I cannot say if these words are for you, for I do not know whether Christ died for you. I know that everyone should sincerely hope that he is among those of whom it is written, “Christ died for us.” And why is this? Because, if Christ has not died for a person, then that person shall have to die for himself. The wages of sin is death, and someone must receive those wages: if not Christ, then the man who has actually done the sinning.

Now then, who may rightly say, “Christ has died for me”? The very Scripture quoted makes it plain, for a fuller version of it is, “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”. So it is sinners that may claim the words, “Christ died of us”. Maybe you think, “Then it must apply to me, for I confess that there are some sins in my past. I am not a perfect man, I suppose. I am a fairly decent individual, but, like all other men, I have sometimes failed in my attempts to be a good man.” If that is your confession, then I fear that Christ has not died for you; for your confession of sin has much of a boast of righteousness in it. You see, to you, your sins are only blots and blemishes on an otherwise good life. But an even fuller reading of our text teaches us that Christ died for those who are neither righteous nor good, yet you think there is righteousness and good in you.

Maybe you have some hope in this, that even though your sins are many, they are not very big sins. After all, you are neither a thief nor a murderer. You have not bowed down to any stone or wooden idol. If you boast in the smallness of your sins, then you have no warrant to claim that Christ has died for you. Do you ask why?. It is simple. God is just, and He always makes the punishment fit the crime. Your boast in the fewness or smallness of your sins is a boast that it would not take much of a savior nor any great act of salvation to rescue you from them. But Christ died for those whose condition is so bad that nothing less than His death would remedy it. He died for sinners whose sins deserve what Christ endured. Can you look on the scene of the dying Savior and confess that you sins are so wicked that they deserve such punishment and that nothing less than His death could put your sin away? Are you so bad that Christ must die in order for you to be saved? Then I have great hope for you that you are among that blessed few who can rightly say, “Christ died for us.”

But there is yet one more test. Maybe you are among those who lay in a bondage of legal guilt and have an understanding of the greatness of their sin but are blind to the greatness of Christ’s death. Even though they believe Christ’s death is necessary to put away their sin, they have no confidence that it is sufficient to put away their sin. They feel something more than Christ is needed. They look for certain frames of mind or emotions. They try to add their own works to his great work: morality, Sabbath keeping, church attendance and such. Is that how you feel? Then I fear you are in a very sad state, for Christ did not die for those who have no confidence in the power of His sacrifice to take away their sin.

Christ did not die for those who do not need Him. Nor did He die for those who feel they need something more. The death of the Lord Jesus is both necessary and sufficient for the removal of guilt. You absolutely need Christ, and you need nothing more. Do you honestly believe this? If so, then Christ died for you.