Giselle

Why did Jesus have to Die?

Jesus died a horrible death and for what? He didn’t do anything? He was sinless.

But humankind was not.

For since the world began,

    no ear has heard

and no eye has seen a God like you,

    who works for those who wait for him!

You welcome those who gladly do good,

    who follow godly ways.

But you have been very angry with us,

    for we are not godly.

We are constant sinners;

    how can people like us be saved?

We are all infected and impure with sin.

    When we display our righteous deeds,

    they are nothing but filthy rags.

Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall,

    and our sins sweep us away like the wind.

Isaiah 64:4-6

When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.

Romans 5:12

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 6:23

We all are Sinners

Let’s face it. We live in a fallen world. God gave us all free will. Then he gave us the Bible to show us what to do, and what not to do. He only asked us to obey. Did we? No.

If you read the Old Testament after Moses got the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, you learn that God kept telling them to obey and they didn’t. That’s what Isaiah wrote about in the verses I read just now. Over and over God used prophets to warn the people, but they still sinned — they disobeyed.

Enter Jesus

John the Baptist declared…

“Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

John 1:29

As sinners, we are guilty. When someone commits a crime, the person is brought before a judge and jury and if found guilty, sentenced. Imagine if the person’s brother then stepped up and said, I’m going to serve the sentence in the guilty person’s place. First, no innocent person in their right mind would do that. I’ve seen where a relative would say they committed the crime when it was really the other person. But, no, in this case, the person sentenced was guilty and an innocent person steps up to redeem their sentence.

Or remember the game Monopoly? There you can get a “get out of jail free” card.

Since the wages of sin is death, we are all facing a death sentence. But God loved us so much that he sacrificed His Son to die in our place. Jesus was our “get out of jail free” card. We don’t deserve God’s Grace.

For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.

Romans 3:23-24

Jesus’ sacrifice covers ALL our sins. Jesus carried our sins away once and for all.

If Purgatory exists, the Jesus died for nothing.

Purgatory was invented by the Catholic Church leaders in 1247 at the Council of Lyon.

When Jesus died on the cross and defeated sin and death by rising after 3 days, He gave us a non-stop ticket to Heaven. Nothing we can do physically will ever take the place of His dying for us.

Indulgences

The Catholic Church used the idea of Purgatory to raise money. And they still do — in the form of Masses for the dead.

“When a coin in the coffer rings, a soul from Purgatory springs.”

The lie the Catholic Church tells people to take their money. This is what Martin Luther opposed.

When the Pope got on Twitter, he actually told people if they followed him, he would shorten their stay in Purgatory — that’s a lie. You can’t pray people into Heaven if they didn’t know Jesus before they died.

God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.

Ephesians 2:8-9

You inherit the Kingdom of God and a place in Heaven when you ask Jesus into your heart — not because you memorized a catechism. It’s way better to have salvation security than to constantly live in doubt.

If you want your sins purged, then ask Jesus into heart right now by praying this prayer…

“Dear Lord Jesus, I know I am a sinner. I believe You died for my sins. Right now, I turn from my sins and open the door of my heart and life to you. I confess You as my personal Lord and Savior. Thank You for saving me. Amen.”

Below are a couple of videos with deeper explanations about the invention and lie of Purgatory…

Jesus Truth
Pastor Mike Winger

Recommended Bible Study Apps:

The YouVersion Bible App: https://bible.com
Through The Word: https://throughtheword.org

67 comments

  15. […] Jesus didn’t die on the cross so we could have religion! The Kingdom of God is actually a government — Jesus is the King — the monarch. It’s a monarchy. The King makes the laws/rules/commandments, we are brought before Him when we break the laws and He then passes judgement. By ourselves, we are sentenced to eternity in hell apart from God. That’s perishing. The Good News is that we have the option to be saved by God’s Grace — freely given so that no one can boast — you can’t earn it — no way. That’s why Jesus had to die. […]

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  21. […] See, the Holy Spirit is more than just our inner conscience. Back in the Old Testament, God used the Holy Spirit through prophets to set the people straight. That didn’t work. So, then, He sent Jesus to die on the cross and take our sins away. It was obvious to God that we, by ourselves, were never going to be sinless. That’s why Jesus, who was sinless, had to take on our sins to the cross, suffer and die for our salvation. […]

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  59. […] Both Peter and Paul told of how God moved in miraculous ways among the Gentiles. This is fulfilling what Jesus told them to do in Acts 1. It’s what was prophesied in the Old Testament as we read here. It was time to leave the old Jewish traditions, rites and rituals behind and just trust that God knew what He was doing when He sent Jesus to die on the cross so we wouldn’t have to. […]

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  60. […] I mentioned that this was one of my favorite chapters in the New Testament. When I was doing research for my novel, I hit a roadblock. I couldn’t wrap my brain around on how the first Christians were able to convince the Gentiles, the pagans, of the need for a savior. They had no sense of right or wrong. Life revolved around man-made gods and doing what one pleased. There was a god for every natural occurrence in the world. (Read: So Many gods) The Jews were taught the meaning of atonement and they brought sacrifices to the temple to atone for their sins. When Paul says that Jesus is the Jewish Messiah who came to take away their sins once and for all, some got it and some didn’t. […]

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