Jesus Obeyed (For Others!)

Welcome to No Compromise Radio Ministry. Boy, that was a little wheeze there. I should probably start over again. Welcome to No Compromise Radio Ministry, AKA Duplex Gratia Radio. I know, I know what you're thinking.

After 3 ,600 shows, it's time for a name change? Maybe, we'll see. Kind of catchy. Kind of fun. I wanted New Order ceremony, but didn't work out my way, so. Anyway, Mike Ebendroth here. Don't forget Deeply Rooted Conference.

Lord willing, I'll be there November 10th and 11th. Kingsport, Tennessee, if you'd like to register, deeplyrootedpodcast .com, deeplyrootedpodcast .com. I'm looking at the lineup here. Looks like there are eight men.

You know what? I'm just gonna just, you know, have to be honest with you. Looking at the lineup here, I don't see much intersectionality going on. I mean, men, come on. Older, not younger, come on. I guess I'm the only one with glasses, so I must, maybe I'm the oldest there.

Who knows? But I don't know. I mean, can you get truth from the Bible unless you have people from, you know, Sri Lanka writing their commentaries, et cetera? That's a whole other show, isn't it? Of course it is.

Anyway, it's going to be on the Doctrine of Assurance, and it's going to be held at Grace Point Fellowship, Kingsport, Tennessee. Huh, I like it. Adult admission, $499. I'm so sorry. He, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he.

Oh, sorry, it's overflow only $449. It's a lot of moolah, as we used to say in Nebraska. Why do we call it moolah? Quid, bucks. I know why they call it a buck, right? Because in the old days, Kit Carson shot a deer, skinned it, you can get $1 for that buckskin, right?

Buckskin, buck. Quid, I don't know about quid, but I don't know why we call it moolah. Money? I don't know. November 10th and 11th, Kingsport, deeply rooted. You know, I have to, I have to demand things when I fly and travel and all that stuff, because, you know, I'm just a, an E-list celebrity, of course.

They've got me flying Allegiant Air. I've never flown Allegiant, but they said, that's where you fly. I said, okay, that's what I fly. I mean, my daughter's flying, I think, from London to Rome on Whiz Air.

Jesus Obeyed the Law for Others

So we'll see if she makes it in the Whiz, hurry up, quickly. Does that mean fast? Is that what that means? I have no idea. I think the planes are made by Boeing though, so, you know, dad's rest easy. All right, today I'd like to talk about, oh, this is a shocker, Jesus.

You want answers? I think I'm entitled. You want answers? I want the truth! You can't handle the truth! Yeah, but no compromise radio listeners can, so can duplex gratia listeners, they can, of course.

Somebody out there needs to, I have no budget for this. I need somebody to design me cool duplex gratia stuff. That's what I would like to do. Pat Avendroth, he gets the cool stuff. Why does he get the cool stuff?

He probably pays for it. If you couldn't hear me say that, I'd be probably pays for it. I think I know who designs this stuff. She's got it going on. Today, talking about Jesus, here's the question du jour.

Jesus, sorry, it has to be a question. I said a question. Did Jesus obey the law of God to qualify himself to be the Savior? True or false? Jesus obeyed the law to qualify himself to be the Savior. I don't want to answer too quickly.

You might want to work through that. Maybe there's some nuances you have. Maybe our panel down at the Deeply Rooted Conference Assurance 2023, maybe we'll figure that out down there. There's eight of us, so we can all vote, I guess.

Jesus Was Born Under the Law as a Federal Head

Did Jesus obey the law? Well, so far, so good. We know he did. In order for him to be qualified to be our Savior. That's the question. Jesus was born under the law for us to qualify himself or for others.

That's what I want to talk about a little bit today. Of course, when the fullness of time had come, Galatians 4, God sent forth his Son. You think about the covenant of redemption and what's going on there.

And you read the gospel of Jesus according to John and it's sent, sent, sent, sent, sent. The Father sent him. Pre-existing, eternal Son. Eternally begotten Son sent by the unbegotten Father. Born of a woman.

It was a miraculous, supernatural conception. The Spirit of God did that. But the birth was regular. The birth was normal. Normal birth canal. Normal afterbirth, everything else. Born of a woman, right?

You think of mediator and all that, representative. Born under law. Here we go, born under law. Why was he born under law? To qualify himself to be our Redeemer. Nope, that's not what the verse says. Why was Jesus born under law?

Well, if you think a little bit about Adam, Adam had a law, right? And Adam disobeyed the law. We're going to have to have somebody obey the law for us. But think more about Adam. Adam was a person, of course, but he was more than just a private person.

Adam is what we call in theology a public person. In the old days, they spelled public with a K at the end instead of a C. So he was a public person. Now we talk about Jesus not necessarily as a public person, although that's fine to say.

He was a federal head. He was a covenant head. People don't like the word covenant, but it means federal. Federal means covenant, foidas in Latin, in Latin, covenant. He's doing something for other people, that's the point.

Adam, the first Adam, public man, federal head, Romans 5, 12 and following. And we got credit for what Adam's first sin was. I wish he would have obeyed, but then we would have been saying thank you, Adam, instead of thank you, Lord Jesus.

All that's in the plan of God, and we submit to that. We have lots of why questions, or how could Adam sin in the garden if he wasn't having sin nature, et cetera. Well, Adam is a federal head. We call Jesus the last Adam because he's a federal head as well.

And that's what Romans 5 goes on to talk about in verses, especially 15 through 19, if memory serves. Sometimes memory doesn't serve, but if it does, it's certainly within 5 .12 to 21. Jesus did not have to obey to qualify himself as Savior.

Christ’s Active and Passive Obedience

He wasn't obeying for himself. Was he unqualified to be the Savior before he obeyed the law? And then when you hear of active and passive obedience, what you ought to be thinking is, not he's really working hard, active obedience, and now it's something being done to him, passive obedience.

You should be thinking about active and like a passion obedience, but probably easier if you think about a law. Laws were meant to be kept. And there's a positive precept. If you keep it, this is the good thing that'll happen.

And there's a penalty if you don't. So always think when you think of law, the positive and the negative side, precept and penalty. Some say Jesus kept the law for himself and that only the penalty affects us, that he paid for our sins, but he didn't earn our righteousness by keeping the law.

In other words, we don't need Jesus law-keeping, we just need his forgiveness. That's wrong. Back to the point, was Jesus unqualified before he qualified himself by keeping the law? And therefore he could be this Messiah.

Well, if you think of Jesus as the God-man, which you should, was he born unsanctified or sanctified? Was he born qualified or unqualified? I mean, to ask the question is to answer it. He's born sanctified, he's the God-man.

He's born righteous, he's born qualified. Jesus, the last and true Adam, a federal representative was a public person and public persons do things for the public. Federal heads do things for those that are in them.

They do things for people. And certainly Jesus was not lying when he said, do not think I've come to abolish the law or the prophets, I have not come to abolish them, but to what? Obey them so that I might be qualified.

No, but to fulfill them. Jesus, my dear friends, no compromise radio, let's think of something, because I know you're thinking through this. It's hard to think, but it's not impossible. You might think it's impossible.

I remember growing up watching Mission Impossible with my dad. And we watched Mission Impossible. And what else did we watch? Mannix, we watched Kojak, McLeod, Beretta. My brother, he watched like Starsky and Hutch with my dad and I.

He, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he. Jesus was already righteous inherently. He didn't obey for himself. He obeyed for us, in our place, nostro loco, in our place. Adam disobeyed for others. Jesus obeyed for others.

That's pretty wonderful to think about. William Perkins writes about this. Question, whether did Christ perform full obedience to the law for us men alone or for himself also? Answer, not for himself.

The flesh of Christ being hypostatically united to the word and so in itself fully sanctified was even from the first moment of conception most worthy to be blessed with eternal life. Therefore, by all that obedience which he performed after his conception, Christ merited nothing for himself.

For us, namely, for the faithful, he fulfilled all the righteousness of the law and hence it is that he is called the end of the law under righteousness to everyone who believes, Romans 10 .4. Here may be objected.

One, Christ as he is man is bound to perform obedience to the law for himself. Answer, he is not bound by nature but of his own accord for he was not a mere man but God and man. Jesus obeyed for you, dear Christian, and for all Christians, for all believers.

He obeyed for you. That's why when we talk about standing before a thrice holy God, trying to have access to heaven, you better have perfection on your side. You better have the right man on your side, the man of God's own choosing.

You better have the God-man on your side, perfect, entire, exact, perpetual obedience on your side. You better be perfect as God is perfect, Matthew 5 .48. And when you see Jesus in Luke 2, all of Luke, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and you watch him get baptized, it's for others, fulfilling all righteousness.

Jesus Identified with Sinners in His Circumcision and Obedience

You could watch him, he's circumcised. Talks about the ultimate circumcision of the heart because people are sinful. Jesus wasn't sinful, we know that for certain. Who was he obeying for then? Why was he, he didn't obey there, his parents did, but if you watch him on the cross and he's honoring his mother by telling John to take care of his mother, why is he doing all that?

Well, he's kind to his mother, that's certain, but he's obeying the 10 commandments, he's obeying the moral law of God, he's obeying every law that God requires in this regard for others. And you see in Luke, all this, I mean, five times in Luke 2 .21 and following, the word law used more than it's used, I think, in the rest of the book combined.

Law, law, law, law, law. Why is all this law stuff happening? Because we realize Jesus is identifying with sinners. Jesus is a representative of sinners. At the end of eight days, he was circumcised and they called his name Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

That's Luke 2 .21. Like John the Baptist, he gets his name after he's circumcised at the circumcision service and Jesus does the same here. He gets the name Jesus, Yahweh saves at his circumcision. What does Genesis 17 say?

Every male among you who is eight days old shall be circumcised throughout your generations and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin and it shall be the sign of the covenant between me and you.

Every male among you who is eight days old shall be circumcised throughout your generations, a servant who is born in the house or who is bought with money from any foreigner who is not of your descendants.

Well, what's circumcision? Well, it's a visible daily object lesson that says you're a sinner and you need cleansing. But since you can't see on the inside, now you can see on the outside, but this outside reminder is something that you need cleansing on the inside.

And this is at the core of everything, is it not? We produce sinners. It's a symbol of spiritual cleansing. What needs to take place in your heart? Well, Jesus was sinless. He doesn't have to have his heart cleaned, but he does have to identify with sinners because he's doing things for them, on their behalf, for you, for me, to fulfill all righteousness, just like at his baptism.

Just like at Calvary, where he's not dying for himself, he's dying for other people's sins. He's the representative. He's the federal head. He's the public man. He's the perfect Israelite. Although he had done no violence and there was no deceit in his mouth, Isaiah 53.

John 8, which one of you, Jesus said, convicts me of sin. Paul says of Jesus, for our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no what? Sin, that in him we might become the righteousness of God. It's all for others.

Did Jesus need a new heart? Did he need to be cleansed? No, he's doing it for others. He's on a seeking, saving mission for others. Everything about it is for others, for surely he's borne our griefs and carried away our sorrows.

He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was a chastisement that brought us peace and with his wounds, we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

It goes on and on and on. He shall bear their iniquities, Isaiah 53, verse 11. The last Adam has to obey. No law keeping, no savior. Jesus doesn't come to abolish the law, but to keep it, to fulfill it.

And at the circumcision, he gets his name. Spurgeon said, it's very instructive to notice that he came under the law and conformed to all its appointments. Jesus, therefore, had to be circumcised. In him, the law was fulfilled in every point.

Even to the jots and tittles, nothing was omitted. Behold, how perfect is the righteousness which he wrought out for his people. Mike Abendroth here, No Compromise Radio Ministry. We're talking about Jesus for you, for others, on your behalf, in your place, in your stead.

That's the language of substitution. That's the language of representation. That's the language of covenant. That's the language of federalism. That's the language of public man. He's a public man. Well, if you want to talk about more law, I mean, it's right there in the passage.

The Redeemer Is Presented and Redeemed

From the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him before the Lord. As it is written in the law of the Lord, every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord and to offer sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord.

A pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons. So, every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord. Okay, here's what we're doing here, and this is so good. You've missed this. I missed it till I studied it.

This is language of the Passover, and you have the blood as prescribed by God to put over the doorposts so that the firstborn would not die. And the firstborn doesn't die because the death angel passes over.

And the Lord says this in Exodus 13, sanctify to me every firstborn, the first offspring of every womb among the sons of Israel, both of man and beast, it belongs to me. And so therefore, you have a son after Passover, including back here in the New Testament times, that son's the Lord's.

And if that son is through the tribe of Levi, he literally is the Lord's working in the temple, working, helping as a priest. Well, what if he's not of the tribe of Levi? What if he's the tribe of, in this particular case, Judah?

What do you do? If you're not in the tribe of Levi, where you actually are dedicated to the Lord and His service, you need to be bought out of that. You need to be redeemed. You need to pay a price so that the child doesn't go into the temple.

I mean, he can't. He's not a Levite. And so God wants a price because there's a point to all this. By the way, Numbers 18 gives us the price of the firstborn. Every first issue of the womb of all flesh, whether man or animal, which they offer to the Lord shall be yours.

Nevertheless, the firstborn of man shall you surely redeem, and the firstborn of unclean animals you shall redeem. As to the redemption price, from a month old you shall redeem them by your valuation, five shekels of silver.

That's what you have to pay. That's the ransom price. So God isn't going to keep the firstborn that was dedicated. We know the baby belongs to the Lord, but he doesn't have to be in the service of the temple because he's been redeemed, right?

Whether this was in the tabernacle early with a tribe of Levites or the temple, firstborn, five shekels, here's an offering, and it's called a redemption. It's called a payment price. That's part of the presentation ceremony.

Can you imagine, as William Hendrickson says, on the 40th day of his life, the Redeemer, Jesus, was himself redeemed. Some accounts say the presentation ceremony goes like this. What would you rather do?

Give up your firstborn son or redeem him for five shekels? That's what the rabbi would say. The father answers, this is my firstborn. Take unto thee five shekels due as redemption. And then the rabbi does two short prayers, places his hands on the head of the child, and says, the Lord bless thee and preserve thee.

The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace. Length of days, years in peace be gathered to thee. God keep thee from all evil and save thy soul. The Redeemer is redeemed. I think that's awesome.

Jesus Gives His Life as a Ransom for Many

I think I read through the Bible too fast and don't dig enough and study enough. And of course, what is all this pointing to and toward? The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many.

When you read the Bible, the Gospels, keep your eye out on Jesus. Don't take your eye off the ball, my father would say. Why? I mean, it's almost like when you guard people playing basketball and their head and their shoulders move and the ball moves and everything else.

You just need to keep your eye on their torso, as it were. Same thing when you watch a running back and you're trying to tackle the running back and they're juking and jiving and doing all these things.

Keep your eye right on their sternum, their stomach. They can't move that as fast. That's what you target in on. Keep your eye here on the Lord Jesus, obeying the law, under the law, born of a woman. Why?

To redeem those under the law. Why is Jesus under the law? Because he has to redeem. And here the redeemer gets redeemed. Redeemed how? I love to proclaim it. That's why this all helps with assurance.

Because A, who could make this up? B, I see exactly what's happening. Jesus isn't sinning. Jesus isn't sinful. Jesus doesn't have deceit. Jesus is not somehow thinking the law is lax and he doesn't need it.

No, no, you need a righteousness and righteousness is earned and merited by keeping the law and Jesus is doing it for you. I think that's a great truth on No Compromise Radio. Well, what else could we say?

Well, we say that when there's a lot of things to say. I got the wrong button. I have to push it to that one. Then I know what's going on. Mike Cavendroth here, No Compromise Radio Ministry. Don't forget the new book, Discovering Colossians is out by S. Lewis Johnson, adapted by me.

Super easy to use, discussion questions. You're really gonna like it. Some people have never owned a commentary before. Maybe this is the first one. You can get it on amazon .com.