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A PLEASING SACRIFICE
A. Introduction: Jesus warned that prior to His second coming, great religious deception will occur on this
earth—mainly false Christs and false prophets who preach false gospels. Matt 24:4-5; 11; 24
1. So much popular preaching today is geared toward meeting felt needs and helping people with life’s
problems through motivational sermons that give practical life skills—in place of solid teaching.
a. However, we need sound teaching about who the real Jesus is, and why He came into this world, so
that we can recognize and reject false teachings.
b. We’re taking time to examine who Jesus is according to the Bible, especially the New Testament
which was written by eyewitnesses of Jesus (or close their close associates).
2. We’ve made the point that most Christians know that Jesus is the Son of God, but because of lack of
understanding about what that means, many sincere believers view Jesus as somehow less than God.
a. The title Son of God does not mean that Jesus was less than God, less than the Father. It means
sameness of nature. Jesus is the Son of God because He is God.
b. The people who walked and talked with Jesus when He was on earth, believed that Jesus was and is
fully God become fully man without ceasing to be fully God. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday,
today, and forever (Heb 13:8). Tonight, we have more to say tonight about who Jesus is.
B. To appreciate the fact that Jesus is God become man without ceasing to be God and what this means, we must
first have some insight into the nature of God. The Bible reveals that God is one God who simultaneously
manifests as three Divine Persons—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
1. These three are Persons in the sense that they are self aware and interactive with each other. The word
Person falls short because to us, person means an individual who is separate from other individuals.
a. These three Persons co-inhere or share one Divine nature. They dwell in each other; you can’t have
one without the other. The Father is all God; the Son is all God; the Holy Spirit is all God. This is
beyond our comprehension, and all efforts to explain this three in oneness (the Trinity) fall short.
1. The word Trinity is not found in the Bible but the teaching, or doctrine, is. When we read the
Bible, we see clearly that there is only one God. But we also see three Persons who are God.
2. We see that all three Persons possess and demonstrate the qualities, characteristics, and abilities
of God—Omnipresence, Omniscience, Omnipotence, Eternality, Absolute Holiness, and Truth.
In other words, they all are and do what only God is and can do.
b. The Bible opens with the Trinity (Deity, the Godhead) in action. God created the earth and man
(Gen 1:1; Gen 2:7). Yet the Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit created the earth and man (Gen 1:2;
John 33:4), and the Son created all things (John 1:3; John 1:10; Heb 1:2). Three in One.
1. The Bible is progressive revelation. God gradually revealed Himself through the Scriptures,
and the doctrine of the Trinity is not as clearly revealed in the Old Testament as in the New.
2. But we do see numerous appearances of the Son before He was born into this world (lessons for
for another night, Gen 18:1-33; Ex 3:1-6; Josh 5:13-15; etc.). And, in numerous places in the
Old Testament, God and the Holy Spirit are mentioned in the same passage (Ex 31:1-3; II
Chron 20:14-18; Ps 51:11; etc.)
A. Two thousand years ago. the Second Person of the Trinity incarnated or took on a full
human nature in the womb of the virgin Mary, and became the God-man, fully God and
fully man—one Person with two natures, human and Divine, God with us. Matt 1:23
B. God the Son took on a human nature so that He could die as a sacrifice for sin. In doing
so, He opened the way for sinful men and women to be redeemed, or delivered from sin.
and restored to God through faith in Him. Heb 2:9; Heb 2:14-15
2. All three Persons of the Trinity (or the Godhead) were involved the work of redemption. Each Person
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had a specific role or position. Words fall short when we talk about God. Although the following
statement is a very simplistic way of stating something beyond our comprehension, it gives us insight.
a. God the Father planned redemption and sent (gave) God the Son to accomplish it (Eph 1:3-5; Rom
8:29; Rev 13:8). God the Son incarnated and obtained salvation through His death and resurrection
(Heb 2:9; 14; Phil 2:6-8; John 10:17-18). God the Father and God the Son sent God the Holy Spirit
to apply the results of redemption (John 14:26; John 15:26; Rom 8:10-11; I Cor 2:12; etc.)
1. The fact that the Father sent the Son does not mean that the Son is less than the Father. The
fact that Father and the Son sent the Holy Spirit does not mean that He is less than the Father
and the Son. Difference of function does not mean difference in nature.
2. Nature and function are two different things. This Bible is very clear that although the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit have different functions in redemption and salvation, they all have
the same nature. And, there is a unity amongst them as they perform their different functions.
A. All three were involved in the Incarnation—the Father (Heb 10:5), the Son (Heb 2:14), and
the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35).
B. All three were involved in the resurrection—the Father (Acts 2:32; Acts 13:30; Rom 6:4;
Eph 1:19-20), the Son (John 2:19; John 10:17-18); the Holy Spirit (Rom 1:4; Rom 8:11).
b. Jesus (God the Son) was co-equal with the Father, but took a subordinate position for the purpose of
accomplishing our redemption and salvation from sin. Jesus lowered Himself, not by putting off
His Deity, but by taking on His human nature.
1. Though (Jesus) was God, he did not demand and cling to his rights as God. He made himself
nothing; he took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form (Phil 2:6-7, NLT).
2. Jesus, in His essential person, is God, the Second Person of the Trinity. God can’t stop being
God. God’s attributes (Omnipotence, Omniscience, Omnipresence, Eternality) are in are
inseparable from His essence (who and what He is). Jesus demonstrated those qualities while
He was on earth. Matt 9:3-4; Matt 18:20; John 1:47-48; John 3:13; John 9:58
3. Equality of being and subordination (taking a lower position) in a working relationship is not a
contradiction. Difference in function does not mean inferiority of nature.
c. Two weeks ago we addressed the fact that Jesus did not cease to be God on the Cross. Jesus, who
was and is a Divine Person, who took on a human nature, was not separated from God at the Cross.
1. The Godhead (Deity, the Trinity) is inseparable because it is one substance. It is impossible
that Jesus’ Deity left Him—For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily (Col 2:9, ESV).
2. The God-man, experienced death through His human nature. Jesus, the God-man, died.
Jesus was still fully God when He died. The God-man laid down His life for us.
A. On the Cross, when Jesus cried out, My God, My God why have your forsaken Me (Matt
27:45-46), He was not saying that He was no longer God or that His Deity left Him. He
was applying Scripture to Himself. His statement is actually the first line of Ps 22.
B. This psalm has a number of specific statements which were fulfilled when Jesus was
crucified (Ps 22:16, 18; etc.). The last line of the psalm can be translated “It is finished”
(Ps 22:31, Amp). Jesus spoke those words just before He died.
C. The Jews believed Ps 22 to be a Messianic psalm. Through His statement, Jesus was
identifying with the psalm because He was the fulfillment of it.
C. What about the popular idea that God turned His back on Jesus at the Cross? Some say God couldn’t even
look at Jesus because He took our sin on Himself and was made sin on the Cross. Consider these points.
1. When Jesus submitted to death on the Cross, He was doing, obeying the Father’s will: Phil 2:6-8—
Though he (Jesus) was God, he did not demand and cling to his rights as God. He made himself
nothing; he took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form. And in human form he
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obediently humbled himself even further by dying a criminal’s death on a cross (NLT).
a. Not long before the crucifixion Jesus said: No one can take my life from me. I lay down my life
voluntarily. For I have the right to lay it down when I want to and also the power to take it up again.
For my Father has given me this command (John 10:18, NLT).
b. Jesus also said: When you have lifted up the Son of Man on the cross, then you will realize that I
am he and that I do nothing on my own, but I speak what the Father taught me. And the one who
sent me is with me—he has not deserted me. For I always do those things which are pleasing to
him (John 8:28-29, NLT).
c. When Jesus prayed in the Garden before His crucifixion, He said: My Father! If it is possible, let
this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will, not mine (Matt 26:39, NLT).
2. People mistakenly say that since Jesus took our sin on Himself at the Cross, God looked away because
the Lord can’t look on sin or look on evil.
a. But, because God is Omnipresent, He sees every sin committed by everyone, everywhere: Prov
15:3—The Lord is watching everywhere, keeping his eye on both the evil and the good (NLT).
b. Some quote an Old Testament verse as proof that God couldn’t look on Jesus at the Cross. It says:
Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity (Hab 1:13, KJV).
1. However, the Hebrew word that is translated look means to look intently and by implication, to
regard with pleasure, favor, or care: Your eyes are too pure to approve evil, and you cannot
look on wickedness with favor (Hab 1:13, NASB).
2. Speaking of His people Israel, when they were deep in idol worship and all its related evil,
God said: For my eyes are on all their ways. They are not hidden from me, nor is their
iniquity concealed from my eyes (Jer 16:17, ESV).
3. God created human beings to become His sons and daughters through faith in Him. But all people
(going back to the first man and woman) have rebelled against their Creator through sin, through
disobedience. All people have chosen independence from God and are no longer fit for His family.
a. Note what happened when the first human beings, Adam and Eve, sinned. God came looking for
them: Toward evening they heard the Lord God walking about in the garden, so they hid
themselves among the trees. (And) The Lord God called to Adam (Gen 3:8, NLT).
b. God then made the first promise of the coming Redeemer, who would undo the damage done and
recover His family. Speaking to the serpent that tempted Eve to disobey God, the Lord said: And
I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise
you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel (Gen 3:15, NASB).
1. Note that the Seed will come by the woman. Jesus is the Seed and Mary is the woman. God’s
promise in Genesis 3:15 is the first prophecy of the virgin birth and the crucifixion.
(Remember, the Bible is progressive revelation.)
2. The coming Seed (the Son) will be born of a woman according the promise of God the Father—
His human nature produced in the womb of the virgin Mary by the power of God the Holy
Spirit, without the intervention of man. The devil will inspire wicked men to crucify the Lord,
but the Seed will bruise Satan’s head—or break his power, the power of sin and death.
c. Gen 3:21—God made coats of skin for Adam and Eve, picturing what it will take to deal with sin—
the death of an innocent sacrifice.
1. The Lord instructed Adam and Eve to begin the practice of offering lambs to the Him, to cover
sin, until the Seed would come to make the final sacrifice that would put away sin. Gen 4:2-4
2. God then put Adam and Eve out of the Garden, not because He couldn’t look on them or be
around them because of their sin, but because He wanted them and their descendants to know
that there is a penalty for sin, death, or being cut off from God who is life. True Life is in God.
3. Animal sacrifices continued for many centuries. When God delivered the Israelites (the
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people group through whom the promised Seed will come) from Egyptian slavery, He gave
them a detailed system of animal sacrifices (lessons for another day),
4. The point for us now is that the concept of dealing with sin through offering blood sacrifices was part of
the consciousness of the people group Jesus was born into—1st century Judaism.
a. God the Father sent God the Son to be an offering for sin. Jesus willingly died on the Cross as an
offering for sin. And He and His sacrifice were acceptable to and accepted by God.
1. I John 4:10—This is real love. It is not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent His
Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins (NLT).
2. Heb 10:12—But our High Priest (Jesus) offered himself to God as one sacrifice for sins, good
for all time. Then he sat down at the place of highest honor at God’s right hand (NLT).
3. Jesus (the Seed, the Son) willingly died to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself (Heb 9:26)
and to destroy him who has the power of death, the devil (Heb 2:14-15).
b. All of this was pleasing to God. Sin is an offense against God. To be true to Himself and His holy
and righteous nature, He must respond to sin. To be just, God can’t let anyone off the hook for sin.
1. Jesus became a propitiation, or a sacrifice that vindicates or exonerates God’s righteous
character. God has so dealt with sin that through the sacrifice of Jesus that He can justly,
rightly, show mercy to the sinner who comes to Him on the basis of Jesus’ sacrifice.
2. Because of Jesus’ sacrifice, God can justly, righteously, remove the guilt of sin, remit the sin,
and forgive the sinner who acknowledges Jesus as his Savior and Lord.
c. There were many kinds of sacrifices proscribed under the Old Testament system. One of them
was a burnt offering, which was a picture of the sacrificial death of Jesus. Sacrifices that were
made properly were said to be pleasing to God or “a sweet savour unto the Lord” (Lev 1:9, KJV).
1. Sweet smelling refers to the fumes of burnt offerings which ascended to the Lord as the offering
was burning. Paul used this same term when he referenced Jesus’ sacrifice of Himself.
2. Eph 5:2—Live a life filled with love for others, following the example of Christ, who loved you
and gave himself as a sacrifice to take away your sins. And God was pleased, because that
sacrifice was like a sweet perfume to him (NLT).
3. Under this system it was understood that God’s acceptance of the sacrifice meant that God
accepted the person offering it. Jesus was never more pleasing to the Father than when He was
on the Cross.
5. Sin wasn’t literally put on Jesus. Nor was He made sin. Sin is not a thing. It is something you do, an
act—a transgression of God’s Law, a violation of His commands in thought, word, or action. I John 3:4
a. Jesus was made a sin offering (an offering for sin) on the Cross. In the Old Testament to bear sin
was understood to mean to bear the penalty of sin. It was understand that the sin for which pardon
is sought was transferred to the innocent victim, and because of its death, sin can be pardoned.
b. In the Old Testament a sin offering is often referred to simply as sin. That’s how the eyewitnesses
would have understood Jesus’ death.
c. II Cor 5:21—For God made Christ who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could
be made right with God through Christ (NLT).
D. Conclusion: We have more to say next week, but consider these thoughts as we close tonight’s lesson.
1. Jesus was and is a Person of infinite value. He is God Incarnate and He is also the sinless spotless
Lamb of God. Based Jesus’ infinite value, God can accept His sacrifice, His death as an equivalent to
all the penalty due to all people for all time on account of their sin.
2. Jesus and His sacrifice were fully pleasing to the Father. God now has the legal option of remitting or
wiping out sin for all those who believe on Jesus as Savior and Lord. Rev 1:5—All praise to him who
loves us and has freed us from our sins by shedding his blood for us (NLT). More next week!
