Equipping Eve: Without the Shedding of Blood (Part 2)

Is the church today doing everything it can to provide women a firm foundation of truth in Christ Jesus?

Well, it's true, there's no shortage of candy -coated Bible studies, potluck fellowships available to ladies.

But beyond Sunday morning, are Christian women being properly equipped to stand against the same deceptions that even enticed

Eve in the garden? In an attempt to address the need for trustworthy, biblical resources for women,

No Compromise Radio is happy to introduce Equipping Eve, a ladies -only radio show that seeks to equip women with fruits of truth in an age that's ripe with deception.

My name is Mike Ebendroth, and I'm pleased to introduce your host, Erin Benzinger, a friend of No Compromise Radio and a woman who wants to see other women equipped with a love for and a knowledge of the truth of God's Word.

Well, hello ladies, and welcome to Equipping Eve. As always, we're here to hopefully equip you with fruits of truth from God's Word, because the world is crazy and nonsensical and full of sin, and so we need to know

God's Word, right? The only objective, true thing that we can know is in God's Word. This is all we need to know to live a life that is worshipful of Him, and if we don't know it, then we cannot do that.

If we just worship willy -nilly in our church service the way that makes us feel good, then, well, we're not worshiping in the way that God prescribes, right?

And it's about us, then. It's not about Him. If we go through the world and hear something that sounds good to our fallen, sinful ears, that it's not biblical, well, that is detrimental to our spiritual health, is it not?

And so we need to know God's Word. It is God's Word. It reveals Jesus Christ to us.

That makes it amazing, right? That makes it worthy of our study and our time and our dedication and our love and our reverence.

And so it's not that we worship the Word. We worship the One who is revealed in the

Word, right? We worship Jesus Christ, our Savior. And that's who we're going to talk about today, but before I get started,

I have to recommend a book. I'm sorry. I had to go find it. Okay. I have to recommend a book, and I think we're actually going to do a show, maybe two, who knows.

I just have to outline what that looks like. I'm going to base it off of this book, because this book, you have to read this book.

It's by Jerry Bridges, and maybe some of you have already read this. I haven't read a lot of Jerry Bridges' work, and so I think

I shall start. It's called The Discipline of Grace. I know.

I know. Some of you, you come from an anti -no -man background where, you know, what a sin that grace may abound.

And so you get kind of itchy and twitchy, like, oh, no, no, no, she's falling on that like uber grace side.

No, no, no. Listen to the subtitle of this book, God's Role and Our Role in the

Pursuit of Holiness. Ladies, this book is so vital, and if you have ever been in a legalistic church, even one that I'm not saying, you know, people think legalism, well, the church probably dictates that you wear a skirt, and you have to pull your hair back, and, you know, you can't go to movies, and you can't dance, and that's legalism.

There's this list of rules you follow. Not necessarily. They may not have an outward list of rules you follow, but there may be implications based on the leadership and based on the teaching and the mindset in the church that you shouldn't do certain things, and if you don't feel a certain way or you don't react a certain way, then you probably aren't even saved, and so you need to reevaluate your salvation, and it beats you down.

It beats you down, and you become spiritually, I don't want to say spiritually dead, because if you've been saved, you can't be spiritually dead, but you just get a spiritual funk that's terribly dangerous and detrimental, and so, you know, it's important that we understand that legalism, like antinomianism, comes in all different forms, and understand, ladies,

I've been doing blog writing and quote -unquote discernment ministry. I did that for years, and so I've talked to a lot of people.

I've seen a lot of things, things that I wish I hadn't seen. I've heard and had validated many stories.

I've experienced different things in different churches, so I understand that all these different types of deception exist, and so when

I read this book, I just saw, I just thought of so many people

I've talked to over the years, things I've experienced over the years, and how this could be helpful, and so this book is one

I highly, highly recommend, and it's kind of interesting.

I'm just going to read to you from the preface, where Jerry Bridges describes how this book came about, and he says, Shortly after my book,

The Pursuit of Holiness, was published in 1978, I was invited to give a series of ten lectures on that subject at a church in our city.

One night, I titled my lecture, The Chapter I Wish I Had Written. The nature of that message was that the pursuit of holiness must be motivated by an ever -increasing understanding of the grace of God, else it can become oppressive and joyless.

The study and reflection that went into that lecture started me down the path of further study on the grace of God, culminating in a later book called

Transforming Grace. As I sought to relate the biblical principle of living by grace to the equally biblical of personal discipline,

I realized that it would be helpful to bring these two truths together in one book. That is the purpose of this volume.

And so, this is related but unrelated to what we're talking about today, because what we're talking about today is, of course, why we have grace and the demonstration of God's grace and mercy toward us, but this book does exactly what he set out to do, and it balances, it shows you that balance between personal discipline, this pursuit of holiness, this is what you have to do, be this way, think this way, or whatever, versus God's grace.

Because if you start do -do -doing all of that without the motivation being

God's undeserved grace toward you and understanding that there is grace and there is forgiveness and there is mercy for those who are his, if you're doing without that understanding, you are, like he says, going to become joyless and it will be an oppressive

Christianity, and that's not true Christianity. So I didn't intend, actually, to give that book recommendation, but I finished it a couple of weeks ago and I've just been eager to share that with you.

So we're going to talk about that in a future show. So that's the teaser, you're welcome. And go out and read the book and then come back and we'll talk about it someday soon,

I hope. Okay, so what are we going to talk about today? If you recall, if you were with us last time, we were talking about the penal substitutionary atonement and we saw that penal, this notion of penalty for sin, and we saw that that is in the scriptures, right, that God punishes sin.

And we saw the idea of substitution, that is in the scriptures. We see it in the

Passover, that's one big example of the Passover lamb, and Paul in the

New Testament affirms that Christ is the Passover lamb. John the Baptist sees Jesus at the start of his ministry and says, behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

That is a reference back to the Passover lamb. Jesus Christ is the ultimate Passover lamb, right?

And we started this conversation because there's nonsense going on in the evangelical world and this

Michael Gungor musician person, he doesn't believe in the penal substitutionary atonement of Christ.

And the person who wrote an article on baptistnews .com about the tweet said that penal substitution was an idea developed during the

Reformation. And so that person's wrong. And so what we're trying to do is demonstrate that this notion of penal substitution did not come about during the

Reformation. This wasn't something Don Calvin came up with or Martin Luther. It's in the Bible, people.

And if you, and when I say people, I'm not talking to you wonderful ladies. I'm talking to these crazy people who are writing this nonsense.

It's in the Bible. And if we read the Bible, we'll see that, right? That's why we read the

Bible. That's why we need to be equipped with these fruits of truth. It's a banquet feast of truth from the

Bible. So we talked about those things last time and let's jump right back into it and let's consider.

So we've seen Passover lamb. That was our primary example. We've seen that Christ is noted as the

Passover lamb in the New Testament and affirmed that that is so. Well, okay, but did he act as a substitute?

Well, let's go to Isaiah 53.

Ladies, turn with me to Isaiah 53. And just a reminder that I typically read out of the New American Standard Translation.

That is my translation of choice. The ESV is also okay. I like the ESV. I used to use the ESV, but the

New American Standard is, of course, the best. No, I'm just kidding.

ESV is great as well. Anyway, Isaiah 53.

Are you there? Okay. Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the

Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of parched ground, he has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to him.

He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

And like one from whom men hid their face, he was despised and we did not esteem him.

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.

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 was oppressed and he was afflicted. He did not open his mouth like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers.

So he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away, and as for his generation who consider that he was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people to whom the stroke was due.

His grave was assigned with wicked men, yet he was with a rich man in his death, because he had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in his mouth.

But the Lord was pleased to crush him, putting him to grief. If he would render himself as a guilt offering, he will see his offspring, he will prolong his days, and the good pleasure of the

Lord will prosper in his hand. As a result of the anguish of his soul, he will see it and be satisfied.

By his knowledge, the righteous one, my servant, will justify the many, as he will bear their iniquities.

Therefore I will allot him a portion with the great, and he will divide the booty with the strong, because he poured out himself to death.

And he was numbered with the transgressors, yet he himself bore the sin of many and interceded for the transgressors.

Do you see Penal Substitutionary Atonement in this chapter?

Do you see it in these 12 verses? Do you see punishment for sin, but punishment of one who did not sin?

Do you see substitution? That is all over the place in here. Verse 4, Surely our griefs he himself bore, and our sorrows he carried.

We see that he was smitten of God and afflicted, smitten of God. The Lord was pleased to crush him, verse 10 says, putting him to grief.

God was doing the punishing. Verse 5, He was pierced through for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities.

The chastening for our well -being fell upon him. By his scourging, we are healed. The Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him.

The Lord was pleased to crush him, putting him to grief, if he would render himself as a guilt offering. My servant will justify the many, as he will bear their iniquities.

Verse 11, Penal Substitution. The notion of the Penal Substitutionary Atonement of Jesus Christ did not come about in the

Reformation. Ladies, it is right here in Scripture. It was written in Isaiah, long before Jesus Christ was even born.

Richard Mayhew, in his article, The Scriptural Necessity of Christ's Penal Substitution, he points out that there are nine occasions in Isaiah 53 where you see

Penal Substitution. I think we just hit on many of them. Verse 4, we see our grief. Verse 4, our sorrows he carried.

He was pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities. By his scourging, we're healed, et cetera, et cetera. It's in there.

It's in there, and you don't have to be a scholar to see it, right? We just read it. We just read it, and we just pointed out the exact verses that Mayhew points out in his article, and I had not looked at it until after I pointed those out to you.

So it doesn't take an understanding of the original

Hebrew text. It just takes a basic reading of Scripture and the

Holy Spirit, perhaps, to illuminate your eyes and your mind and your heart to these truths.

Although I think anybody can read this and see what it's saying. Even the

Jews who have not accepted that Christ is the Savior, the promised Messiah, they don't like this chapter, do they?

They ignore this chapter because they know exactly what it says. They just don't believe it.

Well, it's true whether or not you believe it, and it's there whether or not you believe it, and it states very clearly here in Isaiah 53, as well as other places, that Christ was.

The substitutionary sacrifice, that he wore the just wrath and penalty of God for our sins, is there.

Penal substitution is there in the Bible. Okay, so that's

Old Testament. We've talked a lot of Old Testament. What about the New Testament? Is this really there in the

New Testament? Well, let's think about it. We already pointed out that Christ was the

Passover lamb, right? It seems like a no -brainer to us, ladies, but you have to understand that we need to understand these basics, because when we get cocky, like we already understand all of this, it becomes a little dangerous, right?

We then find that we can't talk, can't share the gospel with unbelievers, because we have set ourselves so far above the gospel, we already get all that.

Well, they don't. They need to understand this. And so we have to go back to the basics, quote -unquote.

I'm using my air quotes, because the basics are vital. You never get beyond the gospel, and that is so important.

And there are churches out there, and they may be doctrinally sound, but they think that they are above these, quote -unquote, basics.

There is nothing deeper than the gospel of Jesus Christ, and if you don't get that right, your spiritual life is going to be messed up, you are not going to be able to effectively evangelize, and we are in a host of trouble, aren't we?

So we have to go back to the basics. We have to. Okay. Penal substitution.

Do we see this in the New Testament? Well, we go to Matthew 27.

Jesus is being crucified. And about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani, that is my

God, my God, why have you forsaken me? He was smitten of God.

He was, the Lord was pleased to crush him, right? In Luke 22,

Luke 22, verse 14, we see this last supper. So we're going back to this

Passover, right? When the hour had come, he reclined at the table and the apostles with him, and he said to them,

I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I say to you, I shall never again eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.

And when he had taken a cup and given thanks, he said, take this and share it among yourselves. For I say to you,

I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the kingdom of God comes. And when he had taken some bread and given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them saying, this is my body, which is given for you.

Do this in remembrance of me. Oh, I see substitution in there. That's so crazy. And in the same way, he took the cup after they'd eaten saying, this cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

But behold, the hand of the one betraying me is with mine on the table. For indeed, the son of man is going as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed.

And they began to discuss which one might be doing this thing. Substitution, right?

My blood is poured out for the new covenant. This is my body, which is given for you.

Let's go back. Let's go back to Mark 14. In the same account of this last supper, this

Passover. Verse 24, Mark 14, 24. And he,

Jesus said to them, this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. Truly I say to you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when

I drink it new in the kingdom of God. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.

So Jesus is kind of saying, not kind of, he is saying, right?

My death is a substitutionary death. But was it, was it penal?

You know, was this a penalty? Well, we've already said, right? That, and we've demonstrated from the

Old Testament that sacrifice, death, blood was necessary. Right?

Haven't we? Hebrews 9, 22, according to the law, one may almost say all things are cleansed with blood.

And without shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness. There is no forgiveness of sin. We saw in Isaiah 53, the

Lord was pleased to crush him. That all implies penalty for sin.

Okay, so let's go back to this idea of substitution. We see this beyond the gospels.

We see this throughout the epistles, right? Don't we? Romans 3. Gotta love

Romans. Gotta love the entire book of Romans. Romans 3, verse 21, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe, for there is no distinction.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by his grace through the redemption, which is in Christ Jesus, whom

God displayed publicly as a propitiation in his blood through faith. This was to demonstrate his righteousness because in the forbearance of God, he passed over the sins previously committed for the demonstration,

I say, of his righteousness at the present time so that he would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Go on to Romans 4, verse 24. For our sake also to whom it will be credited as those who believe in him who raised

Jesus, our Lord from the dead, he who was delivered over because of our transgressions and was raised because of our justification.

Romans 5, verse 6, for while we were still helpless at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.

Verse 9, much more than having now been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through him.

For while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his son, much more having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

So this goes back, right? We need the penal substitutionary atonement because without it, we cannot be reconciled to God, without the death of Christ, and without it serving these purposes, serving as the penalty for our sin and Christ being the substitute, we cannot be reconciled to God.

And so then we're in trouble. So then Christ died in vain. May it never be, right?

May it never be. That's ridiculous. Romans 8, verse 31, what shall we say to these things if God is for us, who is against us?

He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him over for us all, how will he not also with him freely give us all things?

Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies. Who is the one who condemns

Christ Jesus? Is he who died? Yes, rather he who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.

He who did not spare his own son. What about 1

Corinthians? 1 Corinthians 15. Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which

I preached to you, which you also received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which

I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. Verse 3, for I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried and raised on the third day according to the scriptures.

What about 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 14, for the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died, and he died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who died and rose again on their behalf.

Christ died, right? Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us.

We beg you on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God, but you couldn't be reconciled to God if Christ had not died for sinners.

Verse 21, he made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

There's the gospel. There's the gospel. Oh, the gospel's been all throughout all of these verses that we're talking about, but it's right there, isn't it?

So clear. 1 Peter 2, verse 21, for you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in his steps.

But he didn't just suffer so you can have an example. No, no, let's keep going. He committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in his mouth.

Well, you have committed sin, and deceit is found in your mouth, but there was none in Christ. Verse 23, and while being reviled, he did not revile in return, while suffering he uttered no threats, but kept entrusting himself to him who judges righteously.

Verse 24, and he himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness, for by his wounds you were healed.

For you were continually strained like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls. There's the gospel.

There's the gospel, right? 1

Peter 3, turn the page if you need to. Go to chapter 3. For Christ also, verse 18, for Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that he might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, in which also he went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison.

Christ also died, the just for the unjust, so that he might bring us to God. 1

John 3, 16, we know love by this, that he laid down his life for us. He laid down his life for us.

1 John 4, 10, and this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins.

This is the gospel. This is the gospel. Ladies, this is the gospel.

Do I need to say it again? Without the penal substitutionary sacrifice of Christ, we have no gospel.

That would be a miserable, miserable existence, would it not? Ladies, let's go back to 2

Corinthians 5, verse 21, actually verse 20.

Paul writes, therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us. We beg you on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God.

How can we be reconciled to God? Verse 21, he made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

Ladies, I want to close with a few quotes from Charles Spurgeon on this verse.

He has a great sermon called Christ Our Substitute. Charles Spurgeon says, quote, the doctrine of Holy Scripture is this, that inasmuch as man could not keep

God's law, having fallen in Adam, Christ came and fulfilled the law on the behalf of his people, and that inasmuch as man had already broken the divine law and incurred the penalty of the wrath of God, Christ came and suffered in the room, place, and stead of his elect ones, that so by his enduring the full vials of wrath, they might be emptied out and not a drop might ever fall upon the heads of his blood -bought people.

Amen and amen, right? That is the gospel. That is the gospel, ladies.

As Spurgeon goes on, he says, Jesus, as if he were sin, is put away out of the sight of God and man as a thing obnoxious.

We ourselves, brethren, impure though we may be, could not bear this. How much less should God with his pure and holy eyes bear with that mass of sin?

And yet there it is. God looked upon Christ as if he were that mass of sin. He was not sin, but he looked upon him as made sin for us.

He stands in our place, assumes our guilt, takes on him our iniquity, and God treats him as if he had been sin.

And Spurgeon makes clear, he says, Jesus Christ stands in the midst of all the divine thunders and suffers all the punishment, but not a drop of sin ever stained him.

In no sense is he ever a guilty man, but always is he an accepted and holy one. But yet God looked upon him as if he were our sin.

Jesus Christ was made by his father sin for us, says Spurgeon. That is, he was treated as if he had himself been sin.

He was not sin. He was not sinful. He was not guilty, but he was treated by his father as if he had not only been sinful, but as if he had been sin itself.

Not only had he made him to be the substitute for sin, but to be sin. God looked on Christ as if Christ had been sin, not as if he had taken up the sins of his people as if they were laid on him, though that were true, but as if he had positively been that noxious, that God -hating, soul -damning thing called sin.

He stood before his father as if he had been the accumulation of all human guilt, as if he himself were that thing which

God cannot endure, but which he must drive from his presence forever. The righteous

Lord looked on Christ as being sin, and therefore Christ must be taken without the camp. Meaning he must go outside the camp.

Sin cannot be in God's. Zion, says Spurgeon. He was not sin.

I'm going to read this again because I want this to be clear. He was not sin, but God looked upon Christ as made sin for us.

He stands in our place, assumes our guilt, takes on him our iniquity, and God treats him as if he had been sin.

That's phenomenal, isn't it? That's the gospel, ladies, that you are sinful, and yet Christ bore that sin.

And you deserve wrath and death and punishment righteously from God, and yet Christ bore that for those who would believe.

Spurgeon says, to be a righteous man is to have righteousness cast over me. So he's talking now about this last part of 2

Corinthians 5 .21, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. To be a righteous man is to have righteousness cast over me, but to be made righteousness, that is to be made solid, essential righteousness in the sight of God.

Well, now this is a glorious fact and a most wonderful privilege that we poor sinners are made the righteousness of God in him.

God sees no sin in any one of his people, no iniquity in Jacob when he looks upon them in Christ.

In themselves, he sees nothing but filth and abomination in Christ, nothing but purity and righteousness.

Is it not, and must it not ever be to the Christian, one of his most delightful privileges to know that altogether, apart from anything that we have ever done or can do,

God looks upon his people as being righteous, nay, as being righteousness, and that despite all of the sins they have ever committed, they are accepted in him as if they had been

Christ, while Christ was punished for them as if he had been sin. And yet this is our privilege.

He wore my crown, the crown of thorns. I wear his crown, the crown of glory. He wore my dress, nay rather, he wore my nakedness when he died upon the cross.

I wear his robes, the royal robes of the king of kings. He bore my shame, I bear his honor.

He endured my sufferings to this end that my joy may be full and that his joy may be fulfilled in me.

He laid in the grave that I might rise from the dead that I may dwell in him. And all this he comes again to give me, to make it sure to me and to all that love is appearing to show that all his people shall enter into their inheritance.

Christ bore our sin. Christ bore the wrath of God, the punishment, the just punishment for our sin.

And then he rose because God accepted that sacrifice, that substitutionary sacrifice.

And so Christ did rise three days later because the cross without the resurrection is still hopeless for us.

First Corinthians 15, 13, if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised and our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain.

If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.

But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who are asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead.

For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive, but each in his own order. Christ the firstfruits.

After that, those who are of Christ are his coming. Then comes the end when he hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when he has abolished all rule and authority and power.

Christ has raised. Christ died as a substitutionary sacrifice for his people and Christ was raised.

And so we too will be raised. Amen. Amen and amen. Praise God. Praise the

Lord Jesus Christ. May we love him more.

May we serve him better. May we serve him well. We do that by his grace and his power.

All right, ladies, we're out of time. Thanks so much for joining me until next time.

Get in your Bibles, get on your knees and get equipped. Thanks for listening.

You've been listening to Equipping Eve, a no compromise radio production. If you'd like to get a hold of Erin, you can reach her at equippingeve at gmail .com,

or you can check out one of our two websites. Do not be surprised .com or equippingeve .org.