032005

JESUS: OUR ALL-SUFFICIENT SAVIOR
JESUS—OUR SACRIFICE!
March 20, 2005


John 19:28-30; Hebrews 9:16-22; Hebrews 9:23-26 and Hebrews 10:1-2, 11-14
“It is finished.” Let’s go back and look at the words that heralded the beginning of Christ’s ministry :
According to Luke 4:16-19, what was Jesus’ mission? “He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
i. Just an observation. Aren’t you glad Jesus stopped his reading where he did, because that verse goes on to say, “…and the day of vengeance of our God.” (Isaiah 61.) Thank God, that day of vengeance is reserved for those who refuse to receive Christ as their Savior and King. A day of wrath is coming—but, as God’s children—we are not appointed unto wrath (1 Thessalonians 5:9!) “For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
The words, “it is finished,” is translated into the Greek word, “tetelestia,” which means “the debt is paid in full.” After sin entered into the world through Adam and Eve’s disobedience, God, who is called Holy, and God, who is called Just, and God, who is called Love could not reconcile all these facets of Himself and allow us to enter into His presence in such a state. The God who is Holy (see Habakkuk 1:13 “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong.”) cannot even look upon sin. So, that definitely leaves us out in the cold! And, the God who is Just, requires that there be some sort of retribution for sin--death (See Genesis 2:16-17 and Romans 6:23. “And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."For the wages of sin is death…”) So, the God of Love had to devise a plan whereby all requirements of his holiness, His justice and His love would be met. There has always been one plan—initiated by God and was in His heart even before Adam and Eve sinned (See Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”). He knew how this whole human trauma called life was going to turn out. Believe me, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit counted the cost! (See Revelation 13:8 “…the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.”) When Jesus shouted out those words, (see Mark 15:37 “With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.:) He was announcing to God the Father and the entire world that He had taken upon Himself our sins and paid our sin debt with His own blood—with His own death, yes, even death on a cross! Ladies, make no mistake—this was a victory shout! God won—and we were restored! The Righteous for the unrighteous—only God! Amazing, knowing how great cost--still they desired and delighted in making man and woman—so much so, that they personally created us with their own hands and made us in Their own image! (See Genesis 1:26-27. “Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.) Glory! The perfect time for Christ to be born had not come (see Romans 5:6 “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.”) but, from the time sin entered God’s promise of redemption (buying back) was promised (See Genesis 3:15. “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel."
) This reveals a great battle for our souls. Christ vs. satan. We win!
i. Enter the blood sacrifice. Now, I would venture to guess that all of us are probably Gentile (non-Jewish) New Testament believers. Although, if you are Jewish and a believer that Jesus came as Messiah—praise God—that has been His desire for you all along! Either way, I assume that most of us came to know Christ through New Testament scriptures and most probably, most of our devotional time is spent in the New Testament scriptures. This is quite natural, it is probably the part of the Bible we are most comfortable with. But, dear sisters, we can never fully comprehend Jesus’ sacrifice until we dive into the Old Testament and really study the picture of the blood sacrifice. Read Genesis 3:7-8 and Genesis 3:21. “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. “The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.”
1. What were Adam and Eve attempting to do? Did it work?
2. What are some of the ways you have tried or do try to personally cover your own sin?
3. What did God do? How and why was this different?
4. What does Galatians 3:26-27 say we are clothed with? “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.”
Picture Eden. No sin or death had ever before been witnessed. Paradise on earth! God named the stars and the heavens—the sun and the moon, but He gave Adam the awesome privilege of naming all the animals (see Genesis 2:19. “ow the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.”) After sin, both Adam and Eve were witness to the high cost of what they had done. Death entered—blood was spilled--and the victim was innocent of any crime (are you beginning to see a little glimpse of Jesus here?).
i. If you were Adam and Eve, how would witnessing this event make you feel?
ii. What was the purpose of the sacrifice?
You can be sure that Adam and Eve would never forget what had taken place! A little later on we witness the sacrificial form of worship being offered by their sons, Cain and Abel. (See Genesis 4:3-5. “In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor.”)
i. What was Cain’s sacrifice? Was it acceptable? Why not?
ii. What did Abel’s sacrifice? Was it acceptable? Why?
You see the pattern beginning here, don’t you? Cain brought the work of his own hands—a symbol of his own self-righteousness. Abel brought God’s accepted sacrifice—an innocent, slain animal. Blood makes the difference! (Read Leviticus 17:11. “For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one's life.”) Hebrews 9:22 makes it very plain that, “…without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin.” You see, God was making it very clear that the life’s blood must be given for sin. Not good works, not doing the best you can—blood. Any other way is man’s way. Excuse me while I get southern here—ain’t gonna happen! God made the plan and God will get the glory! Trust in the precious blood of the Perfect Lamb of God—Jesus Christ!
Turn to EXODUS 12:7; 13 “Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs.” – “The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.” The Passover. God delivering his children from Egypt. (This is a spiritual picture of Jesus delivering us from sin!)
i. What were the Hebrew children told to cover their houses with?
ii. What did the death angel do if he saw the blood? If he didn’t?
iii. Do you think there were some sinners in those blood covered houses? Hmm!
In all these instances what was the blood used for? Did it take away the sin? Why or why not?
Later, in Leviticus, specifics of the Law enter the picture and God lays out for us how the sacrifice was to be performed. Read Leviticus 3:2, 8, 13 “He is to lay his hand on the head of his offering and slaughter it at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. Then Aaron's sons the priests shall sprinkle the blood against the altar on all sides.” – “He is to lay his hand on the head of his offering and slaughter it in front of the Tent of Meeting. Then Aaron's sons shall sprinkle its blood against the altar on all sides.” – “He is to lay his hand on its head and slaughter it in front of the Tent of Meeting. Then Aaron's sons shall sprinkle its blood against the altar on all sides.”
i. Why do you suppose God required the one who sinned to place their hand on the head of the innocent sacrifice—taking part in the slaughtering and then seeing the innocent blood being sprinkled?
ii. What would be your personal reaction?
iii. How should we respond to Jesus’ sacrifice—the Innocent for the sinner?
We just can’t leave this subject without taking a look at Genesis 22:1-14 “Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied. Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about." Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. He said to his servants, "Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you." Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, "Father?" "Yes, my son?" Abraham replied. "The fire and wood are here," Isaac said, "but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" Abraham answered, "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." And the two of them went on together. When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied. "Do not lay a hand on the boy," he said. "Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son." Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, "On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.". Here, we are given a beautiful picture of God’s ultimate plan of salvation. God asks Abraham to sacrifice his son, his only son—the son he loved! I can’t even imagine what must have been going in Abraham’s heart! I can hardly take it in! God will Provide! “Just in time, He brought the Lamb!” A Father giving his precious Son! Oh, the sacrifice! Worthy, worthy is the Lamb! I hope you girls followed through on what we discussed last week and willing and joyfully keeping down on your knees and face before our Awesome, Holy and Loving Father!
“It is finished!” No more sacrifice is needed. See Hebrews 9:23-26 “It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God's presence. Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.”, under the old sacrificial system, people were coming to the priests everyday to offer up sacrifices for their sins. Can you just picture the blood that must have covered first, the Tabernacle and later the Temple. Man, those priests had to be cleaning blood up all the time—because this was a holy place and had to be kept cleaned. Even the High Priest, had to offer up sacrifices for himself, because he too was a sinner. Over and over and over again. Why were these sacrifices not enough? (See Romans 6:9-10 “For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.”; Hebrews 9:1-15 “Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary. A tabernacle was set up. In its first room were the lampstand, the table and the consecrated bread; this was called the Holy Place. Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place, which had the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. This ark contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron's staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant. Above the ark were the cherubim of the Glory, overshadowing the atonement cover. But we cannot discuss these things in detail now. When everything had been arranged like this, the priests entered regularly into the outer room to carry on their ministry. But only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance. The Holy Spirit was showing by this that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still standing. This is an illustration for the present time, indicating that the gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper. They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings--external regulations applying until the time of the new order. When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation. He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance--now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.”.)
Hebrews 10:1-2, 11-14. “The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming--not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. If it could, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. – “Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. “ Perfect cleansing of the sinner—that was the problem with animal sacrifice. Animals can never take away sin—their blood only covered it—it was a shadow or foretaste of something or Someone far more able!. Jesus—our sinless Sacrifice—the God Man. If He had only been a man, His sacrifice would have been in vain. No, as the God Man—fully tempted as we, but without sin--He alone could take away our sin and our guilt! Once and for all! What does Jesus’ sacrifice do for us that animals could not? (Read Hebrews 7:25 “Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.”!)
John 19:31-37
The Jewish leaders were so concerned that the letter of the law be kept—yet they crucified the One the law pointed them to—how crazy is that!
We see so much Old Testament scripture being fulfilled in these passages. Read Exodus 12:46 “"It must be eaten inside one house; take none of the meat outside the house. Do not break any of the bones.”; Numbers 9:12 “They must not leave any of it till morning or break any of its bones. When they celebrate the Passover, they must follow all the regulations.” and Psalm 34:20 “he protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken.”.) How tenderly God oversaw every detail of Christ’s death. He permitted some things, but not one of Jesus’ legs were broken—God didn’t let Him decay either! (Psalm 16:10 “because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay.”!)
John 19:37 says, “They will look on Him whom they pierced.” Zechariah 12:10 “"And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son. “ and Revelation 1:7 “Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen. “ is prophecy that when they see Jesus, they will mourn. Why? See Revelation 6:16-17: “They called to the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?"
Remember, our discussion on the coming of God’s wrath? Well, girls, this is it! This is why they mourn, it is too late. They mourn because all the evidences were there—yet, they did not repent! God forbid!