Well, good morning. Such a privilege
to be able to be with you this morning. I bring you greetings
from your brethren in Ashland. And I so appreciate the invitation. It's an honor any time a man
calls and asks you to preach for him. So I look forward to
it a great deal. And my wife, Janet, sends her
love and greetings. She couldn't come with me this
time, much to my chagrin. But Lord willing, next time. All right, if you would, open
your Bibles. I suppose if I have a text, it would be Romans chapter
14, verse nine. The title of the message this
morning is Why Christ Died. It didn't dawn on me till I was
sitting there, we were singing, that the Lord gave me two messages
this morning, one on why he was born, and now on why he died. Now a lot of people will have
many, many different answers to this question. Why did Christ
die? I suppose that buildings all
over this town, all over this state, all over this country
are giving many different answers to that question this morning.
But I'll tell you what I'm interested in. What does God's word say? I don't really... I guess it sounds rude, but it's
just true. I don't really care what all the different people
say. Why did Christ die? I want to know what does God's
word say? Why did Christ die? And I have nine points. I know
The announcement of that scares every child in this room to death.
I got nine points. I promise you, I will be brief.
But I believe we see these nine points, it'll give us a good
view to find out what does God's word say, why did Christ die?
Number one is this, Christ died to fulfill the eternal purpose
of God. The Lord Jesus Christ did not
die to try to do anything. He didn't die to try to save
anybody. He didn't die in such a horrible
fashion to get people to feel sorry for him, so they might
accept him as their personal savior. Christ died, and you
know, that annoys me, people do that, because what did the
savior say as he was going to the cross? Don't you cry for
me. Don't you feel sorry for me.
Christ died to fulfill the eternal purpose of God Almighty and the
salvation of his elect. Acts 2.23, him being delivered
by the determinant counsel and foreknowledge of God. That's
why you've taken him by wicked hands of crucified and slain
him. Your wicked hands never could have touched him unless
that was the determinant counsel and foreknowledge of God. Acts
4.27, For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou
has anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles
and the people of Israel were gathered together for to do what?
Whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.
The Jews and Romans didn't get together and do what they accomplished
their will, they did what God determined before to be done.
The death of Christ was not something that happened because the Pharisees
were finally able to pull off the trick that they've been trying
to do for three and a half years, put this man to death. The death
of Christ happened at Calvary's cross because that was the eternal
purpose of God. God in eternity purposed to save
his people through the sacrifice of his son. That's why our Lord
is called the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
There was always God's purpose to save his people through the
sacrifice of his son. And Christ came in time and he
accomplished what the father purposed to do in eternity. He
died to accomplish the eternal will of God to save his people
from their sins by his sacrifice. All right, second, look in John
chapter 17. Christ died to glorify God in all of his attributes. In John chapter 17, this is our
Lord's great high priestly prayer. In verse one, these words spake
Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the
hour has come. Glorify thy son that thy son
also may glorify thee. And he knew he was gonna do it.
He says in verse five, I have glorified thee on the earth.
I finished the work which thou gavest me to do. Now false religion
makes God out to be the sweet old grandpa. He's sweet, he's
smiling all the time, down at his grandbabies, you know. Dwight,
that's the kind of grandfather you are. I mean, that's how you,
big daddy, that's a huge doll, your grandbabies. But that's
not the way God describes himself, no. Now God is love, absolutely
he is. But at the same time, God is
always just. He's always holy. God hates sin. So if you would see God for who
he really is, I tell you what to do. Go to Calvary. The character of God, what God
is like, is seen most clearly at Calvary. And the scene at
Calvary is awe-inspiring. That scene is filled with wrath
and judgment and justice. And at the very same time, it's
filled with God's love and His mercy and His grace. We see the
greatness of God's justice at Calvary. God spared not even
his own son when his son was made sin because God's just,
he must punish sin. And at the very same time, we
see the greatness of God's love at Calvary. God must love his
people, he must. He gave his only begotten son
as a sacrifice for their sin because he loves his people.
Christ didn't die to get God to love his people. Christ died
because God does love his people. And then we see the greatness
of God's wrath against sin at Calvary. Do you question that
God hates sin? When his son was made sin, the
father poured out unmitigated wrath upon his son, mixed with
not even a hint of mercy. God will punish sin. And he showed
us that even when sin was found on his only begotten son, his
beloved son, God put him to death. But at the very same time, we
see the greatness of God's mercy and God's grace at Calvary. Just
look what God did to his son. so he could have mercy upon his
people. Oh my goodness. God's merciful and gracious and
he showed it by sacrificing his son for sinners so he could have
mercy on them. And then we see the greatness
of God's wisdom at Calvary. God found a way to deliver his
people from going down into the pit. He provided a ransom, a
ransom that would satisfy his justice and at the same time,
satisfy his mercy. The wisdom of God is seen in
him sacrificing his son in justice so that he could let his people
go free in justice. God is both just and the justifier
of sinners through the sacrifice of his son. See, I told you,
if you wanna see the character of God, go to Calvary because
nothing honors the character of God more than the death of
Christ for the sin of his people. You see, if Christ died to make
salvation possible, God looks like a fool, doesn't he? He looks
like a fool because his son's a failure. Christ died for people,
go to hell anyway. But, If Christ died to save his
people from their sin, and he did indeed save his people from
their sin by his death, then God is honored in every way,
because those people are eternally saved, and that's why Christ
died. All right, thirdly, now this
seems obvious, but Christ died for sin. The Lord Jesus Christ
is the only holy, righteous man to ever live. He had no sin. He did no sin. Well, then he
can't die, can he? The only reason for death is
sin. If Christ never sinned, he cannot die. But he did die. So why did he die? The only way
the father could put his son to death in justice is if he
truly made his son guilty, if he made him sin for his people.
It wasn't just a legal representation. He was actually guilty of the
sin of his people. Christ died because he took the
sin of his people away from them. He took it into his own body
on the tree. And in turn, he gave them his
righteousness and made them righteous. And because Christ died for the
sin of his people, there's no sin left to charge to God's elect
because Christ bore it all away. There's no sin left to charge
to God's elect because the father made his son to be guilty of
all that sin. Now get a hold of your seat. This is true. At Calvary, an
innocent man did not die. At Calvary, a guilty man died. so that the innocent, those He
made innocent in His righteousness, could go free. Christ died for
the sin of God's elect so they'd go free in justice. Isaiah told
us it would happen, Isaiah 53. Surely He hath borne our griefs
and He's carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem Him stricken,
smitten of God and afflicted, but He was wounded for our transgressions.
He was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace
was upon him, and with his stripes were healed, made holy and perfectly
righteous, because Christ died for sin. And Isaiah knew Christ's
sacrifice would be successful. He said, he shall see the travail
of his soul, and he'll be satisfied, for by his knowledge shall my
righteous servant justify many. for he'll bear their iniquities.
He'll die for their sin and put it away. And just so we'd be
sure who Isaiah was talking about, when Christ came, how did John
the Baptist identify him? Behold, he said, there he is,
the Lamb of God, which does what? Taketh away the sin of the world. the Apostle John was there, that
day John the Baptist pointed, there he is, the Lamb of God
and John told us later that His blood, the blood of Jesus Christ
God's Son, the blood of this Lamb cleanses us from all sin. It's all gone under His blood.
He took away, Christ took away the sin of His people. like the
scapegoat of old. Remember the scapegoat, the high
priest would lay his hands on the head of that scapegoat and
he confessed the sins of the people and their sin was symbolically
transferred, that scapegoat. And then by the hand of a fit
man, that scapegoat was let out in the wilderness and let go,
never to be seen again. Now all that was symbolic. Christ
did it literally. He took the sin of his people
and took it away forever. And it'll never be seen again.
Not because it's lost out there in the wilderness. I mean, I
guess if you go hunt long enough, you might find a scapegoat. Now,
I don't know why he would, but you know, but that was symbolic. Christ took the sin of his people
away and that he put it away so that it doesn't exist anymore. It's gone under the blood of
his sacrifice. Look at first Peter chapter three.
And when he took that sin of his people away, he made his
people righteous. They have no sin. First Peter
chapter three, verse 18. 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.
Christ died for the sin of his people to make them righteous
so that he could bring them to God. He could bring them to the
holy God accepted because Christ died for their sin and put it
away. Oh, that's good news, isn't it?
All right, fourthly, Christ died to make peace between God and
sinners. Now, contrary to what false religion
says, God does not love everybody. I mean, that is a very easy way
to tell if somebody is a false prophet. If he tells you God
loves everybody, that's not so. That's a false prophet. I know
that because of what God says about himself in his word. God
hates the workers of iniquity. God's angry with the wicked every
day. God's not going to save somebody
he hates. God's holy. He must punish that sinner. And
that's why Christ came, to make God not angry anymore. And he
made God not angry anymore by taking away what made God angry,
taking away the sin of his people. In the sacrifice of Christ, God's
reconciled. He's reconciled to his people.
There's no reason for him to be angry anymore. Christ took
their sin away. But now this peace that Christ
made at Calvary is a two-way street. You see, by nature, all
men hate God too. All men hate God. Now somebody
says, I don't hate God. Well, we don't hate the God we
made up, but we hate the God of the Bible. By nature, we hate
the true and living God. The carnal mind's enmity against
God. It's not subject to the law of
God, neither indeed can it be. Well, then how can we ever be
reconciled to God? How can we ever bow to God, bow
to Christ and be reconciled to God? By one way, just one. It's by seeing Christ crucified. The blood that made God not angry
anymore, that very same blood applied to the hearts of God's
people makes them not angry anymore. If in God's mercy and his grace
we ever see by faith Christ crucified for us, we're not gonna be mad
at God anymore. No, we're gonna stack our arms
and we're gonna surrender and there's gonna be peace. There's
gonna be peace. Colossians chapter one. Colossians one verse 20. and having made peace through
the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto
himself. By him, I say, whether they be
things in earth or things in heaven, and you." Even you that
were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works,
yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through
death to present you wholly, unblameable and unapprovable
in his sight. And there's peace, peace with
God. All right, fifthly, Christ died
to redeem his people from their sin. And when I say redeem his
people, I want to be crystal clear about this. Christ died
to redeem God's elect people that God chose to save. And you
see that all throughout scripture in this matter of redemption.
Now redemption has two meanings. Number one, it means to be set
free. Remember when Israel was down there in bondage in Egypt,
And scripture says they were redeemed. God said in Exodus
six, verse six, he said, I'm gonna bring you out from under
the burdens of the Egyptians. I'm gonna rid you of their bondage
and I'm gonna redeem you. I'm gonna redeem you from them
with a stretched out arm and with great judgments. And sure
enough, they were, weren't they? Israel was redeemed. They are
set free from Israel or from Egypt. The Egyptians weren't,
were they? Pharaoh and his host drowned
in the Red Sea, the very Red Sea that set Israel free. The
blood of the Passover lamb that set Israel free. All those things
were the very judgments that destroyed Egypt. God set his
people free. Well, Israel, national Israel,
is a picture of spiritual Israel. God's elect, they're set free,
they're redeemed from bondage to sin, from bondage to the law,
through the sacrifice of Christ. Christ died to redeem them, set
them free. But second redeem means to buy
back. And we need to be bought back.
God's people, God has an elect people he chose to save, but
those people have sold themselves under sin. Well, if they're gonna
be redeemed, they're gonna be brought back. God's not gonna
just break in and steal them. He's gonna come and pay the proper
price, the full price of their redemption. And that's why Christ
died. Isn't that what Peter told us?
You're not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from
your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers.
But how are you redeemed? With the precious blood of Christ. So precious. His blood is so
precious. It paid the redemption price
in full. And what a blessing. There's
so many blessings that come from redemption in Christ. First,
everybody who's been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ
can never die. The curse of the law is death. The law demands whoever breaks
the law has got to die. That's the curse of the law.
Well, Christ died to redeem his people from that curse. Christ
hath redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse
for us, and we're redeemed, set free. Christ died as a substitute
for his people, that his people are never gonna suffer the curse
of the law, because our substitute already did. Then look at Galatians
chapter one. Everybody who's been redeemed
has been delivered from this evil world. Galatians one, verse
three. Grace be to you and peace from
God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ who gave himself
for our sins that, now here's why he gave himself for the sin
of his people, that he might deliver us from this present
evil world according to the will of God and our Father. Now to
be delivered from this present evil world is to be delivered
from the nature of this sinful world and it's to be given a
new nature. To be delivered from this present
evil world is to be delivered from having our citizenship in
this world and to be delivered from suffering the final fate
of this world. We who have been redeemed have
been given a new citizenship, a new destination. We've been
delivered from the power of darkness and been translated, transferred
into the kingdom of God's dear son. We've been delivered from
this world. And thirdly, everybody who's
been delivered, been redeemed from this world, been redeemed
by the blood of Christ, gets a new master. We get a new master. The apostle Paul told us, 1 Corinthians
6, verse 20, you're bought with the price. You've been redeemed
with the price. Therefore, glorify God and serve
God in your body. and your spirit, which both belong
to God, because he bought them. When he redeemed you, he bought
them with the blood of his son. And if you look in Titus chapter
two, believers will do just that. They'll serve God with their
bodies and their souls. Titus chapter two, verse 13. looking for that blessed hope
and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior,
Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us that, now here's why he
gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity
and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. Christ died so his people will
be zealous of good works. So apparently good works is not
two four-letter words put together, is it? Nothing wrong with good
works. And nothing wrong with good works, because God's people
don't look to their works to save them. They don't even look
to their works as evidence they've been saved. They look to Christ.
The evidence we've been saved is God's given us faith in Christ.
We look to Christ. We believe Christ. He's all of
our salvation. But they're zealous of good works.
They're zealous out of love and thanksgiving to God, who gave
his son to redeem us from our sins. And you know what? The only people who are zealous
of good works, the only people who are zealous of good works
are saved people. And I mean people have been saved
by God's sovereign grace. They're the only people zealous
of good works. The legalist is awfully interested
in good works, aren't they? They talk about it a lot, but
that don't mean they're zealous of them. Talk to them. You know
what? You know the thing they're interested
in good works? Is what is the minimum I've got to do to get
by? That's so. You kids in school, listen to
me for a minute. If you tune me out, come back for a minute.
Don't do what I did in school and think, what is the minimum
I gotta do to get an A? Don't do that. Make it your business
to learn the material. I promise you, you'll be better
off. Well, the same thing's true of the gospel. It's not find
out what's the minimum that I gotta do. That's what the legalist
is concerned with. They ask questions like, well,
Lord, what's the greatest commandment? Because I find out what the greatest
commandment is, I can not care about these others quite so much.
That's not the issue. Somebody who's been saved by
God's sovereign grace will be zealous of good works because
they love the Savior. That's why they're zealous. It's
not a thanksgiving for the one who redeemed them by dying in
their place. All right, six, look at Ephesians
chapter five. Here's why Christ died, to sanctify
his people and to make them holy. Ephesians five, verse 25. Husbands, love your wives, even
as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, that,
here's why he loved the church, here's why he gave himself for
the church, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing
of water by the word. Christ died to sanctify his people,
to make his people holy. And brethren, he got the job
done. What did the writer of the Hebrews
tell us in Hebrews 10 verse 14? For by one offering, he hath
perfected forever them that are sanctified. Whoever it is Christ
died for is sanctified, they're holy. Now God doesn't justify
his people through the sacrifice of his son and then set them
down and say, all right now, go on your way and keep yourself
holy and clean by the way you live. No, sir, we'd ruin that
in a heartbeat. Christ made his people righteous
by washing away all of their sin in his blood. And he sanctifies
his people by giving them a new holy nature in the new birth.
Now the new birth, the flesh is not changed. The flesh is
always only going to be sinful, dead, rotten, stinking flesh.
But the new birth, there's a new man born. And that man's holy,
and he'll never not be holy. He'll never sin. And it's that
new man who believes Christ and who loves Christ, he's been made
holy by the sacrifice of Christ. That's why Christ died. All right,
now, Galatians chapter four. Christ died so that his people
would become sons and daughters of God. Galatians four, verse
four. But when the fullness of time
was come, God sent forth his son made of a woman, made under
the law to redeem them that were under the law. That, here's why
he did that, that, we might receive the adoption of sons. And because
you're sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his son into your
hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a
servant, but a son. And if a son, then an heir of
God through Christ. that he might make his people
the sons, the daughters, the children of God. Now, that's
such a great blessing. Only God could do it. Only God
would do it and only God could do it. God crucified his only
begotten son. The father turned his back upon
his son that he might adopt a bunch of rebels into his house and
make them his sons and daughters. And they are truly the children
of God. They're not just legally adopted.
So they're legally God's children. They are adopted, but God also
gives his children his name. He gives them his nature, the
nature of the heavenly father in the new birth. They've been
adopted into his home and they've been born again into his home.
The apostle John said, but as many as received him, to them
gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them which believe
on his name, which were born, not of blood, nor the will of
the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. And God made them
his children. Now what an awesome privilege
to be a child of God. to be able at any time, at any
time, to come into the presence of our Heavenly Father, crying,
Abba Father. After all that that he did to
make his people his children, do you reckon he's gonna turn
his back on them now? Tarshain, The Lord sends a trial our way,
and it hurts, and it's scary, and it's dark, and we think,
God must not love me anymore. No, no, he'll never turn his
back on his child. The thing to do when it's so
dark and it hurts so bad is cry out, have a father. Just get
even closer, as close as you can. He'll not turn his back
on his children. We fathers who love our children We try our best, don't we? We
make mistakes. One of my daughters asked me
recently, when I become a mother, what if I make a mistake? I said,
oh honey, you will, you will, you will. But not our heavenly
father. No, you trust his love and you
trust his wisdom. He'll never make a mistake. Oh,
what a privilege to be a child of God. Aren't you thankful Christ
died to make his people God's children? Then Christ died so
that his people would have eternal life. Our Lord told Nicodemus,
as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must
the Son of Man be lifted up. The whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have eternal life. Christ died that his people
might have eternal life. Christ died the death his people
deserve. So justice demands they go free. If Christ died for you, God's
justice demands that you go free. Because God can't kill two people
for the same sin. That would be unjust. If Christ
died for you, you cannot die. He already died the death that
you deserve. Now eternal life is all in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Then look to him. Look to Christ
for all of your salvation and you will be saved. He said so,
you look to him and you will have eternal life because he
died to purchase it. Right now lastly, Romans chapter
14 again. Christ died that he would be
Lord of all. Romans 14 verse nine. For to
this end, here's why, to this end, Christ both died and rose
and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and the
living. Now, let's get this straight
right from the get-go. Christ is already Lord of all
because he's God. He's already Lord over everything
and everyone. My friend, Jesus Christ is your
Lord. Whether you know it or not, He
is your Lord. You answer to Him. He's the one
that gives you life and breath and food and shelter, and you're
squatting on His ground. He's Lord of all. He is our Lord
whether we know it and acknowledge it or not. Paul says that Christ
is the Lord of the dead. The dead are unbelievers. Dead
in trespasses and sins, Christ is their Lord. He's their ruler.
And Christ is the Lord of the living too. Those who have spiritual
life, those who have eternal life, who live in Christ, he's
their Lord. And he uses both, the unbeliever
and the believer. The living and the dead, he uses
them both to accomplish his will because he's Lord, accomplishing
his will. Unbelievers, you know why they
do what they do? to accomplish God's will. Now,
I know they don't know it, but everything they do serves God's
will to accomplish his purpose. Not theirs, his. And the best
example I can think of of that is the cross. At the cross, men
didn't accomplish their will, did they? No, they thought they'd
get rid of this Jesus once and for all. Didn't work. He rose from the dead, showing
he didn't accomplish their will, he accomplished God's will. You
know why he rose from the dead? Sin couldn't hold him. He put
the sin charge to him away. It was all gone. Death could
not hold him. He rose again as the evidence.
He justified his people once and for all. And when Paul says
that Christ is the Lord of the living, he means this, that Christ
is both the ruler and the life giver of his people. Christ is
the Lord of the spiritually living. He's the one that gave them life.
They believe in him. because He gave them faith to
believe Him. They rest in Him because He gave them faith to
rest. And He rules over them and they're mighty glad of it.
Oh, they're glad of it. They willingly bow and worship
Him, doing His will. But Christ is still the Lord
of the dead too. He's the ruler. He's still the
life giver. And that's a good thing. We ought
to be mighty happy about that. And that encourages me to preach
the gospel. It encourages me to simply preach
Christ and leave you alone with Him. Because Christ the Lord
is the only one who can give you spiritual life. The only
one. And since Christ died, the Father
has given Him power to give eternal life to as many as the Father
has given them. He gives them life by giving
them faith to hear. They hear Christ preaching in
the gospel. They may have heard him preached a hundred, a thousand
times. They might be able to know the
next thing the preacher's gonna say. They know the doctrine so
well, they just might be able to know the very next thing he's
gonna say. And one day, they hear. They think, how come
I ain't heard that before? God gave faith. He gives faith
one way, through the preaching of Christ. And that very moment
that they look to Christ, they live and they'll never die. That's why Christ died. Oh, may
God be pleased to give us faith to look to him and believe him.
All right, Lord bless you. I appreciate you having me. Hospitality
and friendship has not gone unnoticed. It's very, very much appreciated.