The Cross of Jesus Christ
Scripture Readings
- Isaiah 53:1-12
- 2 Corinthians 5:11-6:2
Introduction
Chosen frozen
Most of us would have heard the terms ‘Hyper Calvinism’ of ‘The Chosen Frozen’.
Hyper-Calvinism is a system of theology framed to exalt the honor and glory of God. It does so by acutely minimizing the moral and spiritual responsibility of sinners. It emphasizes irresistible grace to an extreme extent. Hyper Calvinism hardly leaves any need for evangelism. If one does evangelism, Christ may be offered only to God’s elected people.
Hyper Calvinism is a strand of ‘five-point’ Calvinism. It wrongly emphasizes God’s sovereignty. This approach often focuses more on God’s hidden will than His revealed will. It emphasizes eternity rather than time. This approach tends to downplay the responsibility of sinners. It does this by avoiding any reference to “offer” to describe the saved sinner’s grateful reaction to God’s unmerited grace. As a result, it undermines the Biblical command that all people can know that Jesus truly died for them with certainty. People must search themselves to determine whether they are among the elect.
Hyper Calvinism is a denial that the gospel message includes any sincere proposal of divine mercy to sinners in general. Therefore, it soon becomes a cold, lifeless dogma. Hyper-Calvinist churches and denominations tend to become either barren and inert, or militant and elitist. People who consider themselves part of God’s chosen people might look down on others. They inappropriately all others as unbelievers.
Will God save the elect without any means?
The “means” here refer to the things we spoke about last Lord’s Day. In other words, can God’s grace bypass the Word of God? Can it bypass the sacraments and prayer? Or let’s put it bluntly, Would God choose to be His elected people without taking in account the cross of Christ?
From the Scripture (and from our confessional standards too) we understand, that God indeed uses the preaching of the Word and the Sacraments to make the Gospel call effectual to those who are the elect in Jesus Christ.
The very important question to ask in this context is, where does the cross of Jesus Christ come into the picture? Let’s put the question the way around: if God elected me from all eternity to be his child, does it mean that He will see to it that I get to heaven, even without any means? Can I become His child without knowing really about faith and obedience to Him?
Does it mean that the cross of Jesus Christ and his sacrifice was not really necessary because God already foreknew that He will take me for Himself?
If the answer is yes, one finds yourself in the circles of the hyper-Calvinists. More so, the fact that God allowed his Son to die the cruel death of the cross, will then be a heartless act of murder. The death of Christ then has no meaning. It implies that God can save without the sacrifice of Christ. People can go to heaven without being forgiven or saved! This is a perversion of the Scriptures and the doctrine of Election.
Pactum salutis
There is a doctrine in the Reformed Faith called pactum salutis. It refers to the eternal agreement between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit to redeem God elected people.
The Father promised to call the elect. The Son redeems them by his blood and resurrection. The Holy Spirit sanctifies them by applying the redemption of Christ to them. In this understanding of the Scripture, the Son purchases his people with his blood. This fulfills the righteousness of God. Christ does the will of the Father by becoming the righteousness for the elect in two ways. He lives a perfect live and fulfill the law of the Father because man cannot to it. His life is holy and He, although human being in every way, He never sinned. This is referred to as the active obedience if Christ. Then there is the other side of his righteousness. He accepted the punishment of mankind. He became the ultimate sacrifice. He atoned the sin of man before God. 2 Corinthians 5 spells it out:
God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
In Philippians 2:8 the apostle says:
And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross! (Philippians 2:8)
Obedient to what? To the will of the Father. He does so to obtain a reward, and the reward would by those are redeemed in Him – his church. Hebrew 5 puts it this way:
Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered (Hebrews 5:8)
Further in Hebrews 10 we hear the following:
Therefore, when Christ came into the world, He said: “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll— I have come to do your will, O God.’ ”First, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them” (although the law required them to be made). Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (Hebrews 10:5-10)
This is a quote from Psalm 40. Christ’s obedience was the cause of his reward. His obedience was far more superior to the sacrifices of the Old Testament. Once He rendered complete obedience to the will of the Father, He then declares: Here I am. Psalm 40 says:
I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.” I proclaim righteousness in the great assembly; I do not seal my lips, as you know, O Lord. (Psalm 40:8-9)
When Isaiah wrote about the Lord Jesus Christ in chapter 53, our reading for this morning, he writes in verse 10-12:
Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush Him and cause Him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life a guilt offering, He will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. After the suffering of his soul, He will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and He will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will give Him a portion among the great, and He will divide the spoils with the strong, because He poured out His life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. (Isaiah 53:10-12)
The Gospel call
The servant-Son, Jesus Christ, made an offering which was transgressor-identifying, sin-bearing, and intercession-making: this is the basis of the redemption of the elect. This is the basis on which the righteousness of God is met. This is the only basis for your faith, and the only way to inherit eternal life.
As Paul puts it in 2 Corinthians 5:
All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 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.
The cross of Jesus and his atonement is and was the only way by which God ordained for the elect to be purchased. There is righteousness to be found, and without that righteousness there is no atonement before the Father. There is no room for another condition within the council of God but the righteousness of Christ.
It speaks for itself. To hope to go to heaven bypassing the cross of Christ is foolishness. That person denies the righteousness of Jesus Christ. He lives in fool’s paradise and will not inherit eternal life. Without faith which claims the righteousness of Christ there is no salvation. The call of the Gospel comes by of preaching and sacraments. Prayer of confession and commitment is the response to that call. What follows is a continued relationship with the Father through Jesus Christ.
Grace is not a form of spiritual anaesthetic which ushers the sinner into some form unconscious state. No, the gospel demands the use of all one’s faculties. Faith means to know God. This knowledge is based on the facts provided in the Word of God. This knowledge then cannot remain head knowledge. It is the spring from which every motive and will wells up to drive one’s life in the service of God. All is from God. But because it is indeed from Him, the saved sinner turns away from his old live and receive forgiveness from God. The Holy Spirit inspires his new life of obedience and service to God. He starts living a life pleasing God, a life which serves others. He serves his follow Christians, and he serves those who are not yet saved. His holiness spills over into society. He makes life decisions based on the Word of God. Surely, these things can’t happen in comatose state.
Paul knew all these things all too well. He wrote about the Divine election, proclaiming the fact that God eternally elected some while others will not be saved, and yet, he stood before the Corinthians, almost on his knees:
We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:18-21)
The cross of Christ does not imply plausible salvation. The cross of Christ means that without His sacrifice there can’t be a call to receive God’s grace. Paul implored the people on God’s behalf because salvation in Christ is a complete reality. It calls for an active decision to take hold of God’s grace which He offers to reconcile sinners to Himself.
This gospel comes to us this morning. What will your response be?
Naracoorte Presbyterian Church 