As you can see, my lesson is
going to come from the book of Acts here, chapter 2. The title,
Why the Cross? Why the Crown? I'm going to have
to explain that a little to you. But this message today, I'm intending
to ask and answer two questions. Why was it necessary for Christ
to die? And why was He raised from the
dead? Now, these are two vital and
important questions that we all need to be able to answer. Every
professing Christian believes that Christ died. Why did He
die? Every professing Christian believes
that Christ was raised from the dead. But why was He raised?
Like I said, these are vital questions. And I'm going to start
in verse 22, but let me give you a little background here
on Acts chapter 2. This is Pentecost. This is the
day when God poured out His Spirit on all flesh. The apostles and
other disciples were gathered together, God sent his Spirit
and he made a visible manifestation of the Spirit. Clove and tongue
sat on the heads of these apostles and perhaps the disciples too.
And they were enabled to speak in languages that none of them
had ever learned. in order to tell the wonderful
works of God, or to preach the gospel, to preach what Christ
had done in His life and in His death to those who were there
dwelling in Jerusalem. And it was a miracle. These men
were enabled to actually preach in a language they had never
studied, a language they didn't know anything about, but they
could preach clearly to these who came, so that all there were
enabled to hear the gospel. And he says that as a fulfillment
of a prophecy of Joel way back in the Old Testament before Christ
came. But I'm going to pick up here
in verse 22, where Peter begins to talk specifically here to
the men of Israel. Verse 22, he says, I'll read
these first two verses. You men of Israel, hear these
words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved
of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which
God did by him in the midst of you, as you yourselves know,
him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, you have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain."
What he is saying there in verse 22 is simply this. Everybody
who is listening to him here knows who Jesus of Nazareth was.
God had set him forth among these people, and he performed all
kinds of miracles. He was sick. He had made blind
men to see. He caused the deaf to hear. He
had even raised the dead. He performed all kinds of miracles,
fed 5,000 at one time with just a few loaves and fishes. So they
knew who Peter was talking about here, Jesus of Nazareth. But
isn't this the same attitude of all unregenerate men and women
toward Christ? We see Jesus of Nazareth along
with many other facts about Him. We know that He was born in Bethlehem.
We know that He was born in a manger. We know that He died on a cross,
that He is called the Son of God. We know a lot of facts about
Christ. We study His miracles. We study
His facts. But we never see and understand
any need for His death. Why did He have to die? What
is death actually accomplished for those he came and died for?
You see, it's not in the hearts of men by nature to understand
the necessity of the cross. We don't understand the necessity
of the cross. We don't really know how bad
off we are by nature. Just like Bill was talking about
in the back, we don't know how bad we are. We don't know that
we are fully deserving of the eternal wrath of God, and that
based on the best obedience we can render to God. We don't understand
that by nature. You see, we have to be brought
to that kind of understanding. We don't have the faintest idea
that we're deserving of God's eternal wrath, and therefore
we have no clue what it takes to remedy the situation we're
in. We have to learn that. And that's
what I'm going to be talking about. Why the cross? Why was
it necessary for the infinite Son of God to die? Every professing
Christian believes that's so, but why was it so? Now, first,
let's understand that Christ's mission, the reason He came here
was the cross. He came here for nothing else
but to go to that cross and lay down His life. He said in Matthew
20 and verse 28, Even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered
to, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many. Christ's
mission was the cross. John 12 and verse 27 says, Now
is my soul troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me
from this hour, for this cause came after this hour. Christ
said to Peter when they came to arrest Christ in John chapter
18 and verse 11, Put up thy sword into thy sheath, the cup which
the Father hath given me. Shall I not drink it?" Christ's
mission was the cross. That's why He came. It was always
the cross. It was never anything else. But
men by nature are never looking for a Savior whose death on the
cross is all of salvation. Now, we're looking to a Savior
who died on the cross. But He didn't quite get the job
done. There's just something else that needs to be done in
order for sinners to be saved. We have to believe. We have to
repent. We have to do something. We have to walk an aisle. We
have to get right with God. We have to start studying our
Bible more, praying more, whatever. We have to do something. All
must be taught of a Savior who accomplished all of salvation.
All must be taught of that Savior and that salvation. Now, even
Christ's disciples who walk with Him on this earth fail to see
the reason the necessity, they failed to see the why of the
cross. Christ told his disciples that
he had come to this earth to die in Matthew chapter 16 and
verse 21. From that time forth began Jesus
to show his disciples how that he must needs go to Jerusalem
and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and
scribes and be killed and be raised again the third day. And
you remember Peter's familiar response. Peter took him and
began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord, this
shall not be done unto thee. See, they had no idea of the
necessity of Christ going to that cross. Now, Peter was simply
voicing all the apostles' ignorance of that need. They didn't know
that Christ had to go to the cross. They didn't know the necessity
of Christ then. Christ spoke to them again in
Luke chapter 9 in verse 44 and 45. He said, Let these sayings
sink down into your ears, for the Son of Man shall be delivered
into the hands of men. But they understood not this
saying, and it was hid from them that they perceived it not, and
they feared to ask him of that saying. Though Christ told his
disciples repeatedly, those are not the only two instances, he
told them repeatedly that he was going to that cross, that
he was going to be taken by sinful men and put on that cross and
crucified and slain. But they failed to see the why
of the cross. Now, what is the necessity of
the cross? Why the cross? Let's look back
here in our text at Acts chapter 2 and verse 23. He says here, Him being Christ,
Christ being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge
of God, you have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and
slain. The determinate counsel and foreknowledge
of God delivered Christ up into the hands of wicked men to be
crucified and slain. Men took him and did to him according
to the evil of their own hearts, but God determined it to be so.
Jim quoted this verse last week. Men meant it for evil, the cross,
but God meant it for good. They crucified Jesus of Nazareth,
the one they saw as a malefactor, a common criminal. They didn't
know they were slaying the incarnate Son of God. They did what they
did out of the evil of their own hearts, but they were only
doing what God had determined before to be done. Look with
me here to Acts chapter 4, and this is a verse Bill read back
in the back. Acts 4 and verse, well, let's
look at verse 27. For of a truth against thy holy
child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate,
with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel were gathered together,
for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined to
be done." It was the predeterminate will and foreknowledge of God
that men would take Christ. They were only doing what He
had determined before to be done. And they were only fulfilling
what the prophets had foretold of Christ. Christ was only fulfilling
that. Look at Acts 3 and verse 18 with
me. But those things which God had
showed before by the mouth of all His prophets that Christ
should suffer, Christ has souls fulfilled. The determinate counsel
and foreknowledge of God had determined Christ's death. He
had allowed wicked men to put him on the cross. But why? Why
did the Son of God have to leave heaven? Why did the Son have
to come to this earth and tabernacle among men? To take into union
with his divine person, true humanity, body and soul. Why
did he have to walk in obedience to the law that he gave? Why
did he have to suffer and bleed and die on a cross? Well, there's
a one-line answer. Because sin demands death. Romans 6.23 says, For the wages
of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through
Jesus Christ our Lord. Sin demands eternal death from
an infant and eternal God. God's infinite justice demands
the infinite suffering and death of every soul that sins. Ezekiel
18, verse 4 says, Behold, all souls are mine, as the soul of
the Father, also the soul of the Son. They are mine. The soul
that sins, it shall die. It doesn't matter how great our
sins are. It doesn't matter how many our sins are or how few,
how great or how small, even the slightest sin, every sin
deserves the eternal wrath of God. And the only thing that
will deliver a sinner from the eternal wrath of God that he
or she deserves is the death of the one who is God and man. As I already said, God had to
become incarnate, the Son of God. He had to come He had to
take into union with this person, true humanity, body and soul.
Because there is no other remedy but death. God, absolutely considered,
cannot die. But this person who is God did
die. He had to be man because he had
to die. There had to be a death. And
God absolutely considered can't die. He had to be God because
infinite payment was required of an infinite God. And only
God can render infinite payment. So he had to be both. And that's
who he is. One person. The God-man. And
one glorious person. There's no other remedy for sin.
Christ's death itself and Christ's death alone can save a sinner
from the eternal ruin that every sinner justly deserves. By nature,
we all think that Christ's death made a way for sinners to be
saved. But in reality, Christ's death is the way, the only way,
for sinners to be saved. In fact, it's the way that Christ
has already saved the sinners that he represented. Since sin is against an infinite
God, it demands infinite punishment. Christ, the God-man, is the only
one who could and did satisfy that demand. Christ stood before
God's bar of justice and answered every charge against those sinners
He represented. He suffered all the punishment
God's infinite judgment demanded of them. Now, did He represent
all without exception? Is Christ's death a universal
death? Did he die for the sins of every
sinner ever born into this world? Well, if he did, according to
what I just said, all without exception have been delivered
from the eternal wrath that they deserve. We know that's not so. That would mean that no one is
going to hell, and the Scriptures won't support such thinking.
The Scriptures teach that Christ is a representative. He didn't
come for Himself. He came to represent a people.
He represents those chosen by the Father. He represents His
sheep. He said in John 10, I lay down my life for the sheep. Well,
who are the sheep? Who are the chosen? They are
those in each generation that the Spirit calls to rest in Christ
and in Christ alone. The issue for you and me is this.
Do you and I understand that our sins make us deserving of
the eternal wrath of God? Have you laid hold of that thought?
Do you really believe that your sin makes you deserving of God's
eternal wrath? That's what the Scripture says
of you and me. And do we understand that the only thing that can
deliver us from the suffering and wrath that we deserve is
the death of the Son of God? His death in our place. Our death
in Him. That's our only hope. It's the
only hope of any sinner. Why the cross? Why is the death
of the God-man a necessity? Why did the determinate counsel
and foreknowledge of God deliver Christ into the hands of wicked
men to be crucified and slain? Because sin demands death. And the only thing that will
deliver any sinner from the eternal wrath of God that we deserve
is the death of Christ, the God-man. Now why have I made such an issue
of this? Why the cross? Because until
a sinner learns how evil sin is to God, as well as God's remedy
for sin, men have all kinds of remedies for sin. We learned
of all kinds of remedies in the religion we were in before we
came to the gospel. But until we're resting in God's
remedy, We cannot be trusting our salvation to the Son who
came and died to save His people from their sins. We cannot know
the salvation that Christ has already accomplished for every
sinner He lived and died for. That's why the cross. That's
why it was necessary. Next, why the crown? Why was Christ exalted to the
right hand of the Father? God has given him a name that
is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow, and every tongue confess that he is Lord, to the
glory of God the Father. Why? Why was Christ raised from
the dead? Let's read verses 24-32 here,
Acts 2.24. You have taken Christ, and by wicked
hands have crucified and slain, whom God has raised up, having
loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should
be holden of death. For David speaketh concerning
him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on
my right hand, that I should not be moved. Therefore did my
heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad. Moreover, also my flesh
shall rest in hope, because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell,
neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to seek corruption.
Thou hast made known to me the ways of life. Thou shalt make
me full of joy with thy countenance." Now, it sounds like David is
talking about himself right there. Luke, the writer of Acts here,
is quoting Psalm 16, and it sounds like David the psalmist is talking
about himself. But look on here at verse 29.
He said, Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the
patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher
is with us unto this day. Therefore, being a prophet, and
knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit
of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ
to sit on his throne, he seeing this before spake of the resurrection
of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his
flesh did see corruption. This Jesus, the one David wrote
about, this Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we are all witnesses. David was writing in that psalm
about Christ's resurrection. And the Christ David saw raised
is the same Christ that they had seen crucified. It's the
same Jesus of Nazareth that David wrote about hundreds of years
before Christ came. Jesus of Nazareth is the one
who fulfilled the prophecy of Psalm 16. Every professing Christian
believes that Christ was raised from the dead, but until we go
beyond the fact to the why He was raised. Do you think here
that David, the psalmist, knew that Christ was going to be raised,
but never learned why He would be raised? That wouldn't make
any sense, would it? Until we go beyond the fact to
the why, we are not understanding how Christ was raised according
to the scriptures. Listen to 1 Corinthians 15 verses
3 and 4. Paul said to the Corinthians,
For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received,
how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according
to the Scriptures. Until we understand aright why
Christ was raised from the dead, we cannot be looking to or resting
in the One who was actually raised from the dead. Again, Christ's
disciples were ignorant that His death accomplished anything.
Peter and James and John were fishermen by trade. After the
death of Christ, after He went to the cross, they went back
to their trade. They went back to fishing. But
two on the road to Emmaus talking to Christ without knowing who
He was. He was withholding from them.
They couldn't understand or recognize Him. They summed up the disappointment
of the disciples best in Luke 24 in verse 20. They said to Jesus as he talked
to them, the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be
condemned to death and have crucified him. But we trusted it had been
he which should have redeemed Israel. And beside all this,
today is the third day since these things were done. Later
on, Christ opened their understanding to all that the Scriptures, all
that the Psalms and Moses and the prophets wrote concerning
him. But here, They didn't have a
clue as to what Christ had accomplished in His death. Now we can see
something about the why of Christ's death back in verse 24 here of
Acts chapter 2. Look back with me to verse 24,
Acts 2.24. It says here, Whom God hath raised
up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible
that he should be holden of death. It wasn't possible that the grave
could hold him. Christ came to die. He had to
die. There was no other way for sinners
to be saved but that he die. God determined before that he
should die. But he couldn't remain dead.
Why? One line here. Because righteousness
demands life. By his obedience unto death,
Christ had purged the sins of every sinner he died for. Listen
to Hebrews chapter 1 and verse 3, speaking of Christ. Who being
the brightness of God's glory, and the express image of his
person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when
he had by himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand
of the majesty on high. By his one sacrifice, Christ
had put away the sins of every sinner he died for. Listen to
Hebrews 9.26. For then must he often have suffered. The context here is Christ had
been like the priest under the Old Covenant. He would have had
to have suffered often. But he wasn't like the priest
of the Old Covenant. But now, in the end of the world,
hath he appeared to put away sin by the one sacrifice of himself. By Christ's obedience unto death,
he hath established the one righteousness by which God is just to justify
every sinner he died for. Look with me here to Romans 4,
verses 23-25. Paul wrote to the Romans. Now,
it was not written for Abraham's sake alone. Now, let's stop right
there for just a minute. I'm going to explain these verses
right here just a little bit as I go through them. Then I'll
come back and read them as they really are. There was nothing
written for Abraham's sake. Abraham didn't have any writing.
He wasn't able to look at any writing. God spoke with Abraham
directly. So, it was not written with a
view to Abraham alone that it, that is, righteousness, was imputed
to him but for, or with a view to us also, to whom it says here,
it shall be imputed. But I believe that should read
like this. I'm going to re-read this whole
thing in a minute for you. It wasn't written with a view
to Abraham alone, but for us also, to whom it is certainly
being imputed, it says, if we, That will be who are believing
on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered
for or because of our offenses and was raised again for or because
of our justification. Let me read those verses the
way I think they'll be better understood. It was not written
with a view to Abraham alone that righteousness was imputed
to him. But it was written with a view
to us also, to whom it is certainly being imputed, who are believing
on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered
because of our offenses and was raised again because of our justification."
Christ had established the one righteousness by which God is
just to justify every sinner he died for. Now, the context
of Romans 4 is the justification of sinners, how sinners are just
in God's sight. chapter is talking about how
it's not by works, but by grace. It's not by anything done by
sinners, but by the imputed righteousness of Christ alone. Every sinner
Christ died for is justified before God. That means this,
that God is declaring them righteous in His sight. That's what justified
means. Every sinner Christ died for
is justified before God. based on the one righteousness
Christ established by his obedience unto death, imputed to them,
charged to their account. It is this righteousness that
demands life. It is this righteousness that
demanded Christ's resurrection. And it's this righteousness that
demands the resurrection and final glory of every sinner Christ
died for. Christ's resurrection would have
been impossible if any sin of any sinner he represented had
been left unpunished. His resurrection would have been
impossible. Christ's resurrection would have been impossible if
any sinner he represented was left owing any debt, either to
God's law or God's justice. If any sinner that he represented
needed to do anything in the way of obedience, to be just
in God's sight, Christ couldn't have been raised from the dead.
If he needed to do anything to deliver himself from God's wrath
or put himself in God's favor, Christ couldn't have been raised
from the dead. In other words, he accomplished all that the
law and justice of God demanded of every sinner he lived and
died for. His righteousness is the one
word that just kind of says everything about what his life and death
accomplished. There is no requirement to be
met, no condition to be fulfilled in order for any sinner Christ
died for to be holy, unblameable, and unreprovable in God's sight. They are all eternally, unchangeably
righteous in God's sight based on Christ's imputed righteousness
alone. In Romans 4, another verse here
in Romans 4, Paul wrote about David's knowledge of this imputed
righteousness. I've asked you before, if you
think that the psalmist wrote about the resurrection of Christ,
but didn't really know what right God had to raise Christ from
the dead. Was he ignorant of imputed righteousness? Well, the answer to that question
is absolutely no. I've already told you the subject
of Romans 4 is how a sinner is justified before God. It starts
out like this, and we're not going to read those verses, but
I want to tell you before I get up to verse 6 here that we're
going to read It starts out, if Abraham were justified by
works, he would have something to boast in. But Abraham has
nothing to boast in before God. He wasn't justified by works.
Abraham believed God, and it was imputed to him for righteousness.
And if you go on and study Romans 4, you'll find out that at it
is the righteousness Christ would work out. It's called the faith.
It's called everything that Christ would accomplish in His life
and death for those that He represented. Now, let's listen to David here,
to what Paul says about David here in Romans 4 and verse 6.
He said, even as David also describes the blessedness of the man unto
whom God imputes righteousness without works. Did David know
anything about God imputing righteousness without works? Well, it sounds
like he did. He said, blessed are they whose
iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is
the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. No sinner Christ died for can
perish because Christ's obedience unto death has put away their
sin. And because the righteousness
Christ established for them and God has imputed to them makes
them unchangeably righteous in God's sight. Why the cross? Why did the incarnate Son of
God have to die? Because those Christ represented
were sinners. And the only way for a sinner
to be delivered from the eternal wrath that he or she deserves
is in the death of the God-man, in the death of Christ alone.
Why the crown? Why was Christ resurrected from
the dead and seated at his Father's right hand? Because he established
the one righteousness based upon which God declares righteous
every sinner he chose before the world began, every sinner
he entrusted his son to save to the uttermost. Okay. I said I was just going to ask
and answer two questions, but I've got just a little bit more
to go here. So, if Christ has already put away the sin, and
God has already justified every sinner he died for, What is this
age all about? What are we doing here? What
are we doing gathered around the message of Christ, the Gospel?
Look at verses 33 and 35 in Acts chapter 2. Verse 33, Therefore
being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received
of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He has shed forth
this which you now see and hear. For David is not ascended into
the heavens, but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit
thou on my right hand, until I make thy foes thy footstool."
One of the greatest evidences I've already talked about of
Christ's resurrection was the giving of the Holy Spirit here
the day of Pentecost. The Spirit was visibly made known
here. Tongues of fire, as I said, sat
on the heads of these apostles, and they were enabled to speak
in a language, to proclaim the wonderful works of God in a language
they had never learned. Peter was enabled to discern
this event as the fulfillment of the prophet Joel, and to declare
openly and plainly the wonderful works of Christ in the gospel.
But what happens when the gospel is preached and God is pleased
to do so? Are not sinners brought into
subjection to the Christ being proclaimed? When men sit under
the gospel and hear of the wonderful works of God, the works of Christ,
His putting away sin, His establishing that one righteousness by which
God can be just and justify the ungodly, when He is pleased under
that message, are not sinners brought to conversion? Is that
not the Spirit's work in this world, in this age, to bring
those of us, those who are rebels by nature, alienated and enemies
in our mind by wicked works? Isn't the work of the Spirit
to bring such sinners to bow at the feet of Christ and to
be subject to His Lordship? I believe that's what Luke the
writer means in verses 34 and 35 here. When the Lord said unto my Lord,
that's the Lord of heaven, God Himself saying to Christ, sit
thou on my right hand. until I make thy foes thy footstool." Christ had finished His work.
He had ascended unto the Father. He has sat down at the right
hand of the Majesty on high. And in this age, the age we're
living in, these are the last days. They began with the coming
of Christ and they'll end when He comes again. In this age,
the Spirit is making all those the Father has given, has chosen,
and all those that Christ has redeemed, all who by nature are
the enemies of Christ, enemies in our mind by wicked works,
the Spirit of God is making them Christ's footstool. He is delivering
them from the Jesus of Nazareth we knew by nature, that Jesus
we crucified, we put on the cross without a just cause. He's delivering
us from that Jesus of Nazareth into subjection to the Christ
of the Gospel. The Jesus who was delivered by
the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. Now, one main evidence
that I believe this point is true as I see it here, and that
is in this context, verse 41. I don't know whether you'll see
that or not, but I'll read it to you. Acts 2 and verse 41.
We're not studying it today. But it says, Then they that gladly
received his word were baptized, and the same day there were added
unto them about three thousand souls. I want to come back to
that language there in another message, but that is an evidence
that the Spirit was working in this place, not only in the preaching
of the gospel, but in the hearts of sinners, converting sinners,
those who were by nature the enemies of Christ, unto Christ.
And then one other evidence in Psalm 110, the psalm that is
being quoted here when he says, the Lord said unto my Lord, sit
thou on my right hand. That is Psalm 110. Let me read
you those first three verses of Psalm 110. The Lord said unto
my Lord, sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies
thy foes too. Now listen to these next two
verses. The Lord shall send the rod of
thy strength out of Zion. What's Zion? It's the church.
What's the rod of thy strength? It's the gospel declaring the
wonderful works of God. Rule thou in the midst of thine
enemies. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. In the beauties of holiness from
the womb of the morning thou hast to do of thy youth. I believe
that's what Luke is writing about here. that the enemies of Christ,
enemies by nature, are being brought to be subject to Christ
and Christ alone for all of salvation. And there's one more evidence.
Aren't you who know the gospel? Becoming more and more converted
and brought to rest in Christ alone as you hear the gospel
preached and as the Spirit teaches you in your study of the Scriptures? Isn't your heart being drawn
more and more to Christ? Mine is, and I want it to be
drawn more and more that way. All right, let me summarize what
I've said. Why the cross? Why was Christ's
death necessary? Because sin demands death. The death of the incarnate Son
of God alone delivers every sinner he died for from the wrath we
deserve. And we cannot be delivered, as
Bill said in the back, no matter what men say, by anything but
the death of the incarnate Son of God. Why the crown? Why was
Christ raised from the dead? Because righteousness demands
life. By his obedience unto death,
Christ has established the one righteousness by which God justifies
ungodly sinners such as we are. We don't work for righteousness. We do nothing to appropriate
righteousness, that is, to make it ours, to make it appropriate
to us. God has freely imputed the righteousness
Christ worked out to every sinner he died for. And those who are
imputed with this righteousness stand eternally and unchangeably
righteous in God's sight based on one thing, the imputed righteousness
of Christ alone. Now, if God hasn't already drawn
you to this Christ that I've attempted to set before you,
I pray that under the preaching of this message, He will.