Gospel Jump-Start

This week’s post in our Gospel Jump-Start Series comes from John Stott’s book, The Cross of Christ. As we approach Good Friday, Stott’s work is just what we need to focus our attention toward Christ’s work on our behalf. 

He wrote:

The concept of substitution may be said, then, to lie at the heart of both sin and salvation. For the essence of sin is man substituting himself for God, while the essence of salvation is God substituting himself for man. Man asserts himself against God and puts himself where only God deserves to be; God sacrifices himself for man and puts himself where only man deserves to be. Man claims prerogatives that belong to God alone; God accepts penalties that belong to man alone. (pg. 159)

Stott concluded:

But we cannot escape the embarrassment of standing stark naked before God. It is no use for us to try to cover up like Adam and Eve in the garden. Our attempts at self-justification are as ineffectual as their fig leaves. We have to acknowledge our nakedness, see the divine substitute wearing our filthy rags instead of us, and allow him to clothe us with his own righteousness (cf. Rev 3:17-18). Nobody has ever put it better than Augustus Toplady in his immortal hymn “Rock of Ages”:

Nothing in my hand I bring,

Simply to your Cross I cling;

Naked, come to you for dress;

Helpless, look to you for grace;

Foul, I to the fountain fly;

Wash me, Savior, or I die. (pg. 162)

Don’t forget to continually preach the gospel to yourself this week!

Written by Matt Baker