On the Cross, Jesus Took our Place

[0:00] I've been reading a book by a lady called Annie Dillard. An old book but a good book. And she is just taking note of nature around her and the various things that she sees in nature.

[0:14] And on one occasion she describes this scene where she comes across this little frog beside a river and she says this. He was a very small frog with wide, dull eyes. And just as I looked at him, he slowly crumpled and began to sag.

[0:34] The spirit vanished from his eyes as if snuffed out. His skin emptied and dropped. He was shrinking before my eyes like a deflating football. Soon part of his skin, formless as a pricked balloon, lay in floating folds on top of the water. I gaped, bewildered and appalled. It was a monstrous and terrifying thing.

[1:00] And she goes on to describe how the frog had been eaten by a giant water bug. And she says what the giant water bug does is it seizes its victim, it hugs it tight, it bites it, and it injects poison into the animal that it's going to devour.

[1:20] And so what she had seen was this frog that had been literally eaten away by this bug. And the reason I mentioned that story, and apologies if you're squeamish, is because this is what sin and guilt do to us.

[1:40] Sin and guilt eat away at us. Sin and guilt eat away at us and it results in death. They eat away at our minds, our souls, and our hearts.

[1:55] And when we get glimpses of our own hearts, we despair over what we see in there at times. And sometimes we try to pour concrete over our conscience so that we might deny that we have done wrong, deny that we have any guilt.

[2:15] But of course, that doesn't work. Before a holy God, all that our sin and guilt will lead to, left to our own devices, is death.

[2:26] But this morning, what we want to remember, and what we want to see from what John has read for us, is that what we could never deal with, the sin and the guilt that eat away at us, Jesus has dealt with.

[2:44] We're thinking throughout August about the cross of Jesus in particular, and this morning we want to think about how Jesus on the cross takes our place.

[2:55] And as we start to dwell on that, Jesus taking our place on the cross, we want to ask this question. What do we mean when we talk about Jesus' death being a sacrifice?

[3:07] The author to the Hebrews has this idea of sacrifice in mind. You can see the word in verse 9, the gifts and sacrifices being offered. And the idea is repeated throughout this section of Hebrews.

[3:23] In verse 7, the author speaks about blood. And in verse 12, he says that Jesus did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves, but he entered the most holy place once for all by his own blood.

[3:38] And in verse 13, it says the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean, sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean.

[3:51] How much more then will the blood of Christ cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death? And whenever the author mentions this idea of blood, what he has in mind is sacrifice.

[4:05] And so we want to ask, what do we mean when we think about Jesus' death as being a sacrifice? And of course, the author to the Hebrews, like all the New Testament authors, they are immersed in the Old Testament.

[4:18] And so when they speak about sacrifice, we need to think, well, what does it mean in the Old Testament? What is it that happens in the Old Testament when it speaks about sacrifice? And what we see in the Old Testament is that God loves and rescues his people from slavery in Egypt.

[4:36] And he calls them then to love him and to love others and to live for him in the new land that he is giving them. But the problem is that they don't do that.

[4:49] They regularly and repeatedly miss the mark. And so they sin and they fall short of what God has called them to. And if you're familiar with the Old Testament or if you've read the Old Testament, you'll realize that as you read it, that it strikes a chord because you realize, well, actually, it's not just those people that have sinned and fallen short of what God has called them to.

[5:14] It is me and it is you and it is all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And so there's this tension in the Old Testament.

[5:25] How are people who are sinful going to be living in the presence of a holy God, a good God, a loving God? How are they going to live in his presence and experience his power and his rule if he is good and they are not, basically?

[5:40] I remember when I was growing up in Ireland and it would snow from time to time and there'd be this blanket of pure white snow out in our yard. And it looked beautiful.

[5:51] And so I would do what any child would do. I went out to start to make a snowman. But, of course, within moments of me starting to make the snowman, I had dragged all kinds of dirt and muck and stones and twigs and branches and leaves into the lovely pure white snow.

[6:09] So that what happened was the pure white snow was no longer pure white snow. It was mucky and dirty and so on. And this is the problem that we have and that the people in the Old Testament had when they encountered this pure, holy God.

[6:26] How can they come near him when they are not pure and holy? Well, God gave them a way to come near him and that was to bring an animal.

[6:37] To bring an animal to the temple that would be put to death as a sacrifice. And when they brought an animal to the temple to be put to death as a sacrifice in connection with their sin and their guilt, what they were saying was, I am responsible for what I have done.

[6:55] I am taking responsibility for the fact that I have damaged my relationship with God who has loved me and who has rescued me. It's like when you go to rent a car.

[7:08] If you've ever rented a car, you know that they hand you the keys of the car. But before they hand you the keys of the car, they get you to sign the agreement. And in the agreement, it says that you will take responsibility for any damage done to the car or to the keys, any parking fines that you need to pay, any tolls that you need to pay.

[7:29] And of course, you accept it. It is reasonable that if you damage the car that you take responsibility for it. And when somebody in the Old Testament was bringing an animal to be sacrificed at the temple, it was them saying, I take responsibility for the damage that I've caused to my relationship with God.

[7:50] Not only was it saying that they took responsibility for the damage that they caused to their relationship with God, it was also recognizing that there was a cost involved. These sacrifices were costly.

[8:04] So you think of King David in the Old Testament saying, I insist on paying you for this sacrifice. I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God anything that cost me nothing.

[8:19] And so the sacrifices were costly to the person. It wasn't because they didn't value the animal that they made this sacrifice. It was because they did value the animal.

[8:31] It was costly. It was one of their most precious things in a farming culture. As one author has put it, animals were the most precious things human could give of their possessions, for the blood was the seat of the soul.

[8:50] And so they brought these sacrifices to God in the temple, taking responsibility for their sin and recognizing the cost of the damage that had been done to their relationship with the Father.

[9:02] And you reflect on that for a moment and you think, well, there is some cost to the person bringing the sacrifice, but surely the real cost is to the animal whose blood has been shed, whose life is given.

[9:17] In God's kindness, it is the animal that bears the cost. And the person who has brought the animal walks away from the temple, praising God that they have not had to face the cost of the sin that has brought damage to their relationship with God.

[9:39] In a sense, what was happening was that their sin, their guilt, the cost of what they had done was being transferred to the animal.

[9:50] And it was very vivid when they put their hands on the head of the animal. There was this transference of the sin and of the guilt. That was what it symbolized. So that the animal bore the cost of what had been done by the person.

[10:04] And so these people who God loved and yet they were sinners, they were to take responsibility for their sin and the cost of the damage they had done to the relationship.

[10:17] And you wonder, why this system? Why the temple and why the animals and so on? And at a surface level, surface level is very different to what we're used to in 21st century Ireland.

[10:34] And what we recognize bubbling away under the surface is the exact same heart issues. It's the exact same heart issues bubbling away under the surface that we have damaged our relationship with God.

[10:50] And we need to take responsibility for it. And there is a cost to that. We recognize that in our culture. We recognize that friendships can be damaged.

[11:01] So I remember years ago watching a sitcom, a comedy show on TV, and this show is comedy. It's lighthearted. It's not taking life too seriously.

[11:15] And the world view of the sitcom was very different to the world view that we have. And yet there was a couple of guys in the show. They were good friends with each other.

[11:26] They were sharing an apartment. And one of the guys was going out with a girl. And the other guy kissed her behind the first guy's back.

[11:37] And now this is a sitcom. It's supposed to be comedy. It's supposed to be light. And yet they recognized the damage had been done to the friendship. And so the rest of the show is the guy who had done wrong trying to figure out how can I make it up to you?

[11:55] How can I take responsibility for what I've done? What can I do to repair the friendship, repair the relationship between us?

[12:05] What can I give? How can I ever repay you? What can I do to make it up to you? They realized that the relationship had been damaged.

[12:18] And that can be true of friendship. How much more is it true of our relationship with God when we turn our back on him? When we sin against him? This God who has loved us and has rescued us.

[12:32] Well, for those bringing the sacrifice to the temple, they were saying, I've wronged you, God. I've sinned against you. It is a serious thing. You take it seriously because you're committed to your people.

[12:42] And I take it seriously because I'm committed to you, God. And so they had this system.

[12:55] We see it in verse 7. The high priest entered the inner room and that only once a year and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance.

[13:08] So it was a good system, but it was only a shadow. In verses 8 and 9, it says, the Holy Spirit was showing by this that the way into the most holy place, in other words, the way into the presence of God, had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still functioning.

[13:28] This is an illustration for the present time, indicating that the gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper.

[13:41] So it was good because it drew attention to our sin. It was good because it showed that we had responsibility for the damage done. It was good because it showed that there was cost involved and death was the outcome of sin.

[13:54] But there was this recognition as well that this isn't going to be sufficient. This isn't enough. This is a shadow. And so you have a psalm, like in Psalm 49, where it says, truly no man can ransom another or give to God the price of his life.

[14:09] For the ransom of their life is costly and can never suffice. And then Psalm 49 goes on to say, but God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me.

[14:26] There's this recognition, even then, that the system that was there with the temple was insufficient. And yet somehow God was going to do what we could never do.

[14:40] I remember being, going into a sweet shop when I was younger and they had those jars of sweets up on the high shelf, apple drops, aniseed balls, all those ones.

[14:54] And they had their little brown bags and they'd weigh them out. So you'd ask for a quarter of apple drops and they'd put their little metal weight on one side of the scales and then they'd fill the bag on the other side to make sure that they balanced out.

[15:07] The question for us is, well, if you put your soul on one side of the scales, what is it that's going to go on the other side that's going to be sufficient to purchase your soul?

[15:21] And the psalmist says, there's nothing that you could give. Your own life is not spotless, it's not blemish free. The sacrifices that were offered could never be enough.

[15:36] One author puts it like this, the few sacrifices prescribed in the law did not cover the whole of life. They did not bring about true atonement. They served only to arouse a sense of sin and were types that pointed to another and better sacrifice.

[15:51] The priests themselves were sinners. The blood of bulls and goats could not take away sins. The sacrifices had to be endlessly repeated. Endlessly, that is, until Jesus came.

[16:08] Verse 11, when Christ came. This is where it gets good. When Christ came, he takes responsibility for our sin.

[16:23] He takes responsibility for our sin, by bearing the cost. Verse 12, he did not enter by means of the blood of goats and cows, but he entered the most holy place once for all by his own blood.

[16:40] He is both this great high priest, but he is also this sacrificial offering. He offers himself to take responsibility for our sin, to bear the cost of our sin.

[16:56] And amazingly, it is not just Jesus going to the cross, but it is the Father, the Son, and the Spirit all involved in this act of redemption.

[17:09] Verse 14, how much more then will the blood of Christ, there is the Son, who through the eternal Spirit, there is the Holy Spirit, offered himself unblemished to God, there is the Father.

[17:22] Father, Son, and Spirit, we are all working in cooperation through what Christ has done to give the ransom necessary for our souls.

[17:38] And if you'll pardon the illustration, when you brought that car to the rental place, when you brought it back after you'd driven it and damaged it and smashed the windscreen and burst the tires, you know you can sign a damage waiver agreement with them.

[17:58] So they'll cover all the damage, but you have to pay for it. What Jesus does is that he covers all the damage that we have done to our relationship with God.

[18:09] We don't have to pay for it. He pays that cost. And so our sin and our guilt are transferred onto him. When we trust in Jesus, it's as though we are putting our hands on Jesus' head and our sin and our guilt is being transferred to the eternal Son of God who willingly becomes sin for us.

[18:38] And of course, we don't literally put our hands on his head, but he does literally become sin for us. He does literally take our sins and our guilt and our shame on himself.

[18:51] The just for the unjust. he became sin for us. And the result of this is freedom.

[19:06] Verse 15, Christ is the mediator of a new covenant that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.

[19:26] In what sense are we set free from the sins that we have committed? We are set free from the punishment of our sins.

[19:37] We are set free from the guilt of our sins. We are set free from all that we deserve as a result of our sin. We are set free from the mastery of sins.

[19:48] So sin is no longer our master or our Lord. So we can say no to sin. Jesus has set us free from sin and from sins.

[20:06] He has set us free so that we might serve the living God in verse 14. You think about this Old Testament system and it's good but it's insufficient and then you read in verse 14 how much more then will the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself unblemished to God.

[20:28] He was perfect and he offered himself to God to cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death. You know in your heart and soul that the things that you do the outcome of them should be death.

[20:42] like that frog who has been eaten away by the bug you know that we are eaten away by sin and guilt and yet Christ has set us free from that so that we may serve the living God and so when our guilt overwhelms us at times and our hearts would condemn us at times and our sin gets the better of us at times what do we say do we pour concrete over our conscience and say well it wasn't too bad do we wait for time to heal all wounds which doesn't work or do we say yes I am guilty if I stand here before God myself yes I am sinful if I stand here before God myself but I don't stand here before God myself I stand here before God in the name of Jesus who has given himself for me and so my sin has been dealt with

[21:43] I have been forgiven and the question is not whether I could ever bring enough animals to the temple to sacrifice it's has Jesus brought enough to the father and so it all hinges on the value of Jesus the worth of Jesus and you will not think of anybody of more value of more worth than the eternal son of God that is what our salvation hinges on his worth his value his sacrifice in our place has he done enough for you absolutely is there anything more he needs to do for you no you've been set free and he will bring to completion the good work that he has started in you we can never do enough we can never bring enough but Jesus has done everything Jesus has brought his very life and so you're in that situation where you see your soul in the balance and you realize that

[22:52] Jesus has laid his life down in the other side of the scales and your soul is suddenly lifted because what he has done is perfectly and fully sufficient for the ransom of your soul the story is told of a man by the name of Walter Walter is growing older and he's in a neighborhood that is changing so different people moving into the neighborhood and there is one house in particular where there is this gang who have basically taken over the house and there's a lot of violence a lot of intimidation going on and this gang are being violent and intimidating towards this teenager in the neighborhood and so Walter befriends the teenager who 20 years prior he would never even have talked to he befriends the teenager and gets to know the teenager and here's the story of the teenager who is under all this pressure and intimidation to get involved in the violence and the gang warfare and Walter is known to the gang as well and what

[24:10] Walter does the gang don't like Walter they try to intimidate him as well what Walter does is he goes out in front of the house of the gang members one evening and there's people passing by people are seeing what's going on and he stands there before them and gets their attention and then what he does is he puts his hand into his coat pocket like this and they think immediately he's reaching for a weapon and so what they do is they immediately open fire and Walter falls and dies on the spot but because this has been seen by people the gang are arrested and put in prison because they've seen this and of course Walter wasn't armed at all but what he did was he drew that evil on himself in order that this teenager who he had befriended would be free from the intimidation free from the power of this evil in his life and that's what Jesus has done for us on the cross he has drawn on himself all the sin all the guilt all the shame that we are deserving of and he has drawn it on himself so that we might go free that we might stand before the father forever to serve him in joy and peace that's what

[25:42] Jesus' sacrifice has achieved as he has died in our place and so let's pray and ask for him to help us as we dwell on this to take it to heart and to mind in the week ahead father we do praise you for Jesus he died in our place this perfect one lord this unblemished one lord he has given himself to you he has given himself for us and lord we rejoice that Jesus blood has been shed for us lord he is of great worth he is of great value far more than we could ever imagine and we praise you lord that what we could never do he has done lord help us to live in light of his great work for us on the cross help us this week to serve the living god and to know the freedom from sins that Jesus has bought for us it's in his name that we pray amen and