In Touch Ministries

Dr. Charles Stanley: The only way that God can justify, declare no longer guilty, one who is guilty is because and through the death of His Son who paid sin's penalty on the cross once and for all. You cannot have salvation apart from the cross. You cannot have salvation apart from the justice of God. You cannot have salvation apart from the mercy of God. You cannot have salvation apart from the person of Jesus Christ.

Guest (Male): Who is Jesus? What was He doing while living on earth? And why was His death on the cross necessary? Today on In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley, you'll see how the right answers to these questions are essential to understanding salvation. Stay with us as Dr. Stanley's message takes us back to the basics of faith to clearly explain why Jesus had to die.

Dr. Charles Stanley: There is a very deceptive and misleading message that's being proclaimed today and many people are being misled by it. And one of the most dangerous things about it is that it affects our understanding and our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ and all eternity. And the tragedy is that many people are falling for it for the simple reason nobody has ever explained to them why Jesus Christ had to die. They just know that He did, and therefore because He died we can be saved and so forth. But there's far more to it than that.

So I want you to turn if you will to one of the most familiar chapters in the Bible, and that's the third chapter of John. The third chapter of John and this chapter is about Jesus' conversation with this Jewish rabbi who was interested in discovering the truth. And so when you begin in verse 1, the Scripture simply says, "Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews." He was educated, he knew the law, he knew what the Old Testament Scripture said.

"This man came to Jesus by night," because he was a little embarrassed, "and he said to him, 'Rabbi, we know that you come from God as a teacher, for no one can do these things that you do unless God is with him.' Jesus answered and said to him, 'Truly, truly I say to you, unless a person is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.' Nicodemus said to him, 'How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he?'"

"Jesus answered, 'Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.'" Now let me qualify that. That does not mean unless you are baptized. He was talking to a Jew. He was talking to a rabbi. They had their baptism. And John the Baptist had identified Jesus down by the Jordan when he was baptizing Jews who were coming to him for repentance. And what He was simply saying is, "You know, that water baptism is fine, but you need to be baptized by the Spirit, that is the Spirit of God needs to do something in your life also."

And so He says, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but you don't know where it's coming from and where it's going, so is everyone who is born of the spirit." You can't put your fingers on it, you can't touch it, you can't see it, but you can certainly feel it.

"Nicodemus said to him, 'How can these things be?' And Jesus answered and said to him, 'Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things? Truly I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, and you do not accept our testimony. If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.'"

And then He brought back to Nicodemus a passage of Scripture in the Old Testament that he knew well no doubt. "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up." Notice he said "must be." "So that whoever believes in him will have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him."

Now here is the tragedy. Many people go to church and they hear all kinds of sermons. And their conclusion is, "You know, if you do your best, you're going to be okay. God loves everybody. God is a God of love." If you ask the average person why do you think you should go to heaven when you die, they're not going to give you the right answer. They're going to give you an answer that suits them, maybe one that they have been deceptively taught. Because the deceptiveness of today's theology in many churches, and it is a growing thing, and in essence it is this: God is such a wonderful loving God He has not limited His salvation, that is Jesus Christ is not the only way to be saved.

And not only that, if a person is good and a good friend, good neighbor, good to their family, go to church maybe, whatever it might be, then surely they're going to heaven. Why would God not take somebody like that into heaven? There is nothing more damaging, more dangerous, more devastating than that kind of teaching. And yet it is just prevalent everywhere and it is moving into some churches that have been far, far more conservative than that.

So I would ask you this, let's think back for a moment. When you were saved, what did you understand about why God forgave you? When you joined the church, did somebody sit you down and say, "Now let me explain to you what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ, to be a believer in Jesus Christ? Let me explain to you that before you join this church and before you can be baptized, you need to understand why God forgave you of your sin. You need to understand why the cross and what's that all about."

Now let's think about what this crucifixion is all about and what the truth is about Jesus Christ. First of all, Jesus' death was an absolute must in God's plan of salvation. You remember what He said? He says the Son of Man must be lifted up. And when He's lifted up, those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal savior will be saved. Now watch this. He says, "For God so loved the world" that He did something. He didn't just say He so loved the world He forgave us all. That's not what He said.

God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. How did He give Him? He gave Him for the purpose of dying on the cross to pay our sin debt in full. If you leave that out, you miss the whole truth. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him—believes what about Him? Believes that He is the eternal Son of God and that He's the sacrificial atonement for our sins, and therefore apart from Him there is no forgiveness.

Well let's go back to Adam and Eve. You remember what God said to them? All the trees in the garden you're welcome to them. One I have reserved for myself. The day that you eat of it you shall surely die. God gave Adam and Eve a choice, which was an act of love on His part. You love me because you choose to, not because you have to. That's not really love. So He gave them a choice, they made the wrong choice. Notice what He said, "The day that you eat of it you shall surely die. The soul that sinneth it shall die. The wages of sin is death." These are just a few of the verses that God warns us, listen, that there is a penalty for sin.

Now we live in a day in which we like to convince people there are no consequences to sin. And we don't like consequences. There are consequences to sin, there are consequences to sin that cannot be revoked. Can sin be forgiven? Absolutely. And so what we have to look at here is simply this, that the very justice of God—we talk about Him being love. Justice and righteousness are the same Greek words to some degree. And so if God is just, He always does the right thing at every turn. When He punishes sin, He's doing the right thing.

God's justice is what people don't like. They want God to be freewheeling, just give them what they want when they want it regardless of how they live. That is not the way it is and it never has been, never will be. There is a just God in heaven who does the right thing. Sin has separated us from God. Sin cannot be taken care of by simple confession, and by telling God you're not going to do it again, or by going to church and paying penance or praying and whatever the ways that your church may teach that.

Forgiveness comes only through the shedding of the blood of Jesus Christ. He didn't say anybody's blood, because all of the blood is tainted. There's only been one sinless person. Think about this. All those sacrifices in the Old Testament, for example, how very clear they were about how it had to be done: spotless and without blemish. That was God's message, that the final sacrifice, the ultimate sacrifice, the only sacrifice that atones for sin would be the sinless Son of God.

He says, "I must be lifted up," Jesus said. He said, "Now nobody takes my life from me, I lay it down willingly and I take it up willingly." So the Scripture is very clear that forgiveness comes through the shedding of Jesus' blood. So let's go back to the Garden of Eden. So God said to Adam and Eve, "The day that you eat of the fruit of this tree, ye shall surely die." They sinned against God, they disobeyed Him, and you know the consequences. All right.

He could have said, "Well, this is the beginning of all things and so you had a choice, you made a mistake." Now watch this, this is one of the choices He could have said, "But look, it's okay. We're going to start again and let's just move on." Which would have meant that God had violated His own law. He could never be fully trusted again for the simple reason "the day that you eat of the fruit of this tree ye shall surely die," not might die, "surely die." That is spiritually. There is physical death, spiritual death, and eternal death. There are three forms of death. "The day that you eat of it you shall surely die."

And He could have said, "Okay, let's forget that" and not be just. Or He could have said to them, "The day that you eat of this fruit of this tree ye shall surely die," eternally separated from God. Or He could have said, "You have sinned against me, you have violated my law, and justice says you're to suffer eternally. But here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to provide a substitute for you who will die in your place, who will take your penalty so that you will not have to die. And I will forgive you of your sins. It doesn't mean I'm eliminating all the consequences, but I'm forgiving you of your sins so that you'll not have to spend eternity separated from me because I made you for myself."

Now the justice of God will require a penalty for sin. Just telling Him you're sorry and that you won't do it again—which you do—and you repent over and over and over, that doesn't do it. So how do you deal with sin? There's only one thing that deals with sin. And here's what God did. He, watch this carefully, chose to come to earth in the person, the physical body of His Son Jesus Christ for the primary purpose of going to the cross and dying on the cross as the ultimate and final sacrifice.

And God in those moments took all the sin of all mankind, all of humanity, and placed the guilt and the penalty of all of man's sin until He comes again, all of it and placed it on Jesus. And at the cross He judged—the justice of God came upon His Son Jesus and He was crucified. And in that crucifixion He said, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" What was He doing? He was experiencing in those moments what people will experience forever when they die without Christ: separated from God.

Listen, it was the one thing that Jesus didn't want. He knew He was going to the cross. But what was He saying about this cup? Why did He say "is there any other way? Is there any other way for us to do this besides drinking this cup?" And it wasn't the crucifixion that He was referring to, it was the fact that in this dying, which He came to die, is there any way to do this without you and I being separated, Father? We can't even begin to understand what divine, intimate, spotless, matchless, eternal relationship meant and suddenly He would be wrenched from Him.

And He would die in His life on that cross and pay your sin and mine. Now let me ask you a question. Who else could pay for your sin? Nobody. Because nobody is perfect, only Jesus the righteous perfect Son of God. He went to the cross, laid down His life, He came for that purpose and took your guilt and my guilt. And now the reason God can say to a person who walks down the aisle for example, let's say you kneel here and you ask the Lord Jesus Christ to forgive you of your sin and you trust Him as your personal savior based on what He did at the cross, and God says you're forgiven, cleansed, your name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Justified, reconciled, sanctified—He says you're glorified, you're my child forever.

Wait a minute. Look at all the messes: he's been in prison, he's committed all kinds of sins, messed up his family, he's been a drunkard, he's been on drugs. And now what's this? It's the awesome power of that sacrifice. That's what it is. And there's nothing else and there is nothing else in the world that can do that. Now you remember what Jesus said? I love this. In those last moments He said, "It is finished."

What did He mean by that? Here's what He meant: the payment for your sin, my sin, and the whole world was done. It was finished. Jesus did not go to hell. People tell you Jesus went to hell. Why would He go to hell? He paid the price. It was finished on the cross. That's where it was finished, not "I'm going to finish this up somewhere else." He said, "It is finished." What was finished is God's redemptive plan to save mankind, finished on the cross.

One word describes what happened at Calvary: substitute. God substituted His Son in your place to die at Calvary to pay your sin debt in full so that you could be forgiven of your sins on the basis of the price He paid so that your name could be written in the Lamb's Book of Life, so that you could become a child of God, so that you could be indwelt by the Holy Spirit, so that you could go to heaven when you die, so you could have a personal relationship with Him, so you could be a child of God all the days of your life, and so you could serve Him for all eternity. It's all wrapped up in the cross. It's all about Jesus.

So listen, the next time you hear that "be good, be kind, love everybody" kind of stuff, I ask this question now: where does the cross fit in that? There is no denying you have heard the simple truth: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son," because He was the only one worthy to die a substitutionary, sacrificial, all-sufficient, atoning death at Calvary in order that man's sin debt may be paid in full and he may become a child of God. And I simply ask you this question: have you ever done that? Are you willing to acknowledge that Jesus Christ is the Son of God?

Are you willing to acknowledge that you have sinned against God and rebelled against Him and lived a wicked life? From God's perspective it's wicked, rebelling against love, rejecting His plan. Are you willing to ask Him to forgive you of your sins, not based on who you are, what you've done, what you're going to do? Are you willing to ask Him to forgive you of your sins based on this simple truth that Jesus Christ the sinless Son of God went to the cross, paid your sin debt in full, and now declares you no longer guilty and a child of God based on your relationship to Him? You willing to do that?

If you're willing to confess that sin to Him, if you're willing to repent of that sin, lay it down, yield your life to Him, He will forgive you of your sin, not based on the fact of your confession but based on what He did and your acceptance of what He did. He'll forgive your sin, the Holy Spirit will come and seal you forever as a child of God. And listen, you can live the rest of your life knowing this, that no matter what happens, where it happens, how it happens, when it happens, you are safe with Almighty God, child of God forever.

And Father, how grateful we are. We think about what You have gone through, Your Son in order to atone for our sin. I pray that every person who hears this—I know the devil will attack in every way possible to get them not to believe it—but I pray the Spirit of God will penetrate all of that and that deep down inside they will acknowledge, even before they acknowledge it publicly or even audibly, they will acknowledge that the cross is their only hope. And we thank You for it, Father, in Jesus' name, Amen.

Guest (Male): Thanks for listening to In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. If you now understand what Christ did on the cross, we want to help you get started with the most important relationship of your life. Learn about who Christ is and what He came to do at intouch.org. And if you want to listen to this message again, follow the link to Today on Radio. Look for it on our homepage.

And head to the bookstore to order a copy of Dr. Stanley's complete message, "Why Did Jesus Have to Die?" Again, that's intouch.org. You can also call or text 1-800-IN-TOUCH. If you prefer to write, our address is: In Touch, P.O. Box 7900, Atlanta, Georgia, 30357.

What does it take to be at peace with others? What kinds of things should you do if you value your friendships? Today's Moment with Charles Stanley is coming up. In Touch Plus is streaming on Local Now, featuring all the best of Dr. Charles Stanley.

Dr. Charles Stanley: It's important to have strong convictions based on the Word of God. He's working out things that you and I would never know about in our future.

Guest (Male): In Touch Plus, your streaming network for quality Christian programming 24/7. In Touch Plus, streaming free on Local Now.

We're not the first to seek a life of purpose. The Bible tells of many who followed a specific path, step by step, with courage, with surrender, for a deeper purpose, a stronger passion, a lasting peace. Introducing Your Path to Purpose, Passion, and Peace, a new 90-day devotional inspired by the timeless teaching of Dr. Charles Stanley. Available now at intouch.org/store.

You're listening to In Touch. A follower of Jesus should seek to be at peace with those around them. Here's a Moment with Charles Stanley.

Dr. Charles Stanley: The longer you live, the more valuable your friendships are, and you better take care of them. Because you see, the longer you live, the less time you have to build new ones. And when you've got a good friend or you have a group of friends, wonderful friends, you take care of those relationships. You listen, if whatever's necessary, you work at having peace with them.

And what that requires of us is we have to deal with our own sense of selfishness, our own sense of self-interest, our own sense of self-centeredness. We're to lay it down. And all of us know in conversations with our friends or people, husbands or wives or whatever, we say things at times or we think things and we stop and think and you say, "You know what? That's selfish on my part. Go ahead and do that. That's fine, no problem. That's just me being self-centered. That's just my pride that I can't ask you to forgive me or humble myself."

And so we have to go back to ask how much value do I place on a relationship? So let me ask you as a parent: how valuable is your relationship with your son or your daughter? How valuable is it? What are you willing to do? How far are you willing to go? Did you want to do anything and everything you know to do? Then if it doesn't work, at least you've done your best. At least you've given your all. At least as best you know your heart. Listen to what he says. He says as far as it depends on you, as far as you can go without violating the Word of God, he says be at peace with that other person.

Guest (Male): Learn more about being at peace with others and with God at intouch.org. Is there someone who needs the truth you heard today? Share it with them and then tell us what happened. Next week on In Touch, shortly before He was arrested, Jesus cried out to God in prayer. Learn about how our Savior's night of turmoil offers us assurance today. I hope you'll join us again for In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. This program is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia, and remains on this station through the grace of God and your faithful prayers and gifts.