THE CAUSE OF THE CROSS

(Matt 27:20-51) I Pet. 3:18
The meaning and message of the cross is condensed in this one verse! There’s enough dynamite packed in this short verse to change the world, and certainly enough to transform your life! The Gospel!
1.

1 Peter 3:18 For Christ- Jesus is the message! He is the way, the truth and the life! Jesus is the initiator! Away with religion that gives man a list of tasks, a ladder to climb, a mountain to ascend, a chasm to cross.
Oh no! Jesus came to bridge the gap, He descended those heavenly stairs to the deepest, darkest, lowest pit on a rescue mission for souls!
2.

Reveal Answer

-hath once suffered- Oh how Jesus suffered, from the agony of the garden, to the punches, the scourging, the crown of thorns, the nails through His hands and feet hanging on the cross for 6 long hours to have the worst of all the moment when God the Father turned His back on God the Son when your awful sins and mine were placed on to Jesus.
The eternities were compressed upon Jesus. And, Jesus, being infinite, bore in a finite period of time what we, being finite, would bear in an infinite period of time. Jesus suffered.
 3

Reveal Answer

-for sins- what is sin? Sin is an affront against God, and, therefore, God is the One who must forgive sin.
-sin is violates God’s holy standard, missing the mark of perfection.
-Sin separates, “death”, sin brings judgement! “wages of sin” Rom. 6:23
Forgiveness- Life is short. Death is sure. Sin the curse, Christ the cure.
4.

Reveal Answer

the just - for the unjust- we are sinners. We are the ones who morally have struck God. We’re the ones who have offended a holy God. We’re sinners by birth. We are sinners by nature. We are sinners by choice. We are sinners by practice.
How can God love and forgive the sinner and at the same time punish sin? The way is with a substitutionary sacrifice—someone who takes that suffering, someone who takes that punishment on our behalf;
a person who is righteous enough, holy enough, good enough to become our substitute; someone Himself who has known no sin who can suffer in our stead. And, the only One who could do that was the Son of God that we’re preaching about today. He is God’s substitutionary Savior. He died as a substitute. He died not merely for us, for let’s put it this way: He died instead of us.
1 Peter 1:18-19 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
2 Corinthians 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
5.

Reveal Answer

- “once” Hebrews 10:12 … after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;
tetelestai —‘it is finished” (Jn. 19:30), literally “paid in full.”
6.

Reveal Answer

-that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:- (Eph. 2:18; 3:12).