The death of Jesus Christ is the absolute central event in Christian theology and life, serving as the ultimate atonement for human sin, made necessary by God's holiness and justice, and fulfilled through a deliberate, substitutionary sacrifice.
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uh welcome back to installment number
eight as Pastor Mike mentioned of uh
summer in the systematics we have two to
go after tonight so tonight is the death
of Christ we've worked through the
pre-existence of Christ the the deity of
Christ the humanity of Christ the
natures of Christ the Incarnation of
Christ The Life of Christ last week was
The Obedience of Christ tonight is the
death of Christ and then in the next two
weeks we're going to be covering the
resurrection of Christ and then the last
session will be the return of Christ in
one hour so pray for
me well tonight is the death of Christ
that's our our topic for tonight and
what Rich songs already we were able to
sing that that remind us of these these
great Timeless truths of what the death
of Our Lord at Calvary accomplished uh
to get us started I'm going to run up
some quotes here of of some theologians
who really just highlight for us nicely
the centrality of the death of Jesus
Christ not only to the discipline of
systematic theology but to all of life
as his
followers Henry Clarence TS and notes
contrary to the facts in the case of
ordinary men the death of Christ rather
than the Earthly Life of Christ is of supreme
supreme
importance Bruce demerest notes that the
cross was more than a tragic failure at
the end of a successful career it was
the focal point of our Lord's Earthly
life everything else pointed to it and
again here's T he notes other religions
base their claim to recognition on the
teaching of their Founders Christianity
is distinguished from all of them by the
importance it assigns to the death of
its founder take away the death of
Christ as interpreted by the scriptures
and you reduce Christianity to the level
of the ethnic religions though we would
still have a higher system of Ethics
were we to take away the Cross of Christ
we would have no more salvation than
those other
religions and when it comes to the the
central role of the Cross of Christ the
death of of Christ and how it plays that
Central role in the Christian faith and
in the Christian Life these men are
absolutely right we just consider the
biblical evidence of how much prominence
is given the death of Christ in the New
Testament gospels something like
33% of Matthew's gospel is devoted to
the final days leading up to the death
of Christ 37% of Mark's gospel is
dedicated to that same aspect of his
life and his his death 25% of Luke's
gospel covers that territory and 42% of
John's gospel is focused on the death of
Christ all the events leading up to the
death of Christ so the Cross of Christ
the death of Christ is absolutely
Central to any study of Christian
Theology of sound Doctrine which is why
we would give a hearty Amen to what Paul
says in 1 Corinthians 2:2 for I
determine to know nothing among you
except Jesus Christ and him
crucified now we have
Five Points to cover this evening as we
work through this massive topic of the
death of Christ and and bear with me
please I I I I don't I didn't know what
to fit into one hour on the death of
Christ so I picked the I thought the
core topics surely I'll miss something
that you think I should have covered we
can always talk about it after the
service or set up a meeting with me
later this week or or next but we will
try to get through the massive topic of
the do the the death of Christ in an
hour and like I said we have five points
in fact I think we have outs now if you
haven't received one I believe they're
in the back um I think that's right so I
think you have those but what you're
going to see from the worksheets are
that our our points this evening are
relatively imbalanced meaning we're
going to have four points on the front
end that we're going to go through
relatively quickly and then one longer
point that we're going to spend most of
our time on uh in the second half of the
message so with that we'll get right
into our first point and the first blank
on your worksheet there which is the
prerequisite of Christ's
death the
prerequisite of Christ's death under
this heading we are looking to answer a
a very basic yet profound question which
is this why did Jesus Christ have to
die why did he have to die there are two
real basic answers to that question and
really two reasons to to express here uh
first is the character of God
specifically God's holiness his moral
perfection and his his separation from
all that is impure and Unholy and also
God's justice meaning the the perfect
manner in which he brings about that
which is right in accordance with his
perfect and holy standards so the
character of God factors into why Christ
had to die second is the sinfulness of
man the entrance of sin into the world
through the original sin of Adam brought
in this sinful nature in all of humanity
we see this in Romans chapter 5 and the
result is that every human being every
image Bearer since Adam that is with one
exception the Lord himself has inherited
Adam's sin nature so we are by Nature
hostile to God and we're estranged from
him Romans 87 says the Mind Set On the
flesh is at enmity toward God
spiritually we are dead to God Ephesians
2:1 and you were dead in your
transgressions and sins in which you
formerly walked according to the course
of this world according to the ruler of
the power of the air the spirit that is
now working in the sons of Disobedience
among whom we all also formerly
conducted ourselves in the lusts of our
flesh doing the desires of the Flesh and
of the mind and were by Nature children
of Wrath even as the rest we we are in
our our natural condition enemies of God
Colossians 1:21 speaks of the the the
natural man you were formerly alienated
and enemies in mind and doing evil Deeds
I think that should
say so why did Jesus have to die well
since on account of his Holiness and his
Justice God certainly can't turn a blind
eye to sin and not only that he couldn't
pardon sin merely on the grounds of the sinner's
sinner's
repentance a holy and a righteous God
couldn't couldn't accept a a a a
sinner's works-based repentance what
otherwise would be called in Isaiah 59
two filthy rags rather God on account of
his Holiness and on account of his
Justice could only pardon an Unholy and
unrighteous sinner when a penalty had
first been paid so there was only one
way that our our sin debt a debt so
great a debt we unquestionably owed
could be pardoned while not minimizing
or mitigating God's perfect and
righteous and holy standards and that
would be if our sin was laid on the
shoulders of someone else a substitute
but not just any substitute rather a a
perfect substitute only through a
perfect substitute could God pardon
Sinners while remaining perfectly holy
and righteous and just at the same time
and that substitute of course was Jesus
Christ Christ paid the sinner's penalty
the son of man was lifted up on a cross to
to
die John
3 this is Jesus himself himself speaking
says and as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness even so must the son
of man be lifted up so that whoever
believes will in him have eternal life
Luke 24:7 he says the son of man must be
delivered into the hands of sinful men
and be crucified and the third day rise
again that's Jesus's own witness to what
would have to happen and the result is
for we who have believed upon what he
did on the cross we've been Justified as
a by his grace through the Redemption
which is in Christ Jesus whom God
displayed publicly as a propitiation in
his blood through faith more on that
later for a demonstration of his
righteousness because in the forbearance
of God he passed over the sins
previously committed so yes Romans 3:23
all have sinned and fall short of the
glory of God that speaks to man's sin
and his contribution to Christ's death
but we can't forget what Paul says just
few verses later in in Romans 3:26 where
he speaks of God demonstrating his
righteousness at the present time so
that he would be just and the justifier
of the one who has faith in Jesus so
those are some very basic biblical
truths about the prerequisites to
Christ's death namely that it was
brought about by our sin and it was
brought about by God's perfect Holiness
and his perfect Justice
but theologians because they're
theologians like to debate things and
and they like to debate a lot of the the
the why as opposed to the what what
they'll debate the why behind what is
propositionally declared in scripture as
the what and that's true of a number of
different topics in Christian theology
including the subject of the death of
Christ and a question that will often
get raised among Christian theologians
is not so much is Jesus the only way
unless they're just totally off the The
Rails liberal Theologian but rather
could God have selected a different way
as in was Jesus death on the cross the
only way that God could have saved us
now we can come at that question from a
number of different angles you can come
at it from the the biblical angle or the
more philosophical theological angle um
but the answer in either case is yes
that it had to be this way that the
death of Christ specifically his death
on the cross was necessary the biblical
reason is is a pretty simple one we
recall that the scriptures of the Old
Testament foretold this very event and
because the Old Testament scriptures
come from God 2 Timothy 3:16 the
scriptures had to be fulfilled so as a
simple matter of of required prophetic
fulfillment Jesus had to die and he had
to Die the way he did and here a few
quotes on that from the gospel accounts
that's not just me spitballing these are
the words of Jesus himself that that
that speak to this son of God needing to
die in this specific way as a matter of
scriptural fulfillment he says in
Matthew 26 or do you think that I cannot
appeal to my father and he will at once
put at my disposal more than 12 Legions
of angels therefore how will the
scriptures be fulfilled which say that
it must happen this way or Mark 8:31 and
he began to teach them that the son of
man must suffer many things and be
rejected by the elders and the chief
priests and the scribes and be killed
and after 3 days rise again or Luke 24
says he is not here but he is risen
remember how he spoke to you while he
was still in Galilee saying that that
the son of man must be delivered into
the hands of sinful men and be crucified
and the third day rise again so these
are the some of the biblical reasons
just a matter of Old Testament
fulfillment as to why Jesus had to die
the way he did but there's also a
theological reason maybe a more logical
or or or philosophical reason if you
want to put it that way as to why Jesus
had to Die the way he did on the cross
here's a quote from Paige Patterson he
says add to these meaning the biblical
arguments the Intriguing scene in
Gethsemane in which Jesus cries to his
father for deliverance from the agony of
making atonement what kind of father
does it make of God if he insists that
the son endure the cross when there
remained some other option available to
the father through which he could save
men God will have difficulty avoiding
the charge of being a cosmic sadist if
he failed to exercise exercise other
options to save men while choosing
instead to allow his beloved Son to be crucified
crucified
indeed the question of whether Christ's
death on the cross and specifically on
the cross was necessary really does in a
sense come down to the character of God
because God is a good father he wasn't
hiding other options behind his back
from the Sun rather he appointed and he
decreed one way and presented that one
way to the
son all right so we have seen that the
death of Christ was necessary it was
made necessary by our sin and God's
character his Holiness and his Justice
next we're going to see that the death
the death of Christ was predicted and
that's the second point in your
worksheet the
predictions of Christ's
death now simply for the sake of time we
will not have time to go exhaustively
into this subject tonight entire thick
books have been written on this subject
and courses have been taught on this
subject of the various ways in which the
Old Testament scriptures pointed not
only to the birth of Christ but to the
death of Christ what I'm going to do
here this evening is is simply point out
that there are really two types of Old
Testament Revelation Old Testament
scripture which highlight or point to
the death of Christ first there are
those scriptures that more indirectly
point to the death of Christ those would
be ones that some will call Shadows or
pictures or types those sort of texts
these are those those Old Testament
scriptures or depictions of of
sacrifices being made by the Israelites
which many will say point to the
sacrifice of Christ we think of the ram
on Mount Mariah in Genesis 22 we think
of the Passover Lamb in Exodus 12 or the
entire system of levitical sacrifices in Leviticus
Leviticus
1-7 those are just a few examples of
some of the Old Testament sacrifices and
and offerings which in some sense
pointed to the better sacrifice the
better offering made by Jesus Christ the
second category would be those direct
Old Testament prophecies related to the
death of Christ and again there are so
many places we could go with this for
the sake of time I'll just mention a few
for instance there are Old Testament
prophecies concerning the Betrayal of
Christ uh before his death Psalm 419
even my close friend in whom I trusted
who ate my bread has lifted up his heel
against me that's a prophecy of course
that would be fulfilled through judas's
betrayal of Jesus as we see here in John
13:18 Zechariah foretells the the
selling of
Christ the Betrayal of Christ Christ for
30 pieces of silver here in Zechariah
11:12 and I said to them if it is good
in your sight give me my wages but if
not never mind so they weighed out 30
shekels of silver as my wages that's
fulfilled here in Matthew 27 then that
which was spoken be through through
Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled
saying and they took the 30 pieces of
silver the price of the one whose price
had been set by the sons of Israel
obviously I gave you the Jeremiah quote
I meant to give you the Zechariah quote
there I was moving too fast this
afternoon U there are also other
prophecies concerning what Christ
experienced in his anguish upon the
Cross psalm 22:1 my God my God why have
you forsaken me which is fulfilled in
Matthew 15 and other gospels at the
ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud
voice ELO lakai which is translated my
God my God why have you forsaken me or
these familiar passages Isaiah 53:5 he
was pierced through for our
transgressions he was crushed for our
iniquities or Psalm
22 for dogs have surrounded me a band of
evildoers has encompassed me they
pierced my hands and my feet I count all
my bones they look they stare at me they
divide my garments among them and for my
clothing they they cast
lots and both of those Old Testament
prophecies Isaiah 53 Psalm
22 are fulfilled in places like this
John 19 where one of the soldiers
pierced his side with a spear and
immediately blood and water came out
again for the sake of time we can't go
through every Old Testament prophecy
which foretold the death of Christ at
Calvary these are just a select few but
I do appreciate this summary statement
of the various Old Testament predictions
of Christ's death from Harry CL Henry
Clarence T again who says we can trace a
scarlet cord through the whole Bible that's
that's
true so we've dipped our toe in the
water on some basic truths related to
the prerequisite to Christ's death our
sin and God's holiness uh we've just
looked at a a handful of predictions
related to Christ's death next we're
going to look and this is your third
heading at the path to Christ's death
that's the third heading on your
worksheet this evening our Lord went
down a specific path leading up to his
crucifixion and his death you can go way
way back but let's just for argument
sake put it at the the triumphal entry
uh that that entry into Jerusalem on
Palm Sunday interestingly uh Pastor
Aaron and I had a podcast recording this
week with a professor who takes a palm
Monday interpretation so tune in for
that that one later he thinks Palm
Sunday was actually Monday but we can uh
tackle that one some other time but
anyway he goes through his triumphal
entry on Palm Sunday when as John 12
records the crowds were taking the
branches of the palm trees and went out
to meet him and began to shout hosana
blessed is he who comes in the name of
the Lord even the king of Israel so he
had the traful inry this is part of the
path leading up to his death then there
was betrayal and acts 1 men brothers the
scripture had to be fulfilled which the
Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of
David concerning Judas who became a
guide to those who arrested Jesus Judas
of course of course betrayed him he went
through great suffering our Lord did he
went through great Agony culminating in
his encounter with a Roman torture
device known as a cross and the cross
was an agonizing experience it involved
ripped flesh and infected wounds and
torn muscles and swollen tissue it
involved depending on the time of year
that the sun's heat beating down and the
cold of night insects biting and
potentially animals attacking it was a horrific
horrific
experience but not only was crucifixion
exceedingly painful it was considered to
be the most shameful of punishments
under Roman law it was only for those
those criminals who were considered the
lowest EST of the low in fact Roman law
forbade the crucifixion of of Roman
citizens it was only for the the true
worst but it wasn't just Roman law who
or or which found crucifixion to be
shameful the law of Israel regarded
anyone who had been crucified hung on a
tree cursed of God Deuteronomy 21 and if
a man has committed a sin the Judgment
of which is death and he is put to death
and you hang him on a tree his corpse
shall not hang all night on the tree but
you shall surely bury him on the same
day because cursed of God is he who is
hanged so that you do not make unclean
your land which Yahweh your God G gives
you as an inheritance and of course this
idea of cursed as the one who hangs on a
tree is picked up by Paul in Galatians 3
when he says Christ redeemed us from the
curse of the law having become a curse
for us for it is written cursed is
everyone who hangs on a tree in order
that in Christ Jesus The Blessing of
Abraham might come to the Gentiles so
that we would receive the promise of the
spirit through faith and this by the way
is is why later Jews Like Paul when they
got saved and they started preaching on
Jesus and preaching on the crucifixion
that message of the crucifixion was a
stumbling block when they took that
gospel message back to their countrymen
that's why he would say things like this
in 1 Corinthians 1:23 we preach Christ
crucified to Jews a stumbling block and
to Gentiles foolishness or a few verses
before that the word of the Cross is
foolishness to those who are perishing
but to those who are being saved it is
the power of
God now in terms of what the scriptures
reveal about what Jesus experienced on
the cross we we know from the biblical
Revelation that he was on that cross for
three agonizing hours the the three
hours of Darkness that are recorded here
in Matthew 27 from the sixth hour
Darkness fell upon all the land until
the 9th hour and in those 3 hours of
Agony he was mocked as was prophesied in
MA or Psalm 22 all who see me mock me
they smack their lip they wag their head
saying commit yourself to Yahweh let him
rescue him let him deliver him because
he Delights in him uh he was the object
of scornful glares Psalm
2277 I count all my bones they look they
stare at me that should say it shouldn't
say they stare at me
uh he looked to The God Who who had sent
him uh on this mission to to save but
you oh Yahweh be not far off oh my
strength hasten to my help deliver my
soul from The Sword my only life from
the power of the dog save me from the
mouth of the lion from the horns of the
wild oxen you've answered me and
ultimately he bore the full measure and
weight of God's Wrath in our behalf all
of us like sheep have gone astray each
of us has turned to his own way but
Yahweh has caused the iniquity of us all
to fall on him and Yahweh was pleased to
crush him putting him to grief and we
can't lose sight of the fact that that
he did all this our Lord did this Jesus
did all this on account of our
sin 1 Peter
2:24 he himself bore our sins in his
body on the tree so that having died to
sin we might live to righteousness by
his wounds you were healed and though he
had no sin was made to be sin as our our
perfect and spotless substitute the the
unblemished lamb who takes away the sin
of the world so that we might be made
righteous before God in him that's what
we see in 2 Corinthians 5:21 he made him
who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf
so that we might become the
righteousness of God in him and last
just want to note one more thing that in
addition to the physical pain note the
gut-wrenching feelings of Abandonment
that Jesus experienced VI a god his
father when he said my God my God why
have you forsaken me which again was in
fulfillment of Psalm 22
so that was our third point the the path
to Christ's death meaning what the
scriptures reveal about the various
events leading up to our Lord's Last
Breath now for point four we're going to
go into the proofs of Christ's death and
I just want to say editorial comment
here I know that this kind of feel I I
even said this morning you know church
is in a seminary
classroom I said that in a in in the
right context tonight it is kind of like
a seminary classroom and I just want us
to to not lose sight of the Glorious
Revelation we've been given of what
Christ did but also the Glorious
salvation that all this did for us so I
know it's coming off like data that I'm
just rattling off but these are the
Eternal truths that that translate us
from from Death to life and darkness to
light so let's hold on to that truth
that these These are amazing facts and
details that really cement and secure
our Eternal hope okay this is not just
Seminary class this is church in a very
organized fashion fair enough all right
so the proofs of Christ's death number
four after bearing the the full measure
of of God's full Fury and wrath on the
cross after exhausting God's Wrath
against our sin after facing Divine
judgment for our sin our savior work on
the cross was done he died in his flesh
in his Humanity that's why Peter says in
First Peter 3:18 he he was put to Death
In the Flesh in fact here's how Jesus
death is recorded in Luke's gospel in
Luke 23 Jesus crying out with a loud
voice said father into your hands I
commit my spirit having said this he
breathed his last he he died but note he
died only after he cried out Triumph
triumphantly it is finished I've only
given you a few verses here there are
many more to look through and talk about
but what they reveal and make abundantly
clear is that Jesus died he truly died
he didn't Swoon or faint as we'll look
at at next week when we get to the
resurrection he died he he drank down
the the the the wrath of God to the very
last drop and
died one
more set of scriptures we should consult
as we look at these proofs of of Jesus's
death are considering who was ultimately
responsible for his death who was
responsible for the Lord's death on the
one hand we know there was a a human
element as we see in this series of
passages from that day on they planed
together to kill him acts three you
denied the holy and righteous one and
asked for a murderer to be granted to
you but put to death the author of life
it's a second person statement you did
it acts 5 the god of our father the god
of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you
put to death by hanging him on a tree
acts 10 and we Are Witnesses of all the
things he did both in the land of the
Jews and Jerusalem they also put him to
death by hanging him on a tree acts 13
and though they found no ground for
death they asked pilate that he be
executed so the the scriptures do
witness to the the fact that others put
him to death but the scriptures also
testify to there being this Divine
element to Jesus's death look at acts
2:23 this man speaking of Jesus
delivered over by the predetermined plan
and forn knowledge of God that's Divine
responsibility there and then The Human
Side you nailed to a cross by the hands
of Lawless men and put him to death or
consider these words from Jesus himself
I lay down my life so that I may take it
again no one takes it away from me but
from myself I lay it down I have
authority to lay it down and I have
authority to take it up
again all right we are through four
points we've been moving fast with the
rest of our time this evening though
we're going to fill up that backs side
of your worksheet with our fifth Point
here which is the purposes of Christ's
death the purposes of Christ's death now
this one these are all massive topics
but this is a massive topic because in
in it intersects with various different
subdisciplines of of systematic theology
including soteriology the doctrine of
salvation and I'm not going to go deep
onto the soteriological side tonight but
I'm going to take us through the basics
as we look at the purposes of Christ
death um we're going to start by looking
at some inadequate views of the
significance of Christ's death and then
we'll look at what the Bible actually
teaches about the the purposes of
Christ's death we'll start now with the
the the inadequate views the wrong views
the false views of the purposes of
Christ's death the first one we'll cover
is What's called the accident Theory
this view sees there being no
significance attached to the death of
Christ this would be the purely
humanistic atheistic Viewpoint which
which views Jesus if he even existed
they would say as a a mere man and as a
mere man he was subject to death just
like anyone else maybe it was natural
causes maybe it was just an accident who
knows according to this view it's
unfortunate that Jesus this good man
this good moral teacher was killed but
his death had no meaning beyond that it
was sort of like the death of anybody
else of course that view openly denies
and refutes scriptures like what we just
looked at acts 2:23 this man delivered
over by the predetermined plan and forn
knowledge of God was nailed to a cross
that doesn't sound random or accidental
to me here's another one the Martyr
theory in some circles this is called
the example Theory this holds the The
View as you can see here that Christ's
death was that of a martyr meaning he
was killed because he was faithful to
the cause he was faithful to the
principles that he held dearly which
makes him a an example of courageous
Fidelity But ultimately what this view
does is it leaves the unbeliever with
the impression that what they need most
is simply to follow the courageous
example of Christ in pursuing their own
chosen cause which is very much like the
nonsensical finde truth movement of
today but in reality what does the
unbeliever need most they need
repentance they need Faith they need a
regenerated heart they need
reconciliation to God yes indeed Christ
was an example but he's not some sort of
generic example to the world like the
Martyr Theory would say rather he's an
example to Believers to those who have
put their faith in him he says Jesus
does in Matthew 11 to to Believers in
that context take my yoke upon you and
learn from me for I am gentle and humble
in heart or 1 Peter 2:21 Christ suffered
for you leaving you an example he's
talking to Believers there that you
should follow in his steps or 1 John 2:6
the one who says he abides in him ought
himself to walk in the same manner as he
walked but for the
unbeliever Christ's perfect example is
certainly not sufficient to
save and next is the moral influence
Theory also called the the love of God
Theory this view holds that the love of
God which was manifested in the
Incarnation and and later in the
sufferings and death of Christ was all
for the purpose of softening human
hearts and eventually to lead
unbelievers to repentance and Faith um
in this view of of Christ death it has
nothing to do with God's Divine Justice
being satisfied rather the death of
Christ is all about this expression of
divine love and that is just an
inadequate view of Christ's death well
it is certainly true that his death was
an expression of God's love John 3:16
right here or Romans 58 God demonstrates
his own love toward us and that while we
were yet sinners Christ died for us the
Bible also plainly teaches that
propitiation or or the satisfaction of
God's Divine Justice and wrath had to
happen at the cross as well we we've
been Justified as a gift by his grace
through the Redemption which is in
Christ Jesus whom God publicly dis
displayed publicly as a propitiation in
his blood through faith for a
demonstration of his righteousness
because in the forbearance of God he
passed over the sins previously
committed or Hebrews 2:17 he had to be
made like his brothers in all things so
that he might become a merciful and
faithful high priest in things
pertaining to God to make propitiation
for the sins of the people one more in
this is love not that we have loved God
but that he loved us and sent his son to
be the propitiation for our sins in
other words while there certainly was a
a demonstration of God's love at Calvary
the wrath of God was also on display at
the cross where where Christ absorbed
the wrath of God and made propitiation
more on that term later for our
sins so those are some
alternate explanations for the death of
Christ and as I've hope hopefully
articulated here they are partial
explanations inadequate explanations and
flawed and
wrong explanations that being so then
what was the true meaning of Christ's
death we don't want to learn just about
the errors here we're here to receive truth
truth
well the death of Christ was
deliberate that's one of one underg
guring principle related to the the
biblical witness about the death of
Christ the death of Christ was
deliberate we've alluded to this already
but Jesus deliberately laid down his
life in obedience to the father having
borne the wrath of God against our sins
on his shoulders on his back on his head
he voluntarily and decisively laid down
his phys physical life no one took it
from him and though his enemies were
charged with murder as was their
intention I've already given you these
two passages Acts 3 and acts
5 he laid down his life by way of his
own authority and in obedience to God
the Father Again John 10 for this reason
the father loves me because I lay down
my life so that I may take it again no
one takes it away from me but from
myself S I lay it down I have authority
to lay it down and I have authority to
take it up
again he also yielded up his own human
Spirit Jesus cried out again with a loud
voice and he yielded up his Spirit it
says in Matthew 27 so even his very last
breath on Earth was under his own Divine Sovereign
Sovereign
control and with that last breath and
with those last words John 19:30 when he
said it is finished he was declaring
victory over
Satan through death he might render
powerless him who had the power of death
that is the devil he was declaring
victory over hell Revelation 1 I was
dead and behold I'm alive forever and
ever and I have the keys of death and of
Hades and he was declaring victory over
sin and death 1 Corinthians 15:56 and 57
now the sting of death is sin and the
power of sin is the law but thanks be to
God who gives us the victory through our
Lord Jesus Christ Christ or Romans 8 for
what the law could not do weak as it was
through the flesh God did sending his
own son in the likeness of sinful flesh
and as an offering for sin he condemned
sin in the flesh he he broke their power
forever they they could not hold him
they could not even hold his followers
anymore for those who had trusted in him for
for
salvation so the death of Christ was
deliberate it was for ordained
controlled by Jesus himself
next we're going to see that the death
of Christ was
substitutionary meaning it was on behalf
of others Jesus didn't die for his own
sin because he had none he said in John
8:46 which one of you convicts me of
sin Hebrews 4 we see we have a high
priest we do not have a high priest who
cannot sympathize with our weaknesses
but one who has been tempted in all
things like we are yet without sin 1
Peter 2 says for to this you have been
called since Christ also suffered for
you leaving you an example that you
should follow in his steps who did no
sin nor was any deceit found in his
mouth so he didn't sin but the
scriptures testify repeatedly that he
died for the sins of others we had had
racked up a a debt of sin a mountain of
sin in the in the eyes of a a just and
holy God and and because God because he
is just and holy he had to punish that sin
sin
punishment was deserved and and
Punishment was needed so how could this
holy and just God deal with Sinners Like
Us in the way we deserved well at the
same time delivering us from the
punishment that our sins deserved well
the answer is through a substitute there
had to be a substitute if Sinners were
to be delivered from the penalty that
was attached to their sin and again to
be to be an adequate substitute that
substitute had to be a Divine substitute
meaning God himself so and so according
to the to the divine plan God the son
came to Earth he received this sinless
human nature we saw that when we studied
the natures of Christ he submitted to
crucifixion and while on the cross he
received God's punishment on our behalf
as our substitute his death was
substitutionary which we see in passages
like these Isaiah 53 he was pierced
through for our transgressions he was
crushed for our iniquities Romans 5'8
but God demonstrates his own love toward
us and that while we were yet sinners
Christ died for us 1 Corinthians
15:3 for I delivered you as of first
importance what I also received that
Christ died for our sins according to
the scriptures 1 Peter 2:24 he himself
bore our sins in his body on the tree so
that having been having died to sin we
might live to righteousness by his
wounds you were healed 1 Peter 3:18 for
Christ also suffered for sins once for
all the righteous for the unrighteous so
that he might bring you to God Mark
10:45 for even the son of man did not
come to serve but to serve and to live
his life give his life a ransom for many
John 10:11 I am the Good Shepherd the
Good Shepherd lays down his life for the
Sheep 1 Corinthians 5:7 Christ Our
Passover Lamb also was sacrificed 2
Corinthians 5:14 one died for all
therefore all died and he died for all
so that they they who live would no
longer live for themselves but for him
who died and rose again on their behalf
every one of those scriptures and many
more testifies clearly that Christ's
death was substitutionary he died for
the sins of others he died for us Louis
buroff notes that the sufferings of
Christ were not just the sympathetic
sufferings of a friend but the
substitutionary sufferings of the Lamb
of God for the sin of the world he died
for Sinners he took the place of Sinners
Like You and Me on the cross he bore the
punishment for our sins and as our
substitute the just died for the
unjust Danny
Aken notes that Jesus Christ the son of
God was born to die unlike any other
person who has ever lived he came into
this world for the expressed purpose of
dying as the perfect sacrifice for the
sins of the world John stot notes that
Evangelical Christians believe that in
and through Christ crucified God
substituted himself for us and bore our
sins dying in our place the death we
deserve to die in order that we might be
restored to his favor and adopted into
his family amen so his death was
substitutionary the next one we're going
to look at I've used this word a couple
of times already is that his death was
propitiating the word propitiation
halasi in Greek appears in four
different New Testament texts I'm going
to rattle these off for you real quick
and we'll work through this term
propitiation Romans 3 for all have
sinned and fall short of the glory of
God being justified as a gift by his
grace through the Redemption which is in
Christ Jesus whom God displayed publicly
as a propitiation in his blood through
faith for a demonstration of his
righteousness because in the forbearance
of God he passed over the sins
previously committed here's another one Hebrews
Hebrews
2:17 therefore he had to be made like
his brothers in all things so that he
might become a merciful and faithful
high priest in things pertaining to God
to make propitiation for the sins of the
people 1 John 2:2 and he himself is the
propitiation for our sins and not for
ours only but also for those of the
whole world 1 John 4:10 and this is love
not that we have loved God but that he
loved us and sent his son to be the
propitiation for our sins so what does
that word propitiation or what does the
verb propitiate mean the word means to
appease or or to
satisfy the noun form of that word propitiation
propitiation
hillison we see it over in Hebrews the
book of Hebrews chapter 9: 25 where it's
translated mercy
seat so propitiation is translated Mercy
Seat in the book of Hebrews and that's
key because we know that in the the Old
Testament the mercy seat inside the holy
of holies was the place where the the
blood of the sacrifice was sprinkled and
as a result the wrath of God was was temporarily
temporarily
satisfied similarly by the shedding of
Christ's blood God's Wrath toward us and
our sin stain condition has been
satisfied that's the idea of
propitiation Bruce demerest notes that
through Christ's death on the cross all
the demands of a holy and just God were
satisfied that's the idea of
propitiation there the Divine anger was
turned into kindly favor and it's a
really important note that man is not
involved in this act of propitiation
rather God satisfies himself through the
sat through the satisfactory work of the
cross so Christ's death was propitiating
next we're going to see his death was redeeming
redeeming
Redemption is a term from the world of
Commerce ancient Commerce and and War
and slavery it's its roots go
historically all the way back to the
days of the Exodus where where there
were parts of the law which detailed how
a slave could be released redeemed from
bondage and in the ancient commercial
context the meaning of that term redeem
or Redemption meant to pay a ransom
price to release the captive or to
release the slave now in the spiritual
context this idea of redemption is
rooted in the idea of bringing Sinners
out of their bondage to sin and bringing
them in this into this place where they
have genuine freedom in Christ which
Jesus has bought with the shedding of
his own blood First Peter 1 18- 19 you
were not redeemed with corruptible
things like silver or gold from your
futile conduct inherited from your
forefathers but with Precious Blood as
of a lamb unblemished and spot less the
blood of Christ Ephesians 1:7 says in
him we have Redemption through his blood
the Forgiveness of our transgressions
according to the riches of his grace
other texts that relate to Redemption
and that being an aspect of uh Christ's
work on the cross is Galatians 3:13
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the
law having become a curse for us for it
is written cursed is everyone who hangs
on a tree and then first othy 2 5 and 6
says there is one God and one mediator
also between God and Men the man Christ
Jesus who gave himself as a ransom for
all the witness for this proper time
that word Ransom there the idea of
Ransom or him giving himself as a ransom
is directly connected to the concept of
redemption we are Redeemed by Jesus
giving himself as a
ransom so we've just looked at how
Jesus's death was redeeming next we're
going to to see how it was
reconciling uh reconciliation looks at
the death of Christ through the lens of
the reality of this broken and estranged
relationship between Fallen humanity and
The God Who made us it's picked up here
in Isaiah 59:2 but your iniquities have
made a separation between you and your
God and your sins have hidden his face
from you so that he does not hear and
what reconciliation highlights is how
through Jesus's death and and through
the faith that we express and and and
how he did what he did through his death
and Resurrection how that broken
relationship is now restored so that now
we boast in God through our Lord Jesus
Christ through whom we have now received
the reconciliation Romans
5:11 or 2 Corinthians 5:18 now all these
things are from God who reconciled us to
himself through Christ and gave us the
ministry of reconciliation namely that
God was in Christ reconciling the world
to himself not counting their
transgressions against them and he has
committed to
us the word of
reconciliation so because of Christ's
reconciling work on the cross God has
chosen to treat those who were once dead
in sin but have now come to him through
faith no longer as enemies are
transgressors but instead as his
children Ephesians 2:13 but now in
Christ Jesus you formerly you who
formerly were far off have been brought
near by the blood of Christ that's
language of reconciliation or Colossians
1 21- 22 and although you were formerly
alienated in enemies in mind and in evil
Deeds that sounds much like Isaiah 59
but now he reconciled you in the body of
his flesh through death in order to
present you before him holy and
blameless Beyond reproach so that's a
bit about the reconciling aspect of
Christ's death next we're going to see
and I believe this is our last one the
death of Christ was
justifying to be justified means to be
declared righteous before God it's a
Judicial term that indicates a a verdict
of of AC quiddle meaning there is no
longer any condemnation which is Romans
8 one to the letter there is therefore
now no condemnation for those who are in
Christ Jesus and how are we Justified
well through faith Romans 3:28 we
maintain that a man is justified by
faith apart from works of the law
Galatians 2:16 a man is not justified by
The Works of the law but through faith
in Jesus Christ Galatians 3:11 now that
no one is justified by the law before
God is evident for the righteous shall
live by faith so a man a woman a child
is justified by faith faith in Jesus
Christ but faith in what faith in what
he did in his life or faith in what he
did in his death I covered a little bit
about that last week you might have been
here for that where we got our answer
from scriptures like these Colossians 1
for in him all the fullness of God was
pleased to dwell and through him to
reconcile all things to himself having
made peace through what
the blood of his cross Romans 5:9 having
now been justified by his blood we shall
be saved from the the wrath of God
through him we've been justified by his
blood Hebrews 10 he said behold I have
come to do your will by this will we
have been Sanctified through the
offering of the body of Jesus Christ
once for all our justification then and
I won't bang on this drum again this
evening is is grounded not in Christ
keeping of the law on our behalf in his
life rather our justification is
grounded and rooted in his death his
shedding his Precious Blood on our
behalf his death on the
cross T again notes that Christ did not
come primarily to set us an example or
to teach us Doctrine but to die for us
the death of Christ is fundamental to the
the
gospel T you can tell I was reading a
lot of T this week says the death of
Christ for man's sin is good news it
implies that man does not need to die
for his sin the Mosaic law The Sermon on
the Mount the teaching and example of
Christ all show to us our sin and reveal
to us the need of a savior but they do
not provide the remedy for sin this
remedy is found only in the death of
Christ so the death of Christ is
fundamental to the believer's
justification to our Salvation to our
witness even as we're going to see in
these few verses the word of the cross
is foolishness to those who are
perishing but to us who are being saved
it is the power of God 1 Corinthians
1:23 we preach Christ crucified to Jews
a stumbling block and to Gentiles
foolishness but to those who are the
called both Jews and Greeks Christ the
power of God and the wisdom of God and
then last one here but may it never be
that I would boast except in the cross
of our Lord Jesus Christ through which
the world has been crucified to me and I
to the world now I have a whole another
section here I went 5 minutes late this
morning I go minutes late every Sunday
night and I have a whole another section
here that I'm sure you're going to be
intrigued by let me show you the slide
but I'm not going to teach the section
you're going to have to email me for the
slides or get them online what about the
blood as in there are all kinds of
passages that deal with the blood of
Christ what is the significance of the
blood is is there some kind of magic
magical worth that's the wrong word I
get it is there some some innate Worth
to the actual physical substance of the
blood of Christ or is it pointing to
what we've been talking about tonight
the death of Christ you'll have to wait
for another night to get my answer on
that so I'm going to conclude with this
okay with a story it's a story which I
think is going to to force
us to take all of this head knowledge that
that
we have been accumulating not just
tonight but really all summer long in
these these evening summer in the
systematics messages and really bring it
down to the Heart
level and the story that I'm going to
share with you was originally told by a
man named Henry C maybe who was a
Baptist missionary living in the late
1800s and the story centers on how the
gospel was being preached by this
missionary in the interior of South
Africa at the time in in May's day which
was sometime in the late
1800s and so this missionary is
preaching the gospel to this South
African native tribe and and the chief
of this tribe is listening intently to
what this missionaries gospel
presentation is all about and then the
chief in the middle of this presentation
asks the missionary to stop his
presentation and go back to that part
about the cross and he asks the
missionary to to to demonstrate for him
with motions and and body movement and
such that that part about the cross
again he wanted to see this visual
depiction of what Jesus the Savior would
have looked like on that cross with his
outstretched arms and that the
missionary starts to do it and starts to
to picture and to typify what that would
have looked like in in his own manner of
doing so and the chief rushes forward
crying tears streaming down his face and
he says this hold on hold
on take Jesus Christ down from the cross
take him down I say Jesus Christ does
not belong on that cross I belong on that
cross the chief was
right he belonged on that cross the
missionary belonged on that cross I
belonged on that cross you belonged on
that cross but God purposed to send his
son into the world to die on that cross
for you and for me and there is no
greater news or greater note to close on
than that amen let's pray father thank
you for the reminders this evening and
this jet tour of what your scriptures
reveal about the death of your son but
thank you for that final reminder that
ultimately the death that was that that
Christ died was in our stead in our
place as a
substitute and I pray as a church that
we would
never lose the weight of that uh God
that we would rejoice through the grace
that we've been shown and rejoice in the
Eternal hope that we have but not far
behind that would be a sense of awe in
what you did in sending your son into
this world to to die on that cross on
our behalf as the chief of that Village
indicated 150 or so years ago that
should have been me that should have
been us that should have been all of us
that should have been the whole
world but God because of your great love
with which you you showed your love to
us you sent your son your only son the
one with whom you had had perfect
fellowship and communion with in in the
godhead going back to
Eternity and all for Rebels like us and
all for wretches like us and all for the
undeserving fist shaking ingrates like
us God thank you for the cross thank you
for the death of your son may we
treasure this truth store it deep in our
hearts and and proclaim the death of
Christ to all who will give us an
audience thank you for this group there
thank you for their commitment to the
word to truth and to each other it's in
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