Christ Died to Save Sinners

Today in a little while we will participate in the bread and the cup together, remembering Christ’s sacrifice for us. We have these times once a month as a church and encourage you to do this even more often because we wish to obey Christ in remembering Him in the manner He told His disciples to do so. Also, we do this because we know that there can hardly be a more profitable and beneficial way to spend time than by remembering the Lord and worshiping Him for His sacrifice of Himself to us. And, in addition, we do this simply because we love Him!

Following this, we will have a sharing time, where all are welcome to share a word of encouragement, a scripture, a prayer request, even a poem; anything that the Lord lays on your heart. We do this because we truly believe that the Holy Spirit lives in all believers and can speak through every believer. Also, we do this because we truly believe that all believers in a local body are gifted with different spiritual gifts that are intended to be used to edify the entire body. And in addition, we do this simply because we love each other; especially, we love to see Christ in each other just as the early church in Acts saw Christ in each other when they had the same kind of fellowship together.


Before we do this, however, I wanted to share a few thoughts from Scripture relating to the “why” Christ died. My title is “Christ Died to Save Sinners,” and we would all agree with this, wouldn’t we? He did it to save us. To save us from hell! To save us from the just punishment we deserve for our sins. To save us from the consequences of sin, an eternal separation from God.

But this week I have been thinking about how, although this is true, it really is only half of the story. Our answer tells us what Christ saved us from. But it doesn’t speak to what Christ saved us for. Scripture has a lot to say about this. Here are a few verses:

For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. – I Peter 3:18a

Jesus died to bring us to God. Most of you have probably seen a science fiction or fantasy movie where at some point a character is finally brought face to face with someone or something so wonderful that it almost defies description. I think of the scene near the end of 2001 A Space Odyssey, where the main character sees stars rushing by, then other scenes so fantastic, with the music blaring, that it almost induces sensory overload. There is a similar scene in the old Battleship Galactica series where the characters are overtaken by a heavenly spacecraft that looks like a shining city holding a vastly superior race, perhaps gods. The music here also becomes so loud, that it overwhelms; the characters themselves hear this music and have to cover their ears because they cannot take it. And there is the same sense of awe and anticipation in Close Encounters of the Third Kind when at last the giant alien spaceship arrives and opens. Again, music plays a large part in the scene. You can probably think of other movies or TV shows that try to do the same thing.

But as awesome as these are, I believe that pale terribly in comparison to the fact that we will be brought to the Creator of the Universe, to the King of kings and Lord of lords. We will see God’s glory! Not just an indirect look, not just a shadow of it. We won’t need to wear special glasses – we will see the fullness of God’s glory, and it will be awesome! But why will this happen? Because Christ died to bring us to God. The only reason we will experience this is Christ, willingly beaten, scorned, and crucified on a cross.

For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance – now that He has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant. – Hebr. 9:15

Jesus died to set us free from sin. There are many ways in which we can understand what “free from sin” means, and I think all of them are included in the meaning of these words. I think the primary meaning here, though is just as it says in the first part of the verse – we are set free from the consequences of our sin. As it says, we will receive the promised eternal inheritance. What is that? Spending time with God for all eternity. Being treated as sons of the living God. Just being loved by God. What will that be like? I can hardly imagine, but I am certain it will blow away any experience we have with love in this life. Loving your parents, loving your children, loving your spouse – none of these will compare to the love we will experience as a part of His promised eternal inheritance.

But an additional meaning of being set free from sin is that in heaven we won’t even be tempted to sin any more; sin will no longer have any hold on us – we will be free from the triple war we fight against the world, the flesh, and the devil. I have mentioned before that I enjoy reading books by a few nearly forgotten Christian authors from the 1800s – among these is Hesba Stretton, who wrote a book called “Cobwebs and Cables.” The idea behind the title is that sins start out like cobwebs but they thicken and take hold, and before you know it they act like cables. For a more modern analogy I like Spiderman 3 – the black suit (which is really a creature from outer space) is enjoyed at first, just like sin can be enjoyable, but it soon starts to take control and enslave its wearer. I also find it appropriately symbolic that the suit loses its grip among the clang of bells in … a church.

Especially as we go through this current series on the seven deadly sins, I think it is most appropriate to think about how Christ died as a ransom to set us free from sin. All sin is addictive – all of it. But we are set free from this by Christ. His death sets us free not only from the punishment we deserve, but it sets us free from the power of sin to make us do what we do not want to do. This is a glorious reason to remember the Lord!

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us. You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. – Rom. 5:1-8

Christ died to show us how much He loves us. As it says, He demonstrates His love for us in His death. And He makes it clear that He didn’t die for us because of how good we were – He died for us because of how much He loved us despite how bad and wicked we were. Frankly, it is a mystery to me why Christ loves me so much, but I think that is precisely the point of this passage! If I thought He loved me so much because of something good in me, I would miss the whole point. His love is not conditional based on my performance. As the first verse says, I have peace with God by grace that comes through faith in Him. It doesn’t come any other way.

I love verse 5: God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us. The Greek word for “poured out” is ekkeo. This is the same word used in Matthew 26:28, which says “This is the blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” In the same way, He pours out His love into us. I picture a bathtub with an extra wide spigot that fills up the bath in no time. This is the type of pouring out that God does with His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.
But what if you don’t really “feel” God’s love? How can I reconcile these verses with an experience that seems entirely different? I still remember as a brand new baby Christian thinking about Christ’s sacrifice and simply feeling numb. I didn’t know what to make of it. It seemed extreme, overwhelming. Well, I think I experienced the reality of the impact of verse 8 without the reality of verse 5. Christ’s death for me, and for you, is extreme. It is not within the bounds of social decorum. It isn’t even fair. I, and you, didn’t get a say as to whether we wanted Christ to die for us; He just did it. And in our heads we can know that it shows how incredibly deep His love is for us, and in our heads we can know that we are supposed to love Him back, but what if the feelings don’t come?

The only conclusions I can draw come from Scripture. It says here clearly that this love comes from the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the channel through which God’s love is poured into our hearts. And so the only way this won’t happen is if we can somehow block, or inhibit, the Holy Spirit. Can we do this?

You bet! Paul would not end his second letter to the Corinthians with “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” unless it was possible for these things to not be true. In particular, it is possible that the fellowship of the Holy Spirit not be with you. Ephesians 4:30 says you can grieve the Holy Spirit. Eph. 5:18 says to keep on being filled with the Holy Spirit.

So what prevents us from being filled with the Holy Spirit? Sin, unconfessed sin, living in sin unrepentantly. Now there are some other reasons we may have trouble experiencing God’s love; primarily, I am thinking about how growing up in certain kinds of dysfunctional families or experiencing other kinds of trauma as a child can make it difficult to open up to God’s love. If this describes you, know that there is hope, and you can grow dramatically in experiencing God’s love. Talk with me afterwards if you would like to know how.

But for the rest of us, usually the problem, the thing that makes us numb, is sin. Please don’t stay in this state! As we spend some time in quiet reflection and prayer to God, ask the Lord to search your heart and then confess sin as He shows it to you. Commit to turning away from sinful behaviors and patterns – commit these things to the Lord, asking for His help; you cannot do this on your own. Will this immediately make you experience God’s love more? Perhaps not, but ultimately, if you set your mind on good spiritual things, totally seeking Him, you will find that over time you will love the Lord more and more.

Oh, how I pray for this! There is no greater joy to be found than that which is based on an experiential love of God. There is no greater love than the love God has for you.