Good Friday
Title- The Cross
Text- Romans 5:1-11
Romans 5:1-11 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; 4 and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; 5 and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. 6 For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. 11 And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
I. Why use the cross?
a. Because God is holy
b. because God is love
II. What was accomplished on the cross?
a. Peace
b. Forgiveness
III. How do we access the cross?
a. Through Grace
b. Through faith
Good Friday commemorates the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ on a cross. Today I want us to spend just a few minutes focusing our attention on that cross.
The cross is an interesting thing. It was invented as a means of torture and execution. It was designed to provide a painful, shameful, public death. It was feared and hated. It was a symbol of hopelessness, punishment, and despair.
Today the cross means something totally different. Today the cross is a symbol of hope and forgiveness and new life. It is often a symbol that we wear around our necks as a reminder of how and why we can now stand in right relationship with God. It is our doorway to salvation. It is our entry into the kingdom. It is a thing of beauty.
Today as we fix our gaze on the cross I want to answer three questions about it. 1. Why use a cross? 2. What was accomplished on the cross? and 3. How do we access the cross?
The passage that I want to work from today is in the book of Romans 5:1-11. I’ve been preaching through the book of Romans and have just been in a state of complete amazement at how rich and beautiful it is. It teaches us so much about who we are and who God is and what He has done for us. I want to look at Romans 5:1-11 today. This passage holds some keys to help us answer our questions about the cross of Christ.
Follow along as I read…
The first question is “why the cross?” Why did The Son of God have to come to the earth, be born a human, live with us, suffer with us, and then die this humiliating death in order for us to be saved? Why didn’t God just say, “I forgive you”. That would have been enough to get the job done right? After all, He’s God, He can do things however He wants to.
So why did our reconciliation to Him have to come at the cost of His one and only son? Why did Jesus have to take the fall for us? Why the cross?
The answer is found in these two truths about the nature of God that we see in this passage. The cross was necessary because God is holy and because God is love. These are two irrefutable truths about the nature of God that make the cross a necessity. First of all, we see that God is holy.
This truth is imbedded all throughout this passage. Let me read verse 6-7 again…
Jesus had to come and die for us because God is holy and He takes sin seriously. Way back in the beginning, with Adam and Eve, God made them a deal. They could do anything they wanted, they had free reign of the place. The only rule was that they weren’t allowed to eat from that one tree. If they ate from it they would die.
That meant spiritual death, physical death, and eternal death. That meant separation from God. That meant they would be estranged from God. Well, we know how that ended. They sinned and it turned out that God was serious. He really meant what He said. The result really was death and separation.
So from the time of Adam up until today we have all been in the same boat. The second half of chapter 5 here in Romans does a great job of explaining how the consequences of Adam’s sin have been passed down to everyone.
The cross as a punishment for sin is necessary because God is Holy, and will not tolerate our sin. Our sin is real and it has to be dealt with some how. Either we have to pay the price, or someone has to come along who is willing and able to pay the price for us.
The cross is necessary because it is where Jesus Christ was able to offer Himself as that sacrifice in our place. It is where Jesus appeases the wrath of God, pays the penalty of our sin, and satisfies God’s requirement of holiness.
Let’s face it, we aren’t holy. We aren’t even a little bit holy. We are totally, completely, marred by sin. We are wrecked. We have no ability to do anything to merit anything other than punishment and wrath from God. If you don’t believe me, just listen to this passage from chapter 3 of Romans…
Romans 3:10-18 10 as it is written, "THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; 11 THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD; 12 ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE." 13 The cross is necessary because it does something for us that we could never do on our own. We’ll talk about that in a minute.
So the cross was necessary because of God’s holiness. The penalty for sin is death. At the cross Christ paid the penalty, satisfied God’s holy requirements, and opened a way for us.
The cross was also necessary because of God’s love. These two aspects of God’s nature have to be recognized together. Fortunately for us God isn’t just holy, He’s also loving. Look at verse 8…
The cross is this ultimate demonstration of God’s love for us. God didn’t have to send Christ to that Cross. God would have been perfectly holy and justified in allowing every single one of us to suffer the full consequences of death. He could have allowed all of humanity to spend an eternity separated from Him. He could have just wiped us all out back in the garden.
God’s plan of redemption, beginning in Genesis 3 and reaching it’s culmination at the cross is all because of His love. (John 3:16) God loves us. All of us. Every single person that’s ever lived. God loves us corporately, He loves us individually, He loves us deeply.
There’s an old story of a monk who announced that he was planning on preaching a message on the love of God that Sunday evening. As the sun set and the people gathered in the dark cathedral the monk came forward and lit a single candle. He carried it over to the crucifix and first illuminated the crown of thorns. Next he held the light up to the nails in the hands, and then to the wound in the side. Without saying a word the monk blew out the candle and walked away with nothing more to say.
The picture of Jesus Christ on the cross is the ultimate demonstration of divine love. God is holy, but what a blessing it is to know that He is also love. The cross of Christ was necessary because these two things are both true.
The next question for us to consider is, what exactly was accomplished on the cross? What did it do? We’ve already hinted at some of the results of the cross, but this passage illuminates a few others for us. Look at what verse 1 with me again…
What is accomplished for us at the cross of Christ? That’s right, peace. Christ’s death on the cross brought about peace between humanity and God.
Before Christ there was not peace between us and God, there was strife. We were God’s enemies. Look at verse 10 again…
We were God’s enemies. Every single one of us is born with that sin nature; that deep inclination towards rebellion. We are born selfish and prideful and antagonistic to God. We don’t want to obey God, we don’t understand the things of God, we are His enemies.
This peace is so important, so valuable because we were so disconnected from God. And even though we were the ones at fault, we were the instigators, we were totally deserving of death and punishment, Christ died for us.
You see, like I mentioned earlier, because of our sin someone has to pay the penalty. And the penalty of sin is death. Jesus Christ stepped in and said, “I want to pay that penalty for you.” I love the way Paul illustrates this for is in verses 7-8…
Isn’t this true? Very rarely would someone be willing to give their life up for someone else. Although Paul admits that for someone really good you might consider giving up your life. But Jesus Christ didn’t die for us because we are righteous, or because we are mostly good. We’re not. He died for us even while we were His enemy.
The sacrifice of Christ on the cross that we are celebrating this weekend is the key to our peace with God. Without it there would be no peace, only strife. Praise God for loving us enough to provide a way for our relationship with Him to be restored.
The second thing that is accomplished at the cross is forgiveness. Peace and forgiveness are two concepts that are closely tied together. Christ is able to bring peace by paying our penalty, appeasing God’s wrath, and offering Himself as a sacrifice of atonement. He is able to bring forgiveness because He is perfect, holy, and blameless.
In other words, God forgives our sin, not because of our righteousness, not because we are good people, not because we keep the rules. Because we don’t do any of those things. We are declared righteous because of Christ’s righteousness.
Just like at the first Passover, the blood of a spotless lamb spread on the doorway would protect you. The angel of death would pass over that house. In the same way, the blood of the spotless lamb Jesus Christ applied to our lives covers us. God passes over our sin. He no longer holds that sin against us. We are freed from the bondage of sin and death.
Through the blood of Christ all your sins, past, present, and future are forgiven. Look at verse 11 with me again…
Through the Lord Jesus Christ we have received reconciliation, which encompasses both peace with God and forgiveness by God. We have new life, new hope, and a new future thanks to the sacrifice of Christ.
So now that we know that the work of Christ bring peace and forgiveness, the only question left to ask is, how do we access the cross? How do we lay hold of these promises of God? Is it first come first served? Does everyone automatically get a free pass? Do you have to serve as a deacon or deaconess for five years to earn your wings?
The most exciting part of the story is that access to God through Jesus Christ is available to everyone simply as a free gift of God’s grace. You don’t have to work for it, in fact you can’t work for it, it’s already free.
In the book of Ephesians Paul explains…
Ephesians 2:8-9 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Because Jesus Christ did all the work for us, our salvation is totally and completely a free gift. It is handed to us. A restored relationship with God is right there available for every single person to either accept or reject.
That brings me to the next point, access to God is accomplished by grace, and through our faith. The last part of verse 1 and the first part of verse 2 says…
“…we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand;”
Peace with God, forgiveness by God, reconciliation to God are all attained simply through faith in Jesus Christ. Do you believe that Jesus Christ came and died for our sins? Do you believe that God raised Him from the dead on the third day? Do you believe that He is coming again?
God’s grace is free, all that is required is simple faith. The ability to admit our sin and our separation from God and our need for Him to take control.
Good Friday is the day where we remember Jesus sacrifice on the cross. That cross was an instrument of torture and death and despair. But to those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ, that cross has become a symbol of peace, and infinite love, and new life.
There is this old hymn titled “Down at the Cross” that beautifully illustrates what happens at the cross:
Down At The Cross:
Down at the cross where my Savior died,
Down where for cleansing from sin I cried,
There to my heart was the blood applied;
Glory to His Name!
I am so wondrously saved from sin,
Jesus so sweetly abides within;
There at the cross where He took me in;
Glory to His Name!
Oh, precious fountain that saves from sin,
I am so glad I have entered in;
There Jesus saves me and keeps me clean;
Glory to His Name!
Come to this fountain so rich and sweet,
Cast thy poor soul at the Savior’s feet;
Plunge in today, and be made complete;
Glory to His Name!
