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for christ sent me not to baptize but to preach the gospel

not with wisdom of words lest the cross of christ should be made of non-effect

for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness

unto us which are saved

it is the power of god

my dear and beloved brother and sisters these words present to us a positive and an objective truth a message clearly based upon the cross of christ

a reminder to us both now and for all time of the centrality of the cross

in the beginning was the word

and the word was with god and the word was god the same was in the beginning with god

and the word became flesh and dwelt among us we beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the father full of grace

and truth

i'd like to begin with a challenge

and the challenge is this

that none of us can be satisfied for long with an observation of the cross with an interpretation of the cross for the theory of the cross that is merely subjective

that is to say a concentration only upon the personal appeal

of the cross of jesus

and i if i be lifted up will draw all men

unto me

for again god so loved the world

that he gave his only begotten son

or again the captain of our salvation

was made perfect

through suffering and by subjective i mean these things only

these things

considered an isolation

from all the other great scriptural truths about god and his purpose centered in jesus christ

true these teachings are indeed

and that importance

and their relevance must never be minimized or under emphasized

that they are not the whole truth

when they are considered alone or considered in isolation

and here i think in first corinthians chapter one we have a demonstration of the truth of this point in the genesis as it were of the first century preaching for the apostle paul the atonement is purposeful and powerful it is preordained and proclamatory it is dynamic

and it is definitive

and we know very well do we not that the preaching in the name of the resurrection of the lord jesus christ as recorded particularly in the book of acts was revolutionary in its content and in its impact it turned the world upside down it reversed all ideas of human greatness

it gave a new dimension to life

it brought new perspective to the world

he gave hope of eternal life through salvation's destiny and the consummation of all things in the lord jesus christ

it is i think against this broad canvas and this wide perspective

that we must consider

the necessary details of the work of christ without as it were losing this broad vision that scripture sets before us

now there are many detailed points of exposition in connection with the death of christ

when we use the term or the phrase the death of christ in this series of addresses more often than not we shall be implying not only the once for all sacrifice upon the cross

but also for example the visitation of god in his son

his faithfulness even unto death

the close cooperation of the son with the father

my father worketh hitherto and i work is a line of continuum that reaches right back to the book of genesis and goes beyond the book of revelation

the sequel accomplished in jesus himself his victorious resurrection

his exaltation

and his ascension

and who of us my dear brothers and sisters would presume to draw a line of demarcation

between the possibility of the life of jesus

and the inevitability of his death and to say that

after that line we are considering all those elements that are relevant and important to an understanding of his cross

you cannot draw the line can you so in excre and inextricably interwoven are the themes and the strands of the purpose of god centered in him

and of course we can give much attention to all the details associated with the death of jesus which will do do so to a certain extent in these addresses

because of course the text of scripture that describes to us these details

is of necessity the basis for our exposition and our analysis we could think for example of all the events surrounding his crucifixion the conduct of the lord's three adjudicators caiaphas pilate and herod

the indignities

inflicted upon our lord

the tragic procession between the judgment hall and golgotha

the attitude of the crucified thieves the behavior of the crowds

the extremity of our savior in his suffering in the victorious sequel in the resurrection from the dead his exaltation his elevation and his promised return

and of course many valuable moral spiritual and eternal lessons arise out of all these incidents

but everything that the scripture presents to us owes its vital and enduring value and significance to the momentous truths which these divine realities

reveal represent and embody to us

or to put it another way it is the teaching and it is the doctrine

which matter in the end

what gives all these events associated with the cross of christ and all their many and varied foreshadowings in the old testament scripture

what gives them their importance

is not only the fact that they occurred

but that they are associated with eternal issues

and fundamental truths

what matters for us my dear brother and sisters is that we are related to these things

that we are reconciled to god by the death of his son

this is the goal this is the destination this is as it were where the subjective element rightly understood

must come into our subject

not in our interpretation but in our association our invocation and our appropriation

i sound this note of warning

this note of challenge

for this reason

we all have a capacity for religion to a greater or lesser extent the aspiration for something more than the frustrations of ordinary life

we admire

humanly speaking the courageousness of self-sacrifice

and all these things may find in the lord jesus christ

and in his passion solely aesthetic fulfillment or emotional satisfaction it feels a human need a human aspiration a human desire

but it fulfills it in human terms

there are many illustrations of this throughout history

examples of it can be seen with in those with great literary gifts with acute sensibility and powerful imagination

georgina elliot for example describes how she was greatly moved before a magnificent picture of the elevated cross

she said that the face of jesus was sublime in it in its experience of agony

agony

and yet complete trust

in the divine

it was the finest and the noblest conception of the suffering christ that she had ever seen

and she could say of the picture that it haunted her like the remembrance of a friend's deathbed

fixed in the mind

unalterable

and unchanging

and from that moment on that vision

became conjoined with all subsequent experiences

in her life

she was never the same again

in a sense my dear brother and sisters this is poetry isn't it it's the poetry of religion

many have said that her observation in a sense was manifestly in the spirit of detachment

stooping to look down even the attitude of the art critic

the inquiring and the investigating analyst it is not necessarily that of humility and faith

this kind of objectivity

this sort of objective detachment is not for us

our age is noted for its objectivity is it not perhaps at the same time rather paradoxically it's vagueness of many of the great doctrines of scripture and the rapidly weakening sense of the importance and the relevance of history

it is no concern

for the impending consummation just as for example the men of noah's day had no concern for the imminent judgments of god

and to our age

a merely aesthetic or emotional appreciation of the cross

its suffering and its death is always possible how many of those for example who listen devoutly and reverently

to barks matthew passion or to hamilt's messiah

and are captivated entirely by the words and the music

are in fact listening with a deep sense of conviction

that they are in fact called upon to enter into the anguish of the redeemer to die with him that his life might be manifested to others

to live out in their own painful experience

the truth of what it really means

to take up our cross

and follow him

now it is very clear my dear brothers and sisters that this emotional and this subjective experience of the cross

has its place

what i'm saying to you really is that it only has its place

if it is first confirmed and validated by the preceding knowledge and understanding of the doctrinal significance of the covering for sin and the reconciliation that god has brought

through his son

when these are appreciated when these are put into practice

then meditations on the details of the passion will be appropriate since they will now be set in the proper context of a larger framework

may i anticipate at the outset a plea for simplicity

you might want to say to me for example

many of us simply believe in the fact

that the death and resurrection of jesus christ has accomplished the once for all sacrifice necessary for salvation

we have not attempted to explain the detailed reasons why or how christ's death has affected that reconciliation

we are concerned with goals and objectives

rather than procedures and mechanisms theories and explanations

and that's a valid observation my dear brother sisters

especially when you look retrospectively

how many people how many sincere bible students have got into deep water

by trying to go further

than perhaps scripture itself allows us to go

this is a relevant

observation we know that it is possible to have an accurate theory of redemption without necessarily personally being involved in it

we know that the converse is true also that it is possible to have involvement in redemption without understanding all the depths and all the fine detail which are implied by true experience of it

people

brethren sisters

and doctrine are separable

are they not

since scripture is separable from ourselves

and it stands in its objectivity over against and for the condition of man

but in another sense it is inescapably related to man in that it shines the light of hope and salvation to that condition

this word of revelation my dear brother and sisters has in the end to become an integral part of our own experience

of life of hope

of faith

it has to be for us in the end as it was for the lord jesus

his meat and drink

the word made flesh

and so a plea for simplicity

need not be at variance with a search for fuller understanding

indeed perhaps our inquiring age with its certain critical mindedness

needs a reason a reasonable and intelligible faith

in order to account for the atonement

but of course we must always be aware of the limitations of the finite human mind

especially when it seeks to understand things that are closely related to the infinite guard

and there are certainly problems and difficulties in the reconciliation of man to guard which no doubt will remain insoluble

for the time being

it is clear we all have heads as well as hearts and the intention of god is surely that we should use both

in order to obtain that reason and reasonable faith

the apostles tell us do they not that if we cannot see everything we can certainly see much and it was the purpose of their revelation to enable us in humility and with reverence to see and to understand the message that they brought

as it seems to me my dear brother and sisters

no satisfactory theory of the atonement has ever really been formulated or even discovered to explain the precise working of redemption the mechanics if you like of our salvation

or even the indispensable necessity for the cross

each successive generation has repudiated the analogies and the analyses which satisfied its parents and its grandparents

sometimes despairing at their crudity and inadequacy and the extent to which certain phrases in scripture in both old testament and new testament have been pressed too far out of all proportion

to other parallel and complementary truths

interpretations have been advanced for example against the background of the law court the feudal system or the marketplace

they have attempted to view the atonement in any one of a number of categories

the judicial

the penal the ethical the moral even very up-to-date the psychological

and i submit to you my dear brother and sisters that they all without exception have their limitations

one writer has

the atonement was wrought in darkness

because its full meaning

could not in the end be comprehended by the finite mind all the forces of sin

disintegration

decay

disorientation which we are all part

are surely indicated in that period of darkness from the sixth to the ninth hour

and the purpose of god a veil is drawn over the horrors of the dying lord

so that enquiring eyes human eyes

shall not see what it is inappropriate for them to see

another writer has said how or in what particular way christ's death was efficacious there are not wanting persons who have endeavoured to explain it but i do not find that scripture

hath fully explained it

so my dear brother and sisters

we may have our problems with our theories and our mechanisms

but we have no problems

with facts

the foreshadowing of the cross is a fact the lamb slain from the foundation of the world the law was a school master to bring us to christ he was oppressed and afflicted yet he opened not his mouth he made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death

the realization of the cross is also a fact

he suffered under pontius pilate

christ jesus who before pontius pilate witnessed a good confession jesus also suffered without the gate

the proclamation of the cross

is a fact

unto us which are saved it is the power of god

go ye therefore and teach all nations

baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit

they ceased not to teach and to preach jesus christ

it presents a life to be known

ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations

ye shall know that i am in the father

and ye in me and i knew

that ye may know and believe that the father is in me

and i in him

these things are written that believing

he might have life

through his day

and it presents also

a person

to be loved

if god were your father

you would love me

if you loved me you would rejoice because i said i go unto the father

if you love me

keep my

commandment

not just abstract distant

coerced love

but close

tender

gracious love

conscious of men's weakness

simon son of jonas

love astound me

feed my sheep

the purpose of this series of addresses my dear brother and sisters

is to be

expositional

analytical

devotional and excitational in such a way as to bring out the fullness of meaning of our subject

and seek to capture some of those vital elements of our theme the truth and the value the depth and the importance the relevance and the implications of christ's sacrifice

all these talks have as it were an expositional basis to their content from a supplementary handouts will come out as it were before each talk will give an outline of the general framework work which we are following

this first address

is by way of introduction to consider some key principles in our interpretation and some introductory points

the second address will consider in more detail the cross of christ the once for all offering for our sins

the third address will consider man's appropriation and try to answer the question how is the atonement available to man

and what is its effect upon us

and the fourth and final address salvation and human destiny

how does what we have considered in this series relate us to the future in the purpose of god how do we get from here to there

from oxford in 1983

to the return of the lord jesus christ

the consummation of all things

in him

the first and third addresses are mainly analytical and expository in nature

the second and fourth addresses are principally excitational and devotional and i hope very much my dear brother and sisters that this will present to you the right balance for a subject of this nature that it will be helpful to you in laying the foundations in guiding our understanding preparing our minds and hearts for fuller service with him to enable us to fulfill the conditions and demands of discipleship to attend to the personal discipline of the cross and to improve our vision

of the lord who came and died

and rose again

what we wish to do at all costs is to avoid that kind of barren

forensic analysis

which seeks to dissect the suffering savior and his accomplishments in order to arrive at truth

such an approach may well be objective

but it has no lie

in a sense i suppose my dear brother says it is presumptuous it is not reverential or fearful

it is the theologian or the surgeon

it is not the disciple

let us consider some of the key principles

in our interpretation

of the atonement

first of all

the atonement is right at the heart of god's purpose

the old testament look to its fulfillment

in the savior

and the new testament and the records of the preaching of the apostles flowed out from that central point in the purpose of god and the purpose of god

and so it is of necessity first and foremost a doctrine a teaching associated with god his purpose his character his self-expression his love his condescension his grace his mercy

his long suffering his justice his holiness and his righteousness

his knowledge of man

right into the heart of each one of us

and his being known of us

through his self-revelation in his word and in his son

god wills that all men

shall be saved and come unto the knowledge of the truth he is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance

and this revelation of god this purpose of god this declaration of god looks for the response from us

described by the lord jesus christ himself if any man willeth to do his will

he shall know of the doctrine

so each and every interpretation of the atonement is closely associated with some aspect of the essential meaning of our faith

and particularly

and importantly

it reflects our understanding of the divine nature

it is in our understanding of god

that our understanding of the atonement

has its ultimate ground and basis

or to put it another way the atonement my dear brother and sisters is not simply an understanding of the cross

attempt to so restrict its scope will always result in misunderstanding

we do not explain or interpret atonement by the cross

but rather the cross

by atonement

and so no discussion of the cross can be adequate which rests

upon an inadequate conception of the high and holy god his power and his almightiness his sovereignty over all whether recognized or not and his fatherhood of the son

similarly in the same way

no investigation no analysis no study of the sacrifice of christ

is complete if it seeks to

separate

god's visiting his people in the sun

his humble origins his birth

from his sacrifice upon the cross on the one hand

and the resurrection and exaltation and return from his sacrifice on the cross on the other hand all are essential components

to a full understanding of this subject

earlier studies in god manifestation

in our history of the community are i think helpful in drawing attention to this most important point

that we must have as our basis an adequate and a full understanding of the nature

and purpose of god

that it is in him

that we understand the ultimate origins the purpose the revelation and the motivation

for all these things

secondly

the atonement incorporates and reveals in all its fullness the nature of man

the light of the ministry of the lord jesus christ reveals very starkly and very clearly the darkness of the world in which he moved the darkness

of men without god

and of men without the word of god

the condition of man is clearly revealed to us in the word of god and it is to and for that condition

that this revelation of god comes

man is capable of inflicting pain and suffering and death willful and skillful disobedience

human nature at the cross of christ was revealed for all to see in all its strange folly and immoral grandeur

the terrible prerogative and unseemliness of seeking to withstand the lord of all the woeful recalcitrance reparation and shame

man and man alone

wants and seeks the good

and then forsakes it and denies it almost in the same breath

he forsakes and he promotes the evil

in his being there is from time to time the coexistence of the highest and the best and the basest and the worst

this juxtaposition of good and evil self-denial and self-assertion stand alongside the very cross of christ don't they in the two thieves

the one who railed on him

and the one in one who in humility

sought to be with him

perhaps there we have a representation of the whole human race capable of being divided into two solely on this basis

perhaps revealing also that such a division is in each of us in each of our minds and in each of our hearts that terrible duplicity caused by sin and the temptations to sin

seeking to be with him at one moment and railing on him for all the woes of sin in the next

in the final wretchedness and despair

of putting to death

the only righteous man

we will not have this man to reign over us

anticipated by the lord jesus christ

he that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel

against me

i might have thought that with this lesson from history the error would be avoided but not so

subsequently we learn of those whose tragic destiny

was still to tread underfoot the son of god and to put him to an open shame

so my dear brother and sisters the nature character and purpose of god

and the nature of man

are the two essential prerequisites in our understanding of the basis for atonement

let us consider next some introductory points to set the wider context of what we have to say later on in this series

we might describe this as it were as a long view

to give us the distant vision so that subsequent details may be seen in perspective rather like beholding a bridge

from a distance so that later on when we come to look at the bricks and the mortar the components of the bridge

we're not in danger of losing sight of losing understanding of what the bridge is or what the bridge is for

as it seems to me

central to the cross of christ are firstly the forgiveness of sins

was this not an important aspect of the first century preaching repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of jesus christ

for the remission of sins

repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the lord

and the lord jesus christ throughout his ministry emphasized the terrible reality of sin and its true source

it came

from within the very heart of man defiling

degrading deceiving and debilitating

and over against this predicament jesus proclaims the gracious forgiveness of god

the woman taken in adultery the prodigal son the man sick of the palsy and many others the list is legion isn't it

forgiveness centered in the lord jesus christ

but only at great cost

firstly to the redeemer himself

and then subsequently to man also but just as jesus jesus had to count the cost of going to the cross so man also had to count the cost of taking up the cross personally individually and corporately to count the cost of forgiveness in a renewed and in a transformed life

show your repentance by the fruit it bears

was the message that came out of the wilderness

for the attention of the scribes and pharisees in the days of john the baptist

the lord jesus christ

taught men to practice forgiveness

not as it were as a temporary theory but as a continual practice indefinitely no limited number of wrongs makes the practice of forgiveness perfect to quantify it

to measure it to seek to delimit it was to misunderstand it to miss the point

to nail it down

was to nail him to the tree

father forgive them

for they know not what they do

if ye forgive men your trespass their trespasses your heavenly father will also forgive you

but if you forgive not men their trespasses

neither will your father

forgive your trespasses

our world my dear brothers and sisters seeks easy easy ways out of this challenge of jesus

and perhaps even we do too

diminish sin and wrong

make light of the deadly deed

and even joke

over unseemly behavior

[Music]

[Music]

after that in the wisdom of god the world by wisdom knew not god it pleased god by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe

for the jews require a sign and the greeks seek after wisdom but we preach christ crucified unto the jews a stumbling block and unto the greeks foolishness

but unto them which are called both jews and greeks christ the power of god and the wisdom of god

we speak

the wisdom of god

in a mystery

man's weakness my dear brethren sisters is revealed in a paradox

in the very heart of human strength

for both jew and gentile

the jew held that god had revealed himself in history

and so it was naturally easy to presume to know how he would reveal himself in the future

a temptation to seek to calculate god's favor or his disapproval by outward signs

so it was that many jews believed that when their great deliverer came he would bear himself in the anticipated way and accomplish

the goals that they looked for

similarly if you were a greek

and had developed the power of abstract thought

you were led to suppose that nothing could be true or real which disturbed the balance and completeness of that thought

intellectual satisfaction brought about by the exercise of true reason

the greeks came to see jesus

sir

we would see jesus they said

they were sent away with the most disturbing message

verily verily i say unto you

except a corner of wheat fall into the ground and die it abideth alone

but if it die bringeth forth much fruit

he that loveth his life shall lose it and he that hateth his life in this world

shall keep it

unto life eternal

the fundamental error of both jew and greek was to suppose that man's theory of life was complete and satisfying that you could use a human yardstick

to measure out god's ways in relation to man

how is it possible for us my dear brother and sisters to avoid these dangers

how is it possible for us to see more fully the crucified christ as the power and as the wisdom of god

by what steps or by what stages

may this mystery be made known unto us

and fully revealed

well i think it's elaborated in first corinthians chapters one and two

where we began

and the pathway i think

is firstly humility

secondly faith

and thirdly putting on the mind of christ

the first prerequisite is humility

because that was what jesus demanded

of the greeks

and in a sense that's the whole context isn't it of the opening chapters of corinthians

that humility of mind is an essential prerequisite for life in the ecclesia not self-exaltation

but self-rebasement

and faith is also necessary chapter 2

and verse 4.

my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom

but in demonstration of the spirit and of power that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of man

but in the power of god

and thirdly we have to put on the mind of christ verse 16

who hath known the mind of the lord that he may instruct him that we

have the mind

of christ

and the fourth key element is to understand obedience and suffering not in isolation

in soul connection with the sacrifice of christ

but to understand its place and its part in the purpose of god

it came to its focus

in the lord jesus christ

he learned obedience

by the things which he suffered many of those old testament prophecies

foretold of the suffering the precise nature of that suffering that he would endure

why is suffering my dear brother and sisters such an integral part of god's purpose

and the lives that we are called upon to play

in that purpose

we shall consider that

in our later addresses

but once again it's an invitation for us

to go back where we should really be

on the basis of our subject

to consider the divine originator his sovereignty over all

it cannot be questioned

shall not the judge of all the earth

do right

if we do not understand it my dear brother and sisters

in humility we must accept it the final inscrutability of god

where man cannot go

and where in the end he has no right to inquire

all our desolating and painful experiences rightly viewed in humility of mind

can under can under god's good hand lead

to spiritual growth

faith is never abandoned but rather enabled

through suffering

think of the apostle paul

i will show him how great things he must suffer

for my name's sake and it was in one of his later epistles

that paul still spoke of a name that was not yet achieved an aspiration that was still not realized to know the fellowship of christ's sufferings through the continual process of becoming conformed

to his death

and remember too what the lord jesus said of peter

when i was young thou gerdest self and walk us where thou would us

but when thou shalt be old i shall stretch forth thine hands

and another shall gird thee and carry thee

whither thou wouldest not

to be fully obedient my dear brothers and sisters

is to share with christ in his death to truly fellowship his sufferings to have a sense of participation in his cross

that the new man in christ

might be revealed

and might give honor

and glory and majesty

to the creator

and the lord of all

so we come to our conclusions

from this first address

the conclusions are threefold

firstly

the cross of christ

and the preaching of the cross

and an understanding of the cross

is a positive and an objective message it is the power of god unto salvation

it begins with god

and is primarily concerned with goals with objectives and with destinations

secondly all procedures and mechanisms theories and explanations

are attempts from man's viewpoint and man's viewpoint alone to understand the mechanics of our salvation

they all have their limitations

because of necessity the full reasons and the full details are known only to god

what we can understand are the foreshadowing of the cross its promise and its expectation

the realization of the cross the proclamation of the cross the observation of the cross and the portrayal of the cross

what we can understand

are the spiritual practical and excitational principles of the cross its value its importance its meaning its blessings

its privileges and its responsibilities

thirdly

in order to understand the atoning work of christ in order to understand the principle of atonement we must first understand the primacy of god and his self-revelation in his son

we need to understand the nature of man

the principle of forgiveness

and the need for obedience

and sacrifice

Transcript

and when they were come to the place which is called calvary there they crucified him and the male factors one on the right hand and the other on the left

then said jesus father forgive them for they know not what they do

and they parted his raiment and cast lots

and the people stood beholding and the rulers also with him derided with them derided him saying he saved others let him save himself if you be christ the chosen of god

and the soldiers also mocked him coming to him and offering him vinegar and saying if thou be the king of the jews save thyself

the superscription also has written over him letters of greek and latin and hebrew

this is the king of the jews

my dear beloved brothers and sisters in the distance upon the horizon he could see the hill of calvary

three crosses

on the hillside

three crosses

bearing three dead men

the two on the outside were those whose lives would drain away

but the one on the inside

was the one who was to become

the true life-giver

and that cross of the lord jesus

cast a shadow

over all that preceded it

it cast a shadow [Music] across his ministry

the son of man goeth as it is written of him

and i if i be lifted up

will draw all men

unto me words spoken by the lord jesus

in those immediate circumstances

before the cross

so that shadow of the cross reached even earlier didn't it

to that turning point in his ministry at caesarea philippi

from that time forth began jesus to show unto his disciples how that he must go unto jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed

and be raised again

the third day [Music]

that shadow reached even earlier to better borrow behold the lamb of god

which taketh away the sin of the world

even earlier still

to his gracious birth

this child shall be set for the falling and rising again of many in israel yea

the sword shall pierce through thy known soul

also

and even further back the shadow was cast

over all the preparatory work in the purpose of god

before the revelation of his son

the prophet jeremiah behold the days come saith the lord that i will make a new covenant with the house of israel and the house of judah

the prophet isaiah

foretold one who was despised and rejected of men

a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief

the psalmist

anticipated what was to come [Music]

lo

i come in the volume of the book it is written of me

the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me they pierced

my hands

and my feet and even further back your father abraham rejoiced to see my day

and saw it in his glass

and even further back

because in the beginning was the word

the thought conceived the purpose planned

the destiny delineated in the mind of god from the very beginning and surely it is in this sense

that we may begin to understand

the word the lamb slain

from the foundation of the world

and the word of jesus

in his prayer to his father in the shadow of the cross thou lovered me

before the foundation of the world

and so this crossed upon calvary

catholic dark shadow

throughout all the preceding history

and on the other side

it cast a light of hope and of glory

into the future

for the joy that was set before him he endured the cross despising the shame and he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high i go unto the father jesus said to his disciples

that was the underlying theme wasn't it of that of those chapters 14 to 17

of john's gospel

the way to the father

the way to ultimately be a partaker

of the divine nature

and that brings to our minds

something in our first talk that without an understanding of god and his nature this cross of christ stands in isolation it stands open to misunderstanding and misrepresentation you must always see the beginning you must always see the destination

and that was the way to the father

for the lord jesus christ

i have finished the work

which though gave us me to do i have glorified the honor

i have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gave us me out of the world it was a manifestation of god

and the characteristics of god and the purpose of god that was the as it were so preoccupation of the lord jesus christ

and so the lord destiny

was calvary's hill

on occasions it was an overt destiny

a decision of the mind

a conscious decision of the

will but at other times because it were unconsciously revealed to us

that this was where the lord jesus christ was going

it came to pass we read in luke's gospel

as he went to jerusalem

that he passed through the midst of samaria and galilee almost as it were incidentally

but we know my dear brother and sister that there is a fuller meaning to those words there is a an undertone

a sobering consciousness that there his destiny would ultimately be fulfilled

and on the way to jerusalem he passes through galilee

the place of activity the place of interest in the message which he brought

the place where the fishermen were as we have just considered in our last session

i went out of fame of him to all the region round about and he taught in that synagogue being glorified

of all

if we may choose one passage out of all the many passages which as it were epitomized the work of jesus

on the way to the cross perhaps matthew chapter 15

is a good example matthew 15

and verse 29

jesus departed from thence and came down to the sea of galilee and went up into a mountain and sat down there and great multitudes came unto him having with them those which are lame blind domed and many others and cast them down at jesus feet and he healed them

in so much that the multitude wondered when they saw the dumb to speak the maimed to behold the lame to walk and the blind to see

and they glorified the god of israel

that's it isn't it the glorification of the god of israel

that inseparable link with the past

god's purpose as it has so far been revealed

in the glorification of his name

in the earth

and so he passed through galilee on the way to jerusalem

bethlehem nazareth cana capernaum judea samaria tyre sidon bethsaida

all on the lord's journey

to the

cross and so just across itself we have to understand the way to the crop

that the quality of his sacrifice and the extent of that sacrifice was revealed in all those preceding events

that led up towards it

and so the lord jesus christ

steadfastly sets his face

to go

towards

jerusalem

when you read his entrance for example in the gospel of john and the 12th chapter

beginning at verse 12.

john 12 and verse 12

on the next day much people that were come to the feast when they heard that jesus was coming to jerusalem took branches of palm trees and went forth to meet him and cried

hosanna

blessed is the king of israel that cometh in the name of the lord

jesus when he had found a young ass sat there on as it is written theo daughter of zion behold thy king cometh sitting on an attacker's cove

these things understood not his disciples at the first but when jesus was glorified then remembered they that these things were written of him

that they had done these things unto him

the people therefore that was with him when he called lazarus out of his grave and raised him from the dead

their record

and so from the baptism of the lord jesus his temptations in the wilderness

he now comes

to jerusalem

he comes to do

the will of god

and what a welcome he received

as he enters into jerusalem

the city of destiny

he would know all the associations

of this place

that it was the place where melchizedek had stood and met abraham returning from the slaughter of the king

it was the place where isaac had lain upon the altar

it was the place where abraham had worshipped in the mount of the lord it shall be seen

it was the place also where david had wept over the child that was soon to die at the hand of the lord bathsheba's child

and it was the place where our lord was destined to be crucified

o jerusalem

jerusalem

thou that killest the prophets and stone us them which are sent unto thee

behold your house is left unto you deathless

the city of destiny in the purpose of god

the preoccupation of the father in his purpose

the holy city

have proved itself to be time and time again the unholy city

taking the people of the lord murdering them

putting them to death

casting them out

if there has known the things which belong unto thy peace

but now they are hid

from thine eye

jerusalem

a place that throughout all its history

had known joy and sorrow

and it's seen all the wisdom and the folly the king

the princes

of human nature in all its form

it's very interesting to notice my dear brothers and sisters god's preoccupation his place

and time

now that repeatedly and his purpose become as it were back to the same place

but at a different time

that his purpose might be furthered

and build upon all the events that have previously been associated with this place

does he not do the same thing today

in our lives of discipleship not only concerned with time

in the purpose of our lives that they might do his will

but also place

that we might be in the right place at the right time

to serve him in that place and perhaps to build on upon all the work that god has done before in that same place surely we should all have that consciousness

that we are called to cooperate with the lord god in time

and pray

just as the lord jesus christ so graciously did

this particular point in history

so the lord jesus christ

comes

to jerusalem

but it might be fulfilled of him as the apostle paul later declared this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation

that christ jesus came into the world

to save sinners

and as jesus goes into the city

he knows what lies ahead of him

he could look behind him and see all the way that he had come bethenny the home of martha and mary that oasis

along the final road to the cross

the place of sucker

and of help to our lord

in his final journey

he could look back further and see jericho the city of the palm trees

the city of benjamin the passage of samaria and the hills of galilee and the shimmering lakes are all but a memory now

the places where the multitudes glorified the god of israel

when they saw the gracious healing power of god revealed in his son small beginning perhaps insignificant beginnings in the ministry of jesus

far reaching conclusion

as he comes to jerusalem

and these hosannas

that were sounded in his ears as he entered into the city

soon die away

and the lord jesus christ is to be found in a garden

a small garden the garden of gethsemane

and they brought him from this garden

into the sleeping city into the palace of california

the lord's three adjudicators

all involved

in that terrible miscarriage of justice

what a revelation my dear brother sisters this must be to each one of us

a revelation for all time for all to see

that man's justice

will always miscarry

because it reflects his own human nature

to a greater or lesser extent

the lord jesus christ

is on his own

there's another multitude now

with him

or alongside him

the gracious feeding of the four thousand or the five thousand are all history now they've all disappeared

or the lame who could now walk

or the blind who could now see

or the death who could now hear

or even the dead who had been raised

they're not with him

he's all together alone

perhaps there's a lesson here my dear brother and sisters for each one of us that perhaps

in the end

your best friends

your closest companions

may tend to leave you alone [Music]

if you have to choose between pleasing them [Music]

and enjoying the cross

of discipleship of the lord jesus christ

how was it precisely that that glad expectation

the hosannas of what came to be known later as palm sunday turned into the cruel nails of good friday surely a testimony here that circumstances may change

that human nature never changes

that's the other part of our two-fold foundation isn't it that we mentioned in the first address the nature of god

and the nature of man

alongside the cross of christ and the preceding events the true nature of man

is revealed fully for all to see

they were given a choice between jesus

and the rabbit

what did they say

not this man

that blabber

that was their choice

an incomprehensible choice

if you were to view it as it were in the sober light of day

a man who had led a rebellion

a murderer a man who was already destined for crucifixion

but pilate had a dilemma didn't he

had to get himself out of that tight spot

between

this inescapably just man he must have known it

on the one hand and the envy of the jews on the other how could he extricate himself

give them a choice

no one is going to choose the rabbit

but he was wrong

and they did

what might have thought my dear brothers and sisters that

our world would have learnt from this mistake

and that things might have moved in a better direction

that human nature never changes

you would have thought similarly that no one in our world would ever choose

a man such as hitler

but they did

and they still do today

and that's the reason isn't it why they chose the rabbit

rather than jesus

i think of the atrocities

that hitler perpetrated

there's a museum on the outskirts of jerusalem which i'm sure some of you have seen and visited

the abbasid monument

in memory of the holocaust

and the murder of six million jews

the hands of nazi germany

in that museum

are all the evidences of the terrible atrocities that were committed

and it's hard to go through that museum

it's hard to remain unmoved

in the face of such desolation

such suffering

from such death

six million jews and what's not

so often appreciated

one and a half million children

in a little coat

in their tiny shoes

can be seen there

with a testimony

and a memory

to those dark days

at the exit to the museum

there's a placard

on the wall and it bears the word

forgetfulness leads to exile

remembrance

is salvation

and those are words my dear brothers and sisters that we can remember today

it's words perhaps that the children of israel throughout all their history failed to fully remember

but it's words that we can see with their fuller meaning in the cross of christ

in our memory of him week by week

in bread and wine forgetfulness

leads to exile

remembrance

is

and salvation perhaps we've all chosen something other than jesus

from time to time and our lord is to be found alone in the judgment hall

we've all been the rabbit's friends

and deserted our lord

in the hour of his greatest need

all alone and yet of course paradoxically not alone because the father was with him and that's something that we must remember as we strive to follow him

jesus goes to the cross

and the rabbit

is a free man just through force of circumstances

in the presence of our lord and his destiny

the rabbis gains his freedom

and surely on a in a larger sense and with a wider perspective if it were not for the lord jesus christ

we would all be bound

to the chains of sin

that he brings us freedom

and new life

in his name

so as we have read in our opening reading

they will come to the place which is called calvary

there they crucified him in the malefactors one on the right hand and the other [Music] on the left

golgotha

the place of the skull perhaps there was a rock or a cliff or a crag there that as it were in gigantic outline against the sky took the ominous and dreadful form of a human skull there is such a crag

outside jerusalem today

and something that may well have been the place

sandwiched between the walls of jerusalem and the bus station going back to the time of the british monday

but there's something deeper i think in these words

calling to mind our early remarks about the preoccupation of god his time and place

and the furtherance of his purpose

was not this the place

where david had buried the head of goliath

when david killed this great giant of the philistines jerusalem didn't belong to him then but it did later

and there they brought

this head of goliath as a symbol of victory

the victory of the tiny stone of david

over this great giant the enemy the philistine

and now as it were to continue the purpose of god there is another stone of david the stone which the builders rejected

about to accomplish a victory over the great giant of sin

and an even greater giant just behind

the last enemy of death

there is that simple description of the crucifixion

in the gospel narrative

and they crucified him

just four words

no great narrative detail of all the suffering and pain that he had to endure

i think perhaps we'd have to go to the old testament for that

as it were fill out our understanding perhaps we could do that now

psalm 22

and verse 14

and hear the psalmist through the pain of his own experience

looking forward in anticipation

to an even greater fulfillment

of these words

psalm 22

and verse 19.

verse 14 rather i am poured out like water and all my bones are out of joints my heart is like wax it is melted in the midst of my bowels my strength is dried up like a pot shirt and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws and that has brought me into the dust of death for dogs have compassed me the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me they pierced my hands and my feet

i may tell all my bones they look and stare upon me they part my garments among them and cast lots upon my vesture [Music]

but be not thou far from me o lord and my strength

hasty

to help me alone

and yet not alone [Music] because the lord god was with his son

to sustain him

in the hour of his greatest need

for again isaiah chapter 53

a well-known word of the prophet

isaiah 53 and verse 3

is despised and rejected of men a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and we hid it where our face is from him he was despised and we esteemed him not

verse 6 all we like sheep have gone astray we have turned everyone to his own way and the lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all he was oppressed and he was afflicted yet he opened not his mouth he has broughted a lamb to the slaughter

and the sheep before her shears is done

so he openeth not

his mouth

and they

crucified him

and the malefactor

so the scripture was fulfilled

he was numbered

with the transgressor

and the attitude of mind of the lord jesus that his crucifixion i think is very revealing

to those who railed upon him

jesus said

father

forgive them [Music]

for they know not

what they do

it is parallel and complementary to those earlier words that he spoke at the beginning of his ministry in what we might call his manifesto [Music]

for the people of israel in the sermon on the mount i say unto you love your enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you that you may be the children of your father

which is in heaven so our lord my dear brothers and sisters was no clinical theory

giving advice and excitation in isolation

he fulfilled the truth of those words to the greatest extent

in his own life

the greatest mirror and example of that principle for all to see

love your enemies

do good to them that hate you

father forgive them

for they know not what they do

so he was not only son of god by birth

he also proved to be son of god by submission to his father's will that ye may be the children of your father

which is in heaven

and as our example my dear brothers and sisters he calls each one of us

to bear out in our lives

the same principle

that we may truly be sons and daughters

of god

they came to watch him die

sitting down they watched hinder

the chief priest with the scribes and elders mocked him they that passed by

reviled him

what a tragedy it was what a revelation

of the depths of sin

in human nature

to come before the son of god in his agony upon his cross

and revile him

he saved others

take that

let him save himself if he be the christ

the chosen of god

very interesting those were don't they

reveals first of all that they didn't really understand the significance of what was being accomplished

that there was never any possibility of him saving others by saving himself it was the other way around

he could only save others

by dying himself

but at the same time there is truth in those words from their point of view

in the very on the very lips of the enemies of the lord jesus there is the supreme confession of truth about him

he saved others they said it was all true

they are bearing testimony

to the truth

of all the events in his ministry

the blind to see the death to here and the lane to walk and even the dead have been raised

they did it on another occasion didn't they inadvertently reveal the truth about him

in an accusatory way

you receive us sinners

and eat us with them

each of us here today

can be eternally grateful that he did just that

receive sinners

such as ourselves

and eat with them

if you were to have any doubt my dear brothers and sisters

about this man

and the central

place of his cross

and the power of the gospel of salvation

those doubts should go i think

in the light of this testimony for those who would count themselves the enemies of jesus that even they had to confess

the truth about him

and upon his cross

there was the title written jesus of nazareth

the king of the jew

they wanted it changing didn't they so he said he was the king of the jews

but pilate takes a stand on this what i have written i have written

pilate in a sense was a weak man wasn't he

there must have been a greater power than pilate behind the writing of these words

it was the power of the lord god himself

jesus of nazareth

the king of the jew

and then we come to the two thieves

the one on the right hand and the other on the left

luke chapter 23

verse 39

one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him saying if thou be christ save thyself and uh

but the other answering rebuked him saying does not thou fear god seeing no art in the same condemnation and we indeed justly for we receive the jew reward of our deeds that this man hath done nothing of me

and he said unto jesus

lord remember me when thou cometh into thy kingdom

and jesus said unto him verily i say unto thee today

shalt thou be with me

in paradise

difficult words my dear brothers and sisters easy to pass by

but perhaps we ought to say something about them

first of all all discussions as to whether the thief on the cross was baptized or not should surely pale into insignificance

when we realize what is being accomplished here

the lord upon his cross

and the thief upon his cross

also

being literally crucified with the lord jesus christ

fulfilling in reality

what we through the waters of baptism

may with the blessing of god

replicate in symbol

we are crucified

with christ and rise to newness of life

in his name

this thief my dear brothers and sisters had to endure

what you and i in the mercy and grace of god have been fair

such a consideration as to whether he was baptized or not is in a sense to miss the point isn't it at the fullness of meaning of what baptism represents

so perhaps we can understand that in faith

and in submission to god

and acceptance of the lord jesus christ upon the cross the once for all sacrifice here was the basis

for his salvation

so perhaps we can understand that in faith

and in submission to god and acceptance of the lord jesus christ upon the cross the once for all sacrifice

here was the basis

for his salvation

but what did jesus mean by

today

shall they be with me

in paradise

well perhaps

a comma can be put in the right place

or you can give it a certain mobility and move it to whichever place you think is most appropriate but is there not a deeper meaning in these words here

thinking once again how god was so preoccupied with time

and place

and the furtherance of his purpose

to go back to previous places in their association

and bring them forward in time

for further fulfillment it is yet to be consummated in the future

so think of the garden of eden

the tree of knowledge of good and evil

adam and eve were put out of the garden the disobedience to the divine will

and the caribbean were placed at the entrance to guard and to preserve

the way to the tree of

life and now there has just been another garden

the garden of gethsemane

and jesus has come out of that garden to do the father's will

so in essence he's not the lord jesus christ reopening the way

to the tree of life so that what was lost by the first adam harmony in relationship to god in the garden of eden is now to be regained by the last adder

that paradise that was lost

is now to be regained

by his sacrifice upon the cross

so that eventually it might be fulfilled as described in the book of revelation to him that overcometh will i give to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst

of the paradise of god

so in these words my dear brothers and sisters

i think we have as it were the microcosmic significance of the purpose of god

that d-day has now been fulfilled in jesus sacrifice upon the cross

all the ingredients are there for the consummation at veda his return

in the establishment of the kingdom of god

as good as

fulfilled

because of his faithfulness

even unto death

verse 46 and when jesus had cried with a loud voice and said father into thy hands i commend my spirit

and having said that

he gave up the spirit

this was a supreme pattern for obedience and commitment to god

a full revelation of his trust and his loyalty and just as this was the pattern for the closing words of stephen's prayer so my dear brothers and sisters may not be

the closing words

of our prayer

when our course is done

to follow faithfully in the footsteps of the lord jesus christ himself

now no consideration of the cross of jesus and his death is complete without a brief mention of his resurrection

they came to the tomb

we read

and i suppose to go to a graveyard to a cemetery at any time

is a sobering experience

you see the graves that are overgrown

those perhaps who died long ago [Music]

memories of them are forgotten

and there are other grey

with a fresh flower

an indication that the memory of them is still alive

someone remembers that

so it was i think with the tomb of the lord jesus

and the women coming to that too springing as it were in spirit a fresh flower

in memory of the lord jesus

and as they were afraid and bowed down their faces to the earth the angel said unto them why seek ye the living

among the dead jesus had said after i am risen again i will go before you into galilee there shall ye see me they were looking in the place of death

they should have been looking in the place of life

how appropriate it was that it should be galilee not the mountaintop

the place of prayer

not gethsemane the place of conflict

and suffering

and obedience to the father's will

but the place of galilee

the place of daily activity and daily worth

where there had been that earlier interest and acceptance in the message that he brought in ordinary things are now going to be transformed by the presence of the risen law a breakfast upon the seashore those disciples who

ate with the lord jesus would never be the same again would [Music]

after that incident it would live with them in their minds

for the rest of their lives

but one man

thomas that sturdy-minded empiricist did not initially believe

except i shall see in his hands the print of the nail

i will not believe

then came jesus the doors being shut

and stood in the midst and said

peace

be unto you what is john telling us my dear brothers and sisters

in this record he's surely telling us that there are greater things for faith to see than merely the marks of the past

because in the end they only led you to the foot of the cross

and he was now beyond all that he was raised from the dead

and alive forevermore

jesus said thomas because thou hast seen me they have believed

blessed are they that have not seen

and yet have believed

think for a moment sisters

of the women

who companied with the lord jesus

who stood before his cross

he came to his two

they could surely enter into his suffering

in a way which the lord's brethren could not

stay surely above all others knew what it meant to lose a friend

and gain a savior

they lost him for a time

but he saved them all in the end

and perhaps even today

some of our sisters know what it is

have to lose a friend

to retain the savior

they know what it is

to enter into the pain and anguish of loyalty to him

to sacrifice all in this world

in order to be with their lord at the last

they have that capacity

to enter into the pain and anguish and suffering of our lord and because of that we're able to minister to him to help him

and to sustain him

all his disciples forsook him

and fled

no endurance

at the first sign of hardship and suffering

they went away

but for the women there was that constancy consistency

and faithfulness

great lesson there my dear sisters a great encouragement and a great inspiration

and so our lord was identified with us

was made like unto his brethren

he was in all points tempted like as we are

he was made of a woman he was made under the law he's made unto us wisdom righteousness sanctification and redemption

so that we might be in him christ in you

the apostle paul said

the hope of glory

so by way of conclusion what are we to say

to these things

i think we can say three things

firstly my dear brother and sisters

we ought to be deeply thankful

for the salvation that has been revealed to us

the way to the cross for the lord jesus

led through death

to life again [Music]

galilee to golgotha

and back to galilee

and to remember that if we be dead with him we shall also live with him

we are either on the right side of the cross of jesus

in humility

and in faith and in self-abasement

lord remember me when now cometh into thy kingdom

or on the other side

railing upon him

for all the woes of sin

it's one or the other in the

end and secondly

ordinary things for us can be transformed

by an awareness of the resurrection of the lord jesus christ

that in him there is new life new hope new prospects new joy a new significance

the daily task may never should never be seen as a dead end

as a drudgery

to be endured because of our calling

they are never fruitless my dear brothers and sisters they are never empty they are never worthless

because they are all capable of being transformed by this vision of hope which the resurrection of the lord jesus christ gives to each one of us that was the conclusion wasn't it of his great exhortation in coincidence

for as much as ye know that your labour is not in vain

in the law

and thirdly

what happened on calvary's hill has a perpetual and an eternal significance

considered earlier the shadow of the cross going right back to the very beginning of things and we saw the light on the other side going forward to the confirmation of the purpose of god and so it is that the book of revelation looks to the future in these terms the lamb of god slain from the foundation of the world i looked and lo a lamb stood on mount zion the lamb of god which taketh away

the sin of the world

and so the work of christ

should be for us comprehended in all these terms

that the writers of the epistles used to bring out the fullness of meaning associated with his death

that the death of christ is as generous a gift as the ransom of slaves could be

that it saves us from our sins

and can therefore be said to provide what we ourselves are absolutely incapable of providing

it offers us a way of deliverance

and so resembles the willingness the loyalty the self-sacrifice

of a shepherd who's prepared to give his life for the flock

it provides for righteousness and holiness

because our sins are inerraicable it's left to themselves

and it can be understood as a sprinkling

and a washing

associated with the lord jesus and his sacrifice are all the things of the new covenant the better hope better promises better sacrifices a more enduring substance and even a better resurrection

behold the lamb of god

which taketh away the sin of the world

to truly behold him

is to seek to be identified with him

they told me he was risen

so i left my quiet house and climbed the hill

i found the garden as they said

beset with trees

and there the empty two

the stone was rolled away just as they told me

i looked within and saw the folded cove

but there was nothing more

no broken body

no risen lord

and so i came away [Music]

back to my quiet house

whom do you seek sir

at my silent door

what does that require of me

Transcript

today my dear beloved brother and sisters we come as it were to the most difficult part of our subject

and i hope that in the analysis we are to pursue

we don't lose sight of some of the simplicities of our faith and i think perhaps the last verse in the hymn that we have just sung presents the simplicity in the end of our appropriation of the work of christ

then to life i turn again learning all the worth of pain

learning all the might that lies in a full self-sacrifice and i'm sure each of us my dear brothers and sisters when we sang those words

appreciated that there was more than just head knowledge in the understanding of the term learning

it's not just the analysis is it of the word of god in the end it's our appropriation of these things are entering into the experience of the lord jesus our application of these principles in our own lives

today i'd like to look at our relationship to the atoning work of christ

in terms of the appropriation and seek to analyze how that work comes to us and then secondly by application so there are really two parts

understanding the theory the mechanism if you like

and secondly understanding the practice and you probably have already got that message from the synopsis in front of you as it seems to me theory and practice must go hand in hand

although of course the theory the expositional basis must be the foundation for our life in christ

now there are a number of passages in the new testament in particular which i think focus our minds on the means by which the sacrifice of christ is available to us

if perhaps i might just select three of them don't turn to them just yet

romans chapter 3

and verse 25

galatians 3 and verse 13 and 2

corinthians 5

21 i'll just read these to you you don't need to turn to them just yet

whom god hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past

through the forbearance of god

galatians 3 and verse 13

christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us for it is written cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree that the blessing of abraham might come on the gentiles through jesus christ

and 2 corinthians 5 21

for he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of god in him

now these are three passages my dear brothers and sisters which as it seems to me focus our attention upon the very heart of our subject as far as the expositional basis is concerned

and i think perhaps although there are difficulties in romans chapter three that's the easiest of all the three passages

and i think perhaps our understanding of the term to be a propitiation through faith in his blood is best understood in terms of the old testament preparation through the laws and ordinances that were there prescribed

those old testament ordinances fill out our understanding of what paul meant he's directing our attention is he not to the mercy seat there it was where god met with men and so it is with the lord jesus christ

so with your permission i'd like to concentrate on the second two of our three passages these i think are perhaps the most difficult of all the passages in the new testament which speak of the atoning work of the lord jesus christ and so if we go perhaps where the difficulties are greatest if we can solve those we may find the greatest hell

now those last two passages i just read present the following picture that christ became a curse in order to that a blessing might come to others

christ was made sin in order that we might become the righteousness of god in him

now immediately my dear belonging sisters we're face to face

with difficult principles for example are these words to be understood literally or are they to be understood figured figuratively

surely paul cannot mean christ became a curse

the noun there must be taken as an adjective

and the statement then means christ came under a curse as perhaps the septuagint of deuteronomy 21 verse 23 suggests that that is to say the curse of god rather than an insult to god

but even this consideration this observation does not really help us with the third passage we cannot replace noun with adjective here because if we do we get christ was made sinful and which of us would say that that was true it's clearly untenable so we then ask the question does the term there does the term sin there convey the association of sin offering

well there are two places in leviticus where the term does have this sense and i need to turn them up leviticus 4 25

and 5 12.

but nowhere else in the new testament is the word used in this sense we have to ask ourselves the question would paul have used one word the word sin twice in the same sentence as he does in two corinthians five with different meanings or different associations it seems difficult to think so

it's very clear though isn't it that the term

to be sin stands in opposition to the terms become the righteousness of god

so that's just a brief introduction to those two passages i'd like now to look at each of them in more detail so let's first look at galatians chapter 3

and verse 13.

i suppose to understand the fullness of meaning

in any of these critical passages we must pay due attention to the context

the context here as we all know well

is paul's message to the circumcisers who have failed to comprehend the significance of the cross or if not directly to the circumcisers to the influence that they were having in the ecclesias of galatia

we know during the development of the first century clears there was that tendency to retreat back to the synagogue to go back to the familiar things the traditional things to be circumcised and to keep the law of moses

but although god's once for all sacrifice had been revealed in the lord jesus christ

there had been that tragic tendency to lose the importance of that and to retreat to the former things

now paul on a number of occasions has to remind his brethren sisters about the decisive nature of god's revelation in christ and how

a proper understanding a full understanding of god's work throughout history can only be understood in the light of this supreme revelation

as well as letter to the galatians that's another good example i think in perhaps rather different context in a letter to the romans

chapter 4 i think presents the picture of the argument where paul says in effect if you're going to have a watershed in history

you have to go further back

than the laws of god revealed at sinai eye because that of course was the always the focal point to which the jew's attention returned

paul said you have to go further back than that you have to go back to the promises given to abraham

they were potentially universal were they not given even before he was circumcised so there was a priority there asserted by the apostle paul that faith came before law

and those promises were supremely revealed and fulfilled in the lord jesus christ

so if there were two priorities then the lesser priority had to give way to the greater and so it was with law and grace

and paul's argument in galatians chapter 3 is of a very similar nature

here there were those who had failed to comprehend the full significance of the cross

paul asserts that the true sons of abraham are not those who accept the circumcision of the flesh and keep the law but rather those who share abraham's faith verse 8

in thee shall all nations be blessed

and those who fail to keep the law cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them

verse 10

for that no man is justified by the law in the sight of god it is evident for the just shall live by faith and that's another strand isn't it that's taken up from the old testament that as it were was of a greater priority than the law through moses

the words of habakkuk prophet habakkuk the just shall live by faith taken up i think three times in the new testament in a rather different situation each time it would take too much time to explore the subtleties of meaning there but i think the essential primary meaning is quite evident it is righteousness by faith which paul is setting before that

now the result of all this is rather a paradox it is fulfillment

on the one hand god's purpose moving to its focus in the lord jesus christ its fulfillment and it is annulment

fulfillment of the blessing to the gentiles and annulment of the curse on the jew under the law there is now neither jew nor greek

and this is represented in the cross

the cross demonstrates that christ himself has now come under the curse from which the jews have been set free

christ

is identified with the condition of man

now we know that the exposure of a criminal's body on the stake under the law was the public display of one on whom the curse of god already rested

because of his failure to keep that law

our next question i think is well exactly how are the jews set free how does the blessing come to the gentiles what is the mechanism i think the closest we can get to answering this question are the well-known words towards the end of the chapter

verse 25

after that faith is come we are no longer under a schoolmaster

we are all the children of god by faith in christ jesus for as many of you as have been baptized into christ have put on christ there is neither jew nor greek there is neither bond nor free there is neither male nor female we are all one in christ jesus and if you be christ then are you abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise now we use these words my dear brother and sisters in our public lectures to assert the importance of baptism and the way this relates us to the promises through the sacrifice of christ

and that is true and that is important but what i'm suggesting to you here is as as it were a further dimension of meaning to those words when understood fully in the light of the previous verses

from a curse the early part of the chapter has now come blessing

there has been the annulment of the curse and there has now been the fulfillment of the blessing in christ jesus

now the number of parallels to this kind of idea in the gospels

for example jesus touches those or is touched by others who according to jewish law were unclean

theoretically he should have been made unclean also

but instead it is abundantly clear that he overcomes the power of defilement

and makes those whom he touches free from all uncleanness

i'm not going to look at any examples of that but i'll just give you one reference mark chapter 1 verses 40

to 45.

a similar contrast

a similar picture occurs in first corinthians chapter one which we've already looked at i'm just reminding you of it paul there is arguing

against those whose understanding of the cross is emptying it of its true significance the crucified christ is is a folly which is wiser than human wisdom and a weakness which is stronger than human strength

the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness but unto us which are saved it is the power of god

the jews require a sign and the greeks seek after wisdom but we preach christ crucified unto the jews a stumbling block and unto the greeks foolishness but unto them which are called both jews and greeks christ the power of god and the wisdom of god

then later on

he reveals to us that fundamental principle by which christ and the qualities of christ are revealed to us christ jesus who of god is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption

so in a sense in both corinthians and galatians paul points out the offence of the cross

but in neither place

at least in the context of the immediate chapters does he mention the resurrection

and i think the reason is that it was so obvious how folly and weakness had been changed into wisdom and strength both figuratively and literally it was in the offering of his body on the tree

and so the prime result of the cross

is the opportunity for a sharing in the sacrifice of christ

galatians chapter 2

and verse 20

i am crucified with christ nevertheless i live yet not i but christ liveth in me and the life which i now live in the flesh i live by the faith of the son of god who loved me and gave himself

for me

and the means by which we enter into this life of christ is by baptism into him that's the verse we've already read at the end of chapter three

and so the process of putting on christ

of being one man in christ jesus

by that process we are able to inherit the promise first made to

abraham or to put it another way

galatians chapter 3

and verse 13

is according to this understanding not a simple exchange

jesus does not take what was due to us

and we receive what should have been due to him for his obedience during life and faithfulness even unto death

rather the picture is that he entered into our experience

so that through his sacrifice we might be able to enter into his by sharing in his resurrection that i think is the implications of the words in galatians 2 verse 20

when carried to their logical conclusion it's not just a dead christ in the end with which the apostle paul is associated it's the risen christ isn't it who is head of the body the ecclesia

so the lord jesus christ entered fully into our situation into our experiences

god sent forth his son made of a woman made under the law with what results

chapter 4 and verse 5

to redeem them that were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons

and because you are sons god hath sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts

so there's a certain parallelism of idea there in verses four to five

of galatians four and i think this parallelism is similar to that in galatians 3.

jesus shares our experience in order that we may share his he came under the law to set free those that were then under the law

and the result is sonship

not of abraham as perhaps you might have expected but rather of god himself

the son of god was born of a woman in order that those who are born of woman might become true sons of god

jesus shares our state in order that we might share his

but once again it's not a simple exchange is it the end point of the roles of jesus and of ourselves is not exchanged

christ does not cease to be son of god and we receive the salvation wrought by the sun it's interesting to notice how that in some of the epistles the lord jesus christ even then resurrected ascended elevated his father's right hand is still regarded as being subordinate to the father the god and father of our lord jesus christ so christ does not cease to be son of god after his atoning work

the second passage 2 corinthians 5

and verse 21

perhaps by way of introduction we could start at verse 14.

words to which we have already referred

the love of christ constrainteth us because we thus judge that if one died for all then we're all dead and that he died for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him which died

for them and rose again

whence wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh yea though we have known christ after the flesh yet now henceforth know we him no more therefore if any man be in christ he is a new creature all things are passed away behold all things are become new

and all things are of god who hath reconciled us to himself by jesus christ have given to us the ministry of reconciliation

verse 21 for he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of god

in him

once again the context is a discussion of the significance of the work of the cross

there's a certain emphasis towards the application in the area of witness of preaching

ambassadors for christ verse 20 but it's still the essential context of the work of christ

the point of issue i think is its relationship to practical behavior and the work of the apostles

perhaps certainly in corinth had been embarrassed by the apostle paul his apparent lack of dignity and so paul has to assert that the only basis of life is the dying and rising again of the lord jesus

one has died for all and therefore all have died and he died for all so that those who live should not live to themselves

but to him who died and rose again

this ministry of reconciliation has been entrusted to the apostles the basis of the reconciliation is the fact that the one who knew no sin was made sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of god in him

and once again this as it were interchange of experience the death of christ being repeated in pattern in his apostles and in his followers is not a simple exchange

for we become the righteousness of god in him

if christ has been made sin he has also been made our righteousness

now those are the two i think most difficult passages galatians 3

and 2 corinthians 5

but there are a number of others which i'm not going to ask you to turn to which i think present a very similar picture

you know the grace of our lord jesus christ that though he was rich yet for your sakes he became poor that ye through his poverty might be rich once again it's not a simple exchange

if riches have come to us through the poverty of christ

it is presumably also because riches are now christ's also he does not forego the riches forever in order that they might come to us

it is an interchange rather than an exchange he died

and rose again

that was 2 corinthians 8 and verse 9 of course

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 condemned sin in the flesh that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh

but after the spirit romans 8 verses 3 and 4.

the purpose this time is that the requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us

and although this happens because we are now in christ it is not the quite the same kind of interchange it is more a progression of change

culminating in what paul says later on in the chapter you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear but ye have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry abba father i reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us for the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of god

interchange and then progression of change

towards the culmination and consummation of god's purpose i think the very similar ideas there in romans 8 15 to 19

with those in the galatians 4 passage to which we've already referred

of course the close identification with the lord jesus christ is stated later on in the chapter romans 8 verses 29

and 30.

two other passages which i'll just refer to one mention the other

romans 5 verses 12 to 21

is i think relevant

the second adam took the form of the first adam that we can be conformed to his likeness in a new creation in the image of his son and then the final passage in philippians 2 which presents a picture of what christ became

without in that particular context referring explicitly to what we become in him

just a statement about the

manner of the revelation of the lord jesus christ

his humiliation his humility used as an exhortation to the brother and sisters of philip high it's interesting to notice and perhaps you might like to turn to this philippians chapter 3

that paul returns to this theme to which i am referring

later on in the epistle

philippians 2 i think presents something of the background and the context let this mind be in you philippians 2 verse 5 which was also in christ jesus for being in the form of god thought it not robbery to be equal with god but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the cross

now after those words paul does not explicitly refer to what we become in him it's the main thrust excitation and lesson is the humility and self-abasement that we should have in the face of god's revelation in jesus christ

but at the name of jesus every knee should bow verse 10 that every tongue should confess that jesus christ is lord

verse 12 wherefore my beloved

as you have always obeyed not as in my presence only but now much more in my absence work out your own salvation with fear and trembling and so the main thrust of his excitation is that the disciples there might repeat in their own experience this self-abasement of the lord jesus christ that all strifes and divisions and self-exaltations

might be done away

later on in the epistle i think we come back to the way in which we are incorporated into this sacrifice of christ for example philippians 3 and verse 9.

that latter part of verse 8 for connection that i may win christ and be found in him not having mine own righteousness which is of the law but that which is through the faith of christ the righteousness which is of god by faith that i may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death if by any means i might attain unto the resurrection of the dead this is linked in verses 20 and 21 with the return of the lord jesus christ the expectation

of all disciples and their true hope in the resurrection of the body so our body of humiliation is to be fashioned by the lord who himself had humbled himself and became obedient unto death we too can in the end be conformed

unto the body of his glory

so the picture we have here brethren sisters is that christ humbled himself in order that in him and by him we might become glorious in him

well i hope this analysis has not been too much to take but just in case it has may i summarize

what we've established so far

firstly

christ identified himself with us in order that we might identify ourselves with him in terms of law

sonship wisdom righteousness sanctification redemption resurrection and glory

secondly

i think it follows naturally from what we've already said that it must be as man's representative rather than as his substitute that christ suffered and died

it's only as son of man

the title as it were of supreme elevation of the lord jesus as i think we've already considered this week that he is able to lift men into an obedient relationship with god and he can do this by being first lifted up himself in obedience upon the tree

and so it is not an exchange of judgments and rewards

but rather an interchange

in christ we may become what god intended us to be

in christ there is now a new creation so that men may now truly bear his image

thirdly if christ identified himself with us in order that we might be identified with him

then those things which governed and characterized the old life in adam are being done away the old man says paul in romans 6 6

is crucified with christ

and the new man rises from the dead with christ

he is now dead to sin and dead to the law romans 6 11 and 7

4.

but we know

that the characteristics of the adamic life still continue sin and suffering and death and it's very interesting to notice how that in the letters of paul we are presented with a new dimension of meaning a new understanding

in the light of the work of christ of the sin and the suffering and the death that we still endure despite the fact of being in christ i think all these things for the apostle paul are now regarded as being an integral part of being in christ

rather than as it were just to carry over of the things that were formerly in adult

i think this should come to us as being a very strange thing

because you might have thought that it was really part of the adamic existence that we were subject to suffering and to death and there are a number of passages which i think appear to suggest this kind of understanding let me just read one to you

i reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us that could be construed as a picture of the adamic existence

as over against contrasted with the glory that is our destiny in the lord jesus christ

there's a contrast there isn't there between present being linked to the past and our origins and the future

but you just go back one verse to romans 8 verse 17

if children then as as of god and joined as with christ if so be that we suffer with him that we may also be glorified together

so i'm suggesting brother and sisters that verse 18 must be understood in the context of this key phrase in verse 17

suffer with him

that's the new dimension i think that the sacrifice of christ has brought to the life of

disciples now it is no doubt true that much of the apostolic suffering and tribulation was directly due to the gospel and their active involvement in its proclamation imprisonments beatings hunger and shipwrecks it's very clear also that all those things could be viewed as a suffering for the lord jesus christ

yet i put it to you isn't it very doubtful whether the apostle paul would have drawn a line of demarcation between apostolic suffering the suffering brought about directly as a result of preaching the gospel and other kinds of suffering personal suffering the symptoms of mortality if you like those things which are evidence in our flesh of the inheritance which we bear

i submitted is very doubtful whether paul in the end would have tried to draw a line of demarcation between the two and say well this is the suffering in christ and this is the suffering in adam

the thorn in the flesh

and the decline of physical strength

could have been thought out of as being in adam

yet paul clearly treats them as part and parcel of being in christ

man is renewed in christ but he is not yet free from physical limitations yet because christ was truly son of god and son of man these can now be understood in terms of the life in christ 2 corinthians chapter 12

and verse 9 i think makes this point very clear indeed

2 corinthians 12

verses 9 and 10

he said unto me my grace is sufficient for thee for my strength is made perfect in weakness most gladly therefore will i rather glory in my infirmities that the power of christ may rest upon me therefore i take pleasure in infirmities in reproaches in necessities in persecutions in distresses for christ's sake for when i am weak then i am strong and so i think all aspects of the new life in christ whether directly attributable to the preaching of the gospel and the hardship caused thereby or whether it's personal suffering personal distress personal injury they are all part

of the life of christ

fourthly

this interchange brought about by the representative sacrifice of the lord jesus overflows into the lives of others we turn back a few pages to 2

corinthians 4

and verse 5

we preach not ourselves

but christ jesus the lord and ourselves your servants for jesus sake verse 10 always bearing about in the body the dying of the lord jesus that the life also of jesus might be made manifest in our body for we which live are always delivered unto death for jesus sake

that the life also of jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh

so it's a witness isn't it it's not just developing the mind and character of christ in isolation it is that development with a purpose so that as paul says we do not preach ourselves but rather christ jesus the lord

so it's a witness isn't it it's not just developing the mind and character of christ in isolation it is that development with a purpose so that as paul says we do not preach ourselves but rather christ jesus the lord

and fifthly i think it is in the light of this introduction lengthy though it's been that we must seek to understand those apparently

substitutionary passages in isaiah 53

and verse 6 and first peter 2 and verse 24. so what i'm saying my dear brother and sisters is that they're only one half of this full of truth which i've been presenting to you that he was identified with us that we might be identified with him that's just a part view in those two verses of this wider

understanding of the work of christ it is i think in the end to narrow a basis for a full understanding of the work of christ to regard it as just a substitutionary sacrifice for ourselves

let's move on very quickly to the more practical side of our subject

i just like to create a link between the theory and the practice by reminding you of those words of jesus in john chapter 5 and verse 24 where he say links very clearly the hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the son of god and live there's going to be a real waiting at the last day and there's going to be a spiritual reawakening even now just as the literally dead will be literally raised the physically dead will be physically raised so even today the spiritually dead can be spiritually raised the old way of life in adam can become the newness of life in christ jesus a life with a new dimension new characteristics new qualities new perspectives new affections and new goals

those two tenses is coming and now is in john chapter five i think a reminder of the importance of this truth

the practical effects

directly related to the atonement i've listed these in as completely in complete away as i can on the synopsis and we're not going to have time to look at all of these i think it's very useful you're going to be able to take away the full list

all these characteristics and qualities that are presented here my dear brothers and sisters are the practical effects in the life of the disciple that are directly attributable to the atonement i know perhaps you would want to say to me well surely there is no aspect of our life of our character of our work and of our service that is in the end not related to god's work in christ and of course that's true

to a greater or lesser extent all the teaching in the new testament and all the preparative teaching in the old testament is touching on

the truth of this even if it's only by way of implication what i've listed here are those aspects and those qualities and those characteristics which just through the close association of the context in which the excitation is set forward make it abundantly clear that they are directly related to the sacrifice of christ

and perhaps just to add to the notes on the synopsis

i could just list for you what are the verses where the atoning work of god in christ are referred to in these particular situations

we are bought with a price

therefore glorify god in your body be not ye the servants of men walk in newness of life now the atonement verses where the work of christ is set forth our first corinthians 6 20

and 7

23

the cleansing power brought about by the sacrifice of christ in the purging of our consciences

hebrews chapter 9

verses 11 and 12. perhaps we could look at that very briefly

hebrews 9 11

christ being come and high priest of good things to come by greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands that is to say not of this building neither by the blood of goats and of calves but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place having obtained eternal redemption for us

if the blood of bulls and of goats and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifies to the purifying of the flesh how much more shall the blood of christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to god purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living god so it's the sacrifice of christ this is atoning work with the intended direct result presented by the writer here to purge our conscience from dead works to serve the living god it would be interesting to explore the way in which this must work itself out in practical experience how that i think conscience is related to consciousness

our conscience with regard to sin is related to our consciousness of sin the love of christ constraineth us

we must realize the price

that has been paid we must cultivate a good conscience that is void of offense and all this is part and parcel of the practical

outworking thirdly

christ's sacrifice is directly linked to the expectation of his return that's in the same chapter isn't it those well-known words verse 28 so christ was once offered to bear the sins of many and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation so an understanding of the work of christ must have at its counterpart the expectation of his return

while we're in hebrews i might as well go straight over into number four hebrews chapter 10

that threefold

exhortation that threefold

practical conclusion

verse 19 having therefore brethren boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of jesus by a new and living way which he has consecrated for us through the veil

three practical lessons follow verse 22

let us draw near verse 23 let us hold fast verse 24

let us consider one another to provoke and to love and to good works and so the blood of christ

is inescapably related to all these ordinary practical things

fifthly sin has been covered by his sacrifice

and yet perhaps rather paradoxically it has also to be set aside

may i list for you the verses which present the work of christ as the setting and basis for this exhortation i'm not going to look at them hebrews 12 2

romans 5 verses 18 and 21 in first peter four and verse one

now this excitation i think my dear brother and sister is a very powerful one sin has been covered by christ

but that does not mean that we should have an indifferent attitude towards sin from now on

it places us as it were in the position of greater responsibility to reject those things that formerly encourage sin

to cultivate good habits rather than bad habits

make a definite attempt to avoid the occasion of temptation for being in the wrong places of being under the wrong influences

shall we continue in sin that grace may abound

god forbid

by no means

so as you know well

the argument that would wish to further the grace of god by giving it greater opportunity to operate through the sacrifice of christ by providing more sins to be covered is a specious argument it was an argument that paul had to refute it was an argument that we should refute today also

sixthly do good and communicate communication there of course being not just verbal but being linked to those practical expressions of fellowship in our service one with another and supremely in the breaking of bread the

central passage there

calling attention to the work of christ is hebrews 13 and verse 12.

seventhly generosity to all perhaps we could look at this one

as it's related to something that normally we would regard as being quite ordinary

very mundane very practical a necessity taking a collection

isn't it amazing how in 2 corinthians 8

paul lifts it to such a high level a collection is no longer an ordinary thing for brethren and sisters in the lord jesus christ it must be regarded as a very spiritual thing

because we have to first consider the extent of the self-giving of jesus himself

you know the grace verse 9 2 corinthians 8 of our lord jesus christ that though he was rich yet for your sakes he became poor that ye through his poverty might be rich and herein i give my advice

verse 11 now therefore perform the doing of it and as there was a readiness to will so there may be a performance also of that which ye have so he told them about the collection for the poor saints in jerusalem they had the intention to give he's now encouraging them to put that into the fullest practical expression possible

because of this central teaching and doctrine of the work of the lord jesus christ

but a wonderful thing it is my dear brother and sister that the highest and the holiest things in the end are related to the most mundane and practical things or so we would have thought rather than bringing down the sacrifice of christ to that level it surely lifts the things at this level right up to the sacrifice of christ this is how we should regard them this should be the motivating spirit in our giving for others

so 2 corinthians 8 verse 9 is the atonement passage in that connection

next the well-known

area of human relationships wives husbands children fathers servants masters and brethren i'm sure my dear brother says i don't need to remind you of the great spiritual pattern that is set before is in this connection even as christ loved the church

and gave himself for it this should be our perspective whether we be a husband or a wife or a child or a father a servant or a master or a brother

all our relationships should be governed by this perspective brought upon us by an understanding of the work of christ

and the next one forgiveness of others to forgive one another even as god for christ's sake hath forgiven us and that's the central place isn't it of the sacrifice of christ as we mentioned earlier in our first address

so the passage there is as stated ephesians 4 and verse 32.

enthusiasm for good works this is another very good illustration of the point that i'm trying to make titus chapter 2 if you'd like to turn to it and verse 10.

verse 11 the grace of god that bringeth salvation has appeared to all men

teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great god and our savior jesus christ who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works where we've already considered this haven't we the peculiar people the special people

and this is to be the motivating and driving force in our good works

and the last three humility the

passage there we're not going to turn to any more passages now philippians chapter 2 verses 7 and 8 suffering for christ first peter 2 verses 23 and 24

and a basis for an active and continuing faith galatians chapter 2 and verse 20

and really i suppose to precede romans chapter 12 and the excitation there romans chapters 1 to 11 presenting the work of christ in terms of justification by faith

so perhaps to summarize what we've tried to say this morning

we are called upon to identify with the lord jesus christ perhaps we could just select out three things because it will provide the threefold basis for our understanding there must firstly be faith and baptism into jesus

there must be remembrance of him in the breaking of bread and there must be the selfless and sacrificial life

that should be the demonstration

and the realization of our appreciation of the sacrifice of christ for

us and so the work of christ is really so great that it cannot be accomplished by man but in the end it is not totally external to us if it were we would be led in the direction of a substitutionary theory to understand his work

but we are called upon to participate in it so if in our first talk we began with an objective salvation as the foundation on which to build our understanding we are led to an appreciation of the work of christ into an association of ourselves with him

and to develop his characteristics we are called upon

to full participation in these things

perhaps to bring our thoughts

to a focus have you got a short poem i'd like to read to you by way of conclusion that i think presents the essence of our appropriation of christ's sacrifice

i asked the lord that i might grow in faith and love and every grace

might more of his salvation know and seek more earnestly his face

i thought that in some favored hour at once he'd answer my request and by his love's constraining power subdue my sins and give me rest

instead of this he made me feel the hidden evils of my heart and let the angry powers within assault my being in every part

lord why is this i trembling cried will thou pursue me to the death

it is in this way the lord replied i answer prayer for grace

and faith

these inward trials i employ from self and pride to set thee free

and break thy schemes of earthly joy that thou mayest seek thy all

in me

just bow our heads in prayer

Transcript

he could see them coming

out on a night errand away from the sleeping city and down its eastern hillside

their torches and their lanterns glittering in the darkness

a great multitude with swords and staves

coming to put out [Music] the light of the world

jesus had said yet a little while is the light with you walk while you have the light lest darkness come upon you

for he that walketh in darkness

knoweth not whither he goeth

while you have light believe in the light that you may be the children of light

these things spake jesus and departed

and he'd hide himself

from them

beyond the brookhedron there was a garden

into which the lord jesus christ had entered

the hour

had come

jesus had said had he not verily verily i say unto you except a corner of wheat fall into the ground and die it abideth alone but if it die

it bringeth forth much fruit

or again he that loveth his life shall lose it and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal

or again if any man serve me let him follow me

and where i am there shall also my servant be

if any man serve me him will my father on earth

now is my soul troubled and what shall i say

father save me from this hour

nevertheless for this cause

came i took this hour

my dream beloved brother and sisters if you were an impartial observer on the hillside that faith that fateful night and saw this group of people on their midnight mission what would you have thought

they are enforcing the law

it is inevitable no more than that it is necessary to avoid lawlessness

insurrections uprisings

we have seen many of them and no doubt there will be many more

you have to be so careful

a passerby would have seen a strange thing

a collection of people from the so-called so-called holy city going outside its walls on a most unholy assignment

how could they possibly justify it

you might have thought

they were honoring and upholding the law

the one they sought

was guilty but in actual fact

he honored and upheld the law

and they were guilty

it's a strange thing isn't it

that the truth about the situation was the very opposite to what you might have expected

the casual observer might have said the will of the people is being done or at least the will of their elders

that jesus said

thy will

be done

they could have said time has run out for him destiny has run its course

jesus said this is their hour

and the power of darkness

they came in the dark they returned in the dark

and they continued in the dark

but he was in the light

and he was strengthened by an angel

to continue faithfully

in that light they had a mission to accomplish to put an end to their doubts and fears about this man

he too had a mission to accomplish

and it was exactly the same mission if they could but see it

to put an end to their doubts and their fears

looked at from man's viewpoint

you saw one thing

human destiny

the destiny of man

but looked at from god's viewpoint

you saw something completely different

this my dear brother and sisters are the challenge of our subject today

taking man's viewpoint is an earthly viewpoint

taking god's viewpoint

is the spiritual viewpoint

the long-sighted viewpoint

the destiny that god has promised

to be with the lord jesus christ in gethsemane is no guarantee

that we will see the eternal things it needs effort it needs diligence it needs understanding so easy isn't it to try to resist the world using the world's methods in order to accomplish

our destiny as for example peter did

and to think that you were on the side of jesus

but this act of peter this act of violence

required the intervention of the lord jesus

and so it could be for us

so it was the last hour

father if thou be willing remove this cup from me

nevertheless not my will

but thine be done

he surrendered completely

to his father's will

and this brethren sisters is surely the central issue

the fundamental principle

to seek above all costs the will of god

and in faithfulness to carry it out

come what made

this was the way for the lord jesus

this is the way for us

this is the way to salvation

this is the way to fulfill our true destiny

our human destiny is the wages of sin

salvation's destiny is to the glory of god

and to be a partaker

of the divine nature

and so as we

are now with the lord jesus

in his surrendering to the father's will

let us think of ourselves

in relationship

to that redemption that he wrought

that the more fully

the will of god might become our will

just as it did for the lord jesus

he was and is the redeemer god hath visited and redeemed his people

we were not redeemed with corruptable things such as silver and gold but with the precious blood of christ

think of the cost my dear brothers and sisters that is implied in those words

the precious

blood

of christ

the cost of our sins

the cost of our waywardness

the cost of our denial

for those

who today know what it is like to be alone perhaps to leave this place

and to go to your home

where you will be alone

you may remember that the lord jesus was alone

alone in childhood

alone in the temple alone by the sea of galilee no luggage no money no prospects in this world

perhaps without the very three things that we as tourists take to israel

we strive after all three

wealth

fame

possessions

spend a lifetime perhaps only to discover that true happiness that true destiny does not lie down this road

he was alone in the mount on the mountaintop he was alone in gethsemane

yet he was not alone because the father was with him

and the wisdom which comes down from above proclaims that in his resurrection is the victory over this world

the victory over all the forces that would corrupt and mar and finally destroy it

this is the victory proclaims the apostle john that overcometh the world

even our faith

for those

who are in difficulty or in trouble

who can see that in their own lives of discipleship

there are sure to be stormy seas ahead

and perhaps an increasing storm

as time goes by

you remember you may remember that he is the lord of all life that during his ministry he was able to calm the troubled seas

just with a few words peace

it is i

so just as those disciples found calm and peace and security in the boat with the lord jesus

so too may we in the ark of salvation

with him there is always calm and assurance in the end

for those who have borne the burden and heat of the day

who have labored over many years

to serve the lord

in true faithfulness

and sincerity

who have worked

and served

diligently

and faithfully

you may remember the kingdom that he has promised

so that whether we continue awake or whether we sleep

we may rejoice together with him

others may wonder

and despair at the problems of our world

but we my dear brother and sisters may have hope

and have confidence because we have that anchor of the soul

in the lord god through his son

for those who are brokenhearted for those who have lost a loved one whether in life or in death know that there is no turning back

you may remember that he is able to save to the uttermost

he is the lord who is able to heal and to restore our hopes and to renew our vision

the son of righteousness shall arise with healing in his wings

the government shall be upon his shoulder

all remorse and regret and sorrow and tears

will one day be put away forever

jesus said

almost right at the beginning of his ministry

blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted

spoken by the calm of the sea of galilee true then

and still true today

for those who are in sorrow or affliction distress or tribulation

you can observe this man

and see if there be any sorrow

like unto his sorrow

the suffering and the agony and the extremity that he had to endure

he learned obedience

by the things which he suffered and i suppose my dear brother and sisters that's the only way

in the end in which we can learn

true obedience

just as jesus did

the captain of our salvation was made perfect

through suffering shall not the judge of all the earth

do right

for those who feel the pressures of our world

bearing down upon them

feeling the weights

that seem to drag them down

you may remember the words of jesus when he said

come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and i will give you rest

with him there is joy and companionship

consolation and fellowship

without him there is nothing

but with him there is everything both in this world and that which has yet to come

for those who feel their faith growing dim feel that somehow

they have lost the certainty and the insurance the assurance and the enthusiasm that they once had

holding on to the faith

but perhaps only just

like a man clutching her to break water

about to be swept away

you can remember

the absolute certainties

that are centered in him

the creation of which we are part

demands a certain existence of a creator

such glory and such beauty

must have been divinely created

and ordained

and the certainty of the birth and life

of jesus himself

they went out a decree from caesar augustus

in the 15th year of tiberius caesar

and he suffered

under pontius pilate

the word was made flesh

my dear brother and sister with unquestionable certainty

and in that intervention of the lord god in history

we have the assurance

of his intervention again in the future

the resurrection of the lord jesus christ from the dead is proclaimed by the apostle paul as but the beginning the first fruits

and the later fruits

will just as surely follow

things of the kingdom and the things of the name therefore

being based upon this unshakable foundation

have to be our foundation

the foundation for faith

for hope

for confidence

and for our assurance

for those today who are afraid

there are perhaps many things that we fear as from time to time we lie awake at night and wonder perhaps just what the will of the lord might be for us

that perhaps the very things we treasure most

might have to be taken from us

that we might be able to enter into his kingdom

our health

our happiness

our homes

our children

even life itself

think of how many of the faithful

had to lay

many or all of these things down

the lord jesus christ

john the baptist

stephen

the apostle peter

the apostle paul the list is endless

for those of us who fear the judgment

and the separation it will bring

perhaps even from those today whom we learn

fear too of death

not so much of death itself but of the sequel

for we know that the resurrection

will bring the judgment

we know that at that time

the opportunities are over

there will no longer be any time to right any wrongs

to heal any of those breaches

to show compassion

to those who are sorrowing

no longer any time

to seek any reconciliation

or forgive those of our brothers and sisters who today are unforgiven

we always have the best of intentions

our very presence here this morning guarantees that our intentions are in the right direction

what have we accomplished my dear brethren sisters

in these eternal things

fears too for our marriage

in today's evil and uncertain world

a world where promises are conditional

where words are empty of real meaning where faithfulness is old-fashioned

a world where care and consideration and constancy are rapidly becoming dead words

when the going gets rough

people take what they can and run

a world where loyalty law and life

are not respected

and are treated as trivial things

a world where patients perseverance and precept

are forgotten

in the headline rush for self-satisfaction and self-fulfillment

we have to be exceptions my dear brother and sister just as the lord jesus christ was

otherwise we are doomed

the dark world will rub off onto us

we will bring it into the occlusion

and spread its darkness

around to others

self first

and god last

is surely the story of every broken home

and every divided ecclesia

we need to put into practice just as jesus did patience perseverance and steadfastness

our world encourages self-expression and self-assertion

we are in the business to encourage self-effacement

and self-denial to consider first of all

the glory to god

to consider next the service of the lord jesus

to consider next

the greater good of our brethren sisters

and the ecclesia to which we all belong

his priceless

possession

fears two for our children

we pray that they might be preserved

to an age when they might be able to accept the truth

and fears perhaps that even then they might not

we know that the spirit of our age is unfriendly to a firm reliance upon the word of god

and this is the world in which our children move

in school

and in college

but while there is life my dear brothers and sisters

there is hope

and we must always be prayerful and optimistic about the future

fears two for our younger children

innocent and defenseless and sometimes overtaken by tragedy

for islip collier whom some members of my clegia know well and remember him

with love and affection a quiet and unassuming man

and they tell me that one day

this child of 11

was playing in the drive

ventured into the road

it was run down by a lorry

sudden

unexpected

and final

not an ordinary child

a child previously crippled

by polio

and on the tomb of the little child brother i slip put the following words

referring to our next meeting with the lord

in that day

you will ask me no question

jesus said be not faithless

but believing

wherefore understanding what the will of the lord is give thanks always for all things unto god and the father in the name of our lord jesus christ

all things my dear brethren sisters

even our sorrows

and we know that it is hard

that it is his will for us

he that doeth the will of god

abideth forever

these are the central principles

of life

and salvation

fear him

and give him glory

the lord is in his holy temple at all the earth keeps silence before him

how unsearchable are his judgments

and his ways past finding out

with humility

and with fear

we seek his guidance and his blessing

that his will

might become our will

his will will surely be done

the scripture gives us the promise that this is so

but will his will be done in us

will we have so submitted ourselves to his sovereignty

and humbled ourselves under his mighty hand

will our will

be found to have been aligned with his will

in that day when all is revealed

this is as it seems to me the central axis

upon which our destiny

will be decided

i'd like to bring you for the final part of this meditation for the words of jesus

in matthew 16.

to consider the challenge of these words

in the light of the experience of the lord jesus christ himself

the lord jesus christ

has set his face to go to jerusalem

he has told his disciples

how that he must suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed

and be raised again the third day

matthew 16 and verse 24

then said jesus unto his disciples

if any man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross

and follow me

surely one of the most important and cardinal principles in the teaching of jesus

every attempt to consolidate our existence in this present life

every self-oriented endeavor every selfishness

is finally and utterly

self-defeating a self-indulgent life

is a pointless life

only to the extent that we deny ourselves and take upon ourselves his life

do we find true fulfillment

and we find that fulfillment

in him and in finding that fulfillment

we find our true selves

in a sense it is

the paradox of the cross the true life is incomplete and wasted

unless it takes the form

of his life this is the way my dear brother and sisters to the destiny that god has promised for us

to give him glory

and to be a partaker

of his nature

verse 25 he that willeth to save his life

shall lose it

that he that shall lose his life for my sake and the gospels

shall save it

this is the lord's method for self-expression for self-development

for self-advancement

notice

that it is a deliberate aim

it is an act of the will

because if we wish to save our lives in this life

to secure personal achievement success or ambition that is of necessity an act of the will to make a decision that is what we are going to do

and to search jesus says

the goal may indeed be reached

but you will lose the secret of true fulfillment

of true happiness and of true greatness

but on the other hand

he that shall lose his life there's i think a slight difference between the opening phrase

and this one that begins a second part

not wills to lose his life

but just simply lose

unthinking self-abandonment for the sake of the lord jesus

not calculating the expected benefits or the return

this leads to great self-development and enrichment of character

the christ-like character it has to go through the cross before it can share the crown

and just as was revealed for the lord jesus

this needs faith it needs courage and it needs commitment

who can doubt my dear brother and sisters that these words spoken by the lord jesus christ

in the context of he's going to jerusalem to suffer and to die and to be raised again are a picture for us of what the life of discipleship is to be for each one of us

association with the cross of christ

is the only way

hard that it may prove to be but out of it will always come the highest and the best

the hours of pain have yielded good which prosperous days refused

as herbs though scentless when entire

perfume the air

when bruised

out of suffering out of sorrow

that of tribulation

the will of god

may be revealed

so the cross and the carrying of the cross are the way to salvation

it is through personal faith as experienced in life

and increasingly apprehended in all life's testing and trials

the forgiveness of the lord jesus christ is available to us through his sacrifice

as we've been considering this week

in a sense we still have to bear

consequences of our past sins

what's done cannot be undone

the wrong has been committed

and in a sense its implication

still stands

but i think nevertheless through the sacrifice of jesus

passed wrong

can even yet be given a new direction

repentance will lead to humility and humility is the root of all spiritual progress

that sinful act now forgiven through repentance and confession of sin

may lead to a patient bearing of its results

to a more watchful self-discipline

to a kindlier attitude towards other sinners

and to a greater desire

to help those who are sinners

like ourselves

this is the way

to the christ-like man to develop those qualities that are pleasing to god

and in this sense i think

all cruel wrongs all unremitting suffering all desolating isolation and hardship can be turned to spiritual gain

with the eye of faith

we can see them in the context of a richer and a better world it is yet to be

against all human expectation

we will surely find that in the end

all things have worked together for good

for each one of us

and so tribulation and suffering and affliction

may be looked upon as an integral part of the pathway of experience

each of us is called upon to tread

and it will surely lead to patience humility

sympathy endurance steadfastness

maturity

and finally in the mercy of god

to share in his glory

the lord jesus christ gave himself for us

and for the ecclesia

with his own blood

he bought her

and for her life

he died

so today

we look for the consummation

of all things

for the time when we will receive the end of our faith

even the salvation

of our souls

for the completion of god's purpose

of redemption

we get a picture of this in revelation chapter 19

and the marriage of the lamb is come

and the bride

hath made herself ready

revelation 19

and verse 5

and a voice came out of the throne saying praise our god all ye his servants and ye that fear him both small and great

and i heard as it were the voice of a great multitude and as the voice of many waters

and as the voice of mighty thunderings saying hallelujah

for the lord god omnipotent rainer

let us be glad and rejoice

and give honor to him for the marriage of the lamb has come

and his wife have made herself ready and to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen clean and white for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints

and he saith unto me right

blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the lamb

and he saith unto me

these are the true sayings

of god

the end of our faith

the salvation of our soul the day for which we wait

and pray

in faith

so my dear brothers and sisters

to come to the end

of our series of addresses

we have as it were

been from genesis

to revelation haven't we which i suppose is what you would expect

in a subject of so comprehensive the scope

as the work of god in redeeming us from sin and reconciling us to himself

by way of a postscript i'd like to read to you two

very short letters

as an illustration in our own time

of the spirit of christ

the spirit of taking up the cross that i think each of us are called upon

to participate in

these two letters

are written by brother albert maths

and he lived during the last war

in nazi germany

he was baptized at 23 years of age

and he was formerly a catholic

and he refused to be conscripted

into the german army

as relative his refusal

he was put into a concentration camp

for two years

punished and tortured and maltreated

for his faith

and he was one of a small number of brethren sisters

in germany at that time

and he wrote two letters

to his fellow brethren sisters in this small ecclesia there i'd like to read these two letters to you

by way of conclusion

military prison berlin

23rd of february 1941.

to all my dear brethren sisters

it is hard for me to write to you today

not on my own account

but because i know this letter will cause you grief

so i beg you

not to take it too hard

you all know my beliefs and my hope

for me to live is christ and to die is gain

so do not weep over me even if the supreme punishment comes upon me

but rather be strong and of good courage

as i have been condemned to death

and to be executed

the life which within me took a visible form

we return to its source

then at the appointed time will again take on this form

if my time is now at an end and i must die

then remember it is appointed unto men once to die

and after this the judgment

tomorrow i will submit a petition for mercy

perhaps the court will yet show mercy towards me

even if not

i hope to be allowed to write to you once more

think of me in your prayers and now i will close in confidence in god and his kingdom

and greet you with all my heart

yours albert

and now i will close in confidence in god

and his kingdom

and greet you with all my heart

yours albert

his plea for mercy was turned down [Music]

the night before the execution

he wrote this letter

third of april 1941

[Music]

to all my dear brothers and sisters

i should like to employ my last hours in writing to you once more

but at the same time asking you not to take it too hard

for it is god's will

john 19 verse 7

romans 14 verse 7 romans 8

isaiah 59

at 5 30 a.m on friday morning 4th of april my course is finished and so my struggle is at an end

my last wish is that you may live in peace

and take care that none may be lost

oh my dear ones if only i could write down all the thousands of things i have said to you in silent conversation and that i am still saying

you can learn much from holy scripture

especially from the letters of the apostles from the words of jesus before his death recorded in john

and i hope that i shall see you all again after my awakening

so i will close now

and you will understand why i have not written more

it would be too much

i send you my sincere greetings

albert

greek greetings also to all the brethren sisters and to all my friends

the grace of the lord jesus christ be with you all

whatever you may be

be that completely

not only the bright blossom but also the simple leaf

is important

in the wreath

precious in the sight of the lord

is the death of his saints

true then

for our brother albert

true for all our brothers and sisters

whom we have known

and who now rest in sleep true today

for our beloved brother charles

and true forevermore

until the trump of god be heard

until the ancient graves be stirred and with the great commanding word

our lord

shall come