Remedy for Sin
Text: (No specific text; topical — John 10:10; Acts 2:38 as governing texts)
Series: Restoration Sermons
Date:
Speaker: Ed Rangel
Location: Waupaca Church of Christ
Bible Version: NASB 1995
Sermon Type: Topical
Learning Objectives
By the close of this lesson the hearer should be able to:
- State the three components of any plan and explain why God's plan of salvation meets all three.
- Explain why the sphere of redemption must be as extensive as the sphere of sin — and what this means for the scope of the gospel's offer.
- Explain why the plan of salvation could only be conceived by God and why the only way to know it is through God's revelation.
- Identify the three things assigned to the Redeemer and the three promises made to him — and state what Scripture grounds each.
- Explain the alternative presented in Section IV: what the sinner's two options are before the law of God.
Thesis
The Bible that records the history of human sin also reveals the remedy for it. The remedy is not spontaneous or accidental — it is a plan, conceived before the creation of the world, assigned to the Redeemer in a covenant between Father and Son, and made available to the sinner through the conditions that the gospel specifies. The sphere of the remedy is as extensive as the sphere of the sin it addresses. The sinner's options before the law of God are exactly two: suffer the penalty, or comply with the conditions.
Burden
The Bible is a history of human sin and the remedy for it — these two things together, inseparably. Every diagnosis in the Bible is followed by a prescription. The sin of Genesis 3 is followed immediately by the first announcement of the remedy (Gen. 3:15). The history of Israel's failure is followed by the prophets' announcement of the coming Redeemer. The execution of the Redeemer is followed by the resurrection. The burden is to describe the remedy with the same seriousness and specificity with which the Bible describes the disease.
Introduction
"The Bible is a history of human sin; also reveals the remedy for sin." The two claims belong together. The Bible that tells only the story of sin is a book of despair; the Bible that offers a remedy without describing the sin is a book of cheap comfort. The Bible that does both — that names the sin with full honesty and announces the remedy with full precision — is the gospel.
What kind of thing is the remedy? It is a plan: a specific, structured, deliberately designed program of redemption that has a defined object, appropriate means, and the controlled application of those means to accomplish the object. It is not improvised; it is not reactive; it is not approximate. It is a plan.
I. The Plan of Salvation
God has a plan to redeem man. The plan includes three things that every effective plan includes.
The selection of a definite end or object to be accomplished. The object of the plan of salvation is the redemption of man — the reversal of the condition that sin produced, the restoration of the relationship that sin severed, the removal of the guilt that sin accumulated. The object is not vague: specific persons in specific conditions of sin are to be brought into specific relationship with God through specific means.
The choice of appropriate means. The means are not arbitrary; they are appropriate to the object. The incarnation is the appropriate means for a Redeemer who must meet the law's demands as a human being; the atoning death is the appropriate means for the removal of guilt; the resurrection is the appropriate means for the vindication of the Redeemer's claims; the gospel proclamation is the appropriate means for making the remedy available to those who have not yet received it.
The application and control of these means to accomplish the end. A plan with an object and means but no application is a plan that never becomes a remedy. The application of the means — the actual proclamation of the gospel, the actual response of the sinner, the actual administration of baptism — is not a formality; it is the point at which the plan becomes operative for the specific person.
The sphere of redemption must be as extensive as the sphere of sin. Sin has reached every person ("for all have sinned," Rom. 3:23); therefore the offer of redemption must be extended to every person. The remedy that covers less than the disease is not adequate. The gospel is offered to all because sin has affected all.
II. Knowledge of This Plan Is Necessary
Men should know the plan. Two reasons: that man may apply it to himself, and that he may teach it to others. The person who does not know the plan cannot apply it; the person who cannot apply it cannot be saved; the person who is not saved cannot teach others how to be. The knowledge of the plan is not academic information — it is the prerequisite for everything else.
How the plan can be known. Only God could conceive the plan — the plan of redemption was not proposed by angels or devised by human wisdom; it requires the wisdom of the God who knows the full extent of the problem and has the authority to specify the solution. And only God can reveal it — the plan that only God could conceive is available only through the revelation that God has provided. "But just as it is written, 'Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him' — for to us God revealed them through the Spirit" (I Cor. 2:9-10). The plan is knowable because God revealed it; it is unknowable by any other means.
III. Covenant of Redemption
The plan of salvation was not designed in response to sin — it was established between Father and Son before sin entered the world. "He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you" (I Pet. 1:20).
Work assigned to the Redeemer. Three things were assigned to the one who would redeem humanity.
To become human. The Redeemer had to enter the condition of the persons he was redeeming — to take on flesh, to be subject to the law, to experience the full range of what human existence involves. "Since then the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death" (Heb. 2:14).
To meet all requirements of the law. The Redeemer had to fulfill what the law required — both actively (living in full obedience to every command) and passively (bearing the penalty that the law prescribed for those who violated it). "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us" (Gal. 3:13).
To become a sin offering for man. "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (II Cor. 5:21). The exchange is the center of the covenant's design: the guilt of sin transferred to the one who had none; the righteousness of the one who had no guilt made available to those who were guilty.
Promises made to the Redeemer. In exchange for the work assigned, the Father made specific promises.
The Holy Spirit given him without measure (John 3:34). The Spirit was not given to the incarnate Son in a limited measure — every gift of the Spirit was fully present in the one who fulfilled the covenant's terms.
God would ever be with him. "The one who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him" (John 8:29). The presence of the Father with the Son throughout his ministry was the fulfillment of this promise.
Give him all the redeemed (John 17:6, 9). "I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world." The persons who would respond to the gospel were given to the Son as the fruit of his completed work.
Make him head of the church (Eph. 1:22). "And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body." The headship of the church is the completed form of the authority that the covenant promised.
IV. The Plan of Salvation as Covenant with Man
The covenant between Father and Son becomes operative for individual persons through the covenant made with man through the gospel.
Jesus came that man might have life (John 10:10). "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly." The abundance of life that Christ came to provide is the positive statement of what the covenant accomplished; the implication is what verse 10 also states: "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy." What the Adversary does, Christ reverses. What sin took, the covenant returns.
This implies that sin is death. The life Christ came to provide is not additional enrichment on top of a life that is already healthy; it is the reversal of a condition that is correctly described as death. The person apart from Christ is not alive in a diminished way; they are dead in trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1).
Man must adjust himself to the law of God. The covenant is not unconditional on the human side. It was unconditional on the divine side — the plan was conceived and executed without human initiative; the Son became human, died, and rose without any human contribution to those events. But the application of the plan to the individual requires the individual's response. The conditions of forgiveness are specified by the gospel; they are met by the person who obeys them.
The sinner's options are exactly two: suffer the penalty or comply with the conditions. There is no middle category — no third option in which the penalty is neither suffered nor the conditions met. The penalty is what sin has earned; the conditions are what the covenant makes available. The choice between them is the choice the gospel presses.
Application
The plan exists; it is knowable; it is available. The person who is still living in the condition that sin produced — with the guilt unaddressed, the relationship with God unsettled, the death that sin is — has not yet applied the plan to themselves. The knowledge of the plan is the prerequisite for the application; the application is the only thing that makes the knowledge useful.
The question is not whether the remedy is adequate — its adequacy is guaranteed by the fact that the sphere of redemption was designed to be as extensive as the sphere of sin. The question is whether the specific person in the specific room has applied the remedy to their specific condition.
Conclusion
"The Bible is a history of human sin; also reveals the remedy for sin." The history is the diagnosis; the remedy is the prescription. The prescription is precise: the Redeemer who met all the law's requirements on behalf of the sinner, whose completed work is available through the conditions the gospel specifies. The sinner who suffers the penalty has not failed to be offered the remedy; they have declined to comply with the conditions. The sinner who complies receives what the covenant between Father and Son designed before the world began.
Invitation
"I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly" (John 10:10). The life that Christ came to provide is available through the conditions the gospel specifies.
Believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God. Repent. Confess his name. Be baptized for the remission of your sins (Acts 2:38). Comply with the conditions. Receive the life.
Word Study
| English Term | Greek Term | Basic Meaning | Usage in This Sermon | Sermon Significance | Key Texts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plan / Economy | oikonomia | Administration of a household or estate — the management plan through which a goal is accomplished. | Used conceptually for the plan of salvation: the specific, structured design for redemption. | The word (oikonomia) is translated "administration," "dispensation," or "stewardship" in the NT. In Eph. 1:10 it describes God's plan to "sum up all things in Christ." The plan is administrative — it has an object, means, and application. | Eph. 1:10; I Cor. 9:17 |
| Redemption | apolytrōsis | The buying back — apo (away) + lytrōsis (ransom). The release of a captive through the payment of a price. | Used for what the plan of salvation accomplishes: the buyback of those who were held by sin's guilt. | The word is economic and legal: redemption requires a price, a payer, and a person to be released. Christ paid the price; those who comply with the conditions are released. The sphere of the offer is as extensive as the sphere of the captivity. | Eph. 1:7; Rom. 3:24 |
| Penalty / Curse | katara | A curse, the weight of judgment that falls on the violator of the law. | Used in Gal. 3:13 for what Christ became on behalf of those who had violated the law: "having become a curse for us." | The penalty is what the law requires of the lawbreaker. The Redeemer bore the penalty for those who could not bear it without being destroyed by it. The compliance with conditions does not remove the penalty by satisfying it — it receives the removal that the Redeemer's bearing of the penalty already accomplished. | Gal. 3:13 |
| Conditions | (Conceptual) | The specific requirements that must be met for the covenant's benefits to be received by the individual. | Used in Section IV: "comply with the conditions" vs. "suffer the penalty." | The conditions are not earning the remedy — they are receiving it. The person who believes, repents, confesses, and is baptized has not earned forgiveness; they have complied with the conditions under which the already-accomplished forgiveness is applied. | Acts 2:38; Rom. 10:9-10 |
Scripture Interlock Table
| Theme | Boles' Outline | Supporting Scripture |
|---|---|---|
| "For all have sinned" — sphere of sin | I.3 | Rom. 3:23 |
| "He was foreknown before the foundation of the world" — plan pre-dates sin | III | I Pet. 1:20 |
| "He partook of flesh and blood" — the Redeemer became human | III.2a | Heb. 2:14 |
| "Christ redeemed us from the curse" — met requirements of law | III.2b | Gal. 3:13 |
| "He made Him sin on our behalf" — sin offering | III.2c | II Cor. 5:21 |
| "Gave Him as head over all things to the church" | III.3d | Eph. 1:22 |
| "I came that they may have life abundantly" | IV.1 | John 10:10 |
| Baptism for remission — compliance with conditions | Invit. | Acts 2:38 |
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Converted from H. Leo Boles, Outline 157. Primary text: none stated; topical (John 10:10; Acts 2:38 as governing texts). OCR corrections: "low" → "law"; "roust" → "must"; "Gohn" → "John"; "lll." → "III." Doctrinal audit: the covenant of redemption developed from I Pet. 1:20 (foreknown before the foundation) and specific NT texts — not from purely speculative eternal-decree theology; the conditions of the covenant with man developed from Acts 2:38 — compliance is required; the two options (penalty or conditions) stated without softening; no Calvinist unconditional election — the conditions imply a person who can either comply or not; invitation retains full obedient response (Acts 2:38).
