to the book of John, and we'll
go to John chapter 3. The gospel according to John
and chapter 3. Let me read two verses to you from John
chapter 3. And this is to all of us, or
pretty much all of us, I think, very familiar. These are very
familiar portions of scripture. But I just read two of them,
verses 14 and verse 15, John chapter 3. And as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal
life. Our subject this morning is going
to be why Christ had to die. Why did he have to be lifted
up? Why did he have to lay down his life? And we'll get into
that subject in just a couple of minutes. Let's ask God again
to bless the service. Lord, it is so good of you gather
us together this morning that we may again join our voices
together in adoration and praise unto our
Lord. We thank you for your grace given
to us in Christ. We thank you for that one who
is your everlasting son, and who is the one whose bone of
our bone and flesh of our flesh, that one who entered into this
world on a mission of mercy to save your people from their sins
by his obedience unto death, even the death of the cross. We rejoice to know that he who
gave his life raised himself from the dead.
In fact, we read that each of the persons of the Trinity were
effectual in raising him because his work of redemption was finished. And then he who gave himself
for us and then the one who took his life again who received life
unto himself, and who triumphed over the grave and death. He
ascended back to heaven. There is this morning a man in
glory. He is indeed still flesh and
bones, and he is God himself. Our boast is in, our joy is found
in, our faith is toward this one who is the God-man. Oh God,
we believe him. Thank you for the gift of faith
to embrace the son of God, to know him who is life everlasting. how merciful of you to bless
your people with a wonderful knowledge of Christ. Bless, Lord,
the message as it goes forth this morning. All of these who
are gathered, we thank you for your protection over us. Lord, this virus that has been
has been sent into the world, ultimately it came forth from
you. Many people have heard the gospel
on the internet due to the fact that they were pretty much homebound. And we rejoice, though in your
providence things have been difficult and our world has indeed been
turned upside down. But it was that which honored
you, Father, for all things are to be traced back to our God. And you meant it for good. And
so much good has been done. We're so thankful that we can
now meet together again and join in singing your praise. Bless
your word as it goes forth today. Give honor and glory unto yourself. We bless you, Father, for all
of the good things you give to us. And I don't just mean physical
things. I mean especially spiritual blessings,
heavenly blessings, for all of our blessings find their origin
in heaven above. We honor you today and we worship
for Jesus' sake, we ask these things, amen. One of the words
that is used in the Bible very frequently with regard to our
salvation is the very simple word, must, M-U-S-T, and that's
a word we're we're all familiar with. But in the Bible, it has a very
powerful meaning, especially here in the Gospel of John. And
it's a word that John especially uses as led by the Spirit of
God, and he uses it several times through this book that bears
his name. Of course, the word must means
that which is absolutely necessary. Must means that which has to
be done, something that is commanded of God. One writer said it's that which
is necessary and that which is required to get to some end. In other words, to arrive at
an end that God himself has appointed. In the Gospel of John, I've already
said this word is used several times, and I'm just gonna touch
on several of them, and then I'm gonna come back to the passage
that I read to you. The first one I want to draw
your attention to is here in John chapter three and verse
seven. John chapter three and verse seven. Our Lord is speaking
to Nicodemus, who is a ruler of the Jews, a very educated
man. He's a religious leader, he's
a religious teacher. Our Lord even referred to him
as a master in Israel. He's a master teacher, he taught
rabbis, he taught other teachers of religion. And our Lord said
this to him in John chapter three verse seven, marvel not that
I said unto thee, ye must be born again. This is absolutely
required, is what our Lord was saying. He didn't say to him,
I urge you to be born again. That isn't what the Savior said. The Savior didn't say to him,
well, I suggest you make a decision and get born again. No, he certainly
didn't say that. He said, you must be born again. This is a necessity. In fact,
in this very context, the Savior says, except a man be born again,
he can't even, he can't see the kingdom of God. He can't perceive
the kingdom of God. He can't understand spiritual
things. He can't understand heavenly
truths. He can't understand the necessity
of the death, the burial, and the resurrection of our Lord
Jesus. And the reason is because he's spiritually dead. Therefore,
he must be born again. But he doesn't tell him how to
be born again or what he had to do to be born again. He then
says that it's the spirit of God who works effectually, just
like the wind blows and accomplishes the purpose of God. Another one
I want you to look at is also in the third chapter in verse
number 30. And these are the last words
of John the Baptist. You know, the last words of a
man, especially the last words that he speaks, the last words
that he write, or last words that he has written, they're
very, very vital. And so it is with John the Baptist,
and here are his last recorded words in the word of God. John
chapter three and verse 30, he must, that is he's speaking of
the son of God, he must be born, or he must increase, and I must
decrease. You know, John has been speaking
to, John the Baptist has been speaking to some some Jews who
said to him, you know, Jesus of Nazareth has more followers
than you do. And of course, their intention
was to stir up some animosity and some envy and jealousy within
the heart of John the Baptist, but that wasn't going to happen.
And John says to them, and here are his last words that he spoke
to these religious leaders, He says to them, he, that is the
Lord Jesus, that one whom he had identified as the Lamb of
God back in John chapter one, he must increase. He must increase
in honor. He must increase in estimation
in your mind of his own greatness. He must increase in adoration. He must increase and I must decrease. More of him. Less of me. You think that you're causing
me to be envious of Jesus of Nazareth? He says, no, not at
all, not at all. I want all of you to follow him. More of him, less of me. And then here's another one,
it's in John chapter four. John 4 and verse 4, and this
is speaking of our Lord Jesus, and he must needs go through
Samaria. Well, what was the necessity
of this? Well, the necessity of this was
that there was one of the Lord's lost sheep who was going to go
to Jacob's well at noon. And there, she would draw water
and hopefully avoid all the crowds of people who would generally
draw water, but they'd draw water in the early morning or in the
late evening. But our Lord, of him and his
written, he must needs go through Samaria. Well, what's the necessity
in this passage of scripture? The necessity is that she has
to meet the Savior. She is one of God's own, she's
one of God's sheep, she's one of God's children, but she doesn't
know about it. She's lost. She's dead and trespasses
in sins. She's not looking for the Savior.
The Savior is looking for her. This is the way it works in salvation. It isn't the sinner seeking the
Lord. The scripture says, no man seeketh
after God. She wasn't seeking salvation. She wasn't seeking a restoration
of favor with God. She thought she was already restored
to God because she was a religious person. She was religious, but
she was lost. And our Lord must needs go through
Samaria because this was ordained in old, old times. that he would
meet with her at Jacob's well and reveal to her that he was
the water of life, that he is the true Messiah. He is the son
of God. He is the son of man. And so
he identified himself to her, and he said, you drank from the
water that I'll give you. You'll never thirst again. He
must needs go through Samaria. It may be that he must needs
go through 13th Street Baptist Church this morning. He must
needs go through here because it may be, it may be that God
has ordained today is a time of love. Today is the day of
salvation. Today is that occasion when God
has ordained that he will cross paths with you through the gospel
of our Lord Jesus Christ. He must needs go through Samaria.
And then once again in John chapter four, go over to verse 24. He's speaking again to the woman
and he says to the woman here in verse 24, God is spirit. God is spirit. And they that
worship him must, must, this is a necessity, This is not up
to you. This is not a choice you have.
Well, I can worship God any way I want. No, you only worship
God the way he prescribes. He says they must worship him
in spirit. That is, by the Holy Spirit,
with the spirit of humility, with the spirit of bowing to
God's word, in spirit, worshiping him from the heart. Not just
with the lips. The Jews gave lip service to
Jesus of Nazareth and some of the things that were concerning
God. They just gave lip service to worship. God says, give me
your heart. Heart worship, that's the heart
of worship. Must worship him in spirit and
in truth. Who is the truth? Our Lord Jesus. John chapter 14 verse six says
that. This is the necessity of true
worship. And then go over to John chapter
nine. Let me show you this one. John
chapter nine and verse four. John chapter nine and verse four. The Savior speaking says, I must,
I must work the works of him that sent me, and do it while
it's day. He says, the night cometh, the
night of my death, the night when I will lay down my life
for the sheep, the night cometh when no man can work. I must
work the works of him that sent me. This is a necessity, to do
God's works. What were the works that Jesus
Christ came to do? Well, first of all, the work
of glorifying the Father. He came to honor God. No man,
no woman, no boy, no girl has ever perfectly honored God, but
this man, Christ Jesus, he did. He came to glorify God. He came,
secondly, to keep all of God's laws. Not only the parental laws
of Mary and Joseph, not only those laws of the civil nature
in Israel, but he came to keep God's laws. All the laws of God
that men had broken, this is one of the works he came to do,
to keep the law and make it honorable. And then his greatest work was
the work of redemption, the work of salvation. He said, the son
of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. I must do the works of him that
sent me. My father sent me down here. He sent me down here to do some
works. and I will not leave any of those
works undone. In fact, he will later say in
John chapter 17, I have finished the work thou gavest me to do. I've honored you. I've glorified
you. I've kept your law. I've died
and I shed my blood in order to redeem, in order to pay the
ransom, For all of those that you gave me before the world
came into being, I'm the Savior. And then look at John, the next
chapter, John chapter 10. Look at John chapter 10 in verse
16. He says this, here's another
must. John chapter 10 in verse 16. And other sheep I have which
are not of this fold. Them also I must bring. This is a necessary thing. It's the thing God commanded
him to do. Them also I must bring and they,
they shall do what? They shall hear my voice. His voice is heard in the gospel. His voice is heard in this message
of how God can be just and justify the ungodly. That's the voice
of God. Will you hear the voice of God
today? Oh, that God would open our ears
and enable us to hear what he has to say about this matter
of salvation. It's all in Christ Jesus, that
one who laid down his life and then who took it up again. He
did that because our wickedness requires death. Because that's
what the law of God says. Death for sin. And so Christ
died. But he laid down his life. And then he says, I must bring
these. I must bring them. He's got a
people that God gave him from every nation, kindred, tribe,
and tongue. He says, I must bring them into
the fold of salvation. It's a mission that God gave
him. After all, these were gifts from the Father. And he has said
back in John chapter six, all that the Father giveth me shall
come to me, and him that cometh to me I'll let no wise cast out. But there's another one, and
I'll direct you back now to the text that I read to you at the
beginning of the message. Here's a divine imperative. As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, John 3.14, even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up. He had to die. You remember in
the Old Testament how that the Israelites, due to their murmuring
against God, they were bitten by fiery serpents. and people
were dying. Didn't matter what remedy they
sought, what homemade cure they had imagined that they had come
up with, there was no cure. There was no cure. God told Moses,
you put a serpent of brass up on a pole. And then you tell
the Israelites, look and live. Look and be cured. Look and the
disease will vanish. And our Lord used this as an
illustration of the necessity of his death. As Moses lifted up that serpent
in the wilderness, and everybody who looked to it, they were healed
immediately. He said, even so must the Son
of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in Him, whosoever looks
to Him. Will you look? The Lord says
in Isaiah, look unto Me and be ye saved, all ye ends of the
earth. Well, why should I look to Him? Because I'm God, He says. I'm
God. Look unto Me and be ye saved. all ye ends of the earth, is
what the Lord said. And as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. In other words, the Son of Man
had to die. Now many people look at the death
of our Lord Jesus as a tragedy, as something that ought never
to have happened. They see His death as being such
an awful thing that if it were in their power to have stopped
it, they would have stopped it. But the Lord Jesus said the Son
of Man must be lifted up. He must die. This is a necessity. If He doesn't die, we die. You understand that? If He doesn't
die, we perish. If he doesn't die, then sin wins
the day. If he doesn't die, justice won't
be satisfied. If he doesn't die, all of the
wretchedness of all who look to him won't be washed away.
If he doesn't die, then we must die and our death will be forever. Even so must, this is a necessity. He wasn't dying to be a good
example. He wasn't dying to begin a new
religion. He wasn't dying to show us how
to be patient in the time of death. He's dying as a sacrifice. He's dying so God can be a just
and holy and righteous God and then embrace you and me in perfect
justice himself and mercy will be shown to us. I know this, the great theme
of this book is the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus
Christ. That is the theme of all the
Bible. One is coming into this world. He's going to live. He will be
just like those he comes to save, yet without sin. And he's going
to be put to death. Who killed Jesus of Nazareth? Well, certainly the Jews had
a hand in it. The Romans had a hand in it.
Judas had a hand in it. All of our sinfulness had a hand
in it. But you want to know who killed
Jesus of Nazareth? God did. A holy God did. Because only in that way, only
through his death, only by him being lifted up to die upon a
cross, the cross of Calvary, only in that way could God establish
righteousness for all of his people. He must, he must be lifted up. I wish God would give me the
vocabulary to lead you again today to the cross of Calvary. And by faith to see that God-man
dying on a tree. I wish God would give me the
words to say. I would wish God would give me
the ability to express to you the absolute necessity this had
to happen. You know, when our Lord was speaking
about his death, one time with his disciples, Simon Peter said,
let me talk to you for a minute. Lord pulled him over to the side.
He said, you can't die. We're not going to let you die.
You talk about going to Jerusalem and laying down your life and
the Sanhedrin, all those folks killing you, rising up against
you. Now, we don't want to hear that
kind of talk. We're not here to worship a dead
Messiah. We're here to worship a living
Messiah. No more of this talk. And the
Lord Jesus said to him, get thee behind me, Satan. You don't savor
the things of God. You don't understand. You need
to keep your mouth shut, Peter. There's some things you just
have no understanding of. You don't now have a necessity. You don't see the necessity of
my death. He came to die. We're all born
to live. He's born to die. In fact, the
scripture says he's the Lamb of God who died in the purpose
of God, whose life was forfeited in the purpose of God before
the world began. Say, when was it ordained of
God that he died? Before creation. Before God made anything. Before
the angels were created. The Scripture says He's the Lamb
slain before the foundation of the world. Well, who slew Him? Who killed Him? Who put Him to
death? God did. Don't forget that. God did. Who's in charge of salvation?
God is. He's in charge of who's going
to be saved, and He's in charge of how would they be saved. that
be saved by the death of a substitute. He must be lifted up. If he's
not lifted up to die, then we're all condemned to everlasting
hell. You understand that, don't you?
When he died, he took all the hell of all of his people. In
those three hours of darkness, he suffered the wrath of God
in his own soul. He had to be lifted up. He must
be lifted up. If he isn't lifted up, then we're
going down. We're going down into the pit
of hell. You see, he must die because
this is what God has purposed. And so we read in Acts, the second
chapter, and him being delivered by the determinant counseling
for knowledge of God. He had to die because this is
what God purposed. This is what God purposed. And
he had to die in order to fulfill his covenant engagements. A lot
of people don't know anything about the everlasting covenant
of grace, but it's vital. And in that covenant of grace,
God chose a people to be the recipients of his salvation.
He chose a people who would be his own children. And those children
would fall in Adam's rebellion and become sinful. And the Lord
Jesus stepped up in the covenant of grace and said, I'll bear
responsibility for the salvation of an innumerable company of
people, Father, that you have given me. Look to me for everything
that you hold them accountable for. Hold me accountable. And he became our surety, the
scripture says. He's our guarantor. He's the
one who shook hands with the Father, as it were, and said,
Father, I make an oath. I take an oath right now. I pledge
myself. I will bring all these people
you give to me back to you clothed in my righteousness, redeemed
by my blood. And they entered into a covenant
engagement. They, as it were, shook hands.
That's a covenant. That's a council. Our Lord kept
his part, and the Father keeps his part. You see, the Son of God, he had
to die, he must be lifted up, because the scripture's gotta
be fulfilled. Scripture's like the 22nd Psalm,
which begins, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And
which ends in words like this, it is finished. passages such
as Isaiah 53. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon him where these stripes
were healed. That had to be fulfilled. Once again, Simon Peter is kind
of pushed to the forefront. When our Lord was arrested, Simon
Peter pulled out his sword and he cut off the right ear of the
high priest's servant. Malchus was his name. Our Lord
Jesus picked up that ear and just reattached it to his head.
He said, Peter, don't you understand? If I wanted them, if I needed
them, I could call on 10,000 angels. You sing that song. He could
have called 10,000 angels. He said, Dad, release me. But
he said, how else should the scriptures be fulfilled? If I'm released, the scripture
won't be fulfilled. And over and over again with
regard to the substitutionary death of our Lord Jesus, you
read that ongoing phrase. that the scripture might be fulfilled. A passage Ron read from 1 Corinthians
chapter 15. How that he died for our sins
according to the scriptures and that he was buried and that he
arose again the third day according to the scriptures. He fulfilled
the scriptures. When it talks about his garment,
it was that the scriptures might be fulfilled. He cried out, I
thirst, that the scriptures might be fulfilled. When they broke
the legs of the two thieves that came to the Lord Jesus, he was
already dead, that the scriptures might be fulfilled, not a bone
of him shall be broken. The scriptures might be fulfilled.
In your mind's eye, as you read the word of God, you see the
Son of God lifted up to die? Why is that? That the scriptures
might be fulfilled. He had to be lifted up to establish
righteousness, to be punished for our sin. Divine justice demands
there must be the meting out of punishment. Justice has got
to be satisfied. The soul that sinneth shall die. And either we gonna die or a
suitable substitute's gotta die in our stead. And there's the
glory of the gospel. The suitable substitute is God's
own son, our Lord Jesus. The innocent must die for the
guilty so that the guilty will go free. You say, well, God's a God of
forgiveness. Yes, in a manner consistent with
justice. Our Lord Jesus died. He was lifted
up for so many reasons, so many reasons. He died to put away
our sins by the sacrifice of himself, it reads in Hebrews
chapter nine. In fact, 2 Corinthians chapter
five says, he was made sin for us, that one who knew no sin,
that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. We can't be made
the righteousness of God unless he's wounded for our sins, bruised
for our transgressions, First Peter chapter three says that
he was lifted up for the people of God to bring us to God. How does he bring us to God?
By his death. The Lord in Isaiah says to the
people, all of your sins and iniquities, like a mountain,
they come between me and you, an insurmountable mountain. God's
over here and we're over here. Here's this infinitely high mountain
of our sinfulness. God said they've separated you
from me. Well then how can we ever come
to God? Somebody's got to come down here
and take care of that mountain. He's got to move that mountain
of sin. And that's what he did by his
death. He removed the sin. And now we read, for there's
one God and one mediator between God and men, that's the man Christ
Jesus. Why was he lifted up to die? That he might present us someday
to the Father in his own righteousness. We're trophies of his grace,
those of us who believe. and all who will ever be brought
to believe on the name of the Son of God. We shall be presented
before the entire universe someday as being trophies of God's grace,
standing with the Lord Jesus, washed in his blood, our debt
paid in full, and robed in the glorious garments of God's salvation. And then he'll say to the father,
behold I and the children that thou hast given me. He had to be lifted up so that
would come to pass. He had to be. He had to be lifted
up, he had to die to save folks like you and me. There's no salvation
any other way. Only in the crucified, buried,
risen Savior. Those are some of the reasons
that he had to die. He must be lifted up. Now this
evening, I'm going to deal with this subject. Christ must be
raised again. He must be raised. He must die,
yes. No question about that. But also,
he must be raised. May God give us a faith view
of the Son of God. May we worship Him in spirit
and in truth. We realize the necessity of Him
being lifted up to die. And if God the Spirit has convinced
you that you need this very Savior, look and live. Believe on the
Lord Jesus, not your idea of who Jesus is, but as he set forth
in the word of God. As the scripture says here, that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish. You believe him, you're not gonna
perish, because he is life, and in him we have life. Let's pray. Thank you, Father,
for the gift of salvation in the Lord Jesus. What a glorious Savior. And we
understand now to some degree the necessity of His death. He
must be lifted up. He must die. He must be crucified. He must be the Lamb of God who
is slain. dying for the guilty to satisfy
your justice. And he who forfeited his life
took that life again. He ever lives, as we read, to
make intercession for us. Deal with all of us in mercy,
O God, we pray. For Jesus' sake, amen.