Matt Chandler - Jesus Our Substitute

If you have your Bibles, that will be our passage. No shame on you guys; I mean, you’re here, so maybe you’ll get a W today. But, um, we’re going to just walk through that. I need to set it up, and then we’ll get to that passage. I grew up significantly—yes, that’s the word, significantly—confused by Jesus and His gospel and what that meant for my life. I think my mom did a good job of imparting the facts about the gospel, but I just couldn’t make sense of it; it just didn’t click in a way that helped me understand it or think it was for me. So I got all the facts like, okay, a Jewish guy 2,000 years ago was crucified by the Romans, and then he resurrected. Somehow that means—this is where I was picking up signals from my mom—that this is why I can’t watch rated R movies or listen to secular music. I just couldn’t make it click; I couldn’t tie it together. How did this guy, so long ago on the other side of the earth, have anything to do with my life here and now?

Then, by the grace of God, over a year-long period, a good friend was talking to me about Jesus and the gospel. He was bringing me into his world and his life. By the grace of God, it clicked, and three days before my 18th birthday, I was all in. I said yes to this. It clicked, and it’s not that I had highs and lows and ups and downs; it’s just that I get it now. I get it, even if I imperfectly apply it. Then I started pastoring, which was not on my radar or anyone who knew me’s radar. Even some of them now are like, «Now what?» Then I became a pastor in the Metroplex of Dallas-Fort Worth, and I began to see that, oh man, a lot of people are still confused about what the gospel is and what it’s not. I’m not saying we don’t know the facts; I’m saying I don’t think we understand what it exactly is.

So every summer, when I come back, I do a three-week series called «This is the Gospel.» All I’m trying to do is say, «No, this is what it is, guys; this is what it is.» And please don’t be offended by that because I don’t know if you’re paying attention, but every time the gospel is clearly stated in the New Testament, it’s being written to Christians who have already believed in it but have somewhat forgotten what it means. I know that’s us; I know that’s us. For many in this room, Jesus is an add-on; He’s a priority set on a list of priorities instead of being the piece of paper that all those priorities are written upon.

This series every summer—well, it’s long past summer now—every fall, is meant to reorient us around what is most true, around the story that sits at the center of reality. So here’s my sentence for the next three weeks: we’ll come back to it this week, next week, and the week after that. All of our sins, past, present, and future, are fully, freely, and forever forgiven in the person and work of Jesus. Now, that is as simple as I can make it. In fact, I just lifted that language from Kids’ Village, so there’s no excuse. I’m not using highfalutin theological words; we’re teaching this to third graders, so you and I should be fine.

Maybe I could say it a different way, a way that might resonate with you. If you have the question, «What does Jesus want? What does He want from me?» that’s great. Here, look, let’s make some eye contact. You ready? This is crazy: He wants you—all of you—body, mind, and soul; all of life for all your life. You are what He wants. Nowhere in the Scriptures are you going to see Jesus showing up and saying, «I’d like to hang out with you, but there are some things that bother me about you. So read this list, start doing this list, and then you and I will be cool.» That’s not the gospel; in fact, that’s not the story of how God relates to man.

He does not show up in Egypt to the Israelites who are enslaved, give them the Ten Commandments, and say, «Once you start nailing this, I’ll get you out of here.» No, He saves them first and then shows them how to live. He doesn’t say, «Learn to live, and I’ll save you.» He says, «Come to Me; I want you.» And here’s the thing: you’re not going to get a better deal than that. He wants you. Let me be bold and say this: there is nothing in your past, no present struggle, and no future fear that Jesus wants any distance from. Amen? You might want that distance, but He does not want that distance. He has closed the gap, and it only exists if you choose to create one. Now, you are getting other offers, and some…