The Substance

Prayer for Illumination and Transformation

0:03 Now let us once again consciously acknowledge our utter dependence upon God the Holy Spirit if we would be able rightly to understand his word and particularly as we come to that which is the inner sanctuary of God's revelation of mercy to sinners and concentrate our attention today upon the significance of the immolated Lord of glory upon a Roman cross. Let us together consciously confess how dark and dull our minds are apart from the illumination of the Holy Spirit. Let us pray together.

0:51 O God, our Heavenly Father, if ever we are made to feel how much we need the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the Holy Spirit, in the knowledge of yourself, it is when we draw near to those truths which lie at the very heart of revealed religion and we pray that your spirit will come this day and do that work which he most delights to do, even taking of the things of Christ and revealing them to our hearts with clarity and with love. Amen. And with power and with moral and ethical persuasion, Lord, we would not only be informed this morning by the doctrine of Christ crucified, but by your grace working upon our minds and affections and wills, we would be transformed into the very likeness of your beloved Son. Come then, binding the powers of darkness, the darkness that would seek to press in upon us and distract our minds, keep us from the outcroppings of remaining corruption that would be stirred up

2:14 even in the exercise of contemplating Christ crucified. O may the word run and have free course and be glorified in this place this morning. Hear us as we present our earnest plea before you. In the name of your dear and only begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

2:40 Amen.

Review of the Atonement's Setting and Introduction to its Substance

2:47 We come this morning to our third study of this glorious and profound truth of the atonement made by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. In our initial study of this doctrine, I attempted to set before you the centrality of the atonement, the atonement in biblical revelation. Our study on that occasion led us to the conviction that the doctrine of the atonement is nothing less than the center of gravity in the teaching of the entire word of God. In our meditation yesterday morning, we addressed the subject of the setting of the atonement in biblical revelation. And I suggested that the analogy of a large archery target perhaps could be a helpful teaching model within which to view those biblical truths which constitute the setting of the atonement of our Lord Jesus Christ. And I want to underscore in this brief word of review that approaching the doctrine in this way is not the only way to achieve the atonement. It is the artificial construction of systematic theology.

4:14 It is the necessary fruit of taking the atonement as it comes to us in the scriptures themselves. And using that particular teaching model, I suggested that we must view the atonement as the bullseye set within these four concentric circles of revealed truth. The outer circle being the character of God in relationship to the position and condition of man. The second circle into the center, the doctrine of salvation in general.

4:56 The third circle, the doctrine of the person and position of Jesus Christ the Redeemer. And then the circle that touches every side of the bullseye, the bullseye, the doctrine, of the royal high priesthood of Jesus Christ. Now we come this morning to examine together what I am calling the substance of the doctrine of the atonement in biblical revelation. To go back to the analogy and imagery of yesterday, we're going to take the magnifying glass of scripture and hold it over the bullseye.

5:36 Now we are not cutting out the bullseye and taking it over the bullseye. We are taking it in isolation from the target. We are placing the magnifying glass upon the bullseye as it were concentrating our vision upon the bullseye, but still in our peripheral vision remembering those four outer circles which condition all that is revealed concerning the actual substance of the doctrine of the atonement. Now I'm going to take the magnifying glass and I'm using the word substance in terms of its fundamental meaning as defined in our own American dictionaries as the real or essential part of anything. The substance of something is the real or the essential part of that thing. Now with a doctrine so vast, so multifaceted, and so multilayered as that, the atonement, I can only hope to underscore in some fifty or fifty-five minutes of exposition the major aspects of this doctrine or that which constitutes its substance. Now as we

The Origin of the Atonement: The Love of the Triune God

6:58 place our magnifying glass over the bullseye, we must first of all consider briefly the origin of the atonement. Why is there a bullseye present at all? Why should there be such a thing as an atonement? What is the ultimate origin of the atoning work of Jesus Christ our Lord? Well, when we pick up our Bibles, determined to find the biblical answer to that question, the question is, is there a bullseye present at all? Well, when we pick up our Bibles, determined to find the biblical answer to that question, what is the ultimate source or origin of the atonement, we are led to see that it is nothing less than the free, unfettered, sovereign love of God to hell-deserving sinners. The origin of the atonement is nothing less, nothing more, than the free, unfettered, sovereign love of God to hell-deserving sinners. This is unquestionably declared in such passages as 1 John chapter 4

8:16 verses 9 and 10. Notice the close conjunction between the work of Christ upon the cross and the love of God, which is its origin and its source. 1 John chapter 4 verses 9 and 10. Herein was the love of God manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved, sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. And herein is love, And so the atonement of Christ, propitiation, the sacrifice which turned away the wrath of God is embedded in the love of God to sinners. The same emphasis comes through with repeated clarity in the fifth chapter of Paul's epistle to the Romans. Romans chapter 5 verses 7 and 8.

9:37 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, for peradventure for the good man someone would even dare to die, but God commendeth his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died. And here the death of Christ for us is said to be the manifestation, the commendation. Of the preceding love of God to us. And though the emphasis in scripture falls primarily upon the love of the Father as the seat and embodiment of the Godhead in the sending of the Son. We must not view the atonement as exclusively the love of the Father in the sending of the Son. John 3.6 God so loved that he gave his Son, but we must understand that there was a confluence in the heart of the triune God.

10:52 A confluence of eternal, sovereign, free, electing love that was shared not only by the Father, but by the Son and the Spirit. For the scripture points us to the love of the Son. The Son in giving himself up to the death of the cross. Ephesians 5 and verse 25.

11:18 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself up for it. Or earlier in that fifth chapter of Ephesians, chapter 5 verses 1 and 2. Be ye therefore. Be ye therefore imitators of God as beloved children and walk in love.

11:45 And here's the standard of that love. Even as Christ also loved you and gave himself up for us and offering and a sacrifice to God for an odor of a sweet smell. And so the emphasis falls in these passages upon the love of the Son. In giving himself up to death for us or in the language of the opening words of Ephesians 5.

12:17 Giving himself as a sacrifice for our sins. And there is also an emphasis, albeit not as dominant or as explicit, but nonetheless real. Upon the love of the Spirit in upholding and supporting the Son in his work. Of sacrifice and oblation for sin.

12:44 One of the great promises in the servant of Jehovah passages is found in Isaiah chapter 42 and verse 1. Isaiah 42 and verse 1. Behold my servant whom I uphold. My chosen in whom my soul delights.

13:06 I have put my spirit. My spirit upon him. He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles. He will not cry nor lift up his voice nor cause it to be heard in the street.

13:20 A bruised reed will he not break. In a dimly burning wick will he not quench. He will bring forth justice in truth. He will not fail nor be discouraged till he has set justice in the earth.

13:37 In other words. The mission of the servant of Jehovah is secured of success because Jehovah says I will put my spirit upon him to uphold him in all that pertains to his mission. So when we see the same servant of Jehovah in chapter 52, 13 through chapter 53 suffering, bearing the iniquities of others, pouring out his. His soul unto death, we must see in this activity, not only the love of the Father in sending him, the love of the servant of Jehovah in obedience to the Father and in love for his sheep laying down his life, but the love of the Spirit in upholding and supporting him so that we come in the New Testament to a text such as Hebrews 9, 14. Speaking of Christ. Who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot unto God.

14:49 Now why is it important to emphasize the origin of the atonement in the love of the triune God for this simple reason as we study the doctrine of the atonement, we inevitably come to such concepts as propitiation. Propitiation and reconciliation and propitiation has to do with the turning away of the wrath of God towards sinners. Reconciliation has to do with the removal of the enmity and God's heart towards sinful men and whatever the biblical doctrines of propitiation and reconciliation are. We must never, never think. That. That.

15:39 That the atonement. Secured the love of God by propitiation and reconciliation. We must never think. That the atonement constrained the love of God, but rather.

15:55 It was the love of God which constrained and secured the atonement. And it is for that reason. That we must clearly understand. That the atonement.

16:08 Has its origin in nothing other than the same free unfettered sovereign love that chose a people in Christ before the foundation of the world. This very love set upon a multitude of hell deserving sinners. Which in its infinite wisdom planned and executed a way of salvation. Consistent with the demands of burning holiness and inflexible justice.

16:45 It was the way of atoning sacrifice by the incarnate God. Many of you no doubt have read that classic work of Dr. Packers evangelism and the sovereignty of God. And you remember that fascinating little statement when he's talking about methods of evangelism.

17:05 And he says we don't need to have a list of all kinds of prescribed methods. He says love for sinners is enterprising. Love will find a channel by which to express itself. And may I say it reverently.

17:23 It was the free. The unfettered sovereign infinite eternal love of God. That was enterprising. So enterprising.

17:34 That it took infinite wisdom to conceive a way in which that love could cut a path to hell deserving sinners. And leave unstained the infinite purity of God. And undiluted justice of God. This is why the theologians emphasize again and again.

18:02 That all the attributes of God. In their full and glorious spectrum. Find most profound display. In the doctrine of Christ crucified.

Personal Application: The Personal Nature of God's Love

18:19 Now before we move from this first heading. Of the origin of the atonement in the love of God. Let me say by way of personal and pastoral application. That you and I must come to see.

18:38 That though this love is strong enough. To triumph over that vast mountain of human sin. Accumulated by all of the elect through all of the ages. And though it is wise enough to conceive a plan of salvation.

18:58 Consistent with holiness and justice. And though it is vast enough to include a multitude. Whom no man can number. Out of every kindred tribe and nation.

19:13 High and wide and vast. It is essentially personal love. The apostle Paul could say. The son of God.

19:27 Who loved and gave himself for me. And the apex of true Christian experience. As far as the inner heart. Rightly conceiving of the origin of the atonement.

19:47 Is found when we can say. Not by merely parroting the language of Galatians 2.20. But by a conviction born.

19:58 Of the inward illumination of the spirit. The son of God. Who gave himself for me. Having then contemplated briefly the origin.

The Essence of the Atonement: Substitutionary Curse-Bearing

20:16 Of the atonement. Let us now pick up our magnifying glass again. And place it over the bull's eye. And contemplate.

20:26 What will be really the heart of my message today. The essence. Of the atonement. What is the very heart.

20:36 The central element. Of the atonement. With all of its many forms. With its many faceted glory.

20:45 Its multi-layered realities. What is the very pith. What is the heart. Of this work.

20:55 Accomplished by Christ. Well to state it in the simplest. And yet most accurate terms. That I know to use.

21:04 Its essence is nothing more or less. Than substitutionary. Curse bearing. Substitutionary.

21:18 Curse bearing. Now because those words are so vital. As the distillation of the teaching of scripture. Let me take some time to explain them.

Defining 'Substitutionary': In the Place of Another

21:31 What do I mean by the use of the word. Substitutionary. The most frequently used synonym is vicarious. But we don't use.

21:43 Vicarious. You guys that play ball. And you girls. You don't say to the coach.

21:48 Can I go in as a vicar for Johnny. You'd say a vicar. What do you want to become. An Anglican clergyman.

21:54 What do you mean a vicar. Well you see a vicar. Is one who stands in the stead of another. But what you say to the coach.

22:02 Is coach. Can I go in as Johnny's. Substitute. You don't come home from school.

22:08 And tell your mom. When she said. How did things go today. We had a ball today.

22:12 We had a vicar. For a teacher. No. What you say is.

22:16 We had a. Substitute. We got away with murder. Now I hope that isn't true.

22:20 But alas. So often it is. You figure the substitute doesn't know too much. And so you try to pull the wool over her eyes.

22:27 And so often. Unless human nature has radically changed. The poor substitute. She gets it.

22:33 So the word substitute. Is a word we use far more frequently. So when we contemplate. The essence of the doctrine of the atonement.

22:41 We must view it. As substitutionary. That is. What Jesus Christ did.

22:45 He did not simply do. For. But he did. In.

22:49 Instead. He did. In our place. When the substitute teacher shows up on Tuesday morning.

22:53 She is there. In place. Of your regular teacher. She looks at her lesson.

22:59 And she says. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

23:04 I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

23:08 I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

23:12 I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

23:16 I'm sorry. She looks at her lesson book. She looks at the schedule. And she does.

23:20 In the place. Of your regular teacher. As far as is possible. And as far as.

23:24 You'll let her do it. What. The other teacher. Would have done.

23:28 When the guy. Out there. On the ball field. Soccer field.

23:32 Football field. Baseball field. For one reason or another. Is injured.

23:37 Or is not producing. And the coach says. All right. Johnny.

23:41 You go in for Hank. And he goes in. As the substitute. He goes to the precise position to accomplish precisely the functions that the other man was accomplishing, whether he's a center forward, whether he's right fielder, whether he's forward point guard or center on the basketball court.

24:02 As a substitute, he is not simply doing something for another, he is doing something in the room, in the stead, in the place of another. Now you say, Pastor Martin, you're talking to us like we're fourth graders, we got the point, move on. My friend, listen to me, miss this point and you've missed the biblical doctrine of the atonement. And I would rather appear as a fool and as one who perhaps is insulting your intelligence a little bit than miss this point.

Biblical Proof for Substitution: 'Anti' and 'Huper'

24:39 The very essence of that doctrine which is the nerve center and the center of gravity of the Bible. Its very essence is bound up in understanding the concept of substitution. Now where is this taught in scripture? Well it is taught in those passages where Jesus Christ is said to be or to do something and then a Greek preposition is used, anti, the English transliteration A-N-T-I.

25:14 In the place and in the place. In the room of another. In Matthew 20, 28, Jesus said, The Son of Man did not come to serve, did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life, now follow closely, to give his life, anti, in the place of substitute for many. Matthew 20 and verse 28, now that's the same construction that is found in Matthew 2 and verse 22 and here the meaning is obvious to everyone, but when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea, notice how it's translated, in the room of his father. Those words in the room are a translation of the one little preposition. Anti.

26:27 Archelaus was governor, anti, in the room of. And Jesus said he came to give his life a ransom, not in order that he might do something for many, on the behalf of many, but in the very room of many.

26:57 And not only do we understand the concept of substitution from the use of this preposition, anti. But there's another preposition used frequently in the New Testament pertaining to the death of Christ. It's the Greek preposition huper, H-U-P-E-R, transliterated into English. And there are some places where the preposition huper simply means to do something for another.

27:26 Will you please get my glass of water for me? Which someone, very kindly, did. But you don't talk while you're drinking it. And there are many things in Scripture where people are said to do something huper for others.

27:52 But there are certain contexts where the use of that little huper has the same force as anti. It can only mean in the room and in the stead. Turn to Philemon and verse 13 for one such example. Now this means some careful Bible study.

28:16 And if your soul isn't worth it, if you want to be carried along by the preacher's fire, and when you're asked to study, you're lazy, you deserve to be led astray in the truth of God's word.

28:30 And so I make no apologies for asking you to think and follow as I try to establish from the word of God the concept of substitution. Paul is writing to his dear friend Philemon. And he says with reference to his runaway slave Onesimus, who was converted under Paul's ministry there at Rome. Now he says this, verse 13.

28:55 Whom, speaking of Onesimus, I would fain have kept with me, that in thy behalf minister unto me in the bonds of the gospel. He said, I would love to have kept Onesimus, Onesimus with me, you my friend Philemon, you're there at Colossae, but our mutual friend now, this converted runaway slave Onesimus, he's with me, and I would love to have kept him with me, so that in your room instead, he would be able to do to me and for me what you would do if you were there. You see the concept of substitution and the preposition who pair is used. It has the same force. It has anti. And we find the same thing in John 11 and verse 50. John 11 and verse 50.

29:54 We read in John 11 and verse 50. A priest making a prophecy though unknown to himself, nor do you take account that it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people and that the whole nation, perish not. If this rabble rouser continues to stir up trouble, why the Romans will come and the whole nation will suffer, but if we punish him in our place, we will be relieved of the frown and of the judgment of Rome. There who pair has the force of anti, of substitution. And it is that very construction used in some of the most rich, passages on the atonement in the New Testament. Let me quote just three of them quickly. We read in 2 Corinthians 5.15 and 5.21.

31:01 We thus judge that if one died for who pair or for.

31:11 You see his dying for all was of such a nature that the all are reckoned is dead. He did not simply die. On their behalf, he so died as their substitute that his death is to be reckoned their death. Nothing but strict substitution will do justice to the language of 2 Corinthians 5.15.

31:39 Likewise with verse 21. He, God, has made him, Jesus, sin for us in our place as our substitute. That we might be made the righteousness of God in him. And 1 Peter 3.18, which speaks of Jesus Christ giving himself for us the just in the room and in the stead of the unjust. Now why have I taken this much time to establish the concept of substitution? For the simple reason, dear people, that this is the very end. This is the very essence.

The Levitical System and Substitutionary Curse-Bearing

32:22 This is the pulse beat of the biblical doctrine of atonement. Surely, this was the central reality conveyed in the whole Levitical system. When you came as a worshiper in the old covenant and you desired to bring a sin offering, you had to take a lamb, not from your neighbor's flock, but from your own flock. Something that, in a sense, was a part of you.

32:53 You had fed it and cared for it. And you would carry that lamb up to the appointed place, the tabernacle or the temple. And then you had personally, not just to touch, the Hebrew words for laying on of the hands speak of a laying on of the hands that was deliberate. An act of conscious transferal of guilt.

33:17 You would lay your hands upon the head, on the head of that animal. And then the animal would be slain. The animal in a sense had become your substitute. And now your substitute was taken away by violent death.

33:36 And then you would watch as the blood was presented by the priest and the carcass placed upon the altar and consumed with fire. And if you had any spiritual perception at all, what would you understand? As an old covenant worshipper, you would understand the doctrine of substitutionary curse bearing. I am not saying that you would have looked ahead and known that the servant of Jehovah and Messiah would be the embodiment of all that truth.

34:10 I am not saying that. There is no biblical warrant to affirm that. But there is biblical warrant to affirm that every believer, every believing Israelite with any spiritual illumination, understood when he laid his hands upon the innocent victim, the principle of strict substitution. I deserve death for my sin.

34:36 I deserve the consuming fire of God's wrath. My lamb, my pigeon, my dove, dies the death of brutality with its head wrung off or its throat slit. It is now consumed by the fire of God upon his altar in priestly presentation. And surely that came to its apex in the day of atonement when the entire nation, as it were, held its breath while the hands of the high priest were placed upon the scapegoat.

35:16 And over that scapegoat were pronounced the sins of the people and he was driven away into the wilderness. What was God doing in all of this but underscoring the principle that when we think of divinely instituted sacrifice, divinely instituted atonement, strict substitution lies at its heart and take away to sin and what is left is not a shred of biblical atonement. But now I've said it was substitutionary curse bearing. And what do I mean by those words? We usually use the word curse as a synonym for swearing. Someone uses bad language. We say he curses and he swears.

Defining 'Curse-Bearing': The Wrath of God and Death

36:13 What do I mean by the terminology curse bearing? Well, I mean precisely this. The Word of God says the soul that sins shall die. Again, the Word of God says the wages of sin is death.

36:34 And again, cursed is everyone who continues not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. Sparing means the bearing of the just wrath of God against sin, the wages of which is death. And the essence of death is separation. And the heart of that separation of death is the separation of the soul from God.

37:14 Now there is a real sense in which our Lord's entire life of humiliation and suffering was an aspect of vicarious substitutionary sin bearing. John 1.29 says Behold the Lamb of God who is present participle bearing away the sin of the world. There are some theologians such as Turretin and others who make much of this aspect.

37:52 I personally believe too much of it is speculative. But there is an element of truth that the entire life of our Lord Jesus is a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. One who knew brokenness of heart. Who knew what it was to work by the sweat of his brow.

38:14 His entire life of humiliation in one sense was substitutionary cursing. However the scripture makes it abundantly clear that in a very unique and special sense his curse bearing reached its concentrated intensity and its crushing climax in the actual events of the cross. Now I've chosen my words carefully. I'm looking more at what I've premeditated and written than in any other of my sessions with you because precision is so vital.

38:58 In a unique and special sense his curse bearing reached its concentrated intensity and its crushing climax in the actual events of the cross. How do we know this? Turn to Galatians 3 and verse 13. Galatians chapter 3 and verse 13.

39:26 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law and don't let anyone tell you he's redeemed us from the authority of the law. As long as of his character and of man's duty God can know from whence it came. If you base can know from the authority and the standard of the law from his holiness and his justice as long as and man is man

40:51 it is man's duty to love God with all his heart, mind, soul and strength to love his neighbor as himself and to love both God and neighbor in the categories of explicit moral law in the ten commandments expanded in the Old and the New Testaments in one glorious unified biblical ethic and I challenge any man to support a system of ethics on any other base. But now notice Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law having become a curse for us as our substitute. Now notice for it is written here's how we know it Christ is everyone that hangeth on a tree. It is the hanging tree that is the affirmation of the accursedness. And so when I affirm that there was concentrated intensity

42:20 and crushing climax in the work of substitutionary curse bearing upon the cross it is a text like Galatians 3.13 that drives me to that affirmation. 1 Peter 2 and verse 24 Christ here is being set forth as the example and the pattern of his people and Peter speaking of our blessed Lord says 1 Peter 2 and verse 24 who his own self borne in his body upon the tree. The bearing sin has its climactic expression up to and upon the tree. And this is why the New Testament is full of such language we have redemption through His blood. He has reconciled us through the blood of His cross reconciled by His death and I could multiply the texts.

Gethsemane and Golgotha: The Unveiling of Curse-Bearing

43:40 So I would plead with you not to be distracted by speculative theology. Look in the direction of that element of truth to which I have alluded. But it is in the actual events of the cross that the curse bearing finds its concentrated intensity and its crushing climax. Now it is this fact and this fact alone substitutionary curse bearing which enables us to make any sense out of the events of Gethsemane and on to Golgotha.

44:24 If we never see beyond the terrible kiss of betrayal of Judas if we never see beyond the sham puppet court before the heathen and before the religious leaders if we never see beyond the touching at some points and at other points provoking scenes of the spittle upon His holy face the mock coronation with the purple robe and the crown of thorns my dear people if we never see beyond Roman soldiers and foul spittle upon His beard if we never see beyond the nails which impaled Him and the ropes which probably held Him if we never see beyond the things we have never understood the heart of the cross what was it that He faced in Gethsemane under the imagery of the cup something which when He faced caused such a spiritual agony that it says He sweat as it were great drops of blood falling to the ground what was there in the cup that was presented to Him that caused not only

45:53 such intense agony but may I say it right reverently caused a volcanic eruption of the will of the God-man three times He prayed O my Father if it be possible let this cup pass if there is any way to keep my feet firmly planted in the road of obedience but bypass the cup O my Father if it be possible let the cup pass nevertheless O the mystery of it not my will here was human holy sanctified will in Jesus that is coming into volcanic eruption in apparent discrepancy to the will of the Father if it be possible my will that I should avoid the cup nevertheless not my will but thine be done what could it be that for the first time from His conception when leaving heaven He said lo I come in the roll of the book

47:21 it is written of me to do thy will O my God what could it be when in the soul of Him who said my meat and drink is to do the will of Him that sent me O my dear men and women boys and girls what could there be in the cup when for the first time in His experience as the theanthropic person the God-man there was this volcanic eruption of the human will of Jesus in the face of the divine will of His Father I'll tell you what it was that cup was full of the unleashed fury of Almighty God God of burning holiness God of inflexible justice the stuff of which that cup was made was these very attributes of God in the outer circle of our target that we examined yesterday and within that cup was the full measure of the unleashed fury of omnipotence when God as holy judge would deal with sin without one gram of mercy mixed in the cup and what would that mean for Jesus

48:46 exactly what it will mean for you if you die impenitent it meant the full fury of the wrath of God drunk into the depths of the soul the felt horror of abandonment the felt pain of utter rejection by God no wonder He cried if it be possible let this cup pass for in the language of the hymn writer death and the curse were in our cup O Christ t'was full for thee you see unless you understand that the heart of the atonement is substitutionary curse bearing Gethsemane is a mystery that has no answer and surely as Hugh Martin has so perceptibly and beautifully penned in his book the shadow of Calvary it is from the moment of his apprehension in Gethsemane that Jesus Christ appears outwardly in one capacity only if you had been a stranger flown into Jerusalem

50:12 on a 747 into Jerusalem and appeared on the streets of Jerusalem moments after Jesus was apprehended and you saw this crowd of soldiers making their way out of the garden retreat surrounded by a mob you would have watched every event as He went from the religious authorities to the civil authorities Herod and Pilate and back again to Pilate and if you watched as He went from there and marched out toward that place called Golgotha and saw His cross placed upon the back of a stranger who is passing by you would have seen Jesus in one capacity only a guilty condemned felon worthy to die the most ignominious and shameful death used by the Roman government at that time you would have beheld Him stripped naked for the sake of delicacy the artist paint Him with a loincloth crucifixion is that there was no would have concluded this man is the foulest of criminals

51:41 who dies His just death between fellow criminals why did God allow such events there in the theatre of human relationships observable by human eyes I'll tell you why as Hugh Martin again has pointed out God was engineering all of the events in the visible to demonstrate what was transpiring in the court of the invisible what was happening in the theatre of men was a portrayal visibly tangibly sensibly could be seen and touched and felt and heard until any sensitive man or woman would have either turned away in horror or vomited in the face of such brutality why did God permit an engineer such horrible events for those last hours of His only begotten Son that we might not miss the message the heart of His work upon the cross was indeed precisely in the court of heaven what He appeared to be in the theatre of earth

53:08 God had charged Him with our sins He with the charge and the imputation and layings He bore His cross laid in with our sins He was impaled upon the cross laid in with our sins He was lifted up upon the cross then as though God is determined to get the message through He does one more thing He takes an inky black cloth an inky black curtain and He stretches it from the eastern to the western horizon and at noonday He plunges the entire world in a darkness like the darkness of Egypt that could be felt why? because the other side of that inky black veil the court of heaven is set the books are opened and all the sins of all of the people of God of all the ages are now put to the record of the Son and when God comes forth as a righteous judge

54:36 to sit upon His throne He comes in the fury and in the anger and in the least hatred of His burning holiness against human sin Jesus Christ who is in touch with that great reality of the court of heaven who never spoke a word of complaint in the human theater He was as a lamb before her shearers dumb He opened not His mouth there was no word of complaint there was no word of question but when His soul in the court of heaven laden with the sins of mankind when that soul becomes the receptacle of the unleashed fury of God to change the imagery back to the garden when the cup He dreaded is now held to His lips and He opens His mouth and He begins to drink and drink and drink and drink as He drinks and feels in the depths of His soul the abandonment which human sin deserved then the cry is rung from the depths of His being a cry which I always feel

56:02 it is almost blasphemous to repeat but surely it can be no sin to quote scripture my God my God eternity unfleshed Word dwelt face to face with God inner Trinitarian delight and communion the theanthropic God-man from Mary's womb to this point as a little boy a young adolescent a young man a mature man throughout the entirety of that life history as the theanthropic person there was never a waking moment when He did not know delightful communion with His Father He said by Lazarus' tomb I know that thou hearest me always what He felt in those hours dear people was a phenomenon never known in eternity it was God forsaken

57:30 by God one of the persons of the infinitely blessed Trinity feeling from the light and the comfort and the joy of communion with another person in the ever blessed Trinity why it was substitutionary curse bearing when He cried why have you forsaken Me that's the forsakenness that will be the issue when He says in the last day depart from Me you accursed ones I was the accursed one I was by My Father but you treated your sin lightly you treated My death lightly you is substitutionary curse bearing

58:53 a thing of what I depart from Me no light of the atonement and in the blackened heavens and in the cry of dereliction God is telling us this is My attitude to sin for if ever God would be lenient to sin surely surely when His own beloved Son is bearing the sin and follow Jesus was never more loved of the Father than when He was most cursed what a mystery Jesus said every act of obedience increased the Father's love of God of complacency He said therefore doth My Father love Me why because I lay down My life succeeding act of obedience on the part of Jesus increased the Father's love of complacency

The Priestly Dimension of Christ's Sacrifice

60:21 when was that obedience brought to its culmination He was obedient even unto the death of the cross therefore He was never more loved than when He was most abandoned oh the mystery of the cross never more loved while being cursed and there is an aspect of biblical truth that I must not pass over but touch upon in closing while we've looked upon the passages that emphasize the activity of the Father as the judge upon the throne Christ as the surety and substitute upon the cross those passages Isaiah 53 it pleased the Lord to bruise Him it pleased the Lord to make Him an offering for sin those passages emphasize what we might call the strictly forensic or legal dimensions of the substitutionary curse bearing of Christ but now follow there is not only a legal dimension there is a priesthood a priestly dimension now you go back to the target you remember what I said the last circle that touches on every side of the atonement was Christ's royal priesthood

61:47 His office as a royal priest and in the death of Jesus He was not only the victim's slave not only the submissive servant of Jehovah bruised by Jehovah but oh pray God to quicken your mind and open your eyes to grasp this amazing dimension of Biblical truth He was also in those mysterious hours He was the high priest who was both a priest ministering and the sacrifice being offered listen to the language of the book of Hebrews to establish this so clearly Hebrews 9 and verse 14 it says that Jesus Christ through the eternal spirit offered offered himself well how could He be impaled upon the cross and still be an offerer my friend there were two courts a theater upon earth and a court in heaven but something else in heaven according to Hebrews there is a tabernacle in heaven not made with hands and there was a sanctuary in heaven not made with hands

63:14 and there was a holiest of holies in heaven not made with hands and though it was impossible due to His true humanity for Jesus to come down from the cross and set up an altar and as it were lay Himself upon the altar as an object lesson the Bible teaches that though the limitations of His true humanity precluded a visible demonstration in the scriptures it's made abundantly clear that He was priest upon that cross and as priest He was not passive He was actively by the joyful act of His own will offering Himself up unto God saying in essence O Holy Father though I feel the pangs of Your unleashed fury I worship You in the holiness that demands such a price I worship You in the unstained justice that demands such a payment I worship You in Your infinite love that will not in any ways cast aspersions upon Your holiness and justice O my Father accept the offering I bind myself with cords to the horns of the altar consume me

64:40 to magnify Your holiness consume me to magnify Your justice consume me consume me but O my Father do not stain Your glory by passing over sin without curse bearing do not stain Your honor do not lessen the demands of Your law do not stain the standard of Your righteousness for Your law has said cursed is everyone who continues not and as I represent all those whom You've given to me unleash the fury of Your anger let it consume me but O my Father let Your glory be vindicated may I say it reverently the highest act of worship ever perpetrated upon earth was the worship of the high priest upon Calvary's cross O may God the Holy Ghost give us eyes to see it hearts to feel it spirits to be paralyzed by the sheer wonder and the glory of it hearts draw by its beauty

66:06 but repair by its light the wonder that all that he did was voluntary when he prayed in Gethsemane not my will but thine be done he didn't mean thy will be done upon me he meant thy will be done by me and you know how he confirmed that when they came forth to take him you remember what they said who's Jesus where's Jesus he said I am he and what happened the soldiers fell to the ground Jesus as it were pulled back the veil of who he was just a moment of time and he was saying in essence if you come to apprehend me I'll tell you who I am I can strike you to the ground with a word I am he and they fell to the ground paralyzed when they rose up and bound him they knew he was not bound by their cords he was bound by his own voluntary will and everything from there to his final dismissal of his spirit was a high priestly act he was both offerer and offering well I had hoped to underscore some of the other dimensions of his atonement

Concluding Exhortation: The Seriousness of Sin and the Call to Holiness

67:34 but here I must stop and perhaps we'll take them up tomorrow but may I say in my concluding word if God takes sin so seriously to conceive such a profound and glorious mystery as substitutionary curse bearing my dear people what does it say if you treat your sin lightly you have no sympathy with God at all oh you who think of sin but lightly hear hear hear its guilt may estimate death and the curse were in thy cup oh Christ was full for thee but thou hast drained the last dark drop tis empty now for me that bitter cup love drank it up now blessings draft for me Jehovah bade his sword awake oh Christ it woke against thee Jehovah lifted up his rod oh Christ on thee oh my dear friend

69:03 have you seen your sin in the light of the cross in the light of the cross in the light of the dying of the Son of God his true substitutionary curse bearing the validity of his cry it is finished was validated by his open tomb there's no excuse for any man or woman boy or girl this morning to go out of this building laden with your sins in the light of that display of substitutionary curse bearing for what he did is adequate for the vilest of sinners and is sincerely offered to all sinners without discrimination in the gospel and child of God God have mercy on you if you ever think if he made so great and full an atonement then surely I shouldn't be too concerned about sin that doctrine of the atonement which speciously plays up Christ crucified as an excuse for a sloppy life is turning the grace of God into lasciviousness and I believe God has a special furnace in hell for those who take the cross as a gateway into a careless life if you're one of them

70:30 repent about the preciousness of Jesus until you vomit out your sin and find Christ crucified the greatest power and motive for a holy life let us pray oh God our heavenly father why should we be privileged to contemplate the very mysteries that angels desire to look into what can we say love so amazing so divine demands yea Lord shall have my life my all oh seal your word seal your word make sin odious make the savior precious for his dear name's sake Amen