Did Jesus really have to die?

by | Apr 24, 2020 | Faith Builders

JESUS WAS SINLESS AND DIED FOR SINNERS!

OUR DILEMMA – JESUS WAS SINLESS AND DIED FOR SINNERS. (Or He didn’t)

“How could one man’s death bring forgiveness of our sin?“

I. WHY DID JESUS NEED TO DIE TO ENABLE US TO BE FORGIVEN BY GOD?

  1. The IMMEDIATE reasons for the cross:
    1. Judas betrayed Him.
    2. The Jews were envious of Him. He was drawing large crowds; He claimed to be the Messiah and proved it by His miracles. (Matthew 27:15-18) “Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to releasing to the multitude one prisoner whom they wished.  And they had then a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. Therefore, when they had gathered together, Pilate said to them, ‘Whom do you want me to release to you? Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?’ For he knew because of envy they had delivered him “.
  2. The ETERNAL reasons:
    1. There are more significant reasons, however, why Jesus died on Calvary’s cross. They include the following.
    2. Jesus’ Death Was Necessary
      1. Because the wages of sin is death (ROMANS 6:23).The God sent His Son. (JOHN 3:14) “And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up”.
      2. Scripture says Christ’s death was part of God’s eternal purpose. (HEBREWS 10:7-10) “Then I said, ‘Here I am – it is written about me in the scroll – I have come to do your will, O God.’” First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them” (although the law required them to be made). Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all”.
      3. The first human couple made a free choice to distrust God and to disobey him. This resulted in sin, and sin resulted in the couple’s separation from a perfect, Holy God that brought about physical and spiritual death.
      4. “When Adam sinned,” the Scripture says, “sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone for everyone sinned.” (ROMANS 5:12)
      5. The Bible says we have all sinned (ROMANS 3:23) and are in need of forgiveness.
      6. God is a relational God who is by nature perfectly Holy (ISAIAH 54:5) and (REVELATION 4:8) and absolutely just (REVELATION 16:5). Scripture says, “He is the Rock; his deeds are perfect. Everything he does is just and fair”. (DEUTERONOMY 32:4) Doing holy and just things isn’t something God decides to do, it is something He is. He, by nature, is holy and just.
      7. God is perfectly holy by nature and he can neither sin nor be in relationship with sin. The Bible says of him, “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrongdoing”. (HABAKKUK 1:13) So God is a pure and holy God that never does wrong, and that is a very good thing.
      8. God is also just. “The Lord is just” the Bible says “He is my rock! There is no evil in him” (PSALM 92:15). “All his acts are just and true” (DANIEL 4:37). It is this just and holy God who recognizes evil for what it is and demands that sin be either eternally separated from him or paid for in a manner that absolves the guilt of it.
      9. The nature of God and the sin of man created a dilemma that man cannot solve because the sinfulness of man made it impossible for him to perform some kind of penance to achieve forgiveness and satisfy God’s holiness and justice.
      10. The Bible says, “When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners”. (ROMANS 5:6)
      11. No amount of good deeds on our part is acceptable to God, because we are dead to Him.
        1. “That is why only Jesus death would do; He was the sinless, spotless Lamb of God”. (1 PETER 1:19)
        2. And when we place our faith in him “to take away our sins God in his gracious kindness (grace) declares us not guilty”. (ROMANS 3:22-24)
        3. “For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ”. (2 CORINTHIANS 5:21)
  3. Jesus Paid the Penalty for Sin
    1. Though Jesus never sinned (1 PETER 2:22), He bore our sins in His body on the cross (1 PETER 2:24), and died in our place. Instead of God making us pay for our sins, He did it Himself by becoming one of us. The Bible makes it clear that the death of Christ was necessary.
    2. The death of Christ was the payment for sin-the ransom paid to God to satisfy His holy demands. The Bible pictures humans as sinners who had rebelled against God. Christ’s death on the cross paid the penalty for the sin of humankind. Jesus died in our place as our substitute, receiving the punishment that was due us.
    3. The Bible says. (ROMANS 4:25)“Jesus Christ was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification”.
    4. The writer to the Hebrews declared (HEBREWS 9:28) “So Christ was offered once to bear the sins of man”.
    5. Paul wrote in (I CORINTHIANS 15:3) “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures”.
    6. The demands of a holy God were satisfied by Jesus’ death on the cross.
  4. His Death Brought About Redemption for Humanity
    1. As we study the life of Christ we often come into contact with the term, “redemption.”
    2. The word, “redeem” means “to purchase.” When Christ died for our sins He paid the price for them with His own blood. Peter wrote (I PETER 1:18-19), “Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot”..
    3. The Bible also speaks of Christ redeeming us from the curse of the law. (GALATIANS 3:13); “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us”.
  5. Jesus Bought Humanity Out Of Being Enslaved, “Captured Alive” by Satan.
    1. The word agorazo, along with its variation exagorazo, has the idea of buying a slave out of the market and then taking him home.
    2. This term speaks of Christ buying us out of the slave market of the world.
    3. The price Jesus paid, with His own blood, was sufficient to buy every slave out of the market.
    4. We have all been slaves to sin, and if we allow Him to be our Master, then we need never be sold again, for He becomes our eternal Master.
  6. Jesus Provided Freedom From Sin
    1. The word lutro means “to buy and give freedom.”
    2. When Christ bought us from the marketplace of the world, he not only gave us our freedom, He made us part of His family. Those who receive by faith the benefits of the sacrifice Christ has provided become children of God, part of His eternal family.
    3. “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs-heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified together”. (ROMANS 8:16-17)

II. WHAT DOES REDEMPTION MEAN?

  1. Redemption properly understood, means:
    1. Jesus Christ bought humanity out of the slave market of the world.
    2. The price He paid was His own blood.
    3. When He bought us, He gave us our freedom.
    4. We have become part of His family and participants in His rightful inheritance.
    5. All this is obtainable if we choose to place our faith in the sacrifice He made on our behalf.
  2. Jesus’ Death Showed The Love Of God
    1. The death of Christ upon the cross also demonstrated that God loves sinful humanity.
    2. The Scripture speaks of His death as an act of love toward humankind. (JOHN 3:16) For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life”.
    3. Paul wrote in (ROMANS 5:8), “But God demonstrates his own love toward us, in that while we were sinners, Christ died for us”.
    4. It was love that motivated Jesus to come to earth and die on the cross and take the punishment as our substitute.
    5. The Bible tells us the love of God that was demonstrated by Jesus should serve as an example for how we should treat one another. (JOHN 13:34-35) “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another”.

III. WHY DID JESUS HAVE TO DIE IN ORDER FOR ME TO GO TO HEAVEN?

  1. There is no way for God’s holiness and justice to be satisfied except for Jesus, God’s sinless Son, to die for us.
  2. Because God’s perfect justice was satisfied, Jesus could do the seemingly impossible – break the power of death over us. “Because God’s children are human beings –“the Bible says, “made of flesh and blood- the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death”. (HEBREWS 2:14) Jesus’ death and resurrection was indispensable for us to be made right with a holy and just God.
  3. Because God wanted an eternal relationship with us so much he was willing to pay such a high price.
  4. And that is when Christ’s eternal life becomes our inheritance, “for his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory”. (ROMANS 8:16-17)


77 FAQ’s – Josh and Sean McDowell – Harvest House; Evidence That Demands A Verdict Volume 1,   Josh McDowell, Here’s Life Publishing, Inc., San Bernardino, CA

IV. IT IS DIFFICULT FOR THE UNSAVED TO UNDERSTAND:

Consider Dr. Gregory Boyd LETTERS FROM A SKEPTIC page 175. Another book I suggest you have in your library.

“Dad, it’s important to realize that Jesus was not just “a man” whose death 2,000 years ago gets you off the hook. Jesus is not an innocent “third party” that God punished in place of us. Rather, Jesus is Himself God as well as man. He is not only the one judged for the crime; He is the One against whom the crime is committed, and the One who passes out the sentence for the crime. The Judge Himself became the judged! So there is no “third party” in this transaction, Dad. There are only two parties – the all-holy God and sinful humanity – and the Jesus who died for us is both. This is not injustice, Dad; this is incomprehensible love.”

V. WHAT DO THE SCRIPTURES SAY ABOUT OUR NEEDING A SAVIOR?

Matthew 1:21
Matthew 6:16
Matthew 11:28
Matthew 20:28
Matthew 26:26-28
Mark 11:12-25
Mark 11:27-33
Mark 12:1-12
Mark 12:13-17
Mark 12:28-34
Mark 12:35-37
Mark 14:24
Mark 10:45
Mark 14:22-24
Luke 19:10
Luke 22:19-20
John 1:12
John 1:29
John 3:14
John 3:16
John 3:17
John 10:11
John 10:14-18
John 11:51-52
Acts 20:28
Acts 27:9
Romans 5:8
Romans 3:25-26
Romans 4:25
Romans 5:6
Romans 5:9
Romans 5:10
Romans 5:11
Romans 5:18
Romans 6:1-7
Romans 7:4-6
Romans 8:3
Romans 8:18-25
Romans 8:32-35
1 Corinthians 5:7
1 Corinthians 11:23-25
1 Corinthians 15:3
1 Corinthians 15:22
2 Corinthians 5:14-15
2 Corinthians 5:18
2 Corinthians 5:21
Galatians 1:4
Galatians 2:19-20
Galatians 3:13-14
Galatians 4:4-5
Galatians 6:14
Ephesians 1:3-12
Ephesians 1:17-22
Ephesians 2:4-10
Ephesians 2:6-7
Ephesians 2:13
Ephesians 5:2
Ephesians 5:25-27
Colossians 1:13-14
Colossians 1:20
1 Timothy 2:5-6
1 Timothy 4:10
Titus 2:14
Hebrews 2:9
Hebrews 2:17
Hebrews 4:15
Hebrews 7:26-28
Hebrews 8:1-2
Hebrews 8:6-7
Hebrews 9:12-14
Hebrews 9:15
Hebrews 9:22
Hebrews 10:11-14
Hebrews 10:19-20
1 Peter 1:18-19
1 Peter 2:22-24
1 Peter 3:18
2 Peter 2:1
1 John 1:7
1 John 3:5
1 John 3:16
1 John 4:10
1 John 4:14
Revelation 5:6
Revelation 5:9
Revelation 7:14
Revelation 12:9

VI. WHERE CAN I GO FOR MORE INFORMATION?

  1. Bill Putman www.answersforreallife.org
    • Teaching tools for GODISNOWHERE APP.
    • LIFE SURE IS CONFUSING – A free book by Bill Putman.
  2. DVD – HOW GREAT IS OUR GOD Louie Giglio.
  3. Exposition of Romans 1 – bible.org
  4. Know What You Believe –  Richard Helsby – knowwhatyoubelieve.com
  5. Letusreason.org
  6. The Blue Letter Bible The blueletterbible.org. How God has made Himself known.
  7. “Handbook of Christian Apologetics”, Peter Kreeft & Ronald Tacelli, Monarch Publications, 1995
  8. Evidence That Demands A Verdict Volume 1, Josh McDowell, Here’s Life Publishing, Inc., San Bernardino, CA 92402
  9. A Ready Defense, Josh McDowell, Here’s Life Publishing, Inc., San Bernardino, CA 92402
  10. Answers to Tough Questions about the Christian Faith, Josh McDowell and Don Stewart, 1980, Here’s Life Publishers, Inc., San Bernardino, CA 92402
  11. http://www.leaderu.com/everystudent/isthere/isthere2.html
  12. Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry, Questions and Objections Part 3, http://www.carm.org/40_objections/40-3.htm
  13. Defending You Faith: Reliable answers for a new generation of skeptics and seekers, Dan Story, Kregel Publications, Grand Rapids, MI 49501, 1997
  14. Letters to a Skeptic – Gregory A Boyd and Edward K. Boyd – Chariot Victor Publishing
  15. Reasons to Believe – R.C. Sproul – Zondervan Press.
  16. Knowing God – J.I. Packer – Inter Varsity Press.
  17. Mere Christianity –  C.S. Lewis – HarperCollins Publisher
  18. 77 FAQ’s – Josh and Sean McDowell – Harvest House
  19. Got Questions http://www.gotquestions.org/questions_Creation.html
  20. Know What You Believe  – Paul Little – Victor Books
  21. Know Who You Believe – Paul Little – Victor Books
  22. Know Why You Believe –  Paul Little –  Victor Books