Hi, I'm Matt Henry, and I'm the pastor at Missio Dei Fellowship in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Very thankful that you found our sermons, and I hope that they are a way of encouragement to you in your Christian walk. However, it's important for you to understand that this sermon was given in my church's context and for the people that God has entrusted for me to shepherd. So if you're in the Kenosha area, I would encourage you to come on a Sunday and worship with the body of Christ here. And if you're not in this area, these sermons are a great tool for supplementing your walk, but they are by no means a substitute for the local church. So you need to submit yourself to a faithful Bible teaching church and shepherd in your area. Thank you. Well, as I said, open your Bibles to John 10 and Acts 10. Acts 10 will be only for a moment, and then we'll be in John 10. So just keep your finger in John. We again come to that very rich privilege to consider the personal work of Jesus Christ our Savior. Now, we are in Acts 10. We're in that part where Peter is giving a short sermon, but a sermon that's full of information about who is Jesus Christ. And he's given it to these Gentiles. These are people who, for, Since Abraham basically have never heard the gospel, the hope of salvation, the Gentiles were outside of the grace of God, and once he established Israel, all of it flowed through that one nation. And so the Gentiles were always those people out there, and now they are seeing that God has come, that he might save them. And so we have a house filled with Gentiles wanting to know all that Peter has been commanded to teach them. And what I said was that there are 14 different qualities about Jesus Christ in these verses, from verse 36 all the way to the end. And so far, we've seen several. We've seen in verse 36 that Christ is our peacemaker. He is the one who makes peace with us and God. And that's the only thing that matters. that we are reconciled to God through Jesus Christ. But because of our reconciliation, we also have reconciliation with one another. So in the biggest sense, the Jew and the Gentile, who used to be literally on different polar opposite worlds, are now brought together in Christ. We become at peace with one another. And that, in turn, then brings also the peace in our heart over those things that cause us to fear. Second, in verse 36, and there's three things, he's the Messiah, the one the Old Testament promised, the anointed one, the one who had come to save the people. Over and over again, the prophets spoke of this one who was the Messiah, and in the New Testament, the word that they use instead of Messiah is the word Christ, that he is the Christ. And then finally, he is Lord, but not Lord of the Jew or Lord of the Gentile. He is Lord of all. He is not Lord of those who believe and not of those who don't believe. He is not Lord of those who are wise and not of the foolish. He is not Lord of the great, but not the small. He is Lord of all. And until you get that in your head, that you will struggle because Christ is Lord of all. He doesn't become your Lord. You don't make him your Lord. He is Lord. And in the end, when we all stand before Jesus Christ as our judge, which is another quality in this text, that every tongue shall confess Him as Lord, some to their judgment and others to their life. Along with that, in verse 37, there's two more, that he is historical, meaning he's not a figment of our imagination, but that he existed, and even they knew of this. They saw and heard. They learned and knew about even John the Baptist, the first or last of the prophets. And so it's not something that is mythology, but it's historical. And then in verse 37 as well, because it was John the Baptist, the last of the prophets, that he, along with all of the other prophets that came before him, that was the focus of their message. They all spoke ultimately in one way or another of the coming of the Lord. And then finally, we saw last week, and it was, at least for me, a very enjoyable sermon to show you the relationship of the Holy Spirit with the Son. He was anointed by the Spirit. And it was because of that that everything that Jesus did, he never did of his own will. It was always the will of the Father and then done in the power of the Spirit. And so at all times, every time you see Jesus at work, you're literally seeing the Trinity at work. You're seeing the will of the Father being played out in the power of the Spirit. And it's really quite fascinating. It helps you read differently as you read the Gospels. Well, the next quality about Jesus is so important and so full that I realize it's gonna require all of our time today. And so it is, it found for us in verse 39. I'll read it and then you can see for yourselves. And we are witnesses of all these things. He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. And here's the key part. They also put him to death by hanging him on a tree. When they say a tree, they mean the cross, and the reason it's called a tree is because that's how they built the cross, was out of a tree. It would be very rough hewn, and so it was very common for them to refer to the crucifixion, the killing of a person on a cross, as hanging him on a tree. So it's just a simple idiom, but it's talking about the death of Christ. And in that, what we have, in fact, is a declaration of his death, and we need to understand that Jesus is also our sacrifice and our high priest, as the screen says. Jesus as our sacrifice and our high priest. Now, in the Old Testament, As you read through the Bible, you'll come to that dreaded book, Leviticus. And so many people start out really good, and then they get to Leviticus, and they stumble and fall, and they're like, oh, it killed me, it's so boring, and it's so dry. But it actually isn't, but you have to learn to read it with the right eyes. The book of Leviticus is written for the Levites. The Levites, that tribe was given the responsibility for all things related to the temple. And part of them were specifically the priests, and only the priests. The priests had to come from very specific lineage within the Levitical tribe. But in all of that, how you handled the temple was a matter of life and death. In other words, if you mishandle the things of God and the things that are holy, the temple, and you handle those things wrongly, you died. So I can tell you very quickly that if you were a Levite, Leviticus would be a very, very special book to you. And you would know it inside and out, because there is no way you want to die. You wanna make certain that you treat God's things the way God says to treat them, because you saw the guy who didn't, and you buried him, and you know what happens. And so you would take it very seriously. And in that, there is a story Well, not a story, a description of the most important day for the life of Israel. The most important day in the life of Israel would be the Day of Atonement. We call it also the Yom Kippur. the Day of Atonement. It was a very specific time, once a year, and it involved very specific rituals that were to be carried out by the high priest and only the high priest. No other priest could do it. It had to be whoever was the high priest. It was done only once a year, and it was at that time, and only that time, that the high priest would enter the Holy of Holies. If you know anything about the tabernacle, and then later when they built the temple, it was established so that there was an outer court, and this is where you would come to sing, to pray, but also to bring your offering. So when you sinned, you had to bring an offering there. And you would come up to a barrier, and it would be a low fence, and on the other side of it was called the holy place. And you weren't allowed in there. You stayed out of there. That was a place for only the priests. And you would bring your sacrifice, and you would confess your sin, and you would lay your hand on the poor animal that was innocent, and you would confess your sin as to what you did, and then you had to kill that animal. And then the priest would take it from there. He would take the animal, deal with it in accordance to the book of Leviticus. Sometimes you burn it, sometimes you do this, sometimes you do that, but always you're dealing with the blood, the shedding of the blood of an innocent one. And then inside the holy place, there was another small room, and that room was called the Holy of Holies, and that was where God's presence, in a sense, manifested itself. It's called the Shekinah Glory, but it was there that this thing called the Ark of the Covenant, and in it, there was various things that they were to remember God's faithfulness by, things like the Ten Commandments or Aaron's rod that budded. And you can read about all of that in the Old Testament. But they were kept in there. And it was covered in gold. And they had these two angels fashioned. And they had their wings overshadowing it. And so on either end of it, you had the wings of the angels covering it. And this was called the mercy seat. And what they would do is the high priest on the Day of Atonement, the whole of Israel stopped what they were doing, and they all would gather for this. So kind of get your head around this massive, massive gathering, all centered around the temple, and all centered around the holy place, and all centered around the holy of holies that no one ever went in. And what the priest would do is he would enter it very carefully, because if he didn't do it exactly right, he died. If you're getting the point, God is holy and he doesn't take things lightly. And so you have to handle this properly. And the first thing that he would do is, normally the high priest would have a very ornate outfit. That was his sort of uniform. And that marked him out different from the other priests. And so what he would do is remove his normal clothing. He'd strip down to basically his underwear, but not like you and I would tend to think of that. He would wash in what's called the laver there in the holy place, and he would wash himself. And then what he would do is go in and take a special set of clothes, a very simple set of clothes. They were simple linen, and he would put these garments on. And so he's no longer ornate. He's not standing kind of fancy, but he's ultra simple now. And he would there begin to do his work. Now, because he was sinful, The first thing he had to do was offer a bull. And he would offer the bull as a sacrifice on the altar, along with, for his sins and for the sins of the priests. So he would slay the bull, and he would take some of the blood in a small container bowl, and he would walk into the Holy of Holies. So you can imagine, everyone watching kind of catch their breath. Is he coming back out? And he would go into the Holy of Holies and he would take it and sprinkle the blood in the front of the altar before the mercy seat and up on the top, the mercy seat. So he would take that blood and he would sprinkle it. And in it, this was for his sins and the priest's sins. Then he'd come back out. So the first step has been accomplished. Now, when he comes out, what would be waiting for him are two goats. And what he would do is he'd go up to the goats, and he would cast lots. We don't really know what they look like, because it's not that important, but think of them kind of like dice. And he would cast them, and it would tell them which goat does what. And so it was a simple way to make a decision. So he'd cast it, and whatever the lot fell on that goat was then slain. So he'd take that now onto the altar, and he'd kill the goat. And he would take the blood of that goat, and he would then go back into the Holy of Holies, and now he would sprinkle the blood again before the mercy seat and upon the mercy seat. This time, it was dealing with the sins of the whole nation. Not just the priests, but everybody who belonged to Israel. All of their sins were now being atoned for in the Holy of Holies. Once he was done with that, he would come back outside and he would go to that other goat. And that other goat, he would place his hand on the head of the goat and essentially confess and transfer symbolically all of the sins of everyone in Israel onto the head of that goat. And then what they would do is take that goat and lead him deep into the wilderness and leave him. And that goat was called the scapegoat. That's where we get the term. And so the scapegoat is led away, and it's a picturing of God taking our sins away. And so it required two goats to accomplish this. Now, when he was all done with that, he would then change back into his priestly garments, but he's still not done. He then, as the high priest, now all fancy, would then offer two more rams for sin as well, and then the Day of Atonement was done. And so what they would do then is take the carcasses of those animals that had been slain, and they were not allowed to be dealt with. Nobody ate part of it. Sometimes the priests were allowed to eat a portion of that. None of that. These were all taken up and taken way outside the camp, and they would be burned and done away. Now all of that is very, very important for you to know. But also you need to remember, as you read the Old Testament, especially in Deuteronomy and Leviticus, you'll hear about these two types of sins, the unintentional sin and the intentional sin. The unintentional sin is the things you just, you're like, oh, I blew up. I didn't mean to get mad, but there I go again. All right, whatever. It was not intended. You did not plot it out and plan it out. You did not have that intent, but there you are, once again, doing it. When you did that, what you had to do was take an innocent animal from your flock that had no defect, and you would go to the, temple, and you would offer it. You did the killing. You had to confess. You would put your hand on that animal. You would cut across the throat. You'd feel the blood flow over your hand. You'd watch your animal die because you sinned. And no amount of, I didn't mean to, would allow for you to get around it. It was unintentional, but you sinned, and it has to be atoned for. The others was your high-handed sin, your sin of intent, where you intended to do it. Now, many of these were capital crimes. So things such as adultery, you commit adultery, there is just no grace. You just die. You'd be killed. And there are several types of sins like that that you would just simply be done with. But if you intended to sin but was not one of those, you had no sacrifice that you could offer. You were not allowed to come and say, I intended to lie and defraud my neighbor, and so here, I'm gonna cover it. No. Instead, the Bible says you were cut off from the people. And you say, well, what's going on there? Now, remember that in all of the world, of all of humanity, God, was focused on one people, one nation, Israel. So if you were a Ninevite, you were a Amorite or whatever else you were, a Philistine, you are outside of God's grace. God did not speak and reach you. He did not send a prophet for you and bring salvation or anything else. The only way that you could see hope was coming to Israel and becoming an Israelite. And so as an Israelite, you were already very favored. And then you were cut off from that. You were cut off. You could no longer enter the temple. You could no longer sing. You could no longer deal with your sin. It was on you. And you couldn't get rid of it. But on the Day of Atonement, both the unintentional and the intentional sins were covered. What a great day that is, isn't it? What a wonderful day it is. The day that finally, all year long, you've been bearing that, and you have not been able to go to the temple. The priest won't let you in. They'll kick you right back out. Go, leave. But on that day, at the end of the Day of Atonement, you can come again, and you're brought back into that fellowship. It was a very somber day, a very holy day, but it was also a day of so much hope and joy, because the burden of sin was removed. And then that burden would begin to grow, wouldn't it? Because the very next day, you do what you do best, you sin. And it goes and flows through, and then the next year, it's done again. But all of this was designed to be a shadow, a shadow of the coming of the work of the Messiah, and He would take up these roles of sacrifice and high priest, and he would fulfill them in a perfect manner. And so that's what we want to see. When it talks about he offered himself and died on the tree, that he's talking about both the priestly work and the sacrificial work of Jesus Christ. And so we want to focus on that. Notice then the saving sacrifice offered by Jesus is a key and non-negotiable aspect of the saving work of God. You have no options in this. There are many people who have many opinions. I was literally, I follow a few groups on Facebook. Sometimes I just say, why did I do that? But I follow them nonetheless. And one is a relationship with regard to the new apostolic Reformation movement, something I think is very dangerous. And so this group just shares things about that movement. And in it, they talked about the gospel. And a well-meaning lady posted in the comments on it, this is what's necessary for you to be saved. And it was believe these things and then do these things. And I responded just simply, no, no. And yet it's so common, it's so common. If you don't understand the work of Jesus Christ, you invariably have a believe and do. You try to do, you go to hell. You cannot do to be saved. You do because you are saved. Remember, faith always will bring works, but the works will never save you. You cannot. And you have to understand that Christ is a key non-negotiable aspect of God's saving work. And so we know this verse. We've talked about it a lot. But Ephesians 2, 8, 9 says, for by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves. It's the gift of God, not of works, so that no one may boast. But what's often passed over in our reading of that, because we want to get to the fact that it's not a works, is we miss the very first word, which is for. And you guys know this by now, that whenever a verse in the New Testament has a word for, normally, not every time, but normally it will mean for this reason. In other words, Paul, in verse eight and nine, is giving an explanation of something he has talked about prior. He is saying that for this reason, what I just said, you must remember that you are saved by grace and through faith, and none of this has anything to do with you. It's by grace through faith. So this statement that brings so many of us great joy, and that should bring us great joy and hope, is based on something he said prior. What is it that he said prior? Well, we see it right here on the screen in Ephesians 2, 1 through 3. He reminds them what they once were. This is all past tense, because these are Christians he's writing to. He says, you were dead in your transgressions and sins. What are transgressions? It just simply means you stepped over the line. For the Jew, it's very simple. You broke one of the laws that God said you can't, and I transgressed that. For a Gentile or anybody else who didn't have the law, you say, oh, good, then we're not accountable. Yes, you are, because the Bible says all of us have a law that's written on our hearts. Every person knows basically right and wrong. It might be different for each person, but everyone knows what they think is right, and every person transgresses it. And he says, because of that, because of sin, you're dead. in which you formally walked according to the course of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that's now working in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all, all formally conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest." Now, the Bible is very clear about one thing. Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin. Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin. So what must we do? Do we need to shed our own blood? I was up in the streets of Milwaukee a long time ago doing some street evangelism and ran into a student of UW-Milwaukee and asked him if he had time to talk, asked him about things. And I was just going to bring him the gospel. And in it, I brought him to the passage in Hebrews Because they said, what do you do with your sin? What do you do? Are you perfect? Are you this and that? And he's like, no. I said, so what are you going to do to fix it? And he's like, I don't know. I guess I'll try harder. So I showed him in Hebrews, and it said, without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness. And I remember he said, dude, you mean I got to die? I'm like, no. Even your blood is insufficient to cover it. You need somebody to be your substitute. And from there, we talked about the gospel. So we can't even do it. This shedding of the blood has to be of an innocent one, and that rules out even ourselves. And so herein lies the problem. We are dead in sin, our sin. We conduct our lives in accordance to this age. Whatever stripe we choose, that's what it's saying up there. We walk in accordance to the powers of this age and the spirit of this age, who is Satan. Now, you might pick something horrible like cannibalism, or you might pick something really nice like you worship the altar of bass fishing. It doesn't really matter, does it? You are just simply walking in accordance to the things of this world and you've chosen your poison and that's what you do. We're all under the rule and the power of Satan, whether we like it or not, he is the God of this age. And so he marks us out, look it up and see it. We are marked out as sons and daughters of our father and his name is disobedience. Our lives are defined by the desires of our sinful nature and this moves even into our thoughts and desires. And so the wrath of God is our future. We are children of wrath. So that's where we need that solution, right? And we know this. Many of you could walk me through this just as easily as I'm walking you through. We may choose to simply reject that and say, I don't agree with you. I don't even believe any of this is true. And I would say to you, that's fine. I mean, I can't make you believe. I've said that countless times to people. but I would also leave you with this thought. You're gonna have to be the one that figures out then why people die. I literally spoke to a people in my office earlier, just later last week, and the person said, well, I don't even know if Christ is real. I didn't know if he existed. I don't even know anything. And I said, that's fine. I said, can I ask you a question? Sure, why do people die? Well, I mean, they just get sick and die. I said, no, no, that's what happens, but why does it happen? Why are people sick? Why do people die? Why do babies die? Why does cancer grow? I said, why do people do wrong, and why do you know it's wrong? And I began to just ask some questions, and they didn't have an answer. And I said, all right, so if you, I said, I was offering to meet with him, and we are going to meet with him and just work through the gospel. But I said, you're going to have to deal with that. I don't have to. I know why. Reject it all you want, but you're going to have to make sense of this world, why people cheat on you and why you cheat people. Why is evil here? And why do we even call it evil if none of this is real? What is needed, though, in reality, is that somehow, once we come to grips with that the sin is on us and around us and in us, is something has to remove the barrier between us and God. And we can't do it. And that's where the idea of sacrifice comes in. So we use the word atonement. What does that mean? Interestingly, it's not a New Testament word. You would think it, the way people talk about it all the time, but it's actually an Old Testament term. The New Testament uses different verbiage. At its most basic sense, though, atonement is dealing with the idea of satisfaction. Now, there's more to it than that. But that's the key part. It's satisfaction, satisfying God's righteous demands with regard to sin and sinners. And so we saw here in Ephesians 2 that the punishment for the offenses are done. We are these things. This was what we were. And so there is going to be punishment unless we find salvation. But through the death of Jesus Christ, the punishment's satisfied. That's the atonement. It's satisfied on our behalf. And so the doctrine of atonement is really shorthand for many, many aspects of the saving work of God. If I were to teach on the atoning work of Christ, we would be here for about 15, 20 weeks working through that. It's one word that covers a whole lot of information. All of the little nuances of how our sin and punishment are resolved in Christ. But we're gonna look at just three. The nature of Christ's sacrifice. The first thing I want you to know is that it's a willing sacrifice, that Christ willingly presented himself to die. And if you'll let your mind think about it, that's a sweet, tender image. Go to John 10 if you haven't gotten there yet. It's a willing sacrifice. so tender that pushes the limits of our understanding, but only if we can keep the backdrop of our sinfulness. So keep Ephesians 2 in your mind as we look at John 10. In John 10, Jesus is talking and he's using a metaphor, an image of him as the shepherd and the people as sheep, okay? And so in John 10, verses 10 through 11, he makes a distinction between the thief and the good shepherd. So notice, the thief, verse 10, comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, they being the sheep, and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life. for the sheep. Now here's the word for again, right? And I just told you that normally when it's at the front of the sentence, it means for this reason. This is a totally different word in the Greek language of the New Testament. This one, you would spell it in English, H-U-P-E-R, huper. It's a preposition that means in the place of, on behalf of. So it says that the good shepherd lays down his life on behalf of or in the place of the sheep. That makes that a wonderful word. Notice, then, he makes that distinction, though, between them. The thief has eyes that only want what brings him pleasure, what he wants. He sees it as something pleasurable, something desirable, something that will bring him power or contentment. And therefore, he will literally destroy everyone who stands in his way to possess it. He's just like a wolf, which we're going to see in a moment. He rips and tears and destroys. Have you ever seen a strong arm robbery? They're very, very common today. They don't come in there gently. They come up, and they start pistol whipping you and kicking you and then taking the things that are yours. Home invasion robbery. I remember going as a police officer to one. And the son had gotten himself free. They had tied him up and his mom, and they had stolen all their money. They were Asians, and they tended to keep all their money at home. They didn't trust banks. And so people would follow Asians home in certain neighbourhoods that were wealthy, and then they just go right in after him. And what they had done is the family had driven home, gone in the garage, and clicked the garage door opener. And they didn't notice that as it was shutting that the robbers ran in behind them. And then they dragged the father out, and they beat him so badly that he almost died. He was just shedding blood everywhere, tied up mom and dad, and just were beating the father until finally the son gave up where the money is. The amount of blood that was there was so great that I followed the bloody footprints for two blocks. That guy was squishing in his shoes with the amount of blood that he had caused, and the man barely survived. This is the thief. He didn't care. But the good shepherd, he looks at those same people not as something that from which he can gain. No, no. He's the good shepherd. He sees what he can give. He doesn't sacrifice the sheep. He doesn't abuse the sheep, use the sheep. No, he lays his life down in their place. Then in 12 through 15, notice he switches the metaphor to a wolf. He who is a hired hand, and not, I'm sorry, a hired hand, not a thief. He who is a hired hand, or a hireling, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, leaves the sheep, and flees. And the wolf snatches and scatters them, because he is a hired hand, and not concerned about the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and I know my own, and my own know me, even as a father knows me, and I know the father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. So the hireling, the hired hand, an employee, he's hired to look after the sheep. He feeds them, guards them. He does all kinds of things. And you could easily fool yourself into thinking that this is a shepherd, but he's no shepherd. He's a hired hand. And so when the danger comes where it's real danger, it's not just inconvenience, this is that the savage wolves have entered in and he needs to go and defend the lives of the sheep, he runs. He's like, I'm out of here. No way, I don't want to do it. Now, if you were to confront that man, you know what he would say. He was like, my life is more precious than an animal. And if he had some religious background, he might say this, oh, Pastor Henry, are you gonna tell me that I, a human made in the image of God, should lay my life down for these beasts? That's the image that he's giving. But the good shepherd is not the same. First of all, notice in verse 14, he knows the sheep who are his sheep. And those sheep know their shepherd. There's this relationship with them. And it's as intimate of a relationship as the father has with the son. And the consequence of it is love and care to the level that he will literally lay down his life on behalf of the sheep. When the wolf is there to slay, he says, I will die, and the sheep will live. Now all of this is bound up in his name. So you can see it up on the screen on Matthew 1.21. where it says about the birth of Jesus, that she will bear on the son and you shall call his name Jesus. Why? For he will save his people from their sins. The name literally means Yahweh saves. Yahweh saves. So the first thing about the sacrifice is it's a willing sacrifice. He is the good shepherd and he willingly lays down his life for his people. Second, at the core of the sacrifice is what is known as, now hear this, the penal substitutionary sacrifice. Kind of strange sounding maybe to our ears, but they're important. The penal substitutionary sacrifice. Now what's that mean? Well, the word penal speaks of what is a just, right, proper judgment and punishment for sin. while the substitutionary term speaks of the fact that Jesus Christ takes our place. So there is us. We are dead in our sins and our trespasses. We are the one who walk in accordance to the lusts of our flesh. We are sons of disobedience, children of wrath. We are worthy of judgment. So Romans 1.18 says, God's wrath is flowing now from heaven upon us. How can we stand? We say, well, then I will shed my blood and show them how sorry I am. No, your blood is insufficient. It's not innocent. It's sinful. You have no hope. Somebody must take your punishment. Somebody must be your substitute. But where? Anyone in this room worthy to stand in another person's place? Of course not. So go to a passage, 2 Corinthians, and we'll spend just a short moment here. 2 Corinthians 5. Verse 21, and we'll see this penal substitutionary atonement. 2 Corinthians 5, 21, now as you get there, what you're gonna notice are three people. You have the father, you have the son, and you have the sinner. Three people, the father, the son, and the sinner. So the first is the Father, He made Him, this is the Son, so the Father made the Son, who knew no sin, to be sin on our, the sinner, behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. Now, this alone is worthy of a whole sermon, but I will just take a couple of minutes. All of this is coming from that idea of the Old Testament sacrifice, especially the Day of Atonement. It had to be a blood sacrifice. The sin was confessed, again, by placing your hand on the animal, and then the animal would die, and the priest would continue with the ritual. And that's what's in view here. But here, get the imagery. So get that picture of the goat or the lamb, whatever it is, and the shedding of the blood. But who is it? It's the father bringing his son and then taking your sin and my sin, placing it upon the Son, and then killing Him for us, in our place. That's grace. There was only one who was innocent. There was only one man who lived righteously. This is why Christ had to take on flesh, that He might be righteous. And then the Father takes him and makes him who knew no sin to become sin on our behalf. The third thing about the sacrifice, go all the way near the end of the Bible to 1 Peter. The third thing is it's a sufficient sacrifice, a sufficient sacrifice. That word sufficient is not sufficient, is it? Not nowadays. Nowadays we have to, make everything supersized and extra big for it to just be normal. But the word sufficient actually is a beautiful word because it simply means all that's necessary. Nothing else is needed. So the illustration I'll just yank out of the air is, let's say you owe a credit card $5,000. What do you need to pay off the debt? you need $5,000 and not a dime more. That's sufficient. $6,000 is stupid. Why would you give $6,000 for a $5,000 debt? That's over and above. It's not necessary. But $4,999 is not sufficient. Sufficient simply means that it fulfills everything necessary for what we have or need. Is Christ sufficient? This is where works come in. Most people who miss the mark and misunderstand salvation is that they make Christ's death necessary, but not sufficient. Necessary, but not sufficient. There's something else we gotta do, and then it's sufficient. Now, the whole context of 1 Peter 2, 24, the whole context is really worthy of our consideration. So I'm going to start in 21 and just make some brief points. But 24 is the one we want to see. In 21, talking about Christ, he's our example. He says, to this you have been called, since Christ also suffered for you, meaning in your place, leaving you as an example that you should follow in his steps. So he said, Christ suffered a sacrificial death, and in the same way, you as a disciple of his, a Christian, you too should suffer in a sacrificial manner. Second, in verse 22, he who did no sin, nor was any deceit found in his mouth. Again, we see that his death and suffering was not due to him. He had done nothing wrong. He was pure. And in the same way, we are to walk in purity, that when we suffer, it should not be for wrongdoing. It should not be for sin that we've done. But when we suffer, it should be because of righteousness and purity. In verse 23, then, it says, who, Jesus, who being reviled, was not reviling in return. While suffering, he was uttering no threats, but kept entrusting himself to him who judges righteously. Here we see the example to follow in the midst of suffering when you're being persecuted. He doesn't yell at them. He doesn't act like Braveheart and glare at them and show that he's going to show them and be tough and even die with a snarl on his face. He simply quietly receives what was not his due. He did not deserve it. And he willingly suffers and dies. And his faith rested in his father." Because in the end, it's a father who will judge. And then in 24, he says, who himself, now this is really important. So watch this and look at it. Who himself bore whose sins? our sins in his body on the tree, or the cross, for what purpose? So having died to sin, we might live to righteousness by his wounds. You were healed. Now, you will hear often people say this. Now, listen, this is very important, so don't check out right now. You will hear people, if I were to ask maybe some of you in this room right now, when were your sins taken away? You would say, when I believed. When were your sins taken away according to this verse? When Christ died. Did you know that? Did you know that when you believed, you were believing that Christ was your sufficient sacrifice, but the transaction took place back then. Your sin was placed on his body, not potentially to be born away. It was born away, and this is a whole doctrine of election. and the nature of the atonement, that Christ died for His own, and all the people who were His, given to Him by the Father, their sins were placed on Him, and He bore them away. Very fascinating. It was on the cross that those sins were taken up by Him. And in humility of mind, a heart of pure obedience, He accepted the sins of all who were His. And these sins were placed there by His Father, like 2 Corinthians said. And it was there that our sins were taken up. In fact, that word bore, your translation might have a different word. It might have something like carried or offered up because it's an actual sacrificial word. In fact, it's used in Hebrews 7.27 about the work of the high priest, that the high priest would do this. Listen. Well, let me bring it up on the screen, how about. Who does not need daily like those high priests to offer up. There's the word. to offer up or bear sacrifices, first for his own sins and then for the sins of the people. Because this he did once for all when he offered up himself." And this is what it's talking about in 1 Peter, that Christ bore our sins. He took as the high priest, and he offered up those sins of ours on him. and he offered it as the perfect sacrifice. So now, in the last few minutes, we can transition to the second part. Not only is he our sacrifice, but he's our high priest. And so turn to Hebrews and get to chapter 2. I think it's chapter 2. Yeah. And we're going to just lightly touch on all of these verses talking about Christ, our high priest. So not only was he our sacrifice, but he was also our high priest. Hebrews 2, you need to understand first that we all have to have a priest. You need a priest, whether you knew it or not. Now, some of you might think, well, I'll function as my priest. But we all need a mediator between us and God. And you say, well, I'll be that. I'll take care of myself. I'll stand and follow my own. I got big enough shoulders. I can take it. I did it. If you do the crime, you got to what? Do the time. And so you're like, I'll do that. That's very foolish. Some people will say, well, yeah, I don't think I need a mediator because I don't think I've done that bad. And that simply means that they don't understand that they truly are as sinful as the Bible says, right? will look to another person for their priest. This is the great evil of the Roman Catholic Church. Countless people think that a man sitting in a confessional booth can absolve them of a sin and that you confess to this priest and he functions in the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church as your mediator. It's a system that puts so many other so-called mediators between you and God. And here's where it's weird. You know Mary, she was the mother of Christ, and she was a holy woman, and she was a godly woman, but she was a sinful woman who needed to have grace. And now she has been, in the Roman Catholic Church, exalted to the title of co-mediatrix. She is co-mediating between us and God. Now the Catholic Church will rush in and say, well, yeah, yeah, that's true, but let's remember that he is the primary mediator. No, he's the only mediator. That's it. And what the Catholic Church will do is put all these other things between us and Jesus, that somehow Jesus is the mediator between us and God. but we need a mediator between Jesus and us. And so one of the things I'll say, and you can look this up or ask a priest, why do you pray to Mary? Well, Jesus would never deny his mother. So the implication is that he might deny you, right? But he won't deny his mother. So you go to your mom, and then mom will take your request to Jesus, and then Jesus will take it to God, and boom, we're covered. It's evil. You pray to your saints. You pray to the Pope, or speak to the Pope, and he's your mediator. And you look at your priest, and you confess your sins to him, and he's your mediator. Here's what the Bible, though, says. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men. the man Christ Jesus. This is why he became man. Not only to be a sufficient sacrifice, but be the sufficient mediator as our high priest. Now the book of Hebrews is that central place. So look, and we're just gonna take very short time, 14 minutes to be exact. to look at these verses. In chapter two, verses 17 to 18, therefore, he had to be made like his brothers, he, Jesus, his brothers are people, in all things, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation, satisfaction for the sins of the people. For since he himself was tempted in that which he suffered, he's able to come to help to those who are tempted." In other words, he says his humanity makes him a fit high priest. Having been fully tempted, remember last week we said that the Spirit drove him into the wilderness, he's fasted for 40 days and nights and was fully tempted by Satan and yet no sin? The fact that he was fully tempted doesn't make him proud, It makes him merciful, makes him kind to us. When you say, oh, you don't understand, he understands better than you understand your own temptations. Hebrews chapter three, verse one. Therefore, holy brothers, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of our confession. Who is it? It's Jesus. He is the only one of whom we may confess as our priest. No other priest is a priest. We should never call them a priest. It was God who appointed Christ to that role. In Hebrews 4, verses 14 to 16. Hebrews 4, 14 to 16. Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us take hold of our confession. Why? For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things, like we are, yet without sin. We confess that together as a congregation. He alone is the only one. Mary didn't. No other priest could ever do it. He alone entered into the true tabernacle. If you didn't know, the Old Testament temple is based on a heavenly temple. So it's just a copy of what is the true and perfect one in heaven. It's kind of cool. And the Bible is explicit about it. And when he entered in, he didn't enter into the earthly temple. He entered into the very true temple. And he alone could do it. And he offered himself as a high priest and also the sacrifice. And as a result, he is one who sympathizes with you. Isn't that a kind word? Do you ever wonder if people understand you? Do you ever wonder if people get you and care for you? Especially when you're on your 10,000th time on that sin. Maybe none of you are like me, but don't you ever get sick of some of those sins that you find yourself? There we are again. Who can understand you? Your spouse doesn't, your friends don't, your pastor doesn't, the church doesn't, all kinds of people. But there is one who understands you, your high priest. In chapter 7, verse 17. He says, for it is witnessed about him, you are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. Now, we don't have time to get into that, but he was not of the lineage of Aaron. Aaron was the first high priest, and all the other high priests came from his line. But there is another line that predates Aaron, and his name was Melchizedek. And his priesthood is permanent. And so he's saying, look, he's not of Aaron's line, because they live and die, and then you have to replace them. His is an eternal, perfect priesthood, according to Melchizedek. Then just look over at verse 1 of chapter 8. Now, the main point. In what is being said is this, we have such a high priest who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in heaven. So the main point here is pretty simple, right? If you don't get anything else, get this, that the kind of high priest we have in Jesus Christ is one who's seated right next to the Father at the right hand. Why, why would anybody go to anyone else as a mediator? Why would you ever go to a priest on earth and confess your sin? Why would you ever depend on somebody else to help you along when you have the high priest, the true high priest, who's seated right next to his Father in heaven? He is able to make eternal intercession with the Father, therefore. Chapter nine, verses 11 and 12. But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, he entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, meaning the heavenly one, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation, and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood he entered the holy places, once for all having obtained eternal Redemption. You know, I'm picking on the Roman Catholic Church for this because of the errors. Do you know what happens in the Mass? Do you know what's actually going on in the Mass? And if you don't, just search it. You'll find it. It's not like they're trying to hide it. The Mass is a re-sacrificing of Christ. And every single Mass throughout the world, supposedly they are re-sacrificing the Lord Jesus Christ. How many sacrifices according to the Bible? Once for all. He's done. It's sufficient. And his work was done not on earth on some fancy altar, but it was done in heaven, in the true tabernacle. And as a result, our sins are no more. Remember, in 1 Peter, he bore our sins. So picture, if you are a Christian, your sins had been taken into heaven with him, and he offers them there, and they're gone. Hebrews 10, 11 through 14. He says, every priest, talking about earthly ones, stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But he, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of the Father, or of God, waiting from that time until his enemies are put as a footstool for his feet. For by one offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. Who are those who are being sanctified? All of those whose sins he bore to heaven. It's a beautiful picture. He goes on in verses 18 to 23 and we'll end here. Now there is forgiveness of these things, or now where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any offering for sin. It's finished. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, the sacrifice, by a new and living way which he inaugurated for us through the veil, which is his flesh, so that's a sacrifice, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, that's his priestly work, what are we to do? Let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope. What is the confession of our hope? One word, Jesus. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. Why do we hold fast to it? Not because we gotta. Not because it's in us. We hold fast to the confession of Jesus because God is faithful. He will keep his promises. You don't have to say, maybe it wasn't enough. No, it is enough. God cannot lie. So Jesus, Lord of all, the promised Messiah, came into history among mankind and he died as our sacrifice and as our high priest. So what does this mean? In the last couple of minutes, let me sum it up in three points, okay? First, whenever you shy away from coming to God in prayer for need, for confession, whatever it is, anytime you are shy from coming to him, All you're really showing is that you don't fully grasp how vast the work of Christ was for you. OK? That's all. It doesn't mean you don't have that. It just means you don't see it yet. Pray that God might open your eyes to the vastness once for all. And so the Father says, come, come to me. I will not turn you away. You are in my son. He died for you. He bore your sin. He is your high priest. He's here at my right hand. Come to me." And you say, I don't know. Come. Come because he has received you through his son. So let us fix our eyes on him alone. Second, sin is very serious. It costs the life of the son. And I want you to understand, Jesus doesn't save us by bearing away our sins so that we can then go do some more sin. He calls us to be holy. Jesus saves us from our sins so we would walk in holiness. And so what we together are to do as a church is encourage one another toward those things, to put away these things, lay them aside, fix our eyes on Jesus, who is the author and finisher of our faith. And third, As our high priest, stop looking elsewhere to fill our hearts and feel forgiveness. Because it's not found anywhere else. Nowhere else but in Christ. You have fears and you need them assuaged. Don't go to other people and other things. Go to Christ. Christ came that we might be fully free. In fact, this is what he says in John 8, 36. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free, what? Indeed. Do you believe that? Is He your Lord? Then you're free. Not just free, but free indeed. Let's pray. So Father, I ask that you help us toward that end. We are prone to wander. As the hymn writer says, Lord, I feel it. given to ourselves, we would just find ourselves once again in folly and sin, and yet you, through the death and resurrection of our Lord, bring us life and forgiveness. You grant us a spirit who seals us to that day of redemption so that we are kept safe. I pray, Lord, that you'll burn that into our souls so that we can preach to ourselves and preach to those whom we love the sufficiency of Jesus Christ alone, that we would know him Love Him and follow Him. Help us to see these things. Help us to be faithful witnesses as we talk to our friends and family. We ask in your Son's name, Amen.