This Sunday at Christ Memorial Temple we will be continuing our Easter Sermon series called Letters to the Cross. Over the five Sundays in March, we will be examining the doctrines of the Cross and how it applies to us today.
Week One: Substitutionary Atonement
Week Two: Justification
Week Three: Redemption and Reconciliation
Week Four: Propitiation and Expiation
Week Five: Victory
Week Two Introduction: It was 2000 years ago… what does the Cross do today?
We have the right to remain silent… anything we think, say, or act will be used against us. When we could not afford an attorney, One was provided for us.
In the book of Zechariah, the third chapter, Satan is called the accuser of the brethren- the prosecutor of the guilty. We are the guilty, the accused.
Yet, we do not stand alone… the High Priest (Hebrews reveals as Jesus) stands with us in account for the accused people as Satan argues against us and "resists" us.
Satan has plenty of evidence that testifies to our guilt. He produces endless lists of accusations each and every one of them a damnable offense.
Worse still, the High Priest, our attorney is clothed in filthy rags and garments, the sins of His people (3).
Even our very appearance testifies against us. We are guilty and we cannot escape our punishment of death. Satan's evidence has no answer and we hang our heads in shame and condemnation.
Suddenly, when all hope seems lost, the righteous King and Judge rebukes the prosecutor (2) and takes away the filthy sins of the people for a new perfect raiment (4).
Satan is defeated at Calvary, his accusations cannot come through the blood of the lamb. "Behold all things have become new." Our counselor has made intercession for us and Satan cannot overcome it.
So our weak and wounded accuser must change His tactics and approach. If Satan cannot beat our counselor in the court of Judgment and Justice than he must even the playing field.
He must convince us to represent ourselves before judgment and forgo the court appointed lawyer High Priest… He wants us to become our own justification.
Satan hates the cross because it by itself is our justification. Because of the cross of Jesus we don’t suffer the same fate of damnation that Satan will receive.
As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 1:17, when it becomes about us and our wisdom… "it makes the cross of no effect"
The only way around the cross for Satan is if He can get us to rely on ourselves instead of on Jesus sacrifice.
There are two ways we can become our own justification:
1- Morality- This is when we put our eternal security in the hands of the great checklist of our own accomplishments and the way we lived our lives.
People justify themselves daily with thoughts such as "I am a good person" and "I follow a good code of conduct"
They give to charity, love others, follow the rules that society places upon them. They believe in the end that they will get to heaven and two great list will be produced.
If the lists of their good deeds outnumber the lists of their bad deeds than they are a good person and therefore are rewarded of eternal life based on their own merits.
This would work if the Bible didn’t proclaim the exact opposite of this ridiculous salvation theory… By the way if this theory did not come from God (meaning it is not found in scripture) it could have only come from one other source (Satan)
Instead Job, in the book named after him, asks God the question of what man is justified to stand in the presence of God. David proclaims multiple times in the book of Psalms, that there is none good but God.
Paul quotes this idea in the book of Romans 3:10 when he relates, "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one."
We cannot save ourselves through our own goodness. We are not good. From the very second that Adam and Eve tasted the fruit we are sinners and we have all sinned, making ourselves enemies of God Himself. Yet so many today reject God on the basis that they are good enough on their own. Their goodness in life will prepare a place for them in eternity… this is true- unfortunately that place will be hell.
2- Religion- This is when we put our eternal security in the hands of the great checklist of what we have abstained from, the things we did NOT do over the course of our lives.
First, religion is not altogether evil. It is as much a tool in the hand of God as it is a tool in the hand of Satan. For many, including myself, religion has provided a system of belief and a structure for maintaining my relationship with God. Religion does help us walk the path of salvation but it in itself cannot save us. Unfortunately, many Christians have been manipulated by Satan to rely on it for their justification instead of the Cross of Jesus Christ.
For some our salvation is won through our strict adherence to a list of DO NOTS than its is on the justification of the cross. (I must take the time to reiterate that the cross is also an example for us in the measure of obedience as Paul writes in Philippians 2 that Jesus 'became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.' It is clear that we must obey to commandments of scripture - to do or not to do. If we do not obey it is sin… see James 4:17)
Disobedience to a list of DO NOTS CAN produce damnation, but it CANNOT produce salvation. Satan wants the church to rely on its religiosity over the cross of Jesus Christ.
This idea is destructive for many reason because it leads us to the following heresies:
1- Jesus will only love us if we follow His rules- A lie from Satan- Jesus loved us from the cross.
2- The world is full of good people (religious) and bad people (sinners) and religiosity is the measure stick by which we can measure the goodness of others. Another lie- There is none good, even the most religious among us.
3- Religion is about what we do… wrong the Gospel is about what Jesus has already done!
4- Religion will save me in the end. A lie because how much religion is enough to make you sure? How can we ever be certain that we have crossed the invisible threshold of salvation by church attendance, tithe paying, and Sunday school teaching. How can we achieve salvation by never smoking a cigarette, drinking a beer, wearing makeup? Shouldn’t we obey scripture without the reward of salvation?
In the end, God reserves some of the most graphic language in the Bible for describing His attitude toward our righteousness.
Isaiah 64:6 says, "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. "
First- ALL of us are unclean. Second, EVERYTHING good that we do (our righteousness) God calls 'ED BEGED...
'ED- this is the word used for filthy which is the Hebrew word for the bodily fluids of a woman's menstrual cycle.
BEGED- this is the word referring to a rag or an undergarment.
Basically God is saying that the sum total of our morality and our religion adherence is a woman's menstrual rag. A filthy rag can be washed, but a menstrual rag is unusable and always discarded.
Satan wants us to justify ourselves, because then we cannot resist His accusations. But Jesus Christ was "made to be our sin" so that "we might become the righteousness of God"
We cannot justify ourselves… it is God who justifies us. And that is what the Cross does today. It Justifies!
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