Okay. Okay, we've learned that much so far. It only took us three weeks and we figured out what we're talking about. Okay? Now we've got to get a little bit more detail of it. Take your Bibles, if you would, go to Romans chapter 3 or chapter 8. We're going to be in Romans a good bit tonight. Romans is just an awesome book for the Bible. I know all word is inspired and it's all great. You can just cue on Romans forever. Still, I want to say it was Martin Lloyd-Jones we were talking about this the other day. It may have been someone else. It was like 17 years or something. 11, 10, 11 years. Kyle, do you remember? John Piper. 10 years of preaching the book of Romans. So, I mean, I'm doing pretty good on Matthew. Okay. I preached through Romans in 16 weeks. Top that. I ignored a lot in Romans. It was beneficial in some ways to ignore some things. If you remember last week, we talked about two aspects of Christ. And we discuss mainly what Christ is. Emmanuel, there's your hand. Christ is. But. With us, Emmanuel, God is with us. So the first thing we looked at, there was an amazing fact that God left the glories of heaven to come dwell amongst us. Philippians covers that greatly in chapter two. I mean, just just the idea that God would leave. I remember when we went to Albania, some of your people would ask us, why would you come here? They didn't understand why we would take 10 days, two weeks out of our year, because they would do anything to come to America. I remember in Germany, there was a couple of girls that I knew, German girls, they had saved for two to three years to come to America and go to Disney World in Florida. I think that's the one in Florida. And they get there and Hurricane Andrew came in. So they spent a week of their ten days in America barricaded in their motel, okay? Greatly, they did have a t-shirt they bought in the airport. Disneyland was shut down the whole time. Rather disappointing. They saved, though, for years to come to America. Now, Bainey, they'd be like, why would you come here? I don't know. Had nothing better to do with my time. You know, why would Christina go to the Congo? And then to go out into the bush where there's no electricity and running water. I mean, so you could ask the question, why would God come here? I mean, that's what happened when Christ came to Earth. It was God coming down. You know, I remember there's always debates on what to do with Christmas. Should we celebrate it or should we not? And I'm not trying to open that up here. I find it an awesome holiday. OK, I know the word Christmas stands for Christ's Mass. It's got more Catholic in it than Baptist, and it has more to do with combining pagan. I get all that, okay? I don't do that. The reason I have a tree in my house is not because I'm worshipping the tree or something like that. But I will say this, when Christ was born and the shepherds were in the field, what happened to them? Does anyone remember what happened? The shepherds were in the field. Christ is born. What took place? Why did they go see Him, though? Some amazing event took place. Angels appeared saying glory to God in the highest peace. I mean, so they celebrated the birth of Christ. So I just don't have an issue with celebrating the birth of Christ. I mean, it was a huge because this is the process that all the Old Testament look forward to. Correct. The coming of the Messiah is now here and Christ is with us. And we we talked about different aspects of of Christ being with us, that he shared He not only shared in our nature, but in our existence, our daily life. When Christ walked down the street, especially before he began his earthly ministry, I suspect, nobody says, look, there's God. He looked like man. He looked like a Jewish man. He would have followed the Jewish customs, spoke Greek. The Jews primarily did not speak Hebrew at this time. There's a few, but I mean, He quoted, we know when he quotes in the New Testament, he's quoting from the Septuagint, not what we would call the original Hebrew. So it's the Hebrew translated into Greek. So he just dwelt among them. He had helped his father. He had done everything that would have been normal for a Jewish boy. He experienced that aspect. OK. He shared in emotions, joy, friendship, all the aspects of life he took part in. He shared in them. Yet there was one thing he didn't take part in. What is that? I heard it. Sin. He's sinless. He did not sin. So I guess in that sense, people might have took notice like, I never see him in trouble. Boy, he's he's always the one that's there may have been some aspect of that. We do know at age 12, we see him in the temple and the family leaves and forgets him, comes back and he's astounding. The very leaders he's going to rebuke someday, by the way. With his knowledge of the scripture, so they obviously recognize there's something different, but nobody at age 12 when they saw that thought, oh, this is God. OK. Who could be the only people at this time to know he's God? Who would they be? Mary knew. She knew. Who else? Joseph, the angel came to Joseph, said this is of the Lord. Who? The wise men knew he was a king. I don't know if they grasped who he was God, but they knew there's something special there. John the Baptist. I mean, he leaped in the womb. That'd be an amazing family get together. Why is Jesus and John always over there talking? Well, every time we go over to John's house, John bows down before Jesus. I mean, they're five years old. This is foolish. Maybe John's mom, she prophesied, but that would be more of a gifts of tongues aspect. Would she remember that? I don't know. But that would be about it. That would recognize, that would know these things about Christ. Yet he was sinless. Then I think we just began to mess with the idea of Christ for us. Christ was with us, but now we're going to look at the idea of Christ for us. The doctrine of atonement requires Christ to be for us. And I know we think sometimes for us is that He's on our side, and there is an element of that, but it goes a little bit deeper than that. There's a little bit more than just meaning Christ was on our side and He wanted what was best for us. First of all, we talked about... Did we cover Him being an advocate a little bit at the end last week? was our advocate, a lawyer, an attorney. OK, the fact that we need a lawyer shows that we are in trouble and facing consequences for something that I needed a mediator. I needed an advocate on my side. OK, we know in Jesus earthly ministry that he intercede on our behalf. Let's go to Luke 22. We'll just back up. I don't remember how far we got. We'll just start from the beginning here. Luke chapter 22. Luke chapter 22, verses 31 and 32. And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not. And when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. OK, so here we have Christ interceding on behalf of Peter. OK. There's some questionnaire about the idea of converted. Does that mean Peter's not saved yet? There's some unique things taking place. He's not filled with the Holy Spirit, though. Then that would be regeneration. So so always understand there's some process here. But we do know once he's resurrected and come back after one, the disciples, the eleven anyway, then they add some. There's others in the room were believers and they were empowered by the Holy Spirit. We see the church empowered and take off and what we would call the church age of the church ministry taking place. All right. But we see him interceding on behalf of Peter. We also know that he did so for the twelve and those that were of his future of a future tense. Look at John, chapter 17. The idea of Christ being our advocate, our mediator. Representing us, John, chapter 17, in verse number nine. I pray for them, I pray not for the world, but for them which thou has given me, for they are thine. And all are mine are thine, and thine are mine. In other words, those that are mine are yours, and yours are mine. And I am glorified in them. And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world. And I come to thee, Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one as we are one. That's an amazing thing. Look what Christ is saying. He says, I'm not in this world anymore. I'm departing. But Father, they're going to be left here. Would you care for them? Would would you watch for them? While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name, kept them together, kept them in unity, kept them believing in Christ. OK, those that thou gavest me, I have kept and none of them is lost. But the son of perdition that the scripture might be fulfilled. So who is he talking about? Who is he referring to them and these? Who is he referring to here? The disciples, because the son of perdition we know is Judas. OK, verse 13. And now come I to thee and these things I speak in the world that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. So he's interceding on behalf of the eleven, saying, Father, care for them, watch for them. Verse 14, I have given them thy word and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Think about look at what his prayer is. He says, pray that thou shouldest not take them out of the world. This immediately dispels any notion that Christians are to barricade themselves and go into communes or anything else. There's a monastery out in Smith Creek, one of these days I'm going to get the guts to drive up the driveway and go knock on the door and Talk to them. I'm afraid if I do that, they won't let me leave. So if you ever disappear, that's the first place to look for me. Pastor got the crazy idea to go see the monks in the monastery to ask them, what are you doing? OK, but I'm just curious about it. But God never called us to do that. He said, I didn't. You're in the world. You save them from the evil, but you're not to evaporate. Sometimes Christians, we want to just run and hide and never be part of the world. Verse 16, they're not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. So, Father, they're in the world, but while they're in the world, sanctify them, set them apart. Thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes, I sanctify myself that they also might be sanctified through the truth. Neither pray I for these alone. So now he's talking for them, the disciples. Now he's bringing it to a bigger group, but for them also, which shall believe on me through their word. So here he's taking his prayer from the eleven. But also, Father, I'm praying that you would sanctify, you would protect those that are believers that are reached through the message of the eleven. Verse 21, that they all may be one as thou. Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me, and the glory which thou gavest me I have given them, that they may be one even as we are one. I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them as thou hast loved me. Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me, for thou lovest me before the foundation of the world. Oh, righteous father, the world has not known thee, but have known thee, but I have known thee and these have known that thou hast sent me and I have declared unto them thy name and will declare it that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them and die in them. It's a very intimate prayer Christ is having for his believers. It's one to remember when you're having a discouraging day to read John chapter 17. It's a very, he's got this intimate time of his disciples, the 11. Father, please watch over them. Father, please take care of them. Father, please sanctify them through the truth. And not only them, Father, but all those that you have given me that are going to be reached by these 11 as they spread forth the gospel. I pray for them also. And he's praying, one of the biggest things he's saying, that they would all be one as Christ and the Father are one. That the world may believe in him. One of the best ways for the world to believe in Christ is for Christians to be one. One of the biggest ways to cause the world to reject Christ is for Christians to be many and divided. So here we see Christ in this role as an interceding, an advocate to the father on our behalf. As our advocate, the case against us is proven to be true and we are found guilty. Romans chapter three declares that we're guilty. All right. So in my criminal court class, Ken Lord is the teacher. If you've been in court here and you know Ken Lord is one of the most well-known defense attorneys in the area. Most people don't know he was a prosecutor for 12 years. And I brought up in class the Mayor Ajax-Ackerman case. And I said, I remember when that phone call came in, I was at the police department. We began talking about it. He was the defense attorney for Ajax. He said it ruined his career. The hate mail he got, because if you remember, Ajax got off the first trial. It was a hung jury. And he says, I'm sitting there as a defense attorney thinking, this is a slam dunk case. They got pictures, videos. This is a no brainer. He said the prosecutor got cocky, didn't think he could lose. And he said, I did my job making sure the mayor had a fair trial. And I questioned the evidence of the prosecutor. So that was my job as advocate. He goes, he was guilty. He said, I can't stand the man. I couldn't stand him when he first became the mayor. I couldn't stand him before he was mayor. He said, that's not my job. My job as the advocate is the lawyers to go before the judge and to make sure that he received a fair hearing. He said, that was my job. And he said, and I did that. Just be amazed how many people are upset that I did. The foundation of our justice system, folks, is not on the prosecutor. Because every nation has a prosecutor. Communist China has prosecutors. It's that we're presumed innocent until guilty and we're allowed to have a defense attorney to defend us. Many nations, you don't get that chance. If you do, it's really a sham. You're already proven guilty. He says, so I'm I'm performing the very crux that makes our judicial system so different. And people were upset at him. He said, I did my job. I won on behalf. Justice Christ. Now, think about this. Christ goes to God on our behalf. And we're guilty. You ever think of your how many here would ever want to be a defense attorney? I don't know if I had to struggle with. Especially when you know your client's guilty. At that point, you're just trying to make sure the trial's fair. Maybe you can get him a better sentence than if he didn't have a lawyer. I mean, but you're going to defend people that you know, without a doubt, are guilty. That's what Christ has been tasked with doing. He's been tasked with being the advocate for the guilty, you and I. Any thoughts on that? Any thoughts on anything so far? kind of a bum case, you know? What do we have? Public defender, you know, they're appointed. If you can't afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you. I asked him, do you have to be on? And he goes, no, but the judges will make you pay if you don't sign up to be a public defender. So you just do it. And then you wonder, do you really get the best defense when you get a public defender? Those aspects of it. Here's a guilty, and the judge says, lawyer? Here's your client. Good luck. That's kind of what Christ has been tasked with, with you and I. Christ intercedes on behalf of those that are guilty. Look at now look at Romans chapter eight. Our advocate steps forward to receive the sentence. Look at Romans 8, look at verse 34. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Our advocate steps forward to receive the sentence. So picture this. You're in court. You're guilty. The verdict comes down guilty. It's time for sentencing. And your lawyer steps forward and says, Your Honor, before you sentence my client, I want you in the court to know I will be paying the sentence. That's what Christ did. You understand, it's a death penalty case, you've got to go to the electric chair. Sure. I will take that in place of my client. That's what it means for Christ to intercede and to take our place. He took our place as the guilty. Christ interceded on our behalf. Look at verse number 33. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. How does he justify? Well, Christ interceded with us. Interceded before us. According to God, how did he do that? Look at verse 32. Sometimes when you get a passage of Scripture, it can be tough or you just don't, it's good to read it backwards. Okay. So we see verse 35, who shall separate us from the love of God? It's a good question. Well, who is he that condemneth? No one, because Christ is the one that died and rose again. Who makes intercession? So any condemnation, any accusation made against us, Christ is there to intercede. Well, why is Christ there to intercede? Well, God did the process of justifying us through Christ. Like a verse or two, he that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? According to God's offering up for us, God has offered up Christ in our place. Think about this. There are voices of those that bring charges against us. that have been justified, seeking to separate us from the love of God. Who shall separate us from the love of God? There's all types of charges that bring us forth to separate us from the love of God. Well, who can do that? How is that possible? Because we when we have Christ pleading on our behalf and what Christ is pleading, his father, they are righteous by me. So this I don't get too far ahead of myself. However, Christ is doing far more than representing us. That's what a lawyer does represent. Christ did not just represent us before God. It involves the fact that Christ substituted himself for us. That's the beauty of the atonement. That's the amazing thing that Christ did not just come before God, plead a case and win it. That's what a representative does. Christ substituted himself in our place for the punishment. For the for the verdict, for the for the sentencing that took place. You turn to Galatians, chapter number three. Paul is addressing this aspect in Galatians, chapter three, verse number 13, Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us, for it is written, curses everyone that hangeth on a tree. So, I mean, if we could we could illustrate it. You know, you've got to. We've got the cross. OK. Mankind, let's let's this is us. OK. Our sin declares we should be crucified, we should die. But look at what it says in Galatians, chapter three, verse 13, Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us, for it is written curses everyone that bring the hangeth on a tree literally. Christ put a halo. Christ. Became the curse, he substituted himself for us. Don't misunderstand this. Christ did not represent us. Christ did not. Suffer and God say, you know what, that's a good enough suffering, I'll accept that. That's not what happened. It's not that Christ suffered and God says, OK, the Holy One has suffered. Atonement is made. It goes beyond. It goes a little bit bigger. Let me read what Martin Luther said about this. It's a lengthy quote, but try to listen. It's a little bit older in terminology. Thus, the whole emphasis is on the phrase for us in verse number 13. OK, where says he being made a curse for us, for Christ is innocent so far as his own person is concerned, and therefore he should not have been hanged from the tree. All agree with that, Christ is innocent. He should not have had to suffer the curse of sin. But because according to the law, every thief should have been hanged. Therefore, according to the law of Moses, Christ himself should have been hanged. You say, wait a minute, wait a minute. Christ was not a thief. He became one. When he put himself in place of you. I'll continue reading with this. Christ himself should have been hanged, for he bore the person of a sinner and a thief, and not of one, but of all sinners and thieves. For we are sinners and thieves, and therefore we are worthy of death and eternal damnation. But Christ took all our sins upon himself, and for them he died on the cross. Therefore, It was appropriate for him to become a thief, and as Isaiah 53 verse 12 says, to be numbered among the thieves. He is not acting in his own person now. Now he is not the Son of God, born of the Virgin, but he is a sinner who has and bears the sin of Paul. That's kind of a little difficult statement to think of. He's not the Son of God. He's a sinner. He's a sinner now. He is suffering the punishment as a sinner. Bears the sin of Paul, the former blasphemer, persecutor, assaulter of Peter, who denied Christ, of David, who was an adulterer and murderer. In short, he has and bears all the sins of all men in his body, not in the sense that he has committed them, but in the sense that he took these sins committed by us upon his own body in order to make satisfaction for them with his own blood. When we say Christ is our substitution. It's not this general sense that God punished him for sin. It's God took the evil thought you had today and made Christ punished to pay for it. God took the lying, the anger, the loss. every sin in your life, and He paid for every single one of them for you. He became Matt McPhillips on the cross. And God poured out His vengeance as though He was pouring it out on Matt McPhillips. Questions? I know you're in a little thought process in there. What do you think? When God's anger was poured out, God wasn't angry with His Son. When He poured out His anger on the cross, He was pouring it out as though He was pouring it out on you. The anger the holiness of God has towards you, put your name in there, was what He was pouring out upon His Son. We have recorded in the fourth century, the writings of Athanasius. He said, thus, taking a body like our own, because all our bodies were liable to the corruption of death, he surrendered his body to death instead of all and offered it to the father. So all the way back in the fourth century, the substitution, Christ took upon himself the form of flesh so that he could offer the flesh to be punished by God, because if we did so, we would decay. We would not be able to do so. It was not enough that Christ suffered, but He had to become us, suffering as us, literally. Another, this is a statement by John Calvin and his Institute. To take away our condemnation, it was not enough for Him to suffer any kind of death. To make satisfaction for our redemption a form of death had to be chosen in which He might free us both by transferring our condemnation to Himself, this is our acquittal, The guilt that held us liable for punishment has been transferred to the head of the Son of God. We must, above all, remember this substitution, lest we tremble and remain anxious throughout life, as if God's righteous vengeance, which the Son of God has taken upon Himself, still hung over us." Sometimes we as Christians say, we've got to remember what took place. Literally, the idea that God took our sin Punished it. Placed it on His Son. Think about it. The vengeance of God has been taken care of. His vengeance has been met. Holiness has been met. Christ paid for it. He paid for it. And it's a reminder to us throughout life, we're not walking fearful in the eyes of God and then, oh no, God might punish me now. He's punished it. I'm a believer. I'm a saint. I'm in Christ. It has been punished. I think we've even been, we've crossed the line at times when we talk about God's vengeance that you better watch out if you don't go soul winning for 20 hours, God's going to get you. Not if you're a believer. Believers shouldn't be running around afraid of God. And I know the idea is, well, if they're not afraid of him, then they're going to go do whatever they want. No, because the grace of God teaches us not to do that. We're so thankful for God's grace, we would never do that. But sometimes I think we've developed this mentality where we get people to live for God out of fear. If I don't do this, God's going to hurt one of my children. If I'm not faithful in this, then God's going to God's going to cause me to have cancer or something. We've created this God that's taking vengeance out on his children. He's not. That vengeance has been met in Christ. Christ was not a sacrifice. He was the sacrifice. Think about the priest, a priest would go into the tabernacle, remember the priest walks in was the priest was the priest, the sacrifice. No, he was just representing the people as he brought the sacrifice in. Christ was the sacrifice. The very wrath that was to go to you by the Holy God was directed at Christ as though God was punishing Matt McPhillips himself. Think about this. Jesus was and is for us in that he took the place of us sinners. He literally, it was not where God says, OK, well, the Jews crucified him and God said, you know, that's good enough. I'll accept that. Or God said, you know, Jesus, you've got to suffer on a cross for some abstract view of sin. No, he suffered specifically for specific sin in the life of the believer. And God punished it. He punished it. Literally, God did not see His Son, He saw you. And He poured out His vengeance, His wrath upon His own Son as though He was pouring it out upon you. Christ makes the evil case His own. He substituted Himself. He has made Himself a sinner for us. He let Himself be put in the wrong. The passion of Jesus Christ is the judgment of God in which the judge himself was the judged. The very judge of the universe, God, became the judge. He willed to take our place as sinners and did, in fact, take our place. So when we talk about the substitutional atonement for Christ, he didn't just go there for this abstract, I'm going to go there for sin. No, he went there for my sin. And when God poured out his wrath on Christ, he poured it out as though he was pouring it out upon us. So next time we think I'm not that bad a sinner, the picture of the cross is a picture of how bad of a sinner we are. You think God's angry with sin? You better believe he is. That's how angry God is with the sinner. When we see what he did to his son. Christ for us. It doesn't mean He's on our side going, woohoo, go guys, go. No, He literally became us. Took our place. Substituted Himself to bear the wrath of sin from a holy God. None? Thoughts? If you've got a question, you've got a thought. Something you want to add to it. Yeah, praise the Lord. I was checking, right, I was reviewing this beforehand. I looked, didn't have any grape juice. I was going to do the Lord's Supper after this because it's just an amazing thing to think. He took my place. He took my place. And secondly, it shows me just how angry God is towards sin. Let me say this, I know we do a lot with the cross. We went to the church after the funeral. Terry made a count. They had a cross hanging on. It must be a good church has a cross. We had a lady one time upset at our church. We don't have a cross on it. I can promise you the early Christians did not wear a cross around their neck. It was a symbol of death. It wasn't this cute little thing. It became a symbol to represent Christians. But the cross is, in a sixth sense, it's beautiful. Isn't that kind of the conflict we have? The crucifixion of Christ is so beautiful because of what it accomplished. But what it represents is not beautiful. It's the righteous wrath of a holy God being poured out on sin. What it accomplishes though, man, that is beautiful. That's an amazing thing. I'll close with a quote from the author of the one book I'm going through on this. He says, But Christ does not merely offer the sacrifice, He becomes the sacrifice. He is not simply one who dies with the rest of us or pleads that we be spared the death sentence. He is the one who dies in order that we be spared this death. He drinks the cup so that we should not drink it. It is cursed so that we should not be cursed. It is forsaken so that we not be forsaken. It is condemned so that we should not be condemned. He is not only priest, but victim. Not only offerer, but offering. Doing for us what needed to be done, but which we could not do, and which once done, we need never do for ourselves. He's completely the substitute in our place. A substitute, according to Romans, chosen by God before the foundation of the world. Which is still the thing that boggles my mind. That God chose the plan of redemption before He even created man. I wouldn't have created you guys, just being honest. If that's what redemption would have been, I ain't creating you. But He created us because He wanted to show forth His plan of redemption. Because His plan of redemption brings Him great glory. Isn't I mean, think about redemption. There's a lot of gods in the world, small g gods. None of them have a plan of redemption that is accomplished. By the God himself. I mean, they praise their gods for his mighty power and conquering this or that. But none of them praise their God because he became the substitute for sin. There's literally no reason we as Christians do not worship openly and freely and praise God. It's amazing the people that praise their false gods more excitedly than we do. Our God has accomplished this. He has literally substituted Himself. Hold on, I'll take Matt McPhillip's place. Father, all the wrath that belongs to Matt McPhillips, pour it out on me. All the wrath that belongs to Ted Saylor, pour it out on me. All the wrath that belongs to Cody Williams, pour it out on me. I'll take it. I'll be their substitute. So, when an accusation is made to God on our behalf, the mediator, the advocates, their interceding says, God, I already paid for that sin. Do you hear this? I just got an email in heaven. God gets an email. Matt McPhillips did what? Well, that dirty little bugger, I'm going to... It's already been paid for. He already paid for that sin. I did. I bore his sin. That's why nobody can bring a charge against God's elect. That's why nobody can separate us from the love of God. It's not because God's love overcomes our sin. It's because our sin has been dealt with. It's the biggest myth in Christianity that God overlooks my sin because he loves me. That's not even Christianity. The reason I'm not separated from the love of God is not because his love overcomes my sin. It's because my sin has been dealt with. That's why I can't be separated from the love of God. It's been dealt with. I don't have to pay the price. And so we have this confidence. Because our substitute, the Son of God, was in our place. Questions or thoughts? No? We got a song? Do we have one? Oh, that would be a good one. Let's sing that. And then we'll take some prayer requests right after that.