The Attonement
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[00:00:00] Good morning.
If you would open your Bibles to Hebrews chapter nine. Hebrews chapter nine. We're gonna start reading in just a moment at verse six. And as many of you know, we are going through a series on the book of Hebrews, and we took a slight break last week and we looked at the incarnation today. We'll be back in the book of Hebrews.
However, uh, we're gonna take a 30,000 foot look. We're gonna look at the atonement. How does the book of Hebrews lay out the atonement? So, uh, with that in mind, again, Hebrews chapter nine, beginning in verse six. If you're able, please stand for the reading of God's word. We will read Hebrews chapter nine verses six through 14.
And again, I would ask you to hear this for what it is, the words of the living God. Hebrews chapter nine, beginning in verse six. The author had just talked about the tabernacle and the furnishings of that building, and now he's, he writes [00:01:00] Now, when these things have been so prepared, the priests are continually entering the outer tabernacle, performing the divine worship.
But in the second, so you have the holy place and then the holy of holies, the second is the holy of Holies, and the second, only the high priest enters once a year. Not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins of the people which were committed in ignorance. And the Holy Spirit is signifying by this, that the way into the holy place has not yet been disclosed while the outer tabernacle is still standing, which is a symbol for the present time.
Accordingly, both gifts and sacrifices are offered, which cannot make the worshiper perfect in conscience. Since they relate only to food and drink in various washings regulations for the body impose until a time of reformation. But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to [00:02:00] come, he entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle.
Not made with hands. That is to say not of this creation, and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood. He entered the holy place once for all having obtained eternal. Redemption for if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who've been defiled, sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh.
How much more? How much more will the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit, offered himself without blemish to God? Cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God. May God bless the reading, the hearing, and obedience to his word. Please be seated.
You have a traitor. Aslan said the witch. Of course, everyone present knew [00:03:00] that she meant Edmond. And for this crowd I've probably read enough, you know, from what source I'm reading, CS Lewis is the lion, the witch in the wardrobe you have a traitor Lan. Said the witch. Well said Aslan. His offense was not against you.
Have you forgotten the deep magic? Asked the witch. Let us say, I have forgotten it answered. Aslan Gravely tell us of this deep magic tell you said the witch, her voice growing. Suddenly Shriller tell you. Tell you what is written on that very tablet of stone which stands beside us. You at least know the magic which the emperor put into Narnia at the very beginning.
You know that every traitor belongs to me as my lawful prey, and that every treachery I have the right to a kill, [00:04:00] and so continues the witch, the human creature is mine. His life is forfeited to me. His blood is my property unless I have blood. As the law says, all Narnia will be overturned in per in fire and water.
It is very true. Is that Aslan? I do not deny it. And so CS Lewis goes on to present his understanding of the atonement, and I want you to see a few things in that reading. Number one, Aslan is the picture of the figure of Christ. The witch is the picture of Satan. But to CS Lewis, get it right. Number one on your outline, you've got a couple of things in the, in the bulletin on the back of your song sheet, you have some notes.
You have a, uh, half page with fill in the blank, and then you have another page with a chart, and we'll get to all of them in time. But on your sermon outline, the fill in the blank, number one is the importance and [00:05:00] theories of the atonement, the importance and theories of the atonement. I can't think of anything more important than the atonement of Jesus Christ.
And what I mean by that, and sadly, what the church disagrees on today, and I'm, I'm using a rather broad umbrella there, but it, it takes place in evangelicalism as well, is we don't agree on what Christ accomplished. And there's two parts to the atonement this morning will be part one. We will address part two sometime after chapter 10.
But part one is what was accomplished, God word and part two would be what is accomplished, man word. So I wanna define atonement for you, and that's where if you look in your bulletin behind the song sheet, there's some notes. And if you get those out, that's gonna help you follow along on this first part, 'cause I've got this all typed out and written out for you.
So I don't need to spend a, a ton of time and I've borrowed a definition from Wayne Gruden. I borrowed [00:06:00] another, another definition from John Frame. And I just want you to know, I, I could have just defined these things for you. But I use sources on purpose because you've heard me stand up here and say, on many occasions, I hope you've heard this.
Check me out. I don't want you to believe anything because I said it from this pulpit. I want you to go home and I want you to study these things. I want you to go to the Bible, read the scriptures, what safe God's word, but also there are other sources, so at times I'll share those with you. So Wayne Gruden wrote a systematic theology and he, he's got a, a sheet that goes with it with some brief definition.
So this is how he defines the atonement and kids. This is on your handout as well, and if you notice kids on that first question, I wrote you a little note, the atonement is the work is the work Christ did in his life and death to earn our salvation. And the key point there that I want everyone to pick up on is the atonement involves the life of Christ as [00:07:00] well as his death.
It's a two part work. And then John Frame gives us a little bit more information. The atonement involves some fancy words, expiation, propitiation, and reconciliation. But these words are easy to understand and kids, you have some fill in the blanks. Expiation means that Jesus bore our sin and he took them out of the way.
It so kids on your handout were forgiven. The atonement of Jesus Christ resulted on in the forgiveness of those for whom he died. Propitiation Jesus bore the wrath and anger of God. Kids. On your handout, Jesus removed God's anger, wrath, and that's the topic that modern man doesn't like. We don't like to think that God is actually angry with us, is actually raffle with us.
But understand a few things. God's wrath, God's anger at sin comes from his holiness, from his righteousness. And this might blow your mind. It comes [00:08:00] from his love. What loving judge would not punish evil. What loving judge would not be angry at evil and wanna do away with it? God's nature. He's angry and wrathful at sin, and his wrath and his anger has no mixture of sin.
It is perfect. It is beautiful. It is loving. It is righteous. It is holy. It is pure. So the death of Jesus Christ brought about propitiation. It took away God's wrath. And finally, reconciliation. We are no longer enemies of God. Kids on your handout, we are now friends. We are now friends with God, those for whom God died.
What about theories of the atonement? That's on that handout too, and it's sad that we have different theories of of the atonement, but in one sense it's good. In another sense it's bad. So let me try to explain. There are different theories of the atonement because no one theory covers [00:09:00] everything. So I want you to view most of these, not all of them.
I will point them out, but I want you to view most of these as perspectives. On the atonement, there are different perspectives on the atonement. However, there is one that we should begin with. That's the one we're gonna end with today, but there's one that we should begin with. There's one that can explain the other views and all the other views as standalone theories fall woefully short in my view.
So we begin with what's known as the Christus Victor Theory of the Atonement, and this is probably the earliest view of the atonement. It's very popular in the East. The Orthodox churches hold to this view, and this is the view that CS Lewis presented in the lie, in the witch, in the wardrobe, and the victor, the Christus victor view, basically says that Christ's death and resurrection defeated the powers of evil.
He defeated sin and death and Satan. The problem is this view never gives us a mechanism. How did the death of Jesus defeat evil? [00:10:00] And sadly this view, and this is one of the critiques of this view, it also leads to a sub view known as the ransom view. And I think this is important for you guys to know.
I'm not trying to give you a seminary lecture. This is pretty simple stuff, but the ransom view says that there was a ransom pay to the devil. Now, the Bible does speak of a ransom paid, but not to Satan. Satan is not that powerful. Satan is not an equal of God. Jesus died and he died for the Father. His priestly work was directed to Yahweh, not Satan.
And that's the ransom view. The second major view of the atonement is the moral influence view, and unfortunately, this is the one that's held by most liberal theologians and also this is the feminist view. But the moral influence of you says that the atonement was nothing more than a picture of God's love for us.
Jesus was crucified [00:11:00] just so we would know. God loves us, that God wants to be among us, and it was also believed this view that it would transform the morality of man, and we've seen that didn't happen. Now, there is a moral transformation among those for whom Christ died among those who come to faith. So it is a perspective, but it doesn't capture the whole thing.
And this view has led to another view called the satisfaction theory. And this is the one that Rome holds. And this too has led to some very bad theology in this view, says that man owes God a very large debt, and this debt keeps increasing and Jesus died to pay that debt. And yes, there's some truth in that view, but what was the debt and how did Jesus pay it off?
You see, this view has led to some really bad theology. It's led to this idea of the Treasury of Merit. It's led to the idea of indulgences. And then finally, the third major view, the penal [00:12:00] substitution theory. And that is the view that we hold here at this church. That is the view that most reformed churches hold.
And this is the view that says Jesus. And this is key. If you're taking notes, you might wanna circle this. Jesus willingly took the place of sinners. Jesus became our substitute willingly. It's not as if the father forced him to do this. Jesus wanted to do this. Jesus is every bit as much God as the Father is God.
And so he willingly condescends to become incarnate, to become a man, to take upon himself our sins as our substitute. And he goes to the cross and he bears the penalty of God's law. He bears the covenant curse. We've been talking about covenant recently. He bears the covenant curse so that he satisfies the justice of God.
Jesus satisfies God's adjustment justice, and it is to that theory that I want to turn. So number two on your [00:13:00] sermon outline is penal substitutionary atonement. And just so you know, so there's no confusion, penal simply means legal. There was a legality in here. There was a covenant. Legality involved in Jesus' death.
The other handout that you have in your uh, uh, bulletins looks like this. It's a table, and I want you to look at that table for a minute, and I'm gonna try to do this quickly, but I do want you to see how I think, not because I want you to see how I think, but if I'm going to encourage you, if I'm going to continue to exhort you, check me out.
This is one way you can do it. So we've been talking a lot about the covenant, and the covenant is illustrated on the left hand column, and I do not apologize for bringing it up over and over and over again. I have said this and I mean it. If you don't understand the covenant, if you don't understand God's redemptive covenant that runs throughout scripture, you will never properly [00:14:00] understand the scriptures.
It is that important. And so the covenant we've talked about, and I've tried to simplify it, and there there are three parts of God's redemptive covenant. Number one, there's a relationship, sovereignly established. Number two, every covenant, the redemptive covenant of God has requirements. There are conditions, ultimately, faith and obedience.
None of us have been obedient, none of us apart from the Holy Spirit. Exercise, faith. And so there are accompanying, corresponding blesses, blessings and curses. There's the covenant promise. I will be your God. You will be my people. I will be the God of your children. And along with God's promise, there are covenant signs.
And what we see in these promises, in these covenant signs is God actually tells us, God actually communicates to us, you'll fail at this covenant. So I will take full responsibility. I will fulfill the covenant, and I will even pay the curse of [00:15:00] that covenant, the second two columns under the result of sin.
In God's response, I would probably given more time rearrange this a little bit, but all the elements are there. If we have violated the covenant, then the first thing it means is our relationship has been severed. So we need a mediator because we are now under the judgment of God. If we have violated God's covenant, that means we have violated His law and he has every right because of His holiness to be angry with us.
Paul says, he's our enemy until Christ, and so God is wrathful. And so we need a priest. We need a substitute. We need a sacrifice for sin because we are under moral and legal and covenantal obligation. That's where that legal and penal aspect comes. And finally, because God promises to take on the conditions of the covenant, there is a promised seed that runs throughout the Old Testament, the seed of the woman, the seed of Abraham, the seed [00:16:00] of David, the child born, spoken of in Isaiah.
We need a seed. We need a substitute. Which leads to God's covenant faithfulness, and this substitute becomes incarnate. He becomes a son of Adam, and this substitute goes to the cross and brings about propitiation satisfaction to God's holiness and righteousness. Now, if I'm right about these things, if I'm right about the covenant, if I'm right about the results of the covenant, then we should see this.
And when you look at the book of Hebrews, it is all about the priesthood of Christ. It is all about what Christ did when he went to the cross. It is all about a better way, a better hope, a better covenant, a superior Jesus compared to the Old Testament saints. So can we find these elements, the elements of sin and sacrifice, priest, the elements of propitiation, the elements of God's law being violated, which leads to judgment.
The elements that Jesus dies for man, not for angels. [00:17:00] Jesus becomes incarnate for man. He goes to the cross for man. And are all of these things placed in terms of God's covenant of redemption? And I would answer yes. So what I did is I printed out a copy of the book of Hebrews and I went through with different color highlighters.
Is all of this presented in Hebrews? So the first part of it was my logical thinking based on what I understand of theology. The second part of it is I went to scripture. Did scripture actually teach this? And I would submit that it does. So we're gonna take a very quick 30,000 mile view of Hebrews. Open up the Hebrews chapter one.
If you wanna follow along, you can. We're not gonna go backwards and forwards. We're just gonna work our way through the book of Hebrews. Much of this will be understand, understood, because we've covered in detail so far, the first seven chapters. But I'm just gonna hit the highlights. And if I do go too quickly and you, you can't turn the pages, that's fine.
Uh, when we get towards the end, I will have you [00:18:00] turn to a very specific passage. But even in chapter one, all the topics of Hebrews is laid down in seed form. Look at verse three. And we read in verse three that Jesus is the radiance of his glory, the exact representation of his nature. And he upholds all things by the word of his power.
Jesus is presented as divine. Later, he will be presented as incarnate. He's the God man. The perfect substitute. The perfect high priest. The perfect savior, because God says in Isaiah, I only know of one savior and that's me. So God has to be savior, and yet man has to pay the price. So Jesus is presented as divine, but he's also presented as incarnate in this book, but it's the second half of the verse that I want you to pay attention to.
When he, Jesus had made purification of sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. A couple of things, and I've covered this before, but reminders are good. [00:19:00] The grammar, when he made purification. And the grammar presents this, and this is something that's beautiful about the Greek language and the Hebrew language, unlike what we do in English.
But this is finished work. This is completed work. It's not saying Jesus came to do this. It says, Jesus came and did this. Jesus, when he went to the cross, he made purification from sin. He removed the pollution of sin. He purified sinners. And I want you to note that his work is directed towards sin. It is the work of redemption.
It is the work of re atonement, and it's directed towards removing sin. That was the primary goal of Jesus coming to Earth. Chapter one continues. It talks about the wrath of God, and I know that's difficult. That's difficult to wrap our minds around because we want to think of God as love. But the Bible [00:20:00] presents God in a multifaceted way.
God, if if you had to pick the top attribute and there really isn't one, but I think a lot of theologians would agree if you had to pick one and work down to the rest, the one you ought to pick is holiness. God is first and foremost, hol. And all his other attributes come from his holiness, or at least they don't contradict his holiness.
So he has holy love, holy righteousness, holy justice. And so according to his nature, he will be raffle at sin because it's the right thing. Look at verse 13, to which of the angels has he ever said, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool. Until I conquer your enemies. God has enemies.
The Messiah has enemies, and who are his enemies? Every sinner. Every sinner who won't bow the knee to Jesus Christ is an enemy of God and they're under his wrath because of sin. [00:21:00] This topic continues into chapter two. Look at verse two of chapter two for if the word spoken through, angels proved unalterable.
If the revelation given it cyan. If the giving of the law proved unalterable in every transgression, literally every violation of God's standard, every violation of God's law, every transgression and every disobedience received a just penalty. How will we escape? Verse three, if we neglect so great a salvation, you see God set up a covenant system and in God's covenant system, there were conditions.
And man was failing miserably and man wasn't realizing it. So as we've learned in past weeks, God introduced the law at Sinai. And why did God introduce the law to be restrictive, to be a, a, a joy killer? No, he enacted the [00:22:00] law for several reasons. Number one, to give us freedom. But more importantly, Paul says in multiple places in the New Testament so that sin would increase.
And God wanted sin to increase so that we would see our need for a savior, but where sin increased, wrath increased. And so we're enemies. This theme continues in chapter two, but chapter two of the book of Hebrews also introduces the incarnation. You see, Jesus came to help man, not angels. Look at chapter two, verse 14.
Chapter two, verse 14. Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, he himself, likewise, Jesus himself, likewise partook of the same, that through death he might render powerless him who had the power of death that is the devil and might free. Those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.
It's important to know the death of Jesus Christ did crush the head of the serpent. It [00:23:00] crushed the head of Satan. But how? How did that happen? Because Jesus died for sin. Satan introduced sin, and in that sense, man became a slave. A slave to sin, man, in a sense. And the scriptures talk about this was a servant of Satan, sons of wrath.
The epistle Ephesians describes us. So how did Jesus save us from that slavery? By dying for sin, by presenting his offering to God the father. So that he would rescue us from sin. Why the incarnation look at verse 17. Therefore, he had to be made like his brethren in all things so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to make propitiation for the sins of his people.
And we've looked at that word and I just want to add a few things. Number one, it's very controversial. The meaning is really simple, but [00:24:00] theologians wanna argue about this because they argue about the nature of the atonement. And I also wanna let you know what it literally means. And in order to understand what it literally means, you need to think about the tabernacle and the temple.
And in the tabernacle and the temple, there were two rooms. The Holy place and then the Holy of Holies. And in the Holy of Holies was the Ark of the Covenant. And the Ark of the Covenant had two parts. It was a box. And in that box was Aaron's Rod. In that box was a copy of the 10 Commandments, two tablets.
And in that box was a, a jar of manna, but the lid of that box was called the mercy seat, the place of atonement, the place of propitiation. It was understood to be the throne of God. It is where God dwelt in, in some sense. It is where God. Specifically dwelt among his people. And that's why the high priest could only enter that room once a year.
And when he entered that room, he had to bring blood, he had to bring a substitute's blood, and he had to sprinkle it [00:25:00] upon the ark first for his own sin. Then he'd go out, he'd do another sacrifice, he'd come back in and sprinkle for the people's sin, and that is where Expiation and propitiation was made.
So when the New Testament says that Jesus. Uh, made propitiation for our sins. Literally, the word means mercy seat. Jesus was the mercy seat. Jesus was the mercy seat. Jesus was where sin was taken away. But Jesus was also that which pacified God. Because on that great day of atonement, which had to be repeated year after year after year, it satisfied the wrath of God.
And if God's wrath wasn't satisfied, he would've wiped out his people. And Jesus is that mercy seat. Chapter three goes on again to mention the priesthood of Christ. It again mentions God's wrath. He was provoked by their rebellion. It takes us back to that first generation of the Exodus and why did the first generation not enter into rest because of [00:26:00] sin and disobedience?
And chapter three makes that clear. Look at chapter three, verse 11, as I swore in my wrath. They shall not enter my rest
in this word for wrath. It means indignation. It also carries the idea of retribution, wrath from God brings retribution. It brings punishment. Sin is wicked. Sin is evil. A holy God must destroy it. But what's interesting is this is the exact same word that we read in Romans chapter one. You don't need to turn there.
Just listen in. Romans chapter one, verse 18. For the wrath of God. Exact same Greek word for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven. And again, the grammar tells us this is repeated action every day, every moment, every minute, every millisecond, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven. Against what?
Against all ungodliness [00:27:00] and the righteousness of men who suppress the truth and unrighteousness. And if you were to do a word study on ungodliness and unrighteousness, you would see that they all refer a violation of God's standard, violation of the law. And Paul goes on in the book of Romans. Romans chapter one, through chapter three, Paul presents a problem, sin, and the anger and the wrath, and the righteousness and the holiness of God towards sin.
And then beginning in chapter four to the end of the book, he presents the solution and the solution is found in the death of Jesus Christ. In chapter three of Romans, he again refers to Jesus as the propitiation, as the mercy seat where God's wrath is satisfied. Look at verse 14 of chapter three. The author says, we must become partakers of Christ, and this word implies substitution.
We must take part in Christ. We must recognize Christ as our substitute. [00:28:00] We must recognize that Christ is the one that went to the cross. He is the one that paid the price. He took our sins away. He satisfied the wrath of God, and we must participate in that. Ergo, we must participate in Christ. We must have faith in Christ.
We must see him as our representative and substitute. And then we get to chapter four, and much of the same things are talked about. But by the end of chapter four, the writer again speaks of Jesus as our high priest. Only the difference between Jesus and other high priests is Jesus. Without was without sin.
He was without sin. This thought continues in chapter five. The Wrath of God is mentioned repeatedly, and Jesus is described as an eternal high priest. And then we get to chapter six. And hopefully you remember it because the opening of chapter six, we probably meet the most severe warning found in scripture, the severe warning against [00:29:00] apostasy, against turning from Christ.
You see, the author has established Jesus is superior to angels, to Moses, to Joshua, to the high priest, the ironic high priest, the Levitical priesthood, Jesus is superior. Don't turn from Christ. Look at chapter six, verse 13, for when God made the promise to Abraham. Since he could swear by no one greater he swore by himself.
And what we find here is the author of Hebrews Grounds, the Sacrifice of Christ grounds the high priesthood of Christ. In God's covenant promises, the work of Jesus Christ is constantly and consistently tied to God's redemptive covenants. And then we get to chapter seven, and we just covered chapter seven, so we don't need to spend a lot of time here.
But again, chapter seven is saturated with the unique high priesthood of Jesus and that Jesus could do what no other high priest could do. [00:30:00] The author mentions a change in law. And he's referring to the ceremonial law. These ceremonies aren't gonna work. Why? Because they were always shadows. They were always pointers.
There were always types. Look at chapter seven, verse 19. The author comes out and says it for the law made nothing perfect. And we've talked about this word perfect. And the idea there is the law brought nothing to its goal. The ceremonies. They never really sanctified anyone. They never really offered forgiveness of sins.
The, the, the, the people when they went to the co, when they went to the temple, when they went three times a year, when they went on the Day of Atonement, they had to view those sacrifices as pointing to something greater as pointing to the promised seed, as pointing to the promised Messiah. In the believers, in the Old Testament, understood it that way.
But the law, the Levitical law, the old law, made nothing perfect. Look at verse 22 of [00:31:00] chapter seven So much, the more Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant. Let those words sink in. Do you know Christ? Do you sit here today and profess faith in Christ? Then understand He's a better guarantee.
And this word for guarantee means assurance. If you know Jesus, if you believe in Jesus, if you're striving to bend the knee and follow Jesus, you can have assurance that you are part of a better covenant, a superior covenant. And then in chapter eight, the the author just continues with the high priesthood of Jesus.
Look at chapter eight, verse three. For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. So it is necessary that this high priest also have something to offer, but now you have to ask yourself a question [00:32:00] because the author continues to make a comparison between the high priesthood of Christ and the Levitical High priesthood, and he continues to say that Jesus is superior, but there are also similarities.
Who did all the high priests, all the priests of the Old Testament for thousands of years, who were the sacrifices offered to Satan? Yahweh, not Satan. Jesus did not die to appease Satan. Jesus died to take away the wrath of his father. Look at chapter eight, verse six, because this chapter continues to talk about a better covenant.
But now he, Jesus has obtained a more excellent ministry. He's superior to those Old Testament high priests by as much as he is also mediator of a better covenant. Which has been enacted on better promises, and we need to understand how the author of Hebrews uses [00:33:00] the law and how Paul uses the law and other, uh, new Testament writers use the law because it is the ceremonial law that was a shadow and a type.
It was the ceremonial law that has been done away with in the work of Christ. But the moral law continues. The moral law continues to play a part in the life of the Christian only. Now it's not condemning. Only now we're not under the curse of the moral law, but now the moral law is transformative, and that's what's promised in the new covenant.
Look at verse 10 for this is the covenant that I will make with the House of Israel after those days says Yahweh, I will put my laws into their minds and I will write them upon their hearts and I will be their God and they shall be my people. So again, we see God's covenant promise, but God says, I'm gonna write my laws.
In your minds and in your hearts, and I'm gonna do it in a new way. That's the promise of the new covenant. This word translated mind means thinking. The [00:34:00] law. God's standard, God's character will guide our thinking. It'll transform our thinking, as Paul says in Romans chapter 12. And God's gonna write it on our hearts as well.
And remember, in the Old Testament thinking, and even in the new. Heart doesn't refer to emotion, but it refers to how we think and how we live our lives. And in this new covenant, the law is gonna guide our thinking. And in this new covenant, the law is going to guide our living. It is a guide to holiness.
Verse 12, for I will be merciful to their iniquities and I will remember their sins No more.
There's a change in God. And it doesn't in any way contradict his immutability because this is covenant language. God was angry with sin. Jesus offered the perfect sacrifice. So now God can be merciful. And this word for mercy literally means favorably [00:35:00] disposed. I will be merciful to their iniquities.
This word iniquities literally means unrighteousness, a violation of his law, and I will remember their sin no more. You see, the problem with the Old Testament sacrifices is they were always shadows and types. Look at chapter nine, verse 15, and then we're gonna get to the crescendo. Hebrews chapter nine, verse 15.
For this reason, for all the theology that the author has laid out, for this reason, he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that since the death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions. That were committed under the first covenant. Those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance, and it's important to understand this verse.
Jesus is our mediator. He is our go between, between God and man. It's not between us and Satan, it's between us [00:36:00] and God. In one sense. It's between us and himself because Jesus is God. But he's also, man, so he's our mediator. He stands before God. The Father Daily, actually, he sits because his work is complete and God sees the completed work of Christ.
And so he mediates, but why did he die? And this verse answers it so that since the death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions, he died for sin. The goal of his death was to remove sin, was to take sin out of the way. And if sin is removed, God is pacified. His justice is satisfied by this perfect sacrifice.
To be redeemed is to be purchased out of something, and we read enough in scripture it is to be purchased out of the slave market of sin. As Paul says in Romans, we are no longer slaves to sin. We are no longer under the curse of sin. That is why Jesus died. He [00:37:00] was our substitute. He went to the cross.
Where did Adam sin? At? A tree. Where did Jesus die on a tree. He took our sins to the cross and he bore our sins. He died for sins. He died for the redemption of sins. That was the primary purpose of the atonement, and he took sin out of the way. And by taking sin out of the way, he crushes the head of Satan.
He transforms our life, our thinking, our heart, our living. But he does it by dying for sin.
And now we turn to the crescendo. If everyone would turn to Hebrews chapter 10, verse 22,
because this really is the outcome of what Jesus has done and we need to know this. And after chapter 10, just so you know, and we'll cover it when we get there, but the remainder of the epistle of Hebrews, while it still spirals to some of these topics, it, [00:38:00] it pretty much moves on. It moves on to examples we ought to follow.
That's what we find in chapter 11. It moves on to encouragement and exhortations. That's what we find in chapters 12 and 13. Because of all this theology, we ought to imitate the faith of those who have gone on before us. Chapter 11. Because of all this theology, we ought to continue to strive to obey Christ to love one another.
Chapters 12 through 13, but the crescendo is found in Hebrews chapter 10, verse 22. And there's four things. I'm gonna read the verse and then we'll go back and cover the four. Let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
So the first thing we are commanded to draw near. Now this is an interesting command because in both Hebrew and Greek, there's more than one way to give a command. There are strong commands and then there are [00:39:00] softer, and this is one of those softer commands. It's couched in an encouragement we're commanded to draw near because we can.
Do you understand that? Do you understand that if you know Jesus Christ, you can draw near because you know Jesus Christ, you can enter the Holy of Holies. You have this relationship with God apart from fear. That doesn't mean we should shouldn't fear him. That doesn't mean we should do this haphazardly.
It should be done humbly. It should be done on our knees. But do you draw near? And again, the language here is continuous. Do you continually strive to draw near? And how do you do that? Do you read your Bibles? Is church a high priority? Do you confess your sins? Do you re, do you repent? Do you have somebody that holds you accountable?
Do you pray? Do you have good Christian friends? How do you draw near? Can you go home today and look at yourself in the mirror or get on your knees [00:40:00] and cry out to God? I do draw near God, help me draw near. Help me do it better. But do you draw near? Not only is that a command, my friends. That is a privilege, and you'll regret not drawing near when you stand before God.
That is a privilege and it should be ongoing. And we draw near with a sincere heart, literally a true heart. A heart that's been transformed by God, a heart that loves the law of God. So many evangelical Christians have a hangup on God's law. I don't understand it. The law of God is merely a transcript of his character, and we should love it.
David said he loved it. He stored it in his heart. Paul says It's holy and righteous and good. Do you love the law of God? Do you draw near to God with a sincere heart? [00:41:00] In addition to that, we should have full assurance. You should have assurance of salvation. Do you believe that? Do you believe that when you die, you will go straight to heaven?
That when you die, you'll immediately open your eyes and you will be the in presence of God Almighty, you will be in the presence of Christ. Do you long to hear those words welcome, good, and faithful servant? Do you long to hear those words? Do you believe that you'll be in the presence of Christ? Not for anything you've done.
But for his complete work, you have full assurance because you believe with all of your heart that your hearts and your bodies have been sprinkled clean. You see the Old Testament sacrifices, we saw about it. We saw it in chapter nine, Hebrews chapter nine, nine. They could cleanse. No one's conscience.
Everyone continued to have this sense of sin. And yes, we should have the sense of sin in the sense of hating it, in the sense of wanting to avoid it [00:42:00] in the sense of confessing it when it happens. But the curse of sin should no longer make us afraid. The curse of sin has been removed in the life of believers.
Just so you know, I had no intention of getting to number three on your outline. That would be almost starting a new sermon, but I do wanna bring this to a conclusion.
And I wanna say this, and if you haven't taken notes up to now, you might want to jot down some of these things. Jesus came to die. That was his mission. That baby in a manger that we looked at last week, that baby that was loved by his parents. A child that was loved by his stepfather, protected by his stepfather.
He grew up at some point losing his stepfather, grew up experiencing the, the pains and the sadness [00:43:00] and the sickness of humanity. That child came for one reason and one reason only. He came to die. He came to die under the covenant curse of the law. So it was legal, it was penal. He died because God entered into covenant and he came to fulfill the conditions of the covenant that he might redeem.
Those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. And the idea here is they were slaves to sin. Sin ruled in our hearts prior to Christ. Sin controlled our thinking prior to Christ. Sin controlled our living prior to Christ. Prior to Christ because of sin. According to Evie Ephesians chapter two, we were sons of disobedience.
We were children of wrath because the wrath of God is a good thing. It is a holy thing. But there's something out that, something else that I really didn't point out in this verse. Those who, through fear of death, were subject to slavery all their lives. They were [00:44:00] slaves to the ceremonial law. He's talking to old covenant people.
He's talking to Hebrew believers who became believers, and now they're thinking of going back to the old system. That old system was slavery year after year, morning after morning, evening after evening, Sabbath after Sabbath ceremony, after ceremony. The Day of Atonement after the day, over and over again, sacrifice had to be offered.
They were slaves and subject to death, and yet the second person of the Trinity, God Almighty, took on flesh. God became incarnate to pay the penalty which was due us. Jesus is our substitute and in dying on the tree for sin in wiping out sin in the lives. Of his people in the lives of believers. In removing sin, he defeats Satan.
He crushes the head of the serpent. He brings about moral transformation. [00:45:00] He changes our life. You are different than you were when you came to Christ, and in 30 days you're gonna be even more different. And in two years more different. We grow in holiness. We will never be sinless in this life, but we do grow in sinning less.
So he defeated Satan as our substitute. He brought about moral transformation. Nevertheless, the primary aspect of the atonement, the mechanism of the atonement, was penal substitution. Jesus took the curse from us. He lived a perfectly righteous life, but in his death, he took the curse that was owed to you and me.
And he took it to the cross and he died and he didn't deserve to die. So he paid the penalty, the righteous penalty in an infinite manner, and he presented it to his father who willingly accepted it. And so our sin is removed. He took [00:46:00] our sin, he was our substitute. And then he went even further. He took his perfect holy life and he put it to us.
He gave it to us covenantal. And when God looks at you and me, he sees the perfect life. Of Jesus Christ. Jesus took on the curse of the law, which brought about God's holy and righteous wrath, and he was our legal, our covenantal substitute. And in so doing sin was removed. Kids man was forgiven. The wrath and anger of God satisfied and man reconciled.
You see the words of Paul are true for the wages, the payment. The end result, the legal transaction for the wages of sin is death, both physical and spiritual. But the free gift, the grace of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, [00:47:00] our Lord.
I think CS Lewis got the atonement wrong, but the he got the end right. And I wanna read the end of his book to you, just some portions, you'll have to go back and read it. But these portions are found in chapter 16 and 17,
the witch was defeated. Alan, again, Alan, A picture of Christ has resurrected, and because of that, listen to the words of chapter 16. But at last, the ransacking of the witch's fortress was ended. The whole castle stood empty. With every door and window open and the light and the sweet spring air flooding into all the dark and evil places, which needed them so badly.
Satan has been defeated. But then we jump to the end of chapter 17 and hear these words, and Lewis is an incredible author, the way he paints these pictures. [00:48:00] And now as you see, this story is nearly but not quite at an end, these two kings and two queens. Those who are familiar with the story, Peter Edmund, Susie and Lucy known throughout the book as Sons of Adam, daughters of Adam, these two kings and two queens governed Narnia.
Well, we rule with Christ. We have died with Christ. We have been buried with Christ. We have been raised with Christ. In the Ephesians says, we have ascended to the right hand of the Father with Christ and we rule with Christ. And these sons and daughters of Adam govern Narnia. Well. And long and happy was their ne their reign.
At first. Much of their time was spent in seeking out the remnants of the white witches army and destroying them. And indeed, for a long time there would be news of evil things lurking in the wilder parts of the forest. A haunting here, a killing there, a glimpse, a rumor, but listen to these words. [00:49:00] But in the end, all that foul brooded was stamped out.
Jesus wins. Jesus wins. But how does he win? And this is the fascinating thing. He wins through the sons of Adam. He wins through his church. He has paid the price for our sin. He has given us his righteousness. He has transformed us, and now we rule with him and we're to go out and we're to conquer with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
And that is how Jesus will win. And he does win. Amen. Will you be a part of it? He wins. Praise God. Let's pray. Father in heaven, thank you. Thank you for the book of Hebrews that lays this out so succinctly, so clearly, so much in detail. Jesus came to die for sin. That was his primary mission. He came so that sin would be taken away.
[00:50:00] That sin would be forgiven. He came and he suffered your wrath. He suffered your wrath on the cross. My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? He suffered your wrath in an eternal sense that we will never wrap our minds around. And he did it so that your righteousness and your justice and your holiness would stand firm, that you would no longer be angry at those for whom he died, but now you could be merciful.
Without compromising your character, without compromising who you are, that we would know you for who you are. Thank you that Jesus came to the cross. Thank you, that when he ascended, the Father and Jesus sent forth their spirit. And now the spirit dwells in us. And the spirit uses that law that was written on our minds and hearts to continue to transform us, to continue to sanctify us, to continue to use us.
Father, my prayer today, and I pray that this is the prayer of everyone sitting here, use me, [00:51:00] use us, use this church. Use the various churches in Bonners Ferry to transform this little community. And when this little community is transformed, that we would spread out and transform Idaho and then Washington and Montana, and Father, that it would continue, that your kingdom would be seen on earth.
Father, thank you. Thank you for all that we've learned. Continue to make us learners, Lord, for we ask all of this in the name of Christ Jesus. And all of God's people said, amen. A very fitting song. Take your hymnals.
