The main emphasis of Mark Dever’s message—”The Doctrine of Christ’s Work Accomplished and Applied” (presented at the NEXT 2010 conference) centered on Christ’s atoning sacrifice for sin.

In his message Mark made a critical distinction in how the word ‘atonement’ is sometimes spoken about as compared to a biblical definition. Mark used an illustration from the world of politics to make his point.

From time to time we hear prominent public officials resign from office because of some scandal. And then they always have the tearful news conference the next day. And they say something like, “In the past few days I have begun to atone for my private failings.”

And we all know what they mean, some guy is trying to make it up to his wife, trying to regain her trust, her love, though he had grievously and publicly abused that trust and love.

But what I want to make sure we understand is that, strictly speaking, a person can never atone for his sins. You and I can never atone for our sins.

Do we have sins? Yes, we all have sins.

Can any one of us, the best among us, atone for our sins? No. …

We have sinned against a holy God. We can’t go back. We can’t undo our sins. Even if we could, we can’t go back and undo the decisions that led to the actions, let alone the desires that led to the decisions that led to the actions. We have done them already. No amount of good we may do now can undo those things. We have already done them. Even if we think these other things morally outweigh our transgressions from our mind. They might make us forget them.

But they have been done.

So what can be done?

Friends, this is the great good news of what only Jesus could do. And this unique work had a unique result—it worked. The death of the sinless Son of God actually atoned for our sins. That death brought us healing. And there are hundreds, and maybe thousands, of people around you in this room who can give personal testimony to that.
What a glorious truth in light of our inability to atone for our sinful desires, our sinful decisions, and our sinful actions.

To download and listen to this message—or any of the conference messages—visit thisisnext.org.

This article first appeared on Sovereign Grace Ministries Blog C.J. Mahaney’s view from the cheap seats & other stuff and is used with permission http://www.sovereigngraceministries.org/Blog/

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