Rejected So You Could Be Accepted: The Divine Exchange at the Cross

Sermon outline

At the cross Jesus took what we deserved so that we could receive what He deserved: punished that we might be forgiven, wounded that we might be healed, made sin that we might be righteous, rejected that we might be accepted, and made poor that we might be rich.

1. Born rebels, made children

   We were all born with the Adamic, rebellious nature that wants its own way, but when we accepted Christ that nature was nailed to the cross. We are no longer rebels but sons and daughters of the Most High, led by the Spirit, who hear and obey when He speaks.

   Illustration: As a young man who 'knew everything', he fought God's call to the ministry: 'No, you've got the wrong guy. Just leave me alone.'

   “Tell your neighbour you're no more rebel.”

   • Isaiah 53:6

2. The life is in the blood

   They overcame by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony. The life of the flesh is in the blood, so when Jesus poured out His blood He poured out His life; unless we eat His flesh and drink His blood we have no life in us. Our redemption was completed at the resurrection.

   “When Jesus, the Messiah, poured out His blood, He actually poured out His life.”

   • Revelation 12:11
   • Leviticus 17:11
   • John 6:53-54
   • Philippians 3:11-12

3. Creation is waiting for the sons of God

   God will not let us be washed downstream; He gives us resurrection power to overcome. The sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory to be revealed, and all creation, the trees, rivers, seas and mountains, groans and waits for the sons of God to be revealed. He says boldly that those who teach there is no second coming are wrong: Christ is coming back for a glorious church.

   “They are all waiting for you to take your place and become mature sons of God.”

   • Psalm 139:14
   • Romans 8:18-22
   • 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17

4. You are not ordinary: abiding at the table

   Whoever eats His flesh and drinks His blood has eternal life, the God kind of life, and abides in Him and He in them. Communion signifies that we abide in Christ and ratifies that Christ lives in us: we are born of incorruptible seed, bought with His precious blood, and carry His presence everywhere. Jesus said it was expedient for Him to go so that the Holy Spirit could come, so we are never alone.

   “You are not ordinary. You are a supernatural being.”

   • John 6:54-56
   • 1 Peter 1:18-23
   • John 16:7
   • 1 Corinthians 1:30

5. Perfected forever by one offering

   By a single offering Christ has perfected forever those who are made holy: not for a season but for ever. We do not come by works or merit but by faith, which is why grace is unmerited favour. On that basis God supplies all our needs, and Christ has covered body, soul, mind, emotions and material and financial needs.

   Illustration: People who boast that they never smoked, drank or committed adultery stand on their own merit; he says that, because of the life he lived before Christ, he understands grace better and leans on it.

   “Jesus has perfected you.”

   • Hebrews 10:14
   • Philippians 4:19

6. Punished that we might be forgiven, wounded that we might be healed

   He begins ten things Jesus accomplished on the cross. First, Jesus was punished that we might be forgiven: He was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities. Second, He was wounded that we might be healed, as Matthew confirms when Jesus healed all the sick to fulfil Isaiah's words, and Peter says by His stripes we were healed.

   “By whose stripes we were healed.”

   • Isaiah 53:4-5
   • Matthew 8:16-17
   • 1 Peter 2:24

7. Made sin that we might be made righteous

   Third, Jesus was made sin with our sinfulness that we might be made righteous with His righteousness. People try to impress God with right living, which has its place, but God's righteousness is a nature imparted at the new birth and received by faith in the finished work of Calvary. Because of it we have access to the Father and have become His friends.

   “What we as humans call righteousness really is right living.”

   • 2 Corinthians 5:21

8. Rejected that we might be accepted, poor that we might be rich

   On the cross Jesus cried 'My God, why have You forsaken me?'; he says Jesus died not only of His wounds but of a broken heart, rejected because the sin of humanity was laid on Him, so that we are accepted and joined to the Lord. He hung there naked with no money, clothes or possessions and was buried in a borrowed tomb; He became poor so that we might be rich. To those rejected by a parent, spouse, children or at work, he says you do not have to live rejected, because Christ paid the price in full.

   Illustration: The pictures we see of the crucifixion are not the reality: Jesus was stripped and hung in full public shame, wrapped in a borrowed cloth and laid in a borrowed tomb.

   “When Christ was rejected, he paid the price that you are accepted.”

   • Matthew 27:46
   • John 19:30
   • 2 Corinthians 8:9
   • Isaiah 54:2-3
   • Ephesians 1:6