 All right, good morning, everyone. Welcome to this new session. You know, this class this week, our in-person students are not with us. They're traveling on a mission trip to ABC Mangalore, which is a part of Karnataka here in Karnataka. So they are there administering. So hence, I'm taking the class from our church office. So let's begin this time with a word of prayer, and then we'll get into our teaching session. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you so much for this beautiful day, God. We thank you that we could come together and just learn from your work. It's such a joy, God, that we learned about the covenants. We're learning about the cross. And it's so powerful, Lord, to know and understand in our hearts that you have paid the price. Lord, even as we learn of the benefits and the blessings of the cross, I pray, Holy Spirit, that you will minister to our hearts, that Lord, we will truly walk this greater understanding, this greater revelation of the power of the cross upon each of our lives. It can be 70 to hours into your hands, Lord. Speak and minister to our hearts. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. All right, so last class, we completed chapter 16. We very importantly looked at Isaiah 53. And we saw the authenticity of the book of Isaiah. And we saw how Isaiah, through the anointing of the Holy Spirit, prophesied so many aspects about the cross, something that he may have been a vague picture in Isaiah's mind. But then when you look at it in terms of prophecy, it was in perfection just the way that he was able to write Isaiah 53. And we saw that prophecies coming into fulfillment exactly at the cross. And so we also looked at briefly at chapter 17, where Jesus foretells the cross. So all throughout Jesus' ministry, Jesus knew that he had one task, he had one purpose. And that purpose was to come through the cross. That was his only goal, that was his only mission. So the cross was not something that was new to Jesus, or it was not like a plan that was made all of a sudden. He came to die on the cross. So today we get into chapter 18, where we've talked a little bit about the wisdom of the cross. We've talked about it in my side of Antiquism in your first semester. But we just go about it, just look at it. What is the wisdom of the cross? When we look at the cross, and we look at it in our natural eye, I've said this many times, there is absolutely no wisdom in the cross. There is nothing that is another place of offense, which is a place of death, is a place of ridicule and mockery. And it just looks like a complete failure. But that is in the natural eye. Last class, if you remember, we talked about Colossians 2.15. Having disarmed every principality and every power of darkness, every ruler and authority, he made a public spectacle of the enemy. I am thing over them through the cross. So in this natural, it was a complete failure. But in the spiritual, there was wisdom. The wisdom of God was revealed through the cross of Jesus Christ. Why didn't God choose any other way? Why didn't God choose just a regular death? The entire wrath of God, the judgment of God, of the entire world, every sin, every sickness, every disease had to be put on Jesus Christ. And so it couldn't just be a small death. It had to be. The price had to be paid. So today we look at how we can understand the wisdom of God expressed through the cross of Jesus Christ. Number one is substitution. We've heard this word many, many times. Substitution is God died for man. Hebrews 2.9, let me just make the forms a little bigger so you can see. Hope this is visible. OK. Substitution, God died for man. Hebrews 2.9. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor that he, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone. There's the substitution that by the grace of God might taste death for everyone. Just those few words talks about substitution. God in the beginning was a word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. John 1.9, he goes on to say, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us. You read the book of John, it's such an emotional book. Everywhere he says, hey, I'm talking about the one who we have handed, we have seen, we have touched. I'm talking about that man who was God, right? And 1 Peter 3.18, for Christ also suffered once for sins the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit. Look at that. The Greek word here is used here as chupur, and it's a very common word. I'm sure you may have heard of this word chupur, which is translated in four different ways. It says, number one, instead of, in place of, on behalf of, and the substitute for. Instead of us taking up the punishment, Jesus took up the punishment. Instead of us being at the cross, he took it in place of us. Instead of us going through judgment and the wrath of God, Jesus took it on behalf of us. And that's where he became a substitute for us. The substitutionary work of the cross, what Jesus did, was he took our place, paying God. He took our place so that we can come closer to God. And that wall of separation, that sin that separates God and man, has been completely destroyed. The substitute. You know, in the Old Testament, it talks about the scapegoat. And we've talked about it many, many times. The scapegoat is a substitute where all the sins of Israel were put on that goat. And that goat was sent off into the mountains, into the wilderness, completely away from the people of Israel, away from the camps. And they would eventually go into the wilderness, into the jungle, into the wilderness, with no food and water. They were dying. And with the death of that lamb, that scapegoat, God has forgotten the sins of Israel. Substitution means Jesus became what we are. He took our place. Can you think of this? Jesus became what we are. We were. What were we? Romans 5a, God demonstrates his love for us while we were yet sinners. God Christ died for us. On the cross, every sin of this world, every sickness, every disease was put on the cross. It was, you know, we talked about that word. No, it was laid on Jesus Christ. He took our place. Right? So one man's sin as the first Adam, the first man, what is this all about? Only a perfect man could become a substitute for a sinful man. But it's just, it's normal understanding. Now, in the high priest, in the old covenant, he would do this year after year after year, the day of the torment. He would go pour out that blood on the, on the tabernacle and it was done every year. Why? Because he was sinful. He had to ask forgiveness for sins again and again and again. But if this, this had to be dealt with from the root, we knew that only a perfect man who was without sin had to die on behalf of the people. So that this perfect man will bring us all from a place of imperfection to perfection. A sinner could not take that place. Even if a man had done one sin, had said one lie, I'm just going to give you this example. If Jesus had just said one small lie, he would not have been eligible to be a substitute. That's why the Bible says he was perfect without sin, at no sin, zero sin. Have you ever thought of this? Growing up as a young man, he did not sin. Was he tempted? Of course he was tempted. Did he go through all the temptations that you and I go through as youth? Yes, but he was without sin. He was perfect. Why? Because he understood that being God, there was this place of substitution that he is going to take. One man's obedience caused all of this. Because one man's disobedience, Adam fell. The sins of the world was put upon him. Same way, the one man's obedience made all of us perfect. So you see that substitution. You see it in Adam as well. Because of Adam, by nature, we all are sinful. It's nothing. You don't teach a child how to lie, or you don't teach a child how to use bad language. They just learn it. Why? That's the sin nature. And what is that nature that's come from Adam? But the perfect man, what did Jesus do? He took our place. He died on the cross for us as a substitution for us. So here is the wisdom of the cross. On the cross, this is the wisdom. On the cross, although it appeared that a man was dying, it was God, deity, suffering for humanity. Look at that. The Roman soldiers thought they're killing a man. The Pharisees and the Sadducees thought they're killing a man. They're murdering a man on the cross with the most gruesome death. Although it appeared that way, but it was the son, the deity who was suffering for us. That is why Jesus so confidently said, it is finished. I've done the work. I've taken up the sins of the entire world upon me. And now God's wrath has been fulfilled. The work has been done. Look at this, the real work is it was spiritual. The perfect holiness of God coming in contact with sin was far worse than any physical humiliation or torture he went through, far worse than that. Was the physical humiliation and torture bad, extremely bad? And you talked about this. The psalmist says, I looked down, I could see my bones. Jesus was probably just a lump on the cross. But it says here, the work was spiritual. This holy God who doesn't know sin, who hasn't tasted sin, had to taste it for us. That separation on the cross, where he says, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Would have been the most painful sentence that Jesus may have uttered. He wouldn't have been thinking, oh, my bones are dirty. He wouldn't have been feeling, of course, the physical pain. Oh, the nail is painting on my hands, or the wounds on my side, and the stripes on my back, and this crown of thorns behind me. All of these things, painting, those are just physical pains. But far more greater pain was this holy God, the one who was seated on the throne, who was called holy, tasted sin for you and me. Second Corinthians 521 says, for he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us. And the word knew also means who never tasted sin, who never dwelt in sin. He might become the righteousness of God in him. Because Jesus tasted it for us, now you and I are righteous in the presence of God. Substitution brings blessings of divine exchange. Look at those blessings. Look at it. He died so that we live. Now, as believers, we have such a wonderful home. What is that home? We're going to pass on. Physically, we're going to die, but come a time we will. But we will live. We will live with Jesus for eternity. Our body is going to go, but we will get a glorified body. We will see him face to face. And we will be in the presence of God. Now, without that, we wouldn't have been in Gospel. We cannot, because otherwise he says, until the mortality takes on a mortality, only then you can see God. You cannot see God face to face. Can you picture this? God said to Moses said, God, I want to see you. What did God say? You go and hide behind the cliff to the rock and I will make my goodness pass. Not even I ever make my goodness. I just make some of my presence possible. Now, you and I, as believers, after we die, as believers, the Bible says to be absent. The body is to be present with the Lord. The Book of Revelation says we will see him face to face. We will be with him in glory. Just as he is, we will be with him. So death has been swallowed up in victory. Is it killed then? Yes. Spiritual death never. As believers, we know that we are victorious. He was stoned away from God so that we can be brought to God. Now, we've said all these sentences. We've quoted it many times. It's very important to understand the substitutionary work that Jesus did. He was stoned away from God. It was basically God the Father turning his face against his beloved son. So that you and I, when we pray, we are brought to God. Jesus says, I am your High Priest. Hebrews, we talked about this as a High Priest. He is making intercession for us. You can say, God the Father doesn't need to be reminded. But just to paint a picture for you, it's like saying, I'm reminding the Father of the blood that I shed. So he will bring you closer. He became sin so that we might become the righteousness of God. We are righteous. Right now, this morning, some of us may have sinned. This morning, even before the class, some of us may have sinned. But if you and I go back to the cross and say, Lord, this is something that I've done wrong, please. I confess my sins. And your word says that if you confess your sins, you are faithful and just to forgive. I confess my sins. Wash me by your blood. Cleanse me. Make me whole. The moment you say those three or four sentences, we have a right standing before God. That's it. That's all we have to say. We have to believe it. Nothing's going to happen physically. We may not feel like blood running all over us or a presence of God just in covering us or the glory of God falling upon us. We may not feel anything. Righteousness is something that has been given to. It has been imputed in us. We have a right standing before God. Very simple. He became poor, and we might become rich. When we're talking about poor and rich, it's not about physical poor and rich. He's talking about in the spiritual. In the spiritual, we were poor. We were down for it. We were away from God. But now, Ephesians one says, we are seated with Him in heavenly places. We are rich. We have a eternal inheritance. He took our place here on earth to give us a place in heaven. Beautiful. What did Jesus tell us in the disciples? He said, there are many mansions up in heaven. There'll come a time. I will take you there. Jesus was not just saying mansions just because he didn't know what to say. There are mansions. There are going to be these wonderful things here in heaven. If Jesus wouldn't have come, we would not have access to heaven. He became what we were so we could share and who He is. He became what we were. But what were we? Is it us being tempted, being troubled, and tormented by the evil spirits? He became what we were. He became that sin, that guilt offering, that pain offering. He became for us so that we could share and who He is. Just as He is in the world, so are we. The Son of God became the Son of Man so that the sons of men could become the sons of God. Basically saying, now we can be called sons of God. Now, I do understand that the psalmist says, we are the sons of God. Now, here it's referring to an eternal inheritance. When we're talking about the national way of sons of men, now we become sons of God. We are God calls us as children. He's saying, I have brought you with a price. I've paid the price for you. And so you're no longer a slave. Romans writes, he says, you're no longer a slave. You're no longer a slave to bondage, to fear. But you, through the Holy Spirit, can cry out, above Father. You can cry out, above Father. There's no place in the Old Testament, even the high priest, the greatest of high priests could not call God Father. Could not do that. It's always God. It's Yahweh. It's Yahweh. In Greek, the Hebrew for Yahweh is Yaday, Waday. It had the greatest syllables that in the old covenant that the high priest and people of Israel would ever utter. That was, you know, history says that when the scribes would write the Old Testament, their responsibility was to write down, make copies of the books of the Old Testament. And the word Yahweh or Yahweh would go wash their hands, wash their face, come back and write. And there was so much of reverence that was given. But now we can come just the way we are, just the way we are. You can think about it, just the way we are. We don't have to put on anything. We don't have to put on a robe. We don't have to put on a facade. God sees through all of that. But if you could just come and say, I'm a sinner. These are things that I've done wrong. These are things that I need your help in. And God is more than willing to restore us. Remember what Jesus said? You Pharisees, you like to make a show of yourself. You stand on the street corners and you pray so that people watch you. There's no reward in that. But also, he says, look at this widow. She gave one coin. All of you came and gave all that you had in your abundance. So this widow, world widow came and gave just one coin from all that she had, but she's given more than any of you. So in God's kingdom, things work the opposite way. And so we're so glad. That's a grateful thing to be part of God's kingdom. God is calling us, His children. Substitution teaches me that God loves us immensely. Why did Jesus have to die take our place? Because He loves us. Let me ask you this question. OK, it's just a thought that I'm sharing. In church history, we see many, many, many examples where during the intense persecution, Christians were persecuted. There were times when they would catch the husband, they would say, or the wife and the children were caught. People, the persecutors would say, I will let them go if I'm able to kill you. One of you should die in the three of you. During the husband, we'll say, what would the husband say? He would look at his wife and his son or little daughter and say, without even a blink of an eye, we'll say, I'll take it. Let them go. Why? Because He loves them. He would rather if something happens to him than his wife and his children. And this is just, this is a natural love. Look at God, the God kind of love. How much more will God do for His own children? What love is this? He loves us more than what we can ever imagine. As natural parents, we love our children so much that we love our parents, we love our family members. If anything happens to them, it's very difficult for us. A painful time. When Jesus loved us so much that He would take upon Himself, that He died on the cross for us. And here's the best part. Atonement was paid in full. It doesn't have to be again and again and again. Jesus doesn't have to do that again and again. It was done. God's justice for sin is done towards the sinner. It is done. It is finished. It's paid in full. I was looking at this testimony, reading this testimony quite some time back. I don't remember when, but there was this man who was a criminal, a murderer. This happened in the West end. During the early 70s, they used to keep, I think they even do it now, but most prisons, they had Bibles. They would place Bibles in prisons so that they could read and change their lives. Many of them were there for incarceration, meaning death. And there's a story about this man. I forget his name, but he was there for death as an entire lifetime. And being in prison, over time, there's nothing to do in prison. So they began to read the Bible. You might as well read something. And so God ministered. The word of God is alive. It's powerful. God ministered. This person gave his life to Christ. But he writes in his book and he says, every now and then, all the sins that he committed would come up in front of his eyes. When he sleeps, those sins will come. When he eats, those sins will come. The things that he did wrong. But he would go back to the world and he would read and he would say, God, forgive me. So this happened for many years. He kept asking God, God, forgive me. God, forgive me. And there came a time when he knew he was going to be incarcerated if he put to death. And he writes that he felt like there was a Satan came and said, these are the things that you have done wrong. So I'm waiting to take you. You will be with me forever. It was kind of like a dream or a vision, something like that. And at that moment, Jesus came and put a stamp on it and saying, paid in for you. And he put a signature there. This man said, from that day on, there was no feeling of asking for forgiveness because he understood that God had taken up the judgment on himself, that he had a right standing. He was righteous, even though he's in prison with all these criminals, even though he himself was a criminal, but now he's a righteousness of God. Christ became our opponent. His death removed the barrier between God and man. Every time you and I sin, it's like we're building a wall around us, building a wall. And then eventually, what happens is we're praying sometimes. And we say, hey, I'm praying. I'm praying, but I can't hear God. I can't hear what God has to say to me, or I don't know if my prayers are reaching God. And sometimes, it's because of the sin. When we look at scriptures, as Thomas says, when you confess your sins, he will forgive your inequities and heal all your diseases. So we see that sin and healing are always together. So sometimes, we need to confess our sins, break those walls of barriers that we have built. Then we begin to hear God clearly. Ephesians 2, 14 through 16, for he himself is our peace, who has made both one and has broken that middle wall of separation, having abolished in the flesh the enmity, that is the law of commandments contained in ordnance, so as to create in himself one new man from the two. That's making peace. And that he might reconcile them both to God and one body through the cross, thereby put into debt the enmity. Colossians 1, 19, for it pleased the Father that in him all the fullness should dwell, and by him to reconcile all things to himself, by him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of his cross. In the Old Testament, we see that wall. So there's always the outer coat, inner coat in the most holy place. So nobody dared go into the most holy place. It was only once a year that the high priest would go on the day of the problem. Just stuck one day, no other day. Nobody dared, whoever went and wouldn't die. But on the cross, we see the scriptures teach us that the moment Jesus died on the cross, the veil in the temple was stoned from top to bottom. There was a reason for that to happen. It was God showing the people that now you don't need this inner coats anymore, or the most holy place anymore. All you need to do is come to my presence, not with the blood of those coats and rams, but come through the blood of my son Jesus Christ. So that veil was stoned. The cross put the debt, the enmity between God and man. Now, God is not enemies with us. God is not saying, no, you first do the offering and then come to me. No. He is ready. He's willing with his arms wide open. We can just go into his presence with confidence. Remember the day of atonement? The priest should have had to have confessed all his sins. He should have confessed his own sins, the sins of the nation of Israel. And then he would go give the off, put the blood on the tabernacle and come out. Now, we can enter his presence even when we are sinners. We enter. He said, God, this is what I've done. Because there's no veil anymore. There's no enmity. God is not, when God looks at us, he's looking at us. He's looking at us through the eyes of Jesus. Is this sin? Yes. At the moment we confess, he's looking at us through the eyes of Jesus. He's saying, you're forgiven. You're righteous because of what my son did. So because of the cross, God could pardon the sinner freely and still remain just. Now, we talked about this. God is a just God. Sin needs to be dealt with. Now, on the cross, you and I are sinners. We can be pardoned freely because of the cross. And this does not make him unjust. It's not like, OK, Jesus died, but what about you? No. All the sins is put on Jesus. Two legal implications which occurred. The sins of the world were imputed to a perfect, impeccable humanity of Jesus Christ on the cross. He was perfect. And two, the perfect righteousness of God is imputed to every believer at the point of salvation. Perfect righteousness. Jesus was perfect. The moment we become believers, the perfect righteousness of God. The devil will come and say, you are this, you are that. The one Satan means what? He means the accuser of the brethren. That's his work. That's all he's got to do. He's got to keep accusing. You didn't have faith. You didn't walk in love. You didn't do this. You didn't do that. Accuser. He's going to keep accusing till the end of time. That's what he is. He's a deceiver, a manipulator. He's going to accuse you. You know, I've heard the saying, when Satan reminds you of your past, you remind him of his future. His future is just the same, right? And he's going to remind you of your past. He's going to remind you of sins. That's what he accuses each one of us of. But as a believer, you can say, Satan, I don't have to give an account to you. Yes, I have sinned. I don't have to give an account to you because you are already defeated. So if I have to deal with my sin, I don't have to deal with you. I'll have to go to the cross. The moment you say that out loud with your own words, the devil is defeated. There's nothing he can do. He cannot say, well, but the cross, he did not receive forgiveness. He knows. He cannot say, oh, the cross is not enough. The cross is not real. He may say that. But if you know it, if you know that Jesus died on the cross for you, there's nothing he can do. That's where you and I stand strong, the point of righteousness. No, I'm righteous before God. We have to reconcile two things here. The fact that God is a loving Father and yet he is angry with sin and demands sacrifice to satisfy his righteousness. But God has not changed. God's character has not changed. He's the same yesterday, today, forever. All for the Old Testament, you see that God is a loving Father. He has realized sinned. He got upset. He had to. And God got angry. He had to deal with them. God's character has not changed. God loves us. He does, you know, he loves us with all his heart. But he also knows that when we sin, it has to be dealt with, right? So what is happening now? God looks at the cross. It is where he turns his focus. He says, okay, instead of, this is a sin that has to be judged. But then he remembers the blood of Jesus Christ. And he says, my son paid the price. So I will look at him. All he needs to do, all she needs to do is ask for that forgiveness. I'm freely willing to forgive his sins. What does atonement teach us? It teaches us that God wants to have a relationship with me because he himself paid a great price to make that possible. The price was not a small price. The cross was not a small price. When, you know, we look at these pictures of the cross. We look at, you know, just the movie that we saw. I'm sure most of us have seen Passion of the Christ. It is probably just a small percentage of what really happened. God paid a big, big price, a great price to make it possible for us that we can have a relationship with him. Every time we get into God's word, when we read God's word, when we meditate on God's word, we look at the promises of God. It is God building a relation. We are building a relationship with God. It is like we are, God is speaking inside of us. It's so real. Many times we want a prophetic word. We want a dream or vision and word of knowledge and all of those are there. Sometimes all we need is one verse from the Bible. I remember this elderly woman who was going through a very, very difficult patch in our life and she was sharing with me, you know, the thing that went through these difficult challenges and praying and asking God, God, give me a vision. Give me a prophetic word. Give me, and God told her, you know, she just sensed in her heart, read the word of God. She goes into the, she gets the Bible. She just opens the Bible and she gets to Joshua chapter one. In Joshua chapter one, it says, do not fear, no, be dismayed, I'm with you. I will hold you. And it was done. Every fear, every doubt, everything was gone. She said, for six months I was saying, God speak to me, to give me a dream, give me a vision, give me something, give me a prophetic word. Nothing happened in six months. She just read one verse from the Bible and that fear was gone. Why? Because God, this is God's word. When we read God's word, he's building a relationship with us. Some of us says, your word is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my heart, all right? So very important, each one of us, as believers, don't always wait. If you get a prophetic word, re-invasion and all that, that's good. But you and I have the living word. It is God speaking to us. It teaches us that God wants to have a relationship with us. What is applicable to, in Genesis, the promises in Genesis is applicable even now. It can minister to us even now. Because it's God's word. And so always remember that. Go back to God's word, all right? Redemption. He purchased and glorified us because of the fall we were in. I mean, let's just go a little quick here because we already know, talked about this, because of the fall, we came under subjection to send Satan at death. And we could not be legally released until the prices paid and Christ paid that price. Christ gave his life as a price for us. And so he purchased us with his own precious blood. By 2028, just as the son of man would not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. The Greek word ransom here is leutron, which is a redemptive price. He paid the price. Basically, it was like Jesus saying, going to the devil and saying, hey, I've paid the price, the blood has been shed. I gave my own life for those who believe in me. So devil, you have no authority now. That's where the Bible says, down Jesus has the keys of death and hell. Jesus is an authority. He is in control. He is in control. And he purchased us and he glorified us. All right. The cross was an act of redemption, of buying back people in debt on the payment of a price. Hebrews 9.14, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who to the eternal spirit offered himself without sport to God, cleans your conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Remember that you and I have been redeemed and bought by a price. There was a price that was paid, a big price. So you and I can declare this boldly. You can pray and expect God's blessings. You can expect healing, expect deliverance, expect the works of God, prosperity, the blessings of God in your life. Anything that you can expect it because that's what God wants for us. Since I'm redeemed, the one for many, one man was disobedient, many became sinners. One man was obedient, many became righteous. One man sinned, death passed on many. One man became sinless, sinless. Many received life. One man was disobedient, judgment passed on all of us. One man was obedient, they were all made righteous. One man sinned and we all became slaves to the devil. One man was obedient, they were made to reign at life. Remember, Jesus, he was tempted, right? And he was tempted, but he was tempted in many ways, yet without sin. When we sin, we become slaves to the enemy. The devil treats us like puppets. So just, you know, it's like on this thing, and we very easily entangled with sin. He treats us like puppets. See, go here, do this, go here, do this. And we do it. Why? Because we are slaves. At the moment we become believers and we believe in what the Bible teaches us, we believe on the work of the cross. You and I are made to reign in life. Victorious, rule and reign, right? It's talking more about a kingdom mindset. You reign from a kingdom that is an everlasting kingdom. You reign from a kingdom that is already victorious. Think of this, you have a king, and this king has been a successful king, maybe for 30 years, right? It's been raining this kingdom. Many attacks have happened, many enemies have come, but he's defeated them all. Do you think he's going to be shy to sit on his throne? Do you think he's, you know, he's not going to be shy? He's not going to feel insecure, no? He's going to be bold, so when the enemy comes again, he says, hey, we have destroyed many enemies, so we'll get them too. The attitude of living a victorious life. Now, in the old, you know, when one man sinned, when we were unbelievers, we were slaves to the devil, but now we reign in life. We speak against the works of the devil. We speak against the plans and schemes of the devil. And so remember this, remember this, you're called to reign in life. One man sinned, many lost sonship. One man was obedient, many regained sonship. All right, let's take a break. We come back and we continue the next chapter. Take a break.