Nuggets from Seeking and Finding God—The Penalty Paid in Full

What happened in those hours of darkness as Christ hung upon the Cross will never be known by mankind. The suffering He endured as all the “waves and billows” (Psalm:42:7Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.
See All...) of God’s wrath swept over Him is beyond our comprehension. In the face of the most despicable display of the evil in the human heart, when man was doing his worst to his Creator, Christ took all our sins upon Himself and paid the penalty in full.

Christ did not gradually expire from the physical effects of the torture and crucifixion. He had said, “I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again” (John:10:17-18 [17] Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. [18] No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.
See All...). When He had endured God’s full judgment for our sins, He who is God cried “with a loud voice” (Matthew:27:50Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.
See All...; Mark:15:37And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost.
See All...; Luke:23:46And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.
See All...), “It is finished” (John:19:30When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.
See All...). The Greek word He shouted in triumph was tetelestai. That word was stamped on promissory notes and invoices in Christ’s day. It meant “paid in full.”

Only if we accept that payment on our behalf can we be saved. “There is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts:4:12Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
See All...); “What must I do to be saved?...Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts:16:30And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
See All...,31).

To “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ” includes believing who He is and what He has done. Jesus said, “Ye are from beneath; I am from above…if ye believe not that I am…[I AM is God’s name, Yahweh –Exodus:3:14And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
See All...], ye shall die in your sins” (John:8:23-24 [23] And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world. [24] I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.
See All...). Jesus himself says we must believe that He is God, for He is; and no one less than God could save us. We must believe that the sinless One “died for our sins,” was buried, and rose bodily from the grave. Only by believing this gospel are we saved. So says God’s Word.

But wouldn’t the exceptional good works of a Mother Teresa get her to heaven? No, because we are all sinners, including Mother Teresa. Once we have broken one of God’s commandments, we are “guilty of all” (James:2:10For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.
See All...). Furthermore, “by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight” (Romans:3:20Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
See All...). Keeping the law perfectly from now on could never make up for having already broken it. Good works, no matter how good, can never pay for sin.

For God to grant salvation by any other means than faith in Christ alone would be an insult to the One who the Father insisted had to endure His wrath as the sacrifice for sin. Moreover, if He allowed entrance into heaven on any other basis, God would be breaking His own code of justice and going back on His Word. Not even God himself could gratuitously forgive earth’s most notable “saint” without the penalty being paid and accepted by the sinner in gratitude. Christ’s blood avail only for repentant sinners.