“Sin Defeated”
Luke 23:26-49
“And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, “Father, ‘into Your hands I commit My spirit,’” [Luke 23:46]
Sin was defeated at the Cross. We know the proclamation, but how does it work? If a newborn believer asked you, “If sin was defeated then why do I still sin?” How would you answer him?
The historical account of our text this morning provides the answer. Sin was defeated the moment after “He said, Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.’”
When Christ died, sin was rendered powerless, and thus defeated. Sin’s power is only in living flesh. However, for the believer in Christ his flesh must be reckoned dead. The Apostle Paul explained it like this:
“9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. 10 And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” [Rom 8:9-11].
As an illustration, let’s say I had a lapse in judgment and robbed a bank. But as I ran outside, the police were waiting for me. They arrested me and took me before the judge. The judge sentenced me to 20 years in prison. Now, on my way to jail the van I was in was hit by a truck and I am killed. Will they now take my corpse to jail for 20 years? No, because my death ended my guilty sentence.
Therefore, in like manner the death that Jesus died for you and I has ended our guilty sentence. Our sin was placed on Him at the Cross and then He died, for the wages sin is death. And in return His righteousness is imputed to us, and we live eternally. That is that Great Exchange that we talked about last week, the Justification by Faith Doctrine, which is the exchange of an innocent for the guilty. It is, indeed, a great exchange for us.
But not only are we declared righteous; God wants to make us righteous through the work of the Spirit. That is the “sin defeated” part of the Cross in the here and now. It is a Sanctification process, which is a setting apart process.
Therefore, in summary, sin has been rendered powerless at the Cross because Jesus died. As believers we now reckon our old man [that is, our before Christ life] dead. Jesus took upon Himself the sin of our “old man” and then died in our place, thus rendering sin powerless in our new life in Christ. And that is the renewed “born again” life in the Spirit.
