Essential Gospel Truth #8

8) God put the punishment of sinners on Jesus

Suggested Verses: Isaiah 53:5;  Romans 5:8;  2 Corinthians 5:21;  1 Peter 2:24

Explanation: “Our biggest problem is that we are sinners who deserve to be punished by God with death and hell.

But because God is merciful, He made a way for sin to be punished and sinners to be saved. How? God sent Jesus into the world to save helpless sinners. How could Jesus do this? Because Jesus is fully God, He did something that

you or I or anyone else could ever do. Jesus obeyed all of God’s commands, all of the time. Jesus never sinned, He is perfectly holy and righteous. How does this help sinners? 

      Since Jesus is holy and righteous and had no sin of His own, He was able to be the perfect substitute for sinners. What is a substitute? Someone who takes the place of someone else. For example, a substitute teacher takes the place of your teacher when she is absent. A baby-sitter takes the place of mom and dad when they are gone. 

      Jesus acted as a substitute for sinners by taking the place of sinners. How? Jesus was willing to take the punishment for all the sins of His people. Jesus received from God the punishment that His people deserved. Jesus did this on the cross. This is what God sent Jesus into the world to do. That is why Jesus was hung on a cross – so that God, His Father, would punish Jesus instead of having to punish His people. When Jesus died on the cross in place of His sinful people, He experienced all of the terrible anger and hatred that God has toward their sin. 

      Not only did Jesus take away the sin and punishment of His people so that our sins would be forgiven, Jesus also gives something to His people – something that you and I need in order to go to heaven and live forever with God. What did Jesus give to His people? His perfect righteousness!  Remember, God says that we must be holy and righteous and obey Him all of the time. Jesus always obeyed God. Jesus is righteous and holy. When Jesus died on the cross He took away the sin and punishment of His people and then gives to them His perfect righteousness!” 

      But Jesus’ death on the cross was not the end of the story. After Jesus died, He was buried. But guess what? Jesus didn’t stay buried. He was resurrected from the dead. That means that He rose from the death and came alive again! Jesus’ resurrection is proof that He has won the battle over sin and death and hell. And because of this, God’s people are now saved so that they can someday go to heaven and live with and enjoy God forever! Jesus is a living Savior. There is no one else like Jesus!

Illustration:

·       Times of discipline (for younger children): “What if daddy said that he would receive your spanking in your place instead of you? Would that be good news? That’s a little bit of what it’s like when Jesus died on the cross. Jesus took all the spankings that his people deserved and he got spanked in their place. God punished Jesus for our sin, so that we would not have to be punished by God and could go to heaven and live forever with God.”

·       Back Pack Activity (Older children): Get the biggest backpack/pack. Label it “my sin” put it on your child & start loading, loading, loading with books or heavy objects till they are weighted down. Then tell your child “that’s a little bit of what it’s like to be weighted down with sin. God said there’s a right punishment for all that sin you are carrying. What is it? God’s punishment.” Give the adult playing Jesus “Holy & Righteous” and give your child a sign sign that says “SIN.” Now say, “ We are going to pretend that Dad is Jesus for a minute. We are going to give dad a bag to carry but guess what? There’s nothing in it because Jesus had no sin. He was Holy & Righteous. Have the adult playing Jesus lift the sack off of the child and carry it himself. Then give his own sack to the child. Then ask “Now Jesus took the sin of his people and bore it on his body and the tree, what then should Jesus get? Who gets this sign that says “SIN”. Jesus does. That’s a little bit of what it’s like of what Jesus did on the cross for sinners. He traded.”

·       Give a test: Make a test for your child (math/spelling). Make it so that it is impossible for child to get it correct. You take the same test, knowing that you could get them all correct. Put your name on it. Grade the papers. Say, “This one is all wrong. Jacob got every single problem wrong. He gets a ‘F’. Mom got them all correct. She deserves and “A.” She gets a prize because she got them all right. So mom’s got the prize now.” Now mom will take Jacob’s test and cross out his name and put her own name on it. Then take her own test and cross out her name and put Jacob’s name. Say, “Now who will get the prize? Jacob will. Was it because he did anything to get it? No. Mom traded tests. She gave him her perfect test, her perfect score, and the prize and gave it to Jacob. She took Jacob’s test and made it her own. That’s a little bit of what it’s like of what Jesus did on the cross for sinners. He traded with sinners.

Implication: Jesus died on the cross to be punished in your place

Heather’s thoughts: I remember the first time I heard of a parent doing something like this. It was so beautiful. My friend Wes told me that his professor was going to discipline his daughter. She was supposed to stay in time out for a certain amount of time. However, this time the father decided he was going to take her burden on himself. He let her go about her business while he took on her time-out. Later he explained the gospel through what he did for her. Wow! It almost made me cry when I heard it. What a beautiful thing that Jesus would take on every sinful, wrong, horrible thing we’ve ever done and carry out that punishment.

Tomorrow will be Essential Gospel Truth #9 which is “God offers the free gift of Salvation to those who repent and believe in Jesus” Almost to number ten! Hope you guys stick around!