Why Did Jesus Die on the Cross? Because We Can’t Save Ourselves

1. Read: Matthew 16:24-26

2. About the Text:

1) Why Did Jesus Die on the Cross? Because we can’t save ourselves.

2) The statements that Jesus makes about saving ourselves in this context are paradoxical.

3) If we seek to save our lives, we will lose them; but if we lose them we will find life.

4) Why is that?

3. Ref. to S, T, P, O, and A.

1. Sin separates us from God.

1) Isaiah 59:1-2

2) James 1:14-15

2. Why would God demand moral perfection from humans?

1) God created humans morally perfect in the beginning.

2) Genesis 1:27 – “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”

3) Genesis 2:16-17 – “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 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.’”

3. All sin is against God.

1) Joseph – “How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” (Gen.39:9).

2) Psalm 51:4 – “Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight—That You may be found just when You speak, And blameless when You judge.”

3) Sin is against an eternal God (1 Tim.1:17), and has eternal consequences.

4. For God to be just, a penalty must be paid for even one sin.

1) Deut.18:19 – “And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him.”

2) Romans 6:23

5. Because just one sin separates us from God, Jesus had to die on the cross.

1. Sin distorts our perspective: Jeremiah 17:9 – “The heart is deceitful above all things . . . .”

2. Sometimes we simply don’t do enough good; we leave things undone.

1) After Adam and Eve sinned they sewed fig leaves, but God made coats (Gen.3:7,21).

2) James 4:17 – “Therefore, to him who knows to do good . . . .”

3. Sometimes we intend to do good, but do evil.

1) Consider David’s transportation of the ark in 2 Samuel 6, and Uzzah’s failure.

2) Think about Peter’s protests to Jesus death on the cross (Matthew 16:22-23).

4. When all is said and done, we are woefully inadequate.

1) Isaiah 64:6 – “But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away.”

2) Jeremiah 10:23 – “I know, O Lord, that the way of man is not in himself. . . .”

5. Because sin distorts our efforts to do good, Jesus had to die on the cross.

1. Consider the Pharisees in the New Testament.

1) Their whole system of righteousness was based upon trying to do good works.

2) Jesus said, “For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20).

3) Read Romans 10:2-4.

2. When we do what is right in our own eyes, we go astray; we become lawless.

1) Deuteronomy 12:8 – “You shall not at all do as we are doing here today—every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes.”

2) Sin is lawlessness – 1 John 3:4.

3. If we say that good deeds can somehow outweigh bad deeds so that we can be saved, God becomes a partner with unrighteousness.

1) God is holy; He cannot tolerate one sin in His presence.

2) Leviticus 19:2 – “Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.’”

3) 1 Peter 1:15-16 – “but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, ‘Be holy, for I am holy.’”

4) God doesn’t compromise His holiness.

4. This is the difference between Christianity and the other major world religions.

1) They are all based on merit.

2) Christianity is based on grace – Ephesians 2:8-10.

3) You cannot have salvation by grace in a system that is based on merit.

5. Because the good works we do are not sufficient to save us, Jesus had to die on the cross.

1. Jesus had to die on the cross because we can’t save ourselves.

1) Just one sin separates us from God.

2) Sin distorts our ability to do good.

3) The good works we do are not sufficient to save us.

2. Invitation