Jesus Paid It All

John 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

Romans 3:23-26 “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

1 Corinthians 15:3-4 “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.”

My Evangelism Explosion training explains the payment for our sins by Jesus Christ on the cross so well. It clarifies the transfer of sin and righteousness this way: Let’s imagine this book in my right hand is a minutely detailed account of my life. Each page details the sin of a particular day, every word I have spoken, every thought that ever crossed my mind, every deed or action that I have ever done or left undone that should have been. Here then, in my hand (the book) is the problem – my sin. God loves me, but he hates my sin and must punish it. To solve the problem, He sent His beloved Son into the world. The Bible says, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all” – Isaiah 53:6. The book has changed hands – from ours to Christ’s. All of my sin, which God hates, has been placed on His beloved Son. He puts on our sin and, by His blood, we put on His righteousness.

1 Peter 2:24 “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”

Finally, when the all the sins of the world were laid upon Him and paid for, Jesus said, “It is finished!” This is an interesting word in the original Greek text. It is “Tetelestai”, a commercial word which means, “It is paid; the debt is paid in full.” When He died, He was buried for three days , but Jesus rose from the dead and went to heaven to prepare a place for us. Now He offers eternal life in heaven to you and me as a gift. Who receives this gift? Everybody? No. The Bible says that few find the way to life and that many go to destruction in hell. How then can we have this gift? This gift of forgiveness, redemption, salvation and eternal life is received by saving faith. Saving faith is trusting in Jesus Christ alone for our salvation. It means resting upon Christ alone and what He has done rather than upon what I have done to get me into heaven. That’s the gospel truth.

1 John 2:1-2 “My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation (an acceptable sacrifice by God) for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.”

1 John 4:10 “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation (an acceptable sacrifice by God) for our sins.”

Jesus Paid it all!

Brian