Why should we remember these important truths about Jesus’s substitutionary work on our behalf? For brevity, four reasons are noteworthy. First, remembering Jesus’s substitutionary death helps us recall the truths of the gospel. Jesus’s substitutionary work for his people is a gift of grace, never to be earned, only to be received by faith. We have to resist every inclination or attempt to redefine the gospel (it’s worth reading 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 often).
Second, recalling Jesus’s substitutionary work helps us fight sin and live unto holiness. In salvation, we are reconciled to God and our hearts are now postured toward God’s glory and not self-glory. From this posture, we fight sin, knowing that our Lord’s life is itself an example of speaking, acting, and thinking in a manner pleasing to God.
Third, recalling Jesus’s substitutionary work saves us from ourselves, for we are often plagued by past sins and the shame their memory brings. Yet, our Lord took our shame, our pain, our sin and he killed it on the cross. No wonder the author of Hebrews pleads: “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace in our time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).
Fourth and finally, recalling Jesus’s substitutionary work helps frame the gospel in our evangelistic conversations. There are lots of self-help, man-made recovery options that come and go in human conversation, but man’s real hope is external, in the perfect substitute, for man’s real problem is internal, our sinful heart. And the good news of Jesus’s substitutionary work is that, as Jesus himself claimed, “It is finished” (John 19:30).
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