HE LIVED FOR YOU

 

It’s funny, how things so-often comes full-circle.  Many years ago, I worked with a young man named Wayne, with whom I frequently engaged in some great, Gospel-centered conversation – observations, experiences, analysis.  One day we discussed the dual aspects of the human   sin-and-death dilemma …

1.)  That man is sinful by his very nature, and is under condemnation of God’s Law, and that the wages of sin is death.  And secondly …

2.)  That our entrance to Eternity requires righteousness, of which, Scripture testifies, we possess none.  The Bibles says, “There is none righteous, not one.   Here we clearly see two separate and distinct problems!

 By the way, my friend, Wayne, went on to become a pastor, and it was Pastor Wayne who performed his very first wedding ceremony for … yes!  for my wife and me!  Pastor Wayne married us! 

Now, back to the human dilemma:  A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of speaking from this pulpit.  And at that time, we discussed the first part of this dilemma: Our terminal sin-debt, and how the death of Christ at Calvary was God’s response and resolution to the first part of man’s dual dilemma. 

Recapping: God’s solution is that Jesus, robed in your flesh and mine, carrying all of our baggage, endured the Judgment of the Cross, experiencing what the Bible calls “the Final Death” – the wages of sin – “the soul that sinneth, it shall die” – for the entire human race!  He endured that “Final Death”.

Listen to Hebrews 2:9  “But we see Jesus, Who was made … for the suffering and death … that He … should taste death for every man” !

So, when we accept Jesus as our Savior, God considers us dead with Him, dead in Him – our sin debt is paid, the claims of the Law are fully satisfied, because all flesh was judged at Calvary, put to death in the person of Christ.  And those who receive this gift of the crucified Redeemer are FREE, as Romans 8:1 says,

“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.”

However … a big “however” … there still remains that second  aspect of man’s twin quandary.  It’s God’s requirement of righteousness for citizenship in His Kingdom – the resolution of which we will explore here, today.

It may have been two years ago that I noticed in the morning paper the obituary of a woman whose three daughters used to sit with me in church, some 17 or 18 years prior to that, when they were in grade school.  Out of respect for these dear, young ladies, who had to be in their twenties by now, I decided I would go to the funeral, even though they may not recognize me, now.

Two of the daughters were engaged in quiet conversation, but the third one spotted me walking in and greeted me warmly.  She thanked me for remembering them and then said, “I know that Jesus died for my Mom, and that He paid for her sins; but I don’t know about her going to heaven, because my mother led an awfully hard life.”

I thank God for the prompting of His Holy Spirit, Who enabled me to respond, “Jesus not only died  for your Mom; He also lived  for her.  And if she trusted in Him as her personal Savior, then His life of righteousness and His obedience will stand in the place of her life’s record.  And you can rest in the assurance that God will be gracious, and will judge her mercifully. 

So, if we have received Jesus as our Lord and Savior, then not only is His Judgment Death counted to us, but His righteous life becomes our title to eternity in the Earth-Made-New.  Because Jesus is the very fulfillment  of God’s purpose for our lives – a purpose that we’ve never attained, but that He has accomplished for us,     while robed in our fallen humanity.

 

HE LIVED FOR ME – W. W. Prescott,  “Victory In Christ”

Jesus took the same flesh that I have.  He met the same temptations that I meet.  He voluntarily made Himself just as dependent upon a power outside Himself as I am, to be obedient to God’s holy will, through the grace provided.

He was cruelly misunderstood, yet He refused to approve the least departure from a strictly upright course.  Against the dark background of selfishness and sin, of hypocrisy and self-righteousness, which characterized His time, He set forth, in His personal conduct, the law of self-denial and of self-sacrificing love.  He was what He taught.   (We can say, “He walked His talk.”)

He lived a truly human life.  He became weary, just as I do.  He became thirsty when walking in the heat of the day, just as I do.  He required sleep to refresh His physical frame after a day of toil, just as I do.  He required food for His body, just as I do.  He differed in no way from me in all these respects.  He was my Brother in the flesh.

And yet He was the Son of God, one with the Father from eternity, through Whom the worlds were created, and in Whom all things cohere.  Before He visited this world as the Son of Man, cherubim and seraphim were His willing servants, and angels were the ministers of His will.  He was with God, and He was God.  He was at home in the majestic glory of heaven.

What is the explanation of these apparent contradictions of His being?  It is found in the simple fact that He lived for me.  Only one Who is more than a man could become the representative man, the epitome of the race, and could not only assume human nature, but could gather up into Himself every individual member of the human family, and could become my personal Representative, and live a life which could be set down to my account as if I had lived it myself, if I accept my place in Him.

This is the true meaning of justification by faith, or being accounted righteous    by the acceptance of the life lived by another.  It is not a mere theological doctrine, an article of the creed.  It is an actual transaction, by virtue of which    a life of righteousness is substituted for a life of sin, in response to faith.

“If you give yourself to Him, and accept Him as your Savior, then, sinful as your life may have been, for His sake, you are accounted righteous.  Christ’s character stands in place of your character, and you are accepted before God just as if you had not sinned.”

I shall not try to explain this wondrous provision, which furnishes such a ground of confidence for my personal salvation, further than to say that in it “mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other”. (Psalm 85:10)

I have accepted the life that Jesus lived for me.  He satisfies my need.  Have you     accepted His life?

 

Some time back, I heard an old-line Baptist preacher say, “Upon a life I never lived, and upon a death I never died;   but on the righteous life of my Lord Jesus Christ, and upon His death on the Cross at Calvary, I rest my claim to eternal salvation.”

There it is!   Right there!  Let’s run thru that again – please, go ahead and read that again!  He died for you  …  and He also lived for you

The complete remedy for mankind’s dilemma lies before us, here:

1)   The terminal condition of our sin problem – was resolved at Calvary!  Now, it’s quite likely that you’ve been hearing this since you were a child.  But have you claimed it?   Have you made it yours?  And then …

2)   Our total lack of righteousness.  God tells us, thru the prophet Isaiah, that all our righteousness is as filthy rags – soiled laundry.  And what we desperately need is the crisp, clean, white linen of the righteousness of Jesus … which He gives to us – which becomes our possession   when we surrender completely to Him … and which outfits us for His Kingdom.

 1)     Yes, He died for you.  Lay your claim to it, now – please, without delay!

2)     But consider also  that He lived for you.  His righteous life in the place of your life. His obedience, His faithfulness, His perfect life     for your life.

 “My life of scarlet, my sin and woe;  Cover with His life, whiter than snow.”

 We are saved by His death … and … yes, we are saved by His life!

Now, let’s crank this up a notch: Scripture says that knowing God is the KEY to life  –  Hear the voice of Jesus in John 17:3: “This is life eternal:  that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent”.

 It’s God’s desire that we learn to know Him personally … Why?

Well, one reason is that He desires to reproduce His character in each of us.  He wants us to become like Him in character.  And for this reason, He has promised to write His law upon the fleshy tables of our hearts … He promises to make His ways    an integral part of our very nature … to restore in us the image of God,   as it was when we were first created in Adam.  Because …

… ultimately, God’s desire is to reproduce in us – in our lives, in our daily walk – the obedience, the righteousness, the kindness, the unconditional love and the good works that He produced in Christ, when He walked in our human-ness. That’s the process of sanctification.  His life reproduced in us!

In speaking of the final Judgment, God’s Word tells us: If we will confess our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ before men, He will confess us before the Father, because He is our Advocate, our Lawyer, our Divine Attorney.

If we are not ashamed to confess publicly that we have claimed Jesus Christ and His spotless, sinless life of obedience unto death,  then His history, His righteousness, His victory – His very fulfillment of God’s purpose for us – His life stands in the place of our life record,  in that final Day of Reckoning.

Moreover, at this very moment in time, it’s His living  intercession in the Courts of Heaven, before God’s Throne of Grace,   that is able to present you without spot or blemish before the Father.  Listen:

Hebrews  7:25  “… wherefore He is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God by Him, seeing that He ever liveth to make intercession for them.”

But there’s more!  This just keeps getting better -  Right up until the Day of Christ’s return, it’s His life, reproduced in you  thru the power of His Holy Spirit, that is “able to keep you from falling”, day by day, by day.

The Cross of Calvary has,   and still does,   and forever will, set you free from the condemnation of the Law.  You want to claim all of it  and make it yours.   Lock that down!    and take it straight to the Bank of Heaven.  (That’s the Bank that does not require a bailout!  There’s where you want to invest your assets!)

But please do not overlook the joyous  fact that Jesus Christ, “The Son of Man”,  lived     for you, Brothers and Sisters.  And thru the gift of His perfect life, He has purchased for you and for me    full citizenship in that Eternal City that’s built four-square     and a clear title to The Earth-Made-New. 

Have you claimed the Savior, and His life as well as His death?  If you have, I pray that you will renew that commitment  when you open your eyes tomorrow morning, each and every day, thereafter.

And if you haven’t, I pray that you will do so, while the door of grace remains open.

Because God has said, “My Spirit will not always strive with man.”

And His invitation is, “Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near.”