Jesus is My Substitute

Father, we ask that the Holy Spirit would fall with gentle power and deep conviction upon us as we look at your word.

And Father, we ask that you would draw us to Jesus, that you would help us to once again understand afresh who he is and what he accomplished for us in his death upon the cross.

Father, we ask that your Holy Spirit would so move and work within us, that we might once again fall in love with what he has done for us.

And we ask this in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen.

Please be seated.

Last Sunday I talked about money. Today I'm going to talk about death.

Talking about death not because I'm morbid, it's the scripture text basically invites us and tells us to talk about death.

That's what the scripture text is about.

Just this past week I heard from a member of the congregation that somebody that they know and I know, I don't know them super well, but I know them.

I've seen them six or seven or eight times. I know them.

If I saw them in the street, I'd say hi.

And I just heard the news that they'd gotten terrible news in the last week or so.

And the terrible news in the last week or so was that their young son, who hadn't been developing properly, they'd finally got the test results in.

In fact, they thought at first that he had a hearing problem and they were giving him lots of hearing tests.

But it turns out that he has a degenerative brain disease.

And it means that in fact, the mental level that he's reached right now and he's still nonverbal is the maximum he's ever going to reach.

And the disease will eventually kill him, probably in his early teens.

Very, very hard and sobering news, as you can well imagine, for a young child, parents of a young child.

They're very devout Christians.

But it's still a very hard thing.

I'm not going to tell you his name, but if you want to commit him to prayer, his name is Bobby.

That's the name.

If you're a guest here, I call guys Bob and I call girls Sue, just to not slip up and reveal somebody's name as a general rule.

If you're here and your name is Bob or you're a woman, your name is Sue, I'm not talking about you.

It's just a habit I've developed.

You might want to pray for him and his family.

I mention this because it's very easy for Christians.

It can be easy for me to talk about death in an apologetic way as if I want to try to win an argument

and show the superiority of the Christian worldview in light of Buddhism or secularism or atheism or Islam.

And there's not necessarily anything wrong about that.

But the fact of the matter is, is that as we all know, that death is in fact not an issue just of the intellect or a philosophy or of ideology,

that in fact it's a deeply personal issue.

And that I am aware, whether it's some of the people who will listen to this sermon online through a podcast later on,

or whether it's some of you here, that you in fact might be struggling a little bit with some news about yourself

that has health consequences or a loved one, in a sense like we now are, not struggling with it,

but very conscious of the reality and the certainty of death.

It's in fact also almost definitely the case that one of the reasons our culture is reacting the way we are right now to COVID-19

is the horrific images that were shown in TV about the hospital situation in Italy at the height of the crisis in that country.

And I know for a fact that people in the congregation who are very, very worried that their fate might be to end up dying,

gasping for breath without a ventilator in a hospital hallway separated from loved ones.

So death is a very personal and present issue.

It's also very sort of curious because it's an issue that in Canada we're not really allowed to talk about.

In fact, if I was to be invited once the lockdown is over and we can once again don't have to have social distancing

and you invite me to a party, and if I was to start asking your friends from work or your neighbours who'd come to the party,

by the way, if you've been thinking about death lately, you should.

But you would view that as a very rude thing to do, and I wouldn't be invited back to another party that you would throw

because it's just viewed as a very un-Canadian thing, even though it's in fact something which is inevitable and deeply personal.

The scripture text that we're going to look at today talks about death in a very important and significant way.

So I invite you to turn in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verses 1 to 11.

1 Corinthians 15:1–11

1 Corinthians chapter 15, verses 1 to 11.

1 Corinthians 15:1–11

And let's plunge into reading it and I'll draw out the significance about death and meaning

and I'll try to remember to return to Bobby and his parents at the end

because this text, in fact, is a profound comfort to them or can be.

Now, I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of the gospel I preached to you,

which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved,

if you hold fast to the word I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.

I just sort of want to pause there for a second and tell you a little bit about the person writing this letter

and the profound significance of what he's just written.

This letter was probably written sometime 51, 52, 53 AD.

I know it's a very long time and some of you are going to doubt that a text that was written so long ago

could possibly have anything to say about death that could be relevant to us today.

But I'll get to that in a moment.

But here's the significant thing about this, brothers and sisters.

Because the fact of the matter is, is that the fellow who wrote this,

whether it was the year 51 or 52 or 53, it's not clear where it was written,

but somewhere in that time period,

the person who wrote it was what we would now call

an extreme religious fundamentalist fanatic.

And he wasn't just a religious fanatic.

He had weaponized his fanaticism in the worst possible way.

He believed in his own narrow understanding of Judaism,

and he believed in his own narrow way of expressing and living that Judaism.

And anybody who did not fall into that narrow category,

he would have seen as anathema.

And there's, in fact, a public record.

He himself confesses to it that he was, in fact,

complicit in the death of at least one innocent man.

And, in fact, he was off in a crusade to hurt and imprison,

to beat and imprison people whom he disagreed with in another city.

And that was the man, that is the man who's writing this letter.

And yet, he's writing to a place in Greece.

He's in what we would now call Turkey.

And he's writing to a city in Corinth,

which we now would call us being in Greece.

And he's writing to this city,

and he's talking to mainly pagans.

And he calls them his brother and sister.

So what could have gone on between this man

and maybe 15, 16, 17 years earlier,

he was a weaponized, religious, fundamentalist, extremist fanatic,

complicit in the death of an innocent man

and desiring to imprison and beat other men.

And what could possibly have led him now,

15 or so years later,

to write this letter where he refers to pagans,

ex-pagans, as his brothers and sisters?

And the answer would be,

this is what he would tell you

and what he'd tell you in his writing.

And it's not a matter of debate

amongst even the most skeptical scholar

that we have some of his letters

that are still known and read today.

And what he would say is this,

that what completely and utterly changed his life

was that he met Jesus

after Jesus had risen from the dead.

He met Jesus after Jesus was risen from the dead.

And that in and of itself wasn't all.

But in meeting Jesus risen from the dead,

he also understood why Jesus had died

and why Jesus had died for him.

And this completely and utterly

transforms the life of this man

to the point that he went from being a man

to inflict death upon others

to a man who risked his own personal death

for the sake of people very other than him

in the hope and the prayer

that he would be able to call them

his brothers and sisters in Christ.

So what does he say?

In fact, partly this is going to be him

bearing witness to the fact

that what completely and utterly transformed him

was the fact that he met in history,

in real time, Jesus after Jesus

had died and risen from the dead.

Let's continue on, verse 3,

and we'll see how he comes to this.

For I delivered to you as a first importance

what I also received,

that Christ died for our sins

in accordance with the scriptures,

that he was buried,

that he was raised on the third day

in accordance with the scriptures,

and then he appeared to Cephas

and then to the twelve.

And Cephas is another way

of referring to the man

that we now primarily know of as Peter.

Now some of you might say,

okay, well, George,

that's sort of interesting,

but how can that possibly...

Well, let's just look at what he says.

I'm going to talk about the fact

that even though this is written

1950 some odd years ago,

1970 years ago,

how it's still in fact

profoundly relevant to us today.

Notice what he has said,

that that's what he understood,

that's what he teaches,

that's what he believes,

that Jesus,

look again at verse 3,

that Christ died for our sins

in accordance with the scriptures,

that he was buried,

that he was raised on the third day

in accordance with the scriptures,

and that he appeared to Cephas

and then to the twelve.

And some of you are saying,

well, no, it's George,

it's all mixed up with...

Listen to what he says,

and we'll come back

to some of your objections.

I really will.

He mentions that Jesus,

after his death,

appears to Cephas

and then to the twelve.

Then in verse 6,

he says,

then he appeared

to more than 500 brothers

at one time,

most of whom were still alive,

though some have fallen asleep.

And that phrase here

is also very,

very significant brothers.

One of the things

which is interesting

about this list

is that he's basically

omitted references

to the women.

Now,

it doesn't mean

that the Bible

agrees with this.

In fact,

one of the ways

that we know

that the Bible

doesn't agree with this

is the fact

that even though

in both Greek

and Roman

and Jewish culture,

the testimony

of a woman

wasn't considered

as valid or real,

to show what God

thinks about it is,

in a sense,

just to show what God

thinks about all of that,

the very, very first witness

to the resurrection

is a woman.

That's Mary Magdalene,

right?

And so that sort of shows

what God thinks about it.

But Paul here

isn't just trying to,

in a sense,

shame the people

into thinking

a different way

about women.

He just wants to try

to present the evidence.

So it's very interesting

because you see

what's missing from this list

as you'll see in a moment

is there's no reference

to Mary Magdalene.

There's no reference

to Mary Magdalene

and Mary,

whose last name

we don't know.

And there's no reference

to Cleopas

and his unnamed companion,

which was probably

either his wife

or his sister.

So three of the clear

evidences

of Jesus' resurrection

are omitted

from this list.

And he uses

the word brothers.

And it's not clear

whether it should be

brothers or brothers

and sisters.

But here's the significant thing.

First of all,

it's very, very significant

if you think about it,

that Jesus,

after his resurrection,

appeared to 500 people

at the same time.

But if, in fact,

all Paul says is,

by the way,

just in case you doubt

the testimony of women,

there were 500 men present.

But that might mean

that there were 700,

800, 1,000,

1,500 people present

because the rest of them

were women.

Even more remarkable.

And then look

what else he says.

So he says that

Jesus appeared

after his death.

He appeared to Peter.

He appeared to the disciples.

He appeared to 500 people

at the same time,

most of whom are still alive,

though some have fallen asleep.

Verse 7.

Then he appeared to James.

Then to all the apostles.

And just pause there.

These are also

very, very significant.

One of the things

that people will sometimes say,

and I'm going to talk about

it a bit more in a moment,

is that all these

resurrection appearances

were probably just

Jesus' friends

and people who believe

all this stuff

and are easily

just sort of more gullible

because,

as most Canadians would say,

one thing we know

about religious

and spiritual people

is they're more gullible

about hard-headed Canadians

who look at evidence

and have evidence-based ways

of understanding the world.

But the fact of the matter

is that all the historical evidence

shows that two,

at least in the list,

were profound skeptics.

One of them was James,

whom he just mentions,

who was a profound skeptic.

All of the historical records

show that James,

the half-brother of Jesus,

didn't for a moment believe

that Jesus was actually

who he said he was

or that he would rise

from the dead.

And the other, of course,

is the person writing this,

Paul,

who was so completely

and utterly opposed to this

and viewed it as a myth

that he tried to kill people

who held to it.

The other thing in that is,

notice he says apostles,

all the apostles.

Now, what we know

from the historical records

is that, I don't know,

we don't know

the precise number of apostles.

There might have been 30,

there might have been 40.

They're different

than the 12 apostles

with capital A,

but there's capital A apostles,

the 11 disciples and Paul,

but then there's apostles

with small letter A

and that's what

it's being referred to here.

And there's 20, 30, 40, 50,

we don't know

how many of them are,

but the interesting thing

is it doesn't say,

first of all,

it would be very remarkable

if there were 40

and he appeared to 40

at the same time.

That's still very remarkable,

but it's even more remarkable

because it doesn't say

that he appeared

to all 40 at the same time.

It just says

he appeared to all of them.

It means there might be

40 more appearances.

of Jesus.

It's a big claim.

It's a big claim.

And then continues on,

look at verse 8,

last of all,

as to one untimely born,

he appeared also to me,

for I am the least

of the apostles,

unworthy to be called

an apostle

because I have persecuted

the church of God.

Remember what I said,

he was a skeptic,

he just lets it

right out of the bag.

He was a man

who persecuted the church

to the point

of killing Christians.

But by the grace of God,

I am what I am.

In other words,

by God's grace,

I am a Christian.

By God's grace,

my sins have been dealt with.

By God's grace,

I am accepted

as the child

of my heavenly Father

through grace

by what Jesus has done

for me in the cross.

Not weighing my merits,

but pardoning my offenses.

But by the grace of God,

I am what I am

and his grace toward me

was not in vain.

On the contrary,

I worked harder

than any of them,

though it was not I,

but the grace of God

that is with me.

Whether then it was I

or they,

so we preached

and so you believed.

Now,

some of you might say,

okay, George,

that's a very,

very interesting list,

but here's at least

four problems.

At least four problems,

but four big problems.

First of all,

it's a religious text,

so therefore it's worthless.

It's written by gullible people

who aren't hard-headed

and look at evidence.

It's worthless

because it's a religious text.

Secondly,

it's probably worthless

because it's only people

who knew him

that he lists.

So how on earth

can you count that

as being of any type

of significance whatsoever?

Third,

we know that all these things

were written so long

after the events

they purport to talk about

that why on earth

would you possibly believe them?

And George,

if those three things

don't strike you out,

the fourth thing

will definitely strike you out.

That it was,

sorry,

this is written

in the year 53,

so it's so long ago

that you can't believe it

or trust it

because that's so long ago.

And the fourth thing is

the text itself

was probably written

so long after the event

and giving you information

so long after the event

that the event

is completely and utterly worthless.

So those are good points.

And by the way,

a couple of weeks ago

in one of my sermons,

I think it was two weeks ago,

I talked about how,

in fact,

the Bible commands you

to think

that, in fact,

the matter is

is that there are a lot

of religious and spiritual people,

including Christians,

who just say,

well, you don't have to think,

just believe.

But in fact,

the Bible tells Christians

to think.

So we should always be pleased,

not maybe pleased,

but we should always be very,

very,

actually,

we should be pleased.

We should be pleased

when people ask honest questions

or make honest objections

and be prepared

to try to figure out

how to answer them.

So let's look at all of them.

The first one is

that,

yes,

this is a religious text,

but it didn't begin

as a religious text.

It began

as an historical artifact.

You see,

it's actually written

and Paul,

it's not,

you know what,

the Bible doesn't claim ever

that what goes on

in the Bible

is like the Koran,

right?

In the Koran,

you know,

basically Muhammad

through his messenger,

I mean,

Allah through his messenger

communicates to Muhammad

and Muhammad

just basically

verbally dictates

what he's being communicated

through an intermediary

from Allah

and Muslims will say

that's why the Koran

is perfectly preserved

and that's why

it's so beautiful

and nobody could ever

possibly write

a book like that

because it comes

directly from Allah

and therefore

what you deal with

when you're dealing

with the Koran

is in fact purely

from beginning to end

a religious text.

Christians don't make

that claim

about the Bible

and I'm not making

that claim as well.

In fact,

the matter is

you don't have to take it

as a religious text

or a spiritual text.

What you do need

to take it as

is what it is.

It's that it's

a historical artifact.

Even the most

radical scholars

if you go to

the most radical

if you go to Ottawa

U the religion department

you go to Carleton

the religion department

go to McGill

or U of T

go to Harvard

go to Princeton

go to Oxford

and get the most

skeptical scholar

you have

and no scholar

will doubt

that we have

original letters

from Paul

and that this

is one of them.

That's the actual evidence.

So don't take it

as a religious text

just take it

as what it is

that even

the most

skeptical scholars

accept that

a man by the name

of Paul

wrote this

probably in the years

roughly that I gave

gave you.

So here you have

a man

writing in the year

52 or 53

making these

particular claims.

How about the second thing?

Well the second thing

is it says

well how George

you can't really

believe anything

on this list

because it's all

people who know them

but here's the problem

you go against

everything that

they would take

as important

in a court of law

here in Canada

in the United States

in any western democracy

because the fact

of the matter is

is that if we were

looking at witnesses

to a crime

and I've tried to

be a witness

to a crime

and I've never

actually seen

the person before

and I don't know

anything at all

about him

and I

there's always

a bit of a possibility

that I didn't quite

see him properly

or her properly

and I might be

a bit confused

about it

but the fact

of the matter is

is if it was

you know

God forbid

it was Andrew

committing the crime

and I've known

Andrew for 25 years

Lord have mercy

that's what he says

about that

as I do as well

the fact of the matter is

is that if I say

that it was Andrew

committing the crime

and the police say

how long have you

known Andrew

I said 25 years

they'd say wow

it probably was Andrew

like it's pretty unlikely

that I'm going to mistake

how Andrew walks

how he moves

how he moves his head

I'm sure later on

you can ask all of his boys

to do a little bit

of an imitation

about their dad

about how he moves

and the other types

of things

and it would be

very embarrassing

to Andrew

and hilarious

for the rest of us

my son

or kids

could do the same

thing about me

but the fact

of the matter is

is that after

somebody's been murdered

how do they make sure

the body is the right person

they get a family

or somebody who knows them

to identify the body

so the fact

of the matter is

the fact that people

who saw Jesus

knew him

is evidence

that it was Jesus

the fact of the matter is

is if all of the evidence

was people

had never seen Jesus

before in their entire life

you'd say

well how on earth

they know it was Jesus

so the fact

that it was people

who knew him

is actually good evidence

not bad evidence

and then you might say

okay George

but here's the problem

the problem is

that it happened

too long ago

to trust

anything that it said

but here

and here

here

here's the problem

to my Muslim friends

I don't normally

say this

to their face

but sometimes

I think I've only

had one time

where I've been able

to actually say

something like this

to them

Muslims act

at the end of the day

when it comes to

talking about Christianity

they have to choose

between faith

and history

why is that?

because the Quran

says that Jesus

didn't die on the cross

but the fact of the matter

is

is once again

you go to Ottawa

I point the wrong way

you go to Ottawa

you go to Carleton

you go to

you go to McGill

you go to U of T

you find the most

skeptical scholars

you can have

you go to Bart Ehrman

and basically

no skeptical scholar

believes that

every skeptical scholar

believes that Jesus

died upon the cross

because the weight

of historical evidence

is that he died

on the cross

so for our Muslim friends

they have to choose

ultimately between

history

or they have to choose

that or their faith

ironically

secular Canadians

have to choose

between their faith

and secularism

or history

why do I say that?

Jewish Israeli

archaeologists

when they're doing

archaeological work

in and around

Jerusalem

or somewhere else

and they're

they're finding

things that went on

around the time

of the second temple

they regularly go

to the New Testament

to get corroboration

as to what in fact

they're probably looking at

the fact of the matter

is

is that archaeologists

and treasure hunters

regularly use

old documents

to actually figure out

what's actually

what they've discovered

and what they can then

know for certain

about the past

a few years ago

Blackbird's Boat

the Queen Anne's Revenge

was found

how was the Blackbird's Boat

the Queen Anne's Revenge

found?

well it was by

some very clever people

who went through

all of the letters

and all the other

historical documents

of people at the time

and by reading

everything together

and putting it together

and thinking it all through

they figured out

the rough area

that the wreck

had probably happened

and then they went

with their sonar

and their

you know

other stuff like that

their scientific stuff

and they were able

to find

Blackbird's Boat

where it had run aground

and where it had shipwrecked

why?

because they used

archaeological evidence

it didn't matter

that it was old

it was eyewitness

so they were able

to use it

to locate something

so in a sense

what I'm just saying

to you is

here we have a document

that even the most

skeptical scholars

believe was written

in the year 53

we have a whole range

of other documents

all written from

that particular time

all making this

particular claim

archaeologists don't

dismiss it

because it's old

neither do treasure hunters

so why would you

other than by faith?

but then the final

objection is

well George

here the big problem

is

that we all know

that this was

written many many

years after

and it was probably

just written

many many years

after

and so he added

that there were

these eyewitnesses

that still were alive

well the fact of the matter

is that once again

as I said

even the most

skeptical scholars

acknowledge that

this was a letter

by Paul

and we know

from historical evidence

that Jesus

that Paul died

probably 67

or 68 A.D.

interestingly enough

he died for a fact

he died

maintaining

the fact

that Jesus

had actually

died on a cross

and been buried

and rose from the dead

on the third day

and if he denied

that fact

he could have gone on

and lived a longer

and happier life

but he maintained

that fact

right to the death

but the fact

the matter is

is that this is

written in 53

skeptical scholars

acknowledge it

and there's some

dynamite in this text

which is even more

significant

it's not obvious

in English

look again

at verses 1, 2 and 3

it says this

now I would remind you

brothers and sisters

of the gospel

I preached to you

which you received

and that word received

in the original language

is actually a very

significant word

in which you stand

and by which you

are being saved

if you hold fast

to the word I preached

to you

unless you believed

in vain

and then I delivered

and that word delivered

in the original language

is a very significant word

I delivered to you

as of first important

what I also received

and that word received

once again

is that significant word

and the significance

of the word is this

that Paul is telling them

something that he was told

that is authoritative

has authority

and weight behind it

that's the significance

of the word

in the original language

but notice what's just

been said here

which is very very significant

you're now seeing

a piece of evidence

in other words

what you're seeing here

is that the early Christians

to help Christians

just keep everything straight

and to give them

a bit of a way

to understand

and to have conversations

with people

and make the story

real to themselves

and be able to defend it

they gave them

these four points

all beginning with the word

that in English

that Christ died

for our sins

according to the scriptures

that he was buried

that he was raised

on the third day

according to the scriptures

that he appeared to Cephas

and then the twelve

and then the others

but the significance

is this

scholars

once again

I've said

scholars don't deny

that Jesus died

on the cross

and because of connections

with what Jewish

and pagan historians

talk about

in the time period

they're able to figure out

that Jesus either died

by crucifixion

in the spring of the year 30

or the spring of the year 33

they can't tell

which one it is

but they know he died

in one of those two years

by the same fact

that there's so many

historical references

in the New Testament

to things talked about

by Jewish and pagan historians

they know that Stephen

was stoned

somewhere between

the year

in the year 33

or the year 34

and therefore they know

that Paul

became a

saw the resurrected Jesus

and became a Christian

in either the year 33

or the year 34

and what's so significant?

Paul says

that when he becomes a Christian

not only does he see Jesus

when he becomes a Christian

what he's told

in either the year 33

or the year 34

is what we read right here

in other words

you're not reading

something here

which is written

40, 50 years later

Paul is giving you evidence

of what he was told

potentially months

after the death

and resurrection of Jesus

and no more than

a couple of years

in other words

what you're looking at

right here

is very, very, very, very

ancient testimony

the exact type of testimony

that if this

was talking about

a pirate ship

that went to ground

treasure hunters

would be ecstatic

if they found it

because it gives them

evidence

going so far back

that they can use

to find treasure

and this treasure

is that there's good news

and the good news

is that Christ died

for our sins

in accordance with

the scriptures

that he was buried

that he was raised

on the third day

in accordance with

the scriptures

and that he appeared

to Cyphus

and then the twelve

and then the rest

of the list

the good news

is that the true cause

of death

has been dealt with

the barrier

to eternal life

has been dealt with

because God

has provided

through Christ

a substitute

which means

that through

that substitution

you can now

enter into

eternal life

because he died

for you

and some of you

might say

okay George

you're saying

this is all

about a substitute

I have a whole

pile of problems

with that George

and you probably

can't answer them

I mean first of all

I don't need

a substitute

why on earth

do I need

a substitute

that's a really

good point

here's why

you need

a substitute

you're going

to die

you're going

to die

and the fact

of the matter

is

as I think

just about

every Canadian

if they're sober

and are honest

recognize that

there's something

about death

that's just wrong

in fact the matter

is

is that I've

talked to many people

you've probably

talked to many people

maybe you are

one of those people

who've used death

as an example

of why God

doesn't exist

because it feels

as if it's a

judgment

on you

why did God

let my mom

die

why did God

let my child

die

why did God

let my wife

die

as if that's

a judgment

somehow upon you

and how dare God

make that type

of judgment

is the next thing

that often goes

the fact of the matter

is is that

in the face of death

we have a sense

that there's something

unnatural about it

that there's something

judgmental about it

and at the same time

we all know

that we cannot

defeat death

that death

will overwhelm us

that judgment

that wrongness

that unnaturalness

will undo

you

inevitably

and so I would

suggest to you

that that actually

shows

that if you're

to have any hope

in the face of death

you need a substitute

you need a substitute

so do I

not just you

I need a substitute

but we have some

problems

because in fact

the matter is

is that

in our world

when we hear the word

substitute

it's a bad thing

right

you have a choice

of going to get

freshly squeezed

orange juice

or some drink

that's the orange

color

that's called

orange

and what happens

is they take

all the good

orange stuff

as much as they

possibly can

the good delicious

oranges

they take as much

of the oranges

out as they

possibly can

add some orange

dye

and some sugar

and the orange

dye and the sugar

is the substitute

for the delicious

stuff in an orange

and that's generally

what happens

you need a recipe

and it needs

whipped cream in it

and you don't have

any whipped cream

so you call up

your friend

and you ask him

or her

what can you

substitute for

whipped cream

and you might

actually have

a bit of a

substitute for

whipped cream

but the fact

of the matter

is it will

never taste

as good

as using

real whipped cream

because real

whipped cream

is insanely

delicious

I tell my

friends

we're going

to be able

to eat

as much

whipped cream

as we want

in heaven

it will never

clog our arteries

and it will

never add a pound

and that's one

of the things

you can look

forward to

endless

whipped cream

anyway

now you know

a little bit

about me

so

but the point

is in our

world

substitute

is usually

a bad thing

but look

what Paul

says here

which is so

significant

about substitute

it's so

beautiful

look again

verse 3

for I deliver

to you

as of first

importance

what I also

received

that Christ

died for

that word

for

is the

substitute

word

that Christ

dies

as our

substitute

to deal

with our

sins

in accordance

with the

scriptures

and why

is that

so significant

because the

word Christ

is the

word

that summarizes

all of the

promises of

God

in the

scriptures

about how

God

will deal

with the

sins

when Abraham

goes to

kill Isaac

and God

tells Abraham

that I will

provide a

substitute

all of the

lessons

that God

will somehow

deliver his

people

all of the

promises of

the law

all of the

promises of

the kingship

all of the

promises of

the priesthood

all of the

promises of

Daniel and

the son of

man

that God

himself will

deliver us

that is

captured in

Christ

so what it's

saying is

God

George how

did you die

just give me

some grace

here I'm just

talking about

Canadians values

okay

I'm not making

a value judgment

in terms of

the Bible

in terms of

the Bible

every human

being is

made in

the image

of God

and has

more worth

than the

nation of

Canada

or of

Apple

or of

CBC

the worst

most decrepit

street person

is of more

value than

Canada because

that street

person is made

in the image

of God

but here's

for the

analogy just

this

what God

is saying

here is

God doesn't

say I think

I'm going to

save George

from his

sins so I'm

going to find

the worst

street person

I can and

kill the

street person

for George

no

God

himself

in the

person of

his son

is the

one who

dies for

me

it's as if

you take

the

you take

this foul

orange drink

with dye

and sugar

and God

gives the

best oranges

to substitute

for that

and that

is our

substitute

but some

of you

might say

George

the problem

with substitution

is that it's

unjust

and I can

completely

and utterly

understand that

I am a

firstborn

and my

sister and

I

have me

then my

sister and

my brother

and my

sister and

I called

my mom

used to

refer to

my youngest

my brother

as baby

doll

so we

called him

baby doll

expert menace

because the

fact of the

matter is

he was

profoundly

skillful

this is a

bit of a

warning here

for all you

younger children

he was

profoundly

successful

at doing

a naughty

thing

and then

looking

completely

and utterly

beatifically

innocent

so I

got the

punishment

rather than

him

by the way

my sister

was really

good at

this as

well

so I

was

regularly

the

substitute

for the

punishment

that I

didn't

deserve

my

brother

would do

it

my sister

would do

it

and I

would get

the

punishment

from my

dad

that was

how I

grew up

so I

understand

you

thinking

it's

not

very

fair

but the

fact of

the matter

is

is that's

not what's

being talked

about here

it's talked

about something

which even

fiction understands

and sees as a

great example

of love

I love reading

mystery novels

and one of the

things in

mystery novels

is that not

all the time

but occasionally

one of the

plot twists

is that the

detectives

get the

murderer

and they

finally go and

confront the

murderer

and then the

murderer confesses

and the

wheels of

often what

sometimes what

will happen

in these

novels is

the lead

detective

or a minor

detective

has a bit

of a qualm

about some

little tiny

detail

and then they

go and find

out that what

really happened

is that the

father to

atone for

his life

and to

benefit his

son

pleads guilty

to the crime

that the son

has committed

so the son

can go free

and the father

takes the blame

or the son

does it for

the father

or the mother

does it for

the daughter

or the daughter

for the father

or whatever

it's a regular

thing

and what

do we always

feel in those

particular cases

not that it's

unjust

but what

love

what love

that the

mother would

die

so the

daughter

would go

on to live

her life

what love

and that's

what we see

here in the

substitution of

Jesus for

you and me

in the death

what love

God made

him who

knew no

sin to

be sin

for you

and me

that we

by him

might be

righteous

and forgiven

and some

of you might

say

George there's

no way that

substitution can

work I mean

that's very

very beautiful

you caught me

by surprise

with that I

have to confess

I was thinking

more like you

with the kids

and your

brother and

sister and I

didn't dawn on

me that that's

very beautiful

but how can

it possibly

work how

can the

death of

one person

matter for

everybody

and the

fact of the

matter is

is the

death of

one person

can't matter

for everybody

unless

there's a

particular author

that I've read

every single

one of his

novels and

those of you

who like

mystery novels

know that

sometimes

mystery novel

novelists

create worlds

if you read

Michael Connelly

there's all the

Harry Bosch

stories and

over time

you get to

see his

different his

wife

his ex-wife

his girlfriends

his kid

the different

police he works

for if you read

the Lee Child

novels you get

to learn all

about Jack

Reacher

if you get

to hear about

his mom and

his dad and

the different

people he

worked with

and I could

go on and

on and on

writers create

worlds and

there's this

one particular

writer who

created a

world I've

read every

single one of

his novels

and at one

point in time

there starts to

become a change

in how all of

his right all

of the characters

in his book

behave and talk

and why

is that change

happening is

because of

something that

happened to the

author in the

real world

you see what

happened to the

author in the

real world is

that his son

came out as

gay

in fact then his

second son came

out as gay

and because of

what happened to

the author in the

real world

all of the

characters in his

books were

changed

the Christian

claim is that

Christ is the

substitute for

your sins

Christ fulfills

the promises

if you go back

and look throughout

the Old Testament

how many times

does God say

that he will

deliver his

people from

their sins

and it never

dawned on him

that he literally

meant he will

deliver them from

their sins

he will actually

be the one who

dies and what

we see here in

the gospel is

this profound

mystery of the

beauty of

substitution

that yes

George could

not die so

that everybody

could have their

lives changed

but what if

the author

of all of the

story of the

human race

what if he

enters his

story and

dies so it's

not just

something happening

to Jesus in

history but

something happening

to God in all

eternity and if

something happens

in God for all

eternity then all

of the characters

in his story

their life can

be changed

which is why

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

said that far

more important

than the fact

that you will

die is the

fact that Jesus

has died

far more important

than you

understanding the

significance of

your story is

understanding the

significance of

the story of

Jesus

that in fact

in a great

act of love

the fact that

there is any

evil in all of

the world is

all because of

substitution gone

wrong that Adam

and Eve our

ancestors try to

substitute themselves

for God and

take God out and

put themselves in

as his substitute

and all of human

reality is completely

and utterly changed

and fallen because

of it and how

does God save

God the son of

God substitutes

himself for you

and for me

and bears the

punishment and the

penalty that you

and I could not

bear ourselves

in his death

upon the cross

I told you