The following are quotes from sermons I have recently heard concerning the Gospel of Jesus Christ. These are not perfect or direct quotes, but the best I can remember. The first sermon was posted on YouTube under the title “The True Gospel” preached by Paul Washer. The other was entitled “The Curse Motif of the Atonement” preached by R.C. Sproul. Though I may not agree with everything these preachers believe, I can’t get away from the truths they have presented in these sermons.
“You have never lived one minute since you were a Christian when you loved God with all your heart, mind, body and soul as He should be loved…Christ never lived one minute when He didn’t.” ~Paul Washer
“Even on the cross, Christ was Holy and without sin.” ~Paul Washer
Think about that…When Christ was on the cross His nature did not change. He did not sin. He did not become a sinner. The sins of His people were imputed to Christ, but He did not sin. Do you understand what that means?
The word “imputed” is translated from the Greek word “logizomai” (pronounced: lo-gē'-zo-mī) which means a thing is reckoned as or to be something, i.e. as availing for or equivalent to something, as having the like force and weight. My sins were imputed to Christ. Though Christ was sinless perfection, He was treated by God as though He had committed my sins. Christ was legally declared by God to be guilty of my sin. He stood in my “law place” as John Gill states it. In the same way, though I had committed sins and was guilty, Christ's righteousness was imputed upon me. I was legally declared to be righteous by God because Jesus Christ was cursed in my place.
Because the sinless, perfect Lamb of God was cursed by God in my place, I have redemption through His blood. Think about that. You are either under the blood of Christ and He was cursed of God on your behalf or you will be cursed of God on your own behalf for eternity. What does it mean to be “cursed” of God?
I know we live in a culture that loves the blessings of God, but has no thoughts about the curse of God. Modern American Christianity thinks lost men will not come to Christ if God is represented as One who curses sinners. Therefore, in an attempt to make the gospel more attractive, they speak only of the blessings of God and not the curse of God. In doing so, modern American Christianity has shunned to declare the whole counsel of God. May God have mercy on us!
In his sermon, “The Curse Motif of the Atonement,” R.C. Sproul explores two main texts. He uses Deuteronomy chapter 28 as well as Galatians 3:9-14. In Deuteronomy 28:1-14,God lays out in plain language the blessings that will result in a person paying diligent attention to the voice of the LORD in order to observe to do His commandments. In Deuteronomy 28:15-68, God lays out, in like manner, His curse that falls on those who do not observe to do His commandments. Here the principle is set forth…God blesses obedience. God curses disobedience.
Consider that we all were born dead in sins and trespasses. We all were born disobedient to the commandments of God. We all were born cursed of God…all have sinned and come short of the glory of God…there is none that doeth good, no, not one…we all, like sheep, have gone astray…we have turned to our own ways…there is not a just man on earth that does good instead of sinning. We were born cursed of God!
Job’s friend, Bildad, asked a question in Job 25:4 that has been repeated by Biblical scholars ever since. He asked, “How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?” There is only one way and that is through a propitiation. A propitiation is an expiatory sacrifice. Expiatory means to put an end to or extinguish the guilt incurred as a result of our sin. There is only One who had the power to make atonement or expiation. His name is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life!
The Bible tells us in Romans 3:25 that God set Jesus Christ forth, or in our modern terms, set him up like a billboard, to be a propitiation. God the Father imputed my sins to His only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He was cursed in my place.
Based on Deuteronomy 28
1. He was cursed in the city, on my account….I was blessed in the city on, His account.
2. He was cursed in the field, on my account…I was blessed in the field, on His account.
3. He was cursed when He went in and cursed when He went out, on my account…I am blessed when I go in and I am blessed when I go out, on His account.
4. Because I had forsaken God, He sent upon Christ cursing and vexation, and rebuke until He was destroyed and perished quickly…all because of my wickedness.
5. God made pestilence cleave to Christ and consume Him.
6. God smote Christ with the most severe physical suffering…all because of me!
7. The heaven that was over Christ’s head was hard like brass. The earth under His feet was like iron…and God crushed Him because of me.
In imputing Christ’s righteousness on me, God has commanded His blessing upon me in all that I set my hand to do and has established me a holy person unto Himself and has promised never to leave me or forsake me all because of Jesus Christ. I got what only He deserved! Christ got what we all deserve! Let that sink deep into your mind.
Galatians 3:9-14
9 So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.
10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written (Jeremiah 11:3), Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.
11 But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.
12 And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them.
13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written (Deuteronomy 21:23), Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:
14 That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Jesus Christ was made a curse for me and for the rest of His people!
“Every sin of every one of His people was imputed to Christ.” ~R.C. Sproul
Consider another passage of Scripture to help burn into your mind the curse God placed on Christ because of my sin and because of yours.
There is a passage of Scripture found in Numbers chapter 6 where God gives Moses a blessing for Aaron and the priests to place upon the children of Israel. It is one that I often like to close letters and emails out with. It is so beautiful.
One of the greatest blessings imaginable would be to see the face of God. Remember in Exodus 33:18, Moses asked to see God’s face…His glory. God told Him no man can see God’s face and live, so God put Moses into the cleft of the rock and covered him, allowing him to see only His backside…even after seeing only God’s back, it says Moses face “shone” or glowed when he came down from the mountain. Keep that in mind.
Numbers 6:24-26
24 The LORD bless thee, and keep thee:
25 The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:
26 The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.
The opposite of the blessing is the curse. Because of having the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, we can enjoy those blessings.
We enjoy those blessings only because Christ was cursed by God in this fashion...
“May the LORD curse you and abandon you!
May the LORD keep you in darkness and give you only judgment without grace!
May the LORD turn His back upon you and remove His peace from you forever!” ~R.C. Sproul
If you remember back to our study on the Feasts of the LORD given to Israel, we looked at the Day of Atonement. It was only on this one day that the High Priest could enter the Holy of Holies and sprinkle the blood of the sacrifice on the mercy seat. There were two goats. One was to be the blood sacrifice to atone for the sins of Israel. The other was to be the scapegoat upon whom the sins of Israel would be imputed…both were a picture of Jesus Christ, for His blood was poured out on the mercy seat…and it was upon Him that our sins were imputed and God forsook Him.
Some professing Christians look forward to heaven because they want to see the streets of gold, where their mansion is located, and catch up with friends and family. I venture to say those who think that way haven’t grown much in Christ or they are only professors of Christ and not possessors of Christ. I look forward to heaven for one reason only… because I will see the Lord Jesus Christ as He is, face to face. I will look upon the face of the One who suffered the curse of God in my place…and He did so for no other reason than it pleased Him to. He drank every last drop of the cup of the wrath of God for the sins of His people.
Thoughts change in the light of these Scriptures. What was once thought of as a little pet sin now becomes a most hideous monster. The more we see of Christ, the more we will be like Job…
“I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” Job 42:5-6
…and like Isaiah, when he saw a vision of Christ in all His glory seated on the throne…
“Then said I, Woe is me! For I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.” Isaiah 6:5
Those who will not come to Christ for salvation are already under the curse of God for their sin. When they step into eternity, they will suffer the fullness of the fierce wrath of God for their sins. Those who have come and those who will come to Christ will enjoy the fullness of the blessings of God in Christ Jesus because He was cursed in their place.
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