Good morning. Would you turn to 1 Kings 18. Verse 24. And call ye on the name of your
gods And I will call on the name of the Lord. And the God that
answers by fire. Let him be God. And that's not
really a real good translation. He is God. The God that answers by fire.
He is God. And all the people answered and
said, it is well spoken. Now look in verse 38, the same
chapter. Then the fire of the Lord fell
and consumed the burnt sacrifice and the wood and the stones and
the dust and licked up the water that was in the trench And when
all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and they said,
the Lord, he is the God. The Lord, he is the God. Let's pray together. Lord, we come into your presence
in Christ's name. And we ask in his name that we
might be enabled to see the fire fall from heaven
and see your acceptance of the atonement and the sacrifice of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, what we're asking for is
way beyond the strength and energy of the flesh. but we ask that
we might be taught by your grace to glory in the cross of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, forgive us of our sins,
cleanse us from our sins for Christ's sake. In his name we
pray, amen. I want you to think about what
that must have been like to see fire literally come down from
the heavens. and consume the sacrifice. Now if all we see is the supernatural
phenomenon of fire falling from heaven that has no scientific
reason behind it, no explanation other than an act of God, if
that's all we see, as glorious as that is, we've not really
seen the meaning. God answering by fire is about
God's acceptance of the sacrifice. That's what that's all about.
It's about the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's about
the cross of Christ. Now listen to this statement
carefully. The cross is the whole counsel
of God. That's quite a statement. The
cross is the whole counsel of God. The cross is the reason
for the creation of the universe. Everything is for the cross of
the Lord Jesus Christ, the atonement of Christ. This is the complete
revelation of who God is. That's how awesome this thing
is of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ and this fire falling
down from heaven is given for this one reason to teach us something
about the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, God is said
in Hebrews 12, 29 to be a consuming fire. You remember that verse
of scripture. Let us have grace that we may
serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear for our God is
a consuming fire. And fire with God always has
to do with judgment. Every time. Now you think of
the times we read of fire falling down from heaven. With Elijah,
it happened two other times. You'll remember when the servants
of Ahab came to get me and they said, man of God, come down.
He said, I'm a man of God. Let fire fall down from heaven
and consume all of you. And it happened twice. 50 people
consumed by fire. We read of the fire coming down
from heaven and burning. Sodom and Gomorrah. We read of
the fire coming down and consuming Job's flocks. We read when David
numbered the people without the atonement money. Remember when
he took a census and he numbered the people without taking the
atonement money. He was looking at people as the
people of God separate from the atonement. God killed 70,000
people with a plague and David offers up a sacrifice wanting
the plague to be stayed and we read where fire came down from
heaven and accepted that sacrifice and it was on that very place
that the temple was built when Solomon was dedicating the temple.
and the sacrifices were offering. Fire came down from heaven. Can
you imagine seeing that? The people were sacrificing to
Jehovah and fire came down from heaven and consumed the sacrifice. And then we have here where Elijah
said, the God that answers by fire, let him be God. And can
you imagine what that must have appeared like here? That sacrifice
had been doused with water to make sure there was no trickery
involved. And fire came down from heaven, consumed the sacrifice,
consumed the rocks, the dust, licked up the water. There was
nothing left. I mean, everything had just disappeared.
The altar itself had disappeared that he had put there. Everything
was consumed. demonstrating God's acceptance
of that sacrifice. Oh, would to God that we could
enter into God's acceptance of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus
Christ. You know, I abhor, I abhor preachers
saying, won't you accept Jesus Christ? I hate that. I despise
it. That's not the issue. Has God
accepted the sacrifice? Turn with me for a moment to
Hebrews chapter 12, I mean Luke chapter 12. Verse 49, I am come to send fire on the
earth. And what will I if it be already
kindled? The fire had already begun to
burn. And he's talking about God's
judgment. But I have a baptism to be baptized with. And he's
talking about being baptized in the fire of God's wrath, completely
submerged under the wrath of God as the sin bearing substitute
and how I am straightened. This is the Son of God speaking.
How I am straightened until it be accomplished. Now, when the
fire of God's wrath came down upon the Lord Jesus Christ, this
is, I suppose, the only time this has happened. The sacrifice
consumed the fire. The fire didn't consume the sacrifice.
The sacrifice consumed the fire. And now God says there is no
fury in me. Because he consumed the wrath.
Now this is a talking about the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, the first time the word atonement is used is with reference
to the ark. Remember when it was said to
be pitched inside and out with pitch? That word is the exact
same word, atonement. It's covering. That's what the
word means, covering. And if you look at that ark they
built 30, 40 miles north, it doesn't look at all like the
real ark. because the real ark was completely
black, covered with pitch on the inside and on the out. You would have seen a black vessel. What was it that kept the water
out, the wrath of God out? The pitch, the atonement, the
covering. What is it that kept them on
the inside? The pitch. You know, the atonement
of the Lord Jesus Christ is what moves and grips our hearts and
keeps us on the inside. The pitch, the atonement of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Why am I going to persevere all
the way to the end? Because of the atonement of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, every attribute of God is
made known in the atonement. Whatever attribute of God you
want to talk about, if you want to talk about his holiness, how
that's demonstrated when he killed his son to make a covering for
sin because he's other, he's other, he's holy, he cannot look
upon sin. His justice, oh how it's magnified
in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is going to punish
sin. Not one sin is going to be unpunished. He said, I'll by no means clear
the guilty. God never just forgives sin the
way you and I do. He must have full satisfaction
to his law and to his justice. That's so glorious. That's who
he is. And that's magnified in the cross
of the Lord Jesus Christ. His love, how it's magnified
in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. He gave his son. God so loved the world that he
gave his son. Whatever attribute, his purpose,
Christ is the lamb slain. from the very foundation of the
world. God created this universe for
the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now remember this, the cross
is not God's response to man's sin. It's not God's response
to the fall of Adam. The fall of Adam was given for
this one purpose, the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. You believe
that? God's purpose in all things is
the glory of the cross, the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the cross, atonement, is
the removal, the blotting out. These are words that are used
to translate this word in the Old Testament for atonement.
It's the purging away, it's the making reconciliation for, it's
the cleansing, it's the disannulling, it's the forgiving, it's the
putting off, it's the pardoning, it's the being merciful toward
sin. It's what God does about sin. You know, I can't do anything
about my sin. Somebody says, well, just stop
sinning. I repeat, I cannot do anything
about my sin, and neither can you. But God has done something about
my sin. And that's seen in the cross
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the cross is not central
to the Bible. You know, I've heard people talk
about cross-centered preaching. Christ-centered preaching. If he's the sinner, that means
there's other stuff around. He's not the sinner. He's all.
He's all. He's not central to anything.
He is the message of the Bible. The cross is the only message
of the Bible. And do you see that? Do you see
that? The atonement of the Lord Jesus
Christ is everything in the scriptures. It's not the sinner. It's not
the hub. It's the whole thing. And every
passage of the scripture is used in some way to make known the
cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's why Paul said, I've
determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and
him crucified. Now the atonement of Christ is
rooted, I don't know how else to say this, the atonement of
Christ is rooted, that fire coming down from heaven and God accepting
the sacrifice, accepting the sacrifice of his son. I love
to think about that. God's satisfied with what Christ
did. And you know what that means?
That means God is satisfied with me, completely satisfied. Now that's the glory of the cross,
because you know, if you're anything like me, you always walk around
thinking, why am I this way? Just go on and on. But what a glory it is to know
that God looks at me as without fault, completely satisfied with
Todd Nybert, because of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
as I said, it's rooted in his character. It demonstrates his
holiness. And I love to talk about God's
holiness with this word. It means separate, other. I just love that. That's glorious
to God. He's other. He's other. You know what that
means? That means he's not at all like me and you. He's other. Don't you love it that way? He's
other. He's absolutely just. He'll by
no means, under no circumstance whatsoever, will He ever clear
someone that's guilty. He's love. Not here's love and
God fits that description. He is love. He's merciful and
gracious. He's absolutely sovereign. That
means his will is always done. Christ is lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. His will's already done. He's
eternal. I love to think of the eternality of the cross. That's
glorious to think about, the lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. All the information we're given
about eternity past, and I know there's no such thing as eternity
past. It's eternity. But all the information we're
given about the past is the lamb slain from the foundation of
the world. And all we know about the eternity
future, what is going to be the cry in heaven, worthy is the
lamb that was slain. I love to think of Revelation
chapter five, where the line of the tribe of Judah was gonna
come and John said, He was a lamb that was having been slain that
took the book. The line of the tribe of Judah
is the lamb having been slain. That's speaking of the atonement
of Christ. Now that's not talking about a woolly sheep with horns
coming up and taking the book. That's talking about the Lord
Jesus Christ in a sacrificial character. That's talking about
seeing the wounds still in him. Isn't that amazing? When I'm
in heaven, I'm gonna know that the only reason I'm there is
because of the wounds of Christ. Now, I'm not gonna even remember
what it's like to be a sinner. I'm not gonna have any propensity
to sin. I'm not gonna have any appetite
for sin. I'm gonna be perfectly conformed to the Lord Jesus Christ,
and I'm gonna know that the only reason I'm there is his wounds.
The lamb slain, the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. The lamb slain, the atonement
of Christ demonstrates the true character of man and what is
needed to save him. You want to know the truth about
you? Look to the cross. You are so
evil. so desperately evil. You, me, that's what I'm talking
about. Me and you. Everybody in this room and everybody
outside of this room. You are so evil that if God removed
the restraint and let you do what you wanted to, you'd nail
his son to a tree in hatred of who he is. The cross is the one time God
let men do what they wanted to do. Scripture says they deliver
Jesus to their will. Luke 23. Deliver Jesus to their
will. The cross is a demonstration
of what it takes to save a sinner. Nothing but the blood of God's
dear son. The acceptance of the sacrifice. The cross is rooted in salvation.
I love the way, I understand it less and believe
it more, but all of salvation is rooted in eternity, isn't
it? Before I formed thee in the belly,
I knew thee. God says that of every one of
His people, eternally united to the Lord Jesus Christ, accepted
in the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. My standing has
always been in the Lamb slain. Behold, I've loved you with an
everlasting love. All God has for the sinner, all
the sinner's acceptance is founded in the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, Christ had to come in time to suffer. He's a lamb
slain from the foundation of the world, but he had to come
in time. He took upon him flesh like the Hebrew bond slave. He
said, I'm going to remain forever. Christ, when he became flesh,
he became flesh forever as the representative of his people.
It was accomplished in eternity, done in time. And Hebrews 1.3
says he by himself purged. our sins. When he had by himself
with no help from us purged our sins, he sat down. He sat down. Now, the atonement of Christ
is because of who he is. He cannot fail. Whatever he intended
to do, that's what he did. When he said it is finished,
I want you to note that he didn't say I am finished. Well, my work's
over. I've done it. I'm finished. He
didn't say I'm finished. He said it is finished. What? Thou shalt call his name
Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. It is
finished. In John chapter 17, verse 4,
he said, I've glorified thee on the earth. I've magnified
every attribute. I've honored your law. I've honored
your justice. Every attribute there is, I have
honored. I've finished the work thou gavest
me to do. The accepted sacrifice. Now, in his atonement, he magnifies
all of his offices. You know, this is so big, I feel
like every time I preach, I feel a measure of frustration, because
I know I'm not doing the subject justice. It's impossible to.
And one of the things I love about preaching is I know ahead
of time I'm going to fail. I know ahead of time. So that's
OK. I'm OK with failure. I mean, if I thought I succeeded,
I'd show what a stupid idiot I am. But think of how his office
as a prophet is magnified in the sacrifice. What is God's
word? Turn with me for a moment to
Hebrews chapter 10. Here's his word as prophet. Verse 14, for by one offering,
his bloody sacrifice, he hath perfected forever them that are
sanctified, whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us.
This is what he bears witness to. He as prophet, through his
spirit, by his word, through the gospel, he bears witness
of this. He has perfected forever them
that are sanctified. How he magnifies his office as
prophet, bringing us the message of his atonement. How he magnifies
his office as a priest. He's the priest. He's the sacrifice. He's the altar. He offers the
sacrifice of himself on the altar of his humanity as the priest. He appears in the presence of
God for us. and how he magnifies his office
as the priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. I love
to think of him saying to Peter, Peter, I've prayed for you. What else needs to be said? I've
prayed for you. And how he magnifies his office
as king He was born king of the Jews.
He lived as a mighty king, ruling and reigning, his will always
being done, him being in control of everything. I love it when
they came to arrest him. Whom seek ye? Jesus of Nazareth. I am, they fell backwards. I
love the way the Lord is letting them know, you have no control. I have complete control. This
is my will being done. Pilate said, don't you know that
I have power to crucify you and I have power to release you?
Thou couldst have no power at all over me, except it be given
thee from above. Power belongeth to the Lord.
And it was as a king, he was crucified. What was written over
the cross? Jesus of Nazareth, the king of
the Jews. He died as a mighty king. He's
the only one who ever gave up the ghost. He gave death permission. You can take me now. And oh,
he was raised as a mighty king, God having accepted what he did. When he opened his eyes in that
tomb, I love the fact that nobody witnessed the resurrection but
his father and his spirit. No man. We found out it happened
because he rolled away the stone and walked out. But when he opened
his eyes, it was as the King of kings and the Lord of lords. How the atonement of the Lord
Jesus Christ magnifies God, satisfies God, and you know what? I'm plumb satisfied to be saved
simply by him. I'm not looking for anything
else. Somebody says, there's got to be more. You ain't ever
seen them. You ain't ever seen. If you ever see the atonement, the accepted sacrifice
of the Lord Jesus Christ is everything. It's the reason this book was
written. It's the subject of this book. It's the reason for
the creation. the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.