Good morning. For the call of
worship, please turn to Philippians chapter two. I was going to read Psalm 46, but
you took care of that for me this morning. We'll start at
verse five. Let this mind be in you, which
was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God thought
it not robbery to be equal with God. but made himself of no reputation
and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the
likeness of men. And being found in fashion as
a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross. Wherefore, God hath highly exalted
him and given him a name which is above every name, that at
that name of Jesus Every knee should bow, and of things in
heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and
that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to
the glory of God the Father. Wherefore, my beloved, as ye
have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much
more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear
and trembling. For it is God which worketh in
you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, we're grateful that you've given us an opportunity
to see in these things that are such a mystery to all the world.
Lord, you are the bar of holiness, of purity, of goodness, and all
men fall way short of that. We have no hope outside of Jesus
Christ. We thank you for this beautiful,
way of redemption that shows that you are just and the justifier
of all those that you've called. We ask, Lord, that you would
bless this time that we have together. We ask, Lord, that
the men that you have raised up to proclaim this word would
proclaim it with boldness, sincerity, and urgency. We ask, Lord, that
you be with those who could not be here today, thankful for those
who are, We ask, Lord, for your peace and your comfort as we
go. For these things we ask in Christ's name, amen. Let's stand again and sing hymn
number three from The Spiral Bound. A debtor to mercy alone, of covenant
mercy I sing, nor fear with thy righteousness on my person and
offering to bring. The terrors of law and of God
with me can have nothing to do. My Savior's obedience and blood
hide all my transgressions from view. The work which His goodness
began, the arm of His strength will complete. His promise is
yea and amen, And never was forfeited yet. Things future nor things
that are now, Not all things below nor above, Can make him
his purpose forego, Or sever my soul from his love. My name from the palm of His
hands Eternity will not erase Impressed on His heart it remains
In marks of indelible grace Yes, I to Thee and shall endure As
sure as the earnest is given More happy but not more secure,
the glorified spirits in heaven. Be seated again, please. I like the last line of that
hymn, more happy, more happy but no more secure. We're as secure now as we will
be in heaven. Will you open your Bibles with
me to 1 Peter chapter 3? 1 Peter chapter 3. I want to try to answer from
God's Word the unquestionably, undeniably most important question
that anyone could have the answer to. Life is filled with questions
and we pursue a lot of things in hopes of understanding the answer to those questions.
But no question compares to this question. Very simple question. Why? Why did Christ Jesus die
on Calvary's cross? Now billions believe that Jesus
of Nazareth died on a Roman cross in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago.
Billions of people believe that. But the gospel of salvation,
the gospel of God's grace, the revelation of the truth in Christ
is not that he died, but rather why he died. Why he died. I've asked people What is the
gospel? And they'll want to quote from
1 Corinthians chapter 15, what is the death, burial, and resurrection
of Jesus Christ? Well, they left out one little
important word in 1 Corinthians 15, and that's the word how.
How that Christ died according to the scriptures. In other words,
why he died. What was the purpose of his death?
What was accomplished in his death? To deny the historical
facts will be denying the undeniable. To not believe that he died would
be just willing blindness. The message of hope in Christ
is answered in why he died, and I believe our text this morning
answers that question. The children of Israel saw the
plagues that God sent against the Egyptians. They saw every
one of them. They saw the dividing of the
Red Sea. That's pretty amazing. They walked
on dry ground. They saw every morning the manna
that was laying on the ground that God had prepared for their
food. They saw the mountain of the
law and they watched it quake and they saw the fire and the
smoke come from off the mountain. They saw Moses take his rod and
smite the rock and water miraculously came out of that rock. They saw
all these things. And here's what the scripture
says. The children of Israel, the children of Israel, knew the acts of God but Moses
knew his ways. There's the difference. Billions
will admit to believing in the acts of God but only by divine revelation
will the elect of God know his ways. Moses had some understanding
as to what that Passover lamb was a picture of. All they knew
is they had to stay behind the blood. Moses had some understanding
as to what that rock was that was smitten by the law of God
and the water that came forth. Moses had some understanding
that this manna that came from heaven was not given to them
by Moses, it was given to them by God and that the Lord Jesus
Christ is that bread that came down from heaven. Moses knew
his ways. You can have plenty of knowledge
of the acts of God and study the Bible until you have it memorized
and understand all the historical events and all the theological truths. and not know the way
of God. May God be pleased in this brief
time that we have to answer this most important question. Why did Christ die on Calvary's
cross? Why did he die? Before we answer that question,
Let's turn with me to our text in 1 Peter chapter 3 and look
at verse 18. Verse 18, for Christ also hath
once suffered for sins the just for the unjust that he might
bring us to God. How are you going to get to God? There is a way that seems right
unto man, but in the end, that way leads to death. How are we gonna get to God?
There's only one man that can bring you to God. Is that not the pursuit of all
men? To try to know God, discover
God, end up in the presence of God? Is this not the most pressing
issue in our lives? Is there anything
to compare to that? And being put to death in the
flesh, he was quickened by the Spirit. Now before we answer the question
from this verse of scripture, let me take just a moment to
define Christ. Christ, for Christ. When The Lord gave the promise
to Adam and Eve in the garden that the seed of the woman would
crush the head of the serpent. That was the first of many, many
prophecies that would be given to the people of God as to the
anticipation of the coming of a Messiah, a savior, one who
would save all of Israel. That's what Christ means. It
means the anointed one. It means the one Son of God. It implies two natures. The Jews
anticipated, based on the promises of God, that God would come in
the form of a man and that this God-man would be the Savior of
all of Israel. They knew that. That's what they
were waiting for. And when the Lord Jesus Christ
read that passage of scripture from Isaiah chapter 61, at the
beginning of his earthly ministry in Nazareth, and he said, the
Lord anointing is upon me. And he has anointed me. He has
made me to be the Christ. Turn with me to that passage.
This is so important. Even the Samaritan woman at the
well in John chapter four, I'm sorry, did I, Luke four, Luke
chapter four. Even the Samaritan woman in John
chapter four, Did she not say to our Lord, and all the Samaritans
have is the first five books of the Bible, but they had enough
revelation given to them in those first five books. Without the
prophets, without the Psalms, they have enough revelation in
those first five books to know that Messiah was gonna come.
And that when Messiah comes, he's gonna put everything in
order, and all of Israel's going to be saved. He's going to be
successful. He's going to come as the anointed
of God. For she was speaking to the Messiah. She was speaking to the Lord
Jesus Christ. And she said this, she said,
we know that when Messiah comes, he will lead us into all truth.
So even she knew that this savior was going to be successful as
the God man. as the fullness of the Godhead
bodily to be successful in accomplishing the salvation of God's people,
Israel. And so our Lord in Luke, am I in the wrong text? Somebody help me out. I thought
it was Luke chapter four. It is in Luke chapter four. Yes, verse 18, forgive me. The spirit of the Lord is upon
me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.
He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the
captive, and recovery of the sight to the blind, and to set
at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year
of the Lord, And he closed the book and he gave it again to
the minister and he sat down, the eyes of all them that were
in the synagogue were fastened on him. What's he gonna say about
this passage? We know that this passage he
just quoted is a promise of the Messiah, the Christ. And he began to say unto them,
This day, this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. Boy, they've got, he's got their
attention now. Could this be the Christ? He's
one of us. This is his hometown of Nazareth. He knew all of these people.
They're going to say of him, well, his mother's Mary, his
father's Joseph. We know his brothers and sisters.
We've been seeing him every day for 30 years. Surely he can't
be the Christ. And all bear him witness and
wondered at the gracious words, what's proceeded out of his mouth.
And they said, is not this Joseph's son? Then he interprets. And here's
the catch. Here's the... Here's the problem that the natural
man has with the Lord Jesus as being the Christ. These Jews
knew that Messiah was going to come. They knew that he would
be God and man and that he would be a successful savior of all
of Israel. And so now the Lord Jesus Christ
has clearly identified himself as the Christ. This is the very
beginning of his ministry right after his baptism. Look at verse 25. But I tell
you a truth, many widows which were in Israel in the days of
Elijah, when the heavens were shut up in three years and six
months and when the great famine was throughout all the land,
but unto none of them was Elijah sent save unto Sarepta, the city
of Sidon, unto the woman that was a widow. Now, what our Lord
says here is that you remember in the days of Elijah, they knew
about the days of Elijah. They knew the famine that God
had sent. They knew the drought that had come. They knew that
in Israel, there were many widows that were in great need, that
were children of Abraham. But the prophet Elijah went to
a Gentile, chose a Gentile woman of Sarepta and showed mercy on
her and showed no mercy on any of the widows of Israel. Verse 27, and there were many
lepers in the time of Elisha the prophet. And none of them
were cleansed, say Naaman the Syrian. And all that were in the synagogue
when they heard these things were filled with wrath and rose
up and thrust him out of the city and led him into the brow
of the hill whereof their city was built and that they might
cast him down headlong. But he passed through the midst
of them and went his way." We cannot understand or have
any hope in the accomplished work of the Lord Jesus Christ
until God by his spirit causes us to bow to him as the Christ. Why were these friends of his? I'm sure there was extended family
members in this group. Why is it that they went from
wondering at the gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth
to being filled with wrath and wanting to murder him? Why? because he interprets Christ.
He interprets who he is. He doesn't just claim to be the
Christ, but he's saying that as the Christ, I'm sovereign. I'm sovereign. And I will do
what I will do with whom I do it, when I want to do it. And I'll always do it right.
And no man can stay my hand or say unto me, what doest thou?
I am the potter, you are the clay. I will make from the same
lump of clay some vessels of honor and some of dishonor. That
is what Christ means. He's God. You know, I often say,
the difference between what we do here and what happens in many
places is we're just preaching God as God. Preaching God is
God. But man has set himself up on
the throne of God. Why did these people in Nazareth
have such a problem with this? Why did the Jews reject the Lord
Jesus as the Christ? They knew that the Christ was
going to be a God-man. They knew that he was going to
be all-powerful. They knew that he was going to
be successful. because he did not credit them. He did not affirm
them. He did not give them their due
respect to make for themselves decisions that would make God
dependent upon them. You see, they had set themselves
up as God. So though they believed that the Christ would be the
God-man, they had redefined the very nature of deity. They had made themselves out
to be God. They made God dependent upon
them. And that's exactly what men in religion do. Exactly what
they do. You know, God loves everybody,
and God wants to save everybody, and Christ died for everybody,
but, you know, nothing he can do about it. Man
has set himself upon the, and you declare the Lord Jesus as
the Christ? The one who is sovereign in salvation? The one who will save? That's
what he said. There were many widows in Israel,
but I show mercy on none of them except the widow Sarepta. There
were many lepers, but Elisha didn't heal any of them except
for Naaman the leper, the Syrian. And they were filled with wrath.
And men hate Christ as much today as they ever have. They hate
him as much today as they ever have. Why? Because he reigns sovereign. And men will not have that man
reign over me. And every one of us come into
this world with that same nature. We're gonna be the captain of
our own ship. And until God strips us of that, reveals Christ
to us, we'll not bow. So there's no real understanding
of what the Lord Jesus accomplished or why he died until he was able to accomplish what
he accomplished because he is who he is. That's it. He's the Christ. He's the Christ. What a mercy it is when God takes
a rebel, a sinner, One who will not bow and causes them to confess,
I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God, and
I have no place else to go but to him. Now that's a work of
grace. That's a work of grace. Philip
asked that Ethiopian eunuch, If thou believest with all thine
heart, thou mayest. The Ethiopian said, what doth
hinder me to be baptized? Can I confess Christ? If thou
believest with all thine heart, thou can, you can. I believe
that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. I believe he possesses
all the attributes of God. I believe that he's absolutely
omnipotent and sovereign over my life and I believe that the
only hope that I have of my salvation is that he would accomplish it.
He would accomplish it. He wants Here, let's go to our
text, verse 18. For Christ also hath once suffered
for sin. Sin had to be paid for. Suffering a sufficient payment
had to be made for sin. And the scripture says that the
Lord Jesus Christ bore in his body all the sins of all of God's
people, every one of them. Your God's elect, every sin you've
ever committed, the sins you're committing right now, and every
sin you will ever commit were paid for by the Lord Jesus Christ. All those Old Testament sacrifices,
God required a fit sacrifice for sin. And so all the Old Testament
sacrifices were not sufficient to put away sin. All that blood
that was shed pointed to the Messiah, the Christ, who would
come and accomplish that which those things only prefigured. Let me show you that, Hebrews
chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10. Isaiah tells us in Isaiah chapter
54, he was bruised for our iniquities. He was wounded for our transgressions. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him and by his stripes, we are healed. Here's why he died. God demanded
a fit sacrifice for the putting away of sin. Hebrews chapter
10 verse one for the law, having a shadow of the good things to
come and not the very image of the things can never with those
sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make
the commerce there unto perfect. Hebrews chapter 10 verse one. No, nothing that we do can make us perfect before God. For then would they not have
ceased to be offered if those Old Testament offerings were
sufficient to put away sin that there wouldn't have been a need
for them to be repeated. Because that the worshiper once
purged should have no more conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices was a
remembrance again and again and again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the
blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. Wherefore, when
he, the Christ, cometh into the world, he sayeth, sacrifice and
offerings thou wouldest not, but a body thou hast prepared
me. That's why he died. God had to
be made flesh in order to bear in his bodies the sins of his
people and be put to death. He had to be made a sacrifice
for sin. In burnt offerings, verse six,
and sacrifice for sin, thou hath no pleasure. Then said I, the
Christ, lo, I come. I come, in the volume of the
book it is written of me, to do thy will, O God." A sacrifice
that had satisfied the demands of God's perfect law. Above,
when he said, sacrifice and offerings and burnt offerings, and offerings
for sin thou wouldest not, neither hast thou pleasure therein, which
are offered by the law. Then said he, lo, I come to do
thy will, O God. He taketh away the first that
he may establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified,
made holy, perfect, through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once for all. And every priest standeth daily
ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifice which can
never take away sins. No sacrifice you and I can make
will take away sins. Here's why Christ died. You can't
atone for yourself. You can't balance the scale by
performing good works in hopes of of taking away your own sin. Sacrifice and offerings thou
wouldest not. But this man, the Christ, verse
12, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins, forever sat
down on the right hand of God from henceforth expecting till
his enemies be made his footstool. You and I come into this world
at enmity with God. And the father said to his son,
sit down here at my right hand until I make all thine enemies
thy footstool. Mary is found sitting at the
feet of the Lord Jesus, listening to him, trusting in him. And
the Lord said, she has chosen that one thing needful. The one
thing needful is to sit at the feet of Christ. For by one, here's the summary
of this passage we just read, verse 14. For by one offering,
he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. That's why he died. He died in
order to make the people for whom he died perfect before God
by the sacrifice of himself. God demanded a fit sacrifice
and all those Old Testament sacrifices and offerings weren't fit. They
weren't sufficient. Then said I, lo, I come to do
thy will, O God. Go back with me to our text.
For Christ also once suffered for sins. All his sufferings was sufficient. As I mentioned in the first hour, an eternity in hell and the horrors of all that that
might mean. I don't like to even think about
it. will not be sufficient to satisfy the justice of God and the Lord Jesus Christ. You
see, God demanded a fit sacrifice. He demanded a holy sacrifice.
He demanded a perfect sacrifice. He required a sinless sacrifice. The just for the unjust. You and I are unjust. Now that
word unjust means we can't measure up to the law of God. Justice
is perfect obedience to God's law. You and I have never been
able to keep any part of God's law, not one time. Not one time. We see the manifestation of our
sin in our lives. But let us not think that cleaning
up the outside of the cup is going to do anything about the
corruption that's on the inside. Men whitewash the tombs and the
tombs are still filled with dead men's bones. Men go about trying
to establish their own righteousness, not knowing that Christ is the
end of the law for righteousness. He's the just one. He's the one
who satisfied everything that God's law required. And God's
law requirement was not just in the obedience of his life.
Brian, you read this at the beginning of the service. But he was obedient
even unto death. Yay, even the death of the cross.
God required obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ in his death. The just for the unjust. You and I are sinful. Our nature's sinful. We can't, we can't present justice before
God. Proverbs chapter 11, verse one
says, the just weight is God's delight. You know, I think about how we
try to deal with our sin as if it was a balance scale. And,
you know, our conscience convicts us of certain things and we think,
well, let's see if we can make up for that. God says a just weight is my
delight. Sin is so weighty. that there's
nothing that we can do. Well, the problem is that the
things that we think are righteousness that we put on the other side
of the scale to balance the scale are actually going on the sin
side. So the more we do to try to redeem ourselves, the more
sinful we become. How's that? Now that's just the
truth. The more men do to try to atone
for their own sin, the more guilt they add to the sin side of the
scale. God says a just way, the just
one. The Lord Jesus Christ is called
the just one. Job asked the question, how shall
a man be just with God? Moses said, he is my rock. His
work is perfect. A God of truth and without iniquity,
just and right is He. He's the righteous one. There's
not a just man upon the earth. There's not a man that doeth
good or sinneth not. Ecclesiastes chapter three. None
of us are just. And Isaiah said, there is no
God beside thee. a just God and a savior. There's none, none beside the way are unjust. Our Lord is telling
us why Christ died, why Christ died. He came as the sovereign
Successful Savior of sinners. He offered himself not to us,
but to his father as the surety of his people. He satisfied the
demands of God's justice, the just for the unjust. that he might bring us to God. You see that word in our text,
that he might bring us to God? This word might, we use it as
a unknown theoretical possibility. Well, you know, it might be this
way or it might be that way. It's not what it means here. The majority of times this word
is used in the Bible, it says that it might be fulfilled which
was spoken by the prophets. I am come that they might have
life and that they might have it more abundantly. This word
might is not a theoretical possibility, it is a necessary condition. It's a necessary condition. So
when the Lord said that I might bring them to God, this is a
necessary condition that I have in order to bring them to God.
It's not that I might bring them or I might not bring them. The
Lord told the disciples, he said, I have a people and I must bring
them. I must bring them. There's no
might in who the Lord saves. He's not gonna lose a single
one of his sheep. It just means here that it is
a condition that must be fulfilled in order for the work to be accomplished. What did he do? He fulfilled
the law. By being put to death in the flesh, he fulfilled the
law. He became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. The law required death. The Lord
told Adam in the garden, in the day in which you eat of the fruit
you shall surely die, surely die, and the wages of sin is
death. But there was bloodshed in the
garden. You know, Adam, Adam was safer outside the garden,
robed in that fleece that the Lord had given him, than he was
in the garden covered with the fig leaves that he had sewn together. When he sinned, he died. He was
separated from God. And what did he do? He does what
everybody does. He took fig leaves and sewed them together and tried
to cover his nakedness. That's what we do. Run to Sinai,
run to religion, run to good works, run to free will. Let
me do something to try to, I've got to, I know that there's going
to come a day when I've got to face God. How am I going to be
brought to God? And men try to bring themselves.
That's what Adam did. And God killed a lamb right there
in the garden. A picture of that spotless lamb
of God that would come and take away the sins of the world. And
God took the fleece of that lamb and he clothed Adam and put him
outside the garden. And Adam died physically. But
he never died again spiritually. His physical death was necessary
in order for him to be ushered into glory. The Lord Jesus Christ was made
of a woman, made under the law to redeem them that are cursed
by the law. Cursed is everyone that hangeth
upon a tree. God required a sacrifice, a cursed
sacrifice. Scripture says that the sting
of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law. What is it
that brings about death? Sin brings about death. What
is it that strengthens sin? The law of God. That's what I
was saying earlier. You go to the law, you go to
Sinai, you go to your good works or your free will in order to
try to balance the scale, you are strengthening sin. You're
strengthening sin by the law. The strength of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ. He has gotten the victory over
sin, over death. He had to conquer death. Look at our text. Being put to
death in the flesh, but quickened And that word means to be made
alive. And this is a reference to the resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ. His work was so successful and
so satisfying to the father. The father said, I can't allow
my holy one to see corruption. If we can say it this way, without
being in the least bit irreverent, God Almighty was obligated. to
raise his son from the dead. And that's exactly what he did. And the Lord Jesus Christ conquered
death, he conquered the grave, he conquered the consequences
of sin for his people. He is the firstborn among many
brethren. And because of his resurrection,
we have the hope of our resurrection. If there be no life after death,
we are of all men most miserable, the scripture says. We're a bunch
of fools. If our hope isn't in the resurrection, then we've
just been duped. If there's no life after, you
know, I've heard people say, well, you know, even if there
was no life after death, I'd want to live my life for the
Lord. Not what the Bible says. I will
say there's no life after death. Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow
you shall die. Just indulge yourself in all
the pleasures of this world because this is all you got. All you got. The Lord Jesus Christ died the
perfect death to conquer death. That's why he died. That's why he died. It's not that he died. It's why
he died. He died for sinners. This is a faithful saying worthy
of all acceptation. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners of whom I am chief. And He did just that. He did just that. Every one of
them. Not gonna lose one. Our Heavenly Father, thank You
for the revelation that You've given us of Thy dear Son. Thank
You for the hope of eternal life that we have in Him. Thank You
for Your Holy Spirit that breaks our will and causes us to be
dependent upon him for all our hope of salvation, all our righteousness,
all our justification. Lord, we pray that your Holy
Spirit would now take your word and make it effectual, cause
us to believe, to meditate, to rest, and to rejoice in Christ
Jesus. For it's in his name we pray,
amen. Adam. 452, let's stand together,
452. I stand amazed in the presence
of Jesus the Nazarene and wonder how he could love me, a sinner
condemned unclean. How marvelous, how wonderful,
and my song shall ever be! How marvelous, how wonderful
is my Savior's love for me! For me it was in the garden He
prayed, not my will but thine He had no tears for his own greed
But sweat drops of blood for mine How marvelous, how wonderful,
And my song shall ever be! How marvelous, how wonderful,
Is my Savior's love for me! In pity angels beheld him and
came from the world of light. To comfort him in the sorrows
he bore for my soul that night. How marvelous, how wonderful,
And my song shall ever be! How marvelous, how wonderful,
Is my Savior's love for me! He took my sins and my sorrows,
He made them His very own. He bore the burden to Calvary,
And suffered and died alone. How marvelous, how wonderful,
And my song shall ever be! How marvelous, how wonderful,
Is my Savior's love for me! When with a ransomed and glorious
fate I at last shall see, T'will be my joy through the ages to
sing of His love for me. How marvelous, how wonderful,
and my song shall ever be. How marvelous, how wonderful
is my Savior's love for me.