Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church,
located at 905 Yadkin Street in Kingsport, Tennessee, would
like to invite you to listen to a message of sovereign grace
by their pastor, Gabe Stoniker. And now, Pastor Gabe Stoniker. Our message today is going to
come from 1 Corinthians 1. If you would like to read along
in your Bible, we will be in 1 Corinthians 1, verse 23. That specifically is our text. And I want to give you the title
of this message, Why Did Christ Die? That's our subject today. That's the title of the message,
Why Did Christ Die? Now verse 23 will be our text,
which says, but we preach Christ crucified. We preach Christ crucified
unto the Jews, a stumbling block and unto the Greeks foolishness. He said, we preach Christ crucified. Now a person might hear that
and respond by saying, Well, doesn't everybody? Doesn't everybody? You say you
preach Christ crucified, doesn't everybody? Doesn't everybody
preach that Jesus Christ was crucified? Just like verse 22 says right
here in first Corinthians one, it says, I know that the Jews
require a sign. The Jews, are looking for a sign. They don't believe the Messiah
has come yet. They're looking for a sign. And the Greeks are
seeking after wisdom. They're not looking to Christ,
neither one of them. They're looking to a sign or they're
looking to their own wisdom. But doesn't everybody who falls
under the Christian camp, don't they preach that Jesus Christ
died on a cross? And here's the answer. Yes, they
do. Everybody preaches that Jesus
Christ died on a cross, but many people do not preach and many
people do not believe. And the reason is because they
do not know why Christ died on a cross, why Christ died. Everybody believes that He died
on a cross. Everybody believes that. Everybody
believes. Every preacher who stands up
in the name of Christianity preaches that Jesus Christ died on a cross. But the saving message of the
truth, the saving message of the gospel, is in why He died. That's the issue of life. That's
the issue of eternal life. Why? That one word, why? Why? That's the difference in the
truth and a lie. That is the critical issue. One word. Why? Why? That's life or death. Over in Romans 10, it says in
verse one, brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for
Israel is that they might be saved. For I bear them record
that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.
And I say the same thing with Paul. I've mentioned this to
you many times. I will continue to mention it.
I will continue to say it and continue to declare it. My heart's
desire is for God to save us. That's my heart's desire. That's
my prayer to God is that he might save men and women. save you, save me. For many people,
I bear them record that they have a zeal of God. They are
passionate. They are committed. They are
sincere. They have a zeal of God, but
not according to knowledge. Verse three says, for they being
ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish
their own righteousness have not submitted themselves unto
the righteousness of God. Well, why are they doing that?
Why are they doing that? Why are they ignorant of God's
righteousness and trying to go around establishing their own
righteousness? Here's why. It's because they don't know
why. That's the reason. They don't
know why. That's the reason men and women
are going about trying to establish their own righteousness. They
don't know why Christ died. It hasn't been revealed to them
yet by God through His Word. Now, if you look right here at
Romans 10 verse 9, it says, that if thou shalt confess with thy
mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God
hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." If you
confess Christ and what it truly means to confess Christ and believe
in your heart that God raised him from the dead, and more specifically,
why God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Verse 10
says, For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness,
and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed. The critical word there
is on. Whoever believes on him. On him. Not just in him. I believe in him. You believe
in him. On him. on him, on the fact that
he died, not just in the fact, but on the fact of why he died,
why whoever's hope is on what he accomplished in his death is saved. Evidence is salvation. And I'm so thankful. He said,
whosoever, whoever God gives it to, Verse 12, Romans 10 verse
12, it says, for there's no difference between the Jew and the Greek,
for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon
him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall
be saved. How then shall they call on him
in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in
him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? And how shall they preach, except
they be sent? As it is written, how beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring
glad tidings of good things. But they have not all obeyed
the gospel. For Isaiah saith, Lord, who hath
believed, I report. So then faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the word of God. All right, so that's what I want
us to do. Faith comes by hearing this belief on Christ, this understanding
of who he is and what he did and why he did it comes by hearing
the word. Faith comes by hearing and hearing
the word. So that's what I'd like for us
to do right now. I want us to hear the word of the Lord. We are going to let this word
answer the question of why. This word will tell us, as we
turn to a few scriptures, be looking for this, okay? As we
read, see if you can pay attention to this word, the word is that,
T-H-A-T, be looking for that word, that, all right? That word
will answer the question for us. Here's the first scripture,
here's the first reason of why, why Christ came, why Christ died. 1 Corinthians 15, if you want
to look at it with me, 1 Corinthians 15, why did Christ die? 1 Corinthians 15 verse 1 says,
moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel, which I
preached unto you, which also you have received and wherein
you stand. By which also you are saved if
you keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless you have believed
in vain. For I delivered unto you, first
of all, that which I also received, how that Christ died for our
sins according to the scriptures. And that he was buried and that
he rose again the third day, according to the scriptures. Why did Christ die? He died that
the scriptures might be fulfilled. That's important. The scriptures
said, this is who the Messiah is. This is how you will know
him. When you see this man, you will
know God has sent salvation. And when Christ came, everything
he did, all the way up to the point of his death, was according
to the scriptures, to fulfill the scriptures. God cannot lie. He cannot lie. And he said, through
his prophets, Job said, I know that my Redeemer, my Redeemer,
liveth in that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth,
the one who will pay my debt, my redeemer. I know that he's
coming to accomplish something for me. David penned in Psalm
22 the very words that Christ cried from the cross. It opens
by saying, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Isaiah
said, who hath believed our report? He is going to grow up as a tender
plant, as a root out of dry ground. He is going to bear the iniquity
of His people. As a lamb before His shearer
is dumb, He's going to open not His mouth. He's going to make
His grave with the wicked and with the rich in His death. Daniel said, after all these
things are determined to be done, after they're all finished, the
Messiah, The prince shall come and shall be cut off. Not for
himself, but for his people. Why did Christ die? He died that
the scriptures might be fulfilled. He came not to destroy one word,
but to fulfill. That's why he came. He said not
one word shall ever pass away. And that's such good news for
us. When he said not one word is ever going to pass away, that's
wonderful news because there are still so many glorious promises
for us in his word. All of them shall be fulfilled. All of them. All right, here's
the second reason. Why did Christ die? If you look
with me at Titus chapter two, verse 13 says, looking for that
blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and
our Savior Jesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might
redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar
people zealous of good works. Why did Christ die? He died that
He might redeem us from our sin, all of our sin, all of His people,
all of their sin. Matthew 121 says, call His name
Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sin. He will. He will save his people
from their sin. Psalm 51 says, David said in
Psalm 51, if you purge me with hyssop, that's what he said,
if you purge me, what that means is if you cover me in your blood,
I shall be clean. Without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission of sin. That's what the scripture says.
On the cross, our Lord cried, it is finished. What was finished
whenever he cried that? Redemption from sin. Complete
and total redemption. Every soul that he on purpose
redeemed, every soul that blood was shed for, for every soul,
sin was put away. Why did Christ die? That the
scripture might be fulfilled. Why did Christ die? That he might
redeem us from our sin, all of our sin. All right, here's the
third reason. Romans 14, it says in Romans 14, verse seven. For none of us liveth to himself,
and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live
unto the Lord, and whether we die, we die unto the Lord. Whether
we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end,
Christ both died and rose and revived, that he might be Lord
both of the dead and living. Why did Christ die? That he might
be Lord both of the dead and the living. What does that mean?
What does that mean when he says that he might be Lord of the
dead and the living? Well, over in Mark chapter 12,
it says in verse 24, Jesus answering said unto them, Do you not therein
err because you know not the scriptures? That's always the
reason men are wrong, because they do not know the scriptures.
They don't know what God has written in the word. He said,
Do you not therein err because you know not the scriptures,
neither the power of God? For when they shall rise from
the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but
are as the angels which are in heaven. And it's touching the
dead that they rise. Have you not read in the book
of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him saying, I'm the
God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. He is not
the God of the dead, but the God of the living. You therefore
do greatly err. He said, when I told Moses that
I was the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of
Jacob, I was not telling him that I am the God of dead men. What he's saying is they're alive
and well. I'm the God of Abraham, the God
of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. They're alive and well. Christ
died that there might be a resurrection of His chosen people to eternal
life. That's why Christ died. Moses
is alive and well. I want us to enter into this,
what this means for all of God's people. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, right
now, they're alive and well. They're fine. They're more alive
than you and I are. David is alive and well. He's
in a body, walking, talking. The apostles, all the apostles,
they're alive and well. Why did Christ die? He died that
the scriptures might be fulfilled. He died that He might redeem
us from our sin. He died that He might be the
Lord of the dead and the living. And here's the fourth reason.
Romans 3. It says in Romans 3 verse 19,
Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith
to them who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped,
and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore
by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in
his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now
the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being
witnessed by the law and the prophets. Even the righteousness
of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon
all them that believe, for there's no difference. For all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. Verse 24 says, being justified
freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through
faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission
of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God, to declare,
I say at this time, His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier
of him which believeth in Jesus. Why did Christ die? Why did Christ
die? Men have all these thoughts on
it. And why did Christ die? He died that he might be just,
just in punishing his people. His people had to be punished.
They were sinners against him. And the law says the wages of
sin is death. It's what it says. And God is
just. He's a God of justice. He is
a holy God. He must do what's right. He cannot
bend the rules and bend the laws. He's holy. He's pure. And Christ died that God the
Father, the judge of all heaven and earth, all sin, might be
just in punishing his people for their sin and be at the same
moment in time, the justifier of all of his people. He died to be just and be the
justifier. How was he at one moment, one
moment in time, both just in punishing his people and the
justifier of his people, declaring them totally innocent and setting
them free, saying, how did he at the same moment in time say,
you must die because of your sin and you must be set free
because you're totally sinless? How did he do that? Here's the
answer. Substitution. Substitution. God made Christ
the one who knew no sin, his only begotten son. He made Christ
to be sin for his people. Sin for every soul his father
gave to him. Sin for us, our sin. That we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. A complete trading of places. Why did Christ die? He died because
he was the substitute for his people. That's why He died. He died that the scriptures might
be fulfilled. He died that He might redeem
us from our sins. He died that He might be Lord
of the dead and of the living. He died that He might be just
and the justifier of His people. Here's the last one. Here's the
fifth reason. Why did Christ die? Turn with
me to 1 Peter 3. 1 Peter 3. It says in verse 15, but sanctify
the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always to give an answer
to every man that asketh you a reason for the hope that is
in you with meekness and fear. When someone asks you, what hope
do you have? Why do you believe what you believe?
Where's your assurance? Here's the answer. It's in why
Christ died. That's where our assurance comes
from. That's where our hope comes from. It's in everything he accomplished
in his death. Not just that he died. Not just
that some Roman soldiers laid hold of him and nailed him to
a cross. Scripture says he nailed himself to the cross. Why did
he do that? That's the answer. That's the
question. That's our question. Why? Why? Verse 15, sanctify
the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always to give an answer
to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is
in you with meekness and fear, having a good conscience that
whereas they speak evil of you as of evildoers, they may be
ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ. For it is better if the will
of God be so. that you suffer for well-doing
than for evil doing. Verse 18 says, for Christ also
had once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that's at
substitution, the sinless Christ for his sinful people, the just
for the unjust, that. Why did he do it? That he might
bring us to God. being put to death in the flesh,
but quickened by the spirit. Why did Christ die? Why did he die? He died that
he might bring us to God, that he might bring us to God. He
died so we could be holy. Do you know what it takes to
stand in the presence of God? Holiness. perfection. In order for any soul to stand
in the presence of God, that soul must be as perfect and holy
and righteous and pure as God Himself. God demands perfection. And Christ died so we could be
holy, so we could be unblameable, so that when the Father looks
at us, there's no blame, no fault, unreprovable in His sight. Christ died so we could be accepted
in the Beloved. That's what Ephesians 1 says. We're accepted in Him, in Christ. God accepts us. Outside of Christ,
God must reject us because of what we are. But Christ died
so we could be accepted in Him. He died so that He could prepare
a place for us and receive us to Himself. That's what He said
in John 14. Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God,
believe also in me. Believe in who I am, why I came,
what I accomplished, why I died on the cross. I go to prepare
a place for you. That's what He said. He died
so that we could be joint heirs of the inheritance with Him.
That's amazing, isn't it? Everything that is the Father
has given to the Son for an inheritance. And in Him, because of the reason
He died and what He accomplished in that, we are made to be joint
heirs with Him. He died that He might be able
to present us to His Father. That's what the Scripture says.
Let me show you that in Jude chapter 1. There's only one chapter
in Jude. Jude verses 24 and 25 say, Now
unto Him that is able to keep you from falling and to present
you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,
To the only wise God, our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion
and power, both now and ever. Amen. Unto Him be all those things. Christ did not die to make salvation
possible. Let me make this last statement
very clear. He did not die to make salvation possible. That's
not why Christ died. He did not die as a martyr for
His cause. He was trying and trying and
trying and they killed Him for it. That's not why. He did not
die to show us the way. He died because He is the way. Why did Christ die? Because He's
the way. That's why. He died to finish
the work for His people. That's why He died. To finish
it. And that's where our hope is.
Our hope is in His finished work. It's not just in the fact that
He died. but why he died and what that
means for us. Eternal security, eternal salvation. Till next week, may the Lord
bless His word to our hearts. You have been listening to a
message by Gabe Stoniker, pastor of Kingsport Sovereign Grace
Church in Kingsport, Tennessee. If you would like a copy of this
message or to hear other messages of Sovereign Grace, log on to
our website at ksgctn.org. If you would like to come and
worship with us, our service times are Sunday morning Bible
study at 10 o'clock a.m., worship at 1045 a.m., and 6 o'clock p.m.,
Wednesday evening at 730 p.m. Please tune in next week for
another message of God's free and sovereign grace.