R709 Why Jesus Was Crucified, Pt.1

God has an encouraging word for you and me today through the Bible-based teaching of Dr. Don Wilton and a question about Jesus' crucifixion. In just a moment, we're headed to Hebrews chapter 10 for a few days when we'll be spending thinking through, talking about why Jesus was crucified. As we open God's Word together in the book of Hebrews, know that we're open to speak with you and pray with you anytime. 24 hours a day at this phone number, jot it down, store it in your cell, 866-899-WORD. We'll connect you with one of us anytime to pray with you, but also to connect you with wonderful resources like this call for courage. Wow, here in this day and age when there's opposition even to our basic Christian faith, this is a wonderful book and video from Dr. Don Wilton called Be Salt and Light. It's available on our website at www.tewonline.org. That's www.tewonline.org.

And now, Dr. Don Wilton. Hebrews chapter 10. This is a miniseries and it is entitled Why Jesus Was Crucified. And I'm going to submit to you today, my beloved friends, that there is nothing in this world that is more important than the subject. And I'm going to submit to you today that it was the apostle Paul who said, I save to know nothing among you excepting Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

Why would he have said that? Paul put it like this. He said, I save to know nothing among you excepting Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Charles Haddon Spurgeon said, every time I open this book, I make a beeline for the cross.

That's what it's all about. Well, you might say to me, well, pastor, what is the alternative? Oh, I've got some alternatives to speak about if you'll beg my pardon. I could preach social gospel Sunday by Sunday. Now, folks, you're going to say to me, well, pastor, are you against social gospel? Not for one minute.

I believe every born again Christian who has been washed and redeemed by the blood has a mandate from God to be involved in society. So I could announce to you we're going to have a series for the next 10 weeks. Today, I'm going to talk to you about Habitat for Humanity and how important it is for us as a church, as Christians, to get involved. I could announce next week it's going to be the Carolina Pregnancy Center. I'm going to tell you that we are going to speak.

We're going to have pictures up here. We're going to show aborted babies. We're going to put the point where it ought to be.

We are going to get to grips on this whole matter of life. And we are going to talk about the Carolina Pregnancy Center. And at the end, the invitation is going to ask you to come down to the front and say, I will go to work and give my money to the Carolina Pregnancy Center. Well, I could the next week on the third week, our series could be on mobile meals.

Couldn't find a greater work than that. We're going to talk about helping the needy and delivering meals, getting involved. And at the end of the message, I'm going to ask you, if any one of you would come, would you just step out and walk down to the front and take one of us by the hand and say, I'll do it. I'll go out with mobile meals this next week. I'm going to be socially active. I could talk to you about soup kitchens. I could talk to you about mission trips, building houses. I could talk to you about doing this and doing that.

But I'm going to tell you something, my friend. The reason I bring them up is because these concerns are vital. They are necessary. They are indispensable components of our faith. But Paul said, I are saved to know nothing among you, excepting Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The cross of Christ Jesus. Why did Jesus die?

I could talk to you about politics. We don't like blood and guts in the church. Paul said, I save to know nothing among you excepting Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

So why was Jesus crucified? I want to read to you in chapter 10 of the letter to Hebrews, verse one. The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming, not the realities themselves. For this reason, it can never by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to God in worship.

If it could, would not they have stopped being offered? Here's the question, folks, just in case you're struggling this morning. If the law, if the sacrifices and the means by which someone came to God in the Old Testament, perfected people like you and me, why keep on doing it?

I've got an announcement to make. When Jesus died on the cross, His forgiveness perfected you once and for all. Now I want you to hold that because that is fundamental to our Christian faith. Second part of verse two, for the worshippers would have been cleansed once for all and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins, but those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Therefore, when Jesus Christ came into the world, He said, sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for Me. With burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased, O God.

Then I said, the Lord Jesus, here I am, it is written about me in the scroll. I, the Lord Jesus, have come to do your will, O God. First He said, sacrifice and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them, although the law required them to be made. Then He said, did the Lord Jesus, here I am, I have come to do your will. Jesus Christ sets aside the first covenant in order to establish the second and by that will we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ.

Here it is, once for all. Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties. Again and again he offers the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. But when this priest, the great high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, Jesus Christ sat down at the right hand of God. Since that time Jesus Christ waits for His enemies to be made His footstool because by one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. Point number one, why was Jesus crucified? Number one, in order to make perfect. Now we've got a real dilemma here friends. I have a major dilemma because I struggle to understand how that I could ever become perfect and evidently in the Old Testament they were no different to me.

If you have a look in chapter 10 the Bible says sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year to make perfect those who are desiring to be drawn into the presence of God. The greatest desire of the heart of mankind is to have access to God. How does a nobody get to come into the presence of the commander-in-chief? How does that happen? How does a nobody like me, if I have any hope of ever sitting down with the commander-in-chief of the United States, how is that going to happen? Well I can tell you. In order for me to have access to the commander-in-chief I have to know somebody. Now here's what happens folks. Somebody walks in and says, are you Dr. Don Wilton?

Yes sir. Well let me see your credentials, bank balance, social security, ID. You give him everything that he needs. Somebody looks at you and he says follow me, nobody. So nobody follows somebody. Nobody doesn't know where he's going. He doesn't live there.

He's hardly been there before but once. And so nobody follows somebody. Somebody knows exactly where to go and all of a sudden somebody comes up to a door, he opens the door, the door opens and you're in the Oval Office and the commander-in-chief stands up, walks across, somebody says, Mr. Commander-in-Chief, please allow me to introduce you to nobody. And Mr. Commander-in-Chief says, pleased to meet you, nobody. And the moment that you are introduced by somebody, nobody becomes somebody.

But I'm going to tell you, nobody will never meet the commander-in-chief unless somebody makes him a nobody because nobody is a somebody when somebody has access to the commander-in-chief. Now don't ask me to say that again. Well, let me tell you what happened to man. The Bible says that Adam and Eve sinned. When they sinned, their lives became blemished. God is perfect. He is holy. That word hagios there literally means that God, our Heavenly Father, is without spot and without wrinkle.

You can translate that directly, pure. There is nothing in God that even has the suggestion of impurity. So impurity or unholiness, which is sinful man, cannot come into the presence of the holiness of God.

That's why God was in Christ Jesus reconciling the world to himself. Now, who was Jesus? Jesus was the spotless Lamb of God. He was the Holy One.

He was without spot and without blemish, right? So here's what happens, my friends. Because Jesus Christ died upon the cross, God designated him to be the somebody through whom the nobodies can have access to the commander-in-chief. And so there is a sense in my heart, I believe this with all my heart, that the instantaneous moment that I repent of my sin and I give my heart and life to Jesus Christ, I am rendered perfect once and for all by somebody who is Jesus Christ, who takes this nobody and brings me into the presence of Almighty God, not as a nobody, but as somebody because it is Christ living in me. That's the imputed righteousness of God.

How could these things be? Friend, listen to me. Because Jesus died, I have someone that I can present my credentials to who has the authority to take me and to present me to the holiness and righteousness of God. And when I come into the presence of God, God doesn't see Don Wilton with all his imperfections. God sees Jesus Christ in Don Wilton who has been rendered holy, which enables me to have access into the presence of God my heavenly Father.

Somebody say amen this morning. So why was Jesus crucified? Or if we could put it into modern day terminology, why are you a Christian? Because Jesus died for me.

Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission for sin. Without Jesus Christ, I am rendered hopeless. I'm helpless.

I have nowhere to go. If I was to major our ministry in this church on social gospel or politics or anything else you could name, I would be guilty of the most heinous crime against humanity because I would be telling you to go out and do good works. And there is not a single good work that will ever render me perfect in the presence of Almighty God. Good works cannot get the job done.

It cannot happen. For by grace I am saved through faith, not of myself. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Some of you, my beloved people, you pour in your money and your effort and your time and everything into things that will never gain you access into the presence of Almighty God. You're wasting your time.

You can never stand in the presence of the righteousness of God outside the finished work of Jesus Christ upon the cross. Please forgive the interruption. We'll be back with the rest of today's message in just a moment. Don't go away.

We'll be back and he wants you to know we're here for you. As we take this pause, we do it so you can jot down this phone number, 866-899-WORD, as well as TEWONLINE.ORG. Those are our points of connection for prayer, for great resources.

That's 866-899-9673 and TEWONLINE.ORG. Now back to today's great teaching with Dr. Don. So where do my good works come into play? The instantaneous moment I give my heart and life to Jesus Christ, I am automatically motivated to become involved in Christian social activity.

Why? Because the love of God constrains me. I do what I do in all of these organisations, not in order to merit my salvation. I do them because I am saved. There are churches all over America today trying to build themselves on social gospel, on doing good and being good, of stroking one another's backs, of paying lip service to the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. I hear horrendous stories of preachers who get up and preach and never open the word of God.

How can these things be? You say to me, pastor, why so passionate about the subject? Because my friends in America today, people are so passionate about everything. They're passionate about going on vacation. They're passionate about fishing. They're passionate about playing golf. They're passionate about their motor cars and their businesses. They're passionate about their proms. They are passionate about organisations.

They are passionate about fame and fortune. God says, I want you to be passionate about Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Are you listening, church? The greatest gift, parents, that you can give to your sons and daughters is the gift of the Lord Jesus Christ who gave His life to make people like you and me perfect. So what does perfect spiritual perfection do? Number one, spiritual perfection provides the ability to have access to God. Number two, spiritual perfection provides the ability to attain personal perfection.

Can't believe that, but that's what happens. And number three, spiritual perfection provides the means to complete salvation. Why? Because the Bible says in verse 14 that He has made me perfect forever. I am being made holy. I was saved. I am saved. I'm being saved.

I will be saved. I was saved the moment I give my heart to Jesus Christ because my salvation is an historical fact upon the cross. And the moment I give my heart to Jesus today, I am saved. But I was saved when Jesus died upon the cross. Tomorrow, I am being saved because it is my life. God is sanctifying me continually. And on that great day, I am completely saved when I come into the presence of the King.

What an incredible thing to think about. Why Jesus was crucified. Why the cross? What's so important? Why the fuss?

Why all the talk? Surely, pastor. I'll tell you what I love about this church, my friends. I haven't had a single person since 1993. Not a single person in this church has ever come to me again and complained about hearing Jesus.

Not one. That was a one-time experience for me in this church. And God spoke to my heart. Well, I want to ask you today, why are you a Christian?

Why? What moves you and motivates you? Parents, what are you teaching your sons and daughters? What is more important to you than anything in this entire world? More important than your horses?

More important than your lake house? More important than your vacation? More important than your life? More important than your business? More important than your school?

Than your graduation? More important than anything? Is it Jesus Christ and Him crucified? Lord Jesus, write your cross upon our hearts that we might see Jesus, for it's in His name that we pray together. Amen. See, folks, this is another one of those things.

I don't ever hear any complaints, so I haven't had anybody that I can refer to. I don't have that here in the church. This is a wonderful church. I'm sure there's some people who right now you're saying, look, preacher, you've preached a good one today. Let's just go home, man. Please, don't.

Why have we got to have this little extra thing hanging on the end of the service? It just kind of... Now, friend, listen to me. Listen. There is implicit in the very name of Jesus an invitation to respond.

How could I say to you today, thank you so much. All right, everybody, go home. Think about it. Is it possible, God forbid, that there could be someone here today who would be killed this week? I pray not.

We're asking God to be kind and gracious to us and send his guardian angels to protect us. Is it possible? Does that ever happen? Is it possible that there could be someone here who would slip into Alzheimer's or something? You'd lose your mind. You've got no connection with the real world anymore. It's too late.

Is it possible that something could happen? I don't know. I don't even like to think about those things. See, friends, I actually... We, should I say, because I've never heard a word of complaint in our church, do you?

We actually don't have any choice. By the way, have you ever been to a church where they don't have an invitation? Have you ever sat in a church where they've preached and sang at the end of it, they said, now go home? It's incomplete.

It's like cooking a dinner and then letting it just stand there. The invitation comes right out of the Word of God. God by his Spirit is calling us all the time. And my friends, as your pastor, I am compelled. This church is compelled to call you out. And I'm compelled to call you out publicly. I'm compelled to invite you to walk out in front of everybody, take someone by the hand, declare your relationship with Jesus Christ. I'm compelled to do that.

I don't even have an option. I wasn't asked to think about it. Jesus said, if we confess him publicly before men, he will confess us publicly before the Father which is in heaven. Besides, Jesus was crucified publicly. He could have done it privately because he was the Son of God.

He could have had a private little execution, but he didn't do it. He went out there in front of everybody, hung on a cross in front of everybody. We are compelled to call one another out. Young people, I'm calling you out. Some of you teenagers sitting here, you're messing around with God. And you know exactly who you are. You're playing a game. You're coming to church on Sunday morning and you're looking terrific and you're going out during the week and doing exactly what you like, when you like.

You're drinking, you're smoking, you're messing around with your bodies. You're using four letter words and on Sunday morning you come and sit here and you think God's impressed with you. I'm asking some of you young men, have you got guts enough to stand up and step out and say, I'm coming for the Lord Jesus Christ. Say, pastor, what's this all about? It's about the cross. It's about the cross. It's about God loving the world so much that he gave himself for somebody like me. A wretched sinner like me. It's bad enough trying to imagine that God would allow me to be loved by people like you, but to be loved by God.

Unbelievable. Wow, what a powerful message. We have so much more to share from this teaching on the book of Hebrews chapter 10 and we'll have more throughout the rest of the week. But right now, let's concentrate on what Doc just said, that Jesus loved us so much that he gave everything so that we can be saved.

That's a term we hear an awful lot, but it means something to you personally. You've heard Dr. Wilton as he's been teaching and preaching. Now as he steps into the studio, open your heart to what he wants to share next. Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ? Why don't you pray this prayer with me right now? Dear God, I know that I'm a sinner and I know that Jesus died for me on the cross. Today, I repent of my sin and by faith, I receive you into my heart. In Jesus' name. My friend, I welcome you today into the family of God.

This is exciting news. Welcome to Dr. Don Wilton, our teacher here on The Encouraging Word and perhaps moments ago, you prayed along with Dr. Wilton to give your life to Jesus Christ or perhaps to rededicate your life to Christ. We are so excited for the way that God is working in his word and The Encouraging Word ministry every single day.

And if that's happened for you today, let us put some free resources in your hands that will help you grow in your faith. Dr. Wilton has prepared these resources for you and they're absolutely free. You can also call at 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673. Or you can meet us online as well. Our website is www.tewonline.org. That's www.tewonline.org. Did you know that you can receive exclusive teaching letters from Dr. Wilton and information about our newest messages and Bible guides every month? Join our email community. Dr. Wilton's letters will encourage, fortify and inspire you in your walk with God. You will also receive periodic updates on how The Encouraging Word is working to share God's truth with a searching world. Subscribe today by visiting our website at www.tewonline.org forward slash email.

That's www.tewonline.org forward slash email. The Encouraging Word is a viewer and listener supported ministry. Thank you for listening today. Our time's gone for today, but oh, tomorrow we pick back up here in Hebrews with Dr. Wilton all week long talking about this concept, why Jesus was crucified, and how that changes the way we live out our life every single day. Between now and then, I pray you'll stay connected with us on our website. www.tewonline.org is the place to sign up for our daily devotional, now available in Spanish. If you're at our website www.tewonline.org, click on the Devotion tab. You'll see the opportunity to sign up for it both in English and in Spanish. That's all on our website at www.tewonline.org.