The Efficacious & Vicarious Atonement
Jesus did not die to make salvation possible or potential, but to make it actual and effectual—his death achieved salvation for sinners by paying the full price for our sin as our perfect substitute.
John Newton
May we sit at the foot of the cross; and there learn what sin has done, what justice has done, what love has done.
Psalm 32: 1-2
Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him...
Psalm 40:6-8, Hebrews 10:5-10
"Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased (Isaiah 1:11-14). Then I said, `Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll—I have come to do your will, O God.’"
A.W. Tozer Jesus, Our Man in Glory
This can be none other than Jesus, the eternal Son, the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world. He has come to carry out God’s gracious plan of redemption.
Isaiah 53:5
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.
Ezekiel 16:63
I (will) provide you an atonement for all you have done.
Hosea 13:14
I will ransom them from the power of the grave (Sheol)
I will redeem them from death.
Romans 3:24-26 (HCSB)
(Sinners) are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. God presented Him as a propitiation (sacrifice of atonement) through faith in His blood, to demonstrate His righteousness...so that (God) would (both) be righteous and declare righteous (justify) the one who has faith in Jesus.
Romans 8:32
(God) did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all.
2 Corinthians 5:21
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Galatians 1:4
(The Lord Jesus Christ) gave himself for our sins to rescue us...according to the will of our God and Father...
Ephesians 1:7-8
In (Christ) we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.
John Calvin’s sermon on Matthew 26:36-40 “No Sorrow Like His Sorrow”
When it is a question of our salvation, Scripture sets three objectives before us. The first is that we should know the inestimable love that God has for us, so that we may glorify him as he deserves. Next, that we should come to hate our sins, as is only proper, and should rightly feel such shame that we humble ourselves before the majesty of our God. Third, that we should place such value on our salvation that we are led to forsake this world and all that belongs to this fleeting life, and are drawn instead to that inheritance which has been so dearly won for us. God chose to display the infinite treasures of his goodness by not sparing his only-begotten Son.
We can only properly appreciate the life of heaven if we know at what cost it was won for us. Although we will always struggle to be conscious of our weaknesses, to turn to God for help and to be continually made to confess our sins so that God alone is seen to be righteous, we can nevertheless be sure that Jesus Christ has fought for us and gained the victory, not for himself but for us.
Martin Luther
Let him that died for my soul, see to the salvation of it.
Sermon November 3, 1537 on John 1:29
Either sin is with you, lying on your shoulders, or it is lying on Christ, the Lamb of God. Now if it is lying on your back, you are lost; but if it is resting on Christ, you are free, and you will be saved. Now choose what you want.
On his death bed in 1546, Martin Luther prayed Psalm 31:5 ("Into your hand I commit my spirit"), kept repeating John 3:16, and wrote on a slip of paper - half in German, half in Latin “We are all beggars. That is true.”
(We owe a debt we can not pay, which was paid for us and in full by Jesus. Sinners must approach the throne of Grace fully understanding our moral and spiritual bankruptcy.)
Thomas Brooks Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices
Never let go out of your minds the thoughts of a crucified Christ. Let this be meat and drink unto you; your sweetness and consolation, your desire, your reading and your meditation, your life, death, and resurrection.
William Bridge, A Lifting up for the Downcast, 13 Sermons on Psalm 42:11
Is there anything in the world that can shew you the misery, ugliness, and damning nature of sin, as the death of Christ?
Thomas Goodwin, Of Christ The Mediator, Book 5, Ch. 14, “Uses of Christ’s being made sin and a curse for us”
If thou wouldst know what sin is, go to Mount Calvary.
John Flavel, The Fountain of Life Opened Up, or A Display of Christ in his essential and mediatorial glory
https://www.ccel.org/ccel/f/flavel/fountain/cache/fountain.pdf
Sermon 7. “Of the Solemn Consecration of the Mediator”
God would not have come down in the likeness of sinful flesh, but to raise up sinful man unto the likeness of God. All the miracles he wrought were for you, to confirm your faith. When he raised up Lazarus, John 11: 42. “Because of the people which stand by, I said it, that they might believe that thou hadst sent me.” While he lived on earth, he lived as one wholly set apart for us: and when he died, he died for us, (Galatians 3:13) “he was made a curse for us.” When he hanged on that cursed tree, he hanged there in our room, and did but fill our place. When he was buried, he was buried for us: for the end of it was, to perfume our graves, against we come to lie down in them. And when he rose again, it was, as the apostle saith, “for our justification,” (Romans 4:25). When he ascended into glory, he protested it was about our business, that he went to prepare places for us: and if it had not been so, he would have told us, (John 14:2). And now he is there, it is for us that he there lives; for he “ever lives to make intercession for us,” (Hebrews 7:25). And when he shall return again to judge the world, he will come for us too. “He comes (whenever it be) to be glorified in his saints, and admired in them that believe,” (2 Thessalonians 1:10). He comes to gather his saints home to himself, that where he is, there they all may be in soul and body with him forever. Thus you see how, as his consecration for us does speak him set apart for our use; so he did wholly bestow himself, time, life, death, and all upon us; living and dying for no other end, but to accomplish this great work of salvation for us.
The curse of the law...requires an infinite satisfaction that no mere creature can give. Christ frees the believer from this curse. He dissolves the obligation to punishment and cancels all the bonds and chains of guilt. This is done by the full price being paid in place of the sinner, making a complete and full satisfaction. The ransom was paid in full and is sufficient. Christ was made a curse for us. It was an act of the God-man; no other was capable of giving satisfaction for an infinite wrong done to God.
Christ Jesus set himself wholly apart for believers. We may say, “Lord, condemnation was yours, that justification might be mine; agony was yours, and victory mine; pain was yours, and ease is mine; stripes were yours, and healing mine; vinegar and gall were yours, that honey and sweet might be mine; the curse was yours, and the blessing mine; a crown of thorns was yours, that the crown of glory might be mine; death was yours, and eternal life mine!”
Sermon 11 “The Nature and necessity of the Priesthood of Christ”
This priesthood of Christ is that function, wherein he comes before God, in our name and place, to fulfil the law, and offer up himself to (God) a sacrifice of reconciliation for our sins; and by his intercession to continue and apply the purchase of his blood to them for whom he shed it. Hebrews 10:7-14, Colossians 1:20,22, Romans 5:10.
Sermon 14 “A Vindication of the Satisfaction of Christ,”
The blood of Jesus stood as Surety (guarantee) (Hebrews 7:22); who came under the same obligations of the law with us (Galatians 4:4); and though he had no sin of his own, yet standing before God as our Surety, the iniquities of us all were laid upon him, (Isaiah 53:6, Galatians 3:13); and from him did the Lord, with great severity, exact satisfaction for our sins (Romans 8:32) punish them upon his soul (Matthew 27:46) and upon his body (Acts 2: 23); and with this obedience of his Son, is fully pleased and satisfied (Ephesians 5: 2); and has in token thereof raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand (1 Timothy 3:16); and for his righteousness-sake acquitted and discharged believers, who shall never more come into condemnation (Rom. 8:1, 34).
Ezekiel Hopkins "On Glorifying God in His Attributes"
Oh astonishment! When, not a servant, but a Son, yea the Son of his Eternal Love and Delights, is, by the Father himself, appointed to such unspeakable miseries and dolours; and thrust under the sword of justice, when it was just falling upon us, only that he might ward off the blow, and save us from so great and inevitable a ruin, though it was to the death and ruin of his Only Son! Now judge, yourselves, whether it be not infinitely more expressive of the divine love, to save us by devoting his Own Son to be an execration and a sacrifice for us. And wherefore was this? Not only that justice might be satisfied, but that mercy might also be satisfied; and free love and grace might be glorified in such a stupendous expression of it.
William Gurnall
Justifying faith rests on Christ crucified for pardon and life upon the warrant of God's promise. It is not Christ in his personal excellencies, but as bleeding unto death, under the hand of divine justice to make an atonement by God's own appointment for the sins of the world. There is no redemption but by his blood. Christ did not redeem and save poor souls by sitting in majesty on his heavenly throne, but by hanging on the shameful cross, under the tormenting hand of man's fury and God's just wrath. The poor soul that would have pardon of sin, is directed to place its faith not only on Christ, but on a bleeding Christ, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood (Romans 3:25).
Octavius Winslow Personal Declension and Revival of Religion in the Soul
It must be the great delight of the Spirit ever and at all times to lift up Jesus and glorify him. And how does the Spirit most glorify Christ, but by exalting his atoning work,—giving to it the pre-eminence, the importance, and the glory it demands,—leading the sinner, whom he has first convinced of sin, to accept of Jesus as a willing, an all-sufficient Saviour,—to cast away all trust in self, all reliance upon a covenant of works, which is but a covenant of death, and thus going entirely out of himself, to take up his rest in the blood and righteousness of Immanuel, the God-man Mediator.
Horatius Bonar Everlasting Righteousness, “The Completeness of the Substitution”
To be entitled to use another’s name, when my own name is worthless; to be allowed to wear another’s raiment, because my own is torn and filthy; to appear before God in another’s person—the person of the Beloved Son—this is the summit of all blessing. The sin-bearer and I have exchanged names, robes, and persons! All that makes Him precious and dear to the Father has been transferred to me. His excellency and glory are seen as if they were mine; and I receive the love, and the fellowship, and the glory, as if I had earned them all. God treats me not merely as if I had not done the evil that I have done; but as if I had done all the good which I have not done, but which my substitute has done. I am altogether righteous, and shall be so forever, because of the Perfect One, in whose perfection I appear before God.
Thomas Guthrie Saving Knowledge: Addressed To Young Men, “The Saviour’s Person”
https://books.google.com/books?id=_ZdUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA125&source
“We know in part” (1 Corinthians 13:9) indeed, but we do know a part. There are glorious things revealed concerning the work of Christ. What the Bible brings before us is the simple fact that “Christ hath once suffered for sin, the just for the unjust, to bring us unto God” (1 Peter 3:18) and “the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7b)
Henry Law Family Prayers, “Calvary’s Stupendous Scene”, 1868
I die—that you may not die.
I lay down My life—to purchase your life.
I present Myself as a sin-offering—to expiate all your sins.
J.C. Ryle
True Preaching
The reformers of the eighteenth century taught constantly that Christ's death upon the cross was the only satisfaction for man’s sins; and that, when Christ died, He died as our substitute, “The just for the unjust.” (1 Peter 3:18) They loved Christ's person; they rejoiced in Christ's promises; they urged men to walk after Christ's example. But the one subject, above all others, concerning Christ, which they delighted to dwell on, was the atoning blood which Christ shed for us on the cross.
“The Mighty Truth of Christ’s Cross”
Let us set fully before our eyes the doctrine of Christ dying in our place – His substituted death, and rest our souls on it. Let us hold on firmly to the mighty truth, that Christ on the cross:
Christ on the cross: Stood in the place of His people
Christ on the cross: Died for His people
Christ on the cross: Suffered for His people
Christ on the cross: Was counted a curse and sin for His people
Christ on the cross: Paid the debts of His People
Christ on the cross: Made restitution for His people
Christ on the cross: Became the guarantee of His people
Christ on the cross: Became the representative of His people
In this way Christ obtained His people’s freedom. Let us understand this clearly, and then we will see what a mighty privilege it is to be made free by Christ. This is freedom which, above all others is worth having.
John Stott Our Guilty Silence
Since Jesus had no sin either in his nature or in his conduct, he need never have died either physically or spiritually...Then why did he do it? What was the rationale of his death? There is only one possible, logical, biblical answer. It is that he died for our sins, not his own. The death he died was our death, the penalty which our sins had richly deserved.
Charles Simeon in H.C.G. Moule's biography
In Passion Week, as I was reading Bishop Wilson on the Lord’s Supper, I met with an expression to this effect – ‘That the Jews knew what they did, when they transferred their sin to the head of their offering.’ The thought came into my mind, What, may I transfer all my guilt to another? Has God provided an Offering for me, that I may lay my sins on His head? Then, God willing, I will not bear them on my own soul one moment longer. Accordingly I sought to lay my sins upon the sacred head of Jesus; and on the Wednesday began to have a hope of mercy; on the Thursday that hope increased; on the Friday and Saturday it became more strong; and on the Sunday morning, Easter-day, I awoke early with those words upon my heart and lips, ‘Jesus Christ is risen to-day! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!’
From that hour peace flowed in rich abundance into my soul; and at the Lord’s Table in our Chapel I had the sweetest access to God through my blessed Saviour.
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Great Doctrines of the Bible
Nothing anywhere in the Scripture in any way approaches the substitutionary and penal doctrine of the atonement as an exposition and an explanation of the love of God. Is there anything greater than this, that God should take your sins and mine and put them on His own Son and punish His own Son, not sparing Him anything, causing Him to suffer all that, that you and I might be forgiven? Can you tell me any greater exhibition of the love of God than that?
“The Atonement: Jesus Christ Our Substitute”
2 Corinthians 5:21 “For He (God) made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
There are 3 different Greek words translated “for” in our English Bible.
One means ‘on account of’ which we find in Romans 8:3, Galatians 1:4, 1 John 2:2, 1 Corinthians 15:3, and 1 Peter 3:18 where we are told “For Christ also suffered once ‘for’ (on account of) sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God”.
Each time we notice that Jesus Christ suffered for us.
Another Greek word translated “for” means ‘on behalf of’ which we find in 2 Corinthians 5:20-21, 1 Timothy 2:5-6, and 2 Corinthians 5:14.
But the strongest of these 3 words translated “for” means ‘as a substitute for’ is found in Matthew 20:28 and Mark 10:45. “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life ‘for’ (as a substitute for) many” (Mark 10:45).
The Cross: The Vindication of God
The Cross does not merely tell us that God forgives, it tells us that that is God’s way of making forgiveness possible. It is the way in which we understand how God forgives. I will go further: How can God forgive and still remain God? The Cross is the vindication of the character of God. The Cross not only shows the love of God more gloriously than anything else, it show His righteousness, His justice, His holiness, and all the glory of His eternal attributes. They are all to be seen shining together there. If you do not see them all you have not seen the Cross.
Sinclair B. Ferguson Grow In Grace
The cross is the heart of the gospel. It makes the gospel good news: Christ has died for us. He has stood in our place before God’s judgment seat. He has borne our sins. God has done something on the cross which we could never do for ourselves. But God does something to us as well as for us through the cross. He persuades us that He loves us…
A.W. Tozer
The Warfare of the Spirit
God turned the cross into an altar, and while wicked men watched Jesus die in the belief that they were getting rid of Him for good, He through the Eternal Spirit was offering Himself without spot to God as an atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world.
Jesus, Our Man in Glory
We who are Christian believers should thank God continually for our New Testament guarantees of spiritual life and freedom in Christ! Our sacrifice is not an animal offered by a priest as imperfect as we are. Our sacrifice is the very Lamb of God, who was able and willing to offer Himself to take away the sins of the world. Our altar is not the altar in old Jerusalem. Our altar is Calvary, where Jesus offered Himself without spot to God through the eternal Spirit. Our Holy of Holies is not that section of a temple made with hands, secluded behind a protective veil. Our Holy of Holies is in heaven, where the exalted Jesus sits at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
In Christ's atoning death the holiness and justice of God have been satisfied. God no longer holds anything against us, for we have come to Him in faith. We have pleaded as our merit only the vicarious, efficacious death of our Savior and Lord.
The Knowledge of the Holy "The Justice of God"
A solution for the problem of how God can be just and still justify the unjust is found in the Christian doctrine of redemption. It is that, through the work of Christ in atonement, justice is not violated but satisfied when God spares a sinner. Redemptive theology teaches that mercy does not become effective toward a man until justice has done its work. The just penalty for sin was exacted when Christ our Substitute died for us on the cross.
Fernando Ortega "Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qr7-fgX1CB0
Augustus M. Toplady “Awake, Sweet Gratitude, and Sing”
All that come to God by (Christ),
Salvation he demands;
Points to their names upon his breast,
And spreads his wounded hands.
His sweet atoning sacrifice
Gives sanction to his claim:
“Father, I will that all my saints
Be with me where I am.”
Founded on right, thy prayer avails;
The Father smiles on thee;
And now thou in thy kingdom art,
Dear Lord, remember me.
“From Whence This Fear and Unbelief?”
From whence this fear and unbelief?
Hast Thou, O Father, put to grief
Thy spotless Son for me?
And will the righteous Judge of men
Condemn me for that debt of sin
Which, Lord, was laid on Thee?
If Thou hast my discharge procured,
And freely in my place endured
The whole of wrath Divine;
Payment God cannot twice demand,
First at my bleeding Surety’s hand,
And then again at mine.
Complete atonement Thou hast made,
And to the utmost farthing paid,
Whate’er Thy people owed;
How then can wrath on me take place,
If sheltered in Thy righteousness,
And sprinkled with Thy blood?
Turn, then, my soul, unto thy rest,
The merits of thy great High Priest
Speak peace and liberty:
Trust in His efficacious blood,
Nor fear thy banishment from God,
Since Jesus died for thee.
Charles Wesley, "’Tis Finished! The Messiah Dies!"
’Tis finished! the Messiah dies!
Cut off for sins, but not his own;
Accomplished is the sacrifice;
The great redeeming work is done.
Finished our vile transgression is,
And purged the guilt of all our sin;
And everlasting righteousness
Is brought, for all his people, in.
’Tis finished, all my guilt and pain.
I want no sacrifice beside.
For me, for me the Lamb was slain,
And I’m for ever justified.
Sin, death, and hell are now subdued;
All grace is now to sinners given;
And lo! I plead the atoning blood,
For pardon, holiness, and heaven.
Horatius Bonar - "Not What My Hands Have Done"
http://cyberhymnal.org/htm/n/w/nwhatmyh.htm
Not what my hands have done can save my guilty soul;
Not what my toiling flesh has borne can make my spirit whole.
Not what I feel or do can give me peace with God;
Not all my prayers and sighs and tears can bear my awful load.
Your voice alone, O Lord, can speak to me of grace;
Your power alone, O Son of God, can all my sin erase.
No other work but Yours, no other blood will do;
No strength but that which is divine can bear me safely through.
Thy work alone, O Christ, can ease this weight of sin;
Thy blood alone, O Lamb of God, can give me peace within.
Thy love to me, O God, not mine, O Lord, to Thee,
Can rid me of this dark unrest, And set my spirit free.
I bless the Christ of God; I rest on love divine;
And with unfaltering lip and heart I call this Savior mine.
His cross dispels each doubt; I bury in His tomb
Each thought of unbelief and fear, each lingering shade of gloom.
I praise the God of grace; I trust His truth and might;
He calls me His, I call Him mine, My God, my joy and light.
’Tis He Who saveth me, and freely pardon gives;
I love because He loveth me, I live because He lives.