God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.For him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.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.Him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf; that we might become the righteousness of God in him.
30 sermons cite this verse
… himself with him. He gets down, as it were, into his circumstances. And when Paul finally summarizes the wonder of this, he says in 2 Corinthians 5.21 that God made him who knew no sin to become sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. And by his touch of this man, he pictures the way in which Jesus takes upon himself all that we deserve as punishment for our sin, and in doing so, gives to us everything that we do not deserve that is bound up in his righteousness. And there is no gap here. You will notice the man was instantaneously cured. Verse 42, immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cured. Again, a wonderful picture of the instantaneous transformation of the gospel in a life. Now Jesus then gives a directive. The man's condition, Jesus' compassion, now Jesus' directive. The background to this I'll leave you to read for yourself. Go to chapter 14 of the third book of the Bible, the book of Leviticus, and you can fill in all the blanks. Essentially, what Jesus tells him to do in going to the priest and offering the sacrifice of Moses is to do the right thing. It's quite an irony that Jesus, having countermanded is where the ceremonial law now tells this man to make sure that you keep the law. …
… that we would do and be and pay for the punishment so that we wouldn't have to. The Bible says it like this in 2 Corinthians 5.21. It says God made him who knew no sin. He didn't do nothing. To be sin, to become homosexuality, to become lying, to become depression, to become cancer. Jesus wore all of it. And he said, I am. I am everything that you will be. I am. The hurt you experienced when your family left you. I am. the lust that would keep you ravaged for a decade. I am. And he said, if you believe that I am it, you don't have to be it. If you believe that I took it, you don't have to live with it. It said that by what Jesus did on the cross, we are healed. So I want you to think about what your soul's been thirsty for. I don't know what it is, but let me tell you, everybody in this room has been thirsty, searching, desperate for something that only God can fulfill. And he provided a way through Jesus. So when you see Jesus taking lashes and taking beatings in the passion, when you see the stripes and the blood pouring out of his veins, when you look how they mocked him, how they spit on him, how they abused him, how they beat him, that wasn't for sport. …
… and have looked to God for forgiveness. Remember, in 2 Corinthians 5, in an immense statement, Paul says, God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. And he who is the bearer of sin identifies with sinners in their need at every point, if you like, along the path. And so, as he comes to be baptized by John, his baptism is actually pointing forward to his death. Because you will recall from the Gospel of Luke that as he comes closer to the time of his death, Jesus says in Luke chapter 12, Now I have a baptism to undergo. And what he is referring to there is the fact that he is about to be plunged, if you like, into death, and in the shedding of his blood in death, there will be forgiveness for the sins of all who trust in him. And here he is, in his baptism, foreshadowing, if you like, what will happen in his death. Here we find him standing, if you like, as the priest who will bring forgiveness by the sacrifice of himself. …
… usually translated with an of God, the righteousness of God. It appears nine times in Paul's letters, eight times in Romans, and then once in 2 Corinthians 5.21. As I said months ago, we can think of three main options when we talk about the righteousness of God. And this is why we slow down, because it's very easy, especially in a book like Romans, there's lots of dense arguments, there's lots of Christian-y words that you just fly over, you've got righteousness and our redemption and grace and propitiation and justification, and it all just sort of lumps together and you don't understand the nuance of what Paul is saying. What does it mean when he says the righteousness of God has been manifested? You can think of three main options. One, we could think of this as an attribute. God's righteousness is His unswerving commitment to do what is right. We could think of it as an activity, God's righteous action in the world, or we could think of it as an acquisition, that is, God's gift of righteousness. And it's that last that is most clearly in view. Now, we don't have to totally reject the first two. We could say the gospel reveals that God has been true to Himself and how He carries out His plan of salvation, that righteous plan of salvation. But the main point in verse 17 and here in chapter 321 is to introduce the righteousness of God as that gift that is ours through faith. …
… practically you haven't been your whole life. You get it? Second Corinthians 521 is all of that in a nutshell. God made him, Jesus, who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. In other words, God treated Jesus like you deserve so he can treat you like Jesus deserves. It's the great exchange, the great exchange, vicarious atonement. He took your sin, you take his righteousness. It's imputed to you. You believe, you trust. It's not by works of righteousness, but faith in Jesus Christ and Christ alone. I remember when I first heard the gospel, I've told you this before, I'm listening to Billy Graham on television explain it to me, not all this, but he explained what he explained. And I remember thinking, God, you're getting a bad deal. Because you're saying, Skip, I want your life, which really is in a shambles. And you're going to give me the perfect life of Jesus Christ. You're getting a bad deal. I, on the other hand, I'm getting a great deal. I'll take it. And I did that afternoon. But that is the deal. …
… every bit of anger and wrath God had, he poured it out on his own son, the Lord Jesus Christ. God made him, Jesus, who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. When God's justice comes, you can confront that justice as a friend of God, somebody who has accepted and received God's forgiveness and be welcomed into heaven, or you can face God's justice as an unbeliever. Somebody who has said, I may not be perfect, but I'm good enough to get into heaven. And if that's true for you, if you leave this world without your sins having been forgiven, all that awaits you is the fury, the wrath, the anger of God. That's what Revelation 14 is about. There's coming the time when God is going to trample out the wrath. He's going to trample out the vintage where God's wrath is stored. There's a time coming when God will loosen the faithful lightning of his terrible swift sword. …
Romans 6, we know that our old self was crucified with him. 2 Corinthians 5, for our sake he made him who knew no sin to be sin so that in him we might become the very righteousness of God. This is true for every individual who puts their trust and faith in Christ. His suffering was ours. His satisfaction was our satisfaction. His obedience, his righteousness, it's ours. Through faith we are united to him and it is as if we had personally suffered. And made satisfaction for our sins. And so Scott Clark again says this. When we receive the supper in faith, we receive a visible, tangible experience of what's promised in the gospel preached. Each time we eat the supper in faith, it's a little catechism. Now you didn't know this. You're getting a bonus catechism tonight. Extra catechism. Here's the catechism Scott Clark says we receive. We remember when we come to the supper. Question, who receives Christ and his benefits? Answer, those who believe. …
… because everything he had against you, the wrath poised against you, was put on his son, Jesus Christ. God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him. God treated Jesus like you deserve to be treated, so he might treat us like Jesus deserves to be treated. That's peace with God. Once you experience, and I know I'm going slow, but it's worth it. Once you experience peace with God, you can also experience the peace of God. not every christian does but you can every christian can every christian does have peace with god not every christian has the peace of god now that's a tranquil feeling of peace that's like well-being and a settledness and a contentedness and that peace can be yours no matter what you're going through on the outside you might have the worst possible experiences going on in your life and you can still be at peace deep down. The waters are not troubled deep down. Like in the ocean, you get down deep enough, there might be a storm on the surface, you get down, it's quiet. You might have that underneath river of peace calming your soul, even though the diagnosis is grim. Somebody in your family just gave you bad news about a condition they have, something is going on with your physical health or whatever it might be, you can still have the peace of God. And I know that because Paul is writing to a group of people …
… as the catechism says by faith 2 Corinthians 5.21 says a familiar text to us for our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin in order that we might become the righteousness of God. You know, it made me think of the Olympics and how we find ourselves watching all kinds of sports that we really could care less about any other time of the year. Think about it, curling. I still haven't figured out the rules of what is curling, actually. I still haven't figured that out. synchronized swimming. I don't know how many of you are glued to synchronized swimming on a constant basis. You won't find me doing that or trying to do that at the pool. I can tell you that archery, a badminton and wait for it. In 2028, race walking is coming to the Olympics. I'm sure we'll all be glued to that. but what happens to us as americans we don't no matter the sport you you put an american in that sport you put an american flag up on the tv inject some some national pride and what happens we're all dialed in we're all glued to the tv now why are we glued to the tv apologies to ethan broom for this example but i think of the usa hockey team beating canada in the Winter Olympics just a few months ago and no Ethan if you're here we're not going to let that go. …
… is making clear to us in this text. You probably even hear an echo of 2 Corinthians 5, 21, where Paul puts it this way. He made him to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. In the cross, he makes everything right again, ties up all the loose ends, does so in one beautifully symbolic moment, and he makes all things right again for us. Like a master storyteller, he unveils this perfect solution to the problem of the curse. So how do we respond to these glorious truths? We know it's not by doing something. That would pretty much defeat the purpose of what we've just heard. No, it's not about doing. It's about believing. Paul gives us an invitation to believe. Did you catch right in the middle and the heart of the passage? Paul quotes from Habakkuk in verse 11. the righteous one shall live by faith if we want to accept god's perfect answer to the curse there's only one way to accept it it's by faith this is also how he ends verse 14 if you want the blessings of abraham to come to you a gentile if you want the promised spirit how does it come it comes by Thank you. …
… but it was by the blood of Jesus and the cross of Christ. Come on, anybody believe that God made him who knew no sin to become sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. Come on, I'm blessed today. I'm favored today. I'm chosen today. I'm anointed today. All because of what God did for me. I'm qualified not by power and not by might, but by his spirit, says the Lord. The enemy wants to tell you you're not eligible. God can't give you the best. Look at what you've done. You're not disqualified. The blood of Jesus, the cross of Christ, the resurrection power that's running through your veins makes you eligible for God's very best in your life. So you can have peace on your pillow. So you can have joy in your spirit. You can have wisdom in your mind. You can have the favor of God. You can have creativity. Why? Because God has blessed you because of Jesus. …
… It is summed up in one verse. In 2 Corinthians 5.21, Paul said, That's a Bible way of saying God treated Jesus Christ like you deserve to be treated. So that he could treat you like Jesus deserves to be treated. That's the great exchange. That's substitutionary atonement. So hell comes to earth upon his son, and all of the eternity of hell for everyone who believed was taken by Jesus, and he did it all in three hours until it was finished in his own words. Think of it this way. God saved you for himself, and God saved you by himself, and God saved you from himself. he put all of that wrath on his son to give you life. That's what happened in the skies. Then Luke, in the same verse, verse 45, looks to the temple to show us what happened at the temple. Verse 45, just the second half of the verse, and the veil of the temple was torn in two. Now, you probably know the veil of the temple was a separating cloth originally in the tabernacle that separated the holy place from the most holy place or the holy of holies. And the holy of holies, only the high priest could go into that room once a year. And what separated those two chambers was a veil. As time went on and there was a temple, the veil got much, much, much, much bigger. At the time of Christ, according to tradition, because of the height of the temple, …
… No, friends, there is another exchange available for you. The exchange of 2 Corinthians 5.21, that God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. That exchange is available now for all of you. Prayer then is that we might learn to hate the futility of the lie, the refusal to glorify God, to live in the fear of God. Do not live in the fear of your friends, in the fear of your boss, of your Fortune 500 company. Do not live in the fear of our culture's disapproval. No one was confused about these verses for 1,900 years. They are not hard to understand. They have become hard to accept. There's a reason the Bible says it is the fear of the Lord that's the beginning of wisdom. You will never be wise as the Bible understands wisdom unless you start with God. There's a good God, a holy God, a just God, a righteous God, and I stand in fear of him, and he has offered unto me in this great exchange that I need not believe the lie anymore. …
… There's no exam. You don't have to write them down. We'll look at them real quickly in just a moment. And then the other occasion in the New Testament is 2 Corinthians 5.21. So, what do you do when you come to a phrase like this? We may all think we know righteousness of God, but once you stop to noodle on it, you go, okay, well, what is this? Is this the righteousness of God, namely that God has? Is it the righteousness that describes what God does? Is it the righteousness of God, meaning that God is the source of it and He gives it to us? There are three main ways that this phrase has been understood. We can think of righteousness of God, here's the three main ways, as an attribute, an activity, or an acquisition. I had to stretch a little bit for the third. As something acquired. To put the question another way, here's what we're asking. Is the righteousness of God, in verse 17, mainly, and I underline mainly because I'm going to argue there's a way in which it can capture all three of these, but mainly a statement about who God is, what God does, or what God gives. Is verse 17 mainly a statement, the righteousness of God, about who He is, what He does, or what He gives? So, let's look at each of those. …
… He who knew no sin became sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God, 2 Corinthians 5.21. That's the doctrine of imputation, a reckoning, a counting. Well, that's what this text is about. Have you ever noticed before? Jesus and the leper trade places. Look at what transpires after the man is cleansed. Verse 43, Jesus sternly charged him, sent him away at once. See that you say nothing to anyone. Now, why? This is famous in Mark's gospel, in particular, this messianic secret, because it's not his time. Jesus doesn't want his friends misunderstanding. He doesn't want his enemies to kill him before it's time. So, he says, don't tell anybody about this. Show yourself to the priest, because that's part of the law. Jesus is for keeping the law. Offer for your cleansing when Moses commanded. That's what supposed to do. But notice what he does instead. He went out and he began to talk freely, freely about it, spread the news. So he doesn't keep quiet. The man goes and he tells everybody about it. Look at that word freely. What is the man? This man who up to this point in his life, As long as he's had leprosy, he can't do much of anything freely. …
… that God made him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. The greatest act of love in history. Church, on this topic of salvation, the Christian gospel sets itself apart from any other religion in the history of the world. Nothing else, and no one else, compares to this gospel. Please hear me. Every other religion, every other approach to God is transactional. It says something like, I'll do this and God will do that. I'll be morally good and God will reward me. Every other religion, whether it be Hinduism, Mormonism, Buddhism, the Islamic faith, even good old-fashioned pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps, Western self-sufficiency says, okay, God, I'll do this and you'll do that. Let's work out a deal. It's a barter. It's an exchange. The Christian gospel, by enormous contrast, says, I don't have anything to bring. I don't have anything to bring. I bring nothing to the table. as the old hymn says nothing in my hand I bring simply to thy cross I cling so none of this hogwash that all religions are alike they're not there's only two in the world one says do good and hope God saves you the other says Jesus is good for you and if you trust him he will save you Have you trusted him? …
… Lord who goes before you. Romans 8.38, if God is for me, who could be against me? Maybe you feel like you're too disqualified and too broken and too hurting. You've done too much. 2 Corinthians 5.21, he who knew no sin became sin so that you and I could become right with God. God wants to build a boat through your life, and he doesn't use the best boat builders. He uses those who pick up the hammer and say, I'm going to keep building and believing that God's going to do it. What could God do through your life. I think the number one reason that we don't build the boat that God's asked us to build is it's really easy to turn our head to the left and turn our head to the right and look at the boats God's building in other people's life. As followers of Jesus, success is not me compared to you. Success is me compared to what God has asked me to do. So what has God asked you to do? What's the boat that maybe you need to start building for the first time? …
… We talked about it at 2 Corinthians 5, 21. God made him who knew no sin, Jesus, to be sin for us. So that in him we might become the righteousness of God. There's a but wait moment in the gospel. Oh no, the wrecking ball is coming. all sin is going to be judged. But wait, there's good news. There's a gospel in the middle of the story. In the gospel in the middle of the story, we looked at it in Isaiah 53 last week. I love this. I know we can't, but I'd like to preach on the gospel every single Sunday for the rest of my life until Jesus comes. Because most revivals began in history when people in church got saved. That's how revivals began. When people who are sitting in the seats actually come alive to transforming new life in Christ. And the church explodes and the gospel moves out into the streets. Surely, this is a prophecy of Jesus from hundreds of years before in Isaiah. …
… You can't work your way into heaven, and you can't work your way into being good with God. God made him who knew no sin to become sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. I want to tell you the next time you're in your low place and the next time you've got a character issue because they're going to happen. Tonight, mine's coming at 11. And the next time, the next time you're feeling bad about your behavior and your actions and the next time you make a dumb decision, I want you to say this about your life. I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. You know, when you make a mistake, God doesn't look away. Oh, deplorable. oh no the bible says he has set his face aflint when you are faithless he remains faithful the love of man is conditional but the love of god is unconditional and so it is not by works lest any man should boast so i cannot work my way into being good with god but i'm telling you once you get saved once you find christ once you get saved, you want to do something for the glory of God. And when you follow Jesus, he starts to download. I got, whoo! When you were out messing up, and you were out this way he did with Saul, you were killing my people, I still had a plan for your life. When you were filled with anger, …
This is just a year-by-year system that is getting us to the moment where Messiah comes, and he is the one-time final sacrifice for all sin. And we see that fully in 2 Corinthians 5.21, where atonement has happened and forgiveness is possible. God, think about those two goats, made him who knew no sin, Jesus. him who knew no sin to be sin for us. The blood of Jesus shed on the mercy seat of God, a covering for all time for all sin, but also all the sins of the people transferred onto the innocent life of Jesus as he's now sent out into the wilderness. God did that. He made him who knew no sin to be sin for us so that in him, in Jesus, hello, we might become the righteousness of God. Salvation is not about going to heaven when you die. It is about going from guilty to righteous in Christ. from death to life in Christ made us alive with Christ means I was joined with him by baptism into his death and I was raised with him into brand new life it means my record was guilty but his record was innocent then his record became guilty and my record became innocent And more than that, I now in Christ am righteous in him. …
… so his righteousness has been imputed to me God made him who knew no sin to become sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him now let me show you this a lot of people think oh when it comes to the virgin birth there's no big deal there we can give up on the doctrine of the virgin birth no we cannot why? because had there not been a virgin birth Jesus would have been born in sin like the rest of us but in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15 God says to the serpent there will be enmity between you and the seed of the woman not the seed of the man how ironic is that how do you talk about people's lineage the seed of the man but God says I will put enmity between you and the seed of the woman and he, you will bruise his heel, but he will crush your head. So the gospel is preached even way back in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15. …
… to pay for your crimes. He says he took him who knew no sin to become sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God through him. That fascinates me. And he says any of us can be forgiven and know him. And that you have to come to a point in your life when you hear that story and go, are you kidding me? He died for me? That's not it. he rose from the dead three days later to show that, look, I meant what I said. I am who I say I am. And he says, look, you can be forgiven of everything if you believe that actually happened. And not only that, but he'll put his spirit in you so that you can even understand these spiritual things and get him and know him and take on the mind of Christ. That's it. That's a simple story. I think we're going to do some Q&A now. Thank you so much. Let's give a hand for Frances. …
… And it was this verse specifically, more than any other. It was 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21. And that's what we celebrate tonight. for our sake he made him jesus to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of god okay he says for our sake this is what god did he made jesus who knew no sin was there any sin in Jesus. Do you dare say there was any sin? No. He knew no sin, and he made him become sin on that cross. So on that cross, he took on all of our sin on that cross. He became sin. The innocent one. See, someone has to pay. God is a fair God, and if someone commits a crime, there needs to be payment. That's why I know it's very popular in San Francisco to go, oh, whatever you believe is fine. And I just go, man, but how does that forgive you? How does that cleanse you? How does that release you from all the things you've done in life? You can't make up for it. …
… he cleanses us completely, makes us whiter than snow. See, 2 Corinthians 5.21 says that he made him who knew no sin become sin on our behalf, that in him we might become the righteousness of God. That the power of the cross didn't just turn Francis into a cleaner version of Francis. He turned him into the righteousness of God. See, somehow David understood the cleansing of God, the power of God, that he wasn't even the tiniest bit dirty. If we were the tiniest bit dirty after the cross, then we couldn't come before the throne of God. Remember what he says in Habakkuk, that God's eyes are too pure to look upon evil, but because God cleansed us and cleansed us completely and by the cross, we become the righteousness of God that we can come before him totally pure, speaking to him. But have you claimed the word of God? Have you taken the time to just trust in his promises and say, God, there's no stain left in me. …
… You're not liable for the bad record, but you still don't have a good record. But 2 Corinthians 5.21 says, God made him sin who knew no sin that we might become the righteousness of God in him. Jesus Christ did not just die the death you should have died, but he lived the life you should have lived. Your bad record is not just imputed to him so that he is treated as you deserve. The Bible says his great perfect record is imputed to you when you believe so that now God treats you as he deserved. And Lloyd-Jones says in that fascinating sermon, he says, the average Christian, most Christians do not understand the doubleness of it. They don't understand that there's been double payment. They don't understand it's not just the salvation of Jesus Christ gets you off, so now you better live a good life in order for God to to bless you, but God sees you as a jewel now. God sees you as his reward, his recompense. …
… who he is. And only if you see him dying for us in our place, only if you believe in something like what 2 Corinthians 5.21 says, which is God made him sin, who knew no sin, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. Our sins are put on him, his account, his righteousness has transferred us so we look beautiful in the sight of God. Our wedding dress, you know, I love to say it, and a lot of you like it when I do say it. No matter what a woman looks like in reality, in a wedding dress, she's gorgeous. And no matter what you're like in reality, no matter what you've done, I don't care whether you've been a hit man for the mob. If Jesus Christ dies for you, if Jesus Christ has given his life for you, that means that you're clothed in his righteousness in the sight of God, and he finds you as ravishing as the groom does when the bride turns the corner and comes on after him. How could that be? Only if there's a Jesus, only if he died, only if he made Kippur, only if he made atonement. Now, do you believe that? …
… forgiving people to the end. He became legally sin. And that's why when you read 2 Corinthians 5, you realize the power of it. It says, God made him sin who knew no sin, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. To the degree that Jesus Christ became your sin, to that degree, we become his righteousness. Oh, I don't understand all of it, but what it must mean is as Christ became completely liable for everything you've ever done, it must mean that the moment you believe in Christ as Savior, you become completely liable for everything he's done. He deserves all the punishment that you deserve, and you get all the reward and all the blessing and all the accolades and all the applause and all the glory and all the honor and all the respect that he deserves. That's what the gospel claims. Don't you see the only rational reason for rejecting the gospel of Christ is it's too good to be true? Look at what it promises. …
When it says God made him sin who knew no sin, that we might become the righteousness of God in him, it doesn't mean God made Jesus an actual sinner, a horrible, wicked, selfish, rebellious person. It made him illegally a sinner. So he had the place of a sinner. He took the place of a sinner. And he was legally subject. And that must also mean that when you receive Christ, just as his sins are thrown legally, our sins are thrown legally on him, so his righteousness is thrown to us. And we don't become actually righteous the minute we are saved. We become legally righteous. You've still got your faults, and you know it. You've still got your brokenness. But what happens is, Paul has the audacity to put all this in the past tense. We have been raised. We have been seated. It means that when you believe, the moment you believe, the love and acceptance that God gives you is so great, it's possible to talk about you virtually already being seated and his presence. He already sees you as seated. He already sees you as perfect. …
… Think of this. God made him sin who knew no sin that we might become the righteousness of God in him. If you get rid of the idea of federal headship, that makes absolutely no sense at all. Think of this. First of all, it says that on the cross, God made Jesus Christ sin. What does that mean? Does that mean that when Jesus was on the cross, he made him actually a sinner? Does it mean that his heart became full of corruption and selfishness and pride? Is that what it means? No, it couldn't. In fact, you know, I've been... Look at...for a minute, look at him on the cross. We'll come back to this, but we're going to make use of it. Look at him on the cross with me. Do you see hardness there? Do you see selfishness? You see someone still forgiving his enemies. But not only that, you see an act of love and devotion and obedience that never before occurred and never can occur again. It's stupendous. It's something that no one ever has or ever will be able to do again. …
… nice compact span. And it's always basically the same, but it's always got a different slant. So, for example, you've got 2 Corinthians 5, verse 19 to 21. Listen, here's the gospel in a nutshell. God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting our sins against us, and we are ambassadors of this message. There it is. Or two verses later, he says, We implore you, be reconciled to God, for God made him sin for us who knew no sin, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. And here's another verse, 1 Thessalonians 1, 9 and 10. He's talking about how our gospel came to you. And then he says, you turn from idols to serve the living God and to wait for his son, who he raised from the dead, Jesus who rescues us from the coming wrath. Do you know what the word of truth is? you see it's running through all of those? First of all, you might believe that sin is just a matter of a moral code, failure of the moral code. It says there that sin is worshiping idols, that everybody worships something besides God. Everybody plays God. Everybody avoids God. …