Alright, go with me if you would
back to 1 Corinthians chapter 1. 1 Corinthians 1. Sometimes I tell
you that I feel like I have a Sunday morning message on Wednesday
night. And tonight is one of those nights. I feel so honored to deliver
this message. I just feel so honored. We have
a glorious message, don't we? This message is a question. It's a question that I truly
sincerely want every person in this city. To know. And know the answer to. I want
every person in this city to hear this question. and know
the answer to it. Here's the title of this message.
Why did Christ die? Why did Christ die? Now, this verse of scripture
will be our text. 1 Corinthians 1 verse 23. It says, but we preach Christ
crucified. unto the Jews a stumbling block,
and unto the Greeks foolishness." We preach Christ crucified. We preach Christ crucified. What do we preach here? We preach
Christ crucified. A person might respond to that
by saying, well, doesn't everybody? Doesn't everybody preach that
Jesus Christ was crucified? Verse 22, I know that the Jews
require a sign. I understand that. They're still
looking for the Messiah. They don't believe the Messiah
has come yet. And I know that the Greeks seek
after wisdom. They're not looking to Christ.
They're looking to their own wisdom. But doesn't everybody
in the Christian camp, everybody who falls under the canopy of
Christianity, doesn't everybody preach that Jesus Christ died
on a cross? Here's the answer. Yes, they
do. Yes, they do. But many people
do not preach And they do not believe. And the reason is because
they do not know why Christ was crucified on a cross. Everybody believes that he died. But the saving message of truth,
the saving message of the gospel, this critical issue of life and
death is in why he died. Why he died, that one word, why? That's the difference between
eternal life and eternal death. Why? That's the difference in
the truth and a lie. Why? All right, let me show you something
in Romans 10. Romans chapter 10, verse 1 says, 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 about the people in this city. My heart's desire, I truly
mean this, my heart's desire and prayer to God is that they
might be saved. Us and them. I want us to be
saved. And I want this city to be saved
for many of them. For very many of them, I bear
them record. I see, I acknowledge. that they
have a zeal of God. Many of them do. I mean a sincere
zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. Verse 3 says, For they being
ignorant of God's righteousness, which is a person It's a person. This whole thing
is about a person. What does it all boil down to?
What does heaven boil down to, and eternity boil down to, and
salvation boil down to? It all boils down to a person.
One person. They being ignorant of God's
righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness
have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. Why are they doing that? Why
are they ignorant of God's righteousness and trying to go around establishing
their own righteousness? It's because they don't know
why. Why Christ died has not yet been
revealed to them by God. through His Word. If that revelation
comes, it comes from God and it comes through His Word. Verse
9 says, 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. 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. And the critical word
there is on. Not just in the fact that he
died, but on the fact of why he died. Whoever believes on
him, whoever's hope is on, built on what he accomplished in that
death. And thank God, he said, whoever. Whoever, whoever this knowledge
is given to. Whoever God gives this revelation
to. It's of him to give to whoever
he's pleased to give it to. He is the sovereign God. He is.
The controller of all these things and all of us, and he gives it
to whomever he's pleased to give it to. Verse 12 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. And that's glorious. We're all sinners. We're all
sinners against Him. Verse 13, for whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. But here's the
problem. If men don't know who the Lord
truly is, if another Lord is being preached,
in the book of Galatians, Paul said, another Jesus, there's
another gospel, not according to the knowledge that is given
in this Word. Verse 13, verse 13, whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord, the true 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 said,
Lord, who hath believed our report? Verse 17 says, so then faith
cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. So that's
what I want us to do tonight. I want us to hear the word of
the Lord. We're going to let this word
answer the question of why Christ died. And as we turn to a few
scriptures, we're going to see it in the scriptures. As we turn,
be looking for the word that, T-H-A-T, okay? That word will reveal to us why. All right, here's the first reason.
Why did Christ die? Here's the first reason. Go to
1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 1. 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. Everything in the Old Testament
told us what Christ would do. There's not two separate books.
It's not the Old Testament book and the New Testament book. It's
one book. And it all points to Christ. Everything that was written And
all the prophets and the Psalms said, this is who the Christ
is. And he died to fulfill every
word that was prophesied of him. Every word of the scriptures.
God cannot lie. He cannot lie. And God said through
his prophets, Job said, I know that my Redeemer liveth and that
He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. He said,
I know that He's coming to accomplish something for me. I know He is. David penned in Psalm 22 the
very words that Christ would cry from the cross. Psalm 22
verse 1, he said, 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 is not going to open his mouth. and he's going to
make his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death. That's what he's going to do.
Daniel said, after all these things that are determined to
be done are finished, the Messiah, the Prince shall come and he
shall be cut off. Not for himself, but for his
people. Why did Christ die? He died that
the scriptures might be fulfilled. Every word of it. He came not
to destroy one word, but to fulfill. He said, not one word shall ever
pass away. And that's the best news we could
ever hear. That is such good news for us because there are
still so many glorious promises for us in this word. And not
one is going to fail. Not one. They're all going to
be fulfilled. All right, here's the second reason. Why did Christ
die? Go with me to Titus chapter 2. Titus chapter 2 verse 13 says, looking for that blessed hope
and the glorious appearing of our great God and 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? that He might
redeem us from our sins. All of our sins. Matthew 121
says, Call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from
their sins. All of them. Psalm 51 says, David
said, If you purge me with hyssop, Meaning, if you cover me with
your blood, if you pour your blood all over me, I shall be
clean. Without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission for sin. And on the cross, our Lord cried,
it's finished. It's finished. What was finished?
Redemption from sin. I mean redemption from sin in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Our sin is put away. Our sin
is put away. There's nothing left to be done.
It's finished. And that's glorious news for
every purpose that he on purpose. redeemed, all of His particular
people. Blood was shed and sin was put
away for all of them. Why did Christ die? Number one,
that the scriptures might be fulfilled. Number two, that He
might redeem us from all our sins. Here's the third reason. Go with me to Romans 14. Romans 14 verse 7 says, 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 of the dead and the living. What does that mean? What does he exactly mean by
that? Look with me at Mark 12. This is glorious to me. Mark
12. Mark 12 verse 24. And Jesus answering said unto
them, do you not therefore err because you know not the scriptures
nor the power of God? That is the cause of all error. I don't want us to end up being
wrong. I don't want us to get to the end of this and find out
we were wrong. That's why we're in the scripture
in the scripture. What does the scripture say?
He said, "'Do you not therefore err because you know not the
Scriptures nor 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 as 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 am the God of Abraham,
and 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 am the God of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, I was not telling him that I'm the God of dead
men. They're alive and well. They're not dead. I'm the God of the living. I'm
Abraham's God. I'm the God of the living. I'm
Isaac's God. I'm Jacob's God. They're alive
and well. Christ died that there might be a resurrection of his
chosen people unto eternal life. That's why he died. is alive and well. I'm looking
at people right now who, I don't know if we're all well, but we're
alive. Moses is more alive than we are.
We still are in the body of this death. I'm telling you, Moses
right now is alive and well. David, it's hard to get our mind
around it. It's just hard to believe. It's
hard to imagine, but David is alive and well. He's alive and well. Abraham,
Isaac, Jacob, all the apostles, all the apostles are alive and
well. Men throughout history, I'm so
thankful for Charles Spurgeon. That man is alive and well. All
of our loved ones who have gone recently, who trust in Christ,
and are looking to Christ, they're alive and well. I was writing
all this thinking about Brother Cody Groover. That dear man is
alive and well. He's not the God of the dead.
He's the God of the living. Why did Christ die? He died that
the Scripture might be fulfilled. He died that He might redeem
us from our sins. He died that He might be the
Lord of the dead and the living. And here's the fourth reason.
Go to Romans 3. Romans 3 verse 19. It saith to them who are under
the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world
may become guilty before God." All the world is guilty before
God. In the flesh, so are we. We are guilty before God. We
have sinned before God. And the law exposes that to us. The law reveals that to us. Verse
20, 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."
That means seen. That means God's righteousness
became a man and walked this earth and we've seen him. By faith we see him now. The
righteousness of God without the law is manifested being witnessed
by the law and the prophets. They all pointed to him. 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 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? He died that he might be just
in punishing his people for their sin. All have sinned. All are guilty before God. We
are not just swept under the rug. Well, that's okay, we'll
just set you all to the side. We all must be punished for our
sin. God is a holy God. God is a just
God. If you're going to have a just
judge, then that judge must do right. And if you're guilty,
he must punish. And Christ died that he might
be just in punishing his people for their sin. And be at the
exact same moment in time, the justifier of all his people. How was he at one exact moment
in time, both just in punishing his people, you deserve to die. And at the same moment in time,
the justifier of his people saying you deserve to be set free. How could he do that? Here's
the answer. Substitution. Substitution. God made Christ, the man who
knew no sin, to be sin for us. that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. He got what we deserved and we
got what He deserved. Substitution. Why did Christ
die? He died because He was the substitute
for His people. 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 the living. He died that He might be just
with His people and the justifier of His people. And here's the
last one, fifth reason. Why did Christ die? Go to 1 Peter
3. 1 Peter 3. 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 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. 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.
Why did Christ die? That He might bring us to God. He died so that we could be holy
and unblameable and unreprovable in His sight. He died so that
we could be accepted in the Beloved. He died so that He could prepare
a place for us and receive us to Himself. He died so we could
be joint heirs of the eternal inheritance with Him. He died
that He might be able to present us to His Father. That's the
reason He died. We're going to close with this.
Go with me to Jude. There's only one chapter, just
a few pages over, just before Revelation. Jude verse 24. 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. Christ did not die to make
salvation possible. Christ did not die as a martyr
for His cause. Christ did not die to show us
the way. He died because He is the way. He died to finish the work for
His people. That's why He died. And that's
what He did. He finished the work for His
people. And that's our hope. That's our hope. Our hope is
in that He finished the work for His people. Our hope is not
just in the fact that He died, but it's in why He died and what
He accomplished in that death for all of His people. And in
that we cry Amen, don't we? Alright, let's all stand together.