Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas
Jeremy approaches Bible teaching with a passion for getting the basic doctrines explained so that the individual can understand them and then apply them to circumstances in their life. These basic and important lessons are nestled in a framework of history and progression of revelation from the Bible so the whole of Scripture can be applied to your physical and spiritual life.
Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas
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.
Welcome to Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas and our series on the New Testament framework. Today, the full lesson from Jeremy Thomas. Here's a hint of what's to come.
SPEAKER_01:So he's not under a death sentence. Instead, again, he's eternal life, right? He's eternal life. Now that means something unique about Jesus and, of course, about his death on the cross. It means that Jesus alone qualifies to become sin on our behalf. We have to unfold that statement, unpack that statement. Jesus alone qualifies to become sin on our behalf.
SPEAKER_00:Where does justice come from? Does it originate in your conscience? From your viewpoint of right and wrong of how you feel about things? Does it originate in nature? The conquest of the strong over the weak? Does it originate from human philosophy? Looking at the evolution of society and human relationships. All of these things are wrong because they fail to grasp and understand that for there to be justice, there has to be a declaration of right and wrong. There has to be a declaration of good and evil. There has to be some underlying foundation that gives moral judgment to justice, to right and wrong, to good and evil. And all of this is at the very core of the center of creation. When God created man in his own image, and we became image-bearers, and God declared what was right and wrong. And this manifests itself today in the degradation of our society as we have thrown aside God's judgment of good and evil.
SPEAKER_01:I hope we have a pretty good idea of what it is like. But justice in the Bible is restitutionary by nature. And by restitution we mean that there has to be a restoration. So a simple example would be if someone stole something from you or damaged your property, then the individual who did that would actually have to restore whatever they stole or the damage to your property out of their own pocketbook, so to speak, however, that would be uh worked out. And then they would have to actually add a percentage more on top of that because you weren't having access to the item or it damaged you know your property for a period of time which made it look bad or whatever took place. And so it's it's restoration. Okay, and the individual who committed the crime is the one who has to do the restoration. So it it focuses on the importance of that individual paying for the crime that they committed in order to teach them a lesson, right, so that they would not do these crimes again. So that is a something that is missed in the justice, the what we call the rehabilitary justice system today, where you put person in prison, right? That's just the idea that honestly, the behind that idea is the idea that we failed as a society to raise this individual correctly, so it's really society's fault. This person is just a victim. And so society ends up paying the debt for this person being in prison, in that we support the prison system, we pay all this money for them to have three square meals a day, make sure they have a workout gym so they can get strong and stay fit and a library and all these things. Okay, so it's society's fault, and individuals who are criminals are just victims. And so we function fundamentally in our society on a victim system. And this is a great tragedy because it's not justice. We are paying the penalty for someone else committing crime. So the Bible's idea is totally different. No, that person has to pay the penalty, they have to work it off in some way. And this is to be uh a warning and to teach them never to commit crimes again of that nature. So we have this idea of restitution, and that's what's really taking place on the cross, right? So we want to talk about the cross. What Christ is doing is he's paying 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 that debt is because we don't have any life to give. God requires life for life, and we've stolen life by our sin in Adam. So we are dead in our transgressions and sins, and so we can't pay the penalty. So what Christ has done is he's come outside of the sin problem from outside of the sin problem into our world, and he's paid the penalty for us, and now he offers, you know, uh restoration to life freely by faith in him. And this is why it's grace, right? Grace means it's unmerited favor, it's just a free gift that we're receiving. And obviously, we should all be able to see from this, there's no place for works to come in. Um, I mean, other than Christ's work. Christ did all the work, right? There's no more work to be done. 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 are coming out of a person who's a dead person. We're dead in our transgressions and sin, right? So it's all just gonna be on Christ's work, and that's what we want to look at today on the cross. So the there are four points I want to make. The first one about his unique death on the cross is a strange idea that involves a number of ideas that are built through scripture. So I'm gonna, this is the most complicated point, but I want to build it because I think it's interesting to watch and see. Jesus was crucified as a criminal under a misallocation of justice, which was given under the divine institution number four, which is human government. Remember, we talked about divine institutions earlier in the series. In the Old Testament, we said there's basically five divine institutions. A divine institution is something that God lays down for the whole human race to follow, and if we don't follow it, there are serious consequences to pay. There are five of these. They're all given, the first three are given at creation, the other two are added after the flood. So at creation and then after the flood and the new world after the flood. The first three are responsible labor. God created man to labor responsibly before him, and all men will be evaluated as to what they have done. Uh the second one is marriage between one man and one woman. Right? So this is a divine institution. If we try to manipulate that or redefine marriage, well, there's going to be societal consequences to pay. The third one is family, which is built on marriage. And this talks about the population of the human race, how to raise children, all these things. And uh, so those three are divine institutions that God gave for the whole human race at creation. Now, after the flood, he reinstitutes those three, and he adds two more. The first one he adds after that is human government. You say, well, what was going on before the flood? Was there not human government? No, there was no human government. So you say, well, how were the world's affairs arranged? How was governing, how did governing take place? Uh well, I mean, there's a couple of options. You know, when you see Cain and Abel, you know, and Cain kills Abel, God himself carries out the justice that was due, right? Um, you also have the situation where you have the angels, the cherubim, placed at the eastern entrance to the garden. Remember, and they have the flaming sword. And the sword in the Bible is a picture of, if you hold the sword, it's a picture of the weapon that would be used, the instrument used for capital punishment. Okay. And so whoever holds the sword is the one who has the right to exercise governing force. And in the pre-flood world, we see the angelic realm having this uh capability. So this is an interesting story. It was a totally different world before the flood, we know that. So for about the first 2,300 years of world history, there was no such thing as human government. God had never given human government. Um, but rather the angels and himself they carried out the governing functions. But now when you come to Genesis chapter 9, which we'll turn to now, you'll see that God gives the sword to man. And the cornerstone of human government is the right for a govern a government to capitally execute those who commit crimes that are worthy of a capital uh punishment. So in the midst of this giving of the fourth divine institution, uh human government, he also in Genesis 9, for the first time gives them animals to eat. Any moving thing that has life in 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 says that our original diet was herbivorous only. We're strictly herbivores. But for some reason, after the flood, in the new world after the flood, God gave uh meat to eat so that we became omnivorous, right? Both plants and animals are now on the menu. And all of God's people said Amen. I don't want to just eat salad every day or broccoli or seeds. Uh as good as those things are, we we enjoy most of us eating meat. Okay, so but there's something uh uh important uh that's taking place. Let's read Genesis 9:1. God blessed Noah and his sons and 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 terror of you will be on every beast of the earth and on every bird of the sky, with everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea into your hand they are given, being given to eat. But God has placed this fear into the creatures, and of course we've domesticated some animals and so forth, but this in general, this is the state of the world between animals and man. Verse 3 every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you. I give all to you as I gave the green plant. He gave the green plant in Genesis 1 for the world up to the flood. Now, in the post-flood world, this new world, he gives everything to us, both meat and the plant. So we will be omnivores. He says, Only you shall not eat flesh with its life. And then it just says, it's blood. In other words, you have to drain the blood out of the animal, right? You can't eat it with the blood inside the animal. Now, why? Well, because God has assigned a value to the blood, He has uh He has assigned a signification of the blood. The blood signifies the life of the creature, of the animal, and that belongs to God, so you can't eat it with the blood in it because it belongs to God. So it was to be poured out and to go back to Him, so to speak. Okay. So He said, No, you can't eat it with the blood in it. Let's let's go on. Surely I will require your lifeblood. From every beast I will require it. What's he saying? He's saying, I require you give it back to me. It's mine. That's mine. The blood is mine. It's because it signifies the life, I gave life to the 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 of capital punishment for murder. We're not talking about killing. Killing is a matter of war. That's a different topic biblically. There is what we call just war, wars that are to be fought to stop certain nations from spreading their bad ideas, like for example, Nazi Germany. It was right for the world, the Allies, the Allied powers to go against Germany and stop these atrocities. But murder is a different thing. That's this is this is different from manslaughter, too, right? Manslaughter is not premeditated, it's an accident where you accidentally kill someone. But murder is premeditated. That's what the intent of capital punishment is here for. To and it's this given before the law. This has nothing to do with the Mosaic law, does it? This has to do with the whole human race. It's the cornerstone of human government. Government has the right to capitally execute those who murder others. Now, why? Well, it tells us in verse 6 whoever sheds man blood, man's blood, by his blood shall be shed, man, by man his blood shall be shed. For in the image of God he made man. So see, if a man shed someone else's blood, then a man will shed that man's blood, see? Why? Because in the image of God he made man. In other words, if someone kills another person, if you look out on the world and you look at all the people, there's almost 8 billion people up there. Every one of these individuals is made in the image of God. That means they're image bearers. They're like an icon or statue of God. What's an icon or statue? If you go to the Northeast, you see probably Paul Revere, you see Abraham Lincoln, you see all sorts of statues. 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 you defaced it or destroyed it? Well, you'd be making an attack on Abraham Lincoln or Paul Revere. Well, we little statues are icons of God. Whenever someone murders another human being, they are making an attack on God Himself. And this is why that man's life must now be taken, because it's a direct affront to God. And so this is the basis for all human government, right? And it started after the flood. And again, you can eat animals, you, but you have to drain the blood. Okay, all this is given. And so we have these first two points very solidly built into human justice systems and our diet from the time of the post-flood. Now, in the New Testament, turn to John 6, because something really strange happens. John chapter 6. Something odd is stated in John chapter 6, verse 50. Now, Jesus has been given a number of illustrations. He's been talking about the bread that came down out of heaven that they ate in the Old Testament, you know, the manna, things like that, but which he likened to himself as the bread that people must partake of. And then in verse 50, after he's mentioned the manna, he says, This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. And then he says, I am the living bread that came down out of heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is my flesh. He's talking about giving himself on the cross, right? Then the Jews began to argue with one another, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Now, I mean, he did say, you know, you have to eat of me. I'm the bread, and I will give you the life. 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 in memory of him. But the Jews are saying, they're arguing, well, how can you know it sounds like cannibalism? That's right. What do you mean? Come up and take a bite out of Jesus? No, I don't know. Um the first thing I want to say here about this is that it should be obvious what he means. You know, we have two ways of speaking. We have the what we call ordinary literal way. The ordinary literal that's why they're taking it that way. Oh, what do you mean? You want me to go and take a bite out of your bicep? You know. Now, is that his intent? Or is he using the other way we speak, which is called figurative literal? In other words, there is a real literal meaning behind it, but he's using a figure to convey that meaning. Meaning you must partake of me by faith, right? You must partake of me by faith. Um now, when people are opposed to you or in an argument with you, they will almost always, at some point or another, in an argument, distort what you mean. They'll misconstrue it. That's what's happening here. They're mis misconstruing it on purpose. Why are they misconstruing it on purpose? Well, because they're against them, and they're going to use any words they can to their favor. So they probably very well know that he doesn't mean in the literal sense, I want you to come take a bite out of my cheek. But they're going to take it that way because they're against him. Now, so a feature of the sin nature is it likes to distort what an opponent says to its own advantage. That is what the sin nature does with language. It will always distort it to try to create an advantage for self. So Jesus said to them, verse 53, Truly, truly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in blood. Now it's that that's the particularly what we might call offensive part. Drink the blood? I mean, didn't God say in Genesis 9 3 that if you kill an animal, you have to drain the blood. You cannot eat it with the blood in it. The life that is in the blood that belongs to me. 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 offensive statement to them. He says in verse 54, He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life. And I will raise him up on the last day. Now, the Catholics love this section, right? They use this for their what in their communion they call transubstantiation. They don't call it like we do the Lord's Supper or something like that. For them it's a sacrament, right? And in the sacraments, they they use this as their main passage to teach that as communion is given, what they call transubstantiation in that time at 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 of Jesus, although it would maintain its taste as wine and not take on the taste of Jesus' blood. But that's where they get this from. Now, is that what he's really saying? No, he's saying it's a figurative, literal way of conveying that you have to partake of me in order to have eternal life. Now, how do we get eternal life? Every other place in John. Over and over and over in the Gospel of John. How do we get eternal life? Believe. I mean, how many times is that stated 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 way of saying, partake of him by faith, by believing in him, right? And the one who does, he says, I will raise up on the last day. Verse 53, for my flesh is true food, 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. Why? Because he's going to give us his 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 our transgressions and sins. Is Jesus dead in his transgressions and sins?
unknown:No.
SPEAKER_01: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 something separate from Jesus Christ. When we say believe in him for eternal life, that doesn't mean you're going to get this concept. You're not getting a concept. You're getting him. Okay? 1 John 5.20, Jesus Christ, this is the true God and eternal life. Jesus Christ is eternal life. Because he didn't have any sin. So in the transaction, what he's saying is, when I die for you, okay, I who have life, intrinsic to myself, is no sin, and I'm eternal life. I'm going to give that to you. See, the whole thing with the draining the blood out and all that back in Genesis 9 in the post-lood world was a training tool. It was a preparatory idea that was placed in the human race with Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth and their wives, those eight people, that would then go out through the table of nations to all nations. This idea was to permeate every culture and every nation on earth so that when Christ came, it was understood what he was doing on the cross.
SPEAKER_02:So it was a setup.
SPEAKER_01:Many of his disciples, verse 60, you can see they heard this. They said this is a difficult statement. Who can listen to it? So they're even struggling. So but this is the idea that he is 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. Let's just go through some of the death of Christ. Like I said, this is a complicated point that's all built, it all builds to understand 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. Let's start in like verse maybe 38 or so. Well, let's start in 33. You this is Pilate, prefect of Judea, right? He entered again into the praetorium for the judgment seat and summoned Jesus and said to him, Are you the king of the Jews? And Jesus answered, Are you saying this on your own initiative, or did others tell you about me? And you know, did the Jews tell you about me? Pilate answered, I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priest delivered you to me. What have you done? You know, what'd you do wrong? Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then my servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not of this realm. So Pilate said to him, So you are a king then? And Jesus answered, You say correctly that I am a king. It's for this that I have been born, and for this I have come into the world to testify to the truth. And everyone who is of the truth hears my voice. Don't you remember earlier he was saying, Drink my blood? Did they really hear his voice in the sense of understanding? No. No, they didn't. So were they of the truth? No. They were not of the truth. Pilate said to him, What is truth? Some consider that to be the greatest philosophical question ever asked. What is truth? Pilate didn't think there was such a thing as truth, did he? When he had said this, he went out again to the Jews and said to them, I find no guilt in him. So we're gonna see Pilate over and over say, Hey, I haven't seen this guy break the Roman law 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 over on the cross, on a plaque on the cross? He's gonna put an inscription that says, Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. And the Jews come back after and they say, No, no, no, you should have written, he said, I am king of the Jews. And he said, What I've written, I have written. Right? So Pilate didn't really take seriously this charge that might be classified as treason. If Jesus is claiming to be king, and he does say he's a king, who was the real king in Rome? Caesar. Right? So the Jews accused Jesus of saying he's a king and therefore against Caesar. But it doesn't seem like Pilate takes the charge that seriously. Verse middle of verse 38. He said when he said this, he went out again to the Jews and said to them, I find no guilt in him, but you have a custom that I release someone for you at the Passover. So do you wish then that I release 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 and scourged him. And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns. 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, they put a purple robe on him, and they began to come up to him and say, Hail, King of the Jews, you know, it's all mocking. And they give him slaps in the face. And Pilate came out again and said to them, Behold, I'm bringing him out to you so that you may know that I find no guilt in him. There's the second time. Did Pilate find any guilt under the Roman law code for Jesus that was worthy of crucifixion? No. Verse 5. Jesus then came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, Behold the man. So when the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify, crucify. And Pilate said to them, You take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him. No guilt. Third time. Verse 7. The Jews answered him, We have a law. So now we talk about Jewish law code, right? We have a law. And by that law he ought to die because he made himself out to be the son of God. Now what law are they talking about? It's a law, evidently, that relates to him making himself out to be the Son of God. This was the law of blasphemy in Leviticus 24, 16. And this law, basically, what we call the law of blasphemy, someone could not misuse the name of God. They think that Jesus has misused the name of God. So hold your place here just and glance 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 prove the deity of Christ, but the Jews thought that he was claiming to be God. Verse 17, he answered them, My Father is working until now, and I myself am working. In other words, if the Father is working, 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 the Sabbath, but also was calling God his own father, making himself equal with God. Sorry, Jehovah's Witnesses, but Jesus claimed to be God very, very clearly, and all the Jews seem to know it, right? They considered this a blasphemy, a breaking of Leviticus 24, 16. Well, let's look over also at John 10, 33, just so we see that very, very clearly that Jesus definitely claimed to be God. And the Jews very well understood that he was claiming to be God. They just didn't believe that God could have a multiple persons within himself. They believed that God was an absolute one. So John 10 33. The Jews answered, well, let's look at verse uh 32. Jesus answered them, I showed you many good works from the Father, for which of them are you stoning me? So he's claiming to do the works of the Father, which puts him again on an equal plane with the Father. Verse 32, the Jews answered him, For a good work we do not stone you, but for blasphemy, and because you, being a man, make yourself out to be God. Did they think that he was claiming to be God? Sure. I mean, unequivocally, that's very obvious. They considered this, though, to be a breaking of Leviticus 24, 16, using the name of God in a wrong way. Why did they consider this a wrong way of using the name of God? Because they believed that God was an absolute one. He did not have a diversity of persons within himself. Remember, we talked about this earlier when we were talking about the birth of the king. And I said that in the Hebrew you have two words for one, Yaqid and Echad. And I went through these words and described how the Hebrew words that are used of God very clearly open a window to understand that there's a diversity of persons within himself. But that the Jews don't like this, didn't like this, and they tried to cover it up by using the other word for one in their various traditions and rituals. When the Bible never uses them the way that they use them in their traditions and ritual. So by the time of Christ, they didn't have a view of the one true God that permitted diversity of persons. So they're viewing God as an absolute one. And as a result, when he made any kind of claim to be God or the equal of God, that was in their mind blasphemy. Violated Leviticus 24, 16. 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 yourself and crucify him. Verse 7, the Jews answered, We have a law. We just went through the law. He made himself out to be the Son of God, which is the equivalent of God. And so verse 8, when Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid. And he entered into the praetorium again and he said to Jesus, Where are you from? Which is a very interesting question. But Jesus gave him no answer. So Pilate, why? Well, because Pilate, what is truth? I mean, at that point, Jesus is done. And so he says to him, You do not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you? I am Pilate. I have authority to crucify you or release you. And Jesus answered, You would have no authority over me unless it had been given you from above. For this reason, he who delivered me to you has the greater sin. Now look, what is this? You have no authority unless it had been given to you. Isn't that Genesis 9? The beginning of human government? What does Romans 13 say? There's no authority but that which has been given from God above. Why do we have human government? Because God gave it. God created it. It's a divine institution. Pilate is functioning under a divine institution of God, right? In an office established by God. And now he's using that authority to do what? To permit either the release or the crucifixion of the one who gave human government. This is why I say it's a very unique death that he died. 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 into their insistence. They would always on Passover release one to the Jews, whoever they insist on, he's going to let that go through. He had the authority to stop it, didn't he? Because God had given him the authority. But now he's going to take the God who gave the authority and he's going to put him under this very law that God gave. Verse 12. As a result of this, Pilate made efforts to release him. See, there it is again. He's trying to get him off the hook, right? But the Jews cried out saying, If you release this man, you're no friend of Caesar. Everyone who makes themselves out to be a king opposes Caesar. See, he's committed treason. Now they're trying to get him on Roman law code, right? They'll get him on any anywhere they can try to get him. They're going to try to get him. Verse 13. Therefore, when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out, and he sat down on the judgment seat at a place called the pavement, but in Hebrew Gabbatha. Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover. It was the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, Behold your king. And so they cried out, Away with him, 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 him over to them to be crucified. So he didn't stop it. But did he break any Roman law code? No. He hadn't done that. He doesn't really take seriously the charge of treason against Caesar. They have a misappropriation of the Leviticus 24, 16 blasphemy law, because they don't know who the one true God is. And so they took him out, and he's bearing his own cross to the place of the skull. Now, did they understand what they were doing? I talked to one of my professors about this. Well, actually, he's a friend. He wasn't really a professor. He is a professor, but he wasn't one of mine. And he said, this is one of the things that bothered him for many years. Like, what do you mean they didn't know what they were doing? Jesus says they don't know what they're doing. Look over at Luke 23 34.
SPEAKER_02:Luke 23, 34.
SPEAKER_01:Verse 33. When they came to the place called the skull, there they crucified him. And the criminals, one on the right, the other on the left. But Jesus was saying this. This is what he's saying on the cross. Father forgive them, but they do not know what they are doing. They didn't know what they were doing. They didn't know that they were crucifying the Lord of glory. 1 Corinthians 2, 6, 7, 8, and 9. If they'd known, they wouldn't have crucified the Lord of glory. But they did not understand what they were doing because their minds had misconstrued, misinterpreted the scripture. So that when they saw, when the Jews saw Jesus on a tree, they were thinking Deuteronomy 21, 22, and 23. He who hangs on a tree is accursed of God. They said, well, who's Jesus then? Jesus is accursed of God. No, idiot. Jesus is God. They didn't just not understand, they missed it by a million miles. You could not get farther away from understanding than the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the Scribes. But what is Jesus saying on the cross?
SPEAKER_02:Forgive them. They don't know what they're doing.
SPEAKER_01:What did Stephen say later as the first martyr in the book of Acts? As he's being stoned, forgive them. What does Paul do? He says, forgive the enemy. What are we supposed to do to our enemies? Forgive them. You know, this is this is just walking in the path of the great one. If we have this attitude. So what does all this add up to? It adds up to this. The true interpretation of Christ's death on a tree is that it was a misallocation of a law that he put into effect, a law of capital punishment, but the flip side of it is it resulted in a substitutionary blood atonement that paid for the sin of the whole world. Did God know that when he put capital punishment into effect as the cornerstone of human government in Genesis 9, that his own son would die under a misallocation of that very law? Yes, he did. But he did it because he had eternal life, and he would be giving his body and his blood his life to pay for ours, so he could give us his life in exchange at the moment we have faith in him. That's the first big point about the uniqueness of his death. The second big point is that Jesus did not die for his own sins. Remember, he was sinless, tempted in all things as we, yet without sin, he was quote unquote impeccable, as we've discussed. Now we know that sin is the cause of all death, right? Genesis 2.17. When God created everything, Genesis 1.31, he looked at all that he had made, and behold, it was very good. There was no death, there was no suffering, there were no tears. Presumably, obviously, if Adam and Eve never sinned, they'd still be alive today, be over 7,000 years old. 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 ate and they didn't die. Adam lived to be 930 years. Well, we understand that. But we also understand that Operation Fig Leaf went into effect the day that he ate, signifying a different type of death. So there's two types of death, right? You have spiritual death, and you have physical death. The moment he ate, they did surely die spiritually. Then, years later, of course, they died physically as a consequence. So there are these two types of death. Now, Jesus avoided all death because he came into the world through the Virgin Mary in a conception that was affected by the power of God and the overshadowing work of the Holy Spirit, so that he was born holy. He was a holy child, set apart, unique, the only one in the history of the world to ever come into the world without sin since Adam was first created and Eve out of Adam, right? But they fell into sin. So the whole human race fell into sin, but through Jesus' birth, he avoids the sin. So he's not under a death sentence. Instead, again, he's eternal life, right? He's eternal life. Now that means something unique about Jesus and, of course, about his death on the cross. It means that Jesus alone qualifies to become sin on our behalf. We have to unfold that statement, unpack that statement. Jesus alone qualifies to become sin 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 be under the penalty that we are under. And he would have to die. We're going to see in a minute that he didn't have to die. So he didn't become sin in the sense that he became a sinner. He became sin in the sense that our sin was imputed to him. Our sin was credited to his account. Not that he himself was tainted by sin. Because then his offering on the cross could not be acceptable to the Father. It would be a sinful offering. So our sin was imputed to him. That means it was legally credited to his account. And what he was doing on the cross is he was legally paying for our sin debt as our substitute. So look at Romans 8.
SPEAKER_02:Romans 8. Verses 2, 3, and 4. Romans 8, 2, 3, and 4.
SPEAKER_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 law that sets us free as believers from the law of sin. In other words, we don't have to obey that law. And also sets us free from the law of death. But what the law could not do, the Mosaic law could not do this, right? Weak as it was through the flesh. In other words, it just used people's flesh. You know, Paul says, I wouldn't know what coveting was until the law came, and then it came and I realized, oh, I'm a coveter. You know, this is what I do. And it killed him. So the law could not make us alive. But he says God did something the law could not do by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh. In other words, if you just looked at Jesus, you'd be like, well, he's a normal sinner like everybody else. Right? He just looked like a normal human. Because he was a true human, but he didn't have any sin. He was just in the likeness of sinful flesh. He didn't, but he was sinless, right? And as an offering for sin. So he was a sacrifice for sin. And by doing that, he condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. In other words, what's the requirement of the law? I always say there's one word that describes the requirement of the law, and it is righteous. Righteousness. That's what God wanted with the law. He wanted righteousness. Of course, people couldn't do it. We know that. They couldn't keep it perfectly. So someone came who did, right? And now his life is in us, so that when we walk by the Spirit, guess what? That righteousness is produced through us. That's the whole point of this passage. But the point is to show up how Christ was sinless, right? 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 sin was imputed to him on the cross, so that he was paying the legal penalty for our sin, though himself not becoming a sinner like us. 2 Corinthians 5.21. God made him, that's Christ, who knew no sin, to be sin on our behalf. Why? So that we might become the righteousness of God in him. So verse 21, he made him who knew no sin, that's obviously Christ. He didn't know any sin personally, never committed any personal sin, to be sin on our behalf. This is the imputation, okay? The imputation of our sin to his account on the cross, three hours of darkness, right? When he's paying the sin debt of the whole world, purpose of which we might become the righteousness of God. How do we become the righteousness of God? Through faith.
SPEAKER_02:Always.
SPEAKER_01:Righteousness is always through faith. So this is something that makes his death unique, in that he wasn't dying for his own sins, whereas everybody else who ever died, they always died for their own sins. But he didn't have to die. I think this is. But let's let's I want to look at something from Jehovah's Witnesses. This is a quote from their documents. In this ransom work referring to Jesus Christ's work on the cross, right? Jesus was assisted by the 144,000. They're getting that number out of Revelation 7, right? Remember the 144,000? They're historic, they hold to a view of prophecy as historicism. So they think the book of Revelation is being fulfilled down through church history. Okay? Not in the future, seven years being fulfilled through church history. And that those Jehovah's Witnesses are the 144,000. Now, when the number of Jehovah'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 on the cross by the 144,000. That's what they're saying. We teach that according to Isaiah 53, 2, you can read. They raise him up like a root out of parched ground. I can see nothing in there that even relates to this, but that's what they say. According to Isaiah 53, 2, the mystical body of Christ consists of Jesus as the head and the 144,000 as his body. Like Jesus, these 144,000 sacrificed their right to live in this world, earned through their perfect obedience to Jehovah's theocracy. And like Jesus, and these alone will receive the immortality of the soul. So who did the ransom work? In JW theology? Jesus and Mormon. I'm sorry, Jesus and Jehovah's Witnesses. It's not Jesus alone, is it? It's Jesus and Jehovah's Witnesses who made the sacrifice. That results in obedience that gives immortality to the soul. Is that the true gospel? Is it Jesus plus you or Jesus plus me that secure the immortality of the soul by work by our work on the cross of obedience? What does the Bible say? Galatians 2.21 is what the Bible says. In other words, if we can do any work for our salvation, guess what? The crosswork was unnecessary. Because somebody could be good enough on the basis of their own work. So what would be the purpose of Christ's death? There would be no purpose. So no, there's no assistance. We don't assist Christ by anything that we do. Now here's this is the next quote I'm going to give you is from a mission group in the early 1900s. You have to understand all mission groups and church organizations, seminaries and everything, over time they tend to change their doctrinal outlook. As far as seminaries is concerned, the history of seminaries says that whatever the founding documents, doctrinal statements are of a seminary, they will only be held to for 75 years. That's a historic average. After that, they depart from them. Same thing would I would I think would be basically true across the board for mission organizations and other entities. So this is a missions organization. We're going to read what they said. This is in a book called Rethinking Missions 1932. Anyone remember that? Okay, I want it. The original objective of the mission might be stated as the conquest of the world by Christianity. I don't know if I would use such militant language, but okay, if they just mean softly to take the gospel to all nations and people to believe, great. But they sound a little more militant here. So we may not agree with the original objective. But anyway, this is their statement. One name and one atonement. This plan with this particular historical center in the career of Jesus Christ must become the point of regard for every human 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 the career of Jesus Christ. And that was essential for every human soul, right? That's how it used to be. That is passe.
SPEAKER_02:That means that is outdated. That's outdated now. That's old school.
SPEAKER_01:Nobody believes that anymore. They say Christianity must now recognize that it has no monopoly on truth. 1932.
SPEAKER_02:People wonder, what's wrong with our country? What's wrong?
SPEAKER_01:This has been going on for a few centuries to get to where we are now in our country. It started before the Declaration of Independence and the thinking of people. We could trace it in history if we wanted. We don't have time. It is clearly not the duty of the Christian missionary to attack the non-Christian system of religion. Don't say Buddhism is wrong. Don't say Hinduism is wrong. Don't say Confucianism is wrong. Don't say all these other religious viewpoints are wrong. We're not supposed to do that. Rather, what we're supposed to do is pool our resources with other religions. It's all just one ecumenical, syncretistic, one-world religion. We don't protest if it if Buddhists and Muslims incorporate Christian ideas without becoming Christians. You know, just mix Jesus in with all your other gods. Just put them on the shelf next to all your other gods. He's just another God, just like all the rest of them. We desire the triumph of that final truth. We need not prescribe the route.
SPEAKER_02:Is this what the Bible says? What would they say about Acts chapter 4, verse 12? Acts chapter 4, verse 12. There is no name. You know the rest of it? There's no other name. What would it say? 424? Is that what I said?
SPEAKER_01:412, thank you. Did somebody say 12?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, 12.
SPEAKER_01:There's salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, of which we must be saved. What would they say about that? That's passe. They would have said that before you were born. They were already saying that. What about John 14, 6, where Jesus said, I am the way, the way the truth, and the life. No one sounds to the Father. No does that sound exclusivistic? It sounds like he's the only way. They would say, that's what I say. That's outdated.
SPEAKER_02:I guess Jesus was wrong about that.
SPEAKER_01:Why even be a Christian, right? Just be an ecumenical spirit spiritist or something. 1932. No, Jesus is the only one who was ever sinless. And he's the only one who, when he died, he wasn't dying for his own sin. What he was doing was he was dying for your sin and my sin and the sin of the whole world. Right? That's what makes his death unique among men. The third point, no one has ever decided the exact moment of their death. Ecclesiastes 8 8. It says nobody has authority over the day of their death. Some people say, well, the person who committed suicide. Yeah, but sometimes it's gone wrong 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 die when you pull the trigger, guess what? You're not going to die. Something's going to go wrong. Oh, that probably won't be good either, but you're going to live with whatever the outcome of that is. But nobody except Jesus Christ ever decided the exact moment of their death. That's again what makes his death totally unique. Jesus in John 10, 18. We're almost there, so let's turn back. John 10.18. Verse 17, talking about the good shepherd and the shepherd laying down his life for the sheep and so forth and show on. He has other sheep not of this fold that he's going to bring in. We've got Israel, and now he's got a new fold, the church. Verse 17, for this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life so that I might take it again. Who lays down his life? He's saying, I lay it down. How many of you say, you know, I'm going to go lay my life down now? And then you just die.
SPEAKER_02:Nobody does that.
SPEAKER_01: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 up again. How many of you have that authority? Ecclesiastes 8 8 says, No man has authority over the day of their death. Jesus Christ says, I have authority. I lay down my life, I take it back. Totally unique. What does he say on the cross after the three hours of darkness? He says, it is finished, and then it says he yielded up his spirit. Did he choose not choose the exact moment that he died? He did. He chose the exact moment. And at that moment, the payment for the sins of the world had been made. 1 Timothy 2, 5 and 6, pay for the sins of every man. Let's look at the onlookers, Matthew 27, 50 to 54. Look at the scene. What did others see when they saw him on the cross? And they saw him give up his own life. They saw him choose the moment of his death.
SPEAKER_02:Matthew 27, verse 50. 2750.
SPEAKER_01: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 the temple 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 inches thick, sixty feet tall, and it ripped from the top to the bottom. Can you rip something that's three to four inches thick? Cloth? I don't think so. And it ripped which direction? From bottom to top or top to bottom? Top to bottom. This is talked about. Josephus records what happens and how they tried to interpret this, but they believed there was some kind of judgment from heaven on earth. You think? What was happening at that very moment on Golgotha, the place of the skull, on the cross in the center? Yeah, there was a judgment being issued. Judgment for our sins on the world was being paid for by the Lord of glory. The earth shook and the rocks were split. See, it wasn't just a spiritual thing that happened on the cross, it was affecting nature. It's always that way. There's always an effect on nature when God judges. It says the tombs were opened due to the earthquake, obviously, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised and coming out of the tombs after his raising. That's the exact same Greek word, by the way. Some were raised, came out of the tombs. But it says after his resurrection. Because who's the first to be resurrected from the dead? Who's the first in history to ever be resurrected from the dead? Jesus Christ. He's the firstborn of the dead of the living. 1 Corinthians 15, 21 through 24. But after that, there were actually some other people that were resurrected at this time. Most people don't even believe that today. They believe this is just some metaphorical language. Is it a problem that people be raised after Jesus is raised? Why is that a problem? Doesn't the Bible have this thing called first fruit? Which is an assurance of more to follow? You know the feast of first fruits and all that? Well, Jesus is the first. And then these are part of the first fruits that came immediately after him. What's the first fruit signify? Is there going to be a resurrection for you? Fry. Yes. 1 Corinthians 15, 21 to 24. Christ, these guys, and those who are alive at his coming, along with all who passed away in Christ, will all be resurrected. So yeah, this is a picture of that. 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 is what was thought of. There were Roman centurions guarding 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, keeping guard over Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the things that were happening, they became very frightened and they said, What? Truly this was the Son of God. How many crucifixions do you think the centurion and the and the soldiers that he was over had seen? Hundreds? Let's just say hundreds. Hundreds. Had they ever seen one like this? No. That's the point. It was a totally unique death. So unique that, I mean, these guys aren't even Jews, right? They're Romans. They're Roman soldiers. And they say, did they know what the word on the street was about who he was? Sure. They knew. Everybody knew. This thing wasn't done in a corner in history. Everybody around there knew. Remember the road to Emmaus? Jesus talking to these guys and asking them questions, and they say, Don't you know these things? I mean, everybody knows this stuff. Of course he knew, but he was trying to get them to see who he was. Everybody knew. And so the centurion says, truly this was the Son, of God. You think he believed at that moment?
SPEAKER_02:I think he did. You think you're going to see this centurion in heaven? I think I will.
SPEAKER_01:He believed. A totally unique death. The last on this point is Hebrews chapter 7, verse 26 and 27, which make this entirely unique because never has this ever happened before and never will it ever happen again. Hebrews chapter 7, verse 26. You've got the priests in the Old Testament. The priests are offering the sacrifice. Someone brings the sacrifice. Right? They go through the process of pouring out the blood and getting the sacrifice ready, and the priest offers it. That happened hundreds and thousands of times. But something happened on the day of the cross that had never happened before. Hebrews 7, 26 and 27. It was fitting for us to have such a high priest. Now, who's the whole high priest talking about here? Christ, right? Christ. Holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heaven. A priest who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for his own sins and then for the sins of the people. Why? Because this he did once for all when he offered up himself. How many high priests offered themselves on the altar?
SPEAKER_02:One. One.
SPEAKER_01:Never before this did a high priest offer themselves. They had to offer other sacrifices for themselves and then sacrifices for the people. But Jesus Christ, who had no sin, offers up himself as his own high priest. He was both priest and sacrifice. And that makes his death totally unique in the world. Now, well, we'll talk about these things next week because we're a little after time. But now we want to talk about the cosmic effects of his death next week. But hopefully this will give you a little taste. There's so many things in the Gospels. If you read through, 25% of the Gospels center on the event of his death. And Jesus never ever said, I want you to remember my birth and I want you to remember my life. But he said many times, I want you to remember my death. And when we take communion, what are we remembering? We're remembering his death. And when we see a believer baptized, what are we picturing? That when we believe we are crucified with Christ, buried with him and raised to live a new life. See, over and over, the emphasis in the New Testament is on the Christ and Him crucified. And it is so central, it really does dominate the pages of the New Testament. And if we're not giving attention to it and we're not in or we're not understanding it, something's not going to be right in our Christian life. There's a reason he said, I want you to remember it. There's a reason he says he wants us to go back to the foot of the cross over and over and over. Not just to go to heaven, but Christians to go back to the cross over and over and over. Why? Because it's still the instrument that gives us the uh ability to overwhelm the things weren't going back to it. You're going to live a carnal life because this is the thing. You can't do it. You cannot live the Christian life. It's not possible for you to generate the Christian life. You can't generate it. It's very clear in Galatians. You've got the deeds of the flesh, and you've got the fruit of the Spirit. And the fruit of the Spirit is not coming from you. It's coming from Him through you. Our responsibility is to what? Walk by the Spirit. And you will not fulfill the desires of the flesh, right? What does that mean? Walk by the Spirit. If you lose sight of this, go hang out at one of the local old folks' homes. You'll see people ambulating with dependence on a walker. That walker is, by illustration, the Holy Spirit. He's the one that enables you to walk a Christian life. You have to depend on him. What do most old people want to do with those walkers? They don't want to use that. I think the same thing is true for Christians. We want to do it ourselves. We don't want to depend on the Spirit of God. But this is what the Bible keeps telling us over and over. If you don't walk in dependence upon that, well, get ready. Just read the list of the deeds of the flesh. It's not a pretty picture. So what do we want? We want the pretty picture, but how do we get there? We have to learn to walk in dependence upon him. That's the concept of walk by the Spirit, ambulating in dependence upon him and his strength. So that Christ's life is poured out through ours, so that there's love, there's joy, there's peace, there's patience, there's kindness, there's gentleness, there's self-control. Against those things, there's no law, right? That's the only way. But that's why we have to keep going back to the foot of the cross, because unless we go back to the foot of the cross, we're not remembering that we can't generate it. We're not remembering that he came to pay the penalty for our sin. And we start to lose sight and think I'm a good person. We start to think I can do this. And that's why every day we have to go back and say, no, I can't. And that's why every epistle of Paul ends this way: the grace of God be with you. Why? Because grace is his enablement to live the Christian life. Without that, you can't do it again. And his grace is explored through the life by the Spirit. That's how it takes place. 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 experience it probably today again. Just not being honest.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you for joining us on Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas. If you would like to see the visuals that went along with today's sermon, you can find those on Rumble and on YouTube, UnderSbook, and Bible Church. That is where Jeremy is the pastor and teacher. We hope you found today's lesson productive and useful in growing closer to God and walking more obediently with Him. If you found this podcast to be useful and helpful, then please consider writing us in your favorite podcast app. And until next time, we hope you have a blessed and wonderful day.