HE PAID YOUR DEATH PENALTY

February 10, 2002 am
MF Blume

Ezekiel 18:20-24  The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him. But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die. All his transgressions that he hath committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him: in his righteousness that he hath done he shall live. Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord GOD: and not that he should return from his ways, and live? But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die.
 

Let us turn to Genesis and note as aspect of man and God's glory that becomes a very predominant issue in the bible.

Genesis 3:22-24  And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
Notice that CHERUBIMS formed a barrier to the garden entrance after Adam sinned and was banished. The ark of the covenant was put within this very holy place beyond the veil. God's word uses two major stories that shows a repeated thought. It started in the Book of Genesis with the Garden of Eden. Then centuries later, The Exodus story of Israel leaving Egypt as God plagued the lights out of the place takes us in a story of the wilderness journey. What is so exciting about these stories is that they lead to the same point. The entrance to the garden and the entrance into this room in the temple is blocked by some glorious creatures, whose full purpose is not so much the point of my sermon, except for the thought they BAR the entrance. The fact that both the Garden and the very holy room of the temple were blocked away from man is one indication of similarity in the stories. The presence of God is known as the glory of God in the Bible. If you keep reading, there is a whole elaborate system of ritual and sacrifice, with the High priest alone being able to wash and wear white linen, and enter that most holy place ONCE every year.
Leviticus 16:12-14  And he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before the LORD, and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the vail: And he shall put the incense upon the fire before the LORD, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is upon the testimony, that he die not: And he shall take of the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy seat eastward; and before the mercy seat shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times.
He had to enter with the incense and the blood of the sacrifice.

All of this is such an easy way to explain why Jesus died.

After the Exodus journey through the wilderness, they do finally get into the land of their own, and are told to build a stationary temple with the same room barred off from all but one man.

That veil, by the way, that barred man from this most holy place, was so thick that it is said that if it was tied between two oxen, and they were marched in opposite directions, they could not rip it.

In fact, when two brothers did try to enter this most holy place, with cherubims on the veil, we read…
Leviticus 10:1-2  And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not. And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD.
FIRE WAS THERE just like the flaming sword at the Garden entrance. These sons of Aaron were slain due to entering the most holy place. Things are a bit better than the Garden scenario, since at least one man could enter this most holy place with blood, even though it was only one day a year. God's glory has since been a mystery to mankind. Man lost fellowship with God's glory.

God's LIFE was barred away.

His glory and His life, both speak of the same thing.

Rivers of life.

Fruit of Life.

Tree of Life.

Glory!

All this was barred from man.

But we read something special.

John 1:1-5  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

John 1:14  And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

Jesus is the WORD. God's GLORY CAME TO US!

Recall that I said the GLORY was behind a veil in the temple.

Hebrews 10:19-20  Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;
What a beautiful poetic way of saying we can get back into the glorious presence of God.

And we read we can enter this most holy place by the blood of Jesus.

And it says by the blood of Jesus. And as much as Aaron had to have blood in order to enter the most holy place, we read that we can enter by the blood of Jesus Christ!

And it also says the veil is his flesh.

Fellowship with the Light! These bible writers saw God's glory and that is the reason we have the Bible. He died to deal with our sins.

Sin is a killer.

The soul who sins has a penalty to pay - death.

God laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

When Christ died, He was smitten and struck in death. An angel who never sinned could not die for us, because we are not angels. The only way this perfect sacrifice could be, is for God to manifest Himself in flesh as a man. His death was the death of a sinless one, for the possibility of Him taking YOUR SIN upon Himself.
2 Corinthians 5:21  For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
And remember that He died our deaths and paid our sin-penalties by His death. A person is never tried in court for the same crime once the sentence is passed. This is not some secret society where you have to go through all these degrees to get to some weird light. His blood cleanses us from sin, -- in other words we truly believe that Jesus did what it took for us to have our sins removed. Sin is in the way and, lo and behold, we find a way to get sin taken care of so we can fellowship with the GLORY OF GOD AGAIN!

Jesus died on the cross for a specific reason.

Isaiah 53:3-7  He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
When this death did occur, something very SIGNIFICANT OCCURRED.
Matthew 27:50-51   Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;
He died the death penalty that we were supposed to die. His death is supposed to be considered as YOUR DEATH.
Hebrews 9:25-28  Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.
Christ had to die only one time, because we owed a single death due to sin. Jesus' death was the means by which God's glory would be re-introduced to man. Paul spoke of it as reconciliation.
Colossians 1:21-22  And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:

2 Corinthians 5:18-21  And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

RECONCILIATION.

Notice how his being made sin has to do with reconciliation.

You've got to believe that Jesus died to pay your penalty.

And this saving work of God in Christ's death is what repentance and baptism are all about.

VERY IMPORTANT POINT NOW.

Jesus' death made the entrance possible.

It makes His death YOUR death.