Why the Cross?

Pastor, teacher, and author Adrian Rogers has introduced people all over the world to the love of Jesus Christ and has impacted untold numbers of lives by presenting profound truth simply stated. Thanks for joining us for this message.

Here's Adrian Rogers. Let's find some wonderful, glorious truth. For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit. Now, folks, there's enough gospel dynamite in that one verse to blow the hatred and the sin out of any heart, but that gospel dynamite must be ignited by the spark of faith.

And I'm praying that God will take this verse today and God will bring it to your heart and that a spark of faith will cause a spiritual explosion and you'll come to know Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior. Somebody has a painting of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's been working in the carpenter shop as a lad.

He's about 15 or 16 years of age. The wood shavings are on the floor and you can see the saws and the planes and the squares and the tools in the background. The sun is setting and this young lad who would one day die upon a cross has come to the door of the carpenter shop and he's on his tiptoes and he's stretching out and he's stretching and yawning because it's the end of a hard day and the sun is setting there in the west and on the back wall of that carpenter shop, if you look, you'll see the shadow of a cross that is made by that lad for Jesus lived in the shadow of a cross. He knew from his youth up that he was born to die. Now I want to lay upon your heart four truths that come out of this one verse and I pray God that you will not miss one of them. Reason number one, there's the substitutionary purpose of the cross.

Do you have it? The substitutionary purpose of the cross. Look in this verse again, for Christ also hath once suffered for sins.

Watch this now. The just, that's Jesus for the unjust. Friend, we are the unjust. Now God forgives sin, but how does God forgive sin?

He must do it with a substitute. There must be somebody who pays the penalty for sin. A God cannot just overlook sin.

If God would overlook sin, a God would no longer be a holy God any more than a judge would be a righteous judge if he were to overlook a crime. I've told you before, there's a saying in jurisprudence in the laws that when a guilty man is acquitted, the judge is condemned. If a judge would just say, well, I'm a loving judge, that's all right. I will overlook rape, murder, arson, pillage, whatever it is, that's all right. I'm a loving judge.

At that moment, the judge becomes a criminal. If God were to simply overlook sin without sin being punished, God would topple from his throne of holiness. If you were to go through all of the lexinaries of this world, the dictionaries of this world, the books of theology of this world to try to find one word that would describe God, what word would that be? Well, all the words in the world can't describe God, but if you had to distill it to one word, what would it be? Most people would say God is love and he is matchless, infinite, holy, indescribable, unfathomable love, but that one word would not be love.

The one word in my estimation, it would be holiness. God is holy. Holy, holy, holy.

Lord God almighty. And that word holy means that God is the opposite. God is the antithesis of sin. God is a righteous and a holy God and sin must be punished.

God cannot overlook sin, so God must punish sin, but not only is God holy, God is love, so God must have a way that he can have sin punished and yet have us forgiven. Now, we are sinful by birth. We're sinful by nature. We're sinful by practice. The world rejects the idea of sin. You don't hear much about sin anymore.

You read the newspapers, you read about rape, you read about pornography, you read about drunkenness, you read about drug addiction, you read about all kind of mayhem, but the word sin is hardly mentioned. God, whose infinite love has a holy hatred for sin, so God had in his heart and his mind a plan by which sin could be punished and yet man could be forgiven and that method is substitution. Now, God had prophesied the cross many, many years before Jesus died on the cross. There was a man named Abraham. He was the first of the Hebrews. Abraham, the father of the Jewish nation. Abraham, Father Abraham, the father of the faithful, the brightest star in the Hebrew heavens and God said to Abraham, Abraham, I'm going to give you a son and this son will be a part of your lineage and through this son, Abraham, all the nations of the world will be blessed. We'll call his name Isaac, which means laughter. He'll be the joy of your heart. He's the son of prophecy because I'm telling you about it before he's even born. I'll give his name before he's born just like Jesus' name was given before he was born just like Jesus was the son of prophecy and Abraham, he's going to be born of a miracle. You're going to be an old man in a hundred when he's born. Your wife Sarah, her womb is dried up.

She's past the menopause. It's impossible from men's viewpoint for her to have a child, but she's going to conceive in her womb and she's going to have a son and through this son, all of the nations of the world are going to be blessed. That son, as you can tell, is a picture, a prophecy in the Old Testament of the Lord Jesus and then one day, God comes to Abraham and God says to Abraham, Abraham, you're my Lord. Abraham, take Isaac, your son, your only son, the son that you love, take him to a place that I will show you, not just any place, but a place that I will show you and offer him up there a burnt sacrifice. Abraham knows that God is speaking. He doesn't understand it all, but he must obey because if God tells him to do this, the God that gave him a miracle is still the God of miracle.

The Bible tells us in the book of Hebrews that Abraham knew that God was able to raise him from the dead if necessary. So they go up, they come to this place. God points out this place, it's a rocky limestone hill. It's called Mount Moriah. It's the same mountain that the temple is built upon. It's the same mountain that Jesus would be crucified on, Mount Moriah. There was no temple there then. This was many, many years before the temple.

This was many, many years before Calvary would transpire. Young Isaac has the wood upon his back and he starts up Mount Moriah just as Jesus had that cross upon his back and started up that same rugged hill so long ago. Abraham has a torch with a flame that speaks of the burning wrath of God against sin. Abraham has a knife in his hand that speaks of the penalty of sin for the wages of sin is death and they start up their father and son together. When they start up the mountain, Isaac says, Father, I see the wood, I see the knife, I see the fire. Father, where is the sacrifice? Abraham chokes back the tears, but he makes one of the greatest statements in all of the Bible. My son, God will provide himself a sacrifice. God will provide himself a sacrifice. They get up to the top, Isaac.

Stretch out your hands. It begins to bind the hands of Isaac. You understand that Abraham is an old man. You understand that Isaac is a strapping youth full of vigor and strength.

He could have overcome the old man at any moment, certainly could have outrun him, but he stretches out his hands in obedience just as Jesus said, no man taketh my life from me. I lay it down on myself. I have the power to lay it down.

I have the power to take it up. And here the son is willingly submitting to the father and saying, not my will, but thine be done. There comes that moment. Other than the crucifixion of our Lord, I believe the most poignant moment in all history. Abraham takes that lethal knife. He's ready to plunge it into the quivering bosom of his son, an angel from heaven speaks and says, Isaac, Abraham, listen, Abraham, do the lad no harm.

Don't touch him. Look, Abraham. And over there in a thicket was a ram with his horns and his horns are locked in the thicket. He can't escape. He's caught in the thicket. He is crowned with thorns. And God says, Abraham, take him.

Offer him in the stead, in the place of your son. By a double illustration, he's teaching substitution. And God said in his heart and his mind, God knew what he was going to do. Abraham didn't know it, but God knew it. And when Abraham started up one side of that mountain, unseen to him, I believe that ram started up the other side of that mountain. And Abraham didn't see it, but God knew what he was going to do. I can see Abraham with tears of gratefulness as he undoes the hands of Isaac and they take that ram and they sacrifice that ram and the blood of that ram comes over those stones and that burnt sacrifice is offered.

No wonder Jesus said, Abraham saw my day and was glad. By faith, he learned substitution. Now, he named that place, Moriah.

And he got a name for God there, Jehovah-Jireh, God who will provide. God would provide himself a lamb. Abraham learned the lesson of substitution, the lesson of substitution, that ram for his son. Now, fast forward. God has now taught his people about the Passover lamb and thousands and thousands of lambs were sacrificed by the Jews, a Passover lamb.

Again, a picture of substitution. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. And the Jews had begun to breed lambs, Passover lambs. Do you know where they bred them? At Bethlehem. That's where they bred the Passover lambs. Those shepherds who first heard the Christmas message, they were shepherds watching over a special breed of lambs, Passover lambs. Little lambs were being born out there in the fields of Bethlehem.

But in a smelly stable, a virgin woman was having a baby. Mary had a little lamb. His fleece, white as snow, virgin born. These lambs, the lamb. When John the Baptist saw him, John knew he was the lamb. Behold, the lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. There came that day of crucifixion.

The day of Passover week. Jesus is coming into the city of Jerusalem, over the brow of the Mount of Olives, up through the eastern gate and they're shouting, Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna. Glory to God. Hallelujah.

Hosanna. Jesus, the lamb of God riding a donkey is going through the eastern gate. At that same time, these Passover lambs from Bethlehem are coming. The lamb from Bethlehem, the Passover lambs. The Passover lambs are going through the sheep gate. Jesus coming through the eastern gate.

They're all there on the temple mount at the same time. The priest are examining the Passover lambs to make sure they're perfect. They are looking at Jesus Christ, the lamb, and he's being criticized and interrogated and castigated and they're trying to find some flaw in him. But they say, never a man speak like this man.

Even that hard-hearted, pussy-footing politician pilot had to say, I find no fault in him. Jesus could look at them and say, which of you convinceth me of sin? He was a perfect lamb. Then at three o'clock in the afternoon, they took those Passover lambs that pictured substitution and the priest would lift up the chin and draw that knife under the chin and that blood would spur out of those Passover lambs. Three o'clock in the afternoon, they're nailing the lamb of God to the cross at the same time on the same mountain where God had said to Abraham, God will provide himself a sacrifice. Do you think all of this is happenstance, that all of this just happened like that? It's clockwork.

It's an amazing thing. And Jesus, the lamb of God, bows his head in agony and blood and says, Tetelestai, it is finished. It is paid in full. Levitical priest, you can go home now. Passover shepherds, we don't need you now. It is done. It is finished.

The plan is done. God is teaching substitution, the just for the unjust. Now, before Jesus was put up on that cross, Pilate trying to escape from a predicament thought that perhaps he could get himself off the hook because it was a custom in that day that one notorious criminal would be released and they had a man there. His name was Barabbas, Barabbas we call him, the son of Abbess. And Barabbas was an insurrectionist. He was a thief. He was a murderer. He was a rebel.

He was an ungodly, lascivious, evil, wicked, horrible, hateful man, Barabbas. Pilate had a plan. This was his way to let Jesus go and for him to maintain his dignity and his station with Rome. So, Pilate gathered the people and the people were clamoring for the blood of Jesus. But Pilate said, look, here's Barabbas and here's Jesus.

Which of these do you want me to release to you? Barabbas, the criminal, or Jesus is called Christ. They said, release Barabbas.

Release Barabbas? Well, what do you want me to do with Jesus? Let him be crucified. Crucify.

And so, Jesus loses an election to a crook, a criminal, a murderer. Now, I want you to imagine a scene, a soldier with a torch goes down a narrow corridor in a dingy Roman jail. He comes to a certain cell.

It's in his big key. Back there in the back of that cell, on the ground, on a mat of straw, is a man whose face is the very mirror of evil. He cringes back. The guard comes and puts the torch in his face and said, you, Barabbas, get up. It's time. Barabbas says, no, no, please. He doesn't want to go, and he cringes back. He said, Barabbas, would you be quiet?

You are the most, you're the luckiest, the most fortunate individual I've ever known. Barabbas, you're not going to die. You're not going to be crucified, Barabbas. Barabbas, I don't understand it.

Come out here, you rascal. I'll show you something. Look over there on that hill. Barabbas, look. You see those three crosses? See the man on the middle cross? Look at him, Barabbas. That cross was made for you.

We could hardly wait to nail you up there, but Pilate says you're going to go free. That man up there, whomever he is, is dying in your place. Now, I don't know whether Barabbas ever got saved or not. I don't know, but isn't it wonderful how God arranges the whole thing so we can learn and see the lesson of substitution? Now, you say Christ died for me. That's true, and that is true. Say it and keep saying it, but may I ask you to tweak it just a little bit and say this to yourself today, Christ died instead of me.

That's what it is. The purpose of the cross is one of substitution. If we could only learn that it is... You see, Barabbas was a thief. We are thieves. We have supposed to have been God's stewards, and we fail. Barabbas was a rebel. We've meant to be God's servants, and we fail. Barabbas was a murderer, and we ourselves have put the Son of God to ignominious death. He was a prisoner. We ourselves are bound with sin.

He represents all of us. There was a great preacher of yesteryear. His name was Charles Spurgeon.

You know, some of us have religion that's okay to live by, but not much good to die by. Charles Spurgeon was dying. Somebody said to him, Now that you're dying, now that you're facing death, Mr. Spurgeon, what is your theology now? He just smiled, and he said, Christ died for me. Christ died for me.

All right, so here's the first thing. Look at it again in verse 18. Christ also hath once suffered for sins the just for the unjust, the substitutionary purpose of the cross. The liberals don't like the idea of the substitution of the cross.

They think that Jesus died as an example or as a martyr. He did not. He died as a substitute. Here's the second thing. I want you to see in this verse not only the substitutionary purpose of the cross, but I want you to see the suffering passion of the cross. Look at the verse again. For Christ also hath once suffered. Jesus suffered on that cross.

Don't miss this. He hath once suffered. Tongue cannot tell, and throat cannot sing, pen cannot write, heart cannot understand the suffering of our Lord Jesus upon that cross. Sin brings suffering, and unless you have a substitute, you will suffer for your sin. I hope you can understand this.

Don't check me out now. Think of the emotional sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn to Luke 22, verse 41, and look at it. Luke 22, verse 41.

It speaks of dark Gethsemane. Jesus is facing the cross, and it says this, and he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast. And so how far could you throw a stone? Maybe as far as from here, the back of the auditorium.

If you could throw that far, some of us couldn't. He was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast. And he kneeled down and prayed, saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me.

Nevertheless, not my will but thine be done. And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him, now watch this, and being in agony, he prayed more earnestly. And his sweat was, as it were, great drops of blood falling down to the ground, not just oozing out, actually dripping. Great drops of blood. The very blood of the Son of God is profusely falling on the ground. I read about this in medical books in a time of great duress.

The minute capillaries will rupture, and in a time of great stress, this is possible, very rare, but it's possible. He said, my soul is sorrowful unto death. The Bible says he was in agony. The word agony comes from a Greek athletic contest or a battle.

Either one, it may be used. It's called the agon. It means to strive with all of one's strength. With all of one's strength, Jesus was in a battle here. He is battling. He's not battling with God the Father. No, he wants the will of God the Father. He is not battling with Satan. He can decimate Satan. What's he battling with?

He's battling with his own humanity. He knows what he is about to face, and he says, Father, Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Now, the cup is a metaphor for suffering. There was a cup that Jesus must drink from.

What was in that cup? Well, if we were to pass that cup through this congregation today, and you would put all of your sin in that cup, every dirty thought, every foul word, every selfish deed, every lie, everything that you've ever done would be in that cup, but then pass that cup through all six billion people who are alive on the face of the earth and let them put their sin in that cup, and then go back through time from Adam and Eve up until the time when the trumpet shall sound and time shall be no more, and let them put that in that cup, put rape in that cup, put sodomy in that cup, put arson in that cup, put lasciviousness in that cup, put drug addiction in that cup, put demon worship in that cup, put vileness and filth in that cup, slimy, filthy, and Jesus knows that because he is going to be a substitute, him who knew no sin, God hath made to be sin for us. He must take our sin. He must put those pure and holy lips upon that filthy cup, and he must drink it down.

He will not become a sinner, but he will become sin. He, the Lord Jesus Christ, will suffer that emotional suffering. I want you to see Jesus in Gethsemane. When I see Gethsemane, I want to cry.

I want to weep. See the very Son of God with black dirt and red blood on his face as his face is in the ground, and he is praying, Father, Father, if there be some other way, please let this cup pass from me. Don't get the idea that he just strolled to the cross saying, you can't hurt me. Nobody has ever suffered like the Lord Jesus Christ. He suffered the penalty for all the sin of all the world of all time upon that cross, and he said, there's no suffering like unto my suffering. Jesus knew that when he took that cup upon him, when he took that sin upon him, that God would have to treat him as God treats sin because he's the substitute.

There can be no mercy. The Bible says God spared not his own son. The Bible says it had preached the Lord to bruise him, and Jesus knew that he who had been in the bosom of the Father from all eternity would now become the object of the Father's wrath, that he would be separated from God the Father. Jesus knew that the fires of God's wrath would burn themselves out in him. Jesus knew that he was going to baptize his own soul in hell. There was the emotional suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Then, friend, not only was there the emotional suffering of the Lord Jesus, there was the physical suffering of the Lord Jesus. Pilate, hoping to get Jesus off his hands, thought maybe if they saw Jesus brutalized that the people would be satisfied if they could just see a little suffering. So Pilate said, let him be scourged. Do you know what scourging was? It was a pillar, a post. They would take the person to be scourged, just the Romans would, and tie his hands above his head so he's standing on the balls of his feet.

His back would be smooth as silk. They would strip from him his clothing, and scourging was done not by one but by two. They took a whip called a flagrum with a sturdy handle, thongs of leather. Embedded in those thongs of leather would be bone and glass and lead and iron.

And it was an instrument of torture. Probably some psychopathic dungeon keeper would volunteer for the job, the lictors. One would start at the front and start at the throat and whip downward. The other would start at the back of the heels and whip upward. And those thongs would reach around the body and the little bit of bone and lead would pick the pieces of flesh off. They were artists. They knew how to whip a man so as to take away the flesh, expose the nerves, yet not disembowel him. It was not a pretty sight.

Historians tell us no man ever walked away from that. If anything, he crawled if he could move at all when they cut him down. Then they took him.

He went through these mock trials, six of them, travesty of justice. And finally he's there just before the crucifixion in Pilate's judgment hall. The soldiers, they had a game. They called it the game of the kings. They'd played it with others before because they in their hatred against authority took some figure that, and they could take their hostility out on some king. And I've been there to that judgment hall. You can still see it etched in the stones there and not in the judgment hall, but in the courtyard.

You can still see the game of the kings there where these, they played this game. They enjoyed their game with Jesus. They reached up and snatched his beard from his face. His face looked like, the Bible says he was more marred than any man.

It means you couldn't tell he was a human being. Then they took their big fist. The Bible says they smote him.

And I mean they're pushing him now from person to person. He's reeling, they smote him. And then they took clubs and they beat him with clubs. They said, he's blindfolded.

They say, hey, hey, if you're God, if you're king, if you know everything, who is this that's hitting you? And they slapped him. They spat in his face, the Son of God, Christ hath once suffered for sin. Then they put on his back that cross. They let in the via Dolorosa, the way of sorrows. He stumbled beneath the load. He was a strong man, but he stumbled. The loss of blood, the shock, the pain, the agony. Finally, when he comes to Moriah, I believe the same spot where that lamb was caught in a thicket.

I believe the exact same spot where God will provide himself a lamb. They stretch him out. They were experienced. They knew how to put the nails right where they'd find the median nerve. So every nerve would be a river of pain. They put those searing nails in his hands and in his feet.

They hit him at a 90-degree angle, but when he's lifted up to the cross, the arms go up to a 65-degree angle, putting the weight down upon the nails in the feet. When he tries to pull himself up, then the pain is upon the hands. His throat is filled with surcharge blood. His teeth, his nausea, convulsions, pain, agony, dizziness, sweat, tears. He is suffering.

He is suffering. The Romans did this on purpose. Do you know why the Romans crucified?

It was the worst form of death that man can devise. They wanted their victim to squirm on the cross and they wanted everybody to see it. Did you know what the word excruciating means? X means out of. Cruse means cross. It means out of the cross. Excruciating. It was out of the cross that this word comes.

Excruciating. Jesus is there in excruciating pain upon the cross, raging fever through his body. He who made the oceans and the rivers and the rain clouds said, I thirst. He's there upon that cross. Do you know who he did that for?

For you. You say, well, God let a man go to hell. I believe hell's too good for a man to walk over the blood of Jesus Christ. Well, let Jesus die in agony and blood for him as a substitute. Christ has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust. He died in agony. There's the emotional suffering. There's the physical suffering.

But friend, that pales compared to the spiritual suffering. The Bible says in Isaiah chapter 53, it pleased the Lord to bruise him. God has put him to shame, to death. Habakkuk says of God Almighty that he's of pure eyes than to behold iniquity. And when Jesus had my sin and your sin upon the cross, Jesus was treated upon that cross as you and I would be treated if we were punished for our sin. God did not ameliorate.

God did not negate. God did not dampen down the punishment. To the contrary, Jesus didn't die for one sin of sin. He died for all sin of sin. He died for the sin of the whole world. And the sin of the world was distilled upon Jesus. And the suffering was compounded upon the Lord Jesus. No one ever suffered like the Lord Jesus upon that cross. But the quintessential matter of his suffering was this. He cried out in agony, my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? I'll tell you why. Because if you don't get saved, God will forsake you.

That's why. He was taking your place. He was taking my place and he took it all, the spiritual suffering. David came to die. David who wrote that 22nd Psalm came to die.

But David also wrote the 23rd Psalm. Yea, though I walk through the valley of shadow death, I'll fear no evil for thou art with me. Jesus couldn't say that. Jesus walked that narrow valley by himself. There is the substitution of the cross. There's the suffering of the cross.

The last two points will be very brief, but I want you to notice a third thing here. Look in verse 18 again. Christ also hath once suffered. Christ also hath once suffered.

Just underscore that. And here's the third thing I want you to see, is the satisfying provision of the cross. The emphasis here is on the word satisfying. He hath once suffered.

Look up here and let me tell you something, friend. It's over. It is finished. And the righteousness of God is completely satisfied in the Lord Jesus Christ. He will never, ever, ever, ever, ever face that cross again. He hath once suffered. This does not mean once upon a time. It means once for all.

Now, understand this. It is done. It is finished. When he bowed his head, he cried on that cross tetelestai, which means it is finished.

It is paid and full. And he bore our sins. He will not come into double jeopardy, nor will you come into double jeopardy, because who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth his rich, red, royal blood forever, hath paid the penalty for sin. It is done.

It is finished. In Bible times, when a man would be adjudicated guilty of a crime, if he were put in prison, they would write the charges against him and nail it to the prison door. Once he had paid his debt, they would let him out of prison. They would take that writing that was against him, and the judge would write on there, tetelestai, it is finished. It is paid and full, and give it to him. And he could keep it.

If anybody ever wanted to accuse him of that crime, he could hold that up and say, look, that crime has been paid for. It is finished. And the Bible says that Jesus has taken away the handwritten of ordinances that was against us. Read it in the book of Colossians. Having nailed it to his cross, he said it is finished. That's the reason why I believe in the eternal security of the believer, because Jesus has once suffered. When Jesus saved you, it was good for one salvation only. Friend, if it doesn't last, then Jesus would have to get crucified all over again, and he's not going to do that.

He's not going to do that. It's once, once for all, brother, believe it and thank God for it. You come to him through the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, and I promise you on the authority of the Word of God, he will save you radically, dramatically, instantaneously, and eternally. He has once suffered for sin. And the Bible says of God the Father, who is infinitely holy, he shall see the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. That's the only thing that can take away your sin.

Now, let me come to the very last point and notice this. Look again in verse 18. For Christ also hath once suffered the just for the unjust to bring us to God. And that speaks of the saving power of the cross, that he might bring us to God. The reason for the cross is that you and I might come to God. Did you know the Bible says we're reconciled to God by the death of his Son? God is not reconciled to you. We are the sinners.

We're reconciled to God. The word bring has the idea of taking a person. It's the Greek word prosego, which is to take a person and bring him into the court of a king, a person that have no way to come except through the cross. I must needs go home by the way of the cross.

There's no other way but this. I shall ne'er catch sight of the gates of light if the way of the cross I miss. If there had been some other way for you to have been saved, God would have taken it. If God could save apart from the cross, I have no respect for him because he did not take that way. That's the reason the apostle Paul said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation. Look up here at this preacher now.

I want to tell you something. Jesus died for you and he brought you here today that you might be saved. Christ also hath once suffered for sin the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God. That's why the cross. If you would like to learn more about how you can know Jesus or deepen your relationship with him, simply click the Discover Jesus link on our website, lwf.org. For a copy of this message or additional resources, visit our online store at lwf.org or call 1-800-274-5683. Thank you.