School of the Foundations of the Christian Faith “The Creator and His Creation.” Lesson 19. The Substitutionary Sacrifice. The school consists of 22 lessons. The school was founded by the Christian Bible Institute.
After the Fall, humanity found itself in a hopeless state. Why? There was nothing good left in people that could save them from destruction. That is why God performed the greatest miracle in history: God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to earth so that He would take people’s sins upon Himself and give them His righteousness. Today we will talk about the necessity of the righteousness of Jesus Christ for our salvation.
The Necessity of the Righteousness of Jesus Christ
People may justify themselves and say that they do not commit serious sins, but God looks not only at a person’s actions, but also at the condition of their heart. Sinful thoughts are an offense against God.
Luke 6:43 A good tree does not produce bad fruit, and a bad tree does not produce good fruit. Luke 6:44 Thus, every tree is known by its fruit. No one gathers figs from thorns or grapes from a thornbush. Luke 6:45 A good person brings good things out of the good stored up in their heart, while an evil person brings evil things out of the evil stored up in their heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.
Even the slightest sin in a person’s life completely bars them from entering the Kingdom of Heaven. Concerning the New Jerusalem, where God will dwell with humanity forever, it is said:
Revelation 21:27 Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful. Only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life will enter.
By nature, people are unable to rid themselves of their sins and become righteous before God. Therefore, the only way Christ could save us was to stand before God in our place and bear the punishment for our sins.
Christ committed no sins for which He should have died. He was righteous. Because Jesus was sinless, He could offer Himself to God as a sacrifice for our sins.
2 Cor. 5:21 God laid the guilt for people's sin on the sinless One, so that in Him we might become righteous before God.
After humanity's fall, God said that whenever people brought Him a sacrifice, the animal offered had to be without blemish. It had to be clean, healthy, and free from any injuries. Why? God is perfect, so every sacrifice brought to Him had to be perfect.
Because Christ fulfilled the entire Law and therefore received righteousness before God, He could offer Himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for us.
Just as an animal died in the place of the person who had sinned during a sacrifice, Christ came into the world to stand before God in our place and die for our sins in our place.
Christ bore the punishment for our sins so that God could forgive and accept as His children all who believe in Him through Christ. Christ completed His work by shedding His blood and giving His life for our forgiveness.
God forgives all the sins of those who humble themselves before Him and believe in Jesus Christ and in His death, which He endured for them. Jesus Christ did for us what we could not do ourselves so that we could come to God.
That is why the sacrifice of Jesus Christ is called the “Substitutionary Sacrifice.” This means that Christ took our sin upon Himself, died for us, and gave us His righteousness, through which a born-again person has fellowship with God and can enter heaven.
Rom. 4:22 And it “was credited to him as righteousness.” Rom. 4:23 The words “it was credited to him” refer not only to Abraham, Rom. 4:24 they also refer to us. It will be credited to us who believe in Him who raised our Lord Jesus from the dead, Rom. 4:25 who was delivered over to death for our sins and raised to life for our justification.
1 Pet. 3:18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit,
The Sufficiency of the Righteousness of Jesus Christ
Christ came into the world to give people the freedom that the Law could not give them. The Law was given to people to show them their sinfulness. No one on earth was able to fulfill the Law. Only Jesus Christ was able to fulfill the entire Law and receive righteousness. Now Christ dwells in believers and gives them the freedom and power to live righteously, not under fear of the Law, but for the glory of God.
Many Christian religions are built on attempts to add something to the righteousness of Jesus Christ. People want to add their own rules, works, and efforts so that Christ’s righteousness will be sufficient.
Gal. 2:16 We know that a person is justified not by observing the Law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we too have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Him and not by observing the Law. No one will be justified by observing the Law. Gal. 2:21 I do not reject the grace of God. For if justification could be obtained through observing the Law, then Christ died for nothing!
The sacrifice of Jesus Christ at Calvary was not only the price for our sins; it also conveyed the righteousness of Jesus Christ to every believer in Him. By taking human sin upon Himself, Jesus Christ gave believers in Him His righteousness.
As soon as a person turns to God in repentance, Christ clothes him in His righteousness. This righteousness is not earned by the person himself. It is Christ’s righteousness, credited to a person when he is born again.
God now looks at every believer as though he himself had lived the righteous life of Jesus Christ.
1 Cor. 1:30 Because of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us the wisdom of God, our righteousness, holiness, and redemption.
Phil. 3:8 And not only this, but I consider everything else a loss compared with the priceless knowledge of my Lord Jesus Christ. For His sake I have come to regard everything else in the world as rubbish, and I have discarded it all for the sake of gaining Christ, Phil. 3:9 in order to be found in Him, not with my own righteousness based on the Law, but with the righteousness that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness that comes from God through faith.
A born-again Christian accepts Christ’s righteousness as the only foundation of his salvation. He acknowledges his absolute unworthiness and relies completely on Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior.
Jesus Christ not only paid the price for our sin on the Cross of Calvary and not only gave us His righteousness, but He also defeated the devil through His resurrection. Because Jesus Christ was absolutely obedient to His Heavenly Father in everything, God raised Him from the dead, granting Him a tremendous victory over the devil.
Phil. 2:8 He humbled Himself and was obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross! Phil. 2:9 Therefore God exalted Him and gave Him the Name above every name, Phil. 2:10 so that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow—in heaven, on earth, and under the earth—Phil. 2:11 and every tongue should confess, to the glory of God the Father, that Jesus Christ is Lord!
Therefore, all who believe in Jesus Christ are not slaves to sin and the devil, but find complete fulfillment in submitting to and serving God.
Eph. 1:19 and how immeasurable is the greatness of His power in us who believe, according to the working of His boundless power. Eph. 1:20 He exerted this same power in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, Eph. 1:21 far above every rule, authority, power, and dominion, and above every name that is invoked, not only in this age but also in the age to come.
Through His death and resurrection, Jesus Christ gave humanity victory over sin and death.
1 Cor. 15:22 For as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ. 1 Cor. 15:23 But each in his own order: Christ first, and then, when He returns, we who belong to Him will be raised. 1 Cor. 15:24 Then the end will come, when He, having destroyed every dominion, authority, and power, will hand over the Kingdom to God the Father. 1 Cor. 15:25 Christ must reign until God has put all His enemies under His feet.
Source: Christian Bible Institute
