Episode 30 - Jesus Christ and Him Crucified - Part 2

Tim 00:00:23 Hello and welcome to the unveiling with your hosts. Ajai, mark and Tim, I didn't say it last week. I didn't give an episode number or a title, so I'll make sure I do it this week by saying this is episode 30 last week, we covered Jesus Christ and him crucified. And when we got done, I think we decided that we still had more to say about the subject. So welcome to part two. And just as a refresher, this comes out of first Corinthians two, the first two verses, which say, and so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you, the testimony about God for, I resolved to know nothing while I was with you, except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And we talked about that being the five word, distillation of the true gospel message, you know, one of the shortest, most succinct ways of putting it. And one thing I didn't say it, and I will say today is I, I have looked and I have never found anything in the scripture that defies that being the G the true full gospel message. But like I said, we decide we had more to talk about. And I think tonight we're gonna talk about the cross, the cross portion of that, and, what it was and what it ultimately means to us and to us as Christians as a whole. So with that rather verbose introduction, Mark, I'm gonna go ahead and let you get us started with the cross. Mark 00:01:55 I will try not to be as verbose him. <laugh> Tim 00:01:58 <laugh>, Mark 00:02:00 But, that's kind of hard for me. So yesterday we real yesterday, the last podcast, we really talked a lot, just a lot about five words, Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And you can't really talk about that without realizing that one of those words and probably the most, well, one of the most powerful words in there and meaningful and packed with, ramifications is the type of death that Christ suffered for death on a cross scripture says that he humbled himself to the point of death, even death on a cross. And I just happen to be watching over the last few weeks, a docu-series on the Roman empire, and they talk about crucifixion in it. And at that time, no Roman citizen, even just your, it didn't have to be nobility. Even your average Roman citizen could not be crucified. The cross was reserved for the lowest drags of society, the outcast absolute slaves, who had done the most serious crimes. So when Christ came to humble himself, he didn't just to come to die for us by a quick death, by being beheaded, or they had a lot of ways to kill people somewhere quick and merciful this though, the cross itself has become the greatest symbol of mercy and grace in God's love. The cross itself was the most UN merciful death. One could die, and therefore only, only, reserved for the lowest outcast of society. And that's what Christ came and gave his life for. It just, it just, I think, accentuates and further drives home. Just the depth of God's love for us that he, he Christ came and was humiliated to the lowest form of capital punishment. And before he even went to the cross, he was falsely accused and mocked insulted spit on hit. Oh, they pretended to worship him. You know, like he was a king, even though he really was the king, they flogged him. Most people died from the flogging before they even got to the cross. He went through as much as anybody could go through to take care of our sin, that we might become sons and daughters. He be basically took what, what was ours? You know? And just, you could just sometimes just think about the fact of what it would've been like if we would've hung on the cross for our sin, which was our just punishment just blows you away. Ajai 00:04:58 Yeah. You know, mark, you mentioned, his scripture humbled himself, you know, I'm looking at that. I also had it pulled up. So I wanted to read a couple of, scriptures around that. It talks about our Lord Jesus Christed who, although he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God, a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a bond servant and being made in the likeness of men being found in the appearance as a, as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even the death on the cross. So for him, for God, to become a man that is already humbling a lot, right? Because he emptied himself of his godliness and became a human being. And not only he became a human being, he became a bond servant, and then not only became a bond servant, but he humbled himself to the point of, even the death on the cross. You know, you know, on one side, like you mentioned, right. You know, this is what we deserve, right. If we were to be punished, you know, that's what we would be punished everyone of us, right. Not just the people we think are the great sinners, commonly we named Hitler and people like that. But each one of us deserve the same punishment. In fact, if anything less would not do right. You know, Lord Jesus Christ had to pay the penalty and take the punishment for each and every sin of the entire human race through all generations. So on one side, you know, he took a punishment, right? So instead of us, he died. And on the other side, again, you know, like we always mention it points to how much he loves us, right? The Bible clearly says, you know, for a, for a sin, no one wants to die, you know, for a good man, maybe, perhaps someone would even dare die. But for a sinner, God demonstrates his own love towards us in that Bible where sin still sinners, he died for us. So it, it just, again, shows so much of his love for us the, the way he's crucified, Tim 00:07:09 You know, just to play off that point about, you know, how he emptied himself, he's Jesus Christ. He's God. One of the, you know, Trinity, so he's perfect. And he comes to earth and he lives a perfect life. And yet he took all that punishment. He didn't deserve any of it in any way, shape or form at any time and took all that upon himself and then suffered so greatly for all of that. It's still hard for me to try and in my human mind to say, I'm not gonna get punished for someone else's, you know, mistakes or mess up, you know, but he, he didn't just do it for a few. He did it for all and it's, it's just amazing. Mark 00:07:52 Yeah. And, and when he came the humility to humble himself and die, the death, it's like he went as low as low could be for us. He died. As I mentioned, just imagine the dirtiest poorest slave living in the streets of Rome, just filthy, who then goes out and does and murders, or does something terrible that warrants the worst possible death. There's nobody in this world. He can't identify with. There's nobody too low that he didn't go that loaf to get them to, to rescue them right. Where they were at. There's nobody, you could say, I'm not good enough for Christ because he went with them. Tim 00:08:43 And I want to just say if, cuz I really don't want to go into too many details here, mark. You've started to mention some of the details of what he went through and the crucifixion itself were so horrific. It is it's mind boggling that anyone survived to the point that they were actually hung on that cross and then what they went through when they were up there. If you, you know, I would encourage you if you have a strong stomach to, to investigate that. I think, I don't know. We wanna get too far into it here cuz it's, it's very, very difficult. Mark 00:09:15 Well, my old pastor used to point out that in the Greek, you know, we're pretty much familiar with, the scripture that tells us by his stripes. We are, we have been healed the stripes of his flogging, but in the original Greek at act know Greek, it actually says by his Stripe, we are healed. And my old pastor, you say that's because it wasn't like the pretty, like not pretty, but when they show floggings on TV, you see these delineated, you know, flesh with a red Stripe going across, it says that he was beaten so badly. You couldn't recognize him that, that his bones were showing and that it just looked like one big Stripe. That's how bad just the flogging was. So, you know, it's not get any deeper than that, but it just shows the depth of his love for us. And it, it, it's kind of interesting because some people they tend to think and I've heard this before and it's somewhat, oh, what's the word? intuitive, although wrong is that if we only preach Christ and him crucified, if we only preach the gospel of God's grace and we don't preach everything in the entire Bible, wow. That's just so limiting. You know, it's like, isn't that gonna get boring quick if our pastor just preaches Christ and him crucified, but that is the gospel and it is the deepest, most powerful, meaningful, the ramifications that come off off of just that crucifixion. We can contemplate them for a lifetime and beyond and never get to the full understanding. In fact, before the spirit came before it was this mystery, it says that the cross is a mystery. That's been hidden throughout the ages and now revealed by the spirit to his apostles. It's a mystery that we're gonna try to fathom the rest of our lives. And it's a, it's a mystery that as we come into understanding affects every single part of our lives. Every relationship it affects our thoughts. It affects our emotions, our peace, it affects, that I say relationships. I think I did mentally. Every part of us, every cell on our body, the gospel affects. So it's, it is not limiting and that's, and, and when you think about it, you can take any subject in the Bible and you can preach that in the light of the gospel because that gospel gives meaning to whatever we talk about. You know, we can talk about being a good dad, you know, many churches, I don't wanna be critical, but they'll give you. And we mean, we kind of somewhat tongue and cheek joke about the many part series that many pastors in our past have done teaching us how to do this or that a 10 part series on being a good dad. But if you wanna be a good dad, look at the cross, look at, look at what the heavenly father sent his son to do to make us his children. That's how you learn to be a good parent. and just fill in the blank. You can take anything, you know, how to be a good friend and every relationship it governs every aspiration and endeavor in life, the cross effects. Ajai 00:12:52 Yeah. In fact, mark, you mentioned, you know, when we say Christ and in crucified or the cross, we don't necessarily mean just explaining the event, what happened, how he was beaten and things like that, but also what it means to us, right? What actually happened and what it means to us as a believers, because the cross is where the Lord, Jesus Christ did everything that we require and that we need for all eternity and the work is finished. So, and so regardless of, you know, what we talk about in this Christian life, right? The underlying reason, or the underlying current is still the cross. So we don't have to explicitly talk about the event itself, but we are talking about the cross all the time and it shows up in every context of the gospel. And in fact, you know, I think probably it is maybe a good segue into actually talking about a couple of things, you know, what actually happened on the cross. And then also, you know, maybe going to, some of the benefits side on the Tim, what do you think Mark 00:14:02 Before we jump into that guys, let me just add one closing thought in that, on, on, on that criticism that if we just preach the cross, if we just preach Jesus Christ and him Chris crucified, it's, it's limiting, but I would just add that all theology and no matter what the subject of theology is, it all comes back and is centered on the cross on what Christ did, not the event, but the gospel, which the cross is at the center of that good news of God's grace. It's what gives meaning to atonement and forgiveness and our declaration and amputation of righteousness and the spirit indwelling us, everything comes back to the cross. So even when you just preached the cross and Christ and him crucified, Tim 00:14:51 That that holds all of theology. Yep. It is. like I said, the distillation of the entire gospel into five words and I that yep. According to Paul that'll preach brother. Yep. I think, I think that's in second opinions somewhere. but that's a, that's a good point that's, been made by both of you and both of you have mentioned the ramifications and effects of the cross. And I think this would be a good time to pivot into that. So I'm gonna throw it to Ajai. I think Ajai, you might have a few thoughts on this. Ajai 00:15:28 Yeah, sure. Tim, yeah. Before going to ramifications, like yeah. The first thing about the cross. Yeah. I think it is also ramification. Hebrew chapter one was three and four and he's the Radis of his glory and the exact representation of his nature and upholds all things by the word of his power when he had made purification for us, since he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, you know, the first thing about the cross is, you know, Lord Jesus Christ made the purification for us since in other translations it says, you know, he purged us sin. And then what did he do? He sat down at the right hand of God, sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. So what it means is the work is finished. You know, I think that is the most important truth that we need to know about the cross. The work is finished and, and it has many ramifications, right? Because the entire Christianity, everywhere we go, they're still trying to finish a finished work. Right? They are not recognizing that the work is finished at the cross. You know, everything that is required is done at the cross, you know, large Jesus Christion factor. Hebrew chapter two says he took on the form of human being, right? So he was made a little lower than angels and the purpose of our large Christ becoming a man. He's not that, you know, he can experience the life of the human and he wants to see, you know, how it is like to be a human, but he explicitly came so that he can die. That's what hip chapter two says, right? He came to taste death for every man. So he came with a mission into this world. He was made a little lower than angels. And as we just discussed, right. You know, he humbled himself to be like us because in order to save us, it has to be one of us. Right. You know, Lord, God cannot die for us because he is eternal. Right. He cannot die. So he became a human so that he can partake of death and the wages of sin death. And he took our death upon himself. Right. And he was punished for us since he was coed. And the Bible says, you know, he became a man of SOS and he was acquainted with grief. And then he took all sicknesses upon himself. So everything that is needed to redeem us, in fact, the Bible says he became a curse for us, right. Everything that is needed for us, for our salvation through all eternity is accomplished at the cross. And that's why the Lord Jesus said it is finished. And we refer to the work of Christ as a finished work of Christ. And, but, you know, because many of us don't recognize this, we try to do something right. You know, there are every other teaching except for the pure gospel of grace is about, and then we have to do something. The reason they come up with that is they're not realizing that the work is finished. Mark 00:18:36 That that's an awesome point, Ajai. And as you read Hebrews one three, it just really hit me that I've already mentioned how the cross was the most hideous death possible reserve for the lowest of the low. And that makes a huge impact on us as we think about how much he humbled himself to that point for us. But you really can't examine the cross and get the full meaning, unless you also realize who it was that went that low for us. And that I think that's a perfect, this is in the NIV, the same Hebrews one, three Ure, Ajai. It says the son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being sustaining all things by his powerful word. This is who went to the cross. And when I, I actually have a song I wrote called radiation off of this scripture, because when you think of the word radiance or RA radiating, it means emanating from the son is the radiance of God's glory. God's glory is shining through him and he's the exact and I, and in my, in the song I wrote, I don't, I pronounce representation as re presentations the way it sings well that way. But I think it makes more impact to say that he is the exact re presentation of God he's being presented to us in bodily form. And, and he's so powerful that all things are sustained. We know that he spoke creation into existence by his powerful word. And he sustains all things. This is the one that lowered himself as low as low could be for us to go for even the lowest. And that just even blows your mind more than how far low he went, how high he came from to do it. When Jesus said on the cross, Tim 00:20:46 It is finished. What was finished was the work for our salvation and the forgiveness of our sins. If you're believing a gospel that says yes, but now you have to do X for God to do Y you're wrong. It is finished. Mark 00:21:01 And the, and one of the reasons for that is because what can you do? Even the best thing that could come even a billion miles compared to what he did for us? You know what I'm saying? He just came from so high to go so low, the most unbelievable work for us. What can we add to that? I guess that's why it says the best that we can do is like filthy rags or an Ajai's, translation, filthy diapers. <laugh>, that's what our best works are. So how can we add anything that would compare to what he's already done for us? That's ridiculous. When he said it's finished, it's finished. Not only because he did all the work, because we've got nothing we could add. If we wanted to, in fact, it's an insult to his perfect work on the cross when we try to add to it. Amen. The best thing you can do to worship him is believe it and receive it and just rest in him because you can't do anything on your best day that even comes a billion miles. Yeah. Close to what he did. Ajai 00:22:11 Yeah. In fact, the strongest warning in the book of Hebrew is warning against not believing that the work is finished and many of us, you know, that's what we are struggling with. Right. You know, the reason why we still try to do something for God, or try to do something to get something from God is because we are having a problem believing in the finished work. And there's a very strong warning, right? Hebrews, it says, you know, today, if you hear his voice harder, not your hearts, like in the day of provocation. So what happened in the old Testament was Lord Jesus. I mean, yeah, Lord Jesus. Christed got our father. He gave the land to the Israeli lights. And he said, you know, that is a land flowing with milk and honey, you don't have to do anything. Everything is prepared for you. You just have to enter the land. I've already given the land to you, but they did not believe it. Right? So they doubted God, they doubted God's goodness. And they doubted that, you know, God really has Goodwill for them. They were thinking, oh, God hates them. And God brought them out of Egypt into the wilderness to kill them. So their problem was not holiness. Their problem was not trying to, that they were not obeying the law, but their problem was, they just could not believe in the goodness of God. They could not believe that God is telling them to enter the rush, write the finish work. So now the author of Hebrew, you know, takes the same thing. And he says that today after so many days, Lord is telling you, okay, if you hear his voice to don't harden, not your heart. Like, you know, believe that God say, he's saying again, the work is finished and he's inviting you to enter into his rest. In Hebrew chapter four verse one says, therefore, since the promise of entering his rush still stands. Let us be careful that none of us be found to have fallen shot of it. And then he goes on to say that in verse 11, let us therefore make every effort to enter that rest so that no one will perish following their example of unbelief. And it says, you know, in verse, in the same chapter, it says anyone who enters God's rest also rests from their works just as God did from his. So again, the idea is, you know, if you are, if you have entered, god'sed just as God stopped doing all his works, right. He rushed from his works. We also rushed from our works. So the idea of entering his work, his rushed is that, you know, we set aside all our works and we set outside this idea of doing something and simply recognize that the work is finished. So the strongest warning again, in the new Testament is warning against not believing the finished work. It is so important to realize that the work is finished. Tim 00:25:11 Good point, Ajai, good point, Mark 00:25:13 Not just finished, but perfect. It's finished because it is perfect. Nothing needs to be, or could be added to it. And I love what Paul said in Romans one 17. He said for in the gospel, the righteousness of righteousness of God is revealed a righteousness. That is by faith from first to last. What I love about that is that one of Christ's names is the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. So our righteousness is by faith from first to last in the one who is the first and the last, everything is contained in him. We don't need to add one thing from first to last means. There's no room for you to try to get something in. He is the first and the last, and we just put our faith in him from first to last. Tim 00:26:12 Thank you, mark. I think, I think maybe the Ajai, I think you have another point that you might wanna bring up. Ajai 00:26:20 Yeah. I have a bunch of them, but I think, probably for today, <laugh> we can only cover that, but in, second quarantine chapter five verse 21, you know, again, in a look talking about what actually happened on the cross, right? We talked about the work is finished and going a little deeper into it. Right. You know, what is the work that is finished in, in, second current in chapter five, verse 21, God made him who had no sin to be sin for us so that we so that in him, we might become the righteous of God. So, you know, this thing, you know, it always amazed me, right? It's not just Lord Jesus Christ Bo our sins, or he was not just, he was punished for our sin, but the Bible says he actually became sin on the cross who knew no sin became sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. So if you, I thought about it a little bit, right? So it would be unjust for God to punish a righteous man. You know, Lord Jesus Christ was perfectly righteous. And the Bible says, you know, it's an abomination to combination to punish the righteous. And also it's an abomination to let go of the sinner. So here, before the God can punish Lord Jesus Christ, right? He did not punish the righteous Lord, Jesus Christ. It says he became sin for us, right? So that he can justly. God can punish Lord Jesus Christ. And he can still be sin because on the cross he became sin. I mean, it is unfathomable, right? You know how the holiness, the perfection of God is made sin. It's beyond us. Right? We, we don't know how that happened. But Bible says he became ferous on the cross. And the consequence of that is we become the righteousness of God in him. In fact, tonight is so much marvelous that we sinners can become righteousness of God, but it's even more marvelous that Christ became sin. That's even more impossible, right. For us to become righteousness. But Jesus becoming a sin is even more impossible. But that's what God did for us. Mark 00:28:48 One little, addition here to what you said is the scripture that you read, doesn't say that he became sin for us. It say, it says God made him yeah. Who had no sin to be sin for us. Yeah. I think there might be something in that too. God, the creator of the world who has all the power literally took the sin of the world and made Christ that sin. Ajai 00:29:17 Yeah. In fact, that's a great point. mark, you know, God made him sin right. In the same way. God made us righteousness. Right, Mark 00:29:25 Right. Ajai 00:29:26 It's not, we also who make us righteousness and it's a direct, result or the, or the, yeah. The direct result of law, Jesus Christ becoming sin is us becoming righteousness. So again, that's where, what happened on the cross, right at the cross, if our sins are paid for and our sin is not imputed to us anymore, then we are not sinners. So at the cross we became righteous. And that is a reason Jesus was raised from the dead Bible, says in Romans, in one of the translations, it says Romans 4 25, he was delivered over to death for our sin. And he was raised to life for our justification. And in fact, some of the wars say he was delivered over to death because of our sin and was raised to life because of her justification. So because our sin are fully paid and we became the righteousness of God in him, God was able to raise Jesus from the death. And in raising him, he's also able to raise us from death because whatever happened to Jesus on the cross happened to us. And whatever happened to Jesus in his resurrection also happens to us. And the Bible says, you know, the wages of sin, death and the, and the righteous shall live in order for someone to, inherit eternal life. They have to be made righteous first. So because Lord Jesus Christ paid all of our sins on the cross and there is no more sin on us. We became righteousness of God at the cross. And because of that, he's actually able to raise Jesus Christ from the debt in his resurrection. Tim 00:31:11 It's a heck of a transaction, him becoming sins so that we can become righteous. It's just an amazing thing. And I think one point I would like to just tack on to the end, even though it isn't completely, what we're talking about is when we are made his righteousness, we are made his righteousness permanently, not just that one single shining moment of at salvation. And now we gotta bear down and work, not to sin because in God's eyes, we are Jesus' righteousness. We can no longer, we can no longer be held accountable for our sins to God. Ajai 00:31:49 Yeah. That is, so true, Tim. in fact, again, it goes back to the workout, the cross, right? He removed our sins once. And for all perfectly, there is no sin that is on us anymore. Right? So there's no way we, we can become a sinner again, because all our sins through all generations, for all human beings, starting from the day they were born, until they die, they were put on Jesus Christ, not one single sin that was not put on Lord Jesus Christ. And that was not paid for. So there's no way we can become unrighteous again, because Lord Jesus Christ took away all of our sins. Mark 00:32:27 This, this conversation really hearkens me back to a recent epi episode podcast, entitled monism versus synergism, where we talked about, the believers that believe that God it's got monism is one working synergism is working along with, so it's two working. And as we're looking at the perfect work of Christ and the power and the him being the radiance of God's glory going that low for us finishing the work, how can anyone think that we now add something that we're gonna add some kinda work to that unbelievable, powerful, loving, gracious, perfect work on the cross. How could it be synergistic? What am I gonna add to make that better, to make it more effective in my life? It's just impossible. and, and it just, I wanna read Romans eight, the first chapter just really wraps everything we've been talking about here. It says, therefore there is not. And therefore referring to the cross. Okay. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ. Jesus, because through Christ Jesus, the law of the spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death for what the law was powerless to do, because it was weakened by the flesh. God did by sending his own son and the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us. He tell us, tells us right there, the law, our doing our wor our working is powerless because our flesh is weak. So God did it by sending his son in the likeness of our sinful flesh, making him sin and, and just doing it on our behalf. And, and I love this. It says right here, it says, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, it doesn't say might be 98% met in us. And now you better start getting some synergism in there and adding the final 2%. It doesn't say 99 point 0.9%. And you better add the 0.01. It says fully met the cross. When we put our faith in the cross, that righteous requirement of the law has been fully met. It is finished. Christ said because he fully met it. There's nothing else for us to do other than to rejoice to receive it, to rest in it. And just to live the, the, the life that God means for us is sons and daughters heirs with Christ of everything he accomplished on that cross and in his resurrection. Tim 00:35:45 Amen. That's powerful stuff. Yep. God, didn't say I saved you unto your salvation and that's it. <laugh>, you know, it's, it's, you're saved, you're righteous. Praise the Lord. See in heaven, <laugh> Mark 00:36:00 All Jesus all the time from the first. Tim 00:36:04 And I gotta give you kudos for working in Harkins into that one. That's Mark 00:36:09 One of our favorite on this podcast. It's not one it's easy to work in either. Tim 00:36:15 So Ajai, I know you've got a lot more items to discuss, but we do, we do try to keep our podcast to a certain length. So what I'm gonna suggest is one more part to this series, where we go over the rest of those items and, prep to sign off for the day for this episode. And I want to give you guys as has become a tradition, a chance for any last words for this episode before we part. So I'm gonna go in reverse order from the alphabet, mark you, what do you wanna say? Mark 00:36:45 I'm gonna finish up with my exact same finish from the last podcast. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you Lord, for doing it all for doing all of it. That there's nothing less for left for us to do, except rejoice in the perfect work of the cross and the love that God showed us there. Ajai 00:37:08 Yeah, I would say, you know, the work is finished, you know, let us start thinking about really, you know, grasping that the reality that the work is finished and we are not only Christ is seated, in heavenly places besides God, but we are seated in him. So I pray, you know, not only for me, but for everyone that we begin to enter into this finished work in every area of our life, the reason we struggle in some areas of our life is we do not see that the work is finished in that area as well. So I personally wanted to live more and more by the finish work by the realization that the work is finished and what it really means to us in every facet of our life that the work is finished. So this is something we'll be living by all our life and in all opportunity by the finish work. Tim 00:38:06 Well, guys, we've talked about the cross tonight and more than just the pieces of wood, but what the cross actually meant and what it, what it actually was to us. And then we started to talk about some of the ramifications and effects that we receive as a result of that sacrifice of perfection. So what we're probably gonna do next episode is discuss some more of those ramifications and effects. But until then, we thank you all for being here. We encourage you to subscribe to our podcast through whatever podcast, application you might use. And we welcome you to contact us via email or on our Facebook page. And this is Ajai Mark signing off until the next time