The Cross

Intro: recap the sermon series

God

Our Purpose

Sin

Our Position

Now we finally get to the best part of the series, Jesus

We are going to be asking the question, Who is Jesus and what has He done?

Jesus is the Son of God.

*John 1:1-18

John 1:1–18 NASB95

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. There came a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light. There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. John testified about Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’ ” For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.

Jesus is God and human. He is the same God that we talked about in week 1 who is holy, love, and creator, but He chose to enter in to creation because of sin. It’s because of our position with God that we talked about last week that Jesus became flesh

Therefore, He is the only one who could save us.

We know that from week 2 God made us for a purpose, and the we have messed that up

We also know that God couldn’t just forget about our sin because He is good and holy and just. And a good, holy, and just God couldn’t just forget sin

BUT… If there was some way that Someone could pay the price for our sin, maybe things could go back to the way it was meant to be.

This is where Jesus comes in. He is the only One who could be the perfect, loving sacrifice for our sins.

And so, Christ died for us.

Jesus’ sacrifice

Romans 5:6–11 NASB95

For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

Jesus took our punishment for sin

We deserved punishment for our sins; but Jesus took all of the wrath of God on His shoulders

Because of His sacrifice, we were made clean, so that we can be reconciled with God to have the right relationship with God that we were created for!

But, His death was not merely a symbol, He actually died in our place.

Our place in Jesus’ death

Romans 6:5-11 “For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

He didn’t just die as an example or a symbol, Jesus died in our place

Christians, therefore, believe that when you put your faith in God, the former you that was a slave to sin dies, and you get to be a new creation with Christ.

You will still struggle with sin, but you’ve actually been set free from sin

Jesus Christ died for you, was buried, and beat death so that you could have new life and reclaim your purpose in life, now and in eternity!

You might be asking, how do I do this? How do I have this new life. [sinner’s prayer]