Did Jesus take on the sins of every human being or only the sins of the saved?
Scripture teaches that when Christ died on the cross, He took on Himself not only the sins of the saved but the sin of every human being who has ever lived. Their sins are forgiven and all are reconciled to God by the cross, yet that provision must be drawn upon to do any good.
Les teaches that many say you must ask God to forgive your sins or repent, but he cannot find that in the Bible. He explains that when Christ died the death of the cross, He took on Himself not just the sins of those who are saved; He took on the sin of every human being that has ever lived. When He took every human being's sin, He could cry to the Father that those sins are forgiven, buried in the deepest sea, never to be brought before us again. Even when lost people slip out of this life into eternity, their sins are already forgiven. In 2 Corinthians 5, the word reconciliation applies the same way: every human being has now been reconciled to God by virtue of the work of the cross. Les illustrates this with Congress appropriating billions for a program; the money sits there until somebody draws on it. At the cross, God paid the payment for every person's sin, paid their eternal doom, and did everything needed, but it will not do a nickel's worth of good until somebody draws on it and puts it to use.