Be Real - We Need a Substitute
The desire of Fuse Students is that we would be people who have real relationships with God evidenced by the fruit of our lives. As the motto of our series goes, the fruit don’t lie! This morning, we will be reminded that all people are under the righteous judgement of God and we need a substitute to satisfy our sin-debt and God’s wrath.
A good friend of mine (Josh Denk) likes to play roller-blade hockey and I have gone along to join him a few times. Typically, teams play 3 v 3 (normally would be 5 v 5) and this means that you get winded quickly. Playing hockey and feeling the burn in my lunges as I gasp for air causes me much joy in the word substitute! You see, once you grow fatigued, you can take a seat on the bench and enjoy some water because a substitute has come in to take your place. My personal limitations make it necessary for me to look for help outside of myself. Similarly, because of our limitations to living sinless lives, we need help! We need a substitute who can come in and take our place.
Today, our text will be 1 Samuel 6:1-5 and our study will take us to the land of the Philistines and their effort to appease God’s wrath against them. The Ark of the Covenant of God has been in the land of the Philistines for 7 months and the people have experience tragedy and suffering as a result of possessing the ark. In fact, 5 different Philistine cities possessed the ark for a time and each one experienced severe plagues and sickness. After 7 months, the leadership admitted they were incapable of resolving the suffering and they gathered together the religious professionals of the land.
It is interesting to note that it took this long for the leaders to seek the counsel of those who were spiritually and religiously minded. The Philistines had diviners and priests who were responsible for offering worship to their false god Dagon and they also were involved in fortune telling. Though they did not worship the One True God, they knew He was mightier than their gods and that the only way forward was to admit fault and offer sacrifices.
“They said, ‘If you send away the ark of the God of Israel, do not send it empty, but by all means return him a guilt offering’ (1 Samuel 6:3a).” The term guilt offering is also known as an atoning sacrifice. The offering serves as a substitute for the unclean person. These priests recognized that a substitute was needed in order for their guilt to be forgiven. Unfortunately, their worship of God only went as far as getting a hall pass.
This text is a one of many in the Old Testament that foretell the love and grace of God through Jesus, the all-satisfying substitute of our sin. The one time sacrifice of Jesus through his death, burial, and resurrection satisfies the righteous wrath of God, resulting in the forgiveness of sins and close relationship with God (John 3:16)!
Be Real – have you admitted that your performance is not good enough to satisfy God’s wrath and pay-off your sin debt? When we are real, we recognize we fall short. When we recognize this, we can take our trust off ourselves and place it onto someone else. Each of us needs a substitute and His name is Jesus.