He Took My Place

He Took My Place

“He Took My Place”

(Luke 23:13-25)

Palm Sunday & Lord’s Supper

Rev. Todd A. Linn, PhD

Henderson’s First Baptist Church, Henderson

  • Take your Bibles and join me in Luke’s Gospel, Luke chapter 23.

We’re pausing our series in Nehemiah to focus on Holy Week, this Sunday and next Sunday, Easter Sunday, my favorite Sunday of the year.  Let me remind you to invite folks to come!  People are far more likely to attend worship and Sunday school when personally invited.  Our Sunday school classes have high attendance goals so I encourage you to make those contacts this week and let’s compel folks to come in to God’s house on a very special Sunday.

I’d also like to ask you to do something.  Let’s do our best to “free up” the parking lot next Sunday morning for our guests.  Next Sunday, if you’re able, park somewhere other than the parking lot so we can reserve that area for our special guests.  Thanks for doing that!

That video clip we just watched was about a fella mentioned by name in Luke 23.  His name is Barabbas.  In fact, he is mentioned in all four of the gospels: Barabbas.  And 

we’re going to read about him here in Luke 23.  And while the video clip suggests a possible ending for Barabbas’ story, what we do know for certain is what the Bible teaches about how he was freed the day Christ was crucified.

In my study of this passage I was struck by the contrast of the crowd from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday.  Palm Sunday, the day Jesus enters Jerusalem, the crowd is happy and joyfully yelling, “Hosanna!” which means, “Praise,” Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!”  And this same crowd, just a few days later, when Jesus exits Jerusalem on Good Friday, this same crowd is crying out “Crucify Him.”  From hosanna to crucify.  Listen for that, and listen for the name of Barabbas as I read the passage.

  • Please stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word

13 Then Pilate, when he had called together the chief priests, the rulers, and the people, 

14 said to them, “You have brought this Man to me, as one who misleads the people. And indeed, having examined Him in your presence, I have found no fault in this Man concerning those things of which you accuse Him; 

15 no, neither did Herod, for I sent you back to him; and indeed nothing deserving of death has been done by Him. 

16 I will therefore chastise Him and release Him” 

17 (for it was necessary for him to release one to them at the feast).

18 And they all cried out at once, saying, “Away with this Man, and release to us Barabbas”— 

19 who had been thrown into prison for a certain rebellion made in the city, and for murder.

20 Pilate, therefore, wishing to release Jesus, again called out to them. 

21 But they shouted, saying, “Crucify Him, crucify Him!”

  • Let’s pray: “God, as we study this morning show us our selves.  Show us our sin.  And show us our Savior, in Jesus’s name, amen.”

Back when I was a parole officer I often found it helpful in sharing the gospel with parolees to illustrate the gospel in a way that was immediately understandable and relatable to their situation.  When talking about how Jesus took our place on the cross I would say something like, “Imagine you’re in a courtroom and the judge has just found you guilty for an offense punishable by death.  And just before the bailiff comes to take you away, a mans stands up in the courtroom and asks the judge to take your place.  That would truly be unusual, but imagine it happens and the judge allows this.  So the man takes your place and is punished for your crime, and you are allowed to go free.”  And then I would say something like, “In a very real sense, that’s precisely what God did for you in Christ Jesus.  He took your place.”

The memorable line from the video clip is this phrase: “He took my place.  And this changes everything.”  

In preparation for the Lord’s Supper and in preparation for our Good Friday service and Easter Sunday, I want to talk about how Jesus took our place.

Let’s go through this text and then afterward a couple insights into what this means that Jesus is our substitute, what it means that Jesus took our place.

13 Then Pilate, when he had called together the chief priests, the rulers, and the people (He’s convening the court case against Jesus), 

14 said to them, “You have brought this Man to me, as one who misleads the people. And indeed, having examined Him in your presence, I have found no fault in this Man concerning those things of which you accuse Him;

15 no, neither did Herod, for I sent you back to him; and indeed nothing deserving of death has been done by Him.

Luke’s main point in giving his account of the details is that Jesus is innocent of any wrongdoing. This is his main stress, the innocence of Jesus. And what is true of Jesus historically in this criminal trial is also true of Jesus theologically in His Person. He is innocent of any wrongdoing. Peter says in 1 Peter 1:19, Jesus is “a lamb without blemish and without spot,” and on this basis He is a fitting sacrifice, a fitting Substitute, a fitting Lamb who, as John the Baptist puts it, “takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29).”

And this is the greater truth that’s going on here, but Pilate doesn’t know this greater truth. He simply finds Jesus innocent of any wrongdoing, but he also feels the pressure of having to do something to satisfy the anger of the Jewish leaders.

16 I will therefore chastise Him and release Him”

Now I know it is easy to find ourselves trying to feel some sort of compassion for Pilate, but we should resist that notion. Pilate cares far more for how this situation plays out politically than he cares about doing the right thing. Note the irony of verse 16. Pilate finds Jesus innocent of any wrongdoing, but what does he say he will do in verse 16? “I will therefore chastise Him–punish Him–and release Him.”  Now, my translation has verse 17 which reads:

17 (for it was necessary for him to release one to them at the feast).

You may be using a translation that doesn’t include this verse. The other Gospel writers report this tradition of releasing a prisoner during Passover, so some scribes translating Luke’s gospel have included it here.  It helps explain why the crowd replies as they do in verse 18:

18 And they all cried out at once, saying, “Away with this Man, and release to us Barabbas”—

So there is this tradition, you see, apparently a means by which the Roman authorities desired to show a bit of mercy by allowing the crowd to determine which prisoner may be released during the Feast of the Passover. Pilate thinks they will be pleased with his releasing Jesus, but they cry out, “Away with this Man, and release to us Barabbas.” Luke tells us what Barabbas had done to get locked up, verse 19:

19 who had been thrown into prison for a certain rebellion made in the city, and for murder (He was a bad dude!).

20 Pilate, therefore, wishing to release Jesus, again called out to them.

21 But they shouted, saying, “Crucify Him, crucify Him!”

22 Then he said to them the third time, “Why, what evil has He done? I have found no reason for death in Him. I will therefore chastise Him and let Him go.”

Again, remember that Luke is stressing the innocence of Jesus. Three times–verses 4, 14, and 22–three times Pilate says something like, “I find no fault in this man.”

23 But they were insistent, demanding with loud voices that He be crucified. And the voices of these men and of the chief priests prevailed.

The other Gospel writers tell us that the Jewish leaders actually stirred up the crowd in order to get their way. They told the crowd what to say and so there was this large noise of people crying out to Pilate, “Crucify Him, Crucify Him.” 

24 So Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they requested.

Pilate caves to their request.  Mark 15 says Pilate wished “to satisfy the crowd (Mark 15:15).” 

25 And he released to them the one they requested, who for rebellion and murder had been thrown into prison; but he delivered Jesus to their will.

So rather than releasing the innocent One—Jesus—Pilate releases the guilty one—Barabbas. Jesus is condemned. Barabbas goes free.

The video clip tells us what may have happened after Barabbas went free.  We don’t know because the Bible never says.  We’d like it to turn out the way the video showed: Barabbas under conviction saying, “He took my place.”  Whether Barabbas ever fully understood that statement, it is true: Jesus had taken his place.

And what happened to Barabbas is symbolic of what has happened to every Christian.  All who believe.  Peter says in 1 Peter 3:19, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.”

Jesus died as our Substitute. Jesus died in our place.  This is the heart of the Gospel, summarized succinctly by the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”  

This is often called “The Great Exchange.”  On the cross, a great exchange takes place: My sins are imputed to Christ, charged to Him on the cross, and He dies for them—for all of them—and Christ’s righteousness—the stuff I need in order to get to heaven—is credited to me.  In Christ, I give to Him what is mine—sin—and Christ gives to me what is His—righteousness.  

Put another way, on the cross: God treats Christ as we deserved to be treated so that He might treat us as Christ deserved to be treated.  Let me say that again: God treats Christ as we deserved to be treated so that He might treat us as Christ deserved to be treated.

Matthew’s Gospel adds a statement the crowd cries when they cry, “Crucify Him!”  Pilate says, “I am innocent of the blood of this just Person…” and the crowed replies, “His blood be on us and on our children. Matthew 27:24-25).”  The crowd spoke more truth than they realized.  “His blood be upon us and our children.”  

Yes, Jesus shed His blood for me and for my children.  He was killed for me and by me.  My sins put Him there.  Were you there when they crucified the Lord?  Yes, I was there.  Holding the hammer.  His blood be upon me.

Two implications here as we prepare to observe the Lord’s Supper.  Two truths surfacing from this phrase “Jesus Took My Place.”  First, that He took my place…

  1. Gives Meaning to the Phrase, “God Loves You”

How often this phrase is used in the contemporary church without any theological underpinnings. Many preachers, teachers, and others believe if we just say, “God loves you” that people will somehow “get it” and “be moved” and change the world. God loves you. Maybe if we just keep saying it, people will feel it: “God loves you, God loves you, God loves you.” Well, what does that mean? How does God love me?

Paul says in Romans 5:8, “God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” How does God demonstrate His own love for us? While we were sinners, Christ died FOR us,” died as our Substitute, He took my place.  Paul says in Romans 5:6-10: 

“At just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 10 For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life

There’s the depth of God’s love! I am guilty of sin. I am Barabbas. I am a law-breaker. I have broken God’s perfect law. 

I hear Jesus say in Matthew 5:21-22:

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment,” and I say to myself, “Guilty of murder.”

I hear Jesus say in Matthew 5:27-28:

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart,” and I say to myself, “Guilty of adultery.”

And I hear Jesus say in Matthew 5:44:

“Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,” and I say to myself, “You don’t do what you’re supposed to do, Todd. You’re a law-breaker.”

Jesus says to me, “Unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:20),” and I think, “How will I ever get in?! The Bible says in Romans 3:23, “the wages of sin is death.” I deserve death, judgment, and hell for my sin, God help me!

Romans 5:8, “God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Christ who is innocent is reckoned guilty so that we who are guilty may be reckoned innocent.  

It is interesting that the name Barabbas actually means, “son of the father.”  How ironic that this guilty son of the father is released while the innocent Son of the Father is crucified.  Christ who is innocent is reckoned guilty so that we who are guilty may be reckoned innocent.

That first Easter Sunday was also Passover, a holy day celebrated for hundreds upon hundreds of years as God’s people offered a lamb without spot or blemish as a substitute for their sin.  Year after year every Passover lamb pointed forward to a more perfect sacrifice, a more perfect Substitute for our sin, the Lord Jesus Christ, Jesus who lived the life we should have lived and died the death we should have died.

This is the theology undergirding the phrase, “God loves you.” This is the theology that anchors the truth of John 3:16, “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son–gave to die–that whoever believes in Him should not die, but should live forever.”

How is that possible? Jesus took my place. Jesus took my sin upon Himself, bore my punishment, bore God’s wrath, died for me that I might be saved. He takes what belongs to me–sin–and gives what belongs to Him–righteousness. This is the theology behind the phrase, “God loves you.”

You just say to me over and over again, “God loves you,” that doesn’t really mean much to me, but when you explain to me that I receive His love even though I am a guilty transgressor and sinner and lawbreaker and murderer and rebel against Him, well now I begin to feel His love. And when you tell me that I deserve death because of my transgressions and sins and lawbreaking and murdering and rebellion, but that God takes my place on the cross for my transgressing and sinning and lawbreaking and murdering and rebellion, now I feel the love.

Jesus Took My Place gives meaning to the phrase, “God loves you.” Secondly:

Jesus Took My Place…

  1. Makes Possible our Acceptance by God

If I trust Christ and receive Him as my Lord and Savior it means that I will always and forever be found “in Christ Jesus.” I am in Christ. This means God always sees me “in Christ.” This means God looks upon me and sees my sin covered by the righteousness of Christ. 

I can never speak about this without using my hands.  This is me apart from Christ alone and in my sin.  The Father always sees me this way.  But when I placed my faith in Christ and placed my name under His great name, I became united together with Christ such that the Father cannot look at me without seeing me in His Son Jesus Christ.  My sin covered with the righteousness of Christ.  And this picture is true for eternity.  Glorious union with Christ is what makes me acceptable to God.

When Martin Luther spoke of this state of the Christian he used a Latin phrase simul justus et peccator which means “simultaneously righteous and sinner.”  Under the analysis of God’s scrutiny, God looks at me and doesn’t see me alone, but sees the perfect righteousness of His Son applied to me.  At the same time, while I am a new creation and growing as a Christian, I still battle sin.  So I am so glad that this picture (hand) never changes: “simultaneously righteous and a sinner.”

“I am accepted by God not on the basis of my personal performance, but on the basis of the infinitely perfect righteousness of Christ.”

Pilate found no fault in Him. He is, as Peter says in 1 Peter 1:19, “a lamb without blemish and without spot.” Because there is no fault in Him, then we who are “in Him” are faultless, too. There is no fault in Christ and therefore God looks upon us who are “in Christ” and says, “I find no fault in you.”

We are accepted by God forever. We are always and forever acceptable in God’s sight. We can do nothing to lose this acceptance nor can we do anything extra to make us more acceptable. Our acceptance is found in Christ alone. Again, “I am accepted by God not on the basis of my personal performance, but on the basis of the infinitely perfect righteousness of Christ.”

Some of you struggle constantly with guilt and shame. Guilt is the feeling we have that says, “I have done something bad.” Shame is the feeling, “I am bad.” Jesus took our place making us acceptable before God for both guilt and shame.  We often sing, “No guilt in life, no fear in death.”  No guilt!

So when Satan whispers: “You’re a bad person. You’re an unfit mother, you’re a bad father. You’re a teenage failure.  You just continue to disappoint God when you sin like that,” it’s at these moments, Christian, you must remember the present reality of who you are in Christ!  Look to the cross and see Jesus there who is your perfect Substitute, the Perfect One who took your place, the One who made an end of all your sin and making you acceptable to God forever.  As the hymn-writer puts it:

When Satan tempts me to despair

And tells me of the guilt within,

Upward I look and see Him there

Who made an end of all my sin.

Because the sinless Savior died

My sinful soul is counted free.

For God the just is satisfied

To look on Him and pardon me.

He took my place. 

RESPONSE:

It’s hard not to wonder what happened to Barabbas after he fled that jail cell. Did he find his way back into the mob, the crowd that cried out, “Crucify Him?” Did he follow the crowd as they followed Jesus, carrying His cross, condemned to die? Did he watch from a distance as they drove the spikes into Christ’s hands and feet and crucified Jesus? And did he really think, “He took my place?”

And while we may wonder how Barabbas responded to the crucifixion of Christ, the real question is how will we respond?

Matthew’s account has Pilate asking the crowd, “What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ? (Matthew 27:22).”

So the real question is, “What will you do with Jesus who is called Christ?”  Will you go on living without thinking of Him?  Without serving Him?  Without bowing before Him as Lord?  Will you stand before God on the Day of Judgment dressed in your own pitiful attempts at righteousness?  Or will you stand as one who knows “He took my place?”

Perhaps even now in preparation for observing the Supper we would say:

“Lord Jesus Christ, I admit that I am weaker and more sinful than I ever before believed, but, through you, I am more loved and accepted than I ever dared hope. Thank you for taking my place, paying my debt, bearing my punishment and offering forgiveness. I turn from my sin and receive you as Savior.”

This is the truth we celebrate in the Supper.  Our deacons will come and prepare to serve us.  The deacons serve you because that’s what their name means.  Deacon.  It’s a title.  It means to serve.  These men are good men, godly men, servant leaders of the church. They serve largely through the deacon family ministry, serving you by being your family’s deacon, on call, ready to visit and pray.  So they are serving you this morning.

I’m going to pray in a moment and then we’re going to worship in song, a wonderful hymn that encourages us to remember this “Great Exchange” and what it means to be “in Christ.”  While our deacons serve you the bread and the cup, we’ll sing about Jesus, in Christ alone our hope is found, preparing to eat the bread—the symbol of Christ’s body, and preparing to drink of the cup—the symbol of Christ’s blood.

After we sing and everyone is served, I’ll lead you in taking the elements, eating the bread, drinking the cup. Let’s pray.

Pray: “Father, we thank you for Jesus Christ, the one who died for us, gave His life for us, the One who is coming back to us. We thank you that because of Jesus we can be forgiven of our sin and live in a way that draws people closer to You. Forgive us for our sins. We repent. We love You and we thank You for taking our place.  Thank you for the hope we have in Christ alone. In His name we pray, amen.”

While the deacons serve you, remain seated, and sing this great hymn together:

1

“In Christ alone my hope is found;

He is my light, my strength, my song;

This cornerstone, this solid ground,

Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.

What heights of love, what depths of peace,

When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!

My comforter, my all in all—

Here in the love of Christ I stand.

2

In Christ alone, Who took on flesh,

Fullness of God in helpless babe!

This gift of love and righteousness,

Scorned by the ones He came to save.

Till on that cross as Jesus died,

The wrath of God was satisfied;

For ev’ry sin on Him was laid—

Here in the death of Christ I live.

3

There in the ground His body lay,

Light of the world by darkness slain;

Then bursting forth in glorious day,

Up from the grave He rose again!

And as He stands in victory,

Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me;

For I am His and He is mine—

Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

“The Bible says that on the same night in which Jesus was betrayed, that He took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me” (1 Corinthians 11:23-24).

[Eat bread]

“Then the Bible says that in the same manner, Jesus also took the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes” (1 Corinthians 11:25-26).

[Drink cup]

Amen. Stand now and let’s sing the final verse, No guilt in life, no fear in death…

No guilt in life, no fear in death—

This is the pow’r of Christ in me;

From life’s first cry to final breath,

Jesus commands my destiny.

No pow’r of hell, no scheme of man,

Can ever pluck me from His hand;

Till He returns or calls me home—

Here in the pow’r of Christ I’ll stand.

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