That is the question I hope to
answer in the message this morning, why? The title of the message
is Why Christ Died. I began to prepare a message
on this last week from Romans 14 verse 9, where Paul says,
For to this end, Christ both died and rose and revived, that
he might be Lord, both of the dead and the living. I began
to prepare a message on this last week and I I kind of scratched
out a few points and I stopped and looked at what I had and
I realized all I had was a sermon. I just had an outline. I didn't
have a message. Brother Henry's words rang in my ear. We need
fewer sermons and more messages. We need fewer sermons and more
messages from the Lord. So I wadded up and threw it away
and moved on, but I came back to it. this week, and I believe
Lord's given me a message this week on this topic about why
Christ died. Kind of what prompted it, I was
out and about and I saw a booklet that was entitled Why Jesus Died. I didn't pick it up and read
it. I shudder to think about what was in that booklet. And
I shudder because of what religion commonly has to say about the
subject, about the death of Christ. And the title of it just immediately
told me something. The title was not, why did the
Lord die? Why did the Lord Jesus Christ die? But why did Jesus
die? Which right off the bat shows
you a lack of reverence for the Lord, which always bleeds through
all of their theology. All of their theology just falls
flat on its face with no reverence for the kingship of Christ. Now,
all of us are going to be faced with this topic. some point or
another with people we know, people we talk to, we're going
to be faced with this topic, this question, why Christ died.
I can't do anything about the rest of the world, but I hope
that the Lord be pleased to teach this congregation and protect
us against the message of free will religion by being taught
what the Bible says. What does God say? Why Christ
died. And I have nine points this morning. I promise you I will be as brief
as possible. I discovered as I was preparing
for this message, if you would fully preach this subject, why
Christ died, I'd have to preach six or seven messages. Really,
I'd have to preach my entire life to cover the entire Bible. The way I went about this, I
just opened up my name's topical Bible and found the design of
Christ's death. There are pages of it. If you
want to read through them, there's pages and pages of excellent scripture
references. But I believe these nine points.
will give us a good view of the subject, the topic, why Christ
died. And we're not going to turn to
all these scripture references for time's sake. If you'd like,
you can jot them down and read them later. But here's my first
point. Why did Christ die? 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
somebody. He didn't die to get people to
feel sorry for him so that they might decide to accept him because
he's a pitiful character. He didn't die as an example to
try to get somebody that maybe someday they'll decide to accept
him as their savior. This is why Christ died, to fulfill
the eternal purpose of Almighty God and the salvation of his
elect. Acts 2 verse 23 says, him being
delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God. That's why you have taken him
by wicked hands and crucified and slain him, because when you
did so, he was delivered to your hands by the determinate counsel
and foreknowledge of God. It was God's eternal purpose
for him to be given into the hands of the Jews and the Romans.
Acts 4 verse 27, Roman 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 before
to be done. The death of Christ is not something
that happened because men had planned and planned and planned
and wanted to do it and were finally able to accomplish their
will. The death of Christ happened
on Calvary's cross because that is the eternal counsel of Almighty
God and it wouldn't have happened if it wasn't. Savior is described
in scripture as the lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
I'll tell you what that means. For the foundation of the world,
the father purposed to save a people through the sacrifice of his
son, his lamb, who would take away the sin of his people. That
was God's purpose in eternity. And Christ came in time to accomplish
everything he had purposed to do in eternity. From beginning
to end, salvation is of the Lord. And this is the beginning of
it. The salvation of God's people through the death of Christ is
the eternal purpose of God. That's why Christ died. Second,
look at John chapter 17. Christ died to glorify God in
all of his attributes. In John 17 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. Now, whatever it
is Christ did at Calvary glorified the father. Verse four says,
I have glorified thee on the earth. I finished the work which
thou gavest me to do. When Christ finished the work
the father gave him to do and he died as a sacrifice for sin,
he glorified God. all of his attributes. I know
how false religion, how they depict God. They depict God as
a sweet old grandpa that everybody wants this fella to be their
grandpa. He's just, he's always sweet, he's always smiling down
his grandbabies all the time, no matter what they do. Now,
that's good for a grandfather. That's the way I'm gonna be.
I promise you that. Gene, that's the way, I know
that, am I telling, that's right. That's not Almighty God. No. I know that so because that's
not how God describes himself and his word. God is love. Oh, he's love. But at the same
time, equal with his love is God's justice, his holiness and
his hatred of sin. And his love will never trump
his justice. Never. If you would see who God
really is, do you want to know what God's really like? Would
you really like to know? There's one place you can go
to find out. Calvary's Church. The character of God is best
seen at Calvary. You look at that scene. It's
a horrific scene. It's a bloody, awful scene. It's a scene that's filled with
wrath and hatred. Man's hatred of God. God's hatred
of sin. It's a scene that's filled with
judgment and justice. There must be suffering and death. At Calvary, you see untold suffering
and agonizing death. At the same time, that scene
is filled with love and mercy and grace and wisdom found in
that blood. You see the greatness of God's
justice one place, at Calvary. He spared not his own son when
his son was made sin, but he exacted all of his justice for
that sin from even his son. And at the same time, you see
the greatness of God's love at Calvary. God gave, he slaughtered
his only begotten son. He made his son be the sacrifice
for sin for the people he loves. That's how much he loves them.
In order to save those people, he gave his son to suffer justice
for them. At Calvary, we see the greatness of God's wrath
against sin. God's holy. Now, you cannot come
away from Calvary and not understand God's holy. He poured out His
unmitigated wrath upon His Son because His Son was made sin
for His people. God's holy. Whatever else God
does, He showed us this at Calvary. He will and He must punish sin
wherever it's found, even if it's found on His darling son.
God's wrath is seen at Calvary. And at the same time, at the
same time we see the greatness of God's wrath, we see the greatness
of God's mercy and His grace at Calvary. Just look what God
did to His son. Just look. Whatever it was he
did to his son, you know why he did it? So he could show mercy
to his people. Oh God so merciful and gracious. He sacrificed his son so he could
show mercy to his sons. Then at Calvary we see the greatness
of God's wisdom. You know, the whole question
of religion, no matter where you find it, whether it's some
nut job thing, whether it's, I mean, just whatever it is,
here is always the question. How can a man get right with
God? That's always the question. And
man's religion is always foolish. I mean, if you think about it
for any amount of time at all, man's religion is always foolish. But at Calvary, you see God's
wisdom. Oh, now I see how God found a
way to deliver his people from going down into the pit. He found
a ransom. He sent his son into the pit
for them. God provided a ransom that would satisfy his justice
and at the same time, satisfy his mercy, allow him to show
mercy to sinners. The wisdom of God is seen in
God sacrificing his son to satisfy his justice. so he could let
his people go free in justice. Salvation is accomplished in
justice. It's just that God lets you go
free if you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, because he died
to satisfy God's justice in Christ, in the sacrifice of his son.
God is both just. He stays just while he justifies
sinners. He's just and justifier in the
Lord Jesus Christ. You go on and on and on, you
preach a whole message on each of these points, but you get
the point. What I'm saying here is nothing
honors God more than the death of His Son that honors Him. You think about it. Like the
free willers tell us, if Christ died to make salvation possible,
my friend, God's a fool and God's a failure. If He died to make
salvation possible, God's a fool. because he's crucified his son
and sent people to hell anyway. If Christ died to make salvation
possible, then God's a failure because he sent a host of people
to hell already. But Christ died to save God's
elect. Then every attribute of God is
honored in the death of his son, because Christ saved everyone
for whom he died through his sacrifice. That's precisely why
Christ died. Thirdly, why did Christ die? Christ died for sin. That's a
short statement, but that's an enormous statement. Christ died
for sin. Now this is what I know. The
Lord Jesus Christ is the only holy man, the only righteous
man to ever live. So if he's holy, He cannot die. If he has no sin, he cannot die.
The only reason anybody dies is because of sin. So the only
way the father could have killed his son in justice is if he had
truly made his son guilty. When the father made his son
sin, he made him guilty of that sin. And Christ died for that
sin, for the sin of his people. When Christ died for his people,
he took their sin away from them. into His own body on the tree
and He made them righteous. He traded them their sin for
His righteousness. And then He died to put that
sin away forever. There's no sin left to the charge
of God's elect because Christ bore it all. Every last sin in
His body on the tree. There's no sin left to the charge
of God's elect. Listen to me carefully. An innocent man did not die.
In Calvary, a guilty man died. Because the Father made him guilty.
And all that guilt and all that sin has been put away. And God
let the innocent go free. Those that Christ made innocent
by His righteousness and His obedience for them. And their
salvation has satisfied the law. The law is not looking for them
anymore. There is no sin left for them. And this is not just
a New Testament doctrine. Isaiah told us about this. He
said, surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God and afflicted. He was wounded for our transgressions,
his bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him. And with his stripes, we are
healed, healed of all of our sins, sicknesses, Isaiah went
on in verse 11 of Isaiah 53. He said, he shall see the travail
of his soul. This is not going to be a death
to try to do anything. It's going to accomplish something.
He'll see the travail of his soul. There'll be no stillborn
children. He shall be satisfied by his justice. Shall my righteous
servant justify many for he shall bear their iniquities. He died
for sin. He died for the sin of his people
and put it away. When he came to this earth as
a man, he came strolling up one day while John the Baptist was
preaching. His disciples, John's disciples were around him. And
how did John the Baptist identify the Savior? He said, there he
is. Look at him, behold him. He's
the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. He's
going to take away the sin of his people by taking it into
his body and putting it away by his sacrifice. And after the
Apostle John, he was there, he heard that day. The Apostle John
was one of the disciples of John the Baptist. He heard that. John
saw the Lamb. He saw Christ. And you know what
he did? He left John the Baptist and started following Christ.
And he was with him through all of his earthly ministry, through
his sacrifice, through his resurrection. He saw him ascend back on high.
And at the end of all that, this is what the Apostle John had
to say about it. John 1, verse 7. He said, the
blood. of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses
us from all sin. All sin gone under the blood
of Christ. Now, we may think our sin is
really bad. I might think that my sin is
worse than this person's or usually what we think is that person's
sin is worse than mine. I don't care how bad you think
your sin is. I promise you this, it's worse than what we think. My brethren, find comfort in
this statement. Christ died for sin. The blood
of his sacrifice cleanses us from all sin. All. Then it's gone. It's gone. Look at 1 Peter chapter
3. It's gone. Now just rest in Him.
If you would have your sin put away, come to Christ. His blood
cleanses us from all sin and makes us the righteousness of
God in Him. 1 Peter 3 verse 18. Here's why Christ died. For Christ also has 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.
He died just for the unjust, that He would bring us to God.
I look over a few pages, 1 John chapter 3. Christ died to take
away the sin of His people. And here's why He could bear
it. Here's why He could pay for it. Because His blood is pure.
He had no sin of His own. 1 John 3 verse 5. And ye know, that he was manifested. Here's why Christ was manifested,
to take away our sins. And here's how he could do it.
In him is no sin. And in his people, after his
death, in his people is no sin, because his blood washed them
white as snow. Christ died for sin, to take
away the sin of his people. All right, fourth one. Christ
died to make peace between God and sinners. Contrary to what
man, our fallen minds think, God does not love everyone. I
know he doesn't because God said he doesn't love everyone. God
said he hates all workers of iniquity. God says he's angry
with the wicked every day. So God does not love everyone. God is holy and he will punish
sin. That's all of us, all of us.
So how is it? that God could not be angry with
us. How is it that God can be at peace with sinners like you
and me? That's why Christ died. Christ
came to make God not angry with his people anymore by taking
away the sin that makes God angry. In Christ, God's reconciled his
people because Christ took away every reason that God had to
be angry with his people. He took away all of their sin.
So in the sacrifice of Christ, God's reconciled. God's at peace. But now there's two sides to
this hatred. There's two sides to this thing. Unholy men hate
the holy God, too. All men by nature hate God. I know somebody's thinking, I
don't hate God. Well, I'll grant you, you don't hate the God of
your imagination. I'll grant you that. The one
God that you've made up. But when the God of this book
is declared, the carnal mind hates him. Hates him. Scripture
says the carnal mind is enmity against God. It's not subject
to the law of God. Neither indeed can it be. I can't
talk you into loving God. The natural mind cannot do it. Cannot. So if sinners are going
to bow to God, if sinners are going to be reconciled to God,
there's just one way it can happen. It's through Christ crucified.
Christ crucified satisfies God. God's reconciled. God's at peace.
And the same sacrifice of Christ reconciles the sinner to God.
Makes us at peace with God. Now I see the blood. And when
that blood's applied, I'm at peace with God. Colossians 1
verse 20. And having made peace. Peace
is not something... Somebody tries to tell you you
better make your peace with God. Don't do it. Now if somebody
tells you get your affairs in order, Get your will in order. Get things
taken care of for your family. That's not talking about anything
spiritual. You cannot make peace with God. There's one man who
did. And having made peace. This peace is already made. Having
made peace. How? Through the blood of his
cross. By him to reconcile all things
unto himself. By him I say, whether they be
things in heaven or things in earth. And even you. Even us
who are sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked
works. Yet now hath he reconciled. He's already done it. He hath
reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present
you his people, holy and unblameable and unapprovable. He took away
all the sin. He made peace between God and
sinners. All right. Fifthly, why did Christ
die? Christ died to redeem his people. Now the word redemption has a
couple different meanings in scripture. First, it means to
be set free. Remember when Israel was in bondage
in Egypt and they were crying to the Lord and the Lord told
Moses, the cries of my people have come up to my ears. I'm
going to send a deliverer to them. And when he set them free
from Egypt, God said they were redeemed. Exodus six, verse six,
this is what the Lord said. I'll bring you out from under
the burdens of the Egyptians. Now rid you out of their bondage
and I will redeem you. I'll set you free. I'll redeem
you with a stretched out arm and with great judgments. See,
God's elect are redeemed. They're set free from the bondage
of the law, from bondage to sin in Christ were redeemed by his
death set free. Second, the word redeemed needs
to buy back, and this is the way we typically think of the
word redeemed. It means to buy back. And we need to be bought
back. Because God's people have sold
themselves under sin. We've sold ourselves in slavery
to sin and to the law. And if those people would be
redeemed, if they'd be bought back and set free from the cruel
taskmaster of the law, the cruel taskmaster of sin, if they would
be redeemed from that, the proper price must be paid. You can't
just give a presidential pardon and let him go free without paying
the price of justice. No, the proper price must be
paid if they would go free. And that's why Christ died. That
in his death, he paid the proper price and redeemed his people. That's what Peter told us, 1
Peter 1, verse 18. You're not redeemed with corruptible
things like silver and gold from your vain conversation received
by tradition from your fathers, but how are you redeemed? precious
blood of Christ. That precious, sinless blood
of Christ paid the proper price of redemption. So the bill is
marked, paid in full. The proper price has been paid.
God's people are redeemed through the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And there's so many blessings we have from that. First, everyone
who's been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ will never die. Now, what is the curse of the
law? The curse of the law is death. The law says whoever breaks
the law must die. Death is the curse of the law.
Well, Christ died so that his people will never die. He redeemed
his people from that curse. Christ has redeemed us from the
curse of the law. How? Being made a curse for us. For it's written, cursed is everyone
that hangeth on a tree. Do you know why Christ died on
a cross? Why didn't the Jews stone him? Why didn't the Romans
just cut his head off? Why didn't they throw him off
a cliff? I mean, any of those things would have killed him.
It would have accomplished their purpose to cut his head off,
wouldn't it? You know why they didn't cut
his head off? That's not God's eternal purpose. Christ died
on a cross, and long before he died on a cross, God said whoever
dies on a cross is cursed. Christ died on a cross to show
his people, I bore all of your curse away. You never have to
fear the curse of the law if Christ died for you. because
he died as your substitute, so his people will never suffer
that. The substitute already paid you from that, redeemed
you from the curse. Second, look at Galatians chapter
1. I want you to turn to this one.
This is one you won't believe. I want you to see this for your
own self. Everyone who's been redeemed
by the blood of Christ is delivered from this world. Galatians 1
verse 3. Grace be to you and peace from
God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ who gave himself
for our sins. That, here's why Christ died,
that he might deliver us from this present evil world according
to the will of God and our Father. Now you think, I'm still in this
world. I'm controlled by this world.
This world seems to control everything I do. It affects everything I
do. Well, here's what it means to be delivered from this present
evil world. is to be delivered, first of
all, from the nature of this world, because God's given us
a new nature. Be delivered from this present
evil world, is to be delivered from having our citizenship in
this world, is to be delivered from suffering the final fate
of this world. Everyone who's been redeemed
has been given a new citizenship. They've been given a new destination.
We've been delivered from the power of darkness, and we've
been translated in the kingdom God's dear son, Colossians 1
verse 13. That's what it is. Christ died.
He might deliver his people from this present evil world. And
then third, everyone who's been redeemed serves a new master,
serves our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said in first Corinthians
six, verse 20, you're bought with the price. That's redemption.
You've been, you've been bought with the price. The proper full
price has been paid. Therefore, since Christ has redeemed
you with his precious blood, you glorify God. You serve God
in your body and your spirit with your gods. They both belong
to God because he purchased them with the blood of his dear son.
So you serve him. And you know what? Believers
will do just that. You don't have to beat and beg
and torture God's people to get them to serve God. They just
will. I'll show you that in Titus. verse two, or chapter two, excuse
me, Titus chapter two. Verse 14, who gave himself for us that
he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar
people, a purchase people, zealous of good works. Christ died so
that his people would be zealous of good works. Good works, not
two four letter words. God's people are zealous of good
works. Now, they don't look to their
works to save them. They don't look to their works
even as an evidence of their salvation. They look to Christ
for all of their salvation, but they're zealous of good works.
Out of love, out of thanksgiving, God's given them a new nature.
Christ died for them. Of course they want to serve
him. And I'll tell you this, a lot of people talk about good
works. The only people who are zealous
of good works are saved people. And by that I mean this, people
who are saved by sovereign grace. Sovereign grace people are the
only people zealous of good works. Now I know legalists, they seem
zealous of good works. They're always out there trying
to do all these good works to do enough to please God and get
into heaven, aren't they? But really, they're not zealous
of good works. Legalists are always looking
for a back door. They're always looking to do
the minimum. It was a lawyer, and I'm not
a lawyer trying cases, a religious lawyer, a Pharisee of God's law,
who asked the question, What's the greatest commandment? You
know why he asked that? So I can focus on that when I
ignore the rest of it. He's trying to do the bare minimum.
But someone who's been saved by sovereign grace, someone who's
been saved by the death of Christ, being sacrificed for their sin,
will be zealous of good works because they love the Savior.
Oh my. God's own son himself died, suffered
separation from his father. He died to put my sin away. How can I not love him? How can
I not serve him? How can I say, let somebody else
do it? How can I say that? No, Lord,
hear my sin me. Let me tell somebody else about
you. Let me serve you and your kingdom.
All because we've been redeemed by the blood of Christ, his death.
I look at Ephesians chapter 5. Here's the sixth thing. Christ
died to sanctify his people, to make them holy. Everyone for
whom Christ died is holy. Every one of them is a saint.
Ephesians 5 verse 25. Husbands, love your wives, even
as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. And
here's why he gave himself for it. Here's why Christ died that
he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water
by the word, that he might present it to himself, a glorious church,
not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should
be holy and without blemish. Christ died to make his people
holy by washing away all their sin in his blood and giving his
people a new holy nature in the new birth. Colossians 1 verse
13. But we're bound to give thanks
all the way to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
and belief of the truth, whereunto he called you by our gospel to
the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ
died to sanctify his people, sanctify them through the Spirit.
I'm telling you what, he got the job done. Remember I told
you, he didn't die to try to do anything. The writer to the
Hebrew says, for by one offering he hath perfected for ever them
that are sanctified. They're sanctified, they are
made holy. So you see our holiness is not
something that we do, is it? That we do to make ourselves
holy or make ourselves pure. If we're trying to make ourselves
holy, you know, a lot of people in false religion tell you, you
know, God saves you, he makes you righteous. And then you got
to keep yourself sanctified and holy the rest of the way. Well,
if you're trying to do that, if you tell me I've got to do
that, I'm going to ruin it every second. That doesn't do a sinner any
good. But a believer's holiness, their sanctification is in Christ
who died for us, that He might be made unto us our wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification and redemption. Look over Galatians chapter 4.
Here's the seventh thing. Christ died so that His people
would become sons and daughters of God. Now this is a blessing
only God can give, that he'd take a sinner, a sinner by birth,
a rebel by choice and by practice, and make that sinner one of his
sons and daughters. And he did it through the sacrifice
of his son. God would crucify his only begotten
son, that he might adopt a bunch of rebels into his family and
give them a seat at the king's table, just like David gave Mephibosheth
a seat. And God adopted those sons and
daughters. He made them true children of
God. We don't just have a legal piece
of paper that says, well, I mean, I know I am what I am, but I'm
a son of God. I'm a child of God. No, God's
children are children of God, both by nature and legally, because
God gives them his nature. Just like Savannah Grace has
the nature of her daddy. You have the nature of your daddy.
God's children have the nature of our father. We received it
just like Savannah received it from her daddy, physically. When
you're born, when you're conceived, you have the nature of your daddy.
When a child of God is conceived and born, they've got the nature
of their heavenly father. Born from holy seed, so that
we're children of God, born of his seed. Now what John told
us, John 1 verse 12, but as many as received him, To them gave
He power to become sons of God, even to them which believe on
His name, which were what? Born. They're born, not of blood,
nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man. They are born
of God, of His will, of His blood, of His purpose, of His grace,
of His power. They were born children of God. Christ died that His people would
become sons and daughters of God. Then eighth, Christ died. Why did He die? He died that
his people would never die, but they'd have eternal life. John
3, verse 14. As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the son of man be lifted up.
Whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal
life. For God so loved the world that
he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. You know, our Lord used
the Old Testament scriptures to teach Nicodemus something
here, to teach us something as we are able, by God's Word, to
listen in to his conversation with Nicodemus. What's he talking
about the serpent in the wilderness? Well, you know the story. The
children of Israel and their rebellion against God, he sent
those fiery serpents to bite the people. Whoever was bitten
by those serpents would die. Fiery serpents. That disease
is coursing through their body. But God told Moses, you make
a serpent of brass. Make it look just like these
fiery serpents that are biting the people, but make it a brass.
Oh, it looks like them, but it's made of brass. There's no venom
in it. It's perfect. Make it a brass
and put it on a pole. Moses, you tell the people, look,
look, whoever looks to that serpent lifted up will live instantly,
be healed of their disease. You know, three million people
came out of Egypt. Maybe more, maybe it's three
million. A whole boatload of people came out of Egypt. A bunch
of animals. They're going through the wilderness. They're spread
out a great big long way. You imagine a city of three million
people. Well, you're not going to see
a fella standing at the other end of the city holding that thing up,
are you? It's not the serpent of brass that saved. It's the
look of faith. I know I've done a mighty poor
job of it. But I try to lift up to your eyes every Sunday,
every Wednesday, Christ crucified. You might be like one of those
poor old children of Israel. They've been bitten. They were
bitten a long time. Maybe they were the first ones
bitten. That disease is coursing through their body. Their body's
wracked with pain. Their eyes are swelled shut.
They've gone blind. They can't look. They can't see
anything. They can't move their head. But
if they looked. They were healed. I know what it is. I know what
it is to sit there in a pew and think I can't see. I'm trying
to see and I can't see if I could just see. Lord did not tell Moses
to see and live, did he? He said, look. Seen may have
been coursing through your body a long time. You can't see and
you can't move and you can't do anything good. But if you
look to the Lord Jesus Christ. Look and live eternal life is
in Christ. If you have eternal life, look
to him. He died to purchase it for his
people. Now last look back in our text Romans Chapter 14. Why
did Christ die? Christ died that He would be
Lord of all. For to this end Christ both died and rose and
revived that He might be Lord both of the dead and the living. Now Christ is Lord of all because
He's God. He's Lord of all. Christ is Lord
over everything and everyone whether they know it or not. Jesus Christ is your Lord. Whether
you know it or not, He's your Lord. He gives you life, He gives
you breath, He gives you food, He gives you shelter, and you
answer to Him. He's the Lord. Going back to
the start of the message, that's my problem with that book. Why
did Jesus die? Well, you left out something
awful important. Yes, He's the man Jesus, but He's Lord first. He's the God-man. He is your
Lord. Christ is the Lord of the dead,
of unbelievers. He's the Lord of living people,
spiritually living people, too. And he uses both of them to accomplish
his will. He uses believers to serve the
Lord and do what they do because they love him. They're thankful.
It's his will that they do it. They do it by his power. And
unbelievers do what they do serving the Lord to accomplish his purpose,
not theirs. And the preeminent example of
that is the cross. Calvary did not accomplish man's
will in one way, did it? It failed to accomplish man's
purpose in every single way. But it accomplished God's purpose.
God uses even the wicked to accomplish his purpose. But I tell you what
this is primarily talking about. It's talking about Christ. This
is why he died. To be Lord over all of his people. And that word Lord means ruler,
life giver. Christ is the Lord of the spiritually
living. They live because He gave them
life. They believe on Him because He
gave them faith. They rest in Him and bow to Him
because He's given them a sight of Him. And that's who we're
preaching to. Oh, we're preaching to people
that know Him. But your heart might be strengthened and comforted.
Here's that second reason we preach. Christ is the Lord of
the dead, too. I can't make you live. If I could,
I'd just take a hammer and pound it into your head, but I cannot
do it. I know who can. Christ died that
he'd be the Lord of the dead, that he would give them spiritual
life. Since Christ died, he said the
Father has given him power over all flesh to give eternal life
to as many as the Father gave to him. And I tell you how he
gives them life. It's how He gives them faith.
It's when they hear Christ preached. Now, they may hear Him preached
hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of times. I'm proof positive. You can hear the gospel a lot
of times. More times than you can count and not believe it.
But one day you hear. One day you believe. One day
you've been trying to see and you can't. And one day you look
and you see. And you don't know what happened. How'd that happen?
You've been trying, and trying, and trying, and trying, and trying
to make yourself believe, and you can't, and one day you believe,
and you can't not believe. What happened? The Lord Jesus
Christ is the Lord of the dead. He gave life where there was
none before. And He does it through the preaching of the gospel.
By somebody saying, look and live, and the moment they look,
they'll never die again. That's why Christ died. Oh, may
God be pleased to give us faith in Him. Now, you gathered from
coming in here this morning, seeing the spread of food out
there. We're getting ready to have a dinner, and I hope all of you all will
stay and enjoy a time of fellowship together as we celebrate Lindsey
and Ben's birthday. Now, they turn 10. We celebrate
our, in case you don't know, we serve zero birthdays, or celebrate
zero birthdays here. They turn 10 in December, but
nobody told me. I told Lindsey, next time you
turn 10, you tell me. She kind of, I don't know, looking,
I don't know about you. When you turn 20, don't let it
slip by, okay? But we got it finally. We're
going to celebrate their birthday. So the men are going to set up
some tables and everybody watch Lindsay and Ben. They're going
to go through line first. And when they start through,
then everybody else goes through and enjoy some good food and
time of fellowship together, okay? Let's bow together in prayer. Our Father, Lord, we're so humbled by Your
Word. to think that you'd send your
own darling son to die for sinful wretches and rebels such as we
are. Father, how we thank you. How we thank you for your mercy
and your grace and your love and your wisdom displayed in
the death of our Lord Jesus Christ that saves your people from all
of their sin. Father, we're thankful. Father,
I pray you bless your word as it's been preached this morning.
Bless it to your glory. Cause it to get much glory. to
the name of Christ our Savior. Cause it to take root in the
hearts of your people, that we'd be comforted and strengthened,
knowing that while we are still in this world, we're been redeemed
by the blood of the Lamb. We're not citizens of this world
anymore, but citizens of a better country, a heavenly, that we're
on our way home. Father, cause your gospel preach
to encourage our hearts, to serve you, to witness, to preach the
gospel, to support the gospel, to cause us to, by your mercy,
by your grace, to be able to serve, serve you and your kingdom. Father, cause your word to call
out your sheep. Cause it to give life. This morning,
Father, I pray you'd cause your gospel to give life to one of
your sheep, to call them to Christ, to cause them to look and live. Father, we thank you for all
the blessings that you've given to us. We thank you for this
food that we're about to eat, the fellowship that we're about
to enjoy. Father, we pray that you'd bless
it. We do thank you, Father, for this occasion that we celebrate
Lindsay and Bean. Father, how we thank you for
them. We thank you that you've given them to us for this time. Because of this, Father, be faithful
to them, to teach them, to give them a place where they can always
come and hear of the Savior, Father, I pray that you'd bless
them both in every way, that you'd watch over them, that you'd
protect them, that you'd give them ready minds to learn the
things that they're to learn. And above all, Father, now we
beg mercy for their souls. We are so thankful that we can
come and beg mercy before the God of all mercy and all grace,
knowing the good through all things. Bless us, Father. We
thank you again. It's in Christ's precious name we pray and give
thanks.