The California Collection/TheCaliforniaCollection.cdr/his116/vanimp2c.txt

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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.