Christ's Death Was Necessary

There is a song out there, some of you may have heard it on the radio I’m not really sure if it plays much on there or not. The title of it is “Love is a Mess” preformed by the group Citizen way. In the song there are lines such as, “If it were up to me, There’d be an easier road than Calvary, If it were up to me, You would have escaped the suffering, But You saved me through what I would have seen as a tragedy.” There are also other lines in it that say things like, “I used to think that Love should never have to bleed.”

The idea behind this song is that If the song writer could have been responsible choosing the way that Christ Redeemed his people he wouldn’t have chose the cross. Surely there would have been a different way for him to do so. With that being said if you have your bibles with you, I would ask that you join me by turning to Hebrews Chapter 2, I will begin reading at verse 5 to the remainder of the chapter.

From this passage in and my message I would like to demonstrate to you all, that the death of Christ was necessary for the salvation of his people.

Hebrews 2:5–18 ESV

For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. It has been testified somewhere, “What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him? You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet.” Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying, “I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.” And again, “I will put my trust in him.” And again, “Behold, I and the children God has given me.” Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

Hebrews 2:5-18

Hebrews 2:5–18 ESV

For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. It has been testified somewhere, “What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him? You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet.” Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying, “I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.” And again, “I will put my trust in him.” And again, “Behold, I and the children God has given me.” Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

Hebrews 2:

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How many of you have been in the same exact place as the song writer? How many of you have asked yourself or someone else the question of, “Could God have chose a different means of Salvation?” Why did Jesus have to die? Surely there was a different way right?

Maybe we haven’t asked those exact questions but I’m sure we have questioned God’s plan one way or another right?

Why did you take him home so soon?

Why did she have to suffer through cancer?

Why did I get pregnant out of Wedlock? If that would have never happened I would have never been caught in my sin.

Why did they lose their father?

Why did He loose his wife?

We have all been responsible of asking God similar questions to these at some point or stage in our lives. We have all be responsible for questioning God’s plan. Sometimes we might even be guilty of saying things along the lines of, if I was God, I would have done that differently.

Questioning God’s plan for our lives and the lives around us can sometimes be very easy to do. We want to believe that we are smarter than God or sometimes we even believe that God just wasn’t active in that event. I want to make two things very clear to you real quick, The first one is that we are by no means smarter than God, and the second, God is always present and active in every single one of our life events.

With all that being said I want to come back to the original question, Was it necessary for the Christ to have had to die? Which leads me to my first Point, A Crucified Christ is a Saving Christ. So to answer the question was is necessary for Christ to have to die, lets first look at some of the ways others thought salvation could have been brought to God’s Children.

Jewish Way of Salvation

Let’s take a look at how the Jews thought that Christ was going to save them. The Jewish leaders at the time were not waiting for the suffering servant that was so beautifully displayed in the book of Isaiah. They were not looking for a servant at all especially one who would suffer and even suffer unto death. That is why Paul calls it a stumbling block to the Jews in .

The idea of their Lord and savior dying was a ludicrous thought to them. They had the belief, which is supported no where in scripture, that the Messiah would come as a Military Ruler not a Servant. They were hoping for one who would reign not one who would be slain. They wanted a leading tyrant not a dying servant.

We can see this found in the example of the disciples on the road to Emmaus. Where they say, “And he said to them, “What things?” And they said to him, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.”

Luke 24:19–24 ESV

And he said to them, “What things?” And they said to him, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.”

The Jews did not recognize Jesus as the Christ because they were not looking for one who would die. We can see that the disciples believe Jesus was the Christ until they received news that he had died.

Now we might not be guilty of the same thing that the Jews were guilty of; but we are often guilty of something very similar. We get caught up asking questions like, why is God allowing me to suffer like this, does he not care about me anymore. That question is similar because if Christ suffered they way he did on the cross, then we cannot expect to escape the same suffer as he did while we are on this earth.

We often think that our lives on this earth should be easy and pain free, but if the only man to ever walk this earth who didn’t deserve to suffer suffered in a way we can’t even imagine, then we cannot expect to escape suffering either. One day we will be free from the pain of this world but not in this life time.

Why is God allowing me to suffer like

Other beliefs on Salvation

Now that we looked at how the Jews wanted salvation lets look at some other views real quick. I remember sitting in class one day and the professor asked the question, “Could Jesus have saved his children without the cross?” I was quick to find out I was the only one in the class that answered the question, no he could not have.

Many of the other students responded with answers such as, Jesus is God he could save his people however he wanted to. Which is ultimately a great theory in all but it is far from the truth. Their fear was that if they said that God couldn’t have done this any other way then they were ultimately limiting God’s ability.

Often times we can find ourselves thinking the same thing, but we can also find in the bible that by saying Christ death was the only way to bring salvation is not actually limiting God. I am one of the last people that would ever say, “GOD CAN’T.” Unless God first says it about himself. We can see examples of that throughout the bible.

God cannot lie: ,

God cannot be tempted nor does he tempt:

God cannot change: ,

There are also others mentioned in the Bible, but I don’t have the time or need to list them all at the moment. But for the purpose of this sermon I want to focus on a different thing that God could not have done. That is God could not have saved his people any other way than through the shedding of his blood on the cross.

Now the scripture never directly says, “Christ must must be killed for the redemption of his Church, but the theme is prominent through out the scriptures. With that being said I want to spend the next little while looking at the scripture and showing you all why the death of Christ was necessary.

Look with me in verse 9 of Hebrews chapter 2, But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

By looking at this verse we can see that there was a purpose behind the suffering Christ endured on the cross. Specifically from this verse we see two reasons behind the death of Christ.

The first

First Purpose

The first one being that his death was to crown him with glory and honor, as we see directly from this verse. He was crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death. We see Paul mention in verses 8 and 9 that because of his death God exalted him. Christ died for his glory and honor.

Without the death and resurrection there would be no confessing that Jesus is Lord as we see follow that passage in Philippians. The author of Hebrews makes it clear that Jesus did not solely receive glory and honor because he was the God-man but because he tasted death. Before the cross Peter denied Christ 3 times, after the cross Peter jumped out of the boat and came running to him.

The Cross brings Glory and Honor to Christ because it allows us through the illumination of the Spirit to see who Christ really is. Christ death was necessary for the purpose of bring honor and glory to himself.

Second Purpose

The second purpose we see in this verse is that Jesus died for us. Yes you heard that correctly, Jesus tasted death for us. “So that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. Now church that is something to rejoice over. Jesus was made less than the angels for a little while, so that he might taste death for each and everyone of you out there.

We see that supported later on in this passage starting in verse 14-18 where it says,

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

Christ was made like us, and died for us, so that he would destroy the one who has the power of death and help his children. The death was necessary, because his mission was to redeem us. Without this death we could be called his children, we could not stand and praise the Lord as his redeemed. We would not be married to the Lord of Lord’s and would not have eternal life if it wasn’t for Christ dying for us.

God cannot be unjust

Now I know that some of you are probably still thinking, why couldn’t he have used a different means to bring Glory and Honor to himself and to save his children. I mean God still is almighty and still all powerful, surely he could have used a different means to bring about those things. So I want to bring you to a couple different passages.

So I want to bring you to a couple different passages, First I wa

First I want to bring you to a couple passages in Genesis. says, “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Before any law was ever made or even broken we see in this passage that the punishment for Sin was indeed Death. We disobey God, our punishment is death. Paul reiterates that in where he say’s the wages of sin is death. We also see that same punishment displayed throughout the other books of the Law, such as the 10 commandment and the holiness Laws in Leviticus.

There was never a time in the history of time that the punishment of Sin was not death, and there can never be a time where it isn’t the punishment of sin. As I quoted earlier from Malachi, God will not and cannot change. So no matter what happens sin will always have to be punished with death.

In order for God to remain just, which the bible is very clear that he is just someone had to die.

There was the girl who recieved a speeding ticket on her way to school one morning. After receiving that speeding ticket she took it into the courthouse to pay it. When she arrived at the courthouse she found out that the Judge she was paying was actually her father. When she proceeded to pay the Judge he said, no need to pay for the fine you are free to go innocent as can be. Now that Judge can get in lots of trouble because that was not very just of him at all. He let this young woman go because it was his own daughter.

Now let me change the story up a little bit, when the young girl went to pay the ticket the judge was not only her father but was also the one who gave her the ticket. When she approached him with the money to pay for the ticket, the judges son approached the stand with his own money to pay the ticket. Now if the judge accepts his money and declares the daughter to be free to go, he is just in doing so, because someone paid the necessary payment for the ticket.

When we look at the redemption of God’s children lets put ourselves in that story, We are the ones that have broke the law, we have broke God’s law and one day we will have to stand before him as judge, and the payment we owe him is our lives. Because that is what the wage of sin is, we have sinned against God in much more ways than going a little over the speed limit, we have broke everyone of his commandments. In order for him to remain just someone had to pay the price.

Let’s thank the Lord that we were not the ones who had to stand to before God and give him our lives. Let’s thank him that we have a Jesus that stood before a holy, righteous, all knowing, and just judge and said, Father whatever they are guilty of give it to me. When he said that, there was no conversation between them either, that went well they deserve death are you sure you want to take their punishment Jesus.

Jesus knew what our punishment was and he still willing gave up his life for us. Christ died so that we might have eternal life and spend eternity in holy fellowship with him. Christ death was necessary because without it God could have never saved his children because someone had to pay the price of our sins.

Not only did someone have to pay for our sins, it had to be someone who was sinless and more than that it had to be someone who was truly man and truly God.

Necessity of Christ being truly man and truly God.

It was necessary for Christ to be truly man and truly God because he accomplished two things on the cross. Christ was able to save humans, and die as a human because he was truly human. If Christ was only truly God he would not have been able to suffer with us, or understand what it is like for us to get hungry, and thirsty, and tired.

Christ would not have been able to relate with us as humans if he was only God. Ultimately he would have only been able to sacrifice on behalf of our spiritual self if he was only God. Christ needed to be human because as humans we needed a human sacrifice.

Now the same goes for the necessity of Christ being fully God. If Christ was only fully man he would not have been able to satisfy the necessity of a our spiritual self.

Christ's Death Was Necessary

Introduction

A Crucified Christ Is a Saving Christ