951. His Vicarious Atonement

Welcome to The Daily Platform from Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. Every school day, chapel is a time for the students to gather together around God's Word. Through faithful preaching and teaching, the students are challenged to know, love and serve God from the sermons preached from the chapel platform. Today we're continuing a study series based on the creed that students recite each day in chapel services, which is a summary of the doctrines of our Christian faith. Today's sermon will be preached by Dr. Dan Olinger, the chairman of the Division of Bible in the School of Religion. He'll be guiding us through the doctrine of the vicarious atonement of Christ. It is my privilege this morning to introduce a friend, a colleague, someone that before even coming to Bob Jones, I've always really enjoyed listening to, whether it's what he's written or to hear him speak.

Dr. Dan Olinger is our speaker this morning. He's taught here at BJU since 2000 and before that was a writer and editor and supervisor at the press for 19 years. He chairs our Division of Bible and has a PhD and so is incredibly well credentialed to handle the Word of God. But in the midst of all of that, one of the things I love most about him is his passion for truth that comes across in the presentation of that truth. He is a believer that the teaching of the Word of God ought to be thoroughly vetted, that it ought to be strong in truth content, but if we really believe it to be God's truth, it ought to be presented in a way that is lively and I've always loved that about him. He has taught Bible courses literally all over the world, in China, in several places in Africa, in South America, in just different places and his presentation always is greeted with the same response, that he brings the Word of God to life. And I know he'll do the same for us in chapel today and so I'm excited that Dr. Olinger is going to come and bring us the Word of God in chapel. Thank you sir.

Good morning. Have you ever felt like you weren't really very good at this whole Christian thing? Like your sin is just too much? Like you just can't stop it even though you made all those promises to God? I have.

And a lot more recently than you might think. And I have good news for you this morning. We are continuing in our Creed series and the phrase, the clause we are looking at this morning is that we believe in his vicarious atonement for the sins of mankind by the shedding of his blood on the cross. The key word in that clause is the word vicarious. Vicarious, what does it mean?

Well, it means substitutionary. It means that he stood in our place. As we all know, our sins stand between a healthy relationship between us and God. And we were made to have that relationship. It's what we're designed to do. It's what we're for. It's our whole purpose. And yet our sins prevent that from happening.

And to solve that problem, Jesus paid for those sins in our place by shedding his blood on the cross. I'd like to take some time this morning to dissect that. To begin with, we know that there's this phrase shedding his blood. That's fairly gruesome. And I'm not the first one to have observed that. All kinds of enemies of the cross have observed that.

And a great many recipients of the cross's benefit have observed that as well. It's not a pretty picture. Why does there need to be shedding of blood? Well, the Bible tells us very clearly what the penalty for sin is. Paul says in Romans 6 that it's death. Death penalty for sin. I thought we used the death penalty for only the worst of offenses. Well, every sin you've ever committed was committed against God.

It was a violation of his will, of his design for us, of his design for the whole universe. And we know that the intensity of the offense depends in great measure on against whom it was committed. If I say to one of my students, say he tells a little joke on me in class, and he kind of catches me and zings me, you know, like that would ever happen.

And I say to him, I know who you are, I know where you live, and I'm going to kill you one of these days. Nobody would care about that. Because it's just a student. And I, you know. And if it were a GA, it would be even less.

I know, I was a GA for five years. Been there, done that. But if I said to the President of the United States, Republican or Democrat, loved or hated, I'm going to kill you. I'm going to get a visit from some guys in dark suits, without a sense of humor, who talk to their wrists.

And they're going to have a bunch of really interesting questions for me. Same offense, different recipient, different object. Now the President of the United States is not God.

Although a few of them over the years have been under the misimpression that they were, I'm sure. Every one of your sins is against God. And there is no penalty sufficient for that sin. Death is just the closest we can come to sufficient. The Bible tells us that the life of the flesh is in the blood.

Leviticus chapter 17. And so the same law of Moses concludes that without shedding of blood there's no forgiveness, there's no remission, there's no dismissal of our sins. So if our sins are going to be paid for, our blood has to be shed. We have to die. In a feeble attempt to pay an infinite price.

Well that's not good news. But we all know that there's a substitute. And to that point I have a question. How can there even be a substitute? What has to happen before there can be a substitute for my sin and my death? Well, the whole idea starts with an object lesson in the Old Testament. In the same Jewish law that said without shedding of blood there's no remission for sins, God himself presented a substitute, a lamb. Sometimes other animals were sacrificed. But the typical sin offering was a lamb. The lamb was not a solution.

The lamb could not pay an infinite death any more than you can. But the lamb, the Bible said, covered our sins. And so on top of the Ark of the Covenant, which is not resting in a government warehouse right now.

Don't get your theology from the movies. On the top of the Ark of the Covenant was what the Jews called the Covering, the Caporeth. And it was solid gold and on it stood a couple of images of cherubim. And between those cherubim God said is where I sit.

I sit on the Covering, the Caporeth. And on the Day of Atonement, kippur, caporeth, same word. The high priest would go before the mercy seat, sprinkle blood on it, and atone for the sins of the people. But they weren't gone.

They were just covered. That's what the lamb's blood did. Well, other things have to happen before there can be a substitute. Whoever this substitute is has to be able to die.

Because that's the penalty. Which means he has to be human. He has to be mortal. He must not have sins of his own that he has to die for. His death must be available for somebody else. He has to be willing to do it. Jesus said, the Son of Man came to give his life a ransom for many.

Paul tells Timothy that Christ gave himself a ransom for all. He was willing to do it. There are a few people I'd be willing to die for. But the longer I thought about it, the fewer people I'd be willing to die for.

And I suspect you're in that position too. And finally, the Father has to be willing to accept the whole substitution thing. And the Bible tells us that the Father laid on him the lamb before the shearers, laid on him the iniquity of all of us. Paul tells the Roman church that the Father delivered the Son up for us all. So the Son is willing and the Father is willing. So there can be a substitution.

There's hope for us. Well that calls out another question. Why would he do that? Well, the Bible gives at least three reasons. We know that we were created in the image of God. We're designed to show him to the rest of creation.

This is what God is like in these ways. And our sin has marred that image. We painted horns and a mustache on it.

We cracked the mirror. Well God's not going to let his image lie there broken with a mustache and horns on it. He's going to rescue his image.

Not because we're all that, but because he is. God has an eternal plan that is behind the creation of the whole universe and particularly the creation of us and that is to gather from this people who are in his image a people for his name from every kingdom, tribe, tongue, and nation to serve him for eternity and to rejoice in his presence. And God's plan is not going to be foiled. Paul tells us in Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 2 that Christ hath loved us and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God.

We can talk about the plan and we can talk about the image and those are things that make sense to us and we can appreciate. But with this third motive Jesus steps across the threshold into our hearts and he says I'm doing this because I love you. I don't know if anybody loves you or not. Okay I love you, but not that well. Some of you have grown up I suppose believing that nobody loves you. And you are probably wrong about that.

You probably should pay better attention. But even if you're right, if nobody on this earth loves you, if you're like one of the four people, you know, Hitler, Mao, you know, that guy who makes all those phone calls during dinner time, and you, that nobody loves. And Jesus loves you. And I know you've been singing that since you were a little kid and that's kid stuff.

No it's not. It's all the more important to us grown ups. He loves us.

So how far does that substitution go? Well, he paid for our sins, right? Jesus died for my sins.

You've been saying that since you were two. We were over our heads in debt. Billions and billions in debt. It was never going to get paid. It was impossible. And he took it all and he just wiped it off the books. He didn't cover it. He didn't put it in the box with the lid on the top.

What was inside the ark? Tables of the law. And by implication, our violation of all of that. And Jesus' death doesn't just cover our sins. It nukes them. It eradicates them.

It vaporizes them. And now you're not hopelessly in debt anymore. You're even. You're debt free. But may I observe that if Jesus wipes out your sin debt, you're still broke.

Your net worth is now zero, which is a lot better than negative 90 billion, but it's still zero. Jesus, the scripture says, not only died for our sins, he kept the law perfectly. And his righteousness is given to us. He's made us wealthy. The Father made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Jesus stood in our place then by dying for our sins and by keeping the law for us and giving us his righteousness. Is there more to that?

There may be. I'd like to share with you a little theological exercise that we go through in our systematic theology class here in the seminary. It's a theological exercise. It is mildly speculative. The points I have made here so far today are points that I would go to bat for.

I would go to war for. The Bible teaches them they're true. There's no doubt.

This is a little speculative, and I just lay it out there for you to consider. Turn to Matthew chapter three. Matthew chapter three is one of the gospel accounts of the baptism of Jesus Christ.

You know the story. John is baptizing at the Jordan. And in the first couple or three paragraphs, first couple paragraphs of this chapter, we read an account of his work there. Many are coming to him to hear him preach. And he is preaching, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And people are coming and hearing his preaching, and they are repenting. They are confessing their sins, and he is baptizing them unto repentance. Verse 11, he says, indeed, I am baptizing you with water unto repentance, but he that comes after me is mightier than I. I'm not worthy to untie his sandals. And he's going to baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. And in verse 13, Jesus walks into that scene. He comes all the way from Galilee.

John's nearer the southern end of the Jordan River. And John sees Jesus, and his jaw drops. And he says, what are you even doing here? What are you doing? This is a baptism of repentance.

You don't have anything to repent of. What are you doing? And Jesus says to him, I want you to go along with me here. Follow my cue. I know what I'm doing. This is necessary to fulfill all righteousness.

Now what does that mean? In what way is the baptism of Jesus fulfilling all righteousness? Could we maybe take a cue from the principle that we're looking at today? The fact that Jesus is our substitute. As Jesus stands with John in the Jordan, he knows that he has come, the whole reason he has come is to die in our place.

And he knows that during his life he is keeping the law perfectly in our place. Is it possible that by being baptized unto repentance, Jesus is fulfilling all righteousness in some sense in our place. He is repenting for us.

What would that mean? Well, how has your repentance gone? You repented, most of you claim to have repented. And you were sorry. And you said, I'll never do that again. And you meant it. And you have prayed repeatedly since. God, if you'll forgive me just this one time, I'll never do it again. And you meant it. And you didn't do it, did you?

Nor did I. We can't even repent right. Is it possible that Jesus, the perfect Son of God, has offered the Father a repentance that is worthy of his name on our behalf? Is it possible that the Father accepts from his perfect Son the repentance that we want to give him but can't?

We're just too weak to carry it through. Is it possible that Jesus even repented for us in our place? I don't know. That's a theological speculation. But we do know this. Jesus, the perfect Son of God, has done all that we need.

He has done it perfectly. And as we are in him, we stand perfect before the Father. I have a picture in my mind when I confess my sins. I find it helpful.

I know it's not true, but I still find it helpful. I imagine myself standing before the throne of God's righteousness. He is high and lifted up, and his train fills the temple, and the house is filled with smoke. The glory of his presence and the seraphim are exalting him as thrice holy. And I'm confessing my sin before him yet again, and he sits there with a look of puzzlement on his face. And he says, I'm sorry.

I don't know what you're talking about. I don't see any sin. Now, I know that picture is not accurate. God knows. Oh, he knows better than I do. And my sin has hurt him in ways that I can never imagine.

You don't forget something like that. He knows. But he has obliterated that sin. And he will not. He can.

But he will not think on it. He sees me through Christ-colored glasses. You stand before God guilty of Adam's sin. But Christ, the second Adam, stands in your place. You're guilty of your own sin every day of your life from the very earliest days. But Christ stands in your place.

For the rest of your life, however many days God graciously and patiently gives you to live, you will continue to sin. That is the unanimous experience of Christians around the world and throughout history. But Christ stands in your place. Every good deed you have ever done has been tainted by your own selfishness and desire for approval and applause. But Christ stands in your place. Even your repentance has been lived out badly. But Christ stands in your place.

God sees you through Christ-colored glasses. Hallelujah. What a Savior.

Let's pray. Father, what can we say in response to your great mercy, to your great love, your great grace, your great plan? Knowing that we would turn against you, you created us anyway. You created us in your image, and you set us on a course that would commit the very Godhead to become permanently united with mere creatures.

And you have done it willingly and lovingly. Father, may we rest in those moments of doubt and frustration and fear and misery. May we rest in the knowledge that Christ stands in our place. And may we rejoice in living for Him, in Him, through Him for all the days that you give us. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. You've been listening to a sermon preached by Dan Olinger, a professor in the Bob Jones University School of Religion. Join us again tomorrow as we continue this series summarizing the doctrines of our Christian faith here on The Daily Platform.