Mar 14, 2024
This sermon was originally presented on June 7, 2015
Scripture Reading: Matthew 3:1-3, 13-17
One of the wonders of the work of Christ is His sufficiency to secure for us our eternal salvation. Jesus did everything necessary to "bring us to God" (1 Pet 3:18).
When God justifies someone, two wondrous things happen. Something is taken away and something is given. In justification the penalty for sin is taken away and the righteousness of Christ is granted to us. Both are necessary for our being God's children forever.
Theologians sometimes distinguish between two aspects of Christ's work on our behalf, calling them the "active" obedience of Christ and the "passive" obedience of Christ. Certainly Jesus was active in every aspect of His life, including His death, but by "active" is meant Jesus' perfect obedience to God's law. He did this on our behalf. By "passive" is meant the sufferings that Jesus bore on our behalf.
The death of Christ is sufficient to cover all our sins as the climax of a sinless life. Jesus not only absorbed the wrath of God in our place on the cross, He also perfectly kept God's law in our place. His righteous obedience is reckoned to us. In a word, Jesus paid the law's penalty in our place and He obeyed the law's commands in our place. The passive obedience of Christ rescues us from hell and the active obedience gains for us heaven.
Jesus exhorted John to baptize Him because it was necessary for Him "to fulfill all righteousness" (Matt 3:15). What a wonder to stand at God's great judgment, as we all must, and not be condemned because Christ's own obedience has been credited to our account!