Greetings. This is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church with a moment of truth, where we challenge you to think through an important issue of life and faith. And today, I would like you to consider at this time of year, this is the Lenten season when we are anticipating Resurrection Sunday, Easter morning, a time of great joy and triumph, the high holiday of the Christian calendar. I am so excited about Easter every single year, Resurrection Sunday, and I would like you to consider the triumph of our Lord Jesus Christ over sin, over your sin and your sin nature at the tree.

I have been preaching a series called Tree Theology, where the apostles and the Old Testament, even the book of Genesis, talks about the tree, and our Lord was crucified on a tree. And we have tremendous consequences for eternity because of what he did there. And I would like us to reflect on that and challenge you to be prepared on Sunday morning, Easter morning, Resurrection Sunday, to celebrate with us the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. And towards that end, I would like to read a couple of verses here for you and just reflect on them.

And I call this particular message, The Great Exchange, because our Lord Jesus Christ made a great exchange on the tree there, your sin for his righteousness. In any case, 1 Peter 2, verses 24 and 25, he himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that, having died to sins, we might live for righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but you have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls. What a beautiful several verses, huh?

And this message is then called The Great Exchange. Your sin for his righteousness, the great exchange. Now, when historians discuss the enduring impact of Christopher Columbus's explorations of the new world, those impacts are often described as the great exchange, or more technically, the Colombian exchange. Now, as contact and commerce increased between the old world and the new world, each world began to see things appear on their shores that never were before Columbus made its journeys. For example, Europe slowly saw these delicacies appear in their markets and on their tables.

For example, potatoes. Potatoes were not native to Europe. The Irish really became Irish when they began growing this tuber. Were they ever really Irish before that? Or corn as well.

Hard to believe that this staple was unknown in Europe, but it was. Or tobacco. Now, Europeans are famous for being chain smokers, but not before Columbus. Or cocoa. Oh, can you believe it?

No chocolate in Europe for centuries. Think of it, ladies. What was Valentine's Day like without Belgian chocolate or a cold winter night without hot chocolate? Other delicacies that came over? Or tomatoes or peanuts or vanilla?

And turkeys, too. Well, in return, the new world found these strange items disembarking onto her shores from the old world. The horse, for example. Oh, as a boy obsessed with the old west, I was shocked at this discovery. Only gradually did the horse migrate from Spanish colonies in South America in the 16th century, northward to Mexico and then what is now Southwest America, where John Wayne was waiting patiently to saddle up.

But the American West was an environment ideally suited to the horse, and it soon covered the landscape almost as ubiquitously as the bison. Oh, and then bananas as well. We identify this fruit with South America today, but it wasn't native to South America. It's hard to imagine a banana republic without bananas, right? But it is native to the African continent.

Or honeybees. The American of this period had very little use for their EpiPen since no one got stung by bees. But think of it. No honey, no pollination by these creatures, and no symbol for Utah. Oh, other delicacies that came over, onions or citrus fruits, sugarcane was not native to the Americas.

Well, in the history of these two worlds, the old and the new, the great exchange looms large as a metaphor for how two different worlds and peoples can enrich one another. In the history of redemption, too, there's another great exchange that has made spiritual life possible for Christ's people, the church. And it is entirely fit for us to contemplate this great exchange here during Lent and in anticipation of Resurrection Sunday. Well, what was it that transpired at the tree on that day? What was the exchange between our Lord and us His people?

Well, let's look to our text today. First of all, two points I want to make with you. Number one, the great exchange, encompassing verse 24 of 1 Peter, that is, he himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that, having died to sins, we might live for righteousness by his wounds. Now, Peter is here exegeting Isaiah 53 in chapter 2 from verse 22 onwards. As do all of the apostles in their letters, they sometimes cite directly, or they adapt slightly, or even allude to particular Bible verses while making a theological point.

And that's what Peter is doing here. He's citing an Old Testament text, Isaiah 53, and applying it directly to Jesus Christ and his suffering on the tree of curse, the cross. And this makes abundant sense to Peter at this juncture in his letter. He's laying down an example of self-sacrifice for his people. Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, he says in verse 21.

In doing this, he exposits a great deal of biblical theology for us, and that includes the tree theology. The heart of that tree theology is expressed in his succinct statement, he himself bore our sins in his body on the tree. At his elbow is the text we read this morning, surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.

That's from Isaiah 53. Now implicit in this declaration of redemption are a number of truths. First of all, let me observe with you, the Lord Jesus Christ, that is he himself, is emphatic here in our text. Jesus Christ is the called and capable and exclusive one to bear the sins of another. As John the Baptist would say, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

Or the book of Hebrews tells us, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And we also see that the types and shadows of the Old Testament sacrificial system are now completely fulfilled in Christ. The temple worshiper used to lay his hand upon the head of the sacrificial animal to symbolize the substitute that this animal represented as a sacrifice for his sin, the worshiper's sin, life for life, as his blood was shed in his stead. And the priest would on the great day of atonement take two goats.

He'd slaughter one and lavish his blood on the altar, and he would lay his hands on the other goat to symbolize the loading of Israel's sin on him and send him into the wilderness, bearing away the sins of the people. Now, all of this foreshadowing, this bearing away of the sins of the people, come to completion in Jesus' appointment at the tree. And he does this in his body. We were created, dear listener, as beings with physical bodies. We're not airy-fairy floating spirits as in New Ageism or the Hindu religion.

We were formed gloriously from the dust, imbued with the image of God, and concurrently we fell as embodied beings, such that those same bodies were condemned to dissolve back into dust once more. But all of that changed as Jesus bore our sins in his body because of his sin-bearing in his own real actual body. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, Paul tells us, and this mortal body must put on immortality, Paul tells us this in 1 Corinthians. There are glorious implications to Jesus bearing our sins on the tree in his divine, fully human body.

And then again, as the only and exclusive God-man, Jesus alone could bear our sins on the tree, fully God. He was the sinless lamb who could bring perfect righteousness to the table in exchange for, in exchange for what? From us. Oh, fully man, he could represent us as covenant mediator by exchanging our sin nature and our actual sins for his righteousness. The great exchange.

Our sins were laid upon him while his righteousness was laid upon us. As Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, For our sake, he, that is God the Father, made him, that is Jesus Christ the Son, he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Ah, behold, dear listener, this is the heart of the great exchange. Be real, dear listener, what is it we as condemned sinners from the beginning can bring to the cross in exchange for what our Lord will offer his righteousness? Will it be our own good works?

Oh, the Bible tells us in Isaiah, we are all as unclean thing, and our righteousness are as filthy rags. Oh, or Paul tells us, we know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ. So we also have believed in Christ Jesus in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law, no one will be justified. The truth is that all that we sinners can bring to the foot of the cross for exchange is our sin. It is the iniquity of us all that is emphasized as that which is laid on the Lamb of God.

And if you have not the humility to admit that this is the summa bonum of that which you bring to God's redemptive table, then you will never be saved. All of what we can bring apart from him is an offense, an insult to his holiness and righteousness. The beautiful, wondrous thing about this great exchange is that our sin, your sin, my sin, is precisely that which God wants you to lay before the altar of the tree of curse. It is our sin which he fully intends to bear away from his presence. It is your sin which he fully intends to condemn and punish in his son's own body, the Lord Jesus Christ.

I am put in mind of another historical moment. Sir Walter Raleigh was for a long time a favorite of Queen Elizabeth I in the late 16th century. He was a handsome, dashing adventurer who loved life in the field as a soldier and explorer, but also life in the courts of royalty. And he felt at home in both. He helped to found the colony of Virginia, named after Queen Elizabeth.

She was known as the Virgin Queen since she never married, hence Virginia. And although Raleigh was forbidden to travel to Virginia, he always made a great show of bringing the then exotic fare from the New World into the court and laying it at the feet of the Queen. Turkeys or even Native Americans dressed resplendently in their feathers and buckskins, and especially chocolate and tobacco. Now, smoking tobacco in a pipe or sniffing it from a silver tin became a wildly popular court practice in Queen Elizabeth's court, started by Raleigh.

And the Queen especially loved the cocoa he brought, mixed with sugar, and then stirred into warm milk, a novelty at the time. No wonder Raleigh was her favorite. He brought her hot cocoa. Well, humans often think that they are spiritual Sir Walter Raleigh's, bringing their good works into the courts of heaven and laying them at the feet of God, figuratively speaking, expecting to receive in return the favor of God, the righteousness of God. Elaborate theologies of good works have been developed in the church over the centuries.

But is this how we are saved? Are we spiritual Sir Walter Raleigh's? How are those good works received, do you think, by God? Are they the exotic wonders on a spiritual level that Raleigh's were on the physical level? Hardly.

What we bring to the great exchange is more like taking a skidster out into the alley and bringing in a dumpster and emptying it at the feet of the throne. What we have seen over the course of tree theology is that since our condemnation under the curse at the tree of curse is that it is no more possible for us to produce good works worthy of the righteousness of God than for a thorn bush to produce apples or a barrel of seawater to produce a glass of cold drinking water. No, no, no.

In fact, it took the death of Christ, he himself, to bear away the dumpster fire of our good works forever and leave in its place the glistening righteousness of God. In the death of Christ, we die to sin with him and we become the righteousness of God. Once again, as Paul says, for our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. So united to Christ are we by faith that in his death we die to sin and we come alive to righteousness. We become the righteousness of God in all of its wondrous beauty, likened in Revelation to fine linen.

John tells us there, it was granted her, that is the bride, the church, to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure, for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. Unquote. Alive now to God in Christ, clothed in his righteousness, our works are now taken up into him and reckoned as wondrously, beautifully righteous. We live unto righteousness. There is a place for us to labor in good works.

I want to emphasize that. I'm not diminishing good works. There is a place for them. That is, when he has borne away our sins and endowed us with Christ's righteousness. Then good works.

We are made to able, able, excuse me, we are made able to live righteously by his wounds. We are healed, the text tells us. It really is possible to live unto righteousness. There is beauty in this world, dear listener. There is beauty, wondrous beauty in this world.

Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. The Bible tells us numerous times, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. And it's more than a throwaway expression. Rather, it is an attribute, holiness, which we may possess as graced to us by the Savior. Even Hebrews tells us, without holiness, no one will see the Lord.

But with holiness, we live a life of glory and righteousness. Throughout the scriptures, that righteousness is presented to us as a wondrous, beautiful thing. Oh, the temple and all of its surroundings were created to reflect the beauty of God in his holiness, including the priest in his vestments and the sanctuary decked in gold. The visions of God experienced by the prophets, Elijah and Isaiah and Ezekiel, for example, were so full of wonder and awe and beauty that they fell on their faces and thought they were about to die.

Oh, dear listener, our Lord also displayed that same beauty of righteousness in his transfiguration on the mount and later in his resurrection appearances. Oh, we're coming up on Easter morning, Resurrection Sunday, when we will once again celebrate the beauty of his holiness in his resurrection. When one is intrinsically righteous, as Christ is, he is correspondingly intrinsically beautiful. This righteousness can be yours for faith in this one, dear listener, who has borne away your sins and healed you such that you may live unto righteousness. When I look out upon our congregation on Sunday morning, I see Christ Jesus in them.

I see a sea of beauty, a sea of righteousness in our congregation. But you must trust the one who has shepherded you to the foot of this tree, which brings me to point number two, verse 25 of 1 Peter 2. And that reads, for you were like sheep gone astray, but you have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls. Yes, by interceding on behalf of the flock upon his tree, Christ rescued as shepherd, those of us straying since Adam's tree. That's what verse 25 is telling us.

We have an authoritative apostolic interpretation of the Old Testament. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Oh, I live on a farm. Now my wife and I have a farm.

And I can tell you, a straying sheep is a pathetic sight. I left the gate open the other day, bringing buckets of water into the sheep and goats, and two of the little lambs wandered out into the open fields, scampering away as if they were making a great escape into the big bad world. Those two little lambs had no purpose, no direction. They followed their noses from clump to clump of brush and grass that's gradually beginning to appear through the snow. And their little tails occasionally wiggled in the air, right?

I knew what would inevitably happen. I've seen it often. At some point, they would get their fill and stop and look around for Mama, having no clue as to where they were, not seeing her or anyone of the flock for that matter. And they would begin raising a cry, buying and bleeding into the air for someone to come and get them. So I forestall that inevitability and went and shepherded them back into the fold.

Life on the farm has been a lesson for me in biblical theology. People really do wander and stray from God in this fashion. They follow their noses from sin to sin, like some delicacy sprouting up for them to gobble up like a greedy lamb or a kid, right? Especially for young boys and girls. Life in the world is like some fun app to download, or life is like a drug to swallow, or a buffet to browse.

All the cautions and the patient instruction of parents, the friends, the church are just old-fashioned. All the out-of-date ways meant to spoil my fun and rob me of what life has to offer, they reason, or I used to reason as a young man. I really don't, I really do know better, they tell themselves. I know better. Everything I hear in my music and I see on social media is true, and my friends and I are smarter than our parents, right?

Oh, bit by bit, app by app, trip by trip, morsel by morsel, we get our fill, and we look up one day and we discover that we are far, far from home. We don't know how we got here. We're broken and empty and destroyed and dying. This isn't what I thought it would be. How far have I strayed as a sheep, right?

Where's home? Many in our world never do come home, tragically. Isn't that true, dear listener? We all know someone, a friend, a relative, a workman, a loved one, who's tragically in the grip of some sin or way of life that has them trapped, or worse, has them dead already, or soon to be. Maybe you are one of those straying sheep yourself.

But if you hear this, it's not too late. The shepherd and overseer of your soul is on patrol for you. That shepherd is still aggressively out in the field, gathering those who have lost their way. Dear listener, return to him. Return to your shepherd.

He is the good shepherd who cares for the flock. Oh, my wife, Debbie, is a born nurturer. Remember, she loves being a shepherdess. One of the payoffs for going out and gathering in a straying lamb in your arms is that a shaking, frightened lamb will snuggle up to you and lick you and will learn to trust you and run to you when you come into the barnyard. Oh, they really do know their shepherd, the lambs.

And they come to him or her when they call the little lambs. They hear the voice of their shepherd. Perhaps you hear the voice of your shepherd today. You are a spiritual creature, dear listener, made in the image of God. If you have not yet had those sins taken away, you have a dumpster load of sins to get rid of and exchange for a robe of wondrous linen, that is Christ's own righteousness, to don as your own.

It is this that he won for you at the tree. Return to the shepherd and overseer of your soul, dear listener. This has been Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church. We are looking forward to, and this message is meant indeed to encourage you to attend your church if you have one already, or if you don't, we ask you to come and visit us on Resurrection Sunday, or any Sunday for that matter, but especially on Resurrection Sunday, Easter morning. Come and join us, where we will indeed celebrate the resurrected Christ who has died for your sin and shown his triumph over sin by having him raised from the dead by his Father.

And we have the victory with him in this as we are united to the Lord Jesus Christ. I urge you to come to the Lord Jesus Christ by faith and become his today and claim that forgiveness of sin and your establishment then in his righteousness, the Lord Jesus Christ's righteousness. Come and join us at New Geneva. We meet for holy worship on Sunday at 10 a.m. at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard, and we especially encourage you to come and join us on Resurrection Sunday. We meet at 10 a.m. at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard, and you can call us for more information or give us some feedback at area code 208-523-0196, 208-523-0196.