BY AL BUCHANAN
In the news this past week there’s been quite a bit in the
news regarding the fact that we have just passed the fifth anniversary of this
conflict in
Approximately two weeks before that war began I gave a sermon here that I would like to go back and revisit some of the material that was given then. I think it would be worthwhile for us to consider it again at this time. As we progress now along as far as what we have, perhaps the point that I was attempting to make five years ago will be—perhaps we can see it a little bit more clearly now.
At that time, two weeks before, three weeks before, whatever it was the war began when I gave that sermon, it was obvious that it was just a matter of time that we were going to enter that war. If you remember for months prior to us initiating the conflict, it was talked about. It was probably the most announced conflict that’s ever been entered into. If you remember the administration was attempting to establish the fact that we needed to engage in this conflict. There was an attempt to convince the American people. There was an attempt to convince our allies. And so this was going on for months but prior to us going into the conflict.
But when I gave this message—or gave material that I’m going
to be covering today—five years ago that was the stage. That was what we were in. And we were looking forward to this conflict
beginning. And we were in the process of
counting the cost of what that conflict was going to involve. We knew, and everybody knew, that the
Now we’re five years down the road. We’re able to assess better what the costs really have been. Back then, five years ago, the nation was projecting and trying to determine what the costs would be. Now we’re able to look back over five years and we can see a whole lot better. Now we see what the reality really was and what costs have really been accrued. We’re nearing 4,000 military personnel that have lost their lives, real close to 4,000.
There’s two web sites that I was able to find that’s running
and accumulating costs in dollars of the war.
You can connect to that web site and they’ll have this number and it’s
just constantly flipping numbers. You
can’t even see the last two or three rows of digits because they’re spinning so
fast. The costs are mounting so
rapidly. Both of them have the total in
excess of 500 billion dollars that have been spent by the
So now we can see to this point, at least, what it has cost. We can see the reality of what we’re engaged in. Now we’re having individuals that are saying, “It’s enough. Let’s get out.” A couple of our presidential candidates are saying, “Let’s cut and run. Let’s draw down the number of troops immediately. Let’s begin the process of withdrawing and get out.” While others are saying, “That would be a horrible mistake. We’ve got to continue.” So now we’re in a situation where we’ve got to count the cost of continuing, whether we’re going to continue and stay till the victory or whether we’re going to cave in and quit. So what do we do?
Jesus Christ had some words to say when we face situations like this. I want to go to Luke 14. I know that you’re familiar with this section of Scripture but let’s go there and notice what He said. In Luke 14, we’ll begin reading in verse 25. Verse 25 Luke 14, it states
Luke 14:25. Now great
multitudes went with Him. And He turned
and said to them, 26) “If anyone comes
to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and
sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. 27) “And whoever does not bear his cross and
come after Me cannot be My disciple.
So the decision on whether to become a disciple of Jesus Christ should be made after thoroughly considering the cost. It requires sacrifices. We heard in the sermonette, “We’ve got to go contrary to the way the world is going.” If we’re going to follow Jesus Christ and become His disciple, follow His instruction, and keep His word, we’re going to have to fight the flow that everybody else is going. Each one of us should consider the cost of discipleship.
We all did at our baptism. But you know what? When we were baptized, hardly any of us were able to project ahead to know what was going to be in our future. Think back at your baptism. In some cases, you might have been quite young, in some cases, maybe not so young when you were baptized. But yet projecting forward, you were asked, no doubt, by whoever baptized you to read these Scriptures and to count the cost. “Are you willing to follow through? Are you willing to make this commitment?” And all of us said, “Oh, yeah. We can do that.” We had no idea what we ended up having to go through many of us. We had no idea. When we were baptized, most of us, things were going quite smoothly within the Church. We had no real serious upheavals or anything like that to contend with. We had the world to, yes. But we had no idea that we were going to have to contend with what we had to when the apostasy began to develop within the Church. We had no idea about that.
Now we’ve got a far more realistic view of what this is all
about. And what we’ve been through to
this point and maybe we got a little bit more reality in us attempting to
project forward as to what we might have to face yet in the future. But here we are, right now, having to
determine. Like the
In verse 28, He went on to say
Luke 14:28. “For which of
you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost,
whether he has enough to finish it—
29) “Lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish
it, all who see it begin to mock
him, 30) “Saying, ‘This man began to
build and was not able to finish.’
So anything that we enter into, building a home, establishing a business, whatever it might be, we need to look at the costs as best that we can see them and ask ourselves, “Do we have what it takes to do this? Do we have the finances? Do we have the wherewithal to make this happen?” We are to count the cost. And again, sometimes we won’t know what the costs are going to be really until we get involved in it.
But then in verse 31.
Luke 14:31. “Or what king,
And this is a little bit more closely associated with the
example of the
Luke 14:31. “Or what king,
going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider
whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with
twenty thousand? 32) “Or else, while the
other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of
peace. 33) “So likewise, whoever of you
does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.
So the bottom line is “Are we willing and able to follow through on our commitment?” We talked about a commitment last week and how that those sentinels who guard the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier have to make an incredible commitment and sacrifice much of their life in order to do that job. And, as I said last week, it was embarrassing to me to think about the commitment that I’ve made and how that I have failed to follow through in many cases with that commitment compared to the commitment these men make and do follow through. And here we’ve been called to a far higher calling than what they’ve been called to. But are we willing and able to follow through on the commitment that we made? We’re to count the cost and continue to count the cost.
Now from today there are three Sabbaths remaining to
Passover, four weeks from last evening.
In this sermon today I’d like for us to think about another situation
where others had to count the cost. We’ve
talked about the
I don’t know. Now again, we covered this material in general since last five years ago. I don’t know if you remember us talking about this or not. But have you ever thought about the fact that these Beings had to count the cost as well? As They planned this out, They had this great plan and this great purpose in mind but there was going to be a great price to pay. Not only in the sacrifice that One of Them would have to make but ongoing in Their involvement in each of our lives personally and individually throughout the entire plan until it’s brought to completion. Can you imagine the costs involved?
The title of the message today is Counting The Cost Of Salvation, Counting The Cost Of Salvation.
They had to consider what the costs would be from Their
perspective to complete this plan. Now
They had the advantage of being able to look forward and project forward in
detail as to what would occur. Although
I think, as we will see, when the reality really came that the reality was
perhaps greater and more intense, perhaps, than what even They were able to
project. I think always no matter how
good we are at assessing what costs will be, ahead of us initiating anything as
human beings, no matter how good we are at assessing what the cost will be,
when they actually occur and the reality takes place, it’s far more. It’s far greater. It has a greater impact. And it affects us more than what we
anticipate. And even in Their case—and
we will see that as we go through this—I think perhaps that was the case. The incredible work that They were to have to
go through, They had to count that cost.
1 Peter chapter 1, let’s go there. 1 Peter 1 and in verse 18. We’re actually breaking into a sentence here.
1 Peter 1:18. Knowing that
you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, 19) But [you were redeemed (You could put in
there.)] with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and
without spot. 20) He indeed was foreordained
before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for
you.
This Greek word that’s rendered “foreordained” means to have knowledge of beforehand or to foreknow. And so Jesus the Christ, whom John referred to as the Word, was revealed in this last time. However, His appearance in the human flesh was foreordained. It was foreknown. They knew this was going to have to happen. It was determined before the foundation of the world. It was preplanned or predetermined that it had to occur.
In Revelation 13 and verse 8—you don’t need to turn there—it refers to “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” And so it became necessary from the very foundation of this world. It was necessary that this happen. It was preplanned for the Word to become flesh and He would have to be slain. He would have to die in the manner in which He did so that His precious blood, literally containing the Word’s life. We need to understand that. And I think we do. We’ve talked about this so many times. But when this Word of God, this great God Being became flesh, it was the same life. The life which was God now became human life. So it was the same life and that life was in the blood of Jesus Christ. That was the reason why it’s referred to as “the precious blood,” the very precious blood of the very Creator of human life.
These two great God Beings back at that time had to count the cost. I don’t know, again, if we’ve thought about that or not before but we have to. We need to. We need to realize that They went through what They’re asking us to go through. They had to count the cost. They committed Themselves to this endeavor. And once committed They could not turn back.
Let’s go to Genesis chapter 1 just briefly. Genesis chapter 1 and verse 26.
Genesis 1:26. Then God said
[Elohim said], “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let
them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and
over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps
on the earth. 27) So God created man in
His own image; in the image of God He
created him; male and female He created them.
So Elohim determined to create a human family patterned after what the completed God Family would be like. So as They projected forward as to what the completed Family would look like, They made man, the family of man, in that image.
And then over in verse 7 of chapter 2.
Genesis 7:2. And the Lord God
That Being that was destined to become Jesus the Christ and walked on this earth in the human flesh.
Genesis 7:2. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed
into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
Now this is a very short verse but attempt to put yourself as best you can into the shoes of this Being as He is bringing life into this first human being that He’s created. This Individual, who was destined to become the Last Adam, is breathing life into the first Adam, a being that actually would be a type of Himself. And as He’s doing this, no doubt, thinking of the role that He Himself would play. He’s creating this being. He’s breathing life into this physical human being and this very same life that this being is beginning to experience is the very same life He was going to be destined to experience Himself. And just think about that as He is bringing this about and what must have been going on in His mind. No doubt, Him at this time counting the cost and projecting forward as to what He was going to have to do Himself. This, no doubt, was on Their mind throughout the process of creation.
Over in Ephesians 5, let’s go there. Ephesians chapter 5 and in verse 1.
Ephesians 5:1. Therefore be
[followers] of God as dear children.
As the apostle Paul writes.
Ephesians 5:2. And walk in
love, as Christ also has loved us
Now remember Jesus the Christ when He was on this earth in instructing His disciples gave them that commandment that carries on to us. And it involves every one that is specially called by God to participate at this time in His plan. Every one of us is to obey that commandment that we are to love one another as He loved us. And it says here, Paul is writing and he says
Ephesians 5:2. And walk in
love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us,
And we’ve pointed out so many times that most, not most but
many of the translations has that that He gave Himself up for us. This is conveying to us the information that
He had to give up who and what He was as very God in order to be able to
demonstrate His love in giving Himself in sacrifice.
Ephesians 5:2. And walk in
love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself [up] for us, an
offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.
So Jesus Christ had to give Himself up so that He could become an offering and a sacrifice to God. In a sense—we’ve talked about this—He had to become a burnt offering. He had to fulfill what the burnt offering pictured. Just as remember Isaac was to be a burnt offering. And we’re going to talk about that a little bit later. He was to be a burnt offering. So was Jesus Christ. He had to do this. This was a requirement of Him that He had to do this. In order to become flesh, He had to give Himself up to become a full flesh and blood, human being. He had to make the sacrifice of giving up who and what He was.
Over in verse 25, it says
Ephesians 5:25. Husbands,
love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself [up] for
[it];
The incredible love that He had for His potential Bride, as He projected forward as to what He was doing this for, enabled Him to make the sacrifice and to give Himself in this way.
In Philippians chapter 2, notice what Paul is instructing us that we are to follow. We are to follow in this example that He set. Philippians 2 and verse 5, it says
Philippians 2:5. Let this
mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,
Now what particular part of this mind is he talking about? What is it? There’s a particular part of the thinking of Christ that he’s referring to here.
Philippians 2:5. Let this
mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,
6) Who,
And here’s the example. Here’s what he’s talking about.
Philippians 2:6. Who, being
in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7) But made Himself of no reputation, taking
the form of a servant, and coming in
the likeness of men.
And so His willingness to give Himself up to become a human being and to become this human sacrifice is what this is talking about. This willingness to sacrifice, this willingness to give oneself in service to others is this part of His thinking that we’re asked to have within our thinking.
Philippians 2:5. Let this
mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus,
Verse 8.
Philippians 2:8. And being
found in the appearance of a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of
the cross.
This thing of humbling oneself—now imagine, imagine the degree of humbling Himself that He did. When you understand that this was the great God, the Almighty God who created everything that is, He was there with God from the beginning. This Being was willing to empty Himself to become a human being like you and me. That’s an incredible demonstration of humility! A willingness to humble Himself to do this.
Now we talked about last week the need for us to spend our pride. And I think that’s a concept that we need to think about. That probably would take a whole sermon to really develop that and what’s involved in that. All of us have pride. Every one of us has pride. I don’t think that there’s a single exception of a human being who lives on this earth who doesn’t have pride, a certain level of pride. And we are to humble ourselves. We are to then spend the pride. We must get rid of the pride. We must give up the pride in order to become humble. We can’t be both. We can’t be filled with pride, in other words, and filled with arrogance and have humility. That can’t be. These are opposites. You can’t be both. So you never will be one hundred percent humble ever because we will never ever—I don’t think. I don’t think it’s possible to give up totally our pride. But we are to give it up in exchange for humility. And it’s a process. It’s an ongoing process. And we are to continue to attempt to do this. But I think if we think about it in terms of spending it. I mean it’s something that we have and it’s part of us. And we got to give it up. We’ve got to turn loose of it.
You might think of it in terms of you may own a piece of land, let’s say. Let’s say you own a hundred and twenty acres. I use that because when I was a small boy my dad and mom owned a hundred and twenty acre farm so I just think, when I think of a farm, it’s a hundred and twenty acres. Okay? But if you own a hundred and twenty acres, let’s say, and there is another piece of land that you’d really like to have. Your land is worth so much money. That land over there is worth so much money. You may want to purchase a part of that land. And you can take a part of the land you currently own and exchange it for it. You can give ownership up of part of this land in order to gain ownership for part of that land. So you’re spending part of your land.
I think if we think of it in that term. We’re exchanging what we have for something that we don’t have and then we take possession of that. Okay. We’ve got pride. We need to give it up in order to gain humility. It’s a process that we have to go through. It’s the only way that we’re going to be humble is if we give up pride in exchange for it. And this is something that I think we really need to think seriously about. It’s something that every one of us—I don’t think there’s a single one of us that cannot better ourselves by exchanging some of our pride for humility. I don’t think there’s a single one of us that this would not apply to.
In Hebrews chapter 2, let’s go there. Hebrews chapter 2 and in verse 5.
Hebrews 2:5. For He has not
put the world to come, of which we speak, in subjection to angels,
He’s about to quote now from David from Psalm 8.
Hebrews 2:6. But one
testified in a certain place, saying, “What is man that You are mindful of him,
or the son of man that You take care of him?
7) You have made him a little lower than the angels;
So as David pondered God’s creation and what God had made, he’s saying these words.
Hebrews 2:7b. You have
crowned him with glory and honor, and set him over the works of Your
hands. 8) You have put all things in
subjection under his feet.”
So as David looked at the stars and all that he could see in the universe and he saw the greatness of it, he asked the question, “What is man? How does man fit into what You’ve made?” And he was able to understand a little bit, at least, of what God’s plan was and the purpose of man and the incredible reward that was coming for man.
Verse 8.
Hebrews 2:8. You have put
all things in subjection under his feet.”
That’s His intent. The potential for man is incredible!
Then verse, latter part of verse 8.
Hebrews 2:8b. For in that He
put all in subjection under him, He left nothing [Paul says.] that is not put under him. But now we do not yet see all things put
under him.
So the plan hasn’t been brought to completion. What we do see is a step that’s been completed.
Hebrews 2:9. But we see
Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death
[He was] crowned with glory and honor, that He by the grace of God, might taste
death for everyone.
So we see what He has done. That in order to bring this about, bring this great plan about, this Being had to become man. This Being had to suffer death.
Then verse 10.
Hebrews 2:10. For it was
fitting for Him, for whom are all
things, and by whom are all things,
in bringing many sons to glory, to make the [author] of their salvation perfect
through sufferings.
And so in order to become the Author of this great salvation, sufferings were required. Great price had to be paid! An incredible price had to be paid! And They had to count that cost.
Verse 11.
Hebrews 2:11. For both He
who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them
brethren.
And we’ve talked about that how that Jesus the Christ considers us as His Brethren, as very sons of God waiting to be born fully into the Family of God as His fully born Brethren.
Then in Hebrews 5 and verse 7, speaking of Jesus Christ.
Hebrews 5:7. Who, in the
days of His flesh,
When He was on this earth in the human flesh.
Hebrews 5:7b. when He had
offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who
was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear,
He was heard, yes. Did He have to go ahead and endure the sufferings? Yes. Yes, He did.
Verse 8.
Hebrews 5:8. Though He was a
Son, yet He learned obedience by the
things which He suffered.
He had to suffer. A price had to be paid. An incredible price had to be paid in order for Him to become the Author of salvation.
Verse 9.
Hebrews 5:9. And having been
perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.
In Matthew 26, I want to just go here. Matthew 26 and verse 36, it’s more specific about that suffering and as He is approaching the reality of it. Matthew 26 verse 36.
Matthew 26:36. Then Jesus
came with them to a place called
Now you might want to look up those words. I didn’t take the time this time to look it up. I have in the past. And this is conveying incredible stress and suffering mentally that He’s going through right now as He’s facing up to the reality of this great sacrifice that He is about to make in the human flesh.
Again, I think as we read through this perhaps we can see that the reality was greater, perhaps, than what He projected the suffering to be and what He projected this sacrifice to be. You see we read back there in Hebrews 5 that He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. The word “learned” means exactly what it means. He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. It was a learning experience for Him. He had never ever experienced being human before. He’s experiencing that.
Matthew 26:38. Then He said
to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.”
It’s interesting how that having individuals to share your troubles with is helpful, even in His case. He knew the weakness of these guys and it’s demonstrated here as we read through this. They weren’t really strong at all. And they weren’t willing to even stay awake to give Him encouragement during this time. I know that they didn’t realize the magnitude of what He was going through, no doubt. But it’s interesting how that it is very helpful and this is part of giving oneself up, having that mind of Christ, and being able to give oneself up in service to others that in time of stress, in time of trouble, in time of need, it’s good sometimes just to sit and listen. Just to maybe on the phone, or better yet face to face, just to listen to someone when they’re going through a time of trouble, a time of stress.
I can remember when I worked in industry that I was facing problems. We were just initiating a new operation that there was problem after problem after problem after problem and they seemed so big. But I would get on the phone and talk to a source that I had that I could just discuss the problems with and then the problems would get much smaller. Once you hear somebody else say, “Well, no. It’s not really that bad. There’s what you need to do and” blah, blah, blah. It’s encouraging. It’s supportive. It’s very needful to have someone to share times of trouble with.
And it was no different for Him. Notice.
Matthew 26:38. Then He said
to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.”
“Stay here and share this moment with Me. Stay here and just be there as a companion for Me as I go through this.”
Matthew 26:39. He went a
little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is
possible, let this cup pass from Me;
Now think about this. He knew this was foreordained from the foundation of the world, before the foundation of the world. Before sin entered on this earth, it was foreordained that He was going to have to do this. He knew that. He counted the cost then. But now He’s asking, “Father, is there any other way? Is this an absolute? Is this something I have to do? Is there any other way?” Now what we’re seeing here is His humanity. He was a human being. He was on a learning curve. He was experiencing something He had never experienced before.
Matthew 26:39b. saying, “O
My Father, if it is possible [if there’s any way], let this cup pass from Me;
nevertheless, not as I will,
Now notice what He is saying. And we’ve pointed this out before. Isn’t this saying that His will is for it to be different? Because He’s saying
Matthew 26:39 cont. nevertheless,
not as I will, but as You will.”
He would have chosen, no doubt, to do it differently if He could, if it was possible. If the plan could have been worked out with this not having to happen, then “Can We do it that way?”
Going on.
Matthew 26:40. Then He came
to [His] disciples and [He] found them [asleep],
So they weren’t very strong. They weren’t willing to share. They weren’t willing to even stay awake.
Matthew 26:40. Then He came
to [His] disciples and [He] found them [asleep], and said to Peter, “What? Could you not watch with Me one hour? 41) “Watch and pray, lest you enter into
temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” 42) Again, a second time, He went away and
prayed, saying, “O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I
drink it, Your will be done.” 43) And He
came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy. 44) So He left them, went away again, and
prayed the third time, saying the same words.
So He made the request three times. And I think there’s a principle here. And there is an example perhaps that we can follow that when we’re in a situation where we’re beseeching God for something that we not quit until we at least bring it before Him three times in a genuine and sincere manner and expecting Him to respond. Till at least three times to go to Him with it before we give up. He presented it to His Father three times.
Matthew 26:45. Then He came
to His disciples and said to them, “Are you
still sleeping and resting? Behold, the
hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of
sinners. 46) “Rise, let us be
going. See, My betrayer is at hand.”
And so He knew. He knew He had His answer. He had no choice. He was going to have to go through with the plan as planned no matter what His desires personally humanly at that time were. So He was committed. He wasn’t going to turn. He was committed to follow through. And there’s certainly an example here for all of us because we’re going to be confronted with situations. Even though we might project ahead and maybe even accurately project things that we may encounter, when we get there it’s going to be the reality of it. It’s going to be difficult, more difficult, no doubt, than what we envision it and we’ve got to be willing to make this commitment and follow through with it.
Then in Revelation chapter 1, let’s go there. Revelation chapter 1 and in verse 1.
Revelation 1:1. The
Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things
which must shortly take place. And He
sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John,
So, information originating from God the Father was intended to reach His servants. All of us are included among His servants. So this information is to be conveyed to us.
Revelation 1:2. Who bore
witness to the word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things
that he saw [speaking of John]. 3)
Blessed is he who reads and those who
hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it;
for the time is near. 4) John, to the seven churches which are in
And so this is information that Jesus Christ now is communicating through John.
Revelation 1:5. And from
Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead,
He is the firstborn from the dead. And it is He now that is communicating.
Revelation 1:5b. and the ruler
over the kings of the earth. To Him who
loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood,
It’s interesting over in verse 18 of chapter 1 where Jesus Christ Himself speaking as this great God now
Revelation 1:18. “I am He who lives, and was dead, and
behold, I am alive forevermore.
This great God Being has completed the sacrifice. He completed the mission of emptying Himself to become human life, to come to this earth, and to experience humanity, to give Himself in sacrifice. It’s been done. He is now at the Father’s right hand.
In verse 6.
Revelation 1:6. And has made
us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever.
And so the potential for us to rule over all things now is in place. It can happen. He has done what is needed for that to be completed.
Verse 7.
Revelation 1:7. Behold, He
is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pieced
Him. And all the tribes of the earth
will mourn because of Him. Even so,
Amen.
It says, “every eye will see Him.” Does that mean what it says? Every eye? So this plan now has potential to be completed. For every human being who’s ever lived on this earth will have an opportunity for salvation.
Verse 8.
Revelation 1:8. “I am the Alpha
and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the [Eternal], “who is
and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
So this great God now is at His Father’s right hand. He has completed all that is needed as far as a sacrifice is concerned for this plan to be completed.
Both of these great God Beings had to consider this enormous cost in order to bring this work to completion. They foreordained that it would happen and after foreseeing in detail how it would be, They proceeded.
Now, I want to step back just a moment now and concentrate on the Father and what costs were involved for Him. For the most part we’ve talked about the Son and what He has done and what sacrifice He gave. I want to think about the Father.
Let’s go to Isaiah 53. I want to very briefly read through Isaiah 53. We’re probably going to come back yet before Passover and look at this in more detail as we try to do each year. But I want to view this today as we read through it as this was written in advance. These are details written in advance. And I want to focus on the Father’s perspective. Isaiah 53 verse 1.
Isaiah 53:1. Who has
believed our report? [Isaiah
writes.] and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2) For He shall grow up before Him as a
tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground.
He has no form or comeliness; and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire
Him. 3) He is despised and rejected by
men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem
Him. 4) Surely He has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God,
and afflicted. 5) But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the
chastisement for our peace was upon
Him, and by His stripes we are healed.
6) All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his
own way; and the Lord has laid on
Him [the Yahweh, the Eternal has laid
on Him] the iniquity of us all.
Now here is a case, as we’ve pointed out before, where there are places where obviously the word Yahweh applies to the Father and this is clearly a case here where it does.
Isaiah 53:6b. and the Lord [the Eternal] has laid on Him the
iniquity of us all.
And so it was the Father’s determination—and we’re going to see in a moment. I think it’s pretty clear that His Father had the final word. And we’re going to see where Jesus Christ volunteered to do it, to give Himself up in sacrifice to become this offering and sacrifice for us. He volunteered to do it but His Father had to approve it. And so at the end of the day the responsibility fell at the Father’s feet more even than at the Son’s. And we’ll see that in a moment.
Isaiah 53:6b. and the
[Eternal] [the Father] has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. 7) He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet
He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep
before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth. 8) He was taken from prison and from
judgment, and who will declare His generation?
For He was cut off from the land of the living;
And so God died. The Being who was God, who was made human, died.
Isaiah 53:8b. for the
transgressions of My people He was stricken. [He was killed.] 9) And they made His grave with the
wicked—but with the rich at His death, because He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth, 10) Yet it pleased the [Eternal] to bruise
Him;
And remember we talked about how that God has a justice system. And justice has to be exacted. And so it pleased the Eternal in the sense that the payment had been satisfactorily paid in full.
Isaiah 53:10. Yet it pleased
the [Eternal] to bruise Him;
It had to happen the way that it happened.
Isaiah 53:10b. He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin,
He shall see His seed, He shall
prolong His days, and the pleasure of
the [Eternal] shall prosper in His hand.
11) He shall see the [travail] of His soul, and be satisfied.
So the debt is completely paid. The price is completely paid.
Isaiah 53:11b. by His
knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their
iniquities.
He bears the guilt of all humanity. He bore our guilt, your guilt, my guilt. He suffered the penalty for your guilt and my guilt. And the price was completely paid. And the Father’s justification was satisfied. His justice system was completely satisfied.
Isaiah 53:12. Therefore, I
will divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with
the strong, because He poured out His soul unto death,
He poured out His nephesh, His physical life unto death.
Isaiah 53:12b. and He was
numbered with the transgressors, and He bore the sin of many, and made
intercession for the transgressors.
I’d like for us to attempt to put ourselves into the shoes of the Being who became the Father of Jesus the Christ. Attempt to put ourselves in His position as He foresaw this in detail and gave His approval for it. He contemplated that. He must have. He must have thought deeply about it and counted the cost of it and determined that it was the way that it had to be.
Now let’s go to John chapter 10. John chapter 10 verse 17.
John 10:17. “Therefore My
Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again.
Now some have interpreted this, in my estimation, incorrectly and specially in verse 18.
John 10:18. “No one takes it
from Me,
He said, speaking of His life.
John 10:18b. but I lay it
down of Myself. I have power to lay it
down, and I have power to take it again.
This command I have received from My Father.”
Now there are some that interpret this as Him actually raising Himself up which is not what this is saying. And I want to us to just consider what this is actually saying.
Verse 17.
John 10:17. “Therefore My
Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again.
Apparently the Word had to voluntarily do this. Apparently that was part of the plan that He would have to voluntarily give Himself in sacrifice. And it says here
John 10:17. “Therefore My
Father loves Me,
“My Father has approved and He loves Me.”
John 10:17b. because I lay
down My life that I may take it again.
So the Father approved the fact that He laid it down. And He was willing to give Himself up to become the sacrifice.
And then verse 18.
John 10:18. “No one takes it
from Me,
And so again, it was up to Him to voluntarily give it. He was voluntarily giving Himself in sacrifice. So no one was taking it. He was giving it.
John 10:18. “No one takes it
from Me, but I lay it down of Myself.
So He made the decision to do this.
Now here’s where the misunderstanding comes in.
John 10:18b. I have power
to lay it down,
What does that mean? “I have power to lay it down.” This word in the Greek, that’s rendered ‘power” here, is exousia. I’m not going to attempt to try to pronounce that. Exousia. It means permission, authority, right, liberty, or power to do something. You have the power to do something. You have been given the power to do something. You have the authority. You have the permission. You have the right.
Now let’s go to a Scripture that makes that very, very clear over in John chapter 1 where we see the exact same word mentioned over here. John 1 and in verse 12.
John 1:12. But as many as
received Him, to them He gave the right
This is the very same word. To them, and if you and I have received Him, then we’re included in this and we have been given this right.
John 1:12. But as many as
received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God,
So if we have received Him in all of what that means, then we have been given the right. We will be given the right to become children of God.
John 1:12b. even to those
who believe in His name.
And so we must receive Him in all of what that entails and means and if so, then we will be given the right to become children of God. So it’s permission. It’s the authority. It’s the right to become something or do something.
Okay back to verse 18 then of John chapter 10.
John 10:18. “No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have [permission]
“I have authority. I have the right.” So God gave Him permission to lay it down. You see I don’t think He could have volunteered had God not given Him the permission, the right, the authority, the power to do it. God permitted Him to volunteer Himself. Okay?
John 10:18b. I lay it down
of Myself. I have power to lay it down,
and I have power to take it again.
“I have permission. I have the right.” Just like we have the right to become sons of God. Can we make ourselves sons of God? Absolutely not. No way. No way. We just have the right. We have the permission because of what He’s done and then what we’re asked to do in receiving Him, receiving Him as our sacrifice, receiving Him as our Savior and all that’s entailed in that. And then we have the right. We have the opportunity to become children of God. And so that’s what this means here.
John 10:18b. I lay it down
of Myself. I have [the right] to lay it
down,
“That’s been given to Me.”
John
“That’s been given to Me. I have permission. I have the right to do that.”
And the Father is the one though making the choice to do that. He is the one giving the permission. He is the one giving the right.
John
So it’s the Father who gives the right for Him to volunteer. It’s the Father who makes the decision to allow Him to do it and say, “Okay.” So you see at the end of the day, the Father, the responsibility falls at the Father’s feet.
Now we know the story of Abraham. I’m not going to go there. Could have and I planned to but I’m not going to take the time. We know the story of Abraham. We can tell from that a little bit better from a human perspective what God’s perspective was when He was willing to give His only begotten Son in sacrifice where Abraham was required to do the same with his son. We’re to become spiritually the children of Abraham. And so we become the children of our God the Father. And so in a very real sense, I think Abraham was a type of the Father there in him being required to offer his son.
It’s interesting that the Passover lamb is kept up for four days. Remember? It’s taken up on the tenth. It’s sacrificed on the fourteenth. If you read through that story, Abraham had to think on that for probably four days. He had to wait three days. It mentions three days from the time that he was given the command to kill his son until he arrived at the mountain. So he probably hadn’t gotten there yet. So it’s probably four days that he thought about it before he was to kill his son.
His Father, the great God, Father of Jesus Christ, had to think a lot longer than that. He had to ponder and consider that He was willing to give up His son. And when we think about Abraham, if we can put ourselves in Abraham’s shoes as a human being being asked to do this, perhaps we can get a little bit better perspective of God’s counting the cost as He is projecting forward in time as to what He was going to have to give up in order for His Son to be the sacrifice and for this plan to come to completion. It was an incredible, incredible amount of cost that was required!
Let’s go to 1 Corinthians chapter 6 now. 1 Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 19.
1 Corinthians 6:19. Or do
you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you,
[which] you have from God, and you are not your own? 20) For you were bought at a price; therefore
glorify God in your body
You and I, as spiritual sons of God begotten at this time waiting to become full born children of God but having been given the right, the power, permission to become children of God, that right, that permission, that opportunity came as a result of a great price. “You were bought at a price,” an incredible, incredible price.
When you think about the costs of the war in
To us, Brethren, salvation is free of charge. It comes to us free of charge. We pay nothing but we get it as a result of an enormous price.
Transcribed by kb