CHAPTER 3 SUBSTITUTE In our present study we have dealt with the Lord Jesus Christ as the Savior of the world and the giver of his own life by the shedding of blood to be that Savior. Now we want to picture our wonderful Lord as the substitute for helpless, hopeless sinners. All of us are familiar with the terminology, substitute. During school days when a teacher became ill and another filled the instructor's position, the replacement was called a substitute teacher. One who took the place of another. In theological studies we come across a doctrine entitled, "The Vicarious," or substitutionary work of Christ. Now we want to see how the Son of God in his enormous love for sinners took our place, or became our substitute. 1. First of all, he took upon himself the sinners' sin. Oh what love, that a Holy God should leave the heavens for earth's misery, in order that he might, in a body of flesh, take upon himself our sin. Yes, I said God. God was manifest in the flesh (I Timothy 3:16). In Hebrews 1:8, the Father is speaking to his son, and Jehovah says, "Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever." He was in the form of God and came to earth to be made in the likeness of men (Philippians 2:6-7), in order that he might take the place of the sinner or become the sinner's substitute. As the God-man, he never experienced or tasted the dregs of sin. He was the holy one (Isaiah is overwhelmed with the holiness of God, and says in chapter 6:3), "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory." Three times he utters the phrase, once for each member of the Trinity. He continues in verse 5 with, "Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips." What makes the prophet feel so lowly? He has witnessed the holiness of God. The remainder of the verse tells the story: "Mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts." I believe the one Isaiah saw was Jesus Christ, because he is the one who bears the title of King of Kings. In Revelation 19:11 the Lord Jesus Christ returns to earth and the text states, "I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon it was called Faithful and True." Verse 13, "He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood." That speaks about his redemptive work as Savior--through sacrifice by the shedding of his blood. His name is called the Word of God and this ties in with his pre- existence. (John 1:1). And when we reach verse 16 we are presented with his glorious title, "He had on his vesture and upon his thigh a name written, 'King of Kings and Lord of Lords'." Oh, dear friend, Jesus was, is, and always will be, the Holy One. While upon earth he did no sin (I Peter 2:22). "He knew no sin," II Corinthians 5:21, and could victoriously challenge the crowds with the words, "Which of you convinceth me of sin?" John 8:46. The victorious truth that I'm about to present is that this all- together, holy, spotless Christ was willing to take mankind's filthy, vile, loathsome and abominable sin upon his being at Calvary. The prophet Isaiah who felt so humbled as he saw the King in his beauty and holiness also sees him bearing the degraded, depraved wickedness of all of earth's race, and in Chapter 53:6, He says, "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." Jehovah hath laid on Christ the iniquity of us all. That agrees with II Corinthians 5:21, "For he (Jehovah), hath made him (Christ), to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." This is the good news--Christ died for our sins and was buried and rose again the third day (I Corinthians 15:3,4). "Who his own self bore our sins in his own body on the tree," I Peter 2:24. "Unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood," Revelation 1:5. Can you imagine this holy one bearing all of the filth of the world at Calvary? This is what so deeply disturbed the Lord Jesus Christ in Gethsemane. He knew he had come to shed his blood for sinners for he planned it with the Father and the Holy Spirit, before.the world was created. "Who verily was forordained before the foundation of the world," I Peter 1:20. "Jesus Christ is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world," Revelation 13:8. The crucifixion was not taking him by surprise, for he helped plan it. However, his reason for crying out "My soul is exceedingIy sorrowful, even unto death," and "oh, my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me," Matthew 26:38-39, was his dreadful hatred of sin--my sin, your sin. The iniquity of all sinners heaped upon him causing his Father to turn his face away from him, and forsake him, for the hours that he was hanging upon that tree bearing our wickedness. He knew that soon Matthew 27:46, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani," or "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" would become a reality. The thought of the weight of all this sin upon the holy one, who had never sinned, was undeniably heavy. Nevertheless, he took our place and became our substitute. He bore the grief and sorrow as he filled our shoes. And Isaiah 53:4 says, "Surely he hath borne our grief and carried our sorrows." Would you consider the extent of his grief by meditating upon John 19:34, when one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side and, "there came forth blood and water." Medical men at one time thought this to be an impossibility because one does not have enough water in that particular area. Through advanced science and technology in the medical field, today's doctors inform us that water may freely run from that area if an incision is made when one dies in grief. The sacrifice of Christ to save us was through the shedding of his blood revealed his broken, tormented heart through the flowing of the water from his side. To bear every sinner's sin is an experience that none of us shall ever taste because he, the holy one, has already endured it for us. However, many of you reading this, know the torment of mind you are presently experiencing because of some hidden secret sin you are harboring. Well, multiply this billions of times or trillions of times, and you'll begin to comprehend what Jesus bore at Golgotha. I Corinthians 6:9-11 gives us a listing of just a few of the sins that Christ bore as he took our place: "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators (the sex sin between the unmarried) nor idoloters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, (homosexuals), nor thieves, nor coveteous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God." But the next verse says, "Such were some of you: But you are washed." Christ can, through his blood, do away with any sin if a man will call on him. Read Romans 1:28-32; Galatians 5:19-21; and you'll see he also bore wickedness, maliciousness, envy, murder, deceit, backbiting, hatred for God, pride, disrespect for parents, uncleanness, or dirty double-minded jokes, lasciviousness, idolotry, witchcraft, (which comes from the Greek word, "pharmakeia," or drug-use;) hatred for others; strife and fighting, heresies; yes, he even died to save false heretical teachers who deny the virgin birth, the deity of Christ, the blood atonement, and the bodily resurrection. Yea, even the sin of heresy, which some of you preachers are practicing, was laid upon Jesus so that you might be forgiven if you repent. This listing gives us a partial idea of what Jesus bore in order to save us. Now may I tell you that his precious blood is so powerful and effacacious 1900 years after it was shed, that all these sins and many I didn't even mention that you may be practlcing, may be blotted out if you'll come to this Christ for "the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin," I John 1:7. This substitutionary sacrifice is best summed up in II Corinthians 5:21, "Oh, what a Savior what a sacrifice. Hear it--"He became sin that you might become righteous." DEATH 2. Secondly. he took our death. The Bible says, 'The soul that sinneth, it shall die," Ezekiel 18:4. "The wages of sin is death," Romans 6:23. "Sin when it is finished bringeth forth death," James 1:15. This is not only the first death, the grave, but the second death, which is the lake of fire (Revelation 20:15). There is no doubt about physical death being dealt with at the cross. He died, that we might live. Jesus said, ~Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die." What we call death today, is only a transferance into a richer, greater experience. Philippians 1:21 states that to die is gain. Why? Absent from the body. That's what death is; a departure from the body. So, "absent from the body, present with the Lord," II Corinthians 5:8. But what about the second death, the lake of fire? Did Jesus bear our eternal punishment upon that cruel tree? Isaiah 53:10, "Thou, Jehovah, shall make his soul an offering for sin." It was not only his flesh that was offered, but his soul as well. This means that he bore every pang and pain our eternal judgment would have brought to us, in his agony during those excruciating hours at Calvary. Matthew 27:34, "They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall." Notice, this is before they nailed him to the tree. Gall was a pain- killer. When he tasted thereof, he would not drink. Christ said, "No, no, I've come to bear the sentence of death for the sinner, physically and spiritually, and I will bear every pang. Away with your narcotic pain- killer." The water flowing from his side indicates the tremendous grief he experienced as his soul was made an offering for sin as well as his body. He had all the fires of eternal hell surrounding him upon that cross. No wonder he said, "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" Jehovah will have nothing to do with a place that is filled with sin, such as hell eventually becomes (Revelation 20:15). When all the sins that will populate hell were laid upon Jesus Christ, the Father would not look at His son until the sacrifice was completed. Praise God- -when our substitute finished his sacrifice, the Father approved and looked upon him once again. That's the meaning of the resurrection (Romans 4:25). May I suggest that you take all of the accounts of the Crucifixion story and read and reread them, and you'll see that he took our first and second death, the grave and the lake of fire upon him when he died. Read Psalm 22, Isaiah 53, Matthew 27, Mark 15, Luke 23, and John 19, because he took your place, bearing your sin and taking your penalty so that you might be free to be a partaker of all these blessings, simply by receiving what Christ did for you. John 1:12, "As many received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God." When you receive him, your judgment day will be past. John 5:24, "We are passed from judgment, from condemnation unto life." Romans 8:1, 'There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus." Why? He went through it for you. If you get saved, Hebrews 8:12 says, "Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more." Potentially, it is all taken care of, through the Cross. Experientially you must receive what has been provided. Think of it. No sin, no judgment, and no hell. No sin, because his blood can cleanse you from every stain and taint of the past. No judgment, because his blood does such a thorough job of cleansing sinners that there's nothing left to judge. No hell, because one whose sins have been washed away and whose sins can't be found in God's book can't be punished. The past has been liquidated, obliterated, and forgotten. Praise the Lord. This can be your blessed experience today if you'll let Jesus Christ come into your life. But if you reject him, your sins will take you into the grave and into the second death, the lake of fire, to be separated from the presence of God forever and forever and forever. Oh, be ready to meet Jesus Christ when the call to leave this world comes. Receive him right now.