So you probably know that it’s an old man bringing this broadcast to you, and therefore you may think, well, he has an old-fashioned theology, Jesus substituting for the sins of the world. Yep, I know you may think that, but it’s not the case, because the issue of Jesus substituting himself for the world’s sin is replete throughout the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. What we need to know about that is clearly made, it is made clear in the Scripture. I say that to you because you and I need to understand there is a substitute for us in place of our sinfulness and brokenness. If that is not the case, then you have a great struggle in your mind, wondering what to do with the broken accusations and the searing charges that come into your mind from day to day. What we have, remember, in Romans chapter 3, verse 25, is that God has set forth Jesus as a propitiation. And that means to take away God’s judgment, God’s wrath. Now, why would God be wrathful? Well, God is love, and wrath is never a substitute for love. God does not stop loving in order to be wrathful. But God’s wrath is motivated by love. Only a God who loves goodness can hate badness. Only a God who loves kindness can hate cruelty. We don’t have an indifferent God. We have a God who is determined to wipe out sin throughout the whole universe. And yet, how can he do it without wiping us out? And that’s where he takes the judgment of the world upon himself. Remember that verse in Leviticus chapter 17 verse 11. You may not have given thought to it for a long time, but it’s time to do it again. Listen to this. For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul. Now just think of what this means. First of all, he says, the life of the flesh is in the blood. So it is life that is in the blood. And yet this is not talking about blood running through our veins. It’s talking about a violent death which brings about that blood. For the life of the flesh is in the blood. For I have given it to you, that is the blood, upon the altar to make atonement. Well, now wait a minute. Whose blood was that? That was an animal’s blood. The animal representing the coming Savior. that animal’s blood was to make atonement, that is to bring us back to God, for our souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul. Here we have a perfect statement, definitive in Scripture, that tells us that the blood of another brings us back to God, the blood of another. And in this case, of course, it is Jesus Christ. Now let’s think of something that we all know so well. God’s deliverance of Israel through Moses. Do you remember when Pharaoh finally decided to let them go? Let Israelites go, let my people go, said Moses, and he resisted for so long, but finally yielded. The night before they left, God told them to take a sacrifice, to take an animal, kill it, and spread the blood upon the lintels of the doorpost. and then go inside and stay inside throughout the night, and God would pass over all upon whose house was the blood sprinkled on the lintels of the door. For he was that night going to kill the firstborn of every Egyptian. Now this is a remarkable, utterly remarkable illustration, more than an illustration, a history of what God was doing. God was the judge and also the Savior. It’s a big mistake to think that God is the judge and Jesus is the Savior. No, God was in Christ being the Savior of the world, and God so loved the world that he gave his Son. And if God is for us—that’s Romans 8.31—what can be against us? So our God, who is a judge against sin and against the ruin of the world and the destruction that the world has brought upon itself, is also its Saviour. So you and I have to bring two great realities together in our mind. Well, we don’t do it by our mind, but our mind of faith. It is faith that brings these two great realities together. we recognize that God is utterly against the sin of the world, our sin, and utterly against the ruin that the world has brought upon itself. And yet that same God of ours is a God of love, and it is love that makes him against the sin that we have and the world has. And so the judge is also the savior. The judge is also the redeemer. And this is why Paul is able to say in Romans 3, verse 25, and then verse 26, listen to this now, “…whom God set forth as a propitiation by his blood,” that is, by Christ’s death, appeasing God’s wrath against sin, “…through faith, to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed.” to demonstrate at the present time his righteousness, that he might be just, showing his justice against sin through the death of Christ, and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. What an incredible thing God did then. You see that God had a problem. He loved the world. He wanted to save the world, and yet he wanted to uphold righteousness in the universe. And how could he do both? How could he save us without destroying us because we are the sinners? We say he loved the sinner, but not the sin. God, in his revolt against sin, also had in his love a passionate love for the sinner. And those two realities meet at the cross. That is what you and I believe as Christians. We don’t believe that Jesus was simply an expression of God’s love without an atonement. No, because it is the blood that atones for our sins. And we don’t believe that God was simply leaving us an example to be as good as he was, because that’s impossible anyway. But we believe that Jesus Christ has settled the issue forever. In Christ was God’s judgment of the world. Jesus is not only the Savior of the world, but the judge of the world, in that he took the judgment upon himself. Now, is this a fine bit of theology? Is this careful theologizing? Listen to me. It has utter relevance to your mind. When your mind accuses you, when your mind depresses you, when you are overwhelmed with the problems of the world, and you feel that there is no God here helping you, that he’s just too silent or too late and not coming through for you at the right time, then you look to the cross. You look to the atoning work of Christ. Because in Christ is the perfect expression of God’s love for you, as well as God having taken your judgment upon himself. And so your faith is able to say, Father, my mind is accusing me. My mind is using the law to attack me. My mind is saying I’m wrong, I’m no good, I’m condemned, and you hate me. But Father, I thank you that you have shown to me your judgment of me on the cross. I am not judged in myself. I am judged in Christ. And Christ took my judgment on the cross for me, and I praise you for it. And because of that, Father, I can slough off the judgments that my mind wants to accuse me of. I can say no, I will not listen to the endless accusations, for you do not want me to be in torment, dear God. I thank you so much. And so you are able to talk back to God. God gives you the conversation. He gives you the conversation that you need to speak to him. As sinners, we have no clue what to say to God. We’re so ashamed. We’re so guilt-ridden. We’re so afraid of him. So God says, come here, my child. Let me tell you what to tell me. God tells you what to tell him, and that is the language of faith. O Father, though I have sinned, I come before you, and I am unworthy of you, but I thank you that Jesus took my judgment, and I thank you that since he took my judgment, I can say to these accusations of my mind, I will not listen to you. I thank you that they have no power to bring me down, for you are my righteousness, you are my judgment. You have shown yourself to judge against my sins, but you are also my righteousness, for Christ is my righteousness. Now, do you get that? Do you see it? Do you hear it? It’s not enough simply to believe intellectually, to see this theology. It’s not enough to take sides with your enemy or your opponent and you say, well, I believe in substitutionary atonement and he doesn’t. He just believes in moral atonement. atonement. No, don’t argue like that. This is a truth for your mind, for your heart, for the psychology of your sanity. This is a truth that faith gives you that enables you to stand erect before your heavenly Father, yet to bow your knee before him and say, oh dear God, thank you for your mercy to me. Listen then to these verses again. whom God, referring to Jesus now, God set forth, like on a placard, a billboard, as I said yesterday, whom God set forth as a propitiation. Jesus took God’s wrath, because God, Jesus is one with God, and therefore God took his own wrath against sin by his death. By his blood, you see. His death is a judgment against sin. It is the expression of God’s wrath. It appeases God because he takes the judgment upon himself. And we believe this through faith, it says, to demonstrate his righteousness. God, in Christ’s death, demonstrated how much he loves goodness and beauty and and healing and grace and mercy, all of that. He demonstrated his righteousness because in his forbearance, God had passed over the sins that were previously committed. Some people say the Old Testament is full of judgment. No, it’s not. It’s full of mercy. There is not a lot of judgment in the Old Testament in consideration of the history of the world. God passed over most of it. But so as not to be understood that he was passing over sin, he took that judgment upon himself. Verse 26, to demonstrate at the present time his righteousness, that he might be just in not passing over sin, and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. And so it is that God is our judge. Ooh, but we don’t want that without God also being our Savior. Trust in him. Thank you, everyone, for listening. Colin Cook here, and this is how it happens. Have I told you about the fact that my book is published lately? The book is called God’s Unbreakable Oath, and it’s about the salvation of all the world, every last man and woman, and proving through all the evidence of Scripture that that is so. from the book of Romans, the book of Ezekiel, from the book of Revelation, all of the promises of God and the evidence to show that God will save all humanity. You can get the book on Amazon, God’s Unbreakable Oath. I hope you’ll enjoy it. You will, I’m sure. I’ll see you next time. Cheerio, and God bless.
