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THE EFFECT OF CHRIST'S SACRIFICE Poteau, Oklahoma
The popular view regarding Christ's sacrifice is that He paid the
price for the sins of all mankind. The sacrifice of Christ, they say, does
not actually secure the salvation of anyone. The usual idea is that the
salvation of a sinner is left up to him: he must actually decide for Christ
or otherwise exercise what some call his free will in order to really be
saved. In other words, according to the popular theory, Christ died equally
for all men. In this way He made all men somehow saveable. They are not
actually saved by the sacrifice of Christ. It is the sinner's responsibility
to take hold of his own bootstraps and lift himself up out of unbelief and
place his feet upon the step of faith. In this way his faith is in his faith
– not in Christ alone at all! He is assured by the average Baptist preacher
that if he was sincere and really meant his little magical prayer, he is
saved. After all, they say, it is up to the sinner to initiate his own
salvation by doing this or that or the other thing. Sometimes it is said
that if the sinner will take the first step toward God, God will then do for
the sinner all he needs done: God will reciprocate by taking all the other
necessary steps. We are reminded of Spurgeon's story about the Catholic
crusader. Having journeyed to the Holy Land and there in battle having been
beheaded, the crusader picked his head up, tucked it under his arm and
walked all the way back to Rome. Spurgeon declared that he would believe
that legend on one condition: if that crusader could have taken the first
step, he could have walked all the way back to Rome. That is, if he could
have taken that first step.
We submit that if a spiritually dead sinner whose mind, emotions and
will have all been ruined by the fall can initiate his own salvation, why
indeed can he not complete what he initiated? We do not wish to engage here
and
now upon a consideration of
the inabilities of fallen sinners. Our subject is rather, the sacrifice of
Christ and its effects. We will see a grand and glorious salvation if we
reject the theories of men and just let the Bible say what it says. That is
always the best course: the course that leads to blessing and understanding.
Our spirits are made in this way to feast upon the heavenly truths of God's
eternal purpose and its outworking. Just what is the effect of Christ's
sacrifice? What is or what are the results of His death on the tree? Did He
merely make salvation within reach of all who will do this or that or the
other? Or did Christ, by His bloody sacrifice, actually secure the salvation
of sinners?
Observation forces us to conclude that Christ's sacrifice did not
secure the salvation of all men unless we somehow can believe that salvation
does not bring about holiness in those who are saved. If murderers, thieves,
and all sorts of wicked men are saved only to continue in their wicked
works, we ask, just what is it from which they are saved? The Bible is clear
that though men were once evil workers, after they experience God's grace
they are no longer such men as they were. Paul penned these words:
“Know
ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not
deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor
effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor
covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the
kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are
sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the
Spirit of our God,” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). Again we notice in Paul's
letter to the congregations in Galatia:
“Now the works of the flesh are
manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness,
lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath,
strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and
such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time
past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no
law. And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections
and lusts,” (Galatians 5:19-24). The absence of a changed life indicates
the absence of salvation. The absence of the fruit of the Spirit indicates
the absence of the Spirit.
As our text we want to consider this brief verse concerning the
sacrifice of Christ and its effects: “For by one offering he hath
perfected for ever them that are sanctified,”
(Hebrews 10:14). In just
over a dozen English words in our King James Bibles we have stated for us in
the finest of terms the accomplishment of Christ for His people. First of
all we notice that His people are identified as “them that are sanctified.”
Sanctified means set apart for a special purpose. People used to have
sanctified clothing: our best garments were reserved for going to meeting on
the Lord's Day. In fact they were often referred to as our “Sunday best.”
Those clothes were set apart for a special purpose. So it is that there are
individuals who are “sanctified.” Of these people we read that they were
“...chosen... in him before the foundation of the world,” (Ephesians
1:4). They did not set themselves apart: He set them apart when He chose
them way yonder before this world's foundations on nothingness were laid.
Next we notice that what Christ accomplished He did so by His
sacrifice or “offering.”
Hebrews
9:26 says in part, “...now once in the end of the world hath he appeared
to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.”
Christ saved no one by His
birth. He saved no one by His miracles. He saved no one by His preaching and
teaching. He saved no one by His perfect example of sinless living. We do
not downplay these things: they are important. But salvation was obtained
for “them that are sanctified” by Christ's sacrifice. He was nailed to a
tree to die. He shed forth His blood in fulfillment of God's Old Testament
requirement, “...almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and
without shedding of blood is no remission,” (Hebrews 9:22).
“So
Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many...,” (Hebrews 9:28).
So we have shown for whom it is that Christ accomplished what He
accomplished: those that were set apart for this purpose. We have shown how
He accomplished it: by His bloody sacrifice. Now we come to this matter:
just what was it that Christ accomplished? Did He only make salvation
possible as most professing Christians claim? Is there something lacking so
that unbelievers must somehow change themselves into believers in order to
have his sins put away? Is that the gospel? No! No! A thousand times no! Our
text says that Christ has “perfected for ever” those who were set apart! Now
there is no addition to perfection or completeness. There cannot be!
Language and logic forbid such an idea! God's statement demands that we
understand that nothing can be added to Christ's work. Nothing needs to be
added. The lost sinner has no ability to add anything to Christ's finished
work. Jewish priests stood daily often performing the same sacrifices over
and over. Their work was never done. Their sacrifices could not take away
sin. “But this man
[Christ], after he had offered one sacrifice
for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God.” (Hebrews 10:12,
brackets added).
No wonder then that Jude would address his letter in its first verse
“...to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus
Christ, and called.” Man-made religious teaching cannot stomach this
verse just as they must twist our text. Jude's order confounds them.
Nevertheless, God says His people are first set apart for salvation by God
the Father. They are preserved in Jesus Christ so that neither Satan nor his
comrades can destroy them. And in due time they are called with a call which
is effective: a call which makes them a child of God.
And so we ask, just what did Christ accomplish by His sacrifice? What
is the effect of Christ's sacrifice? It is this: Christ by His bloody death
accomplished a perfect salvation for God's elect individuals. Men do not
need to add, indeed, cannot add one particle to what Christ did perfectly.
Will you believe that? Or must you put your faith in your faith, in your
decision, in your praying, or will you believe what Christ did? |
