HE CHOSE THE NAILS--PART I
SERMON TITLE: I LOVED YOU ENOUGH TO BECOME ONE OF YOU
SERMON THEME: JESUS CHANGED PLACES
SERMON TEXT: JEREMIAH 17:9-10

INTRODUCTION:  WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED TO THE BEAST IF THE
                                    BEAUTY HAD NOT APPEARED? 

JEREMIAH 17:9-10
The heart is deceitful above all things
    and beyond cure.
    Who can understand it?
10 “I the Lord search the heart
    and examine the mind,
to reward each person according to their conduct,
    according to what their deeds deserve.”

• WE DO THINGS WE KNOW WE SHOULD NOT DO AND THEN WONDER WHY!

ROMANS 7:15
15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.

WHEN GOD BECAME ONE OF US IN JESUS CHRIST:

I) HE CHOSE TO BE BOUND AS A FINITE HUMAN BEING .

• JESUS BECAME BOUND BY A CALENDAR AND A BODY.

JOB 36:26
How great is God—beyond our understanding!
    The number of his years is past finding out.

• GOD'S GREATEST GIFT, AND ACT OF LOVE WAS SENDING JESUS INTO OUR WORLD.

JOHN 1:1&14
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

II) HE CHOSE TO TRADE SINLESSNESS FOR THE SIN OF THE WORLD.

GENESIS 3:17-18
17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it, ’“Cursed is the ground because of you;
    through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. 
18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.

• JESUS WORE A CROWN OF THORNS BECAUSE THE FRUIT OF OUR SIN IS THORNS. 

MATTHEW 7:16-17
16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.

• JESUS NEVER KNEW THE FRUITS OF SIN UNTIL HE BECAME SIN FOR YOU.

II CORINTHIANS 5:21
21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

• HOW WE TREAT OTHERS IS HOW WE TREAT JESUS

MATTHEW 25:40
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

III)  HE CHOSE TO CARRY OUR SIN TO THE CROSS.

GALATIANS 3:13-14
13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.” 14 He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.

• WE MUST FACE THE FACT THAT THERE IS SOMETHING BEASTLY WITHIN EACH OF US.

ROMANS 3:22-25a
22 This righteousness is given through faith in[a] Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith.

• IN THE BIBLE, THE BEAUTY BECOMES THE BEAST, SO THE BEAST CAN BECOME THE BEAUTY.

I PETER 1:18-21
18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 20 He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. 21 Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.

• THE SINLESS ONE TOOK ON THE FACE OF A SINNER SO THAT WE SINNERS COULD TAKE ON THE FACE OF A SAINT.

CONCLUSION: JESUS CHANGES PLACES WITH US BECAUSE HE CHOSE TO DO IT JUST FOR YOU.

I PETER 3:18
18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit.