Vicararious-Efficacious Substi

Q: What does the Bible say about substitutionary atonement?

The Bible teaches that Jesus Christ died as a substitute for His people, bearing their sins to provide redemption. Substitutionary atonement is a key doctrine found throughout Scripture, most explicitly illustrated in 2 Corinthians 5:21, which states that Christ was made to be sin for us so that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. This underscores the principle that Christ's sacrifice was not merely for everyone, but for a specific group, His elect, demonstrating God's intent to save particular individuals rather than making salvation merely possible for all. Jesus, as our eternal substitute, bore our punishment and wrath, fulfilling the legal demands of God's law and providing us with His perfect obedience.

Q: How do we know Christ's sacrifice was sufficient for salvation?

Christ's sacrifice is sufficient as it was vicarious and efficacious, effectively saving those for whom He died. The efficacy of Christ's atoning work is affirmed by the doctrine of substitution, which emphasizes that He died for a specific people, providing actual salvation rather than merely the potential for it. This is illustrated in Galatians 3:13, where it's shown that Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. If His sacrificial death were insufficient, it would mean Christ did not fulfill His role as Savior. However, the New Testament repeatedly affirms that through His death, all who are elect are effectively justified and redeemed. The effectiveness of His act of substitution is evidenced by the spiritual transformation that occurs in the lives of believers.

Q: Why is the doctrine of vicarious atonement important for Christians?

Vicarious atonement assures Christians that their sins are fully paid for through Christ's substitutionary death. The significance of vicarious atonement lies in its assurance of salvation for the believers. This doctrine expresses that Jesus took upon Himself the sins of His people as stated in Isaiah 53:6, where the iniquities of all were laid upon Him. This means that He experienced the punishment that we deserved, thus freeing us from condemnation. Furthermore, this doctrine emphasizes God's sovereignty in salvation, distinguishing our faith as a result of His grace rather than any action on our part. By recognizing that Christ's death was done on behalf of specific individuals, believers can have confidence in their secure position in Christ, knowing they are justified before God.

Q: What does the term 'efficacious' mean in relation to Christ's death?

'Efficacious' means that Christ's death effectively accomplished salvation for those for whom He died. When discussing the efficacy of Christ's death, it refers to His death having a definite and tangible effect on the lives of those for whom He came to save. Unlike the notion that Christ merely made salvation possible for all, the doctrine emphasizes that through His death, He effectively secured salvation for His chosen people. This is highlighted in scriptures such as Hebrews 9:26, which indicates that Christ's sacrifice put away sin once for all. Therefore, the efficacy of Christ's death ensures that all who believe in Him are genuinely saved and can be assured of their redemption, thus affirming the complete and perfect nature of His substitutionary work.

John chapter 11, we've been looking
at or we're in in our exposition. We've been looking at the place
here in 50 or 49, 50, 51, 52, where Caiaphas says in verse
49 and one of them named Caiaphas being the high priest that same
year said unto them, You know nothing at all, nor consider
that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people
and that the whole nation perish not. And this spake he not of
himself, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that
Jesus should die for that nation, and not for that nation only,
but that also he should gather together in one the children
of God that were scattered abroad. And so as we've been looking
at this portion of scripture, as you well know, we've been
spending quite a few weeks now talking about exactly what we
see evidenced in this portion, and that is the doctrine of substitution. Titus didn't even know really
realized what he was really saying about Christ Christ really had
come to substitute for his people Not for the Jews the ethnic people
the Jews, but he came to To substitute for his elect people of all time
of all generations And so we've kind of paused Here in our verse
by verse exposition as we do so often and we open up some
of these doctrine Some of these doctrines that are talked about
and we've done here and we've kind of extensively looked at
This topic of substitution, but there was a few more things that
I really wanted to hit on this before we before we actually
kind of close out of that I kind of began a conclusion and a few
weeks ago, and I'm basically still in the conclusion. I may
have a conclusion to my conclusion, and after that, then I'll conclude.
But there's a few things that I would like to address. We kind of talked a little bit
about it in passing, but wanted to kind of hone down a little
bit more on it as we come to the end of this doctrine, at
least as it pertains to this portion of Scripture. and everything. We've seen now that Jesus Christ
has been our substitute. We've seen where Jesus has been
our substitute and we've looked at all kinds of stuff. and specifically
showing that his substitution has been for us from all eternity. It's not just, it's just not
whenever he was on the cross. A lot of times that's all we
harbor on is the substitution of him on the cross. Now, I will
tell you, that is the primary That is the primary place of
substitution. And we're going to kind of look
at that today. But we've seen also that Jesus was our substitute
as he stood as our surety in the eternal covenant, so that
whenever God before the foundation of the world put us in Christ
Jesus and blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places, he stood as the one who would take the wrath, take the
blame, take all of the stuff that would be dealt out in God's
wrath upon himself. And he was the substitute in
eternity as the land slain before the foundation of the world.
We also see that he was the substitute in the obedience that we should
have been doing, but never could. So he came and lived a perfect
life of obedience. That life of obedience God also
took his obedience and substituted it for our disobedience. Our
disobedience was all that we could, all we could do was disobey. And so Jesus came, lived that
life for us, and that was a substitution. God accepted his obedience to
the law, his obedience to the Father as our obedience. And
then of course we see his substitution on the tree. And we're going
to look at that a little bit today. And we see that now he
lives to intercede for us. And so there is this theme that
runs throughout all of scripture. Now, While Jesus was our eternal substitute,
while he was the lamb slain before the foundation of the world,
the Bible says that it was needful that this be manifested in time. And so he did come in the fullness
of time. He was handed over by the chief
priest, these very ones that we read this morning. He was
handed over by these men to the Romans to be killed, and he was
murdered. killed, so to speak, although
the Bible says that no man took his life, he laid it down willingly. They did beat him, they did scourge
him, they did a lot of mean things to him, they did hang him on
the cross, and he did die, but whenever he died, he died at
his own hand by giving up the Holy Spirit. No man took his
life. He'd give it willingly, he'd
give it himself, he took his own life. But we see that Jesus
did that as a substitute and we see that that was needed,
that was manifested to us so that we might see and know those
things and then preach the gospel about that. So Jesus did stand
in our place for all eternity, but we see specifically in time
where he stood in our place as he hung on the cross. And we're
going to read a few verses that deal with that here in just a
minute. But the other thing I would like
to bring up is that Jesus died under the penalty of God's law. God's law demanded death. It
demanded that we die. The wages of sin is death. The
man who sins, he shall surely die. So there is a legal demand
that sinners die. And so Jesus, he died under the
penalty of God's law, even though he did not break God's law ever. the substitute he substituted
as us okay he substituted as us and became sin that we might
become the righteousness of God and And so he bore our sin, he
bore our shame, he bore all the things that we had done, and
God's wrath was poured out upon him in the fullness of time,
and we received all the benefits from everything that he did on
our behalf. And today, one of the things
I'd like to show and look at as far as substitution is concerned,
and I actually started out this whole entire thing with this
very premise, and that is that when somebody substitutes for
somebody, it is an actual substitution. Okay, that that if a substitute
teacher goes into a room and substitute say, you know Teacher
Joe is sick and teacher Bob comes in and fills in for teacher Joe
whenever teacher Bob comes in he is taking the place of teacher
Joe and so it's as if Teacher Joe was there because Teacher
Joe has told this man, OK, this is all the things that I want
done today. And so when Teacher Bob comes in, he does and goes
through everything that Teacher Joe would have done if he would
have been there. And so, Teacher Bob is now the substitute for
Teacher Joe. And everything that, hey, Senator,
come over here and shut these windows down. This is gonna be
distracting to me, probably everybody else, too. That's definitely not the car,
or that's not the vacuum. That's alright, you can leave
that one, that's not so bad. Looks like he's just blowing
off the deal. He'll probably be down here in
a minute. But anyway, there is a true substitution that one
person actually took the place of another person and that other
person that he took the place of was a definite person. So that all the benefits that
the substitute did for that one person, that person received. Whenever teacher Joe was sick
and teacher Bob had to come in for him, Teacher Joe received
all the benefits of being there and getting those kids taught
That teacher Bob did for him in Place of teacher Joe teacher
Bob didn't do that for anybody else. He did that for teacher
Joe's class Okay, so there is a there is a one-to-one correspondence
the one who substitutes for the other the other receives a Okay,
all for what the substitute did for it. So there's not this,
there is a substitute, somebody substituted, but yet there was
no effect of that substitution. What happened whenever teacher
Bob substituted for teacher Joe? The class was taught. There was
somebody there in front of the class that taught the class,
that handed out the assignments, that took in the homework, that
checked the roll to make sure everyone was there, you know,
that kept the kids quiet, that sent them out to lunch, that
sent them out to recess, that, you know, sent them home whenever
it was time to go home. Everything that should have been
done was done, and it was just as if Teacher Joe was there. Even though Teacher Bob did all
the work, Teacher Joe, his class was taken care of that day. Okay,
so there's a one-to-one correspondence. The one who substituted did all
the work, but teacher Joe, who I had first, who I had second,
the first teacher who was sick got all the credit for what teacher
two did, okay? So when we look at the work of
Jesus Christ, there is one term, to me that is that stands out
okay there's one term uh that stands out uh and that is his
substitution was efficacious his his substitution was efficacious
now this word efficacious means that it had an effect. It had an effect. Or that it effected that for which it was
made. Okay? So that's what the word
efficacious means. So whenever Christ died, he died
an efficacious death, okay? And to me, this is what separates
the true gospel from the false gospels that are out there, primarily
the Armenian gospel that says that Christ died for everybody
and that Christ is the savior of all people, but yet there's
something left for us to do. If that's the case, it wasn't
efficacious. It didn't affect anybody. Jesus
didn't actually save anybody when he died. If Jesus only died,
and we've said this a lot, and we say this a lot, and you hear
this a lot, if Jesus only died to make men save a bull, then
Jesus didn't actually save anybody, and so the title Savior needs
to be thrown out. Okay, Jesus is not a savior,
a savior that does not actually say somebody is not a savior. And whenever the scriptures say
that Jesus was here to save his people from their sins, either
he accomplished that and is living up to the word savior, or he
didn't, he only partially did that. And you must help him finish
out the work of salvation and you then become part and partial
of the saving process. You become a savior in and of
yourself. And I know the Armenians said,
no, we don't believe that. We believe that Jesus did save
people. But the thing is, is whenever Jesus hung on that cross
and substituted on that cross, did he save any one person? Can you say, did Jesus actually
save one person on that cross or did he just make men savable?
And what I mean by that is whenever he died, did he die saying this
is for this person, this person, this person, this person, this
person, this person, this person, and the effects, efficacious,
the effects of this salvation, the effects of this death, the
effects of this substitution, all my work that I'm here to
do, Is the effect of that truly salvation or is the effect of
this a saving position that they can enter into if they choose? See the difference in that? I
hope I didn't make that too muddy. The fact is that Jesus actually
saved people. There was actual, the sins of
Luetta was placed upon Jesus. He bore those sins. God was full
of wrath upon Christ for Luetta's sins. Jesus took that full weight,
died for Luetta, buried and was risen again for Luetta. Everything
that Jesus did on that cross then is accredited to the Louetta. Louetta died under the wrath
of God. Louetta was buried and was risen
again, being united to Christ. And God the Father was satisfied. God the Father justifies her
before himself and says not guilty. God the Father looks at her as
never have sinned because she is in Christ Jesus and the sin,
all the sins that she's committed in all of her life was never
imputed unto her. See, that's what I'm talking
about. Did Jesus actually accomplish that for anybody or did he just
make that a position available for all those who would receive
it, believe it, trust in it, act upon it, you know, choose
it. See, if that's the case, then
he actually didn't efficaciously save anybody. If that's the case,
he didn't, here's another word for you, and I'll write this
one down. Vicariously, or vicarious. His death was efficacious, his
death was vicarious, or vicariously died. Here, I'll take the L1
off and be like a good seminary preacher and make sure my...
All my points are the same. It was efficacious, it was vicarious. The word vicarious there means
one who substitutes or substitutions. A vicarious death means a death
that was brought out in exchange for someone else or for somebody
else. That word vicarious, that's what
that means. It means to be in place of another, to take on
for another, to do something for another. Okay, and so whenever
Jesus died that death was not only had a true effect it affected
all Those for which it was made, but it also was a true substitution
He actually took the place of someone else. He took the place
of sister Louetta Okay He took the place of all his children
he took their place and He didn't take the place of sinners in
general with a no name face upon them. You know, I always, I always
use the phrase that this ethereal cloud, you know, I just have
pictured here whenever I'm thinking back to Armenian thought and
how Jesus died for all people. Okay. So does that mean he died
for? Beth, Louetta, Ed, Lori, Kalen,
Mike. Does that mean that or did he
die for the world? And then everyone who will choose
it becomes part of that what was done on the cross. See, that
means it's all up to the person to make the salvation efficacious. It's only effected if you make
it effected. Jesus didn't make it effective.
It's only a true substitution. If you choose it, then you become
part of the ones who was substituted for. So it wasn't Jesus who actually
had a group of people that he went and was a substitute for. He just took the, he just made
the death. He took on the death and then
you, by being, by making it effectual, chose him, came to him, responded
to him, believed on him, trusted in him, whatever the condition
was, and then that effect caused him to be your substitution.
So now God looked at you instead of, or looked at Christ instead
of you. See, any way you put it, that
puts man as the hinge pin. That puts man as the one who
can boast. Jesus died, okay, yeah, but his
death didn't do nothing to me unless I chose it. No, Armenians
don't speak boldly like that and say that, although there
may be some, I don't know. But at least the ones I've been
around, they don't, they think they put all glory to Christ.
But whenever you say salvation was just a salvation for the
masses as a whole, but it has no effect and it wasn't a true
substitution, then you have a salvation that is not, that is not by grace
alone. It is a salvation at the very
best by grace and works. And we know that the Bible says
that it's not by works. Now I want us to look here, I
want us to see, Especially with these two terms and I'm going
to add a couple other terms here in a minute But I want us to
look at these two term and and read through some scriptures
that talks about substitution and think about how specific
We see an effect and an actual substitution for someone else,
okay? Not just a savior who died on
the cross, but a savior who died on the cross for specific people
and actually saved them, okay? So turn with me, if you would,
over to 2 Corinthians 5, and I think we'll just begin there. 2 Corinthians 5. And look with me if you would
down to verse 21. 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 verse 21. It says for he hath made him
to be sin for us. Who knew no sin? That we might
be made the righteousness of God in him now. There's a few things that I want
to go over here in this verse. Number one, who's he writing
to? First, he's writing to, if we go back, beginning of this
letter, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, and
Timothy, our brother, unto the church of God, which is at Corinth,
with all the saints which are in Achaia. Okay? We also find that he wrote another
letter to the Corinthians, and that's 1 Corinthians, and at
the beginning of that letter he said, Paul, called to be an
apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sophonies,
our brother, unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to
them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with
all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ,
our Lord, both theirs and ours. So we see here, if you look at
the context, if you look at the pronoun, What does the pronoun
refer to? It refers to who's being talked
about here, who he is writing. He is writing to the church of
God, the saints, sanctified, those who are called of God,
not only in Corinth, primarily that's who he's speaking to,
but as in that first book, He's making it clear. I'm writing
not only to you, but these things that I'm writing to you are for
all those who are the Lord's everywhere. So when we see for
he hath made him Jesus Christ to be sin for us, that us isn't
an ethereal blob of nobody's. It is speaking of the people
of God. He has made him to be sin for
us, the saints of God, those who are called of God, those
who were given to Christ Jesus. Now there's a lot of verses we
can go backtracking into in John to see all that the Father gives
me. You know, thou hast given them to me and I've lost none.
All these verses that we see, I lay down my life for the sheep.
That's who he's talking about here. For he hath made him to
be sin For us, he didn't make him to be sin for the goats. He didn't make him to be sin
for the reprobate. He didn't make him to be sin
for the whole world. He made him to be sin for us. Okay, so the substitution there
made him to be sin for us. Who's sin? We're sin. But the
Bible says God made him to be sin for us. That's vicarious. He's a substitution. He's doing
something in the place of us. We're the ones who's sinful.
He was the one who was perfect. And so now through this vicarious
death, this vicarious sacrifice, this vicarious substitution,
God is now making him to be sin and us to be righteous. Now, one thing we must pay close
attention to here is that this is by imputation, not by impartation. Christ did not actually become
a sinner, and we did not actually become Christ's righteousness,
okay? We were imputed with His righteousness,
and He was imputed with our sin. We gotta keep the parallels here,
okay? Some people like to say, yes,
our sin was imputed to Christ, but His righteousness was imparted
to us, and so now we become this Adamic man is infused with righteousness,
and now we become righteous. That's not what it says. There
was an imputation. There was a laying on of guilt.
There was a laying on of obedience. We did not obey. He did not sin. God counted him to have sinned. God counted us to have obeyed,
even though we didn't obey. That's called imputation. OK,
there's a difference between impute and impart. And so we
see that this is the substitution. And the effect of that substitution
was, it was actually laid to our account. God laid the account
of Jesus, His obedience, His blood, His sacrifice to our account. He laid our account, sin, transgression,
vileness to His account. And so that right there is where
there is this exchange, this vicarious nature, this substitutionary
nature here. Jesus substituted for us. And that's why it goes on to
say, for he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin. that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. Did you notice that he added
the words in him after that? It didn't stop with say so that
we might be made the righteousness of God. No, it says that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. Any righteousness
brethren that we have is righteousness because of our union with him,
the imputation of righteousness. The only sinfulness that he had
was sinfulness in us, imputation. So if you actually write that
out, you can see, for he hath made him to be sin for us who
knew no sin except in us, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. Okay, so there is a substitution
there. We are made. Now that word, don't
get caught up on that word might. Okay, that word might there doesn't
mean perchance, okay? That word there is maybe so,
that word might. Okay, that word there in the
Greek is a definite word that means that you will, that we
might be made, okay? the ladies cook lunch today that
we might eat lunch when church is over. Okay. There you go. That didn't mean
maybe so per chance. No, the reason you cook lunch
is so that we could eat when we get done with today's services.
That's what that word might means there, it isn't a maybe so. A
lot of Armenians, I even said it before in my past life, that
there you go, might, that we might be. The only reason he
said might is because we might not choose him. And so we might
not become the righteousness of God in him. That's not what
that means, okay? So we see here in the scripture,
the Lord clearly tells us that there is a perfect effect and
there is a perfect substitution. And we see that it is for us,
the saints, the ones called of God across everywhere. Now, look with me now, if you
would, over to Galatians chapter three. Galatians chapter 3. We'll start reading in verse 11. It
says, but that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God.
It is evident for the just shall live by faith and the law is
not a faith, but the man that do with them shall live in them.
Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made
a curse for us. Here again, there's this substitution,
okay? Christ hath redeemed us from
the law, curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for it is
written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree, that the blessing
of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ,
that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Now, Here again, we're going
to see the efficaciousness. We're going to see the vicariousness
of it. First, let's look at the effect. Christ hath redeemed us. So what
happened? He was made a curse for us. That's
the action. The action was Christ being made
a curse for us. What does being made a curse
for us mean? Well, it's speaking of his death,
right? His being sent to the cross.
It says here, at the verse there, it says, being made a curse for
us, for it is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on the
tree. So he became a curse for us. He was cursed when he hung
on the tree. See, he defines what the curse
is. He says, he became a curse for us. Well, how did he become
a curse for us? It is written, curse is everyone
who hangs on a tree. So Jesus, whenever he hung on
that cross, became a curse for us. He was cursed of God. Now, we deserve to have that
curse on us, but God placed the curse upon Christ. Christ was
the recipient of that. So that's what we see first is
we see there is and well, let's say there's a substitution that
he was a curse for us, but there's also an effect, there's an efficaciousness
to this. What's the effect? Well, number
one, look there in verse 13, he hath redeemed us. So for everyone
that Christ was made a curse for was redeemed. Okay, now let's go back again. If Christ died for the whole
entire world, if he was made a curse for everybody in the
world, then everybody in the world has been redeemed. So that
means every man, woman and child can stand and said, I am redeemed
and so happy in Jesus, redeemed by the blood of the lamb. But
can they say that? Will any Armenian claim that? That's why I always keep saying
the universalist is more sound than the Armenian is. They at
least see these verses and say, Jesus is a savior. Jesus is a
redeemer. Jesus did accomplish what he
said he would do. Jesus did do everything that
was needed on the cross. They just have it misunderstood
for whom it was. See the Armenian, they see Jesus
died for everybody, but not everybody is saved. Jesus saved everybody
by being the savior of everybody. He was cursed for everybody.
He was imputed sin for everybody, but not everybody received the
effects of that salvation unless a condition is met, whether it
be repentance, belief, trust, whatever their condition is,
baptism, whatever. But what does it say there? Christ
hath redeemed us. So one of the effects of the
substitution of Jesus Christ is redeemed. But that's not all. Look at the rest of that. He
hath redeemed us from the curse of the law. Verse 14, so that or that the
blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus
Christ that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through
faith. So all the inheritance that was
promised to Abraham is promised and made effectual to everyone
for whom Christ was made a curse for. That's why also here in Galatians
the Bible says that whenever he made that promise That it
was to the seed and not seeds plural, but seed meaning Christ
Everyone for whom Christ died Received that blessing that he
promised Abraham that inheritance that he promised Abraham Everyone
who is of the faith of Abraham will receive that. Why? Because
Abraham received his faith from Christ. He has the faith of Christ. That's why it's a faith and not
words. Because only those who have been
born of God receives the faith of Christ. And that's what makes
it sure. That's why we know that if someone
is born again, they're given the faith of Christ. They will
come to Christ. They will believe the true gospel. They will understand the things
of the scripture. They will be taught of God. Those
are the effects of the being made a curse. Those are the effects
of the work of Christ. Those are the effects of the
substitution of Jesus Christ. The effects are they are born
again. Now they've already been given
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, but here in time we are
born again. And in the new birth we receive
the faith of Christ. We receive repentance. We receive trust. and believe
we receive a hope. These are the effects of his. And if that isn't, if Jesus didn't,
if Jesus died for everybody, then everybody's a recipient
of that. That's the effects of those things because they received
the promise of Abraham. Why do I say that as long as
someone continues in Arminianism until the day they die, rejecting
the true gospel, there probably wasn't salvation there at all.
Because the one who has been born of God received the effects
of the atonement. The effects of Jesus substitution. They received that. Why? It was
a true substitution. He took on their sin and they
take on his righteousness and receive the inheritance and all
the promise. It has an effect. And we see throughout Scripture,
the effects of that is being born from above. The fruits of
the Spirit are love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness,
meekness, temperance, faith. In faith, the Bible says that
faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things
not seen. That faith reaches out and trusts in Christ alone,
not in their works, not in their ability, not in their repentance,
not in their prayers, not in their choosing, not in their
free will. It trusts in Christ alone. That
faith also reaches out and believes the gospel. They come to Christ. They don't come to a false Christ.
They come to Christ. Whenever Jesus says my sheep
hear my voice and they follow me, they will follow him. They'll
hear his voice. It says a stranger's voice. They
will not follow. There are a lot of strangers
voice out there that sounds like the shepherd, but is not the
shepherd. And they're saying I have died
for you. If you will just let me into
your heart. Those other shepherds say I've died for you if you'll
just accept me. I've died for you if you'll just
do this or do that. It's a conditional shepherd,
a shepherd that says I've laid down my life, but you gotta do
this first before I'll give it to you. Where Jesus? Says I am the good shepherd.
I lay down my life for the sheep. But there is no condition for
us. The true shepherd says, all that the Father has given me,
I have lost none and I have brought them. I will bring them to you.
And so we see that there is a true substitution here. The Christ has redeemed us from
the curse of the law. Curses everyone that hangs on
truth, that the blessing of Abraham might come on Gentiles through
Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through
faith. So those are the effects of the vicarious nature of the
substitution on the cross. Turn with me now, if you would,
back to 1 Peter. 1 Peter chapter 2. Look with me at verse 24. Let me back up here to verse 21. It says for even here unto where
he called because Christ also suffered for us. Leaving us an example that you
should follow his steps, who did no sin, neither was guile
found in his mouth, who when he was reviled, reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened
not, but committed himself to him that judges righteously.
who his own self bear our sins in his own body, there's substitution
right there, who his own self bear our sins in his body, his
own body on the tree, that or so that or here's the reason
or the results are coming, that we being dead to sins should
live unto righteousness by whose stripes ye were healed. So everyone for whom Christ died,
for everyone for whom Christ bare their sins in his own body, though being dead to sin, should
live unto righteousness. and they're healed now we know
that doesn't mean necessarily physical healing okay that's
talking about they're healed of their sin problem they're
healed of the transgression uh they're healed of of what they
have done uh to god now the charismatics and pentecostals they want to
take that and say that Because Jesus died for you then that's
that in the atonement that that Secured your physical healing
and so all you have to do is plead the blood of Jesus Christ,
and you'll be healed from every ailment That you have if you
just exercise your faith. That's not what this is talking
about OK, this is a matter of fact. This verse 24 is actually
referring back to Isaiah 53 five by by his stripes we are healed. And if you look in both cases,
the term is talking about redemption being redeemed from sin. OK,
that's that's that's the that's the context. We've been healed
of sin. The sin problem has been taken
away. That's not the issue for us anymore. Although we may sin, there is
no problem of sin between us and God anymore. We don't have
a sin problem. So there is a substitution who
himself bore our sins in his own body that we, the effect,
might live under righteousness and by his stripes we were healed. OK, so you see that there is
an effect there that comes from the substitution. Maybe I should
have done these backwards here. Put substitution before effect,
but we see this in effect. Throughout the scripture. Okay,
that's why I come to understand the doctrines of grace the way
I come to understand it. There was a lot of things that
the Lord taught me in those first formative years that I began
to see the doctrines of grace. And one of the things that I've
seen, not only did I see across the board our depravity in Scripture,
our inability, and God's sovereignty, And as I've mentioned before,
you know, acts 1348 was one of the watershed verses for me that
those who were ordained to eternal life believe. I've seen that
there was a cause and there was an effect. The cause was being
ordained to eternal life. the effect was believing. And
so I've seen that there was a cause or there was something that was
there that initiated or made the other to take place. Yes,
do we need to believe to be Christians? Absolutely. Do we need to repent?
Absolutely. Do we need to trust in Christ?
Absolutely. Do we need to hope in Christ?
Absolutely. But that is not an ability that
the natural man has. unless he's born from above.
Once he's born from above, then he has those abilities to do
those things. And they are our effects, not
causes. They are the effects of salvation,
not the cause for salvation. The effect came because of the
substitution and because of the substitution, Now we receive
the effects and the effects will be seen in us. And so that's
what we see here in this passage of Scripture. Now this, like
I said, this was this come from Isaiah 53 and let's go ahead
and turn to Isaiah 53 because there's a couple other things
that I want you to see in that verse. Isaiah chapter 53 And the verse that Peter just
quoted is actually found in this passage that I'm about to read.
But I want you to see a few other things in here. Look at Isaiah
53. Let's start reading. At let's
just go ahead and just start at the beginning and I'll read
down to probably about verse eight or so. Says who have believed
our report and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? OK, that's a rhetorical question. OK, who have believed our report? Nobody believes the report. There
is nobody who have believed the report. And to whom is the arm
of the Lord revealed? That's the answering of that
question. The one who believes the report is the one to whom
the arm of the Lord is being revealed. And so he's asking
the question to who is the arm of the Lord? Revealing these
things. To whom is the arm of the Lord
revealing the report and causing the believing of the report?
In layman's terms, why do some believe and some don't believe?
Why do some receive the gospel and some reject the gospel? That's
the question. And the question that is asked,
why do some believe the true gospel The answer is because
the arm of the Lord has revealed it to them. The arm of the Lord,
meaning the power of the Lord through. That's what the arm
of the Lord means. Whenever the Bible speaks of
his right arm or his right side or his arm, that's referring
to power. OK, that's the way that they
talked about power. The power of God revealed that
to you. What was the power of God? The
power of giving you eternal life. The power of giving you a new
birth. The power of putting that incorruptible
seed in you, that spiritual life in you, causing you to be a spiritual
person, to receive spiritual things, to know spiritual things. And so he says here, Who hath
believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?
For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant. So now you're
going to tell, Tell us, how? How did this happen? Well, because
Jesus did something. For he shall grow up before him
as a tender plant and as a root out of a dry ground. He hath
no form or comeliness. And when we shall see him, there
is no beauty that we should desire him. Jesus was just a common
man. He wasn't this nice, pretty fashion
model, you know, Fabio looking guy walking around Jerusalem
like we see in some of the TV shows. You know, he wasn't this
fair skinned, blue eyed Jesus that you see in the movies. OK,
Jesus was just a common Middle Easterner guy from From he was
a Jew just like everybody else was but the Bible says here that
he was had no form or comeliness And that there was no beauty
that we should even desire him. There was nothing about him that
Physically that anybody would even be attracted to worship
him to desire him and just a common person every day everyday guy
Okay, I mean we look around in our society course can't miss
it because it's plastered on billboards and TVs all over the
place You might see a man or a woman who you know doesn't
look like the common man or woman I mean all of us in here. We're
kind of common folk. We look like common people. You
know, we don't have the physiques we don't have the strong jaws
and the, you know, beautiful, you know, hairdos and the muscles
and, you know, all the voluptuous curves and all that stuff that
seems to be desirable in the world, okay? And so we look at
those people as, wow, you know, you look at them and you think,
wow, if I could only look like them, that's how the world runs
after all that stuff. but the bible says jesus didn't
have that physique he didn't have that attraction that he
was just a lowly man just and he looked just like the common
man you wouldn't have even been able to pick him out of a crowd
had it not been for the things that he done matter of fact probably
up until the time that he was baptized and began the miracles
and began all the stuff you probably wouldn't have even been able
to tell him from anybody else walking around doing working
in his working in a, I was about to say his dad, in Joseph's carpentry
shop, whatever he was doing, you know, we're not told from
the time he was 12 until the time he was 30, we don't know
what he was doing. So during that time period, he
probably looked just like anybody else. It says in verse three,
he is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief, and we hid, as it were, our faces from him. He
was despised and we esteemed him Not now. Here we go. We're starting verse four. Surely
he hath born our Greece. They weren't his Greece. He was
God. He didn't have any Greece, but
yet he bore our Greece. Substitution and carried our
sorrows. Substitution. Yet we did esteem
him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. But he was wounded
for our transgressions, their substitution. He was bruised
for our iniquities substitution. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him substitution and with his strides. We are healed. Substitution again. His stripes
are healing. There's also effect. His stripes
are healing. Look at verse six. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his
own way and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. Substitution. Jesus substituted. The iniquity was laid on him. Verse seven, he was oppressed
and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He is brought
as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shears
is dumb, he opened not his mouth. He was taken from prison and
from judgment, and who shall declare his generation? For he
was cut off out of the land of the living. Here it is for the
transgression of my people. Was he stricken there again? There is substitution. For my people, he was stricken
for the transgression of my people. My transgression, his being stricken
substitution. But look at who it is. My people. My people. OK. Now. Verse 9 and he made his grave
with the wicked and with the rich in his death because he
had done no violence. Neither was any deceit in his
mouth, yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He had put him
to grieve when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin
substitution. He was an offering for sin, him
for our sin, substitution. Now here's the effect. He shall
see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of
the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Okay, now let's pause there.
If it's the pleasure of the Lord that all be saved, then the vicarious,
efficacious sacrifice of Jesus Christ, his death on the cross,
will see the travail of his soul, he will prolong his days, and
the pleasure of the Lord will prosper in his hand. He shall see the travail of his
soul and be satisfied. By his knowledge, shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities,
their substitution. He shall bear their iniquities. What's the effect? By that righteous
servant bearing their iniquities, he shall justify the many. Okay? You can't get away from it. It's
all through the scripture. Substitution, substitution. Them, me. As Jesus saying that,
not me. Their sin, my death. Their life, my obedience. Them, me. Them, me. I am substituting
actually for them. What does it say here? For my
people, for the many, for the saints who are called, who are
sanctified in Christ Jesus, for those who are scattered abroad,
all those people of God. That's who this is talking about.
From Genesis to Revelation, this word of God is written to the
people of God. So they are the ones in context
of all these things, the recipients of all these things. When Paul
was writing there in Corinthians, we've seen he was talking to
what? All the saints. When Peter was talking, who's
he talking to? To the elect of God, scattered. Whatever John
is writing, who's he writing to? He's writing to all the brethren,
to all the little children. So this is a common theme throughout
all of Scripture. You see, the context is the people
of God and their Savior. There is a substitution. But
when that substitution is done, there is an effect. There is
an effect because of that substitution. And if that effect is not applied,
then there was no substitution. Because all for whom God substituted
for when Christ died, there is an effect. If there's not an
effect, then there was no substitution. He goes on to say, he says, he
shall see the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied by
his knowledge. Shall the right, my righteous
servant justify many for he shall bear their inequity. Therefore
will I divide him a portion with the great and he shall divide
the spoil with the strong because he had poured out his soul unto
death. Substitution. Okay. And the effect, because he poured
out his soul unto death, he is going to divide the spoil. He's
going to divide the portion. He was numbered with the transgressors
and he bared the sin of many, not all of many. He bared the
sin of many. There's substitution and here
it is and made intercession for the transgressors. Substitution
and effect. He substituted. He made intercession
for the transgressors. What was the effects intercession? Intercession is the effect. The
Bible says that he ever lives to intercede for them. Is Jesus interceding for the
reprobate? Is Jesus interceding for the for the goat? Is Jesus
interceding for every man, woman and child? If Jesus is interceding
for them, brethren, you can bet none of them will be lost. because
he is interceding on behalf of them to the father and to the
father on behalf of them. There is a substitution there
that continues from eternity to eternity. There is no middle
ground. There is no gray area. There
is no fence to straddle. You either are of his and have
been redeemed and found in that eternal covenant, or you are
not and you are reprobate and you are found outside of the
covenant, outside of the promises of God, and that you are found,
as Romans says, a vessel of dishonor. substitution and effect. Look with me if you would back
into the Psalms. Psalm 40. Psalm 40. Look with me down if you would at verse 10. Because I have not
hid thy righteousness within my heart, I have declared thy
faithfulness and thy salvation. I have not concealed thy loving
kindness and thy truth from the great congregation. OK, again, a specific people. It wasn't everyone. OK, specifically
here as we look at physical Israel, he's speaking of the congregation
of Israel. OK. It wasn't to the Jebusites,
the Hittites. All the parasites in the heights
of heights of all other people. It was to Israel. The congregation
of Israel. He made known his salvation. A specific people. But look as it goes on. It says
verse 11 withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me. Oh Lord,
let thy loving kindness and thy truth continually preserve me
for innumerable evils have compassed me about. Mine iniquities have
taken hold upon me so that I am not able to look up. They are
more than the hairs of mine head. Therefore my heart faileth me.
Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me. O Lord, make haste to help
me. Let them be ashamed and confounded
together that seek after my soul to destroy. Let them be driven
backward and put to shame that wish me evil. Let them be desolate
for a reward of their shame that say to me, aha, aha. That was an 80s band. Verse 16, let all those that
seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee. Let such as love thy
salvation, say continually, the Lord be magnified. But I am poor
and needy, yet the Lord thinketh upon me. Thou art my help and
my deliverer, making notary of my God. Jesus Christ was made this for
us. This speaks of him, verse 12,
innumerable evils have compassed me about, mine iniquities have
taken hold upon me." That's not talking about Jesus's, it's talking
about the iniquities that he took upon him. Jesus didn't have
any iniquities. His iniquities was the iniquities
of his people. And he took those upon himself. And so you see how you see how
devastating it was. See, I've always said while the
beating in the face, the scourging with the cat of nine tails, the
nailing to the cross, while that was painful and horrible and
and surely tragic and shocking to the body of Jesus Christ.
The thing that we see here. That. struck Jesus to the core
was the night before when he sweat drops of blood. My God,
my God, by staff forsaken. The fact that God was going to
forsake him. That he would be rejected of
God. That he would take on the sins
of all his people. And become as a transgressor the God of God, the God who made
everything, the God who owns everything, controls everything,
would stoop and become sin. And here he says, I'm not able
to look up all these evil people. There are more than the hairs
of my head. Therefore, my heart faileth me. The weight of the fact that he
became sin and was rejected of God and the wrath of God poured
out upon him. Far exceeded just the nails in
the scourging. Whenever he took upon us his
sin. There's another account of Jesus
and what he was going through. If you will turn to Psalm 69. This whole entire song. Speaks of these things We're
just going to read a few of the verses here Look with me down
to verse 6. It says Psalm 69 verse 3 says I am weary of my crying. My throat
is dried. My eyes fail when I wait for
my God. They that hate me without a cause
are more than the hairs of my head. They that would destroy
me, being my enemies wrongfully, are mighty. Then I restored that
which I took not away. Oh God, thou knowest my foolishness
and my sins are not hid from me. Let not them that wait on
thee, oh Lord God of hosts, be ashamed for my sake. Let not
those that seek thee be confounded for my sake, oh God of Israel. See, Jesus felt even so, I mean,
that was so imputed unto him that he felt as if those were
his own sins. Now he's speaking in terms, of
course he's speaking here through David and David is speaking through
his sin. We know David is a type of Christ.
And David is speaking through his sins and telling his reaction
towards sin. But here we hear the voice of
Christ as he is the one who's the being imputed the sins of
all of his people and how he is being rejected of God. How
he is being turned away from. And how he has this feeling that
he is just a fool and that he is hid from God and that that
please don't let this be in the front that that causes people
not to look anymore. OK. Look down at verse 9, it
says, For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up, and the reproaches
of them that reproach thee are fallen upon me. See, we're the
house of God, His people. Whenever the Bible speaks of
the house of God, it's not talking about this building and four
walls. The house of God is all the people of God. He says the
zeal for thine house hath eaten me up. The love for the people
that you have given Me has eaten Me up. And the reproaches of them that
reproach thee are fallen upon Me." All of your people that
have sinned against you, their reproaches have fallen upon Me. There's substitution, brethren.
Drop down with me, if you would, down to verse 19. He says, Thou hast known my reproach
and my shame and my dishonor. Mine adversaries are all before
thee. Reproach hath broken my heart
and I am full of heaviness and I look for some to take pity,
but there was none and for comforters, but I found none. The Lord Jesus
was left to himself there on the cross. Even those who were
with him there Look from afar. And there was no comfort that
they could give him. Not that they didn't love him and care
for his mother and those who were there and John. They were
there and was there for Jesus and everything, but they weren't
there. They couldn't comfort him. There
was no comfort that could be given to him. And so we see there is this cause
substitution and there is this effect. Jesus has a vicarious sacrifice
and that vicarious sacrifice is for a particular people. And that that particular people's
sacrifice becomes effectual or efficacious. And then the last thing that
we see here, and then we'll stop with this today. Turn with me
to Hebrews. 9 and verse 26. Hebrews 9 and 26. The Scriptures
say For then must he often have suffered since the foundation
of the world, but now, once in the end of the world, he hath
appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Again, we see substitution. Again,
we see effect. We know from the context of everything
that we've read today, that there is a particular people that he
speaks of. But here, look at what we see
here. It's done. It's final. It's finished. But for but now, once in the
end of the world, But once Jesus only had to die
once here in Hebrews. This is talking about how the
how the sacrifices from the from the line of Levi, the priest
of Levi, had to give continual sacrifices. But Jesus, Jesus
wasn't of the tribe of Levi, Levi. He was of the tribe of
Judah. He was a different kind of priest.
He was a priest in the order of Melchizedek, who had no beginning
and has no end. He is a priest that has an everlasting
role. And it said that he made one
sacrifice and sat down for all the other priests. They continually
are attending to the sacrifice day after day after day after
day. But Jesus made one sacrifice and said it's finished and sat
down. There isn't anything more that needs to be done. There
is no more, no more purification. There is no more offering of
lambs. There is no more shedding of
blood. There is more, no more sprinkling of blood. There is
no more announcement of atonement day after day after day. No,
it has been said once it is finished. And so brethren, again, we see
substitution. We see the effect. The effect
is what? Look there verse 26. He has appeared
to put away sin. That's the effect by the sacrifice
of himself. That's the substitution. The
effect is putting away of sin. This lamb, this sacrifice was
the one and only sacrifice that God looked at. Matter of fact,
we find it in places in Hebrews where the Bible says that the
blood of bulls and goats you did not desire. God didn't desire
that. That wasn't what he was looking
for. He put that in place for a specific reason in a specific
time period to point to something else. But he is consumed with
the one sacrifice and that one sacrifice satisfied him. And
that was the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the Lamb slain before
the foundation of the world, but manifested now for us that
we might know these things. Listen, this sacrifice had to
be made. This sacrifice was made. It was made for a specific people. And there was effects that came
from this sacrifice for those specific people. And it's cut
and dry. They will receive it. It's final. It's over. There is no more sacrifice
of sin. There is no more no other way. There is no other road. There
is no other gate. There is no other shepherd. There's
only one and he has done it all. It's completed. He saved his
people from their sins. That's what we began this with.
He shall save his people. He's a savior. He shall save
his people from their sins. And right here in Hebrews, the
writer says by the Holy Spirit. That he has. done that very thing. He has put away sin. He has made it null and void. It is not counted to us. We no longer have to worry about
the wrath of God, the displeasure of God. Before we were born again,
before we were given ears to hear the gospel of grace, the
gospel of this removal of sin, we had condemnation in our heart,
didn't we? We felt condemnation. We thought
the wrath of God is upon us. We're going to die. We deserve
these things. But yet the good news came in
and said, blessed child of grace, he has taken away your sin. He
is not ever looked upon you in sin. He is never considered you
perverse. Blessed are you to whom the Lord.
Blessed are you unto whom the Lord has imputed not sin. And
that good news rings up in our heart and it gives us hope and
the child of grace, the one who's been given true spiritual life.
Guess what? That's all they need. We used to sing an old southern
gospel song, He's all I need. That's all we need. To the child
of grace, we don't need to hear about repentance. We don't need
to hear about confession. We don't need to hear about trusting. We don't have to hear about all
those things. Yes, we hear about those things
and we teach those things and speak those things because they're
in the Word of God, but He's put it in us. Why do I love the
gospel? Because it's just a cool thing?
No, I love the gospel because it's been put in me to love the
gospel. Why do I trust in Him? Because
it's been put in me to trust in Him. Why do I come to Him? Because it's been put in me to
come to Him. Why do I hope and not cease in
my hope? Because it's been put in me to
hope. Why do I have faith? It's been put into me. Why do
I love God's law? Because it's been put into me.
Why do I desire to obey God? It's been put into me. Why? Because his substitution was
efficacious. It had an effect. It affected
me. And so we come, having been put
away sin, he has saved his people from that sin. And so he is a
wonderful substitutionary sacrifice and substitute. All right, let's
stand. We'll have a word of prayer and we'll do this.

Vicararious-Efficacious Substi

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about substitutionary atonement?

How do we know Christ's sacrifice was sufficient for salvation?

Why is the doctrine of vicarious atonement important for Christians?

What does the term 'efficacious' mean in relation to Christ's death?

Sermon Transcript

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Vicararious-Efficacious Substi

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about substitutionary atonement?

How do we know Christ's sacrifice was sufficient for salvation?

Why is the doctrine of vicarious atonement important for Christians?

What does the term 'efficacious' mean in relation to Christ's death?

Sermon Transcript

Comments

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