God’s Supreme Sacrifice For You

Romans 5:8

But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Q1:

Note: God commended or demonstrated His unconditional love towards us in that while we were still sinners Jesus died for us. This unconditional love, as we saw earlier, is the basis or ground of our salvation.

What condition were we in when Jesus died for us?

Romans 5:10

For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

Note: The good news is that God no longer looks upon the human race as His enemy. He has reconciled or redeemed the world to Himself through the death of His Son. Because of this God is able to accept you in His Son as if you had never sinned.

Q2:What did the death of Christ do

to man’s relationship with God?

Hebrew 9:22-26

And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. (23) [It was] therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. (24) For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, [which are] the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: (25) Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; (26) For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

What does the law say is necessary for the remission or

forgiveness of sins?Q3

Hebrew 9:22-26

Note: The word purged(KJV) or purified here means cleansed and “blood” means life laid down in death. The law demands death in order for sins to be forgiven. The sacrifice of animals, as was practiced in the Old Testament, could not accomplish this. They were only types to point to Christ’s sacrifice. When Christ died on the cross, He paid the full price for the sins of the whole world once and for all.

What does the law say is necessary for the remission or

forgiveness of sins?Q3

Romans 3:24

Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:

Through what are we justified freely by God’s grace?Q4

Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:

Note: To be justified means to be declared righteous in the sight of God’s law. To be redeemed means to be bought back. By His death on the cross, Christ has removed the barrier between sinful man and a holy God. That is what it means to be reconciled.

Romans 3:25

What did the death of Christ demonstrate or accomplish? Q5

God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate His justice, because in his forbearance He had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished – (26) He did it to demonstrate His justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

Romans 3:26

What did the death of Christ demonstrate or accomplish? Q5

To declare, [I say], at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

Note: This is how the Amplified Bible translates verse 26: “It was to demonstrate and prove at the present time in the now season that He Himself is righteous and that He justifies and accepts as righteous him who has true faith in Jesus.” Through the cross, God can legally or lawfully justify sinners and that is good news. That is why Paul calls the cross of Christ “the power of God unto salvation” (see 1 Corinthians 1:18).

Romans 3:25

Since the cross, what can God lawfully do to those who have faith

in Christ? ? Q6

To declare, [I say], at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

Note: This is how the Amplified Bible translates verse 26: “It was to demonstrate and prove at the present time in the now season that He Himself is righteous and that He justifies and accepts as righteous him who has true faith in Jesus.” Through the cross, God can legally or lawfully justify sinners and that is good news. That is why Paul calls the cross of Christ “the power of God unto salvation” (see 1 Corinthians 1:18).

Romans 6:23

In contrast to the wages of sin, what is the gift of God?

Q7

For the wages of sin [is] death; but the gift of God [is] eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Note: At the cross, the love and the justice of God met. God did not spare His own Son the wages of sin because He so loved the world. The devil will accuse you of being a sinner and not deserving heaven. But there is One who will never accuse you and that is God. God has set you free, acquitted or justified you from all sins, therefore, He will never accuse you. Also, Christ, who died for our sins, is interceding on our behalf, since the devil accuses us day and night (see Rev. 12:10). Christ is now able to defend believers from Satan’s accusations. That is why “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.”(Romans 8:1)

Hebrews 2:9

What did Christ taste for every man on the cross?

Q9

But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.

Note: When Christians die they only go to sleep (John 11:11-14). The death that Christ tasted for everyone was not the sleep death but the wages of sin, good-bye to life (Rev 20:14). One of our future studies will be on the state of the dead, but now we want to find the meaning of the death that Jesus tasted for everyone.

John 19:5

Why did the Jews demand that Jesus be crucified?

Q10

Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And [Pilate] saith unto them, Behold the man! (6) When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify [him], crucify [him]. Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him, and crucify [him]: for I find no fault in him. (7) The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.

Note: Pilate, who represented Roman law, found no fault in Jesus. The Jews had to give a reason why they were demanding Jesus’ crucifixion. They said that they had a law that condemned Christ to death. This law referred to the law of blasphemy.

Lev 4:16

According to the law of blasphemy to which the Jews referred, what

method of death was stipulated? Q11

And he that blasphemeth the name of the LORD, he shall surely be put to death, [and] all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth the name [of the LORD], shall be put to death.

Note: The law against the sin of blasphemy demanded death by stoning. In John 10:30,31 we read that the Jews took up stones “again” to stone Jesus when He said, “The Father and I are one.” This proved they were aware that stoning was the method of death for blasphemy.

John 10:30-33

Did the Jews know the penalty

outlined in the law for blasphemy Q11

I and the Father are one." Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, 32 but Jesus said to them, "I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?" 33 "We are not stoning you for any of these," replied the Jews, "but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God." NIV

Note: The law against the sin of blasphemy demanded death by stoning and the Jews knew it. This proved they were aware that stoning was the method of death for blasphemy. (see also John 8:59)

Deut 21:22,23

Why then did the Jews demand that Christ be crucified, which to the Jews was

synonymous to hanging on a tree? Q12

And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree: (23) His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged [is] accursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the LORD thy God giveth thee [for] an inheritance.

Deut 21:22,23

Why then did the Jews demand that Christ be crucified, which to the Jews was

synonymous to hanging on a tree? Q12

Note: When the Jews cried out “crucify him,” they were not only demanding that Christ be put to death, but they were demanding that God curse Him. When God’s curse falls on anyone, that is saying good-bye to life forever. Christ experienced this God-abandonment death on the cross and that is why He cried out, “My Father, my Father, why hast thou forsaken me?” Since Jesus predicted His resurrection the Jews wanted to make sure God would curse Jesus so that He would not rise again. That is why they demanded crucifixion.

Gal 3:10

What does the law do to all who have failed to obey it?

Q13

For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed [is] every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.

Note: Have you kept the law perfectly? If not, you deserve to be cursed. But what we deserve God heaped on His Son at the cross. The curse of the law is good-bye to life forever. This is the wages of sin which all of us deserve as sinners.

Gal 3:13

How did Christ redeem us from the curse of the law?

Q14

Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed [is] every one that hangeth on a tree:

Note: On the cross Christ was treated as we really deserved. God “made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). The reason the law does not curse the believer is because God made Christ to be the curse for us. Jesus tasted the wages of sin, the curse of the law, for all humanity on the cross. That is why He cried out “My Father, my Father, why hast thou forsaken me? (Matthew 27:46)That is the supreme Sacrifice.

Isaiah 53:6

Why was God the Father satisfied when He saw the results of Jesus’

suffering and death? Q15

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Isaiah 53:10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put [him] to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see [his] seed, he shall prolong [his] days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. (11) He shall see of the travail of his soul, [and] shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.

Isaiah 53:6

Why was God the Father satisfied when He saw the results of Jesus’

suffering and death? Q15

Note: We can only faintly understand the agony that our Heavenly Father must have suffered as He Himself allowed the curse of our sins to fall on Jesus, His beloved Son. Through the supreme sacrifice on the cross the Father was satisfied that the just demands of the law were met in Christ. It is on this basis He can legally justify sinners who believe in His Son (Romans 4:5). The Father and the Son were telling the human race that their love for us is more than their love for themselves! This is God’s selfless love which Christ demonstrated on the cross

2 Corinthians 5:14

How should the supreme Sacrifice affect us?

Q16

For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: (15) And [that] he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.

Note: Not the fear of punishment nor the desire for reward must be the motivation of Christian living. The love of God, demonstrated on the cross, is the driving force in true Christian living. No wonder the songwriter wrote: “Love so amazing, so divine, demands my life, my soul, my all.” This is exactly what the cross of Christ did to His disciples, and this is what it must do to us.

1 John 3:16

What has Christ done to show us the love of God?

Q17

Hereby perceive we the love [of God], because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down [our] lives for the brethren.

Note: Jesus laid down His life and was willing to be blotted out of existence that we might live in His place. This is how much the cross demonstrated God’s love for us sinners. By this supreme sacrifice, Jesus was telling sinners that He loves us more than Himself. That is why He said, “But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself” (John 12:31-33). As you contemplate the supreme sacrifice of Christ may you not only be drawn to God but willingly accept His indescribable gift.