Why Did Jesus Need to Die On the Cross and Live a Perfect Life?

Why did Jesus need to die on the cross and live a perfect life? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of Core Christianity. Well, hi, I'm Bill Meyer, along with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. This is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day. Here's our phone number. It's 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. You can also post your question on one of our social media sites, and of course you can always email us your question at questionsatcorechristianity.com. First up today, let's go to Tony, who's from Missouri. Tony, what's your question for Adriel? Hey Tony, you there? Yes, I'm here. How are you?

I'm doing well. Hi, my question was, as a person, as a believer, I'm trying to live a Christian life, so I'm a believer in Jesus Christ. They'll say, but they're dealing with addiction, and they just happen to, I wouldn't just say this happened, but they pass an overdose. Will they still be considered saved or what? Will they go to heaven or else? Yeah, Tony, I've seen these situations before, and so the question is, you know, if the final thing you do is, you know, you succumb to addiction, illness, sin, you know, whatever it is, if that's the last thing that you do, does that mean that you're condemned to an eternity in hell? Well, for a believer, someone who has received Jesus Christ by faith, I would say that the answer is no. No, that Christ still holds that person in his hands, and that nothing, not even addiction, can snatch that person out of the hands of Jesus, and so these are really complex issues. Maybe a different question would be, can a real believer, someone who's genuinely saved, struggle with addiction and have a battle with addiction? I think that the answer is yes, there is a real battle, and the reality is all of us as Christians struggle with the flesh. Paul talks about this in Galatians chapter 5, the flesh lusting against the spirit, you know, these things are contrary to each other so that you don't do the things that you want to do. He talks about that battle also in Romans chapter 7, and so I think our confidence is not in the sinlessness of the individual or the fact that they, you know, they really were doing great and they never went back to that addiction. Our confidence is in the fact that the blood of Christ is sufficient to cleanse us of all sins, even the sins that we still struggle with, and so I would say that there is hope, that we do have hope in Christ, and while those situations are indeed tragic and heartbreaking and we pray for all those who are struggling with addiction, that they would get the help that they need and the care that they need, both from the church and then professional help as well, but just knowing that we can rest in the promise of the gospel for us as those who struggle, and so may the Lord be with you, Tony, and I just pray that you're blessed and thank you for that question. Tony, thanks so much for calling, and I'm not sure if you lost a friend or loved one to that overdose, but we'll be praying for you, and God will comfort you in that situation.

This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Let's go to Jack, who's calling in from Texas. Jack, what's your question for Adriel? Hello? Hey, Jack, you there?

Yeah, thanks for taking my call. My question is, in the Old Testament, the Mosaic law, the father and the son didn't die for each other's sins, so how come God killed David's son in 2 Samuel 12? I think the text you're referring to about the, you know, the son's not being guilty for the sins of the father, I think you're referring to text in Ezekiel a prophecy specifically, but the question is, you know, are there consequences for sin, and does God's judgment sometimes extend to even the children? That's something that we see here in 2 Samuel chapter 12, where David, the king, someone who knows better, right?

This is a position in, this is a high position, a high office. I mean, he's the king in Israel, a prophet as well, someone who the Lord has used mightily, but instead of doing what he should be doing, he commits adultery with Bathsheba, probably even more than just adultery, but abuses her, I mean, uses his authority and his power to take advantage of her as this subject in his kingdom, and then murders her husband, has him killed. And so this is something, and in essence, he tries to brush it under the rug. I mean, it wasn't until Nathan the prophet comes to him and confronts him, and he's so blinded by his sin that he doesn't even think it's him, but Nathan says, you're the man. And so there's this whole scene there, right, where you have this person who should know better, but is engaging in this grievous, heinous sin that is destructive, and God's judgment falls upon him. And the judgment there in 2 Samuel 12 is that the child that Bathsheba became pregnant with died, and that was the discipline of the Lord, that was the judgment of God on David because of his sin. And so I don't think that that contradicts the idea that you see elsewhere, like in places like Ezekiel, it's just the reality that our sinful actions have consequences, not just for us, but for the people around us. You think of, I can use another example, the father who's an alcoholic and doesn't spend time with his family, is abusive towards his family. His kids aren't guilty for his sin, but they are bearing the pain, the weight there.

I mean, it's just devastating. That's essentially what's happening there in 2 Samuel 12, is this child, who is not guilty of David's sin specifically, is bearing this judgment that's coming as a result of David's sin. And so the warning, I think, is God tells us, right, if many as I love I rebuke and chasten.

As the children of God, God does discipline us. And so we need to recognize that our sin doesn't just affect us, it affects the people around us. And that's a sobering reality, brothers and sisters, and this is why we submit to the Lord and cry out to him for his help and just for the grace of the Spirit to walk in a way that is pleasing to him and honors him for our sake and for the good of our loved ones as well.

You're listening to Court Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. If you're one of our... You know, I just wanted to say, going back to, because the question with the brother who was asking about the overdose, and you know, my heart just breaks because you think about Christians who really struggle and feel like, well, maybe the Lord is not even with me. I mean, I just struggle so immensely.

Is there any hope for me? I know that there are a lot of people like that, and you know, I'm so amazed by the stories we have in Scripture. I think specifically of stories like the story of Samson, where you have a guy who is, you know, called by the Lord, and yet his life seems like a life of contradiction, just this real struggle with obeying the voice of the Lord. And sometimes you just think, man, how can you be so foolish, Samson?

I mean, are you serious? You know, just giving in to Delilah and almost just completely blind. And at the end of his life, he is physically blinded, remember, by the Philistines.

And yet, here's a guy who in Hebrews chapter 11 is in the Hall of Faith. And honestly, I read that story and I just think, man, that gives me hope, right? That gives us hope because it's like God's grace towards sinners who struggle. And so you might be a Christian and you feel like, man, it's really hard. I have these addiction struggles. I have these sin struggles.

And that's never to brush those under the rug or to say, oh, they're fine. No, we're fighting by the grace of the Spirit to put to death those sinful deeds, the sins that we struggle with. But just knowing that God does not abandon you in the struggle, that He's there with you and for you, and that the blood of Christ is sufficient for you. I just wanted to say that again because I know that this is such a serious thing. And again, it speaks to the importance of being plugged into a solid Bible-believing church where you're getting support and accountability and people know you and you're willing to be open and transparent and they're willing to confront you and support you during difficult times, right? Absolutely, yeah. We need that. We need that confrontation at times. We were just talking about David and the prophet Nathan, right?

Good people in our lives who can say, hey, you're the man or you're the woman. You need to repent. This is sin. But we also need people who are going to wrap their arms around us or put their arms around our shoulders when we're struggling and be there with us in the fight, encouraging us to follow Jesus, to walk with Him.

Amen. You're listening to CORE Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. If you're one of our regular listeners and you find this program helpful, we'd like to invite you to join what we call our inner CORE. Yeah, the inner CORE is a group of supporters who give us a monthly donation of $25 or more.

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That's 1-833-843-2673. And here's one of our listeners from Puerto Rico. Hello, my name is Guillermo. This podcast is a huge blessing, so I forgot to strengthen you. And sorry for my accent, and I hope you understand me. Okay, so I have a small theological mess and was hoping you could help me out. I asked myself these questions. Was Jesus' work necessary for salvation? What did his life accomplish? What did his death accomplish? Yes, his death is the payment of our sins so that we don't have to pay them.

So I ended up with a question. Isn't just one of these enough? Couldn't he just live a perfect life in our place so that we would have a righteous standing before the Father? Did he really need to die?

Was all of it necessary? Anyways, thank you. God bless. And Guillermo, thank you so much for that question, brother.

And it's an excellent question. You know, when we talk about justification, justification is the act of God's free grace where he accepts us as righteous in his sight, forgiving all of our sins so that our sins are washed away. But he does more than just forgive our sins. He also gives to us, imputes to us, credits to us the righteous life of Jesus Christ lived on our behalf. So that it's not just that our sins are forgiven, but positively it's as if we've obeyed the very law of God. You see, there's the requirement, not just of being sinless, but of this sort of positive righteousness, if you will, obedience to the law of God that God calls his people to. It's what God called Adam to in the garden, Adam and Eve, to be fruitful and multiply, not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, this pursuit of God and his kingdom and righteousness.

And it's what they forfeited. And it's what Jesus coming as the second Adam accomplished for us. And so it's not just his sacrificial death on the cross that is important. It is important.

I mean, it's vitally important, but also his entire life lived because it's that life of righteousness, of holiness, of obedience to God's law that is given to us in imputation, that's imputed to us. Think of it like this. I have five kids. If I tell my son who's 10, you need to clean your room, which I do tell him from time to time. And I tell him this and he gets upset and he says, no, I'm not going to clean my room. And he rebels against me and he doesn't clean his room. And I come back an hour later and I say, okay, you haven't cleaned your room. And he says, I'm so sorry, please forgive me. And I say, because I'm a benevolent father and full of grace, I say, okay, I forgive you.

You're forgiven. That room still is not cleaned. It needs to be cleaned still. There's a sort of positive element. And when God calls us to himself, to obedience, we have the sins that we commit breaking God's law.

But it's more than that. It's also the fact that we have not kept the positive requirements of God's law. And that's what Jesus did when he came to earth, perfectly loving God, the father, perfectly loving his neighbor. And then when he suffered on the cross, he was bearing our punishment, our judgment, and giving to us his righteousness. And so brothers and sisters, through faith in Jesus Christ, if we've received him, it's not just as if we've never sinned. Sometimes you hear people say justification is just as if you've never sinned.

Well, yeah, that sort of puts you in this neutral position. It's also as if in Christ, you have kept the righteous requirements of the law. And now as one who has the righteousness of Christ and who has their sins forgiven, you get to, by the grace of the spirit, follow the Lord, obey God's law, walk with him. And this is precisely what Paul goes on to describe in Romans chapters six through eight. And so we do have the beautiful promise of the gospel in justification, that our sins are forgiven, and the righteous life that Jesus lived is credited to us so that we can stand before a holy God. And so they're both very important.

They're both necessary for us and for our salvation. God bless. Great explanation of the gospel. Thanks so much for that, Adriel. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. We do have a YouTube channel, and you can watch Adriel live on YouTube every day, Monday through Friday at 11 30 a.m pacific time.

11 30 to 12 pacific time on YouTube. And message us that way with your question. And here's a question that came in from one of our YouTube viewers, and they say, in Luke 22 53, why was Judas required to identify Jesus with a kiss and betray him? Yeah, well, I mean, I think what we have here is just a picture of the love of Christ that even in this moment of being slapped in the face with a kiss, I mean, Jesus knows what Judas is doing.

Jesus can't address him as friend. And of course, this is why Judas, after the fact, has this great regret, not repentance, but this great regret over what he had done, because he knows that he's betrayed the Son of God, an innocent person. And so the situation there, you know, with the kiss, it was the way in which Judas was identifying Jesus before the priestly guard so that they could arrest him.

But it really is this sort of sinister scene, right, the ultimate betrayal. Judas, who had been with Jesus during his earthly ministry, is now giving him this kiss, which is truly the kiss of death, frankly. I mean, it's just heinous, and yet still there, Christ, in his goodness and mercy, is not, you know, he doesn't punch Judas in the face. There's this humility being led as a lamb to the slaughter, as the prophet Isaiah said, and so Christ fulfilling. The work that the Father had given him to do, in being the sacrificial lamb for our sins.

Thanks for that question. You know, a lot of people often ask, was Judas, did he have free will? Did he have to do that based on prophecy, based on, you know, God's sovereign will and plan, or did he have the choice not to do it? What is your thought on that?

I would say it's the latter. He had the choice not to. I mean, even when we're thinking about the sovereignty of God, you know, we don't talk about it in this sense that the people are coerced into doing bad things, that God forces us to do evil, or determined Judas to do evil, that kind of a thing. No, there's this choice, these free choices that Judas is making within and under the umbrella of God's sovereignty, and God is permitted.

But this is just how human responsibility works, right? God is not coercing us to do evil, as though we could lay our evil at his feet. No, he's calling us to repentance and faith, and we so often, like Judas does here, hardened our hearts, or can harden our hearts against him, and so we have to be cautious. We have to heed the exhortation that's given in places like Hebrews chapter three, beware, brothers, lest there be in any of us an evil, unbelieving heart in departing from the living God. Exhort one another day after day, while it is called today, lest we be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

And so, yeah, Judas made his bed, and then he had to sleep in it, and so that's what happened. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. We'd love to hear from you. If you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life, you can leave us a voicemail anytime, 24 hours a day at 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. Here's a voicemail from one of our listeners named Lily. My question for Pastor Adriel is my church, we're in the process of moving locations, and the new location just so happens to be inside of a Jewish community center.

I'm feeling bothered by that. I don't know what the implications are, and wherever we end up, I just want God to be pleased with that. I just would like some advice on our move into the Jewish community center for our worship. Thank you, Pastor Adriel, and God bless you and Bill.

Hey Lily, thank you for that. So do you have to be concerned that your church, as it looks for another space to meet, is considering going to this Jewish community center? It's not a Christian organization. It's not a Christian building.

Is it kosher to use for a church? When we first started meeting as a church eight years ago, I planted a church in San Diego. We were meeting in this place called the Sunset Temple, and people just say, okay, what in the world is that?

I think it was owned by the Odd Fellows, or one of those organizations. It was this strange place, but we felt like, hey, we're going, and we're going to preach the gospel there, and we did. They would have weddings. The meeting space was more of a party hall, and they would have weddings, and parties, and all sorts of things that probably we wouldn't... Some of the things that they would have there, we wouldn't do or participate in as a church, but we would show up on Sunday mornings, and set things up, and preach the gospel. It was an opportunity for us to be in the community, to get to know others in the community, to share about Jesus. The reality is it's not primarily about the space.

Right in the middle of the COVID pandemic, when we couldn't meet indoors, we were meeting outside in a parking lot at one point, right by the water here in San Diego. It was this strange environment, not ordinarily where we would want to meet for worship, but I tried to reiterate to the people of our church, look, when we gather together around the preaching of God's word, to receive the ordinances or sacraments of grace that God has given to us, we're worshiping the Lord. Whether we're sitting in pews, or chairs, lawn chairs outside, hey, if we're here and drawn in by the word of God, which is what creates the church, that's what gives us this worship service. It's not the meeting space per se. It's not that they're stained glass and pews.

It's that the word is faithfully taught. I think that needs to be the priority for you and for your church, is the word of God being faithfully taught. If it is, wherever you guys end up, I hope that it's an opportunity for your church to engage with the people there, and maybe get to share Christ with those who own the facility.

This could be an opportunity, but I don't think that there's any concern in terms of are there evil spirits there that need to be exercised, or that kind of a thing. I would say just go use the space, use the building, and sanctify it, if you will, through the preaching of God's holy word. By the way, in John chapter four, Jesus has this discussion with the woman at the well, and she gets into a conversation with him about the place of worship. She says, our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.

That's John 4-20. Jesus said to her, woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know. We worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming and is now here when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. For the Father is seeking such people to worship him.

God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and truth. In other words, she's caught up with where are we going to meet? Is it this mountain? Is it that mountain? And Jesus says, look, the time has come where that's not the focus. It's not this holy place. We're not gathering in Jerusalem specifically to hear from God and to receive his grace.

No, the church is spread abroad throughout the whole world, and so it's not so much the holy place as it is the holy person, Jesus, who is gathering us up to himself through the preaching of the word and the ordinances of grace. You know, Adriel, when your church first started meeting at that place called the Sunset Temple, did it have the big triangle with the eye looking at you over the doorway? I tell you what, there was all sorts of weird stuff built at that place. The downstairs where we had nursery, that's where they kept all their Halloween decorations. So we'd have visitors and they'd make a little visitors and they'd send their kids down to the nursery and there would be hanging skeletons. Needless to say, we didn't have a lot of retention in those days with visitors, especially visitors with young children. But you know what, just in God's providence, that turned out to be the perfect place for us for about a year as we grew as a church.

And I was grateful for it. I mean, it was a strange place, but like I said, it was where the Lord had us. And so, you know, not everyone can meet in a beautiful church building with stained glass and pews and all that stuff. But that's not the focus, brothers and sisters. The focus is, as I already said, the faithful preaching of God's word. That's what makes the church.

That's what we need. And that's what each of us in our own lives needs to be committed to. Thanks for listening to CORE Christianity. To request your copy of today's special offer, visit us at corechristianity.com and click on offers in the menu bar or call us at 1-833-843-2673. That's 833-THE-CORE. When you contact us, please let us know how you've been encouraged by this program and be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's word together.