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If you had to answer the question, what's the most definitive moment in all of history, how would you answer that question?
Maybe you might be recently thinking, okay, what about 9 -11? Maybe you go back a ways, what about Pearl Harbor?
Maybe you go back to the Revolutionary War. Maybe you have a European descent and you have a different answer.
The most definitive moment in all of history, and how you understand it determines everything else.
And of course, we would know here at this church that the definitive moment in all of history, the linchpin is the death of Jesus Christ.
It's not debated in many circles that He died. People accept that Jesus died, but understanding why
He died is very debatable. And it's an issue today in the local church, why did
Jesus die? Very, very important to understand that because it affects your worship, your prayer, and your praise.
From the naked eye, Jesus could not even save Himself on the cross. What was really happening when
Jesus died? Why is it a linchpin? Why did Matheson say, if I ever were to live,
I would preach substitution more than I have ever done? Let's take our Bibles this morning and turn to the book of Revelation, please.
The book of Revelation as we examine the death of Christ. I hope to be back in the book of Malachi if you're visiting with us.
I guess I could talk to myself about the visitors if you haven't been here for a few weeks. We're in the book of Malachi, except our next section is the robbing
God section, and the tithing section, and the offering. I figured that would be a bad sermon to come back to back from vacation.
So we're going to spend a week or maybe two as we examine the death of Jesus, the substitutionary death of Jesus that's praised in the book of Revelation.
Did He pay a penalty? Was He merely an example? What happened at the cross?
And it's important because when it comes to forgiveness, we might say to someone, please forgive me, and they say,
I forgive you. But that's not how God forgives. There has to be a transaction. Something has to be done.
Now, the book of Revelation, if you go to chapter 1, it sets everything up for us.
Our time mainly today will be in chapter 5 where the worship of Christ Jesus is on display, and the answer to why
He's worshiped is on display as well. But Revelation chapter 1, it says in verse 1,
The Revelation or the uncovering of Jesus, the Messiah, Christ, which
God gave to Him, the Son, to show His servants the things that must soon take place.
He made it known by sending His angel to His servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.
Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.
John to the seven churches that are in Asia, grace to you. There's your Greek greeting, peace from Him.
There's your Hebrew greeting from who is, who was, and who is to come, the Eternal One.
From the seven spirits who are before His throne and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the triune greeting.
Jesus is the preeminent one, the firstborn of the dead, the ruler of the kings on the earth, to Him who, present tense, loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood and made us a kingdom, priest to His God and Father.
To Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. And now in one verse you get a snapshot of all that's coming in the book of Revelation.
Coming attractions, here it is. What's the book of Revelation about? How do you synthesize it and make it a summary statement with one verse?
Verse seven. Behold, He's coming with the clouds and every eye will see Him. Even those who pierced
Him and all the tribes of the earth will wail on account of Him. Even so, amen.
Now when you first become a Christian, you'll say to yourself, Jesus loves me, this I know, for the
Bible tells me so. But as time goes on, you get to see the facets of the diamond of Christ's death in different ways so it instills a wonder.
It makes you think, that's amazing, the wisdom of God and how unsearchable is His mind that He could keep
His holiness intact and still love sinners and get them to heaven. So many songs have been written about the death of Christ for His substitutionary death, bearing shame and scoffing rude, in my place condemned
He stood, sealed my pardon with His blood, hallelujah, what a Savior. Or how about, what
Thou, my Lord, hast suffered was all for sinners' gain. Mine, mine was the transgression, but Thine the deadly pain.
Everywhere you go it seems like in our hymnals is the substitutionary death of Christ.
Was it for crimes that I had done, He groaned upon the tree? Amazing pity, grace unknown, and what?
Love beyond degree. What wondrous love is this, O my soul, what wondrous love is this that caused the
Lord of bliss to bear the dreadful curse for my soul, for my soul, to bear the dreadful curse for my soul.
Here's what we're going to do today. We're going to look at Revelation chapter 5, and you're going to see that the centerpiece of all heaven is the substitutionary death of Christ.
He paid a penalty for us, penalty substitution. And if the centerpiece of heaven is
Christ's substitutionary death, shouldn't it be the centerpiece of Bethlehem Bible Church? Shouldn't it be the centerpiece of your family?
Shouldn't it be the centerpiece of every evangelical church? And so I love Revelation chapter 5, because we move from kind of Jesus -in -your -heart theology to Jesus -displayed -on -a -throne theology, highly exalted.
You say, well, I need a little more context. Well, chapter 1 gives the introduction. Chapter 2 and 3 of Revelation, you can see it if you have a red -letter
Bible, are the letters from Jesus to the seven churches. There's a little postal route you can look at on the map, and Jesus has a message for each church.
Sometimes it's a message of rebuke and commendation, sometimes just commendation.
Chapter 4 and 5, it's pretty amazing. Chapter 4, verse 1,
And this, after this, I looked, and behold, the door standing open in heaven. And chapter 4 and chapter 5 are going to essentially say this, when all hell breaks loose in chapter 6 through 18, don't forget the picture of chapter 4 and 5.
God isn't capricious with His judgment. He's righteous, He's just, and the people get what they deserve.
So don't question God, and is He good, or how could He, chapter 4 and 5 give you the right perspective to read 6 through 18, because 6 through 18 are so amazingly filled with judgment.
How could God do these things in chapter 6 through 18? Well, He's good, and He's holy, and He's just.
That's what chapter 4 and 5 tell us. Chapter 4, God is to be worshipped as a creator.
Chapter 5, He is to be worshipped as Redeemer. So let's look at chapter 5 today.
We'll just work through this passage, and then we'll give you some modern attacks on substitutionary atonement that you need to watch out for, because if this is the linchpin, if this is the hub, if this is the center of heaven, and should be the center of the church, then don't you think
Satan is going to attack this doctrine? And they'll say, well, Jesus was a mere example.
He was an example, but that's not all. Jesus defeated the forces of Satan on the cross.
He did, but that's not all. God upheld His justice at the cross. He did, praise the
Lord, but that's not all. There is a substitutionary death called penalty substitution.
Some people even call Revelation chapter 5 the Holy of Holies in the
New Testament. That's kind of a neat name, isn't it? The Holy of Holies. Here we come right into the center.
What's going on? Revelation chapter 5, verse 1.
I mean, the way it reads, you don't even need an outline. You don't need alliteration. You don't need any kind of device, a preaching device, because it just draws you in, and you'll be able to see where the camera goes and where the attention is supposed to be.
Your attention is supposed to be, verse 1. Then I saw in the right hand of Him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals.
Now, many scenes in the book of Revelation start out with those words in Revelation 5, 1 in the
ESV, then I saw. Literally, and I saw. And it happens in chapter 5, verse 1, in verses 2 to 5, verses 6 through 10, verses 5 to 11, and I saw, and I saw.
Drawing your attention to these very issues. And here
I saw in the right hand of Him, in the hand of what? Authority and power and majesty.
The camera shows us, the writer shows us, a scroll is written on the back and within, sealed with seven seals.
What's the scroll? The scroll is what's going to happen in the future. What will happen coming up in the near future?
The history of the world is in this scroll. God's redemptive plan.
The future of creation. It's extensive, do you notice? It's on the back as well. It's comprehensive.
Nothing more is needed. You don't have to add, take away, subtract. The fullness of the judgments of God and then
His redemption is in this scroll. The problem is we need to open the scroll, but there's a sea of unworthy people and unworthy creatures.
Verse 2. I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice,
Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals? No one in heaven or on earth or under earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it.
I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it.
Don't you want every wrong righted? Don't you want every inequity overturned?
Is judgment going to rule and reign? Is evil going to have its way? Nobody can open this scroll.
Nobody's worthy. Interesting, the word worthy means, think of a commercial scale and you put a bunch of weight on this side of the scale.
There's a little fulcrum here. Is that what it's called? Charlie, help me. Fulcrum. In the
Greek, fulcrum. And you've got to balance out the weight on the other side.
Who's worthy to balance this out? No one's worthy. Is there anybody with sin who could open this up?
And the answer is there's just weeping and weeping and weeping. Adam, are you worthy?
Abraham? Isaac? Jacob? Moses? Joshua? Elijah?
Elisha? Paul? Peter? Tyndale?
Whitefield? It's just silent. No one, verse 3, in heaven or on earth or under earth, that's just comprehensive, was able, and it's an imperfect tense there, never able, chronically unable to open up that scroll or can't even look into it.
Adam's fall was so comprehensive, everyone of course except our Lord Jesus has fallen in Adam, credited with Adam's sin and then consequently having a sin nature.
No one is worthy to open up such a scroll. And verse 4,
John begins to weep. I don't know about you, but the times that I've wept the most, like when my mother died, my shoulders were moving.
You just can't stop yourself. That's the kind of weeping here. Weep loudly. It's an imperfect tense.
No one is able, chronically, to open this up and therefore the response is just crying and crying and crying.
And this word for weep is a noisy grief, not a western, modern day kind of cry a little bit.
A dad would wrongly tell his son, don't cry. Boys don't cry. This is an eastern wailing.
God's purposes are going to be checkmated if this can't be opened. What about all those righteous people that were slaughtered by these unrighteous people?
Will the truth of God, will their testimony be vindicated? And there's just weeping.
The word for weep is loud weeping anyway and then it's amplified by the word loudly in front of it.
We're not the right man on our side, the man of God's own choosing. There'd be trouble.
But it says in verse 5, And one of the elders said to me, Weep no more.
Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has conquered so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.
Somebody is worthy. Somebody has enough weight and gravitas and spirituality or however you want to phrase it.
There is someone who is spotless and clean and holy one. The holy one of Israel.
And it's the lion of the tribe of Judah. The fierce, ferocious lion of the tribe of Judah.
And you should be thinking what? Genesis chapter 49 where the tribe of Judah comes from the tribe of Judah comes the lion.
The root of David. While David was wonderful in many ways, David was sinful in many ways.
He was the right man initially for the covenant of David and then he fell tragically. But there's another
David. Matter of fact, another David from Bethlehem and his name is Jesus. The lion who conquered and now he can play another part.
What kind of lion was he? Verse 6. You can almost see the camera angle. You can almost see the focus, the close up.
Between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders, I saw a lamb standing.
I'm looking for a lion. I'm trying to zoom in on the lion. I want clarity on the lion, but it's a lamb standing as though it had been slain.
Seven horns, seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. When you look at the lion of the tribe of Judah long enough, you see a lamb.
A lamb -like lion or a lion -like lamb? Now the word there, lamb, it means a little pet lamb.
There's a bigger lamb. We have a word for that. And this is a smaller lamb.
And this is probably making you think of what? Why is there a lamb? And it doesn't take you very long to go back to Passover and you think the
Passover lamb that was slain. Jesus is called the Passover lamb in 1
Corinthians 5. This is all about the wages of sin is death. And there has to be a substitute.
And God substituted the animal for Adam. And then the animal for Eve. And then the animal for the family at Passover.
Then the animal for the day of atonement. This is all language of sacrifice and substitution.
Redemptively. And what I love about this little section here, lamb,
I saw a lamb standing, both in your English and in the Greek, it doesn't say
I saw the lamb standing. It does not say I saw that particular lamb standing. It says
I saw a lamb. So the focus on the Greek language is what's the quality of that lamb? What's that lamb like?
When you don't put an article in the Greek, it draws your attention to the quality of the lamb, the character of the lamb. He's a sacrificial lamb.
Now when you think of the book of Revelation, just think about this for a second. If I had to say to you, do you think the word lion is used more of Jesus or lamb is used more of Jesus?
I know what I would say. Of course, the lion. I mean, chapter 19 and the white horse and the sword and the blood.
You think a lion. Only one time in the book of Revelation is Jesus called a lion.
But if memory serves me, 28 times in the book of Revelation, Jesus is called a lamb.
That's why He's worthy. That's why He has the power and the ability to take that scroll because He's earned it by His redemptive death at Calvary.
He's the lamb. But this is an interesting lamb standing as though it had been slain.
Let's think about as though it had been slain first. I thought if you slay a lamb, they'd probably be on the ground.
This one's standing. Any butchers here? When you slaughter a lamb, does it stand?
I don't think so. But this is the one who is alive. It says in chapter 1,
Jesus is called the Living One. I died and behold, I am alive. He's been slaughtered, but He's alive.
He's been killed, but He's upright, slain.
Now, you know me. I would never give you some kind of gross medical thing, ever. I've made sure in the last 18 years that I never tell you any operating room stories or anything like that.
But the word here is where we get the word esophagus. The word for slain is where we get the word esophagus because how do you slay a lamb?
You cut its esophagus. This word means to butcher. This word means to slice the throat.
This word means to mutilate. This word means to mortally wound. One translates it to cut in the throat for a sacrifice.
Violent death. The lion of the tribe of Judah. We look at him closer and he's the lamb standing as if slaughtered.
Of course, we know the scars of Jesus' hands and side and feet. It's not a throat wound, but you understand the idea.
The atoning death of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. Jesus said to Thomas, Reach here with your finger and see
My hands and reach here your hand and put it into My side and do not be unbelieving, but believe.
Thomas answered and said to Him, My Lord and My God. Those five man -made holes in Jesus are there in heaven as well.
Probably the only man -made thing in heaven. Scars of Jesus Christ the Savior. And now this lamb is standing.
Victory through sacrifice. Substitutionary atonement.
And He's standing. Seated at the right hand of the Father for thousands of years.
Now everything's getting wrapped up. Time is coming to an end and He's standing. He's alive.
Not an ordinary lamb. He's a lamb that for our sake has been slain.
I'll just stop for a second. If the centerpiece of heaven is
Jesus Christ, should not the centerpiece of every church and every family be
Jesus Christ? He's the one that we proclaim. He is the one we worship. I've determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him, what?
Crucified. Now, if no one can open the scroll, they're just weeping.
But if someone can open the scroll, what do you think the response would then be?
Answer, verse 8. And when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures, you can just see the concentric circles as we kind of focus in and then back up.
And the 24 elders fell down before the lamb, each holding a harp, bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
And all this is like a catalytic converter to praise. Verse 9. You just can't stop yourself.
Think back for a second. How many people have been saved for more than 5 years? Okay. How many more than 10 years?
How many more than 20 years? How many more than 30 years? How many more than 50 years?
Remember what it was like when you got saved? I mean, it was volcanic.
Eruption of praise. I can't believe God. I mean, for me, I was thinking to myself, I almost died doing this, that, and the other.
And if I would have died, then what would happen? And now I'm saved. He didn't have to save me. I don't deserve it. If God is for us, who can be against us?
He should have been against me, but because of His loving kindness, He's for me now. I remember driving down the
L .A. freeway just singing praise songs. Some of them weren't too good, but my heart.
I didn't know. I mean, what's Maranatha music? What's Vineyard music? I don't know. It's just like praise songs.
The scroll is transferred and able to be opened, and they just start singing.
When people are fired up, they sing. You go to Europe, and you go to a football game.
You know what I mean when I say football? Soccer game. They are singing.
They are chanting. If I had any sense,
I'd sing to you the Nebraska fight song, but I'm not going to do it. Are the wrongs going to be righted?
Is there vindication? Will sin finally be put down? Who can open the scroll?
Doesn't seem like anyone can, weeping and wailing of a funeral dirge.
But then we see there is one who can open the scroll, and the opposite of weeping and wailing is songs of praise, verse 9.
And they sang a new song, saying, worthy are you to take the scroll and open its seals, for you were slain.
And look at the center of heaven, the substitutionary death of Jesus. Penalty substitution by your blood, by your vicious death in our place, on our behalf.
You ransom people for God. That's the number one reason why
Jesus died. Not even for us, but for the name of God. From every tribe, language, people, nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priest to our
God, and they shall reign on the earth. I mean, it's like the text just transports us up there, and all of a sudden we're just hovering above, watching all this go on.
Side note, when people tell me, I think heaven is going to be boring. A bunch of harps, and a bunch of clouds, and a bunch of,
I don't know what they think heaven is going to be. I don't think anybody from the archangels to the angels, to John, to anybody else is going, it gets old, doesn't it?
All this Jesus is worthy stuff. The Lamb is worthy.
It was slain. Ransom means there's a price to be paid to redeem out of the slave pit, and the price was
Jesus. He was the high priest, and He was the sacrifice. Mark this well, congregation, a bloodless gospel is no gospel.
When they try to tell you, we don't like the blood, and it's kind of cannibalistic, and we're past that, and we're educated, and we're sophisticated, and we're by Harvard, and by Yale, and by Princeton, a bloodless gospel is the way we need to go.
You need to think of Revelation 5, because a bloodless gospel is no gospel. 1
Peter calls Jesus' blood precious for this reason. Verse 11,
Then I looked, I heard around the throne, and the living creatures, and the elders, the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads, and thousands and thousands, saying with a loud voice, you think of substitution and atonement, it's the centerpiece of heaven, and it should be the church.
You say, well, what do I talk about in Sunday school with these kids? They don't have any manners. They put their elbows on the table.
They're not saying things in turn. They don't raise their hand. I'm all for manners.
But if the center of heaven is the death of Christ Jesus and His resurrection, I think that should be the center of your
Sunday school class, don't you? Worthy is the
Lamb who was slain to receive. And the words are just piled up. Universal praise.
Can't stop Himself. When Jesus gave His life for ransom for many, there's a response. Revelation demands response.
Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power, wealth, wisdom, might, honor, glory, and blessing.
And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, all figures of speech to say everywhere, from the top of your head to the bottom of your toes, that's the kind of language it is, to Him who sits on the throne and to the
Lamb. Be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever. And the four living creatures said,
Amen. And the elders fell down and worshiped. The center of heaven for all time is the substitutionary
Lamb. Penalty substitution. No wonder Spurgeon said, if there ever should come a wretched day and when our pulpits shall be full of modern thought and the old doctrine of a substitutionary sacrifice shall be exploded, then there will remain no word of comfort for the guilty or hope for the despairing.
Hushed will be ever those silver notes which now console the living and cheer the dying.
The dumb spirit will possess this sullen world and no voice of joy will break the blank space of despair.
Those who do not preach this atonement, preach a dummy gospel.
A mouth it has, but speaketh not. They that make it are likened to their idol.
Now think about it. We've earned the penalty of death through our sins. And Jesus, the Holy One, by His own loving kindness, by the
Father's love as He sent Him, by the Spirit's love, has paid for every one of our sins, past, present, and future.
Can you imagine that day you die and not having to pay for your sins? That you have an advocate, a defense lawyer, a righteous one who says,
I have paid this in full. But this doctrine is attacked everywhere
I seem to go. It's attacked. Why, though? Why is it so attacked?
Well, in the next little bit of time as we wrap up, let me give you some reasons why it's attacked so you could be on the lookout, so you could have your eyes open and kind of spy this out.
So if you hear it, you can immediately go back to, what are they doing in heaven? Worshiping the slain
Lamb who's standing. Why is penalty substitution attacked?
Number one, because in our culture, retributive justice is out and outdated.
We don't make people pay for things anymore. We rehabilitate them. That's our society.
The psychological worldview has come in, and it tries to deny guilt, reduce guilt, deny personal responsibility.
Moeller writes about it, criminals are no longer seen as evil and deserving of punishment.
Rather, they are persons in need of correction. Instead of jails and prisons, you've got correctional facilities.
That's the mentality. Dutch criminologist Peter Spienberg said, individuals begin to sympathize with the criminal, often thinking of themselves in the criminal's place.
I mean, even our Constitution disallows cruel and unusual punishment. And once you let the opinion polls go, and you think, okay, is sin really that bad?
Is God really that holy? And if God is holy, and man is sinful, but society begins to say,
God's really not that holy, and if He's holy, He's not holy all the time. At least He's not immutably holy. And sin isn't so bad.
I mean, after all, we're pretty good. You can kind of fire that gap, that spark plug gap, with something other than the cross.
But if there's this huge gaping chasm, the only way holy God, holy, holy, holy is the
Lord God Almighty, and sinful man. I mean, even Job said, I repent in dust and ashes.
The best men, the best women, they still fall short of the glory of God. You're going to need the cross.
And we're not helped with the Roman Catholics who are glad to oblige by giving us the fantasy doctrine of purgatory, some kind of, essentially, what is purgatory?
It's a correctional facility. It's a penitentiary. Short term. I mean, infinite punishment for a finite sin can't be stomached by many.
The rhetoric takes off with people like Stephen Chalke saying, if the cross has anything to do with penalty substitution, then
Jesus' teaching becomes a divine case of do as I say, not as I do. I, for one, believe that God practices what
He preaches. And then He went to call the substrate death of our precious
Lord Jesus a form of divine, cosmic child abuse.
Brian McLaren, if God wants to forgive us, why doesn't He just do it? How does punishing an innocent person make things better?
I mean, punishing sin is as outdated as Windows XP. Is that an older version?
I liked XP. I still want the latest patch for that is what I want. Number two, now think about this big picture.
Okay, if penalty substitution is to be embraced because we worship Jesus and we praise
Him and thank Him, we have forgiveness of all of our sins, high -handed sins, sins of omission, commission.
If it's the sinner of heaven, of course it's going to be attacked. It's also attacked by our culture because it's uncouth.
It's not cool. I mean, we've got a cool culture, hip culture, suave culture.
And this doctrine, as Paul would say in 1 Corinthians 6, excuse me, 1
Corinthians 2, he didn't use these words. He said it's moronic, but the culture thinks it's boorish, it's loudish, it's uncivil, it's vulgar.
Chalke said, to understand the violent pre -Christian thinking behind the popular theory of penalty substitutionary atonement,
I believe it's biblically, culturally, pastorally deficient, and even dangerous. And to some, it's primitive and obscene.
But to those who are being saved, it's what? The power of God. I mean, sometimes we have to think about it. I mean, there's a big cross up there.
And we just kind of accept the cross. But, I mean, what would you think if you went to classes this fall, if you're a
WPI student or you're going back to high school or you're coming here for the homeschool co -op and everybody's wearing a nice necklace of the bomb that went off over Nagasaki.
I wonder what you would think if out front of our churches, we would put things that they might put out in Dachau, work brings freedom, work liberates.
The horror of the crucifixion back in that day, the Bible day, it was like a swear word.
It's a four -letter word, shameful. And then you add the word blood to it and people just go apoplectic.
Yet, Hebrew says, for if the blood of bulls and goats and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God, to purify your conscience from dead works to serve the living
God. Cowper said, there's a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins and sinners plunge beneath that flood with all their guilty stains.
Why is substitutionary atonement attacked? Retributive justice is out, so we could say it's outdated.
Number two, it's outcouth. It's uncouth. Number three, substitutionary atonement is attacked because of, if you want me to give you one word,
I'll summarize it in one word, Osteanization. It's a sentimental
Jesus. And you go back to Norman Vincent Peale and then to Robert Schuller and then to Rick Warren and then now to Ostean.
And the focus is all on sentimentality and emotions and the focus is on humans. And then all of a sudden you think, wait a second, propitiation is out because propitiation means that God's wrath is assuaged.
And if we've got a man -centered gospel, sappy sentimentality takes over.
I mean, it is the old rugged cross on steroids is what it is. One man said,
God never did throw a javelin into the heart of his son attacking substitutionary atonement. Yet the text is clear, 1
Peter 3. Jesus died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust.
1 Peter 2, He Himself bore our sins. Galatians 3,
He became a curse for us. I mean, no wonder people are pushing the fact that if we could,
God would need some kind of therapy and psychotropic drugs. He's got to calm down a little bit.
All right, number four. I've got a few more, but maybe we'll just do a couple more. It's getting a little hot in here and it's going to get hotter in this one.
Are you ready? Here we go. I was fine up until this point. Now the cards and letters will arrive.
And don't forget, don't forget the bigger picture. What I could have done is said, this is why it's attacked up front and then did the exposition.
But I wanted to switch it around because I wanted you to see for your very own self the centerpiece of heaven is
Jesus Christ. By the way, if you're desiring to go to heaven because you want to see your mom, praise the
Lord. I can't wait to see my mom. But I think I'll just know she's there as we're worshiping the
Lord Jesus together. He's the center of everything. Just to be able to meet Him. Can you imagine you're one day closer to meeting the most compelling figure in the universe and He's more than just a figure.
He's the divine God -man. You're going to meet Him. When I get to meet people who are big shots,
I'm thinking, I get to meet these people. Just the other day I was talking to some kids in California.
They were doing a 10K and they said, Mr. Abenroth, have you ever run a 10K? I said, I don't run this 10K anymore because I've got a bad back.
I said, I only ran one 10K. It was in Catalina Island.
I didn't have any running shoes. It was 1984. And a guy came up to me and said, How can you run a 10K with your basketball shoes on?
I said, well, there's no arch, but I just ran it. He said, well, why don't you come to one of the after -race parties with us?
I said to Tom Cruise, I'd like to do that. He came back a little bit later and said,
Sorry, can't keep my commitment. Emilio Estevez and I are going to fly home on the helo.
I get to meet Tom Cruise. Maybe that's old hat. Meeting Jesus face to face and you will see him as a substitutory sacrifice.
Worthy is the lamb who was slain. It's all about the atonement of Christ. Of course, people are going to attack it.
Probably for the last one, why is substitutionary atonement attacked? C .S.
Lewis. The obsession that people have with C .S. Lewis substituting fiction for theology.
Could the man write? Obviously. Am I saying you've got to burn
Harry Potter books and burn C .S. Lewis books and burn Tolkien books? I'm not saying that at all.
But I don't want you to get your theology from Lewis. Why would I try to promote
Lewis's theology when he teaches purgatory? He does not believe in inerrancy.
He wouldn't be an evangelical at all in our churches today. But the biggest reason is this.
In the Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe. How many people have read that, by the way? Man, I am going to have to pray more. I was determined to come back and pray more.
Just kidding. Jade is the white witch. The ransom is paid to her. It's like the ransom paid to Satan.
That's called the ransom theory of the atonement. It has nothing to do with penalty substitution. It's in conflict.
It's in error. And you say, well, Mike, this is kind of dumb because you're saying people are running with this.
It's just a novel. I know, but you know how it is. And people do. Kevin DeYoung, he's a very sensible, balanced pastor.
C .S. Lewis, if you, is more like Christus Victor, our ransom to Satan, than penalty substitution.
So when Aslan dies, if you want to get your theology from Aslan, I'm just warning you as a friend and as a pastor, it's bad to get your theology from fiction.
In Mere Christianity, C .S. Lewis says, now
I admit that this theory, penalty substitution, does not seem to me quite so immoral and so silly as it used to.
I mean, do I really need to read more? Okay, I will. What I came to see later on was that neither this theory nor any other theory is
Christianity. I mean, in my mind, I'm thinking Revelation 5, Revelation 5,
Revelation 5. The central Christian belief is that Christ's death has someone put us right with God and gave us a new start, given us a new start.
Deeper magic indeed. Martin Lloyd -Jones said in 1963,
C .S. Lewis had a defective view of salvation and was an opponent of the substitutionary and penalty view of the atonement.
So why don't you read Mark Dever and J .I. Packers in his place instead? Why don't you read
Leon Morris' apostolic preaching of the cross instead? Those would be better.
I'm not saying you can't watch shows. I'm just saying don't get your theology from them.
I talked to somebody this week and they thought they were going to die. I said, what do you think would happen if you died?
They said, well, I don't know. They said to me, Mike, if you die first, maybe you can put in a good word for me.
Well, who wouldn't want to? But I said, that's not the way it works. I said, if you're anything like me, you've got all kinds of sins.
Lying, lusting, not honoring God, not having faith in the
Son, all kinds of sins. And I said, you're going to need to have someone pay for those sins and what the
Bible teaches is you have to settle that now. He said, well,
I'm a grown man and I have lots of questions. I said, well, I'd love to meet with you more. I'm a grown man and the
Bible has lots of answers for grown men like you. It was a very kind conversation. If you're in a courtroom and you don't have a lawyer and they're asking you all kinds of questions as a prosecutor, what you're going to do is you're going to be looking over to that empty seat and there's no lawyer for you.
I mean, can't we object to that statement? Can't we say that's not proper? It goes against some kind of code of California and Massachusetts and the
United States government. Someone please help me. I can't defend myself. And I said, that is why
Jesus Christ in 1 John 2 is called the advocate, the representing lawyer who is for all those who have put their faith in him.
And he stands before the Father and says, paid in full, I never lusted,
Jesus would say, as if he would say, I haven't. I've always obeyed.
I'm always pure. I'm always righteous and just. And he is my son now through faith and I have been his substitute.
And when you get to heaven, the center of heaven is substitutionary atonement because of Jesus Christ's death. Therefore, it ought to be the center of your life and of this church.
Amen? Amen. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word, Revelation 5.
And we would admit that some of these folks that we've talked about, even by name, are not better than anybody.
Father, if it wasn't for your spirit, we would think wrongly as well. And so the ones that are alive,
I pray that you would grant the right view of substitutionary atonement. And Father, to think that you would call us your children, the only way possible, it was because of Jesus Christ paid our penalty.
Thank you. Thank you that we can sing songs in Christ alone without trying to change the lyrics like some do.
We can sing with all biblical authority and on that cross, as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied.