The Atonement

Why was it necessary for Jesus to die on the cross. The grounds of the necessity for Christ offering payment and satisfaction for our sins, was to be found in the character of God himself.

The reason why an atonement was necessary. Dear friends, is because God is just another lose the addition of renewed your mind and we went there many opinions out there about God. Some view him as a cosmic grandfather who was obligated to provide her need. They maintain that he forgives everyone though conditions what they forget, though, is that God is holy is righteous and just and we are not Dr. RC Sproul on the atonement. Last week we looked at the narrative of the execution of Jesus by way of my normal method of biblical exposition, but I mentioned that this week I would depart from Latin focus on the theological interpretation of the meaning of the cross again. I mentioned last week that anyone who was say an eyewitness of that offense would likely not understand what was taking place in the cosmic realm that day that was left for the apostles in their epistles to give to us that added Revelation of the meaning of the significance of the death of Jesus we remember the Paul announced that he was determined to know nothing, but Christ and him crucified. That is Paul's focus was on the cross.

And, of course, that statement was something of hyperbole, which is a literary form of intentional exaggeration in order to make a point but really is not too far is an exaggeration that we know Paul knew other things besides the cross. Nevertheless, all that he knew and all that he taught had its convergence in that central message of what took place that day on the cross.

Remember my first your seminary were student in our class in preaching, gave a moving and eloquent sermon on the substitutionary satisfaction view of the atonement.

And in that class on preaching. It was customary when the student finished for the professor of homiletics to give a critique and the idea was to be a constructive critique on the art of preaching, but that they, the professor was furious and he glared at the student, and he said how dare you preach the substitutionary satisfactory view of the atonement in this day and age. I heard that and I was thinking within myself.

How dare this professor question the legitimacy of preaching on the satisfaction substitutionary view of the atonement. What is it in this day and age that makes this central understanding of the cross.

Suddenly no longer acceptable and I mused on that for many years to come because we talk about the satisfaction substitutionary view of the atonement were trying to answer the question what really happened there on the cross and one of the questions that attends that question is the question. Was Jesus's death on the cross really necessary at all.

And there've been different answers to that question throughout church history early on the Palladian's taught the Jesus death and atonement was not necessary at all that God could have redeemed his people by many different ways. He simply could have waved his wand of mercy and grace and announced his pardon on sinners without such a grisly method of execution.

Others took an intermediate position saying that the cross was hypothetically necessary, but not absolutely necessary, was only necessary because the God had many ways he could have done it from all eternity. He chose to do it this way, and was in agreement with his sonnet and with the Holy Spirit to reconcile the world by way of an atoning death, and so the atonement was not necessary. De facto, it was not necessary. Does your that is literally that it was necessary, de facto, that is because an agreement had been reached. A covenant had been made between the father and the Simon wants that covenant was made, it had to be carried out within the third view, which is the classic Orthodox Christian view is that the atoning death of Jesus was absolutely necessary. We reach back in time to one of the greatest thinkers God ever bless the church with the philosopher, theologian St. Anselm of Canterbury, whose little book cur Deus Homo is become a Christian classic in that little book that is really a question is translated by the words why the God man, and in that little book, Anselm spelled out the reasons why the cross was absolutely necessary in the grounds of the necessity for Christ offering payment and satisfaction for our sins, was to be found in the character of God himself.

The reason why an atonement was necessary.

Dear friends, is because God is just because God is righteous and because God is holy but we lost sight of the character of God in our age we conceive of God is some Celeste Teal grandfather, a cosmic bellhop who was on duty 24 seven to give us all of our needs and we allow the love of God to swallow up his justice to swallow up his righteousness, and to obscure his holiness and we think that not only will God forgive all of our sins without an atonement, but we believe that he must do it. If he's really going to be good and loving net of the other side of that coin always stands his holy, righteous justice that must be satisfied. Remember the story of Abraham in the Old Testament where he got word that God was about to bring judgment upon Sodom and Gomorrah which cities clearly invited that judgment from God and Abraham was concerned about the few innocent folks there in those cities that might possibly be punished along with the guilty and so he raised the question to God. Lord's will you punish the innocent of the righteous with the guilty reply was God for bid God.

Whatever do such a thing and then the statement came out of that narrative will not the judge of all of the earth do what is right to ask that question dear friends, is to answer because the God of heaven and earth doesn't know how to do anything except that which is right, the God of heaven and earth has never done anything that is wrong now. According to our sensibilities. There are times in the Scriptures that we object to watch God does. I've told you before when I was in my first year as a Christian as a college student and I was reading the Old Testament that I used to paste the halls of my college dormitory long into the night, three, 4 o'clock in the morning because I never heard of this God that was being revealed to me in the Old Testament, and all I can remember from that is thinking that while if I'm to be a Christian.

I'm in a have to be a Christian because God place for keeps.

If you don't believe that women just direct your attention to one passage in the Old Testament when God delivered his law to Moses after he had rescued his people from slavery and the focus of that law was a prohibition against idolatry and while Moses was speaking with God on the mountain. Aaron and the people made for themselves a golden calf, and worshiped. Do you think that was the last time that happened in church history, that's our propensity is to exchange the God of heaven and earth for an idol and fashion for ourselves a God who requires no satisfaction who requires no payment for sin day and age where we preach that God loves all people unconditionally who in the world needs an atonement. You do an idea because the righteousness and the justice of God must be satisfied when we look at the concept of the atonement in the New Testament is not monochromatic.

I use like to use the metaphor of a gorgeous tapestry that is woven by several strands and I don't even have time this morning even touch on some of the strands that the New Testament uses to describe what took place on the cross.

One of the major themes in the New Testament is the theme of reconciliation.

The Christ is the reconciliation for us in one of the things of course that is absolutely necessary for reconciliation to take place anywhere is a previous estrangement because parties that are not estranged have no need of reconciliation. I gave a message many years ago in the University to the atheist club and invited me to speak their and they wanted to hear my case for the existence of God, and I gave it to them and after I was finished with that to part of the message I said, I'm happy to deal with these intellectual issues that come up is what you have to know I'm coming from. I believe that for you. The issue of the existence of God is not an intellectual issue at all. It's a moral issue. Your problem is not that you don't know that God exists. Your problem is you hate the God whom you know does exist why that's the closest I ever came to being tarred and feathered. I was lucky to get out there with my life. They were vehement in their denials and practice.

We don't take God what the word of God is the truth of God than by nature, dear friends, we are his enemies. We are at war with him. We despise him we don't get angry at the Golden calf. If we create a new God, then we can live in comfort without God, but the biblical God is the object of our wrath of such a degree that the Scripture says we will not have him in our thinking. That's where the estrangement is that's where we are at war with God. That's where we are at enmity with God, and that enmity was mediated for us on the cross so that Christ became an enemy of the father to satisfy your hostility and your and mentee toward him. Another dimension about which the New Testament describes the cross, the atonement is the dimension of ransom earlier in our study of Mark's gospel we read where Jesus said that he did not come in the world to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. And because of that statement and others. The church is developed what's called the ransom theory of the atonement.

In fact there there's more than one ransom theory of the atonement. There's a good when there's a bad one. The bad one that is popular in some circles is the idea that Jesus paid a ransom to Satan.

After all, Satan is the prince of the part of the Eric, the prince of this world. He holds us captive and hostage in a sense he is kidnapped, the people of God, and now demands payments or ransom for our release and so Jesus makes a deal with the devil he pays him what he wants to purchase our freedom from them. No no no no in that case, the cross would not represent Christus Victor Butts of Thomas Victor Satan would be the winner. He would get the payment in enjoy it forever. There is a ransom paid their friends but is not paid to Satan is paid to the father that has been incurred to him that has to be paid now. We think of the New Testament speaking that we are debtors to God and not only are we mildly in that but that we are hopelessly in debt and the way in which the New Testament sets it forth is that we are debtors who can't possibly pay their debt we have and I know you that can never be redeemed.

But there's different ways to understand that concept of… Tell the story of the little boy who goes to the ice cream store and he asks for an ice cream cone with two scoops of ice cream and when the lady behind the counter hands.

The little boy the cone. She says that will be two dollars. The boy's face sinks each crestfallen his lip begins to tremble. He said, but my mommy only gave me one and 1/2 for what you do if you're watching that transaction. You know what you do you reach your hand in your pocket and you get out the dollar bill and handed the lady nisei year. This is legal tender pain with little boys that we all can go home happy and she has to accept that payment because it's a pecuniary payment of monetary payment. Commercial debt, but that's not the kind that that were in here the debt that we have before God is not that we owe him money that we can't pay its immoral debts is a moral obligation that he is imposed upon us, which we have not paid. Now we turn the story around with a little boy now we come to the ice cream store and he said I like that ice cream cone with two scoops in the lady comes in hands and the ice cream cone and she says that'll be two dollars. He sticks his tongue out outer runs out the door doesn't pay or anything and she's chasing them yelling stop thief and little boy runs right in the arms of the patrolman is walking down the block. He grabs the boy by the scruff of the neck brings them back into the shop that was going on here in the lady said that Borges told to dollars worth of ice cream and I'm watching that I reach my pocket. I take out two dollars instead of one. I say look like everybody settle down here. Here's the two dollars no harm no foul. Let the boy go now does the owner have to accept it. Absolutely not, because now a crime has been committed.

Now a moral debt has been incurred and a policeman can look at me and my two dollars and look at the woman in the store inside. You want to press charges and the storekeeper has that option on this occasion I was God we have a moral debt and even when his son pays the debt as our substitute when he pays the debt vicariously.

The father does not have to accept that it's the fact that the debt is paid means that justice is satisfied. The fact that the father accepts the payment expresses his mercy and his grace. That is, the apostle says he may be both just and just the fire of his people. The justices there in so far as Christ paid what was required. The God was implying was a text I read indicated the son of God was forsaken completely forsaken, as Paul uses the other metaphor later in Galatians, he was cursed by God. He became a curse to fulfill the law of the Old Testament because all who break the law of God, all who sin are exposed to the curse of God's wrath missive.

That's not fair. As I mentioned last week, once Christ willingly took upon himself. Your sin in my scene God and play games. He punished him to the fullest extent of the law.

Christ didn't just go to the cross when he was on the cross he went to hell. Not after he died while he was on the cross he experienced the full measure of God's wrath. When the father turned his back on the sun and cursed for you and for going on terrifying people come to me and say I don't need Jesus only grabbed him by the throat and say a foolish one. Don't you understand that there's nothing in the universe that you need more than Jesus. Don't you realize that if the end of your life you will stand before God and you will be held accountable by God and the God before me, you stand will be holy and just and righteous, and you either stand in front of him on your own merit and the only thing you have to bring his demerit friends or you stand, covered in the righteousness of Christ to deny Christ, you face the curse on your own. A debtor who can't possibly pay your debt. Karl Barth, the late Swiss theologian, with whom I disagree more often than I agree.

Made a comment once many years ago that I agree with completely. He said the single most important word in the New Testament Greek is the word who care, which is the Greek word that is translated by three English words in the half of and that's how the New Testament describes the death of Jesus in behalf of his sheep in behalf of the godless in behalf of God's enemies. He paid this price. Therefore difference come let us reason together though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Though they be as Crimson. They shall be as much with his that's the incredible overwhelming good news of the gospel. Christ died to pay the debt of his people completely glad you joined us for Renewing Your Mind today.

As we continue Dr. RC scrolls verse by verse sermon series from the gospel of Mark each Sunday we returned to the series in our resource offered today gives you the opportunity to continue your study when you contact us today with a donation of any amount will provide you a digital download of Dr. scrolls commentary on Mark you can go online to request it and give your gift@renewingyourmind.org again. That's Renewing Your Mind.org before we go. Today I'd like to remind you of our purpose here at follicular ministries, where an organization that works for the church we come alongside the local church to help train believers. With that in mind, we don't intend for the Sunday program to replace your participation in the local body of believers. We hope you will be worshiping with your church today. God bless you on this Lord's day will return to this sermon series from Mark next week after the crucifixion of Jesus body was cared for and placed in the barn to Dr. will examine the details of that next Sunday here on Renewing Your Mind