Key Scriptures: John 3:16-17, Romans 3:25-26

Introduction:
Why couldn’t God just forgive us?
Why can’t God just accept everyone or at least those who are sorry for wrongdoing?
Why can’t we just teach about how God is a God of love?
Why is there such a concentration on the death of Jesus?
What is the difference between Jesus’ death and the death of Socrates, or of other great figures in history?
What did His death achieve?
            Jesus, who more than any other person changed the face of history, is remembered much more for His death than for His life. Why is that? The cross, of death and suffering, is our key symbol for Christianity. One third of the gospel material is taken up with a 3- day period of time surrounding His suffering and death.
            The answer to these questions cannot be found in our own understanding or character, but only in the character of God Himself. The scriptures from beginning to end tell us over and over, in story after story, that God is a God of both justice and love, of both purity and forgiveness.
John 3:16-17 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to   condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.”
Romans 3:25-26 “God put forward (Jesus Christ) as a propitiation by His blood to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness because in divine forbearance He had passed over former sins. It was to show His righteousness at the present time, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”
            This is the doctrine of Atonement. It means that Jesus took my faults so the Father could shower me in His favor. It is the love, justice, forgiveness, and purity of God.
Wayne Grudem- chapter on the atonement- “It is important to notice that the primary emphasis of Christ’s work of redemption is not on us, but on God the Father. It is objective; an agreement worked out between God the Father, and God the Son to bring us into relationship with the Father. Only secondarily does it have application to us.

I. The Message of Christianity

1 Cor. 15:3 – “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received; that Christ died for our sins.”
The message of Christianity, a unique and one of a kind message, different from all other religions, is that Jesus died so God could forgive our sins.
Keller: 2 Reasons for “Why Did Jesus Have to Die?” is brilliant in his analysis:

Real forgiveness is costly suffering. It costs somebody something. For forgiveness to happen, somebody has to pay.
You can burn down my house accidentally. You can rebuild my house- so you have to pay. Or, the insurance company could rebuild my house. But no matter what, somebody has to pay.

But what if the grievance is much greater? What if you burn down my house accidentally ( or burn it down on purpose) and my family dies in the fire? You could rebuild my house or I could rebuild my house but you can’t bring my family back. A real and serious and irreversible loss has occurred.
If you have been violated- abused as a young girl, defrauded in a business deal, and lose your home, told by a parent “I never loved you. I never wanted you.” These are psychological wrongs and hurts that go deep. You realize that even if a person says, “I’m really sorry.” that it is not that easy to dismiss.

A real offense cries out for a real justice, and a real forgiveness involves a costly suffering.

You can either make that person suffer, or
You can wish that some pain would come upon the other person so that they would feel the pain you feel, or
You can let your anger turn into resentment and then bitterness, and it will eat you alive from the inside out, even while the other person gets to go with life.
Or, you can forgive.

Forgiveness means refusing to make the other pay for what they did. Jesus died because He refused to make us suffer for our own sins.
Forgiveness of a true offense is agony. It is a form of suffering. Some say it seems like a form of death. But here is where the wisdom of God comes into awesome display. Forgiveness in this way is a death that leads to resurrection, instead of living lifelong in bitterness and resentment and hurt.
C.S. Lewis wrote, “Last week, while at prayer, I suddenly discovered, or felt as if I did, that I had really forgiven someone I had been trying to forgive for over 30 years.” That’s costly suffering.
A 16 yr. old girl had extreme anger toward her father. Keller counseled her, “ Your father has defeated you as long as you hate him. You will stay trapped in your anger unless you forgive him from the heart and begin to love him.” Her forgiveness involved costly suffering, but eventually she broke through and became free in her spirit.
Unforgiveness wants to be fed. We rehearse the wrong done to us over and over. To refuse to hold on to an offense in your thought life and in your words will starve the unforgiveness that wants to be fed. And eventually those feelings and thoughts lose their grip. We have to stop rehearsing it.

II. A Price to Be Paid

If we can understand human wrong and real forgiveness, the price we pay and the price God paid to forgive, it can help us to see how God, who was truly wronged by us in every way, could not just dismiss the wrong. He could not just say, “It’s o.k.”
A real wrong produces a real loss that only can be forgiven by paying through real suffering. ***

Ephesians 1:7- “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with all the riches of God’s grace that He lavished upon us with all wisdom and understanding.”
Gal. 3:13- “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.”
Heb. 9:22- “and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”
Somerset Maugham once said, “If I wrote down every thought I have ever thought and every deed I have ever done, men would call me a monster of depravity.”

No one ever “just” forgives if the wrong is serious. Forgiveness means bearing the cost instead of making the wrongdoer do it, so that you can reach out in love and not in hurt.
Forgiveness means absorbing the debt of the sin yourself.

Jesus not only did this for us, He also shows us how this is the way to redemption, freedom, and healing.
The Christian message is that God Himself, through His Son Jesus, absorbed the pain; all the wrongs we have committed, and all the wrongs that have been committed against us.

The Christian message is that God determined to forgive us rather than to punish us. “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
The Christian message is that God did not demand that we appease His wrath for the wrong we commit, but He paid the price of forgiveness- the necessity of costly suffering.

III. Phil 3:10-11

For many years I have loved these verses, but I always thought that I did not understand Paul’s thoughts. But after this study, I think I have a glimpse.“That I may know Him (through forgiveness), and the power of His resurrection (through forgiveness), and may share in His sufferings (through forgiveness), becoming like Him in His death (through forgiveness), that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead (through forgiveness). Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.” As I reflect on this I want to forgive as I have been forgiven.

Discussion Questions:

Did you ever wonder why Jesus had to suffer and die such a cruel death on the cross? (discuss or view and discuss) the flogging scene and/or the crucifixion scene in The Passion of the Christ. Why is there no forgiveness of sins without the shedding of blood?
What does this statement mean to you, “A real offense cries out for real justice, and a real forgiveness involves a costly suffering.” Give a personal example.
How does the Christian message differ from all other religions?
What do you think it means to share in Christ’s sufferings and be conformed to His death? (Phil 3:10)