Law & Grace - Galatians 2:19,20 Crucifixion - what was not seen

Well, last Sunday, Centurion Valerius Mack told us what he witnessed. I'm terribly sorry I wasn't here. I really would like to have seen that. But anyway, it was nice of him to come. He was the Centurion over the crucifixion of Christ and the two thieves, and he told us what he saw that day, and it was really quite wonderful. One of the reasons it was wonderful is that after what he had seen and heard, including what he didn't see and hear in Christ. The difference that was Christ's presence and behavior and quite apparent attitude that day. He glorified God, the Bible tells us. This centurion glorified God. The centurion declared that Jesus was innocent. And he said that he was the Son of God. Really extraordinary things for a Roman centurion to recognize.

And not just recognize, but exclaim. Well, today we're going to get really cross-eyed. Okay, so I hope you don't mind. We're going to get really cross-eyed because we're going to take a look not just at what was seen as Valerius Maximus conveyed to you, but what was going on beneath the surface that only Scripture reveals. And so, while Valerius Maximus told us about the physical realm, we'll be looking at the spiritual realm from what scripture describes here.

We'll be looking at what the Word of God says actually took place while Christ was being crucified there on the cross. And so on that day of crucifixion, if you were there you would have seen a scene something like that. and Jesus would have looked down from the cross and seen that but we're going to take a look at what is not revealed by either picture or the the physical scenery but rather the spiritual scenery what took place now I have this slide headed up as at a minimum and my reason for putting it that way is this the more I look at it the more I keep coming upon things that were accomplished spiritually when Christ was on the cross. So there are, I'll say, at least five things that happened on the cross when Christ was crucified that day in addition to all the other things that were seen and said and that sort of thing. These are the five things that Christ himself accomplished on the cross. And those things are here.

Christ died for our sins. He died in our place. Instead of me, He died. That idea. That applies to every single person on the planet. Christ died for the sins of the whole world. There was also something else that happened there that day. Christ's death confirmed Israel's new covenant. It was a confirmation of Israel's New Covenant. The New Covenant, as we'll see, is actually described in almost a dozen passages in the Old Testament prophets, specifically Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel. So Christ's death was the confirmation of that.

Next, Christ paid the bride price for us, and that's specifically the Church. He paid the bride price. Now the tradition that was present among the Jews for many centuries is you paid a price for the bride and so that's what Christ's death on the cross was. Paying a bride price for us. Next, Christ paid the price of a slave or of a flock. He purchased us.

That's specifically said to be of the church. And finally, we were identified with his crucifixion and we were identified with his death. Not just his death, but the entire crucifixion to death sequence. And that's specific to the church. That isn't said to be true of Israel. It's not said to be true of everyone across all times and all peoples. but specifically said to be true of the church. So let's take a look at this first one. Christ died for our sins. He died in our place. Every person on the planet for all time has this benefit available to them. Isaiah 53 is a beautiful statement of Him dying in our place.

Him taking our sins upon Himself. Surely our griefs he himself bore, and our sorrows he carried. Yet we ourselves esteemed him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was pierced through for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities, and the chastening for our well-being fell upon him. And by his scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way, but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him.

He took the penalty for our sins upon himself. Christ died, as 1 John 2 makes clear, for the sins of the whole world, not just somebody like over here and some group over there. The sins of the whole world were paid for on that day. God was satisfied with Christ's death. Christ died for our sins, taking the penalty that we deserved upon himself. Me. You. We deserve to take that penalty. He took it upon himself. Christ is our substitute. It was a substitutionary death. He died in our place. He died the death that we deserved. And he died in our place. Scripture portrays sins as a debt. A debt that has been paid by Christ on the cross. That debt is now paid off completely. The forgiveness of that debt applies only to those who believe. It's interesting to discover as we look in church history, reading through the many documents that were early church fathers, church fathers over the centuries from the time around the New Testament all the way into around the year 1100.

In that entire time outside the Bible, scholars have yet to find one place where anybody wrote, Christ died in my place. That thought was somehow lost. People didn't get it. And these are people who even died for their faith, did not express that. It's possible and maybe even likely that people did believe that, but we have no record of it in writing. Anselm, a Roman Catholic theologian, writing around 1100 AD, is the first one that we have any record of expressing that idea, that Christ died in our place.

That lack of understanding of Christ actually giving himself to die for us is a major contributor to the belief that Christ is the church's king and the church is his kingdom. And that same set of ideas is the foundation for persecuting the Jews as the Christ killers. So understanding the gospel that Christ died for my sins is and has been a very important thing. And the lack of that has been a great problem in church history.

Now the next one. Christ's death confirmed Israel's new covenant. You see, it was specifically for Israel. What we find here is Jesus says in Matthew and also in Mark a similar statement when he had taken the cup and given thanks and this is at what's called the Last Supper He he gave it to them saying drink from it all of you for this is my blood of the covenant which is poured out For many for forgiveness of sins. This is the confirmation of Israel's new covenant the old covenant with Israel was under the law of Moses under the law of Moses and You had 613 things that you had to do or not do. That was the old covenant law of Moses. And if you did them, you were blessed. If you didn't do them, you were cursed. There was a penalty if you didn't do them. The new covenant will be enacted in the yet-to-come Millennial Kingdom.

And this is a map that we have made available before. Let me know if you didn't get this and would like a copy. This is the map described by Genesis 15. Genesis 15, 18 through 21 gives the outline of this area. This is Israel during the coming millennial kingdom. The boundary includes something like eight current nations. And Ezekiel 48 describes the dividing of this by tribe. Which tribe will get which part? So amazingly, it's during this time when Israel will be operating under the New Covenant. Here is a summary of what the New Covenant is.

The people of Israel will all be indwelt by the Holy Spirit and will be empowered to both know and live out the law of Moses from the heart without a teacher. No rabbis. You won't need one because each one will have the law memorized and they will be empowered to live it out. The law will be written on their heart.

Israel will live the law and as Deuteronomy 28 verse 14 verses lays out if you live out the law you'll be blessed and so because they will be empowered to know and live out the law they will be blessed phenomenally let's do a quick review of God's covenants with Israel just to make sure we keep this in perspective there's the covenant with Abraham This was about 2100 BC. It begins in Genesis 12, 1 through 3, and is actually repeated and expanded upon as we go through the life of Abraham in the book of Genesis.

Next is the covenant with Moses, the Law Covenant. This is the giving of the 613 laws there, and the foundational passage is Exodus 19, 1 through 6. Next is the land covenant as the covenant with Moses that is the law is at the beginning of their 40 years out in the desert. The land covenant is at the end of their 40 years out in the desert and Moses gives that as well. The next is the covenant with David that says David there is going to be one of your descendants sitting on the throne of Israel and ultimately this descendant of yours will be the Messiah, the promised one. And so that's the covenant with David.

And then the new covenant, initially given with, say, Jeremiah, and actually previous to that a little bit, Isaiah, and also with Ezekiel, describes this time in this future millennial kingdom, which could be as soon as seven years from today, It describes this time when all Israel will be indwelt by the Holy Spirit and will live out and know the law from the heart.

The law will be written on their heart as it's described. That will be after the time when Jesus comes again. The law will be written on their heart. It will be taking place in this enlarged Israel that we see here. It's amazing. Israel will encompass a land that now includes people that hate them. So that'll be very interesting to see how the Lord works that out.

The covenant with Noah was confirmed by a sacrifice and God made a covenant with Noah and part of that included the covenant with the rainbow and that and so there was a sacrifice. The covenant with Abraham was confirmed by a sacrifice. Genesis 15, 9-11 records the sacrifice that God asked Abraham to carry out. And in the same way, the new covenant with Israel was confirmed by a sacrifice, which is Christ himself. And so that covenant was confirmed in Christ's blood by his death.

Here's a timeline for Israel's new covenant. You had first the passages in Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel that tell of this covenant, that promise it in the future. You have the covenant confirmed, which is described in the Gospels and is Christ's death on the cross. Finally, you have a covenant fulfilled, and it's fulfilled in this coming millennial kingdom. Isaiah, in several different passages, describes that fulfillment.

Now, the third item that was accomplished there that day on the cross, it's amazing. People looking up at Christ, they didn't know that this was happening. They had no idea. Oh, certainly the centurion was very insightful in what he saw and said. Yeah, there's no doubt about that. And there was a man on one cross next to Jesus where Jesus says, today you'll be with me in paradise. So no doubt there were at least two there that had great insight. But these things These are only described in scripture and were not known there that day.

Christ paid the bride price for us. The father of the groom told him, the groom, what the bride price would be. So in the Jewish wedding tradition, the father would choose the bride. That's the first thing. We see that in Ephesians 1, 3 through 4 and 5, 27. And so that's the choosing of the bride. We were not just kind of randomly, hey, there's a church, let's have that be the one. It was in fact a deliberate choosing. That's what the Ephesians 1, 3, and 4 passage says. He chose us in Him. He chose us in Him to be holy and blameless. And that same holy and blameless phrase is used in Ephesians 5, 27.

The next thing is the Jewish wedding tradition has the father of the groom telling the groom what the amount of the bride price will be. How it was typically done is the father would tell the groom, here is how much you can pay for your bride. Don't negotiate above that. So he would tell the groom when he would go to the house of the bride, here's the amount that you will have to pay. And in the case of Christ and the Church, the Father, that's capital F, the Father told the Son, capital S, who was the groom, that the bride price would be Christ's crucifixion and death on the cross. That's the price you're going to pay. That's the price for the Church, the bride price.

Here's what we see in Ephesians 5.25, and you have this on page 2 of your handout there. Husbands, love your wives just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself up for her.

He bought her. He paid the price. Hebrews 12, 2, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross. What joy? The bride. I'll pay this price to purchase that bride. Despising the shame, and is sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

In 2 Corinthians 11, if there's any doubt about this idea of the church is the bride, Paul writes to the Corinthian believers, he says, For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy, and I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. Is there any doubt after reading that that the church is the bride of Christ, the intended bride of Christ, and Paul's role here as an apostle is to do the betrothing.

The next one, Christ paid the price of a slave or flock. And this is applied to the church. The flock is sometimes a picture used of Israel as well. But the passages that talk about the purchase of the flock are in church context. So we'll say this is about the church. And 1 Corinthians 6, 19 through 20 goes this way.

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit? Who is in you? The Holy Spirit is in you, right? Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who's in you, whom you have from God. By the way, that's a whom, not an it. Right? Whom you have from God and that you are not your own. You have been bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body.

In the very next chapter, at the end of the chapter, 1 Corinthians 7, were you called as a slave? This is, of course, in the Roman Empire, in which slavery was a common institution. Do not worry about it, but if you are able also to become free, rather do that. It's better to be free, but don't worry about it. For he who is called in the Lord while a slave is the Lord's freedman. Likewise, he who is called while free is Christ's slave. You are bought with a price. Do not become slaves of men."

This is the church where Nancy and I were married some 38 and a half years ago, the inside of it. And right here on either side of the platform is kind of a wing wall. At the top of that is a nice crafted piece of wood that has there on each side, you are not your own, you are bought with a price. And it brings that point home beautifully. We often are inclined to think of ourselves, well I'm me and I can make the choices and nobody's going to tell me what to do, and no, you're not your own.

And Paul's emphatic about that in 1 Corinthians 6 and then in 1 Corinthians 7. Using the terms of the Roman slave market, the Apostle Paul tells the saints, they're in Corinth, that they have been bought with a price. Now there's one other indication here, and this is not applied to a slave market, but to a flock.

Paul was talking to the elders at Ephesus. So far as we know, it's the last time he would ever see them. The indications from the passage are it's the last time he would ever see them. And he has some very weighty things to tell them, but one of the things he says to the elders is this.

Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers." By the way, who makes an elder an elder in the church? The Holy Spirit. We just recognize what the Holy Spirit has done. It's God's doing, right? to shepherd the church of God which he purchased with his own blood. So the elders are not people who, boy, these are my people and I own them. No. They are owned by the Lord. He purchased them. We should not ever overlook. He paid the price for his flock. It's his flock.

Now let's take a look at the very last one here. We were identified with his crucifixion and were identified with his death from the start to the beginning, excuse me, from the start to the end. We the church, and we only find this applied to the church, we the church were identified with his death. Let's take a look at that. It starts out with, and we had this as sort of the head verse here and Randy read for us, I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. It was the third hour when they crucified him. That's recorded for us in Mark 15 25. The third hour by Jewish counting is 9 a.m. So that's why we got this clock there configured to get that clear. Zero is 6, 9 a.m. is the third hour. So that's the Jewish way of marking the hours of the day.

Now, we have a statement here from Romans chapter 6 and a few different verses. Later on, a couple months down the road, we'll actually be looking at this in a little more detail. But Paul asks the question in verse 3, or do you not know, and it's indicated in chapter 7, of course you do, that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into his death. Verse 5 carries on that idea, stating it in a different way. For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, and the if is not doubting, it is inviting us to join in in the thought process. And finally, verse 8, now if you have died with Christ, and that if similarly is an invitation to join in this thought process here.

Now at the ninth hour, Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. So this is six hours later, three o'clock. The ninth hour is three o'clock in our time marking method. And so we have at three o'clock, he died. So you have from the crucifixion at 9 AM until the time of his death at 3 PM, We were identified with Christ during all that time, throughout the entire crucifixion to death.

We were identified with Christ in these five ways, starting with being crucified and dying with him. We were crucified with him and died with him. We were buried with him when they took his body into the tomb. You were there too. We were raised with Him. Each one of us who believes here this morning, we were raised with Him. We were ascended with Him and seated with Him in the heavenlies.

Ephesians 2.6. It began by our being crucified with Christ. The identification truths are begun by that crucifixion. That's what starts the series in identification. We were crucified with Christ and dying with him. The sequence is not random, nor is it arbitrary. We died specifically first. We were buried. We were raised. We were ascended. We were seated in that order with none to be left out.

Every one is necessary and makes sense. Spiritually, you were there that day. When Christ was crucified, you were crucified. When Christ died, you died. Spiritually speaking, it is true. It is absolutely true. You were crucified and died with him. When he died, you died with him. When he breathed his last, spiritually speaking, you breathed your last too. Now, we've got to ask the question, why would God crucify you with Christ and have you die with Him? I mean, that's kind of a radical, severe, intense thing. I mean, can't we kind of sidestep all that? It's a little messy. Kind of painful, too.

In order to save us, God has to join us to Christ and separate us from the sin nature. It's for purposes of separation that we have this, to separate us from the law and the principle of law, and to separate us from the world. Those are the three things that the New Testament explicitly says that we were separated from as a result of having been crucified and died with Christ. Dying in relationship to anything means to separate the two. We are dead to something, dead in relationship to something. That means to separate. Dying in relationship to the sin nature means to separate the person from the sin nature and down the line with the law and the world. This does not make the sin nature, the law, or the world go away. The sin nature is not eradicated. because we died with Christ. We are separated. It is not eradicated.

Is the world around us here? Yep, looks like it. Is the world here? Yes, it is. It's still there, but we are separated from it. Let's talk about what that means. Here you have a diagram, and this is on page three of your handout. You don't have the colors as I do up here, but you have everything else.

In Adam, before faith in Christ, and I have all the letters on this side, in Adam, brown. They indicate this is earthly, right? In Adam, before faith in Christ, we are separated from Christ, we are joined to, before belief, we are joined to the sin nature, we're joined to the principle of law, and we're joined to the world. After faith in Christ, We are in Christ, and I put that in blue, not because the cross takes us there, but the sequence of these identification truths leaves us seated in the heavenlies. So after faith in Christ, we are joined to Christ, having been separated from him, and we are now separated from the sin nature, the principle of law, and the world. So what we were separated from before Christ, we are now joined to. What we were joined to before, the sin nature, the principle of law in the world, we are now separated from.

You only get from one place to the other by crossing over. And the crossing over isn't something that you do. Here are the principles of crossing over. It is only by faith that God does the crossing over. The only way that one goes from in Adam and everything that goes with it, to in Christ and everything that goes with it, is entirely by grace through faith. We don't earn it. It's not something we deserve. It is not something that we work for. It is entirely by grace through faith.

Absolutely, completely, totally, no messing around with it. Ben, it is through the cross and being spiritually joined with Christ in his crucifixion and his death. There is no alternate route. There is no detour around. This is the only way to be crossing over. It is through the cross. It's being joined to Christ. You were crucified with him. It is absolutely essential. This crucifixion and death with Christ is total. It is complete. It's not a, boy, I'm about 90% done. No. It is complete and total and 100% done. And it is irreversible. You don't go, whoop, I'm backin' at him. Right? It is completely irreversible. It happens but once. I don't go, ta-ta-ta-ta-ta, back and forth. Right? You don't do that. It happens once.

More principles of crossing over. Crossing over is done by God alone. All we did is believe what God has done. Period. That's all. In the Christian life, we're always catching up to what God has already done. God has already accomplished it all. You know, what we do is we discover what God has already done. And as we discover what God has done, we can walk by faith in it and grow in it. But we're always catching up to what God has already accomplished. Isn't that an amazing thing? God accomplished amazing things and we spend the rest of our lifetime growing into what He already did. The next thing, that catching up to what God has already done begins with a discovery through His Word.

It consists of being conformed, sanctified, growing and maturing. Catching up to what God has already done. That's what these things are. That's what growing up, maturing in Christ is all about. We're catching up to what God has already accomplished. God accomplishes position. That is, when you were crucified with Christ, that's a positional thing. God accomplishes that, and he also accomplishes the process. The being conformed, transformed, being sanctified, growing, maturing. God pulls it off.

It's not by your efforts. Not at all. There's no merit in this. It's entirely by grace. It's all in what God did. We're just catching up to what God's already accomplished. Finally, even more principles of crossing over. Being in Christ, with Christ, united with Christ, joined to Christ, baptized into Him, means that we're seated with Christ in the heavenlies. That's the end of the series. And it started with our co-crucifixion with Him. You were personally crucified with Christ, spiritually speaking. You were there. That's how it all starts. And it's essential. You don't sidestep it. There just is no other route. But at the end of it is that you're seated with Christ.

In our new history, and this is key to get, we have a new spiritual history. In Adam, you have that history of falling into sin, and then being ejected from the garden, and dying, and personally and subjectively experiencing what that death is. That's in Adam. In Christ, you have a new spiritual history. You are crucified, dead, buried, raised, ascended, and seated in that new spiritual history.

That is essential. That's critical. Notice as we look at this, I have been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live. Now as I look at this verse, here's the key thing. The rest of the verse talks about living. This is curious. I have been crucified with Christ and then the rest of the verse is all about living. Now this is amazing.

But Christ lives in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me. You see if we weren't crucified and we're trying to do the right thing and do what God wants it would be a matter of It would be a matter of, okay, God, here's the behaviors I want out of you.

And you just do your best to try to do these behaviors. And just, you know, try to work at it. We'll see how you do at the end. So, that's the way it is. But with this, notice what happens. I've been crucified with Christ so that it's not my life to live. It's His. We're done! Matter of fact, I'll put it this way. You're fired! You're fired! Donald Trump would love that. Anyway, you're fired! Because why? Because God doesn't need you to go out and put out your best efforts.

Instead, He wants His life to do the living, and it starts with being crucified with Christ. This is wonderful! The people there that day had no idea that you and I would be having the very life of Christ living out through us because it started with his crucifixion. His crucifixion, oh yes we're really cross-eyed today, his crucifixion is a wonderful thing.

Don't go home without it. Let's pray. Lord we thank you for as we look at this, oh what a wonderful set of things you've done. You've done Something for everybody and for us you've done multiple things and Lord as we look at this to see this crucifixion be Essential and so wonderful and and in fact rich with spiritual goodness. We thank you in Jesus name. Amen