What an honor and a privilege
it is to be here. I'm not just saying that, it
really is. John, you've been such an encouragement
to me in the ministry. I love you and your wife, Vicki.
You're special. And Bruce. My, my, I've never heard that
man preach when he didn't preach to my heart. And that's what
I need. God's people have great need,
don't they? That's who the Lord saves, those
who have need. We have need of a physician,
and he's the great physician. Christ is. Turn with me this
morning, if you would, to 1 Peter 3. 1 Peter 3. Verse 18, if you
would, please. 1 Peter 3, verse 18. Peter writes here, for Christ,
that's the subject of all true preaching, Jesus Christ. Our message is Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. also have 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." I suppose
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. Most everyone acknowledges that
a man named Jesus was crucified on a cross at a place called
Mount Calvary. Even our calendar divides time
by the coming of the Lord Jesus into the world. The letters BC
stands for everything that happened in time before Christ came, and
the letters AD Anno Domini simply means the year of the Lord, any
year after the birth of Christ, and we speak of specific times
and events and histories as they pertain to the Lord Jesus Christ. As one said before, all history
is his story, so true. The Bible itself, the Holy Word
of God, from Genesis to Revelation, declares and sets forth the birth,
the life, the death, and the resurrection of the God-man,
Christ Jesus. It's referred to in every book
of the Old Testament. The scriptures say, to him give
all the prophets witness. It's truly a hymn book, H-I-M,
we say that, but it's so true. To him gave all the prophets
witness, meaning that all the Old Testament prophets spoke
of the Lord Jesus. The Old Testament informs us
that a savior is coming. The gospel narratives reveal
to us that he's come. The epistles let us know that
he's coming again. It's a book about him. So in
short, the Bible is about Jesus Christ, and yet so few people
ever see him. the all-in-all that a sinner
needs. And as widespread and as popular
as this general knowledge of Christ is, very few know why
the Lord Jesus came into the world and died on the cross. And with
that said, I want to ask you in the beginning two obvious
questions. The first is, why did Jesus Christ
come into the world? Paul very plainly and simply
tells us, he says, this is a faithful saying, and a faithful saying
it is. And it's worthy of all acceptation, everyone should
accept this as truth, that Christ Jesus came into the world to
do what? To save sinners. To save sinners. Oh, that's good news to sinners.
He came to save sinners, and the Apostle Paul said, of whom
I am chief. And that's a pretty cut and dry
answer, isn't it? He came to save sinners, that's
why he came. Yet it'd take a lifetime to expound
the subject. Yes, the reason Christ came into
the world was to save sinners, but how Christ saved sinners
is answered in the second question I have for you. Why did Jesus
Christ die on the cross? Every true child of God knows
from the study of scripture, the revelation of God, that it
was God the Father's will and purpose that Christ died on Calvary's
cross. But why? You know, it's crucial
to know. It's a faithful, trustworthy
saying, Paul said. It's worthy of all our acceptance. Christ came in the world to save
sinners. God ordained and decreed and purposed for Christ to die,
but why? Most everyone can quote John
3.16, as Bruce did a moment ago, and all who can have their opinion
as to who Christ died for. Some will tell you it was for
the world, everybody. Some will tell you it was for
his people in the world. But few know why, the why of
John 3, 14, which reads, and as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. And if Christ must die on the
cruel cross of Calvary, then we certainly need to know why
he must. And few people do. That's the
sad thing. Most people living in the world
today don't know why, don't care why, and the majority of others
have been misinformed as to why. Many who profess to believe say,
oh, I believe that Jesus died on the cross. Most everybody
does. Most everybody believes that
Jesus died on the cross. They'll tell you so. I believe
that Jesus died on the cross. But why? Why did Christ die on
the cross? That's something that many don't
know. Now let me ask you another question.
What comes to your mind when you hear the word cross? Is it a piece of wood with a
beam across it? Is it an ornament that somebody
hangs on a wall? Is it a piece of jewelry that
you wear around your neck or put in your ear or wear around
your wrist? Webster's dictionary defines
a cross as an emblem of Christianity, but boy, Webster sure got that
one wrong. It's a symbol of religion, no doubt. But in our day, it
doesn't at all represent Christianity. A couple of years ago, we had
our pool pit refinished, actually just painted. And I asked the
man, can you take that small cross off the front of it? It
came that way. We kept plants in front of it
all the time. And he looked at me so strangely.
Why would you want to do that? Why would you want to take the
cross off of the pool pit? I asked him if he had any children. He said, yeah, I have two daughters.
And I said, if someone murdered your daughter with a knife, would
you hang an emblem of that knife on your wall or around your neck
or on a pulpit? And he shook his head. I don't
know if he understood or not, but he responded, absolutely
not. Friends, there's no salvation
in the piece of wood on which the Lord Jesus hung. Salvation
is accomplished by the one who hung on that cross. Salvation
is in a person. And that person is the God-man
himself. God became a man. He came into
this world. It's a faithful saying. It's
worthy of our acceptation. He came in the world to save
sinners. Are you a sinner? If you are,
this is the best news you've ever heard. I rejoiced in every
word that man said. Why? Because I'm a sinner and
I need to hear how Christ died for sinners. Why did Christ die?
Salvation is accomplished by him who loved us and gave himself
for us. You know, besides that, many
times in the scriptures when the word cross is mentioned,
it's not even talking about the piece of wood on which our Lord
hung. When the Lord Jesus said, take up your cross and follow
me, he wasn't referring to us going out and cutting down a
tree and making it into a cross and carrying it on our back.
You know, there was a man by the name of Arthur Blessed, a
self-professed traveling preacher who's known for carrying a cross,
and I'm sure you've probably seen his pictures, he's known
for carrying a cross from California to Washington, D.C. And you can
look him up in a Wikipedia or on the internet or whatever,
and he's now, his notoriety is that he's carried this cross
in most every country and nation. But you know what it got him?
Probably nothing but a bad back. Because there's no salvation
in a cross, only in the one who hung upon it. Nothing effectual
about the piece of wood upon which Christ died or one like
it. Salvation is of the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvations of the
Lord. And I've gotten to where I say
this about every message, but I love to say it because it's
true. You know what follows that in Scripture, Jonah 2.9? Salvations
of the Lord, period. Nothing else to say about it.
Salvations of the Lord. We put a period at the end of
the sentence because That's all that needs to be said concerning
the salvation of the Lord, and salvation is in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Nowhere else. That's why he's
our message. That's why he himself is the
gospel. In the beginning was the Word,
the Word was with God. Jesus Christ is the Word, and
he's God. salvations of the Lord. Many
times in the Bible, when it mentions the word cross, it's talking
about, as Bruce said, afflictions and reproaches and persecutions
and even death itself. Every child of God has a cross
to bear. Our own particular afflictions
appointed by God. And we should cheerfully take
them up. patiently bear them for Christ's sake. We're to submit
to these things. We're to bear them and we're
to follow the Lord Jesus Christ carrying them. Time and time
again, the Lord said, if any man will come after me, let him
deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Our Lord
told that rich young ruler that. One thing thou likest, he said,
go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and
thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come and take up your cross
and follow me." Now look at our text again here in 1 Peter 3,
18. I want to quickly and briefly as I can
give you five things that Jesus, five reasons that Jesus Christ
died on the cross, right from this verse. Let's read the verse
together again. For Christ also hath once suffered
for sins, but 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. Sins got to be dealt with. Sin
can't just be swept under a rug. Sins got to be dealt with. Christ
died for the sins of his people. He had no sins of his own. The
scripture is very clear. He knew no sin. He was made sin. Why? that I might be saved, that
I might be redeemed, that I might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. This is not a difficult message.
It's impossible to believe apart from God's divine intervention,
but it's not a hard message, is it? I'm a sinner. God says it has
to be perfect to be accepted. How can this sinner be made perfect?
One way, one way only. Christ took my sin and gave me
his righteousness. We call it substitution, and
that's what it is. He was made sin for his people. Some 800, 700 years before our
Lord died on Calvary's cross, Isaiah wrote, he was wounded
for our transgressions, and he was bruised for our iniquities. Who? The whole world? No, his
people. those that he set his affection on before time ever
was, those that he loved, he foreknew, and predestinated,
and called, and justified, and will one day glorify. When Peter
preached on the day of Pentecost, he accused those responsible
of crucifying the Lord of glory, but the scriptures tell us very
plainly that it was behind it all was the determinate counsel
and foreknowledge of God. Christ died according to the
will and purpose of God. God willed for him to die. Why? To put away your sin and to put
away mine if we belong to him. God's holy justice demands death. We're dealing with a just and
holy God. People talk a lot about the love
of God. I love the love of God, but God
is first and foremost holy. This is a holy Bible. Angels
are holy. Men of old are called holy men
of God. God is first and foremost holy.
And God's holy justice demands perfection and it demands death.
That sends wages. The wages of sin is death. The soul that sins, what about
it? It shall die. Holy justice demands
it. And when men preach about Christ's
death, they speak of the crown of thorns painfully pushed in
the Lord's brow. As Bruce mentioned a moment ago,
if you've ever been pricked by a thorn of a rose, it really
hurts. But can you imagine a crown of
them pressed into your brow?" I can't. Men talk about the scourging
of Christ's back, that cat of nine tails, chips of bone tied
into the end of the leather whip, dug into his flesh. Men speak
of the nails driven into his hands and his feet and the soldier's
dirty spear that was pierced into his side. And his visage
was so marred that he didn't even resemble a man. But friends,
all Christ's physical suffering don't even begin to compare with
the suffering of his 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. That's why he sweat as it were,
great drops of blood that fell to the ground in Gethsemane's
garden. All the sins of all his people throughout all time was
put on him. Oh, the suffering of soul. He
who had been one with the Father from eternity past is now being
separated by God because of the sin of his people. What suffering
of soul that must have been. Who can fathom it? Christ suffered
separation from his Father. He suffered for our sins. He
suffered for our transgressions. But did you notice here that
he suffered only once? Because it was God in the flesh
who suffered. 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. Once was enough. When God himself dies to put
away your sin, once is enough. Christ said, it's finished. God
the Father said, I'm satisfied. It's enough. Why did Christ die
on the cross? Well, we know, to suffer for
the sins that his people should have suffered for. He bore our
sins in his own body on the tree. Why did Christ die on the cruel
cross? Well, we see the second reason from the next statement
in our text. On the cross, Christ hung to
die the just for the unjust. First, he suffered for the sins
of his people, and secondly, he died the just for the unjust.
Our Lord and Savior is the just one. He's the only just one. And we are the unjust. Only one
who is just can make the unjust just. And I'm not trying to be
clever there with words, that's the truth. Only one who is just
and holy and perfectly righteous can die for such unjust, unrighteous,
unholy, depraved sinners like we are. 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
and daughters. The justice of God says sin must
be punished. God can by no means clear the
guilty. He's too holy, too righteous. His justice won't permit it.
God cannot be just and set us free without our sins being justly
paid for. Punishments 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's a just God and a Savior. No wonder when Brother Ed Parker
passed into glory. He repeated that word time and
time again. I've heard Tommy and Johnny both
talk about ransom, he said. Bruce, you mentioned it. What
a beautiful word. Ransom. That word means payment. Paid for the release of a prisoner. Ransom. Synonyms for the word are payoff.
Payment. Freedom. Deliverance. Rescue. Redemption. Restoration. That's what ransom
means. Restoration from sin that held
us captive. He kept God's law perfectly.
He fully satisfied God's holy justice. Christ has redeemed
us from the curse of the law. How? By being made a curse for
us. Cursed is everyone that hangeth
upon a tree. That's why Christ hung on the
cross. The third reason that Christ died on the cross is that
he died that he might bring us to God. Oh, I love to think about
that. I love to think about that shepherd
going out and finding that one lost sheep. And he didn't say,
okay, come on, you know, like we do dog, come on, let's go,
you know? No, what'd he do? He picked him up, put him on
his shoulder and carried him all the way back to his foal.
That's what the Lord does for his sheep, his people. That he might bring us to God.
Jesus Christ, our substitute, our sacrifice, our savior, made
us acceptable. We are accepted one way and one
way only in Christ, the beloved. In Jesus Christ, the wretched
and depraved sinner is made holy, unblameable. Boy, I like that
word, above blame. Unreprovable, above reproof.
And it's only in Christ the Beloved. In Christ Jesus, that's what
we're made. His death had to do with God's
justice. His death had to do with the
holiness of God. And his death enabled God, and
it doesn't even sound right to say that, but it's true, it enabled
God to be both just and justifier. He thought it not robbery to
be equal with God. Why? Because he was God. He made himself of no reputation.
In a world where men go to great lengths to build a reputation,
God in the flesh made himself of no reputation. He took upon
himself the likeness of sinful flesh, and he died in the flesh
and for sin, and that being his people's sin. He condemned sin
in the flesh. That's why we are dead to sin. That's why sin no longer has
dominion over us. You know, in the tabernacle,
as you well know, there were two sections. One was called
the Holy Place and the other was called the Holy of Holies. Everything in the tabernacle
pictured Christ. In the Holy Place, there was
that candlestick, and what a picture that is of the The light that
God gave, that light, Christ who is the light in the life
of his people. And then there was the showbread,
that picture's the Lord Jesus who is the bread that came down
from heaven, that bread in which we partake of and we never hunger. And that water from the rock
that we freely drink of that causes us to never thirst again,
that's all talking about him. Then there was the burning of
incense, oh, Christ is a sweet-smelling fragrance unto God the Father.
Then there was that veil between the two sections, a veil, some
say four to five inches thick, I don't know, but it was from
wall to wall, it was from ceiling to floor, and behind that veil,
the Holy of Holies, where the Ark of the Covenant was, and
in that Ark was the Ten Commandments, and over that broken law was
the Mercy Seat. And only the high priest was
selected to represent the people and only he could enter into
the holiest of holy. Once a year with a blood sacrifice
that he offered not only for the people but for himself also.
But here's what we rejoice in, that Jesus Christ is THE great
high priest. And He's also the sacrifice,
the lamb that was slain. And when He died on the cross,
that veil was torn in two. And the scriptures tell us, for
Christ being a high priest of good things to come, not by the
blood of lambs, but by His own blood, He entered into that holy
place. Not the holy place made with
hands, no. Not the one in the temple, but
the one in heaven itself. The one in the presence of God,
and he's obtained eternal redemption for us. And by that one offering,
he perfected forever them that are sanctified. The veil is removed. And we can come boldly into the
throne of grace to find help in time of need. He's our mercy
seat. He's our sacrifice. He's our
high priest. He's our advocate. He's our everything. And he's able to keep us from
falling. Oh, we fall, we fall, we fall. He's able to keep us from falling
and he's able to present us what? Faultless. That's another one
of those words we don't know much about. And then 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. You see that there in verse 18?
He had to die on the cross as a man. Only a man could redeem
fallen men and women. 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, and both
he did. He died and he redeemed. God
had to become a man to redeem man. There are two words in particular
that are always associated with the flesh and that's the word
sin and death. By one man, sin entered into
the world and death by sin. And so death passed upon all
men because all have sinned. They just go hand in hand. Sin,
death, death and sin. So here we are this morning,
we're present here in the flesh. And the scriptures are very clear
that it's appointed unto men once to die and after this the
judgment. And after this judgment, what are we going to do? Are
we going to go out and face God in our own righteousness? We better not. We better not. So Christ was once offered to
bear the sins of many and that them that look for him shall
he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. Hebrews 10, 27 and 28. When our
Lord returns, dear friends, it will not be as a sacrifice for
sin because his people will be without sin. And when our Lord
returns, when we see him, and I love to think about this, we
shall be just like him. It doesn't even sound right to
say it, does it? Why? Because God foreknew and
God predestinated. What did He predestinate? That
His people be conformed to His Son, conformed to Christ, His
image. Will they be? Oh, there's no
way they can't be. Paul goes on to tell us that
those whom Christ foreknew, He predestinated. Those whom He
predestinates, He calls. And those whom He calls, He justifies. And those He justifies, He glorifies. And again, we see the salvation
is of the Lord. That's why nothing can separate
us from the love of God. Nothing. Nothing. In all these
things, we're more than conquerors. That's why. No one can lay anything
to our charge. It's God that justifies. No one
can condemn us. It's Christ that died and rose
again. My hope of redemption is not
in anything that I do for God. I get so tired of hearing people
in religion talking about all they do for God. That's not the
issue. Can't do anything for God that
God will accept. It's what Christ has done for
us. Why did Jesus Christ die on Calvary's
cross? To suffer once for our sins,
to die the just for the unjust. In order to bring us to God,
he had to be put to death in the flesh. So I suppose the most
important question in all the world is this, what think ye
of Christ? That's it. When it's all narrowed
down and it's all That's the issue. What do you think of Jesus
Christ? That's the message that we preach. Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
And that brings me to the fifth reason that our Lord died on
the cross. Look at verse 18 one more time. That He might be quickened by
the Spirit. And by that blessed truth, we're
made alive in Him. Christ had to die for us to live.
Christ had to die to satisfy God's holy justice. He had to
die to conquer death. He had to die to pay sin's wages.
Christ had to be made sin for us in order to justify us and
give us his perfect righteousness. And because he lives, we live. We die with Him, being baptized
in His death, we're buried with Him so that we might rise with
Him. And praise God, we live because He lives. And that is
what's so beautiful about our union with Christ. Everything
that belongs to Him belongs to us. That's why we call it the
gospel. Best news that any sinner ever
heard. Well, may God be pleased with
these words to save the lost and comfort his people. That's what we want to do in
our preaching, comfort God's people, God's sheep. I want to
comfort you. I've been so comforted. Well,
I'd drive for hours and go through a hurricane to hear what I heard. May God be pleased for his glory
and our good and for Christ's sake. Thank you, Brother John. Bye!