Bethel Baptist Church, Grapevine, Texas

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Text:  2 Corinthians 5:17-21

Introduction:
 

"The Three Nails"
Written and published by Jimmie Davis Music Co., Inc.
Words adapted for use by David Zimmerman

This is a story of long ago---of a man who owned a little store.
As he would tell it, "I was proud to have my name above the door."
This took place, oh, about two thousand years ago, as I recall,
I was located in Jerusalem, just across the street from Pilate's hall.

And I had everything anyone would ever need;
Why, folks would come from miles around, regardless of their creed.
But there was only thing I had I thought would never sell,
So I placed it in a corner on a shelf ----three old rusty spike nails.
 

Then one day a Roman soldier came through the door,
And as he walked up to me, it seemed he shook the floor.
I said, "Can I help you, Sir?" in a voice I 'm sure seemed frail.
He looked at me with a sneering grin and said,
      "I'd like to buy some nails - some big, big nails."
 
"Well, you see, Sir, three's all I have."
"Oh, That'll do.  For the job I have, three's enough - - -
      Now how much do I owe you?"
He placed the money in my hand, and I was glad to make the sale.
Then I began to wonder, and I asked,
     "Sir, what can you do with just three spike nails?"

"Did you ever hear of a man called Jesus the Nazarene?"
"You mean the one they call the Son of God?"
"Yes, that's the one.  Today I intend to show the world who's boss,
For with these three nails I'm going to nail that man Jesus to a cross."

You'll never know how numb I felt - as on my knees I fell.
"Please sir, don't do that!" - but he just turned and walked away
I said, "Please, let me buy them back!"
But he just looked at me and grinned.
 
And in the distance, I could see the howling mob
       Through the tears that filled my eyes.
"Away with him"  "Crucify him!"  I could hear their angry cries.
But over the top of all the noise and groans of agony,
I can still hear the sound of a hammer as that big Roman soldier
      Nailed my Jesus to a tree."
With three rusty nails, they nailed Jesus to a tree;
And His blood washed my sins, away.

(Old Rugged Cross played in the background.)

Another composer wrote,
    "I should have been crucified,
     I'm the one who should have suffered, bled, and died,
     I should have hung on the cross in disgrace,
     But Jesus, God's Son, took my place.
 
Paul recorded it this way,
 
"God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself … 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."
 
READ 2 CORINTHIANS 5:17-21

    The cross cannot be glamorized.  There is no way to make it a pretty sight.  A brutal, bloody execution took place there.  To the Roman soldiers that took part in it, it was a form of entertainment.  In my mind's eye, I can picture Jesus being shoved to the ground, to end up sprawled in the dirt and gravel atop Calvary to the jeers and laughter of the soldiers.  Then they would grab Him with their rough hands, drag Him to his place on the cross, stretch out His hands, and drive the nails through His flesh into the rough timber.  Finally, they would lift the cross and drop its base into the hole prepared for it, causing the body of Jesus to pull at the nails.  There, Jesus hung ex-posed to the elements, unable to shield His eyes from the sun or wipe away the sweat that trickled down His face.
 
Why?  Why the cross.
 
"God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself."
 
From this text tonight, I want us to see Who it was that hung on that cross, why He was there, what He accomplished for us, and what God expects us to do about it.
 

I.  Who Was On The Cross?  "God was in Christ"

    A. A man will never understand the cross until he
        under-stands

Who it was that died there.

    Jesus was no ordinary man.  In all of history, there has never been another like Him.  Had you known Him, it would have been obvious that He was a man.  He hungered, thirsted, and his body needed rest. Men can visit his place of birth; He openly confessed His mother and acknowledged His brothers and sisters.  He was truly and com-pletely a man.  Yet, it was equally obvious that He was more than just a man.  Nicodemus recognized this saying, "no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him".
    Philosophers tell us that Jesus was the best man who ever lived.   But understand, HE WAS NOT JUST A MAN, EVEN THE BEST OF MEN. "God was in Christ."  Jesus was God manifest in the flesh.
 
    B. Jesus was not simply a man of God, but God who
        became man.
 
    That statement must be taken at face value with all that it
im-plies.  It means that Jesus was the eternal, omnipotent, holy God,  Creator of heaven and earth and all things.  Then what was He doing on the cross?  Why was He there?
 
II.  Why was Jesus on the Cross?  "reconciling the world unto Himself,
not imputing their trespasses unto them."

    A. Christ was on the cross because man was under the
        condemnation of sin.
 

    In verse 17, Paul declared that when a man is in Christ, He is a
new creature - a saint, a heaven born son of God.  Apart from Christ, man is a sinner.
 
    · He is conceived in sin - which simply means he inherits a
sinful nature from his parents that poisons every part of his being.
 
READ ROMANS 3:10-19, 23
 
    · He is condemned in sin.

READ ROMANS 5:18a.
 
    In Romans 3:23, Paul writes that ALL have sinned.  In 5:18, he writes that ALL are under condemnation.  In an unredeemed  state, all men are guilty before God.
    This is another aspect of the cross that cannot be glamorized.
God is holy.  The very best we could offer Him is as filthy rags in His  sight.
 
Illustration.    Mike Adkins tells the story of Norman Corbin. Then Mike and  Norman first met, Norman lived alone in a house he never cleaned.  There  were half-eaten cans of food that had been tossed aside and allowed to  rot - literally years of accumulated filth.  And Norman was in the same condition.  He hadn't bathed in years.
    Mike won Norman to the Lord and helped him clean up and gain  acceptance in the community.  However, some time later, Mike began to get  reports.  Norman had begun to stink again.  At first, people had tried to bravely ignore it, but it had become so bad that they were threatening to bar him from their places of business.
    So, Mike went to visit Norman.  Sure enough, he could smell him long before he could see him.  Then Mike discovered the problem.  Norman had cut his leg.  Untreated, it had become infected and eventually developed gangrene.  The stench was unbearable.
 
    You can imagine what the filthy bandages were like that came off Norman's leg.  That's how God describes our RIGHTEOUSNESS - the very best we can do.  Think what our sin must be like.

    People want to attend a church where sin is not named and the conscience is soothed, but you cannot do that and preach the cross of Christ.  At some point, you have to answer the question of why Christ was on the cross.  And there is just one answer.
 
    B. Jesus died on the cross so you and I wouldn't
        have to.
 
    See the statement in verse 19, not imputing their trespasses unto them?  The simple fact is that ALL have sinned, ALL are under condemnation, and ALL deserve to die.  We deserve the cross - and much worse!  God could reenact Calvary a thousand billion times over, a cross for every man and woman since Adam and Eve, and be just in doing so.
    But instead of charging us with our own sin, God laid them all upon His Son.  Christ in love took your sin and mine and made them his very own.  It should have been my hands nailed to the cross.  It should have been my blood shed at Calvary.  But Jesus took my place.  He died so that I wouldn't have to.
 

III.  What Did He Accomplish?
A. We've been reconciled to God
 

    In verses 17, Paul writes that all things have become new.  That
is the meaning of reconciliation.  It is not speaking of our habits. If  it were, then I don't know of anyone who is saved because I don't know anyone of whom it can be said that ALL THINGS are become new.  It is speaking of our relationship to God.

    · We were sinners, now we are sons.
    · We were condemned, now we are justified.
    · We were enemies, now we have fellowship with God.
 
Reconciliation goes beyond forgiveness.  You can forgive someone without being reconciled to that person.  You may put away the offense, but not restore the relationship.  God has done both.  He has not only put away our past debt of sin, but He has also

    · Brought us into His family,
    · Prepared a place for us in His heaven, and
    · Promised that we will be with Him for all eternity.
 

B. We've been made the righteousness of God
 

    God took my sins, and charged them to Christ's account.  In re-turn, He takes Christ's righteousness and places it to my account.   That is the basis of our new relationship to God.   God can fellowship with us because, in Christ, we are as righteous as He is.  All our sins, past, present and future have been paid for by Jesus' death.  They are no longer on God's record books.  Instead, when God looks at my account, He finds me to be - in actuality and fact - as righteous as His son.
    God made Him to be sin for us so that we could be made the very righteousness of God.  Again, not in our BEHAVIOR, but in our BEING - that part of us that goes to heaven, the "real you."  You are a new creature - a saint - in an old body of flesh.
    But don't worry … God has a plan for that, too.
 
READ 1 JOHN 3:2

    One day, my righteous BEING will receive a righteous BODY like the one that Jesus wears today.  We will be like Him … because of Calvary.
 
    Now we come to the last question.  What does God expect us to do with these facts?
 

IV. What Does God Expect Us To Do?

    A. Be reconciled to God (20b)
 

How can you be reconciled to God?

   · Agreeing with the Scripture that you are a sinner
    · Believing that Christ died in your place, to pay your sin debt
    · Choosing today to accept Christ as your Savior.
 

    B. Be an ambassador for Christ
 

Make it your business to speak to other men on behalf of the Savior,  encouraging them to be reconciled to God.
 

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