Did Jesus Have To Die?
(The offense of the cross)
1 Corinthians 1:18-25
Did Jesus have to suffer and die?"
To say that it was necessary causes Christians no problem at all.
In fact, the story of the cross, or forgiveness of sins, of paying our ransom, or the just dying for the unjust... THE GOSPEL... is, for us, the sweetest story ever told.
We never grow tired of hearing of it because it proclaims God’s unbelievable, unfathomable love for us.
We can sing the words of the old hymn...
"I love to tell the story, twill be my theme in glory, to tell the old, old story of Jesus and His love"
But Paul, in our scripture found that the preaching of the cross was not so well received by the unsaved.
In fact, Paul referred to the cross as "an offence."
Paul found that the preaching of the cross brought great rejection and persecution. Why?
Well, the gospel of the cross flies in the face of many of man’s favorite misconceptions...
it destroys the lies of Satan.
The cross, the unfiltered, unadulterated cross says some things make people very uncomfortable.
Today I want to look at a few of the offensive things that the cross says.
The Cross tells us that
1. SIN IS REAL.
Most people don’t like to use the term "sin." It makes them uncomfortable.
Sin says there is an OBJECTIVE measure of right and wrong. That morality and goodness are not determined by each society or by each person.
It says we are not free to determine for ourselves what is right and wrong for us. . . but that God has a concrete unchanging standard by which we are to be judged.
That is offensive to people.
If each of us could determine right and wrong for ourselves, God would not call it sin... and there would be no need for us to repent.
The dying, bleeding body hanging on that cross is God’s shout from heaven that SIN IS REAL!!!
The cross also says...
2. The Consequences of Sin are Real.
The gospel says, "The wages of sin is death."
And "The soul that sins, it shall die."
Conventional wisdom says, "Maybe it is sin, but it is not that bad."
It was just a little lie that I told...
it was just a small thing that I stole...
it was just a little joke.
We love to use the term "little" for our sins. Compared to the sins of other people, our sins are small. Compared to eternity in hell, our sins are small.
But are they.
I need an adult volunteer. Please come up here.
I have a glass of water from the tap. Good clear well water. Some of “Take a drink.”
(((Refill cup)))
I have asked to bring a glass of water... straight out of the toilet bowl.
" bring it up."
(((Switch glasses around and ask volunteer to drink it)))
(((Take dropper of water from each cup and drop into third "clean’
water)))
Will you drink it? NO!!! It is only a little bit dirty. That doesn’t really matter does it?
How about a unit of blood you are about receive after an operation and the Dr. says, "It has a little bit of aids in it." Would that be acceptable?
Why would we expect God, Holy and Righteous God to accept someone into his house (heaven) that was filthy and vile?
Would you allow a person into your house who was a little bit of a pervert?
Neither will God!!!
The offence of the cross says
3. Hell Is Real and all lost persons are going to tell.
We don’t want to believe a loving and good God could let someone go to hell.
We think God should just forgive everyone and let everyone go to Heaven.
EXAMPLE
If I write up a petition saying
pardon all criminals
Tear down the prisons and
do away with all of the laws
get rid of the police force and courts.
Would you sign it?
Not one of you is in favor of releasing all of the criminals into society.
Should we expect God to just throw open the doors of Heaven and let everyone in?
The cross says there is a hell and it is a horrible place.
If there was no hell there would be no cross.
If there was no hell, then it would not matter if we were all sinners... there would be no negative consequences. If we were going to heaven any way... Jesus would just have stayed in Heaven and waited on us to get there.
The offence of the cross is...
4. That a loving Father would not allow His Son to suffer like that.
To watch The Passion, and see Jesus beaten repeatedly and intensely for 90 minutes is more than most of us can bear. It gets to the point that we want to say, "ENOUGH ALREADY!!!"
In the movie, Simon of Cyrene, the one forced to carry the cross, gets so fed up that he stands up and says "If you don’t stop hitting him, I’ll stop carrying the cross."
How can we make sense of such suffering?
The scripture says, "By His stripes (suffering) we are healed." He took the stripes for us.
The severity of the stripes, the flogging, the beating indicates just how terrible are our sins.
NO MATTER HOW MANY STRIPES HE HAD... THEY WERE NOT EVEN ONE FOR EACH ONE OF YOUR SINS.
Just for your sins, how many would he get? How many sins have you committed? 100?... 1000?... 10000?
The cross says that His suffering was so intense because your sins, and mine, were so many and so terrible.
The preaching of the cross also says.. And this is what is most offensive of all....
5. Jesus is the only way to salvation.
That really wrangles other religions. It is the epitome of exclusivity.
It is the highest example of hatred for other religions.
It says that all other religions are NOT THE WAY... are FALSE WAYS... and lead to death; not life.
This is saying that only Christians are going to Heaven...
that Jews, Buddists, Muslims and followers of all other religions are not saved, not going to heaven and are going directly to hell.
It says that no matter how sincere they are, no matter how hard they try to follow their religion, no matter how pure their motives or how noble their actions... in the end, they will die and go to hell.
Can anything be more offensive, more hellish, more evil than such a belief?
YES!!!! The lie that says Jesus was wrong when He said, "I am the way the truth and the life."
Anyone who can says this is not true is saying
1. I know more than Jesus
2. I am more loving than Jesus
3. Jesus is a liar or a lunatic.
There is no doubt that Jesus believed that sin was real, that the consequences of sins was real and the eternity in hell was real... and that there was no other way for man to be forgiven and go to heaven.
Jesus can only be one of three things...
Liar
Lunatic
Lord
LIAR—Maybe Jesus knew he was lying.
Maybe he knew other religions could lead to salvation, forgiveness of sins and a way to eternal life.
Maybe he knew it but He did not want you to know it so he lied. Maybe he used his miracles to distract the people while he lied about a way to God.
WHY??? Why would Jesus do that?
Maybe he hated us and did not want us to go to heaven. Then why would he endure the beatings and death to make a way for us to go there?
Or maybe he lied because He just wanted to a new religion with His name on it. His ego was so large that he wanted to glorify himself.
Do you really think a person would die to start a movement.
The movement would die without the front man. This would be stupid.
LUNATIC -Maybe Jesus was crazy.
Maybe he was a raving lunatic who had a messiah complex.
Maybe He was deranged and so demented that He had convinced himself that He was the only way.
Maybe the Jews were right and he was a blasphemer.
Maybe he and God were both so stupid that they did not know there were already some other ways to get to heaven.
Buddism was practiced 500 years before Jesus Christ was born. Hinduism was practiced 1500 years before Buddism. There were many cults that predated any of those.
Do you really think that God, the Father, was so stupid that He did not know about other religions… and if any one of them would get people to heaven, allow them to be saved from their sins.
Don’t you think God would have just used that way to save the world and spared His Son?
When you read of the Passion, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, you see Jesus in Gethsemene begging and pleading with God to come up with another way.
Three times he prayed that.
He prayed with such intensity, such love, such fear that it was like he was sweating blood.
Jesus desperately wanted to avoid the cross. God hated the cross too. That is why the sky went dark at 3 pm, in the middle of the day.... God was broken by the event.
Do you really think that God and Jesus were so stupid they went through all of that suffering... JUST BECAUSE THEY DID NOT KNOW ABOUT OTHER WAYS TO BE SAVED???
Or... Some people say Jesus is not THE way; He is just "one way among many."
If you believe that then... EITHER
You are an idiot To think God would allow Jesus to go
through this just to provide another way ... options.
OR....
You think God is an idiot because He did allow it.
The hideous, painful, horrific death of Jesus is proof there was no other way.
Had there been one... God would have answered Jesus prayer and used it.
LORD—If Jesus was not crazy, then he could only be a liar or Lord.
No sane person can believe Jesus endured the cross to sell a lie.
The only option left is that Jesus is the only way.
The scripture is right when it says, "No man cometh to the Father, but by me"
"There is no other name, given under heaven, whereby a man must be saved."
So, there you have the offensive message of the cross
You are a sinner
The wages of your sin is death (eternal separation from God)
All other ways to God are false.
The only way you can be forgiven of your sins and live eternally with God in Heaven is through Jesus Christ.
We know it is true because He said it.
You do not get to decide if it is true or false.
You get to choose whether you think it is true or false.
YOU CHOOSE… LIAR
Lunatic
Lord
