The Plan For Salvation: Jesus Had To Die On The Cross

And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again. – 2 Corinthians 5:15

Today’s message from Grace To You was given by a different pastor since John MacArthur was getting rested up from attending so many functions lately, so the substitute was “Pastor Mike”.  I regret not finding his last name but today’s message has not been posted yet so I can’t see the name of the person who gave the message.  The sermon for today, 5/19/19, will be posted here.

The message today came from 2 Corinthians 5:11-21, where Pastor Mike taught us about the Doctrine of Justification and how we are saved by Christ’s death.

Christ’s death meant everything to us; to our lives, and our eternal life.  Because we are born into sin from the time of Adam and Eve, we are no longer able to cleanse ourselves to become the Holy people that God requires to be in His presence.  Christ died to take all the sin of the world onto himself; a sinless, holy and pure man who was God, and die in place of us.  We deserve death, eternal damnation only, and cannot pay the price of our sinfulness.

Sinfulness of our hearts and minds and deeds.  It does not matter if we judge ourselves to be “good people”, we are born into sin and cannot escape it on our own, without Christ Jesus to save us.

But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. – Isaiah 53:5

He became the curse of the sin of the world for all time.  It is final.  No other man can do that and no other man walked the earth who also was God in fleshly form.

God is made manifest in Three Persons:  God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.  We are none of those of ourselves, and we are not man the Holy Spirit, nor are we “little gods”, the way the false teachers preach as if we have some special powers.  We are not Gods, in the proper sense.  There is only One True God and that is Jesus Christ the Son, the Father in Heaven and God’s Holy Spirit.  We have the gift of this Holy Spirit when we believe in Jesus Christ and what he did on the cross for us.  He died for our sins and he obeyed to perfection the Father, Our Father in Heaven, which we cannot do on our own.

Legally He obeyed the law with perfection for us since we cannot of our own selves.  We are sinful in nature and Christ Jesus is the only One who can wash us clean to create a new life inside of us.  Hence, we become the new creatures in Christ the bible talks about.

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. – 2 Corinthians 5:17

Today’s sermon outlined these four things to help us understand why Christ Jesus died for us at Calvary, and rose again:

1. The Saving Father – His plan of salvation for us that Jesus Christ dies on the cross in order to pay the price of eternal damnation for our sin.
2. Sinless Substitute – A spotless sacrifice had to be killed to pay for our crimes which was Jesus, who knew no sin, was perfect and righteous without any defects to pay for our sins.  The crimes of sinfulness has to be paid for; hence, a “holy lamb” was perfect who could pay the price by being killed as a sacrificial and holy “lamb”.
3. Sin Imputed – Jesus who knew no sin became sin on our behalf and was killed for it.  A price had to be paid for the sinful crimes that humankind perpetrated; in thoughts, hearts and deeds.  As if the Lord Jesus Christ had committed sin, he took our place on the cross to be killed as the only Atonement from the sacrificial system of the book of Leviticus.  We are forgiven because the price of our sin has been paid, and we now live in righteousness as we are obedient to God.
4. Saints Righteousness – That we might become righteous in fellowship with God; believing in Him and that he rose again, and is in Heaven seated at the right hand of Father God, we have turned from sin and trust Jesus Christ entirely, and with all our hearts and minds.

References

1. 2 Cor 5 vv. 14, 20; Rom 8:7; Isa. 53:10; John 3:16
2. John 7:18; John 8:46; 1 Pet 2:22; 1 John 3:5; Heb 4:15; Lev 22:21; Ex 12:5; Heb 9:26; 1 Cor 5:7; 1 Peter 1:18-19; Ps. 49:7-8; Rom 11:33-36
3. Lev 16 vv. 8-10, 21; Isa 53:4; 1 Pet 2:24; Gal 3:13
4. 2 Cor 5:21; Roman 1:17; Rom 3:22; Phil 3:9; Rom 5:19; Isa: 61:10; 2 Cor 5:21