Episode Transcript
[00:00:05] My name is Michael Fueling, and I'm the lead pastor here at the village church. And tonight we're actually going to do something very similar to what we do every single Sunday morning. Every single Sunday morning we come together and we remember the crucifixion of Jesus. We fellowship together, we pray together, we sing together, we open the word together, we celebrate communion together. And so at the end of the service, we're going to celebrate communion together, and we are going to remember and ground our hearts and minds and what is most important, which is the death and the resurrection of Jesus for our sins in our place. So this evening, what I want to do is I want to share with you two unchangeable laws that govern the spiritual realm of our universe. Now, there's a whole bunch of spiritual laws. I want to focus on just two of them. And understanding these two laws, it's like a key. And when you understand these laws, it unlocks Christianity, it unlocks Good Friday, and honestly, it begins to make sense of reality as we know it. So one of the most confusing things that people who are kind of newer to Christianity or newer to the Bible or trying to get their head around Jesus is they don't understand why.
[00:01:16] Why did Jesus have to die for our sins in our place? And so tonight, what I want to do is really just help us make sense of this as we remember what Christ has done for us. So the first spiritual law, it's found in the book of Hebrews in chapter nine, verse 22. It is called the law of atonement. And this law states this, without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. And so fundamentally, atonement is a blood payment.
[00:01:56] And atonement requires blood to show us the severity of what sin really is. So our problem when you and I are dealing with sin, it's really twofold. Number one, our view of sin, it is way, way too small. So what makes something sin? It's not simply this idea that, like, you're gonna do something bad to another person or to yourself.
[00:02:20] What makes something sin is not necessarily that it is against a person, but that it is against a holy, eternal God.
[00:02:31] And so we have this idea of sin that it's just not that big of a deal. Just say you're sorry, move on. Maybe even this idea that, well, he's God, he has to forgive me, he has to overlook it because he's nice and kind and doesn't get that upset about things. And so I'm me. I'm pretty great. He's got to overlook this. And so I don't need to tell God I'm sorry. He has to forgive me. And so we have this view of sin, and we make it very, very small. But fundamentally, when we use the word sin, sin to describe a behavior, it is a violation against an eternal God, which is why we have the law of atonement. Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin.
[00:03:08] The second problem is this, is that we don't have the ability to atone for our own sin.
[00:03:17] And I'm sorry, in the matter of sin won't make it better.
[00:03:23] In fact, there's actually something bigger and deeper that needs to happen here. And so here's what religious people do, and if this describes you, I want you to pay very close attention, and I want you to listen very carefully. Here's what most religious people do. They think to themselves, I've sinned against God. I'm going to make it better by being a good boy or a good girl.
[00:03:46] Now, I'd like to speak very bluntly.
[00:03:49] That is a logical nonsense, not for any other reason than the Bible teaches that that is not true. But I want to help you understand why that doesn't work in any other relationship in this world. I want you to imagine that your son or your daughter or your best friend steals a million dollars from you, and that's obviously upsetting, because they've probably cheated you, they've betrayed you. This is a deep infraction. And they, instead of going to you and saying, I'm sorry, they go and they drop a 20 in the bucket at church.
[00:04:25] And the first thought is like, how does dropping a 20 in the church make right what you did to me personally? Okay, let's up the ante. They take the million dollars and they go give it all away to nonprofits to do good.
[00:04:39] Okay, that great. But this good work has no bearing on the relational issue that you have done to me as your father or as your friend.
[00:04:49] And so this idea that somehow I can sin against the holy God and I can somehow make it up, not by apologizing to God, but by actually just trying to be a good person over here, they have nothing to do with each other.
[00:05:00] Or here's another one, trying to make sin right through good works. It's like killing somebody's son and thinking, instead of going to that person and paying the penalty for that, what I'm actually going to do is I'm going to go help an old lady across the street where I'm going to be really, really nice to my curmudgeon neighbor.
[00:05:18] And at the end of the day, the good work, it's still good. Go do the good work. Right? But it has nothing to do with the sin over here. And so we have this idea that somehow I can sin against the holy God and I can make it all better by just being good over here. And that's actually not how this thing works.
[00:05:33] In fact, what you're going to find is that the Bible is really, really clear that not only is that not how it works, but that's not how atonement happens. In fact, without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin. That's how big of a deal sin is.
[00:05:50] There's a reality, I think most of us have probably encountered, that. If you are growing up in America or if you are younger and you've maybe not had a whole bunch of experience with the bible or christianity, this idea of atonement is really confusing, and it actually feels like nonsense.
[00:06:10] So I want you to imagine with me that you are a person who grew up in a tribe, and you grew up in a tribe where you were a cannibal, and you actually would be applauded and encouraged when you would go kill other enemy tribes, and then you would take them and you would do what cannibals do. And then one day you find yourself, you move to America, and you don't understand. You're like, wait a minute. My entire life, I've been encouraged and applauded. You're a good warrior. You're going doing the things you're supposed to do, and then you find yourself before a judge, and then you find yourself judged as guilty.
[00:06:49] And I want to share with you just an important reality here that so many people have to understand. Knowledge of or agreement with a law has zero bearing on whether or not the law is true. Amen.
[00:06:59] Or here's another one. You might be like, yeah, I don't believe in that law.
[00:07:04] I'm sorry. But it doesn't matter if you believe in the law. It's true whether or not you believe in it. Knowledge of or agreement with the law has zero bearing on whether or not you'll be held accountable for violating the law.
[00:07:18] As we pull back, we see this. In God's kingdom, which is eternal, sin is a crime, and without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins.
[00:07:31] Now, if that was the end of the story, this would not be good Friday. It would be a bad Friday. But this is good Friday, and there is a second law. And this is the law where you don't just see the reality that wrong things need to be made right, really terrible things need to be made right. But you also see the mercy and the heart of God on full display. The second law. It's called the law of substitution, and it states that a willing, sinless substitute death will be permitted in behalf of a wanting sinner. Praise God.
[00:08:05] If I don't have the ability to pay my sin debt, God has an option where a willing substitute death can be killed for you in your place.
[00:08:19] Here's the problem.
[00:08:21] You could find the holiest guru on the planet. You could find the nicest, kindest person that has ever lived, and they are not going to be good enough.
[00:08:34] In fact, this is just a scriptural teaching in the Old Testament and the New Testament. I'll read to you one verse, romans 310, none is righteous. What about that? Really, really godly, spiritual person, right? None is righteous. No, not one. No one seeks for God. All have turned aside. No one does good, not even one. That is a striking statement. So here's our problem. I don't have enough good works and righteousness to pay for my own sin. Neither does every single human being that has ever lived on the planet.
[00:09:11] And this is where God knew that if there was going to be an opportunity for the law of substitution to be applied, it wasn't going to happen because you or some guru willingly died as an innocent sacrifice. It's going to be if God himself becomes flesh and dies for our sin in our place. Which is why on the cross, this is where the law of atonement, where there is no forgiveness without the shedding of blood. And the law of substitution, where your sin can be paid for by a willing, wanting sacrifice, they converge. And here we are, guilty sinners, not righteous, not able to atone for our own sins, needing a substitute, unable to find it in every human that has ever lived. And now we have Jesus, God in the flesh, who willingly, who willingly paid for our sins in our place. One Peter, chapter three, verse 18, describes the law of substitution.
[00:10:03] He says, for Christ also suffered once for sins, meaning one time. That is all that is needed for any human in all of history to have their sins paid for. Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous Christ, for you and me, that he might bring us to God. One pastor, I love the way he described the law of substitution. I want to read this to you. He says, this is the heart of the gospel of Jesus substitution.
[00:10:35] This is the great message of good news that God has for rebellion. Subjects who are willing to lay down their rebellion.
[00:10:44] Instead of collapsing in grief over our rejection, he bears our griefs.
[00:10:50] Instead of increasing our sorrows, he carries our sorrows. Instead of avenging our transgressions, he is pierced for them in our place.
[00:10:59] Instead of crushing us for our iniquities, he is crushed for them as our substitute.
[00:11:05] And all the chastisement and the whipping that belong to us for our rebellion, he takes on himself in order that we might have peace and be healed.
[00:11:16] So if you've been around village church for any period of time, you've probably heard me say this, and I want to say it again.
[00:11:24] There are two options for your sin to be paid for.
[00:11:30] Option number one is you will pay for your sin in hell.
[00:11:34] Or option number two, Jesus will have paid for your sin and your place on the cross. Might I strongly suggest you take option number two?
[00:11:43] Might I strongly suggest you never have to worry about dying and facing a holy God and have to take responsibility on yourself to pay for your own sins. I want to tell you it is not worth it.
[00:11:57] The other option is that you can believe in Jesus Christ and let him pay for your sins in your place as your atoning substitute sacrifice. So on good Friday, if you are a believer in Jesus, you're like, yep, I've done that. I have told God I am sorry. I am a sinner. I have believed that Jesus is God in the flesh, that he died on the cross for my sins and was raised again from the dead. And as you hear this, my prayer is that God just increases your gratitude that you will never have to endure the wrath of God for your sins. Amen. My prayer is that as good Friday comes and goes, that you are just so relieved in your heart that you have full and complete and total access to God because Jesus has paid for all of your sins.
[00:12:46] Now, if you were here and you have never trusted in Christ, you might have even come here and thought to yourself, this is not uncommon, by the way. Yeah, good people go to heaven. That might have been the idea that you came into these. This room with, and maybe you thought you came in here and you're like, yeah, I got baptized as a baby. Me and God are good. I'm a pretty great person. My great grandma prayed for me a lot. I grew up going to church, and I want to just take a moment and I want to look at you and just say, none of that matters when it comes to your forgiveness and salvation. Not even a little bit.
[00:13:21] The only thing that matters is that you and me are sinners and that we have sinned against a holy, eternal God, and he cannot change the law of atonement. It is an eternal, immutable reality and truth. Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins.
[00:13:40] Thankfully, we have the law of substitution, and God has offered that anybody who believes in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, he will be your substitute sacrifice. And what he did on the cross can pay for your sins in your place. This might even be a new idea to you. You might be like a tribal person who's trying to make sense of american law, right? You might be like somebody who's like, I've never. This whole idea of substitute sacrifice doesn't even kind of compute or make sense. And I want to just tell you, it doesn't matter if you fully understand it. It doesn't matter if it's new to you. It doesn't even matter if it even feels logical at times.
[00:14:14] What matters is that it is true and that it is real, that sin has to be paid for, and God allows a substitute, and the only substitute is Jesus.
[00:14:22] And so if you're here and you've never told God you're sorry, I just have great news for you. You can tell God you are sorry anytime, any day. He hears everything.
[00:14:31] And you can look at him and say, would you forgive me? I believe in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus and his promises that anybody who sincerely asks for forgiveness and believes they will be forgiven, the law of atonement is upheld, the law of substitution is upheld, and all of it converges on Good Friday, which is why it is so wonderful. Now, if again, you're new with us, what we do at the end of our sermons is we do. So whats. So maybe one, two, or three, what is the demand that this idea or this text has in our lives? What are the ideas that we need to walk away with as true? So I want to share with you two, so whats number one, God will not forgive anyone unless it is through faith and Jesus atoning death and resurrection.
[00:15:19] Like, there's no other options. There's no other religions, there's no other person that can pay for your sins in your place. There actually are no other gods. There is one God. That is it.
[00:15:29] And so that is the only real thing. You can believe a hundred different things, but at the end of the day, when you die, there aren't going to be multiple deities, and everybody gets to go to their own place.
[00:15:40] And the only question is whether or not you came to him and said, I'm sorry. I believe the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, that is the only way forgiveness is ever granted. And again, the good news is that you can ask him for forgiveness any time. You can do it in your head. You can do it out loud. God's hand is always extended to sinners who are willing to say they're sorry and believe in Jesus Christ.
[00:16:05] Second, so what?
[00:16:07] There is no darkness or sin that the blood of Christ cannot atone for or substitute.
[00:16:14] One of the most common things that I hear that holds people back from becoming a Christian. It goes like this.
[00:16:22] You don't understand what I've done, and I have the same response every time. You clearly don't understand the power of the blood of Christ.
[00:16:33] You far underestimate what it's capable of. Like, hypothetically, if we took every single person in this room and we highlighted the worst sin they have ever committed in their entire life, and then we trucked everybody up and they were forced to spill their guts on the most terrible thing they have ever done in their entire life. Every single person who gets up, if Jesus was here, he's like, yep, my blood can cover that. Yep, I got it. There's literally nothing that you could say you have done that the blood of Christ cannot cover, period. And yet the amount of people who are like, God could never forgive me. He could never, ever forgive me. And I just have awesome news for you. That is a ridiculous excuse. Someone's got to tell you the truth. Stop it. The blood of Christ absolutely has the power to cover whatever the worst things you could imagine. And somehow the blood of Christ is so potent as an atoning sacrifice that if you took every single person in all of human history and there's been some pretty, pretty terrible people, are there not? And you were to accumulate all of their sins, the blood of Christ still has the potency to pay for it, to atone for every single sin of every single person who has ever lived, because it is the blood of not just a normal man, but the blood of the God man. And so, like, some people, they come to Good Friday services or just kind of christian songs in general, and we sing about blood and we kind of get used to it. But if you're kind of new to this, it's pretty weird how much we sing about, but it's because what we're doing is we're reaffirming this eternal law of atonement, that without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. And then we point to Jesus, and we remember the law of substitution, that God allows there to be a willing substitute sacrifice for sins if they're innocent. Enter Jesus. And so we sing about the blood. We sing about the cross, because on the cross is the atonement and the substitution. And all of that is extended to you. Again, if you are still in a place where you're like, I don't think he could forgive me, then I'm telling you, it's time to lay aside that excuse, and it's time to come to him and say, I believe that the blood of Jesus is the power to save me. Will you forgive me? And you know what the answer is every time? 100%, absolutely, you are forgiven if you believed in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
[00:18:45] I love good Friday because we get to just focus and we get to dig a little bit deeper just into the crucifixion and what this meant. And so what we do on Good Friday is we celebrate communion together. So we're gonna pray, we're gonna sing together, we're gonna read some more scripture, and then at the end, we're gonna. We're gonna celebrate communion. And it's an opportunity to ground our minds and our hearts in the truest.
[00:19:10] We are sinners, and God is good.
[00:19:13] Jesus is God, and he died for our sins in our place.
[00:19:17] And he can be your substitute sacrifice, if you ask. And, Christian, if you've believed in Jesus, may you be filled with gratitude that you never have to bear on your body, soul, and emotions the wrath of God. Jesus took it all for you. Amen. Let's pray together. Father, I want to just thank you that you saw our plight.
[00:19:42] You willingly gave your son, Jesus. Thank you for being willing to lay aside the privileges of deity, to become flesh, to live the life that we never could. I'm just so grateful for that. And so, thank you for being our atonement. Thank you for being our substitute.
[00:20:01] Thank you for seeing our plight, that we could do nothing about it, that we had no good works to cover our sin. But, God, you paid our price for us and our place. So we just are so grateful for that. We thank you.
[00:20:13] Lord, if there is anyone here who's just struggling through these realities, would you just show them with overwhelming clarity what is true and what is real?
[00:20:21] And so, Lord, we are a grateful people. We are forgiven people, and we are people who love to respond to what you've done with worship. And so, because of what you've done for us, because you have forgiven us. You've given us your holy spirit. Spirit, your word. Each other promises and an eternity with you. God. It is our joy, honor and privilege to lift high the name of Jesus as we listen and read scripture together and sing. We love you. And we do all of this in Jesus name. Amen. Village church. Amen. I want to invite you to stand as we continue in worship.
