The Atonement

Selected (esp. Jn 15:13; Lev 16; Eph 2:1-3; Heb 10; 1 Jn 4:10)

Let me give you a little picture of the atonement. I had mentioned the Narnia movies a couple of weeks ago. Well, if you have seen the first one, you may remember that Aslan, the great Lion dies in it. Do you remember why he dies? Not because of any sin of his own, remember he is the good and powerful King of Narnia. He is the son of the Emperor beyond the seas. No, he dies in the place of, instead of, Edmund. Edmund is a traitor. He has betrayed his brother and sisters. He has betrayed his role as a Son of Adam. He has betrayed Aslan. He in his greed and selfishness takes the Turkish Delight of the Witch. The punishment for this sin is death. But Aslan comes on the scene and offers his own life in the place of Edmunds. Aslan dies the death Edmund should have died. In his place. That’s atonement.

Jesus said that this act of one person dying for another is the greatest act of love possible. “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13). That is what Jesus did for us. To give up his own life for the sake of saving others.

What I want to preach on is that Faith in the atonement is the defining mark of a Christian. The atonement is the foundation of every blessing we talked about. (Reconciliation, Justification, Adoption, Sanctification, Churchification, and Glorification). They all exist because of the atonement. The atonement is the heart of the gospel, the good news. J I Packer describes the atonement as “The best part of the best news that the world has ever heard.” I think as a Christian it is fair to say that no single day should ever pass that you do not think about the atonement. I think it is also fair to say that no single week should go by when you are not deeply emotionally affected by the atonement.

I am not going to be looking at just one single passage today. Instead as we look at the atonement, I would like us to look at about a bunch of passages. Faith in the atonement is the defining mark of a Christian. Can I make a few very bold and potentially shocking statements?

First, without faith in the atonement, you cannot be a Christian. You might say, “Wait isn’t that a little judgmental?” But I don’t mean that as a critical, or insulting, or mean-spirited thing to say. I just mean it as a definition. A Christian by definition is someone who believes in the atonement of Christ (whether or not you use that word). If someone were to say to me “Rick, you are not a Muslim” That wouldn’t be an insult, it would just be a matter of definition. I don’t believe that Mohammed was the great prophet, I don’t believe in the Q’ran, and I don’t worship at a Mosque. I’m not a Muslim. In the same spirit, I think we have to say that if someone doesn’t believe in the atonement, they are not a Christian.

Second bold and potentially shocking statement: Every other struggle is moot until you have dealt with the atonement. In sharing Christ with non-Christians, everything is moot until you have dealt with the atonement. So if a non-Christian comes to me for counseling and they are struggling with losing a spouse, or finding a job, or struggling through cancer, if they do not believe in the atonement of Christ, the primary issue should be for me their coming to faith in the atonement of Christ. Not because I don’t care about their other struggles, but because their faith or unbelief in the atonement is more important, and I think will effect how they view all other struggles in life.

Third, “…without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.” (He 9:22). God will not forgive sins without someone dying for it. The wages of sin is death. God’s wrath is such that it requires death in order to atone for sin. Without the atonement, not one sin in all of the universe will be forgiven.

Alright, have a said enough to shock you? Let me spend the rest of the time explaining why Faith in the atonement is the defining mark of a Christian. Let’s try to answer together 3 questions. 1) What does atonement mean? 2) Why do we need atonement? And 3) Where does our atonement come from?


1) What does atonement mean?

Some of you may be saying to yourself, ‘Wow Rick you talking about how important the atonement is, I don’t even know what atonement means!” Well, it is not important to use the word atonement, so much as to believe in what the word represents. Atonement is a payment for sin. When we sin, some payment or punishment must be made for that sin.

It seems to be something in us instinctually that knows this. When we sin we feel the need to somehow make this right. We punish ourselves, or something else in order to fix the wrong we did. Oftentimes people try to atone for sin by punishing themselves.

Jess and I watched the movie “Atonement” that came out recently. I didn’t care for it personally. It was one of those movies that does really well in Hollywood but the average person thinks it’s a bit boring and strange. Cover your ears though if you don’t want me to ruin the movie for you (Although I might be doing you a favor so you don’t go and see it). The main character is a young female named Briony, and she does something horrible. She accuses a guy Robbie of sexually assaulting another girl in the house, even though she knew he was innocent. Robbie ends up going to jail, and then to war during World War II. Briony eventually realizes what she has done, but it’s too late. So she spends the rest of her life trying serving as a nurse in the war trying to atone for the sin she has committed. In the end however, she finds that Robbie died in the war. So, her atonement is completely incapable of ever saving Robbie or redeeming herself for what she did. It’s a bit of a tragedy.

But friends that is an attempt at atonement. It is trying to punish yourself for sin, offering a payment for sin.

It doesn’t have to be yourself however, sometimes we try to atone for sin by punishing something else. In the Old Testament often the object of punishment was an animal. Thousands of animals were sacrificed as a means of atonement. The people sinned against God, and because there was no way for them personally to atone for their sin, they killed an animal in the place of the person.

This happened virtually daily in the temple, but most clearly on what is called the day of atonement. Once a year, on a day called Yom Kippur. The Day of Atonement is where we get the concept of the scapegoat. What’s a scapegoat? We use the term in sports or politics a lot: Someone who takes all the blame and guilt for everybody else. Bill Buckner is the scapegoat for the Red Sox for example. Well that word and concept comes from Lev 16.

And friends, the day of atonement is not a clean and peaceful ordeal. It is not a nursery tale. It is bloody and there is always death present. I want you to see how bloody and gory atonement was.

On the day of atonement the high priest was to enter the Holy of Holies in the temple. The High Priest enters the temple with a bull and two goats. First he is to slaughter the bull for the sins of him and his family. He would then take the blood of the bull and sprinkle it on the atonement cover, the top of the ark. Second he is to slaughter one of the goats. He takes that blood and sprinkles it on the atonement cover as well. This one is to cleanse the temple from the sins of the people. First he had to atone for himself, then for the temple itself because it is among a sinful people. And then last he takes the last goat, puts both his hands on it, and places all the sins of Israel on this goat. He then sends it away into the desert. Where, assumingly it dies deserted, alone and helpless.

Not something you want to sit your 5 year old on your lap and tell them before they go to bed. Why all this death and blood? Because atonement is payment for sin.

Something archaic, even barbaric in us knows this. Various cultures throughout history have come up with horrendous (sometimes even wicked) ways to try to atone for their sin. Sometimes even offering up human sacrifices as atonement. Atonement must be paid for sin whether ourselves, or by something outside of us.


2) Why do we need atonement?

Atonement is necessary because of sin. If there were no such thing as sin, there would be no such thing as atonement. So why do we need atonement? Because we are sinners. Friends all people are sinners. There is no clearer teaching in all of Scripture than the teaching of sin.

In Ephesians 2:1-3, our plight is described

“1As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.” Or simply “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Ro 3:23)

But friends, we don’t even have to go as far as looking at Scripture to learn we are sinners. We just have to look out the door. In the news, on TV, in the paper, on the internet. You will see sin vivid at work.

Neither do we have to look as far as the TV screen or the Internet. Just look into our own hearts. There you will see sin alive and well. Perhaps the most dangerous lie we have ever told ourselves is to deceive ourselves into thinking that sin is out there and not in here. Those kind of people. The scary thought is there is no magical dividing line between us and the criminals we watch on television. The same human nature, many of the same types of temptations, and the same sinful heart. The difference is only one of degree not of kind. We are not the same level of sinners as others perhaps but we are still sinners.

This doesn’t mean that we are as sinful as we can be, of course not. But it does mean that all people and all areas of life are tainted by sin.

God however, is not sinful. He is Holy and Perfect and Just. And as such his righteous response to our sin is wrath. Strangely enough we confuse the issue “I cannot believe in a God of wrath, I believe God is good.” No friends, God is wrathful because God is good. His wrath is just an extension of his goodness. When perfect Justice comes in contact with wretched sinfulness there is wrath.

Just like light by its very nature obliterates darkness, so God by his very nature judges sin.

This is why we need atonement. Because we in our sin our objects of wrath. We need the atonement because we are sinners. Recognizing ourselves to be sinners is the first step in believing the gospel, because that is what leads us to seek the Savior. Just like the first step in getting healthy is properly diagnosing how sick you are, so recognizing our sinfulness leads to trusting in Christ as Savior.

Some of you here may remember Avadne Lovett. Sweetest lady, I loved her to death. Used to go to my Sunday School class. And she would challenge me on any number of issues: Hell, world religions, whether war can ever have a just war. And she would do it with the sweetest spirit. I can remember one Sunday School class when she volunteered to close us in prayer, and she prayed by saying “I thank you God that I realize now that I am a sinner. Before I didn’t believe that, but now I do.”

Until we know we are sinners, we don’t know we need a Savior, an atonement.


3) Where does our atonement come from?

If you have followed the sermon through the first question, you know what atonement is. If you have followed it through the second question, you know why we need atonement. So the last question is, where does our atonement come from?

Some might say, ‘There is no atonement.’ If that is the case that means we are still dead in our sins, we are still objects of wrath, we still owe God a death. But thank God, that is not the case. We do have an atonement. Where does it come from?

Let me discuss for a minute where it does not come from. It does not come from ourselves, by punishing ourselves. Briony could be a nurse for 60 years, and it wouldn’t have atoned for her sin. You can’t punish yourself enough to atone for your sin. Think for a minute of some of the sins you have committed. No matter what you do in this life, it will not atone for sin in the eyes of God.

Yes you need try to make things right. If you have hurt someone, you should ask for forgiveness. If you have stolen something, you need to return it. That’s a must. But that does not in any away atone for your sin before God.

Our suffering does not atone for sin. Sometimes we think that if we suffer enough God must forgive our sins. Suffering is tragic and difficult. We need to do everything we can to help alleviate suffering. But friends, our atonement does not come from our suffering.

Our atonement does not come from animals. Killing a sheep or a goat or a bull does not free us of the guilt of sin. Hebrews 10:4 says it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. The animal sacrifices in the OT were just a foreshadowing of the true sacrifice that was to come in our behalf. All that blood and death and gore was just a picture of the sacrifice God would provide in our behalf.

The real day of atonement would come in Jesus’ death. 1 John 4:10 “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” The atonement is Christ. God sent his Son, Jesus, to live a perfect sinless life, and to die in our behalf. Jesus being sinless, dies as the sacrifice in our behalf.

I have a confession to make. I love hymns. I know at my age I’m not supposed to love hymns. Jessica makes fun of me because I put hymns on my iPod and work out with them at the gym. I am laying there bench pressing to Rock of Ages. I’m strange. Here is the reason why I like hymns. Because they sang about the atonement. Hardly any praise songs sing about the atonement.

Listen to the first two lines of this hymn by Bernard of Clairvaux who lived in 1153

Not the labor of my handsCan fulfill Thy law’s demands;…All for sin could not atone;Thou must save, and Thou alone.
Nothing in my hand I bring,Simply to the cross I cling;… Foul, I to the fountain fly;Wash me, Savior, or I die.

Or consider the words of Charles Wesley's hymn:

And can it be that I should gain
An interest in the Savior’s blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain—
For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

Some people hate the atonement. They see it as outdated and immoral. One writer calls the atonement “divine child abuse”. The Father punishing his Son in behalf of us. Of course, that accusation doesn’t take into consideration that the Son willingly lays down his life for us by his own choice.

Others don’t like the atonement because it is grotesque. They want a clean, and nice, and respectable Christianity. Atonement is too gory and bloody. The Father requiring the death of His Son for forgiveness is too barbaric. They don’t like all that violent stuff. We have to say, they’re right. The atonement is not clean and nice and respectable. The atonement is bloody, and violent, and barbaric.

But we have to add that it is also necessary and redeeming and gracious. Because the atonement is God saving us from our sins. It is our only hope as sinners. Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. God’s justice demands death for sin. As sinners we are objects of wrath. If you take away the death of Christ from me, I have nothing, no forgiveness. We are sinners with no atonement.

But thank God he has provided for us an atonement. He has given us his son to die in our place. Christ died for us. 2 Cor 5:21 “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”


Why is faith in the atonement so important? Why is it the mark of a Christian? Because it puts our trust in the greatest act of love God has ever given us. His Son’s life, for ours.

The date was February 3, 1943. The setting was World War II in the northern Atlantic Ocean. The frigid night time air was about 36 degrees Fahrenheit. 904 Men were aboard the USAT Dorchester. Among the 904 men were four Army Chaplains George Fox, Alexander Goode, John Washington, and Clark Poling. All four of them friends, all Lieutenants, 3 of the 4 married with children.

But the cold night of February 3, 1943 was a tragic night. The USAT Dorchester was torpedoed by Kriegsmarine U-223. The ship began to sink into the fatally cold 34 degree sea water. The four chaplains tried to calm the frightened soldiers. They desperately began to evacuate the survivors, and aid those who had been wounded. But sadly the supply of life jackets ran out. Out of the original 904 men only 230 would survive. The four chaplains would not be among the 230 men. Instead they gave up their own life jackets to save others. The last sight of them was of them praying as they sank helpless into the cold waters to their death.

“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13) That is what Jesus did for us. He gave up his own life for the sake of saving us. That is why the Faith in the Atonement is the defining mark of a Christian.