Realizing the Atonement’s Realness, Part 1
The goal this morning, as well as next week, is to focus upon the atonement of Jesus Christ—what he specifically accomplished, what it does, and what it is. We will do so under the heading of the importance of realizing the atonement's realness.
In other words, the goal is to learn more about the atonement of Jesus Christ and how the experience of that atonement—the experience of the work of Jesus Christ on your behalf—grants realization for salvation for an unbeliever, as well as strengthening for a believer. The assumption here is that the atonement, the gospel of Jesus Christ, is for the entirety of the Christian life, not just the initiation. We can continue to derive benefits from that atonement on an ongoing basis.
Did Jesus Christ die to give an opportunity of salvation, or did he die to save? That question carries millennia of controversy and debate, and the answer is of significant importance. The greatness of the atonement is only because of the greatness of Jesus Christ.
As we wrestle with concepts related to the atonement—why some people are saved and others die in their unbelief—it has implications for our understanding of Jesus Christ. Is he a capable and able Savior, or is he not? Jesus Christ cannot accomplish anything less than a 100% salvation success rate, or else there is something wrong with Christ—not with the unbeliever, whose deadness in sin precludes him from believing.
To have too low a view of the atonement is to have too low a view of Jesus. It is important that we focus on realizing the atonement's realness. There are three ways we will characterize our understanding from the Scriptures, for that is how it is determined whether the atonement is real or potential.
The Atonement Is Really Personal
The atonement is really personal. To clarify, we do not mean that Jesus personally atoned for my sins in the sense that I appropriate it. Rather, the atonement is really personal for you. Jesus Christ substituted for you personally to receive the wrath of God, the just condemnation due to you personally.
But it doesn't stop there. It continues in the personal intercession of Jesus Christ for you. He makes a sacrifice of himself for you personally and then, on the basis and authority of that sacrifice, personally intercedes for you. He stands in the gap between you and God, changing the nature of your relationship.
Intercession means to come between two parties. Both the reality of the atonement and the reality of you must exist for this to take place. This mirrors the Old Testament, where the high priest transferred the worshiper's sins to the animal, slew it, and took the blood into the Holy of Holies to intercede.
Our High Priest does the same, only better, entering the Holy of Holies not made with human hands.
Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. (Hebrews 7:25)
Intercession is inseparable from the sacrifice and the worshiper for whom it is intended. Jesus substituted for you personally and intercedes for you personally. The atonement is really personal.
It lays the foundational principle for understanding the entirety of our Christian lives, because Christ accomplished the atonement for believers. It is the overwhelming accomplishment of Jesus Christ that creates Christians. Christians, as recipients of Christ's work, live in awe of that accomplishment.
The Atonement Is Really Powerful
Not only is the atonement really personal—it is for you—but it is really powerful. I encourage you to memorize Romans 1:16:
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. (Romans 1:16)
Paul was not ashamed of the gospel because it is powerful—not merely the potential of God for salvation, but the power of God to actually save.
What does the atonement accomplish? What did Christ intend on the cross? Knowing your name before you were born, what did he believe it would do? The immediate answer is the glory of God. He intended to glorify his Father through genuinely saving the people he intended to save.
The powerfulness of the atonement existed prior to our decision, prior to our existence.
For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. (Romans 5:10-11)
Reconciliation occurred while we were enemies—hostile to God, viewing spiritual things as moronic. We were reconciled by the death of his Son. It is past tense: we were reconciled. Now that we are reconciled, we shall be saved by his life—a future certainty.
More than that, we rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. Paul pits these together beautifully: while enemies, reconciled by his death; now reconciled, we shall be saved; more than that, we rejoice.
Rejoicing comes from understanding the power of the atonement to save despite indwelling sin. It is not a license to sin but a tool to kill sin. Looking at the atonement's power shows sin's heinousness—if it took so much to redeem us, sin is significant. We rejoice to be saved from it, not in it.
This connects to Romans 5:1-5:
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)
The atonement enables rejoicing in hope and sufferings. It is the only way to endure bad news, loss, persecution—rejoicing through every circumstance because of the powerful, personal atonement.
The Atonement Is Really Perfect
The atonement is really perfect—it keeps you. Romans 8:31-35:
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? (Romans 8:31-35)
The duration of the atonement is permanent, unlike animal sacrifices that could be nullified. Christ's sacrifice is superior.
God is for us—who can be against us? He gave his Son; he will give us all things. Who can charge God's elect when God justifies? Who can condemn when Christ died, rose, and intercedes for us?
Imagine Christ, Creator and Sustainer, who laid down his life for you, now speaking your name before the Father, declaring you not guilty. That is a perfect atonement.
Paul launches into this from Romans 8:28-30:
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son... And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. (Romans 8:28-30)
Every link is past tense, as good as done in God's plan. Foreknew is active intimacy, leading to predestination to be like Christ, calling, justification, glorification.
Nothing can separate us from Christ's love. The endurance of the Christian is based on Christ's perfect atoning sacrifice. The lifestyle of the Christian constantly realizes the realness of the atonement—personal, powerful, perfect.
