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Jesus My Substitute
Presenter: Larry Kirkpatrick
Location: Mentone Seventh-day Adventist Church, California, USA
Delivery: 2006-03-11 23:53Z
Publication: GreatControversy.org 2006-03-11 23:53Z
Type: Sermon
URL: http://www.greatcontroversy.org/gco/ser/kir-substitute.php
Some have misunderstood. We do not always focus on salvaation as a legal matter, but often speak of it in terms of an experience of transformation. Our watchword has been the same as David: “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10). Our talk of transformation has led some to conclude that we are teaching a works-based salvation. But they are mistaken. We accept the legal paradigm; it is just that, as biblical Christians, we refuse to limit ourselves to one lens. Scripture has several persistent, insistent models and motifs that inform our whole picture of what man is after the entrance of sin, and what heaven intends to do in those who truly accept Jesus as Messiach.
Nevertheless, because the primary model in Western Christianity today is the legal model, some find it very difficult to hear anything else we might say if we do not from time to time demonstrate that we embrace the picture of Christ as Substitute. Then let us today make clear this important part of our teaching that Jesus is our Substitute. Let us examine several ways in which Jesus becomes our substitute.
- He becomes as human as we are.
- He becomes sin for us.
- He dies in our place.
- He pays our penalty and redeems us.
- He rises from the grave.
- He intercedes for us.
- He transforms us.
1. He Becomes as Human as We Are
In order to identify with us and be our representative, Jesus must become one of us. He must take the disordered humanity of fallen man; He must become one with us in kind. The Scriptures testify to this.
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (John 1:14).
His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh (Romans 1:1).
For both He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren (Hebrews 2:11).
Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil (Hebrews 2:14).
For verily He took not on Him the nature of angels; but He took on Him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succour them that are tempted (Hebrews 2:16-18).
If Jesus did not become one of us in kind, He could not legitimately substitute for us. In the plan of redemption, Jesus is representative for us. Notice the original promise in Genesis 3:15: “I will put enmity between thee [Satan] and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His [Christ’s] heel.” Again, “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus: for He shall save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).
The seed of the woman who fell, is Christ. The humanity He will take will, thousands of years later, perhaps 140-150 generations later, manifest from her humanity. His mission to save from sin is a mission to save “His people” from their sins. Since true Jewishness stems from circumcision of the heart, “His people” means all who will cooperate with Him in permitting their hearts to be circumcised. He wants to save everyone from sin. Jesus could not function as our substitute unless He took our kind of humanity.
2. He Becomes Sin For Us
He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21).
As soon as man sinned, Jesus offered to take our penalty and die in our place. Revelation 13:8 says that He was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. His choice was voluntary; none forced Him to it. His mission is made clear in the words of John the Baptist, who said that Christ came to take away the sin of the world (John 1:29). How profound that the sinless would be willing to become sin for a rebel race. Why? If He is too quick to become sin for us, does that not imply that sin is not quite as bad as one might have thought?
That implication is not required. But what He did does indicate that His love for us and His unselfishness is greater than death, that He is willing to pay an enormous price in order to open the doors that Adam and Eve so unwittingly caused to shut. Because the image of God in man was not erased, only dimmed at the Fall, His image and superscription upon humanity could be retraced. Man could be redeemed; he was not totally depraved. There is still something that can be saved.
When the Fall came and the world was damaged, the roses grew thorns. But still God’s handiwork shines in the rose. Still, delicate petals, subtle scents, intense coloration show the handiwork of the Creator. Beneath Satanic graffiti is still found the deft stroke of the Master’s paintbrush.
Yes, Jesus became sin for us. “That we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” Without taking our sin there was no hope for us, no transformation option. And so Jesus must take our sin, must substitute His spotless life for our spotted life.
3. He Dies in Our Place
More. Jesus dies in our place. He took our punishment.
Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:3).
Christ our passover is sacrificed for us (1 Corinthians 5:7).
For our sins He died, for our life He became our passover, for our hope He became sacrifice for us. Jesus did not die for our mistakes, but for our sins. Somehow we think we have more mercy than God, that we are more kind than God, that by calling sin by a smoother name we are doing people a favor? Not so. The kindest thing you can do for someone is to tell them that there is death just around the bend, that their house is on fire, that they are on a collision course with destruction—when they are.
You don’t tame sin by renaming it as a mistake. There are mistakes, there are things done that were not intended for evil and that are not sin although they work our for evil. But sin must be called sin. The penalty for a mistake is not eternal death, is not the life of God’s Son. But the penalty for sin is. The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). The gift of God is eternal life through Christ. As our passover He consented to be sacrificed for us.
No angel, no man can die in my place. Jesus’ can die in my place because His character only is a match for the law of God. The Father could have died in our place, or the Holy Spirit. As it was, the Son chose to die in our place. Only three had a character that could ransom all the sins of the fallen race. The sacrifice is offered. But is the blood on our doorposts personally?
4. He Pays Our Penalty and Redeems Us
Jesus buys us back from the grave.
I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction: repentance shall be hid from mine eyes (Hosea 13:14).
The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many (Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45).
Christ Jesus who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time (1 Timothy 2:5, 6).
What is the power of the grave? It is the power of bondage. Unable to resurrect ourselves, the grave is a long sleep and no end in sight. Since we have sinned, death owns us. Jesus came to serve us by dying for us and redeeming us. He came to give His life.
What was given at the cross was not just an appointment in Christ’s Scheduler book, but a whole life. He came and demonstrated that a life long obedience is possible. When He offered His sinless life for us, He offered up 33 years of unmitigated obedience. Do we know what that means? Check these Thesaurus entries for “unmitigated,” other words for expressing much the same idea: absolute, unqualified, categorical, complete, total, downright, outright, utter, out-and-out, undiluted, unequivocal, untempered, veritable, perfect, consummate, pure, sheer. That is what Jesus gave in order to buy us back. A life like that. And He demonstrated that our life, from the moment of conversion, can be the same.
The ransom is for all. Jesus did not just die for a few special, hand-picked people, He died “for all.” I like the way John states this: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). Whosoever will believe. That’s who Jesus died for.
None can say salvation was limited to those with a certain color of skin or a certain socio-economic set of opportunities, or a certain gender or a certain genetic mix. The whole race was lined for destruction and Jesus died to line whosoever will believe for life. But whosoever still has free choice. Jesus’ redemption can be accepted or neglected. The choice is granted us.
5. He Rises From the Grave
The next point is that Jesus did not just die; He rises from the grave.
I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly, and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead; and, behold, He goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see Him: lo, I have told you (Matthew 28:5-7).
Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: He is risen; He is not here (Mark 16:6).
He is not here, but is risen (Luke 24:6).
This is now the third time that Jesus showed Himself to His disciples, after that He was risen from the dead (John 21:14).
We are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life (Romans 6:4).
Because He is risen, we have hope. Our Father accepted His sacrifice in our behalf. The fact that Christ has risen from the grave means His sacrifice is accepted. It means Jesus can move from prophet phase to priest phase, and from priest phase to king phase. He longs to recieve us to Himself, that where He is, we may be also. He is watching to see whether we will be captivated by His goodness and show our acceptance of His sacrifice by manifesting a like character in the world that needs His witness.
We do not serve a sleeping Lord or a dead Lord. We do not have relics, supposed wood scraps from His cross or even authenticated knuckle bones from His hand. The tomb, brother and sisters, was left empty. Jesus rose. And folded the grave clothe that had been placed on His head (John 20:7). That was all He left behind in the grave; evidence that He had conquered death in its stronghold.
6. He Intercedes For Us
Consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus (Hebrews 3:1).
Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. 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. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:14-16).
My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:1, 2).
Because He is risen, the race has a high Priest to intercede in its behalf. Before their sin, Adam and Eve did not need an intercessor; after their sin, an intercessor became a necessity. So long as their sins would separate them from the Father, just so long would they need one to intercede for them and provide initiative toward repentance, forgiveness, and power for holy living.
As those who have once been guilty, we are disqualified from direct approach to the Father. Jesus has never been personally guilty of sin. He never chose to rebel against His Father. He never needed an intercessor for Himself. In the garden He longed for one, but there wasn’t one. He faced the dark night of Gethsemane alone. And came off victor.
7. He Transforms Us
Ironically, all this substitution is connected to transformation.
For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit (Romans 8:3, 4).
To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus (Colossians 1:27, 28).
And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with Him an hundred forty and four thousand, having His Father’s name written in their foreheads… These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth (Revelation 14:1, 4).
Jesus came in our humanity and condemned sin in our humanity by overcoming in our humanity. Why? So that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us. How do we walk in light of Christ’s substitutionary death in our behalf? We walk after the Spirit. Because of what heaven did through Jesus Christ we may have the help and companionship of the Holy Spirit.
It is Christ in us that is the hope of glory. What He did on the cross was outside of us, external to us, apart from us; but it opens the way for His presence in us through the Holy Spirit. He stood in our place and paid the penalty for our sins, and heaven’s work of reconciliation between man and God proceeds to internal change in the Christian. Jesus’ sinless character stands in place of my guilt. Past sins are forgiven. Yet hand in hand with this part of heaven’s work for me is another kind of work. Without Christ’s substitutionary atonement on my behalf I would not have salvation. But with it comes another aspect of the package, inseparable from the first.
Now I am empowered to live in fellowship with His Spirit, in cooperation with heaven’s work, in a state of restored communion. God grows His Christians. So He works in me now to will and to do according to His good pleasure (Philippians 2:12, 13). He is taking me to the place where I will cease from sinning altogether. Along the way I want to stay in fellowship with Him, ever turning to Him. My walk will pattern more and more after the walk of Enoch.
Closer and still closer I walk with my Savior, heart drawing closer and still closer to His. And at last the communion will be complete. Nothing earthly, cheap, or selfish will purchase me. There will be battles to fight all the way to the end. But in the end, there will be no place for Satan to stand, no easy ledges or perches for him to tempt from. All earth’s clinging vines will be cut away. I will be ready for translation. I will have a fallen nature still, until glorification. But because of all that Jesus has done and all that the Holy Spirit desires, inside of me there is renovation.
Jesus is my Substitute. Make no mistake. All my salvation, all my experience, all my Christianity is founded upon the rock Jesus Christ. All other ground is sinking sand. My own deeds will not merit me salvation in the least. Not one thread of human devising lines Christ’s robe of righteousness granted me. But threads of human devising come in more than one variety. Not just self righteousness. Look again; another variety of humanly-devised thread is seen. It is the thread of presumption. Some of us expect to be saved on the basis of Christ’s sacrifice for us but we presume to retain an uncircumcised heart. That is a salvation plan tied together with threads of human devising too. God will have none of it.
So what does our Lord Jesus do?
- He becomes as human as we are.
- He becomes sin for us.
- He dies in our place.
- He pays our penalty and redeems us.
- He rises from the grave.
- He intercedes for us.
- He transforms us.
Let us draw near to the throne of grace in the pathway opened by Jesus. His salvation is enough. Will you let Him change your life today? Will Jesus be your Substitute? GCO
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