Ten Gospel Truths
What the Bible Teaches - Truth #2
- All the life and happiness which the world enjoys is
the purchase of Christ's sacrifice. Every loaf of bread is stamped
with His cross (John 6:32, 33, 35, 50-53; cf. The Desire of
Ages, p. 660). This truth of total indebtedness to Him is the
basis for all genuine Christian experience.
- If Christ had not died for the world, we would all have
perished. The Father laid the trespasses of the world on Christ
(2 Corinthians 5:19; Isaiah 53:5, 6). Thus, in a very real sense,
Christ's sacrifice has justified "all men" by giving them a legal
"verdict of acquittal" in place of that "judgment" of
"condemnation" "in Adam" (Romans 3:23, 24; 5:15-18, NEB).
When the sinner hears and believes the truth, he experiences
justification by faith (Romans 4:25; Ephesians 2:8-10).
- The lost deliberately negate this justification Christ has
effected for them, and take the "condemnation" back upon
themselves (Hebrews 10:29; 2 Corinthians 6:1; cf. Steps to
Christ, p. 27).
- Believers in Christ can say that "He Himself is the
propitiation for our sins." But it is "not for ours only, but also for
the whole world" (1 John 2:2). "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that
whoever believes in Him should not perish" (John 3:16). Since He paid the price for all our sins, the only reason anyone can be lost is refusal to believe, to appreciate, the gift already given "in Him" (verse 18). God
does not put us in double jeopardy, for "the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53:6). How then can He lay that
iniquity on us again? Paul asks (Romans 8:33-39). The lost take it back on themselves.
- All this adds up to a judicial "verdict of acquittal . . . and
life for all men," just as surely as Adam's sin brought "a verdict . . . of condemnation for all men" (Romans 5:16-18, NEB.). The
one who believes this Good News is motivated to total
consecration of his all to Christ (2 Corinthians 5:14, 15).
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