God's Loving Substitution — Erlo Stegen

We'll read two portions. The first is from John chapter 3, verse 16. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

And then the second portion is from Isaiah chapter 53, verse 5. But he was pierced through for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities, the chastening for our well-being fell upon him, and by his scourging we are healed.

This is something amazing, that God should send and give his only begotten son that he be punished and pierced for our transgressions. And he was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment was upon him, and by his scourging we are healed.

There's absolutely nothing that can be compared to the gospel. And there's absolutely no position, nothing that can be compared to being a Christian and comparing with the gospel. Even if you had to be the president of the whole world it would be nothing in comparison.

The Kingdom of God Is Worth More Than Worldly Success

Politics is worthless, means nothing in comparison to the mystery of the kingdom of God. The things of the world come and go. And you can gain the whole world, that everyone honors you for your position in this world, but it is nothing in comparison with the secret, the mystery of the kingdom of heaven.

Even education and success here on earth, cars and marriage, all that is absolutely nothing. In fact it's like dung in comparison to the gospel of our Lord Jesus. It's not understandable one can't understand how people can forsake such a gospel for something which is worthless, which means absolutely nothing.

And one just sees how the devil has got it. In fact everyone old and young should forget about everything else and be busy with this one thing which is worthwhile and that's the gospel and about God sending his only begotten son.

And let nothing distract you, be it education, your job, your business, whatever it is. In fact it would be better that you left it if it distracted you from that which is most important. The first portion we read where it says for God so loved the world he gave his only begotten son.

Distinguishing God’s Giving Love From Destructive Lust

That is true love, that's real love, love that gives. And this love is there to help you, to give you life. And it's not the love that a boy has for a girl, someone who lives an immoral and loose life.

That love is like a cat has for a And then you girl you walk around, you're quite proud of the fact that you can walk around with this big young man, this cat in your life and you don't realize that it won't take long and you'll be like that rat which has blood red eyes from fear because of what the cat is doing to it.

You'll end up with that illegitimate child or perhaps even with AIDS. And that love is there to help you, to give you life. That love he has for you doesn't give anything good. It's not a blessing. In fact that love he has will rob you of anything good that you had, that purity, that innocence, that wonderful life you had.

He'll rob you of it even though he promises you the earth and says he'll give you all the best things you could desire. But it's not true. Now young people don't think like children. Be mature in your thinking.

Be grown up and think like you should. In Namibia there was a woman, she fell pregnant out of marriage and when the child was born and she let him know, he said what? You, you're just a prostitute, you're worth nothing.

The man who had promised to everything now didn't want to know anything of her. But you young men remember if you live such a life, you will mislead that girl but you will be held accountable for her life and maybe for that child that comes into this world.

Sin, Judgment, and the Reality of the Second Death

God says the soul that sins will die. And that won't ever change and it won't just be the first death but the second death as well where you're thrown into the lake of fire. There where the fire's not quenched and the worm won't die.

The King’s Dilemma: Justice and Mercy for His Mother

Many years ago in Germany when there were still kings that ruled there, there was a certain king, his name was Shamil. Shamil was a great man who overcame other nations. One day he went out to war, he waged war against another nation, overcame it, he was victorious and he came back with all the bounty from battle.

And all the spoils from that battle he brought back and put under a great heap and he said no one is allowed to touch what we have brought back. He said who does will be beaten with a hundred strokes and he said those will be real strokes such that his whole back will be ripped open like a field that is plowed open.

And so that was made known throughout the nation that no one dare touch any of the spoil. And I don't know how but somehow it happened that someone did come and take something and who was it? None other than the mother of the king.

The mother of the king didn't obey the king's command. It's a pity when you see grown-ups who cannot do the right thing, then what can be expected of the children if even the grown-ups can't do what is right?

The king didn't know what to do. All day he went up and down and he said what will I do for this is after all my mother. Should I let her go, let her off? Just close my eye to it? He said the problem is it's already known.

Others know about it. It's like some Christians, they turn a blind eye to evil, they do as if they don't notice it. All the time others know about it already and then the older people say well let's not say anything the children will get to know of it.

All the time the children know about it because some people even sin with the children and so they get to hear of it first. Now as the young woman says, I am an old, poor woman and my mother, she knows how little they were given.

It is a pity if they say they will get to know. Should I let her go, I say come cash my sheep. The most beautiful people are those who will know of the cause even if they don't believe in it. Travels quickly.

For you know what? It's heard in Joburg and Cape Town or even overseas. You should be careful what you do and what you broadcast, because maybe God will strike you with more strokes than 100. And this king was at a total loss.

He didn't know what to do. He said, this is my mother. What will I do to her? And why did she ever do this? She's really put me into a terrible predicament. Eventually he decided that he couldn't go off.

He said, if I let her off, what will the other older people say? What will even the children say? I'll become the laughing stock of the nation. He said, even though it's my mother, she needs to be punished for what she's done.

But he realized that even if she was beaten and given those strokes before the 100 would have been carried out, she wouldn't have survived it. He realized that she'd never survive those strokes. But he said, if I have to be king, I will have to carry this out.

I'll never have authority again. And they called in that man that was to whip her. He was a strong man. And he was given the instruction that the king's mother was to be lashed a hundred times. They called her in.

She was told to come and bend in the way that they did it. And he was given the instruction to beat her a hundred times. And that man came forward and started beating her. And the back was cut open with the first lash already.

The King Takes His Mother’s Punishment

And when the king watched how his mother was beaten, the king said, I'm going to take your place. The other 99 will be for me. And he was scourged. He felt how that whip plowed his back. And he was wounded on behalf of his mother who had done that wrong thing.

Even though she was an old grown up person already, but she was someone who couldn't keep the command. And the punishment fell upon the king. This king who said, I will rather be beaten on her behalf, in her place.

And that's what the Lord Jesus did for us. You should have died. You should have been punished. I should have been punished. I should have died. But he came, being the creator of heaven and earth, Lord of all, but he came and said, I will be punished on your behalf.

And after the king was beaten, as he lay there, the mother came and wept and said, oh my son, that was my punishment. I should have been punished like that. You did it for me. But she loved that son more than ever before.

And she was permanently healed from that sin of stealing. But for the rest of his life, that king carried those wounds on his back, those scars. But the mother also never forgot what her son had done for her, how he had saved her from certain death.

And so this king carried the punishment. And in the same way that our Lord Jesus carried our punishment, we should have been punished for our sins, our transgressions, but he did it on our behalf and in our place.

John Griffiths and the Bridge Over the River

It reminds me of another man from America. In 1929, 1931, 1932, it was in those years of the Great Depression, 1929 to 1933, out there in the countryside there lived a man, John Griffiths. He was working out there.

He was married and they had one son whose name was Greg. And they eventually didn't have any food anymore. In desperation, he said to his wife, my wife, we've got to leave our place here in the countryside, go to the city and see whether we can't find some work there.

And John Griffiths went and looked for a job. Eventually he found work. Now overseas, in other countries and continents, you find rivers not like the rivers here. In fact, when they come and see our rivers here, they sometimes have to smile because their rivers are sometimes so wide you can't see from one side to the other.

And on many of these rivers, ships even go up and down. So great are they. And then they have bridges over the rivers and then they have these lifting bridges where ships can pass through. And that's where he got a job.

He was responsible for lifting the bridge when the ships came through. He would press the button and that would set the wheels in motion, those huge cogs and gearboxes which would lift the bridge. Now this particular bridge that he was responsible for was not one for motor cars but for the railway line, the train.

Now he had a timetable. He knew exactly when to lift the bridge or to let it down again for the trains or the ships to come through. His office was a raised one. And down below his office were the huge cogs that worked this bridge that was lifted.

And there was just a plank across this huge maze of gears and cogs across which you walked towards the office. And then in 1937 he was working there in his office. At that time his son Greg was 8 years old.

A Father’s Impossible Choice

And one day when they were at home having a meal, Greg said to his father, Father, wouldn't it be possible for me to go with you one day to see where you work? I've never been there. And the father said, yes, tomorrow you can come along.

The boy said, I want to go and see this bridge you've told me about which lifts up and which is lowered again for the trains to go through. And so it was agreed and the next day the mother prepared some sandwiches which they took along.

It was in summer. The sun was shining brightly. There were some big trees outside. And at lunchtime the father said to the son, let's go and sit under those trees and we can have a bit of a picnic and have our lunch there.

The ships had come through and he had lifted the bridge and they could all sail through. And so they were enjoying their lunch under those trees and the mother had also sent along a flask with some hot tea.

And then suddenly at twelve minutes to two they heard the whistle of the train as it was coming through the forest at great speed. The father jumped up and said to his son, you stay here, I've got to let the bridge down.

And he ran one, two steps over that plank up into his office and pressed that button to lower the bridge. And this train was on its way with 400 passengers on board. But what John didn't realise was that his little son Greg was following him.

In spite of the fact that the father had said to his son, you just stay and wait for me, I'll be back now, the little boy had followed him. But this little boy, as he ran across the plank, he lost his balance and he fell onto these huge wheels which lowered the bridge.

And he fell on his knees and he said to his son Greg, you just stay and wait for me, I'll be back in a moment. The next thing John heard was someone screaming and he thought, but that sounds just like Greg, but where is he?

And when he looked out the window from his office, down there, he looked down into this huge gearbox where these cogs were turning. He saw his little boy had fallen from the plank onto one of these huge cogs and as it was turning towards the other, where his son would be crushed to death.

There was only one way to save his son's life and that was to press the button again to stop the bridge from being lowered. But then the terrible realisation that this train was on its way with 400 people, if he stopped the bridge, he could save his son, but it would cost those 400 lives.

And he had to decide. Then he had to make the most difficult decision in his life and he said, oh my son, I love you dearly, but I realise that to save you, it will cost so many more lives. And his heart broke and it bled as he realised what he had to do and he couldn't listen to his feelings or anything else.

He had to put his fingers in his ears, he didn't hear the screams of his little son, but he said, it has to cost the life of my son. He has to be crushed to save those 400 lives. And that boy yelled at the top of his voice.

And the boy was screaming until the father heard that voice just disappear and it became quiet. And it was then that that bridge fell into place and at that moment the train sped through. And he says as that train went past, he saw the conductor of the train looking on his watch and it was 2 o 'clock exactly.

And as the train went past, he saw one old man sitting there on his seat in the train, reading his newspaper, smoking his pipe, totally unconcerned with what was happening. And he saw children running up and down in the train, playing with each other, eating ice cream and he noticed one particular boy who looked just like his son.

And some were just chatting to each other, some looking forward, others backwards, and all having a wonderful time. And that boy yelled at the top of his voice, and he said, it has to cost the life of my son.

And that boy yelled at the top of his voice, and he said, it has to cost the life of my son. And he said, do you know what it has just cost me? You are here totally at ease, you are totally unaware of what's happened.

I've had to give my son so that you could live. And the tears rolled down his cheeks. His heart was bleeding. And he said, it has cost me my son. And he said, it has cost me my son. And he said, it has cost me my son.

Here were these people, each one doing his own thing, totally unconcerned about this father who had given his son to save their lives. God also gave his only begotten son, the eternal God, giving his son for your sake.

God also gave his only begotten son, the eternal God, giving his son for your sake. This is the greatest story ever. But tell me, are you aware of what God has done for you? Even after you've been told now, you know about it.

But are you unconcerned? Are you going to just carry on with your own thing, busy with your own thing? What does Jesus Christ mean to you? What does God mean to you, even after he's shown his great love towards you?

And I say it's right that there's a hell for someone who tramples such great love underfoot. He deserves to burn forever. When the Lord Jesus. When the Lord Jesus. When the Lord Jesus. When Jesus hung on the cross, he called out, said, Oh my father, why do you forsake me?

And the father had to, so to say, harden his heart, turn his face aside, and watch how his son was being crushed in those great wheels. And the father had to, so to say, harden his heart, turn his face aside, and watch how his son was being crushed in those great wheels.

And God loves you with such a great love, that love which doesn't deprive you of anything good, but only gives you what is good. He wants to give you life, life eternal. He was punished, he was scourged, and by his stripes, by his wounds, we are healed.

The Rope of Salvation and the Urgency of Decision

Now let me close with this story. It happened in Great Britain. Now the sea and the shoreline there is not like we know it down here with a beach and a lot of nice sand on it. But there you find cliffs which fall straight down into the sea, into the water, sometimes a cliff of up to 100 meters.

You can ask Ian Engelbrecht, he knows about these places. And there's one place where on top there was a lovely green field where the boys were playing soccer, and the ball headed towards the cliff. One boy ran after it, didn't realize that he had got to the edge of the cliff, he overstepped, and he fell down into the ocean with the ball.

Now in these regions there was another boy, he didn't love soccer so much, he didn't run after soccer ball, but he used to run after birds, he loved birds. He had cages where he bred birds. And then one day he came across some beautiful birds, the most beautiful feathers, and he said, but I've never seen this type of bird before, I'd love to find out where they breed, that I can get some of the little ones and I can breed them.

And he thought, well if I can just get some of these and breed them, I'll become a wealthy man because I'm sure no one else has got this type of bird. And so he would follow the birds, trying to find out where their breeding place was, and sure enough one day he discovered it, it was down one of these cliffs.

He could see them flying over the cliff down towards the bottom and he thought, they must have their nests down there. He said, well I'll get hold of them. And he decided that he'd get a rope tied to a tree at the top of the cliff and he let himself down by this rope until he'd get to where the nest is.

And he said, well I'll get a rope tied to a tree at the top of the cliff and he let himself down by this rope until he'd get to where the nest is. And as he was letting himself down this cliff face on his rope, he suddenly saw the birds and their nests on a limb.

They were on a ledge on the cliff itself, but the cliff wasn't vertical, it actually sloped inwards, so he was just hanging mid-air away from the cliff. And as he was hanging, he thought, now how will I get there?

Then he decided just to start swinging himself on this rope. He started swinging backwards and forwards and gained more and more momentum until he got to the cliff face. You get children like that, they see no danger.

They fear nothing. And even if you try and warn them, they don't see the danger at all. Even some children, they want to put their finger in the fire. They don't understand why you don't let them. Maybe one day you should just let them and then they'll know why you don't let them.

Like some girls, you warn them of the dangers in this life, they don't seem to understand. Maybe they need to knock their heads against the wall and only then come to their senses. And so this boy swung himself until eventually he was close enough to the ledge.

He let himself go and jumped onto the ledge. But in doing that, he lost hold of the rope. And his heart almost stopped beating. When he realized the rope swinging away from him. And he realized he was there all on his own.

No one knew where he was. He was way from the top. It was still many, many meters down to the bottom to the water. And he knew no one would ever find him. That would be his end. But he knew that that rope would swing back like a pendulum, but it would lose momentum.

And he knew this was his only chance that when that rope swings towards him again, even if it won't get quite to him, but that he just jumps from the ledge and tries to grab it in mid-air. Now or never.

He said to himself, now or never, when this rope swings back, I'll have to jump and I must make sure that I don't miss it. And if I get hold of that rope, I must hang on for dear life and tie it around myself that I don't lose my grip.

Now or never. Praise God. Praise God. Praise God. Praise God. Praise God. Praise God. Praise God. Praise God. Let us stand to our feet. He said now or never. If you haven't jumped to grab hold of this rope of salvation, you need to do it now.

And even that applies even to the older people in our midst. You need to stretch forth your hand to that rope that has been stretched out to you, to the Lord Jesus who was scourged, who was punished on our behalf.

So I want to invite you now, my friend, to give your life to the Lord. And that you do it now.