00:38:37,480 Thank you, Lord, let's just pray together. 492 00:38:41,040 --> 00:38:46,920 Father, thank you for the word. Thank you for the Scriptures, 493 00:38:48,040 --> 00:38:50,280 Thank you. That in here is everything that 494 00:38:50,280 --> 00:38:55,280 we need to know for our salvation, everything we need to 495 00:38:55,280 --> 00:39:02,160 know about how to live our lives, and everything we need to 496 00:39:02,160 --> 00:39:07,240 know about you, Holy Spirit. And I pray Holy Spirit, you 497 00:39:07,240 --> 00:39:12,240 would just come right now. And for every person here, every 498 00:39:12,240 --> 00:39:18,280 brother and sister here this morning, you would just bring 499 00:39:18,280 --> 00:39:25,600 clarity and revelation from your word, in particular about these 500 00:39:25,600 --> 00:39:30,800 doctrines of salvation and grace and righteousness. 501 00:39:32,000 --> 00:39:37,000 And I pray, Lord God, your word would strengthen us and would 502 00:39:37,120 --> 00:39:45,120 encourage us and would cause faith to rise in US, not only 503 00:39:45,120 --> 00:39:50,800 for our salvation and our righteousness, but for the 504 00:39:50,800 --> 00:39:56,280 salvation of many, many, many others in this town. 505 00:39:56,560 --> 00:40:03,640 And beyond that, many, many, many others would hear about 506 00:40:03,640 --> 00:40:10,000 your grace and your goodness. And I pray for Christchurch, 507 00:40:10,000 --> 00:40:14,560 Blackpool, I pray increasingly for that to be the case. 508 00:40:14,560 --> 00:40:18,080 And I pray. For this coming season, as Ben 509 00:40:18,080 --> 00:40:22,120 reminded us of, Christmas is coming, Lord, that there would 510 00:40:22,120 --> 00:40:27,120 be people who do not know you sat in these chairs in this hall 511 00:40:27,120 --> 00:40:32,280 of the Christmas season, who would just hear something and 512 00:40:32,280 --> 00:40:35,200 experience something of this wonderful grace that we're 513 00:40:35,200 --> 00:40:39,560 talking about. And I pray, Lord God, for the 514 00:40:39,560 --> 00:40:42,800 next time when I come along here, Lord God, some of those 515 00:40:42,800 --> 00:40:47,200 people will be sat here as those who've been saved by grace. 516 00:40:48,520 --> 00:40:50,840 And we pray for that and I believe for that. 517 00:40:50,840 --> 00:40:54,720 I have faith for that, Lords, that even over this Christmas 518 00:40:54,720 --> 00:40:59,760 season, many would hear and in subsequent weeks respond to your 519 00:40:59,760 --> 00:41:07,560 glorious gospel in Jesus name. In Jesus name, Amen.