Why the Cross?
This coming week, we, and all believers in Christ, will remember the Lord's death, burial, and resurrection. So, this Sunday, I will be teaching on "Why the Cross?", and next Sunday, on "Why the Resurrection?" So, why the cross? Because
Romans 3:23 says, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." We have offended a Holy God. Our God is infinite and our offense is equally infinite in its magnitude. So man has this problem, a guilt problem. All religions, philosophies, and beliefs try to deal with this problem of guilt apart from God's provision. The objective of all these methods is to spare man from having to humble himself before God, confess his sins, and accept what God has provided. A survey last year found that 76% of Americans believe God accepts all and any form of worship. That is nonsensical which is why their form of worship cannot appease the standard of righteousness for a Holy God.
However, while man tries to deal with his sin debt in exhausting and ineffective, and sometimes destructive, ways, God sent His Son into the world that the world through Him might be saved (1 John 3:17). What happened on the cross was a legal transaction; we trade the guilt and shame of sin for redemption and justification through His blood atonement. That is what it means that He is our propitiation or "sacrifice of atonement" (Romans 3:25). Atonement simply means to right the wrong.
Our sin violates God's Law. God's holiness demands justice. Think of all the evil committed throughout the history of man; would God be righteous to simply forget about it? That is why an atonement had to be made. Because man could not pay the infinite debt of sin, God, dealing graciously with us, paid the debt Himself.
This is why believers since the start of the Church have insisted on the "Penal Substitution" model for Atonement (Christ's death on the cross). This means that Christ did not die on the cross to pay a ransom to the devil, which would make the devil more powerful than God. Christ did not die on the cross because we offended God's honor and Christ satisfied God's honor. Nor did Christ die on the cross merely to provide an example of sacrifice for us to follow.
Religion provides an exhausting treadmill of continual struggle to gain God's acceptance in a never-ending cycle of uncertainty, fear, and doubt without hope and the assurance of salvation. But the cross provides eternal life, complete forgiveness, a blessed hope, and the confidence of being in the family of God.
Have you put your trust in the complete work of the Lord on the cross or are you still striving for God's acceptance on the treadmill of religion? Remember, "It is finished" (John 19:30).
-Pastor Stephen
- Although God is Holy;
- And we are all sinners;
- Yet God is Love.
Romans 3:23 says, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." We have offended a Holy God. Our God is infinite and our offense is equally infinite in its magnitude. So man has this problem, a guilt problem. All religions, philosophies, and beliefs try to deal with this problem of guilt apart from God's provision. The objective of all these methods is to spare man from having to humble himself before God, confess his sins, and accept what God has provided. A survey last year found that 76% of Americans believe God accepts all and any form of worship. That is nonsensical which is why their form of worship cannot appease the standard of righteousness for a Holy God.
However, while man tries to deal with his sin debt in exhausting and ineffective, and sometimes destructive, ways, God sent His Son into the world that the world through Him might be saved (1 John 3:17). What happened on the cross was a legal transaction; we trade the guilt and shame of sin for redemption and justification through His blood atonement. That is what it means that He is our propitiation or "sacrifice of atonement" (Romans 3:25). Atonement simply means to right the wrong.
Our sin violates God's Law. God's holiness demands justice. Think of all the evil committed throughout the history of man; would God be righteous to simply forget about it? That is why an atonement had to be made. Because man could not pay the infinite debt of sin, God, dealing graciously with us, paid the debt Himself.
This is why believers since the start of the Church have insisted on the "Penal Substitution" model for Atonement (Christ's death on the cross). This means that Christ did not die on the cross to pay a ransom to the devil, which would make the devil more powerful than God. Christ did not die on the cross because we offended God's honor and Christ satisfied God's honor. Nor did Christ die on the cross merely to provide an example of sacrifice for us to follow.
Religion provides an exhausting treadmill of continual struggle to gain God's acceptance in a never-ending cycle of uncertainty, fear, and doubt without hope and the assurance of salvation. But the cross provides eternal life, complete forgiveness, a blessed hope, and the confidence of being in the family of God.
Have you put your trust in the complete work of the Lord on the cross or are you still striving for God's acceptance on the treadmill of religion? Remember, "It is finished" (John 19:30).
No, it was not the Jews who crucified,
Nor who betrayed you in the judgment place,
Nor who, Lord Jesus, spat into your face,
Nor who with buffets struck you as you died.
No, it was not the soldiers fisted bold
Who lifted up the hammer and the nail,
Or raised the cursed cross on Calvary’s hill,
Or, gambling, tossed the dice to win your robe.
I am the one, O Lord, who brought you there,
I am the heavy cross you had to bear,
I am the rope that bound you to the tree,
The whip, the nail, the hammer, and the spear,
The blood-stained crown of thorns you had to wear:
It was my sin, alas, it was for me.
by Jacob Revius, “He Bore Our Griefs”
-Pastor Stephen
Posted in Theology
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