Christ, The Sinners Substitute

Q: What does the Bible say about Christ being our substitute?

The Bible teaches that Christ suffered for our sins as our substitute, bringing us to God (1 Peter 3:18). According to 1 Peter 3:18, Christ, the just, suffered for the unjust to bring us to God. This substitutionary atonement signifies that Jesus bore the punishment for our sins, fulfilling God's justice while offering us mercy. His suffering was not limited to His crucifixion but encompassed His entire life, where He bore the weight of human sin and experienced grief and sorrow as part of His redemptive work.

Q: How do we know Christ's suffering is sufficient for salvation?

We know Christ's suffering is sufficient because He fulfilled every requirement of the law, completing our redemption (John 19:30). In John 19:30, when Jesus declared, 'It is finished,' He affirmed that His sacrificial work was complete. Throughout His life, Christ fulfilled every jot and tittle of the law, ensuring that not only was His death sufficient to atone for our sins, but His entire life was a preparation for this ultimate act of redemption. His perfect obedience and sacrificial death demonstrate God's acceptance of His atonement on our behalf, guaranteeing our salvation.

Q: Why is Christ's humanity important for our salvation?

Christ's humanity is crucial because He had to fully identify with us to be our effective substitute (Hebrews 2:14-17). Hebrews 2:14-17 teaches that Christ took on human flesh to be like His brethren and serve as a merciful and faithful high priest. His humanity allows Him to fully identify with our struggles and sufferings, providing a perfect substitute who understands our condition. By living a life of obedience and experiencing temptation, He fulfilled the requirements of the law for us, thus making Him the only mediator capable of reconciling us to God.

Q: How does Christ's life demonstrate substitutionary atonement?

Christ's life exemplifies substitutionary atonement by fulfilling the law and suffering as our representative from birth to death (Luke 2:7, Matthew 3:13). From the moment of His birth, as seen in Luke 2:7, where He was laid in a manger, Christ identified with outcasts, signifying His role as our substitute. His baptism in Matthew 3:13 further illustrates this, as He willingly identified with sinners despite being without sin Himself. Each act of obedience and humility throughout His life and ministry demonstrates His commitment to fulfill every aspect of the law on our behalf, highlighting the essence of substitutionary atonement.

Amazing grace, how sweet the
sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm
found. Was blind, but now I see. Was grace that taught my heart
to fear, and grace my fears relieved. How precious that grace appeared the hour
I first believed. Through many dangers, toils and
snares I have already come His grace has brought me safe thus
far, and grace will lead me home. in their ten thousand years bright
shining as the sun. We know less days to sing God's
praise than when we first begun. Let's open our Bibles this morning
to the book of 1 Peter. 1 Peter chapter 3. My message for you today is on
this subject, the sinner's substitute. the sinner's substitute. 1 Peter chapter 3 verse 18 says,
For Christ, for Christ also hath once suffered, suffered for sins, the just for
the unjust, that he might bring us to God. the unjust to God, and make them just, that God
will receive them and still be just. Being put to death in the flesh,
but quickened by the Spirit. Now, when we say that Christ
suffered for our sins, what do we mean? What do you generally
think of when you think of the sufferings of Christ. The sufferings
of Christ. Well, I think most of us usually
think about the cross. He suffered on the cross for
our sins. The crown of thorns in his brow,
the whip across his back, the nails in his hands and and lifted
up on a cross to suffer and die. But what I'm saying this morning
in this message, and I do pray that God will give us some insight
into this subject, the sufferings of our, the sinner's substitute. I'm saying that all the time
that he spent on this earth, all the time from the cradle
to the cross, He suffered both in body and
soul for our sins as our substitute. All of the time that our Lord
was on this earth, His life was a life of sorrow. He was a man
of sorrows. He was acquainted with grief.
In order to be our complete and full Savior, it was necessary
for Him to suffer all His all his life. All his life, in order
for him to be our Savior and deliver us, body and soul, from
condemnation. Body and soul. You know, our
Lord said one time, fear not them that kill the body. After
that, have no more that they can do. I'll tell you whom you
shall fear. Fear him who's able to cast your
body and soul into hell. So in order to be our full Redeemer
and deliver us, body and soul, from condemnation, and purchase
for us a righteousness in favor with God and everlasting glory,
it was necessary for him to suffer all his life. All his life. Now, if you'll turn with me to
Hebrews 10, I want to show you two things here. are essential
to our redemption, two things. In Hebrews chapter 10, it says in verse 5, Hebrews chapter
10, verse 5, Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, when
Christ came into the world, he left heaven and came into
this world. Jesus Christ has come into the
world. He saith, sacrifice and offering,
thou willest not." In other words, all of the sacrifices and offerings
and blood, bullets slain, never satisfied the righteousness and
holiness of God on behalf of sinners. Never. God was never,
never satisfied take Abel's offering and all the way down. The only
reason that God had respect to Abel's offering was because Abel,
by faith, looked to Christ. All of this blood on Jewish altars,
slain and sprinkled on the mercy seat through these many centuries
never pleased God, never pleased God, never satisfied God. But
a body has to have prepared Christ said, You prepared me a body.
You prepared me a body. Now listen. God prepared him
a body, a human nature, and so strengthened and upheld that
human nature and that body from the time he was born. Satan tried
to kill him several times. The things he endured, the things
he suffered, all the way from the time he was Herod tried to
kill him. They tried to put him out of
business by the time he was born. But God gave him a human nature,
a body. Listen to me. And so upheld that
body and that person and that nature, and so strengthened him
in that nature that he could, for thirty-four years, by the
weight of our sins, and the wrath of God against our sins. He was
a man, but what a man. Behold, the man, but this man,
but this man, all man. All man, human nature, human
body. You prepared me a body, and yet
God sustained it, and God strengthened it, and God upheld that human
nature. so that he could bear all the
sins of all the elect, of all generations, and the sovereign. Imagine that on one man, on one
man. And let me tell you something
else. Turn over to Hebrews 2, Hebrews
2. And verily he took not on him
the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham,
our nature. Wherefore in all things it behooves
him to be made like his brethren, that he might be a merciful and
faithful high priest in faith pertaining to God, to make reconciliation
for the sins of the people. God gave him a body of human
nature and so sustained it and strengthened it and upheld that
human nature and that human body that it could bear the weight
of the wrath of God against sin and the presence of God. Listen,
the presence of God in that nature. The presence of God in that nature. He wasn't just a man, he was
the God-man. The presence of God in that nature
gave it such dignity and such glory that in that few short
years of the cradle to the cross, and in that short time of suffering,
six hours on Calvary, that he could satisfy the eternal wrath
of God. not just for the sixty or seventy
here, but the multiplied millions of his people, a number which
no man can number, God said, as the stars of the sky and the
sands of the seashore. So you got two things to answer
here and deal with. How could a human nature and
a human body bear and stand up under the sorrow and travail
For thirty-four years, the man of sorrow was acquainted with
all the grief, all the grief. God strengthened him. God upheld
him. God sustained him. And how could
one man, by one offering, by one offering, by one sacrifice,
put away the sins of so many people, and God be totally satisfied,
totally appeased, and accept us, every one of us, by that
one man, because of who he is, the God-man. That's what I'm
talking about. This suffering substitute, this
sinner's substitute, this Savior, in his person and in his work,
in his body and in his nature, in his life and in his death,
in his body and in his soul, He's my complete substitute.
And his vicarious sufferings in that lifetime meets all the
needs and wants of his people and meets all the requirements
and commandments of his Father. And he can take hold of the Father
and take hold of us and bring us to God. He can do it. could do it. All right, let's
start at the beginning. Turn with me to Luke chapter
2. Luke chapter 2. Christ is the sinner's substitute
from the very moment he came into this world. He entered this world as our
substitute. Look at Luke chapter 2, verse 7. And she brought forth
her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and
laid him in a manger." Why? Because there was no room for
them, indeed. Our Lord started his life as
our substitute, an outcast. An outcast. This is his city.
This is the city of David. This is Bethlehem. This is his
home city. This is—he's of the tribe of
Judah. He's a descendant of David. He's
the rightful heir to David's throne, and yet he's not allowed
to be born in his own city. Put him in a cow staple. We got
no room for David, and no room for Mary, and no room for Joseph,
and no room for Jesus. no room for them over there. He began his life in poverty,
he began his life in banishment, he began his life as an outcast. Men would not give the promised
price a cradle or place to lay his head. And his vicarious,
substitutionary life began right here—suffering, indignities,
harassment, denial, rejection, for he wasn't allowed to be born
in his own city, and he wasn't allowed to die there either.
Turn to Hebrews 13. It's the same at the beginning
of the life and the same at the end. He wasn't allowed to be
born there. Got no room for him. That's his
identification with us, because that's what we are outcast. Outcast. Look at Hebrews 13, verse 11. For the bodies of those beasts
whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest
for sin are burned, where? Without the camp. Wherefore Jesus
also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood,
suffered without the gates. Let us go forth therefore unto
him without the camp bearing his reproach." See it? Do you see what I'm pointing
out? My substitute, my suffering substitute, take you to the cross.
All right, that's fine, I will in a little while, but I'll take
you back to the cradle. There's my substitute. There's
the outcast. There's the unwanted. and I go
forth unto him without the camp, to the manger." All right. Matthew
1. Let's see what else here. Matthew
chapter 1. Our suffering substitute. Matthew chapter 1, look at verse
21. The angel said to Joseph, And
he shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus. Call his name what? Jesus. His name's Wonderful. His name's
not Jesus. His name's Wonderful. His name's
Counselor. His name's Almighty God. Jacob
rested with him one night, and he said, What's your name? He
said, My name's Wonderful. Secret. But Noah and his wife Talk to
him out there, and ask him, what's your name? He said, Wonderful! Call his name what? Jesus. His
name is Wonderful, Counselor of the Mighty God, the Everlasting
Father, the Prince of Peace, and you want us to call his name
Jesus? Yes. Identification. Subjective. That's his name,
Jesus. As a Savior, he comes forth from
the womb, called Jesus. As a Savior who lay in the manger,
called Jesus. As a substitute who walked the
streets of Galilee and the shores of the Sea of Galilee, they referred
to him all his life as Jesus. Jesus. We call our sons by a
grand and glorious name, Victor. We give them grand and glorious
names. The Father gave him a name of
humiliation, Jesus. Jesus. And many have even—many
have worn that name. Mexico's full of little fellas
called Jesus. Many have worn the name, but
only one has worn the saying and the shame. And that's our
Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. I tell you this, I don't
call him Jesus anymore. I call him Lord. I call him Lord. And I do that
on purpose, because that's his name. He's the Lord Jesus Christ. But when he came into this world,
they put him in a manger, and they called him Jesus. that identified
him with us. That's right. All right, what's
thirdly? This is shocking here, Luke chapter 2. All his life
he's our substitute. He's fulfilling, he's fulfilling
every jot and tittle of the law. Every jot and tittle. In Luke chapter 2, verse 21,
And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcision of the child,
his name was called Jesus. They did what? They circumcised
him. The Lord of glory was circumcised? What are you doing? Circumcision
deals with one who's guilty. He's not guilty. he is bearing
our sins. Circumcision has to do with being
born in sin as a son of Abraham. Why is he being circumcised? This was that obedience by which
he had to fulfill all righteousness, shed his blood, circumcision. You know what a jot and a tittle
is? Our Lord said, Not one jot or
tittle shall pass from the word, till all be fulfilled. A jot
and a tittle are those little marks in Hebrew language that
just put a little mark, and it makes all the difference in the
world in the meaning of a word. Like, for example, We dot an
I and cross a T, don't we? We dot an I and cross a T. Let
me tell you what the word table would be like without that dot,
without that crossing. In your mind, write the word
table. Straight, leave off the, leave
off the crossing and the dot. T, one line. I, one line. T, one line. T, one line. L, one line. E, That's no word. Line, line, line, line, line,
E. But cross the T. T, dot the I. I, cross the T. T-L-E. The jot and tittle made a word
out of it. And that's the way it is with
the righteousness of God. There's little jots and tittles
that make it the righteousness of God. And our Lord had to be
circumcised. I don't have to be, because he
was. Turn to Colossians 2. Let me
show you. Colossians chapter 2. Circumcision
is for sinners. Circumcision is for the guilty.
Circumcision is the mark of the covenant. of the flesh by the circumcision
of Christ. Perfect righteousness. Perfect righteousness. All right,
let me show you something else. Turn to Matthew 2. Our Lord precisely,
though He was Son, yet He learned obedience by the things He suffered,
the humiliation, the outcasts. Jesus. Imagine, imagine somebody
calling Him Jesus. He's the Lord. He's the Lord. And imagine them circumcising
the Son of God. Identification was centered,
but He's my substitute. See what He's doing here? He's
my substitute. Taking my place. Now watch this.
In Matthew 2, verse 13, And when they were departed, this is when
he was just an infant, Behold, the angel of the Lord appeared
to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child
and his mother, and flee." Where? Into Egypt? Egypt? That's where he found
Israel and brought them out of bondage and slavery. That's a
pagan land. The Lord Jesus is fleeing Israel
and going to Egypt? That's right, into Egypt. Read on. And be thou there until
I bring thee word, for Herod will seek the young child to
destroy him. When he arose, he took the young
child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt, and
was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled. which was spoken of the Lord
by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son. Christ the Lord, the King of
Israel, banished into Egypt, and that's part of his life of
humiliation and suffering as our substitute. For as the outcast
and banished one, he bore our banishment, that he might return
us to John Flavels said this, Because he was standing in this
sinner's place, he passed through earth as an outcast, exiled,
driven from his land as a vagabond, because by the first Adam's sin
we were made exiles from God and from paradise, and by the
last Adam's obedience We were brought back out of Egypt and
restored to divine favor and love. Out of Egypt, back to God. You see, so when Peter was saying
he suffered, that just for the unjust that he might what? Bring
us to God. He wasn't setting an example,
he was doing a work, bringing us to God. going where we were. And here, listen to this, Matthew
3. Turn over there. Now, what is
this? What's going on here? Listen
to it. Matthew 3, verse 13. Then cometh Jesus from Galilee
to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him. John was shocked about
it, too. What have we here? Christ standing
in a river? The Son of God about to be baptized
as a sinner? What was John's baptism? The
baptism of repentance? What was John's baptism? I'm
a sinner and I deserve to die and be buried, that I might be
raised. Is this the Son of God standing
there? John forbade him. John said,
I have need to be baptized with thee, comest thou to me?" And
Jesus answered and said unto him, Suffer it to be so. Now,
for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. The ordinance
of circumcision and baptism are confessions of sin. What does
the symbol of death and cleansing have to do with him? What does
water have to do with him that's pure? What does the putting away
of the filth of the flesh and the answer to good conscience
toward God have to do with him? Nothing! It has to do with me. And it has to do with him as
he stands in my place. fulfilling all righteousness. He's my substitute, and he's
got to fulfill all the law, every jot and tittle, every obligation. Our Noah is building his wondrous
ark for the salvation of his house. You see its beginning,
you see its middle, now you'll see its end. Humiliation. No room for him. call his name Jesus. Circumcise
him. Cast him out into Egypt. Bring
him back. Baptize him. Now then, Matthew
26. I hesitate to even get into this
portion of scripture here. Some of us were talking the other
night over at the dinner table about this passage And here in
Matthew 26, verse 36, listen. Matthew 26, 36. Then cometh Jesus with them,
Peter, James, and John, all the disciples here, into
a place called Gethsemane. And saith unto the disciples,
Sit ye here while I go yonder and pray. Go and pray yonder. He took with him Peter, James,
and John. and began to be sorrowful and
very heavy, very heavy. Then said he unto them, My soul,
my soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death. Tarry ye here
and watch with me. Hold that and turn with me to
Isaiah, to the passage the pastor read, Isaiah 53. Let me show
you something here in Isaiah 53. He says, My soul is sorrowful
unto death. Here in Isaiah 53 verse 10, Isaiah
53, 10, Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him, he hath put him
to grieve, when thou shalt make your soul an offering for sin. 11, he shall see the travail of his
soul, and be satisfied." If we only confine our Lord's suffering
to bodily pain and blood, we miss really the heart of redemption. It's his soul that was made an
offering to He made his soul, he shall see the travail of his
soul. His soul. And when our Lord went
into that garden and prayed, when he cried, Father, if it
be thy will, let this cup pass from me. Not for one moment was
he asking deliverance from the cross. Not for one moment. All the way through his Our Lord
Jesus talked about this hour, for this hour. Father, the hour
has come, now glorify thy Son. There's no crying there in John
17 to be delivered. The hour has come. For this cause
came out of this hour. What's going on here? I'll tell
you what. When I started this message,
this is a human body. This is a human nature. And this
human body, and this human... I'm going to die right here.
I'm not going to the cross. I'm going to die in this garden.
My soul is so sorry. I'm going to die. He prayed three
times to have it removed, and it was lifted. The angels, Luke
said, came down and ministered to him. God ministered to her. Now, you can imagine, I guess,
like Paul said, how could we? But you stop and think a minute
about this couple, Jonathan and Mary. They have one little boy,
four years old. And God came this morning and
took him out of their home. That's their only child. And
can you imagine the sorrow that that mother... I commented to
Doris. I said, I hope Mary can survive
this. I hope God gives her the grace
to survive it. He's gone. They're going to come
home from church tomorrow. He's not going to be there. Tonight
he's not going to be there. Through her day of fixing...
You know how your life revolves around your children? Your mothers? When she's fixing breakfast anymore. He's not going to be there. When
she goes there and goes to the nursery to call him, he's not
going to answer. She's in sorrow. This is one lady with one grief. My Lord's in that garden with
all our sorrow. Think about it. That's what I'm
saying. He said, My soul is sorrowful unto death. He bore all of our
sins and sorrow and sicknesses and disease. That's the cry,
my God, my Father, my soul. The blood came out of the pores
of his skin. The agony and grief is so extreme. He said, all needed pass by,
and behold, my sorrow is every sorrow likened to my sorrow. with which the Father hath afflicted
me." Was there any suffering? Actually, the nails, I hate to
say it like this, but they were the least of the suffering. I tell you, there isn't a father
here that wouldn't die for his child. Not a Isn't that right? Not a woman. Or a mother. Not
a mother here. It wouldn't take the place of
a daughter or son. It's done. Within a moment. So our Lord Jesus Christ loved
us, and this is human love. Think about God's love. Greater
love of nobody than this. Lay down His life for the enemies. But this sorrowful soul is bearing
the separation from the Father. That's what it is. Separation.
My God, the only time we ever cried out, my God, why have you
forsaken me? There is suffering. Turn to John
19. Let's read that. Just briefly. John 19. From the cradle to the
cross, the substitute has been faithful. Here on the cross the
wrath of God fell on him, the sword of God smote him. Here
he poured out his soul unto death. Here he was cut off out of the
land of the living. Here the work was finished."
John 19, verse 19. Pilate wrote a title and put
it on the cross. The writing was, Jesus of Nazareth,
the King of the Jews. This title read, Many of the
Jews, for the place where he was crucified was now unto the
city. He was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. And then said
the chief priest of the Jews to Pilate, all right, the king
of the Jews, they won't even, while he's dying, let him bear
that title. Well, he said, I'm king of the
Jews. Pilate said, well, I've written,
I've written. Then the soldiers, when they crucified Jesus, took
his garments and made four parts to every soldier a part. also
his coat. Now the coat was without seam,
woven from the top throughout. They said, therefore, among themselves,
Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be,
that the scripture might be fulfilled, which said they parted by raiment
among them, for by vesture did they cast lots. These things
therefore the soldiers did. Now they stood by the cross of
Jesus, his mother, and his mother's sister Mary, the wife of Cleopas,
Mary Magdalene, When Jesus there, poor Sam, saw his mother and
the disciples standing by whom he loved, he said unto his mother,
Woman, behold thy son. Then he said to John, the author
of this epistle, Behold thy mother. From that hour the disciple took
her into his own house. After this, Jesus, knowing that,
and here's the good news, all things were now accomplished.
All the suffering, all the sorrow, all the righteousness fulfilled,
that this Scripture might be fulfilled, he said, I thirst.
Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar, and when they filled
the sponge with vinegar, put it upon Hyssop, and put it to
his mouth, and when Jesus himself would receive the vinegar, he
said, It's finished. It's finished. What's finished? Our redemption. Every requirement,
every law. Righteousness is finished. Well,
why was he buried? To reveal that he did indeed
die. What if he'd never been buried? There'd been some doubt, wouldn't
there? But he was buried, and lay there three days. It's essential
that he be buried. Secondly, why was he raised? To reveal that God accepted this
offer. You see? The work was finished. It was finished before he was
buried. He said, It's finished! The obedience
is complete from the cradle to the cross. Every spot in my whole
life, my whole life, everything I need is finished! But they
buried him to reveal that he truly died. And then was Sunday
morning. The Father raised him from the
dead, that this world might know that the high priest came out
of the Holy of Holies, and God accepted what he did. That's
right. And then he was exalted. To what end was he exalted that
he might in the ages to come show the exceeding riches of
his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus? What a comfort. The sinner's
substitute, the suffering redeemer. This, then, is the message which
we've heard of Him and declared to you. That's where we started
this moment. This is the message. And what good news for sinners.
But what do we do? Look to Him. He didn't leave
anything for you to do. Look to Him. All right. Thank
you, pastor. I like that statement. Noah was
building his ark. I like that. Number forty-four
is a good one to sing after that. Number forty-four. Let's sing
all three verses And if you will go back to the
third version. Back to the door and greet the
people. Let's stand and say number forty-four. And can it be that I should gain
any trust in the Savior's blood? Nigh he bore me who caused his
pain, bore me who him to death pursued. Amazing love, how can it be that
thou, my God, shouldst die for me? Amazing love, how can it
be that thou, my God, shouldst die for me? It's up notes to
hit, I know that. But man, we ought to be able
to sing this. after hearing that. Verse 2.
He left his father's throne above To free soul in paradise His
grave Empty himself of all the love And lay for Adam's well-blessed
grave Amazing love, how can it be that
Thou, my God, shouldst die for me? Amazing love, how can it
be that Thou, my God, I am my Lord, and He is my King. Sing it out. Yes, ma'am.

Christ, The Sinners Substitute

What does the Bible say about Christ being our substitute?

How do we know Christ's suffering is sufficient for salvation?

Why is Christ's humanity important for our salvation?

How does Christ's life demonstrate substitutionary atonement?

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Christ, The Sinners Substitute

What does the Bible say about Christ being our substitute?

How do we know Christ's suffering is sufficient for salvation?

Why is Christ's humanity important for our salvation?

How does Christ's life demonstrate substitutionary atonement?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

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