Neto GregórioNeto Gregório

The atonement of Christ

Sermon Outlines
An empty wooden cross on a hill at dusk
And the Lord God made clothing from animal skins for Adam and his wife. Genesis 3:21

Introduction:

  • A tailor named Jehovah. The first clothes in history were sewn by God (Gen 3:21).
  • Man fell and has no way to cover himself.
  • There is no plan B. The cross was not improvised: "God chose him as your ransom long before the world began" (1 Pet 1:20).

1. Atonement in the Old Testament. To atone was to cover (Lev 17:11).

  • Adam and Eve "sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves" (Gen 3:7). Leaves are self-justification; God traded them for skins. To cover, something had to die.
  • "It is the blood, given in exchange for a life, that makes purification possible" (Lev 17:11).
  • On the Day of Atonement, the high priest entered the Most Holy Place "only once a year", and "he always offered blood for his own sins and for the sins the people had committed" (Heb 9:7).
  • Covering is not removing. God "held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past" (Rom 3:25), waiting for the cross.

2. Atonement in the New Testament is unlimited. The sacrifice reaches the whole world (1 John 2:2).

  • Jesus is "the sacrifice that atones for our sins (...) and not only our sins but the sins of all the world" (1 John 2:2).
  • Sufficient and available to all, effective for those who believe: "everyone who believes in him will not perish" (John 3:16).
  • The blood of animals covered. Jesus is "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29).
  • Unique and final: "once for all time" (Heb 10:10).

3. Propitiation. At the cross, God's wrath was satisfied (Rom 3:25).

  • Propitiation is making God favorable to us.
  • The heavens that "proclaim the glory of God" (Ps 19:1) also reveal wrath: "God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people" (Rom 1:18).
  • "God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin" (Rom 3:25). The price was paid to God, not to the devil.
  • The cover of the Ark was "the place of atonement" (Heb 9:5). Today, the place of atonement is the cross.

Conclusion:

For he has dressed me with the clothing of salvation and draped me in a robe of righteousness. Isaiah 61:10
  • Fig leaves cover no one. Stop sewing your own righteousness.
  • Let God put the clothes of forgiveness on you.
  • Are you still sewing leaves, or have you accepted the clothes God made?