The Cross: It Was…It Is…It Will Always Be, Part 2

Dr. Michael Youssef, revealing the significance of the cross. On the cross, God did what we could never do. On the cross, Jesus' body was broken so that I may become spiritually whole. On the cross, Jesus was bloodied so that I may be cleansed. On the cross, Jesus was cursed so that I may be blessed.

He died so that I may live with Him forever. Thank you for being part of this episode of Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef, pastor, international Bible teacher, and author of the new book, God's Final Call. Easter is this weekend. Churches often mark the occasion with powerful music and celebration, all pointing to the cross and the empty tomb. But remember that music didn't fill the air when Jesus was hanging between heaven and earth. The only thing in the air was the smell of blood and the thoughts of those demanding His death. Today, Dr. Youssef highlights four things Jesus accomplished on the cross.

Listen with me as he begins this powerful teaching. Many people in this country are living in prisoner's debt of their own making. I'm not talking about your house mortgage or your car loan. I'm talking about people who spend money for things that are not necessary and they get themselves into deep debt over these unnecessary things. Years ago, a financial counselor friend of mine told me, he said, you know, Americans discovered that money does not bring happiness.

So they now trying credit cards. Why am I telling you this? I'm telling you this because I want to tell you about another debt, huge debt, a debt, a spiritual debt that every human being that's born has that debt hanging around his and her neck. This spiritual debt, which you've inherited in our genes, in our DNA, we got it by birth, by the virtue of being human beings.

I'm sure I can hear somebody saying, but Michael, that is not fair. Why did I get born with that spiritual debt hanging around my neck when I just inherited it from Adam and Eve? That's not fair to inherit. It's not fair to inherit spiritual indebtedness. That would not be fair if we were left in that hopeless condition. That would not be fair if we were responsible for the solution to that debt. Listen very carefully, please. If this is where the story ends, I would be hopelessly so depressed I couldn't get out of bed this morning to come and preach to you.

If that was the end of the story, but thank God that is not the end. Meanwhile the Bible said that the wages of sin is death. These wages can never be paid by anyone else. It cannot be paid by good works. It cannot be paid by good conduct. It cannot be paid by good education. It cannot be paid by good behavior.

Nothing and no one could pay for this inherited debt. But then I immediately remember the cross. For on that cross God paid the debt for me and for you. On the cross God paid the spiritual debt for everyone who would come to him in repentance and faith. On a human level there were a number of people responsible for the cross.

On a human level. Judas, he handed over Jesus to the priests to be crucified out of greed. The priests handed over Jesus to be crucified to Pontius Pilate out of envy and jealousy. Pontius Pilate handed Jesus over to the cross to be crucified out of cowardice and fear and ambition. The soldiers crucified Jesus following orders. And yet when Jesus hung on that cross in the midst of his agony, agony that you and I will never, never, never, never comprehend. When he hung on that cross he says father forgive them all for they know not what they're doing. After the resurrection Peter on the day of Pentecost he could declare to the crowd, to the Jewish folks who were there at the crucifixion and he would say to them I know you acted in ignorance so did your leaders. You see on a human level people deliver Jesus to be crucified but listen on a spiritual level, on a far deeper level, on a far more important level Jesus did not die a martyr's death.

What do I mean by that? Jesus went to the cross voluntarily. Jesus went to the cross willingly. Jesus came from heaven so that he may go to the cross.

So the question remains who delivered Jesus to die on the cross? Not Judas for money, not the priests for envy, and not Pilate for cowardice and fear and ambition. But the father delivered him for love. Jesus went willingly and voluntarily for love. Love for you and for me. Love for all who name the name of the only Savior and Lord.

Love for all who are the elect of God. Love for the church, his body and therefore I can actually and accurately say that I sent Jesus to the cross. My sins sent him to the cross. My disobedience sent him to the cross. My rebellion sent him to the cross.

My debt of sin with which I was born and then I practiced sent him to the cross. For only a person who is not born with that debt of sin around his neck can pay for those who are. Only the perfect Jesus can pay for very imperfect people. And Jesus was sinless in his nature. Jesus was sinless in his character. Jesus was sinless in his conduct and only such a sinless person can pay for the wages of the sins of others. I want to show you the four things that the cross has accomplished. Now, four words. Atonement, redemption, justification, reconciliation.

Let's look at these very quickly. What does atonement mean? You see, when Jesus died on that cross, he satisfied the justice of the Father.

In the last message, we saw how God is a righteous and holy and perfect God and he demands perfection on the part of his creation. But none of us can. No one can. And that's the debt I'm talking about. This is the debt that nobody can ever pay that I'm talking about. The natural consequence of our inability to pay that spiritual debt is judgment and wrath. The word wrath is the most misunderstood word among many evangelicals today. And that's why preachers don't even preach on the wrath of God.

They just leave it out altogether. Because when the moment the word wrath would come out, the moment the word is mentioned, they immediately think of someone who is out of control, malicious, spiteful, vindictive and on a rampage. That's what they think when they hear the word wrath. But God's wrath is never unpredictable or vindictive. God's wrath is always predictable, is very predictable and is provoked only by evil and by evil only.

Listen carefully. The Bible tells us again and again and again that God is the one who went out of his way to do the impossible. God is the one who did what none of us can ever do. God is the one who took the initiative. God is the one out of his mercy and grace provided a way of forgiveness. God out of his graciousness provided a way of escape from the judgment that is soon to come. You see God's love compelled him to watch his one and only begotten son with whom coexisted together since before all times to carry your sin and mine on his sinless body. You see God's grace made God the son willing to go to the cross and bear your guilt and mine, your shame and mine. Now please, please, please understand. Do not ever make the mistake that some Christians make and say that God loves us because Jesus died for us.

That's wrong. Christ died for us because God loved us. Can I get a witness? If God's justice and wrath needed to be satisfied, it was God's love that satisfied his justice. You see the cross not only satisfied the justice of God but secondly the cross.

On the cross Jesus redeemed us. What does redeem mean? It means payback. It means purchase something or someone with a cost.

It means pay a ransom for someone. You see God's justice was placated by the cross but redemption focuses on the state of our slavery to sin. We are born slaves to sin. We are born to say no to God, every one of us. We need it to be set free. Free not to sin. I want to make this very clear. When you pay off your house, I know there's a ritual some people go through.

You know what it is? They burn the mortgage, right? They burn the mortgage. What are they doing about burning the mortgage? They're setting the house free from the slavery of the bank.

Bankers don't get upset with me. It's just a fact. It's the truth. And back in the not so good old days of slavery, slaves were set free by somebody stepping up and paying a price to set them free. But listen, in redeeming us Jesus set us free from the clutches of sin. Redemption by the cross means that now freedom from sin is yours if you ask for it.

What a travesty. There's so many professing Christians continue to live as slaves to sin. But Jesus came to set us free. That's what the cross is all about.

Beloved, listen. Slavery to sin is not the same as occasionally sinning as we all do and failing. And the Bible makes it very clear in the epistle of John that if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

But if we confess that's not the same. Being in the clutches of sin and the chains of sin are very different. For the redeemed of God, sin and Satan have no business holding them in chains.

They have no business enslaving you or dominating your life. You are bought and paid for by the most precious blood of Jesus Christ. You are Jesus' property, so start living like it. On the cross, Jesus satisfied the justice of the Father. On the cross, Jesus redeemed us and set us free from the clutches of sin. But then thirdly, on the cross, Jesus justified us. Well, what does justify mean? I hear a lot of people say we're justified by faith. Well, what does it mean to be justified? He justifies us by covering us with his righteousness, the righteousness of Jesus Christ. So every time the Father looks at his redeemed and he sees him righteous because he sees him through the Son. In fact, it was Martin Luther, the German monk, when he discovered that justification doctrine in the scripture, he called it the chief article of the whole Christian doctrine. English reformer Archbishop Cranmer, who was burned at the stake by Queen Mary, when he learned from the scripture this doctrine of justification, he called it the strong rock and foundation of the Christian faith.

J. I. Packer, one of the great theologians of our time, called it the heart and the hub, the paradigm and the essence of the whole economy of God's saving grace. What does it mean? Ah, don't miss what I'm going to tell you about justification.

Listen carefully. It does not mean amnesty, for amnesty is a pardon with that principle. It is not the same as forgiveness even, which is overlooking the wrongdoing. That is not the kind of justification that Jesus accomplished for us on the cross. Justification is an act of generous and gracious justice.

What does it mean? It means that when I came to Jesus Christ, when I came to him and I said, Lord, I am so sorry. I'm a sinner. I'm heading for hell and I know I'm a sinner. Please forgive me. Accept me. You know what the heaven court said?

Didn't do what we do. When people come and ask us for forgiveness, often we come up with lots of junk. I hope you're not going to do this after you hear what I'm saying.

Okay. Because when somebody come and ask you for forgiveness, don't say, Oh, don't sweat it. Everybody makes mistakes. Oh, you know, it's not a biggie.

That's a bunch of junk. You say to the person, you're right. You offended me, but in the name of Jesus, I forgive you because I'm forgiven by him.

That's what you do. And so when I came to Christ, I said, forgive me, father. I have sinned and I want Jesus to be the savior of my life. He's the only one who could deliver me from this debt of sin. You know what heaven said? Guiltiest charge.

Why? Because God never minimizes sin. God never winks at sin because God does not rationalize sin. God, the father says, Michael, guiltiest charge, but wait, wait, wait, Michael, my son paid for your crime. Beloved grace and faith are inseparable.

Are you with me? Grace and faith are inseparable. Faith has only one function. It receives what grace puts in his hand. Grace gives and face stretches the hand and say, thank you.

I am grateful to receiving this. And that is why Paul could confidently say, therefore, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. And you want to ask him, why Paul? Why? I'm going to answer the question.

In fact, I'm getting excited because I know what I'm going to say. I'm getting ready to shout because on the cross, God did what we could never do. On the cross, God did what the law could never do. On the cross, Jesus was condemned so that we may be set free. On the cross, Jesus's body was broken so that I might become spiritually whole. On the cross, Jesus was humiliated so that I may be dignified. On the cross, Jesus was bloodied so that I may be cleansed. On the cross, Jesus was nailed and fastened to that cross so that he may pull me out of the jaws of sin and death. Jesus was forsaken so that I may be comforted. On the cross, Jesus was cursed so that I may be blessed.

He died so that I might live with him forever. Fourth thing that the cross has accomplished, and that is it's reconciled us with the Father. Perhaps reconciliation is one aspect of all those four that's probably familiar to all of us, more than the other three. And therefore, we can grasp it because we all experience reconciliation. We'd fall out with somebody and then we're forgiven one another and reconciled, and we all experience reconciliation. And the Bible said that we were at enmity with God. We were not on talking terms.

Why? Because he demands perfection and we couldn't hack it. Oh, but because Jesus made all of the Father's demands, we can have peace with God the Father.

Because Jesus called the Father Abba, we could come and call him Abba too. Because Jesus had access to God the Father, Jesus handed us the key so that we can have access to the presence of God. God the Father reconciled us to himself through his son. Anybody tells you that all the ways lead to God?

No, no, no, no, you don't understand. He cannot be reconciled to God the Father without God the Son. What a deal.

What a deal. The cross satisfied the justice of the Father. The cross redeemed us and set us free from the clutches of sin. The cross justified us by his grace and on the cross ended our enmity with the Father.

And so I'm going to conclude from where I started. Who crucified Jesus? We did. Judas's greed was our greed. The priest's envy was our envy.

Pilate's cowardice and ambition was ours. That's why I think really probably what said it best is that all Negro spiritual, were you there? Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Were you there?

And the answer is yes, I was there. I was there, so were you. I was there with my greed and hatred and envy and anger and unforgiveness. I was there with all of my shame and guilt. I was there with all of my plotting and scheming and betrayal. I was there handing them over to be crucified, so were you.

Oh, but also I want to run very quickly and I want to say, well, I was there, but I'm now washed with his blood. I am cleansed by his blood. I'm redeemed by his sacrifice. I am justified by his grace.

I am reconciled with the Father through the death and the resurrection of Jesus. Dr. Michael Yusef with powerful words about the cross on this edition of Leading the Way. And if you missed any portion of today's message, or if you'd like to hear the entire series, it's called The Cross. It was, it is, it always will be. Just click the listen link when you go to ltw.org or use the Leading the Way app.

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