The Bible Baptist Church located
at 2015 Beulah Road in Madisonville, Kentucky would like to invite
you to listen to a message of the sovereign grace of God in
the Lord Jesus Christ by their pastor David Edmondson. It seems to me that pretty much
the whole world gives mental assent to the truth that Jesus
Christ was born into this world over 2,000 years ago and died
on a cross. But there is a question that's
often asked and it receives many different answers. Even religion
offers many different answers to this question. And that question
is this, why? Did Jesus Christ die on the cross? Study of the scriptures will
certainly reveal that it was God the Father's will that he
do so. But why? The Bible declares that
it was according to the will and purpose of God. God ordained,
decreed, and purposed for Christ to die. But why? John 3.14 states,
and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must
the Son of Man be lifted up. And if Christ must be lifted
up to die on the cross, then we certainly need to know why.
The sad thing is that most people who live in this world don't
care why, and the majority of others have been misinformed
as to why. What comes to mind when you hear
the word cross? Do you think of a piece of wood
with a cross beam? Or is a cross an ornament someone
hangs on a wall? Is it a piece of jewelry people
hang around their necks or in their ear or on their wrist?
Webster's Dictionary says a cross is an emblem of Christianity. But Webster certainly got that
one wrong. In most cases, a cross represents
something religious, but it doesn't at all represent Christianity.
And the cross, the piece of wood that Christ hung upon, has no
efficacy, no saving power in and of itself. The power of God
unto salvation is found in the one who hung upon the cross. Now in 1 Peter 3, verse 18, I
want to give you five reasons that Jesus Christ died on the
cross. Let's read the verse together.
For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust,
that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh,
but quickened by the Spirit. So the first reason we see as
to why Christ died on the cross, is that he suffered for our sins,
the sins of his people. Christ died for the sins of his
people. He had no sin of his own. His
people's sin was laid upon him and it was God who laid it there. 700 years before our Lord died
on Calvary's cross, Isaiah wrote, He, Christ, was wounded for our
transgressions, and He, Christ, was bruised for our iniquities.
You see, sin demands death. That's sin's wages. The wages
of sin is death. The soul that sins shall die. God's justice demands it, and
His justice is holy justice. And when men preach about Christ's
death, they speak of the crown of thorns painfully pushed in
the Lord's brow. If you've ever been pricked by
a thorn of a rose, you know that it really hurts. But can you
imagine a crown of them dug into your forehead? And men preach
about the scourging of the Lord's back, that cat of nine tails
having chips of sharp bone tied into the leather cords plowed
through the flesh of the Lord Jesus' back just as a tiller
plows through the ground. And then men speak of the nails
driven into his hands and his feet and the soldier's dirty
spear that was pierced into his side. Yet all Christ's physical
sufferings don't even begin to compare to his suffering of soul.
Christ's very soul was made an offering for sin. He suffered
great agony within his soul. He said, my soul is exceeding
sorrowful. His sweat was as if it were great
drops of blood that fell to the ground in Gethsemane's garden. And did you notice that verse
18 here tells us that Christ also hath once suffered for sins? Yes, Christ suffered physically
and he suffered spiritually. He suffered in his soul for our
sins. He suffered for our transgressions.
but he suffered only once. For Christ was once offered to
bear the sins of many. He was offered once, one time
only, Hebrews 9, 28. It was by one offering that he
hath perfected forever them that are sanctified, Hebrews 10, 4. Why? Because once was enough. This is the God-man. This is
God who became flesh. Why did Christ die on the cross?
To suffer for the sins that his people should have suffered.
He bore our sins in his own body on the tree. And then we see
the second reason from the next statement in our text. On the
cross, Christ hung to die the just for the unjust. He suffered
for the sins of his people. He died the just for the unjust.
Our Lord and Savior is the just one. I might add the only just
one. And we are the unjust. And only
one who is just can make the unjust just. Christ is a just
God and a Savior. Not just God, but a just God
and a Savior. Ecclesiastes chapter 7 verse
20 says, For there is not a just man upon earth that doeth good
and sinneth not. So God became one. And that, dear friends, is the
gospel. In the fullness of time, God sent forth His Son, made
of a woman, made under the law. Why? To redeem them that were
under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons,
Galatians 4, verses 4 and 5. God cannot be just and just set
us free without our sins being justly paid for. Punishment must
be meted out. But if the just one takes our
place, his ransom God will accept. He can be just and justify because
he is a just God and a Savior. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law. How? Being made a curse for us. For cursed is everyone that hangeth
on a tree. And then the third reason that
Christ died on the cross is that he died that he might bring us
to God. What a glorious thought. Jesus
Christ, by dying in our room instead, made us acceptable. We're accepted in the beloved.
He, Christ, is the beloved. Christ's death had to do with
God's justice. Christ's death had to do with
the holiness of God. He enabled God to be both just
and justifier, for he thought it not robbery to be equal with
God. Why? Because he was equal with God,
and he made himself of no reputation. He took upon himself the likeness
of sinful flesh, and he died in the flesh. And for sin, his
people's sin, he condemned sin in the flesh. He kept God's law
perfectly in our place. And because of that, God's justice
is satisfied. That's why we're dead to sin.
That's why sin no longer has dominion over us. Christ has
paid our sin debt and God is satisfied. And that immediately
brings us to the fourth reason for Christ's crucifixion on the
Roman cross. Christ had to be put to death
in the flesh. He had to die on the cross as
a man. You see, only a man could redeem
fallen men and women. For there is one God and one
mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. God could not die. Man could
not redeem, but the God-man could do both, die and redeem, and
God had to become a man to redeem man. You know, there are two
words in particular that are always associated with the word
flesh, and that's sin and death. By one man, sin entered into
the world, and death by sin. So death passed upon all men
because all have sinned. So here we are this morning,
and we're all here in this flesh, and we know that after death,
there's a judgment. It's appointed unto man once
to die, but after this, the judgment. So what can we do about this?
There's nothing we can do. But what makes this gospel such
good news is that all that God required, Christ did for us. Why did Jesus Christ die on Calvary's
cross? Well, that's the most crucial
subject in all the world. Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
And that brings us to the fifth reason that our Lord died on
the cross. What is it? That He might be
quickened by the Spirit so that you and I might be made alive
in Him. So let's quickly recap. What
are the five reasons our Lord died on the cross? First, He
had to suffer for our sins. Sin can't just be swept under
a rug, friends. It's got to be dealt with. It's
got to be paid for. Second reason, only a just man
could put our sin away. Thirdly, he died being just to
bring the unjust to God. Fourthly, as a man, he died in
our room instead. He must. Only a man could stand
in our place. And fifthly, he did so that you
and I might live. Christ had to die for us to live.
Christ had to die to satisfy justice. Christ had to die to
conquer death. Christ had to pay sin's wages
by the sacrifice of himself. And because he lives, we live.
We die with him being baptized in his death and we're buried
with him so that we rise with him and praise God. We live because
he lives. And the only proof that we have
that the dead will rise is the fact that Christ himself rose.
The Old Testament declares that Christ resurrected, died, and
rose again. The New Testament does the same.
The apostles were eyewitnesses to it. They preached the resurrection. The gospel declares the necessity
of Christ rising. To say that there's no resurrection
is an absolute denial of the scriptures. The gospel and the
word of Christ's apostles is nothing but a lie if that's not
so. And the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 tells us that if there
is no resurrection, if Christ did not rise from the dead, every
professing believer is still in a miserable condition. And
if Christ did not rise from the dead, that we have no hope of
redemption. Christ rising from the dead is
the proof that God accepted his sacrifice and his work of righteousness. And if God did not accept Christ's
work of redemption, that he would still be in that borrowed tomb,
but he's not. He's seated at the right hand
of God in all power and majesty, making intercession for his people.
He's pleading our cause before God. That's what makes our union
with him so beautiful. We are there with him. That's what our Lord said. He
said, in my father's house, there are many mansions, and if it
were not so, I would have told you, and I go to prepare a place
for you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself that
where I am, there you may be also. Ephesians 1.3, Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.
Secondly, Hebrews 1.20, Those blessings which He wrought in
Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His
own right hand in heavenly places, proves that it is so. and he
hath raised us up together and made us to sit in heavenly places
in Christ Jesus. And that's why Christ died on
the cross, to save his people from their sin. You have been
listening to a message by David Edmondson. the pastor of Bible
Baptist Church in Madisonville, Kentucky. If you would like a
copy of this message or to hear other messages of God's free,
sovereign grace in Christ, you can write to our mailing address
at P.O. Box 652, Madisonville, Kentucky,
42431. or log on to our website at FreeGraceRadio.com. If you would like to come and
worship with us, we meet at 2015 Beulah Road, Madisonville, Kentucky. And our service times are Sunday
morning Bible study at 10 o'clock AM. Worship services begin at
11 o'clock AM. Wednesday evening services at
7 o'clock PM. Please tune in again next Sunday
morning at 10 o'clock AM for another message of God's free
and sovereign grace in the Lord Jesus Christ.