 Good morning everyone and welcome to class. Can you hear me clearly? Okay. Thank you, Nikan. Yes. Let's begin with the word of prayer. Can I ask one of you to please lead us in prayer, please? Anyone? Can I have Shivkumar to lead us in prayer? Shivkumar? Shivkumar, are you there? Or Antony? Arilla, anyone can lead us in prayer, please? Antony is there? Shivkumar? Okay. Can I ask Nina to lead us in prayer, please? Hello. You're able to hear me? Are you able to hear me? Yes, we can. Yes. Gracious loving Father, thank you for this day, Lord, and for this time that you have given us to study your word, to learn from you, Lord. We thank you for all that you have been teaching us in this particular subject, Lord, and that we have been blessed. We pray today also we commit ourselves, Pastor Serena, into your hands that they would be anointing and we would really learn and grow in our knowledge of you and our understanding of you. Thank you for this time. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thank you, Nina, John. Okay. So last week we looked at the Sinless Lamb of God where we looked at the title and the role of Jesus as that Sinless Lamb of God and we looked at various Old Testament sacrifices and how, you know, we see that Jesus was the type and shadow of the redemptive work that he came to do, to accomplish in the New Testament which we see and we read about, which was already prophesied, which was already foretold and things were put in place which was a type and the shadow of the redemptive work of Jesus Christ which we look at in the New Testament or, you know, the coming of Jesus, how he's incarnation, how he lived here on the earth. So we see that all of the rituals or all of the celebrations including the Passover, how Jesus was the Paschal Lamb or the Passover Lamb and how the Old Testament feast of the Passover was a type and shadow of the redemptive work of Jesus Christ. We also saw other sacrifices that were, which God had, you know, put into place in the religious system of the Israelites like the morning and evening sacrifice and, you know, the other sacrifices like the guilt offering, the trespass offering. We also looked in chapters six and seven about, you know, the atonement sacrifice on the day of atonement, how Jesus was even, you know, the one who fulfilled that in himself, in his work on the cross. So all of these rituals, these sacrifices has greater significance, greater meaning because it was a type, which means it was a pattern or a model that was followed or seen in the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross and was shadow means a shadow, something that is, something that is substantial and, you know, it is talking about the heavenly realities that we can see here or experience here on the earth. The shadow is that and how Jesus was the one who came and fulfilled all of these things. So, you know, everything that God had actually purposed and brought about the laws, the commandments, the rituals, the sacrifices, the feats that they had to celebrate, you know, had a much greater significance than just what meets the eye or what was, what they had, what the Israelites were supposed to do. It has everlasting consequence, everlasting significance and that is why God tells them, you know, all of these sacrifices and rituals, you will, even the Passover, you know, you will do it as a lasting ordinance or an everlasting, you know, covenant with me. And it was, you know, why it was told was because it was pointing out to the work of Jesus on the cross and how Jesus became that, you know, sin better, the sin offering for us. He made that one sacrifice for sin once for all forever. And the reason that he could do this for us was because he was holy, he was sinless, he was undefiled and by offering up himself as a sacrifice, we see that he brought an end to all of the sacrifices that God had ordained or commanded the people in the Old Testament to do which was the Passover and all the celebrations which they had to do as well which was the Passover celebration, the Passover feast and the others and also the atoning sacrifice, the morning and evening sacrifices which was the daily sacrifices and also the trespass offering or the guilt offering that we had studied in the last class. Why was Christ able to do all of these things was because he was one with the Father, he was fully surrendered, fully consecrated and he was sinless and hence he was able to make that full sufficient and perfect sacrifice. And we also saw in the last class that scripture talks about Jesus' sacrifice on the cross as one being the suffering lamb. Christ was mentioned not only as the suffering servant we saw in Isaiah but also he is the suffering lamb which means that he was not only the sinless lamb who was sinless and was able to make that perfect sacrifice, he was not just the suffering servant but he was also the suffering lamb which means he who made the sacrifice for us he who was that perfect lamb of God to take away the sins of the whole world. You know he went through all the afflictions, he was oppressed, he was reviled which means he was criticized very very strongly, he was beaten, he was spat at, he was spoken and said unpleasant things but yet he did not revile in return which we looked at in Acts chapter 8 verses 26 to 35 was because you know he became that sacrifice that was the suffering lamb who willingly and very passively bore the penalty for our sins or took upon himself our sin and he did it very willingly and he did it very passively which means he did not retaliate, he did not resist but he just gave himself up and he became that willing passive sacrifice because he bore the penalty for our sins and also we saw that you know Christ became the suffering lamb so that he could make his life as an offering for our sins he could make his life as a trespass offering as a guilt offering which had to be made to please or you know to justify us and to make us righteous before God and to atone for our sins. So that is what we looked at in the last class when we studied Jesus as the sinless lamb as that Passover lamb, as that lamb who was you know sacrifice morning and evening daily, the daily sacrifices and as the trespass offering or the guilt offering that was made. So any questions about what we studied last class? Anyone has any questions? I hope you are read through your notes. Any questions anyone has? Okay then no questions and we'll move on to the next lesson where we're going to talk about his substitutionary suffering. Okay so we looked at Jesus as the sinless lamb, we looked at him as you know the suffering lamb but we will also look at him as you know somebody who suffering was substitutionary. What is the meaning of this word substitutionary? Anyone knows what is the meaning of substitutionary or when we say that Jesus suffering on the cross was a substitutionary suffering what do we mean? You can unmute your mics and speak I can hear what does it mean by when we say that Jesus suffering was substitutionary? In place of us taking our place I mean what? Yes go ahead. Yeah essentially that taking our place in the sense like he didn't deserve any of what happened but he took our place as an offering because in the Old Testament when we look I mean there was always a sacrifice necessary whenever there was any sin committed and it still did not really cleanse the person completely from the inner core of the being so but then he became that perfect sacrifice in our place and so there is so in that way he that's a substitutionary act an act of intercession that he did he took that did that final sacrifice so that we don't have to make any more sacrifices we just have to trust in him and go so essentially taking our place is what I thought. Thank you Nina John yes anyone else likes to add to what Nina John has said. Okay the word substitution basically means you know it's an act or it's the process or the result of substituting one thing for the other so you know when Jesus died on the cross you know and he bore our sins he took upon himself our sins it's something that you know we had to do he took our place and he was doing what we should have done he was taking upon himself the sins that we should have borne ourselves or we should bear ourselves he took upon himself the suffering that we had to suffer and he took upon himself the payment for sin or he through his life paid for our sins what we should have done what we should be paying for so in those terms you know Jesus made the substitutionary suffering which means he took our place so we had to die he died for us you know we had to pay the debts for our sins but he paid the debts for our sins we had to go through all that suffering as a consequences for our sin but he took upon himself our suffering we had to bear the consequence of the sin or we had to bear our sins but he bore it for us so in this lesson basically we will be discussing Christ's suffering we will be focusing upon his substitutionary work on the cross how he took our place what he accomplished for us what he purchased for us what he did as a result of him taking our place and how he delivered us and what he purchased for us so Christ on the cross took upon himself our sins he took upon he became a curse for us because he took upon himself our curses because of our sin he also took upon himself our grief our sorrows our sicknesses our inequities our transgressions our shame our pain everything and he also tasted death on our behalf you know it was the consequence of sin is death and Jesus you know died in place of us he tasted death for us so that instead of death we could receive the life of God so he died in our place so that we can receive all that is his which means we can receive righteousness we can receive justification we can receive redemption our sins can be atoned for you know the power of sin is broken of our lives we are no longer under the curse of sin the curse of death but we receive the fullness of life we receive the slow way life of God the God kind of life we also you know are not receiving eternal damnation but eternal life we are also no longer slaves of Satan but we are now sons and daughters of God we are part of the kingdom of God we are a chosen race a chosen generation a royal priesthood of people belonging to God so it was actually like we looked at in the previous chapter it was you know a divine exchange that took over on the cross so whatever was ours Jesus took upon himself which means he took our place he substituted in our place and we as his people as his children have this you know awesome privilege of coming into his place or taking his place to the extent where you know we are in right standing with God which means that when God looks at us you know he loves us just like he loves his son so we are in right standing with Jesus because when God looks at us he looks at us the same way he looks at his son he loves us just the same way he loves his son isn't that just so you know something that we can't even understand something that is so great something that is so unimaginable that you know who are we that God looks at us in the same level that he looks at his son he loves us in the same way that he loves his son when you know we are absolutely even though we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Saviour even as we are children of God we are part of this kingdom but we because of our frailties our weaknesses you know fail to live up to that righteous standard we fail to live up to that holy standard we fail to love God as we ought to love him with all of our heart with all of our soul with all of our mind and strength but yet you know there's never a moment in our lives when God looks down upon us so he does not love us just as he loves us as his son or there's never a moment he says hey I'm so fed up with you you know I've given you everything I've done everything for you you've tasted eternal life tasted my goodness and my blessings but you know day in and day out you keep going back and doing you know the same little little sins or that you know going back to your old sinful nature and he doesn't just push us off from our position or you know just doesn't overlook us or you know hide his face from us or gives us that stare which makes us look like you know feeling so condemned demeaned in his sight but just his eyes looks at us in such a loving fashion in such a you know gracious manner I don't know if this whole thing makes so much of sense makes so much of bring so much of grandeur to our life so much of meaning so much of purpose you know I'm sure in life when we have done something wrong we have to see that you know look from our parents or that look from our teachers or from the principal you know and we totally send the shiver down our spine or we totally scared or you know that look from our boss like hey what have you done you know I mean this is not what you supposed to be doing that sense of oh again you disappointed me you know but when God looks at us he does not even look at us in that manner he just looks at us with such loving looks with such loving eyes in spite of us you know sinning over and over again and that is just so wonderful of this God that we have this God that we know this God that has delivered us from darkness into his marvelous light so even as we are studying you know about Christ incarnation what Christ has done for us his title and his role as a sinless lamb as the you know suffering servant as the substitutionary suffering that he made for us on the cross I just hope it brings a life you know really what God has done for us and just you know consecrating our lives giving our lives holy back to him in total surrender in total submission in total love to this God who loves us in a way that we cannot even think comprehend or imagine and that is what God is looking for he's not looking for us in doing just great things for him but all he wants us is to be totally surrendered, obedient, doing his will just totally in love with him in everything that we do and hope that is a kind of response that we get even as you know we are studying all of this and drawing end to you know draw an end to the course you know this should be our attitude this should be our response otherwise all that we have studied all that Christ has done will have no significance and meaning because we will be living again in deep condemnation and guilt which the enemy throws at us because he knows that we have not come to that place where we totally understood what God has done for us or we can totally see what God has done for us and live in that light of what he has done so it's so important for us to live in the light of what Christ has done achieve for us purchase for us where he has brought us where he has made us stand and just look at it in that whole fullness of what he has done and live in that so that you know we are just our lives are just pleasing and holy and in total love and surrender to him okay so here on the cross there's a divine exchange that took place and we need to be mindful of what the divine exchange is what we have received and how we need to walk in that and live in that that is important so studying this course is not just because you have to get a certificate or you know you have to pass this course where that is one of the things but this whole course should just you know bring alive everything that who Christ is what he has done and how we can live in what he has purchased what he has done for us and just live in that fullness because just imagine you know as a parent or as a friend you know you you buy something for your child or you buy something for your spouse or for your friend or for your parent or someone who you love very much and they don't seem to use it every time you ask them say yeah it's lying there you know I'll use it one day I mean it's just going to you know break your heart say hey I spent so much of time money effort in going and picking this up getting this and this person doesn't seem to value it so just imagine how it breaks the father heart of God how it would have broken is hard to see his son take on the sins of the world suffer and the pain that Christ went through and just looking at us you know not valuing what they have done what they have purchased for us what they have redeemed us out of and how we are like those is the like sometimes how I am like that is like sometimes you know going back to Egypt sometimes coming to the promised land going back to Egypt coming back to the promised land you know wanting to be in slavery to sin sometimes wanting to be in freedom sometimes and you know how it just breaks the father heart of God so it's important for us to open our eyes to see the truth to live in it and to walk in it. Okay so the main aspect of the primary aspect of Christ's substitutionary sacrifice which means he taking our place making the sacrifice on behalf of us is that the one making the sacrifice you know fully identifies with us so when Christ made that substitutionary sacrifice on behalf of us it was something that you know he made where he fully identifies with us you know and he fully identifies in the sense that he became man you know he had the same weaknesses the frailties that we had yet he was sinless so the primary aspect of the substitutionary sacrifice is that the one making the sacrifice you know fully identifies with us so Christ fully identifies in our sins in our sufferings in our weaknesses in our pain in our sorrows in our brokenness because he is making the sacrifice on behalf of us and also as Christ making the substitutionary sacrifice a primary aspect is that you know he suffered with us along with us in our adversities in our you know in our difficulties in our hardships in our dangers in our sorrows in our pain and he took upon all of these burdens he took upon all of these evil upon himself so this the primary aspect of the substitutionary sacrifice is that Christ fully identifies with us he who made the sacrifice on behalf of us identifies with our suffering with our hardships our difficulties our sorrows our pains our sicknesses our burdens and all the curses and the evil that befall us because of the consequence of sin and because of sin isn't that so beautiful that you know Christ could have come in the form of God and maybe he could have done something to take on the sins of the whole world but he became man he became one like us he identified with us and everything that he suffered he suffered in the human body and hence he knows all of our sufferings our sorrows and our pain so there is no one like Jesus who understands our pain our sorrows and in that way you know he was our substitutionary sacrifice he substituted in our place he did what we had to do he did it for us so we look at what he did for us on the cross so can somebody please read Isaiah chapter 53 verses 4 to 6 please Isaiah chapter 53 verses 4 to 6 Francis can you please read Isaiah 53 4 to 6 loudly for us please Isaiah 53 4 to 6 surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows and we esteemed him stricken smitten by God and afflicted but he was wounded for your translation he was braced for our iniquities that judgment for our peace was upon him and by his stripes we are healing all we like sheep have gone astray we have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all Amen thank you Francis so in this passage in Isaiah chapter 53 which is part of the suffering songs of the the servant songs of the suffering Messiah this is one of the servant songs that we read in Isaiah chapter it starts from Isaiah chapter 52 it goes on till Isaiah chapter 53 so here it's talking about the substitutionary work of Christ in verses 4 to 6 of Isaiah chapter 53 and if you look at these this this whole passage it says he bore our grief sorrow he was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities the punishment needed to obtain our peace was upon him by his stripes you know he provided our healing and the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all so the Lord laid on him all our iniquity so here very clearly it shows the substitutionary work of Christ so if somebody asks you where do we see in the Bible Jesus' substitutionary work Isaiah chapter 53 verses 4 to 6 where it talks about how he bore our grief our sorrow our transgression our iniquities you know and punishment our sicknesses our iniquities and because of him you know we receive the peace and healing and the forgiveness for our sins so it was our place that Christ took upon himself he did everything on the cross on our behalf on each because of each one of us and this was his substitutionary suffering so we look at some of these words and understand in depth what he really did for us on the cross what was his substitutionary work for us on the cross his substitutionary suffering for us on the cross so on the cross he bore grief now the Greek the word for born or bore is you know NASA in Hebrew and it basically means you know bore means to remove to a distance to lift to cast away to take away so you know when Jesus bore our grief our sorrows our transgressions our iniquities our sicknesses our sicknesses he basically he removed it off to a distance took it away to a distance he lifted it from us he took it away from us he cast it away from us and look at the different things that Jesus bore on the cross for us he bore our grief the Hebrew word for this grief means thickness so basically it's not just grief in the sense of you know grieving for the loss of someone grieving for a brokenness of pain it's not just talking about that it's here the word grief means talking about sickness so he bore on himself or he took away he lifted away he cast away our thicknesses and the word sorrows he carried our sorrows so the Hebrew word for sorrows means pain which means on the cross Jesus you know took upon himself or bore our sicknesses grief which means sicknesses sorrows which means pain he just took it away he lifted it away he cast it away and so we don't have to carry it in our bodies we don't have to carry sickness we don't have to carry pain in our bodies we don't have to bear sickness we don't have to bear pain in our bodies because of what Jesus has done he has borne it upon himself which means he has taken it away he has cast it away so if you look at Isaiah chapter 53 verse 4 in the Young translation and the Rotherham translation it reads like this surely our sickness he had borne and our pains he had carried them and the Rotherham translation says that surely our sickness he carried and as for our pains he bared the burden of them so on the cross you know Jesus took our thicknesses our pain he just bore it that means he took it away he cast it away now he bore our also our not only just our sickness our pain but also our sins our transgressions our inequities so what do you know by understand by those word transgression or inequity anyone what's the meaning of this word transgression anyone knows the meaning of this word transgression it's okay even if you are not absolutely right so you can just try what is transgression we've been reading transgression in the bible couple of times you've read it in scripture verses you've heard it preach this word transgression what's the meaning of transgression okay thank you Nina John is going against the law yes okay sin another alternative word for sin is transgression because in the New Testament uses well basic words to describe sin Antony says transgression is not obeying the word okay thank you Antony Anand says to sin okay thank you so in the New Testament you know we see too well basic words to describe sin there is car cause which means bad which we read in Romans chapter 13 verse 3 for Nero's the Greek word which means evil we read this in Matthew chapter 5 verse 45 SPS which means godless which we read in Romans chapter 1 verse 18 and then also other words like guilt Hamathia which is also sin unrighteousness lawlessness transgression to be ignorant to go astray to fall away hypocrite so all of these you know words are used in different ways to you know basically talk about or describe what sin is okay so one of the words of these 12 words that are used to describe sin in the New Testament is a transgression and we read this in Romans chapter 5 verse 14 and you know other words as well but basically transgression is something that you know like Nina John said is something against a command or a law going against a command or a law whether you are cheating on in a test or cheating on your spouse you are committing transgression that is not easily forgiven okay so transgression can be cheating in a test you're cheating somebody cheating on your spouse and it is something that is not easily forgiven a transgression can also be failure to do your own duty it's a sin sin is a transgression against God so sin is also in a way it's a transgression because we are breaking God's law breaking God's word his commandment what he has given us okay so that is transgression what is the meaning of iniquity anyone would like to try what's the meaning of iniquity any idea about what iniquity means okay iniquity is basically defined as being wicked or being immoral in in our nature in our character you know it's basically not just an action yes iniquity is sin as well yes it's not basically an not an action but the character of an action so in that way it's distinguished from a sin because you know it's being wicked or immoral in our very nature in our very character okay we are wicked or immoral and it finally does not basically indicate an action it's not an action but the character of an action so that way it is distinguished from sin sin is when we do it in in action indeed but iniquity is just basically our character it's our immoral it's our immoral nature okay so the Bible you know basically teaches us that the substitution work of Jesus on the cross you know like we read in Isaiah chapter 53 verses 4 to 6 you know we read the substitution work of Christ what he did for us on the cross so the Bible teaches us that Jesus you know when he took our place when he died in our place on the cross he bore our sicknesses our pain all our physical ailments that we go through he bore our sins our punishment you know he took upon all of these things upon himself he carried this upon himself and because he has taken it upon himself you know he's borne our sins which means he has taken it away he has cast it away we don't have to you know bear it any longer what he has carried you know we don't have to carry it ourselves he has just taken it over we just have to walk and believe and receive that by faith and declare that by faith and just believe that healing that pain you know those curses everything has been lifted has been taken away and so it's so important for us to live in that identity even when we face sicknesses when we were you know when we go through different ailments when we go through pain we just stand on this promise of the finished work of the cross what Christ has done on behalf of us as a substitution sacrifice he has taken our suffering he has taken our suffering upon himself and you know through Christ substitution suffering you know we have the forgiveness of sins we have healing in our body we have peace with God which means peace here is Shalom which is a very comprehensive word like salvation so so it's a very holistic comprehensive word which is fully pregnant in itself fully full in itself just the same way Shalom just does not mean peace but it means you know it means wholeness it means preservation from harm danger it means you know wholeness in the mind wholeness in the body it means all of this at the same time it's it just a holistic word so you know he did everything for our wholeness for our well being and all of this you know Christ did he made it available to us God made it available to us because of Christ substitutionary suffering isn't that amazing you know Christ God through Christ Jesus through his substitutionary suffering on the cross is is bringing us back to where he created us for who he created us to be in his image and his likeness where we are you know that whole beings complete beings in in God in Christ and just experiencing the fullness of the deity now people you know basically argue that this this substitutionary suffering of Christ or this vicarious suffering again vicarious means you know in our place on behalf of somebody else seeing somebody else you know going through the suffering that we have to go through okay so the vicarious suffering or the substitutionary suffering of Christ is very unjust but you know they forget when they say that you know it was very unjust of him to take upon our suffering to forget that there are two reasons why people end your suffering in this world one reason is because of justice and the other reason is love okay so justice and love now we often suffer because we ourselves are not innocent because we have committed sin and we also suffer because of the you know because of we live in a very fallen world we share the cause of pain in this fallen world so this is justice justice is because we go through suffering we go through pain because of our own sin because we are not innocent we are not perfect we sin and also we live in a fallen world where there is pain where there is suffering but to suffer in service to God is a demonstration of love and this greatest and highest form of suffering was seen in Christ who was the suffering servant who became our suffering lamb who became our substitutionary suffering in place of us so when Christ suffered on the cross his suffering was not just substitutionary it was not just vicarious suffering but it was something that was a voluntary thing that Christ did for us voluntary he took upon himself you know our sins he died in our place it was voluntary he just obeyed the will of the father so you know in the human experience you know the highest and the holiest form of love is when an innocent person is willing to take on the blame for others and an innocent person is willing to take on the penalty for the consequences for the other persons wrong doing the wrong action or breaking of the law and this is the human eyes is seen as something as the highest and the holiest form of love and so the highest and the holiest form of love is seen on the cross when Jesus who was perfectly sinless who was perfectly innocent was willing to take upon our sins our blame and that is why scripture says greater love has no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friend okay so this is what Christ did for us he voluntarily suffered in our place he did this because you know he laid down his life because of because that he because he loved us so much he did all of this out of love for us so scripture also reveals this that it was God's love that prompted the father to send the son that you know that the father thought about giving up his own son in our place so that we can come to that position where he wants us to be to come to that place where Christ is so it was God's love that prompted to sacrifice his only son and it was Christ's love the second person of the Trinity you know he's God himself so it was Christ who is God his love for us that you know took him to that cross to be that suffering servant suffering lamb and to make that substitution suffering in our place isn't that wonderful that God's love is the greatest and the highest form of love that we can see the holiest form of love that we can see in God the father in giving up his son in putting the sins of the whole world upon his son and seeing his son suffer on the cross and the highest and the holiest form of love is when Christ you know took our place and suffered in our place okay so that we will look at just three references that talks about you know that reveal God's love for us that prompted Christ's substitutionary suffering one is Romans chapter 5 verse 8 so one of you can please read Romans 5 verse 8 someone else can read 1 John 3 16 and someone else can read 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 verses 14 and 15 okay so can one of you please read Romans 5 verse 8 please but God demonstrates his own love towards us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us thank you Rin I think I heard Nikhil's voice so Nikhil you can read 1 John 3 16 by this we know love because he laid down his life for us and we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren thank you Anand he meant that and 2nd Corinthians 5 14 and 15 can someone else read that please for the love of Christ compels us because we judged us that if one died for all then all died and he died for all that those who live should live no longer for themselves but for him who died for them and rose again Amen thank you Nina Santosh we'll just take a break now 10 minute break and then we'll come back up the break and look at these scripture passages okay thank you everyone