The Gospel: #3 The Sufficiency of Christ

What is the Gospel of Jesus Christ? You’d think that would be an easy question to answer, especially for those who follow Jesus. After all, the gospel of Jesus Christ stands at the very center of Christianity, and we claim to be about the gospel above all else. It’s what we intend to base our lives upon and build our churches around. Even our Church mission statement reflects this priority: We are people helping people become friends, family and followers of Jesus. But as clear as our mission statement Is about helping people follow Jesus, it only implies that the gospel must be part of that. And as such, people may read our statement, see we make a big deal about helping people follow Jesus, but they still wouldn’t be clear on the good news about Jesus.

So, over the past few weeks we’ve been taking a deep dive into the gospel of Jesus Christ to see why the gospel is such good news. And we began by looking at God’s character and discovered why we need the good news. We discovered that even though God created us in His image to know and love Him, we messed up big time. You see as our Creator, God always wants what is best for us. But just like Adam and Eve, we refuse to believe He has our best interests at heart. We turn away from God and no longer trust that He knows what is best for us. We rebel against Him and go our own way. That’s the essence of sin. That leaves God with a dilemma.

This is God’s Dilemma: God is both loving and just. As our loving Creator He has every right to tell us how to live. But because of His righteous nature, He can’t overlook our sin and just sweep it under the carpet. That would make Him unjust, make Him a moral coward. In fact, the Bible says, that His righteousness means He cannot overlook our sin, but deal with it justly. Exodus says it this way: “He does not leave the guilty unpunished” Exodus 34:7 So that’s God’s dilemma. He loves us, but He must condemn us for our sin. We will see His solution to His dilemma today. But first, we need to realize the predicament our sin puts us in. Because the bad news is this: there is nothing we can do to remove our sin and restore our relationship with God. And that in a nutshell is

Man’s Problem: The Bible says that Man is a rebellious sinner and deserves death. The Bible is straight forward about this. First our rebellion: “All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” Romans 3:12 There are no exceptions. Every person who has ever walked this earth has turned away from God. In our rebellion, we reenact the very first sin on the pages of Scripture when God told Adam and Eve not to eat from the tree, but they did it anyway. The didn’t want God to be Lord over them. And neither do we. This creates a huge problem for us, because when we sin, or sin alienates us from God. It breaks our relationship with God. And now God seems unapproachable to us. Far from us. The Bible says it this way: “Your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that He does not hear.” Isaiah 59:2 Now our sins earn us only one thing. Romans 6:23 says, “The wages of sin is death” That’s pretty harsh. But we don’t make the rules, our Creator does. So that’s a big problem for us. For because of our sin we are now spiritually dead to God we have no power to fix ourselves, nor do we even want to. There is nothing we can do to remove our sin and restore our relationship with God. That’s the bad news.

But thankfully, out of the riches of God’s love for us, God devised a way to resolve His dilemma and our problem. What is God’s solution? Jesus! Jesus is God’s solution to His dilemma and our problem. Jesus is able to remove our sin and restore us to God. So, what makes Jesus uniquely qualified for this role? There are two qualifications that set him apart from every other religious figure in history: (1) Who Jesus is and (2) what Jesus has done.

Who Jesus Is Quite frankly, we are dealing with a mystery when it comes to explaining who Jesus is. On the one hand, we see Jesus’ humanity. Jesus is fully human People identify with Jesus because he didn’t live a sheltered life. He was familiar with sorrow, struggle, and suffering. He was loving and kind. He championed the cause the poor and the needy. He made friends with the neglected, the weak and downtrodden. He hung out with the despised and rejected. He loved his enemies and taught others to do the same.

Now, the Bible calls Jesus our High Priest because of his unique experience as a person who lived among us as fully human. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet He did not sin. Hebrews 4:15 In other words, Jesus experienced hunger and thirst. He knows what it was like to go without sleep, to face hard things. He knows what it was like to be misunderstood, to be disbelieved, to be rejected. He experienced the depths of grief at the tomb of Lazarus, the sting of betrayal in the garden, the abandonment of his closest friends at the cross. It was there that He endured the hatred of mockers, unrelenting suffering, and the sting of death. Jesus was fully human.

Yet, amid such humility and humanity, any honest look at Jesus also tells us that Jesus is fully divine First, Jesus was always talking about himself, saying things that declared His divinity: “I am the bread of life” (John 6:35); “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12); “I am the good shepherd” (10:11). And Jesus was constantly calling people to follow Him. “Come to me,” he said, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28).

In fact, Jesus said things that only God could say: He said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.” The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Luke 5:20-21

And Jesus did things only God could do: When his followers were terrified in the midst of a stormy sea, they woke Jesus and said, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. And they asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!” Mark 4:38-41
Who is this Jesus? That’s a question we must all answer. But God’s Word tells us He is God’s Son, who became one of us, but never sinned – so that He might be qualified to remove our sins and restore our relationship with God. And that’s what we see next:

2. What Jesus Has Done: Jesus did many things. But there are three things that Jesus did that solved God’s dilemma and our problem. First,

Jesus lived the life we could not live: Unlike us, Jesus never rebelled against God. He was tempted in all the same ways we are, yet he never gave in. He was without sin. He triumphed over sin, not only by going to the cross but also by living a life of perfect obedience to God the Father. Peter says of Jesus: “He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in His mouth.” 1 Peter 2:2 John wrote: “You know that He appeared in order to take away sins, and in Him there is no sin.” 1 John 3:5 So since Jesus willing obeyed God in everything, and He never once stumbled when tempted, He was the only person who’s ever lived who is fully qualified to offer Himself to be the sacrifice for the sins of the world. Jesus lived the life we could not live!

Secondly, Jesus died the death we deserve to die: The Christian faith puts special emphasis on the death of Jesus. For other religious leaders in the world, the focus is on their lives, teachings and examples. Their deaths were the tragic end of the story. Whether it’s Muhammad at age 62, Confucious at 72, the Buddha at 80, or Moses at 120, the deaths of those leaders marked the end of their missions. With Jesus, though, it’s the opposite… Jesus was constantly talking about his own death, and the Gospels spend a disproportionate amount of time on the days leading up to his crucifixion. No wonder the central symbol of Christianity for the last two thousand years has been the cross. So, then, why did Jesus offer himself to die on that cross?

Simple: Death is a payment for sin, but Jesus had no sin. Therefore, his death had a singular purpose. Peter wrote it this way: He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed. (1 Peter 2:14) Jesus died the death that was meant for us. Jesus took your place and my place on that cross. He took the punishment we deserve. That’s the answer to the divine dilemma: God chose to save rebellious sinners who are due His judgment by taking that judgment upon Himself! At the cross, God’s holy justice and holy love meet. In holy justice, God fully pours out the judgment we deserve. And in holy love, God, in the person of His Son, pays the price for our sin in Himself.

So then, as he hung on the cross, Jesus bore all the horrible weight of all mankind: All our rebellion, all our disobedience, all our sin fell on His shoulders. And the curse that God had pronounced in Eden- the sentence of death – struck Him! That’s why Jesus cried out in agony, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Matthew 27:46. At that moment, the Father, who is holy and righteous, looked at his Son, saw the sins of the world resting on His shoulders, turned away in disgust, and poured out His holy wrath. Matthew writes that darkness covered the land for about three hours while Jesus hung there. That was the darkness of judgment, the weight of the Father’s wrath falling on Jesus as He bore our sins and died in our place. And that is precisely what Isaiah prophesied about seven centuries before it happened:
Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
But He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with His wounds we are healed. Isaiah 53:4-5

Are you starting to get the picture? “I am the one who should have died, not Jesus. I should have been punished, not Him. Those were my transgressions, but his wounds. My iniquities, but His chastisement. My sin, but His sorrows. And His punishment brings me peace. His piercing secures my healing. His death gives me life. That’s what Jesus did for me, what He did for you. Jesus died the death we deserved to die.

And finally, Jesus conquered the enemy we cannot conquer This last Scripture combines both who Jesus is and what he did: Since the children share in flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity so that by His death He might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil — and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. Hebrews 2:14-15 This is the reason Christ came into the world as a man. He became like us so He could break the power that the devil holds over every person who has ever lived.

You see, the devil has always known that God requires death for us because of our sin. That is the outcome of our sin. Our sin separates us from God. And the devil knows that if he can keep you separated from God because of your sin, you will die and go out of the presence of God forever. So, he wants to hold this power over you until you die, for once you’re dead, the opportunity for salvation, for life with God, will be gone. So, here’s the stark reality: humankind cannot escape after death. So, God had to take from Satan his only weapon, the power of death. And to do that, He had Jesus become one of us, so He could die for us, and then rise from the dead. So, when Jesus rose from the dead, He not only destroyed the power of the devil, but He also set us free from that power.

Not only that, but when Jesus died for you, God nailed the record of debt that stood against us to the cross, and in so doing, “He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in Christ.” Colossians 2:14-15

Jesus obeyed the Father all the way to the cross. The devil never gained a foothold on him. The cross was the victory won, and it set the stage for that victory to be vindicated and declared three days later when Jesus rose from the dead. Hear the triumphant words of Jesus in Revelation: “I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.” Revelation 1:18

This is where Christianity stands or falls – the resurrection of Jesus Christ. If Jesus did not rise, then followers of Jesus Christ are “of all people most to be pitied.” (1 Cor. 15:19) The resurrection was God’s public validation of Christ’s life and death. He was announcing to the world that Christ’s sinless life and sin-bearing death were enough to atone for the sins of the world. Therefore, the resurrection vindicated everything Jesus taught including His predictions that He would rise again. And now when you see all that Jesus did in His life, death and resurrection, It is clear to see how Jesus is God’s solution to His Righteous dilemma and our Sin Problem

Jesus solved God’s dilemma. Now God can condemn your sin in His Son, if you just believe in Him. For the moment you do, the sins you can’t remove will be washed away once and for all. You will be cleansed. You will be forgiven. All your shame, guilt and fear will be washed away. Jesus solved God’s dilemma of justice.

Jesus solved our problem of sin. Because Jesus took away your sin on the cross, if you trust in Him, you will no longer be separated from life with God. You can know God, experience His love, His acceptance, His presence. You will no longer be alienated from Him but adopted into HIs family. Not only that, but you will also receive the gift of eternal life. You will no longer fear death, because Jesus defeated death. His death sets you free. That’s the good news of God’s grace to you in Jesus. Jesus did for you what you cannot do for yourself.

The bad news is that God must condemn sin. There is nothing we can do to remove our sin and restore our relationship with God.

But the good news is that Jesus did for us what we could not do for ourselves.
Jesus lived the life we could not live
Jesus died the death we deserve
Jesus conquered the enemy we cannot conquer

Therefore, Jesus is our sufficient Savior.
He has done it all. All we have to do is to trust in Him

How? If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. Romans 10:9-10 That’s the good news. Jesus has done it all to remove your sin and restore your relationship with God. So, I have only one question for you today: Do you want the salvation Jesus made possible for you?

Believe the good news of Jesus Christ.
Turn from your sin and put your trust in Jesus,
and you will be forgiven, reconciled, set free and saved.
As Jesus said, “Come to me and I will give you rest.”