2Corinthians 5:21
Christ Our Substitute
If you have severed in any branch of the military, would you please stand?
Today is the day we remember those who have fallen in battle for our country. I
saw two newspaper articles this week which caught my attention.
The first was a USA Today article entitled, "Afghanistan: America’s Longest War,"
by Rick Hampson (May 28, 2010)
http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2010-05-27-longest-war-afghanistan_N.htm
In the article, the writer made the case that on June 7, the war in Afghanistan
will officially become America’s longest war, having lasted 104 months. America
entered the Afghanistan War on October 7, 2001. So our efforts in that country
would pass the Vietnam War, in which America was involved for 103 months
(August 7, 1964 to March, 1973).
A second article, highlighted on several news outlets, stated that in Afghanistan
on Friday, America reached its 1,000th fatality. That is not counting the
fatalities of Iraq, which now total 4400.
http://icasualties.org/Iraq/index.aspx
John 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for
his friends.
Anytime a serviceman or woman dies in the defense of our country, that is a man
or woman laying down their life so that you and I don’t have to. It is every
American’s duty to defend their country; however, all of us do not. I have never
taken up arms to defend America. Instead, young men and women volunteer to go in
our stead. They are our substitutes. For that, we thank them.
The Bible makes much of the concept of substitution. According to this verse,
Jesus has substituted Himself for us and then He substituted us for Himself. Jesus
took our place as a sinner and we have taken His place, in the sight of God, as
a righteous person. For our part, that is a pretty extraordinary substitution.
However, not everyone has take advantage of the swap. This morning, let me share
with you how this substitution works.
I. The Substitute Must Be Sinless
A. Salvation will not work if the one who takes our place is not sinless.
1. When we talk of a soldier laying down his/her life for a country,
we are not talking about sinlessness.
a We understand that everyone in war is a sinner.
b. That is not to say everyone in war is immoral or wicked, for
they are not.
c. It is to state a truth about all mankind; that is, that we are
all sinners.
2. However, when it comes to salvation, the Substitute must be without
sin.
a. Why?
b. Because when a sinner dies, he must first make payment for his
own sin.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
c. The Bible also says that the payment is ETERNAL death.
Matthews 25:41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me,
ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
d. Since sin is a debt that we can never pay off, no sinner will
ever be able to make the payment for another.
B. The essence of the Christian faith is that Jesus Christ, God’s sinless
Son, came to die for our sins.
1. That breaks down into several important truths.
a. Jesus is sinless.
Isaiah 53:9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his
death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
Hebrews 4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the
feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet
without sin.
1 Peter 1:19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish
and without spot:
1 Peter 2:22 Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth:
1 John 3:5 And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him
is no sin.
b. Jesus came to take our place.
Isaiah 53:5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our
iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we
are healed.
Hebrews 9:28 So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them
that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.
1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the
unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but
quickened by the Spirit:
2. For those of you who are new Christians, understand what a cardinal
doctrine is.
a. Cardinal means essential. If you remove one of these, the whole
breaks down.
b. There are three cardinal doctrines related to the sinlessness
of Christ.
(1) The Bible teaching that Jesus is God is a cardinal
doctrine. If Jesus is just a good man, he is still a
sinner and one sinner cannot save another.
(2) The Bible teaching that Jesus was born of a virgin is a
cardinal doctrine. From the Scripture, we learn that sin
is passed down through the man’s seed
\\#Romans 5:12, 17, 19\\. If a sinless God were born
into a sinful body, He would no longer be sinless.
(3) The Bible teaching that Jesus lived a sinless life is a
cardinal doctrine. If Jesus sinned once He was on earth,
He would no longer be sinless.
C. All of this should help you to understand why Jesus is the only possible
Savior and Christianity is the only way to heaven.
1. No other religion has a qualified Substitute.
2. Chris Dean preached the TCS graduation on Friday night. He spoke of
a conversation with a Hindu. Hindu believe in an almost unlimited
number of gods (700,000,000). In talking with the Hindu, he
learned that the Hindu like to say Christianity and Hinduism are
basically the same. However, in talking with them, Bro. Dean
learned that they have no REDEEMER! No SUBSTITUTE.
3. Out of 700,000,000 gods, not one of them came to die for us!
4. No other religion has a Substitute.
II. The Sin Must Be Applied to the Sinless
A. Substitution means the guiltless was substituted for the guilty, so a
swap of sin must take place.
B. At some point in Jesus’ life, our sins had to be transferred to Him.
1. The Bible does not tell us WHEN that happened. It tells us that
it MUST and that it DID, but not WHEN.
2. However, we do see the evidence of it.
C. We look to the cross.
1. \\#Matthew 27:39-46\\\
a. Note that at this point in the crucifixion, Jesus states that
God had forsaken Him.
b. Why would this happen?
c. There is only one reason that I can think of. It was at this
moment that Jesus took our sins upon Himself.
2. \\#Matthew 27:50\\
a. Jesus died.
b. Death is the result of sin. "The wages of SIN is DEATH."
c. If there is no sin, there is no death.
D. This should help you to understand how we are eternally saved.
1. Notice WHEN the transfer of our sin was placed upon Jesus.
2. It was 2,000 years ago and counting.
3. How many sins had you committed 2,000 years ago?
a. The answer is, "Not one."
b. You had not be born or conceived or even thought of in human
terms 2,000 years ago.
c. How then did Jesus take a sin you had not committed?
(1) God is not bound by time.
(2) God took the sins that to us were future and placed them
upon Jesus because God is not only every WHERE, God is
also every WHEN.
(3) We cannot comprehend this, but God does it.
4. The point is, when God transferred your sins on Jesus, He
transferred ALL OF THEM, even the ones you won’t get around to
committing until tomorrow!
a. You cannot sin a sin that God has not already placed on Jesus.
b. That does not give a true believe the "license" to sin.
(1) We remember that God will deal with all sin as it occurs
in the life of the believer.
Hebrews 10:31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
(2) If you mind is to deliberately sin, you are likely not
saved to begin with.
2 Peter 2:20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through
the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled
therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
22 But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned
to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her
wallowing in the mire.
III. The Substitute Must Pay Sin’s Price
A. It may seem that I am repeating myself because I just referred to the
death of Jesus Christ.
B. However, that death not only proves that Jesus TOOK our sins. It is
Jesus PAYING for our sins.
1. The payment for sin is DEATH.
2. The historical record of the cross shows two things:
a. Jesus taking our sin.
b. Jesus paying for our sin.
IV. The Payment Must Be Accepted
A. Jesus died 2,000 years ago, but everyone does not go to heaven.
1. Why?
2. Because even though your sins were placed on Jesus and He paid for
them, the transaction does not go into effect until you accept it.
3. No one need go to hell, but many will, simply because they did not
accept the conditions of God’s substitution.
B. What are the conditions? There are only two.
1. You must believe that Jesus came to be your Substitute.
a. Most I preach to do believe that Jesus is God’s sinless Son,
that He was virgin born, died for our sins, and rose again on
the third day.
b. However, if you do not believe, you are damned.
c. If you do not believe, I would encourage you to go back and look
at the facts.
(1) You don’t have to take my word for it, but don’t take the
word of some illogical god-hater either.
(2) Read science - Is evolution logical? Is it possible?
If not, how did we get here?
(3) Read history - What was the single biggest turning point
in mankind’s history? Why? What could have happened to
cause it?
(4) Read the Bible - You have been taught that the Bible is
responsible for the greatest atrocities in man’s history.
Was it or was the cause man’s perversions of the Bible?
(5) Read Christian testimonies - Can a leopard change its
spots? What happened to those who were powerfully and
permanently changed?
2. The best you know how, you must surrender yourself to Him.
a. God does not require we be perfect.
b. If He did, no one would ever go to heaven.
c. God does require we follow Him.
d. That means He takes control of our lives and we obey Him.
C. I have read of at least one presidential pardon that was refused
(supposedly a true story). A man by the name of George Wilson was
convicted of robbery and murder in 1929. For some reason, he was later
pardoned by Andrew Jackson but refused his pardon. The case went to
the supreme court, where Supreme Court Justice John Marshall wrote
the courts decision.
"A pardon is a paper, the value of which depends upon its acceptance by the
parties implicated. It is hardly to be supposed that one under the sentence of
death would refuse to accept a pardon. But if it is refused, it is no pardon.
George Wilson must hang."
A few weeks later, Wilson was hanged.
D. As in our rule of law, so in God’s.
1. For the Substitute to take your place in reckoning your sin’s
account, you must accept the terms of the pardon.
2. Will you do so today?
V. The Righteousness of the Sinless Must Be Applied to the Sinless
A. The verse selected for our text, tells us that the substitution goes
both ways.
1. Not only did Jesus take our place.
2. We take His.
B. Just as surely as Jesus became sin for us, we take His righteousness
and all the benefits of His righteousness, upon us.
1. Jesus became sin for us. We became righteous.
2. Jesus endured our hell. We get His heaven.
3. Jesus became a curse before God. We became God’s sons and daughters.
4. Jesus was forsaken by God. We become God’s chosen.
The list goes on and on. The bottom line is that Jesus is our Substitute. We
understand the notion of a substitute today. Because others went and died for us,
we are alive today. We owe them a great debt of honor, but the biggest honor we
owe is to Jesus Christ.
<Outline
Index> <Close Window>
