What is at the heart of the gospel regarding Jesus' death?
At the heart of the gospel is that Christ's death was not merely a martyr's death or an angry mob's execution; God had eternally purposed that He would die and shed His blood to pay the sin debt for the whole human race. That payment avails when a person believes it personally.
Les explains that the heart of the Gospel is not just that Christ died some martyr's death or was put to death by an angry mob. Rather, in the annals of all eternity, God had already set it in motion that Christ would die and shed His blood. He would pay the sin debt for the whole human race, not just for the believer. Les rejects limited atonement, saying Christ paid the sin debt for every human being who has ever lived. But that payment goes for nothing until the person believes it personally and then, as Les puts it, cashes in. Les also notes that people may mentally assent to resurrection truth yet never experience resurrection power in their own life, and that Christ's death and resurrection cannot be separated.