Send your Bibles to Numbers chapter
25, Numbers 25, as we continue in our series on the gospel of
your salvation. Part 5 today, Numbers chapter
25. We are dealing with probably
one of the most controversial aspects of the gospel that the
church has known historically, and that is the doctrine of the
atonement of Jesus Christ. What did Christ actually accomplish
2,000 years ago when He died as an atonement for the sins
of His people? What did He actually accomplish? Throughout history, we have had
major debates. But I told you this in the opening
of the series that there's not a point of doctrine in the Bible
with which it hasn't been furiously debated Men throughout history
period people have debated the authenticity and the veracity
and the the divine nature of scripture as to whether or not
scripture is really authentically the Word of God in its verbal,
plenary inspiration. They have argued about the creation
account with regards to, is it possible that God could have
created the heavens and the earth in six literal days? And you
and I have made it very plain that if you can get past Genesis
1-1, everything else in the Bible is easy. In the beginning, God
created the heavens and the earth. That's a wrap. The rest of it
is downhill from there. Is that not true? And we often
say then that the struggle with men and women is not the depository
of divine truth by which God reveals himself in special revelation. That's not the struggle with
the human race. The Word of God is not the problem. The problem
is that men don't know God. Because when you come to know
God, everything that God does is easy. Predicated are based
upon who he is. So we have to resolve the question.
Do we know God? Do we know the true God has he
revealed his glory to us? Has he helped us to settle the
issues that there are things that God does that only God can
do and All the credit belongs to him when once we can solve
that problem then we can wrestle with doctrinal issues that have
a tendency to knock us off of our equilibrium and cause us
to struggle. Certain areas of vulnerability
occur in the area of what we call the doctrine of the atonement
because the atonement is really truly ground zero with regards
to the work that God does in actually redeeming mankind. Now, as we go into our second
message on the atonement, I want to set the context historically,
make some application and then quickly jump into the gospel
and deal with our four or five points. I may address the atonement
one more time because it really is a doctrine worth visiting
several times because of all of the implications that we derive
from the doctrine of the atonement. I would say to you, if you are
a serious Christian, make sure that you visit that doctrine
earnestly and seriously and determine whether or not you have been
properly taught the gospel. And I've come to understand who
Jesus is and what he really did versus what you have been told
in your common culture over the last 30 or 40 or 50 years. Make sure you know, because the
atonement is about, for all intents and purposes, your own soul. The title of our message today
is, He Hath Turned My Wrath Away. He hath turned my wrath away. Phinehas, a great type of Christ,
our mediator. In the book of Numbers, chapter
25, which is where we are today, we are dealing with a very unusual
account because whether you know it or not, we are on the brink
of crossing over Jordan into the promised land. We are on
the brink of it. The children of Israel are on
the shores of Jordan in the mountain of Moab where the Midianites
people are. And this is a strategic point
of attack on the part of the enemy because the enemy knows
that if Israel crosses over into the promised land, all that God
had promised them will come to pass. This is an event much like,
and I want you to mark this by way of application, this is an
event much like the center who is brought to the brink of salvation,
but right before he crosses in, all hell breaks loose on him.
All hell breaks loose on him in order to distract him from
the urgency of closing with Jesus Christ God being so gracious
to bring him nigh to God through the preaching of the gospel,
so that the heart is sealed in union with Christ. This is where
we are. And so the devil knows, the adversary knows that the
people of God are about to cross in. We are in our 42nd encampment,
as I have told you before, Numbers 33. delineates for us every encampment
that the children of God went through from the time they came
out of Egypt to the time they went into the promised land.
42 actual encampments. That means they camped out. Like
campers? 42 times over 40 years. Almost one encampment per year,
but that's not really the proportion per year. We are on the last
encampment. Moses will die this year. Aaron
will die this year. Miriam will die this year. These
are the patriarchal matriarchal parties that brought Israel out
of Egypt They all will die in the wilderness because they all
made horrible mistakes against the glory of God And what that
teaches us is it doesn't matter how high you are up on the chain
of God's purposes God can set you down real easy and put somebody
else in your place, which is what we're learning with Judas
Iscariot on Friday nights and Standing boards in the temple.
If you guys remember that lengthy study of understanding the tabernacle
in the wilderness, God made standing boards in the temple to hold
up the covering of the tabernacle. And each standing board was interdependent
to the other standing board, but it abode in its own socket.
You know what that means? When one board rotted, you just
took that board out, put another board in and kept rolling. So
just in case the saint decides to get rotten, God knows how
to take you out and put somebody else in your seat and keep the
job going. Are you hearing me? I'm just
laying the context for us. Israel is in a really precarious
situation here. because this is the last year
and they don't really realize that an attack is on them wholesale. Now the enemy uses two primary
methods when he's going to distract you and cause you to fall. These
two methods have worked historically consistently up to this point.
The first method he used is seduction. Seduction is the first method.
It's in your outline. This is why in the Bible the
woman is depicted either under two characteristics as a godly,
virtuous woman or a whorish, clamorous woman. These are the
two paradigms in Scripture. The godly woman is the woman
who knows God and walks with God and obeys God. The clamorous
woman is the woman who pretends to know God. May do church, but
she's doing her own thing. And she serves as a means or
instrument on the part of the devil to seduce the people of
God. God has always had to deal with
the devil working through the weaker vessel to seduce his men,
even in going into the book of Revelation. By the time you get
to Revelation 2, God's still upset with the Balaamites. and
the Jezebelites. He tells the church in Revelation
2, you have them that hold to the doctrine of Balaam and to
Jezebel that false prophetess. So we're dealing with a system,
a method, a mechanism, a device on the part of the enemy that
would get us all if we aren't careful. Can I get an honest
person in the house? Seduction is something that can
draw us all in because we are very vulnerable people. And the
devil uses his soft tactic of seduction before he uses his
hard tactic of persecution. The soft tactic of drawing you
in by feel-good ideas and concepts, emotional ideas, sensual ideas,
gratifying-to-the-flesh ideas. You and I are immersed with it
in our culture today. We're bombarded constantly with
things that seduce us away from God. That's how the enemy works. He's kind of like a cottonmouth
viper. You know what they are? Snakes
that when they bite you, you barely feel the pain, but you're
going to die. You're going to die. Even if
it feels good, you're going to die. So the soft method of the
enemy is to use seduction. And this is what Balaam did because
Balaam discovered that the people of God were under the protection
of God. And he knew that the only way
that he could get to the pretenders in the group was to seduce them. And he drew them out by having
the Midianitish women to tempt them into three descending sins. And I want you to see these.
They are there. The three descending sins that
Israel was drawn into was the seduction of fornication that
led to them worshiping their false gods, that's verses 1,
2, and 3, and ultimately making an allegiance with them. Verse
1, 2, and 3. Israel abode in Shittim, and
the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of men. That's
just outranked fornication. You guys got that? And they called
the people unto the sacrifices of their gods. Do you see that?
Start off with immorality, then lead to false religion. Start
off with immorality then lead to false religion if I make an
application Remember what Paul said in first Corinthians chapter
15 evil communication corrupts good manners Isn't it the church
at Corinth of which Paul said you cannot be unequally yoked
The devil and Christ do not sit at the same table You can't be
bound to someone walking in darkness and you yourself are walking
in light. This is a mutually exclusive relationship One is
going to cancel out the other I'll tell you what, though, in
this generation, I find so-called professing Christians always
trying to fix people that are walking in the darkness. It's
just amazing to me. I'm the only person that can
actually get them saved. But what the devil is doing here
is demonstrating the descent into a secular worldview of which
Christianity has fallen today. James says, whosoever is a friend
of the world is an enemy of God and he called them spiritual
adulterers. When you and I buy into the world system, when you
and I buy into a secular worldview, when you and I start denying
the clear and explicit biblical statements that declare who God
is and what we are in God and how that biblical truth stands
over against the culture. Are y'all hearing me? Biblical
truth stands over against the culture. When you are ready to
compromise biblical truth in order to have the accolade of
the world, you have committed spiritual fornication. You have
committed spiritual fornication and the only next step is then
to start embracing Their idolatrous worship and in the evangelical
church There's so much of the pagan gods and pagan religions
that have entered into christianity That hints we have in numbers
25 verses 1 through 3 essentially a 21st century scenario verse
2 and they call the people unto the sacrifices of their gods
and the people did eat and That's a metaphor for having fellowship
with them. And then they bow down to their gods. Do you see
the progression? First, they're engaging in spiritual
fornication. It was literal for them. For
us, it's spiritual. It's once we begin to tamper
with, again, the worldviews that are diametrically opposed to
biblical views and somehow try to reconcile them. They will
lead us into an allegiance with the people who really are defying
biblical truth. And you know, once you start
hanging out with people who don't know God, and you start parsing
the categories in the area of relationship, and you go, you
know, that person's really nice. They hate God, but they're really
nice. And over time you go, you know, they've got a lot to offer.
Why should I be a concern? Why should I be aloof? Why should
I keep my guards up? Because after all, I mean, they
got a lot to offer. They got ideas, they got methods.
They seem actually to be happier than you Christians. I'm making
some sense. They seem to be happier than
us Christians. And so you start buying into their agenda and
whether you know it or not, you are slipping away from the truth
of the gospel. In your soul you are starting
to compromise truths that you held too long ago as being absolute. Now you're wondering whether
or not it's actually so that you have come to know the truth
of the living God. You are in a path of apostasy. You are sliding
away from the truth and it's just a matter of time whether
or not you come out of the closet too. and start admitting that
you no longer believe the gospel of sovereign grace established
by a Bible that is absolute before God and that for you all roads
lead to glory. This is called ecumenism. It's
rooted in an idea called syncretism of which you try to conflate
two opposing religious systems and try to make them harmonize.
This is what's going on with them. And mark what it says.
They did bow down to their gods and Israel joined himself unto
Baal Peor. Do you see that? Now watch this.
I wonder what God thought about this. And the anger of the Lord
was kindled against them. Now may I say something with
regards to that? The God of which we are now considering, some
1400 years before Christ, is the same God that's on his throne
today. And if you want to know whether
or not he's angry with compromise and apostasy in the church, here's
the answer. He is. He's just as holy and
zealous for his glory and his covenant today as he always was. Please mark what I am saying.
You cannot, you cannot tamper with embracing a worldview that
stands in total opposition to God and have God's approval. You are going to find yourself
facing God's chastisement, his discipline, or his judgment. God will never violate his own
laws. He will not bend over backwards
just to cater to your felt needs. To be happy in Christ, You've
got to obey Him. This is what the Israelites are
about to experience because God's wrath is going to be poured out
upon them. And so the Lord said over in verse 4 and 5, And the
Lord said to Moses, Take all the heads of the people, hang
them up before the Lord against the sun, that the fierce anger
of the Lord may be turned away from Israel. Moses said to the
judges of Israel, Slay ye every one his man wherein he is joined
unto Baal Peor. You know what God is doing now?
Executing a judicial judgment upon everyone that's engaged
in this fornication and paganism. He's bringing judgment Starting
with the rulers upon everyone judgment is coming and breaking
out upon the people verse 6 and behold one of the children of
Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianite ish
woman in the sight of Moses and in the sight of all the congregation
of the children of Israel who were weeping before the door
of the tabernacle of the congregation Do you understand what verse
6 just said? I like the way scripture is.
It speaks in elliptical terms. But you got to go to work on
this. God's judgment is poured out upon the whole nation. This
is about a million six hundred thousand people. And the whole
nation has shipped it from worship of the true and the living God,
even though they're on the brink of the promise to worship in
Baal Peor. Now, Baal is an old Hebraic phrase
for little Lord, little Lord, our little ruler. Like there
are all kinds of little Lords and little rulers in the day,
but there's only one Lord Jesus, only one Lord God and Father.
Do you guys understand that? Only one Lord Spirit of God,
only one. Only one Lord, only one faith,
only one baptism. But there are all kinds of little
gods and little religions all over the world. And Baal is a
little god who comes under the title Peor. Peor. Now what is Peor? The term Peor
means opening. The idea of opening means seduction. It's the idea of bringing a person
into a space by opening itself up to them and allowing them
to be drawn in by its seduction. You can read into that what you
want, but it manifests itself in the same pagan, cult, whorish,
prostitute religions that ran all the way up and through the
New Testament, where somehow men thought that they could get
closer to God committing fornication. Isn't that wild? Isn't that wild? Temple prostitutes helping you
get a revelation of God. And before you do that, have
a drink. These are all of the pagan religions that have dominated
our culture. And I've told you this, I'm going
to go ahead and explain this again because we have so many
new people now. You must know that what used to be sanctioned
in the context of a religious context in the Old Testament
is now part of the normal cultural paradigm of our world. What used
to be confined to religious expressions are now just part of our secular
world society. Fornication, adultery, all kinds
of immorality, all of it is just going on in the open today. For
God, it is a kind of false religion, this whole world system. Are
you guys hearing me? So you are either part of the
true church or the false church. And the false church is known
by a wholesale list and litany of immoral practices, immoral
ideas, ungodly doctrines, and things of that nature. So that
is fairly easy for a true believer to see when they are engaging
in something that's wrong, because the word of God has already exposed
it. Now, in your outline, point number two, three judgments.
God brings a plague on the people. That's verse nine, verse eight
and nine. It goes on to say, and he went
in after the Israelites, verse eight, into the tent, thrust
them through, I'll talk about that in a moment, so that the
plague was stayed from the children of Israel, and those that died
in the plague were 20 and 4,000. In other words, when God called
the judgment upon the rulers of Israel, simultaneously with
the judgment, he sent a plague through the land which killed
24,000 people. That's a horrible judgment. So
he brings a plague. We don't know what kind of plague
it is. We don't know what kind of physical malady it was that
destroyed them. But it was a plague that was
mortal in nature and they died. Then he had an execution of judgment
to take place on a judicial issue where the leaders were to be
taken, hung up before the sun in the face of the Lord. They
were to be hung and then beheaded, impaled. And it was a sign of
being under the curse of God. Cursed is everyone that hangs
upon the what? And then finally, there was a
third judgment that came out of this, which is unique to where
you and I want to go. It's unique to where you and
I want to go. Apparently, there was one man
in the midst of all this mayhem, one man. And this seems to be
the theme through history. You know, when the group gets
tricked, I'm talking about the whole group, the majority gets
tricked into compromise, there is a kind of paralysis that sets
in. when integrity and zeal to change
the situation is needed. The psychologists have seen this
too. They've seen how that if you take groups of people, you
can actually embolden groups of people to do something that
you can't get one person to do. Groups of people will buy into
acts of disobedience just because there's a bunch of people doing
it. Why are you doing it? Because everybody else is doing
it. But what God told Israel in the book of Exodus was, you
shall not follow a multitude to what? Do evil. You know what
that means, child of God? You, individually, are to have
enough autonomy in yourself to be able to think through what's
right and wrong. And if the whole world goes to
hell, you stand over on God's side and say, this is right because
God said it. It doesn't matter if the whole
world is going the wrong way. And what that teaches you as
to whether or not you have an allegiance to biblical truth,
Or do you have an allegiance to the shifting sands of cultural
consensus? The whole of Israel is under
the judgment of God. They are aware of it, but they're
not turning. And we've got a bunch of wimpy rulers in the first
five verses of the text. Guess what they've done? They've
run to Moses and started crying. Did you see that? Look at it
again. They're over in verse 7 and 8. Verse 8, let's see here. Here
we are at the latter part of verse 8. And Moses, in the sight
of Moses and the congregation of the children of Israel, there
were those who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of
the congregation. Who are these weeping? These
are the rulers and these are the people. They are weeping
because that plague is killing them. People are falling to the
left and falling to the right and folks are weeping. Weeping
and crying. The rulers are weeping and crying,
like somehow weeping and crying is going to get God to stop.
The whole nation is just like a child. You know how it used
to be with our kids. You know how when they used to
get in trouble? They have openly defied our rules and our regulations,
and we caught them. And then what's the trick they
play? They go to crying. They go to crying like crying
is going to abate our judgment. Now, if you are a weak parent,
it will. But if you are a parent that
knows that the only thing that's going to get your child on the
right track is the discipline that must follow the admonition,
because once you start telling your kids you're going to do
something when they are wrong, and then when they do it, you
don't deal with it, you actually have no moral authority anymore.
And they can tie you in knots through tears. What kind of God
are you representing there? Well, this is what the nation
of Israel is doing. But let me help you understand something.
We are dealing with the doctrine of the atonement. And I don't
care how much you cry and weep and whine at the altar. Tears
and sorrows and crying can never atone for sin. Weeping and wailing
and whining and crying, I promise not to do it again. can never
atone for sin. God does not turn from your sin
because you cry. The people are still dying. The rulers are still afraid that
they're going to be exposed for having committed this affinity
with these false gods. And those who are called to execute
judgment are in the process of executing judgment upon all these
rulers. And they're whining before Moses.
Now watch how God works. God shows all of them that their
crying and their whining is a pretense because he allows one of them
to so harden their heart that he goes and gets his woman from
Midian. He gets this woman and runs up
through Moses and them saying, this is my girl, this is my girl.
And he goes in a tent right next to the tabernacle. Are y'all
hearing me? This is one of those reprobate
religionists, we're getting ready to see that, who can commit immorality
in the presence of the people and dare them to say anything
about it. Have you ever been in a context
like that? Church folk who are so calloused and so hard in their
sin and their rebellion that they dare you to say anything
about it. That's what these two are doing. They ran through Moses
into the tent and they actually began to engage in fornication
while the people were around the tabernacle crying and whining
and having fits. And there was a brother, his
name is Phineas. Now Phineas at this moment is
nobody. He's way down the line on the
echelon of priesthood because his daddy is Aaron. Eliezer the
priesthood is getting ready to take a position here We already
have learned what happened to Aaron's first two boys for acting
a fool So Phineas is watching all this and something happens
to him the text tells us zeal moved Phineas When he observed
everything that was going on to take a spear and run into
the tent and thrust both the man and the woman through until
they died. Now this is absolutely remarkable
because it does indicate, listen to me now, that one righteous
person can do a whole group of people much good. It does indicate
that it's possible that when the group as a whole has compromised
and paralyzed and don't have the ability to just actually
do what God has called them to do, that one person in your family
can set the whole family straight. One person in the church can
set the whole church straight. One person in the nation can
be used by God to show the nation how far off the course they are.
Bless God for Phineas. Phineas is a young man driven
by a zeal that I'm going to explain here in a moment that is critical.
Now, Phineas serves as a great, great, great type of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Here's the condition. You and
I are just like all these people in Numbers 25. First, we're under
the wrath of God. Secondly, the plague of sin is
in our life. We're dying every day by nature. I know the world doesn't like
to hear it, but they are. We're dying as a society and Adam all
died. And watch this. And we can weep
and we can cry and we can develop all kinds of institutions to
try to deal with our problem of dying. But there's only really
one remedy to the problem. Do you know what that remedy
is? The atonement necessary to turn God's wrath away. See, Phineas saw this. He saw
the plague was continuing, so the crime didn't do any good.
He saw that this man who was a ruler rose up to exercise his
immorality publicly, so the whining and crying and even the judgment
on the other rulers didn't do any good. And he realized that
the thing that must be done now is for everybody to see publicly
what God demands as a punishment for sin. Are you guys hearing
what I'm saying? What does God demand as a punishment
for sin? The scriptures are clear. The
wages of sin is death. The wages of sin is death. Phineas,
who was a priest in his own right and would soon become a high
priest, goes in and thrust through the very source and epitome of
the sin that dominated the whole nation. And do you know what
the text tells us? God was very pleased with what
he did. Look at what it says. Over in
verse 10 and the Lord spoken to Moses saying Phinehas the
son of Eliezer the son of Aaron the priest What did he do? He
had turned my wrath away from the children of Israel While
he was zealous for my sake among them that I consume not the children
of Israel in my jealousy wherefore say behold I give unto him my
covenant of peace and he shall have it and His seed after him
even a covenant of an everlasting priesthood now watch this ladies
and gentlemen Here's God's mind on what Phineas did and this
will launch us into our next consideration on the doctrine
of the atonement because he was zealous for his God and Made
atonement for the children of Israel. This is what God said
You know what? God just stated God said Phineas
was jealous for me And his jealousy led him to do an act, engage
in an act, execute an act that would correspond to precisely
what I would do if it was necessary for me to put away your sins.
Help you to see the gospel here. This is so critical. God, who
is glorious in His nature, holy in His nature, pure in His nature,
according to the Word of God, is like unto a consuming fire. God is no joke. The true and
the living God is not to be played with. You can't manipulate this
God. You can't fancy this God. You
can't get this God to come down from his high standard of holiness.
The only way you and I can dwell with this God is to be able to
have a mediator that is like God and like us. The only way
you and I can have a relationship with the true and the living
God is to agree with who God is and what God does. God will
never come down in his standard. He will never bring his standard
down for you and I listen He listen he may love us, but he
don't love us enough to bring his standard down But I tell
you what he did in the person of his son represented in Phineas
Phineas stood in front of God to become God's representative
and took on God's cause and executed the judgment that God would require
in order to turn away God's wrath. And in this, Phineas becomes
a great type of our mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ. You know
what God says? Phineas, because of his zeal
for me, has executed this judgment. Actually, in the original language,
you know what this means? Phineas has taken on my zeal. Isaiah chapter 59 go there. I
just want you to see this Isaiah chapter 59 affirms this the book
of Isaiah chapter 59 affirms the nature of Phineas is zeal
Isaiah 59 verse 16 listen to this is what God says Concerning
the dilemma that you and I are in when we are sinners before
God and we have not found ourselves able to remedy our sin Isaiah
59 now this is the The metaphorical and prophetical quandary that
God lays before us is the problem with the human race. Isaiah 59,
listen to what it says in verse 16. And he saw that there was
what? No man. Now this is God speaking
about the condition of Israel, representing the condition of
the whole world, that in the whole world there was no one
who saw things the way God sees it. Now is that true? No one
sees sin like God sees it. No one sees the judgment of God
the way God sees it. No one sees righteousness the
way God sees it. Do you know what that means?
It requires a person like God who sees things like God to deal
with God-like problems. Now watch what the language says.
He saw that there was no man and he wondered that there was
no intercessor. Therefore his arm brought salvation
unto him and his righteousness Sustained him for he put on righteousness
as a breastplate and an helmet of salvation Upon his head and
he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing now watch this and
he clad with zeal as a cloak Do you understand the picture
that we are just depicting here God looked and he saw that there
was a problem and And he saw that no one was able to solve
this problem. So he solved it himself. This is what we mean by the mediatorial
work of Jesus Christ. He is the son of the living God
who stands in the stead of God Almighty to intervene and to
intercede as a mediator for sinners. Now hear me now, if you ever
have come to know God in His goodness and in His grace, it's
because God found a mediator for you. He found an intercessor
for you. Someone stood in your gap for
you. And when He stood in your gap, He stood in your gap to
deal with the very sin that would send you to hell. Who is that
someone? Jesus Christ. I am the way, the
truth, and the life. No one comes unto the Father
but by me. And Phineas is standing as a
great type of Christ. Here's my proposition to you
under this consideration. We'll mark this now when we talk
about atonement for sin. And this is the challenge that
many of us as pastors have with this present 21st century generation
of church folk and preachers and teachers who would suggest
or imply that Christ could die for sins. of which the person
whom he's supposed to have died for can still end up in hell,
dying for their own sins for which Christ died for. Our contention
is that when atonement is executed, God's wrath is turned away, sin
is punished, and the persons whom God were intending to punish
but now has found a mediator must let them go. The man or
the woman for whom Christ has died must be released from the
guilt and punishment of their sin because their substitute
has bore all the wrath in their behalf. Are y'all following what
I'm saying? And I want you to understand that what this means
is the point and place where your deliverance came is not
in your work of accepting Jesus or believing on Jesus or calling
on Jesus or walking with Jesus. The point of your deliverance
came at the death of God's Son when He died on Calvary's tree
in your behalf. Atonement for sin puts away sin
and justifies the guilty, satisfying God's wrath. This is our proposition
in this generation, that it's not possible for you and I to
tell men and women, smile, God loves you, Christ died for you,
but if you don't accept Him, you're going to hell anyway.
I want you to follow the flawed logic as we work it through.
Are you hearing me? You must understand the flawed
logic. And the flawed logic is really
not about you and I finding a way to frame the language so we can
be nice to people with the gospel. The gospel offends everyone. I don't care who you are. When
the gospel comes aright, it comes to you telling you you are a
guilty, helpless, hell-bound sinner. That's bad news. Nobody's supposed to smile about
that. That's not supposed to... I'm so happy you told me I'm
going to hell and I can't help myself. There's nothing... You're
not supposed to be happy about that. If you do... We got issues. The gospel is
not designed to be a panacea for your emotions. It's not to
quell your psychological ambivalence about God or yourself. It's to
let you know your true condition and to shut you up to the mercy
of God. And so what we're dealing with
today when we hear folks speak about the atonement as if the
atonement really doesn't save you. It only makes it possible
for you to be saved. Do you understand the tragedy
of that kind of proposition? in terms of the extenuating implications
therein. This is why we had to deal with
Augustus Toplady's argument for double jeopardy last week. Augustus
Toplady said, justice cannot twice demand, first at my dying
surety's hand and then again at mine. If justice comes and
takes a person who is my substitute and punishes him for my crime,
justice has to let me go. Are y'all hearing what I'm saying?
If justice takes a substitute, a mediator, a surety, a go-between,
somebody that takes my place and exhausts all of its righteous
judgment on him, it must then let me go free because my penalty
has been paid. There is no interim period between
what justice did for him and what justice must do for me,
since what justice did for him, he actually did for me. This
is why last week when we went to our last text, go back there
again, John chapter 18, I want you to see how our Master dealt
with this in our last text in the Gospel of John chapter 18.
Here is what our Lord said upon this glorious act that you and
I observed. Remember, Judas Iscariot had
betrayed our Master. And our Master is leaving the
Garden of Gethsemane And as they are coming after our master,
John chapter 18, verse 8. Here we are. John chapter
18, verse 8. Our Lord Jesus is being confronted
by the rulers and the centurions for him claiming to be the Son
of God. And we saw in verses four through
seven how that when they sought Jesus, verse four, Jesus, therefore,
knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth and
said unto them, whom do you seek? And they answered him, Jesus
of Nazareth. Jesus said unto them, watch this,
ego I me. And Judas also, which betrayed
him, stood with them, and as soon Then as he had said unto
them, I am, they went backward and fell to the ground. Then
asked he them again, who are you seeking? And they said, Jesus
of Nazareth. Jesus answered, I have told you
that I am. If therefore you seek me, what? Let these go their way. What are we talking about? We're
talking about a substitute who takes the place of guilty sinners
who are identified with him, being in union with him, him
being responsible for their sin, says to justice, if you want
me, you got to let these go their way. Do you guys see that? What
this affirms for us is the efficacy of atonement. That atonement
actually executes the kind of justice and satisfies the righteousness
of God of which once it's done, that party is no longer guilty.
He must be let free. Now what's remarkable about our
text is the next verse. which is a doctrine we will have
to deal with later on. Our Lord valiantly delivers his
disciples from the judgment he's about to take, which judgment
he's going to take in their behalf, and by the way, ours too, if
we believe on Jesus Christ. Watch what the text says, though
this is absolutely marvelous. Verse 9, are you there? That
the same might be fulfilled which he spake of them which thou gavest
me, have lost none of them which thou has given me I have lost
none for whom did Christ die those whom the Father gave him
What did his death affect? The secure, eternal salvation
of everyone for whom Christ died. So that Christ could say, according
to the scriptures, those whom you have given me, I have lost
none. Now, ladies and gentlemen, stay
with me before I develop the other five points under the atonement.
If you and I continence a doctrine of atonement that is the common
teaching of today, that Christ died for your sins, that God
loves you, that your sins are put away only if you accept Jesus
into your life or make Him your Lord and Savior. Will you mark
this? Multitudes of men and women will
be in hell for whom Christ died and we will have to say, He lost
them. We will have to say, He lost
them. For He tried to save them. He
tried to save them, but by some means of their own, they neglected
to embrace all that Christ did in order to deliver them so that
they would be the ones by which the Scriptures would be fulfilled.
All that the Father gave me, I lost none. See, the tragedy
of this position is why we argue so vociferously against the kind
of teaching that goes on today. It takes the matter of salvation
out of God's hand and it puts it in yours. It makes you your
own savior. It steals God's glory. It steals
Christ's word. It makes the Holy Ghost a fool.
You will see this as we spread this doctrine out through the
full scope of what we call the doctrines of grace. for the Father
purposed a plan to save you. And then the Son accomplished
that plan by dying for you. And then the Holy Ghost comes,
hunts you down and woos you. But you say no and ruin the whole
plan. You are more omnipotent than
all three persons. Or, as we have learned last week,
there are people who are living and dying who never hear the
gospel. Those poor souls, the Holy Ghost tried to catch up
with them, but he couldn't before they died. What kind of God are
we talking about? A peon God that does not correspond
to the scriptural God. Are you guys hearing me? Justice
in anybody's court system would never have an individual pay
for the crime they committed and then tell them they got to
pay for it again. That's called double jeopardy.
Are you hearing me? And then we have dealt with John
Owen's syllogistic argument. about the three possibilities
that exist around the doctrine of the atonement, of which, if
you can reason it through, it becomes very clear what John
Owen has said. John Owen very clearly and succinctly
laid it out like this. are some of the sins of all men. When Christ died as the means
by which God would avert his wrath, Christ either died for
all the sins of all men, isn't that what the way they teach
it today? Christ died for all the sins of all men, or he died
for all the sins of some men, this is what we teach, or he
didn't actually die for all the sins of any man, which is what
we do not teach. Of those three categories, the
first one, Christ died for all the sins of all men, would logically
demand that you would draw this conclusion. If you believed that
atonement necessarily puts away sin, nobody in the world is going
to hell. This is called universalism.
And some men are honest enough to take this position because
they understand its logical consequence with regards to definite atonement.
Other men, and this is the preponderance of your present-day evangelical
church, most of the people you hear on the radio hold this position
of which we believe is untenable, does not square with the scripture,
and is in danger of actually being a false gospel through
and through. This is why we do not hold to
this position. The idea that Christ could die
for your sins, but the atonement is not actually applied until
you believe. This is really what they are
saying. Well, he died for your sins, but it doesn't actually
apply until you believe. Well, what that means is Christ
almost paid for everything necessary to make you free. The last little
bit is your good work of believing. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
I want you to think this through because it's critical for you
to overcome your emotions. When you talk to people about
how God loves everybody and Christ died for everybody and God, Christ
died for you, child, Christ died for you. Now, the appropriate
response for that person to whom you made that statement was good.
I'm glad I'm doing what I'm doing. Because if he died for me, my
sins are certainly put away. There's nothing required of me
at all with regards to justification. Am I telling the truth? If you
tell me that Christ died for my sins, and he actually did,
all I need to wait for now are the benefits that accrue from
his death. And that would be just as consistent as the scriptures
are. Are you guys hearing me? Oh,
pastor, but don't they, must they not believe and receive
Jesus as Lord? They must. but it will be a consequence
of the atonement, not a cause or grounds by which the atonement
is effected. Did y'all get that? They will
believe if Christ died for them. That'll be the next teaching
we get under. Men and women for whom Christ died will believe
the gospel. Got it? They will believe the
gospel see one of the reasons we preach a successful atonement
We preach a successful gospel is because we know God is going
to reveal Those who are his to that gospel and cause them to
respond by faith. Am I making some sense? Ladies
and gentlemen, it's very important for you to comprehend this very
important for you good So there are five things that I want to
draw out in your outline now under the proposition of the
atonement the atonement five things is First one is the atonement
for sin actually justifies the justice of God. The atonement
of sin actually justifies the justice of God. We see that in
that our text says, and Phinehas has turned my anger away. He's turned it away. The act
of atonement actually satisfies the justice of God and his wrath
is appeased. That's Isaiah chapter 53 verses
10 through 11. The second thing I want you to
see is this, the triumph of the atonement. What makes the atonement
glorious, ladies and gentlemen, now turning your Bible to Exodus
34 verses 5 through 7, what makes the atonement glorious is that
it proceeds not first from the work of Christ, but rather from
the character of God. The idea of atonement for sins
is not something that the human race has made up or could conjure
up. You don't know any other religion
on planet Earth where a God has chosen to redeem hell-bound sinners
by giving his own darling son in their stead. This wisdom proceeds
from the nature of God. It doesn't proceed from humanity.
Are you hearing me? Listen to Exodus chapter 34.
You remember when Moses asked God to show him his glory? This
here is the glory of God as described by God to Moses. And I want you
to mark how the atonement is inherent in the character of
God in terms of his mercy and his justice. Verse 5, And the
Lord descended, chapter 34, verse 5, in the cloud and stood with
Moses there and proclaimed the name of the Lord. What is God's
name? And the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed, Jehovah,
Jehovah Elohim, Merciful and gracious y'all got that Long-suffering
and abundant and goodness and true. These are Characteristics
of God that flow from his nature. This is who God is. You know
how we say all the time God is good I do that God is what Americans
love to sell God don't they God is good. God is merciful God
is long-suffering. God is patient. Isn't he? God's
also holy God's also just God also punishes sins. See, if you're
going to start the first category, you better get to the next category.
See, I want to know all about God, don't you? Don't give me
half a picture about God. You're going to be lying on God
to me. If you tell me God is only good,
but God is not holy and just and righteous, you have distorted
the picture. I need to hold true, don't you?
You don't want to marry somebody on the basis of only knowing
half of their personalities. You get married and then the
other half pop up? I didn't know that about you. Well, that's
because you jumped into that marriage too quick. You better
find out the full glory of that person. The full glory of that
person. The full glory. And then step
back and say, now, is this what I want to purchase? When it comes
to the true and the living God, his full glory is that he is
holy in all of his attributes. His mercy, His kindness, His
goodness, His grace, His long-suffering. But God will send you to hell. Don't play with God. He will
send you to hell. He will send you to... Listen
to it. Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression
and sin. Well, how does God forgive iniquity,
transgression and sin? By atonement. It is his character
and nature that is the basis for which God executes atonement
for the sins of his people. It flows from who he is. Do you
guys see that? It proceeds from his nature.
Please get it then. His word describes his nature. Ladies and gentlemen, God is
a savior by nature. He's going to save people because
that's not only what he does, it's who he is. And they shall
call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. What I'm getting you to understand
is as we contemplate the work of atonement, you must know that
the origin of atonement lies in the character of God. It glorifies
God to save people. It glorifies God to save people
by burying their sins in the person of his son. It's God's
nature to save. If you are dealing with people
that are coming to you wondering how it is that God could create
a world that has gone amok the way that it is with all of the
craziness that goes on in this world, tell them this. Because
an all-wise God and an all-powerful God and an all-knowing God deemed
that this is the best way by which he would glorify himself
and have a people with him for all eternity. And if you don't
like it, take it up with God. Did you get that? There is no
better option in this universe for the God who knows everything
is all powerful, all wise and all good. Had there been a better
way, God would have done it. This is the only way. God has
deemed that for men to love Him in the epitome of their being,
they will first have to be objects of His grace and mercy and salvation
so that they can enter into a characteristic of God of which they would never
know until they had fallen and God had retrieved them. And then
there will be others who will spend eternity separated from
God according to their own will and their own volition. Let me
help you with this basic axiom if you don't get it. The folks
that go to heaven go to heaven by grace. The folks that go to
hell, go to hell by words. Did you get that? The men and
women that go to heaven, go to heaven by grace alone, in Christ
alone, apart from works, through faith alone. The men and women
that go to hell, go to hell because they want to. Because they offer
to God their works, instead of offering to God his work. If
you want to go to hell, come to God with your own words. If
you reject God's work, you will perish under the wrath of God.
And if you perish under the wrath of God, rejecting God's work,
you wanted to go to hell. Am I making some sense? How do
you listen? How do you frame your mind to
contend with what God did in offering his only begotten son? You're going to bring something
else to the table. What an indictment against God what a slap in his
face God, you know, your son is cool, but I got something
to bring to the table, too No, you don't I'll tell you what
you can do with that roast turkey. I Want you I want you guys to
understand that you don't have to tolerate this this disjointed,
incoherent concept of a salvation that God's trying to save people.
God doesn't try. Not my God. He saves. The atonement saves. It justifies. It sanctifies. It glorifies. Are you hearing me? God saves. Please. It flows from his nature. flows from his nature. And the
third thing I want you to see, this is critical, the third point,
but it's the second in your outline. The triumph of the atonement
is seen explicitly in his work of justification. Pull up 2 Corinthians
5, verse 20 and 21 briefly. I just want you to see this.
The New Testament is explicit that our justification is based
not upon our response to God, but upon Christ accomplished
redemption by which he atoned for our sins. 2nd Corinthians
chapter 5 puts it like this. I want you to see this and if
the doctrine that you are now considering is over your head
Please get the CD and listen to it at least 10 times This will be one of the most
important doctrines for you to get If you're going to rightly
represent God's glory in the gospel You're going to have to
be able to solve in your soul, resolve in your soul these categories,
these distinctions, these particulars, if you're going to rightly represent
God. See, what we know, many of us
know, is that the vast majority of thinking people in the 21st
century are operating out of feelings instead of ration. That
we are driven by, again, consensus and empiricism instead of an
intellect that knows how to weigh out propositions and their implications. And that you can't tell when
people are bringing to you two incoherent contradictory thoughts
that cancel each other out because we don't know how to think things
through. And that's what goes on with this matter of the atonement.
The way it's presented to you, Jesus is not a savior. He did
not actually save you. He only puts you in a position
where, if you respond, you can be saved, which makes you a co-savior
with Him. Am I making some sense? Let me
go on. Here's what the Scriptures plainly
declare in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 20 and 21. Now then, we are ambassadors
for Christ. Those of us who share the gospel
are ambassadors for Christ. As though God did beseech you
by us and we pray you in Christ's stead be what? Reconciled to
God. Why would we tell you to be reconciled
to God? Because the work of atonement
is already done. Didn't we learn that last week?
The wrath of God is put away. God is no longer angry with his
people. It just remains that you come to recognize that God
has solved your problem and enter into the joy of the Lord. Are
you hearing what I'm saying? It remains for you to recognize
that God has solved your problem, enter into the joy of the Lord.
There is nothing for you to do to reconcile yourself to God,
but to enter into the reconciliation that Christ has already accomplished
by his justifying work on Calvary Street. Here is God's argument
for reconciliation. Are you ready? Verse 21, for
he hath made him to be sin for us. You know what that call?
Justification. That's called representation.
It's called being a substitute. It's called somebody taking your
place. He, that is the father, had made him Christ to be sin
for us. Who was the us? All who believe.
Who was the us? All whom the father had given
him. Who are the us? God's elect. Who are the us? Anyone that comes to realize
that Christ's death was for them. That's the us. That's the us. He becomes a substitute for those
for whom he dies, who knew no sin in order that we might be
the righteousness of God. We're in him. The work of justification
was done. Point number four, the triumph
of the atonement for the covenant. I'm going to leave this one for
next week, but I do want to make a point about this. People present the gospel today
kind of like folks talk about marriage. I'm going to wrap this
up right here. Today, marriage is kind of viewed
like a good idea where two people can get together, sign a piece
of paper, and then start winging it. You know what winging it
means? I used the analogy before. Follow this now for those of
you who plan on getting married. You weigh off the course, but
watch this now. You've been on a plane before and you've flown
that plane from here to San Diego. You know everything about the
idiosyncratic nature of that flight from San Francisco to
San Diego. I mean how it bumps on the road,
how it takes off and the turbulence gets you up. Once you're 25,000
feet, you square off. You can hear the sound of the
engine. You can watch how the wheels go back up. You can watch how
the plane breaks. You got all of these different things you
have experienced, right? Because you flew that plane a hundred
times. In your mind, you actually think
that if there was an emergency and the pilot got sick or something,
I actually could fly this plane. Stay with me for a moment. That's
because you've been so familiar with the flight that you have
what I call unjustly transferred to yourself qualifications to
fly the plane. Well, that's how folks are with
marriage. They get all hot and heavy with somebody and they
go sign a contract, never reading the fine print or the instructions
or understanding the covenant implications. And then they jump
inside the marriage and wonder why all hell breaks loose. Stay
with me for a moment. Marriage is a covenant with covenant
stipulations, with rules and regulations and principles for
both parties under God. It is a triad. It is from God,
it is by God, and it's for God's glory. And when men and women
do not do marriage according to God, according to his word,
according to the covenant that has promises, it has blessings,
it has all kinds of stipulations in it, that if we would follow
it appropriately, we would experience the enormous blessing of having
to, watch this now, bought into God's franchise. Stay with me
for a moment. See, when you marry, you actually
buy a franchise. Am I making some sense, Brother
Sam? Businessman, am I making some sense? So you buy this franchise
called marriage. But because you didn't recognize
it as a franchise, you know what you did? As soon as you signed
on the line, you went to the front of the store and took the
Pete's coffee sign down and put your own sign up. It had your
name on it, your color scheme, and then all of the mission statements
with all the rules and regulations that promises blessing because
that business has operated for a long time and it knows how
to make money. You go in and change all the rules. You rearrange
the furniture. You change the brand of coffee
because you cheap. Now watch this now. I just want
you to follow the analogy through. Follow it through. I know it
hurts, but this is important. Follow it through. then you wonder
why sales are down here's the reason why sales are down are
you ready cuz don't nobody know you this is God's institution
and if we were to do God's institution right we would see God's blessings
because the covenant was designed to preserve and keep and bless
you when you do it right Hence, there are folks that are telling
you salvation is simply as receiving the Lord Jesus into your heart
and then go on about your business and just build a relationship
with Jesus in any kind of way you want to. Both lead to catastrophe. Are you hearing me? So I'm done
right here as we get ready to partake of the Lord's table.
Salvation is a covenant, a covenant that God drew up before the world
began. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Are you hearing
me? God, who hath saved us and called
us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
his own purpose and grace, which we had with him in Christ before
the world began. God drew up a covenant scheme,
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, whereby he would have a people
for himself that he would bring out of every tribe, kindred,
nation, and tongue. This is why all through the Bible
you deal with what? Covenants. This is why the Bible
that's in your hand is called a what? Covenant. This is why
the enforced covenant that's in your hand is called the new
what? Covenant. Because the gospel is a covenant
where God has drawn up the plan from eternity past to eternity
future. And everything in between is
completely controlled by a God who loved us and gave himself
for us to secure our eternity by his sovereign grace. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
By his sovereign grace. Pastor, what's my job? To let
God be God. And for God to reveal to you
through the gospel how he has made you to be the very righteousness
of himself in Christ. And to recognize the work of
the spirit of God in conforming you to the image of Christ. And
all this is due to the atoning work of Christ on Calvary Street. Are you guys hearing me? We are
about to partake of the table, aren't we? The blood and the
bread are the body of Christ. What are those token symbols
of? The covenant. Aren't they? The covenant. This
is the covenant in the New Testament of my blood, which was shed for
you. The covenant is another term for the gospel. understand
then the gospel begins with God and ends with God. And you and
I are merely the beneficiaries. Amen?