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The sermon teaches that salvation depends on a divinely appointed exchange: Christ takes the sinner’s guilt and condemnation, while the believer receives Christ’s righteousness. This preserves both God’s justice and His gracious purpose to save. Christ is presented as the sinless God-Man whose death accomplishes reconciliation for His people. Sinners are urgently summoned to repent and be reconciled to God, while believers are encouraged to enjoy peace and assurance because their acceptance rests in Christ rather than themselves.
Theological center: God justifies guilty sinners because Christ, fully God and fully man, bears their sin and gives them His righteousness through faith.
Applications: Be reconciled to God · Trust Christ’s blood and righteousness · Consider divine justice and grace · Find peace in Christ’s righteousness
Primary texts: 2 Corinthians 5:21 · Romans 8:33 · Nahum 1:3
“For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” 2 Corinthians 5:21 A BOOK is the expression of the thoughts of the writer. The book of nature is an expression of the thoughts of God. We have God’s terrible thoughts in the thunder and lightning. God’s loving thoughts in the sunshine and the balmy breeze. God’s bounteous, prudent, careful thoughts in the waving harvest and in the ripening meadow. We have God’s brilliant thoughts in the wondrous scenes which are beheld from mountaintop and valley. And we have God’s most sweet and pleasant thoughts of beauty in the little flowers that bloom at our feet. But you will remark that God has in nature given most prominence to those thoughts that needed to have the pre-eminence. He has not given us broad acres overspread with flowers, for they were not needed in such abundance. But He has spread the fields with corn, that thus the absolute necessities of life might be supplied. We needed most of the thoughts of His providence. And He has quickened our industry, so that God’s providential care may be read as we ride along the roads on every side. Now God’s book of grace is just like His book of nature. It is His thoughts written out. This great book, the Bible, this most precious volume, is the heart of God made legible. It is the gold of God’s love beaten out into gold leaf, so that therewith our thoughts might be plated and we might also have golden, good, and holy thoughts concerning Him. And you will mark that, as in nature, so in grace—the most necessary is the most prominent. I see in God’s Word a rich abundance of flowers of glorious eloquence. Often I find a prophet marshalling his words like armies for might and like kings for majesty. But far more frequently I read simple declarations of the truth. I see here and there a brilliant thought of beauty, but I find whole fields of plain didactic doctrine, which is food for the soul. And I find whole chapters full of Christ which is divine manna whereon the soul does feed. I see starry words to make the Scriptures brilliant, sweet thoughts to make them fair, great thoughts to make them impressive, terrible thoughts to make them awful. But necessary thoughts, instructive thoughts, saving thoughts, are far more frequent, because far more necessary. Here and there a bed of flowers, but broad acres of living corn of the Gospel of the grace of God. You must excuse me, then, if I very frequently dwell on the whole topic of salvation. But last Sabbath, I brought you one shock of this wheat, in the fashio…