CHRIST
AS SUBSTITUTE

The good news is that sin has been dealt with; that Jesus has suffered its penalty for us as our representative, so that we might never have to suffer it; and that therefore all who believe in him can look forward to heaven. The only true gospel is of the one mediator (1 Tim. 2:5–6), who gave himself for us.

J.M. Boice

If Christ is not the Substitute, He is nothing to the sinner. If He did not die as the Sin-bearer, He has died in vain. Let us not be deceived on this point nor misled by those who, when they announce Christ as the Deliverer, think they have preached the gospel. If I throw a rope to a drowning man, I am a deliverer. But is Christ no more than that? If I cast myself into the sea and risk myself to save another, I am a deliverer. But is Christ no more? Did He risk His life? The very essence of Christ’s deliverance is THE SUBSTITUTION OF HIMSELF FOR US – HIS LIFE FOR OURS! He did not come to risk His life; He came to die! He did not redeem us by a little loss, a little sacrifice, a little labor, a little suffering; “He redeemed us to God by His blood” (1 Peter 1:18, 19). He gave all He had, even His life, for us. This is the kind of deliverance that awakens the happy song, “To Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood” (Rev. 1:5).

Horatius Bonar

Christ is a substitute for everything, but nothing is a substitute for Christ.

H.A. Ironside