Atonement

Read Romans 3:9-25a

We are in the middle of an exploration of some key concepts in Romans 3. We are spending three weeks on the passage, so we can look in detail at some special words used to describe the unique event of Jesus dying on a cross and rising again.

First we looked at Justification. A term to do with the court room. Romans 3 tells us we are all guilty sinners But the righteousness of God is revealed as a judge who justifies us, wiping away the past and declaring us as innocent. We are just as if we had never sinned.

Last week we considered that fact that by dying on the cross, Jesus redeemed us, that is he placed great value on us and he chose to exercise the right of family to redeem us back from slavery. We were in the market place thinking about redemption.

Today we move to the temple and the psychiatrist chair at the same time. We are considering Jesus death as atonement for sin.

In October we will consider how Jesus’ death brought reconciliation; we will be in the theatre of war and conflict-resolution.

Returning to Atonement, a book, then a film has been around, now in DVD called just that, ‘Atonement’. It is a sad tale of an extended family where a child witnesses what she thinks is rape but then accuses the wrong person . He is imprisoned and then sent to the front in the early days of WW2. As the war progresses, we find the girl spending her life seeking to atone for the false allegation she has made. In this clip she is writing to her sister, whose fiancé she falsely accused.

the problem is that when we sin, whether it is seen as against God or against another human, how do we atone for that sin. How do we make it right? At the end of the film Brony as an aging author rewrites the ending to make a happy ending, when in the story both sister and the falsely accused had died in the war. But you cannot rewrite history so easily. Sin has consequences and it is not possible to eradicate it effect outside of Christ. But in that I want to introduce real hope, because in Christ, there is atonement.

Justification is a legal status, making us as if we had not sinned. Atonement is resolving the consequences of sin.

In the Old Covenant, the Jewish covenant, animals were sacrificed for a variety of reasons but most significantly as atonement for sin. God taught the people of Israel that without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin.

Leviticus 17:11

This is quoted in Hebrews 9:22

In Leviticus 16 we read of the Day of Atonement, in which the High Priest offers sacrifices to make atonement for himself, then the people. The purpose in verse 30

because on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you. Then, before the LORD, you will be clean from all your sins.

Leviticus 16 verse 30 (NIV)

Here God is making a way for his people to atone for their sins.

So what is your mechanism of atonement? Do you say it with flowers? Or do you cook a special meal or go out for a meal? How do you say sorry when you want to make amends?

At a basic level we can. A broken object can be repaired, and even broken relationships can be patched up. However, often the damage has been done, the consequences are beyond our control. What then? Are we to bear the guilt for ever? There is a famous hymn that expresses this problem quite clearly. It’ s first line is Rock of ages. But here these lines because they are very perceptive.

Not the labour of my hands

Can fulfil Thy law's demands;

Could my zeal no respite know,

Could my tears forever flow,

All for sin could not atone:

Thou must save, and Thou alone.

You see we often fail to understand how serious sin is. It is not just a moment of irritation that God is offended by; it is a lifetime of turning our back on him. It is only when faced with the reality of the offence of our sin that we can understand our inability to atone for it. And Augustus Montague Toplady who wrote this hymn recognises that we have offended God big-time. But he also speaks of the solution. In the first verse he says of the death of Jesus

Be of sin the double cure,

Cleanse me from its guilt and power.

Which brings me to the psychiatrist’s chair because there we so often discover and explore in ourselves the guilt we carry for sins either real or imaginary or even imposed by others.

Our gospel is that Jesus not only removes the penalty for sin, he also takes away the guilt of sin. (Read 8:1-2) We will return to this in Romans 8 where we explore the benefits of atonement in Christ.

. So how does this Atonement work?

Jesus offered himself and bore your sins in his body on the cross. By acting in faith and accepting the salvation he offers you receive forgiveness of sins. The sin is forgotten and the guilt is atoned for. You no longer have to bear the condemnation. There is no crime you could have committed that is exempt from this salvation.

In our post Christian society, the generally accepted morality finds the idea that God as a Father could have his Son beaten up and executed as a means of atonement. In fact it has been described as cosmic child abuse. It is a serious issue which we must address. There a number of issues here.

First is that Jesus was a willing Son. He was not bullied and abused by his Father. He was free to choose to do the will of his Father. In the garden of Gethsemane we hear him cry: “Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will but yours be done.”

Secondly, modern British culture is right to object to the idea of atonement done this way. The Bible is explicit on the subject. It is forbidden to sacrifice children for any reason. It is, as I mentioned last week, not possible for someone to give his life as a ransom for another.

My answer is to do with the uniqueness of this event. There is no precedent although the animal sacrifices of the Old Covenants look forward to it. It is not an exemplar for us. This is a once and for all event. There is no way that our suffering or death can be seen in the same light. That is not to say that we may suffer and die as our sacrifice of service. But it is a thank-offering not atonement.

Thirdly, Jesus was sinless. He did not have to suffer for his own sins. He chose to suffer for ours.

Fourthly. He was the Son of God. He alone had the authority to lay down his life and the power to take it again.

On the morality issue, there is a serious problem to face. Essentially modern morality has no absolutes, no framework; it is based on emotion not reason. We, however, maintain that the only true moral absolute is Jesus. God, as creator, knows best for his creation. So if he says that the way of salvation is through the death of Jesus alone, then there can be no possibility of an alternative.

So you are left with an uncomfortable choice: either to accept modern morals and reject the creator’s solution to the problem of sin or reject the objection to substitutionary atonement as unacceptable. But then we come to the word atonement. Its origin is at – one – ment. The heart of atonement is to bring us into a full friendship with God through Jesus. The atonement is the means of appeasing the wrath of God revealed in Romans 1. There has been considerable debate whether the atonement is propitiation – that is appeasing an angry God or expiation – a form of compensation for sin. I find it hard to see the difference but it caused a fuss when the RSV was first published.

In simple terms our gospel, our Good News, is that God, in Jesus, offers a way into the righteousness of God through faith in him. It satisfies God and it deals not only with punishment of sin but the removal of guilt.

A sinner saved by grace admits he is a sinner but knows he is forgiven. He will make restitution where he can but is released by the death and resurrection of Jesus from the crippling guilt. That applies to all sin whether coveting, lying, stealing, abusing or murder, It takes seriously our offending God whether by abusing the Sabbath, abusing his name, idolatry or simply ignoring God.

Godless psychiatry and counselling run into trouble because without God in the equation there is no starting point for the release of guilt. There is no forgiveness of sin, no one has made right what has gone wrong.

When you come to Jesus in repentance and faith you receive forgiveness as a free gift; you are released from the guilt of sin; you become a member of the family of God; you are at one with the creator. Our salvation is made possible by the finished work of Jesus on the cross. It is offered freely by grace. It is received by faith.

You better believe it! It is our Hope.