Crucifixion

We've been told so often that God is a God of love who forgives us freely of our sins and the idea we have than of God is that all God has to do to reconcile us to himself is just simply to dispense his forgiveness upon us, but when we think like this.

We forget that God is holy and we forget that God is just soon requires the pain doesn't simply week welcome to renew your mind when we went in the Old Testament we see the people bring sheep and goats and those to the temple to be sacrificed over and over again to atone for their sin pointed the way to the Messiah, the one who would be the perfect sacrifice never again to be repeated during this holy week. We thought it would be good to focus on Christ work on the cross is needed to atone for arson in today's session were going to take a brief look at the crucifixion of Christ were all familiar with the apostle Paul's statement that he was determined to know nothing except Christ and him crucified. Of course, that was an example of apostolic hyperbole because Paul also knew considerably more and wrote on many other subjects. Besides the cross of Christ. But what Paul was saying that comment was in the crucifixion we reached the zenith of the work of Christ, the act meets the high point of the mission. He was sent to accomplish. Now, had we been eyewitnesses of the crucifixion on Good Friday is very doubt that we would have realized that we were observing an active cosmic significance that we would be observing in atonement the people who were gathered there dog açai had different perspectives on what they were saying. From the viewpoint of Caiaphas, the execution of Jesus was a political expediency to keep the Romans off the back of the Jewish Sanhedrin for pilot. It was also an act of political expediency in order to calm the tumultuous crowd that was screaming for the blood of Christ for the thief on the cross he recognized the identity of Jesus sought as a miscarriage of justice but who, as an observer would see in this act in atonement that would have such poor reaching implications to understand the depth of what happened in the cross we have to look at the epistles in the New Testament wherein we receive the interpretation of the meaning of the event of the cross just briefly let me look for a second that Romans chapter 3 where the apostle Paul says these words in verse 21 but now the righteousness of God. Apart from the law is revealed being witness by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference for all who send all short of the glory of God, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God's forth as a propitiation by his blood flow to comments that the apostle makes here in reference to our justification as it relates to the work of Jesus.

One is with reference to the word redemption canal observed more closely in a few moments, but the one I want to succeed initially is his reference to this act of propitiation that in Jesus else in the shedding of his blood. There was an act of propitiation.

What does that mean the Jew, who would read this material would understand it. In light of the Old Testament celebration of the day of atonement via an important system, which was the most important day of the year. The celebration of the Passover or the celebration of the day of atonement, but the annual day of atonement, Yom Kippur took place when the high priest was consecrating for a special task.

He himself had to make an offering of a bullock as a sacrifice. And then he was to take two goats, one that would be sent as the scapegoat into the wilderness and the other goat that was to be killed and then the high priest again after elaborate cleansing rituals was allowed to enter into the Most Sacred Pl. in Israel and of the Santos Santorum the holy of holies. Behind the curtain on the edge of the holy place where only the high priest could go and he would enter into the holy of holies, carrying with him the blood of the sacrifice that had been killed and what did he do with they would take this blood and drink… On the mercy seat in the mercy seat which was in the holy of holies was just thrown of God in the mercy seat was the lid of this throne and inside the throne were contained.

For example, Aaron's rod and the 10 Commandments, or the law of God.

And so, in this ritual blood is sprinkled on the throne of God indicating a sacrifice of blood in order to satisfy the demands of God's justice. So what were involved with in an act of propitiation is an act of satisfaction. This concept is somewhat foreign to us because we been told so often that God is a God of love is a God of mercy is a God of grace, who forgives us freely of our sins and the idea we have than of God is that all God has to do to reconcile us to himself is just simply to dispense his forgiveness upon us, but when we think like this. We forget that God is holy. We forget that God is just the end of that passage that I just read from Romans three he says that as a propitiation by his blood through faith. The demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance. God had passed over the sins that were previously committed to demonstrate at the present time his righteousness that he might be just and justify so on. God justifies his people.

He doesn't just do it by a unilateral act of forgiveness because the do so without satisfaction without atonement without propitiation would be a complete violation of his own justice, God will not wink at sin. God will not simply pass over it without exactly a punishment for and so in the whole elaborate ritual of the day of atonement, we see the symbolism of the blood sacrifice that is given to propitiate the wrath of God to satisfy his justice not we come. The New Testament we read the book of Hebrews in the book of Hebrews reminds us that the lot of bulls and goats cannot atonement for our sad all this elaborate business of killing the go and Poirier's blood on the mercy seat isn't going to save anybody from their sins because there is no inherent intrinsic value in the blood of a goat to affect propitiation.

So how were the people sins forgiven. In the Old Testament, not on the basis of the blood of the goat but on the basis of the blood of Christ, who was yet to come. All of these observations and rituals in the tabernacle, and later in the temple were pointing beyond themselves to the future reality that would come that in fact would satisfy the demands of God's righteousness and his justice. I also mentioned here in this text that Christ was sent to bring redemption in this concept of redemption is also linked to the whole work of Jesus in the cross redemption has to do with redeeming something we have the experience in our past history in America having supermarkets and other stores that would give out savings stamps and that customer simply passed away in the last few years, but it used to be that in every mall there would be a little store that was called a redemption center and in that redemption center that we all different kinds of appliances and bicycles whatever and for so many stamps that were saved. You could turn the stamps in for some real object of use could really use the stamps you being the stamps to purchase what it is the true wanted and that's what's going on here with redemption redemption is an act of purchasing economic act, as it were, and Jesus in the cross is purchasing something is purchasing someone by redeeming them or paying the price of redemption again in the Old Testament you had the situation were people when they were not able to pay their debts could give themselves to their debtor and enlisted in the process of indentured servitude until the debt was paid and if a man, for example, became an indentured servant, and he had to work for five or six or seven years to pay off his debt and while he was in. This servitude married a woman and the time came when his term of service was finished he was to be set free, but not the woman because in order to protect the woman from being married to an insolvent person in the first place was not able to see to his own affairs, not to mention taking care of a woman earning children. The woman or the children would stay until or unless the freed servant paid the bride price to redeem his and when he would pay the money his bride would be set for that in the jury also runs through the Old Testament where Jesus purchases his bride, who was in bondage who was in servitude to the world and flesh and the devil. That's where Paul will say to his readers near you're not your you can bought with a price you can purchased and the price I was the blood of Christ will we should say the life of Christ because in Jewish categories. The life was in the blood and the reason why the blood was required. There was an assistant boy that I like it. Scratch the animal and get a little blood from them and that would take care of the sacrifice.

No, the blood shed because the life was required in payment for sin because in the beginning. The punishment for all sin was one get in the Old Testament process of redemption. Many times the one who would make the purchase to buy somebody back out of slavery would be a relative and that relative would be known as the Kinsman Redeemer, the relative who would pay for the liberation of his brother, sister, mother, whatever. And so in New Testament categories geniuses is the supreme Kinsman Redeemer and he makes payment for that price on the cross. If we look and also that Paul's letter to the Galatians in chapter 3 of Galatians, we see an astonishing statement where Paul writes in chapter 3 verse 10 these words. For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse, for it is written curse that is everyone who does not continue in all the things that are written in the book of the law to do them, but that no one is justified by the law on the side of God is evident, for the just shall live by faith that the law is not a phase.

The man who does them shall live by them and not we read this in verse 13. This is astonishing. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law number just pause there for second Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law.

Now Paul has just already reached back into the terms of the Old Testament covenant that God made with Moses and as it was renewed in the book of Deuteronomy. You recall that God said to his people as he gathered them together in solemn assembly. He said if you keep these laws that are given obey my precepts and my commandments, then blessed will you be in the city blessed by you be in the country blessed will you be when you rise up lesson will you be when you go to bed. It might possibly be all over the place but if you fail to keep them cursing. Shall you be in the city, cursing, shall you be in the countries cursing shall you be when you rise up. Cursing shall you be when you go to bed at night's the curse.

My curse will be upon you.

One of the things I like about singing Christmas carols is in joy to the world.

There is that phrase in the him referring to the efficacy of Christ's work of redemption. It takes place as far as the curse is found, that curse appears in the very beginning chapters of Genesis.

As soon as sin enters into the world through the temptation of the serpent commanders curse the woman is cursed the serpent is cursed. The land is cursed and the whole creation groans together in travail until that curse is removed. What is the purpose I like to explain these terms, everybody knows that Hebrew benediction May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you and may the Lord lift up the light of his countenance upon you and give you his peace that we have a case of Hebrew poetry is synonymous parallelism where each sentence means the same thing so that for the Jew. May the Lord bless you means the same thing as may the Lord make his face to shine upon because the supreme blessing to the Jew was to be able someday to see God face to face.

May the Lord lift up the light of his countenance upon you the radiance of his space. May that radiance the send upon you and give you his peace. That's the supreme sense of blessedness, but the blessing is the antithesis if the polar opposite of the curse. So what would it mean to be cursed is another sign of the Lord bless you and keep you, it would say. May the Lord curse you and abandon you.

Is making his face to shine upon you, may the Lord turn his back upon you and give you only judgment may the Lord turn his face away from him and remove peace from your life. Paul goes on to say here using these categories of blessing and curse. Since Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us, for it is written curse and is everyone who hangs on a tree that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. In order for the blessing that was promised Abraham to his see the beaver same sin must first be punished and now Jesus not only takes a curse upon any become stuck his body's the curse he has to be completely forsaken by God the agony for which he screams on the cross, my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me happen when God turned the lights of the father turned his back on Jesus. Once Jesus had all of our sins imputed to him. He was the most below some slight ever in the universe and God is too holy test even the look of sin, and so he turned his back, that he might be cursed, that we may not be cursed, and instead we may be blessed. Thanks be to God, the cursing Christ did not last for eternity was only for a season. There agog you know I've said this many times that when people talk about the crucifixion they go on and on about the physical pain endured by somebody who was subjected to the males and thorns in the spirit in the side. I wonder of Jesus even felt the sense of thousands of people who died like that but only one received the fullness of the curse of God in the middle of his crucifixion in time before he gave up the ghost.

He said to tell us it's finished, and he committed himself into the hands the one which is cursed and was received once more into the father's presence with humiliation. The suffering, the curse was finished.

And yet Jesus still have more work to do. That's why the story doesn't end on Friday. The story doesn't end on the cross Sundays as the worker choose goes on and that's why we will look forward to Dr. C Sproles message. Tomorrow you're listening to Renewing Your Mind on this Monday. Thank you for being with us and that this week as we prepare for Easter. We will feature several Dr. Sproles messages on the atonement. Why was necessary and what is accomplished. I hope you'll contact us today request RC series. What did Jesus do understanding the work of Christ in 12 messages. RC explains how the life that Jesus lived made him worthy of dying for our sins. And how is death appease the father's wrath against us. We invite you to contact us with a donation of any amount and request a series you can find us online@renewingyourmind.org or you can call us with your gift at 800-435-4343.

After you make your donation, you'll find the digital files for the series ready to view in your linear learning library, and I think that in many times we only think of Jesus death and resurrection. When we consider his work of redemption, but that we need to keep in mind that he had to first live a perfect life to become the second Adam to succeed where the first Adam failed and that's a key element in the teaching that you'll find in this series so again request the two DVD set up what did Jesus do understanding the work of Christ, you can request it online it Renewing Your Mind on work or you can call us at 800-435-4343 RC love to bring the deep truths of God's word to Christians from every walk of life, and we remain committed to proclaiming the Lordship of Christ in our homes and workplaces, schools and communities that in mind leader ministries is committed to training grown Christians who can take God's truth and thoughtfully put it into practice wherever they are, and train others to do the same. So when you give your donation to this ministry you're helping us do just that and we thank you for the Jewish and Roman leaders probably breathe a sigh of relief after Jesus died. They were finally rid of this man who would expose their evil and hypocrisy more so they thought IC Sproles message tomorrow is on the resurrection. I hope you make plans to join us here on Renewing Your Mind