BGP Substitution

Point #3—Substitution 

  1. Review and Introduction 

Fill in the blanks.  

The first two basic Gospel points are love and ___.

  1. The two major ways that God shows His love for us is by providing us with all that we need on this earth and providing salvation for us so that through Jesus Christ we can go to Heaven after we die.
  2. The two major kinds of sin are original sin and ______ sin.
  • The two kinds of actual sin are sins of commission and sins of _________.
  • The three kinds of sins of commission and omission are sins of thought, word, and ____.
  • The third basic Gospel point is substitution.
  • We know from the Word of God that Jesus Christ took our place and died on the cross for us, that is—He was our substitute (Ro 5:8; 1Co 15:3b).
  • Substitution Pictures

Picture 1                                 Picture 2                                   Picture 3

 [the pictures are in the Chinese version. Picture 1 is a bee. The teacher is to tell a story about a bee threatening a young girl, with the mother then extending her arm so that the mother will be stung instead of the girl. Picture 2 is the backview of one person putting an arm around another. The teacher is to tell a story of a judge who substitutes himself for a killer, taking the death penalty in his place. Picture 3 is a hen covering her chicks during a rainstorm. The teacher tells how lightning came and burned the hen, but the chicks remained safe because the hen gave her life for them].

 Fill in the blanks.

  1. A bee
  • In this story the __________was the substitute for the little girl by being stung by the bee.
  • The mother was the substitute for the little ____________by being stung by the bee.
  • The mother was the substitute for the little girl by being stung by the _______.

Fill in the blanks.

  • A judge and a criminal
  • In this story the__________was the substitute for the murderer by taking the death penalty for him.
  • The judge was the substitute for the ____________by taking the death penalty for him.
  • The judge was the substitute for the murderer by taking the ___________ for him.

Fill in the blanks.

  • A hen and her chickens
  • In this story the ________________was the substitute for the little chickens by being burned to death for them.
  • The mother hen was the substitute for the little ____________by being burned to death for them.
  • The mother hen was the substitute for the little chickens by being _________________ for them.
  • Jesus Was Our Substitute

Fill in the blanks with the following words: God, Jesus, devil, sins.

_________was the substitute for all people who ever lived, live now, or ever will live.  He was their substitute, since He suffered the pangs of hell for all mankind when He died on the cross for them.

  1. In order to be our substitute, Jesus had the following qualifications.
  • Sinless, or else He would have to be punished for His own sins, and could not be punished for anyone else’s sins (1Pe 2:22).
  • ___, because only God could take the punishment for ALL the sins of mankind upon Himself and suffer for them (Col 2:9, Lk 1:35).
  • A human being, because only a human being can take the place of another human being (Lk 2:7).
  • Just before Jesus died He said, “It is finished.” (Jn 19:30)
  • This showed that He had finished suffering for all the____ of the whole world.
  • It was a cry of victory since Jesus had conquered sin, death, and the _____.  We are saved from our sin since our sin is forgiven and we are no longer slaves of sin.  Through Christ, we rise to a new life.  We are saved from death since Christ has already suffered eternal death (hell) for us.  We are saved us from the devil, for he can no longer have control over us when we are in Christ.
  • Other Ways to Explain Substitution

Picture 4                                                      Picture 5  

Ro 6:23                                                        Col 2:14                  

[picture 4 is a piece of paper placed on a spindle. On the paper is a list of various sins: evil behavior, insensitive hurtful words, unclean thoughts, pride, selfishness, and thoughtlessness, summed up at the bottom by the words Death and Hell. Picture 5 shows the same list of sins, this itme pinned to a cross.]

Fill in the blanks with the following words: record, sin, eternal death.  

  1. The meaning of the verse, Ro 6:23 (Picture 4)
  • Originally we should pay for the debt of our ____.
  • The required payment for our sin is eternal death (Ro 6:23).
  • In other words, Picture 4 shows that we have a debt of sin, which should be paid for by ________________.
  • Jesus Christ paid for this debt when he shed His blood as the redemption payment (Heb 9:12).
  • Because of this payment, we receive eternal life (or eternal redemption).
  • The meaning of the verse, Col 2:14 (Picture 5)
    • According to this verse, the record of our sin was nailed to the cross.
    • Picture 5 shows that the record of our sin was nailed to the cross, as if Jesus had this long record of sin.
    • That means that Jesus took our place and cleared the ______ of our sin by dying on the cross, and taking the punishment for that sin.
    • In other words, we can say that Jesus became a curse for us when He hung on the cross. He did that to redeem us from the curse of the law which we have broken (Gal 3:13).
    • Thus we are free from our record of breaking the law, and are not cursed.

                                                                       Picture 6

                                                             The Great Exchange

2Cor 5:21 “God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that we might be the righteousness of God in him.”

[The picture shows a figure wearing a crown rising up out of the clouds. The circle representing the head has another circle around it, representing a halo. Below the cloud is a circle with arrows going in four directions (representing God). At bottom are two hands. The left hand is holding an oval, and the right hand is a circle closed in upon itself, which represents our turning in upon ourselves in sin.]

Look at the Bible verse in Picture 6 and fill in the blanks with one of these words: sin, righteousness, God, King, angels, holy.  

  • The meaning of the verse 2Co 5:21 in Picture 6:
  • This verse shows us that God made Jesus to be sin for us.
  • Originally we are the ones who were full of sin, and Jesus knew no ___.
  • But now that we are “in Christ Jesus,” we are considered to be full of righteousness.
  • This Bible verse is sometimes called “The Great Exchange”.
  • That means that Jesus’ _____________ was exchanged for our sin.
  • We can also say that our sin was exchanged for Jesus’ righteousness.
  • The best was exchanged for the worst, that is—Jesus’ righteousness was exchanged for our ___.
  • How the picture explains the verse
  • The symbol in the lower middle of the picture represents ___.
    • The circle in the symbol shows that God has no beginning or end, as a circle has no beginning or end. He always existed and always will exist.
    • The white center indicates that God is ____ (sinless).
    • The arrows show that God’s love goes forth in all directions for all people.
  1. The figure at the top of the picture is Jesus.
  2. He has His arms outstretched to show that He loves us and welcomes us to Himself.
  3. There is a halo on Jesus’ head to symbolize that He is sinless. In ancient art, when an artist wanted to show that one was holy, he would paint a glowing circle of light called a halo around that one’s head.  Only Jesus and the _______ are holy (sinless).
  4. There is a crown on Jesus’ head because He is ____ of all.

       Fill in the blanks with the following words: goodness, sin, exchange.

  1. At the bottom of the picture we see God’s hands.
  2. The symbol in the hand on the right of the picture represents sin. This is an arrow pointing back to itself, showing that there is only self-love in that person.  This represents the ____ of the whole world.
  3. The symbol in the hand on the left of the picture is a halo. This represents Jesus’ holiness and righteousness.  The same halo is shown at the top of the picture on Jesus’ head, reminding us that Jesus is holy.
  4. The hands are crossed which means they are exchanging sin for righteousness. God is making the ________.

In summary, this Bible verse tells us of the great exchange or substitution that took place.  Jesus was our substitute by taking our sin upon Himself.  In exchange He gave us His own righteousness.  This means that God counted all the sins we had committed as if it were Jesus Who had committed them.  He counted all the ________ of Jesus as if we had all this goodness.  His righteousness was substituted for our sin.

Homework Assignments:

  1. Fill in the blanks in the lesson.
  • Look again at Pictures 1, 2, and 3. Be ready in class tomorrow to use these pictures to explain the meaning of substitution by filling in the following blanks for each picture.

“______________ was the substitute for the ______________ by _____________________.”

  • There are many stories in the Chinese culture that tell of someone heroic who took the place of others and died to save them. Be ready to tell one or more stories from Chinese history or from your life experience that will help to explain the meaning of substitution.  Tell how you would fill in the following blanks when explaining each story.

“_____________ was the substitute for ________________ by _____________________.”

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