By Gary Ray Branscome
When the Bible says, “This
is a trustworthy statement, worthy of complete acceptance, that Christ Jesus
came into the world to save
sinners,” it is telling us that
Christ’s reason for coming into the world was to save us from our sins
(1Timothy 1:15). And, the words, “The Son of man did not come to be served,
but to serve, and to give
His life a ransom for many,” tell us that He came in order to save us through
His death (Mark 10:45). Therefore, when, “Jesus said, It is finished, and He
bowed His head, and gave up the ghost,” we know that He had accomplished
what He set out to do (John
However, in understanding Christ’s death, we should
never assume that God just
transferred our guilt to Christ and let Him take the blame for what we did. If
our guilt could be removed simply by transferring it to someone else there
would have been no reason for Christ to die. If that was all it took to remove
our sins then no one on earth would be guilty because God placed the sins of
everyone on Christ. And, if that was all it took to remove our sin, then it
would not have mattered if Christ was sinless or not just as long as our guilt
was transferred to Him. However, what God had in mind is far more glorious and
far more profound. The Bible does say, “The
LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us
all” (Isaiah 53:6). But, the
atonement for that sin was not complete until Christ died. Therefore, from
the moment that God laid our sins “on Him,” while He was hanging on the cross,
our sins were in two places, on us and on Him. Those sins condemned us, and
they condemned Him as well. On the cross, He suffered the condemnation,
punishment and death that we deserved. Then, when He died, something that was
totally unexpected (from the world’s point of view) happened. Because Christ had no sin of His own, God
forgave the sins that had been placed on Him, and pronounced Him innocent. For that reason, those sins no longer
condemn Christ. They have been forgiven! And, because they were our sins,
and have been forgiven, that forgiveness
becomes ours when we place our faith in Christ. As it is written, “Scripture has concluded all under sin, that
the promise might be given to those who believe, through faith in Jesus Christ”
(Galatians
That
means that Christ has already obtained forgiveness for every sin that has ever
been committed. The forgiveness is already there for us! We do not have to earn
it, or make ourselves worthy of it. We simply need to repent and believe that
Christ has obtained forgiveness for us. Furthermore, repentance and faith is
itself a gift of God, not something we do. The words, “With gentleness instructing those who oppose their own interest; in the
hope that God will give them repentance
bringing them to a realization of the truth,” tell us that repentance is a
gift of God (2Timothy
Repentance
The words, “God will not despise a heart
that is humbled and sorry for sin,”
tell us that those who are truly repentant will be sorry they have sinned
(Psalm 51:17). And, the words, “The Lord GOD says; Repent, and turn away from your idols; and turn your backs on all your abominations,” tell us that those who
repent will turn away from sin, (Ezekiel 14:6). Those passages of Scripture
tell us that even though repentance is a gift of God, not a
work, those who receive it will not want to continue in sin. Therefore, true repentance will produce a change in
behavior as a fruit or by product. As it is written, “Bring forth fruit that is consistent with
repentance” (Matthew 3:8). However, because it is faith in Christ’s
finished work that saves, repentance and faith go hand
in hand, and without faith repentance is incomplete. As it is written, “Repent and turn to God [believing His
promise of forgiveness in Christ (Gal.