Well, I'm mighty glad you're
saying that. Thank you. A long time ago, when he was
a young preacher, when Henry Mayhem was preaching down south,
staying with the family, the father had been dead for
some time, and the young lady in the household spoke so lovingly
and admirably and constantly of her daddy throughout for the
man staying in that household. And he finally asked her one
night sitting at the dinner table, I want you to tell me about your
daddy. Why do you so admire him? and so
loving. He'd been gone for so long. She
said, well when I was just a little girl, my daddy had a severe heart
condition and he was told and knew that any excessive strain
of any kind would kill him. And we went to the beach one
day and I got out too far from the shore and couldn't get back,
began to sink. And my daddy saw what was going
on and ran fast as he could, dove into the sea, and swam out
and brought me to shore. And he collapsed and died. And
that's why I love him so. Because my daddy died for me.
Now let me tell you why Christ is precious to me. Why I want
so to love Him and honor Him. Turn with me again to 2 Corinthians
5 verse 21. You see, He loved me. and gave himself for me. He died for me. For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no
sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Now, lest I lose your attention
along the way, let's look at these words real close for just
a minute. He, God the Father, the creator of the universe,
the holy, holy, holy God. hath in holy strict justice because
there's no other way he could save our souls for the glory of his name he
hath made by a marvelous transfer of filth
and iniquity and transgression and sin and guilt from the sinner
to the sinner surety, from the objects of his love to the darling
of his heart, by divine imputation He hath made Him, the Lord Jesus Christ, His own dear Son, His beloved,
His equal, the man of His right hand, Him in whom He is well
pleased. Him in whom his soul delights,
to be sin. To be sin. Not a sin offering, sin. Not just a sin sacrifice, sin. not just a ransom for sin, sin for us. Men and women who are nothing
but sin, immortal souls who deserve his wrath, ungodly wretches who
live in rebellion against Him, us who look to Him and live, us who are called by His grace,
us whom He loved with everlasting love, that we might be made, not that we might
perhaps be made, but that he might in justice make us. That he might be both a just
God and a Savior. That he might, without compromising
his character, make us the righteousness of God. Not the righteousness of God's
immutable character. That's not what it's talking
about. We will never be made God. It's talking about the righteousness
that God requires. The righteousness that God demands. The righteousness without which
no man shall see the Lord. The righteousness without which
you cannot enter into glory. the righteousness which the God-man,
the Lord Jesus Christ, by his obedience to the law of God,
being made under the law, by his perfect life as a man, established,
worked out, and brought in. Now, Christ was made to be sin
for us, and we are made the righteousness of God in him. The doctrine stated
in those words is substitution. Substitution. It is the great
truth of Holy Scripture. It must be plainly declared. It must be constantly declared. I've set my foot down here and
I never intend to be moved from it. Some of you may recall Probably
not, but you might. Back in January 1980, Brother
Lindsey Campbell called me and asked me if I'd come by here
and preach to you. I was on my way to Florida to preach in a
meeting down there, and I did. And the message I preached was
from this text of scripture. The subject was substitution.
This is what I believe. This is our doctrine. Christ crucified will be the
constant theme of this pulpit, so long as I have anything to
do with this pulpit. The gospel of Christ will not
be pushed aside in this place of worship like some old piece
of furniture. Where we began, we will remain. The glorious gospel of substitution,
the finished work of Jesus Christ, the cross of Christ is the glory,
the strength, the joy, the very life of God's church. Now let
me answer some questions. Nothing profound about this,
and yet it's the most profound mystery in the universe. Who
was it that made him to be sent? Our text describes our great
surety upon one point only. He was that one who knew no sin. Who was it that was made to be
sin? It was the Lord Jesus Christ,
our substitute, the spotless, innocent, holy, righteous, pure
Lamb of God, the Son of God, took upon himself human flesh. He became one of us. He dwelt
among men and was a man and is a man today. But he was a man
like no other man. He had no sin. He knew no sin. He had no taint of corruption
in his nature because he had no earthly father. He had no
original sin. He had no actual sin. He never
thought. He never thought an evil thing. He never had an evil passion. His heart was never sinfully
cold and never sinfully hot. He was equal to God's holy law
in all things. Perfect. Without sin. And it
is absolutely necessary that he who dies as the sinner's substitute
be one who is altogether holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate
from sinners. He must be without sin for if
he has any guilt of his own, if he has any sin of his own,
he could not atone for sin. Our Lord Jesus is just the substitute
we need. He is the embodiment of righteousness,
purity, virtue, and holiness. As a man, he was made under the
law, but he owed nothing to the law. Yet, he perfectly fulfilled
the law. And as a God-man, he is able
to stand in the room of others and fully satisfy the law and
justice of God. This Holy One the son of God
this holy one Jesus of Nazareth this man who knew no sin voluntarily
was made to be sin for us oh what love is this he was made sin and yet he took
our sins upon himself as willingly as a thirsty man takes a drink
of cold water. He set his heart to do it from
eternity and it never flinched. He never turned back. Who was it that made him sin?
He, God his father. Then thou spakest in a vision
to thy holy one, and saidst, I have laid help upon one that
is mighty, I have exalted one chosen out of the people. Turn
to that very familiar passage in Isaiah 53, where the prophet
describes this transfer of sin from the sinner to the sinner
surety. It was God the Father who laid
sin upon his well-beloved son and charged him with guilt. Isaiah
53 6. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his
own way and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. Verse 10. Yet it pleased the
Lord. It pleased the Lord. It was according
to his will and pleasure. But more than that, it satisfied
the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief. It wasn't the mocking crowd or
the soldier's scourging whip. are the accusations of men. It
wasn't the nails or the crown of thorns or the nakedness or
the spit or the excrement of men cast upon him. It wasn't
the taunting jeers of the Jews and of the Romans that made him
ashamed and put him to grief. But it was his father who made
him to be sin and put him to grief. When thou shalt make his
soul an offering for sin, the father made his son an offering
for sin. He shall see his seed, he shall
prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in
his hand. God the father gave up the son
of his love to die in the place of worthless, guilty, doomed,
damned sinners, you and me. Our Lord said, for God so loved
the world that he gave his only begotten son, That whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Herein
is love. Herein is love. These days everybody talks about
their love for God. If you ever find out something
about love, you'll quit talking about your love for God, I promise
you. Herein is love. Not that we loved God, but that
he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our
sins. But when did he do it? When is
it that God made his son to be sin for us? He did it in his eternal decree. Are you still in Isaiah? The
prophet said in verse 6, we read it. He hath laid on him the iniquity
of us all. If you go to the bank to borrow
money, and you sign the papers, and
you walk out, and the money is transferred to your name, The
debt has become yours. It has become yours. If you necessarily
have to have a cosigner, a guarantor, a surety, the debt may become
his if you default on the loan. But that's not the sense of surety
that is used in times of old or used in the scriptures. A
surety in those days At the time he stood good, for the one he
represented was the one who was looked to for satisfaction. And
when the Lord Jesus Christ said in old eternity, lo, I come to
do thy will, oh my God. When the Lord Jesus Christ said
in covenant mercy before the world began, I will bear their
sins upon the tree. I will redeem them. I will satisfy justice for them. The father struck hands with
the son and laid our sins on the lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. So that back yonder, before ever
the sun was made to shine, Babi Estes, God Almighty ceased to
look to you for anything. He trusted his son with his glory
and with the objects of his love. In whom you also trusted, that
you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. And then the father laid his
son, laid our sins on his son at Calvary. Turn to 1 Peter 2.
1 Peter chapter 2. Somebody said we can't have it
both ways. I can too, God does. 1 Peter 2 verse 24. Who his own self. bear our sin in his own body
on the tree, that we being dead to sins should live unto righteousness
by whose stripes ye were healed. When the Lord
Jesus Christ was nailed to the cursed tree, the Father heaped
upon him our sins. and he was stricken of God and
smitten of God and by his stripes when he was slain we were healed
and he does it in conversion too until God Almighty saves the
sinner by his grace He leaves your sin consciously
on you. Now listen to me, listen to me. Our sins were laid on Christ
from eternity. Our sins were laid on Him at
Calvary. They were put away when God decreed
it, put away when Christ accomplished it. So that we were always just
before God, justified before Him in the Lamb slain from eternity. But consciously, in our minds
and in our hearts, the wrath of God abode on us. Now this is not a matter of just
theological accuracy, I'm telling you what I've experienced, and
you have too, you who know God. I walked in this world, a rebel
to God. and his wrath lay heavy on my
soul and crushed me down to hell in
utter despair and I was terrified I've never been terrified of
anything in my life except that I was terrified I couldn't sleep
at night and I couldn't live in the day I was terrified. The only thing on this earth
kept me from committing suicide when I was a teenager was that
I was scared to death of God because the weight of sin lay
heavy on my soul. Until one day, I came and sat in the house of
God, sitting right where Rex Barton is sitting now. A crowd of people, a big crowd
of people. And a man preached the gospel of God's grace and
God the Holy Spirit caused me to see in my soul my sin laid
on him. And I've never been terrified
since. The wrath of God was satisfied
in him. My sins were put away by him
and now the Spirit of God sprinkles my conscience with his precious
blood and I stand before God clean. And our Savior took our sins to be his very own. He really did. He really did. I know and rejoice
in the fact of imputation. I understand that when the scripture
speaks of Christ being made to be seen, the words used are what's
called forensic terms, that is legal terms. They're terms used
in a court of law. But this Word made does not merely
mean that the Lord Jesus became responsible for sin. It means that but it means something
indescribably more than that. Let me try one more time to tell
you. Our Lord Jesus when he knelt
in the garden as he anticipated being made sin. Cried to his father three times. Father, if it be possible, let
this cup pass from me. And he sweat, as it were, great
drops of blood falling to the ground. His heart broke within
him. A dead won't do that. A dead, I don't care what the
dead is, won't do that. Won't do it. But this holy soul
who knew no sin is himself the only man who ever walked on this
earth who knew what sin is. You and I don't really have a
clue. He's the only man who knew the horrible, obnoxious, terrible,
vileness of sin before a holy God, because this man is God. When he was made to be sin for
us, our sin was not pasted on him,
he was made sin. Turn to Proverbs 17.15 for a
moment. Proverbs 17.15. God Almighty could not in his
justice save us without satisfaction. And God Almighty could not in
his justice punish his son, except his son be made sin. God will
not compromise his character, not for anything. Proverbs 17
15, this is what God says, he that justifies the wicked And
he that condemneth the just, he that says concerning the wicked
man, he's justified. He that will not punish the wicked
man, he that will compromise law and compromise justice to
set the wicked free. And he who punishes, who condemns,
who puts to death a just man, even they both. are an abomination
to the Lord. This is how our Savior prayed, innumerable evils have come past
me about. Mine iniquities have taken hold
upon me. Mine iniquities, so that I'm
not able to look up They are more than the hairs
of mine head, therefore my heart faileth thee. Look at Psalm 69.
Psalm 69. Verse 3. Our Savior is speaking, you'll
see it clearly. I am weary of my crying, my throat is dried,
my eyes fail while I wait for my God. They that hate me without
a cause are more than the hairs in my head. They that would destroy me being
my enemies wrongfully are mighty. Then I restored that which I
took not away. You don't have any question that
the one who's been speaking is our Savior, do you? He's the
one who's hated without a cause. He's the man who had many enemies
who hated him wrongfully. He's the one who restored that
which he took not away. He's still speaking, verse 5.
Oh God, thou knowest my foolishness. My sins are not hid from thee. Verse 7, Because for thy sake
I had borne reproach, shame hath covered my face. I am become
a stranger to my brethren, an alien to my mother's children.
For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up, and the reproaches
of them that reproach thee have fallen upon me. I turn to Isaiah 50. I want you
to see our Savior's own words here. he took our sins and was made to be sin for us
voluntarily. Isaiah 50 verse 5, the Lord God
hath opened mine ear. Remember the story of the bondservant,
the law of the bondservant? Here he is. And I was not rebellious,
neither turned away back. I gave my back to the smiters.
Do you remember him in the garden? When they came to arrest him,
he takes the initiative. He said to the soldiers, who
are you looking for? Whom seek ye? And they said, we seek Jesus
of Nazareth. And the master responded, I am.
And they fell away backward. Fell down like dead men. And
they rose up again. He said, now who was it you were
looking for? Whom seek ye? Well, we're seeking Jesus of Nazareth.
He said, I told you, I'm here. If you seek me, let these go their way. You can
have me. I'm willing to be taken and beaten. He says to the law of God, to
the justice of God, all right, here I am. Take me. But when you take me, you got
to let my sheep go. You can't have me in there. I
gave my back to the smiters. My cheeks to them that plucked
off the hair. He didn't die as a helpless victim of circumstances.
He died because he loved us. For the Lord God will help me.
Therefore shall I not be confounded, therefore have I set my face
like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed." God Almighty then delivered his
son into the hands of divine justice. He was made to suffer in the
fullest possible extent the infinite extremity of God's holy wrath
to the full satisfaction of God's holy justice and he paid our
debt and when he had finished suffering
all the wrath of God He cried, it is finished. The hymn writer
said, with one tremendous draft of love, he drank damnation dry. It's done. God made his son to be
sin for us. That was the soul of his sufferings. He suffered and died under the
justice and wrath of God. As Martin Luther put it, and
I fully agree with him, I fully agree with him, as the greatest
sinner who ever lived. The long hand of God's holy justice reaches through the ages of time
and gathers up in one hearted ignominious load all the sins of all His people and made His Son to be. And when he was made to be sin
for us, the sun refused to shine. And the Lord Jesus Christ, God's
darling son, cries out, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And I can tell you why. because
he is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity. He will not countenance
sin. He will not look upon sin. Oh, hear the piercing cry, what
can its meaning be? My God, my God, oh why hast thou
in wrath forsaken me? It was because our sins on him
by God were laid, he who himself had never sinned. For sinners,
sin was made. And when it was made to be sin,
God Almighty cries awake O sword, against one that is my fellow,
smite and slay the shepherd. And the sword of justice sunk
into his holy heart, and he swallowed the sword. so that now God declares they
for whom he was slain shall never die because fury is not in me. That's substitution. was made to be seen and now we are made the righteousness of God in him he died the just for the unjust
he might bring us to God He was made sin. We're made righteousness. He was made to die. We're made
to live. He was made to be what he was
not. And we are made to be what we
otherwise could never have been. What does all that mean? Look
at verse 17. Therefore, if any man be in Christ,
he's a new creature. Old things are passed away, and
behold all things are become new. Now look here, look here, look
up here. Oh you, upon whom the weight
of sin is so heavy, hear me. You, unto whom Christ has been
made redemption, hear me. I stand before God Almighty,
a new creature. Everything about that man Born in Bladen County, North
Carolina, 54 years ago. Who lived in hellish rebellion
to God, running the streets of Southside Winston-Salem all his
life. Everything about that man, who still walks in this body of flesh,
that old man is gone forever. God Almighty has blotted out
my transgressions. Blotted them out. What's that
mean? That means he blotted him out.
Christ took him away. What's that mean? It means he
took him away. Therefore the Lord God says,
in that day I will search and look for the sins of Jacob and
for the iniquity of Israel and they shall not be failed. won't be found for I know whom I reserve he has put away my sin and will
never charge me with sin and I sing from the depths of my
soul oh blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity
and behold All things are become you. Here I stand before God. Holy God. Righteous God. God to whom every man shall give
answer. who must punish sin without one crime not one offense
but I stand before him as one who has perfectly completely
from the day that I was conceived in my mother's womb to the day
that I leave this world and ascend to glory I stand before him as
one who has perfectly fulfilled all the law and will of God. And I really have. I really have. I have. Not personally, oh no, but in
a substitute. Who's done it all for me? Roland
Hill told one time of a dream he had. I won't put my stock
in dreams, but I like this one. He said, I dreamed the end of
time had come, and the judgment seat was set, and all the nations
were gathered before the bar of God. And I heard men's names
called one after the other, and out of that great thrall they
were called to stand before God and were sentenced. And as I
watched, I heard the name Roland Hill, and I stood in dead silence,
paralyzed with fear. And I heard the name ring again.
like thunder across the sea of time, Roland Hill! And I knew that I was found out.
And as I was about to stand, one stood before the bar of God
and said, Roland Hill is here. What is demanded? Satisfaction
for all your sins. And he stretched forth his hands
and said, I, Roland Hill, have satisfied the law of God. What else is demanded? Perfect
righteousness. And he stands before the bar
of God and says, behold me, Roland Hill, I have obeyed God. And the one who stood before
the bar of God was himself God the Son, my substitute. Amen.