Key Concepts of Christ’s Work on the Cross
Bethel Baptist Church Sermon
October 17, 1999
Our guilt before God required a sacrifice in proportion to our offenses
One of the largest department stores in our nation took on a commercial venture that proved to be disastrously unsuccessful. It was a doll in the form of baby Jesus. It was advertised as being unbreakable, washable, and cuddly. It was packaged in straw with a satin crib and plastic surroundings, and appropriate biblical texts added here and there to make the scene complete.
It did not sell. The manager of one of the stores in the department chain panicked. He carried out a last-ditch promotion to get rid of those dolls. He brandished a huge sign outside his store that read:
JESUS CHRIST—
MARKED DOWN 50%
GET HIM WHILE YOU CAN
Charles Swindoll, Tale of the Tardy Ox Cart, page 502.
The world would look at Jesus Christ on sale…something cheap? A cheap religion, an easy faith. Grace and forgiveness at half price. One of the problems in American religion and Christian faith today is that we believe that forgiveness is cheap. A person considers divorcing their husband or wife. They know it’s wrong, that God would have them work on their marriage and honor their vows, but it seems so hard, and they say themselves, “Oh, afterward, I can ask God to forgive me!” Apply this same phrase to a financial or ethical situation. “Oh, I’ll just go to church and ask God to strike it from my record!” It’s in our hearts to make grace cheap.
Make no mistake: grace is free, but it isn’t cheap. It comes to us at a tremendous cost. It cost God the life of His Son.
Please turn to 1st Peter 1:17-19
This scripture shows us the price of our forgiveness and the high cost of salvation—the beloved Son’s precious blood. This calls for believers to live in reverent fear before God. Holy living is motivated by a God-fearing faith which does not take lightly what was purchased at so great a cost.[1]
1 Peter 1:17-19
17 Since you call on a Father who judges
each man’s work impartially,
live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear.
18 For you know that it was not with perishable things
such as silver or gold that you were redeemed
from the empty way of life handed down to you
from your forefathers,
19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. [2]
1. Reverent Fear
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Reverent fear evidences itself in a tender conscience, a watchfulness against temptation, avoiding the things that would displease our Father in heaven.
There was a lady in a Bible study many years ago. She said, “I want to live as perfect a life as I can, because I don’t want to add one ounce of weight to the burden of sin and guilt that my Jesus carried on Calvary.”
That’s reverent fear.
2. We live a pure life because of the great cost of the The Ransom Paid to Free us from Sin:
the precious (cf. 2:4, 6-7) blood of Christ (cf. 1:2). That redemption is a purchasing from the marketplace of sin, a ransom not paid by silver or gold, which perish (cf. v. 7), but with the priceless blood of a perfect Lamb. Similar to the sacrificial lambs which were to be without . . . defect, Christ was sinless, uniquely qualified as “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29; cf. Heb. 9:14).[3]
“Great was the ransom price that was paid. It was precious blood. Animal blood would scarcely be called “precious.” Precious fits the idea of ransom, for ransom prices are high, a cheap ransom is out the question, even silver and gold do not suffice.” Lenski, Interpretation of First Peter, pages 63, 64.
What criminal calls the parents of the precious child he has kidnapped and demands 9.50? No, he demands 0,000, or one million dollars. The price paid to release us from slavery to sin was ever so much higher.
What is the Ransom price for us? It was paid by a precious lamb: the Lamb of God. Jesus is called the Lamb of God in other places:
John the Baptist, when he saw Jesus Christ coming toward him said,
John, by the Holy Spirit, saw Jesus as the sacrificial Victim who was to die for the sin of the world (cf. Isa. 53:12).[4]
The Apostle Paul wrote,
1 Corinthians 5:7 “For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.”[5]
The Passover was the celebration of the day that God redeemed the Israelite nation from slavery in Egypt. The Israelites were told in advance that the angel of the Lord was going to sweep through all of the homes of Egypt, and put to death the firstborn of every home. Egypt had resisted God’s command to let the slaves go, and now they were paying the penalty for their extreme sin. But there was a way of salvation for every home. Word spread quickly. Each family was to select a lamb, Exodus 12:5 stipulated, “The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect,[6]
And so the Israelites were to take a pure, lamb, one with no defect, and having slaughtered it, spread the blood of that lamb across the doorposts of the home.
Exodus 12:7ff:
7 Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs. 8 That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. ….
11 This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the LORD’s Passover.
12 “On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn—both men and animals—and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD. 13 The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.
14 “This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the LORD—a lasting ordinance.[7]
Exodus 12:21ff:
21 Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go at once and select the animals for your families and slaughter the Passover lamb. 22 Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the doorframe. Not one of you shall go out the door of his house until morning. 23 When the LORD goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down. [8]
Salvation would come to that household because of the faith and obedience of the father and mother. Death would pass over. The son would live. And the next day, the people of Israel were set free from their 400 years of slavery.
Jesus Christ is our Passover Lamb.
And on the day that Jesus Christ was crucified on the hill called Calvary outside of Jerusalem, the Passover lamb was being offered at the Temple. The Gospel writers go out of their way to make sure we get that point. God’s Son, the sinless Lamb was dying along with the Passover lamb. As its blood was running down upon the ground at the feet of the priest, the blood of our Savior was flowing down over his feet, staining his cross. As the life of the Passover lamb was ebbing from it, so also the Son of God as giving his life to ransom the world from the wrath of God and the penalty of our sin.
Jesus Christ is our Passover Lamb. Have you put your life under his blood? Have you come under his covering? What will it mean when you do?
For Israel, Passover meant no less than two great things:
1. Salvation from death and judgment. The first born of each family was spared.
2. Release from Slavery. They were set free from bondage to go and serve the Lord their God. God bought them out of slavery by the great plagues on Egypt.
What does it mean for us?
What Christ’s Sacrifice Means For Us:
1. Jesus Christ Purchased People for God:
Just as God purchased Israel from Egyptian bondage, so he purchased us from bondage to sin:
Revelation 5:6 6 Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7 He came and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. 8 And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang a new song:
“You are worthy to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
because you were slain,
and with your blood you purchased men for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation.
10 You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God,
and they will reign on the earth.”
He bought you with his blood! What has been your response to him?
2. Heaven is promised to those who Receive Christ By Faith:
Speaking about Heaven in the last book of the Bible, John writes,
Revelation 7:13ff:
13 Then one of the elders asked me, “These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?”
14 I answered, “Sir, you know.”
And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 15 Therefore,
they are before the throne of God
and serve him day and night in his temple;
and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them.
16 Never again will they hunger;
never again will they thirst.
The sun will not beat upon them,
nor any scorching heat.
17 For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd;
he will lead them to springs of living water.
And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” [9]
Have you washed your robes in the blood of the Lamb? Will you be under the loving care of the Lamb in front of the throne of God?
3. Your Soul Can have a Spiritual Cleansing
Again, the writer to the Hebrews speaks of Christ as the High Priest who offers himself so that we will set free to live to serve the Living God.
11 When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation. 12 He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. 13 The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. 14 How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!
His sacrifice has the effect of cleansing us from within.
Jack Eckert owned a chain of drugstores across the South. He traveled with Chuck Colson speaking about prison reform in Florida. As they flew from one lecture to the next, Chuck would tell Jack Eckert about Jesus Christ. Eckert would get off the next place, and introduce Colson: “This is my friend, Chuck Colson. He’s got great ideas about prison reform. You should listen to him. He’s also born again. I’m not. Wish I was. Listen to Chuck.” Some time later Eckert came to faith in Jesus Christ. When he did, he called the president of his drugstore chain. “Take all the pornography out of my stores.” “But sir,” replied the president, “Those are worth -4 million per year.” “Take ‘em out,” said Eckert. And they did. When Jesus began to scrub away at the interior heart of Jack Eckert, his life got cleaned up. And he began to serve the living God.
We can have a clean conscience. We can get to the place where we are no longer bothered by those memories that would condemn us, where we are no longer hindered by moral confusion but set free from dead-end roads, and now we serve the God of Life!
4. We Must Live a Life of Moral Purity:
Paul wrote to the boastful, tolerant Corinthians. There was a man among them who was living with his father’s wife. And they were tolerating his sin, and boasting about their tolerance. They were under the dominance of sin as a congregation. They were in a type of slavery to sin that made them weak as a church.
Paul compares the tolerance of sin to yeast in bread:
1 Corinthians 5:6-8
“Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? 7 Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth. [10]
As the Jewish Passover was the occasion of the Jews’ abstaining from all yeast (God told them to make flat-bread for their journey, they would leave in a hurry from captivity), so the slaying of Christ, our Passover Lamb, is the reason why Christians should put away all sin.” EP Gould, American Baptist Commentary, 1887
“The Passover was eaten with the unleavened bread of purity, the symbol of deliverance.” Alan Redpath, The Royal Route to Heaven, page 65
Alan Redpath wrote, “To tolerate sin is going to ruin the church, says Paul; the extent to which sin is permitted is the measure in which appetite for the Word will depart. The Christian who is pure is powerful, but the man who is compromising is spiritually impotent. (powerless.)” The Royal Route to Heaven, page 65
We need to eat the bread of purity. Because of the severity of the sacrifice, we must root all sin out of our lives. We must eat with Christ in fellowship and purity, day in and day out.
5. We Are Released to Radically Worship The Lamb of God!
The last book of the Bible gives us a glimpse of the worship going on in Heaven:
Revelation 5:11ff:
11 Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. 12 In a loud voice they sang:
“Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
and honor and glory and praise!”
13 Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing:
“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be praise and honor and glory and power,
for ever and ever!”
14 The four living creatures said, “Amen,” and the elders fell down and worshiped.[11]
Revelation 7:9ff
9 After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 10 And they cried out in a loud voice:
“Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb.”
There is No Lamb Like This Lamb!
This Lamb receives Praise!