back to index2020-08-02 Why did Jesus Die?
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Let me read in Hebrews chapter 9 verses 15 through 22 and then we'll get started. 00:00:10.080 |
For this reason he is the mediator of a new covenant so that since a death has taken place 00:00:14.600 |
for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those 00:00:19.080 |
who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. 00:00:23.500 |
For where a covenant is, there must of necessity be the death of the one who made it. 00:00:28.000 |
For a covenant is valid only when men are dead, for it is never enforced while the one 00:00:35.160 |
Therefore even the first covenant was not inaugurated without blood. 00:00:38.880 |
For when every commandment had been spoken by Moses to all the people according to the 00:00:43.560 |
law, he took the blood of the calves and the goats with water and scarlet, wool and hyssop, 00:00:48.440 |
and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying, "This is the blood of 00:00:54.800 |
And in the same way he sprinkled both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry 00:01:00.120 |
And according to the law, one may almost say all things are cleansed with blood and without 00:01:04.380 |
the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. 00:01:11.160 |
Heavenly Father we pray for your blessing and your grace over this time. 00:01:15.180 |
May your word, Lord, be made clear that your sheep may hear and follow your son Jesus. 00:01:21.800 |
We pray, Father God, that you give us understanding. 00:01:25.040 |
Help us, Lord, by your Spirit to give us a heart that is willing to be molded according 00:01:33.600 |
You know, as you guys know, again, many things are going on right now and one of the biggest 00:01:38.840 |
concerns that we have in the universal church is there's more and more division. 00:01:44.080 |
There are very strong opinions as to should the church gather, you know? 00:01:50.720 |
Some are very concerned that we're gathering. 00:01:54.200 |
Or should we go inside or should we stay outside? 00:01:57.160 |
What is our opinion about the Black Lives Matter movement? 00:02:00.760 |
What are some of the opinions that we - and there's very strong opinions on both sides. 00:02:05.720 |
And again, if we're not careful we can end up fighting for things that may not be essential 00:02:11.160 |
and the church may be divided as a result of that. 00:02:13.760 |
So we need to be careful, we guard our hearts. 00:02:16.160 |
There are things that we can debate within the context of the church. 00:02:20.800 |
You don't have to have the exact same opinion about every single thing that happens, whether 00:02:25.320 |
that's economically, politically, socially, whatever that may be. 00:02:29.640 |
We can have our strong opinions but we need to make sure that what unites us continues 00:02:36.620 |
So you can be a Presbyterian, you can be a Baptist, you can have different views on certain 00:02:42.800 |
doctrines but there are certain essential things that you cannot unite. 00:02:49.660 |
If we have a different doctrine on the core of what Christianity stands for, unity is 00:02:56.600 |
As long as we love each other and we say we belong to one another, we're united. 00:03:04.080 |
Christ was crucified for our sins and by his blood atonement we are saved. 00:03:12.240 |
And it is that doctrine, if there's any compromise, any different opinion, you are not a Christian. 00:03:19.160 |
We can be united in politics, we can be united in philosophy, we can be united in everything 00:03:25.040 |
else but if we differ on that doctrine, we are not united, no matter how much we think 00:03:32.240 |
See, blood atonement of Christ, his death and resurrection is Christianity. 00:03:39.320 |
That's what distinguishes us from the Jehovah Witnesses, that's what distinguishes us from 00:03:44.320 |
the Mormons, that's what distinguishes us from any other, again, people who may call 00:03:49.600 |
themselves Christians but according to the biblical doctrine they are not. 00:03:55.320 |
The foundation of Christian faith is forgiveness acquired by blood sacrifice and it must be 00:04:05.300 |
If you remember, as soon as Adam and Eve fell, one of the first things that we see is the 00:04:11.280 |
offering that was given by Cain and Abel and Cain brought sacrifice from his harvest and 00:04:21.300 |
Abel gave sacrifice of the animals and he said one was acceptable, one was not. 00:04:26.540 |
It doesn't explain why one was acceptable, one was not but we know clearly that the Bible 00:04:31.080 |
teaches that without the atonement, without the forgiveness of sins, there is no restoration 00:04:38.880 |
So again, it doesn't explain that in the book of Genesis but it is clearly explained later 00:04:43.980 |
on in Scripture that without blood sacrifice there is no forgiveness. 00:04:48.600 |
In fact, this was a difficult thing that even the disciples had a hard time understanding. 00:04:55.720 |
They knew that the animals needed to be sacrificed but when Jesus clearly stated repeatedly over 00:05:01.960 |
and over again that He was going to be to the cross and He was going to be crucified, 00:05:08.240 |
even the disciples did not understand why would you do that? 00:05:12.240 |
It wasn't until He was resurrected that they began to remember all that He said and then 00:05:19.120 |
But the fact that Jesus would have to die for their sins, even for the disciples, even 00:05:23.560 |
though it was embedded into their culture, could not comprehend why would the Messiah 00:05:32.520 |
In fact, Paul himself was one of those Jews who had a hard time understanding and yet 00:05:38.560 |
after he met Christ, he realized that what he was persecuting was God Himself. 00:05:46.520 |
Even though he thought he was persecuting to protect, you know, Judaism, he realized 00:05:53.800 |
And in 1 Corinthians 1.23, he says, "We preach Christ crucified. 00:06:03.120 |
And he knows that better than anybody else because he was very stumbled. 00:06:07.840 |
You know, it triggered him, it angered him to the point that he was willing to kill and 00:06:19.120 |
And that's an understatement because the first persecutors of the gospel, of the death and 00:06:25.200 |
atonement of Jesus Christ through His blood, were his fellow countrymen. 00:06:31.680 |
And he said to the Gentiles, "It is foolishness." 00:06:37.660 |
If you weren't a Christian, and to say, you know, God loves you and He wants to forgive 00:06:43.720 |
you of your sins, and He said you have to believe that He died for you. 00:06:49.060 |
Now where else in your life do you see that being practiced? 00:06:54.360 |
If you sin against me, I just suck it up and I just say, "Okay, you're forgiven. 00:07:02.480 |
I don't cut myself and shed my blood and say, 'Wait a second, let me forgive you.'" 00:07:08.920 |
So think about it from a non-Christian perspective. 00:07:16.880 |
Why was that the only way for God to forgive? 00:07:19.120 |
Why couldn't He have just said, "You're forgiven"? 00:07:22.160 |
What is this drama about His death and shedding of blood and suffering for our sins? 00:07:30.720 |
Now a non-Christian may ask that question, but sad to say, many Christians in the church 00:07:44.160 |
And if you believe Him, you have eternal life. 00:07:50.000 |
But then many Christians have never searched beyond that. 00:07:55.680 |
And so there's a lot of Christians who don't understand the gospel. 00:07:58.920 |
The core message of the cross, the very reason why we are here Sunday after Sunday. 00:08:08.280 |
Why couldn't He forgive just like the way we forgive? 00:08:15.560 |
Now the text that we're looking at isn't going to comprehensively answer that question 00:08:19.400 |
because that is peppered throughout all of Scripture. 00:08:23.440 |
And so we don't have time to go through every single point of why this is necessary. 00:08:28.440 |
But He makes it very clear in verse 22, "According to the law, one may almost say all things 00:08:34.080 |
are cleansed with the blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness." 00:08:41.240 |
In fact, it wasn't just embedded into Jewish culture. 00:08:43.960 |
If you look at ancient cultures, for whatever the reason, they understood that a god needed 00:08:52.820 |
Now we don't understand it because we're so many years removed from that. 00:08:56.240 |
But if you study most ancient cultures, there is some kind of blood sacrifice that needed 00:09:01.300 |
to be given to appease whatever idol, whatever god that they worshipped. 00:09:09.160 |
Now that's archaeologists, those are historians. 00:09:12.960 |
But it was understood, it was clearly taught, it's specific to the nation of Israel. 00:09:18.860 |
Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness. 00:09:22.520 |
You know that text that I just, I just quoted in verse 22, is a direct quote from Leviticus 00:09:30.240 |
And it gives us a little bit of the background behind the atonement. 00:09:38.520 |
And I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls. 00:09:42.800 |
For it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement." 00:09:48.400 |
He says, "Because of man's robbing of God of the life that belonged to him." 00:09:56.560 |
When we sinned, we basically robbed him of his glory that we are to give to him. 00:10:01.160 |
So he says, "Because you have taken life that belongs to him, the atonement for that 00:10:12.900 |
And so, because the blood represents and is the life of the flesh, he says the only way 00:10:19.120 |
that your guilt, your guilt and my guilt, can be washed away is for life for life. 00:10:29.040 |
Just like if somebody embezzled you $100,000, they can't just say, "Hey, I'm sorry." 00:10:37.400 |
If they have the money, they have to pay you back. 00:10:40.520 |
Again, we don't practice that in our culture, but that was embedded into the ancient cultures 00:10:45.720 |
and specifically spelled out in the book of, to the nation of Israel. 00:10:51.680 |
Now before I lose any of you, okay, how important is this? 00:11:02.000 |
How important is it that not only do you hear this message, but you're able to articulate 00:11:08.760 |
This is just as important as if you say you're a lawyer and you know the law. 00:11:14.440 |
This is just as important that if you're an accountant that you know the accounting, accounting 00:11:24.640 |
Every Christian that does not understand the blood atonement should commit some portion 00:11:31.460 |
of this week, next week, or the next few months, doing your best to do your, to answer some 00:11:37.300 |
of the questions that, that I'm not going to be able to answer all of it today, right? 00:11:41.280 |
I'm just going to be looking at the text and what it says, the, the portions that it says, 00:11:46.460 |
Again, all of this to get you to pay attention, right? 00:11:53.740 |
So what I'm going to do this morning is outline three things that he says is why Jesus had 00:12:01.340 |
I'm going to be covering two and the third one I'll, I'll come back to next week. 00:12:07.540 |
It says in verse 15 that Jesus died to redeem those under the old covenant. 00:12:13.660 |
Okay, Jesus died to redeem those under the old covenant. 00:12:17.540 |
Verse 15, for this reason he is the mediator of a new covenant so that since a death has 00:12:24.460 |
taken place for the redemption of transgressions that were committed under the first covenant. 00:12:33.220 |
First thing that he said, he said he had to die in order to redeem those and who are those 00:12:46.060 |
He's first talking about those people in the old covenant. 00:12:48.460 |
That, you know, is a common question that we get all the time. 00:12:51.300 |
How did the old Jews in the old testament and old covenant, how were they saved? 00:12:58.960 |
He says that he had to die for the sins of those that were committed in the old testament. 00:13:06.460 |
So they were saved the same way that we are saved. 00:13:09.220 |
We're saved by the blood sacrifice for us in the past. 00:13:14.220 |
The saints of the old testament were saved by the blood that was going to be spilled 00:13:20.820 |
Okay, he says redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, 00:13:26.700 |
those who have been called may receive the promise of eternal inheritance. 00:13:33.660 |
Now again, I want you to understand the history of Israel. 00:13:36.100 |
Okay, this is why it's so important that when you read the Bible that you read it, you read 00:13:40.860 |
it chronologically and consecutively because you're going to miss a whole point, a huge 00:13:46.380 |
chunk of understanding the new testament if you don't know the history. 00:13:51.980 |
Now I'm not going to go through all of it, but if you remember before, as soon as Israel 00:14:04.500 |
When you get into this land, you're going to have to obey this law. 00:14:06.260 |
And he says, after he gives him this law, if you obey my commandments, all these blessings 00:14:15.700 |
That's written in Exodus, is repeated in the book of Deuteronomy. 00:14:21.300 |
And then he goes, but if you don't obey me, here are the curses that are coming to you. 00:14:27.620 |
And the curses that he mentions in Exodus and Deuteronomy outnumber the blessings almost 00:14:36.880 |
It's almost like he knew, he knew what was coming. 00:14:41.400 |
And he tells them, here's a blessing if you obey it. 00:14:45.140 |
And here are the curses that's going to come upon you and upon the nation of Israel if 00:14:53.380 |
Now if you've read the Old Testament, you know Israel's history. 00:15:02.180 |
You all said that, but I couldn't see you because of the mask, right? 00:15:05.420 |
In fact, not only did they disobey, every generation, every period of Israel's history 00:15:12.980 |
is about their disobedience and God's judgment coming upon them. 00:15:18.540 |
In fact, if you look at the kingdom, when it splits from the north and the south, almost 00:15:25.580 |
every king, almost every king, it says they did evil in the sight of God. 00:15:33.300 |
And so when the prophets finally show up to reveal to the nation of Israel where they 00:15:38.540 |
stand before God, if you, again, if you read the major prophets and the minor prophets, 00:15:55.640 |
So prophet after prophet after prophet after prophet, generation after generation after 00:16:04.460 |
Israel's history is the curse of God that they are piling up from one generation to 00:16:12.760 |
the next generation, from person to person, family to family, from tribe to tribe, from 00:16:21.640 |
That's why, you know, you start out well in the book of Genesis, right? 00:16:26.000 |
And then Genesis kind of goes through God's promise of what He's going to do to the nation 00:16:32.600 |
As soon as they get formed, they start slipping. 00:16:34.960 |
And the rest of Israel's history is about the curse that's being piled up. 00:16:41.800 |
So by the time Malachi is finished, by the time Malachi is finished with the prophets 00:16:48.480 |
before Jesus comes, if Israel has been paying attention, they would have been in tremendous 00:16:58.840 |
And that was the intention that God was trying to build in the nation of Israel. 00:17:05.020 |
That if they were afraid at the beginning of their history, imagine after hundreds and 00:17:10.680 |
hundreds and hundreds of years of straying and disobeying God, even after He showed mercy 00:17:16.800 |
after mercy after mercy, they would repeatedly, they would experience a brief moment of revival, 00:17:22.520 |
and they would go right back to sitting over and over and over again. 00:17:26.400 |
But you know what's interesting is that when God gave the law to the nation of Israel, 00:17:32.920 |
Israel's response, you could tell right from the beginning that they had no understanding 00:17:38.940 |
Exodus chapter 19, 7, 8, "Moses came and called the elders of the people and said before 00:17:43.920 |
them all these words which the Lord had commanded him. 00:17:47.920 |
All the people answered together and said, 'All that the Lord has spoken, we will do.'" 00:17:56.400 |
Again in Exodus 24, 3, "Then Moses came and recounted to the people all the words of the 00:18:00.520 |
Lord and all the ordinances, and all the people answered with one voice and said, 'All the 00:18:05.760 |
words which the Lord has spoken, we will do.'" 00:18:11.280 |
Exodus chapter 24, verse 7, "Then he took the book of the covenant and read it in the 00:18:15.080 |
hearing of the people, and they said, 'All that the Lord has spoken, we will do, and 00:18:28.400 |
See by the time the law of Moses was given, do you remember what already happened? 00:18:35.720 |
God already wiped out half of them because they couldn't wait. 00:18:46.760 |
Their hearts were already hardened and yet when God gave them these things and said, 00:18:52.320 |
If you don't obey, you will be cursed," and they were so confident in one voice and they 00:18:59.680 |
Remember I mentioned, I think it was last week, repentance is not saying, "Lord, I made 00:19:04.480 |
a mistake, give me a second chance and I'll do better." 00:19:08.720 |
Repentance is acknowledging and recognizing that we cannot and surrendering. 00:19:13.960 |
See the nation of Israel, the law was given to them in order that they may recognize who 00:19:19.320 |
they are so that they may cling to Christ when he comes. 00:19:22.640 |
Instead, they saw the law as an avenue for righteousness. 00:19:27.080 |
They thought that if they obeyed these righteous laws that they can somehow bridge the gap. 00:19:32.200 |
Maybe I might not get all the way, maybe he can help me in some way, but they thought 00:19:38.040 |
that this was some sort of a race that they're going to be able to win. 00:19:43.240 |
See, the law came to humble us and see the nation of Israel, even after all those sacrifice, 00:19:53.200 |
hundreds and thousands and hundreds of thousands of sacrifice, at the end, they were more under 00:20:02.800 |
They were more under condemnation after decades and centuries of sacrifice than they were 00:20:16.600 |
And you look at that and we see that in Luke chapter 18, 10 through 14, when you see the 00:20:20.760 |
Pharisees, two men went up into the temple to pray, one Pharisee and the other, a tax 00:20:26.040 |
collector and the Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself, "God, I thank you that I 00:20:39.000 |
He wasn't looking at God and saying, "Thank God I'm like you. 00:20:43.640 |
Thank God that your laws are reflected in my heart." 00:21:07.240 |
So, I think that's the danger of false religion. 00:21:08.240 |
And so, in comparison, they felt like they were closer to God. 00:21:09.240 |
"Thank God I'm not like those other people, swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like 00:21:16.640 |
Again, that's the danger of sometimes being at church. 00:21:25.000 |
Being at church without worshipping God in spirit and in truth gives you false sense 00:21:31.480 |
Being at church and engaging in active Bible study gives a false sense that we are right 00:21:51.600 |
The tax collector, the sinner, standing some distance away was even unwilling to lift up 00:21:57.000 |
his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast saying, "God, be merciful to me, the sinner." 00:22:03.640 |
See, this position, this humble position of the tax collector is exactly why the law came. 00:22:10.880 |
The whole purpose of the sacrifices, that wasn't going to cause them to be forgiven. 00:22:16.280 |
There was no power in the sacrifice and the bloodshedding of the animals. 00:22:19.480 |
Because if the blood of the animal was going to atone for the blood of the human being, 00:22:30.000 |
You can't sacrifice an animal and say that's equal to a human. 00:22:34.360 |
The only way that you can, you can redeem what was lost by something equal or greater 00:22:44.400 |
See, this is the position that every single one of us is to be brought to. 00:22:52.240 |
See, until we come to the point where we beat our chests, that's me. 00:23:19.960 |
Because when I see who God is and when I see who I am, I'm no different than this tax collector. 00:23:28.720 |
Have you ever been in debt to the point where you consider bankruptcy? 00:23:42.360 |
But when you feel the weight of debt that you cannot pay, I mean, especially if you're 00:23:48.960 |
a father, you know, and you have small children. 00:23:52.240 |
I remember, you know, years ago, you know, when our church was smaller and I couldn't. 00:23:59.560 |
I mean, I tried everything and I'm, you know, I'm a proud person. 00:24:09.760 |
So there's no excuse that I can't make money. 00:24:12.520 |
But there was a period in life because of ministry, because of various things, I couldn't 00:24:19.700 |
And I remember telling Esther, "Hey, don't buy milk today because I don't have enough 00:24:25.000 |
And there was a stretch of life during that period where it was just stressful. 00:24:29.840 |
Where you've felt the pressure of debt to the point where there's nothing you can do. 00:24:37.440 |
And not only does it affect you, it affects your family and it affects your children. 00:24:42.760 |
See, the law was given to us to bring us to that point. 00:24:54.440 |
So all of that was to teach the nation of Israel that they needed the Savior. 00:25:00.640 |
And He said Jesus had to die for that reason. 00:25:04.720 |
But all of that, all of those sacrifices simply pointed to the fact that they needed a real 00:25:14.720 |
And Christ came to not only atone for the sins that were going to be committed, but 00:25:18.360 |
for the sins that were committed in the Old Testament. 00:25:28.160 |
We know that God's love is great because He came down to get us, right? 00:25:33.380 |
He walked among us, He was incarnate, He was humiliated. 00:25:37.160 |
And He walked among us, among our filth, so He can save us. 00:25:43.140 |
Not only did He forgive us, in verse 15b it says, "Those who have been called may receive 00:25:53.360 |
So the second reason why Jesus died is to give those redeemed their promise eternal 00:25:58.800 |
Again, I want, those of you who've read the Old Testament carefully, chronologically, 00:26:05.220 |
right, just the fact that God didn't crush them should have been a cause of celebration. 00:26:12.760 |
They should have had the year of Jubilee every single year, every single day, right? 00:26:18.740 |
If you recognize, like, we've broken God's law almost every single day that I existed, 00:26:26.740 |
And so even though I gave sacrifice yesterday, I wake up this morning in need of another 00:26:32.780 |
And then I may have given everything that I have in sacrifice, and I go to sleep and 00:26:36.120 |
wake up the next day and realize I need to give another sacrifice. 00:26:40.660 |
And there wasn't enough sacrifices to be made, even the animal sacrifices to cover 00:26:47.020 |
And all of this for us, for me, to recognize that the curse is being built up, the debt 00:26:53.140 |
for my sins is being built up generation to generation to generation to generation. 00:27:00.420 |
And then Christ says, "I died so that your debt may be paid," right? 00:27:10.860 |
If you had sentenced to jail for the rest of your life and somebody says, "You're free, 00:27:17.180 |
your debt's been paid," that would be enough. 00:27:20.700 |
Even if you didn't go to jail and you were homeless the rest of your life, at least you're 00:27:30.080 |
He said not only does He forgive us our debt, He says those who have been called may receive 00:27:38.540 |
And then He describes why and how that happened. 00:27:41.500 |
Verse 16, "For where a covenant is, there must be of necessity be the death of the one 00:27:50.740 |
This is the place where you really need to slow down and ask questions. 00:27:55.260 |
Because the reason for the atonement that's described here is not something that you can 00:28:01.220 |
Why did somebody need to die in order for the covenant to be effective? 00:28:09.460 |
That's why we do inductive Bible study, right? 00:28:12.540 |
He says here, "For where a covenant is, there must of necessity be the death of the one 00:28:18.380 |
For a covenant is valid only when men are dead." 00:28:26.060 |
"For it is never in force while the one who made it lives." 00:28:35.460 |
I hope you say you didn't because I don't think you do. 00:28:39.020 |
Because this requires a little bit of digging. 00:28:41.020 |
Why would a covenant only be valid if the one who made it has to die? 00:28:54.060 |
This is not something that you can just skim through. 00:28:55.740 |
In fact, if you do inductive Bible study, you'll find that the word for covenant here 00:29:00.000 |
is translated differently in different texts. 00:29:08.180 |
In some, in the NASB, it's translated "covenant." 00:29:11.720 |
In some of the other translations, it will use some other word. 00:29:15.180 |
And the reason why there's different words used here is because the normal word for covenant 00:29:23.940 |
And that is used 99% of the time, that word is used, "sun-theke," whenever you see the 00:29:30.540 |
But here, the word that is used is "diatheke." 00:29:34.700 |
So there's a lot of debate as to how we are to understand this word "diatheke." 00:29:38.260 |
Why is "diatheke" used here in reference to covenant? 00:29:44.680 |
Because the meaning behind this is a lot more specific. 00:29:49.160 |
Because the word "sun-theke" has a reference to two parties coming together and making 00:29:55.220 |
That they would cut an animal, that they would walk through it, if either of you break this 00:30:02.140 |
So the covenant is alive when the two people are alive, not dead. 00:30:08.660 |
In fact, the covenant gets broken if they die. 00:30:11.960 |
But here it says the covenant is only useful if they're dead. 00:30:24.060 |
After the Bible study, because this is important. 00:30:27.420 |
In order to understand this text, you need to follow what I'm saying, okay? 00:30:37.060 |
The word "sun-theke," okay, is not used here, but the word "diatheke." 00:30:42.920 |
And the reason why that word is used is because that word is more in reference to a specific 00:30:57.340 |
So if I was to write a will for my children, I don't make an agreement with my kids. 00:31:08.380 |
So that covenant that I made will only be effective when I'm gone. 00:31:20.660 |
Alright, some of you guys who have bigger eyes, I can see. 00:31:24.100 |
Others of you, I have no idea with your face expression, okay? 00:31:28.500 |
So the point that he's trying to make is not only did he forgive sins by his death, he 00:31:35.860 |
says by his death, he fulfilled the promise that he made to the nation of Israel. 00:31:45.220 |
The promise that he made to the nation of Israel, Genesis chapter 12, 1 to 3, "Now 00:31:48.740 |
the Lord said to Abram, 'Go forth from your country and from your relatives and from your 00:31:53.380 |
father's house to the land which I will show you. 00:31:56.900 |
And I will make you a great nation and I will bless you and make your name great and you 00:32:01.180 |
shall be a blessing and I will bless those who bless you and the one who curses you I 00:32:05.580 |
will curse and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.'" 00:32:09.780 |
That was, was that a, was that a, was that a, like a covenant between Israel and God? 00:32:24.540 |
Hey, you're not obeying the law, you got to cover your mouth. 00:32:40.740 |
God is telling the nation of Israel, "I will do this." 00:32:46.260 |
Now when he gave the Mosaic Law, he said, "If you do this, I will do this. 00:32:53.540 |
And so the word "suntheke" is more of a description of an agreement of two parties. 00:32:58.400 |
But the covenant that God made to the nation of Israel is bigger than the covenant that 00:33:08.200 |
So even though the nation of Israel broke the "suntheke," God is remaining faithful 00:33:18.260 |
And because he made this unilateral covenant with the nation of Israel, he is remaining 00:33:27.120 |
And so not only did he forgive them of their sins, by dying he fulfilled the promise that 00:33:43.940 |
Think about how hard it is for us to forgive somebody who hurt us. 00:33:51.300 |
Think about how difficult it is when you feel like somebody slandered you and hurt you, 00:33:59.660 |
to not to retaliate, let alone to be forgiving, but to offer your son so that they may be 00:34:17.020 |
See, he made that promise to the nation of Israel. 00:34:19.720 |
There are a lot of people who think today that Israel is done. 00:34:22.820 |
When the church showed up, God made a promise to the nation of Israel, but because of their 00:34:26.820 |
sins, God moved on, and then now he focuses all his attention to the church. 00:34:34.520 |
And again, that's the distinction between infant baptism and believer's baptism. 00:34:38.700 |
For those of you who are confused, and if it went over your head, again, you know, this 00:34:42.700 |
is one of those things that requires some digging, right? 00:34:46.940 |
God remains faithful to his promise to the nation of Israel. 00:34:51.380 |
He says in Romans 11, 1 through 2, "I say then, God has not rejected his people, has 00:35:09.060 |
For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin. 00:35:14.060 |
God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew." 00:35:16.460 |
Again, in Romans 11, verses 11 and 12, "I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall, 00:35:26.840 |
But by their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles, so to make them jealous." 00:35:32.220 |
Now if their transgression is riches for the world and their failure is riches for the 00:35:36.140 |
Gentiles, how much more will their fulfillment be? 00:35:40.700 |
Again, you may not understand the impact of all of this because I surely did not when 00:35:49.140 |
You know, when I was studying all this, I just took it and I took the test and I got 00:35:52.180 |
the answer right, but it took years where this really started sinking in, what this 00:35:59.420 |
Romans chapter 11, verse 26, "And so all Israel will be saved, just as it is written, the 00:36:04.740 |
deliverer will come from Zion, he will remove ungodliness from Jacob. 00:36:09.020 |
This is my covenant with them when I take away their sins." 00:36:12.540 |
So Romans makes it very clear that God's not done with Israel, that he's going to keep 00:36:19.580 |
his promise that he made to the nation of Israel, deatheke, that he's going to give 00:36:26.580 |
them the inheritance that he promised, that even though for a period they experienced 00:36:32.220 |
a hardening of their heart and now we're living in a period of the Gentiles, meaning the church, 00:36:38.020 |
but when the fullness of Gentiles has come in, he says God will bring Israel back into 00:36:42.780 |
the fold, that they're going to experience revival and he's going to fulfill the inheritance 00:36:51.000 |
So when we look at heaven, the picture of heaven that's described for us in Revelations 00:36:55.940 |
chapter 7, and this is a picture of heaven that John sees, and I heard the number of 00:37:01.980 |
those who are sealed, 144,000 sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel, right? 00:37:09.240 |
So he distinguishes, he doesn't just describe a universal church, he describes first the 00:37:17.380 |
And then right behind them in Revelations chapter 7, 9 through 10, "After these things 00:37:22.260 |
I looked and behold a great multitude which no one could count from every nation and all 00:37:27.340 |
the tribes of the people and towns standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed 00:37:31.240 |
in white robes and palm branches were in their hands and crying out with a loud voice saying, 00:37:35.700 |
'Salvation to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb.'" 00:37:44.100 |
I hope you're not saying that because this is huge. 00:37:50.060 |
The reason why this is huge, even after all these years, even after all their failures, 00:38:03.480 |
even after all their rebellion, even after generations and decades and multitudes of 00:38:12.320 |
God's faithfulness to the nation of Israel, they have hardened their heart against God 00:38:19.040 |
and they have become a stumbling block to the gospel and God would have every right 00:38:31.020 |
And yet because God made a promise, he says he will fulfill it. 00:38:46.040 |
Because what he does with the nation of Israel is what he does with us. 00:38:53.880 |
All of that is a reflection of who he is, how he treats the nation of Israel because 00:39:01.840 |
he made a diethike, because he committed in his own heart, and that's why he keeps saying 00:39:17.880 |
And you know when he says that, he's saying the promise that he made, that he will fulfill. 00:39:27.440 |
So if he said it, he will not change his mind. 00:39:40.240 |
And that's why he says in Hebrews 6, 17 to 20, "In the same way, God desiring men even 00:39:44.740 |
more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of his purpose interposed 00:39:50.480 |
with an oath so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, 00:39:55.560 |
we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set 00:39:59.860 |
before us, this hope we have as an anchor of the soul." 00:40:10.000 |
A hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil where Jesus has entered 00:40:17.080 |
as a forerunner for us having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. 00:40:36.680 |
Think about, think about even after you became a Christian, the sins you've committed. 00:40:48.760 |
Think about the sins you committed before you came to church today. 00:40:58.440 |
Now I know we all dressed up nicely, brushed our teeth, combed our hair, you know, we put 00:41:05.760 |
our best foot forward, we grabbed our Bibles and we're sitting nicely, you know. 00:41:13.840 |
But you know, you know the sins in your heart. 00:41:23.800 |
You know the pornography that you wrestle with and you're trying so hard to overcome. 00:41:30.680 |
You know the anger that you have, people that you can't forgive. 00:41:36.040 |
These are all sins that are rebellion against God. 00:41:41.720 |
And he knew that the only hope that you and I have for these sins is the blood sacrifice 00:41:51.760 |
And as he is faithful to the nation of Israel, he is faithful to us. 00:42:05.400 |
Anchoring Christ doesn't mean I'm going to try harder. 00:42:09.520 |
Anchoring Christ is not simply saying like I'm going to read my Bible more. 00:42:21.540 |
And the only hope that we have, especially now, especially now, where the world is running 00:42:32.240 |
Where do we put our hope that the Christians don't get on that same boat? 00:42:40.800 |
He is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore. 00:42:51.120 |
Heavenly Father, you are God beyond comprehension. 00:43:06.520 |
You know our hearts, how easily we drift, how easily we get entangled with the affairs 00:43:15.240 |
Help us, Lord God, to be anchored in the confidence in Christ and the promises that he's given 00:43:20.960 |
in the blood atonement, Lord God, that cleanses us from our sins, that gives us hope for eternity. 00:43:27.120 |
Help us, Lord, to take our eyes off of this temporary world, that we may be able to express 00:43:32.900 |
our love and joy to you today, tomorrow, and forevermore.