Participants: Stephen Bohr
Series Code: TGCC
Program Code: TGCC000004A
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00:15 Well, welcome again to session number four
00:18 of our series on the great conflict between good and evil. 00:23 Our official title is, The Great Cosmic Controversy; 00:27 How God Clears His Name From All False Charges. 00:31 And before we have a review of our last session 00:34 and enter some new territory, we do want to ask for the Lord 00:38 to bless our season together. 00:40 And so I invite you to bow your heads with me as we pray. 00:44 Father in heaven, thank You for the privilege of 00:47 gathering together with the assurance that Your Spirit 00:50 and Your angels will be with us. 00:52 We ask, Lord, that You will give us clear minds 00:56 and You will give us sensitive open hearts 01:00 so that we might understand and receive the seed of truth 01:04 that You will plant today. 01:06 I also ask that You will bless all of those who will be 01:08 watching this program through television, and on dvd's, 01:12 and different media. 01:13 I ask, Lord, that You will bring conviction to each heart. 01:16 We thank You for the privilege of prayer 01:19 and because we know that You have heard us. 01:21 Because we ask it in the precious name of Jesus, amen. 01:26 Well let's review what we studied last time. 01:29 We studied the first step that Jesus takes in solving 01:34 the great cosmic controversy between Christ and Satan. 01:39 So I'm just going to mention the main points of what we studied 01:42 in our last subject together. 01:45 First of all, we mentioned that Jesus came to this earth 01:48 with the express purpose of vindicating 01:51 the character of God. 01:53 We also noticed that according to the Bible 01:56 Jesus created every single person that lives 01:59 upon this earth. 02:01 And therefore, because Jesus created all, 02:03 He is responsible for the existence of every single person 02:08 that lives in this world. 02:09 He's not responsible for their sin, 02:12 but He is responsible for their existence. 02:14 Because we did not choose to exist. 02:18 Then we noticed also that the law of God requires 02:21 absolute sinless perfection, absolute righteousness. 02:27 And we noticed that if we do not render the law 02:30 perfect righteousness, the law demands that the penalty 02:34 of death be applied. 02:37 Now God had to be faithful to His word. 02:40 If God did not require a perfect life in harmony with the law, 02:45 and if God did not require death for those who do not 02:49 offer perfection to the law, then God would have problems 02:53 with His integrity. 02:55 God would be lying. 02:57 And so God had to require a perfect life, 03:00 and He had to require the death of those who do not 03:03 offer the law perfect righteousness. 03:07 But the Bible tells us that no one on earth can offer the law 03:11 what the law requires. 03:13 No one on earth can offer the law sinless perfection 03:17 or absolute righteousness. 03:20 And so the result is that every single person in this world 03:25 is on death row. 03:28 Because we cannot offer the law sinless perfection, 03:31 the law says, "You must die." 03:34 And because all have sinned, all are subject to death. 03:38 We also noticed last time that Satan tried to put a 03:41 contradiction between two aspects of God's character. 03:45 First of all, he tried to put a conflict with the 03:49 justice of God, and secondly, with the love and mercy of God. 03:53 Basically what Satan said to God is this: 03:56 "If You do not punish the sinner with death, You're not just. 04:01 Your justice demands the death of the sinner. 04:04 But if You destroy the sinner, how is it that a God of love 04:08 would destroy the creatures that He made?" 04:11 And so there was an apparent contradiction between the 04:14 love and the justice of God. 04:17 The human race needed someone that could solve this problem. 04:22 Someone who could offer a perfect life to the law 04:26 and could suffer the death that the law requires. 04:30 Unfortunately, within the human race there was no one 04:34 who could live that perfect life or could pay the penalty of sin. 04:41 And we noticed last time that if anyone was going to 04:45 redeem the inheritance that was lost and free the individual 04:50 from the slavery into which he or she had sold themselves, 04:55 it was necessary for the redeemer to be a next of kin. 04:59 But the problem is that within the human race 05:02 we have no next of kin that had not sold his inheritance 05:06 or sold himself into slavery. 05:08 So there was no one within the human race 05:11 that could redeem the lost inheritance and could redeem 05:15 those who had sold themselves into slavery. 05:19 But God had a solution. 05:21 And that solution was to send Jesus Christ. 05:24 He who created every person in this world 05:28 offered to come to this world to live the perfect life 05:32 that the law requires. 05:34 To offer the law perfect righteousness in place of 05:38 every single person who has ever lived 05:41 in the history of planet earth. 05:43 And the Bible tells us that the Word was made flesh 05:48 and dwelt among us. 05:50 The word, "dwelt," means, pitched His tent among us. 05:54 He came to live in the camp of the Sanctuary 05:57 where sinners live to face the temptations 06:00 that we suffer in the camp, but with one difference. 06:03 Even though He was tempted in all things, 06:06 the Bible says that He never sinned. 06:09 He wove a robe of perfect righteousness 06:13 that He could offer the law in place of every single 06:17 human being who has ever lived in the history of planet earth. 06:21 That's great news. 06:23 So the first step was to offer the law what the law requires. 06:27 The law requires absolute perfection, so Jesus said, 06:31 I am going to live the life in place of all of My creatures, 06:35 and I'm going to overcome temptation, 06:37 and I am going to offer absolute sinless perfection, 06:41 righteousness, to the law. 06:44 But this was not sufficient to solve the problem of sin. 06:50 It wasn't enough for Jesus to live a perfect sinless 06:54 righteous life in our place. 06:58 Jesus also had to suffer death. 07:01 You see, we had a double problem. 07:03 First of all, we can't offer the law the perfection 07:05 that the law requires. 07:07 And secondly, because we cannot offer the perfection, 07:10 the law says, "You must die." 07:12 So Jesus not only had to live for us, He also had to what? 07:17 He also had to die for us, bearing the sins 07:21 of the whole world. 07:23 Satan placed God in what appeared to be 07:27 an unsolvable dilemma. 07:29 Between a rock and a hard place. 07:32 Basically he said to God, "You told man 07:35 that the wages of sin is death. 07:38 If You don't execute the sentence of death 07:41 like You said You would, You are a liar. 07:44 And if You do execute the sentence, then You are not 07:49 a God of love." 07:51 A conflict apparently between the love of God 07:55 and His justice. 07:57 But God had the answer to this dilemma. 08:01 God solved the seeming contradiction 08:04 in God's character. 08:06 You see, after Jesus lived a perfectly righteous life 08:11 to offer the law of God in place of every single being 08:15 who has ever lived, Jesus then took upon Himself 08:20 all of the sins that have been committed, 08:23 all the sins that are being committed, 08:25 and all of the sins that are yet to be committed, 08:28 Jesus took all of those upon Himself. 08:32 In other words, the sins of the whole world 08:35 were credited to Jesus. 08:37 They were imputed to Jesus. 08:39 They were placed in the account of Jesus 08:42 even though those sins were not His. 08:45 They were imputed to Him, they were credited to Him, 08:48 even though they were not His. 08:51 In this way, God showed His justice. 08:54 Because sin was punished just like God said. 08:57 With death. 08:58 But God also showed His love, because the death need not 09:02 be suffered by the sinner. 09:03 The death was suffered by a member of the Godhead. 09:06 And so God solved the problem. 09:09 He said, "I am going to satisfy the justice of the law. 09:12 Because Jesus is going to bear the sins of the world 09:15 and He is going to suffer the penalty, just like I said. 09:18 The wages of sin is death; and He's going to suffer it 09:21 in place of every single human being. 09:23 But at the same time, I am going to show My love. 09:26 Because the sentence of death is not going to be executed 09:29 upon the sinner. 09:31 It will be executed upon a member of the Godhead; 09:34 My beloved Son." 09:36 So the Bible tells us that Jesus, after He lived 09:40 His perfect life, Jesus became a vicarious sacrifice for us. 09:46 In other words, He took the place of every single sinner 09:51 who has ever lived in the history of planet earth. 09:54 Let's notice several verses that we find in the Bible 09:57 that present Jesus Christ as our substitute, 10:01 the substitute for the sins of the whole world. 10:04 Well begin with Exodus 12:5-6. 10:08 Exodus 12:5-6 10:12 We read verse 5 last night, but now we're going to read verse 6. 10:16 It says there, speaking about the Passover lamb... 10:24 You remember, we mentioned that represents 10:26 the perfect life of Jesus, the fact that the 10:28 lamb had no blemish? 10:30 Then it continues saying... 10:44 So what do you have there? 10:45 You have the perfect life of Jesus, because He's 10:47 the blameless Lamb, but you also have the fact that 10:50 the lamb was what? 10:51 Sacrificed. 10:53 You have the life of Jesus, the blameless life of Jesus, 10:56 and His what? 10:57 And His death. 10:59 Now I want us to notice also Leviticus 17:11. 11:03 This is a very interesting verse. 11:05 You know, in the Old Testament Israelites would bring 11:09 the victims, and those victims were sacrificed 11:12 and placed upon the altar. 11:14 But it really was not Israel that was bringing the victims. 11:18 You say, "What do you mean Israel wasn't 11:20 bringing the victims?" 11:21 You see, the Bible says that God was going to provide the victim. 11:25 Notice Leviticus 17:11. 11:28 It says... 11:33 And here, God is speaking. 11:39 So who gave the sacrifice upon the altar? 11:42 Was it the sinner or was it God? 11:44 God says, "I have given it to you." 11:46 Even though the Israelite brought the victim to be slain 11:50 and to be placed on the altar, that victim represented whom? 11:53 Jesus Christ. 11:55 So God says, "I have provided the victim to be placed 11:59 upon the altar." 12:01 Now notice 1 John 2:2. 12:03 For how many people did Jesus die? 12:05 How many of the sins of the world did Jesus 12:07 bear upon Himself? 12:08 He bore the sins of the whole world. 12:11 Every sin that has been committed, 12:13 every sin that is being committed, 12:15 every sin that will yet be committed, 12:17 Jesus bore upon Himself on the cross. 12:21 Notice 1 John 2:2. 12:26 That is Jesus. 12:34 See, John is saying, he's talking about believers, 12:36 he says, "He's the propitiation for our sins." 12:39 That is, for the sins of believers. 12:41 But now notice, "...and not for ours only..." 12:48 So the death of Jesus on the cross means that Jesus 12:53 was the propitiation, not only for the sins of those 12:56 who have accepted Jesus, but for the sins of the whole world. 13:01 Notice 2 Corinthians 5:21. 13:04 2 Corinthians 5:21 13:06 This is one of my favorite verses in the whole Bible. 13:09 Once again, it presents the two aspects of Jesus. 13:12 His perfect life in the court 13:14 and His death at the altar of sacrifice. 13:17 Both things are mentioned in this verse. 13:19 Notice once again 2 Corinthians 5:21. 13:24 "For He," that is God the Father, 13:27 "made Him," that is Jesus, "who knew no sin..." 13:32 What aspect does that describe of Jesus? 13:34 His what? His perfect life, right? 13:37 He's the blameless sacrifice. 13:39 And so the first part of this verse says, 13:41 "For He," that is God the Father, 13:42 "made Him," Jesus, "who knew no sin..." 13:46 Now what's the second aspect? 13:48 "...to be sin for us..." 13:51 Are you catching the two points here? 13:53 He lived a perfect life, 13:54 and then the sins of the world were what? 13:57 Were placed upon Him. 13:59 Now why? 14:00 Why did Jesus live a perfect life? 14:02 Why did Jesus suffer death at the altar of sacrifice? 14:05 The second half of the verse is beautiful. 14:08 The second half of the verse says, "...that..." 14:10 In other words, "so that," He did this. 14:13 In other words, He did not sin, and He took sin upon Himself 14:17 so that He could do something. 14:26 He did this so that we could be recognized as being what? 14:31 Righteous before God. 14:33 Is it our own righteousness? 14:35 No. It is the righteousness of Jesus in our place. 14:39 So Jesus lived and died to be able to present 14:42 His righteousness as if it were our righteousness. 14:47 Notice Isaiah 53:3-6. 14:50 We're it's talking about the substitutionary sacrifice 14:53 of Jesus Christ. 14:55 The fact that He bore the sins of the whole world upon Himself. 14:58 Isaiah 53:3-6 15:17 Now notice the personal pronouns. 15:33 Wow! Smitten by God. 15:36 Was He a sinner? No. 15:38 Why was He smitten by God then? 15:40 Let's continue reading. 16:08 "And the Lord..." Notice this. 16:10 "The Lord..." That is, God the Father. 16:20 How much of the iniquity was laid upon Jesus? 16:23 All of the iniquity of all human beings 16:26 was laid upon Jesus Christ. 16:28 It was not His. It was imputed to Him. 16:30 In other words, it was credited to His account 16:33 even though it did not belong to Him. 16:35 Because He was suffering in place of human beings. 16:39 Are you understanding the substitutionary 16:41 sacrifice of Christ? 16:43 Now, is sin going to be punished then? 16:46 Is God going to keep His word? 16:48 Is He going to punish sin with death? 16:50 Yes. But who is going to suffer the penalty? 16:52 Jesus is. 16:54 Does God then show His love in that we don't 16:57 have to suffer the penalty? Sure. 16:58 Does He show His justice because sin really is punished? 17:02 Absolutely. 17:03 But the beauty is that Jesus does it in place 17:07 of every single human being who has ever lived 17:10 in the history of planet earth. 17:11 Notice Galatians 3:13. 17:14 This is another verse that describes the substitutionary 17:17 sacrifice of Christ, the vicarious sacrifice of Christ. 17:21 Galatians 3:13 17:23 It says, "Christ has redeemed..." 17:29 Now let's stop there for a moment. 17:31 What has Christ redeemed us from? 17:34 From the curse of the law. 17:36 Now you know what some people say? 17:38 They say, "See, the law is bad, because the law curses us." 17:43 And so the solution is, get rid of the law 17:45 and it won't curse us anymore. 17:47 Let me give you an illustration 17:49 so we understand how ridiculous that argument is. 17:52 You know, if you come to a stop light... 17:54 This is a brand new stop light we have here at the corner. 17:56 I don't know if you noticed that. 17:58 You know, my tendency is just to zip right through it. 18:00 Because, you know, before there was no stop light there. 18:04 But you know, that stop light is there. 18:06 Let's suppose that you're driving 50 miles an hour, 18:11 and the light is red, and you go through the red light. 18:13 And a policeman comes and he stops you, 18:16 and he's going to give you a ticket. 18:17 Let me ask you, are you under the curse of the law? 18:21 Oh, you better believe you're under the curse of the law. 18:23 You're going to get a ticket. 18:24 The law is going to curse you with a ticket, isn't it? 18:27 So the best solution to the problem is to 18:29 get rid of the stop light. 18:32 Does that make sense? 18:34 Get rid of the law. 18:35 No. 18:37 The problem is not with the law. 18:39 The problem is with the transgressor of the law. 18:43 So what needs to be fixed is not the law. 18:45 What needs to be fixed is the person who breaks the law. 18:48 Are you with me? 18:49 And so it says here in Galatians 3:13, 18:52 "Christ has redeemed us..." 18:53 Remember, that word, "redeemed," means, to buy back 18:56 by paying a price. 19:00 How did He redeem us from the curse of the law? 19:07 Why was Jesus cursed? 19:08 Because He took our sins upon Himself 19:11 and He was punished by His Father for our sins. 19:16 And so it says, "Christ has redeemed us..." 19:28 Go with me to 1 Peter 2:23-24. 19:31 You say, "Pastor, you're reading too many verses." 19:33 Yes. Praise the Lord. 19:34 That's a good thing. 19:36 Because we go here by what the Bible says. 19:38 Because the Bible is our authority, the Bible has power. 19:41 The preacher has absolutely no power. 19:43 Unless the preacher is preaching from Scripture. 19:47 Notice 1 Peter 2:23-24. 19:52 Speaking about Jesus... 20:16 Did Jesus bear our sins on the tree? 20:18 Yes. It says... 20:34 Are you catching the picture? 20:36 So did Jesus suffer for the sins of the whole world? 20:38 Yes. 20:40 Let's notice Romans 5 and we will read verse 6, 20:44 and then we will read verse 8. 20:46 Romans 5:6 and then verse 8. 20:50 It says here, and this is very interesting, 20:52 verse 6 reads in the following way... 20:59 "...in due time Christ died for the saints." 21:04 Thank you. 21:06 There's two of you that disagreed with me. 21:08 Notice what it says once again. 21:13 "...in due time Christ died for..." Whom? 21:16 "...for the ungodly." 21:19 Interesting. 21:20 So did Jesus bear the sins of everyone, of the ungodly? 21:24 Yes. Now notice verse 8. 21:39 Did Jesus die for sinners who have not received Him 21:42 as Savior and Lord? 21:44 Yes He did. 21:45 He bore the sins of the whole world. 21:48 Every sin that has been committed, 21:50 every sin that is being committed, 21:51 every sin that will be committed, 21:53 He bore those sins on His body on the tree. 21:57 The Bible makes that very, very clear. 21:59 Notice 1 Corinthians 15:3. 22:02 1 Corinthians 15:3 22:05 Here, the apostle Paul says... 22:19 So is the Bible very clear that Jesus bore the sins 22:22 of the whole world upon Himself and suffered the penalty 22:24 for the transgression of the law? 22:26 Is the Bible clear that Jesus lived the perfect life 22:29 that the law requires from us? 22:31 Absolutely. The Bible is crystal clear on this point. 22:35 Now do you remember that yesterday we studied 22:38 that Jesus is not only the unblemished victim, 22:42 Jesus is also the unblemished Priest. 22:45 You remember we read some text where it says 22:47 that the priest could not have any blemish? 22:51 And that the victim could not have any blemish? 22:53 Now you say, why in the world do you have a priest 22:56 without blemish and you have a victim without blemish? 22:58 I will explain it. 23:00 You see, in the Old Testament system you needed a priest 23:03 and you needed a victim. 23:06 But those two symbols are fulfilled in one person; 23:09 in Jesus Christ. 23:10 You see, Jesus is the Priest, the blameless Priest, 23:15 the unblemished Priest, who offers Himself as a victim. 23:21 So He is the unblemished Priest that offers Himself 23:25 as the unblemished victim. 23:27 That's what we find in Scripture in Hebrews 7:26-27. 23:32 Go with me to Hebrews 7:26-27. 23:35 So Jesus is the Priest, the blameless Priest, 23:38 that offers Himself as the sacrifice. 23:42 It says there in Hebrews 7:26-27... 23:57 "...who does not need daily, as those high priests..." 24:01 That is, the high priests of the Old Testament. 24:15 So who is the Priest? Jesus. 24:17 Who is the victim? Jesus. 24:19 Both had no blemish. 24:23 Are you following me? 24:24 Now, let's read a statement that we find in the 24:28 writings of Ellen White. 24:29 This is a beautiful statement. 24:31 Desire of Ages, page 753. 24:33 If you still don't believe that Jesus died for the sins 24:35 of the whole world, listen to this statement. 24:37 Desire of Ages, 753. 24:45 What is a substitute? 24:47 Someone who takes our place. 24:55 The word, "surety," means He's a guarantee, right? 25:03 How much of the iniquity was laid upon Him? 25:05 Of us all. 25:09 Was He a transgressor? 25:11 No, He was counted or reckoned a transgressor 25:14 because He was bearing our sins. 25:28 The what? The sin of what? 25:31 "...every descendant of Adam was pressing upon His heart." 25:35 So did Jesus bear the sins of all of the descendants of Adam? 25:40 Absolutely. 25:41 Both those who will be saved and those who will be lost. 25:44 Jesus bore their sins. 25:45 And so you're saying, "Well, that means 25:47 everybody is going to be saved." 25:48 No. You need to come to our next lecture. 25:51 Because we're going to study John 3:16. 25:53 You know, people love the first half of the verse. 25:55 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son." 25:57 Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. 25:59 But the second half says that, "...whosoever believes in Him 26:01 should not perish, but have everlasting life." 26:04 So what Jesus did in the camp and in the court 26:07 is for everyone. 26:09 But you have to claim it in order to benefit from it. 26:14 Now let's take a look at the last three cries 26:18 of Jesus on the cross. 26:20 The last three cries of Jesus. 26:22 You know, people speak about the seven words that 26:24 Jesus spoke from the cross. 26:26 You've heard about that? 26:27 You know, during holy week in Latin America 26:29 they have an entire week of sermons, and each sermon 26:34 studies one of the sayings of Jesus on the cross. 26:37 Let's take a look at the last three cries 26:40 of Jesus on the cross. 26:41 The first is found in Matthew 27:46. 26:45 Matthew 27:46 26:48 Then after that, we're going to read Isaiah 59:2. 26:52 Notice Matthew 27:46. 26:55 This is a very short verse. 27:04 That is a cry of Jesus on the cross. 27:09 It wasn't the last, it wasn't the next to the last. 27:11 It was the third before the last. 27:14 Now He says, "Why have You forsaken Me?" 27:17 He's crying out to God. 27:18 Incidentally, the last three saying, He's crying out to God. 27:21 The first four sayings, He's not speaking only to God, 27:25 He's also speaking to individuals that are 27:27 at the foot of the cross, etc. 27:28 But the last three statements of Jesus 27:30 are directed at the Father. 27:32 Now the question is, why did Jesus cry out, 27:35 "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" 27:38 Notice Isaiah 59:2 gives us the reason why Jesus 27:42 felt separated from Him Father. 27:44 It says in Isaiah 59:2... 27:59 So what is it that led Jesus to cry out, 28:01 "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" 28:04 The fact that He was separated from His Father 28:08 because He was bearing what? 28:10 Because He was bearing the sins of the world. 28:12 The sins of the world separated Him from His own Father. 28:17 And He felt forsaken by His Father. 28:19 In fact, in Gethsemane He begged His Father three times 28:22 that if the cup of the Father's wrath could pass from Him 28:27 that it would be so. 28:28 Nevertheless, He said, "Not My will be done, but Yours." 28:31 And the Bible tells us that in the garden of Gethsemane 28:34 He sweated great drops of blood because of the anguish 28:37 of feeling separated from His Father. 28:39 He was drinking the cup of the Father's wrath. 28:42 And on the cross He felt forsaken by His Father, 28:45 because sin separates from God. 28:49 Let's notice the next to last cry of Jesus on the cross. 28:54 It's found in John 19:30. 28:57 And remember that here He is speaking 28:58 to His Father once again. 29:00 It's very short. Three words. 29:07 Now the question is, what was finished? 29:09 When Jesus says to His Father, "It is finished," 29:12 what did Jesus mean? 29:13 I'll make it simple for you. 29:15 Then I'll read a statement from the spirit of prophecy. 29:17 What He was saying is, "Father, I have lived a perfect life, 29:22 and now I have paid the penalty for sin. 29:25 I have finished making provision for salvation 29:28 of every single human being on the planet." 29:32 In other words, the provision for salvation is finished. 29:35 It is complete. 29:37 No one has to live a perfect life anymore. 29:39 No one has to die for sin anymore. 29:41 As long as they meet the conditions 29:44 they can be saved now, because the provision is full 29:47 and it is complete. 29:49 Ellen White comments in, Desire of Ages, page 834, 29:54 when Jesus ascends to heaven and meets with His Father, 29:58 something very interesting. 29:59 I read... 30:09 "The compact..." That is, the covenant. 30:14 "Now He declares..." 30:15 Now He's in the presence of the Father. 30:16 He resurrected, went to heaven. 30:18 And He's going to go to His Father to ask His Father 30:21 if His sacrifice is sufficient. 30:23 It says, "Now He declares..." 30:34 What did Jesus say to His Father? 30:35 "I have completed the work of redemption." 30:37 And you say, "How is it that Ellen White then says 30:40 that Jesus went to heaven to complete the work 30:42 that He began on earth?" 30:43 We're going to study that a little bit later. 30:45 Because people say Ellen White talks 30:46 out of both sides of her mouth. 30:47 No, she doesn't talk out of both sides of her mouth. 30:50 You just have to take what she says in context; 30:53 when it is said and why it is said. 30:56 But here it clearly says, "Jesus says to His Father, 30:59 'I have completed the work of redemption.'" 31:01 But He completed the work of redemption 31:03 as a provision. 31:05 But He has not applied the benefits of that provision 31:09 to all of those who come to Him. 31:11 Are you with me or not? 31:12 In that sense, He went to heaven to complete the work 31:15 that He began on earth. 31:17 And then Jesus says to His Father, 31:19 "If Thy justice is satisfied..." 31:27 "I want to bring My people home. 31:30 Is what I have done sufficient to bring My people home? 31:32 I need to know whether it is." 31:34 And the Father says to Jesus, "It is enough. 31:38 Someday You will be able to bring Your people home." 31:41 And then Jesus makes His last declaration from the cross. 31:45 It's found in Luke 23:46. 31:49 Jesus says to His Father... 31:56 What was Jesus saying when He stated to His Father, 32:00 "Into Your hands I commend My spirit"? 32:02 What Jesus was saying is, "Father, You said that if 32:06 I fulfilled My part of the covenant, that even though 32:12 I should die, that You were going to safeguard My life 32:16 and I was going to resurrect." 32:17 Jesus is saying to His Father, "Safeguard My life. 32:21 Because You have promised that death is not the end. 32:23 That You will return My spirit to Me, and I will resurrect." 32:29 And so Jesus basically is saying, "I've completed 32:32 the provision for salvation. 32:34 The benefits are available, My perfect life 32:37 and My death for sin, for every sinner who has ever lived 32:41 in the history of planet earth." 32:44 And He commends His spirit into the safe keeping 32:48 of His Father. 32:49 Now there was another piece of furniture 32:51 in the court of the Sanctuary. 32:56 And that piece of furniture was found between 32:59 the altar of sacrifice and the Holy Place in the tent. 33:04 Go with me to Exodus 40:7 that gives us the location 33:09 of this piece of furniture in the Sanctuary. 33:13 Exodus 40:7 33:17 This is known as the laver. 33:19 It was a receptacle that had water in it. 33:22 Water for cleansing. 33:24 Water for washing. 33:25 It says there in Exodus 40:7... 33:35 So it's between the tent and the altar. 33:37 You have the altar, then you have the laver with the water, 33:41 and then you have the tent. 33:43 And it continues saying... 33:47 So the laver had water. 33:49 Now I want you to notice that Jesus 33:52 is walking through the Sanctuary. 33:54 Where does He begin His work? 33:55 He begins it in the camp by living His perfect life, right? 33:59 Then He moves where? 34:01 To the altar where He's sacrificed. 34:04 Then when He enters the Holy Place, He's going to 34:07 begin His work as what? 34:09 As Intercessor. 34:10 So let me ask you, what would the laver represent? 34:13 Does the laver represent something between His death 34:15 and when He goes into the Holy Place? 34:17 It must be. 34:19 Because chronologically, Jesus is going step by step. 34:23 He lives His perfect life in the camp. 34:25 He dies at the altar. 34:27 At the laver He must do something that takes place 34:30 before He enters the Holy Place of the Sanctuary 34:33 upon His ascension. 34:35 So you say, "Pastor Bohr, what is represented by the laver, 34:40 which comes after His death on the altar 34:43 and before He appears before His Father 34:46 when He ascends to heaven?" 34:49 Well, the bottom line is that the laver represents 34:52 His resurrection from the dead. 34:56 Let's notice Titus 3:5. 34:59 Titus 3:5 35:02 We're going to read this verse, then I'm going to 35:04 make some comments about it. 35:30 Now notice the two key words. 35:32 "...washing of regeneration," and then it says, 35:36 "and renewing of the Holy Spirit." 35:39 Now we need to examine particularly the word, 35:42 "regeneration," that is used here. 35:46 It is only used three times in the New Testament, 35:48 the word, "regeneration." 35:50 And basically, it is a compound Greek word. 35:53 In other words, it's composed of two Greek words; 35:56 a preposition and a verb. 36:00 In Greek it's very common for verbs to have 36:03 prepositional prefixes. 36:05 Now the two words are, "palig," which means, "again," 36:11 and the word, "genesia," which means, "to live." 36:16 So basically the word, "regeneration," 36:20 means, "to live," what? 36:23 To live again. 36:25 And water is related to what? 36:28 To living again, in this verse. 36:31 Now it's interesting to notice that this same word 36:34 is used in two other places in the New Testament. 36:38 Let me mention those places for you. 36:40 In the parallel passages, in Mark 10:30 and in Luke 18:30, 36:48 it's not translated, "regeneration." 36:51 It is translated, "the age to come." 36:55 Now let me ask you, what is the dividing point 36:58 between this age and the age to come? 37:01 It is the resurrection. 37:02 Let me prove it to you. 37:04 Go with me to Luke 20:34-36. 37:08 Luke 20:34-36 37:12 This is the imaginary scenario of the seven spouses. 37:16 Remember the seven spouses that died? 37:18 Now notice what we find in Luke 20:34-36. 37:28 "...this age..." 37:33 That's the time that we live in, right? 37:41 "...that age..." 37:42 That's the future age, right? 37:44 And what is the next expression, "...and the..." what? 37:47 "...and the resurrection from the dead..." 37:49 What is it that divides this age from the next age? 37:52 The resurrection. 37:53 And remember that this is the same translation 37:58 of the word that we just noticed; "paliggenesia." 38:01 And so it says, "But those who are counted worthy..." 38:22 So what is represented by the laver 38:25 or the water of regeneration? 38:27 It has to do with what? 38:29 It has to do with the resurrection of Jesus. 38:33 So the laver represents the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 38:37 Are you following me or not? 38:38 In a few moments I'm going to give you additional evidence. 38:41 Now a question that often comes up is this: 38:44 Who resurrected Jesus? 38:48 You know, if you look at the Bible, sometimes it says that 38:50 God the Father resurrected Jesus. 38:52 In fact, most of the time it says God the Father 38:54 resurrected Jesus. 38:56 There's a few text that say that the Holy Spirit 38:58 resurrected Jesus. 39:00 And then there is one text that we're going to look at 39:04 that gives the impression that Jesus resurrected Himself. 39:07 So the question is, who resurrected Jesus? 39:10 Well, let's take a look at John 10:17-18 39:14 and let's read it carefully, 39:16 and let's read both verses completely. 39:18 John 10:17-18 39:23 It says there, Jesus is speaking... 39:42 Now that's not a good translation of the Greek word, 39:45 "I have power..." 39:46 There is a word for power in the New Testament. 39:49 It's the word, "dunamis," that we get the word, 39:51 "dynamite," from. 39:52 This is not the word, "dunamis." 39:54 This is the word, "exousia." 39:57 It should be translated, "authority." 39:59 So notice what it continues saying here in John 10:17. 40:15 "I have authority to lay it down, 40:17 I have authority to take it up again." 40:20 Why did Jesus have authority to lay it down 40:23 and take it up again? 40:25 See, we've got to read the last little phrase of the verse. 40:29 He says what? 40:36 So did the Father have to give authority to Jesus 40:40 to come out of the grave through the life 40:43 that was within Jesus Himself? 40:45 Absolutely. 40:46 The text tells us it does. 40:48 Now let me read you an amazing statement from 40:50 the spirit of prophecy. 40:51 This is in, The Youth's Instructor, May 2, 1901. 41:11 Jesus was in the tomb, a prisoner of what? 41:14 Whose divine justice? 41:16 The Father's divine justice. 41:22 Jesus was responsible to the Judge of the universe, 41:26 because Jesus bore the sins of the world. 41:28 And then she states... 41:36 So what happens? 41:38 Jesus resurrects with the power that is within Himself. 41:41 But His Father authorizes Him to resurrect by the life 41:45 that is within Himself. 41:47 In other words, if the Father had not called Jesus 41:49 from the tomb, there would have been no resurrection. 41:54 Now, let me read you a statement about 41:57 the resurrection of Christ, how it happened. 42:00 It's found in, The Story of Jesus, 42:01 written by Ellen White, page 155. 42:18 He just kind of pushed it aside. 42:33 Do you remember the last words of Jesus on the cross? 42:35 "Father, into Your hands I commend My spirit." 42:38 He's saying, "I commend My life into Your hands." 42:40 Does the Father call Him out afterwards? 42:43 Yes. Did the Father preserve His life or His spirit? 42:46 Absolutely. 42:48 Now she continues saying... 43:01 Powerful statement. 43:03 And so, who resurrected Jesus? 43:05 It was by command of the Father that Jesus could take up His 43:09 own life, because the Father had given Him authority to do so. 43:13 It says so in John 10:18. 43:17 Incidentally, do you know that the Jewish feasts 43:20 follow the same order of the ministry of Jesus? 43:25 First of all, we have the Passover. 43:29 That's His death. 43:30 Then we have Unleavened Bread. 43:33 That's His burial. 43:35 Then you have First Fruits. 43:37 That's His resurrection. 43:40 And then you have the day of Pentecost. 43:43 That's when He begins to officiate in the Holy Place 43:47 of the heavenly Sanctuary. 43:48 So the Hebrew feasts follow the order of the steps of Jesus 43:52 in the plan of salvation. 43:54 Now let's go back to the idea of the laver, 43:57 the laver of regeneration, which represents the resurrection. 44:03 When Jesus resurrected from the dead, 44:05 did He leave every vestige of death behind? 44:08 Did He totally cleanse Himself from death? 44:11 Notice Romans 6:9-10. 44:14 Romans 6:9-10 44:18 You see, just like the... Listen carefully. 44:20 Just as the priest would wash himself totally clean 44:25 before He entered the Holy Place to do a work of 44:29 intercession, Jesus had to wash Himself from every vestige 44:33 of sin before He could enter His service 44:38 in the heavenly Sanctuary in the Holy Place. 44:41 When the priest offered the sacrifice, 44:44 do you think that he was stained with blood? 44:46 That he had the signs of death upon himself? 44:48 Of course. 44:50 So what did he have to do before he entered the Holy Place 44:52 to minister in the Holy Place? 44:54 He had to go to the laver and he had to wash off every sign 44:58 or every vestige of death. 45:00 He had to be totally cleansed from death 45:02 and from signs of death. 45:03 And you know, the Bible says that touching a dead body 45:06 defiles, doesn't it? 45:08 That's what the writings of Moses says. 45:11 Now notice once again Romans 6:9-10. 45:32 So let me ask you, did Jesus totally leave death behind? 45:35 Did He, so to speak, cleanse Himself from death 45:38 when He resurrected from the dead to enter His next stage 45:43 in the plan of salvation? 45:45 Absolutely. 45:46 So you'll notice then that Jesus is following the 45:49 sequence of the Sanctuary. 45:51 He goes to the camp, lives His perfect life 45:54 as the blameless Lamb. 45:56 He goes to the altar, at the altar of sacrifice, 45:59 He bears the sins of the world and He suffers death. 46:03 At the laver He resurrects from the dead, 46:06 totally cleanses Himself from every vestige of death. 46:10 And in this way, He's totally clean to enter the next function 46:15 of His ministry which takes place in the Holy Place 46:19 of the heavenly Sanctuary. 46:22 Now, a question that I ask quite frequently 46:27 wherever I go is whether Jesus forgave 46:32 people's sins at the cross? 46:34 And you know, I'm amazed at the answer I get in most 46:38 Seventh-day Adventist churches. 46:40 Not to say what non-Adventists would say. 46:43 You know, whenever I ask, "Did Jesus forgive 46:46 people's sins when He died on the cross," 46:49 almost always the resounding answer is, "Yes, He forgave 46:52 everybody's sins at the cross." 46:55 But the fact is, folks, that Jesus did not forgive 46:58 people's sins at the cross. 47:00 You say, "Now what do you mean?" 47:03 Listen, at the cross Jesus made provision 47:06 to forgive people's sins. 47:09 He provided the means whereby sins could be forgiven, 47:13 but He did not forgive people's sins at the cross. 47:17 You say, "Now, what do you mean?" 47:19 Let me ask you, what is the importance 47:21 of the resurrection of Jesus? 47:23 Why did Jesus resurrect? 47:25 Listen, folks, Jesus resurrected because He 47:27 had another function to perform in the Sanctuary. 47:30 If Jesus simply had died and gone to the grave 47:33 and He had stayed dead, all of us would be lost. 47:36 We would still be in our sins. 47:39 Because Jesus has to fulfill an additional function 47:43 in the Holy Place of the Sanctuary, 47:45 and He has to be alive to do it. 47:47 And so He had to resurrect to be able now to go to heaven 47:51 to give forgiveness to those who claim the benefits 47:55 of the life and the death of Jesus. 47:57 Now let's notice Romans 4:25. 48:00 Romans 4:25 48:03 A very interesting verse. 48:05 Speaking about Jesus, it says... 48:13 That's another way of saying, for our what? 48:16 For our sins, right. 48:30 Other versions say that He was raised for our justification. 48:34 So why was Jesus raised? 48:36 So that He could what? 48:37 So that He could justify us. 48:40 And you say, "Now wait a minute. 48:41 What is justification?" 48:43 Well let me read you a statement from the spirit of prophecy. 48:46 This is found in the book, Faith and Works, page 103. 48:49 If you've never read that book, I would really recommend 48:52 that you read that book. 48:53 It's a phenomenal book. 48:54 It's small, but it has a series of articles 48:57 that Ellen White wrote in, Signs of the Times, 48:59 and, Review and Herald, on righteousness by faith. 49:02 And this is a short statement, but very significant. 49:05 Because we just read that Jesus was raised 49:09 for our justification. 49:11 In other words, He was raised so that He could justify us. 49:13 Now what is justification? 49:15 Folks, it's simply a fancy theological word 49:18 that means, to receive pardon or forgiveness. 49:21 When you are forgiven, or when you are pardoned, 49:24 at that moment you receive justification. 49:27 Notice this statement... 49:36 Did you catch that? 49:40 So whenever you read the writings of the apostle Paul... 49:44 Which he wrote some things that are hard to be understood, 49:48 according to his colleague Peter. 49:50 So whenever you find the word, "justification," 49:52 you know that it means what? 49:54 It means pardon or forgiveness. 49:57 So why was Jesus raised? 49:59 He was raised so that we could be what? 50:02 So that we could be forgiven. 50:03 So did He forgive people at the cross? 50:06 No, He forgives people after His what? 50:08 After His resurrection. 50:10 Now let me give you another text that clearly proves this. 50:13 Go with me to 1 Corinthians 15, and we'll read verses 13-17. 50:21 This is a powerful passage on the resurrection of Christ. 50:24 1 Corinthians 15:13-17 50:43 How important is the resurrection of Jesus? 50:47 It's a matter of life and death. 50:48 Notice what it continues saying in verse 15. 51:05 So in other words, why would we even bother to 51:07 preach that Jesus resurrected? 51:09 We'd be lying. 51:10 So preaching would be futile. 51:12 It would be worthless. 51:14 Verse 16... 51:20 Now here comes the key verse, verse 17... 51:31 Did Jesus forgive people's sins at the cross? 51:34 No. 51:36 When do people receive forgiveness? 51:39 It's after Jesus what? Resurrects. 51:42 Because it say, you know, if Jesus did not resurrect, 51:44 you're still in your sins. 51:46 So His death did not take care of individual sins. 51:50 It made provision to forgive sin. 51:53 But it did not in actuality forgive the sins of individuals. 51:59 You say, "Why not?" 52:00 It's very simple. 52:02 You know, all I have to do is read one verse. 52:04 And we're going to study this in our next study. 52:07 We're going to study about Jesus, our Advocate, 52:10 our Intercessor, our Mediator. 52:12 See, that's the next stage in the ministry of Christ 52:15 in the heavenly Sanctuary. 52:17 If Jesus does not fulfill that next stage, 52:20 everything is lost. 52:22 Yes, Jesus would have lived a perfect life. 52:24 Yeah, He would have died carrying the sins of the world. 52:27 But there would be no forgiveness. 52:29 Because it's in the Holy Place when Jesus takes His life 52:33 and gives it to those who repent of sin, confess sin, 52:38 and have faith in Jesus. 52:40 It's when you receive Jesus as your Savior 52:43 that Jesus takes His death that He suffered for sin 52:47 and He places His death to your account 52:49 so that you don't have to die eternally. 52:51 Are you following me or not? 52:53 But it must be claimed. 52:54 You say, "Which verse is that, just one verse that proves 52:57 that forgiveness did not come at the cross?" 53:00 1 John 1:9 53:05 1 John 1:9 53:09 "If we confess our sins..." 53:13 Is that a conditional statement? 53:16 "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just..." to what? 53:22 "...to forgive us our sins and cleanse us 53:25 from all unrighteousness." 53:26 When does forgiveness come, 53:28 at the cross or when I confess my sins? 53:30 When I confess them. 53:31 So forgiveness is when I claim what Jesus did. 53:35 The provision is complete. 53:37 His life is enough to be in place of everyone's sinful life. 53:42 And His death is sufficient to pay for the death 53:45 of every single person. 53:46 Bu unless we claim it, we will still be in our sins. 53:49 Are you following me or not? 53:50 And that's the next stage of the ministry of Jesus Christ. 53:55 Now what arguments were answered by the death 53:58 of Jesus on the cross? 54:00 Number one, God is no respecter of persons, 54:04 because He did not spare His own Son. 54:07 See, the original argument was, "Oh, God has favorites. 54:10 You know, He favors His Son above everybody else." 54:12 But when He sent Him to die, He didn't even spare Him. 54:16 Second, God proved true in His word and just. 54:22 It was proved that the wages of sin is death. 54:25 Sin was punished. 54:27 The justice of God was executed upon Jesus, our substitute. 54:31 But also the love of God was revealed 54:34 because sinners need not suffer the penalty. 54:37 Jesus suffered the penalty. 54:39 If we accept Him, His death counts as if it were our death. 54:44 So the Godhead takes death upon itself, thus showing God's love. 54:49 Sin is punished. 54:50 God's justices is satisfied, but at the same time 54:53 He shows His love because He suffers the penalty 54:56 instead of us having to suffer the penalty. 55:00 Did Jesus show that it's possible to keep God's holy law? 55:04 You better believe He did. 55:06 He was tempted in all things, yet without sin. 55:10 Did God show that He's not selfish? 55:13 Oh, absolutely. 55:14 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son." 55:17 The most precious thing in the universe. 55:20 God is a giving God. 55:22 God is a God who serves. 55:23 It reminds me of the time that Jesus says, 55:26 "The Son of Man has not come to be served, but to serve, 55:30 and to give His life a ransom for many." 55:33 See, the devil had said, "God is selfish. 55:35 God is a respecter of persons. 55:37 God cannot be just and save the sinner. 55:40 God doesn't love, because He has to punish the sinner with death. 55:43 And the law can't be kept." 55:44 All of these things were answered through 55:47 the first two stages of the ministration of Jesus Christ. 55:50 Are you with me? 55:51 Now, this still did not answer all of the questions 55:55 of the heavenly beings of the universe, 55:57 or even the human beings on this earth. 56:00 There were still things that needed to be clarified 56:03 before the inhabitants of the universe. 56:07 Jesus still needed to perform a work in the Holy Place 56:11 and in the Most Holy Place. 56:13 And in the court when He brought the sins out of the Sanctuary. 56:17 Only when Jesus completed His total ministry in the Sanctuary 56:22 would the entire universe be clear on every aspect 56:26 of the character of God. 56:28 I want to end by reading from, Desire of Ages, 761. 56:35 This is when Jesus died. 57:05 And now comes the part of the statement that I consider 57:07 the most important, and will set the stage for our study 57:11 in our next lecture. 57:13 "He," that is man, "must choose whom he will serve." 57:20 So the next step has to do with human choice. 57:25 The heavenly beings are going to see now 57:27 who is going to benefit from what Jesus did by His life 57:33 and by His death on the cross. 57:35 The angels are going to see that it is possible 57:38 for the sinner to be saved and for God to be righteous and true 57:43 and loving in all of His dealings with human beings. 57:47 So the next step has to do with choice. 57:50 When man chooses Jesus as Savior and Lord, 57:54 there's a new revelation to the angels of heaven 57:57 and to men concerning the character of God. 58:00 So don't miss the next exciting episode of this series. |
Revised 2016-08-31