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Dr. Ronald Powell
This Week's Message
3/31/13 (Happy Easter)
Why Did Jesus Have to Die?
Scripture: John 3:1-1
I. Introduction: There is a very deceptive message that's being proclaimed today, and many people are being misled by it. It blinds unbelievers to the truth and even affects believers' understanding of the Lord Jesus Christ. We know that God loves everyone, but this wonderful truth has been twisted. This is why so many falsely believe that if they are good people who believe in God and ask Him for forgiveness, they'll go to heaven. This is what the apostle Paul warned believers about in 2 Timothy 4:3-4 when he said that believers would not "endure sound doctrine."
II. Jesus explained the need for His crucifixion to a Pharisee named Nicodemus. He explained that salvation was only possible only through His death: "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes...in Him [will] have eternal life." (John 3:14-15).
III. If you want to know what God has said about salvation, you only have to examine His Word. It clearly explains who Christ is, why He had to die, and why you must accept Him as your Savior in order to be reconciled to God. But if you believe God accepts people based on good behavior, the implications lead you away from the truth of Scripture. It would mean that:
A. Christ's death would be unnecessary if you could make yourself acceptable to the Lord.
B. If the cross is pointless, it means God made a terrible mistake by allowing His Son to die.
C. Salvation would be possible apart from Christ.
D. You wouldn't need Jesus to have a personal relationship with God.
E. The Lord could forgive you simply because He loves you.
F. The cross should not symbolize Christianity because it's just a meaningless sign.
G. There is no need to speak or sing about the blood of Christ if it didn't purchase your salvation.
IV. To combat false teaching, we need to understand what the Bible says about the necessity of Christ's death:
A. Jesus' death was essential in God's plan of salvation. John 3:16 doesn't say that God so loved the world that He simply forgave us and that nothing more was required. Instead, He did something that would make forgiveness possible.
B. The death of Christ was necessary to accomplish God's desires for mankind. The Lord has some wonderful plans for us that would be impossible without the cross. Without it, we couldn't be saved or have a personal relationship with Him.
C. The Lord's justice requires payment for sin. When God created Adam and Eve, He gave them the ability to choose obedience. When they decided to violate His instructions, sin and death entered the world (Rom. 3:23). Offering forgiveness without enforcing punishment would have gone against His Word and nature. In order for Him to remain just, the penalty had to be paid.
D. Justification is only possible through the blood of Christ. There is only one way the Lord could both remain just and rescue us from the punishment we deserve. His Son had to come to earth, live a perfect life, and die in our place to pay the price for sin (Rom. 5:8-9).
E. Our forgiveness is purchased by the shed blood of Jesus. Many people think they only need to ask in order to receive God's forgiveness, but asking doesn't make your sins go away. Only the blood of Jesus can cleanse us (1 Peter 1:18-19).
F. Jesus is our substitute. Because the Lord can't overlook sin, we can either bear the punishment ourselves or rely upon God's appointed substitute. When He hung on the cross, the Father placed all the sins of mankind upon Him, and Jesus bore God's divine judgment in our place (1 Peter 2:24). Now, all who believe and trust Christ for salvation are forgiven.
G. It is finished. When the full payment for sin had been made, Jesus cried out, "It is finished!" (John 19:30). Nothing more was needed for God's redemptive plan. We can't add anything to it with our good works.
V. Conclusion: Our Father's plan is truly amazing. Faith is all that's required of us. When we acknowledge that Jesus is the Son of God who died in our place and accept Him as our substitute, the Lord forgives us. We enter into a relationship with Him, one that can never be broken. His Spirit comes to live within us, He writes our names in the Lamb's Book of Life, and heaven becomes our home.
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