I am a sinner, Christ died in the sinner’s place; I trust Him, and I am saved. The Gospel of Substitution; Jesus stood in the sinner’s place, and bore in the sinner’s stead what was due to the Law of God on account of man’s sins. God’s plan of Salvation excludes all of our works (Ephesians 2:8-9). God’s Salvation comes to sinners by pure grace alone. It’s not the life we live, it is the sinless life that Jesus gave on Calvary for us. This is God’s way: we cannot be saved by our own obedience; we must be saved by Christ’s obedience alone. Jesus, the Son of God, came to earth, and appeared in human flesh,; He lived a life of holy and perfect obedience to God’s laws; He knew no sin. He was found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross.
The Savior’s life and death make up a complete keeping of God’s Law which we have broken and dishonored. God’s plan is this: “I cannot bless you for your own sakes, but I will bless you for Jesus’ sake; looking at you, I must curse you, but because I have laid your curse on Christ, and now, looking at you through Him, I can bless you and accept you. Though you deserve it not, I can now pass by your undeserving life, blot out your sins as a cloud, and cast your iniquities into the depths of the sea through what Christ my dear Son has done. You have no merits, but Christ has divine goodness. You are full of sin and must be punished, but Jesus was punished instead of you, so now I can deal graciously with you.” This is the language of God in human words, “I can only deal with you upon the terms of mercy through the merits of my Son.”
The Gospel comes to a sinner this way: If you will simply believe and trust in Jesus, all His merits are your merits, they are freely imputed (transferred) to you; all the sufferings of Jesus are your sufferings. All of His merits are charged to your account. All your sins are charged and transferred to Jesus’ account. You stand before God as if you were Christ, because Christ stood before God as if He were you. Christ in your place, and you in His place. Substitution, that is the heavenly word! Christ is the Substitute for sinners. Christ suffered for sinful man and took the thunderbolts of divine wrath for the sins of the whole world; Christ was made to be SIN for us. Sinful men that trust in Christ’s works stand in the sunlight of God’s divine favor and love.
The immortal God, the King of heaven, undertook to bear death for man. The Incarnate God stands in the sinner’s place. The well-pleasing Son is made accursed for accursed sinners. He who created all things laid aside His majestic glory and became the Man of sorrows, despised and rejected of men. Though Christ was rich, yet for your sakes, He became poor. The Holy One in the sinner’s place, the Lord of glory in human flesh nailed to the Cross as a criminal. Make Him the cornerstone, foundation and pillar of your hope and salvation, come and lay your sins on Him. You have no righteousness of your own, but Christ’s righteousness can be yours freely. The lamb is offered, and the ass is spared, the unclean animal lives, the clean creature dies (Exodus 13:13).
There must be a change of places, so Christ changes places with the sinner. Christ puts Himself in the place of the sinner. He was numbered with the transgressors. He was put to death as a transgressor. He was crucified between two thieves. He suffered the death of a felon, though in Him was no sin, yet God laid on Him the iniquities of the whole world. All the sins of the world covered Jesus like a lead suit, it weighed Him down on the Cross, He drank the cup of wrath and bore the wrath of God for the sins of mankind, then Jesus cast the stupendous load of the guilt down into the sepulcher, and there He left it buried forever, and rose again from the dead to give us everlasting life freely. Living He loved me, dying He saved me, buried He cared my sins far away, rising from the dead He justified freely forever, One day He’s coming, O glorious day!
Salvation is not by what you do, or what you feel, but all your Salvation must be in the finished work of Another that was crucified and now lives in the power of an endless life on God’s eternal throne. Christ is God, He condescended to become a Jewish man, and took upon Himself the sins of the world, and He was punished for your guilt, so now whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. The Just for the unjust, Jesus died to bring us to God. This is the Gospel – the core, kernel, and marrow of the entire word of God – the Substitution of Christ. The Substitution of Christ for sinners is the Gospel. Believe this truth, cast your soul completely on it alone. Trust in God’s Blood and the power of Christ who lived, loved, bled, died and rose from the dead for sinners that you might escape the wrath to come.
