Go with me again to Hebrews 10. Hebrews 10. If this message is for anybody,
I feel like this is for me. A lot of times I tell you what
a blessing something is to me, and so often I feel like I use
up all the blessing in my study, and there's none left for you. And I know that's not the case,
but that's what I feel like. I feel like it all went in just
a flood of blessing, and then when it comes back out, I ruin
it, and I want to just crawl out of this place. And I don't
want that to be the case. I have something that I don't
have any warm and fuzzies. I don't have any cute illustrations
about puppies or anything like that. But when I tell you that
this is the most comforting thing I could ever imagine, This is
the most comforting thing I could ever imagine. I desire that Wednesday
night be a night of comfort. And I have some factual information
for us that is the most comforting thing I have ever imagined. And I pray the Lord will bless
this. I just want to talk about and
think about and focus on the Lord Jesus Christ. I was reading through the scripture
and something made me think of Hebrews 10. So I turned over
here and I read these verses and verses 12 to 17, really 11
to 17, got my attention here. And I believe that they caused
me to enter in to substitution. like I've never entered into
it before. The substitution of Christ with
his people. And this is just, this is just
amazing to me. The first three words of verse
12, this is the title of the message. But this man, But this man, speaking of Christ,
that is the declaration of substitution. That is, if you're going to declare
substitution to somebody, that is the declaration of it. Yes,
I know you are what you are, but this man, right? I know you are how you
are. I get it. But this man. I'm just so wretched. I'm just
so sinful. I'm so vile. I'm so wicked. I
know. But this man. Turn your eyes to this man. Look
at this man. Look to this man. He's the substitute. He's our
substitute. Verse 11, it says, every priest
standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same
sacrifices which can never take away sins. But this man, oh, the contrast. Oh, the difference
that phrase, those three words, but this man. That phrase is
in the scripture three times. Those three words back to back
like that. It's in the scripture three times. All three times
is such glorious news regarding our substitution with Christ. It is such an amazing blessing
to see who God has substituted us with and what it means for
us and what our standing before God really is in Him. All right, I want to show you
all three of these places. Go to Luke 23 with me. Luke 23, verse 33, it says, And when they were come to the
place which is called Calvary, there they crucified him and
the malefactors, one on the right hand and the other on the left.
Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them for they know not what they
do. And they parted his raiment and
cast lots, and the people stood beholding. And the rulers also
with them derided him, saying, He saved others, let him save
himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God. And the soldiers
also mocked him, coming to him and offering him vinegar, and
saying, If thou be the king of the Jews, save thyself. And a
superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek
and Latin and Hebrew, This is the king of the Jews. And one
of the malefactors, which were hanged, railed on him, saying,
If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. But the other, answering,
rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art
in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we
receive the due reward of our deeds. But this man hath done
nothing amiss. But this man, he said, we're
hanging here because we're worthy to hang here. We're hanging here
because our vile, sinful flesh deserves to hang here. But this
man hath done nothing. This man hath done nothing. Nothing amiss. That word amiss
means out of place, unbecoming, improper, wicked, unrighteous,
harmful, injurious, unreasonable. Nothing along those lines. This
man hath done nothing like that. This man is perfect. That's what
he's saying. This man is perfect. Turn over
to Hebrews 7. This is the second place in the
scripture that we see this phrase, but this man. Hebrews 7 verse 19. For the law made nothing perfect. The law does not make people
perfect before God. The law does not make people
perfect before God. All that the law does is expose
our imperfections. That's all it does. The law has
set the high standard and demand of God and page by page as we
flip through it, all it does is it proves to us that we break
it. The law was given by God to expose our sin to us. God gave us his law just to reveal
to us that we're sinners against him. That's the reason why he
gave us this law. So verse 19 says, the law made
nothing perfect, But the bringing in of a better hope did. That
hope is a person. By the witch we draw nigh unto
God. And inasmuch as not without an
oath, he was made priest. For those priests were made without
an oath, but this with an oath by him that said unto him, the
Lord swear and will not repent. Thou art a priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. By so much was Jesus made a surety
of a better testament. And they truly were many priests
because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death. All those Old Testament priests,
they would live for a while and die, and then another one would
come along for a while and die, and another one would come along.
Verse 23, they truly were many priests because they were not
suffered to continue by reason of death. But this man, because he continueth ever, hath
an unchangeable priesthood, wherefore he is able also to save them
to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth
to make intercession for them. For such an high priest became
us." There is our substitution. Jesus
Christ, our high priest, became us. He didn't just stand before
God on behalf of us. He became us. I don't understand
that any more than you do. But that's what God said. Amen. He became us. He didn't just
represent his people. If any man sin, we have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. That sounds like
a lawyer. He wasn't just our lawyer. He did not just represent
his people. He became his people. The substitution of Christ with
his people is infinitely more. And it means infinitely more
than we could possibly fathom. In His sacrifice of Himself,
He didn't just endure death for us. Boy, I'm glad He did that
so we didn't have to. He didn't just endure death for
us, He endured death as us. Verse 26, For such an high priest
became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners,
and made higher than the heavens. Oh, but this man, this man hath
done nothing amiss. This man is holy, harmless, undefiled,
separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens. Now
with both of those scriptures being read, our text is the third
time the phrase is mentioned. Look with me back at Hebrews
10. Verse 11 says, and every priest
standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes The same
sacrifices which can never take away sins, but this man, after
he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on
the right hand of God. That's how powerful his sacrifice
was. That's how powerful His offering
for sin was. For 4,000 years, it was continual
death. It was continual death because
of sin. It was because of sin. It was
death after death after death after death. Bulls, goats, sheep,
doves. Literally bloodshed on top of
bloodshed. But this man, Verse 12 says, but this man,
after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on
the right hand of God. After he offered his blood one
time, the sin debt was paid. And not just paid for the year. Well, okay, you're paid up for
the year. Those priests had to make sacrifices
year after year after year. But after this man offered his
blood one time, the debt for sin was paid. And not just past sin and current
sin, all sin. From that moment, every future
sin that came along It was already paid. For who? For everybody? Did he make this payment for
the whole world? No, he did not. Verse 12, this man, after he
had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the
right hand of God from henceforth expecting till his enemies be
made his footstool, for by one offering he hath perfected forever
them that are sanctified. That's who he did it for. Every
soul that was sanctified, every soul that was set apart, set
apart in the election of the Father, set apart in the redemption
of the Son, set apart in the quickening of the Spirit, that's
specifically who Christ was the substitute for. Verse 15, whereof
the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us. For after that he had
said before, this is the covenant that I will make with them after
those days, saith the Lord. I will put my laws into their
hearts and in their minds will I write them. And their sins
and iniquities will I remember no more. Now, every time I read that verse
of scripture, this question comes to my mind. How could God not
remember something? And just to reignite your energy,
your listening energy, we're about to get to the part that
amazes me. How could the God who knows everything,
even secret things, every deep thing, Every future thing, every
future thing. How could a God like that? How
could an all knowing God forget something? How could he not remember something? The answer is substitution. We just read two glorious things
concerning our Lord Jesus Christ. Number one, He is perfect. He is perfect. He has never done
anything amiss. He is holy, harmless, undefiled,
completely, totally separate from sin. He has no previous record of
any wrongdoing. He is perfect. That's the first
thing we read. The second thing we just read
is, He became us. He became His people. It sounds and it feels blasphemous
to me to acknowledge the other half of this transaction. If He became us in this transaction
with us, if He became us, what did we become? I can't even bring
myself to say it. But let me say this, because
of the transaction of substitution, When God looks at His people
in full, in their fullness, He sees the life, the entire life,
the entire previous record of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what He sees because that
is the reality they have. And in that reality, There is
nothing to remember. There is nothing to remember.
All of the sins of God's people were remembered in Christ on
the cross of Calvary. Okay, you ready? All of the sins of God's people
were remembered in Christ on the cross of Calvary. I hope
I can make this clear. I hope when you leave here you're
not confused. I hope it's clear and glorious.
All of the sins of God's people were remembered in Christ on
the cross of Calvary, but they were charged to Him and not them. He became the one connected to
those sins and not His people. They were reckoned to Him and
not to them. you know, like in the South,
here in the South, somebody will say something and say something
to somebody else. And then, you know, we don't
use this term, terminology much anymore, but our parents and
grandparents did. If the other person agreed and
said, yep, that's true, that's the way it is, that's right,
mm-hmm, he'd say, I reckon, yep, mm-hmm, you got it, that's how
it is. All of that sin was reckoned
to the Lord Jesus Christ. And on him, those sins being
reckoned by God as his, as Christ's, God remembered them. And God
dealt with them and God dealt with him. And just see if you
can get a hold of this. All of those sins that were reckoned
to Christ and paid for by Christ They are remembered in the sense
that His payment for them is remembered. I read that verse and it's like,
you mean to tell me God had never had any idea that sin had to
be dealt with? I just won't remember their sins
anymore. Oh, it's remembered. by way of remembering the payment
that Jesus Christ had to make for those sins that were reckoned
to Him. They are remembered as being
paid in full. But by His sacrifice payment,
remembered, He bears the scars of remembrance right now. This do in remembrance of me. He is the only one in glory who
bears any remembrance of sin. Not one of God's people has one
mark of remembrance on them. All the remembrance is remembered
to him. It's not connected to his people.
All association with sin has been completely removed from
them. There is therefore now no condemnation
because there's nothing to condemn. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? There's nothing to charge with.
What can you charge them with? What sin can you charge them
with? What did they do? When Christ washed His people,
the moment He shed that blood, one time, the moment He shed
that blood, it washed His people. When He washed His people from
their sin, He removed any and all connection they could possibly
have with it. Jeremiah 50 verse 20, in those
days and in that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel
shall be sought for and there shall be none. doesn't exist. No connection with sin at all.
That's the state of his people. No connection with sin. Verse
11 says, Every priest standeth daily, ministering and offering
oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.
But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever,
sat down on the right hand of God, from henceforth expecting
till his enemies be made his footstool, for by one offering
he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Whereof
the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us, for after that he had
said before, this is the covenant that I will make with them after
those days, saith the Lord. I will put my laws into their
hearts and in their minds. Will I write them? That's Christ
in them. I'll put my laws in their hearts,
in their minds. That's the perfection of Christ
in them, given to them, applied to them. Verse 16, this is the covenant
I'll make with them after those days, saith the Lord. I'll put
my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them,
and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now
where remission of these is, there's no more offering for
sin. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest
by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath
consecrated for us through the veil, that's to say his flesh.
That means that veil, when it was ripped in two in the temple,
that's what had to happen to the Lord Jesus Christ to allow
us entrance into the holy of holies. His body was broken,
he was torn in two. Verse 21, and having a high priest
over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in
full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an
evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Because
of what Christ accomplished for us as our substitute, we are welcome and we are worthy
to walk right on in. He took it all. He removed it
all. He made us white as snow. As He is, that's what He made
us to be. Amazing grace, truly amazing
grace. How sweet the sound that saved
a bunch of wretches like us. The amazing grace of substitution
with Christ. It's greater than anything we
could possibly fathom. Just amazing. Well, to Him be
the glory. Amen.