If, on the cross, Jesus paid our sin debt past, present and future, then everyone in the world is already saved, because all sins by everyone now alive were future sins when Jesus died. Why are so many preachers who teach this doctrine still trying to get people saved? It seems that most of them are talking out of both sides of their mouth. The truth remains that provision for forgiveness of sin was accomplished on the cross. I don’t get it.
John 3:16 is the defining verse here. The Lord began by saying, “God so loved the World that He gave His only begotten Son …” At the cross every sin of mankind, past, present, and future was paid for. But then He went on to say, “… that whosoever believes in Him would not perish but have everlasting life.”
That means that it wasn’t just His death that saves us, but our belief that He died for us. So even though all of mankind’s sins are paid for, we each have to accept the pardon His death purchased for us to be saved. It’s our choice. If we reject it, we’re saying we don’t believe in Him. At that point we’re on our own and the penalty for our sins is ours to pay.
Those who preach this are trying to help people understand that even though God’s pardon is available to anyone and everyone without exception, we each have to choose to accept it in order to be saved. We do so by accepting Jesus as our Savior.