2022-03-20 Substitution

“Substitution”

Substitutes always get you in trouble. When I say the word “substitute” what do you normally think of? Teachers … exactly. Substitute teachers are the Rodney Dangerfields of education. They can’t get any respect. You know some of you who have been substitute teachers. To principals, the school’s principals, substitute teachers are heroes. Because they have saved the bacon of many a principal. Because when a teacher gets sick somebody’s got to care for the kids. So in a principal’s book, in an educator’s book, substitute teachers are up there right next to angels. Because they are so helpful. But a lot of times the kids don’t give the substitute teacher any respect.

Because the truth is, most of the time if we get a substitute we’re disappointed. Like if you went to a concert and the guy got up and said, “I’m sorry U2 can’t be here tonight. We’ve got U3.” You’re going to go, “Huh?” Substitutes just don’t work. You want the real thing.

But sometimes you know what I’ve discovered. Sometimes substitutes are better than the original. Sometimes a substitute teacher can actually be more engaging, more interesting, less boring than the one you had every week.

Jesus was on the cross, the Bible tells us, for six hours. From nine a.m. in the morning to three p.m.in the afternoon.

In the first three hours when Jesus was hanging on the cross, he says the first three statements. The first three words. We’ve already covered those. First we covered the word of Forgiveness where he says, “Father forgive them. They don’t know what they’re doing.”

Then we covered, two weeks ago, the word of Assurance when he says to the thief on the cross who had said, “Lord, remember me.” He said, “Today you’ll be with me in paradise.” If you did not hear that message you need to go listen to it online. I want you to be absolutely certain for sure that you’re going to heaven when you die. You need to listen to that message and settle the issue, the word of assurance. You are assured of your salvation.

Last Sunday we looked at the word of Love, which is really about relationships. We talked about family and what Jesus said to his mother, Mary, and his best friend, John.

That’s in the first three hours. Nine o’clock, ten o’clock, eleven o’clock. At noon things changed. Jesus is on the cross for six hours. At noon everything goes dark. You know as well as I do that from noon to three are usually the brightest parts of the day. It’s usually the hottest part of the day – from noon to three.

But when Jesus is hanging on the cross after three hours it goes dark at noon. We don’t know what God did. He may have just brought a cloud cover in. Maybe a storm. We don’t know. All we know is that it turned dark.

The Bible says:

Matthew 27:45–46 NLT

At noon, darkness fell across the whole land until three o’clock. At about three o’clock, Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”

This is the fourth word of life that Jesus says from the cross. God makes it dark in the middle of the day. The word there in Greek ska tas literally means obscurity. He’s obscuring what’s going on on the cross. The darkness is like a curtain falling over this scene in the final torture of Jesus Christ.

In one way God is saying this is so bad, this is so evil, this is so terrible to watch, I’m just going to darken it so it’s not as clear. Jesus is sacrificing himself for the sins of the world. And it’s such an ugly, horrible sight that Jesus Christ cries out. He cries out this fourth word. And literally anabo aho in Greek literally means he screamed it.

The fourth thing that Jesus says from the cross is this: ‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?’ Which means, “My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me.”

The fourth thing that Jesus says from the cross is this: ‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?’ Which means, “My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me.”

This is the most shocking word of all the things that Jesus says on the cross. We can understand “Father, forgive them.” We can understand “Today you’ll be with me in paradise.” But when now he says to God the Father, “Why have you forsaken me?” The word there literally means you’ve rejected me. You’ve forsaken me. You’ve abandoned me. Father, God, you have deserted me.

Some of you know the pain and the sting of abandonment. Nothing hurts more than being rejected by somebody. If you’ve ever felt the sting of rejection you know how bad that hurts.

Some of you growing up were rejected, abandoned by a parent. Some of you as an adult have been rejected or abandoned by a spouse. Or maybe a boyfriend. This happens.

So what happened here?

1. WHAT HAPPENED?

In Jesus’ crucifixion, in the last days he’s progressively abandoned by everybody. First he’s abandoned by Judas, one of the twelve disciples. Then he’s abandoned by the other disciples. They all leave. They’re afraid they’re going to get arrested and killed. Now on the cross he says,“My God, my God. Why have you forsaken me?”

It’s interesting. Every time Jesus refers to God in the Bible he always calls him, “Father”. This is the only time in the Bible where Jesus has not called God the Father, Father. He just calls him “My God, my God.” Because at this point the relationship had been broken between the Father and the Son because of the sin that Jesus is carrying on the cross.

I want you to understand the price that Jesus Christ paid for you to be able to go to heaven. Your salvation is free. But it certainly was not inexpensive. And it broke the relationship between God the Father and God the Son at this very moment. Jesus had never known what it meant to be out of fellowship with God. He had never known what it meant. We know what it’s like. We know when it feels like God’s a million miles away. The coldness. The feeling like your prayers aren’t being heard. Feeling like you’re estranged from God. Jesus had never known that. He’d always lived his life in complete fellowship with God. Yet at this moment when he takes the sin of the world on his life, God has to look away. And he says, “My God, my God, even you, you’ve forsaken me in this moment.”

What is going on with this fourth word from the cross?

I want you to follow this in the outline.

1a. JESUS BECAME OUR SUBSTITUTE!

At that point Jesus became your substitute. He took the punishment that you deserve and he took it on himself. He became the substitute. He said, “I’ll take your punishment.” He took the punishment for everything you’ve ever done wrong and everything you will ever do wrong. Jesus on the cross paid for the sins you haven’t even committed yet. He became the substitute by taking your punishment on himself. He paid the penalty for your sins and he assumed your place. He was the substitute.

Somebody has to pay for your sins. Either you or somebody else. And God in his infinite love said I will do it. I will substitute myself and pay the way.

Here’s what the Bible says.

1 John 2:2 NIV

He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

There is a group of Christians, they’re called Calvinists, their believers. They’re dear friends. I have many friends who are Calvinists. And they don’t believe that Jesus died for everybody. They believed that he only died for those who were going to be believers. They believe he only died for those who were going to be a part of the church. But there are many verses such as this one that said Jesus died not just for our sins but for the sins of the whole world.

JUMP A

If somebody dies and goes to hell, they go to hell with their sins already paid for by Jesus. He’s already paid for everybody’s sins. They just reject it. They reject the grace of God. He’s already paid for everybody’s sins. It’s not like he’s waiting for them to believe. He’s already paid. He paid for everybody’s sins.

I want you to circle the word “atoning”. It says, “Jesus is the atoning sacrifice for our sin.” What is an atonement? That’s a word we don’t use a whole lot any more. To atone for for what I’ve done wrong. To atone for my sins.

The word “atonement” literally means payment for damage done. You bust up somebody’s car you have to pay for the damage done. That’s called atoning. Atonement means payment for the damage done. Payment for an injury. It means compensation for our offense. You break it, you pay for it. That’s atonement. It means compensation for a wrong, for an injury.

JUMP A

What atonement does is it satisfies justice. Would you want to live in a world where nobody is held accountable for the crime? Hitler just gets away scot-free for killing six million Jews. No. That would be hell on earth. Justice demands that when crimes, when sins are committed somebody has to pay for it. It says he [Jesus] became the atoning sacrifice for our sins. He satisfied the law. He satisfied justice. He did what justice demands.

2. WHAT DOES IT TEACH US?

What does this word teach us? The word of substitution? Where God pours all the sin on Jesus. And Jesus says, “My God, my God. Why have you forsaken me?” What does this mean? What does this word teach us?

It shows us the holiness of God. It shows us the seriousness of sin. And it shows us the expensiveness of grace. That it costs a lot.

Let me show this to you. Write this down. The first thing we learn from the fourth word is this:

2a. GOD IS HOLY

God is holy. The first thing we learn through this word is that God is holy.

Let me explain what I’m talking about. In Greek mythology and in Roman mythology they had all these gods – Zeus and Jupiter and Apollo and Mars and Venus. All the Roman gods. The pantheon Greek gods and Roman gods. The one thing about those gods is they all had human frailties. Every one of them. They got angry. They lusted. They were impetuous. Sometimes the Greek gods and the Roman gods got impatient. They zapped people with lightning bolts. Or they got jealous of each other. They were fickle. They were moody. They were unreliable. All of the fake gods, the phony gods, the false gods, the mythical gods of history are inconsistent, unreliable and imperfect. They had human frailties.

But the real God, the real God, the God who created the universe is 100 percent pure. Is 100 percent just. Is 100 percent unpolluted. The real God is 100 percent perfect. That’s called holy.

God is holy. He’s perfect. He’s never done anything wrong. He’s never done anything imperfect. He’s never done anything impure. He’s never done anything polluted. God is holy. He is perfect.

An imperfect God is no god at all. An imperfect God is just another human being. And certainly not worthy of worship.

Because God is 100 percent perfect and 100 percent pure and 100 percent righteous and 100 percent holy, he cannot stand to be around imperfection, unholiness, evil, and sin. He can’t stand to be around it. That means we’ve got a real problem, right? Because I’m not perfect and neither are you.

It says in this in

Joshua 24:19 NIV

Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the Lord. He is a holy God; he is a jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins.

This is written to be a reminder that God is a jealous God. He is not to be taken lightly. It’s 100 percent or it’s nothing, with him. It’s not that God will not forgive your sins, but don’t expect that you can receive forgiveness today, and go out and continue to sin tonight! Because if you ask for forgiveness, and then forsake Him deliberately to serve other idols, that would result in disaster.

In fact, it leads us to the second thing that we learn from Jesus’ word’s of life, namely that...

2b. SIN IS UGLY

I want you to write that down. Sin is ugly. And on the cross we see how ugly sin really is. The truth is we don’t think sin is ugly. We live in the 21st century. We don’t think sin is ugly. We think sin is fun! And we think sin is funny. In fact most TV shows and most movies use sin for humor.

And this is Satan’s strategy. To get you to laugh at what put Jesus on the cross. To not take it seriously. It’s no big deal. And jokes and situation comedies and movies make fun and make light of sin. Satan disguises sin to make it look attractive, to make it look appealing, to make it look desirable, to make it look fun. Rarely on TV, you rarely see the consequences of sin. You see the fun part but you never see the consequences.

A lot of times you’ll see people on TV in bars and they’re drinking, they’re having a great time, and they’re all laughing. It looks like everybody’s having fun. It doesn’t show the guy going home and beating his wife because he’s drunk. They never show that consequence.

And they never show the people ending up in prison because they got drunk and had a car accident and killed somebody. They never show the consequences of sin. Sin is not funny. Sin is ugly. And it put Jesus on the cross.

Romans 6:23 NIV

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We talked about this verse a couple of weeks ago when we said if your boss came into you and said I’ve got something that’s really going to make you happy. You should really be grateful for it. It’s a really big gift. And he hands you your salary check. And you go, “Wait a minute this is no gift. I worked for this. This is not a gift. This is a wage.” A wage is something you have earned because of what you’ve done. A gift is something you didn’t earn because you didn’t do anything for it.

The wages of sin is death. I deserve punishment. I deserve to die for all the things I’ve done wrong. But the gift of God, which I don’t deserve, is eternal life in Christ Jesus.

JUMP 1

Let me just say this: Your biggest problem is not the problem you think it is. Some of you think your biggest problem is your financial problem. That’s not your biggest problem. It’s a problem but it’s not your biggest problem.

Some of you think your biggest problem is you can’t get a job. Some of you think your biggest problem is the conflict you’ve got going on in a relationship. It’s a problem but it’s not your biggest problem.

Some of you think if I could only be taller or shorter or skinnier or fatter or if I was only smarter or only had more talent. Those may be problems. But let me tell you what your biggest problem is. You’re at war with God. You’re at war with God. You say, “No, I’m not.” Yes, you are. Because every moment of every day you’re deciding who’s going to be God in your life – you or God. Am I going to go God’s way or am I going to go my way? Do I think I know what will make me happy? Or do I think God knows what will make me happy? Am I going to trust what he says in his Word and am I going to follow his manual for life? Or am I just going to make my own manual? I don’t like that part of the Bible so I’m just going to ignore that. I think I’ll just be my own god.

You’re at war with God. And that’s why you’re so frustrated. That’s why you don’t sleep well. That’s why you’re stressed out. You weren’t made to live out of harmony with your Creator who loves you. He made you, he created you, he sent his Son to die for you and he wants you to be in harmony with him.

JUMP 1

We learned from this that God is holy. And we learn from this verse that sin is ugly. And there’s a third thing that we learn. Write this down – very important.

2c. SALVATION IS COSTLY

Salvation is costly. It is free. You can get a free ticket to heaven. You can have all your sins forgiven. But somebody paid for it. Jesus did.

If there were any other way for you to go to heaven don’t you think God would have used it? If there was any other way for a holy God to let an imperfect person into a perfect place, don’t you think God would have done it rather than sacrifice his own Son? Of course he would have.

There’s a lot of pop psychology out there that goes, “We’re all going to go to heaven. Because I’m okay and you’re okay.” I can imagine Jesus on the cross saying, “Wait a minute. If I’m okay and you’re okay what am I up here for? Why am I up here dying on the cross if you’re okay? If you don’t need a Savior what in the world am I up here for? Why am I shedding my blood for you if you’re okay? And you’re just going to get into heaven because you’d like to be there?” And God’s going to let imperfect people into a perfect place?

The cross shows that sin is destructive, that sin is ugly, and that salvation is costly. It is the most expensive gift you will ever be given.

Romans 3:25 NIV

God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—

That’s the substitution.

JUMP 2

There’s a well known story. You’ve probably heard it before about two friends in New York who went through law school together. It happened a number of years ago. It was in the papers. After graduation these two law school graduates went on different paths. One of them became a respected federal judge. The other became a cocaine addict and then later a cocaine pusher and dealer. He got addicted, became a criminal to support his expensive habit.

One day the second guy was arrested for fraud. He got caught and he was sent to court. And it just so happened he ends up in his friend’s courtroom, the guy he went to law school with. And everybody wondered if the judge would be lenient to his friend.

But surprising, without explanation the judge did two things. First, looking at this friend and realizing all the lives he had ruined through his pushing of drugs, he levied the heaviest fine allowed by law on his friend. Justice demanded it. The heaviest fine.

Then without explanation he steps out from behind the judge’s podium, he took off his judicial robe, and he paid that outrageous fine out of his own bank account.

What happened in that scene is both justice and mercy were satisfied at the same time. This is what was playing out on the cross for you. When Jesus Christ yelled out, “My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me?” God is playing the judge, the attorney, the advocate. He’s playing every single part of the role. And he’s paying your debt. He’s the judge. Because he’s perfect, sin has to be judged. Somebody’s got to pay for this. You can’t just get off scot-free. That’s not fair. He’s the judge.

But then he’s your advocate. He’s your attorney and he’s arguing to himself going, This person? I really want them to be forgiven. He’s the advocate for you on your behalf. Then he pays your debt. He’s the whole show.

JUMP 2

Salvation has nothing to do with you. It has everything to do with God. He did it from the beginning to the end. He’s judge, jury, penalty, and forgiver. All at once. Justice and mercy together.

3. WHAT SHOULD BE MY RESPONSE?

3a. TURN FROM MY SIN & TRUST WHAT JESUS DID FOR ME

I turn from my sin and I trust Jesus to save me. That’s the first thing I do. There’s no snowball’s chance in hell I’m getting to heaven any other way. Otherwise Jesus wasted his life. I turn from my sin, because it’s ugly, and I trust Jesus to save me.

JUMP 3

(Not in notes) 3b. LIVE IN A STATE OF GRATITUDE

The second thing I do and this is why we sing at church and we’re going to sing in just a minute. I live in a state of gratitude. I live in a complete state of gratitude once I understand the full magnitude of what Jesus Christ did for me on the cross. I could not help but be grateful for a God who would love me that much and suffer for me that much even when I was thumbing my nose and turning my back, rejecting him and saying, I’m going to be my own little god.

(Not in notes) 3c. WHEN TEMPTED, REMEMBER WHAT MY SIN COST JESUS

When I am tempted, and of course you’re going to be tempted the rest of your life to do wrong things. When you’re tempted you remember what your sin cost Jesus.

JUMP 3

1 Peter 1:18–19 NIV

For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.

(Not in notes) 3d. Pass on the Good News!

Jesus died for everybody and he wants everybody to know it. If you had the cure for cancer and you didn’t share it with your neighbor and they had cancer they ought to put you in prison for that. It’s criminal. It would be criminal to have a life saving solution and not tell it to the person who’s dying next door. Is anybody going to be in heaven because of you? You’re going to heaven. Is anybody else going to go because of you?

Jesus was separated from God. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” so we could be united with God. Jesus was left alone so we could be lifted up. Jesus was executed so you could be exonerated. His punishment came for your pardon. His humiliation leads to your liberation. He was abandoned so you could be adopted into God’s family. He was rejected so you could be redeemed. And he was reviled so you could be reconciled. That’s how much God loves you. He was forsaken so that we could be forgiven.