NT Framework - A Unique Death

Who decides what life is and the value of that life? Internal or External, where does justice come from and is it related to the determination of life? In God and in Genesis we find our answer with the culmination coming in the most unique life and death ever known.

More information about Beyond the Walls, including additional resources can be found at www.beyondthewalls-ministry.com 

This series included graphics to illustrate what is being taught, if you would like to watch the teachings you can do so on Rumble (https://rumble.com/user/SpokaneBibleChurch) or on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtV_KhFVZ_waBcnuywiRKIyEcDkiujRqP).

Jeremy Thomas is the pastor at Spokane Bible Church in Spokane, Washington and a professor at Chafer Theological Seminary. He has been teaching the Bible for over 20 years, always seeking to present its truths in a clear and understandable manner. 

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Welcome to Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas and
our series on the New Testamentframework.
Today, the full lesson fromJeremy Thomas.
Here's a hint of what's to come.

SPEAKER_01 (00:10):
So he's not under a death sentence.
Instead, again, he's eternallife, right?
He's eternal life.
Now that means something uniqueabout Jesus and, of course,
about his death on the cross.
It means that Jesus alonequalifies to become sin on our
behalf.
We have to unfold thatstatement, unpack that
statement.
Jesus alone qualifies to becomesin on our behalf.

SPEAKER_00 (00:33):
Where does justice come from?
Does it originate in yourconscience?
From your viewpoint of right andwrong of how you feel about
things?
Does it originate in nature?
The conquest of the strong overthe weak?
Does it originate from humanphilosophy?

(00:54):
Looking at the evolution ofsociety and human relationships.
All of these things are wrongbecause they fail to grasp and
understand that for there to bejustice, there has to be a
declaration of right and wrong.
There has to be a declaration ofgood and evil.
There has to be some underlyingfoundation that gives moral

(01:17):
judgment to justice, to rightand wrong, to good and evil.
And all of this is at the verycore of the center of creation.
When God created man in his ownimage, and we became
image-bearers, and God declaredwhat was right and wrong.

(01:39):
And this manifests itself todayin the degradation of our
society as we have thrown asideGod's judgment of good and evil.

SPEAKER_01 (01:59):
I hope we have a pretty good idea of what it is
like.
But justice in the Bible isrestitutionary by nature.
And by restitution we mean thatthere has to be a restoration.

(02:21):
So a simple example would be ifsomeone stole something from you
or damaged your property, thenthe individual who did that
would actually have to restorewhatever they stole or the
damage to your property out oftheir own pocketbook, so to
speak, however, that would be uhworked out.
And then they would have toactually add a percentage more

(02:44):
on top of that because youweren't having access to the
item or it damaged you know yourproperty for a period of time
which made it look bad orwhatever took place.
And so it's it's restoration.
Okay, and the individual whocommitted the crime is the one
who has to do the restoration.

(03:06):
So it it focuses on theimportance of that individual
paying for the crime that theycommitted in order to teach them
a lesson, right, so that theywould not do these crimes again.
So that is a something that ismissed in the justice, the what

(03:28):
we call the rehabilitary justicesystem today, where you put
person in prison, right?
That's just the idea thathonestly, the behind that idea
is the idea that we failed as asociety to raise this individual
correctly, so it's reallysociety's fault.
This person is just a victim.
And so society ends up payingthe debt for this person being

(03:49):
in prison, in that we supportthe prison system, we pay all
this money for them to havethree square meals a day, make
sure they have a workout gym sothey can get strong and stay fit
and a library and all thesethings.
Okay, so it's society's fault,and individuals who are
criminals are just victims.
And so we function fundamentallyin our society on a victim

(04:11):
system.
And this is a great tragedybecause it's not justice.
We are paying the penalty forsomeone else committing crime.
So the Bible's idea is totallydifferent.
No, that person has to pay thepenalty, they have to work it
off in some way.
And this is to be uh a warningand to teach them never to

(04:34):
commit crimes again of thatnature.
So we have this idea ofrestitution, and that's what's
really taking place on thecross, right?
So we want to talk about thecross.
What Christ is doing is he'spaying the price that you and I
owe.
There's a song about this.
He paid a debt I could not pay,right?
The reason we can't pay thatdebt is because we don't have

(04:57):
any life to give.
God requires life for life, andwe've stolen life by our sin in
Adam.
So we are dead in ourtransgressions and sins, and so
we can't pay the penalty.
So what Christ has done is he'scome outside of the sin problem
from outside of the sin probleminto our world, and he's paid
the penalty for us, and now heoffers, you know, uh restoration

(05:23):
to life freely by faith in him.
And this is why it's grace,right?
Grace means it's unmeritedfavor, it's just a free gift
that we're receiving.
And obviously, we should all beable to see from this, there's
no place for works to come in.
Um, I mean, other than Christ'swork.
Christ did all the work, right?
There's no more work to be done.

(05:43):
It's finished.
So, you know, my good works,your good works, any attempts to
bring good works to God and say,hey, will you figure this in to
the calculation of your justice?
They're just not going to work.
Because all these works arecoming out of a person who's a
dead person.
We're dead in our transgressionsand sin, right?
So it's all just gonna be onChrist's work, and that's what

(06:04):
we want to look at today on thecross.
So the there are four points Iwant to make.
The first one about his uniquedeath on the cross is a strange
idea that involves a number ofideas that are built through
scripture.
So I'm gonna, this is the mostcomplicated point, but I want to
build it because I think it'sinteresting to watch and see.
Jesus was crucified as acriminal under a misallocation

(06:29):
of justice, which was givenunder the divine institution
number four, which is humangovernment.
Remember, we talked about divineinstitutions earlier in the
series.
In the Old Testament, we saidthere's basically five divine
institutions.
A divine institution issomething that God lays down for
the whole human race to follow,and if we don't follow it, there

(06:49):
are serious consequences to pay.
There are five of these.
They're all given, the firstthree are given at creation, the
other two are added after theflood.
So at creation and then afterthe flood and the new world
after the flood.
The first three are responsiblelabor.
God created man to laborresponsibly before him, and all
men will be evaluated as to whatthey have done.

(07:11):
Uh the second one is marriagebetween one man and one woman.
Right?
So this is a divine institution.
If we try to manipulate that orredefine marriage, well, there's
going to be societalconsequences to pay.
The third one is family, whichis built on marriage.
And this talks about thepopulation of the human race,
how to raise children, all thesethings.
And uh, so those three aredivine institutions that God

(07:34):
gave for the whole human race atcreation.
Now, after the flood, hereinstitutes those three, and he
adds two more.
The first one he adds after thatis human government.
You say, well, what was going onbefore the flood?
Was there not human government?
No, there was no humangovernment.
So you say, well, how were theworld's affairs arranged?
How was governing, how didgoverning take place?

(07:57):
Uh well, I mean, there's acouple of options.
You know, when you see Cain andAbel, you know, and Cain kills
Abel, God himself carries outthe justice that was due, right?
Um, you also have the situationwhere you have the angels, the
cherubim, placed at the easternentrance to the garden.

(08:18):
Remember, and they have theflaming sword.
And the sword in the Bible is apicture of, if you hold the
sword, it's a picture of theweapon that would be used, the
instrument used for capitalpunishment.
Okay.
And so whoever holds the swordis the one who has the right to
exercise governing force.

(08:39):
And in the pre-flood world, wesee the angelic realm having
this uh capability.
So this is an interesting story.
It was a totally different worldbefore the flood, we know that.
So for about the first 2,300years of world history, there
was no such thing as humangovernment.
God had never given humangovernment.
Um, but rather the angels andhimself they carried out the

(09:01):
governing functions.
But now when you come to Genesischapter 9, which we'll turn to
now, you'll see that God givesthe sword to man.
And the cornerstone of humangovernment is the right for a
govern a government to capitallyexecute those who commit crimes
that are worthy of a capital uhpunishment.

(09:25):
So in the midst of this givingof the fourth divine
institution, uh humangovernment, he also in Genesis
9, for the first time gives themanimals to eat.

(09:46):
Any moving thing that has lifein it, he says is now free to
eat.
So in other words, before this,God did not authorize the eating
of meat.
Genesis 1 29 through 30 saysthat our original diet was
herbivorous only.
We're strictly herbivores.

(10:06):
But for some reason, after theflood, in the new world after
the flood, God gave uh meat toeat so that we became
omnivorous, right?
Both plants and animals are nowon the menu.
And all of God's people saidAmen.
I don't want to just eat saladevery day or broccoli or seeds.

(10:27):
Uh as good as those things are,we we enjoy most of us eating
meat.
Okay, so but there's somethinguh uh important uh that's taking
place.
Let's read Genesis 9:1.
God blessed Noah and his sonsand said to them, Be fruitful
and multiply and fill the earth.
This is talking about family,divine institution number three.
The fear of you and the terrorof you will be on every beast of

(10:48):
the earth and on every bird ofthe sky, with everything that
creeps on the ground and all thefish of the sea into your hand
they are given, being given toeat.
But God has placed this fearinto the creatures, and of
course we've domesticated someanimals and so forth, but this
in general, this is the state ofthe world between animals and
man.
Verse 3 every moving thing thatis alive shall be food for you.

(11:10):
I give all to you as I gave thegreen plant.
He gave the green plant inGenesis 1 for the world up to
the flood.
Now, in the post-flood world,this new world, he gives
everything to us, both meat andthe plant.
So we will be omnivores.
He says, Only you shall not eatflesh with its life.

(11:31):
And then it just says, it'sblood.
In other words, you have todrain the blood out of the
animal, right?
You can't eat it with the bloodinside the animal.
Now, why?
Well, because God has assigned avalue to the blood, He has uh He

(11:53):
has assigned a signification ofthe blood.
The blood signifies the life ofthe creature, of the animal, and
that belongs to God, so youcan't eat it with the blood in
it because it belongs to God.
So it was to be poured out andto go back to Him, so to speak.
Okay.

(12:13):
So He said, No, you can't eat itwith the blood in it.
Let's let's go on.
Surely I will require yourlifeblood.
From every beast I will requireit.
What's he saying?
He's saying, I require you giveit back to me.
It's mine.
That's mine.
The blood is mine.
It's because it signifies thelife, I gave life to the

(12:35):
creature.
So it belongs to me.
Right?
He says, also from every man,from every man's brother I will
require the life of man.
Now, this is the institution ofcapital punishment for murder.
We're not talking about killing.
Killing is a matter of war.
That's a different topicbiblically.

(12:57):
There is what we call just war,wars that are to be fought to
stop certain nations fromspreading their bad ideas, like
for example, Nazi Germany.
It was right for the world, theAllies, the Allied powers to go

(13:18):
against Germany and stop theseatrocities.
But murder is a different thing.
That's this is this is differentfrom manslaughter, too, right?
Manslaughter is notpremeditated, it's an accident
where you accidentally killsomeone.
But murder is premeditated.
That's what the intent ofcapital punishment is here for.

(13:40):
To and it's this given beforethe law.
This has nothing to do with theMosaic law, does it?
This has to do with the wholehuman race.
It's the cornerstone of humangovernment.
Government has the right tocapitally execute those who
murder others.
Now, why?
Well, it tells us in verse 6whoever sheds man blood, man's

(14:03):
blood, by his blood shall beshed, man, by man his blood
shall be shed.
For in the image of God he mademan.
So see, if a man shed someoneelse's blood, then a man will
shed that man's blood, see?
Why?
Because in the image of God hemade man.
In other words, if someone killsanother person, if you look out

(14:27):
on the world and you look at allthe people, there's almost 8
billion people up there.
Every one of these individualsis made in the image of God.
That means they're imagebearers.
They're like an icon or statueof God.
What's an icon or statue?
If you go to the Northeast, yousee probably Paul Revere, you
see Abraham Lincoln, you see allsorts of statues.

(14:47):
Now, that's not Abraham Lincoln,and that's not Paul Revere, but
it is an icon or image of them.
What would it mean if youdefaced it or destroyed it?
Well, you'd be making an attackon Abraham Lincoln or Paul
Revere.
Well, we little statues areicons of God.
Whenever someone murders anotherhuman being, they are making an

(15:10):
attack on God Himself.
And this is why that man's lifemust now be taken, because it's
a direct affront to God.
And so this is the basis for allhuman government, right?
And it started after the flood.
And again, you can eat animals,you, but you have to drain the

(15:31):
blood.
Okay, all this is given.
And so we have these first twopoints very solidly built into
human justice systems and ourdiet from the time of the
post-flood.
Now, in the New Testament, turnto John 6, because something
really strange happens.

(15:52):
John chapter 6.
Something odd is stated in Johnchapter 6, verse 50.
Now, Jesus has been given anumber of illustrations.
He's been talking about thebread that came down out of
heaven that they ate in the OldTestament, you know, the manna,
things like that, but which helikened to himself as the bread

(16:12):
that people must partake of.
And then in verse 50, after he'smentioned the manna, he says,
This is the bread which comesdown out of heaven, so that one
may eat of it and not die.
And then he says, I am theliving bread that came down out
of heaven.
If anyone eats of this bread, hewill live forever.

(16:32):
And the bread also which I willgive for the life of the world
is my flesh.
He's talking about givinghimself on the cross, right?
Then the Jews began to arguewith one another, saying, How
can this man give us his fleshto eat?
Now, I mean, he did say, youknow, you have to eat of me.
I'm the bread, and I will giveyou the life.

(16:55):
This is my flesh, right?
And we do this in communion,right?
We say this this bread, okay,this is Christ's true humanity,
we have to partake of this inmemory of him.
But the Jews are saying, they'rearguing, well, how can you know
it sounds like cannibalism?
That's right.

(17:15):
What do you mean?
Come up and take a bite out ofJesus?
No, I don't know.
Um the first thing I want to sayhere about this is that it
should be obvious what he means.
You know, we have two ways ofspeaking.
We have the what we callordinary literal way.
The ordinary literal that's whythey're taking it that way.

(17:39):
Oh, what do you mean?
You want me to go and take abite out of your bicep?
You know.
Now, is that his intent?
Or is he using the other way wespeak, which is called
figurative literal?
In other words, there is a realliteral meaning behind it, but
he's using a figure to conveythat meaning.
Meaning you must partake of meby faith, right?

(18:01):
You must partake of me by faith.
Um now, when people are opposedto you or in an argument with
you, they will almost always, atsome point or another, in an
argument, distort what you mean.
They'll misconstrue it.

(18:22):
That's what's happening here.
They're mis misconstruing it onpurpose.
Why are they misconstruing it onpurpose?
Well, because they're againstthem, and they're going to use
any words they can to theirfavor.
So they probably very well knowthat he doesn't mean in the
literal sense, I want you tocome take a bite out of my
cheek.
But they're going to take itthat way because they're against

(18:44):
him.
Now, so a feature of the sinnature is it likes to distort
what an opponent says to its ownadvantage.
That is what the sin nature doeswith language.
It will always distort it to tryto create an advantage for self.
So Jesus said to them, verse 53,Truly, truly I say to you,
unless you eat the flesh of theSon of Man and drink his blood,

(19:08):
you have no life in blood.
Now it's that that's theparticularly what we might call
offensive part.
Drink the blood?
I mean, didn't God say inGenesis 9 3 that if you kill an
animal, you have to drain theblood.
You cannot eat it with the bloodin it.
The life that is in the bloodthat belongs to me.

(19:30):
And you cannot drink it, right?
As part of the carcass.
But now Jesus says the opposite.
You have to drink my blood.
And this was an offensivestatement to them.
He says in verse 54, He who eatsmy flesh and drinks my blood has

(19:51):
eternal life.
And I will raise him up on thelast day.
Now, the Catholics love thissection, right?
They use this for their what intheir communion they call
transubstantiation.
They don't call it like we dothe Lord's Supper or something
like that.
For them it's a sacrament,right?
And in the sacraments, they theyuse this as their main passage

(20:11):
to teach that as communion isgiven, what they call
transubstantiation in that timeat the Mass, the bread actually
turns into the body of Jesus,but it doesn't taste like the
body.
It maintains its normal taste.
And then the the cup, the wine,would turn into the actual blood

(20:34):
of Jesus, although it wouldmaintain its taste as wine and
not take on the taste of Jesus'blood.
But that's where they get thisfrom.
Now, is that what he's reallysaying?
No, he's saying it's afigurative, literal way of
conveying that you have topartake of me in order to have

(20:58):
eternal life.
Now, how do we get eternal life?
Every other place in John.
Over and over and over in theGospel of John.
How do we get eternal life?
Believe.
I mean, how many times is thatstated in the Gospel of John?
I have no idea.
A lot.
The key word is believe.
But over and over, believe.
So this is just a figurative wayof saying, partake of him by

(21:18):
faith, by believing in him,right?
And the one who does, he says, Iwill raise up on the last day.
Verse 53, for my flesh is truefood, my blood is true drink.
Now let's go back to Genesis,right?
You can't eat it.
The life is in the blood.
You have to drain the blood out.
Now he's saying, drink my blood.
Partake of me.

(21:40):
Why?
Because he's going to give ushis life.
He's giving us his life.
The life is in the blood.
What's he doing on the cross?
He's giving us his life.
Now, who is Jesus Christ?
Okay, let's back up.
Let's back up.
Okay, we're all dead in ourtransgressions and sins.
Is Jesus dead in histransgressions and sins?

unknown (21:59):
No.

SPEAKER_01 (22:00):
Okay, we're dead men walking.
But he is, quote unquote,eternal life.
Okay, that's who he is.
He is eternal life.
Eternal life isn't somethingseparate from Jesus Christ.
When we say believe in him foreternal life, that doesn't mean
you're going to get thisconcept.
You're not getting a concept.
You're getting him.
Okay?

(22:20):
1 John 5.20, Jesus Christ, thisis the true God and eternal
life.
Jesus Christ is eternal life.
Because he didn't have any sin.
So in the transaction, what he'ssaying is, when I die for you,
okay, I who have life, intrinsicto myself, is no sin, and I'm

(22:44):
eternal life.
I'm going to give that to you.
See, the whole thing with thedraining the blood out and all
that back in Genesis 9 in thepost-lood world was a training
tool.
It was a preparatory idea thatwas placed in the human race
with Noah, Shem, Ham, andJapheth and their wives, those
eight people, that would then goout through the table of nations

(23:06):
to all nations.
This idea was to permeate everyculture and every nation on
earth so that when Christ came,it was understood what he was
doing on the cross.

SPEAKER_02 (23:19):
So it was a setup.

SPEAKER_01 (23:26):
Many of his disciples, verse 60, you can see
they heard this.
They said this is a difficultstatement.
Who can listen to it?
So they're even struggling.
So but this is the idea that heis eternal life, he's pouring
his life out for them.
He's going to give his life,eternal life, to those who
believe.
Now, um, under Roman law code,let's turn to John chapter 18.

(23:47):
Let's just go through some ofthe death of Christ.
Like I said, this is acomplicated point that's all
built, it all builds tounderstand what's going on on
the cross.
Now you've got Roman law code,you've got Jewish law code.
Romans uh chapter, I'm sorry,John chapter 18.

(24:12):
Let's start in like verse maybe38 or so.
Well, let's start in 33.
You this is Pilate, prefect ofJudea, right?
He entered again into thepraetorium for the judgment seat
and summoned Jesus and said tohim, Are you the king of the
Jews?
And Jesus answered, Are yousaying this on your own
initiative, or did others tellyou about me?

(24:32):
And you know, did the Jews tellyou about me?
Pilate answered, I am not a Jew,am I?
Your own nation and the chiefpriest delivered you to me.
What have you done?
You know, what'd you do wrong?
Jesus answered, My kingdom isnot of this world.
If my kingdom were of thisworld, then my servants would be
fighting so that I would not behanded over to the Jews.
But as it is, my kingdom is notof this realm.
So Pilate said to him, So youare a king then?

(24:55):
And Jesus answered, You saycorrectly that I am a king.
It's for this that I have beenborn, and for this I have come
into the world to testify to thetruth.
And everyone who is of the truthhears my voice.
Don't you remember earlier hewas saying, Drink my blood?
Did they really hear his voicein the sense of understanding?
No.

(25:15):
No, they didn't.
So were they of the truth?
No.
They were not of the truth.
Pilate said to him, What istruth?
Some consider that to be thegreatest philosophical question
ever asked.
What is truth?
Pilate didn't think there wassuch a thing as truth, did he?
When he had said this, he wentout again to the Jews and said

(25:38):
to them, I find no guilt in him.
So we're gonna see Pilate overand over say, Hey, I haven't
seen this guy break the Romanlaw code.
He hasn't done anything wrong.
The charge that he was a king,did he take that very seriously?
No.
In fact, what's he gonna write?
What's Pilate gonna write overon the cross, on a plaque on the
cross?
He's gonna put an inscriptionthat says, Jesus of Nazareth,

(26:00):
King of the Jews.
And the Jews come back after andthey say, No, no, no, you should
have written, he said, I am kingof the Jews.
And he said, What I've written,I have written.
Right?
So Pilate didn't really takeseriously this charge that might
be classified as treason.
If Jesus is claiming to be king,and he does say he's a king, who

(26:24):
was the real king in Rome?
Caesar.
Right?
So the Jews accused Jesus ofsaying he's a king and therefore
against Caesar.
But it doesn't seem like Pilatetakes the charge that seriously.
Verse middle of verse 38.

(26:47):
He said when he said this, hewent out again to the Jews and
said to them, I find no guilt inhim, but you have a custom that
I release someone for you at thePassover.
So do you wish then that Irelease for you the king of the
Jews?
So they cried out again, saying,Not this man, but Barabbas.
You know, release Barabbas.
Now Barabbas was a robber.
Pilate then took Jesus andscourged him.
And the soldiers twistedtogether a crown of thorns.

(27:08):
So the people, the Jews said,No, no, give us the robber, set
him free.
Don't set Jesus free, right?
Crucify him.
They put it on his head, theyput a purple robe on him, and
they began to come up to him andsay, Hail, King of the Jews, you
know, it's all mocking.
And they give him slaps in theface.
And Pilate came out again andsaid to them, Behold, I'm
bringing him out to you so thatyou may know that I find no
guilt in him.
There's the second time.

(27:29):
Did Pilate find any guilt underthe Roman law code for Jesus
that was worthy of crucifixion?
No.
Verse 5.
Jesus then came out wearing thecrown of thorns and the purple
robe.
Pilate said to them, Behold theman.
So when the chief priests andthe officers saw him, they cried
out, saying, Crucify, crucify.

(27:49):
And Pilate said to them, Youtake him yourselves and crucify
him, for I find no guilt in him.
No guilt.
Third time.
Verse 7.
The Jews answered him, We have alaw.
So now we talk about Jewish lawcode, right?
We have a law.
And by that law he ought to diebecause he made himself out to
be the son of God.
Now what law are they talkingabout?

(28:10):
It's a law, evidently, thatrelates to him making himself
out to be the Son of God.
This was the law of blasphemy inLeviticus 24, 16.
And this law, basically, what wecall the law of blasphemy,
someone could not misuse thename of God.
They think that Jesus hasmisused the name of God.

(28:31):
So hold your place here just andglance back to John 5:18 to see
what they're referring to.
Now you'll notice in verse 17,not one of the typical verses to

(28:53):
prove the deity of Christ, butthe Jews thought that he was
claiming to be God.
Verse 17, he answered them, MyFather is working until now, and
I myself am working.
In other words, if the Father isworking, I'm working, I and the
Father are one.
Okay?
For this reason, verse 18,therefore, the Jews were seeking
all the more to kill him,because why?
He not only was breaking theSabbath, but also was calling

(29:15):
God his own father, makinghimself equal with God.
Sorry, Jehovah's Witnesses, butJesus claimed to be God very,
very clearly, and all the Jewsseem to know it, right?
They considered this ablasphemy, a breaking of
Leviticus 24, 16.
Well, let's look over also atJohn 10, 33, just so we see that

(29:37):
very, very clearly that Jesusdefinitely claimed to be God.
And the Jews very wellunderstood that he was claiming
to be God.
They just didn't believe thatGod could have a multiple
persons within himself.
They believed that God was anabsolute one.

(29:58):
So John 10 33.
The Jews answered, well, let'slook at verse uh 32.
Jesus answered them, I showedyou many good works from the
Father, for which of them areyou stoning me?
So he's claiming to do the worksof the Father, which puts him
again on an equal plane with theFather.
Verse 32, the Jews answered him,For a good work we do not stone
you, but for blasphemy, andbecause you, being a man, make

(30:19):
yourself out to be God.
Did they think that he wasclaiming to be God?
Sure.
I mean, unequivocally, that'svery obvious.
They considered this, though, tobe a breaking of Leviticus 24,
16, using the name of God in awrong way.
Why did they consider this awrong way of using the name of
God?
Because they believed that Godwas an absolute one.
He did not have a diversity ofpersons within himself.

(30:42):
Remember, we talked about thisearlier when we were talking
about the birth of the king.
And I said that in the Hebrewyou have two words for one,
Yaqid and Echad.
And I went through these wordsand described how the Hebrew
words that are used of God veryclearly open a window to

(31:03):
understand that there's adiversity of persons within
himself.
But that the Jews don't likethis, didn't like this, and they
tried to cover it up by usingthe other word for one in their
various traditions and rituals.
When the Bible never uses themthe way that they use them in
their traditions and ritual.
So by the time of Christ, theydidn't have a view of the one

(31:26):
true God that permitteddiversity of persons.
So they're viewing God as anabsolute one.
And as a result, when he madeany kind of claim to be God or
the equal of God, that was intheir mind blasphemy.
Violated Leviticus 24, 16.

(31:47):
Now let's go back to John 19.
Pilate three times already,having stated that I find no
guilt in him.
And they cry out in verse 6,crucify, crucify.
Pilate said, Take him yourselfand crucify him.
Verse 7, the Jews answered, Wehave a law.
We just went through the law.

(32:08):
He made himself out to be theSon of God, which is the
equivalent of God.
And so verse 8, when Pilateheard this statement, he was
even more afraid.
And he entered into thepraetorium again and he said to
Jesus, Where are you from?
Which is a very interestingquestion.
But Jesus gave him no answer.
So Pilate, why?
Well, because Pilate, what istruth?
I mean, at that point, Jesus isdone.

(32:28):
And so he says to him, You donot speak to me?
Do you not know that I haveauthority to release you?
I am Pilate.
I have authority to crucify youor release you.
And Jesus answered, You wouldhave no authority over me unless
it had been given you fromabove.
For this reason, he whodelivered me to you has the
greater sin.
Now look, what is this?

(32:49):
You have no authority unless ithad been given to you.
Isn't that Genesis 9?
The beginning of humangovernment?
What does Romans 13 say?
There's no authority but thatwhich has been given from God
above.
Why do we have human government?
Because God gave it.
God created it.
It's a divine institution.

(33:10):
Pilate is functioning under adivine institution of God,
right?
In an office established by God.
And now he's using thatauthority to do what?
To permit either the release orthe crucifixion of the one who
gave human government.
This is why I say it's a veryunique death that he died.

(33:35):
Pilate finds nothing wrong.
But the Jews keep insisting,don't they?
So what's Pilate going to do?
Well, he's going to give intotheir insistence.
They would always on Passoverrelease one to the Jews, whoever
they insist on, he's going tolet that go through.

(33:58):
He had the authority to stop it,didn't he?
Because God had given him theauthority.
But now he's going to take theGod who gave the authority and
he's going to put him under thisvery law that God gave.
Verse 12.
As a result of this, Pilate madeefforts to release him.
See, there it is again.
He's trying to get him off thehook, right?
But the Jews cried out saying,If you release this man, you're

(34:18):
no friend of Caesar.
Everyone who makes themselvesout to be a king opposes Caesar.
See, he's committed treason.
Now they're trying to get him onRoman law code, right?
They'll get him on any anywherethey can try to get him.
They're going to try to get him.
Verse 13.
Therefore, when Pilate heardthese words, he brought Jesus
out, and he sat down on thejudgment seat at a place called
the pavement, but in HebrewGabbatha.

(34:39):
Now it was the day ofpreparation for the Passover.
It was the sixth hour.
And he said to the Jews, Beholdyour king.
And so they cried out, Away withhim, away with him, crucify him.
And Pilate said to him to them,Shall I crucify your king?
And the chief priest answered,We have no king but Caesar.
So then he handed them over himover to them to be crucified.

(35:01):
So he didn't stop it.
But did he break any Roman lawcode?
No.
He hadn't done that.
He doesn't really take seriouslythe charge of treason against
Caesar.
They have a misappropriation ofthe Leviticus 24, 16 blasphemy
law, because they don't know whothe one true God is.
And so they took him out, andhe's bearing his own cross to

(35:24):
the place of the skull.
Now, did they understand whatthey were doing?
I talked to one of my professorsabout this.
Well, actually, he's a friend.
He wasn't really a professor.
He is a professor, but he wasn'tone of mine.
And he said, this is one of thethings that bothered him for
many years.
Like, what do you mean theydidn't know what they were

(35:46):
doing?
Jesus says they don't know whatthey're doing.
Look over at Luke 23 34.

SPEAKER_02 (35:57):
Luke 23, 34.

SPEAKER_01 (36:06):
Verse 33.
When they came to the placecalled the skull, there they
crucified him.
And the criminals, one on theright, the other on the left.
But Jesus was saying this.
This is what he's saying on thecross.
Father forgive them, but they donot know what they are doing.
They didn't know what they weredoing.

(36:28):
They didn't know that they werecrucifying the Lord of glory.
1 Corinthians 2, 6, 7, 8, and 9.
If they'd known, they wouldn'thave crucified the Lord of
glory.
But they did not understand whatthey were doing because their
minds had misconstrued,misinterpreted the scripture.
So that when they saw, when theJews saw Jesus on a tree, they

(36:48):
were thinking Deuteronomy 21,22, and 23.
He who hangs on a tree isaccursed of God.
They said, well, who's Jesusthen?
Jesus is accursed of God.
No, idiot.
Jesus is God.
They didn't just not understand,they missed it by a million
miles.

(37:09):
You could not get farther awayfrom understanding than the
Pharisees and the Sadducees andthe Scribes.
But what is Jesus saying on thecross?

SPEAKER_02 (37:21):
Forgive them.
They don't know what they'redoing.

SPEAKER_01 (37:26):
What did Stephen say later as the first martyr in the
book of Acts?
As he's being stoned, forgivethem.
What does Paul do?
He says, forgive the enemy.
What are we supposed to do toour enemies?
Forgive them.
You know, this is this is justwalking in the path of the great
one.

(37:48):
If we have this attitude.
So what does all this add up to?
It adds up to this.
The true interpretation ofChrist's death on a tree is that
it was a misallocation of a lawthat he put into effect, a law
of capital punishment, but theflip side of it is it resulted

(38:09):
in a substitutionary bloodatonement that paid for the sin
of the whole world.
Did God know that when he putcapital punishment into effect
as the cornerstone of humangovernment in Genesis 9, that
his own son would die under amisallocation of that very law?
Yes, he did.
But he did it because he hadeternal life, and he would be

(38:33):
giving his body and his bloodhis life to pay for ours, so he
could give us his life inexchange at the moment we have
faith in him.
That's the first big point aboutthe uniqueness of his death.
The second big point is thatJesus did not die for his own
sins.
Remember, he was sinless,tempted in all things as we, yet
without sin, he was quoteunquote impeccable, as we've

(38:55):
discussed.
Now we know that sin is thecause of all death, right?
Genesis 2.17.
When God created everything,Genesis 1.31, he looked at all
that he had made, and behold, itwas very good.
There was no death, there was nosuffering, there were no tears.
Presumably, obviously, if Adamand Eve never sinned, they'd
still be alive today, be over7,000 years old.

(39:16):
Wouldn't be a problem.
Sin is the cause of all death.
He said, In the day you eat it,you will surely die.
Some people say, well, they ateand they didn't die.
Adam lived to be 930 years.
Well, we understand that.
But we also understand thatOperation Fig Leaf went into
effect the day that he ate,signifying a different type of

(39:38):
death.
So there's two types of death,right?
You have spiritual death, andyou have physical death.
The moment he ate, they didsurely die spiritually.
Then, years later, of course,they died physically as a
consequence.
So there are these two types ofdeath.

(39:59):
Now, Jesus avoided all deathbecause he came into the world
through the Virgin Mary in aconception that was affected by
the power of God and theovershadowing work of the Holy
Spirit, so that he was bornholy.
He was a holy child, set apart,unique, the only one in the
history of the world to evercome into the world without sin

(40:21):
since Adam was first created andEve out of Adam, right?
But they fell into sin.
So the whole human race fellinto sin, but through Jesus'
birth, he avoids the sin.
So he's not under a deathsentence.
Instead, again, he's eternallife, right?
He's eternal life.
Now that means something uniqueabout Jesus and, of course,

(40:41):
about his death on the cross.
It means that Jesus alonequalifies to become sin on our
behalf.
We have to unfold thatstatement, unpack that
statement.
Jesus alone qualifies to becomesin on our behalf.
Because when we say become sin,we don't mean that he became a
sinner.
Jesus was never a sinner.
If he was a sinner, he would beunder the penalty that we are

(41:04):
under.
And he would have to die.
We're going to see in a minutethat he didn't have to die.
So he didn't become sin in thesense that he became a sinner.
He became sin in the sense thatour sin was imputed to him.
Our sin was credited to hisaccount.
Not that he himself was taintedby sin.

(41:25):
Because then his offering on thecross could not be acceptable to
the Father.
It would be a sinful offering.
So our sin was imputed to him.
That means it was legallycredited to his account.
And what he was doing on thecross is he was legally paying
for our sin debt as oursubstitute.

(41:46):
So look at Romans 8.

SPEAKER_02 (41:49):
Romans 8.
Verses 2, 3, and 4.
Romans 8, 2, 3, and 4.

SPEAKER_01 (42:01):
There's three laws going on in Romans 7 and 8.
One of them mentioned here,verse 2, the law of the Spirit
of life in Christ Jesus is a lawthat sets us free as believers
from the law of sin.
In other words, we don't have toobey that law.
And also sets us free from thelaw of death.
But what the law could not do,the Mosaic law could not do

(42:22):
this, right?
Weak as it was through theflesh.
In other words, it just usedpeople's flesh.
You know, Paul says, I wouldn'tknow what coveting was until the
law came, and then it came and Irealized, oh, I'm a coveter.
You know, this is what I do.
And it killed him.
So the law could not make usalive.
But he says God did somethingthe law could not do by sending

(42:45):
his own son in the likeness ofsinful flesh.
In other words, if you justlooked at Jesus, you'd be like,
well, he's a normal sinner likeeverybody else.
Right?
He just looked like a normalhuman.
Because he was a true human, buthe didn't have any sin.
He was just in the likeness ofsinful flesh.
He didn't, but he was sinless,right?
And as an offering for sin.
So he was a sacrifice for sin.

(43:08):
And by doing that, he condemnedsin in the flesh, so that the
requirement of the law might befulfilled in us who do not walk
according to the flesh, butaccording to the Spirit.
In other words, what's therequirement of the law?
I always say there's one wordthat describes the requirement
of the law, and it is righteous.
Righteousness.
That's what God wanted with thelaw.
He wanted righteousness.

(43:29):
Of course, people couldn't doit.
We know that.
They couldn't keep it perfectly.
So someone came who did, right?
And now his life is in us, sothat when we walk by the Spirit,
guess what?
That righteousness is producedthrough us.
That's the whole point of thispassage.
But the point is to show up howChrist was sinless, right?

(43:51):
Let's look at another one.
2 Corinthians 5.21.
So turn to the right, two books.
2 Corinthians 5.21.
This is the idea that our sinwas imputed to him on the cross,
so that he was paying the legalpenalty for our sin, though
himself not becoming a sinnerlike us.

(44:13):
2 Corinthians 5.21.
God made him, that's Christ, whoknew no sin, to be sin on our
behalf.
Why?
So that we might become therighteousness of God in him.

(44:33):
So verse 21, he made him whoknew no sin, that's obviously
Christ.
He didn't know any sinpersonally, never committed any
personal sin, to be sin on ourbehalf.
This is the imputation, okay?
The imputation of our sin to hisaccount on the cross, three
hours of darkness, right?
When he's paying the sin debt ofthe whole world, purpose of

(44:57):
which we might become therighteousness of God.
How do we become therighteousness of God?
Through faith.

SPEAKER_02 (45:02):
Always.

SPEAKER_01 (45:03):
Righteousness is always through faith.
So this is something that makeshis death unique, in that he
wasn't dying for his own sins,whereas everybody else who ever
died, they always died for theirown sins.
But he didn't have to die.
I think this is.
But let's let's I want to lookat something from Jehovah's
Witnesses.
This is a quote from theirdocuments.

(45:26):
In this ransom work referring toJesus Christ's work on the
cross, right?
Jesus was assisted by the144,000.
They're getting that number outof Revelation 7, right?
Remember the 144,000?
They're historic, they hold to aview of prophecy as historicism.
So they think the book ofRevelation is being fulfilled
down through church history.
Okay?
Not in the future, seven yearsbeing fulfilled through church

(45:48):
history.
And that those Jehovah'sWitnesses are the 144,000.
Now, when the number ofJehovah's Witnesses got greater
than 144,000, they said, well,it's just a symbolic
representation.
But they're the 144,000.
But see, Jesus was assisted onthe cross by the 144,000.
That's what they're saying.
We teach that according toIsaiah 53, 2, you can read.

(46:09):
They raise him up like a rootout of parched ground.
I can see nothing in there thateven relates to this, but that's
what they say.
According to Isaiah 53, 2, themystical body of Christ consists
of Jesus as the head and the144,000 as his body.
Like Jesus, these 144,000sacrificed their right to live
in this world, earned throughtheir perfect obedience to
Jehovah's theocracy.

(46:29):
And like Jesus, and these alonewill receive the immortality of
the soul.
So who did the ransom work?
In JW theology?
Jesus and Mormon.
I'm sorry, Jesus and Jehovah'sWitnesses.
It's not Jesus alone, is it?
It's Jesus and Jehovah'sWitnesses who made the

(46:51):
sacrifice.
That results in obedience thatgives immortality to the soul.
Is that the true gospel?
Is it Jesus plus you or Jesusplus me that secure the
immortality of the soul by workby our work on the cross of

(47:13):
obedience?
What does the Bible say?
Galatians 2.21 is what the Biblesays.
In other words, if we can do anywork for our salvation, guess
what?

(47:34):
The crosswork was unnecessary.
Because somebody could be goodenough on the basis of their own
work.
So what would be the purpose ofChrist's death?
There would be no purpose.
So no, there's no assistance.
We don't assist Christ byanything that we do.

(47:54):
Now here's this is the nextquote I'm going to give you is
from a mission group in theearly 1900s.
You have to understand allmission groups and church
organizations, seminaries andeverything, over time they tend
to change their doctrinaloutlook.
As far as seminaries isconcerned, the history of
seminaries says that whateverthe founding documents,

(48:18):
doctrinal statements are of aseminary, they will only be held
to for 75 years.
That's a historic average.
After that, they depart fromthem.
Same thing would I would I thinkwould be basically true across
the board for missionorganizations and other
entities.
So this is a missionsorganization.
We're going to read what theysaid.

(48:42):
This is in a book calledRethinking Missions 1932.
Anyone remember that?
Okay, I want it.
The original objective of themission might be stated as the
conquest of the world byChristianity.
I don't know if I would use suchmilitant language, but okay, if
they just mean softly to takethe gospel to all nations and

(49:03):
people to believe, great.
But they sound a little moremilitant here.
So we may not agree with theoriginal objective.
But anyway, this is theirstatement.
One name and one atonement.
This plan with this particularhistorical center in the career
of Jesus Christ must become thepoint of regard for every human

(49:27):
soul.
Okay, that that used to be.
There used to be one way.
There used to be one name.
There used to be one atonement.
It used to be centered on thecareer of Jesus Christ.
And that was essential for everyhuman soul, right?
That's how it used to be.
That is passe.

SPEAKER_02 (49:48):
That means that is outdated.
That's outdated now.
That's old school.

SPEAKER_01 (49:57):
Nobody believes that anymore.
They say Christianity must nowrecognize that it has no
monopoly on truth.
1932.

SPEAKER_02 (50:07):
People wonder, what's wrong with our country?
What's wrong?

SPEAKER_01 (50:13):
This has been going on for a few centuries to get to
where we are now in our country.
It started before theDeclaration of Independence and
the thinking of people.
We could trace it in history ifwe wanted.
We don't have time.
It is clearly not the duty ofthe Christian missionary to
attack the non-Christian systemof religion.
Don't say Buddhism is wrong.

(50:35):
Don't say Hinduism is wrong.
Don't say Confucianism is wrong.
Don't say all these otherreligious viewpoints are wrong.
We're not supposed to do that.
Rather, what we're supposed todo is pool our resources with
other religions.
It's all just one ecumenical,syncretistic, one-world
religion.
We don't protest if it ifBuddhists and Muslims

(50:57):
incorporate Christian ideaswithout becoming Christians.
You know, just mix Jesus in withall your other gods.
Just put them on the shelf nextto all your other gods.
He's just another God, just likeall the rest of them.
We desire the triumph of thatfinal truth.
We need not prescribe the route.

SPEAKER_02 (51:16):
Is this what the Bible says?
What would they say about Actschapter 4, verse 12?
Acts chapter 4, verse 12.
There is no name.
You know the rest of it?
There's no other name.

(51:41):
What would it say?
424?
Is that what I said?

SPEAKER_01 (51:47):
412, thank you.
Did somebody say 12?

SPEAKER_02 (51:49):
Yeah, 12.

SPEAKER_01 (51:50):
There's salvation in no one else, for there is no
other name under heaven that hasbeen given among men, of which
we must be saved.
What would they say about that?
That's passe.
They would have said that beforeyou were born.
They were already saying that.
What about John 14, 6, whereJesus said, I am the way, the
way the truth, and the life.

(52:12):
No one sounds to the Father.
No does that soundexclusivistic?
It sounds like he's the onlyway.
They would say, that's what Isay.
That's outdated.

SPEAKER_02 (52:28):
I guess Jesus was wrong about that.

SPEAKER_01 (52:31):
Why even be a Christian, right?
Just be an ecumenical spiritspiritist or something.
1932.
No, Jesus is the only one whowas ever sinless.
And he's the only one who, whenhe died, he wasn't dying for his
own sin.
What he was doing was he wasdying for your sin and my sin

(52:53):
and the sin of the whole world.
Right?
That's what makes his deathunique among men.
The third point, no one has everdecided the exact moment of
their death.
Ecclesiastes 8 8.
It says nobody has authorityover the day of their death.
Some people say, well, theperson who committed suicide.

(53:14):
Yeah, but sometimes it's gonewrong and been botched job.
You know, pull the trigger,oops.
Doesn't kill them.
See, you don't, you can think,well, there have been seen
situations.
No.
No.
Only God has authority.
Only he has the keys of death.
So if he doesn't want you to diewhen you pull the trigger, guess

(53:35):
what?
You're not going to die.
Something's going to go wrong.
Oh, that probably won't be goodeither, but you're going to live
with whatever the outcome ofthat is.
But nobody except Jesus Christever decided the exact moment of
their death.
That's again what makes hisdeath totally unique.
Jesus in John 10, 18.
We're almost there, so let'sturn back.
John 10.18.

(54:03):
Verse 17, talking about the goodshepherd and the shepherd laying
down his life for the sheep andso forth and show on.
He has other sheep not of thisfold that he's going to bring
in.
We've got Israel, and now he'sgot a new fold, the church.
Verse 17, for this reason theFather loves me, because I lay
down my life so that I mighttake it again.
Who lays down his life?
He's saying, I lay it down.

(54:25):
How many of you say, you know,I'm going to go lay my life down
now?
And then you just die.

SPEAKER_02 (54:29):
Nobody does that.

SPEAKER_01 (54:31):
Verse 18, no one has taken it away from me, but I lay
it down on my own initiative.
I have authority to lay it down.
I have authority to take it upagain.
How many of you have thatauthority?
Ecclesiastes 8 8 says, No manhas authority over the day of
their death.
Jesus Christ says, I haveauthority.
I lay down my life, I take itback.

(54:54):
Totally unique.
What does he say on the crossafter the three hours of
darkness?
He says, it is finished, andthen it says he yielded up his
spirit.
Did he choose not choose theexact moment that he died?
He did.
He chose the exact moment.

(55:14):
And at that moment, the paymentfor the sins of the world had
been made.
1 Timothy 2, 5 and 6, pay forthe sins of every man.
Let's look at the onlookers,Matthew 27, 50 to 54.
Look at the scene.
What did others see when theysaw him on the cross?
And they saw him give up his ownlife.

(55:35):
They saw him choose the momentof his death.

SPEAKER_02 (55:40):
Matthew 27, verse 50.
2750.

SPEAKER_01 (55:54):
Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and
yielded up his spirit.
Now that's when he did it.
He just gave up his life.
He had authority to do that.
And behold, the veil of thetemple was torn in two from top
to bottom.
Now most people say, oh yeah,the veil tore.
No, it was a handbreadth thick.
Three and a half to four inchesthick, sixty feet tall, and it

(56:16):
ripped from the top to thebottom.
Can you rip something that'sthree to four inches thick?
Cloth?
I don't think so.
And it ripped which direction?
From bottom to top or top tobottom?
Top to bottom.
This is talked about.
Josephus records what happensand how they tried to interpret
this, but they believed therewas some kind of judgment from

(56:38):
heaven on earth.
You think?
What was happening at that verymoment on Golgotha, the place of
the skull, on the cross in thecenter?
Yeah, there was a judgment beingissued.
Judgment for our sins on theworld was being paid for by the
Lord of glory.
The earth shook and the rockswere split.

(57:00):
See, it wasn't just a spiritualthing that happened on the
cross, it was affecting nature.
It's always that way.
There's always an effect onnature when God judges.
It says the tombs were openeddue to the earthquake,
obviously, and many bodies ofthe saints who had fallen asleep
were raised and coming out ofthe tombs after his raising.
That's the exact same Greekword, by the way.

(57:23):
Some were raised, came out ofthe tombs.
But it says after hisresurrection.
Because who's the first to beresurrected from the dead?
Who's the first in history toever be resurrected from the
dead?
Jesus Christ.
He's the firstborn of the deadof the living.
1 Corinthians 15, 21 through 24.

(57:44):
But after that, there wereactually some other people that
were resurrected at this time.
Most people don't even believethat today.
They believe this is just somemetaphorical language.
Is it a problem that people beraised after Jesus is raised?
Why is that a problem?

(58:05):
Doesn't the Bible have thisthing called first fruit?
Which is an assurance of more tofollow?
You know the feast of firstfruits and all that?
Well, Jesus is the first.
And then these are part of thefirst fruits that came
immediately after him.
What's the first fruit signify?
Is there going to be aresurrection for you?
Fry.

(58:26):
Yes.
1 Corinthians 15, 21 to 24.
Christ, these guys, and thosewho are alive at his coming,
along with all who passed awayin Christ, will all be
resurrected.
So yeah, this is a picture ofthat.
This also took place.
And coming out of the tombs,they entered the Holy City and
appeared to many 54.
Now the centurion, now this iswhat was thought of.

(58:46):
There were Roman centurionsguarding the cross at the
crucifixion site, right?
Now the guy's a centurion,meaning he's over about a
hundred people, right?
A hundred soldiers.
Those who were with him, keepingguard over Jesus, when they saw
the earthquake and the thingsthat were happening, they became
very frightened and they said,What?
Truly this was the Son of God.

(59:06):
How many crucifixions do youthink the centurion and the and
the soldiers that he was overhad seen?
Hundreds?
Let's just say hundreds.
Hundreds.
Had they ever seen one likethis?
No.
That's the point.
It was a totally unique death.

(59:27):
So unique that, I mean, theseguys aren't even Jews, right?
They're Romans.
They're Roman soldiers.
And they say, did they know whatthe word on the street was about
who he was?
Sure.
They knew.
Everybody knew.
This thing wasn't done in acorner in history.
Everybody around there knew.
Remember the road to Emmaus?
Jesus talking to these guys andasking them questions, and they

(59:49):
say, Don't you know thesethings?
I mean, everybody knows thisstuff.
Of course he knew, but he wastrying to get them to see who he
was.
Everybody knew.
And so the centurion says, trulythis was the Son, of God.
You think he believed at thatmoment?

SPEAKER_02 (01:00:08):
I think he did.
You think you're going to seethis centurion in heaven?
I think I will.

SPEAKER_01 (01:00:17):
He believed.
A totally unique death.
The last on this point isHebrews chapter 7, verse 26 and
27, which make this entirelyunique because never has this
ever happened before and neverwill it ever happen again.
Hebrews chapter 7, verse 26.
You've got the priests in theOld Testament.
The priests are offering thesacrifice.
Someone brings the sacrifice.
Right?

(01:00:38):
They go through the process ofpouring out the blood and
getting the sacrifice ready, andthe priest offers it.
That happened hundreds andthousands of times.
But something happened on theday of the cross that had never

(01:00:58):
happened before.
Hebrews 7, 26 and 27.
It was fitting for us to havesuch a high priest.
Now, who's the whole high priesttalking about here?
Christ, right?
Christ.
Holy, innocent, undefiled,separated from sinners, and

(01:01:19):
exalted above the heaven.
A priest who does not needdaily, like those high priests,
to offer up sacrifices, firstfor his own sins and then for
the sins of the people.
Why?
Because this he did once for allwhen he offered up himself.
How many high priests offeredthemselves on the altar?

SPEAKER_02 (01:01:39):
One.
One.

SPEAKER_01 (01:01:44):
Never before this did a high priest offer
themselves.
They had to offer othersacrifices for themselves and
then sacrifices for the people.
But Jesus Christ, who had nosin, offers up himself as his
own high priest.
He was both priest andsacrifice.
And that makes his death totallyunique in the world.

(01:02:09):
Now, well, we'll talk aboutthese things next week because
we're a little after time.
But now we want to talk aboutthe cosmic effects of his death
next week.
But hopefully this will give youa little taste.
There's so many things in theGospels.
If you read through, 25% of theGospels center on the event of
his death.
And Jesus never ever said, Iwant you to remember my birth

(01:02:32):
and I want you to remember mylife.
But he said many times, I wantyou to remember my death.
And when we take communion, whatare we remembering?
We're remembering his death.
And when we see a believerbaptized, what are we picturing?
That when we believe we arecrucified with Christ, buried
with him and raised to live anew life.

(01:02:53):
See, over and over, the emphasisin the New Testament is on the
Christ and Him crucified.
And it is so central, it reallydoes dominate the pages of the
New Testament.
And if we're not givingattention to it and we're not in
or we're not understanding it,something's not going to be

(01:03:14):
right in our Christian life.
There's a reason he said, I wantyou to remember it.
There's a reason he says hewants us to go back to the foot
of the cross over and over andover.
Not just to go to heaven, butChristians to go back to the
cross over and over and over.
Why?
Because it's still theinstrument that gives us the uh

(01:03:35):
ability to overwhelm the thingsweren't going back to it.
You're going to live a carnallife because this is the thing.
You can't do it.
You cannot live the Christianlife.
It's not possible for you togenerate the Christian life.
You can't generate it.

(01:03:55):
It's very clear in Galatians.
You've got the deeds of theflesh, and you've got the fruit
of the Spirit.
And the fruit of the Spirit isnot coming from you.
It's coming from Him throughyou.
Our responsibility is to what?
Walk by the Spirit.
And you will not fulfill thedesires of the flesh, right?
What does that mean?
Walk by the Spirit.

(01:04:22):
If you lose sight of this, gohang out at one of the local old
folks' homes.
You'll see people ambulatingwith dependence on a walker.
That walker is, by illustration,the Holy Spirit.
He's the one that enables you towalk a Christian life.

(01:04:42):
You have to depend on him.
What do most old people want todo with those walkers?
They don't want to use that.
I think the same thing is truefor Christians.
We want to do it ourselves.
We don't want to depend on theSpirit of God.
But this is what the Bible keepstelling us over and over.
If you don't walk in dependenceupon that, well, get ready.

(01:05:05):
Just read the list of the deedsof the flesh.
It's not a pretty picture.
So what do we want?
We want the pretty picture, buthow do we get there?
We have to learn to walk independence upon him.
That's the concept of walk bythe Spirit, ambulating in
dependence upon him and hisstrength.
So that Christ's life is pouredout through ours, so that
there's love, there's joy,there's peace, there's patience,

(01:05:26):
there's kindness, there'sgentleness, there's
self-control.
Against those things, there's nolaw, right?
That's the only way.
But that's why we have to keepgoing back to the foot of the
cross, because unless we go backto the foot of the cross, we're
not remembering that we can'tgenerate it.
We're not remembering that hecame to pay the penalty for our
sin.
And we start to lose sight andthink I'm a good person.

(01:05:47):
We start to think I can do this.
And that's why every day we haveto go back and say, no, I can't.
And that's why every epistle ofPaul ends this way: the grace of
God be with you.
Why?
Because grace is his enablementto live the Christian life.
Without that, you can't do itagain.
And his grace is exploredthrough the life by the Spirit.
That's how it takes place.

(01:06:08):
It's the only way.
It is the only way.
If you haven't experienced it,it's the only way, uh well,
you'll you'll you'll experienceit probably today again.
Just not being honest.

SPEAKER_00 (01:06:18):
Thank you for joining us on Beyond the Walls
with Jeremy Thomas.
If you would like to see thevisuals that went along with
today's sermon, you can findthose on Rumble and on YouTube,
UnderSbook, and Bible Church.
That is where Jeremy is thepastor and teacher.
We hope you found today's lessonproductive and useful in growing

(01:06:39):
closer to God and walking moreobediently with Him.
If you found this podcast to beuseful and helpful, then please
consider writing us in yourfavorite podcast app.
And until next time, we hope youhave a blessed and wonderful
day.