Vicariousness of Christ's Sacrifice

Introduction and Review of the Priestly Office

0:04 In Hebrews 10, 21, a passage made familiar to many of us in recent months, as Mr. Fisher has been expounding that passage, we are given the word of instruction that having a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw nigh. Now the obvious implication of those words is that all of the approaches of the people of God to God ought to be marked by a conscious and intelligent awareness of the functions of their great high priest without whom they could not draw nigh to God. Having a great high priest, let us draw nigh, indicating, I repeat, that all of our drawing nigh ought to be marked by an intelligent and conscious awareness of

0:59 of the functions of the great high priest without whose ministry we could not draw nigh. In our present series of studies entitled Here We Stand, we have arrived at the place in those studies where our focus of attention is upon the contemplation of the central figure in the salvation of God, namely our Lord Jesus Christ, and in a specific manner upon the majesty of his offices as our Redeemer. Having established from the Scriptures that the only Redeemer of God's elect is set forth as prophet, priest, and king in the accomplishment of redemption, we are now focusing our attention upon his priestly office and function. Since the priestly is the predominant and the regulative office,

1:53 That is, there is more in Scripture concerning his priestly function than there is concerning his prophetic or kingly function. And since what he is and does as priest conditions what he is and does as prophet and priest in the accomplishment of redemption, it is right that we should give an imbalanced, a disproportionate measure of attention to the priestly office.

2:21 Since all of our acceptance with God and all of our approaches to God are regulated by His priestly function, we cannot be too careful in seeking to gain clear and distinct views of His priesthood. In the three previous studies on the priestly office and function of Christ, the following facts have been established from the Scriptures and expounded.

2:48 Number one, the reality of his priestly office. The word of God says of Christ, Thou art a priest forever. And the reality of his priestly office and function is established by the very oath of God himself. Then we consider the basic concept of the priestly office. Hebrews 5.1 was our greatest help. And we have in the basic concept of the priestly office and function...

3:16 Those words from men, for men, pertaining to God, for sins. And that's the essence of the concept of the function of a priest. Taken from men, on behalf of men, with reference to God, on behalf of sins. And then we establish thirdly the basic function of the priestly office. A function of offering and of intercession.

3:44 And then, seeking to expound and examine in greater detail those two aspects of priestly function, sacrifice and intercession, we have now established the reality of Christ's priestly sacrifice, the context of His priestly sacrifice, the realities of God in His holiness, justice, and grace, man in His accountability, guilt, and pollution, and And then last, Lord's Day, something of the essence of His priestly sacrifice. Did Jesus Christ offer a true sacrifice? Yes, the Scripture says He has offered one sacrifice for sin. In what context did He offer that sacrifice? Well, the context of the reality of God on the one hand and man in His sinfulness on the other. Well, what then was the essence of that sacrifice? And we examine in detail...

4:42 particularly Hebrews 7 and verse 27, and the little phrase, He offered up Himself. And we discovered as we sought to examine those words in the light of the Word of God, that it means nothing less than that our Lord Jesus Christ, making a priestly sacrifice, was both the passive substitutionary sufferer, He was the Lamb,

5:10 And he was the active representative priest. He was both offerer and offering in the work of sacrifice. Now today we want to build upon these biblical concepts and attempt to answer the question, in offering up himself in his priestly office, precisely what did our Lord do?

The Completed Sentence and Two Dangers to Avoid

5:36 In other words, if I were to put a piece of paper in your hand today and on it were written these words or mimeographed, that would be more likely, these words, as the great high priest of his people, Jesus Christ as offerer and offering offered himself in order to... How would you complete the sentence? As the great high priest, Jesus Christ as offerer and offering offered himself in order to... How would you complete the sentence? And it is the completion of that sentence with biblical accuracy that will occupy our minds for the next at least two Lord's Day mornings. Now I want to give a word of caution as we attempt to complete that sentence. And the word of caution is this. In dealing with the profound mysteries of the gospel, two great and tripling errors

6:35 need constantly to be avoided. Church history is the constant and monumental witness to the folly of the people of God who have failed to heed this word of caution. There are two great dangers when seeking to expound, to clarify, to enunciate gospel mysteries. There is on the one hand the danger of prostituting the impenetrable mysteries of the gospel, by tearing them apart and analyzing them and trying to reduce them to simple language to the point where they are absolutely deluded or sometimes openly perverted. Take the matter of the two natures in the one person of our blessed Lord and Savior. Heresy has always come when men have tried to be wiser or more precise than God. Take the mystery of the Trinity.

7:32 The moment people begin to try to use human illustrations to illustrate and to clarify the doctrine of the Trinity, they simply sow the seeds of heresy. And church history contains the constant and undeniable witness to the folly of seeking to penetrate mysteries beyond what is warranted. But on the other hand, The other great danger is failure to give a clear view of the truth of God. Unformed, nebulous ideas are very difficult to retain. You can't hold on to vapor. You cannot hold to a shadow. And we are commanded in 2 Timothy 1.13 to hold fast the form, the morphate.

8:24 The form of sound words. In other words, the gospel comes in a form of sound words. Words which accurately convey the great realities of the gospel. And I am very conscious as I seek to preach in the setting of pastoral duty, shepherding the flock of God.

8:46 protecting the flock of God, immunizing the flock of God from error, as well as seeking to lead the flock of God into the positive understanding of truth, I'm very conscious of these two rocky shoals and of an earnest desire to steer the ship through those rocks. On the one hand, we can be overly wise. In the language of Colossians, we can be puffed up in our fleshly minds and attempt to be wiser than God is.

9:16 On the other hand, we can be spiritually lazy, and in failing to give to the people some precise, some well-defined precision in their concept of the work of Christ upon the cross, we can render them liable to error and expose them to all of the crosswinds of heresy. Now, I'm conscious of those two dangers, and conscious of them and in dependence upon the Spirit of God, I'm attempting to steer between the rocks on the left hand and the right, and I trust God will greatly assist us in that effort. All right? We're going to complete the sentence, and then we're going to go back and exegete it, bringing to bear upon every word of that completed sentence the teaching of the Word of God. All right? Here's the completed sentence. As to the essence of Christ's sacrifice as our High Priest, in His official office as the great High Priest of His people,

10:16 Jesus Christ offered himself in order to make an objective, vicarious, penal satisfaction for the sins of his people, thereby securing their acceptance with and access to God. Oh, you say, Pastor Martin, what a head for. All right, you hang in there. You hang in there.

10:45 And I don't say this for pity, I simply say it as a statement of fact. As I've been wrestling with trying to complete that sentence and have read literally hundreds of pages and consulted at least a dozen and a half of the most able exponents of the historic Christian doctrine of Christ's priestly work, I believe were at least in the right ballpark, with the words that have been chosen. When Christ offered himself as a high priest, what was he doing? He was making an objective, vicarious, penal satisfaction for the sins of his people, thereby securing their acceptance with and their access to God. Now last Lord's Day, those of you who are here,

Word One: Objective — Dealing with Real God and Real Sin

11:44 saw from the scriptures I trust that the little phrase he offered himself sets forth the essence of his sacrificial work as our high priest. Binding himself with cords of devotion to his father and love to his people, binding himself to the altar of sacrifice, he gave up his life for us. Now in so doing, what was he actually accomplishing? What was transpiring in that self-giving of Christ? Well, whatever it was, it was an objective work. And that's our first word. It was an objective work. And I use the word in the sense given in the dictionary as that which pertains to a known or perceived reality as opposed to a notion merely in the mind. That which is real or actual. Now you kids, listen.

12:41 A lot of the big words have gone over your head, but hang in there, you'll catch this. Here's a fellow who has to spend the evening over at his friend's house helping him rake up the leaves. And he's going to have supper at his friend's house, and he stays on a little longer than he had hoped, and the sun began to sink in the west, and it was getting dark, and he has about a mile walk to get home. And about halfway home, it seems like the sun just all of a sudden dipped behind the big hill that was there in that area where he lives, and it gets dark.

13:09 And he imagines in every rustling of the tree there's some kind of a hobgoblin or a spook and the poor guy's flesh stands up on his arms and the little bit of peach fuzz on his arms is standing straight up perpendicular to his skin and he feels the goosebumps rising up the back of his neck and he breaks out in a cold sweat. I mean, he's a mess by the time he gets home. He probably breaks every single junior Olympic record for the 440. The next day, coming home from school,

13:39 He turns the corner to come toward his house, and there he sees the neighborhood bully. Now this kid that we're talking about, who had the goose flesh in the back of his neck the night before, is ten years old, and he's just average height and average build, but the bully, the neighborhood bully, he's thirteen, and he's already reached almost mature growth. He's five foot ten, and he weighs 185 pounds. And every ounce of it is meanness. Nothing he likes better than to find little kids in the neighborhood and beat him up.

14:09 So our friend turns the corner and there he sees the neighborhood bully. Now what's the difference between the spooks and the hobgoblins the night before and the neighborhood bully? Well, one of them, you see, is an objective threat. Something real and substantial. That neighborhood bully, he's got bone and muscle. He's got meanness in his eyes. He's the real thing. Now, coming home at night and every rustling of the trees, you think there's a ghost or a spook. You see, that's not...

14:38 An objective. That's not a real, a substantial threat. It's all in his head. But there's nothing there in reality but trees and leaves and the wind blowing through them. Now we come to consider our Lord in his priestly work. When in the language of Hebrews 9.14, he offered himself without spot to God.

15:01 Or in the briefer statement of Hebrews 7.27, he offered up himself. What was he doing? Well, that which he was doing had objectivity in it through and through. In other words, no matter what the subjective influence of the sacrifice of Christ may be upon men,

15:26 regardless of the internal subjective state of our Lord's own soul, when He offered that sacrifice, the true meaning, the essence of the sacrifice of Christ is to be found in the fact that it was an objective sacrifice. He was dealing with substantial, real things. He wasn't dealing with phantoms. He was dealing with neighborhood bullies.

15:55 He was dealing with realities. And what are those substantial realities with which our Lord was dealing when He offered Himself? They are two. God Himself and sin itself. Turn please again to Hebrews 9 and verse 14. And notice how precise is the language of the writer to Hebrews. In verse 11 he speaks of Christ in the reality...

16:25 of his high priestly office and function. Then he speaks of the inadequacy of the offerings of the old economy, the old covenant. Verse 12. I'm sorry, verse 13. And then in verse 14, speaking of the unspeakable worth of the sacrifice of Christ, he says, How much more shall the blood of Christ, that is,

16:55 His life taken away violently in sacrifice. When you find the term the blood, it is not speaking of the virtue residing in the chemical substance that coursed through our Lord's vein. It's speaking of the life violently taken away in sacrifice. The life of the flesh is in the blood, and it's the blood spilled inside.

17:23 in the context of violent death that forms the whole substructure of sacrifice. So the writer to Hebrews, picking up those concepts in that language, says, How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit, offered Himself, that's the essence of what He was doing, offering Himself, the context in which He did it was moral blemishlessness without sin,

17:53 blemish, but now here's the phrase, unto God. He offered Himself unto God. There is the objectivity in the sacrifice of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He was offering Himself to that God who is described in the book of Hebrews as a consuming fire. It is the writer to the Hebrews who says, in chapter 10, and then again in chapter 12, that the God with whom we have to do is this God who is fearful in His judgment. Verse 31, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. He is described in chapter 12 and verse 29, for our God is a consuming fire. So when the writer to Hebrews says,

18:49 That Jesus Christ in offering up himself was offering himself up to make an objective sacrifice that had to deal with God. He's not talking about a God notion that may reside in the minds of people. He's not talking about God who is the God of pagan theology or pagan heresy. Everything is God and God. No, he is talking about the living God as he calls him in chapter 10.

Sin as Objective Reality: Romans 8, 2 Corinthians 5, Galatians 3

19:17 The God who is a consuming fire in chapter 12. The God who is spotless moral purity. The God in whose presence sin provokes this positive antipathy, this holy anger, this consuming zeal to deal with sin. The sacrifice of Christ then was objective with reference to God Himself and secondly with reference to sin itself.

19:47 And there are three texts of Scripture that I want you to consider. The first one is in Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. Having announced that those who are in Christ are no longer in a state of condemnation, the Apostle now sets out to explain how it is that guilty sinners are brought into a state where they are no longer under condemnation.

20:16 No longer is there legal liability to the anger and wrath of God. Verse 2 of Romans 8, For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and of death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin...

20:44 condemned sin in the flesh. Now, do you see how the apostle treats sin as a very real, a very objective, substantial thing? He says the reason we are no longer under condemnation is that God sent his Son in the very likeness of sinful flesh, that is, humanity in its cursed conditions. Our Lord was no stranger to tears and to weariness and to agony and to grief and to sorrow. That's the likeness of sinful flesh. But then he makes a statement that brings us to the heart of our concern this morning. And for sin. He was sent not only in the likeness of sin, but also for sin.

21:34 If we take away the objective reality of sin, we take away the whole reason for the incarnation. He was sent in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin. Why? That he might actually deal with sin in the flesh and thereby put sin away. If sin is not an objective reality, then the whole rationale for the incarnation and death of Christ is utterly destroyed. Now, why do I emphasize that?

22:03 I emphasize it because we live in a day when the word sin has very little meaning. Sin, well, that's something that you make something if you've been brought up wrong. If your parents have brought you up with false standards, then sin is what you do when you violate those standards and then you feel bad. But there's no real substantial entity called sin. The idea that there is an inflexible law of the God of heaven, And that sin is a transgression of that law or a falling short of that law, rendering us guilty before the bar of the living God. Well, that's just a lot of foolishness. That's just antiquated medieval theology that somehow is hung over in the 20th century. Not so according to the scripture.

22:50 When Jesus Christ offered himself a sacrifice, it was an objective sacrifice, dealing not only with God himself, but with sin itself. A second text is 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 21. The apostle is describing the nature of the Christian ministry. In verse 20 he says that he and his companions are ambassadors on behalf of Christ.

23:19 As though God himself were entreating by them, they beseech others to be reconciled to God. And that whole announcement, that whole entreaty rests down upon some facts. And the facts are declared in verse 21. Him who knew no sin, that's Christ, he made sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

23:50 And the little phrase that is our concern this morning is this. He made him sin on our behalf. Now you see, if sin is not a substantial reality, if there is no such thing as sin, violation of God's law, which provokes God's wrath, which renders us unrighteous and therefore unfit for communion with God, then we turn the cross of Christ into a mockery. For the apostle says the very reason for that cross is that in this great exchange, his becoming sin on our behalf, we might become the very righteousness of God in union with him. And you find a similar emphasis in Galatians chapter 3. And here the language is so vigorous that until God himself comes and strips this statement from his word,

24:47 The concept of the objectivity of Christ's sacrifice must forever stand. Galatians 3 and verse 13. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law. The law had a curse and it said, Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them. Sin was any failure to do everything that God required. And that failure...

25:18 brought the curse upon the head of the failing individual. But now the wonderful announcement of the gospel is, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. The whole rationale for the sufferings of Christ is to be found in this vicarious curse-bearing,

25:46 And the curse was real because sin was real. Take away the reality of the sin and there is no validity to the curse. And so when you think about the death of Christ, what should you think of? How should you conceive of that death? If you were to have a proper foundation for faith, what is that foundation to be comprised of? Well, it must be comprised of an understanding of the sacrificial work of Christ as our High Priest, that brings within its orbit vigorous objectivity. There was a real God and there was real sin dealt with by the real sacrifice of our real high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me state it this way. The issues of God and sin were as real at the cross as they shall be real in the day of judgment.

26:44 In fact, it's accurate to say that the cross is the most vivid preview of the day of judgment God has ever given to men. The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the destruction of the world with the flood, these are vivid demonstrations of the principles that will operate in the day of judgment, but they cannot hold a candle to the light that comes from Golgotha. There upon Golgotha

27:14 God the judge is demonstrating the reality of sin. When his son is constituted sin for his people, what does he do? The scripture says he does not spare him. The real God shrouds the real heavens in darkness and plunges the real soul of his real son into the felt pangs of the abandonment of hell until he cries out, my God, my God.

27:43 Why hast thou forsaken me? And any thinking concerning the sacrifice of Christ that stops with some kind of an undefined, nebulous feeling of attachment to Jesus because he had such a bad time at the hands of men.

28:04 Any concept of the cross that involves just this undefined and emotional attachment to Jesus as the great sufferer, there may be, let's in the judgment of charity say, there may be saving faith in such a poorly instructed mind. But listen, there will be no stability if that's all your faith has as its basis. Because once your mind begins to take seriously the God of the Bible who is a consuming fire,

28:34 Once your conscience begins to take seriously that God's law means what it says. This do and thou shalt live. This fail to do and thou shalt die. And sin becomes a real issue to you. God becomes a reality to you. You will find no rest for your tortured conscience until you can stand before that scene at Golgotha and say, My great high priest.

Word Two: Vicarious — Introduction and Illustration

28:58 Binding himself to the altar of sacrifice with devotion to his Father and love to me as one of his people, made an objective sacrifice. He bore the sins of his people and he offered himself up to God. Now the second word involved in completing the sentence is the word vicarious. And I've wrestled with whether I should use substitutionary or vicarious.

29:27 And I've opted for vicarious for two reasons. Because it has a rich legacy of theological thought setting it forth. And secondly, because it's a word not so familiar and therefore not so lively to be prostituted by current ideas about substitute. So we're using the word vicarious. What was the essence of the sacrifice of Christ? When he offered up himself, he made an objective, yes, statement.

29:56 but a vicarious sacrifice. The word vicarious simply means to take the place of another. That which is endured, suffered, or performed by one person in the place of another. I read an interesting story recently, and it can't be established. The writer, I forgot where I saw it, there's some conjecture, but the way the man responded, there was a pretty good chance that they have rightly discovered what happened.

30:25 There's a man out west who was sentenced to jail for a certain crime. I don't know what he had to spend. Two years? It was a relatively brief sentence. Let's call the one brother Joe, and the other brother we'll call Pete. Poor Joes and Peets. They always get picked on in illustrations. Now, they're identical twins. Now, Joe has committed a crime. It's a true story. For that crime, he is sentenced, and this I don't remember the exact sentence, but for the sake of the illustration, two years in prison.

30:55 Well, one day, about a third of the way through serving his term, his twin brother visited him, and they were able to get off somewhere alone together. And while they were alone, Joe changed clothes with Pete, his identical twin. And when it came time for the visit to be over and Joe to go back in his cell, Pete went back in the cell and spent the rest of the time there. And the two years were up. They turned together.

31:24 What they thought was Joe loose. But later on apparently friends heard about this and then the story leaked out to the reporters. It wasn't Joe they turned loose, it was Pete. Now what happened for that last year and three quarters? Pete was vicariously bearing the punishment due to his brother Joe.

31:47 He was satisfying the demands of the law against the crime of Joe in the room and place of his twin brother. Now that's what it means to do something vicariously. To do it in the place of another. As opposed to doing it personally. If Joe had spent the entire two years in prison, he would have personally paid his debt. He would have personally paid.

32:16 fulfilled the sentence. But after the first three months, the last part of the sentence was fulfilled not personally, but vicariously in the person of his brother, Pete. Now when we say that the sacrifice of Jesus Christ was not only objective, it was dealing with the realities of God and of sin,

Vicariousness in Old Testament Typology

32:41 But that it was vicarious, we are simply asserting that the Scriptures force upon us this concept, that all that He did in sacrifice, He did as standing in the room instead of others, occupying the place of others. Now how is this concept of vicarious sacrifice set before us in the Scriptures? Well, by three major strands of teaching.

33:10 And we'll look briefly at each one. First of all, the Old Testament typology of sacrifice. Turn to the book of Leviticus, if you will, please. Remembering that all of those sacrifices received their directions from the great and true sacrifice. They were but the shadows. Christ's sacrifice is the reality. And so the details are determined by the reality.

33:39 As best you can have these earthly things setting forth the realities, God adjusts all the circumstances to that end. Leviticus chapter 1 verses 1 through 4. The Lord called unto Moses and spake unto him out of the tent of meeting, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them, When any man of you offereth an oblation unto the Lord, ye shall offer your oblation of the cattle and of the herd and of the flock. That's what is to be offered. Now he's going to tell him something further. If his oblation be a burnt offering of the herd, he shall offer it a male without blemish. He shall offer it at the door of the tent of meeting that he may be accepted before the Lord. Now notice, he shall offer it, that is, the lamb, the bullock,

34:36 Whatever form of cattle is brought from the herd or flock, he the offerer shall offer it that he may be accepted. You see the close relationship between that which is offered and the one who presents it. Offer it that he the worshiper may be accepted. And how is this transfer of responsibility to be demonstrated? Verse 4.

35:03 And he shall lay his hand upon the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. So when the worshiper came, what was he saying? He was saying, I have sinned. My sin is real, and the God of Israel is real, and his anger against sin is real.

35:31 My alienation from him because of that sin is real. There's the real God and here's me with my real sin and my real guilt and my liability to real punishment. What can I do? God says this is what you can do. You take something from your flaws and you bring it in your stead. Notice the emphasis again. It shall maybe accepted before Jehovah.

35:59 And now he lays his hand upon the head of that animal. And prior to the slitting of its throat, the taking away of its life violently. Never, never let that thought escape you. The shedding of the blood was this violent death to manifest the anger of God against sin. In taking life for life and wonder of wonders, God says, that this upon which the hand has been laid,

36:28 shall be accepted for him in order to make an atonement. As one man has said concerning the Old Testament ritual, the sacrificial animal in its death takes the place of the death due to the offerer. Now granted, there is no true worth in that bullock, in that lamb, in that goat. This is but type and symbol of the offering that

36:57 intrinsic worth. It was no dumb animal that was offered upon that true altar. It was the Son of God in the full possession of all of His rational faculties as the God-man who consciously drank into his soul the pangs of God's judgment against sin. But in that period of preparation, God is teaching this tremendous lesson

37:22 that the relationship between that which is offered and the guilty worshiper is one of vicarious sacrifice. It shall be offered for him. And you have, of course, the same thought with a different arrangement on the annual Day of Atonement in Leviticus chapter 16, because God wants to picture to His people both the giving of life for life and also the fact that once life has been given for life, the sin is removed forever. God said there must be two animals, one that will be slain and its blood presented, the other upon which the hand shall be laid and then it shall be sent into the wilderness, Leviticus 16 and verse 20. And when he hath made an end of atoning for the holy place and the tent of meeting in the altar,

38:19 He shall present the live goat, and Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him, notice now, all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, even all their sins, and he shall put them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a man that is in readiness into the wilderness, and the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a solitary land, and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness. What was God saying to these people? Imagine what it would be like for you that day to stand as a worshipper outside that place where the priest is laying his hands upon that goat,

39:13 And you hear him confessing all the sins of the people and all of the transgressions. And his hands are there upon the head of that boat. And then another man comes along and prides that boat. And you watch it as it kicks up its heels until finally it's taken out of sight. God was saying, as the sin is transferred to the innocent substitute, there is a vicarious bearing of the sin, even a bearing of it away into oblivion.

39:44 And again there was no power in that dumb goat to accomplish that. It was but a type, a figure, a foreshadowing of him who would take the sins of his people. Who as the priest, as it were, pronounced the sins of all of his people upon himself. And then bound himself to the altar. And then took our sins away by bearing the punishment in himself.

Vicariousness in Explicit Bearing Terminology

40:11 And so the concept that the sacrifice was vicarious is woven into the whole fabric of the Old Testament typology. Secondly, the explicit terminology concerning Christ's sacrifice forces upon us the idea that it was vicarious. You find these two little phrases, that he bore sin.

40:36 That sin was laid upon Christ. And those phrases mean nothing if they do not mean vicarious sacrifice. Let's look again at just the key passages. And this is what I've tried to do as I was sharing with Mr. Rogers earlier. These great doctrines have four or five ranks of soldiers to present them and defend them. And I'm just trying to take the first rank of soldiers so that you have some of these passages written.

41:04 at your fingertips for your own consolation, and then as you seek to help others. Isaiah 53, verses 6 and 12. Isaiah 53, verses 6 and 12. Isaiah speaking now on behalf of that remnant who see in the sufferings of Messiah something more than what is spoken of in verse 4. Men beholding him after the flesh behold him as one who is treated with indifference by God. Those who behold him with the eye of faith see that he is not cast off of God because of any inherent unworthiness. No, no, he is wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him

42:01 And with his stripes we are healed. Now here's the text. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned every one to his own way. And Jehovah hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. Do you see the concept of vicariousness? The iniquity of the all has been laid upon him. There's the concept of the transperience.

42:28 With the hands of imputation. Jehovah has impugned to him. Laid upon him. Our sins. Verse 12 in this same chapter. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great. And he shall divide the spoiled with the strong. Because he poured out his soul unto death. And was numbered with the transgressors. Yet he bare the sin of.

42:58 There's the concept again of bearing sin. We have essentially the same truth set before us in 1 Peter 2, 24. We looked at it last Lord's Day. Who his own self literally carried our sins up to the tree. He bore our sins up to the tree. He was the one to whom sin had been imputed.

43:26 And then the language of 2 Corinthians 5, 21, to which we've already alluded. God hath made him who knew no sin to be sin for us. Now follow closely. Sin can be considered in several aspects. It can be considered as transgression of the law. 1 John 3, 4, sin is lawlessness. Lawlessness.

43:51 Sin can be considered in terms of an inherent moral evil. Paul said, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. But sin can be considered in terms of its legal obligations. The wages of sin is death. Now when our Lord bore our sins, we must be careful to assert, He did not bear them so as to become a transgressor of the law.

44:20 he was never more beloved than when his obedience reached its height upon the cross. The Father's demands of him were that he should lay down his life, and those demands were not reluctantly embraced, but freely embraced. No man taketh my life, I lay it down of myself. So he could not have sin in the sense of being a personal transgressor.

44:49 And certainly there was no inherent moral evil in our Lord. It is said He was holy, harmless, spotless, made higher than the heavens, separate from sinners. Well, in what sense was He made sin? In what sense then did He bear our sins up to the tree? Only in this third sense He bore the legal obligations of our sin. The wages of sin is death. And it was the guilt or liability to punishment.

45:19 That was imputed to our Lord Jesus Christ. And resulted in his being treated accordingly. How does God treat those who are bearing the guilt of sin? Death. How did the Father treat the Son? When he is bearing the legal obligations of sin. He spared not his own Son. He delivered him up to death. Even the death of the cross.

Vicariousness in the Prepositions Huper and Anti

45:47 We shall go further into what that death involved when we come to penal satisfaction in a subsequent study. But then the third line of evidence that his death was vicarious is the significance of the prepositions used in connection with his death. Do you know there's a lot of theology tied up in prepositions? Because prepositions show relationship. Think of the little phrase, if any man be in Christ, in Christ,

46:16 Christ, not near to Christ in terms of privilege, not knowing something of Christ in terms of knowledge, but if any man be in, in union with Christ, he is a new creation. And in the descriptions found in the word of God concerning the death of Christ, there are three prepositions used again and again. Peri, huper, and anti. And the two critical ones, especially critical ones, are the last two. Huppére and Antí. These words speak of the death of Christ. Huppére. Concerning us. On our behalf. Antí. In our place. In our room. And in our stead. Let's look at just several examples again in which these prepositions are used with reference to the death of Christ. First of all...

47:13 To get a feel for the word itself. Look at Philemon 13. The little book of Philemon. So often is overlooked and yet has some wonderfully helpful words of instruction. Concerning the precise meaning of some biblical concepts. And here is one of them. The book of Philemon. Right after Titus. And verse 13.

47:44 Well, let's back up to catch the thread of thought. Verse 10, I beseech thee for my child whom I have begotten in my bonds, Onesimus, who once was unprofitable for thee, but now is profitable to thee and to me, whom I have sent back to thee in his own person, that is, in my very heart, whom I would fain have kept with me, here it is, that in thy behalf he might minister to me in the bonds of the gospel. You see what he's saying?

48:11 He will act as your substitute, that on thy behalf he might minister to me. That who pair. On your behalf he might minister to me. Now when we come to Galatians 3.13. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being me made a curse. Who pair. Being made a curse.

48:38 in our room instead, being made a curse on our behalf. There is no way to do justice to that language but to think in terms of vicarious suffering. The curse he bore was my curse, and having borne it for me, I am released from that curse. The same word is used in John 11, 50, Christ dying for the nations.

49:05 2 Corinthians 5.15, 1 Peter 3.18, dying the just for the unjust in the place of, representative of. And then that word anti in Matthew 2.22, notice how it is translated in our English Bibles. Matthew 2.22, the concept of substitution, replacement is very clear.

49:32 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea, notice how it's translated in the 1901, in the room of his father Herod, Antipa, his father Herod. He was reigning in the room, in the stead of, in the place of. Now in that same gospel, Jesus is recorded as saying in Matthew 20, 28, the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give himself a ransom again. And he in the place of, in the room of the many. Here is vicariousness to the core. Well then, what do we say in summary this morning? Everything that Jesus did as a priest in offering himself must be viewed in the light of this divine arrangement of objective, vicarious suffering. Now what does all that say to us?

Application: Christ Bears Your Sin or You Must Bear It Forever

50:31 Well, it should be everything to us because either Christ vicariously bears your sin or you must bear it personally and eternally. Do you hear me? Do you hear me, boys, girls, men, women? Listen. What does all this say to you? It says this. Either Christ bears your sin objectively and vicariously or you shall bear it.

50:59 personally forever. But bear your sin you must, if Christ does not bear it for you. You see, you've got no choice about whether or not you're going to have to reckon with the problem of sin. That choice was made and settled millennia ago in the Garden of Eden, when the constituted head of the human race sinned and we sinned in him. You've cannot avoid reckoning with sin. Now you can attempt to do it. You can try to ignore the voice of your own conscience. You can stifle that voice and try to change its witness. You can resist the overtures of grace in preaching. You can try to rationalize that your sin is not so great as to get upset and disturbed about it. It's not of such magnitude as to consider the demands of the gospel and the claims of Christ. But my friend, listen.

51:56 Try as you may, you cannot escape the fact you must deal with sin. You cannot escape the fact that God is determined to deal with your sin. And I come right back to the sentence, the statement. Either Christ bears your sin vicariously or you must bear it and that forever. But reckon with it you must.

52:24 The grand truth of the Gospel is that Christ has made an objective vicarious satisfaction for sin on behalf of a great multitude whom no man can number out of every kindred, tribe, and tongue, and nation, a sacrifice of infinite worth, a sacrifice whose benefits is to be held out to all men indiscriminately in the Gospel. As Paul said in Acts 13, be it known unto you that unto you is preached in his name forgiveness of sins, that you may be justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. What a wonderful thing to say this morning to every man, woman, boy or girl. Listen, listen. That sin that is your problem, that sin that is your greatest and in a sense your only real problem,

53:21 That sin that will press you to the deepest hell. That sin need not any longer be borne by you. You say, but Pastor Martin, how do I know if I am one of that great multitude for whom the high priest bore that sin? How do you know? There is only one way any sinner can ever know that. And that is to embrace the offered Savior. He stands before you in the gospel and says, Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. How would you say, what if I'm not one of the elect? Where did the Lord ever tell you to ask that question? Where did the Lord ever tell you to ask that question? In his own word he bids you come. In his own word he promises that all who come shall be received.

54:16 I plead with you to reckon with the matter of your sin in the light of Christ's work upon the cross on behalf of sinners. And child of God, this is your only resting place for your smitten conscience. As one who listens to his conscience, and every Christian does, unlike the unconverted who sit here this morning trying to stifle the voice of conscience, a Christian listens to conscience's most muffled whisper. Because he wants to have a conscience void of offense to God and man. You who are believers, listen to what the Word says about sin. The extent of your sin. The magnitude of sin. The aggravated guilt of your sin. Child of God, what will be your response?

55:00 place. Let me say again, not in a vague, mystical, nebulous idea that in some way or other what Jesus did upon the cross has something to do with silencing the accusations of my conscience. No, no. Listen to the language of Hebrews 9 again. He offered himself without spot to God. To what end? What is the end that that offering has secured for the people of God?

55:27 He says this was done to cleanse your conscience from dead works. And the conscience made alive to sin can only be cleansed and silenced by understanding that Jesus Christ was the vicarious sin-bearer and that sin received a real punishment, a bona fide enactment of divine judgment upon it He became sin. He took the wrath that was due to me. Why? That God may justly and righteously forgive and receive the sinner that trusts in Jesus Christ. And child of God, the more you understand the depth of your sin, the more you understand the subtlety of your own heart, and the more you come to the conviction that your resting place in your holiest moments must be found outside

56:24 of yourself, the more you will appreciate clear, well-defined, substantial understanding of the sacrifice that Christ has made on behalf of sinners. And the closer we draw to that hour when we must pass through death, the more our minds reflect upon this question, how shall I face the God of the universe upon His throne? And oh, what confidence it is to bring near that day in one's mind's eye and boldly to confess in the presence of Him who is a consuming fire. Oh, God, Thou knowest that my only resting place is in that objective, vicarious sacrifice made by Your Son who put to silence all the thunderings of Your law for everyone on whose behalf He shed His blood.

Warning Against False Theories and False Peace

57:20 You may have comfort with vague views of the cross while all is well. But death and the world to come draw nigh and you'll want something more. And this is the great test of orthodoxy, dear people. This is the gospel Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, by which ye are saved. It's the gospel that says Christ died for our sins. And in the history of the church there have been theologians, if we dare prostitute the word by calling them that, who felt that it was their task to say the Bible has no theory of the atonement. It simply says Christ died and in some way or other, on some basis, it has something to do with people in some way getting fixed up with God. Why do we stand against that rubbish? For this very reason. Man is afflicted with a dreadful malady. God is provided but one remedy. That remedy is substitutionary, viparious, penal suffering in the person of Jesus Christ

58:19 What would you think of a doctor who lived in a community where there was a disease that was taking life on the left hand and on the right and the government had sent into that community massive doses of the one antidote for that illness. What would you think of the doctor who had that in his hands and when he went out to administer it he saw people who said, oh doc I don't need that. I had the disease but I feel great. You feel great? How come? Oh someone was by here and gave me some pills and I just feel wonderful. Well, what were the pills? Oh, there's some over here. And he analyzes them. And he realizes that all those pills have done is to give a false sense of security. To make the person feel well while the disease eats away at the body, leading them quickly down to death. What would you think of that doctor if he said, Oh, well, everyone's entitled to give out his medicine the way he wants. I hope you feel better. Would you think that doctor crew, if he turned to that person and said, Sir, you've been told a lie.

59:16 Sir, that disease is working havoc in your body. Sir, you must not believe that there's any help in that remedy. Here is the true remedy. And he says, but old doc, it doesn't look like it's going to taste very well. He says, I don't care what it tastes like. It's the only remedy for your malady. Would you call that doctor narrow-minded? Would you call him a bigot? You'd say no.

59:39 His Hippocratic oath would demand he do nothing less than go up and down that community and find everyone who had false pills and do everything in his power to get them to flush their false pills down the drain and to take the only remedy for their malady. We're not narrow-minded bigots when we say if your faith in Christ is faith in Jesus Christ other than Jesus,

60:03 offering himself as a vicarious sacrifice to God, you have taken deadly medicine. Oh, but I feel good. I have peace. It is false peace, and it will damn your soul forever. If you have peace any other place but at the foot of the cross where the high priest made an objective offering to God in which he bore the sins of his people, oh, my friend,

Closing Prayer

60:32 Give up that peace before it lands you in the pit. And give no rest to your soul until you rest in Christ crucified. Let us pray. Oh, our Father, how can we ever thank you enough?

60:59 That in your grace and mercy and in your infinite wisdom. You conceived and executed. So perfect a plan of redemption for sinful men and women. And how we pray that the Holy Spirit will take the things of Christ. And reveal them unto us with power. We pray for any who sit among us today. Strangers to faith. In that one Savior.

61:28 And in that one salvation wrought by the one sacrifice forever. Oh Lord drive them from every other false resting place. Until they are brought to rest in Jesus. We pray for your people that you will help us all to have a more clearly defined. Well chiseled understanding of that which our Lord Jesus Christ did. When he offered himself up to you.

61:58 You seal the word to our hearts, to our prophet, and ultimately to the praise of your own holy name. Now we plead that your blessing will rest upon us as we leave this place. Give us grace so to sanctify the hours of this day, that when it comes to its close, we may be able to look back with much thanksgiving for a day spent in your courts, in which our hearts have been refreshed, our knowledge of you increased, Our zeal for the interest of your kingdom deepened. O Lord, do help us and receive our thanks for every blessing that is ours in Christ Jesus. We offer our thanks and make our pleas.