Christ Died For Our Sins--- Dave Hunt

In desperation, the Philippian jailor cried, “What must I do to be saved?” Paul’s reply was simple: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved”

(Acts:16:31). The great apostle said nothing about baptism or sacraments, candles, incense, church attendance, reforming one’s life, or anything else being necessary or even helpful for salvation. From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible makes it clear that there is nothing a sinner can do , much less must do , to pay the infinite penalty required by God’s justice. One can and need only believe in Christ, who paid the penalty in full: “It is finished” (Jn:19:30)!

Scripture could not be clearer: “[T]o him that worketh not , but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly , his faith is counted for righteousness” (Rom:4:5); “For by grace are ye saved, through faith... not of works , lest any man should boast” (Eph:2:8,9). To attempt to do anything for one’s salvation beyond believing “on the Lord Jesus Christ” is to deny that Christ paid the full penalty for sin on the cross and to reject God’s offer on that basis of forgiveness and eternal life as a free gift of His grace. Clearly, we can be saved only by faith in Christ —but exactly what does that mean? What must one believe?

Suppose someone claims to be a “Christian,” believes in Christ as a historical person and the best of men, admires and seeks to follow Christ’s selfless example, is emotional about Christ’s suffering and death on the cross, and regularly goes to church. Yet he thinks it doesn’t matter whether or not Christ was virgin-born, or whether He is God come as a man to die in full payment for our sins upon the cross, or whether He rose from the dead. Is such a person saved? Does he really “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ”? Or does he admire and believe in “another Jesus...another spirit...another gospel” (2 Cor:11:3,4)? Does it really matter, or are we just “splitting hairs”?

Paul declares that “the gospel of Christ...is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes” (Rom:1:16). So believing “the gospel of Christ” gives salvation. But is believing the gospel the only way to be saved—and if so, what is the gospel? Peter declared, “There is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts:4:12). No answer is given to the question, “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation...” (Heb:2:3)? There is no escape except in Christ: “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (Jn:14:6).

Yet nowhere, in one place, does the Bible define the gospel of Christ fully. Yes, the gospel is “how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again [from the dead] the third day according to the scriptures” (1 Cor:15:3,4). But this declaration by Paul says nothing, for example, about Christ being born of a virgin or being the Son of God.

Common sense tells us that Paul’s statement, “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts:16:31), does not mean merely to believe that there was once a man called Jesus Christ. Obviously, there must be much about Christ not included in that brief statement, but which Paul had already explained to the Philippian jailor. One could not “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ” if a false understanding were held about Him.

Christ warned a group of Jews, “ye shall...die in your sins: whither I go, ye cannot come....if ye believe not that I am he ...[ he is in italics, added by the translators] (Jn:8:21,24). “I AM” is the name of God that He revealed to Moses at the burning bush (Ex 3:14) and that Christ clearly claims for Himself: “I and my Father are one” (Jn:10:30). Isaiah declared prophetically that the Messiah who would be born of a virgin (Isa:7:14) would be “The mighty God, The everlasting Father” (Is 9:6). Christ’s language is precise. He doesn’t tell the Jews, “Before Abraham was, I was.” He says, “Before Abraham was, I am ” (Jn:8:58). He is the self-existent One without beginning or end, “the Alpha and the Omega” (Rev:1:8, 11; 21:6; 22:13).

So we have it from the lips of Christ himself that in order to be saved, one must believe that He is God come as a man through the promised virgin birth. Of course, that makes sense. No one but God could be our Savior. Repeatedly, Yahweh, the “God of Israel” (203 times from Ex 5:1 to Lk 1:68) declares that He is the only Savior (Isa:43:11; Hos:13:4, etc.). Thus, to be saved, one must believe that Christ is God. To deny this essential is to reject the gospel that saves.

Believing that Christ resurrected is also essential for salvation: “[I]f thou shalt...believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Rom:10:9). Yet there are pastors and seminary professors who believe neither in Christ’s deity nor in His resurrection. They teach “another gospel” that will not save—and millions seem willing to believe such false teachers instead of the infallible Word of God. The doom of both teachers and followers is on their own heads because they have rejected the very salvation that Christ obtained upon the cross in dying for our sins.

And here we face another essential of the gospel that must be believed for one to be saved: “that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures” (1 Cor:15:3). His being scourged, abused, beaten, or mistreated by men —or even crucified , though in fulfillment of prophecy—could not pay the penalty for sin and would not save us. Christ died for our sins. “The soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Eze:18:4, 20); “the wages of sin is death” (Rom:6:23). Salvation comes through Christ’s death. Death is the penalty for sin, and Christ had to pay that penalty for all mankind in full. In full? Isn’t death just death? Could it be worse than we imagine? Indeed, it is!

While we dealt briefly last month with the distinction between the physical sufferings inflicted by men and the spiritual sufferings at the hands of a holy God against sin, this subject is of such importance that we ought to consider it further. Sin is a moral, spiritual problem involving God’s law and man’s rebellion against God. That Christ’s suffering for sin was not just physical but spiritual is clear: “when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin...he shall see of the travail of his soul...he hath poured out his soul unto death” (Isa:53:10-12

); “Christ...through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God” (Heb:9:14).

Just before Judas betrayed Him, Christ “took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it , and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you...[T]his do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me” (Lk 22:19,20; 1 Cor:11:24,25).

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