WEBVTT 00:00:00.560 --> 00:00:05.680 We turn in our Bibles to Hebrews chapter 10 please, Hebrews chapter 10. 00:00:05.760 --> 00:00:10.880 We're just going to take time to read the first 18 verses of this chapter. 00:00:10.880 --> 00:00:17.705 So it's Hebrews chapter 10 and reading from verse one to the end of verse 18. 00:00:18.105 --> 00:00:33.480 For since the law was but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities it can never by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year make perfect those who draw near. 00:00:33.640 --> 00:00:43.425 Otherwise would they not have ceased to be offered since the worshippers having once been cleansed would no longer have any consciousness of sins. 00:00:43.905 --> 00:00:54.080 But in these sacrifices there's a reminder of sins every year for it's impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. 00:00:54.480 --> 00:01:08.815 Consequently, when Christ came into the world he said, sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me and burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. 00:01:09.135 --> 00:01:18.175 Then I said behold I have come to do your will o God as it is written of me in the scroll of the book. 00:01:18.495 --> 00:01:26.550 When he said above you have neither desired nor taken pleasure sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings. 00:01:26.790 --> 00:01:28.950 These are offered according to the law. 00:01:29.190 --> 00:01:32.550 Then he added behold I have come to do your will. 00:01:32.790 --> 00:01:45.115 He does away with the first in order to establish the second and by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 00:01:45.515 --> 00:02:07.080 And every priest stands daily at his service offering repeatedly the same sacrifices which can never take away sins but when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins he sat down at the right hand of God waiting from that time until his enemies would be made a footstool for his feet. 00:02:08.825 --> 00:02:34.740 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified and the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us for after saying this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days declares the Lord and I will put my laws on their hearts and write them on their minds and then he adds I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more. 00:02:35.395 --> 00:02:41.635 Where there is forgiveness of these there is no longer any offering for sin. 00:02:42.195 --> 00:02:42.755 Amen. 00:02:42.755 --> 00:02:45.075 We know God will bless his word to our hearts. 00:02:45.475 --> 00:02:55.760 Now did Jesus really have to die And the more we understand his death by crucifixion the harder perhaps it is to take it in. 00:02:55.760 --> 00:02:57.920 Crucifixion was meant to be slow. 00:02:57.920 --> 00:02:59.440 It was meant to be painful. 00:02:59.760 --> 00:03:01.600 The Romans were experts at it. 00:03:01.600 --> 00:03:11.685 It was reserved for the lowest of the low and one privilege of course of a Roman citizen was that they would never ever die by crucifixion. 00:03:12.405 --> 00:03:20.610 And the suffering Jesus endured before the cross and then during those hours kneeled to the cross is almost beyond imagination. 00:03:20.610 --> 00:03:33.005 Many of us would rather not imagine at all what happened and so the question presses us, how could a loving God require such suffering in order that sinners might be saved? 00:03:33.005 --> 00:03:35.965 Did it have to be that particular way? 00:03:36.525 --> 00:03:42.205 Well some scholars have concluded that God could not and didn't require such a thing. 00:03:42.205 --> 00:03:45.645 Whatever happened at the cross they say it wasn't necessary. 00:03:46.040 --> 00:03:47.720 It wasn't God's will. 00:03:47.880 --> 00:03:55.880 They say either the Bible is wrong in explaining the suffering of Jesus as if it were a horrible accident rather than God's plan. 00:03:56.360 --> 00:04:00.680 Or theologians have quite simply misunderstood what the Bible is actually saying. 00:04:01.275 --> 00:04:02.555 And some go further. 00:04:02.555 --> 00:04:11.195 One, former evangelical Steve Chalk has called the idea that God punished sin so that sinners might be forgiven. 00:04:11.195 --> 00:04:13.995 He's called it cosmic child abuse. 00:04:14.690 --> 00:04:18.050 And how should we answer views like these? 00:04:18.370 --> 00:04:24.370 Is it unthinkable that God would punish Jesus so that we could be saved? 00:04:24.370 --> 00:04:28.850 Could God have provided salvation by some other means? 00:04:29.585 --> 00:04:32.705 And as always we must turn to the Bible. 00:04:32.705 --> 00:04:35.665 We believe the Bible is God breathed. 00:04:35.665 --> 00:04:43.745 We believe in its truth and therefore if we come to the Bible in the light of these questions we seek the answers and we will find the answers. 00:04:44.460 --> 00:04:48.700 And we've been thinking in recent weeks about such a wondrous salvation. 00:04:48.700 --> 00:04:57.980 That's kind of been the theme of what we've been looking at and why Christ had to be both man and God in order to save us. 00:04:58.605 --> 00:05:03.245 But this morning we want to think about why atonement was the only way. 00:05:03.565 --> 00:05:15.950 Why atonement was the only way and as we think of that heading this morning why atonement is the only way or was the only way there are two things that I want us to think about. 00:05:15.950 --> 00:05:23.950 Number one I want us to think about the nature of God and then number two the necessity of the atonement. 00:05:24.350 --> 00:05:27.950 So let's consider first of all the nature of God. 00:05:28.465 --> 00:05:34.385 The nature of God and to understand any biblical truth we have to start at the right place. 00:05:35.505 --> 00:05:41.825 And mistakes and even heresies often begin because people start in the wrong place. 00:05:42.380 --> 00:05:50.780 And as we think about salvation as we think about Christ and about atonement for sinners like you and me we must begin with God Himself. 00:05:50.780 --> 00:06:03.305 Our doctrine of the atonement is rooted in the nature of God and we can sum up the whole matter in one sentence, There is an atonement because God is the kind of God He is. 00:06:04.025 --> 00:06:08.185 There is an atonement because God is the kind of God He is. 00:06:08.880 --> 00:06:10.640 He's not a human idea. 00:06:10.640 --> 00:06:11.840 It's not a human idea. 00:06:11.840 --> 00:06:14.080 It's it's not an invention. 00:06:14.240 --> 00:06:17.600 It's not a misunderstanding of Bible writers. 00:06:17.600 --> 00:06:21.040 It's rooted in who God actually is. 00:06:21.755 --> 00:06:28.795 And because of the kind of God He is we have an atonement by the shedding of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:06:29.275 --> 00:06:37.310 And remember also that God revealed Himself in the Bible as Trinity Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 00:06:37.710 --> 00:06:43.950 One God in three persons and within the Trinity the persons are always in perfect harmony. 00:06:44.110 --> 00:06:49.150 And there's never conflict among them about any of the works of God. 00:06:49.505 --> 00:06:50.785 And that matters here. 00:06:50.785 --> 00:07:10.910 We must never suggest that there was a tension between the Trinity over salvation as if a loving son was placating an angry father or as if a father wanted to punish the son and the son, well, he stepped in and said, well, I'll deal with this issue. 00:07:11.230 --> 00:07:15.150 And that would imply perhaps conflict within the Godhead. 00:07:15.390 --> 00:07:16.510 And there's no such thing. 00:07:16.510 --> 00:07:26.475 Father, Son and Holy Spirit are in harmony about what is necessary for your salvation and for my salvation for the salvation of sinners. 00:07:26.635 --> 00:07:31.275 And the plan of salvation flows of course from Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 00:07:31.595 --> 00:07:42.000 And Scripture especially attributes the planning to the Father but each of the Trinity is fully involved in every aspect of salvation. 00:07:42.800 --> 00:07:57.305 And the atonement flows from the will of God and Paul makes mention of this in Ephesians chapter one verse 11 as the one who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will. 00:07:57.305 --> 00:08:05.330 Everything including the salvation of sinners is worked out according to God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 00:08:05.330 --> 00:08:08.210 So Christ's suffering is the will of the Father. 00:08:08.210 --> 00:08:12.130 It is the will of the Son and it is the will of the Holy Spirit. 00:08:12.130 --> 00:08:16.635 There's no conflict of any kind between or within the Trinity. 00:08:16.875 --> 00:08:23.515 And what then in the nature of God helps us understand the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:08:23.515 --> 00:08:27.435 What is it about God that helps us understand His suffering? 00:08:27.435 --> 00:08:29.035 What is there about His nature? 00:08:29.540 --> 00:08:35.140 Well there are two things, God's love and God's righteousness. 00:08:35.860 --> 00:08:42.100 They help us understand His nature and why Christ suffered the way Christ did. 00:08:43.145 --> 00:08:44.185 Let's think of these. 00:08:44.185 --> 00:08:45.305 First of all, God's love. 00:08:45.305 --> 00:08:49.225 The atonement is rooted in God's love for undeserving sinners. 00:08:49.225 --> 00:08:54.825 We all know John three sixteen For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. 00:08:56.450 --> 00:09:01.650 First John chapter four and verse 10 says the same thing in another way. 00:09:01.650 --> 00:09:02.690 This is love. 00:09:02.690 --> 00:09:08.930 Not that we loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son as a propitiation for us. 00:09:09.090 --> 00:09:10.130 A propitiation. 00:09:10.795 --> 00:09:15.915 A propitiation is a sacrifice that deals with the wrath of God. 00:09:16.635 --> 00:09:34.750 And far from being a vindictive God who demands an unnecessary sacrifice the Father is filled with love for us and he sends the son and the son is filled with love for the father and for us and we're told in Galatians two twenty, the son of God who loved me gave himself for me. 00:09:34.750 --> 00:09:48.025 That's what Paul says and the love of the spirit of course isn't named in these verses in the same way, but the harmony of the spirit tells us that the love of the Holy Spirit is involved as well. 00:09:48.905 --> 00:09:51.065 And this is undeserved love. 00:09:51.145 --> 00:09:52.585 And that's what grace is. 00:09:53.320 --> 00:09:56.760 Grace is the undeserved love of God. 00:09:56.760 --> 00:10:05.720 The love of the Father, the love of the Son, the love of the Holy Spirit for people like you and me in our sin who are utterly undeserving. 00:10:05.720 --> 00:10:07.160 This is really grace. 00:10:07.160 --> 00:10:14.305 It is God's deserved love and that's the first thing that we note about God when we think of his nature. 00:10:14.865 --> 00:10:23.025 And then the second thing we think about God concerning his nature and when we think of the atonement and why Christ had to die is God's righteousness. 00:10:23.450 --> 00:10:32.410 A holy and righteous God cannot receive sinners into fellowship with Himself unless their sin is dealt with. 00:10:32.490 --> 00:10:39.775 There can be no fellowship between God and us unless the penalty due to our sins is paid. 00:10:39.775 --> 00:10:44.335 And God can't ignore sin or sweep it under the carpet. 00:10:44.495 --> 00:10:47.135 If He did, He wouldn't be a holy God. 00:10:47.535 --> 00:10:49.535 He wouldn't be doing what He said He would do. 00:10:49.535 --> 00:10:54.960 It would be almost as if God was winking at our sin pretending that it didn't happen. 00:10:54.960 --> 00:11:02.720 And what sort of God would that make him who would treat sin in such a trivial way, who would do nothing about our sin? 00:11:03.360 --> 00:11:07.465 And sin against the Holy God, we have to realize is a terrible thing. 00:11:07.465 --> 00:11:13.065 And God cannot enter into fellowship with people who still bear their sin and guilt. 00:11:13.065 --> 00:11:14.345 It must be dealt with. 00:11:14.345 --> 00:11:16.345 And there are only two possibilities. 00:11:16.425 --> 00:11:25.350 Either sinners like us bear the penalty ourselves in eternal punishment or a substitute bears it for us. 00:11:25.590 --> 00:11:27.350 And those are the only two options. 00:11:27.750 --> 00:11:35.165 And the only possible substitute is the Lord Jesus Christ, the God man perfectly equipped for the work. 00:11:35.165 --> 00:11:38.765 He is the propitiation for our sins. 00:11:39.165 --> 00:11:45.485 And this is a word of course that was used in Romans three and twenty five by Paul. 00:11:45.485 --> 00:11:51.660 This word propitiation now some translations don't use it but it would be good if they did actually use it. 00:11:51.820 --> 00:11:55.260 It's a precise word a sacrifice that deals with wrath. 00:11:55.260 --> 00:11:57.020 It deals with the wrath of God. 00:11:57.340 --> 00:11:59.740 And why did Jesus make propitiation? 00:12:00.140 --> 00:12:05.025 Romans three twenty five tells us to demonstrate God's righteousness. 00:12:05.105 --> 00:12:09.825 It's to show that God is righteous and that's why this was needed. 00:12:10.145 --> 00:12:20.040 And in the next verse verse 26 it says that God might be the just and the justifier the one who has faith in Jesus. 00:12:20.360 --> 00:12:21.560 And both are accomplished. 00:12:21.560 --> 00:12:28.360 God is just because sin is punished and He is the justifier of those who believe in Jesus. 00:12:28.600 --> 00:12:30.920 And salvation is available for sinners. 00:12:30.920 --> 00:12:41.225 It's available to all who would trust in Christ and all who will trust in who God is through Jesus Christ. 00:12:41.225 --> 00:12:50.220 He upholds the justice and the righteousness of God and at the same time provides justification for those who trust in Him. 00:12:50.620 --> 00:12:53.100 So we must begin with the nature of God. 00:12:53.100 --> 00:12:54.620 We must begin with His love. 00:12:54.620 --> 00:13:06.365 We must begin with His righteousness if we're to understand why atonement was the only way, And that's the foundation on which everything else about the work of Christ and the atonement must be built. 00:13:06.525 --> 00:13:18.980 And if we don't understand the nature of God, we will fall for for the idea that God didn't really have to do this, that it was wasn't necessary that it's unthinkable for Christ to be punished in such a way. 00:13:19.780 --> 00:13:31.375 And if God is a loving God and God is a righteous God then atonement is necessary and the Bible makes it very clear that atonement is necessary because of who God is. 00:13:32.255 --> 00:13:41.935 He is a God of love and He is a God of righteousness and to bring His love and righteousness together there must be atonement. 00:13:42.600 --> 00:13:47.080 And that leads us to our second point, the necessity of atonement. 00:13:47.080 --> 00:13:48.440 The necessity of atonement. 00:13:48.440 --> 00:13:51.400 Why does it have to be this particular way? 00:13:51.400 --> 00:13:55.335 Was there not another path God could have followed? 00:13:55.655 --> 00:13:57.975 Well, there are two things that we have got to note here. 00:13:57.975 --> 00:14:03.255 First of all, we need to realize that God is not obliged to save any sinner. 00:14:03.255 --> 00:14:05.415 God is not obliged to save any of us. 00:14:05.815 --> 00:14:10.370 We must keep that in mind because it's important that we keep it in mind. 00:14:10.370 --> 00:14:19.410 It might inflate our ego to think that we were someone special, but nothing outside of God compels him to save a single sinner. 00:14:19.490 --> 00:14:26.415 If God had condemned every sinner to eternal punishment, no one could turn around and say, well that's unfair. 00:14:26.975 --> 00:14:28.655 It would have been utterly fair. 00:14:28.735 --> 00:14:30.495 It would have been perfectly just. 00:14:30.815 --> 00:14:33.615 And he owes salvation to nobody. 00:14:33.775 --> 00:14:36.975 He's not obliged to save anybody. 00:14:37.400 --> 00:14:46.440 And yet in his vast overflowing love he's decided to save a multitude of sinners to do what he is not obliged to do. 00:14:46.920 --> 00:14:50.575 And still the question remains, could he not have done it some other way? 00:14:50.575 --> 00:14:58.095 Was there not an easier way, one that didn't involve the agonies of the cross for the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ? 00:14:58.095 --> 00:15:06.300 And as of maybe intimated, some Orthodox godly scholars have suggested that God could have forgiven sin without an atonement. 00:15:06.300 --> 00:15:15.340 Others have argued that this is the route that God chose because it most glorified His name and brought the greatest benefits to those who are saved. 00:15:15.820 --> 00:15:20.220 And that was the best way many of the reformers held to that particular view. 00:15:21.345 --> 00:15:27.985 But secondly, we must conclude that the atonement is absolutely necessary. 00:15:28.705 --> 00:15:30.945 The atonement is absolutely necessary. 00:15:30.945 --> 00:15:37.820 It's hard to see what other course God might have followed that would have been consistent with His nature that we have looked at. 00:15:37.820 --> 00:15:46.700 The best view because it's the consistent view of Scripture is that it is absolutely necessary that there be atonement. 00:15:47.020 --> 00:15:51.580 It's not one option among several that God happened to choose. 00:15:52.035 --> 00:16:00.595 It's the one consistent way that matches up that upholds His nature, His love, His righteousness. 00:16:00.595 --> 00:16:02.755 No other way agrees with His nature. 00:16:03.075 --> 00:16:11.280 Only the atoning death of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross satisfies His love and satisfies His righteousness. 00:16:11.520 --> 00:16:15.200 And you know there's a great deal of biblical material that we could examine. 00:16:15.200 --> 00:16:21.375 We don't really have time to go into it in great detail this morning but there are a number of comments that I want to make. 00:16:21.375 --> 00:16:29.775 Four comments in relation to this idea of the atonement being absolutely necessary. 00:16:30.175 --> 00:16:38.630 Several key passages drive home the absolute necessity of the atoning death of Christ and I want to look at those very very quickly. 00:16:38.710 --> 00:16:47.590 The first key passage to drive home the absolute necessity of the atoning death of Christ is Jesus' prayer in the Garden Of Gethsemane. 00:16:48.735 --> 00:16:57.615 In Matthew chapter 26 in verse 39 he prays, My Father if it be possible let my cup pass from me. 00:16:57.935 --> 00:17:08.700 And there Jesus contemplates the horror of the cross and he asks that if it were possible that the cup might pass that he might not have to walk that particular road. 00:17:09.900 --> 00:17:11.340 And we know the outcome. 00:17:11.660 --> 00:17:13.980 He was not spared the cross. 00:17:14.695 --> 00:17:20.615 That outcome shows that it was not possible for salvation to be secured by any other means. 00:17:20.615 --> 00:17:22.775 Jesus asked if it be possible. 00:17:24.375 --> 00:17:31.640 And you know if it had been possible, His loving heavenly Father would have spared Him from the cross and taken away that particular cup? 00:17:31.640 --> 00:17:39.320 Is it inconceivable that the Father would have refused the prayer of a son if salvation could have been provided in another route? 00:17:39.800 --> 00:17:43.560 He prayed, If it be possible, let this cup pass from me. 00:17:44.825 --> 00:17:45.945 And it didn't. 00:17:46.825 --> 00:17:50.025 And the conclusion must be that it was not possible. 00:17:50.025 --> 00:17:51.225 There was no other way. 00:17:52.185 --> 00:17:57.865 And in Gethsemane the Son of God showed his perfect submission to his Father's will. 00:17:58.380 --> 00:18:00.460 The cross had to be endured. 00:18:00.780 --> 00:18:07.740 Jesus' prayer in the Garden Of Gethsemane tells us that atonement is absolutely necessary. 00:18:08.380 --> 00:18:18.285 But then the second key passage to drive home the absolute necessity of the atoning death of Christ is Jesus' words on the road to Emmaus. 00:18:18.845 --> 00:18:21.565 Jesus' words on the road to Emmaus. 00:18:21.565 --> 00:18:25.405 If you remember after the resurrection the two disciples meet Jesus. 00:18:26.200 --> 00:18:28.360 At first they don't recognize Him. 00:18:28.520 --> 00:18:36.280 They walk and eat together and Jesus speaks of what had taken place only a few hours earlier, His death on the cross. 00:18:36.600 --> 00:18:45.635 We read in Luke's Gospel chapter 24 and verse 26, Was it not necessary that Christ should suffer these things and enter into glory? 00:18:46.275 --> 00:18:49.235 And note what it says, Was it not necessary? 00:18:49.235 --> 00:18:50.755 That's what Jesus said. 00:18:51.315 --> 00:18:56.990 And in the next verse he speaks of the witness of the Old Testament to the necessity of that sacrifice. 00:18:56.990 --> 00:19:05.950 The plan of redemption revealed throughout the Old Testament scriptures made it necessary for the Messiah to die for the sins of his people. 00:19:06.190 --> 00:19:18.985 And Jesus understood that and it's striking in the gospel records how often he spoke of the divine necessity that was laid upon him to go to the cross to endure what the Father had planned. 00:19:20.345 --> 00:19:25.385 In Matthew chapter 16 verse 21 we read the Son of Man must go. 00:19:25.670 --> 00:19:27.510 He must be handed over. 00:19:27.830 --> 00:19:29.270 He must be killed. 00:19:29.270 --> 00:19:31.990 There is this divine necessity. 00:19:32.550 --> 00:19:33.590 It was not Herod. 00:19:33.590 --> 00:19:34.470 It was not Pilate. 00:19:34.470 --> 00:19:38.950 It was not the scribes and the Pharisees who ultimately determined that Jesus would die. 00:19:38.950 --> 00:19:39.590 It was God. 00:19:40.405 --> 00:19:46.325 And drawing on the Old Testament revelation, the Savior said it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer. 00:19:46.645 --> 00:19:50.325 And that was the great obstacle of course for many Jewish people. 00:19:50.645 --> 00:19:57.170 A suffering dying Messiah was for many of them unthinkable until the Lord opened their eyes to actually see it. 00:19:57.170 --> 00:19:58.130 He must go. 00:19:58.130 --> 00:19:59.890 He was a man with a mission. 00:19:59.970 --> 00:20:01.410 He must fulfill it. 00:20:01.490 --> 00:20:05.570 Jesus' words on the road to Emmaus are so important. 00:20:06.610 --> 00:20:14.065 And then the third key passage to drive home the absolute necessity of the atoning work of Christ is the holiness of God. 00:20:15.185 --> 00:20:20.625 And we've already touched on this under the nature of God but we must return to it. 00:20:20.625 --> 00:20:23.265 The holiness of God means that he cannot. 00:20:23.900 --> 00:20:25.740 He cannot overlook sin. 00:20:25.740 --> 00:20:28.220 Our sin is rebellion against Him. 00:20:28.220 --> 00:20:29.980 It is covenant breaking. 00:20:30.060 --> 00:20:33.740 It's rooted in Adam in the Garden of Eden. 00:20:33.740 --> 00:20:38.460 We are Adam's descendants spiritually and we are born sinners. 00:20:38.795 --> 00:20:40.715 We are covenant breakers. 00:20:40.715 --> 00:20:42.795 We are rebels against God. 00:20:42.875 --> 00:20:50.795 We want to put self in the place of God and the nature of the Holy God requires that sin be punished. 00:20:51.190 --> 00:21:04.310 And Scripture tells us this again and again if you go back into the Old Testament to the book of Exodus, Exodus chapter 34 and verse seven it says, He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. 00:21:05.055 --> 00:21:07.535 If He did, He wouldn't be holy. 00:21:07.615 --> 00:21:09.055 He would be a deceiver. 00:21:09.135 --> 00:21:12.495 He would not be the God we thought that He was. 00:21:12.895 --> 00:21:17.935 And Scripture often uses strong language for God's reaction to sin. 00:21:18.255 --> 00:21:27.240 It says that God hates sin that He hates the very root of sin and that's why He hates sin because He is holy. 00:21:27.240 --> 00:21:31.400 He can't stop being holy and He can't stop hating sin. 00:21:31.560 --> 00:21:43.295 And if we think that's extreme, if we say, well sin's bad, but God to hate it seems over the top, then we haven't really understood the nature of sin. 00:21:43.935 --> 00:21:45.615 We have not seen it for what it is. 00:21:45.615 --> 00:21:54.220 If it is enmity against God our Creator whom we would worship, serve, and love, to be rebels instead is the gravest of sins. 00:21:54.460 --> 00:22:07.775 And you know people often rank sins in their minds, the really terrible ones at the top and the lesser sins further down, and they console themselves that they've not done the things that well are at the top of the list. 00:22:08.255 --> 00:22:13.615 But the fact is that every sinner, every one of us has committed the worst of sins. 00:22:13.855 --> 00:22:22.180 We have lived in rebellion against God and to live as if he didn't exist or if he was existing we had we had no concern for the matter. 00:22:22.740 --> 00:22:25.220 And that stands at the top of the list. 00:22:25.380 --> 00:22:42.865 Every sinner is guilty of that particular sin and we we have not grasped the seriousness of sin or the perfect holiness of God if we find ourselves thinking that some things something less might have done in the saving work of Jesus Christ. 00:22:43.460 --> 00:22:49.380 He cannot allow sin to go unpunished either in the sinner or in the substitute. 00:22:49.380 --> 00:22:50.820 Sin must be punished. 00:22:50.820 --> 00:23:00.135 The penalty must be paid and if he didn't punish sin it would deny the nature of himself that's revealed in Scripture. 00:23:00.375 --> 00:23:05.175 We would have discovered that God was lying in the Bible and that is not possible. 00:23:05.255 --> 00:23:09.495 So the holiness of God tells us that the atonement is necessary. 00:23:10.900 --> 00:23:17.060 And the fourth key passage to drive home the absolute necessity of the atonement is the teaching of the book of Hebrews. 00:23:17.060 --> 00:23:21.620 That's why I read to you from the book of Hebrews in Hebrews chapter 10. 00:23:22.305 --> 00:23:29.825 In fact the whole letter of Hebrews emphasizes Christ and the Messiah and how He had to suffer. 00:23:29.905 --> 00:23:41.090 Hebrews draws thoroughly from the Old Testament and if you want to understand the Old Testament and how it points to Christ well then you move into the book of Hebrews. 00:23:41.410 --> 00:23:52.165 And one thing Hebrews stresses is the insufficiency of the Old Testament sacrifices to take away sin and to cleanse the heart of a person made in the image of God. 00:23:52.165 --> 00:23:57.685 No number of bulls or goats or rams or lambs could cleanse the heart of a sinner. 00:23:57.685 --> 00:24:00.245 They were not meant to of course. 00:24:00.245 --> 00:24:02.725 They were not designed to do that. 00:24:02.725 --> 00:24:12.860 They were a temporary measure God provided until sacrifice would be offered that really cleanses the heart and really saves the sinner. 00:24:13.420 --> 00:24:26.425 Hebrews chapter 10 and verse four, it's impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins And that's the New Testament's verdict on the whole system of sacrifice under the law of Moses. 00:24:26.425 --> 00:24:28.025 It's not designed to cleanse the heart. 00:24:28.025 --> 00:24:29.225 It could never do that. 00:24:30.025 --> 00:24:34.880 But it pointed to the sacrifice that really deals with the sin. 00:24:35.120 --> 00:24:48.885 Those sacrifices spoke specifically of the Lord Jesus Christ and those Old Testament offerings chapter after chapter describing them are patterned after the sacrifice of Christ. 00:24:48.885 --> 00:24:56.165 And we sometimes think it's the other way around as if Christ's sacrifice were patterned after the Old Testament offerings. 00:24:56.405 --> 00:25:04.290 It's the reverse the Old Testament offerings are in fact patterned after what Christ would come and what Christ would accomplish. 00:25:05.090 --> 00:25:06.450 His is the reality. 00:25:06.450 --> 00:25:08.690 The Old Testament is the picture. 00:25:08.770 --> 00:25:10.850 The Old Testament is the shadow. 00:25:11.250 --> 00:25:20.915 The word used in Hebrews chapter 10, that's what we're told and the work of Christ is the reality that really provides the salvation, the blood of Christ. 00:25:21.875 --> 00:25:37.590 And so as Hebrews chapter nine verse 23 says, it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with those sacrifices but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices. 00:25:37.590 --> 00:25:47.845 It's the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ that reaches the heart, that reaches our hearts, that provides salvation, that provides that cleansing that we need. 00:25:47.845 --> 00:25:52.005 Only the blood of Christ could provide heart cleansing. 00:25:52.085 --> 00:25:56.725 That heart cleansing that we need, it's not a matter of how many bulls and goats were offered. 00:25:57.310 --> 00:26:08.270 The heart couldn't be changed or cleansed by that at all, but they pointed to an offering that would do that, the offering of Christ, the shedding of the blood. 00:26:09.575 --> 00:26:15.975 And the whole burden of Hebrews is that the death of the Messiah is absolutely necessary to save us. 00:26:15.975 --> 00:26:17.415 Nothing else would do that. 00:26:17.815 --> 00:26:26.190 Not the offerings of the law of Moses not anything that we could offer not our good works not our effort only the blood of Jesus. 00:26:26.190 --> 00:26:32.510 The teaching of the book of Hebrews tells us that atonement is absolutely necessary. 00:26:32.590 --> 00:26:34.350 So put the evidence together. 00:26:34.430 --> 00:26:46.165 We have looked at four of these, the prayer of Jesus in the garden, the words of Jesus on the road to Emmaus, the Holy God that reveals His character and the teaching of Hebrews. 00:26:46.165 --> 00:26:54.930 All the biblical evidence shows that the death of Jesus Christ was absolutely necessary, the necessity of the atonement. 00:26:55.330 --> 00:27:15.685 So in the coming weeks, God willing, we'll think about what exactly Jesus did when of course He went to the cross and what it did, what was accomplished for us and how we're saved through it and it's all the fruit of His infinite love, the love of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. 00:27:16.005 --> 00:27:18.325 And you know it's a wonderful salvation isn't it? 00:27:18.325 --> 00:27:26.530 There's no other way And such was the love of God for us that the atonement was provided in all its fullness, in all its completeness. 00:27:27.250 --> 00:27:38.645 And there's the salvation and the challenge to you and to me today is if we are truly in Christ is to rejoice in the wonder of God's salvation for us. 00:27:39.125 --> 00:27:42.405 And for those outside of Christ there is no other way. 00:27:42.725 --> 00:27:45.525 There is no other way than the blood sprinkled away. 00:27:45.845 --> 00:28:06.655 There is no other way than coming through Jesus Christ and what he accomplished for us on the cross of Calvary and coming and asking for his forgiveness and asking, for the ability to repent of your sin and the ability just to know His grace in your life to believe that He can save you. 00:28:06.655 --> 00:28:11.455 And may God give you that experience and the grace to know. 00:28:12.015 --> 00:28:12.415 Amen.