"No, Not One"

"And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God..." (Matthew 19:17 KJV)

"The LORD looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. All have turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one." (Psalm 14: 2, 3 NIV)

"...we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one." (Romans 3: 9-12)

"Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law? Why go ye about to kill me?" (John 7: 19)

"For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." (Romans 3: 23)

"Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." (Romans 5: 12)

"So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her." (John 8: 7 KJV)

"Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?" (Proverbs 20: 9 KJV)

"But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away." (Isaiah 64: 6 KJV)

"If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us." (I John 1: 8-10 KJV)

"For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not." (Ecclesiastes 7: 20 KJV)

"All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." (Isaiah 53: 6 KJV)

All these verses teach the universality of sin. Everyone dies and everyone dies BECAUSE he has been "judged" and "accounted," by the Judge and Court of Heaven, as "guilty" of "transgression," of "violating" the good and righteous law of God, as given to mankind's first parents, and for every subsequent sin, both of individuals and nations.

All these verses also show what are the penal consequences of man's crime against his Creator, of his "guilt" and "strict liability" for his rebellion. They spell out his responsibility and accountability.

"For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 6: 23)

Death, in all its various forms, aspects, and manifestations, is the direct result of man's fall or lapse into sin.

Man dies in body because of sin. Were there no sin, and no guilt, there would be no death. Man is also dead in his spirit, mind, and soul, in his relationship to God. The word "dead," in scripture, means to "sever" or to "cut off," to be "separated" from life. In a spiritual, yet real sense, man is "cut off" and "separated" FROM God, being "dead to God" and "dead to righteousness." (See Romans 6)

"But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear." (Isaiah 59: 2 NIV)

How can such justly condemned sinners possibly escape the righteous judgment of God?

How can God "clear us" of our "guilt" and still be just and still keep his law inviolable?

The words of Isaiah provide the good news answer to this all important question. "The Lord has laid on him (Jesus) the iniquity of us all."

Lord God allowed a "substitute"! He would allow someone to come and "take the place of" the justly condemned ones. Who would Lord God allow to be such a vicarious substitute and legal representative?

First, the substitute must be himself "without sin." The innocent would be allowed to "fill in for" the "guilty."

This was what Lord God taught the ancient prophets and the Hebrews in his instituting the animal sacrifices. Those "bloody rites" were designed to teach men about their "guilt" and of their need for "reconciliation" and "atonement" and "peace" with God.

In those rites, God was also teaching them of his plan to redeem, and to "justify" sinners, and to "forgive" the condemned, without compromising his justice and the strictness of his law.

In those animal sacrifices, Lord God taught the people, symbolically, about the mystical transference of the guilt of the sinner to Christ, the innocent, and of the subsequent freedom from the guilt and condemnation of the transgressors.

The "animal" selected to be the recipient of this transference of guilt, and who would thus receive the just infliction of the penalties and legal consequences due to the sinner, must be a proper "substitute."

"And he shall offer his offering unto the LORD, one he lamb of the first year without blemish for a burnt offering, and one ewe lamb of the first year without blemish for a sin offering, and one ram without blemish for peace offerings." (Numbers 6: 14 KJV)

"John the Baptist, the forerunner and royal announcer of King Jesus, said unto the people, upon the arrival of Jesus - "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." (John 1: 29 KJV)

Jesus is the only one who could possibly fulfill the law and become the perfect substitute for sinners, the one upon whom Lord God would "lay" or mystically "place" the sins of sinners who believe in this divinely provided "sacrifice," this wonderful "substitute."

"Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, "Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?" But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. Then one of the elders said to me, "Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals." Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders." (Revelation 5: 1-6 NIV)

When the cry went out from Heaven's court for a suitable substitute to "step in for" sinners, Christ appeared! No one else was "worthy" to become this sacrificial substitute for sin.

"Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot." (I Peter 1: 18 KJV)

Jesus is the "perfect lamb," the perfect "sacrifice" that was acceptable to God and to his righteous law. He was "worthy" and "able" and "perfect" because he was both God and man, and because he lived a sinless life.

"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." (II Corinthians 5: 21 KJV)

This is the wonderful mystery of the Christian religion. We are "condemned," as a race, "for" or "because of" the "one sin" of "one man," of Adam, and LIKEWISE, for those who believe in Jesus, are "justified" all "for" or "because of" the "one righteousness act" of the "second Adam" (Romans 5)

Adam earned us wrath all by HIS sin, and as we do, additionally, by our own personal sins every day, but, thank God, the "second" or "last" Adam, or "Lord from heaven" (I Corinthians 15), has earned for us salvation, forgiveness, redemption, and eternal life. Wonderful news! To believe it truly is salvation!

"For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." (Hebrews 4: 15 KJV)

"Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. Such a high priest meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. For the law appoints as high priests men who are weak; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever." (Hebrews 7: 23-28 NIV)

Christ, unlike the typical priests of old, being superior to them, being the antitype of them all, offered himself as the divine "sacrificial substitute" for sinners. Being "without sin" he did not have to atone for his own sins, as has every other priest in the history of the world, for he was "sinless," and "holy, undefiled, and separate from sinners." (Hebrews 7: 26 KJV)

Rather, he offered his own life and blood as the payment of the law's penalty, thus clearing the way for Lord God to "justify" and "forgive" the sins of all who believe in Jesus. It is truly "good news"! Oh that we would all believe and rejoice in it today and become assured of having received this precious gift from Christ!