Sermon Tone Analysis

! Introduction: 

What was the ultimate cause that led to Christ's coming to earth and dying for our sins?

To find this we must trace the question back to something in the character of God himself.

And here Scripture points to two things: the /love/ and /justice/ of God.

·                     *The love of God* as a cause of the atonement is seen in the most familiar passage in the Bible (John 3:16).

·                     *But the justice of God *also required that God find a way that the penalty due to us for our sins would be paid (for God could not accept us into fellowship with himself unless the penalty was paid).

·                     Paul explains that this was why God sent Christ to be a “propitiation” (Rom.

3:25 NASB): it was "/to show God's righteousness/ because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins" (Rom.

3:25).

Here Paul says that God had been forgiving sins in the Old Testament but no penalty had been paid--a fact that would make people wonder whether God was indeed just and ask how he could forgive sins without a penalty.

No God who was truly just could do that, could he?

Yet when God sent Christ to die and pay the penalty for our sins, *“it was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies him who has faith in Jesus” (Rom.

3:26).*

Therefore both the *love *and the *justice of God* were the ultimate cause of the atonement.

Which is more important?

Without the love of God, he would never have taken any steps to redeem us, yet without the justice of God, the specific requirement that Christ should earn our salvation by dying for our sins would not have been met.

Both the love and the justice of God were equally important.

!! B.                  the necessity of the atonement

 

Was there any other way for God to save human beings than by sending his Son to die in our place?

Before answering this question, it is important to realize that it was not necessary for God to save any people at all. 

·                     When we appreciate that /“God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment;”/ (2 Peter 2:4, NASB95), then we realize that God could also have chosen with perfect justice to have left us in our sins awaiting judgment.

·                     He could have chosen to save no one, just as he did with the sinful angels.

So in this sense the atonement was not absolutely necessary.

But once God, in his love, decided to save some human beings, then several passages in Scripture indicate that there was no other way for God to do this than through the death of his Son.

·                     *In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus* "/went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.”/"

(Matthew 26:39, NASB95)

·                     *On the road to Emmaus *"/He said to them, “O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!

“Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?”/" (Luke 24:25-26, NASB95)

Paul in Romans 3 also shows that if God were to be righteous, and still save people, he had to send Christ to pay the penalty for sins:

·                     "It was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies him who has faith in Jesus" (Rom.

3:26).

·                     The epistle to the Hebrews emphasizes that Christ had to suffer for our sins: "He /had to/ be made like his brethren in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make expiation [lit.

"propitiation'] for the sins of the people" (Heb.

2:17).

·                     The author of Hebrews also argues that since "it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins" (Heb.

10:4), a better sacrifice is required (Heb.

9:23).

·                     Only the blood of Christ, that is, his death, would be able really to take away sins (Heb.

9:25-26).

There was no other way for God to save us than for Christ to die in our place.

!! C.                  substitution

 

!!! 1.

The Latin: In Latin the world vicarious mean /in place of/.

!!!! a)                  In The Old Testament, This Was Taught Typologically By:

!!!!! (1)                 The offering of an animal sacrificed for sin, looking forward to that ultimate sacrifice for sin, Christ (Gen.

22:8).

!!!!! (2)                 In Genesis 3:21, the Lord made garments of skin */for/*/ /Adam and his wife.

!!!!! (3)                 In the New Testament, Christ is described as having died /in the place of /the Christian (Romans 5:8); of the church (Eph.

5:25), and of the world (Heb.

2:9).

!!!!! (4)                 The concept of substitutionary death is illustrated by the offering of a ram in the place of Isaac (Gen.

22:13).

Though Abraham was willing to offer his son as requested, God was prepared to accept a substitute that He had provided.

!!!!! (5)                 *Application:* Because Jesus died for everyone, Christians should take the message of the gospel to “every creature” (Mark 16:15).

!!!! b)                 The Death Of Christ Is “Vicarious” In The Sense That:

!!!!! (1)               Christ is the Substitute who bears the punishment rightly due sinners, their guilt being imputed to Him in such a way that He representatively bore their punishment.

!!!!! (2)               There are many passages that emphasize Christ’s substitutionary atonement in the place of mankind:

!!!!!! (a)                 Christ was a substitute in being made sin for others (2 Cor.

5:21)

!!!!!! (b)                He bore the sins of others in His body on the cross (1 Pet.

2:24)

!!!!!! (c)                 He suffered once to bear the sins of others (Heb.

9:28)

!!!!!! (d)                He experienced horrible suffering, scourging, and death in place of sinners (Is.53:4–6).

!!!!  

!!!! c)                  The Pronouns In Isaiah 53 Stress The Substitutionary Nature Of Christ’s Death

"But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed."

(Isaiah 53:5, NASB95). 

1 Peter 2:24 is similarly the same "and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed."

(1 Peter 2:24, NASB95)

!!!! d)                  We Ourselves Should Have This Concern For Others As Paul Did.

!!!!! (1)                 Willing to be cursed for others salvation (Romans 9:3-4)

 

!!! 2.                  Matthew 20:28; 2 Corinthians 5:14; Romans 8:32.

In His incarnate role as the Son of Man, Jesus did not come to be served, but to serve (*Phil.2:6-9*).

Jesus’ ultimate act of servanthood, however, was *to give His life*.

“Greater love has no one than this,” He said, “that one lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).

!!! 3.                  Other Passages (John 10:11,15)

!!!! a)                  /“for”/ (huper) it is a word with profound meaning when used with the death of Christ

!!!!! (1)                 It does /not mean/ that Christ died only as an example for us, showing us how we should be willing to die for the truth or for some great cause.

What it means is that Christ died /in our place, in our stead, in our room, as our substitute/.

/I am the living bread which came down from heaven.

If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.”/"

(John 6:51, NKJV)

/I am the good shepherd.

The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep./"

(John 10:11)

/As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep./"

(John 10:15, NKJV)

!!!! b)                  What Should Our Response To God Be? 

*Living A Life of Sacrifice… A Sacrificial Life Is One of:*

!!!!! (1)                 *Losing Your Life* (Mark 8:34-38)

!!!!! (2)                 *Living Your Life for God *(Romans 12:1-2; 2Cor.5:14-15)

!!!!! (3)                 *Servanthood—*Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”"

(Matthew 20:28, NASB95)

!!!!! (4)                 *Forgiveness—*Therefore, Be imitators of God… and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma."

(Ephesians 5:1-2)

!!!!! (5)                 *Who Thinks Of Others *(Esther 4:11-16).

By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us.

And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren."

(1 John 3:16)

!!!!! (6)                 *Jesus Says There Is No Greater Love (John 15:13; Romans 5:6-8).

*Christ died for the ungodly.

For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

(Romans 5:6-8 NKJV)

!!!!! (7)                 *Jesus Asks Us*, “Will you lay down your life for My Sake?” (*John 13:36-38*)

 

!! D.                  redemption

 

Finding its context in the social, legal, and religious customs of the ancient world, the metaphor of redemption includes the ideas of loosing from a bond, setting free from captivity or slavery, buying back something lost or sold, exchanging something in one’s possession for something possessed by another, and ransoming.

*Redemption* comes from one of six terms taken from the field of law and used in the New Testament in relation to salvation.

·                     /Dikaioo/ and related terms referred to legal acquittal of a charge and are used theologically to speak of a sinner’s being vindicated, justified, and declared righteous before God (Rom.

3:4; 4:25; 5:18; 1 Tim.

3:16).

·                     /Aphiemi/ basically means to send away and was used to indicate the legal repayment or cancellation of a debt or the granting of a pardon.

It is used in Scripture to refer to God’s forgiveness of sin (Matt.

9:2; Rom.