Why Did Christ Have to Die On the Cross?

Q: What does the Bible say about the necessity of Christ's death on the cross?

The Bible states that Christ died on the cross as a substitute for our sins, fulfilling God's justice while demonstrating His mercy (1 Peter 3:18). The necessity of Christ's death on the cross is grounded in the Bible's revelation of God's nature and humanity's sinfulness. As stated in 1 Peter 3:18, Christ suffered 'the just for the unjust' to bring us to God. This underscores the need for a substitutionary sacrifice that satisfies God's justice while making way for His mercy. It was an intentional act, predetermined by God, to address the requirement that the soul that sins must die (Ezekiel 18:4). In Christ's death, God achieves a harmonious balance between His holiness and His love, demonstrating that He can be just while justifying the ungodly (Romans 3:26).

Q: How do we know that Christ's atonement is sufficient for our sins?

We know Christ's atonement is sufficient because He bore our sins and satisfied God's justice, allowing forgiveness for all who believe (2 Corinthians 5:21). The sufficiency of Christ's atonement lies in the biblical assertion that He took our place and bore the penalty for our sins. As articulated in 2 Corinthians 5:21, 'He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.' This profound exchange reveals that Christ's death not only paid the debt we owe but also fulfilled the requirements of divine justice, allowing God to remain just while offering forgiveness. The gospel emphasizes that belief in Christ's redemptive work is essential for salvation, confirming the completeness of His sacrifice (Hebrews 10:14).

Q: Why is Christ's death on the cross important for Christians?

Christ's death is vital for Christians as it secures our redemption and ensures that God's justice and mercy are fulfilled (Galatians 3:13). The significance of Christ's death on the cross for Christians cannot be overstated. It represents the ultimate act of love and sacrifice, where Jesus took upon Himself the penalty for our sins, thus fulfilling the law's demands. Galatians 3:13 states, 'Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us.' This act of substitution allows believers to be reconciled to God, as His holiness and justice are satisfied through Christ's sacrifice. Furthermore, it underscores the assurance of salvation for those who believe, marking the foundation of Christian faith and hope for eternal life (John 3:16).

I want you to open your Bibles
with me to the book of 1 Peter. 1 Peter chapter 3 verse 18. Now my subject today is why did
Jesus Christ have to die on the cross? Now we read in the Bible, we
hear preachers preach about it, people talk about it. Jesus Christ
died on the cross. He suffered an ignominious, painful,
terrible death on that cross. And my question today is why
did Jesus Christ have to die on the cross? And here in 1 Peter
3.18 it says, For Christ also hath once suffered for sins,
the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God." Now,
that's a key. He suffered the just for the
unjust, that he might bring us to God. Being put to death in
the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit. Now, in introducing this
message, I want us to look at some things clearly revealed
in God's word, very positively and clearly reveal, the first
of which is this. Now, if you want to jot these
down, you may do so. I'll give them to you very slowly
and clearly. Here's the first thing that we
know beyond a shadow of a doubt. This is clearly revealed in God's
Word. That is, our God is eternal,
and our God is almighty. The scripture says, from everlasting
to everlasting thou art God. And the Lord God said in Isaiah
46. Now, there are two chapters in Isaiah that you need to read
in reference to God's eternality and God's sovereignty. And that's
Isaiah 45 and 46. And he says in Isaiah 45, first
of all, he says, I am the Lord. And there's none else. There's
no God beside me. I form the light. I create darkness. I make peace. I create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things. God is almighty. By him, in him,
all things exist. And then in Isaiah 46, he says,
my counsel shall stand. I will do all my pleasure. I
have spoken it. I will bring it to pass. I have
purposed it. I will do it. Now, it won't help
our situation any to compromise the character of God. The scripture
says, let God be God. And every man a liar. Whatever
your thoughts or opinion concerning God may be, let it be a lie.
if it compromises the character of God. It's not going to help
us. It's not going to improve our situation to compromise the
character of God. So let this be established from
the scriptures. It's like Nebuchadnezzar the
king said when he came to his senses. He said, The most high
ruleth in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth and giveth it to whomsoever he will. God is eternal from
everlasting to everlasting. and God is almighty. Secondly,
our God is not only eternal and almighty, but our God is holy. God is holy. Holy and reverend
is his name. The chief attribute of the living
God is his holiness. The scripture says God is in
his holy temple. He commands his holy angels. he dwelleth in the holy of holies
between the cherubims on the mercy seat. And when Isaiah saw
the Lord, he said the seraphims around the throne of God cried,
holy, holy, holy, Lord, God of hosts. And the chief priest of
Israel, who came into the presence of the Lord on the day of atonement
with a blood sacrifice, came in with this inscription across
His forehead, holiness to the Lord. Our God is holy and He
dwells in a light to which no man can approach. Do you see
that? Now these are things that we
know. These are things that are clearly revealed and established
in the Word of God. Our God is eternal. Our God is
almighty. And secondly, our God is holy. Holy and reverent is His name.
The holiness of God is indescribable. The holiness of God is incomprehensible. The holiness of God by man is
unapproachable. Who can stand in his holy presence? He that hath clean hands and
a pure heart, who has never lifted up his soul to vanity, and never
spoken deceitfully. God is holy. All right, thirdly,
these things we know. We are sinners. Do you have any
doubt about that? If you have any doubt about that,
look into the Word of God. If you have any doubt about your
sinnerhood, look into your own heart. If you have any doubt
about this truth, look at the character of God. When Isaiah
saw the character of God, the holiness of God, he cried, I'm
undone, I'm cut off. When Daniel saw the holiness
of God, he said, my comeliness melted into corruption. When
Job saw the holiness of God, he said, I abhor myself. I repent in sackcloth and ashes. We are sinners. We're sinners
in Adam. In Adam all die. By one man,
sin entered this world, and death by sin. So death passed upon
all men. We're sinners not only in Adam,
but we're sinners by birth. David cried, in sin my mother
conceived me. I was shapen in iniquity. I was
brought forth from the womb speaking lies. We're sinners by birth
and we're sinners all of us for all have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. God said in Psalm 14 that he
looked down from heaven to see if there were any that did understand.
He said they're all gone out of the way. They're all together
become filthy and the word is stinking. There's none good,
no not one. There's none righteous, no not
one. There's none that understand
it, there's none that seeketh after God. In fact, the Lord
God said, every imagination of man's heart is only evil continually. And this sinfulness is a nature.
It's not just a deed, it's not just an action, it's a nature.
And it's a nature from which all our actions flow. We do what
we do because we are what we are. We aren't what we are because
we do what we do. We do what we do because we are
what we are. We're sinners. And in the flesh,
no man can please a holy God. In the flesh, well, that's no
good thing. Man at his best state is altogether
vanity. Now that's the truth. That's
what the Word of God declares. If you're still with me, let's
go to the fourth thing. Now this is clearly revealed
in the Word of God. Our God is holy, our God is eternal,
our God is almighty, and we're sinners. Now here's the fourth
thing. This nature of sin with which we are born, this nature
of sin with which we are plagued, this nature of sin that dwells
within us, a principle of evil, that makes it much easier to
do evil than to do good, to think evil than to think good, this
nature of sin, listen to me, is impossible to change. I care
not what any man may say. It's impossible to change. Jeremiah
the prophet said that. He said can the black man change
his skin? Can the leopard change his spots? Neither can you do good who are
accustomed to doing evil. Paul said that. He said the carnal
mind, the natural mind is enmity. against God, it is not subject
to the law of God. Listen, neither indeed can it
be. Neither indeed can it be. John
5.40, our Lord said that, you will not come to me that you
might have life. Let another come in his own name,
he said, and him you will receive. I have come in my Father's name,
and you receive me not. It's cannot and will not. The
carnal man The principle of sin, this body of sin, this nature
of sin is impossible to change. It cannot change and it will
not change. This is the condemnation. That
light is coming to this world. And men love darkness rather
than light because their deeds are evil. And the prophet said
your sins have separated you and your God. It's your sins
that have separated you and God. And that sinful nature is impossible
to change. One day the disciples asked the
Lord, they said, well, who then can be saved? He said, with men,
it's impossible. With men, it's impossible. All right, here's the fifth thing.
Now, here's the good news. Here's the good news. Almighty
God is not only holy, just, and righteous, but God is love. God is love, that's what the
scripture says. It doesn't say God is a God of
love, it says God is love. Just as God is holy, just as
God is righteous, God is love and God is merciful. One day
Moses said to the Lord, Lord show me your glory. Show me your
glory, your chief glory, your greatest glory. Show me your
glory. Now Moses had seen a lot of things. He'd seen the plague in Egypt,
he'd seen the divided sea, he'd seen the manna on the ground
in the morning, he'd seen the smitten rock, he'd seen all these
things. But he knew in his heart he had
not seen the chief glory of God. And this is what he asked, Lord,
show me your chief glory. This is found in Exodus 33, 18
and 19. And the Lord replied, I will cause my goodness to pass
before thee." God's goodness is his glory. He said, I will
be merciful to whom I will be merciful. I will be gracious
to whom I will be gracious. That's my glory. In Exodus 34,
in the very next chapter, he said the Lord God, proclaiming
the name of the Lord God, merciful and gracious, yes, holy and righteous. but merciful and gracious, the
Lord God, long-suffering and abundant in goodness, abundant
in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving
iniquity, forgiving transgression and sin, but who will by no means
clear the guilty. What are you saying, preacher?
I'm saying God is love. God is merciful, God is gracious. You know, David said in Psalm
130, if thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquity, who shall stand? Will you? Will I? If God should
charge and mark and hold accountable every sin, every stain, every
transgression, who's going to stand? Who shall stand? But David didn't stop there.
He said, but, but, There is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be
feared. In other words, God is merciful,
God is love. And God's love, like God's holiness,
must be expressed. God's love and mercy, like his
truth and justice, must be expressed. It must be revealed. God must,
must be merciful. And God will be. He has determined
and decreed and designed to have a people, populate heaven in
happiness and glory, a people like his dear son. Now then,
but, he said, did you notice that last line? He said, I proclaim
the name of the Lord God, the Lord God merciful and gracious,
long-suffering and abundant in goodness, the Lord God keeping
mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and sin, but who will
by no means clear the guilty. But you say, I'm guilty. So am
I. And so is every other son of
Adam. Every human being is guilty. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. What the law saith, it saith
to them who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped,
and all the world become guilty before God. God will by no means
clear the guilty. All right. If God will forgive
sin, and God will pardon the guilty, then this pardon and
this mercy must be done, it must be accomplished in a way consistent
with his holiness, and that's the sixth thing that we know
beyond a shadow of a doubt. If God shows his love, it will
be a holy love. If God reveals mercy, it will
be mercy in agreement with holiness. If God is gracious, It will be
grace revealed consistent with his righteousness. It must be. This is what gave birth to the
gospel. This is not complicated, it's just so. This is what gave
birth to the gospel. This is the good news of the
gospel. This is what Moses wrote about. Our Lord said, Moses wrote
of me. And this is what Moses wrote
about. This gospel of redemption. This gospel of salvation. according to the righteousness
and holiness of God. This is what Abraham saw. This
is what made him glad. This is what the angels sang
about at Bethlehem when they said, we bring you good tidings
of great joy which shall be to all people under you is born
this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord. And this is what the Bible is
all about, how God can be just and yet justify the ungodly. How God can be righteous and
true and yet show his mercy and love and forgiveness to sinners.
He sent his son into the world. Now stay with me and listen carefully.
In the fullness of time, in God's own time, in the fullness of
God's grand design, which was purposed from all eternity, God
doesn't change. He's the same yesterday, today,
and forever. What God does today, he's always done. What God decrees
today, he's always decreed. He does not change. He never
learns anything or forgets anything. Almighty God, in the fullness
of time, when it pleased God, he sent his Son, Jesus Christ,
his eternal Son, into the world, born of a virgin. He said, I'll
give you a sign. Isaiah 7, 14. The Lord himself
will give you a sign. A virgin shall be with child.
And she shall bring forth a son, and call his name Immanuel, God
with us. He said in Isaiah 9, 6, unto
us a child is born, a son is given. That child is born, but
that son, eternal, only begotten, well beloved, son of God, who
inhabited that body of the virgin's child, is given. And his name
shall be called Wonderful. The government shall be upon
his shoulders. His name shall be called Counselor.
The mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace,
He came into this world to save sinners, Paul said, of whom I'm
chief. And that's a faithful saying, and it's worthy of acceptation
by all men. And He was made flesh, John said,
and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory. And He perfectly obeyed
God's law. He was tempted in all points
as we are, yet never did He sin. And He died. This is the thing
we're talking about. He died on a cruel cross, and
it wasn't an accident. It pleased God to bruise him.
It wasn't an accident. It pleased God to bruise him.
He was smitten of God and afflicted. And when Peter talked about his
death on the cross on the Pentecost, during that great sermon, he
said, you with wicked hands crucified the Lord of glory, but you did
what God determined before to be done. God is the first cause
of all things. He was smitten of God. He said,
no man takes my life from me. I lay it down. I have the power
to lay it down or take it up. But he died. God not only permitted
his death, he decreed it. God not only permitted men to
crucify his son, but he was smitten of God and afflicted, carrying
out the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, and he
died. And he was taken down from that
cross and buried in a tomb, and he arose and ascended to glory
where he is seated at the right hand of God. And that's the message
of the gospel. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. He that believeth on the Son
hath life, he that believeth not the Son of God shall never
see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him." This is the
record that God has given us eternal life, and this life is
in his Son. And he that hath the Son of God
hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God shall never see
life. And there's none other name unto heaven given among
men whereby we must be saved. So this is a fact, this is true,
this is according to the Word of God. Christ the Lord, Christ
the Son of God came to this earth and became a man. Now the question
rises. Why was it necessary for him
to become a man? Why was it necessary for him
to live a perfect life on this earth? Why was it necessary for
him to die on a cross? Why is Jesus Christ and his death
on that cross the only way for sinners to come to God? There's
no question that's what the Word of God says. I am the way, the
truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father but
by me. None are the name unto heaven
given among men. Of the foundation can no man
lay that is laid. I'm the door, by me if any man
enter in. Why is all of this necessary?
Well, I'll answer it. in a twofold manner. Number one,
the answer is set forth clearly in the Word of God. The Word
of God says this in Isaiah 45, God declares, before he said,
look unto me and be ye saved, we're all familiar with that
scripture. Before he said that, he declared, I am a just God
and a Savior. I am both. I am just and I am
a Savior. I am holy and I am merciful. I am righteous and I am loved,
both. How can you be both? He said
in Romans chapter 3, he sent forth Christ, Jesus, to be a
propitiation, a mercy seat, a sin offering, a covering for sin,
that God may be just and the justifier of those who believe
on Christ. In our text, he suffered the
just for the unjust that he might bring us to God. And 2 Corinthians
5.21 says this, Christ who knew no sin was made sin for us in
order that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Galatians 3.13 says this, Christ
hath redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse
for us. In other words, all of these
verses of scripture saying this, in order for God to be just,
holy and righteous, and yet show his mercy, grace and love, our
debt had to be paid. His law had to be honored. His
justice had to be satisfied. And a sinner a man had to die. And that law being honored and
satisfied, and that man dying honored the law and satisfied
the justice of God. In other words, learn two words.
Substitution, Christ took our place. Satisfaction, he honored
the law, satisfied God's justice. Now here's an illustration. The
second way I want to deal with In the days of Daniel, you know
most people think about Daniel in the lion's den, that's all
they know about it. But there was a great king named
Darius. And he had three presidents over
his kingdom, of which Daniel was one. And 120 princes. And these other men were jealous
of Daniel, because he was the favorite of the king. And so
they came to the king one day, they came up with this plan.
They said, let's go to the king. And let's make this proposal
that if any man pray to any God or ask a petition of any man
other than the king for 30 days, throw him in the lion's den.
And so they went to the king and they said, we want to honor
you, oh king. They said, here's what we want you to do. We want
you to sign a decree, sign a law that if any man or woman prays
to any God, or ask a petition of any man except you for 30
days, we'll throw him in the lion's den." The king said, that's
a good petition, that's a good way to honor me, so he signed
the law, the law of the Medes and Persians, which could not
be changed. Well, they knew that Daniel would
pray, they went down to his house and he was praying. So they brought
him before the king and they said, Oh, King Daniel's already
violated the decree and he can't be changed. It's a law and it
can't be changed. You got to throw him in the lion's
den. Well, the king was angry with himself, upset with himself,
and he walked the floor all night, but he couldn't figure out a
way to deliver Daniel. So he came to him and he said, Daniel,
that's the law. I signed it. Can't be changed.
You'll have to be thrown in the lion's den. And I hope your God
will deliver you. So he took Daniel and threw him
in the lion's den, and you know God did deliver him. But here's
the point I'm making. King Darius' law could not be
changed. It was an unalterable, unchangeable
law, signed by the king. And when a man violated it, he
had to suffer the just punishment. Let me tell you this. The laws
of the God of heaven, because of his holiness and justice and
righteousness, cannot be changed. They cannot be altered. They're
eternal. And the soul that sinneth, it'll
die. The wages of sin is death. And so you and I have sinned.
We've broken God's law. We're guilty. We've got to die.
The law says we're guilty. And the curse of the law is upon
us and the judgment of God is upon us. What are we going to
do? Be cast into hell, into the lion's den of eternity? Oh no. Christ came down here. The innocent
for the guilty. The just for the unjust. Our
Lord Jesus Christ became a man. And he did what we couldn't do.
He honored God's law. He obeyed God's law. He kept
God's law. He did what we couldn't do. The
law said we must die. He went to the cross and died.
He paid the debt. He satisfied God's justice and
satisfied God's law. He didn't die as a reformer.
He didn't die as a martyr. He didn't die as an example.
He died as a substitute. And now God can set us free.
If King Darius had found a substitute, he could have set Daniel free.
But no substitute was found. The guilty had to die. And the
reason Christ could die for us is he was numbered with the transgressors. He actually bore our guilt and
bore our sins and paid for them. And now God can forgive us, pardon
us, and set us free because Christ paid the debt. honor, justice,
satisfy the law, and God can be just and justify you. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why he had to die on the
cross, in order that God may be just and justify you and make

Why Did Christ Have to Die On the Cross?

What does the Bible say about the necessity of Christ's death on the cross?

How do we know that Christ's atonement is sufficient for our sins?

Why is Christ's death on the cross important for Christians?

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Why Did Christ Have to Die On the Cross?

What does the Bible say about the necessity of Christ's death on the cross?

How do we know that Christ's atonement is sufficient for our sins?

Why is Christ's death on the cross important for Christians?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

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