What Happened at the Cross?

What Happened at the Cross?

by Dr. Ken Matto

(Mark 15:25 KJV) And it was the third hour, and they crucified him.

Over the past few years I have been noticing a trend among many Christians and that is they have very little understanding of the sacrifice of Christ on Calvary. Today’s Christian has been dumbed down to the reality of what had happened on Calvary. This is why so many Christians believe they can lose their salvation, or believe in a partial atonement or believe they must add works to maintain their salvation. I have also received e-mails from a person who claims that God forgives all manner of sin such as murderers, but will never forgive the sin of remarriage after divorce. After sending this person the verses which we are going to look at, he rejected them and just sent me an e-mail that I am teaching a false gospel. I had responded to him and asked him what would be his solution to that dilemma? Should remarried Christians get a second divorce in order to satisfy his belief? No response to that question. See my article on marriage and divorce at: www.scionofzion.com/divremar.htm

Now it is true that the Bible does state specifically that if anybody marries after divorce and their spouse or the spouse of the one they are marrying are still alive, then they are entering into an adulterous marriage. We expect unbelievers not to care about being obedient to the Bible, but when Christians are shown that it is sin and then they proceed anyway, they will come under the chastisement of God and it will not be pleasant. The majority of churches are spiritually neutered and have dropped biblical obedience and have taken up the writings of men such as apostate Rick Warren and these plans or systems have replaced biblical teachings in many churches. This is why the understanding of the sacrifice of Christ has been placed at the bottom of the pile because self-esteem and other self-adulating studies have supplanted it.

Now it must be understood that receiving the grace of God in salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ in no way means a person has a license to sin. That accusation comes to us from those who believe in free will and those who believe they can lose their salvation. In their minds they are attempting to live a holy life to maintain their salvation but the reality is that we live a holy life because of the grace of God. To attempt to live a holy life for the purpose of maintaining salvation amounts to nothing more than a works gospel. Those who think they can add to what Christ did on Calvary must really check to see if they have been truly saved. The sacrifice of Christ was totally sufficient for every true believer.

Calvary and Your Sin
When the Lord Jesus Christ died on Calvary and you became saved, what transpired concerning your sin?

The answer to this question is one which every Christian should know. (1 Pet 3:15 KJV) But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: Part of the hope that is with in us from becoming saved is to know what the relationship is to my sins. If I believe that I can lose my salvation or that Christ only partially paid for my sins and then the rest are up to me to atone for, then I will walk around as those who proclaim that they are just a “sinner saved by grace.” If we still believe that we are nothing but saved sinners, then we have totally misunderstood the sacrifice of Christ. When we become saved, we go from sinner to Saint! Now we will see what the Bible teaches concerning your sins after salvation.

Old Testament
(Psa 103:12 KJV) As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.

The word “far hath he removed “ in the Hebrew carries with it the meaning of “to be far or to be separate.” In the first part of this verse the word “far” is the same word. You can see that as separate or as far as the east is from the west, has He separated us from our sin. This means He just did not atone for our sins which would be a covering but the sacrifice was so complete that He removed our sins. This verse does not indicate that He left any behind!

(Isa 43:25 KJV) I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.

“Blotteth out” in the Hebrew carries with it the meaning of “wipe away or destroy.” In the case of written documents it carries with it the meaning of “erase.” So this verse is also teaching us that God Himself is the one who destroys or wipes away our sin and only the sacrifice of the Son of God is capable to do that.

(Jer 31:34 KJV) And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

“I will forgive” in the Hebrew carries with it the meaning of “to forgive or pardon.” This is definitely a grace term because this is repeated in the New Testament in the following verses:

(Heb 8:12 KJV) For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.

(Heb 10:17 KJV) And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.

Jeremiah 31:34, Hebrews 8:12, and Hebrews 10:17 all carry with them the same theme. When God forgives a person of their sins, He has elected to forget those sins and not only forget them, but to destroy them. Nowhere in Scripture is it written that God chooses to remember our sins thus causing a loss of salvation. When God removes our sins, He annihilates them. In other words, they can never be held against us.

(Col 2:13-14 KJV) And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; {14} Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;

Col 2:13 (KJB)
And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;

Dead - Lifeless or useless
Quickened - Made alive
Having Forgiven - Forgive, release, or pardon
All - Totally

Death is basically separation and Paul is reminding the Colossians that they were dead in sins and that meant they were separated from God plus they had not received the circumcision made without hands as spoken of in verse 11. (Col 2:11 KJV) In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: They were still subject to the fallen nature which was the sin-laden nature. Then as a result of God’s salvation, God had taken His Elect and made them alive unto Him. We were made alive with Christ. (John 5:21 KJV) For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. The next part of this verse is of the utmost importance. Since Christ has made us alive, He has forgiven us all our trespasses. This means that every sin that any believer has committed, or will commit in the future has already been paid for. There is not one sin which is held to the account of any believer. Those who claim that a person can lose their salvation have no understanding of the fact that every single sin of the believer has been forgiven. If every sin has been forgiven, then what could possibly keep us out of Heaven? These same folks claim that our future sins could keep us out of Heaven. Let us ask a simple question. Where were you when Christ went to the cross? You were not even born yet which means ALL your sins were in the future. It also means that ALL of those sins have been paid for and this means your soul is completely clean, with not one blemish.

Col 2:14 (KJB)
Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;

Blotting out - Wipe out or obliterate
Handwriting of ordinances - The crimes of the criminal written and placed at the location of execution
Contrary - Against or hostile to
Out of the way - Away out of the midst or middle

Paul continues the great emancipation of the believer. Christ has forgiven every trespass of the believer and here we are told that all our crimes, our sins, were completely obliterated. The hand writing of ordinances was the crime or crimes the prisoner was guilty of. The ordinances which the believer was guilty of was the violation of the law of God. We broke every law, even if we broke only one. (James 2:10 KJV) For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. So here the law became our enemy because it openly showed us that we were guilty of breaking God’s law but when Christ went to the cross, He had fulfilled the demands of God’s righteous law and because we were in Christ, being baptized unto His death, we were found not guilty of the violation of God’s law. As Col. 2:14 puts it, Christ completely obliterated the charges against us, so never again will the believer ever have to come into judgment for any sins. The verse further states that Christ took those charges which were against us away from us, out of the midst, that is, the sins no longer prevent fellowship with God and with other Christians. It goes on further to state that He nailed it to His cross, which means the law is totally dead to us in the area of accusations and violations because Christ paid for every single violation of the law that the true believer would ever commit. There would never be even one violation of the law which could ever affect our salvation and our purity of our souls because of Christ’s total effectual sacrifice.

Summary
We have looked at verses both in the Old and New Testaments which teach us plainly that every sin the believer had committed or will commit has been paid for by Christ. They were not only paid for, but removed and destroyed. This means the soul of the believer is as if they never sinned. This is why Peter states in his first epistle the following: (1 Pet 1:4 KJV) To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, When one becomes saved, we have an inheritance in Heaven which is what? Reserved! Why? Because at the moment of salvation our sins are removed and we are ready for Heaven. In Heaven there is no sin and that is why God removed all our sins so our bodies go into the grave and our souls go to be with the Lord, because they are sinless. Those who believe they can lose their salvation or believe in a partial atonement theory are just not understanding what happened at Calvary. Churches need to get back to real Bible teaching and drop all this garbage like Alpha Courses, Beth Moore,

(http://www.extremetheology.com/2010/03/beth-moores-dangerous-bible-twisting.html), Rick Warren and anything else which takes us out of Scripture and into the minds of people. The problem which exists in the churches is that most pastors and elders are biblically illiterate and count on commentaries and systematic studies to hide their inadequacies.

See my related study at: www.scionofzion.com.safe.htm

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