We have seen then the gracious and glorious purposes of the Atoning
Death of Jesus Christ. What are the results of that death? They are
even more glorious. I can speak of them this morning only in part.
1. The first result of the atoning death of Jesus Christ is that _a
propitiation is provided for the whole world_. We read in 1 John 2:2,
+"He is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but
also for the whole world."+ This plainly means that _by the death
of Jesus Christ a basis is provided upon which God can deal in mercy
and does deal in mercy with the whole world_. All of God's dealings in
mercy with any man are on the ground of Christ's death. Only on the
ground of Christ's death could God deal in mercy with any man. God's
dealings in mercy with the rankest blasphemer or the most blatant
atheist is on the ground of the atoning death of Jesus Christ.
2. In the second place through _the atoning death of Jesus Christ all
men obtain resurrection from the dead_. We read in Rom. 5:18, +"So
then as through one trespass+ (i.e., the trespass of Adam) +the
judgment came unto all men to condemnation; even so through one act
of righteousness+ (i.e., through Christ's righteous act in dying
on the cross in obedience to the will of God) +the free gift came
unto all men to justification of life."+ And we are told in 1 Cor.
15:22, +"As in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made
alive."+ The Apostle Paul in the whole chapter is speaking about
_the resurrection of the body_, not about eternal life, and he here
distinctly teaches that as every child of Adam loses life (physical
life—see Gen. 3:19) in the first Adam, so also in Jesus Christ, the
second Adam, he obtains resurrection from the dead, through the atoning
death of Jesus Christ. Every man, the rankest infidel as well as the
most devout believer, will some day be raised from the dead because
Christ died in his place. Whether the resurrection which he obtains
through the death of Jesus Christ shall be a "resurrection of life"
or a "resurrection of condemnation," "shame and everlasting contempt"
(John 5:28, 29; Dan. 12:2) depends entirely upon what attitude the
individual takes toward the Christ in whom he gets the resurrection.
3. _By the atoning death of Jesus Christ all believers in Jesus Christ
have forgiveness of all their sins._ We read in Eph. 1:7, +"In
whom+ (i.e., in Jesus Christ) +we have our redemption through His
blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of
His grace."+ Because Jesus Christ died as a full satisfaction for
our sins, forgiveness of sin is not something which believers are to do
something to secure, it is something which the blood of Jesus Christ
has already secured and which our faith has already appropriated to
ourselves; "we _have_ forgiveness," we _are_ forgiven. Every believer
in Jesus Christ is forgiven every sin he ever committed or ever shall
commit, because Jesus Christ shed His blood in his place. Through
Christ's atoning death all believers in Him, although they once "were
_enemies_," are _now_ "_reconciled_ to God by the death of His Son."
As we read in Rom. 5:10, +"While we were enemies, we were reconciled
to God through the death of His Son."+ That is to say, the enmity
between God and the sinner is done away with, or, as Paul puts it in
Col. 1:20, Christ has "made peace through the blood of His cross,"
or, as he puts it in the next verse but one, Col. 1:22, Christ "_hath
reconciled_" believers "in the body of His flesh through death." The
story is told of a faithful vicar in England who was told that one of
his parishioners was dying. She was a good woman, but he hurried to her
side to talk with her. As he sat down by the side of the dying woman
he said to her very gently but solemnly, "They tell me you have not
long to live." "No," she replied, "I know I have not." "They tell me
you will probably not live through the night." "No," she replied, "I
do not expect to live through the night." Then he said very earnestly,
"Have you made your peace with God?" She replied, "No, I have not."
"And are you not afraid to meet God without having made your peace
with Him?" "No, not at all," she calmly replied. Again he said to her,
"Do you understand what I am saying? Do you realise that you are at
the point of death?" "Yes." "Do you realise you will probably not live
through the night?" "Yes." "And you have not made your peace with God?"
"No." "And you are not afraid to meet God?" "No, not at all." There
was something about the woman's manner that made him feel there was
something back of her words, and he said to her, "What do you mean?"
She replied, "I know I am dying. I know I am very near death. I know I
shall not live through the night. I know I must soon meet God, and I am
not at all disturbed, for I know that I did not need to make my peace
with God, because Jesus Christ made peace with God for me more than
eighteen hundred years ago by His death on the cross of Calvary, and I
am resting in the peace that Jesus Christ has already made." The woman
was right: no man needs to make his peace with God, Jesus Christ has
already made peace by His atoning death, and all we have to do is to
enter into the peace which Jesus Christ has made for us, and we enter
into that peace by simply believing in the One who made peace by His
death upon the cross. Jesus Christ's work was a complete and perfect
work. There is nothing to be added to it. We cannot add anything to it,
and we do not need to add anything to it. Jesus Christ has "made peace
through the blood of His cross."
4. The fourth result of the atoning death of Jesus Christ is that
_because of the atoning death of Jesus Christ all believers in Him
are justified_. We read in Rom. 5:9, +"Being now justified by His
blood."+ Justification is more than forgiveness. Forgiveness is
negative, the putting away of our sins, manifested in God's treating us
as if we never had sinned. Justification is positive, the reckoning of
us positively righteous, the imputing to us the perfect righteousness
of God in Jesus Christ, not merely the treating us as if we had never
sinned, but the reckoning us clothed upon with perfect righteousness.
By reason of Jesus Christ's atoning death there is an absolute
interchange of position between Jesus Christ and His people. In His
death upon the cross Jesus Christ took our place of condemnation before
God, and the moment we accept Him we step into His place of perfect
acceptance before God. As Paul puts it in 2 Cor. 5:21, +"Him who
knew no sin He made to be sin on our behalf; that we might become the
righteousness of God in Him."+ Jesus Christ stepped into our place
in the curse and rejection, and the moment we accept Him we step into
His place of perfect acceptance, or as it has been expressed by another:
"Near, so very near to God,
Nearer I cannot be;
For in the person of His Son,
I'm just as near as He.
Dear, so very dear to God,
Dearer I cannot be;
For in the person of His Son,
I'm just as dear as He."
5. Furthermore, _because of the full atonement that Jesus Christ has
made by the shedding of His blood, by His atoning death on the cross,
every believer in Him can enter boldly into the holy place, into the
very presence of God_. As it is put in Heb. 10:19, 20, +"Having
therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holy place+ (i.e.,
into the very presence of God) +by the blood of Jesus, by the way
which He dedicated for us, a new and living way, through the veil, that
is to say, His flesh; and having a great priest over the house of God;
let us draw near with a true heart in fullness of faith."+ Oh, how
some of us hesitate to come into the presence of God when we think of
the greatness and the number of our sins, and when we think how holy
God is, how the very seraphim (the "burning ones," burning in their
own intense holiness) veil their faces and feet in His presence and
unceasingly cry "Holy, holy, holy, is Jehovah of Hosts" (Isa. 6:2, 3).
"God is Holy," we think. "Yes." "And I am a sinner." "Yes." But by the
wondrous offering of Christ "once for all" I am "perfected forever,"
and on the ground of that blood so precious and so sufficient unto God,
I can march boldly into the very presence of God, look up with unveiled
face into His face and call Him "Father," and pour out before Him every
desire of my heart. Oh, wondrous blood!
6. But this is not all. _Because of the atoning death of Jesus Christ
those who believe in Him shall ever live with Him._ How plainly Paul
puts it in 1 Thess. 5:10, +"Who died for us, that, whether we wake
or sleep,+ (i.e., at His coming), +we should live together with
Him."+
7. Further yet, _because of the atoning death of Jesus Christ,
all those who believe on Him receive the promise of the eternal
inheritance_. This is what we are told in Heb. 9:15, +"And for this
cause He is the mediator of a new covenant, that a death having taken
place for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the
first covenant, they that have been called may receive the promise of
the eternal inheritance."+ I wish I had time to dwell upon that.
8. There are other results of the atoning death of Jesus Christ as
regards the Devil and his angels, into which we have no time to go.
Just one more thing as regards the results of the atoning death of
Jesus Christ as it relates to the material universe. God teaches us
that _through the death of Jesus Christ the material universe_—"all
things, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven"—_is
reconciled unto God_. These are His words, +"For it was the good
pleasure of the Father that in Him+ (i.e., in Jesus Christ)
+should all the fullness dwell and, having made peace through the
blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself; by
Him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in Heaven"+
(Col. 1:19, 20). These are wonderful words. They tell us that the
death of Jesus Christ has a relation to the material universe, to
things on earth and to things in heaven, as well as to us and our
sins. The material universe has fallen away from God in connection
with sin (Rom. 8:20, R. V.; Gen. 3:18). Not only earth but heaven has
been invaded and polluted by sin (Eph. 6:12, R. V.; Heb. 9:23, 24).
Through the death of Jesus Christ this pollution is put away. Just
as the blood of the Old Testament sacrifice was taken into the most
holy place, the type of heaven, so Christ has taken the blood of the
better sacrifice into heaven itself and cleansed it. +"All things
. . . whether they be things in earth or things in heaven"+ are now
reconciled to God. +"The creation itself also shall be delivered from
the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children
of God"+ (Rom. 8:21). +"We look for new heavens and a new earth,
wherein dwelleth righteousness"+ (2 Peter 3:13). The atonement of
Jesus Christ has an immense sweep—far beyond the reach of our human
philosophies. We have just begun to understand what the blood that
was spilled on Calvary means. Sin is a far more awful, ruinous, and
far-reaching evil than we have been wont to think, but the blood of
Christ has a power and efficiency, the fullness of which only eternity
will disclose.