April 21, 2024

The following transcript has been electronically transcribed. Any errors in spelling, syntax, or grammar should be attributed to the electronic method of transcription and its inherent limitations. Mark chapter 10, just one simple verse. I say simple. There is nothing simple about this verse. It's one short verse. A verse that all Christians, I would say this unequivocally, unequivocally, all Christians should commit to memory. If you have not committed this memory, this verse to memory, then let me encourage you to leave here this morning having memorized this verse. If you haven't, then commit this verse to memory. This is one of the most important verses in all of the Bible. One of the most important verses, one of the most significant verses, certainly in the gospel of Mark. This is chapter 10 and verse 45. So we begin just by. Recounting the verse, reading the verse together from verse 45, we read it this way. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many. One of the most tragic, Destructive and demonstrably false lies is the lie that just continues to seem to grow in popularity, and it's the lie that Jesus basically lost control of this ministry, that he underestimated the hatred of his enemies. He overestimated the devotion of his disciples. He misjudged the situation, he miscalculated the situation, and before he knew it, things had gotten out of hand and he was on a cross. And what a wonderful teacher he had been. But what would he have accomplished had he not lost his life so early? If he had not misjudged the situation and ended up being executed on this Roman cross, if he had lived longer, just look at what he accomplished in three short years, had he lived another ten or twenty years, think of the difference that he would have made. That is one of the most vicious, pernicious, destructive, and easily demonstrated to be false lies that we hear today. Jesus never lost control. Jesus never misjudged the situation. Jesus never was misguided in his assessment. Of the things that were taking place and unfolding before him, rather, we see a picture of Jesus who is in complete control of the events and leading the events up to the point at which he seeks to lead them up to, which is what this verse is all about. For even the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. Jesus explains to us or delivers to us, declares to us. His purpose in coming and his purpose in coming is contained here in this one of the most significant most important verses of Scripture And so we'll just walk through this verse word by word. Just walk through it phrase by phrase understanding Jesus's words and then we will turn our thoughts to this most precious and somewhat difficult of doctrines of Scripture To grasp to get our arms around the purpose of Jesus is coming the central main purpose of his coming So in our message this morning We will have truths that most of us those of us who have been part of the family of God for many years Those of us who have been exposed to the teaching of the gospel for our whole lives or most of our lives We will talk this morning about truths that are so second nature that we've heard our whole lives that are simple Oh And clear and easy to understand, yet precious to us, yet we will also be deeply challenged. What this message will hold for us this morning is some difficulty. I will be asking quite a lot of you, the listener, this morning. I often do that. But throughout the course of the message this morning, you will be asked a lot to stretch your mind, to stretch your soul, around the reality, the truth of one of the most foundational and important doctrines of all the Scriptures. And so to begin, we just remind ourself that Jesus, this passage, this verse begins with the word for, of course, and that always indicates to us that what's about to be said is inextricably connected to what was just said. What is about to be said is offered as a further explanation. Or a definition or an illustration or a clarification of what was just said. So what was just said was Jesus's well known words about greatness. Those who would be great must be servant. Those who would be first must be slave of all. And then he begins this way. For, in other words, this is going to illustrate or clarify or explain This saying that he just gave us true greatness is found in servitude. True greatness is found in humbly serving others for, he says, even the son of man. So here he says there is a principle at work in the kingdom of God. And that principle that's at work within the kingdom of God is the principle that redefines true greatness to be essentially the opposite of what the world teaches us that greatness is true. True greatness is not reaching the. Pinnacle of the pyramid. True greatness is the base of the pyramid. And Jesus says this is a principle that applies throughout the kingdom of God, not just to the redeemed sinners, but to all of the kingdom of God. Because Jesus says Even the Son of Man, meaning that this principle that I've just laid out for you applies even to me. This is even how the Son of Man perceives true greatness. So you are no different than I, says Jesus here, in the sense that greatness is found for all of us in this. For even the Son The son of man. Now that phrase there son of man. We've talked about this before. In fact, we mentioned it somewhat briefly last week We have spent a great deal of time on the son of man back when we were studying through Daniel and Daniel chapter 7 we spent some more time thinking about the son of man the phrase son of man when we were looking at the trial, the arrest and the trial and the crucifixion of Christ on a Good Friday message a couple years ago. And so we've talked about this phrase, son of man, but we need to revisit it at least for a little bit this morning. Because without doing so, we will be lacking something for everything else that follows because everything else that follows is resting on this title, son of man. So this title, son of man, it is by far Jesus's preferred way to refer to himself. Some 78 times we find it in the gospels. We find it some 14 times in Mark's gospel. There isn't even a close second. There isn't even a distant second in terms of what Jesus prefers. to call himself. He calls himself Son of Man over and over and over. He does not refer to himself as Christ or Messiah or, the Son of God. Anywhere close to how he refers to himself as Son of Man. It is his preferred way to think of himself and to speak of himself. So let's visit Daniel 7 for just a few moments and let's remind ourself or perhaps see for the first time What this phrase son of man is packed with so we mentioned last Sunday that son of man though It sounds like Jesus is emphasizing his humanity It sounds like son of man is just saying hey I'm the son of a human like you meaning his mother Mary But that's not at all what Jesus is emphasizing with his title son of man This comes straight from Daniel chapter 7 and Daniel chapter 7. We have this vision and vision And in this vision we see from verse 13, Daniel says this, I saw in the night visions and behold, with the clouds of heaven, there came one like a son of man. So there's the title. That's where it came from right there. That's what Jesus is referring to. Every time he uses this title, there came one on the clouds. Like a son of man and he came to the ancient of days, meaning the Father, he came to the ancient of days and was Presented before him and to him meaning the son of man to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom and That all people's nations and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed. So that entire phrasing right there, that is what Jesus intends to communicate by this title, son of man, he is saying to us. His self-perception, the way that Jesus perceives his self, is what the vision of Daniel just described. Meaning, that this vision of one like the Son of Man is a vision of a God man, a divine human, who is divine. Who has come for the mission for the purpose of being Messiah King and this Messiah King who is God man is one who has come to inaugurate or to initiate this everlasting kingdom, which will offer to him service and worship. for eternity. It will be an everlasting, never ending kingdom. And furthermore, it will be a kingdom made up of people from all languages, all tribes, all nations, all peoples. That is what the son of man is referring to. So when Jesus says the son of man came, what he's saying is, This figure that Daniel saw who came on the clouds, a God man who came as Messiah King to inaugurate an eternal kingdom made up of people of all nations, tribes and tongues. That's what Jesus means when he says son of man. So this title is highly, highly messianic, probably the most messianic title that Jesus could have used for himself. So in referring to himself, he chooses to use the title that emphasizes. His divine human role as Messiah, which makes a lot of sense for us. His divine role as has, or his divine human role as Messiah King who has come to bring forth his kingdom. So this was the understanding Jesus had of the title. Was it also the understanding that others had of this title? And it certainly was. We can look to the reaction, for example, the reaction of the priest in Mark chapter 14, when they declared, when they asked to Jesus, Jesus, just tell us. He's on trial here. They say, tell us plainly. Are you the son of the blessed one? Are you the chosen one? And Jesus answers to say, I am and I say to you, you will see the son of man coming on the clouds. You see the connection there. You see the clear connection to Daniel's vision. Daniel sees one coming on the clouds, one like a son of man. Jesus says, you will see the son of man coming on the clouds. And right at that moment, And Jesus says that you go goes on to say, and he was seated at the right hand of the Father in power and glory. And then the priest tears his robes and declares, we have no more need for any more evidence. We spent enough time on this. Everyone just heard his blasphemy. So clearly the chief priest understood what Jesus meant by calling himself the Son of Man and specifically saying you'll see the Son of Man coming on the clouds. He knew what that meant and he being the chief priest and in charge of the doctrine so to speak of Israel therefore we know that Israel the Jews understood, they had the same understanding. Son of Man was a title that meant the Divine One. The God-man, Messiah, King, who is coming to inaugurate his kingdom and the vision of Daniel says there will be a day when you see him coming on the clouds. That's what Jesus means. So for even the son of man. Came now when we read that word came what is saying to us is that Jesus is about to explain to us He's about to declare to us the reason for his coming the Son of Man came And then he's going to go on to give the reason first expressed in a negative What he didn't come to do, and then expressed in a positive what he did come to do. So we often speculate, many people have speculated, there's been tons of books written about why Jesus came, why did Jesus become a man, why did Jesus come to earth, and all sorts of speculation has been offered up. But notice that Jesus here, He doesn't speculate, He declares, I came for this reason. Now this isn't to say that this is the exclusive reason or the all-encompassing reason that Jesus came. Jesus also healed. He also taught, there's other things, but he is saying here, this is the purpose. This was the central reason for my coming. The son of man came. And then he says, the son of man came, first of all, not to be served, but to serve and give his life. So he says, first of all, I didn't come for this and I didn't come to be served, but instead I came to serve. So here we see a glimpse into the, Servant Messiah, the Servant King that Isaiah speaks of Isaiah 42, Isaiah 53 speaks of the Servant King, and this would call to memory or call to mind of the disciples passages such as Isaiah 42, Behold, my servant, whom I uphold my chosen in whom my soul delights. I have put my spirit upon him. He will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice or make it heard in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench. He will faithfully bring forth justice. We see there the strong servant motif, Isaiah 52 and verse 13, behold, my servant shall act wisely. He shall be high and lifted up and he shall be exalted. And in the very next verse, which we didn't have space, I ran out of space. There's so much Scripture for this, but we didn't have space. If we continue with verse 14, verse 14 begins with that long section of the suffering Messiah, the one whom we esteem stricken, the one whom we esteemed to be stricken by God, the one whom we did not regard highly that begins that whole section there. So Jesus just said, the son of man. Even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve. So recalling the vision of Daniel in Daniel 7, that was a vision that showed the Son of Man high and lifted up, high and lofty, coming on the clouds, receiving the worship of His people, of His redeemed people, comprised of all nations, languages, and tongues. But here Jesus uses the very same phrase, the Son of Man, and then he goes on to describe not the Son of Man's exaltation, but the Son of Man's service, the Son of Man's deaconing, his ministry, his serving of others. So the disciples head, I imagine, must be spinning by this point. Because they're aware of the vision of Daniel. They're aware of the high and lofty vision of the Son of Man. They're also aware of the servant passages. And Jesus just puts the two of these together to say, this high and lofty Son of Man, coming to inaugurate His kingdom, is coming to serve and so here the disciples must have encountered yet again something that they could not possibly have grasped at the time. And that is the fact that oftentimes when the Scriptures speak of the coming Messiah, it will speak of the coming Messiah in two ways. How many times does Messiah come? Twice. Not a trick question. Messiah comes twice. You're overthinking it. Messiah comes twice. Messiah came to Bethlehem. And Messiah is coming again to Mount of Olives. Messiah comes two times. And often times the Scriptures will speak of those two comings right in the same passage. And the first coming was a coming in service and humility. The second coming is a coming in exaltation. and majesty. And oftentimes the prophetic Scriptures will speak of both of those comings in the same breath. Look again at Isaiah 42, the servant passage, behold, my servant, whom I uphold my chosen and whom my soul delights. I put my spirit in him. And he will bring forth justice to the nations. You hear the high and loftiness of the Messiah there. But then it goes on. He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice or make it heard in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break and a faintly burning wick he will not quench. You see the lowliness and the humility there. Or Isaiah 53, 52 again in verse 13. Behold, my servant shall act wisely. He shall be high and lifted up and shall be exalted. Then verse 14 begins. And we esteemed him lowly, we esteemed him stricken, we esteemed him cursed of God. You see? And the Scriptures will often do that, put both of those comings together. One is high and lifted up, the other is lowly. So Jesus here does the same thing, the Son of Man. Putting into their minds images of the high and lofty, the high and lifted up one. But then, immediately saying, he didn't come to be high and lifted up, he has come to serve. He has come not to be served, but to serve. Now, who is he serving? He's serving God's people, and ultimately he's serving his Father. He came to not be served, but to serve. Serve his people, serve his Father, And he came to be served and to give his life as ransom for many or give his life as a ransom for many. So when he says he came to give his life, there's two ways that we can think of giving one's life, isn't it? We can think of someone who gives their life in sort of a metaphoric way. We can say that this person. Gave their life to serve the poor or this person gave their life for the cause of justice or this person gave their life for this or that. And what we mean is that that person had such a focused energy on a particular mission or goal or purpose or cause that we could say they gave their life to this cause. Or we could say that you give your life, meaning something more literally, such as maybe the soldier gave his life for his friends in battle, or the policeman gave his life to protect the citizens that he was protecting. So you can give your life in this literal way. Or you can give your life in this sort of metaphorical way. Jesus here, the passage, if we look at the context of the passage, the passage will not allow us to think of it as Jesus saying he gives his life in this metaphorical way. It won't allow that. It won't allow that primarily because Jesus just talked about Why he's going to Jerusalem. He's going to Jerusalem to be given over to the Gentiles, to be put on trial, to be convicted, to be executed. So the context won't allow a sort of metaphorical understanding. Jesus is saying here, he came to give his life in a literal way, in a literal death way. He came to give his life as a ransom for many, or in place of, instead of. Right there we see the, the, the Greek word from which we get our word anti. Now, when we use that, we usually mean something against or opposed to, but in the context, this prefix always means something like in place of, or instead of, there's an example there in your notes there, there's others we could look at, but suffice to say, that means very specifically in place of, or in the stead of another, he came to give his life in the place of, in the stead of, as a ransom. So this is his mission that he clearly defined, and he says that his mission is to give his life as a ransom. So now we come up against this word ransom, and we simply, I think, have to agree that We cannot understand what Jesus is saying without understanding what He means by this word ransom. Would you agree that the whole meaning of Jesus purpose is tied up in the understanding of what He means by ransom? So, fortunately, when we come across this word ransom, we have come across a word that has widespread usage in the Old Testament, also the New Testament, and beyond that, not only the word, but the idea is very prevalent in the Old Testament and the New Testament. But we find the word itself also, and you notice there's many examples, you can chase those down later if you want. But when we find this word, we also have the other advantage of looking at a concept, looking at a reality that's represented by this word ransom. That is not a word that has multiple meanings. It's not a word that depends so much on the context. Oftentimes we have to say, We must look at the context to understand the sense of this word. Instead, when we find ransom in Scripture, it always means the same thing, and it always has the same context. Just like our word ransom today. You don't struggle to understand what ransom means today because there's only one meaning of that word. Same thing in the Old Testament as well as the New Testament. So when we find the word ransom in Scripture, what we always find is this principle. The securing of a release from bondage by means of a payment. That's what it means today. The securing of the release from captivity or bondage by means of the paying of a price. So we find this word all throughout the Old Testament, particularly in the Old Testament law. The Mosaic law, Leviticus, Numbers, Exodus is very prevalent in those three books. But when we find it, it always means something akin to that, something having to do with a type of bondage. Right type of captivity and then the being released from that captivity by means of a payment. For example, there's one example, there's many more that we could look at, but there's one example in your notes from Exodus chapter 31. And you can see the scenario here, you can read through the scenario, it's saying quite plainly. That there was a law that was instituted and the law said that when there was an ox that gored a person to death Well, then the ox had to die. The ox was going to be put to death, but then there were further stipulations The stipulations were this that not only would the ox be put to death But if it was determined that the ox had had a tendency to do that Or in other words, the ox had displayed aggressiveness or a difficulty to control or something of that nature. Then not only would the ox be put to death, but the owner would be put to death as well. So you see there the principle, a principle of jurisprudence that's present even today. It has to do with levels of guilt. If there was an owner who owned an ox and he didn't know that this ox was capable of doing that, and a person lost their life. Well, then the owner of the ox lost an ox. But if there was greater guilt, meaning that the owner knew about this and didn't take appropriate steps to protect others, then, well, then there was with greater guilt comes greater punishment. He would lose his life also, unless. There was a ransom put on his life, so the ransom could be assigned according to the family members of the one who was killed. And if the ransom, if the family chose to put a ransom on the man's life, and the man paid the ransom, he would then be released. So you see, It's the same idea. The idea of bondage or captivity. He's in bondage to this sentence. He's in captivity to the carrying out of the sentence and freedom from that bondage can possibly come by way of payment. That's made to the family and there's many scenarios that we see in the Old Testament scenarios of slaves Different scenarios of different crimes that are committed, but they always have that same commonality that there's a type of bondage or captivity That can be really one can be released from through the payment of a ransom So Jesus now says my purpose the reason I came is to give my life as a ransom for many So when he says that we must automatically see that there are at least three implications, three necessary implications in what Jesus just said. First of all, when Jesus said his purpose is to give his life as a ransom for many, the necessary implication is that those whom he is ransoming are in a state of bondage. You don't ransom someone out of bondage. a situation that wasn't a situation of captivity or bondage. You don't ransom people out of pleasant situations. You ransom them out of captive situations, unpleasant situations. So the assumption is that Jesus as the ransom, giving his life as the ransom, necessarily means that those he gives his life for are in bondage. We are reminded there, Jesus words, Mark chapter, I'm sorry, John chapter eight, verse 34. Everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin or the larger teaching of the New Testament that tells us that we are in captivity to sin until Christ sets us free. And so Jesus is saying that my ransom payment is for those who are in bondage, We must recognize our bondage to sin. We must recognize our captivity to sin. We must recognize that sin, apart from Christ, holds us captive. Otherwise, his ransom doesn't apply to us. As he said in earlier in Mark's gospel, he came for the sick, not the healthy. He didn't come for those who don't recognize their sinful, depraved condition of captivity to sin. So, the implication is, As he comes to give his life a ransom for many, he's giving it to those who are captive to sin and understand that they are captives to sin. Secondly, the second implication is that as he gives his life a ransom for many, the ransoming of his people requires a payment. That's the whole idea behind a ransom, is that a ransom is a payment giving for the release of those who are in bondage. So the implication is that in order for Christ to be a ransom, there is a payment that has to be made. And we're told in 1 Peter chapter 8, I'm sorry, 1 Peter chapter 1 verses 18 and 19, that that ransom payment was the life of Christ, knowing that you were ransomed from the feudal ways you were held captive, you are in bondage to the feudal ways of your lostness, knowing that you were ransomed out of that and you inherited your that you inherited from your foreFathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, meaning that you were What ransomed you out of your slavery to sin wasn't a payment of gold or silver, but instead the payment was the precious blood of Christ. The same thing Jesus says here, I came to give my life as ransom or my life as payment to remove these people from their state of bondage. So that's, that's assumption number two. Assumption number three or inference number three is that when Jesus says that he came to give his life as a ransom for many, The implication is if he's saying my purpose is to give my life as ransom that he's able to do that and that his life when given up will be the proper and appropriate payment to release those from captivity or from bondage. All right, so now what we've now laid before us is the biblical principle of best way to call it is just to use the technical phrase. Penal substitution, that's a word or that's a phrase that we may not throw that phrase around a whole lot and may sound awful theological, but it's a very helpful phrase because what that phrase does is it puts into words the principle that Jesus just described the principle of the payment of a ransom in exchange for the freedom of captives. We refer to this as penal substitution, so we understand substitution, substituting one for another. Penal has to do with punishment, such as penitentiary or penal colony. And so what those two words together are saying is that there is a punishment meted out to a substitute, Jesus being the substitute who receives the punishment for our sin. And that punishment for our sin is then treated, that payment is treated as the ransom, which purchases the freedom of those who are being ransomed. The principle, the biblical doctrine of penal substitution. Now, if this doctrine of penal substitution is something that to you sounds like what you've heard your whole life. If it sounds to you like, well, that is the gospel that is salvation, then let me just profess my, relation to you and saying to me as well. I mean, I grew up in a context in which that just was the gospel. That was the means of salvation to understand that Christ was punished on my behalf. And that's what the cross was about. That's what happened on the cross was the wrath of God. Was poured upon Christ, and that was my wrath and yours and the pouring out of God's wrath upon Christ on the cross Is what purchases the freedom of those who by faith and repentance are put into Christ And so that's something that I have heard my entire life and it wasn't until somewhat 10 or 15 years that I began to realize what a Small view that is in the larger scheme of what those globally would call Christianity. And in fact, that there are a great, great many people who don't accept such a doctrine, the largest group being known as Roman Catholics. Roman Catholics reject the doctrine of penal substitution, as do many others who would call themself evangelical Christians. So the question would be, why do they reject such a doctrine, and if so, are they rejecting something that Scripture clearly teaches? Why would they reject such a doctrine? Well, many consider it to be just a very, well, she would say bloody, cruel. It's been called divine child abuse. It's been called atonement by means of violence. It's been called things worse than that. So those who would reject the doctrine of penal substitution, those who would reject the doctrine that those who are put into Christ are put into Christ by means of the punishment of Christ on our behalf. Amen. What do they believe happened on the cross? What are the alternative views? There's two. In general, there's two alternative views for what happened on the cross if it wasn't penal substitution. And the first view would just simply be the divine victory of good over evil, that the cross was just simply the defeat of evil on the part of good, nothing more, nothing less than that. A somewhat lesser view would be just the example view that Jesus dies on the cross as this supreme example, as this supreme act of love. And this supreme showing of an example of this is how you give yourself for others. Those are the alternative views. to the doctrine of penal substitution. Neither one, neither one hold any water whatsoever. But it is surprising to begin to realize just how many would claim the name of Christian and reject this doctrine. It's very widespread and getting more widespread. So the question we now must ask is, when we cling to this doctrine of penal substitution, are we clinging to something that the Scriptures teach about? Maybe with scarcity. Maybe the teaching of penal substitution is, is something, maybe rare in the Scriptures. Maybe there's a couple places that we find it and even then, we've got to do some interpretive gymnastics maybe to arrive there. Or is the case, as what we'll see, is the case that the Scripture teaches it Not just somewhat, but instead prolifically, literally from cover to cover, and that's what we find. We find that we actually run out of time and space before we exhaust what the Scriptures have to say and not when the Scriptures address this. It's not as though they address it sideways. They address it head on. Let's just look at a few of the examples in your notes from Isaiah 53. One of the Supreme passages in the Old Testament that teaches the doctrine of penal substitution. He, meaning the Messiah, Christ, was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And as one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised, and yet we esteemed him not. Surely, He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. And by his wounds we are healed. We are healed there. You have phrase after phrase after phrase that are speaking to us in very plain terms When Jesus gives his life upon the cross. He's doing it in a way that is receiving the wrath of God on our behalf on a way that is receiving punishment on our behalf and by means of his punishment The ransom is paid and we can be set free. Look at Romans chapter 3. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by His grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. And here it is quite plainly whom God put forth as propitiation by his blood. Propitiation is a word that simply means a gift that is given in exchange for forgiveness. If you would, forget your spouse's anniversary or forget your spouse's birthday, and she's quite angry at you and hasn't spoken to you for a couple of days, and then you bring home this, A nice big gift of roses and chocolates and, night out at her favorite restaurant. That is a propitiation. That is a gift that's given by one who is in return seeks forgiveness or restoration or reconciliation. So Paul says quite plainly, God put forth Christ as propitiation by his blood. Galatians chapter three, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a, by a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree. Romans 5. For while we were still weak, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For one would scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person, one would dare even to die. But God shows his love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Second Corinthians 5 21 tells us what happens on the cross. What happens on the cross is there is a type of divine exchange, a trading places in which Christ on the cross trades places with the condemned sinner. He, for his, for our sake, he made him who knew no sin. To be sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. That's that trading places that exchange that takes place on the cross. The first Peter chapter two in verse 24. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds, you have been healed Colossians 2 verses 13 and 14 and you who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh. God made alive together with him having forgiven us all our trespasses. How did he forgive us our trespasses by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands? He set this aside by nailing it. So when Paul uses the word cross there, he doesn't mean the cross in terms of a wooden beam that goes up and a wooden cross beam. When he says cross, what he means is the doctrine of penal substitution. What he's speaking of is the biblical truth that Christ gave his life as ransom for those who were captive. So what Paul says is your sin debt was nailed to that doctrine of penal substitution. Christ nailed it there when he gave his life as ransom for many. Like the song that we sung earlier, the old, the old account that just sort of puts it metaphorically, just like Paul puts it, this word picture sort of way, as though there were this document. That documented all of your sins and that document that that had a record of all your sins. Jesus took that document, nailed it to the cross, put his hand right on top of it, and the spike went through both. That's the picture that Paul's painting here. And so when we talk about this, this biblical truth, that Christ's life, his purpose was to give his life in place of the guilty. And by giving his life in place of the guilty, by paying a purchase price, the freedom of the guilty is attained. This is not a minor doctrine in Scripture. This is the most fundamental doctrine The gospel does not exist without this doctrine. If Christ just defeated the forces of evil on the cross, there is no gospel. If Christ was merely our example for how to supremely give yourself for another, there is no gospel. Do you see how either there is a gospel that saves sinners and it's this, or we're hopeless? There is no hope for salvation. There is no hope for redemption aside from from a ransom price being paid on behalf of the sinner to secure their release. This is, in essence, the gospel. If you lose this, you're You've lost the gospel. So this is a doctrine that we embrace. And even though it speaks of the horrible punishment of our savior, it is a doctrine that the Christian finds beautiful and precious because it is this very doctrine that secures our freedom for us. It is this very doctrine that teaches us that we are not our own, that he has bought us, That we are his now that we are owned by him. So this is a doctrine that once we see this in the Scriptures, I think that immediately there are two questions that should press upon if this is a doctrine that you have perhaps never thought deeply about. Maybe these questions are new, or perhaps this is something that you have thought long about. And then the same two questions are here. But I think that whenever we think about the doctrine of Christ giving his life as ransom for many, we must face these two very important questions. And the first question is simply this. If Christ gave his life as a ransom payment, who was paid? Don't you think that's a fairly important question? And it's a question that really must be asked when we face the reality of Christ's payment for sinners to who was paid, who is the payment given to? So when we think of a ransom payment, we think of a ransom payment being given to the bad guys, don't we? Because a ransom in our context is something like a kidnapping. You know, we've watched movies and there's somebody that's kidnapped and there's a ransom price and, and if the ransom price is delivered, then the person will be set free. So the ransom is paid to the bad guy. Furthermore, I think that when you think about it, maybe the natural conclusion that we come to is, is still the ransom is still paid to the bad guy because. Aren't we told that Satan is the God of this age? Aren't we told that those who are apart from Christ are captive to their sin? So wouldn't it make sense that when Christ pays the ransom payment, He pays it to Satan? I think that's the natural assumption. That's called the ransom theory of atonement. And some have taken that position before. In fact, if you've read, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Who's read that book? Wonderful, wonderful book. But there seem to be elements of that in the story of the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. C. S. Lewis did not believe in the Ransom Theory of Atonement. But nevertheless, there's some elements of that in the story. In the fictionalized story. So there's Aslan, who represents Christ. There's the White Witch. Who represents Satan and then there's Edmund. Edmund is the traitor. He's the one that betrayed his brothers and sisters and betrayed Aslan. And then the White Witch owns him. But then Aslan rescues him by giving his life on the stone table instead of Edmund. And right there, it's pictured in the story, the White Witch and Aslan go off by themselves and they're talking. And then Aslan tells the White Witch, There is this principle that if an innocent one gives his life in place of a guilty one, then the spell is broken. And right there, that points us to this idea that Christ made this payment to Satan. We must reject that idea, and we must reject it wholeheartedly for at least two reasons. Number one, Christ never negotiates anything with Satan. That is absolutely foreign to the Scriptures, completely alien to the Scriptures altogether. Instead, we're told in Colossians chapter 2 that Christ triumphed over him. Triumphed over him in victory. That's not the picture of Christ negotiating some release of these captives that Satan holds. You But secondly, we see that the payment of the ransom to Satan is not anything that fits within the context of the ransom that's being paid. Instead, what we see is that the ransom that is paid is not paid to Satan, it's paid to God. But then that raises the second question, which I think is an even more pressing and difficult question to answer. And the question is, why? Why must a ransom be paid? And in what sense does the paying of the life of Christ purchase our freedom? Purchase our forgiveness? In what sense is that just at all? In fact, if you were to ask many people, who are, what we would call maybe the millennial generation. One idea that's found very offensive is the idea that the punishment of one frees another from guilt. You may have encountered that. A lot of people really struggle with that idea. That the punishment of one Freeze a different one from the from guilt. People would say there's where's the justice in that? Where's the justice in the punishment of an innocent one on behalf of a guilty one? That doesn't seem like justice at all. That seems like a perversion of justice. So the question and I feel it's a very pressing question is the question Why must a ransom be paid at all, and what exactly does a ransom purchase? So to answer this question, let's come at it from this angle. Let's come at it from the angle of thinking of sin against God in terms of ransom. Of doing harm to his glory of stripping him of glory of denying him glory of perverting his glory. Okay, the Scriptures speak of our sin in terms of of our sin doing damage to the glory of God or taking glory from God. In fact, one of the most significant passages in the Scripture that speaks to us of the doctrine of penal substitution of Christ being substituted on our behalf. One of the most. Critical passages of Scripture comes to us in Romans chapter three and we all know Romans chapter three for all have sin and Fallen short or literally the word there is lacked for all have sin and lacked the glory of God So that's the principle that's being put forth there. Is that sin in a certain there's a certain aspect There's a certain reality of sin that sin strips God of glory Script sin takes from God a certain type of glory taken from him. Now, we can't ultimately rob God of glory. Ultimately, God will be glorified. But in this age and in this life, there's a certain sense in which sin strips God of glory. Why does sin strip God of glory? Because we were made in His image. We bear his image and the, and God is a glorious God whose character is told to us by way of the law of God. And so when we violate the law of God, we are violating his character. So when one who is made in the image of God. We are made in the image of God who calls himself truth. He is truth. When we speak untruth, we strip him of glory, in a sense, because our speaking untruth is a denial of his character and he made us in his image. You see how that works? So there's a sense in which when we sin, our sin is a strike against God's glory. Picture in your mind this image. The image of God. Maybe, maybe a Roman Caesar, a painting of a Roman Caesar or a statue of a Roman Caesar and the subjects, they go and they take that painting and they tear it off the wall and they throw it on the ground. They sort of stomp on it. And, and by stomping on that painting or that image of the Caesar, they are stripping it of a certain type of glory. Now, they didn't stomp on the Caesar himself. They didn't pull down a statue of the Caesar and hurt the Caesar himself. They were defacing an image of him. But by defacing an image of him, they have, in a sense, dishonored him, dis-glorified him. I was reading, or we were reading, Reading just recently in a book about the Revolutionary War of an incident that took place on July 9th, 1776. I'm sure you've heard of this incident in which there was this huge, in New York, there was this huge, equestrian statue of King George the third. It was one third bigger than real life up on this big marble pedestal. It was a lead statue covered in gold. And if you know anything about revolutionary times there, you know that the one place in the colonies that had the largest population of loyalists was New York. New York was sort of this tit and tat back and forth. They weren't quite sure who they were for. That, that sort of thing. Well, July 9th independence was declared. They the, the colonists who were in favor of independence, they go and they tear down the statue of King George and they break the head off the statue. They cut the nose off the statue, they cut one of the ears off the statue, and then they take the head and they stick it on a, on. A post on a, on a stake, out in front of the city defacing the image there of King George the third. So they had done great damage to his glory. It wasn't him, but they had defaced his glory. So in defacing his glory, they are stripping him of a type of honor. Now how is that stripping of honor? How is that rectified? When one strips another of honor or glory in such a way, when one defaces another like that. How is that situation rectified? It's rectified when the one who did the stripping of honor or the stripping of glory themself is stripped of honor or glory. So as the events unfolded there, they tore down the statue, they took off the head, they stuck it on a stake. Well, a few days later, the loyalists come back and they find the ones who did that and they. They tarred and feathered them. You see how that worked. They stripped them of honor and glory, and that was a way of retribution. And that was a way of restoring the glory or the honor of King George. Now if that sounds farfetched, let me just point out to you that that's how all of us think. All of us think in terms of when a wrong has been done. Somebody's got to pay for it. When a wrong has been done. When? When a dishonor has been done, it's made right when the one who was dishonored is themself dishonored. That is how the human heart was made to think That is how the human heart was created to process dishonor in this life. When dishonor is done, in order to, for justice to be served, in order for justice to be had, the one who did the dishonoring is themself. Forced to suffer some sort of equivalent type of dishonor. I was just this week on Tuesday this week. I spent six or seven hours in a room with incarcerated individuals and throughout the course of the day. All these individuals are individuals who are approaching the end of their Incarceration they're all within about one year of their release. Some of them have been held for A long time. Some of them have been held for 26 years and they are approaching the end of their time of incarceration. And as the day went on and we sort of talked back and forth about different things, one of the things that became very apparent to me was their understanding of what their time in prison was all about. What is prison time all about? Well, there's three possibilities. There's three purposes, three possible purposes of prison. One is rehabilitation, to remake the individual into a better individual. The second possibility is to take a dangerous person out of society, to make society safer by taking a dangerous person out of society. The third option is this idea of paying a debt to society. Haven't you heard that? Pay a debt to society. Do you know what idea is prevalent among those who are, who had almost completed their time? The third. That, that is almost totally their perception of what they were doing behind bars. It wasn't being rehabilitated. And it wasn't keeping society safe. Do you know what? All of those individuals knew exactly the day in which they're going to be released. Every one of them, they knew exactly the day they're going to be released. If the purpose of putting them behind bars is to rehabilitate them, how do you sign a sign and an exact date to that? If that's the purpose, then they're released when the rehabilitation is done. If the purpose is to keep society safe, then once again, how do you assign a date to that? Because the date of release should then be once this person is no longer a threat. If instead the purpose is to repay a debt to society, well now you can assign a date. And that's how the system works. And that's how it's understood. So think about that idea of repaying a debt to society. Where did that come from? When someone commits a violent crime in Oklahoma City, how does that person owe you a debt? How does that person owe society a debt? And how is time spent behind bars the repaying of a debt? That makes no sense whatsoever, unless the human heart When dishonor is done, it's made right when the one who has done a dishonoring is themself dishonored. You see, that's what prison is about. That's the way society is built. And that's the way you think. Because when something happens to you, what's the first thing you think? Somebody needs to pay for this. Somebody needs, somebody needs to, if I've been made to suffer, then somebody else should suffer. Now you might catch yourself and say, Oh, that's not the Christian way to think. And hopefully you do, but do you see how that's your initial reaction? That's how the human heart was made to think. When something causes me to suffer, when somebody causes me dishonor, they should be dishonored in turn. That's what would make it right. Now, let's take this back to the concept of man's dishonoring of God, man's sin which dishonors God. This is why hell exists because God is infinitely glorious, infinitely glorious, finite man when he strips God of glory in a sense. can spend eternity being dishonored and never repay that glory. Never repay that honor. That's why hell exists. That's why hell is eternal. This is also why Christ's payment creates justice. It makes justice because the dishonor of our sin towards God is taken upon Christ. Who has infinite glory himself, he can then lay that glory down on the cross, which is why, by the way, his execution was so humiliating Jesus couldn't do this. He couldn't give his life a ransom for many. By means of lethal injection, it had to be humiliating. It had to be extraordinarily dishonoring. Why? Because he was taking our dishonor upon himself and he being one of infinite glory and honor could then repay the God. Whose honor had been defaced the holy, righteous and just God who does not forgive sin by overlooking it or winking at it. Instead, he who is in charge of the universe declares to us, I am perfect justice and when injustice has been done, it must be set right in my universe and it can only be set right when the glory of God has been harmed. It can only be set right by one. who has sufficient glory himself to pay that price. This is what Jesus means in John chapter 12 and verse 27 when he prays to the Father. Now this is, now my, is my soul troubled and what shall I say? Father save me from this hour meaning the hour of his humiliation and sacrifice but for this purpose I have come to this hour Father Glorify your name. The Father was glorified on the, by the cross because Jesus taking of our dishonor made His dishonoring to be set right. And that's why His price on the, on the cross could atone for the dishonoring that we had done for Him. This is why the life of Christ can be offered as ransom to God and God not be Punishing his son in our place, his son offers up his glory, his glory to atone for or to redeem or to make just the incredible infinite dishonor done to the Father has been set right by the glorious one, the son who takes our dishonor upon himself and pays that dishonor in full who likes to pay bills. He might like to pay bills. That's a silly question, right? I mean, you just, you have that automatic answer. Of course not. Nobody likes to pay bills. But wait a minute. Think just a moment. Do you really not like to pay bills? Or is there a sense in which paying bills is sort of satisfying? You know what I mean? I don't mean getting the bill. I mean paying the bill. Isn't there a sense in which you pay it and you feel good? It's paid. It's done. You ever paid off a loan? Did that feel good? Paid. Paid. Used to be years ago they'd have that little stamper thing where they'd stamp paid, you know? And what did that mean? That meant you could never again be charged for that. If it was stamped paid, it was done. And there was a sense in which, wow, it feels good. It feels good to pay this bill that's been hanging over me that I've not been looking forward to paying. It's paid now. It's done. When Christ hung upon that cross, the stamp paid was stamped onto his people. In that sense of all is right, kind of like that sense when the bill is paid, all is right now until next month. All is right. Only his payment is eternal. And we can say eternally all is right because the Father's honor has been returned to him. The Father's honor has been restored. We never could have done that. We would have lived for eternity having the dishonor of the Father heaped upon us. But his son pays that price to stamp onto his people paid in full. So Jesus says that he came to give his life as ransom for many. We must ask the question, who are the many? Sometimes Scripture uses that word many is the word we get our prefix poly from. Like polygraph. polytheist, those who would worship many gods. So this word many, sometimes in Scripture, it means all. Sometimes in Scripture, Scripture uses it to be a contrast against the few. But in the passage here, there's nothing, there's no context to really tell us, does this mean all? Does he give his life ransom for all? Did he give his life ransom for many or a lot of the multitude? Instead, we look to the Scripture to tell us who are the many. And Scripture tells us abundantly who the many are. Take a look at the back of your notes as they have 53 in verse 8 and as for his generation who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people, Matthew one in verse 21, she will bear son. He shall call his name Jesus for he will save his people from their sin. John 10 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. John 10 and verse 15, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father and I lay down my life for the sheep, John 17 and nine that I am not praying for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. Ephesians 5 and verse 25, Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. Acts 20 and verse 28, Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. So we see over and over again the Scripture says, Are his people. He gave his life as ransom for his people. So what does that mean? How do I know if I'm one of the many? How do I know if his life is given for me? Are you believing? Are you trusting? Does this doctrine of a king who gave himself for you, does that create within your heart some sense of done? It's set right. It's paid on my behalf. Are you believing? Are you trusting? That's what the Scriptures point us to. Are you believing? Are you trusting? If so, then you count yourself as the many. He is who he gave, you are who he gave his life for, as ransom for many.