“Q & A 16 Why must the mediator be a true and righteous human? God’s justice demands that human nature, which has sinned, must pay for sin; but a sinful human could never pay for others.
Q & A 18 Then who is this mediator—true God and at the same time a true and righteous human? Our Lord Jesus Christ, who was given to us to completely deliver us and make us right with God.”
‘What’s wrong with me?’ ‘What happened to me?’ ‘Why is God so tough on my sin?’ ‘Why can’t I make matters right with God?’ Those are the questions we’ve been asking in this series because those are the questions of the human condition.
This has been a very sobering study for me because it has made the human condition clear. We really are hopeless without God’s grace. Thomas Watson was correct to say that, “Until sin be bitter, Christ will not be sweet,” and the past four weeks have made sin very bitter and I hope, as a result, that we will see Christ as very sweet.
Over the next few weeks we will be studying what Christ has to do with our miserable condition. This week we will be studying how the Son of God took this human condition on himself. The Son of God became like us because that it what it took to save us. That is the claim of this sermon: the Son of God became like us because that is what it took to save us.
We will see this in three points. First: becoming like us for us. Second: living as us for us. Third: dying as us for us.
First: becoming like us for us. We’ve seen that our miserable condition is the result of the sin of Adam; “sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned,” as Paul put it.
Moments after that sin, God spoke words of grace. He promised that a man would come to do what Adam failed to do. Adam was defeated by the devil, but a descendent of Adam would defeat the devil. As God said to Satan, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
The Christmas genealogy in the gospel of Luke works its way backwards; it starts with Jesus and moves to Adam to show that Jesus is this promised offspring who would put right what Adam put wrong. To make humanity right, Jesus needed to be as human as Adam. “For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive,” as Paul wrote to the Corinthians.
The incarnation of the Son of God means that, Jesus became like us. You are no more human than Jesus. We sing this truth at Christmas. “He is our childhood pattern; day by day, like us he grew; he was little, weak and helpless, tears and smiles like us he knew.”
The Son of God was born of a woman just like you. “You will conceive and give birth to a son,” as the angel told Mary. “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.”
Jesus is not 50% human and 50% divine; he is one hundred percent both. Jesus is God in the flesh which means he did cut his first tooth. He was a toddler who doubtlessly fell when he learned to walk. Don’t imagine him as any less human than yourself; “he had to be made like [us], fully human in every way,” as Hebrews 2 puts it.
You miss the wonder in the gospels if you picture Jesus as somehow faking his humanity. Such an understanding was rightly condemned as a heresy. Jesus’ full humanity is obvious in the gospels and it is necessary for salvation; “he had to be made like [us], fully human in every way.”
Jesus’ body got tired just like yours does; “Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well,” John 4:6. Jesus was thirsty. ‘When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?”’ John 4:7. Jesus got hungry; “as Jesus was on his way back to the city, he was hungry,” Matthew 21:18. Jesus wanted his friends near him in his troubles like you do. “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me,” Matthew 26:38. He cried at the grave of loved ones just like you do.
Jesus is as human as you and interestingly enough, he is much more comfortable in humanity than any of us. GK Chesterton is right, “Jesus’ pathos was natural, almost casual. The Stoics, ancient and modern, were proud of concealing their tears. He never concealed his tears; he showed them plainly on his open face at any daily sight, such as the far sight of his native city… Solemn supermen and imperial diplomatists are proud of restraining their anger. He never restrained his anger. He flung furniture down the front steps of the Temple, and asked men how they expected to escape the damnation of Hell.” When you read the gospels submissively, you don’t question whether Jesus was as human as you; you question whether you are as comfortable in your humanity as he is comfortable in his.
Jesus took on this humanity to save humanity. He entered into our condition. “In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered.” To take us to glory, Jesus needed to enter into our condition. “We were in slavery under the elemental spiritual forces of the world,” wrote Paul, “but when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law.” Jesus needed to enter our condition. He needed to become like us to save us.
Jesus became like in every respect except for sin. We see that in our second point: living as us for us. We have seen that we were born with original sin. “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me,” as David put it. That was not the case for Jesus. This puts him in a unique position. “We do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses,” says Hebrews, “but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet is without sin.”
Jesus knows full humanity without knowing sin. Now sin is so much a part of our nature that you might wonder how Jesus could know your nature without knowing sin. How could he know what it is like to be a human without knowing sin? Well, Adam was just as human as you before he sinned. Experiencing guilt doesn’t make you any more human than Jesus just as it doesn’t make you any more human than Adam before the fall. Experiencing shame doesn’t make you any more human than Jesus just as it doesn’t make you any more human than Adam before the fall. These experiences reveal that you are a sinful human not that you are somehow more human.
Jesus knows full humanity without knowing sin. By saying that Jesus didn’t sin, we are saying that he lived the law of God. He always loved the Lord his God with all his soul, heart, and strength and his neighbor as himself. He fulfilled the law we’ve been studying in Deuteronomy. “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets,” he said. “I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”
Jesus kept the law of God perfectly, which is to say that he was sinless. This is the universal teaching of the Scriptures. Peter taught that Jesus was sinless. Jesus, “committed no sin nor was any deceit found in his mouth.” Paul taught that Jesus was sinless. “[The Father] made [Jesus] who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf.” John taught that Jesus was sinless. “You know that [Jesus] appeared in order to take away sins; and in him there is no sin.” Hebrews taught that Jesus was sinless; “we have [a high priest] who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet is without sin.” Jesus said that he was sinless. “[The Father] who sent me is with me; He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him.” The Father said that Jesus was sinless; “this is my Son whom I love. In him I am well pleased.”
Now Jesus wasn’t sinless because of lack of opportunity to sin. He was tempted more severely than anyone else ever has been or will be. Adam didn’t endure the full strength of Satan’s temptations; he succumbed much earlier than that. Jesus endured the full strength of these temptations precisely because he chose not to sin. Jesus remained sinless despite these temptations, which is to say that he kept the law. He quoted the law to Satan and kept the law. “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread,” Satan said. Jesus answered, “It is written: “Man shall not live on bread alone.”’ Satan said, “If you worship me, [all these kingdoms] will be yours.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’” If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here… Jesus answered, ‘It is said: “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”’ Jesus quoted and kept the law.
Now even people who despite Christianity have a high view of Jesus because they recognize this sinlessness. Many of them do not even recognize sin as a category but they know there is something different about Jesus. They recognize that there is something superior about Jesus.
Jesus’ sinlessness was regularly stressed in the New Testament not only because it made his life so notable, but also because this sinlessness is necessary for our salvation. We sinners need a sinless man to suffer for our sins. As the Catechism puts it, “Why must the mediator be a true and righteous human? God’s justice demands that human nature, which has sinned, must pay for sin; but a sinful human could never pay for others.” Moses couldn’t suffer the wrath due Israel’s sin because he was a sinner too who deserved wrath for his own sin. Jesus is the sinless human who can suffer the wrath due sinful humans.
We see this wrath in our final point: dying as us for us. Adam and Eve did not need to die. If they obeyed God in the Garden they would have enjoyed the tree of life forever. They died because of sin. “The wages of sin is death.” Now, like Adam and Eve before the fall, Jesus did not need to die. He could have lived forever because he never sinned. He chose to die. As he said, “The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again.”
Jesus chose to die for his disciples. “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”
For Jesus to save us from what our sins deserve, he had to endure what our sin deserves and, “the wages of sin is death.” To save Adam’s descendants from what Adam’s sin deserves, he had to endure what Adam’s sin deserves and God made clear to Adam, that “you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”
Jesus didn’t need to die but he chose to in order to free us from death. As Hebrews explains, “Since the children have 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.”
People are rightly afraid of death because of the judgment that follows death. Jesus takes that fear away by suffering that judgment. Jesus suffered the judgment we call hell. That is why he cried out, “my God, my God, why have you forsaken me.” That is a wise way to understand the creed when it says, “he descended into hell.”
His death upon the cross was a clear sign of the covenant curses of wrath that we’ve been studying in Deuteronomy. ‘Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree,”’ as Paul explained.
The chief priests, teachers of the law, and elders of Israel mocked Jesus at the cross because this death was a public sign of being cursed by God. The law called for notorious sinners to be publicly executed by hanging on a tree, or in this case a cross, so that everyone would know this individual, and sins like his, are under God’s curse. ‘In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if He wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”
The chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders thought they were fulfilling their responsibilities by publicly cursing Jesus. Ironically, they were correct. “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.” Jesus did die under the curse of God, but not because of his sins as the priests thought, but because of our sins. “[The Father] made [Jesus] who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” That is the great exchange of the cross—Jesus is made sinful and we are made righteous.
Christ suffered, but we benefit. He is punished; we are healed. “Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering,” wrote Isaiah, “yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
You can only have peace with God through the Son of God who was pierced for your transgressions. There is no other way. Denying your transgressions will not take them away. Seeking to undo your transgressions will not take them away. Trying to do enough good deeds to outweigh your transgressions will not take them away. You need to lay hold of the righteousness of this sinless man who died for sinners.
This is the only way to righteousness; perhaps Charles Simeon’s experience will be of help. Simeon grew up in a worldly family and attended a worldly university, but, by God’s grace, he grew concerned about his soul. He tried to make himself right with God, which, as we’ve seen, produces only self-righteousness and greater guilt. Simeon was despairing of his soul and, then, ‘in Passion Week,’ he writes, ‘as I was reading Bishop Wilson on the Lord’s Supper, I met with an expression to this effect — “That the Jews knew what they did, when they transferred their sin to the head of their offering.” The thought came into my mind, “what, may I transfer all my guilt to another? Has God provided an offering for me, that I may lay my sins on His head? Then, God willing, I will not bear them on my own soul one moment longer.” Accordingly I sought to lay my sins upon the sacred head of Jesus; and on the Wednesday began to have a hope of mercy; on the Thursday that hope increased; on the Friday and Saturday it became more strong; and on the Sunday morning, Easter-day, April 4, I awoke early with those words upon my heart and lips, ‘Jesus Christ is risen to-day! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!’ From that hour peace flowed in rich abundance into my soul.” The cross of Christ is the only way that any man can have such peace.
The cross of Christ makes peace between God and man by way of sacrifice. “God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith.” Simeon received the righteousness he needed by faith. Christ’s sacrifice can only benefit us if we receive it in faith. You see Simeon’s faith in the words, ‘may I transfer all my guilt to another? Has God provided an offering for me, that I may lay my sins on His head? Then, God willing, I will not bear them on my own soul one moment longer. Accordingly, I sought to lay my sins upon the sacred head of Jesus.” You see the fruit of that faith in the words, “on the Wednesday [I] began to have a hope of mercy; on the Thursday that hope increased; on the Friday and Saturday it became more strong, and on the Sunday morning, Easter-day, April 4, I awoke early with those words upon my heart and lips, “Jesus Christ is risen to-day! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!”’
Now perhaps you have put your faith in Christ, but you don’t have the assurance of forgiveness that Simeon had. Perhaps you do believe that the cross is the only way to peace with God and you have put your faith in Christ crucified, but this evening you don’t feel forgiven. Please don’t try to work up that assurance within yourself by your own willpower; rather return to blood of Christ. As Hebrews says, “The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!”
Jesus died so that your conscience, like Simeon’s, could be cleansed, and so that you, like Simeon, could serve the living God. If that response is lacking, return to the source. Return to the cross.
Now perhaps someone listening has never really considered the guilt due their sin. Perhaps you have never considered that your sin deserves death. Perhaps you’ve never given much more than a passing thought to this religion of Christianity other than to acknowledge that it is a good thing to try to be good. You need to consider the cross.
The cross is a revelation of both wrath of God and the grace of God. The cross reveals God’s wrath against sin. If God didn’t spare his Son this wrath, do not dare to presume that he will spare you wrath for your sin. The cross is a makes it a warning to sinners.
The cross also reveals God’s grace towards sinners; ‘“he himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”’ This makes the cross an invitation to sinners. This category of sinners covers everyone; the cross is a warning to you and an invitation to you. The cross shows you what sin will get you; “the wages of sin is death.” The cross is an invitation to you if you want nothing to do with sin, including the sins of your past. The cross is an invitation to you if you want forgiveness for sins. The cross is an invitation for you if you want holiness.
Now if you only want a clean conscience but don’t want holiness, the cross will not help you. If you want Jesus to die for you, but you don’t want to live for him, the cross will not help you. Jesus is clear, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.”
The cross puts an end to your sin, and it is a call to put an end to your sinning. It is a call to a new life. The experience of Paul is the experience of every disciple who takes up the cross. “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
The Son of God didn’t take on flesh, live righteously, and die as a sacrifice for sin because you are at the center of his universe. He did it so that God might be the center of your universe. Amen.