The Greatest Trade Ever

You pray with me. Father, I am overwhelmed with the weightiness of this message, with my inadequacy to deliver it appropriately, and I pray that your spirit would carry it, that you would work in the hearers that are here this evening. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, for those of you that know me well, you know that I am a diehard Red Sox fan. And in the summer of 1997, there was an event that defined a generation of Red Sox success. The most favorable, the most lopsided trade in the history of the Red Sox occurred. Many said that it was the most lopsided trade in all of baseball history. Pedro Martinez, the ace of the staff for nearly a decade, was acquired from the Montreal Expos. And headlines claimed at the time that he would be the savior of Red Sox nation, which is what we proudly call ourselves. And this, of course, is sports hyperbole. But from that perspective, they were actually right. He went on to win two more Cy Young Awards. And most importantly, he led the Red Sox to their first World Series championship in nearly 86 years, ending a long drought that we refer to as the curse. So we like to say that Pedro helped reverse the curse. So who would have thought Red Sox history has so much fodder for theological illustration? But there's several sermons in there, I'm sure. So he was by far the greatest Red Sox pitcher. Again, when he was at his best, there's no doubt he was one of the best pitchers in baseball history. A surefire first ballot Hall of Famer. And so what did the Expos get in return for all of this? Well, two journeymen minor leaguers that you've probably never heard of that spent most of their career bouncing back and forth between teams with statistics that really wouldn't impress you that much. It was historically lopsided. potentially the greatest trade ever. But was it? Well, today we remember the anniversary of the cross, the setting of a much greater trade, a much more important trade. It was much more lopsided, but this imbalance was not due to the lack of due diligence from one end or another. It was not due to, or there was no regret for a mistake that was made where one side felt like they didn't get enough in return. And it was not even, there was no, not even an initial attempt for it to be a fair trade. It was simply the most amazing expression of love and grace that mankind had ever seen. So turn with me to your Bibles to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. If you're using one of the White Pew Bibles, that's on page 827. 2 Corinthians chapter 5. We're going to spend our time tonight on verse 21, but I'm going to start reading from verse 16. From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The oldest passed away. Behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who, through Christ, reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself. not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ be reconciled to God. For our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. I want to suggest to you tonight that this great exchange, this great trade is the axis on which the entire Christian faith turns. It is the very heart of the gospel that rests with this trade. And obviously the essence, the definition of the trade is that there are two sides, right? You give away something and you get something in return. I want to talk about both sides of the trade. I want to spend the large majority of my time on what we've given away or rather what has been taken from us. So first, what did we trade? Or as I said, better yet, what was taken from us? And the answer is our sin and deserve punishment. What was taken from us? Our sin and deserve punishment. For this first side of the trade, I want to talk about two aspects. First, I want to talk about the recipient of the punishment. Who is the other party in this trade? Who is it that in this verse, it says, who knew no sin? And secondly, on this first part of the trade, I want to talk about the nature of the punishment. What does Paul mean here when he says he made him to be sin? So look at part A of verse 21 again with me. For our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin. So first, as I said, the recipient of the punishment, the Old Testament speaks of a coming king from the line of David that will establish his throne forever and reign with righteousness. But the prophet Isaiah also tells us that before he comes to establish his kingdom with power, that this individual will come to redeem his people from the slavery of sin. And he does this in the form of what many have called the suffering servant. Isaiah describes this in great detail, this redeemer who will be our substitute that will stand in our place to face the punishment and the death that we deserve. And he speaks in chapter 53, and I wish I could read that entire chapter with you if time permitted. But he speaks in this chapter of a man despised and rejected that will be wounded for our transgressions. He will be crushed for our iniquities. And although he was sinless, as it says in our passage, he knew no sin. He bore the sin of many to make intercession for us. And here we see described God's great solution, where he entered the history of humankind, his great intervention on behalf of his people. The unresolved problem, of course, that he was coming to fix began in the Garden of Eden, where our holy God created a people. He created us to worship him, to reflect his glory, to be his image bearers. We were the crescendo of a six day, you might say, creation symphony. But that wasn't enough for us. We rebelled. We sought our own glory. We sought to make our own rules, to devise our own personal moral compass. And as a result of this affront, this disobedience, this defiance that continues in our hearts today, that relationship with God is damaged. We are condemned before this just and good God in our current state. Scripture says that all have fallen short of the glory of God and that our works simply cannot save us. So this idea of a substitute sacrifice that Isaiah speaks about to cover sins would have been familiar language to the Old Testament Jews. Think about, for example, how God described the Passover celebration. It was a lamb that was without blemish, without defect. Start to sound familiar. That he prescribed this for the Passover celebration, a lamb without blemish, as I said, without defect would become a replacement sacrifice so that God would symbolically pass over or spare that Israelite family. But unlike this failed sacrificial system of the Israelites, this substitutionary sacrifice that Isaiah speaks about was not temporary. It did not have to be repeated annually or even more often than that. It was completely sufficient to permanently remove our sins past, present and future. So what was God doing here? Well, he was laying the groundwork with the people of the Old Testament for centuries in these sacrificial practices by foreshadowing, by previewing, by giving them a glimpse of the once and for all High Priest, the once and for all Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the earth. And this man, as we know, is Jesus Christ. Fully man and fully God who lived the life that we should have lived and died the death that we deserved. And this is why John the Baptist, for example, could exclaim as he saw Jesus approaching, behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the earth. And why Jesus confirmed himself throughout his public ministry that he was indeed this promised savior. So Jesus is the recipient. He is the other party in this trade. He receives our sin, and on his own accord, he went to the cross to restore that broken relationship between God and man. The idea of Jesus standing in our place to face our punishment is what theologians call the substitutionary atonement. And it's what John Stott, the modern theologian and pastor, called the foundation of all other doctrines in Orthodox Christianity. But just what did he endure on the cross, as our verse says, for our sake? What was the punishment for what Jesus stood in our place? As our substitute, what exactly did he face that day to fully satisfy the wrath that was due us? And that brings us to the second aspect of this first part of the trade, the nature of the punishment. In our verse, it says, he made him to be sin. I want to suggest to you that this is potentially the most neglected and least understood aspect of the gospel. How could Jesus actually have been made to be sin? Or as Paul writes to the Galatians, alternatively, become a curse for us. And to preface this, I'd like to remind you of two scenes to paint a couple mental pictures for you that occurred during that passion narrative. And we've read about bits and pieces of this already this evening. And I think these two scenes that I want to paint for you begin to capture the essence of the punishment from the perspective of our Savior, from the perspective of Jesus himself. So the first scene, Thursday evening, come back with me to the night that he was ultimately betrayed and arrested. Remember, we read that he was in the upper room of a friend's house. It's where he ultimately established the ordinance that we call the Lord's Supper. And after supper, we're told that they all leave together, him and his disciples, cross the Kidron Valley, climb the Mount of Olives, and turn into an olive orchard called Gethsemane. This was a place that Jesus knew well, a favorite retreat, you might say for him, as he often met there with his disciples. And here scripture recounts that he tells his inner circle, Peter, James, and John, that his soul is very sorrowful, even to death. And as he proceeds further into the olive grove by himself, he lays prostate, praying to the father in such agony. The word agony appears only one time in scripture, right here. In agony and earnest that we read that his sweat became like blood falling to the ground. Scene two, the next day, Friday, the day we actually celebrate or remember today, I should say. Just before his death on the cross, and we read this tonight, Jesus cries out quite famously, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Many have called this the cry of dereliction. So as we consider these two dramatic emotional scenes that you could say bookend the passion events, the events on the cross, what was causing this great anguish, this intense distress, this horror stricken dismay in Christ? Was it the impending physical punishment? Well, the description and the circumstances of his physical torture, his humiliation and death should not be ignored, and I would never want to downplay them. The brutality and the gruesome nature of the beating in the crucifixion, it's terribly disturbing. It's morally reprehensible, quite frankly. The prophet Isaiah writes that his appearance was so marred beyond human semblance and his form beyond that of the children of mankind. Our Savior was unrecognizable as a human. But was it this physical punishment that Jesus suffered in our stead? Was this the great punishment that was due us? Quite frankly, was this even a unique death? Well, history tells us that Darius, the king of Persia, Alexander the Great, are reputed to have crucified thousands. The Phoenicians are traditionally thought to have taught the Romans this brutal mode of execution. And unfortunately, the Romans listened well. The ancient Jewish historian Josephus, among other Greek and Roman philosophers, referred to the crucifixion of thousands of people by the Romans, slaves, pirates, enemies of the state, those that were guilty of treason. Between 73 BC and 71 BC, a band of slaves numbering 120,000 under the leadership of Spartacus were in open revolt against the Roman Republic. The rebellion was crushed. Spartacus most likely died in that last battle, but we're told that approximately 6,000 of his followers were crucified as a warning to any of the other would-be rebels. And then there's tradition that tells us that the Apostle Peter was crucified upside down because he didn't feel worthy of dying the same death that Jesus did. The Apostle Andrew was crucified again, according to tradition, on an X-shaped cross. And finally, beyond crucifixion specifically, there have been thousands of martyrs through the year that have met miserable ends, some with joy and singing. So are we suggesting that in this agony, that Jesus was less brave, less courageous than some of his followers? Well, this is a slippery slope that I wouldn't want to go down that falls apart both logically and theologically. You know, there was no doubt that this was an incomprehensible way to die, but to relegate this punishment of our sin and the gospel to the physical pain of Christ that he suffered is terribly reductionist. Unfortunately, this misled illustration of the suffering is the one that's popularly dramatized and emphasized by Hollywood in the movies that we've watched. So if it wasn't the physical punishment, what about the relational abandonment, the mocking, the humiliation, even from some of his closest friends? What seems ludicrous to me to suggest that just now that he would become consumed with the fear of insult and betrayal as his courage through his human ministry was really unparalleled. Jesus never feared isolation or desertion. In fact, he prophesied that it never flinched as he stared down his enemies and conspirators. So what was this God forsakenness that, in his words, overwhelmed him with sorrow? Again, this Greek word here suggests a severe mental pain which hems him in from all directions without escape. He was coming undone. He was coming apart at the seams as he lay there sweating and prostate in the garden that evening. Well, I think that the substance of his prayer that night shines a light on what he knew was coming. In each of the Synoptic Gospels, that's all but John, we learn that Jesus repeatedly prays for the cup to pass from him without drinking. So what was this cup that Jesus was referring to? Jesus was clearly a student of the Old Testament Scriptures. Well, you could say he wrote the Old Testament Scriptures, but he certainly knew them. He would have understood the metaphor of the cup well. Throughout the Old Testament, particularly in the wisdom literature, as well as the prophets, the Lord's cup was a regular symbol of his wrath. Job, for example, tells us that a wicked person will drink of the wrath of the Almighty. John Stott captures this perfectly when he says, this Old Testament imagery will have been well known to Jesus. He must have recognized the cup he was being offered as containing the wine of God's wrath given to the wicked. and causing a complete disorientation of body and in mind like drunkenness. And listen carefully here. Was he to become so identified with sinners as to bear their judgment from this contact with human sin? His sinless soul recoiled from the experience of alienation from his father, which the judgment on sin would involve. He hung back in horror. A dreadful darkness had engulfed his spirit. To witness the true beauty, the true depth of the cross, we must see the punishment for what it really is. For this was much more than the physical pain of flogging and of crucifixion. As terrible as that was, it was much more than the mental anguish of being despised and rejected, even by his closest friends. For in those three hours of darkness between noon and three p.m. was an unfathomable spiritual darkness that enveloped him. He paid the eternal consequences of a condemned and forsaken man. A man suffering from eternal separation from the Father where his full ocean of wrath was poured out. A man completely abandoned and removed from the blessings of our Creator, our Sustainer, our Provider. This was unadulterated and unmediated eternal wrath. He suffered the torments of hell so you and I wouldn't have to. You see, without proper and full punishment for sin, there is no atonement. Calvin so aptly stated on this matter, if Christ had died only a bodily death, it would have been ineffectual. Unless his soul shares in the punishment, he would have been the redeemer of bodies alone. It was the infinite suffering of his soul that made the event effective as a ransom for many. So friends, let's not forget that it was not Pilate's cowardice or Judas's greed or the Romans brutality or the Jews pride that led our Savior as a lamb to the slaughter, but rather your and my sins. Luther famously said that we walk around with his nails in our pockets. It was our sins that put him there. So it's with this proper understanding of the events of the cross that Stuart Townsend's song, How Deep the Father's Love for Us, makes me weak in the knees each time we sing it. Listen. Behold the man upon a cross, my sin upon his shoulders. Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice call out among the scoffers. It was my sin that held him there until it was accomplished. His dying breath, has brought me life, I know that it is finished." This once and for all substitutionary sacrifice has fully satisfied our debt before God. A finite sacrifice that has covered an infinite viability of sin. The Father regarded, He treated, He reckoned Him, that is Christ, as sin even though He was sinless. That's what Paul means here when he writes that the father made him to be sin. You know, sometimes the simplest things can capture complex issues so well. And I was struck this week in a devotion with my eight year old daughter, Avery, and the excerpt we were reading simply started. Where are your sins? Wherever they are, God's punishment must fall. Praise God that we have a savior that took our sins upon himself so the punishment would fall on him and not us. For our sake He made Him to be sin that knew no sin." So, as I said, there are two sides to any trade. We gave away our sin and our punishment. It was taken from us. What did we receive in return? The answer is the righteousness of Christ. What did we receive in return? The righteousness of Christ. Now, I don't know about you, but I would have been content with that so far. I mean, it's already pretty lopsided. Even if we stopped here, this is eternally lopsided, but it gets even better. Look at me with part B of our verse, verse 21. So that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Upon repentance of sin, a realization that we can do nothing to earn God's favor and placing our faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we are regarded and reckoned before the Father as righteous. Just as Jesus was imputed with our sin to take our punishment, He imputes Christ's righteousness, a righteousness that is not our own, to those who believe. Our sins for His righteousness. Praise God for that sweet exchange. Our sin and guilt have been permanently crucified in Christ. And God in return regards and treats those who have faith as legally having the status of righteousness. There is no longer any condemnation in Christ Jesus. We are a new creation born again into the righteousness of our savior and our king. Peter describes this describes this reality of our new self so clearly when he wrote he himself bore our sins in his body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness by his wounds. You have been healed. So when our lives end on this earth and we stand before our great God and our judge and He asks us, He asks you, on what merit do you deserve to enter heaven? Our only proper response can be that there is nothing on my own accord, Father, that I bring to merit your favor. But I bring His righteousness and you point to the Son. So as we conclude this evening, let me ask you, are you living both sides of this trade? Is this exchange embodied in your life? Do we believe what we say? On the one hand, have you genuinely released your sin to Christ? Are you even aware that atonement needs to be made for you? For those that may be here that don't know Christ, I would plead with you to honestly assess your life. Are you tempted to tell yourself that, you know, I'm generally a good person? Do you often compare yourself to others or rely on your good deeds or good works as a way to justify your entitlement to heaven? Are you listening to those that tell you, you know, just put that book down? It's awfully discouraging. Put it down. Well, we're all tempted to these types of things. But friends, what other solution do you have? In dealing with your sin, have you reflected on your status before a holy God that must judge sin as a function of him being good and just? Through this great trade, Christ has offered the only way back into the presence of God, the only path to reconciliation. He has fully paid your penalty through a fully sufficient sacrifice, saving those that have faith in him from the judgment that they deserve. And how about the other side of the trade? Have you truly accepted your new life in Christ? Does your life reflect a new creation? Are you walking worthy of the calling into his righteousness? Do your choices reflect a separate and distinct lifestyle? One marked off as one of his adopted sons or daughters? Is there evidence of grace and conformity to Christ as the spirit grows you in faithfulness? This needs to be our reality. God's great plan of salvation rests on one person, Jesus Christ. From Genesis 3 until the arrival of Christ, the Bible is about the separation that exists between God and man. And then the narrative historically shifts. It historically pivots on this exchange on the cross. How can a holy God redeem sinners? How can justice and mercy converge? How can a righteous God justify the ungodly? These great riddles of the Old Testament are fulfilled in Christ Jesus. Praise God that this is indeed the greatest trade ever. Amen. Let's pray. Father, we are humbled by this exchange. We are undeserving of this exchange. Please help us to embody this exchange. Please help us to understand the great sacrifice for what it really was. And please help us to accept the righteousness of Christ and to walk worthy of it so that others may see your glory through us. In Jesus name. Amen.