Sunday Service March 22, 2026 Did Jesus Have To Die?

But in the final sacrifice, the final sacrifice that god makes, he sacrifices his own perfect son who's called the lamb of god because in his death, his sacrifice doesn't just cover sin. It removes the stain of sin. It removes everything about our sin. That we stand before God as righteous people, not because we're good, we're awful, but because God has paid the full price for our sins to be not just covered but removed. Amen. [01:04:26] (46 seconds)  #LambOfGod

So through all of this, what we see over and over again is that in order to complete his work as the Messiah, Jesus had to die. There was no other way for him to finish the work that he was given. Really, if if we kinda get to the point, that's that's the big point for my message today, that Jesus had to die to complete his mission of reclaiming us for Christ. I I when when we look at ways to share the gospel with Muslim people, those people who just refuse to believe that Jesus actually would have died, that that would have been something God would do, we tend to go back to Adam and Eve. [01:01:59] (51 seconds)  #NecessarySacrifice

So what does it mean for the Messiah to finish well? It happens on the cross. That when Jesus willingly goes to the cross, lays down his life, that he finishes the work that god had sent him to do as his Messiah. [00:59:55] (30 seconds)  #FinishedOnTheCross

Was a life of difficulty and a life of suffering. And and and I want you to understand that when Jesus starts talking about picking up your cross, that he doesn't mean what we usually do. It's like, you know, some some woman may say, well, you know, my husband, he's always hard on me and everything like that. That's just my cross to bear. They would not have understood it that way or I've gotta go to work again, you know, because I have to get into the office and it's hard and then that's just my cross to bear. That is not the way that they would have understood it. That their understanding would have been that the cross was an element of execution. And so from their perspective, what Jesus was saying is if you wanna follow me, you need to be ready to die. [00:43:29] (45 seconds)  #CostOfDiscipleship

That the truth is we're caught up in self fulfillment and pride pretty much our whole lives. That that's kind of what life is like. In fact, in America, it seems like that there's been a major shift in culture to where we're leaning more into that that state, you know, that rather than talking about our commitments or our responsibilities that we wanna talk about what is owed to us, what we get. We talk about our own our own value, our own life, our own place, and that we have this sense that I am the most important thing at least in my world. And when Jesus says, deny yourself, he's meaning to tell the disciples that you can no longer live for what you think is best for you. [00:44:44] (55 seconds)  #DenyYourself

That that that that what he does is he sacrifices an animal so that he can cover the sins of Adam and Eve. And and the truth is when you go through the bible, the bible talks about that all the way through. That over and over again, it shows us that blood sacrifices are required to cover our sins. And that's a great way to sort of get rid of your sins except that that doesn't take them away. It just covers them. And so god allows the people in the Old Testament to respond to him in faith because their sins are covered. [01:03:48] (38 seconds)  #CoveredNotRemoved

I guess maybe that's part of the reason why so many people struggle with the death of Christ is that when you're talking about king Jesus, a Jesus that dies, a god who puts on flesh and then lives a perfect life and lays his life down willingly to die. It doesn't fit what we think of in terms of how to become people that are worthy of god's kingdom. In fact, most people feel like that they need to do things that are good in order to accomplish God's salvation, that they need to accomplish that themselves. And somehow asking Jesus to come into their hearts and lives and say them because of the work that he's done doesn't really make sense. [00:40:10] (58 seconds)  #SalvationByGrace

believing that some that somehow I'll be, I'll receive the resurrection from the dead. In other words, that even though I reckon myself dead with Christ, that I'll be able to walk with him. I think this is a hard word, but I think this gets at the heart of what Jesus is calling us to. It's not just an easy believer, not just a Sunday morning faith, but that we live our lives according to his plan, according to his leadership, according to his death and resurrection. [00:49:52] (36 seconds)  #DeadWithChrist