{"id":33797,"date":"2005-08-26T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2005-08-26T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermons\/why-christ-had-to-die\/"},"modified":"2005-08-26T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2005-08-26T00:00:00","slug":"why-christ-had-to-die","status":"publish","type":"sermons","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermons\/why-christ-had-to-die\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Christ Had to Die"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2005\/08\/19001.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n<p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Charles\nHaddon Spurgeon said that preaching is like throwing a bucket of water at a row\nof bottles. Some of the water goes in some of the bottles. But by talking to\npeople personally, you have the opportunity of topping off every bottle and\nmaking sure none of the water spills.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">If\nI had the chance to go back over the 42 years that I&#8217;ve been preaching, I&#8217;d\nlike to sit down with all the people I&#8217;ve ever preached to and ask them, &#8220;Do\nyou really feel that Christ is your Savior and your Lord?&#8221;<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">I\ncan&#8217;t do that. But I want to explain to you in the simplest possible terms why\nChrist died for you, the significance of that, and what it should mean to you.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <strong>\n        <span style=\"\" class=\"\">The Bible explains that the\nhuman condition is serious indeed.<\/span>\n      <\/strong>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">The\nBible explains carefully that the human condition is serious indeed. We could\nlive our lives as reasonably happy people. We can get things reasonably well\norganized. We can get ourselves into a relatively comfortable situation and\nnever really feel that life is all that serious, that the human condition\nbefore God is all that drastic.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Yet,\nif we are to take what the Scriptures say seriously, we have to come to terms\nwith the fact that the human predicament is extreme.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">What\nwe are in ourselves is fundamentally at odds with God. That&#8217;s the root problem.\nThe technical term for it is <em>total\ndepravity<\/em>. It&#8217;s not a biblical term, but it&#8217;s an accurate one, provided we\nunderstand it correctly.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Dr.\nJ.I. Packer put it this way: &#8220;Total depravity means not that at every point man\nis as bad as he could be, but that at no point is he as good as he should be.&#8221;\nThat is the fundamental human condition in a nutshell, according to Scripture.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Some\npeople try to persuade people they are totally rotten and despicable, utterly,\nthoroughly, totally depraved. People, understandably, react to that!<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">They\nthink the preacher is saying, &#8220;At every point of your life you are as bad as\nyou possibly could be.&#8221; Rather, there is no point in our lives at which we are\nas good as we should be. We have come short of God&#8217;s glory.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">In\nthis passage, there are various words that describe the human condition. In\nverse 6 it says we are &#8220;powerless.&#8221; In the same verse it says we are &#8220;ungodly.&#8221;\nIn verse 8 it says we are &#8220;sinners.&#8221; In verse 10, we&#8217;re &#8220;enemies.&#8221; These all\nhave a slightly different nuance that simply can be added up in this whole\nconcept: At no point are any of us as good as we should be. We have fallen. We\nhave failed to be what we were created to be.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">That\nis the meaning of the word <em>sinner<\/em>:\nsomeone who comes short, someone who misses the mark. One of the sad tragedies\nof our being sinners is that there is a certain powerlessness about us. This\npowerlessness manifests itself in different people in different ways.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Martin\nAlfonse, a Methodist pastor in Madras, India, told an interesting story: His\nfather, an orthodox, dedicated Hindu, became seriously ill. As a result of his\nillness, he went around trying hard to get proper medical care; none was\navailable to him. In desperation, he turned to some Christians. They prayed\nquite specifically for his healing, and he was healed by a dramatic, divine\nintervention.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">At\nthat point he became convinced that Jesus Christ was Lord. As a result of a\nspecific, physical need being met, he acknowledged Christ as Savior. Now, there\nwas a certain <em>physical <\/em>powerlessness\nabout him that was the direct or indirect result of sin. But Christ was able to\nintervene.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Martin\nAlfonse&#8217;s experience was totally different. He had an overwhelming sense of\ninferiority. It was so severe that he was practically crippled in his everyday\nrelationships with people.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">But\nsomebody told him that Jesus Christ could heal him in the area of his\ninferiority complex, that he would begin to understand his true worth as\nsomebody whom Christ loved. When he heard this message, he turned to Christ,\nand Christ became his Savior and Lord. He was met not like his father at the\npoint of physical need but at the point of his deep <em>psychological <\/em>need. Both were powerless as a result of sin. It\nmanifested itself in different ways.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Pastor\nAlfonse went on to tell about a delightful family in his congregation. As is\nnormal for Hindus, they had been looking for inner peace. They went through all\nthe rituals of their religion. They were totally committed and deeply involved,\nbut at no point did they ever get close to the sense of an inner peace.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Someone\ntold them it was possible for people to experience peace with God through our\nLord Jesus Christ. They heard it, and they believed it; Christ became their\nSavior and Lord. They were met not at a point of physical need or the point of\npsychological need but a point of clear, acute<em> spiritual <\/em>need. All were the result of sin, powerlessness\nmanifesting itself in different ways.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">That\nis the human predicament&#8212;not that at every point we are bad as we could be but\nthat at no point are we as good as we should be. As a result of this, there has\nbeen a debilitating impact of sin in our lives. We&#8217;re sinners, and we&#8217;re\npowerless.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">This\npowerlessness can manifest itself not just in passive inability but in active\nhostility. We engage in ungodly behavior. We behave as those who are at enmity\nwith God. We become rebellious. We shake our fists in the face of God. We\nderide his name. We disobey his commands. We go about showing that we have no\ntime for God at all. We enthrone ourselves, and we dethrone God, and we do all\nwe can to resist him in our lives.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Not\nthat at all points we&#8217;re as bad as we could be, but at no point are we as good\nas we should be, manifested in powerlessness, ungodliness, hostility, and sin.\nThat&#8217;s basically the human condition.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <strong>\n        <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Do\nwe see ourselves as totally depraved? Has that sunk in? Do we believe it?<\/span>\n      <\/strong>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Now,\nI wonder, honestly, if deep down you see yourself in those categories. I wonder\nif deep down you acknowledge that there is something fundamentally wrong with\nwho you are as a person. Has that sunk in? Do you believe it?<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">What\nwe <em>do <\/em>is a manifestation of what we<em> are<\/em>. If you look at the terms &#8220;sinner&#8221;\nand &#8220;powerless,&#8221; this will give you the impression that what we do is wrong\nbecause we fail to do what we&#8217;re required to do. If you look at the terms\n&#8220;ungodly&#8221; and &#8220;enemy,&#8221; you&#8217;ll see that that suggests we do the things that we\nare forbidden to do. We call these &#8220;sins of omission&#8221; and &#8220;sins of commission.&#8221;<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Now\nsome people who have lived rebellious lives have no difficulty whatsoever\nidentifying specific sins of commission. They have no difficulty understanding\nthat they have insisted on doing what is forbidden. I&#8217;ve had people say, &#8220;As\nyou took us through the Ten Commandments, I realized I have broken every single\none of them.&#8221;<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">But\nthe majority of people who go to church don&#8217;t see themselves as sinners by\ncommission because they live reasonably respectable lives. But every one of\nthem, if they&#8217;re honest, will admit to being a sinner of omission. Have we\ntruly loved God with all our heart and all our soul and all our strength, and\nour neighbor as ourselves? Of course not. That is evidence that what we <em>are <\/em>is fundamentally wrong. What we&#8217;ve <em>done <\/em>is intrinsically unsatisfactory.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">God\npays us the incredible compliment of making us accountable. This proves to us\nconclusively that God regards us as creatures of significance. If God is keeping\ntrack of what we do and what we shouldn&#8217;t do, that proves that what we do and\nwhat we don&#8217;t do is worth keeping track of in heaven. Which proves that what I\ndo is significant in the highest court of evaluation.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">If\nthat is true, then I cannot fail to recognize that I am significant too. God\nhas paid us the inestimable compliment of making us accountable. Whether I see\nmyself either as a powerless sinner or a hostile, ungodly enemy, God wants me\nto know three things:<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">1.\nI&#8217;m accountable to him.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">2.\nHe is just and holy and righteous.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">3.\nHe is indignant about our sin.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">We\ncome under what the Bible calls &#8220;the wrath of God.&#8221; Here again, I realize that\nthis is not a popular subject for polite conversation. But it is a subject that\nneeds to be addressed carefully and understood thoroughly. The wrath of God is\nnot to be seen as something like the wrath of man ballooned up to divine\nproportions. The wrath of man is often totally unwarranted, utterly\nhypocritical, thoroughly unreasonable, given to extremes.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">The\nwrath of God, John Stott says, &#8220;is his righteous hostility to evil, his refusal\nto condone it, and his just judgment upon it.&#8221;<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">It&#8217;s\nas if you&#8217;ve stood in the court of God, he has presented the evidence, then the\njudge looks at you and asks, &#8220;Do you have anything to say for yourself?&#8221; At\nthat moment, you can&#8217;t say a word. The evidence against you is so overwhelming\nand so utterly incontrovertible, there&#8217;s not a thing you can say. You are\nutterly without excuse.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">That\nis the human condition. I wish I could sit down with each one of you and make\nsure that each one of you understands that.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <strong>\n        <span style=\"\" class=\"\">God&#8217;s\ndivine compassion is the antidote to our total depravity, to our sin.<\/span>\n      <\/strong>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">The\ndivine compassion is the second thing we note. Please notice in the passage of\nScripture before us in verse 6, &#8220;While we were still powerless, Christ died for\nthe ungodly.&#8221; Verse 10, &#8220;God demonstrates his own love for us in this. While we\nwere still sinners, Christ died for us.&#8221;<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">It\nwas while we were still in this condition that the divine compassion was poured\nout toward us. God is not in the business of saying, &#8220;Reform yourself, and I&#8217;ll\nsee what I can do.&#8221; Neither is God saying, &#8220;You&#8217;re a good kid.&#8221; God is looking\ninto our hearts, knowing we are without excuse. Yet, while we&#8217;re still sinners,\nstill powerless, he is moved with compassion toward us!<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Compassion\nisn&#8217;t just a feeling. Compassion is demonstrated by action. The action that\ndemonstrates the divine compassion for people like you and me is this&#8212;Christ\ndied for us.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Paul\nsaid, &#8220;The Son of God loved me and gave himself for me.&#8221; God loves to such an\nextent that he moves out and empties heaven of its greatest treasure&#8212;Christ&#8212;and\ngives Christ to die on a cross for us.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">That\nword &#8220;for&#8221; can mean Christ died instead of us. It can mean Christ died on behalf\nof us. I stand before you as somebody who thoroughly understands that in and of\nmyself, I deserve nothing more than the righteous indignation of God and\nbanishment from his presence for the whole of life and the whole of eternity.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Yet\nGod took the initiative and said, &#8220;Briscoe, it is not necessary for you to live\nin the condition that you deserve. My Son will take it on behalf of you,\ninstead of you, and die for you.&#8221;<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Incredible,\nbut true.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <strong>\n        <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Where\ndo these great truths leave us, then?<\/span>\n      <\/strong>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Where\ndoes that leave me, then? Well, the apostle Paul sums it up brilliantly in\nverse 9: &#8220;Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we\nbe saved from God&#8217;s wrath through him. For if when we were God&#8217;s enemies we\nwere reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been\nreconciled, shall we be saved through his life.&#8221;<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">If\nI&#8217;m to understand what the cross is all about, I not only need to understand my\ncondition and the divine compassion, but the eternal conclusion. The eternal\nconclusion is this: It is possible for me to be justified by his blood. All\nthat I have done has been blotted out, utterly forgiven. I stand now just as if\nI&#8217;d never sinned.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Not\nonly has he taken away my accountability for sin, he has also taken away the\nguilt of my sin and purged eternity of all record of my sin. I have been\njustified by Christ&#8217;s blood. Which is another way of saying, &#8220;Because he died\non behalf of me, instead of my dying.&#8221;<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Incredible,\nbut true.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">It\nis incredible to think that I have been justified by his blood. But over and\nabove that, he says that I will be saved from wrath through him. In other\nwords, instead of there being that fearful looking forward to a judgment, that\nhorror of death, the agony of wondering what will happen to me after I die, and\nthat dreadful sinking feeling that if God judges me I won&#8217;t have a leg to stand\non&#8212;instead of all that, I can say, having been justified by his blood, much\nmore than that. When the day comes for me to stand before God, I will be saved\nfrom God&#8217;s wrath, not through what I have done but through him. He will\nintercede for me.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Which\nmeans that in the same way that being justified by his blood saves me from the\nconsequences of what I&#8217;ve done, being saved from wrath through him means I have\nbeen saved from where I&#8217;m heading. But there&#8217;s much more. Much more.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Incredible,\nbut true.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">If\nbeing justified by his blood wasn&#8217;t enough, if my being saved from wrath\nthrough him wasn&#8217;t enough, Paul says, &#8220;I will be saved by his life.&#8221; God has\nraised up the crucified Christ and sent his Spirit into the hearts and lives of\nthe justified. Having been justified by his blood, we will be saved from wrath <em>through <\/em>him. In the interim we can know\nthe presence of the living Christ within us.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Incredible,\nbut true.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Many\nyears ago I wrote a little booklet called <em>This\nIs Exciting<\/em>. It simply told the story of my spiritual life. The first stage\nof my spiritual life was: This is easy. All you do is say you&#8217;re sorry, have\nyour sins forgiven, then wait to go to heaven when you die.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Then\nsomebody pointed out to me that I was supposed to live like a disciple of Jesus\nChrist. I started  trying to do it, and I changed from &#8220;this is\neasy&#8221; to &#8220;this is difficult.&#8221;<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Then\nsomebody began to show me what it really means to live as I&#8217;m supposed to live,\nand I came to the conclusion that &#8220;this is impossible.&#8221; Then I got mad with\nGod.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">I\nwas perfectly happy with God when it was easy, and I got along fine with him\nwhen it was difficult, but I got very upset when I discovered it was\nimpossible. Then and then only, he began to show me that in addition to being\njustified by his blood and promising that he would save me from wrath through\nhim, he sent Christ into my life to save me from the sheer impossibility of\ntrying to do it on my own. By faith I began to live in step with the Christ who\nlives within me to save me from what I am.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Incredible,\nbut true.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Many\nyears ago when the children were small, we went for a little drive in the\nlovely English countryside, and there was some fresh snow. I saw a lovely field\nwith not a single blemish on the virgin snow. I stopped the car, and I vaulted\nover the gate, and I ran around in a great big circle striding as wide as I\ncould. Then I came back to the kids, and I said, &#8220;Now, children, I want you to\nfollow in my footsteps. So I want you to run around that circle in the snow,\nand I want you to put your feet where your father put his feet.&#8221;<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Well,\nDavid tried and couldn&#8217;t quite make it. Judy, our overachiever, was certain she\nwould make it; she couldn&#8217;t make it. Pete, the little kid, took a great run at\nit, put his foot in my first footprint, and then strode out as far as he could\nand fell on his face. His mother picked him up as he cried.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">She\nsaid to me, &#8220;What are you trying to do?&#8221;<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">I\nsaid, &#8220;I&#8217;m trying to get a sermon illustration.&#8221;<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">I\nsaid, &#8220;Pete, come here.&#8221; I picked up little Peter and put his left foot on my\nfoot, and I put his right foot on my foot. I said, &#8220;Okay, Pete, let&#8217;s go.&#8221; I\nbegan to stride one big stride at a time with my hands under his armpits and\nhis feet lightly on mine.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Well,\nwho was doing it? In a sense, he was doing it because I was doing it. In a\nsense there was a commitment of the little boy to the big dad, and some of the\nproperties of the big dad were working through the little boy.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">In\nexactly the same way, in our powerlessness we can&#8217;t stride as wide as we\nshould. We don&#8217;t walk the way we should. We don&#8217;t hit the target the way we\nought. It isn&#8217;t that at every point we are as bad as we could be. It&#8217;s just\nthat at no point are we as good as we should be. Something&#8217;s got to be done.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">The\nmessage of Easter is it has been done. You can be justified. You can be saved\nfrom wrath. You can be saved by his life. All that is the message of grace&#8212;God\noffering you what you don&#8217;t deserve. <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <em>\n        <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Stuart Briscoe is pastor of\nElmbrook Church in Brookfield, Wisconsin. His books include <\/span>\n      <\/em>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Mastering Contemporary\nPreaching<em>.<\/em><\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">(c) Stuart Briscoe<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <h2 class=\"wp-block-heading is-style-article-subhead2\">Preaching Today Tape #163<\/h2>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">\n        <a href=\"http:\/\/www.preachingtodaysermons.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">www.PreachingTodaySermons.com<\/a>\n      <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">A resource of Christianity Today\nInternational<\/span>\n    <\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[307],"tax_ctp_authors":[3103],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_field_guide_subcategory":[],"tax_ctp_field_guides":[],"tax_ctp_format":[170],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[412],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_sermon_series":[492],"tax_ctp_tags":[3839,4010,4782,4828,4977],"tax_ctp_topics":[],"class_list":["post-33797","sermons","type-sermons","status-publish","hentry","tax_ctp_authors-stuart-briscoe","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-easter","tax_ctp_tags-forgiveness","tax_ctp_tags-redemption","tax_ctp_tags-resurrection","tax_ctp_tags-sin"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Why Christ Had to Die - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermons\/why-christ-had-to-die\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Christ Had to Die - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Charles Haddon Spurgeon said that preaching is like throwing a bucket of water at a row of bottles. Some of the water goes in some of the bottles. But by talking to people personally, you have the opportunity of topping off every bottle and making sure none of the water spills. 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